Intl Relations Book Review

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I n this book we have journeyed from the seventh century to the twenty-first and found that the relationship between the “East” and “West” has not been characterized by a transhistoric “clash of civi-

lizations.” We also saw that the image of the menacing “Muslim threat” has been mobilized largely by ruling elites to serve a political agenda, whether the domination of Europe by the papacy in the eleventh century or US expansionism today. An external enemy is usually paired with an internal one against whom palpable fear and hatred are generated. It fol- lows that Islamophobia is about politics and not religion; it is therefore in the realm of politics that Islamophobia must be fought.

The Democratic Party is not an ally in this fight. Some on the left, and many Muslims, believed that the Obama presidency would mitigate and undo the virulent Islamophobia unleashed during the Bush years. Not only had tens of thousands of Muslim Americans been detained or deported in the years following 9/11, but hundreds of thousands were “interviewed” and thereby deemed suspicious by the newly formed De- partment of Homeland Security.There was much hope during the 2008 elections that all of this would change with a new Democratic president. A poll conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations found that 89 percent of Muslim Americans voted for Obama; only 2 percent voted for the Republican, John McCain. More than two-thirds declared themselves to be Democrats, 29 percent said they were independents, and only 4 percent identified as Republican.1 But their hopes would be dashed. Signs of betrayal were already evident on the campaign trail.

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Kumar, Deepa. <i>Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire : The Cultural Logic of Empire</i>, Haymarket Books, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umboston/detail.action?docID=1020727. Created from umboston on 2019-12-08 16:44:11.

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When he was “accused” of being a Muslim, Obama denied the charge and affirmed his Christian beliefs. He also assiduously avoided the Mus- lim community. Before a scheduled speech in Detroit, two women wear- ing hijabs were asked to move from behind the podium so that they wouldn’t be in the same frame with candidate Obama.

If the right was flaying Obama for being a “secret Muslim,” liberals too were party to this line of attack. For instance, Edward Luttwak, a fel- low at the realist/liberal imperialist think tank CSIS, wrote an op-ed piece in the NewYork Times that was “anti-Muslim, and altogether Islamophobic to an unprecedented and scandalous degree,” writes Hamid Dabashi.2The essence of Luttwak’s argument was that Obama is a Muslim (because his father was Muslim) and that because he had adopted Christianity, Muslims were bound by their religion to execute him. In the face of such drivel in the supposedly liberal media, it is understandable why Muslim Amer- icans believed that they should not critique Obama during the campaign but instead should simply vote for him and wait.

They waited in vain. After Obama won the election, he continued Bush’s second-term foreign policy agenda. While he retreated rhetorically from the use of harsh Islamophobic language, in practice he sent thirty thousand more troops to Afghanistan, expanded the war to Pakistan, and tried to alter the Status of Forces Agreement in Iraq so as to not only extend the US occupation but also grant immunity to US troops from Iraqi prosecution. Not only did he carry out far more drone attacks on Afghanistan and Pakistan than his predecessor, he also integrated them into his strategies for Yemen and Somalia. He made a show of demon- strating his loyalty to Israel and failed, like every previous president, to prevent Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

In the context of the Arab uprisings of 2011, the Obama adminis- tration at first supported its dictatorial allies (such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, a personal friend of the Clinton family).3When it became clear that they were going to be swept from power, Obama embraced the Arab Spring, at least in public, while at the same time supporting counterrev- olutionary forces around the region. The United States continued to fund the Egyptian military, the key source of counterrevolution in that coun- try. Elsewhere the Obama White House stayed silent—such as when Saudi Arabia not only repressed its Shi’a rebellion but also sent troops to Bahrain to crush the uprising in that country. Had Obama wanted to in- tervene on the side of the prodemocracy demonstrators in Bahrain, he

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could have used the Fifth Fleet, which is stationed there. Instead, he opted to support pro-Western forces in Libya and Syria as a means of re- placing inconsistent allies and deflating movements demanding real democracy and social change.

Domestically, Obama has attacked Muslims and Arabs by continuing Bush’s policies of torture, extraordinary rendition, and preemptive pros- ecution. American Muslims continue to be harassed and persecuted by the state. The drama of “homegrown terrorism” was only heightened under Obama in 2009, paving the way for the far-right-wing Islamopho- bic warriors. Obama has even gone further than Bush in several ways. He has secured for the president the power to execute US citizens suspected of ties to terrorism without so much as a trial or the apparently unneces- sary burden of proof; the cleric and US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki was sum- marily executed in 2011. He also signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which, among other things, allows the military to de- tain “terror suspects” who are US citizens indefinitely without charge. Although this is both unconstitutional and illegal, according to the Amer- ican Civil Liberties Union,4 and even though this process has torn Muslim families apart, Obama adopted Bush’s policies and codified them into law.

Instead of pushing back against preemptive prosecution and the racist practice of targeting Muslims before they actually do anything, Obama strengthened it. Giving credence to existing radicalization programs in the law enforcement community, he unveiled his “counter-radicalization” strat- egy in 2011. In the opening statement of his strategy document, Obama argued that “most recently, al-Qa’ida and its affiliates have attempted to re- cruit and radicalize people here in the United States, as we have seen in several plots and attacks, including the deadly attack two years ago on our service members at Fort Hood.” After spending much time in 2009 em- phasizing the threat of terrorists inside US borders, as discussed in chapter 9, Obama put forward a plan to police “homegrown terrorism” by eliciting the help of the Muslim community.Yet liberal Islamophobia does not target all Muslims. It acknowledges that there are “good Muslims”—those who cooperate with the goals of empire. Thus, Obama stated that Muslims are “best positioned to take the lead because they know their communities best.” Heaping praise on Muslim Americans who have worked with the law enforcement community, he called for more such work. The document solicits the support of teachers, coaches, and community members, who are to be turned into a McCarthy-type informant system.5

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Adhering to the precepts of liberal Islamophobia, the report goes on to state that “we must counter al-Qa’ida’s propaganda that the United States is somehow at war with Islam” and instead affirm that “Islam is part of America, a country that cherishes the active participation of all its cit- izens, regardless of background and belief. We live what al-Qa’ida violently rejects—religious freedom and pluralism.” Obama added that “our rich diversity of backgrounds and faiths makes us stronger.” This is the modus operandi of liberal Islamophobia: to roundly reject Islam-bashing—and then proceed to institute proposals that target Muslims. When representa- tive Peter King held his McCarthy-style hearings in March 2011 to determine the extent of Muslim radicalization in the United States, he was rightly criticized by liberals. However, that August, when Obama in- stitutionalized this process through his “counter-radicalization” strategy, there was nary a peep of protest.

In reality, al-Qaeda is an insignificant force, and its ability to recruit in the United States is highly limited. Even members of the security ap- paratus admit as much. A month before the release of the “counter-rad- icalization” document, the Washington Post reported that it was widely believed in the CIA, as well by counterterrorism officials, that al-Qaeda was all but finished.6 A Foreign Affairs article by John Mueller titled “The Truth about al-Qaeda” arrived at the same conclusion.7 Yet, despite the lack of any credible evidence to suggest that al-Qaeda remained a threat to national security, the Obama administration launched a plan to in- crease racial profiling of Muslim Americans. Why? There are a number of reasons, but one is certainly that the “counterinsurgency” strategy— that is, the attempt to “win hearts and minds”—was largely failing abroad. Obama therefore had to turn back to counterterrorism and re- suscitate the “Islamic terrorist” enemy, albeit in liberal guise.

It is worth emphasizing that what makes this particularly insidious is that Obama is able to do so while convincing the public of his anti- racist credentials. Furthermore, this focus on Muslims as terrorists deflects attention away from the right-wing Christian terrorists who continue to attack abortion clinics. The Obama document, which was released shortly after far-right Christian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik carried out a tragic attack in Norway, gestured toward including white suprema- cists under the umbrella of terrorists. However, it insisted that “al-Qa’ida and its affiliates and adherents represent the preeminent terrorist threat to our country.”8The primary focus of the “counter-radicalization” strat-

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egy remained the Muslim community. It should therefore come as no surprise that law enforcement officials continued to spy on and infiltrate Muslim communities during the Obama era. As Abdul Malik Mujahid, a leader of the Muslim Peace Coalition, puts it, “The Muslim community in the United States has been living in a virtual internment camp ever since 9/11. Since then, more than 700,000 Muslims have been inter- viewed by the FBI.That means nearly 50 percent of all Muslim house- holds have been touched by this ‘investigation.’ Practically all mosques have been ‘checked for nuclear bombs’ or other fear-provoking reasons. That’s the level of trust we ‘enjoy’ in the Muslim community.”9

Reda Shata learned firsthand why it doesn’t pay to associate with the law enforcement establishment. He worked with the FBI and the police, inviting officers to his mosque for breakfast and even dining with Mayor Bloomberg. He personified everything that American imperialism has defined as a “good Muslim.”Yet an undercover police officer and an informant were assigned to spy on him and to keep tabs on his mosque. When he learned that he was viewed as a suspect by the very people he had invited into his mosque, Shata said: “This is very sad. . . . What is your feeling if you see this about people you trusted?” Indeed.The CBS report in which his story appears goes on to note that “the dichotomy between simultaneously being partner and suspect is common among some of New York’s Muslims. Some of the same mosques that city leaders visited to hail their strong alliances with the Muslim community have also been placed under NYPD surveillance—in some cases infiltrated by undercover police officers and informants.”10The Obama administration has contributed federal funds for the NYPD spying program.11

After years of betrayals under a Democratic president, sectors of the Muslim community started to push back. For instance, in the lead-up to the 2012 elections, a growing minority of Muslim Americans spoke out against sitting at the back of the bus. In Florida, when the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, declined an invitation to attend an event hosted by a Muslim organization, she was called out. Lambasting both the Republicans and Democrats, activist Muhammad Malik said, “I don’t think it’s an issue of a few bad apples— as long as Islamophobia is cozy within our political and social institutions, threats to full participation, dignity, and civil rights will remain alive and well.”12 Poll numbers showed declining confidence in Obama; in 2011, seven out of ten Muslim Americans viewed Obama favorably, compared

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with nine out of ten in 2008.13 Among Muslim religious leaders, fifteen clerics in New York City boycotted the supposedly tolerant Bloomberg’s annual interfaith breakfast in 2011 and sent a letter of protest signed also by rabbis, nuns, and pastors.14 A hundred imams in the New York area is- sued a statement in support of the antiwar movement’s April 2011 demon- stration. This support was mobilized by activists in the United National Antiwar Coalition, with the help of the Muslim Peace Coalition.

When the Islamophobic warriors went on a rampage against mosques and proposed Islamic community centers across the country, small coali- tions of progressive activists came together to fight back. In New York City, several left groups pulled together coalitions to plan actions against the right-wing attack on the proposed Islamic community center. On Sep- tember 11, 2010, progressives far outnumbered the bigots in two parallel demonstrations in downtown Manhattan. Thousands of New Yorkers of all shades and sizes marched to oppose Islamophobia, chanting, “Asalamu alaikum, Muslims are welcome here.”The zealots, who were largely bused in from outside the city, retreated. Park51 opened in 2012. Such efforts have been reproduced around the United States, sometimes resulting in victories, other times in defeats. CAIR chapters have mobilized against anti-Muslim bigotry and provided much-needed legal defense for besieged community members. The families of those targeted have been a constant source of resistance against anti-Muslim racism. Along with progressive lawyers, they have fought to win justice for their family members and to raise public consciousness and awareness. By the end of the first decade after 9/11, these families were coming together from across the country at various conferences to begin mounting a collective fight against pre- emptive persecution and prisoner abuse.After the NYPD’s “human map- ping program” became public, DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), a South Asian immigrant rights organization that has been active around anti-Muslim racism, called demonstrations and press conferences. Activists in the Occupy Wall Street movement then took up this issue, helping to organize rallies to call for the resignation of NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly. At these rallies, activists explicitly connected the NYPD’s targeting of the black and Latino communities and the savage repression of OWS protestors with its racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims.

It is through grassroots efforts like these that Islamophobia can be fought. In the context of these struggles, it is becoming clear that it is important to connect local issues to the broader context. As the Occupy

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Wall Street movement has argued, the “99 percent” is up against a tiny minority at the top of society that benefits not only from an unjust eco- nomic system but also from an unjust political system. As Mujahid puts it: “First, Islamophobia, war, and terrorism are all connected phenomena. So we need to fight against war and Islamophobia, as well as terrorism. Second, hate and poverty are not only problems the Muslim community faces. Other communities face similar problems. We can and must unite with as [many] broad forces as we can to mount a resistance.”15

Indeed, Muslims, Arabs, and others who “look Muslim” aren’t the only people who stand to benefit from a successful struggle against Is- lamophobia. Such a struggle is also in the interests of the vast majority of Americans, who have had trillions of dollars stolen from their health care, education, infrastructure, and public transportation and funneled into the machinery of death. Working-class Americans of all races have nothing to gain from the spoils of empire—and everything to lose. The multiracial demonstrations against the attacks on mosques from Staten Island to Murfreesboro to Gainesville show that such solidarity is possible. The only way to challenge the climate of fear and hate is to confront bigotry wherever it raises its head, and simultaneously to build an alter- native to the mainstream parties that not only have failed to stand up against racism but have actively fueled it. Only a politics that links the attacks on civil liberties with US imperialist policy can show that anti- Muslim bigotry is about creating a political climate in which the United States can invade other countries at will and suppress dissent at home.

At the end of the day, the vast majority of ordinary people around the world are forced to live under a profoundly unjust and unequal sys- tem. The year 2011 showed that this system and its warped priorities will not go unchallenged. The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt spread not only to other countries in the region but also to Europe and the United States. Protestors learned strategy and tactics from one another as public spaces became key focal points for the movements. From Tahrir Square in Egypt to Pearl Square in Bahrain, the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Syntagma Square in Athens, and Zuccotti Park in New York City, protest moments self-consciously honored one another through solidarity greetings and the imitation of tactics. Despite local differences, all of the movements were directed against the regime of the 1 percent. Instead of feeling pity for their Arab brothers and sisters, people in the West took inspiration from the successes of their counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt. In place of

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the “white man’s burden,” a politics of international solidarity began to come into being.

The last time that people from around the world stood up together was almost half a century ago.The national liberation struggles that swept the world from India to Algeria in the postwar period rattled the centers of imperialism, even as struggles were beginning to emerge inside Europe and the United States. Today we are entering a similar era. This is an era of revolution that brings with it the potential to create a brand-new so- ciety free of racism and war: a new world where every individual, re- gardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion will be treated with respect; a world where the ideology of Islamophobia will be dumped into the dustbin of history, and that will be the end of that.

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