The year 2021 on Closer – Salafism, Racism and COVID19

Welcome on my annual overview of the most read posts on Closer. It was another year with COVID19 and lots of discussions on race, security and Salafism. Here my most popular posts written this year

English

1. How extremists perceive and interact with the Dutch government – In our study, Beleidsinstrumenten en extremistische wereldbeelden – Een verkennend rapport [Policy Instruments and Extremist World Views – An Exploratory Study], Maria Vliek and I focus on how different extremist groups or individuals perceive government policy instruments, how they respond to them, and how government policies relate to their self-identification. In doing so, it explores the paradox of modern democracy: How does a democratic society deal with the undemocratic elements in its midst? Whether it is the use of repressive means against demonstrations, or the reintegration programmes for repatriating the Dutch foreign fighters in Syria, the government is involved in the ‘governance’ of possibly undemocratic elements. Conversely, extremist groups react to government policies; a key aspect of political activism, whether extremist or not, is to challenge the status quo. The study was commissioned by the Research and Documentation Center of the Ministry of Justice and Security.
2. COVID19 and Muslims in the Netherlands 1: Testing Muslims – In order to understand how people are dealing with the pandemic and its measures, I argue we need to beyond the good and bad frame which, in the case of Muslims, also taps into and builds upon already existing discussions of good and bad citizens and good and bad Muslims. We need to look at the many ways of meaning making, the innovative responses to how to deal with the limitations to the demands of collective worship, what are the factors that constitute the program of action by individuals and organizations and how are political and religious leaders from various sections of society scapegoating Muslims (or other believers) in the pandemic? This is the full text of my lecture at the annual symposium of the department of Islamstudies at Radboud University, 14 June 2021.
3. Essential interests: How Dutch counter-radicalisation policies collapse state, nation and society – In this text I argue that contrary to the Netherlands Council of State’s recent verdict, the Dutch policy of stripping people’s Dutch nationality can be identified as a form of indirect, institutionalised discrimination and yet another example of the conditional citizenship provided for citizens who are considered to be out of place. Second, I will show that the verdict conflates the Dutch state with nation and society, and in so doing conceals the precarious position of some citizens in Dutch society by employing a language of security.

Dutch

1. Nieuwsuur en de normalisering van de racistische omvolkingsmythe: Demografie, babies en Nederlanders – Eerder dit jaar vertoonde het programma Nieuwsuur een eigen reportage met de stelling dat er te weinig babies worden geboren in Nederland. In de aankondiging zien we een keurig wit gezinnetje en de vraag of ‘we’ meer kinderen moeten krijgen? Wie bedoelt de redactie van Nieuwsuur daarmee? In deze post stel ik dat Nieuwsuur zich hier volledig begeeft op het terrein van de omvolkingsmythe want uit de aankondiging kunnen we aflezen dat ‘we’ meer kinderen moeten krijgen zodat we minder minder migranten nodig hebben.
2. Ontwikkeling van het salafisme onder Turken: de invloed in Nederland – Eerder dit jaar gooide HP/De Tijd een ‘onvoldragen’ analyse van de NCTV over Turks Salafisme in Nederland over de schutting. In dee post ga ik op de NCTV analyse en de weergave van de HP/De Tijd ervan (ik heb de NCTV nota niet). Dan kort iets over Turkse Nederlanders en salafisme in Turkije en Nederland. Vervolgens kijk ik naar wat gezegd wordt over het ‘islamitische landschap’, de verschillende Turkse bewegingen (ga er goed voor zitten!) en tot slot het bewijs dat moet laten zien dat Erdogan altijd al radicaal was.
3. Salafisme als beschuldiging: Wahhabi Salafisme, AIVD/ NCTV en ‘persoon 1’: Recent kwam de AIVD met een nieuwe term om potentiële toekomstige risico’s voor de rechtsstaat te duiden: wahhabi salafisme. Deze term is de zoveelste variant op ‘onacceptabele islam’ en collega’s hebben de nodige, terechte, kritiek op de inhoud van de uitleg gegeven. Maar we kunnen de kritiek nog verder nemen. Aan de hand van de casus van Persoon 1 wordt uitgelegd wat de AIVD met de term doet, hoe dit een vorm van machtsuitoefening is en wat de mogelijke consequenties daarvan zijn.

Overall

The three most read posts of all times are no surprise: they have been see for more than five years now. And number 1 is actually also the most read post of this year.

1. Muselmann: The Prisoners who became ‘Muslims’ in Auschwitz – The first time I encountered the term Muselmann or its plural Muselmänner in relation to the concentration camps was in Primo Levi’s extraordinary book If this is a man. The term Muselmann is used in German to mean Muslim (like the old-fashioned Dutch word Muzelman and the term Musulmane which is still used in French). But the way Muselmann was used in the concentration camps does not directly refer to the Muslims, according to Levi in his book. Whilst there is a lot of uncertainty about the term Muselmann, there has also been remarkably little investigation into its origins and why it was used in a concentration camp. What I am writing here is also no more than an exploration of the recent literature.
2. Muselmann: Joden als Moslims in de Concentratiekampen – Een older, Dutch version, of the no. text.
3. ‘Een ouderwetse sociaal-democraat’: Koopmans over de vermeende dreiging van ‘de (radicale) islam’ – My review in Dutch on Ruud Koopmans’ work on Religious Fundamentalism and Hostility against Out-groups and on comparative integration studies. This is really my friendly side.

Academic work

What am I going to do in 2022 (God willing)?

Lots of things. Stay tuned for work on the repatriation of Europeans from the detention camps in Northern Syria, on Islamophobia and racialization and on surveillance and religiosity.