An international research network exploring the representation of Muslim identities in contemporary cultural discourses.

Neo-cons, Neologisms and Iran: the construction of another Islamic enemy

Last Updated on Friday, 20 February 2009 00:21

 

 

Annabelle Sreberny analyses the rhetoric used to justify the so-called ‘War on Terror’ and Sarfraz Manzoor describes the opportunities and frustrations of being a Muslim in the contemporary mainstream media in Britain.

 

 

 

 

Annabelle Sreberny is Professor in Global Media and Communication at SOAS. Her research on minority representation and minority media in Britain has included funded projects for the BBC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the ESRC and the AHRB. Her books include Media and Political Violence (Hampton); International News in the Twenty-First Century (John Libbey), Media in a Global Context (Arnold), and Small Media, Big Revolution (University of Minnesota Press).

Annabelle Sreberny analyses the rhetoric used to justify the so-called ‘War on Terror’. She argues that its prehistory can be traced not to 9/11, but to the Iranian Revolution of 1979. American representations of Iran since then can be seen as an example of a ‘linguistic framing’ that simplifies and makes banal a complex problem in international relations: a process which became more aggressive during the presidency of George W. Bush. Such rhetorical vilification harks back to earlier conflicts over ‘civilisation’ and serves also to justify the continued military build up with which the United States threatens that country.

Sarfraz Manzoor is a journalist, author and broadcaster. He has written for The Guardian, Prospect, The New Statesman, The Observer and Index on Censorship, and has appeared on numerous radio and television programmes including Luton Actually for the BBC and The Great British Asian Invasion for Channel 4, Question Time, the Today programme and Newsnight Review. His memoir Greetings from Bury Park was published by Bloomsbury in June 2007.

Sarfraz Manzoor describes the opportunities and frustrations of being a Muslim in the contemporary mainstream media in Britain. He argues against some of the reductive agendas whereby Islam is reduced to a problem, and Muslims themselves are relentlessly required to react to a limited set of agendas. Manzoor criticises lazy journalism, but he also takes to task those elements in Muslim communities who reproduce and reinforce a narrowness of horizons for Muslims in public life. The talk concludes with readings from his 2007 memoir, Greetings from Bury Park.

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