Constructing ‘suspect’ communities and Britishness: mapping British press coverage of Irish and Muslim communities, 1974–2007

There exist many parallels between the experiences of Irish communities in Britain in the past and those of Muslim communities today. However, although they have both been the subject of negative stereotyping, intelligence profiling, wrongful arrest and prejudice, little research has been carried out comparing how these communities are represented in the media. This article addresses this gap by mapping British press coverage of events involving Irish and Muslim communities that occurred between 1974 and 2007. The analysis shows that both sets of communities have been represented as ‘suspect’ to different degrees, which the article attributes to varying perceptions within the press as to the nature of the threat Irish and Muslim communities are thought to pose to Britain. The article concludes that a central concern of the press lies with defending its own constructions of Britishness against perceived extremists, and against abuses of power and authority by the state security apparatus

Suspect communities?": counter-terrorism policy, the press, and the impact on Irish and Muslim communities in Britain

This report compares the experiences of Irish and Muslim communities in Britain during the period 1974-2007. Drawing on data from policy documents, press articles, interviews and discussion groups the project assessed how these communities were constructed as ‘suspect’. As well as comparing the similarities and differences in how these communities were represented as ‘suspect’ in public discourse, the report also examined the impact of counter-terrorism legislation on everyday experiences for community members. Focusing first on key events during the Irish ‘troubles’ (here covering events from 1974 to 2000) and then on Muslim-related events from 1989 to 2007, the team found that the representations and treatment of Irish communities during the ‘troubles’ set a precedent for the experiences of the Muslim communities since 2001. The report’s conclusions include the finding that aspects of government policy have not learnt from the vilification of Irish communities as ‘suspect’ even though this was shown to be counter-productive to national security and community-cohesion aims. The report makes recommendations about how the press and political establishment could avoid language that demonises particular communities. The team also pointed to an element of hope in terms of how Irish communities, once termed as ‘suspect’, have now been accepted as ‘good citizens’ and this was seen to be a reassuring factor to Muslim participants in the discussion groups. This is the first report to compare the experiences of these two communities in this way, and it provides an important insight into the effects of constructions of ‘suspect’ communities as well as pointing to some useful lessons to be learnt

Social cohesion and the notion of 'suspect communities': A study of the experiences and impacts of being 'suspect' for Irish communities and Muslim communities in Britain

In this article, we consider how the practice of conceiving of groups within civil society as 'communities' meshes with conceptualisations of certain populations as 'suspect' and consider some of the impacts and consequences of this for particular populations and for social cohesion. We examine how Irish and Muslim people in Britain have become aware of and have experienced themselves to be members of 'suspect communities' in relation to political violence and counterterrorism policies from 1974 to 2007 and investigate the impacts of these experiences on their everyday lives. The study focuses on two eras of political violence. The first coincides with the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) bombing campaigns in England between 1973 and 1996, when the perpetrators were perceived as 'Irish terrorists'; and the second since 2001, when, in Britain and elsewhere, the main threat of political violence has been portrayed as stemming from people who are assumed to be motivated by extreme interpretations of Islam and are often labelled as 'Islamic terrorists'. We outline why the concept of 'suspect communities' continues to be analytically useful for examining: the impact of 'bounded communities' on community cohesion policies; the development of traumatogenic environments and their ramifications; and for examining how lessons might be learnt from one era of political violence to another, especially as regards the negative impacts of practices of suspectification on Irish communities and Muslim communities. The research methods included discussion groups involving Irish and Muslim people. These demonstrated that with the removal of discourses of suspicion the common ground of Britain's urban multiculture was a sufficient basis for sympathetic exchanges. © 2012 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Political and Cultural Representations of Muslims

Relations between Muslims and non-Muslims have received unprecedented attention since 9/11. In many predominantly non-Muslim countries intense debates have focused on international relations with Muslim-majority states, but dilemmas of national policy and practice in incorporating domestic Muslim minorities have also provoked heated argument. Meanwhile, within predominantly Muslim societies, and within Muslim diasporas, relationships with non-Muslims have posed pressing questions about compatibility, antagonism or adaptation of beliefs, identities and customs