On Reflection | What Muslims must learn from anti-Trump protests in America
The solidarity shown to Muslims in the United States is laudable. But a question remains: will the Muslim population do the same for other minorities suffering discrimination?
Barely two weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, American society seems to have imploded with large protests against a series of executive orders issued by the White House. Among them – and one that riled not only Americans but caused uproar across the world – was the immigration ban against seven Muslim-majority countries.
The ban may be temporary – with the exception of Syria – but its ramifications are extensive and severe. Valid visa and green card holders were turned away from US-bound flights or detained at airports. Refugees fleeing war-zones have been left with no recourse. Although the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, has denied Trump’s executive order constitutes a ‘Muslim ban’, it is clear the primary targets are Muslims – security threats in the minds of the US administration.
Several commentators have suggested this is playing into the hands of the Muslim terrorists Trump is purportedly fighting against. Republican Senator John McCain even warned that “the effect will probably, in some areas, give [Islamic State] more propaganda”. In other words, Trump may have validated the extremist narrative that the United States is the enemy of Muslims and that the West as a whole is ultimately anti-Islam.
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Ironically, the extremists’ narrative has much in common with that of their right-wing counterparts in the US that is fuelling much of the Islamophobia in American society. Both offer neat and dichotomous world views of “us versus them”.