New Orientalism, Securitisation and the Western Media's Incendiary Racism

Bibliographic Data

ID7426904
AuthorsTariq Amin-Khan (corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume33
Issue9
Pages1595-1610
Publication date2012-10-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThird World Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0143-6597 • E-ISSN: 1360-2241
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01436597.2012.720831
OpenAlexW1968703461
LanguageEN
Citations received41

The new Orientalism idea is predicated on the clash of civilisations thesis of Samuel Huntington and others—an outlook which has spread swiftly in Western states since September 11. I explore the implications of the new Orientalism and the assertion of white supremacy for diaspora Muslims in Western societies. Its expression in the media in the form of raced and gendered portrayals and demonised cultural representations of Muslims and Islam, with the accompanying assumption of the superiority of Western culture, is identified here as incendiary racism. This racism also underpins the simultaneous vilification of Muslims and Islam, a claim supported by my analysis of media coverage of the ‘niqab debate’, terrorism and sports. Thus, at one level, I analyse the Western media's depictions. At another, I examine the consequences of securitisation and the Long War, and critically assess the argument that securitisation has existed from time immemorial and represents nothing new—which leads me to challenge its ahistorical assumptions, and the treatment of the securitiser and the securitised as coeval. Notes 1 In using the terms the ‘the West’, ‘Western’, ‘Muslims’ and ‘Islam’, I have no intention of being reductive or to homogenise the diversity of European, North American, and Australasian societies or the incredible diversity within Muslims and Islam. The terms as used here convey the two polarities and, at times, are convenient identifiers of the subject parties. 2 See M Carreon-Diez, ‘Securitized individuals: refugees and non-status immigrants within Canadian immigration policy’, poster presented at ‘Future immigration policies: challenges and opportunities for Canada’, 14th National Metropolis Conference, Toronto, 28 February–3 March 2012. 3 See S Croft, Securitizing Islam: Identity and the Search for Security, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. 4 E Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and Experts See How We See the Rest of the World, New York: Pantheon, 1981. 5 P Anderson, Lineages of the Absolutist State, London: Verso, 1974, p 390. 6 Ibid, pp 390, 460–468. 7 See M Bernal, Black Athena: The Afro-Asiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, London: Free Association Books, 1987. 8 A Smith, An Inquiry in to the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol 1, eds RH Campbell & AS Skinner, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Classics, 1981, p 399. 9 See F Bernier, Travels in the Mughal Empire, AD 1656–1668, trans A Constable, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1934. This work is a translation of Voyages dans les États du Grand Mogol, 1699. 10 I use the hyphenated form of the term, post-colonial, not in a postmodern/poststructuralist sense; rather, as a way to ‘periodise from the colonial era the decolonisation of the former colonies [and the formal ending of colonial rule] only to be reinscribed by dependency, subordination, and underdevelopment of post-colonial societies’. See T Amin-Khan, The Post-Colonial State in the Era of Capitalist Globalization: Historical, Political and Theoretical Approaches to State Formation, New York: Routledge, 2012, p 1. 11 S Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996; and B. Lewis, ‘The roots of Muslim rage’, Atlantic Monthly, September 1990, pp 48–54. 12 T Amin-Khan, ‘Issues of power and modernity in understanding political and militant Islam’, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 29(3), 2009, pp 544–555. 13 S Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1968. 14 T Amin-Khan, ‘The rise of militant Islam and the security state in the era of the “Long War”’, Third World Quarterly, 30(4), 2009, pp 813–828. 15 T Ross, ‘Whiteness after 9/11’, Washington University Journal of Law and Policy, 18(2), 2005, pp 223–243. 16 M Townsend & I Traynor. ‘Norway attacks: how far right views created Anders Behring Breivik’, Guardian, 30 July 2011, at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/30/norway-attacks-anders-behring-breivik?INTCMP=SRCH, accessed 7 August 2011. 17 ‘Sikh temple shooter's time in a white supremacist underworld’, Democracy Now blog on Huffington Post, 6 August 2012, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/democracy-now/sikh-temple-shooters-time_b_1752415.html, accessed 6 August 2012. 18 For a very disturbing video about the edl, see M Taylor, G Grandjean, T Smith & J Parkinson, ‘English Defence League uncovered’, Guardian, 28 May 2010, at http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2010/may/28/english-defence-league-uncovered?INTCMP=SRCH, accessed 8 August 2011 . 19 Southern Poverty Law Centre, ‘Hate map 2011’, at http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map, accessed 7 August 2012. 20 See A Al-Saji, ‘The racialization of Muslim veils: a philosophical analysis’, Philosophy and Social Criticism, 36(8), 2010, pp 875–902; and G Khiabany & M Williamson, ‘Veiled bodies—naked racism: culture, politics and race in the Sun’, Race and Class, 50(2), 2008, pp 69–88. 21 ‘Belgian ban on full veils comes into force’, bbc News, 23 July 2011, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14261921, accessed 25 July 2011. 22 N Iqbal, ‘Ban on Muslim women covering faces with veils in France’, Newsbeat (bbc Radio), 11 April 2011, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/13032250, accessed 25 July 2011. 23 See G Galloway & J Taber, ‘Tories, Liberals back Quebec's veil ban’, Globe and Mail, 26 March 2010, at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-liberals-back-quebecs-veil-ban/article1514265/, accessed 25 July 2011. 24 See A McClintock, Imperial Leather: Race, Gender and Sexuality in the Colonial Context, New York: Routledge, 1995. 25 See Al-Saji, ‘The racialization of Muslim veils’; and Khiabany & Williamson, ‘Veiled bodies—naked racism’. 26 Khiabany & Williamson, ‘Veiled bodies—naked racism’, p 70. 27 Cited in ibid, p 74. 28 Al-Saji, ‘The racialization of Muslim veils’, p 877. 29 A Sivanandan, ‘Race, terror and civil society’, Race and Class, 47(3), 2006, p 2. 30 P Sonwalker, ‘Book review: Muslims in the media’, European Journal of Communications, 22, 2007, p 123. 31 B Whittaker, ‘Islam and the British press after September 11’, paper presented at the Conference on Islam and the Media, Central London Mosque, 20 June 2002, at http://www.al-bab.com/media/articles/bw020620.htm, accessed 30 July 2011. 32 E Abrahamian, ‘The US media, Huntington and September 11’, Third World Quarterly, 24(3), 2003, p 529. 33 Ibid, 534. 34 D Malcolm, A Bairner & G Curry, ‘“Woolmergate”: cricket and the representation of Islam and Muslims in the British press’, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 34(2), 2010, p 220. 35 Ibid, p 221. 36 See SH Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims from Western Law and Politics, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 37 J Miller & C Sack, ‘The Toronto-18 terror case: trial by media? How newspaper opinion framed Canada's biggest terrorism case’, Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, 10(1), 2010, pp 279–295. See also Miller & Sack, ‘How the Canadian government manipulated the media in the Toronto 18 terrorism case’, Canadian Journal of Media Studies, 8, 2010, pp 1–12. 38 Miller & Sack, ‘The Toronto-18 terror case’, p 279. 39 Ibid, pp 279, 284–285. 40 Cited in Miller & Sack, ‘How the Canadian government manipulated the media’, p 1. 41 Cited in Miller & Sack, ‘The Toronto-18 terror case’, p 286. 42 Cited in ibid, p 289. 43 Cited in ibid, pp 288–289. 44 M Steyn, ‘The future belongs to Islam’, Maclean's, 20 October 2006, at http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20061023_134898_134898&source=srch, accessed 30 July 2011. 45 ‘Commission Statement Concerning Issues Raised by Complaints against Maclean's Magazine’, Ontario Human Rights Commission, 8 April 2008, at http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/resources/news/statement/view, accessed 30 July 2011. 46 Ibid. 47 It should be said that incendiary racism in the pages of Maclean's was again an issue in its 10 November 2010 article, which targeted Chinese students for their high enrolment in Canadian universities, especially the University of Toronto. The article was originally entitled, ‘Too Asian?’, but because of protests from the Chinese community and anti-racist activists, it was re-titled: ‘The enrollment controversy’. See S Findlay & N Köhler, ‘Too Asian?’, Maclean's, 10 November 2010, at http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/10/too-asian/, accessed 2 October 2011. 48 ‘The right to offend’, Globe and Mail, 30 June 2008, p A14. 49 Amin-Khan, ‘The rise of militant Islam and the security state in the era of the “Long War”’, p 820. 50 ‘WikiLeaks showing reporter killings in Iraq—RT 100406’, YouTube video, ‘newsupload2010’, 6 April 2010, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13qWADMfQnQ&feature=fvwrel, uploaded 7 August 2011. 51 Amin-Khan, ‘The rise of militant Islam and the security state in the era of the “Long War”’, pp 813–828. 52 Croft, Securitizing Islam. 53 G Titley & A Lentin, ‘Anders Behring Breivik had no legitimate grievance: politicians should not use the Norway attacks to drag the idea of multicultural failure into mainstream acceptability’, Guardian, 26 July 2011, at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/26/anders-behring-breivik-multicultural-failure?INTCMP=SRCH, accessed 7 July 2011

Argument (complex analysis · Diaspora · Homeland · Islamophobia · Orientalism · Global Security and Public Health · Philippine History and Culture · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence

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