Enemy of the State: Citizenship, Muslimness and British Values

The Prevent Policy, as part of the UK government’s counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST), is concerned with combating extremism. However, it has sparked controversy through its overwhelming focus on Muslims and a number of problematic referrals leading to accusations of Islamophobia. Previous work criticizing Prevent has investigated how it has become a toxic brand within Muslim communities, its inefficiency in addressing extremism and the ways it has resulted in increased surveillance of Muslim communities. The literature supporting the policy has committed to rebuffing these criticisms in much the same way as the policy itself, by treating it as propaganda or by redirecting the conversation toward security and the threat to citizens. This research focuses on how Prevent operates as a technology of colonial governmentality through its production of everyday Islamophobia and marginalization of Muslims and Muslimness. I will argue that Islamophobia is not a by-product of Prevent but crucial to its operation. Through processes of racialization, positioning Muslims as the “other”, and emphasizing the importance of “British values”, Prevent succeeds in reinforcing the conditionality of Muslim citizenship in the UK, rendering them second-class citizens at a time when Far-Right sentiment is on the rise.