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The Political Geography of Religious Radicalism

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The Political Geography of Religious Radicalism Global Studies Working Papers Institute of Geography 15/2013 The Political Geography of Religious Radicalism A compendium of selected case studies from around the globe Rainer Rothfuss & Yakubu Joseph (Editors) Herausgeber GSWP Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kinder • Prof. Dr. Rainer Rothfuß • PD Dr. Olaf Schnur • Jun.-Doz. Dr. Timo Sedelmeier • Dr. Gerhard Halder Content Prologue ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Global Restrictions on Religion: Religious Freedom as a Human Right in Global Perspective Seemann, Marc ........................................................................................................................... 4 Religious Extremism and Slavery in the Sahel: Historical and Present Structures Bösl, Sabine S. ........................................................................................................................ 14 'Othering’ in the Postcolonial World: The Reproduction of Colonial Structures in African Societies (Malawi) Mauthner, Jana ........................................................................................................................ 24 The Churches and the Rwandan Genocide Leiß, Julia ................................................................................................................................. 38 Transnational Networks of religiously motivated terrorism Geißler, Sascha T. ................................................................................................................... 48 The Sacral Geography of Islamic Jihad Hawemann, Tim ....................................................................................................................... 60 Religious radicalism and territoriality in the Nigerian conflict: Is federalism the answer? Shekerletov, Daniel .................................................................................................................. 66 Arabellion: Geopolitical Proxy Wars and New Constellations of East and West in Syria Ulmer, Beate ............................................................................................................................. 85 Ethno-Religious Nationalism and the Case of the Alevis in Today’s Turkey Keser, Erkan ............................................................................................................................. 99 Tunisian Elections after the Arab Spring: A Victory for Democracy or Islamism? Kusche, Hanna ....................................................................................................................... 112 Blurred Future in Egypt after the Fall of Mubarak García Sicard, Nadia ............................................................................................................. 122 How Urbicide Turned Sarajevo into a Fundamentalist City: The Exploitation of Religious and Anti-Urban Prejudices during the War in Bosnia Günter, Henning ..................................................................................................................... 134 The Sacral Geography of Zionism: Israeli “Homeland” Protection and Geopolitics Rösner, Eric ............................................................................................................................ 146 Is the Global Counter-Terrorism a Complex or a Paradox? Inspirations from the ETIM issue in China Wu, Shengjian ......................................................................................................................... 154 Ethno-Nationalism and the Construction of Hindu Identity Scheu, Tobias ......................................................................................................................... 164 1 Analysis of the Main Actors and Dimensions of the Northern Ireland Conflict Güngör, Ceyhun & Kiemel, Cathrin ...................................................................................... 175 The Growing Security “Threat” in European Cities Mondel, Marcel ...................................................................................................................... 190 2 Prologue Religion has neither gone away nor remained irrelevant in our world today. There is no day that we do not hear news about religion in the media. The news we hear about religion and violence, however, appears to dominate the headlines. Although the history of religions and violence is not a new one, since September 11, 2001 there has been a growing concern about religious extremism and terrorism. At the same time, there is a corresponding interest in the subject of religion and violence among many disciplines. In the course GEO-83 “Political Geography of Religious Radicalism”, we offered students an excursion into the ambivalent world of religion and conflict through an exploration of different theoretical perspectives and approaches, case studies, seminal and class discussions and extensive literature review. The unique angle of interrogation that political geography offers in terms of the spatial dimensions and the power relations between different actors as well as the discursive aspects of inter- religious conflicts and extremism has proved very valuable in generating insights on this subject matter. This volume is an attempt by students of the M.A. “Human Geography – Global Studies” programme of the University of Tübingen to demonstrate acquaintance with the approach of political geography to the study of religious violence and extremism. The students took on some of the most challenging conflicts and religious insurgencies confronting the world and offered insights using diverse theoretical and analytical frameworks. The analysis contained in each chapter was based on secondary data. Thus, limitations are set based on the availability of and access to data. Given the contested nature of religious conflicts and extremism, the reader is invited to consider all the articles in this volume as primarily an academic exercise with no intention to promote a certain narrative or to take sides. Knowledge is always incremental. Therefore, what is presented here is intended to increase our understanding of the phenomenon and to stimulate further research and efforts at finding solutions to the various conflicts. No doubt, this exercise has exposed the students to the rigour of scientific writing. This experience will remain invaluable to them in their continuing academic pursuit as well as in their future endeavours. The lecturers also found this experience to be highly rewarding. The process was quite daunting, but the commitment and the dedication of the students paid off. Congratulations to all the authors for their hard work and special thanks to the student assistants Birgit Hoinle and Katherina Mayser for layouting and proof-reading the text! Tübingen, October 2013 Rainer Rothfuß & Yakubu Joseph 3 Global Restrictions on Religion: Religious Freedom as a Human Right in Global Perspective Marc Seemann Abstract The right to religious freedom is a fundamental human right which is, at least legally, acknowledged by almost all countries around the world. But nearly unrestricted freedom of religion is extremely rare. Globally, restrictions on the exercise of religion increased in recent years. There is always in some way a form of favouritism for a particular religion, even in the most liberal countries of the world, be it in political or legal terms. Religious freedom is a commonly accepted, desirable goal in today’s globalised and liberal Western philosophy. But is total religious freedom feasible at all and is it an aim which governments should pursue? How far should a society or a government go with the demands on religious freedom for each individual religious system? What is a "religion" and what are religious beliefs and practices for the purpose of protecting the freedom of religion and who has to decide these questions? What role should religion play in society? Should societies not have the right to self-determination concerning these issues? This chapter attempts to give answers to those questions concerning the normative goal of absolute religious freedom, while taking other critical factors into consideration such as the historical and cultural heritage of a society. 1. Introduction: Religious freedom in the global context “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18 Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948, clearly sets out that it is the right of every person to exercise his or her religion freely and without any restrictions. But this central human right is not generally accepted in the modern era. Already 2.500 years ago, Cyrus the Great of Persia, had established a broad regime of religious tolerance (Hertzke 2011: 109). But until now mankind has not been able to enforce this freedom right globally. This right has in fact been established in most national law systems and exists at least formally in most countries of the world. But legal practice often is different. More and more people worldwide live with tough restrictions on their religious freedom and often contradicting legal provisions; political practices and social values prevail. The increasing global restrictions on religious freedom
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