It seems today that a new form of religious extremism has emerged, one which paradoxically portrays itself as being a counter to another extremism perceived as a real threat. In response to contemporary Islamist violence aimed at Western societies, many such ‘target’ societies have experienced an upsurge in various forms of reactionary rhetoric and violence, with Islam and Muslims as the target.
Islamophobia applies also to sets of exclusionary or negatively reactive actions. As an expression of a generalised ‘fear of Islam’, Islamophobia manifests as a form of religious extremism, even terrorism, every bit as abhorrent and problematic as the Islamist extremism that provoked it.
Prof Pratt discusses ‘reactive co-radicalization,’ as a denominator of exclusionary reaction to the rising presence of Islam within within secular societies. To what extent is reactive co-radicalization an apt perspective for understanding contemporary instances of religious terrorism and political violence born of Islamophobia.
