Islamophobia in Europe: How Governments Are Enabling the Far-Right ‘Counter-Jihad’ Movement Hilary Aked
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Islamophobia in Europe: How governments are enabling the far-right ‘counter-jihad’ movement Hilary Aked Melissa Jones David Miller PUBLIC INTEREST Authors INVESTIGATIONS Hilary Aked Public Interest Investigations (PII) is an Hilary Aked is a freelance independent non-profit making organisation. writer and researcher currently Founded in 2004, PII promotes greater writing a book about the Zionist understanding of the role of PR, propaganda and movement in the UK and lobbying and of the power networks that they Israel’s response to the Boycott, support, through its website Spinwatch (www. Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) spinwatch.org) and its investigative wiki site movement. They hold a PhD in political sociology Powerbase (www.powerbase.info). Spinwatch is from the University of Bath and previously co- a founder member of the Alliance for Lobbying authored The Britain Israel Communications Transparency and Ethics Regulation in the and Research Centre: Giving peace a chance? EU (ALTER-EU) and the Alliance for Lobbying (Public Interest Investigations, 2013) and The Transparency UK (ALT-UK). Henry Jackson Society and the degeneration Further information: of British neo-conservatism (Public Interest Investigations, 2015). Website: www.spinwatch.org Melissa Jones Email: [email protected] Melissa Jones has been managing editor of Mail: Spaceworks, Easton Business Centre, Public Interest Investigations/Spinwatch and Felix Road, Easton, Bristol, England, BS5 0HE its Powerbase website since 2010. She has a background in journalism and not-for-profit investigations, and holds a masters’ degree in human rights from the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex. David Miller is a director of Public Interest Investigations. He is also Professor of Political Sociology in the School for Policy Studies at the University of Bristol in England. From 2013-2016 he was RCUK Global Uncertainties Leadership Fellow leading a project on understanding and explaining terrorism expertise in practice. Recent publications include: What is Islamophobia? Racism, social movements and the State (co-editor, Pluto Press, 2017); Impact of market forces on addictive substances and behaviours: The web of influence of addictive industries. (co-author, OUP, 2018); The Israel lobby and the European Union (co- author, Public Interest Investigations, 2016); The Henry Jackson Society and the degeneration of British neoconservatism’. (co-author, Public Interest Investigations, 2015); The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. Giving peace a chance? (co-author, Public Interest Investigations, 2013) Islamophobia in Europe: counter-extremism policies and the counter-jihad movement • 3 Contents Acknowledgements 3 List of figures & acronyms 4 Executive summary 5 Chapter 1: Introduction 8 Islamophobia, racism and the ‘war on terror’ 8 Why study the counter-jihad movement in the context of counter-extremism? 10 Scope and structure of this report 11 Chapter 2: Understanding the counter-jihad movement 13 The changing face of the far-right: extreme anti-extremists 13 Inventing ‘Islamofascism’, appropriating anti-fascist history 14 Working through the state 15 Transnational organising 17 Islamophobia as ‘free speech’ 18 Chapter 3: United Kingdom 20 UK counter-extremism policies and practices 20 The UK counter-jihad movement 21 Interactions between counter-extremism policy and the counter-jihad movement 23 Counter-jihadists within the political elite 23 Counter-jihadists waging ‘counter-extremism’ 24 Official responses to the counter-jihad movement 25 Conclusion 27 Chapter 4: Germany 30 Government counter-extremism policies 30 ‘Islamist’ extremism and counter-measures 31 Right-wing extremism and counter-measures 32 The German counter-jihad movement 32 Counter-jihadists waging ‘counter-extremism’ 34 Counter-jihad ideas in the mainstream 36 Conclusion 37 Chapter 5: France 39 French counter-extremism policies and practices 40 The French counter-jihad movement 41 Islamophobia within the elite 42 The rise of the Front National 43 Official responses to the far-right 44 Conclusion 45 Chapter 6: Counter-jihad movement funders 48 The shadow giving system fuelling Islamophobia across the Atlantic: donor-advised funds 48 Transatlantic funding flows and in-kind alliances: the key players 51 Counter-extremism groups: transatlantic funding and in-kind alliances 61 US donors funding counter-jihad and counter-extremism groups with links to Europe 64 Conclusions 78 4 • Public Interest Investigations List of tables Figure 1: Breakdown of Middle East Forum donors from 2009-16 54 Figure 2: Middle East Forum known donors contributing above US$50,000 between 2009-16 55 Figure 3: Gatestone Institute known donors contributing above US$50,000 between 2012-16 57 Figure 4: David Horowitz Freedom Center known donors contributing above US$50,000 between 2009-16 59 Figure 5: Center for Security Policy known donors contributing above US$50,000 between 2009-16 60 Acknowledgements The research for this report and related profiles on our investigative wiki website Powerbase.info was made possible by the generosity of the Open Society Foundations, Isvara Foundation, Islam Expo and general fundraising. We thank OSF for their patient support. We would also like to thank Liz Fekete of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) for valuable advice; Yasser Louatti, formerly of the Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en France for his insights on France; Jawaab and MEND; Clementine Boucher for help with Powerbase profiles and who along with Riccardo Boscherini helped us trawl thousands of pages of US non-profit tax filings. Thanks also to PII colleagues and freelance associates Tom Griffin, Andy Rowell, Sarah Marusek, Tom Mills, Narzanin Massoumi, Will Dinan, Eveline Lubbers and Tamasin Cave. British Cataloguing-in-Publications Data. A catalogue record for this report is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-0-9570274-9-7 Editorial: Melissa Jones Printed and bound in the UK. COPYRIGHT Public Interest Investigations © 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form of by any means without the prior permission from the copyright holder. DISCLAIMER Views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of Public Interest Investigations/ Spinwatch. ORDER COPIES This report is available for download free from the Spinwatch website or you can order hard copies online: http://www.spinwatch.org Islamophobia in Europe: counter-extremism policies and the counterjihad movement • 5 Executive summary Chapter 1: Introduction Counter-jihadists and the far-right more generally are willing and able to work through the state, This report begins by defining Islamophobia rather than against it, which helps to explain why and explaining why it should be understood they are viewed as a public order problem rather as a form of racism. Unlike most other forms than a strategic threat. Yet the elite support of the of racism in Europe today, Islamophobia has counter-jihad movement and the extent to which been institutionalised by government policies to Islamophobic parties are winning political power varying extents in different countries. It has been is nonetheless extremely dangerous for minorities rejuvenated by the ‘war on terror’, rendering and for democracy – though key actors may use Muslims an officially ‘suspect community’. legitimate means such as the ballot box. Therefore, rather than examining the counter-jihad movement in isolation as most prior research has Both at the grassroots and elite level, the counter- done, this report looks at its activities in relation jihad movement is organising across borders. to official counter-extremism policies. It does this One of its main rallying cries has been ‘free because we are concerned with Islamophobia in speech’, garnering it sympathy from the wider general as opposed to the far-right per se. anti-‘political correctness’ lobby. Our analysis shows that US funding is extremely important to The introduction briefly outlines the contents of the European counter-jihad movement. each chapter that follows. Critically, it explains why each of the three country case studies examines counter-extremism policies first Chapter 3: United Kingdom and then the counter-jihad movement in each The first country case study begins by examining national context. This structure serves to highlight the UK government’s counter-extremism policy, the ways in which counter-jihad and counter Prevent. Even though the government’s definition extremism actors legitimise each other. of extremism does not single out one group, it has created a climate of suspicion and mistrust Chapter 2: Understanding the in which Muslims have been disproportionately counter-jihad movement targeted. Official efforts to mobilise public Chapter 2 provides an overview of the counter- sector workers to spot supposed signs of jihad movement, beginning with an explanation ‘radicalisation’ has advanced a climate in which of how – as its name suggests – it takes its cue the Islamophobic paranoia of the counter-jihad from the ‘war on terror’. It emerged and began movement has flourished. We examine parallels to coalesce after 9/11 especially in the USA between the counter-jihad movement in the UK and in north western Europe, where this report and state counter-extremism practices, noting focuses. Reflecting a broader shift on the far- that much of the language used – and several of right away from ‘old’