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      Can Muslims Fly? The No Fly List as a Tool of the “War on Terror”

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      research-article
      Islamophobia Studies Journal
      Pluto Journals
      Muslims, war on terror, securitization, racial profiling, Islamophobia
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            Abstract

            The securitization phenomenon is based on a racialized logic that predates 9/11 and has roots in the discourse of Orientalism, the practices of European colonialism and, in the more recent times of the 20th century, the internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II. This article analyzes the “no fly list” as a counter-terrorism tool used by the Canadian government in the “war on terror.” It situates the analysis in the political context of the securitization of Muslims, the social and political processes that construct them as threats to the nation. It examines the evolution of the “no fly list” since 2001 and analyzes its impact on Muslims in Canada, drawing on well-publicized cases. It critiques the list's effectiveness based on the distinction between information and knowledge as tools to fight the “war on terror.” The “no fly list” contributes to Islamophobia through disproportionately profiling racialized Muslim and Muslim-looking passengers as members of a suspect community.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Journal
            10.13169
            islastudj
            Islamophobia Studies Journal
            Pluto Journals
            23258381
            2325839X
            Fall 2017
            : 4
            : 1
            : 72-86
            Affiliations
            Dawson College, Canada
            Article
            islastudj.4.1.0072
            10.13169/islastudj.4.1.0072
            ba3deecb-caa0-4b80-8f6d-03b0e600ae6e
            © Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, Center for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History

            Social & Behavioral Sciences
            war on terror,Islamophobia,racial profiling,securitization,Muslims

            Endnotes

            1. Said, “Thoughts about America,” Outlook India , March 7, 2002, accessed April 24, 2017, http://www.outlookindia.com/article/thoughts-about-america/214829.

            2. , “US Muslim Forced Off Plane Cites Islamophobia,” Al Jazeera , November 26, 2015, accessed April 24, 2016, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/muslim-forced-plane-anti-islam-rhetoric-rises-1511252006500l6.html.

            3. , “Southwest Airlines Draws Outrage over Man Removed for Speaking Arabic,” The Guardian , April 16, 2016, accessed April 24, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/16/southwest-airlines-man-removed-flight-arabic.

            4. , “Police: ‘Suspicious Activity’ on Chicago-Bound Plane Was Just Someone Watching News on Phone,” Chicago Tribune , November 18, 2015, accessed April 24, 2016, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-4-passengers-removed-from-chicagobound-plane-in-baltimore-20151117-story.html.

            5. , “Speaking Arabic While Flying,” Al Jazeera , April 20, 2016, accessed April 24, 2017, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/04/speaking-arabic-flying-160420051548323.html.

            6. , Securitizing Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 77–78.

            7. , Securitizing Islam , 81–83.

            8. , The Ninth Floor (National Film Board of Canada. 1h 21 min, 2015).

            9. , , and , eds., Whose National Security? Canadian State Surveillance and the Creation of Enemies (Toronto: Between the Lines Press, 2000).

            10. , “Japanese Internment: Banished and Beyond Tears,” The Canadian Encyclopedia , February 23, 2012, accessed April 26, 2017, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/japanese-internment-banished-and-beyond-tears-feature/.

            11. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1978).

            12. , “Reading Power: Muslims in the War on Terror Discourse,” Islamophobia Studies Journal 2, no. 2 (2014): 29–42.

            13. Said, Orientalism , 300–301.

            14. , This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror (New York: New York University Press, 2015); , We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities after 9/11 (Boston: Beacon Press, 2005).

            15. and , “The Islamophobic Administration,” New York: The Brennan Center for Justice, April 19, 2017, accessed April 27, 2017, @123456http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/islamophobic-administration.

            16. , “Unsafe at Any Altitude: The Comparative Politics of No Fly Lists in the United States and Canada,” in Politics at the Airport , ed. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008), 56.

            17. , “Unsafe at Any Altitude,” 53.

            18. , “Keeping Up with the Neighbors? Canadian Responses to 9/11 in Historical and Comparative Context,” Osgood Hall Law Journal 41, no. 2–3 (2003): 242–66; , “Airport Screening, Surveillance, and Social Sorting: Canadian Responses to 9/11 in Context.” Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 48, no. 3 (2006): 407.

            19. , “Unsafe at Any Altitude,” 54.

            20. Ibid., 60.

            21. , “Airport Screening, Surveillance, and Social Sorting,” 400.

            22. Ibid., 400.

            23. Ibid., 404.

            24. and , False Security: The Radicalization of Canadian Anti-terrorism (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2015), 63.

            25. , “Unsafe at Any Altitude,” 60.

            26. Ibid., 60–61.

            27. and , False Security , 63.

            28. , “Unsafe at Any Altitude,” 64–65.

            29. Ibid., 65.

            30. , “Unsafe at Any Altitude,” 65.

            31. , “Unsafe at Any Altitude,” 65.

            32. Ibid., 66.

            33. and , False Security , 63.

            34. Ibid., 4–5.

            35. Ibid., 4.

            36. Ibid., 5.

            37. Ibid., 35.

            38. , “Canada's Proposed Secure Air Travel Act,” February 10, 2015, accessed April 26, 2017, http://www.privacyandcybersecuritylaw.com/canadas-proposed-secure-air-travel-act?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=canadas-proposed-secure-air-travel-act?utm_source=Mondaq&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=View-Original”>http://www.privacyandcybersecuritylaw.com/canadas-proposed-secure-air-travel-act?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=canadas-proposed-secure-air-travel-act?utm_source=Mondaq&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=View-Original.

            39. Ibid.

            40. and , False Security , 79.

            41. , “Canada's Proposed Secure Air Travel Act.”

            42. Ibid.

            43. and , False Security , 187.

            44. , “Canada's Proposed Secure Air Travel Act.”

            45. Ibid.

            46. Ibid.

            47. Ibid.

            48. and , False Security , 188.

            49. Ibid., p. 187.

            50. Prime Minister of Canada, “Fact Sheet: Canada-United States: Neighbors, Partners, Allies,” March 10, 2016, accessed May 12, 2016, http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2016/03/10/fact-sheet-canada-united-states-neighbours-partners-allies.

            51. CBC News , “Canada, U.S. Set Up Working Group to Tackle Error-Laden No Fly List,” May 10, 2016, Accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-us-no-fly-list-1.3575568.

            52. and , False Security , 185; , “Unsafe at Any Altitude,” 64.

            53. CBC News , “No Fly List Tags More Toddlers as Security Risks,” January 4, 2016, accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/no-fly-list-flags-more-canadian-toddlers-as-security-risks-1.3388927.

            54. CBC News , “Syed Adam Ahmad's Mother Contacted by Dozens of Families with Similar Stories,” January 20, 2016, accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-boy-khadija-cajee-1.3411443.

            55. CBC News , “Extra Airport Screening for under-18s Not Needed, Public Safety Minister Says,” January 7, 2016, Accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/additional-screening-under-18-1.3394628.

            56. , “Air Canada Employees Told to Seek Extra ID from Kids Even after Feds' Directive,” May 10, 2016, accessed May 12, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ralph-goodale-no-fly-list-air-canada-employee-aeroplan-1.3576417.

            57. , “Air Canada Employees Told to Seek Extra ID.”

            58. , The Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar (Ottawa, 2006), 59, accessed April 29, 2017, http://www.sirc-csars.gc.ca/pdfs/cm_arar_bgv1-eng.pdf.

            59. , “Constructing Non-citizens: Canada's War against Terrorism,” in Counter-Terrorism and the Post of Democratic State , ed. and (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2007), 89, 92.

            60. Center for Constitutional Rights, “The Extraordinary Rendition: The Story of Maher Arar,” Factsheet, New York, 2010, accessed April 29, 2017, https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/arar-v-ashcroft-et-al.

            61. , “Halifax Rights Complaint Accuses Air Canada of Singling out Mohamed Yaffa Because He's Black, Muslim,” National Post , August 18, 2014, Accessed April 25, 2017, http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ canada/halifax-rights-complaint-accuses-air-canada-of-singling-out-mohamed-yaffa-because-hes-black-muslim.

            62. Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT), Ruling: Between Mohamed Yaffa and Canadian Human Rights Commission and Air Canada. August 8. File no. T1863/9312. 2014 CHRT 22, 2014; Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT), Ruling: Between Mohamed Yaffa and Canadian Human Rights Commission and Air Canada. February 4. File no. T1863/9312. 2016 CHRT 4, 2016.

            63. CHRT, Ruling: Between Mohamed Yaffa and Canadian Human Rights Commission and Air Canada, 2014.

            64. CHRT, Ruling: Between Mohamed Yaffa and Canadian Human Rights Commission and Air Canada, 2016.

            65. , “Human Rights Tribunal Probing Air Canada's Use of U.S. No-Fly List after It Barred Arab-Canadian Man from Flight,” National Post , March 21, 2014, Accessed April 26, 2017, http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/human-rights-tribunal-probing-air-canadas-use-of-u-s-no-fly-list-after-it-barred-arab-canadian-man-from-flight.

            66. and , Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat (New York: NYPD Intelligence Division, 2007).

            67. , “I Am a Muslim Not an Extremist: How the Prevent Strategy Has Constructed a ‘Suspect’ Community,” Politics and Policy 40, no. 6 (2012): 1158–85; , The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism and the Domestic War on Terror (London: Verso Books, 2014).

            68. , “A New York City Settlement on the Surveillance of Muslims,” The New Yorker , January 6, 2016, Accessed April 29, 2017, http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-new-york-city-settlement-on-surveillance-of-muslims.

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