CIVICUS

FROM THE DESK OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Impacts of the War on Terror on Civil Society Space

Release Date: 10 October 2007

By Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS Secretary-General

Dear e-CIVICUS Subscriber,

If you had a chance to participate in last week’s historic mobilisation on UN International Day for Poverty Eradication then you should be proud to have contributed to the largest ever mobilisation of citizens on a single issue during a 24 hour period, independently verified by the Guinness Book of Records. This week sees a controversial Islam o-Facism Awareness Week in the United States of America. For this week’s column I have invited my CIVICUS colleague, Di ana Eltahawy, Civil Society Networks Coordinator, to provide a reflection on this initiative. In her column she also highlights the growing reduction of democratic space generally and civic space specifically.

In solidarity,

Kumi Naidoo

Islam: The New Fascism?
By Diana Eltahawy, CIVICUS Civil Society Networks Coordinator

“Islam o-Fascism Awareness Week”, organised by the Terrorism Awareness Project of the David Horowitz Freedom Centre, has sparked considerable debate and controversy at US university campuses and beyond. The self-declared goals of the protest week, scheduled at over one hundred US university campuses between the 22^nd and 26^th of October, are to “ confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the “war on terror” and that global warming is a greater danger to Americans than global jihad and Islam ic supremacism.” [1] Proponents of “ Islam o-Fascism Awareness Week” argue that the week’s events are meant to reveal the truth about the dangers of Islam ic fundamentalism and defend the values of democracy and tolerance. Critics of the week’s events warn against its repercussions on the existent climate of polarisation between those who support the American administration’s counter-terrorism tactics and foreign policy and those who oppose them. Additionally, opponents fear that the selection of right-wing speakers and documentaries will serve to further strengthen anti-Muslim stereotypes, racial and religious bigotry and the alienation of Muslim communities in the West. In my opinion, the most dangerous aspect of the event is its denial of the negative effects of “The War on Terror” on civil liberties, democratisation and the participation of legitimate groups within civil society ─ trends that precipitated globally in democratic countries as well as authoritarian states since the 11^th of September 2001.

The suppression of civil society by national authorities and the occurrence of widespread human rights abuses in a climate of international impunity have been well documented in numerous authoritarian states, as well as “m ana ged democracies”[2]. Under the guise of combating terrorism and protecting national security from both external and internal threats, governments in Russia, Uganda, China, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Pakistan and Nigeria, to name a few, have used a variety of methods ranging from the introduction of repressive anti-terror legislation, the passage or extension of emergency or martial law, the amendment of money-laundering regulations and amendments to NGO legislation, to torture and other forms of ill-treatment, extra-judiciary detentions, denial of due process, disappearances and other grave human rights offences with the aim of silencing dissent. Many autocratic governments ─ particularly American allies in the “War on Terror” in the Middle East ─ are resisting calls to democratise and open up political space by evoking the threat of Islam ic terrorism and unrest, a message well received by Western dominant powers who chose to ignore or at best merely provide discursive support for the promotion of democracy and human rights in Muslim countries. Western rejection of democratic choices of Political Islam in Algeria in 1991 and the Palestinian Occupied Territories in 2006 also sent clear messages to American allies in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and Pakistan, among others, that security and national interest take precedence over democracy and human rights. On the other hand, vocal opponents of US foreign policy and the “War on Terror” in the Middle East such as Syria and Iran justify their curtailment of civil society and continual human rights abuses by pointing the finger at established democracies, who themselves place limits on civil liberties and human rights in the name of fighting terror. Human rights organisations have well documented the passage of anti-terror legislation that curbs civil liberties and human rights and the occurrence of extraordinary renditions, unlawful detention and trials, deportation of “possible terrorists” and even torture in established democracies such as the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to such blatant attacks on civil society and human rights globally, the “War on Terror” has other impacts on the ability of a diversity of groups within civil society to flourish. As pointed out by scholars at the Civil Society Centre of the London School of Economics, the War on Terror has resulted in the coordination of local civil societies by international donors with the effects of marginalising less established and more politically active organisations and the diversion of considerable amounts of funding for international development from civil society to governments or government agencies as exemplified in the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. [3] Faith-based organisations in Muslim countries are among those affected given donors’ reluctance to increase their transaction costs in light of the legal requirements in many donor countries in relation to funding “Muslim” organisations. This trend results in stifling a diversity of voices within civil society in Muslim countries, where faith-based organisations have traditionally played important roles, not only in service delivery and development, but also in advocacy and democratisation. For example, scholars of civil society in Egypt contend that Islam ic civil society organisations in Egypt are much more organised, extensive and efficient and have broader memberships than secular ones. [4] Side-tracking Islam ic civil society, which enjoys broad support among populations in the Muslim world in national and international development efforts is not only undemocratic, but also counterproductive. Viewpoints such as those exemplified by the organiser of “Islam o-Fascism Awareness Week”, David Horowitz, who equated Muslim Student Associations and the Council of American Islam ic Relations with Hamas, aim to demonise and marginalise legitimate actors within civil society both in the West and in Muslim countries.[5]

While a number of issues raised by the organisers of the “ Islam o-Fascism Awareness Week” are valid, such as the existence of bigotry, sexism and intolerance in Islam ic fundamentalism, the event fails to address the issue comprehensively and seems to equate Islam and all Muslims with the actions and beliefs of a minority. The choice of inflammatory and selective material about Islam and conservative speakers such as Ann Coulter and Rick Santorum, who, respectively, express blatantly racist views against Muslims and oppose abortion, birth control and homosexuality, in order to raise awareness of the threat of Muslim fundamentalism and its treatment of women, appears to be more effective in reinforcing xenophobia and further polarising the debate, rather than creating awareness. Problems in Muslim countries and the threat of terrorism can only be resolved through promoting an environment where civil society and citizen participation can flourish and where all factions of civil society in Muslim countries are included.

In solidarity,

Diana Eltahawy

[1] Horowitz, David. “Islam o-Fascism Awareness Week”. FrontPageMagazine. <www.frontpagemagazine.com>

[2] Term coined by Russian authorities in 2000, now increasingly used to describe former Soviet regimes including Russian, Kyrgyzstan, etc.

[3] Howell, Jude, A. Ishkanian, E. Obadare, H. Seckinelgin, and M. Glasius“ The Backlash Against Civil Society in the Wake of the Long War on Terror”. Civil Society Working Paper number 26. Centre for Civil Society. London School of Economics. 2006, p18.

[4] Among these scholars are Ibrahim, Sullivan, Abed-Kotob, Ben Nefissa-Paris.

[5] Horowitz, David. “Islam o-Fascism Awareness Week”. FrontPageMagazine. <www.frontpagemagazine.com>

To send you comments, suggestions or contributions of articles, e-mail editor@civicus.org.

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