The Islamist Labelling of Muslim CSOs: A critical examination of stereotypes of Muslims and Islam in a public research project in Sweden

• In Event: Faith-based organizations

Abstract

Labelling, as a form of stigmatization and delegitimization (Jämte & Ellefsen, 2020), has been highlighted as a factor for shrinking civic space and hindering inclusion and democratic participation (Buyse, 2018; Ferree, 2004).
In Sweden the government, municipalities and public institutions have increased their efforts to restrain “extremists”, especially mentioning “Islamists” (se for example Government, 2022). Previous research has shown that labelling of Muslims in other European countries has reshaped the state’s politics towards Muslim communities shrinking civic space for vocal and/or organized Muslims (Hafez, 2022). The term Islamist has been explained as functioning as Othering Muslims, as the anti-thesis of the Democrats in the west (Brown, 2010). By lumping together politically and religiously active Muslims with anti-democratic extremists, the exclusion of Muslims from political life is legitimized (Hafez, 2022
The study to be presented aims to examine the Islamist labelling, as a potential form of soft repression against undesired Muslim civil society organizations, in Sweden. The overall aim is to investigate how the label "Islamist" is constructed and used within the agency for psychological defense in Sweden, and whether this construction contributes to the stereotyping of Muslims and Muslim organization.

References

References
Brown, Wendy (2012). We are all democrats now. In Democracy in what state? (Vol. 11). Columbia University Press.
Buyse, Antoine. (2018). Squeezing civic space: restrictions on civil society organizations and the linkages with human rights. The International Journal of Human Rights, 22(8), 966-988.
Government. (2022). The Government Declaration 2022. Regeringen. https://www.regeringen.se/tal/2022/10/regeringsforklaringen-den-18-oktober-2022/
Hafez, Farid. (2022). Criminalizing Muslim agency in Europe: The case of ‘political Islam’in Austria, Germany, and France French Cultural Studies, 09571558221133253.
Jämte, Jan, & Ellefsen, Rune. (2020). The consequences of soft repression. Mobilization, 25(3), 383-404.
Marx Ferree, Myra. (2004). Soft repression: Ridicule, stigma, and silencing in gender-based movements. I Authority in contention (s. 85-101). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Presentation Anna Ardin
Anna Ardin, born in 1979, is a Swedish deacon and author. As a deacon she has mainly worked with “Political and Prophetic Diaconia”, which is also the title of her book from 2019, explaining the Christian theology that urges for a Church that stands on the side of the oppressed, points out systemic errors, and fights for necessary changes. As of 2021, she is a doctoral student at the Center for Civil Society Research at Marie Cederschiöld University in Stockholm, Sweden, focusing on the effects of Islamophobia on freedom of association and civic space.

Author

• Anna Ardin, CCF