Respecting and ensuring rights: feminist ethics for a state response to fundamentalism

This article revisits the multiple terrorist attacks that took place in England in 2017 and, through a closer examination of the narratives of the eight male perpetrators of these attacks, it draws the readers’ attention to the flaws in state and non-state responses to fundamentalist mobilisations. The article works with Karima Bennoune’s (2008) radical universalist approach to highlight the importance of a human rights framework for tackling fundamentalism. This is positioned against a neo-liberal and nationalist state response and a reactive left/anti-racist response in order to make visible the connections between terror and torture and also the myopia of a response that emphasises an obligation to either respect or ensure rights rather than both simultaneously. This is particularly underlined within the final section where a discussion of gender perspectives on tackling fundamentalism distinguishes between the human right to security, an important concern for feminists involved in ending violence against women and girls, and the government’s protection of its own interests through securitisation. In keeping with the conjoined objectives of the piece, the final section offers a simultaneous critique of non-state actors for whom every state intervention on fundamentalism, and every feminist engagement with the state, is sullied by the accusation of ‘securitisation’

Why feminist dissent?

This essay lays out the historical and intellectual lineage of the idea behind the journal Feminist Dissent. As the “Rushdie Affair” was both the backdrop and the catalyst for a group such as Women Against Fundamentalism, the current conjuncture characterized by an exponential expansion of fundamentalism, neo-liberal austerity, rollback of the rights of women and sexual minorities, and racist control of borders and migration has necessitated a different kind of analysis, one that is absent from academic and popular discourse at the moment. This essay is an attempt to propose a new way of looking at the intersection of gender and fundamentalism, and underscores the importance of highlighting dissent as a crucial feminist strategy

Muslim identity, psychic detachment, and universal rights

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Introduction

Introduction to the edited collection Women Against Fundamentalism: Stories of Dissent and Solidarity - a book which combines a detailed theoretical and historical introduction to Women Against Fundamentalism (WAF) with a collection of illuminating life stories by some its members and founders

Introduction to Women Against Fundamentalism: Stories of Dissent and Solidarity

Th is book celebrates – while also acknowledging the huge challenges it faces – a particular kind of feminism, one that has been concerned with challenging both fundamentalism and racism. It consists of the autobiographical political narratives of feminist activists of diff erent ethnic and religious backgrounds who have been members of Women Against Fundamentalism (WAF), a feminist anti-racist and antifundamentalist organisation that was established in London in 1989, at the heart of the Salman Rushdie aff air. Political narratives have been described as ‘stories people tell about how the world works’, the ways in which they explain the engines of political change, and as refl ections on the role people see themselves and their group playing in their ongoing struggles.1 And the contributors to this book off er just such narratives – they talk about the trajectories of their lives, and how they see themselves and the groups to which they belong in relation to the wider political struggles in which they have been involved. WAF women have shared solidarity and trust, based on common political values, but, as can be seen from the chapters of this book, their perspectives – as well as their personal/ political histories – have also diff ered.2 Th is variety of voices is signifi - cant not only for these women as individuals but also for WAF as a political organisation. In this introduction we highlight what we as editors perceive to be the most important issues for WAF’s activism throughout its history. However, the book has been constructed in such a way that reading all the chapters will itself provide a more pluralistic and contested fl avour of WAF’s politics. Th is introduction outlines the rationale for the book, introduces WAF and its political context, explains the book’s theoretical and methodological framework, and explores some of the themes that have emerged from the activists’ stories

Religion, Moral Hegemony and Local Cartographies of Power: Feminist Reflections on Religion in Local Politics

This is a comparative feminist analysis of religion in local politics within two London boroughs: Ealing and Newham. Starting from the observation that there has been a de-secularisation of relations between the state and civil society in Britain, it draws upon the feminist and anti racist critique of multiculturalism to produce new reflections on the shift to multifaithism. This thesis argues that the shift is the result of a double movement - from above and from below - and enables moral hegemony. By re-orienting an analysis of the religious-secular to local cartographies of power, this thesis makes smaller claims that run alongside and pose questions for a growing consensus within feminist theory that seeks a distance from secularism, that emphasises solidarities with faith based mobilisations and seeks to uncritically defend religious minority claims. The data comprises 47 in depth interviews with 'secular', 'religious' and 'state' actors. This is supplemented with ethnographic observations from public meetings, religious processions and other events. The empirical analysis discusses the following key themes: the way in which religion is welded to electoral politics; religious commitment as an ontological, aesthetic and affective source for social responsibility and political engagement; the shared pastoral-policing functions of religious organisations and the state; the emergence of religious 'election' as a new way of re-ordering local areas and access to welfare services; the negotiation of a new wave of Muslim political identifications in the context of the War on Terror; the perpetuation of a unanimist Khalsa norm and its implications for making religious claims; and a closer consideration of religious groups in alliance, the darker side of faith as social capital

Families and Communities Against Child Sexual Exploitation (FCASE) : final evaluation report

This is the final evaluation report for the Barnardo’s Families and Communities Against Sexual Exploitation project (FCASE), produced by the International Centre, researching Child Sexual Exploitation, Violence and Trafficking at the University of Bedfordshire. The programme was launched in April 2013, funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and concluded in March 2015. The evaluation was undertaken during the same period. The FCASE model has been piloted in three sites, which for the purposes of this report have been anonymised and will be referred to using pseudonyms. It consists of the following elements: a structured programme of six to eight weeks direct work with young people and families where a risk of child sexual exploitation (CSE) has been identified; delivery of CSE training with professionals; and undertaking community awareness raising. The evaluation has been informed by a range of qualitative data. The report identifies the elements that work well and some of the challenges in its implementation. This had been done in order to determine good practice in supporting families and communities and embed more effective practice on protecting children and young people, including those in foster care, from sexual exploitation, harnessing the protective factors within a child’s family and/or foster home. The learning from the project is intended to help other agencies to implement the FCASE model. An on-line learning resource is to be produced in order to facilitate this process

South Asian feminisms in Britain: Traversing gender, race, class and religion

This article maps the trajectory of South Asian feminist struggles in Britain1 and analyses the key issues that have shaped them. We begin by setting the context for the emergence of a distinctive South Asian feminist voice out of existing forms of self-organisation and resistance within minority communities and its location at the intersection of gender, race and class. We then move on to outline the nature and effects of four decades of activism, policy interventions and practice by South Asian feminist groups in Britain. We locate this activism within the context of government policy and statutory practice that has shifted from multiculturalism to multifaithism and highlight the implications for women’s and girls’ rights and the costs to secular feminist provision, particularly in relation to combatting violence against women and girls. Lastly, we also analyse how recent neo-liberal policies of austerity and shrinking welfare provision pose key ideological challenges for South Asian feminist organising

Go home? the politics of immigration controversies

"The 2013 Go Home vans marked a turning point in government-sponsored communication designed to demonstrate control and toughness on immigration. In this study, the authors explore the effects of this toughness: on policy, public debate, pro-migrant and anti-racist activism, and on the everyday lives of people in Britain. Bringing together an authorial team of eight respected social researchers, alongside the voices of community organisations, policy makers, migrants and citizens, and with an afterword by journalist Kiri Kankhwende, this is an important intervention in one of the most heated social issues of our time.