Releasing the “Terror Genie”: Man Haron Monis and the “Sydney Siege”

The threat of “Islamic terrorism” has become a feature of the Australian political landscape. This has taken the form of unconfirmed suggestions of promised beheadings by groups, the threat of lone-wolf attacks, and the radicalisation of Islamic youths fighting in Syria and Iraq. This paper argues that the Islamic terror genie has been used to effectively transform the Australian political landscape through a series of plotted suggestions. The excuse for such policy excludes the necessity for evidence in a public forum. Law and order issues that involve Muslim figures who so happen to embrace, erroneously, an Islamic stance, end up being swept up in this current. The Man Haron Monis hostage case (or the “Sydney Siege”) provided a classic example of this problem, illustrating the misunderstandings, deceptions and delusions that have come to characterise the response of Australia’s security and media establishment.     

Iconizing “Muslim Terrorism” in a British Newspaper and Public Perception

By examining a news story and reader responses published in the Daily Mail Online (DMO), our study discursively argues that this daily newspaper promotes an Orientalist perception of Islam and Muslims. The religion and its adherents are both framed and perceived as a threat to British society and its “Western values”, thus reinforcing Islamophobia within society. This study also argues that the DMO espouses the perceived Orientalist threat posed by Islam through juxtaposition, exaggeration and manipulation of facts, through lexical choices and visual images that eventually establishes the perception of a cultural clash. In addition, by examining the readers’ responses toward the news story, this study demonstrates that the vast majority of respondents perceive Islam and Muslims as a threat to “the West”. Their comments, as triggered by the text, also contribute to the discourse of Islamophobia and the perceived Orientalist view of an Islamic threat.     

Words and actions: Italian ultras and neo-fascism

Over the past two decades the link – perceived and actual – between political extremism and football fans has been the subject of academic, political, and policing debate. It is not rare to witness manifestations of intolerance and ideological statements referring to regional, national and international issues at football stadia. In Italian football stadia, political representation has been evident for decades; politics has been integral to all realms of Italian society and culture since the origin of the nation. As one of the most significant Italian cultural practices, football has not been an exception. This combination of theory and action inspires thousands of young male football supporters. The football stadium might thus be interpreted as a twenty-first century social Agorá, where political opinions – otherwise ghettoized in society – can be freely expressed in pursuit of a wider consensus. This paper explores the under-researched milieu of neo-fascist ideology as displayed in contemporary Italian football stadia. Contributing original material and employing as conceptual frameworks the New Consensus Theory on fascism and the works of Julius Evola and Georges Sorel, this analysis hypothesizes that the neo-fascist tenets manifested by the ideologically-oriented ‘ultras’ fan groups, may be understood as both a consequence of, and a resistance against the dominant socio-cultural and political values of contemporary Italy. The research conducted between 2003–2007 sought to evaluate two internationally renowned ultras groups located in the Italian capital of Rome: the Boys of AS Roma and the Irriducibili of SS Lazio who enact their performances on their respective ‘curve’ [football terraces] of the city's Olympic stadium. Utilizing the ethnographic method, unique access was achieved in a notoriously difficult research milieu bringing the researcher into the social-cultural world of the participants and to the echelons of the extra-parliamentary Italian far right. Research sought to uncover the groups’ social interactions, values, and political beliefs, as a way of contributing to an understanding of both the Italian ultras of the twenty-first century and indeed the wider political milieu of the modern nation-state of Italy.     

Terror, Resource Gains and Exclusionist Political Attitudes among New Immigrants and Veteran Israelis

This study analyses the antecedents of exclusionist political attitudes towards Palestinian citizens of Israel among Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union in comparison to Old Jewish Israelis (OJI). A large-scale study of exclusionist political attitudes was conducted in the face of ongoing terrorism in Israel through telephone surveys carried out in September 2003 with 641 OJI and 131 immigrants. The main goal of the survey was to estimate the influence of perceived loss and gain of resources-as a consequence of terror-on attitudes towards Palestinian Israelis, while controlling for other relevant predictors of exclusionism-i.e. authoritarianism or threat perception. Findings obtained via interaction analyses and structural equation modelling show that a) immigrants display higher levels of exclusionist political attitudes towards Palestinian citizens of Israel than OJI; b) loss of resources, authoritarianism, and hawkish (rightist) worldviews predict exclusionist political attitudes among both immigrants and non-immigrants; c) failure to undergo post-traumatic growth (resource gain) in response to terrorism (e.g. finding meaning in life, becoming closer to others) is a significant predictor of exclusionist political attitudes only among immigrants.     

The Secular and the Religious in the Management of Islam in Singapore

This article examines the Singaporean model of “secularism” and its impact on the relations between the Singaporean government and the minority Muslim community in Singapore. While the Singaporean state defines itself as secular, its policies do not depict a strict dichotomy between religion and state. This paper argues that the obscure nature of secularism in Singapore has led to tensions on several issues between the government and Muslim community due to differing perceptions of what Singaporean secularism means. The first section of the paper deals with the concept of secularism as defined by the Singaporean state and examine the historical factors that led to the provision of special rights to Muslims in Singapore. The paper will then analyse the legal positions of institutions such as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, MUIS) and the Syariah court which are tasked with managing Islamic affairs in Singapore. Lastly, the paper will analyse how the unique definition of secularism in Singapore led to tensions between the government and the Muslim community. These cases included the headscarf controversy that erupted in 2002 and 2013, the madrasah controversy in 1999, foreign policy issues and terrorism. The paper concludes by drawing a trajectory of the future relations between the Singaporean government and the Muslim community.     

The Role of Labeling and Bias in the Portrayals of Acts of “Terrorism”: Media Representations of Muslims vs. Non-Muslims

Several high-profile negative events involving Muslim perpetrators have recently been covered by the media. We investigated whether the same negative actions are more likely to be labeled “terrorism” when they are committed by Muslims than when they are committed by White non-Muslims. In Experiment I (n?=?60), using a real article about a Muslim perpetrator and a modified version about a non-Muslim perpetrator, we found that participants were more likely to identify a crime as terrorism when it was perpetrated by a Muslim. The label “terrorism” also mediated the effect of Muslim identity on negative judgments of the behavior. In Experiment II (n?=?60), we replicated the results of Experiment I and clarified that the effects persisted when we used a real article about a non-Muslim perpetrator and a modified version about a Muslim perpetrator. We discuss implications for cross-group communication and representations of Muslims in the media.     

Reading Islamophobia in Hegemonic Neoliberalism Through a Discourse Analysis of Donald Trump's Narratives

This paper uses the Wittgensteinian method of discourse analysis to analyze the narratives of Islamophobia in Donald Trump’s speeches and interviews. Theoretically, the analysis is informed by hegemonic neoliberal ideology. It argues that to sustain itself, hegemonic neoliberalism must contrast itself against other belief systems that it unilaterally denounces as inferior. After having done so, hegemonic neoliberalism then seeks to neoliberalize those belief systems. In this vein, this paper contends that hegemonic neoliberalism has an Islamophobic “face” because it “otherizes” Islam and Muslims in order to justify its neoliberalization of Islam and Muslims. Thus, this paper defines neoliberal Islamophobia as the conceptualization of Islam and Muslims as antithetical to neoliberal values. In all, Trump’s speeches and interviews contain five Islamophobic narratives: (1) radical Islam is the sole cause of terrorism; (2) radical Islamic terrorism is a global existential threat; (3) Muslim refugees and immigrants are a threat to American security; (4) the proposal to suspend entry of Muslim refugees and immigrants to the US; and (5) the faux humanitarian policy of establishing safe zones for Muslim refugees in Syria. The paper concludes with policy implications.     

How Islamic Has the “Islamic State” Been?

Two principal views have emerged on the nature and operations of the so-called Islamic State or khilafat. One contends that IS had nothing to do with Islam in both its ideological disposition and practical operations. The other view claims that IS was the embodiment of a Salafist?Wahhabi version of Islam, and therefore it was Islamic. Whereas the first view recognizes the fact that Islam like any divine faith is open to a range of interpretations and applications, the second perspective has treated Islam as a monolithically adaptable doctrine, ignoring the diversity within the Muslim world. The question is: Was IS Islamic or not, or did it exude a form of political Salafism and Islamism of our time?     

身份与利益——东南亚恐怖主义根源探析

恐怖主义是人类社会的灾难,长期对东南亚地区的和平与安全构成重大威胁。防控东南亚恐怖主义的蔓延并进行根治,是东南亚各国政府、域外利益攸关方(stakeholders)、国际组织共同关心的议题。身份-利益这一特质为区分东南亚恐怖主义类型提供了研究方法,也为探寻其不同的根源提供了研究途径。东南亚恐怖主义滋生于身份认同的异质化及自身对特殊政治利益的追求,以身份认同为标准和边界,东南亚恐怖主义可以分为左右翼革命型、民族主义-分裂主义型和宗教-政治型三种类型。东南亚恐怖主义身份认同需要靠利益支持,利益是东南亚恐怖主义身份认同的基础,没有利益支持的身份认同是不稳固的,当身份无法继续提供凝聚力时,东南亚恐怖组织将会走向解体或分裂,其中分裂出的恐怖组织分支会为寻求支持而建构新的身份认同。虽然东南亚恐怖组织存在多元身份认同,但只有其中一种身份在构建恐怖主义时起着决定性的作用。在治理恐怖主义上各国需要采取针对性强的政策,同时需要预防其他身份构建恐怖主义的可能。     

Women and Jihad: Combating Violent Extremism and Developing New Approaches to Conflict Resolution in the Greater Middle East

The subject of female participation in combative jihad has proved to be contentious in Islam. Whilst some extremist Islamist groups, such as the so-called Islamic State (IS), have advocated women’s direct engagement in fighting in defense of Islam, others, for example Al Qaeda, have endorsed only a supporting role for women, primarily for the purpose of producing the next generation of jihadis. Whatever the validity of this debate, most radical jihadi groups have deployed women for combative operations, including suicide bombings. This has been more in the Middle East, where a resolution of several conflicts requires a comprehensive political strategy as against a predominantly military approach. This article has three objectives. The first is to provide some clarification about combative jihad in conceptual terms. The second is to focus on IS and its underlying appeal to a range of foreign Muslim male and female enthusiasts and several other like-minded entities who have gone to Iraq and to Syria to serve IS for convictive or deceptive reasons. The third is to see what distinguishes IS from other extremist groups which are operational in various parts of the Muslim domain, and to harness some ideas about how to deal with violent Muslim extremism in the Greater Middle East.     

Securing the diasporic ‘self’ by travelling abroad: Taglit-Birthright and ontological security

ABSTRACT

In recent years, the literature on diaspora politics has focused primarily on why and when migrant or ethno-religious groups adopt a diasporic stance and mobilise on behalf of their homeland. The ability of a community to sustain a diasporic stance across generations is less explored and often assumed to be dependent on discrimination in the host country or events in the homeland. By contrast, this article focuses on internal dynamics of the Jewish-American community to explore the development of Taglit-Birthright – a free educational trip to Israel offered to young Jewish adults. Drawing on the concept of ontological security – security of identity and subjectivity – I argue that the decision to invest in such a costly and experimental programme was the result of two perceived threats to Jewish diasporic identity: the threat to the diasporic narrative and the threat to the relationship with the homeland. Evidence for this claim is generated through interpretation of internal documents, media reports, and secondary literature.     

The New Face of Political Islam in Central Asia: The Rise of Islamo-democrats

Political Islam in Central Asia is currently undergoing a transitional phase. Radical groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Hizb ut-Tahrir no longer monopolize the Islamist scene. There is now a new generation of Islamist leaders in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan that advocate a public role for Islam without seeking regime change. They can be called Islamo-democrats because they participate in elections and recognize the constitutional process. The article will examine and compare the biography, political career, and beliefs of three representatives of this political trend: Tursunbai Bakir Uulu, Bekbolat Tleukhan, and Mohiddin Kabiri. It will claim that the emergence of Islamo-democrats is partly the result of developments in Turkey, especially the rise to power of the Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi. Two factors account for the Turkish influence in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan: the successful diffusion of ideological norms and the importance that governments attach to maintaining good relations with Turkey.     

The Ulster Covenant and the pulse of Protestant Ulster

The signing of the Ulster Covenant on 28 September 1912 by almost 450,000 men and women was a powerful act of defiance on the part of Unionists in the context of what they perceived as the threat to their way of life represented by the Liberal Government's policy of Irish Home Rule. This article attempts to look beyond the well-studied leadership figures of Carson and Craig in order to fashion insights into the way Ulster Protestant society was mobilised around the Covenant and opposition to Home Rule. It draws attention to hitherto over-shadowed personalities who can be said to have exerted crucial local influence. It also contends that although pan-Protestant denominational unity provided the basis for the success of the Covenant, the Presbyterian community was particularly cohesive and purposeful in the campaign. The article further argues that the risk-taking defiance that came more easily to the Presbyterians, on account of a troubled history, largely evaporated in the new political circumstances of Northern Ireland when it became a separate devolved political entity within the UK from 1921.     

Preventing Religious Radicalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Role of the BiH Islamic Community

The goal of the paper is to identify the Islamic Community’s methods of preventing religious radicalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The roots of radicalism and extremism are explained by examining “Islamic revival” and studied within the Bosnian context. Although BiH appears in many international reports as a potential “cradle of terrorism”, the situation on the ground is quite different and there are many instances of combined efforts by the government and religious institutions in preventing religious radicalization in BiH. The analysis focuses on the Islamic community’s efforts to contend the spread of illegal mosques that sometimes promote radical Islam in BiH. Although there are radical individuals with different and sometimes radical understanding of Islam, the majority of Bosnian Muslims oppose any form of religious radicalization. The Islamic Community plays the most important role in preventing the spread of radical Islam in BiH, and this paper analyzes its efforts to homogenize Bosnian Muslims and prevent radicalization.     

Revisiting Fiat Regime’s Attainability of Shari’ah Objectives and Possible Futuristic Alternatives

Maqasid of Shari'ah is a millennium old theory on the higher objectives of Islamic divine law. As the discipline of Islamic economics and finance grew in politico-economic importance in the past three decades, a cathartic trend has emerged among Muslim experts to realign economic and financial practices with not merely the minimum legal requirements of religion but also the wisdom and crucial objectives of Shari'ah. An expositive example of this is the monetary economics debate of a Shari'ah consonant currency. Though vast majority of religious clerics have approbated fiat and paper currencies in strict legal terms since the 1980s, a revisionist movement since the mid-1990s seeks to counter it—some going as far as indorsing reversion to gold and silver coinage of medieval Islamic epoch of affluence. Unlike orthodox fiqhi (strict jurisprudentialism) approach that involves legalese with little leeway, Maqasid approach concerns itself with the spirit of the law. This paper operates in the exciting laboratory of Maqasidic framework to appraise the multitudinous role of fiat currency in protecting economic, political, and social public interests, prevention of harm, promotion of egalitarianism, and attainment of ultimate utopic vision of theological and spiritual demands in Shari'ah. The paper contributes, theoretically, by introducing several moral-philosophical arguments against fiat’s compatibility with Shari'ah, and, practically, by prognosticating the future course of discourse in light of advancements in technological innovations—including nascent crypto-currencies.     

Ethnic diversity,ethnic threat,and social cohesion: (re)-evaluating the role of perceived out-group threat and prejudice in the relationship between community ethnic diversity and intra-community cohesion

Research frequently demonstrates diverse communities exhibit lower intra-community cohesion. Recent studies suggest there is little evidence perceived ethnic threat plays a role in this relationship. This paper re-examines the roles of ethnic threat and prejudice in the diversity/cohesion relationship. First, we test threat/prejudice as conceptualised in the literature: as mediators of diversity’s effect. Second, we test a reformulation of the roles of threat/prejudice: as moderators of diversity’s effect. Applying multi-level models to cross-sectional and longitudinal data of White British individuals across England and Oldham (a unique English town case-study) we find neighbour-trust lower in diverse communities. However, perceived-threat/prejudice does not mediate this relationship. Instead, we find perceived-threat/prejudice moderate diversity’s impact on neighbour-trust. The result is diversity only reduces neighbour-trust among individuals who already viewed out-groups as threatening. Longitudinal analysis confirms the importance of out-group attitudes in the diversity/neighbour-trust relationship. In diverse communities, residents whose out-group attitudes improve, or worsen, become more, or less, trusting of their neighbours. However, in homogeneous communities, changes in out-group attitudes are not linked to changes in neighbour-trust. We therefore argue and demonstrate that perceived-threat emerges from other societal processes (such as socio-economic precariousness) and it is when individuals who already view out-groups as threatening experience diverse neighbourhoods that local cohesion declines.     

Education,identity, and ideology: the Islamic movement and Moslem religious education in Israel

The Islamic Movement, which is called in Arabic Al-harakaat al-islamiyya or Al-haraka al-islamiyya, has, since its foundation in the 1970s, placed emphasis on education, especially the dissemination of the Islamic message. After the movement scored significant successes in local authority elections, its influence increased on the ideological guidelines according to which some of the Arab education system is partially or fully shaped. The article discusses the split in the movement within the State of Israel, and the differences between the southern and northern faction. It also compares Islamic education and Arab education within Israel and abroad in Europe, in countries which have large immigrant Moslem populations.

The education system that the Islamic Movement tries to develop symbolizes the complexity of the relations between it and the state authorities. They are aware that the authorities will not help in differentiation and separation and will not cease from the constant supervision of the movement's educational institutions. Therefore, their choice of a synthesis between formal and informal education or of a partition between pedagogic state education and moral study classes, is a rational, calculated choice, taking into consideration the reality of a cultural – ethnic – national minority.     

Looking forward into the past: Partido Nacionalista Vasco and the immigrant question in the Basque Country

ABSTRACT

This article examines the discursive and political response to immigrant-generated diversity by Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV) in the Basque Country of Spain. A much-ballyhooed fact about PNV is that its founder, Sabino Arana, articulated a racist nationalist doctrine in the late nineteenth century. Alarm bells were raised in the early 2000s when the Basque Country became a destination for foreign immigrants arriving in Spain from Latin America and North Africa: do foreign immigrants pose a threat to Basque national identity? The PNV's answer to this question has been a clear ‘no’. Rather than distance itself from its past, however, party elites legitimate the inclusive and compassionate attitude towards foreign immigrants through selective discovery of the Basque national narrative. While sceptics of ideational variables are quick to suggest that nationalist elites manipulate the past to serve current purposes, this article suggests that such an interpretation does not do justice to the subtle ways in which symbols, myths, and images of the past have shaped the worldviews of PNV elites in the realm of immigration.     

Islamic Law,Secular Law,and Societal Norms: The Recognition of Islamic Legal Practices in the Netherlands and the Protection of Muslim Women’s Human Rights

This article examines the extent to which Islamic law is accommodated in the Netherlands, by analysing legislation, case law, and the political discourse in the field of Islamic divorce, and focuses on the tension and proposed balance between gender equality and freedom of religion. It finds that, as the priority lies with protecting Muslim women’s rights, Muslim law in the Netherlands remains in the unofficial sphere, potentially alienating Muslim communities. This article explores whether and how Dutch law could continue to ensure respect for gender equality while working towards greater respect for a minority group’s cultural and religious freedom. Two options are presented in this regard: more responsibilities for Civil and Criminal courts, or the establishment of Sharia Councils. Lessons are drawn from the United Kingdom’s experiences.     

Fear,Terror and the New Global Economy of Salvation–Global Excess and ‘Suicide’ Bombing in London

The article looks at the London bombing of July 2005 as a double volunteered witnessing. The four male British ‘suicide’ bombers purported to witness the plight of the victims of global excesses in places like Iraq and Palestine as Muslims and their own privileged membership of the Muslim Community (umma). The witnessing was as much a trans-national self-identification by the bombers with their Islamic faith as a counter-identification against their British citizenship. On their trails of death and destruction, the bombers advocated the supremacy of the privilege of faith over the rights of citizen by destroying the mortal bodies of individuals to which is anchored citizen rights in order to provide room for the immortal body of the Muslim Community which cherishes the privilege of the faithful. In their surrogacy for the will of fellow Muslims, the bombers drew on a new economy of salvation that promised them the magnanimity of the witnessing (martyrdom) for the Muslim Community and offered the Other the ignominy of an apocalyptic retribution. By substituting the body for the mind as the immediate object of power the Muslim volunteers inspired fear among the potential victims of their violence without giving them the opportunity to reciprocate fear thus turning the fear into a sense of despair—terror—that makes power incontestable and abolishes politics. Faced with the threat of terror, the British public erected invisible, internal borders within which they constructed an invincible Britishness from which no one was excluded. The insurrectionary, multicultural assertion of British identity through recourse to the notion of individual rights is followed by a moment of constitution of Britishness by the institutions of government. An institutional construction of the general will to protect public safety within the spatially fixed borders is mediated by the Anglo-American model of multiculturalism. The article explores the incompatibility between cultural construction of boundaries sanctioned by the model and the state's educating role to dis-identify the faithful in order to identify them as citizens.