The distinction between Islam and Muslims in the Dutch anti-Islamization discourse

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    Abstract

    This article discusses the distinction, made by Dutch supporters of the
    anti-Islamization discourse, between Islam and Muslims, allowing them to
    say that they have a great deal against Islam, but nothing against Muslims.
    The main objective of this contribution is to analyze the Islam/Muslims
    distinction as it appears in this discourse and to describe its possible
    consequences for the people it concerns: Muslims living in the Netherlands.
    The article takes the writings of Dutch Partij Voor de Vrijheid (PVV;
    ‘Party for Freedom’) leader Geert Wilders and party ideologue Martin
    Bosma as cases in point and presents an analysis of their contents focusing
    on the Islam/Muslim distinction as an essential element in this antiIslamization
    discourse. The article discusses the definition of the antiIslamization
    discourse and links it to the term Islamization and the related
    term Islamophobia, and their manifestation in the discourse of Geert
    Wilders and his Party for Freedom. The article shows that this party aims
    at “luring” Muslims into renouncing Islam and thus creating a Netherlands
    without Islam, which is in fact a Netherlands without Muslims
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number33.2/34.1
    Pages (from-to)35-58
    Number of pages24
    JournalCanadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies/Revue canadienne d’études néerlandaises
    Volume33.2-34.1
    Early online date1 Mar 2014
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2014

    Keywords

    • Islam in Europe; Populist Parties in Europe; Islamophobia

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