The Power Of Networks: Resistance To International Islamophobia Must Also Be Global
02 September 2017Malia Bouattia
The recent events in Charlottesville, which led to the death of anti-fascist
protester Heather Heyer have horrified people globally, particularly following
the lack of condemnation by the US President - usually so quick to vocalise
his outrage over acts of terrorism; namely when they involve Muslims.
To many, however, Trump's response was far from shocking. The hate-filled
speech used since his presidential campaign has empowered and further
legitimised far-Right groups not just in the US, but worldwide, and normalised
much of their discourse and actions.
The trend of rising racism and fascism doesn't stop at the American borders
either. Just over the last few months, the UK has witnessed an alarming spike
in hate crime.
Following the attempt to mow down people leaving Finsbury Park's Muslim
Welfare House that left one dead and many injured, acid attacks targeting
Muslims swept the nation.
Muslims were left feeling too afraid to leave our homes and when we did,
windows of vehicles would be tightly sealed despite the unbearable July heat.
However, this rise in Islamophobia is perhaps just as unsurprising as Trump's
failure to address white supremacy.
Indeed, we too live in a country where racists are given the green light by
the policies and rhetoric of our government.
Today the PREVENT agenda is the clearest form of institutionalised
Islamophobia that targets Muslims and other minorities in our society. Under
the guise of counter-terrorism and "preventing radicalisation", PREVENT
mandates teachers, lecturers, doctors and psychologists to monitor service
users - that is students and patients - for ill-defined signs of "non-violent
extremism". Toddlers as young as four are rendered suspect.
Since PREVENT became statutory duty, we have seen an increased securitisation
of public spaces with heavy surveillance and racial profiling, as well as the
cirminalising of dissent. Now, nations around the world are taking inspiration
from this Draconian policy. European countries including Belgium and France
have cited our practices as exemplary, whilst the US has already piloted a
similar programme known as 'Countering Violent Extremism' (CVE).
The 16-year long so-called War on Terror has legitimised racialised violence
in countries across both sides of the Atlantic. In France, there has been a
sharp rise in far-Right mobilisations. The growing popularity of the Front
National allowed Marine Le Pen to make it into the second round of the
presidential elections.
This hate is not limited to fascist leaning political parties and neo-Nazis;
just as complicit are the state institutions and even left-wing French
political parties that justify their Islamophobic targeting of Muslim women in
schools and universities under the cover of secularism.
Similar to the UK where PEGIDA and Britain First have strengthened their
numbers, the state's role should not be overlooked. From the scapegoating of
migrants as the cause of unemployment and the deterioration of the welfare
state, to the stripping of basic civil liberties because of the "Muslim
threat" to security, the French state has facilitated, and justified systemic
racism and xenophobia.
It is against this backdrop of a global rise in state as well as street
racism, that along with other antiracist campaigners from the UK and France, I
teamed up with activists in the US to strengthen international resistance to
such strategies.
We travelled to Los Angeles, California - one of three pilot cities for CVE
along with Boston and Minneapolis - to meet with a wide range of groups from
Black Lives Matter, to the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, Justice Warriors
for Black Lives, Vigilant Love, MPower, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU),
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Jewish Voices for Peace to collaborate in the fight against racism
and Islamophobia.
This gathering of international groups explored the parallels in state
violence, structural and interpersonal anti-Muslim racism, and set out key
aims of organising across borders.
Yasser Louati, chair of the Committee of Justice and Liberty for all (Comité
Justice & Libertés Pour Tous), who also joined the delegation, has long been
urging a transnational unity as a matter of urgency given the intensified
climate of hate and the strengthening of the Islamophobia industry that sees
nations adopting and enabling each other's regressive policies.
In his public call Louati warns,"Islamophobia industries on both sides of the
Atlantic work together to bolster each other's work and status. They operate
on the same issues, meet each other with more or less the same objectives in
mind and share connections and resources in addition to ideas.
This has essentially created a global network of anti-Muslim efforts that draw
from one another in a way that the leadership in Muslim communities
(particularly in North America, France and the UK) has yet to recognise."
The Defending Civil liberties delegation to LA couldn't have come at a more
important time. One of the key organisers of the tour, Margari Hill,
co-founder of MuslimARC known for the #BeingBlackandMuslim campaign that went
viral, has argued "As a descendant of enslaved Africans, I know that my
liberation is intricately linked with the struggles of people globally.
The trans-Atlantic slave trade was an endeavour that involved Africa, Europe,
North America, South America and the Caribbean, abolishing it meant addressing
a global system. Black liberation has always been about everybody getting
free."
One of the most urgent issues facing US Muslims is the now active travel ban,
which prevents family members, partners and refugees from travelling to the US
from six Muslim-majority countries.
It is the responsibility of people around the world to apply pressure on our
leaders to revoke Trump's state visits, to vocalise opposition to such
practices, and visibly extend solidarity through continued "Stop Trump"
demonstrations.
Rolling out CVE across the US will only intensify the active demonisation and
isolation of Muslims across American society.
Active opposition to the PREVENT strategy in the UK taught us that solidarity
actions can also serve as an important platform for raising local issues. The
international nature of the onslaught against Muslims also means that
international resistance and solidarity must play a crucial role in countering
the global assault.
An attack on one of us, literally is an attack on us all. It is in this
spirit, that the delegation extended solidarity to US activists and will
continue to organise international networks of solidarity to tackle state-led
Islamophobia.
For too long, those facing the brunt of anti-Muslim oppression have been left
to oppose it alone, but with PREVENT, CVE, and other sister legislations now
undermining everyone's civil liberties, lessons are
being learned.
Resistance must come from all groups and communities who have an interest in
fighting for a more equal society. The foundations of an effective anti-racist
movement on
a national and even international level, will be the strength of the local
coalitions built through shared debate, strategising and action.
The transnational networks can strengthen our work, as long as it is followed
up by consistent and principled coalition building on the ground, wherever we
are.
And as always, the struggle continues.
Malia Bouattia is an activist, the former President of the National Union
of Students, and co-founder of the Students not Suspects/Educators not
Informants Network.
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