The War on Terror in Our Communities
A hijabi holds a sign that displays the statue of liberty and reads "We will
not be banned"
A woman participates in a demonstration against President Trump's travel ban as
protesters gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court following a court-issued
immigration ruling on June 26, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
Mark Wilson / Getty Images
By Mary Zerkel, American Friends Service Committee Published March 20, 2019
As an anti-war activist and mother, for many years I’ve been acutely aware that
we have been at war my teenage daughter’s entire life. March 20 is the 16th
anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. We are now living in a time when an
entire generation of young people — including new Marine recruits and newly
registered voters — have grown up with war as a routine condition. And most of
the public is unaware that more than 244,000 civilians have been killed and
that the U.S. continues to conduct “counter-terror” activities in 80 countries.
The endless “war on terror” has multiple fronts, no clear conditions for
ending, and has become so normalized as to be almost invisible. Yet perhaps
even more obscured is the war on terror within the U.S., that targets and
criminalizes entire communities – particularly Muslims, immigrants, and Black
and brown people. As Deepa Kumar, professor of media studies at Rutgers
University, has written, when the U.S. goes to war, “the end goal is to win
consent for an imperial agenda through a process that orchestrates fear of the
enemy within and preempts criticisms of empire-building.”
Learning from targeted U.S. communities experiencing the war on terror every
day, I believe we must shed light on these policies of state violence and
advocate for their end.
What Is the War on Terror Framework?
The war on terror writ large rests on the foundational belief that Islam is
inherently violent, contrary to “Western values,” and that all Muslims should
be viewed with fear and suspicion. These racist and damaging narratives have
led to the creation of dangerous policies that are not based on facts or
science. But by stoking Islamophobia, the government has successfully convinced
many in the U.S. to trade our rights – including our rights to privacy, free
speech, and equal protection — for the promise of “security.”
These policies are both foreign and domestic, from the Authorization for the
Use of Military Force (AUMF) – which allows for war without congressional
approval — and the PATRIOT Act, which allows for surveillance based upon
protected First Amendment activity, such as the books people read or letters to
the editor they’ve written. Not incidentally, many war on terror policies
benefit private companies, such as military contractors, defense contractors,
private prisons, and tech companies that spend millions each year lobbying
elected officials.
How Is the War on Terror Showing Up in Communities Across the U.S.?
Sixteen years ago, anti-war organizing drew millions of people worldwide to the
streets to protest the impending invasion of Iraq. But the movement started to
weaken once President Obama was elected, with many believing that the candidate
who ran in opposition to the Iraq War would counter Bush-era policies.
That’s not what happened. As scholar Arun Kundnani writes, Obama “failed to
take the U.S. in a fundamentally different direction … and made permanent what
had been a ‘state of emergency.’” I would add that Obama also made it less
visible.
One prime example is the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program, which the
Obama administration created as a “soft” approach to counter-terrorism.
Previous administrations had deployed law enforcement to infiltrate mosques and
Muslim student organizations. In contrast, CVE recruits trusted community
members (imams, teachers, mental health providers) to identify individuals
within the community and report them to law enforcement as suspected terrorists
based on questionable indicators, including mundane activities and
characteristics, such as facial hair, critique of U.S. foreign policy, or
attending a mosque.
Remember how fears about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – based on faulty
intelligence – helped the Bush administration justify pre-emptive war and the
U.S. invasion of Iraq? Similarly, CVE relies on racialized and dubious
indicators to identify those in the “pre-criminal” space, reporting them to law
enforcement when no crime has been committed. As a result, almost all Muslim
political or even religious activity can be viewed as a “national security”
risk by the government, and young people in particular, are criminalized.
CVE programs have come under intense criticism from civil rights organizations
nationwide. Because of this, the government constantly rebrands and obscures
CVE programs in each city. It calls the Boston program PEACE, the Maryland
program BRAVE, and in Chicago it’s the Targeted Violence Prevention Program.
In our increasingly authoritarian atmosphere, the pretexts of national security
will be increasingly used to criminalize dissent. CVE has already been expanded
to also focus on “Black-identity extremists (BIE),” or Black Lives Matter
activists. In Denver, the recent roll out of CVE focuses not only the Muslim
community, but refugee/immigrant, BIE, and LGBTQ communities, as well.
What Can We Do About It?
Communities impacted by CVE have been organizing on the local level. In cities
like Los Angeles, and Minneapolis groups have successfully pressured city
governments and community organizations to return CVE funds.
StopCVE Chicago, a community coalition supported by AFSC, recently released a
report identifying local implementation through training mental health
providers, social media monitoring, and focus groups at local libraries. These
are facts that were only discovered through rigorous research and FOIA
requests.
Local groups are working toward a national campaign. But in the meantime, here
are ways that we can all shed light on CVE and its impact on our community
members:
•Educate yourself about CVE by looking at reports by AFSC Chicago and partners,
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, or download AFSC’s CVE zine. Make CVE
visible by sharing information with others in your community. Start by sharing
this blog post Facebook and Twitter.
•Support organizing led by Muslims, Arabs, and other groups targeted by CVE!
Learn more about these efforts by visiting #StopCVE.
