Murfreesboro to Munich: Western security and Cameron’s Islamophobia

Freedom of religion returns to Tunisia. One of the areas of society that has been liberated from Ben Ali regime is religious practice. The US-Western supported regime banned the practice of religion, especially Islam, as the religion was viewed as impeding the development of a secular state.  As a result, mosques were closed and women were forbidden from wearing the headscarf. It seems that faithful Muslims were labeled “extremists” and “Islamist terrorists” under the Ben Ali regime. Humm…sounds familiar, doesn’t it?Now – people in Tunisia are cleaning out mosques and other houses of worship – and Muslim women are proudly wearing the hijab. Faithful Muslims were jailed under “anti-terrorism” laws as the Ben Ali regime feared gatherings of Muslims, especially young people. Thousands of “moderate” Muslims were imprisoned, as is the case in other Western sponsored dictatorships in the Arab-Muslim world. In Egypt, journalists, democracy and human rights activists continue to be jailed by the US-European backed Mubarak regime. In Tunisia, women are not only enjoying the freedom of Islamic dress, even as it is being taken away in “liberal democratic” Europe.Many people are now waking up to the idea that the maintenance of autocracies in Arab-Muslim countries, especially around Israel, is a form of “security and counter-terrorism practice” for the US and Europe.

This “security and counter-terrorism practice” included the denial of basic human rights, like freedom of speech, and brutal policing practices for “suspected Islamist radicals,” which often swept up people with no violent ideological beliefs.However – this squashing of human rights and basic freedom extends into the Western world too and is destroying our liberal values, freedoms and cherished national identities (Netherlands). The most noted example are the calls to ban burkas, even headscarves, and attacks on the basic freedoms of  long-established Muslim communities, stretching from Murfreesboro to Munich. Accroding to Michael Leonardi of Counterpunch (emphasis mine):

There has been muted and meek response coming from Europe in response to the uprisings for an end to dictatorial rule and for economic and social justice in Tunisia, Egypt and across the middle east. This weak response can be credited to a tsunami of Islamophobia that has swept through the western world since the Bush administration’s propaganda campaign to win support for the perpetual war on terror. In Europe Muslim extremists are the boogeymen in the collective closet. The citizenry of Fortress Europe and the United States shudders in alarmist fear over often fabricated threats from intelligence programs geared toward ingraining the myth about the arab terrorist lurking around every corner. Irrational fears of the immigrants coming from North Africa and the Middle East to rape and destroy the traditions of Western European culture permeate European society as the NATO allies in Europe have continued to successfully perpetuate these misconceptions about Muslims and arabs even after Bush’s departure.

Those that claim to be defending “our liberal democratic values” from non-existent “European Islamist terrorists,” like David Cameron, are actually the real threat to our liberal democratic values. Look for calls from the likes of David Cameron to continue to use the threat of non-existent “European jihadists” to continue to squash freedoms and liberties (our liberal values) of Muslims living in the Western world. Both the external, as well as internal security policies of the US and Europe are aimed at squashing the human rights of Muslims the world over – and based on the radical and extremist Fortuyn-Wilders ideology that “Islam is an ideology” that is a “threat to our liberal values.”Squashing freedoms and liberties in the name of “security” and “counter-terrorism” here in the West! One of those embracing Fortuyn-Wilders radical ideology is David Cameron, and now multiculturalism is the new “security threat.”  From the democratic revolutions erupting in the Arab-Muslim world, we start to see clearly that sponsoring dictatorship and squashing religious and cultural expression for Muslims from Murfreesboro to Munich is based on Islamophobia. The demonizing of multiculturalism as “ground for jihadists” is part of this Islamophobia-based security and counter-terrorism paradigm.The next step in making multiculturalism a “security threat” is to label those citizens in minority groups in Western counties that continue to practice their religion and observe cultural norms of dress, diet choices, music and celebrations – will be labeled “radical and extremist.” This is what British PM David Cameron thinks he will do, continue to label ethnic and religious minorities as “security threats” through demonizing multiculturalism.It’s clear David Cameron is the real threat to our liberal democratic freedoms and right to practice our own culture. People like Cameron think that they’ll label ethnic minorities as “radical and extremists” for their choice of dress, foods, music – and so on – he has another thing coming, as Islamophobia as security policy is being discredited as anti-freedom and utterly against the norms and values of our liberal democracies. The time of oppressing others with Islamophobia myths in the name of “counter-terrorism” and as sick security practice is coming to an end and Cameron and like-minded “security experts” will find themselves exposed as the real threat to our whole way of life, not phantom “jihadists” who are “taking advantage of multiculturalism.”The truth is that David Cameron needs to put up or shut up: What “Islamist terrorism in Europe” is being spawn by multiculturalism? The truth is that multiculturalism has NEVER produced a single “jihadist” or “Islamist” terrorist.

How young Arab-Muslim democracies can help fight self destructive Euro-American Islamophobia. The truth is that the likes of David Cameron, along with Geert Wilders, and other radical, extremists in the Euro-American and Lukid Party are the ones that are threatening and destroying Western culture and “ou liberal democratic values.”  The sad aspect of the use of Islamophobia as a security paradigm is that Dutch culture and national heritage of religious tolerance and openness has been utterly decimated by Islamophobic myths of  “Eurabia” and “Islamisation of the Netherlands” spread by “heroes” Fortuyn and Wilders.Now – should Arab-Muslim democratic revolutions produce liberal democracies, with full freedoms – as they appear to be headed for in Tunisia and Egypt, then this could be a powerful platform with which to challenge Euro-American Islamophobia.  This means that young Arab democracies must become secure from religious extremists and anti-democratic policies. It is only from this moral high-ground can Arab-Muslim democracies challenge Euro-American Islamophobic radicalism and extremism in the international communities, especially at the United Nations. Only with legitimate liberal democracy and peaceful international activism can Arab-Muslim democracies challenge Islamophobia as a “security and counter-terrorism” paradigm. Should Arab-Muslim democracies spring up based on “our liberal democratic values,” Islamophobes like Geert Wilders and David Cameron can face a very lonely and isolated future, indeed.