Muslims condemning violent extremism - An interdisciplinary analysis of public initiatives in the Netherlands and Norway 2001-2015

Project Information

MUSLIM-NLNO

Grant agreement ID: 703071

DOI

10.3030/703071

Project closed

EC signature date 17 March 2016

Start date 1 June 2016

End date 31 May 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 177 598,80

EU contribution

€ 177 598,80

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MUSLIM-NLNO (Muslims condemning violent extremism - An interdisciplinary analysis of public initiatives in the Netherlands and Norway 2001-2015)

Reporting period: 2016-06-01 to 2018-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Muslims in Europe have repeatedly been urged to condemn violent extremism. Although the vast majority of Muslims does not support terrorism, many of them feel stigmatised by the growing pressure to continually prove that they are peaceful and loyal citizens. Still, Muslims have spoken up against violent extremism much more often than what is commonly acknowledged. The aim of this project has been to provide a critical analysis of statements made by Muslims in the Netherlands and Norway against violent extremism, and of the public debates surrounding these statements. What motivates Muslims to publicly speak up against violence committed in the name of Islam, how do they try to convey their message through different forms of media, and how are these statements received in society? The project consisted of two parts. The aim of the first part has been to explore recent developments in public debates about the need for Muslims to denounce violent extremism. In the second part of the project, specific initiatives taken by Muslims were studied in depth through case studies. All in all, this project has provided critical insights in the marginalisation of Muslims in Europe, the ways in which Muslims try to resist their marginalisation, and the mechanisms of social cohesion at a time of growing global threats.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project consisted of four work packages: an analysis of the Dutch public debate about the need for Muslims to denounce violent extremism (WP1), an analysis of the Norwegian public debate (WP2), cases studies of public initiatives taken by Muslims in the Netherlands (WP3), and case studies of public initiatives in Norway (WP4). For WP1 and WP2, Critical Discourse Analysis was applied to a selection of more than 1000 newspaper articles per country, dating from 11 September 2001 until 11 September 2016. Relevant newspaper articles were collected through the online databases LexisNexis (the Netherlands) and Atekst Retriever (Norway). WP3 and WP4 consist of eight case studies of public initiatives taken by Muslims (five for the Netherlands and three for Norway), through which they explicitly condemned terrorist attacks and/or criticised the demand on Muslims to denounce terrorism. The included initiatives vary from a poster campaign against violent extremism by Moroccan-Dutch youth in Amsterdam after the murder of Theo van Gogh in 2004, to a protest demonstration against ISIS organised by Muslims in Oslo in August 2014. The research for WP3 and WP4 was based on archival material and qualitative, semi-structured interviews with Dutch, respectively Norwegian Muslims who played a key role in these initiatives.

The research results show how these initiatives serve as a multi-layered critique, where Muslims not only ‘talk back’ to extremists who commit violence in the name of Islam, but also to stereotypical representations in Western societies of Islam as a violent religion. Often, Muslims who openly condemn violent extremism simultaneously criticise the fact that they are being held accountable for crimes they have not committed. Furthermore, the results show that Muslims in Norway have faced somewhat less pressure from the government and from the dominant majority to denounce violent extremism than Dutch Muslims, and that recent initiatives taken by Norwegian Muslims against violent extremism have drawn greater numbers of participants and gained considerably more media coverage and societal recognition than similar initiatives in the Netherlands. This can in part be explained by the fact that the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya by the right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik on 22 July 2011 have indirectly resulted in a greater awareness among Muslims and non-Muslim Norwegians of the need to ‘stand together’. In the Netherlands, the overall lack of acknowledgement for statements made by Muslims against violent extremism has made Dutch Muslims more and more sceptical of the positive effects of such statements.

The four work packages have each resulted in a short research report. A peer-reviewed article based on this research project has already been published (Open Access) in the Journal of Muslims in Europe. More articles in high-ranking academic journals are in preparation, as well as a special issue of the journal Religion and a proposal for a monograph. From 11 to 13 October 2017, the international and interdisciplinary research conference ‘Religious Minorities’ Self-Representations: Claims of Difference and Sameness in the Politics of Belonging’ was organised at Utrecht University as part of this research project. The conference has resulted in a series of blog posts by different conference participants on the website www.religiousmatters.nl which is hosted by the Project Manager, Professor Birgit Meyer. On 25 May 2018,a Dutch-Nordic research symposium titled ‘Religious Diversity, Gender and Belonging’ was organised at Utrecht University. Furthermore, the research project has resulted in a number of critical interventions in public debate in the Netherlands and Norway, in the form of opinion pieces and blog posts, public lectures, and interviews in newspapers and popular-science television programmes. Last but not least, on 19 April 2018, a panel debate was organised in Theater Kikker in Utrecht, in collaboration with a number of Dutch Muslim youth organisations. Four panellists discussed how their struggle against Islamophobia intersects with different struggles against sexism, anti-black racism and sectarianism among Muslims.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project fills an important gap in the growing body of research on Muslims in Europe. Whereas much scholarly attention is being paid to the discourses and practices through which Muslims are marginalised in European societies, comparatively little research has been conducted on the attempts made by Muslims to resist their marginalisation. Besides, whereas much scholarly and public attention is being paid to the radicalisation of young Muslims, comparatively little attention is being paid to the vast majority of Dutch Muslims who do not support violent extremism, but who face continuous pressure to ‘clarify their stance’ and to speak up against terrorism. This project reveals how public debates about Islam and violence feed into Muslims self-representations, and how Muslim interventions in public debate about violent extremism do not only result from, but also contribute to the continuous reconstruction of religious beliefs. Hence, awareness of the dynamics between stereotypes and self-representations is of critical importance in future research on religious minorities. In terms of research dissemination to a wider, non-specialist audience, this research project has contributed to the public awareness around issues of social inclusion and exclusion, and the role of news media in collective efforts for social cohesion.

Protest against ISIS organised by Norwegian Muslims in Oslo on 25 August 2014