How to document and identify the different and multifaceted manifestation of Islamophobia across the globe? Researchers working on Islamophobia should not approach the subject matter in a one size fits all type of research or analysis and must account for the complex and different nature of the phenomenon in various settings and the forces that shape it in each. The causes and manifestation in the US, Europe, India and China or even in Muslim majority states are different and emerge from specific sets of stimuli despite sharing in the animus directed at the Muslim subject.
I propose a five zone framework to account for the various manifestation of Islamophobia across the globe, while also keeping in mind that specific features might be shared across all zones. The key factor to examine in these five zones is articulation of state policies toward the Muslim subject and how it is implemented. Here, I must caution the reader from thinking that the prevalence of this key factor considered in the demarcation means the absence of other elements. Take for example the Muslim immigration-refugee factor, which cuts across may of the zones but it has been mobilized as the key factor in US and Europe while pushing White supremacist replacement theory.
Zone One, United States, English Speaking parts of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK and parts of Western Europe that does not attempt to regulate modes of religious observance, food consumption or clothing. This zone tend to focus on “terrorism” and Countering/Preventing Violent Extremism (CVE) discourses with the surveillance, preemptive prosecution, material support, entrapment cases and use of informants or infiltration to govern and control Muslim communities. “Good” Muslims are “welcomed” into civil society circles as long as they are committed to identifying and distancing themselves from the “bad” Muslims, who happen to oppose interventionist and violent policies directed at Muslim majority states. Muslims are included with their clothing, hijab, religious observances and food items but are excluded on the basis of the ideas, policy critiques and epistemological worldview.
Zone Two, France, Austria, and Canada-Quebec Province, Netherlands, and Belgium. Islamophobia in this zone witnesses government efforts at defining Islam itself, controlling Muslim institutions and governing individual Muslim bodies and spaces of communities. We do find practices from Zone one utilized in Zone two and the whole umbrella of fighting the war on terror is deployed, however these countries are engaged in “civilizational transformation” project in such a way that Islam itself is the subject of the Islamophobic practices. The archetype of this Zone is current French government policies and the attempt to fashion “French Islam” as a distinctive practice that is different than the Maghreb or Turkish Islam that, in the view of Macron and others, is not susceptible or can be said to be impossible to be French to the core. Islam itself is the site of Islamophobic discourse and every element of asserting Muslim agency is problematized by the state and its far reaching infrastructure.
Zone Three, Arab and Muslim Majority States. The list of states includes most of the OIC members who each deploy a version of state crafted Islam and anyone and any group that does not adhere to it is labeled terrorist and subject to prison, violence and total elimination. The basic framework is identification of “good” Islam (the one represented by the state and its elites) and the “bad” Islam (the one represented by opposition or taking a different approach to Islam). The good Islam-Bad Islam binary is employed across OIC member states to varying degrees and all the tools used in Zone one and two maybe utilized but the goal is to have an Islam that affirms the unconditional power of the state including total power to eliminate any and all opposition. Disagreeing with the government is terrorism that brings with it long prison sentences and more often than not executions. What is unique about this Zone is the affirmation of Islam as a source of guidance for the society and leaning on state religious authorities to instrumentalize “fatwa” (religious legal opinion) to support state exclusion or inclusion. Islam is what the state says it is and any divergence from it is a form of terrorism.
Zone Four, The Genocide Zone. The list of states includes China, Bosnia, India, Kashmir, Myanmar and Palestine. In this zone Islamophobia manifest itself in efforts to eliminate in part or transfer out Muslim populations from each of the countries listed. Again, the tools and arguments might utilize those that are listed in Zone one, two and three but the distinction in here is that the Muslim population is the subject of governments efforts directed at or planning for a genocide as well as transfer out. The genocide can take many forms including cultural, epistemological, sexual violence including rape, linguistic, prison “educational” camps, inferior citizenship and legal status, ethnic cleansing, and out right murder. Governments posit that Muslim religious and cultural difference is a threat to the national identity and utilize historical materials and myths to affirm the need to commit genocide and transfer Muslims out of the country.
Zone Five, The Social Media Zone. The Social Media Zone is transnational, non-governmental, pervasive and, in reality, is ground zero for all conspiracy theories and demonization of the Muslim subject. The replacement theory pushed by White Supremacist in Europe, Love Jihad promoted in India, and Creeping Sharia in the US are all pushed against Muslims in the social media space, then make their way into mainstream media outlets and political rhetoric. Companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube among others have made it possible to spread the most outrageous false claims about Islam and Muslims, as well as facilitating instances of open calls to violence. The content is instantaneous, which often leads to violent mobs acting upon it within a framework that increasingly is stoking segments within the society against Muslims in the hope of consolidating and winning political power. Also, the social media space has become a massive arena for intelligence, data collection and surveillance of Muslims, as well as its use to systemically target them in governmental run operations. The current social media algorithm is Islamophobically fine-tuned to permitting and amplifying anti-Muslim bigoted discourses.
This article first appeared on medium.com