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| After Woolwich: David Cameron's convenient plan to 'drain the swamp' | After Woolwich: David Cameron's convenient plan to 'drain the swamp' |
| (4 months later) | |
| In his first Commons speech since the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, David Cameron announced the launch of a Cabinet task force that will aim to "drain the swamp" that is fostering "British Islamic extremism". While his speech contained a raft of suggestions, including internet surveillance, campus watch initiatives and targeted disruption of groups that incite hatred, it was this metaphor that made the headlines – and it deserves some scrutiny. | In his first Commons speech since the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, David Cameron announced the launch of a Cabinet task force that will aim to "drain the swamp" that is fostering "British Islamic extremism". While his speech contained a raft of suggestions, including internet surveillance, campus watch initiatives and targeted disruption of groups that incite hatred, it was this metaphor that made the headlines – and it deserves some scrutiny. |
| To suggest that we pay attention to mere metaphors in state responses to violence is, of course, to flirt with a gleeful stereotyping of "left-liberal" analysis as obsessed with the symbolic while the real world passes by. Yet, as the immediate debate over whether the brutal murder of Drummer Rigby should be framed as "terrorism" indicates, the language of conflict is not a matter of effete indulgence, but of working to define a political reality that can be acted upon. | To suggest that we pay attention to mere metaphors in state responses to violence is, of course, to flirt with a gleeful stereotyping of "left-liberal" analysis as obsessed with the symbolic while the real world passes by. Yet, as the immediate debate over whether the brutal murder of Drummer Rigby should be framed as "terrorism" indicates, the language of conflict is not a matter of effete indulgence, but of working to define a political reality that can be acted upon. |
| This process is a practical and ideological priority for security agencies. As the political scientist Richard Jackson outlines, a central project of the enormous "counter-terrorism" sector is language, or, more precisely, "the construction of a whole new language, or a kind of public narrative, that manufactures approval while simultaneously suppressing individual doubts and wider political protest". After Woolwich, Cameron's metaphorical war on swamps aspires to a revamped narrative of resolute and decisive action. Arguably, it is seeking approval for ideas and approaches that remain bogged down in established denials and failures. | This process is a practical and ideological priority for security agencies. As the political scientist Richard Jackson outlines, a central project of the enormous "counter-terrorism" sector is language, or, more precisely, "the construction of a whole new language, or a kind of public narrative, that manufactures approval while simultaneously suppressing individual doubts and wider political protest". After Woolwich, Cameron's metaphorical war on swamps aspires to a revamped narrative of resolute and decisive action. Arguably, it is seeking approval for ideas and approaches that remain bogged down in established denials and failures. |
| Extremist ideas thrive in swamps, and the resultant terrorism is a cancer in society. If the frame of terrorism demands that actions are to be condemned, not examined, metaphors of pathology and decay underline this exclusion of politics. The idea of "draining the swamp", however, has an ambivalent political history. The US labour organiser "Mother" Jones argued that draining the swamp of capitalism was the only way to prevent the proliferation of speculative mosquitoes. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Donald Rumsfeld spoke of draining the swamps of "rogue states" that provided supportive environments for al-Qaida operations, and this usage has endured as a chummy grace note in counter-terrorism discourse. As Noam Chomsky pointed out, the subsequent "war on terror" in fact amounted to a giant programme of swamp creation. | Extremist ideas thrive in swamps, and the resultant terrorism is a cancer in society. If the frame of terrorism demands that actions are to be condemned, not examined, metaphors of pathology and decay underline this exclusion of politics. The idea of "draining the swamp", however, has an ambivalent political history. The US labour organiser "Mother" Jones argued that draining the swamp of capitalism was the only way to prevent the proliferation of speculative mosquitoes. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Donald Rumsfeld spoke of draining the swamps of "rogue states" that provided supportive environments for al-Qaida operations, and this usage has endured as a chummy grace note in counter-terrorism discourse. As Noam Chomsky pointed out, the subsequent "war on terror" in fact amounted to a giant programme of swamp creation. |
| Cameron relocates the swamp to the UK, and maps it on to the virtual spaces, Islamic centres and university campuses that comprise of a "conveyer belt to radicalisation". This second metaphor adds to the resolute intervention proposed by the first. The idea of "radicalisation" proposes an end state of violent extremism that can be diagnosed, and that young people progress towards along a linear line of ideological exposure and indoctrination. As Jamie Bartlett, head of the violence and extremism programme at Demos, argues, such linear logics don't stand up to scrutiny, but it is precisely the task of these metaphors to exclude those same lines of analysis that have been officially inadmissible for a decade. | Cameron relocates the swamp to the UK, and maps it on to the virtual spaces, Islamic centres and university campuses that comprise of a "conveyer belt to radicalisation". This second metaphor adds to the resolute intervention proposed by the first. The idea of "radicalisation" proposes an end state of violent extremism that can be diagnosed, and that young people progress towards along a linear line of ideological exposure and indoctrination. As Jamie Bartlett, head of the violence and extremism programme at Demos, argues, such linear logics don't stand up to scrutiny, but it is precisely the task of these metaphors to exclude those same lines of analysis that have been officially inadmissible for a decade. |
| While Cameron's focus on extremists that "pervert and warp Islam" is more circumspect than Tony Blair's recent comments, it still insists on fully locating an explanation, and subsequent interventions, solely within Islam. As Medhi Hasan pointed out, the post-Woolwich debate on "radicalisation" is hindered by any insistence on mono-causal explanations, including exclusive insistence on the determining role of Britain's foreign policy. | While Cameron's focus on extremists that "pervert and warp Islam" is more circumspect than Tony Blair's recent comments, it still insists on fully locating an explanation, and subsequent interventions, solely within Islam. As Medhi Hasan pointed out, the post-Woolwich debate on "radicalisation" is hindered by any insistence on mono-causal explanations, including exclusive insistence on the determining role of Britain's foreign policy. |
| Nevertheless, Cameron's projected environment is less a swamp than a petri dish, in which one explanation can be cultivated to the total exclusion of others. An old anti-racism slogan proposed that "we are here because you are there". The narratives for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq overtly reversed this – we are over there because you are over here. The current flurry of metaphors denies not only the stated justifications of extremists, but also these stated justifications for the wars themselves. To recognise the relevance of a decade of mayhem is not to condone violent murder, but this guilt-by-explanation is also a practised evasion, and it is this evasion that makes these new narratives of bustling resolution so important. | Nevertheless, Cameron's projected environment is less a swamp than a petri dish, in which one explanation can be cultivated to the total exclusion of others. An old anti-racism slogan proposed that "we are here because you are there". The narratives for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq overtly reversed this – we are over there because you are over here. The current flurry of metaphors denies not only the stated justifications of extremists, but also these stated justifications for the wars themselves. To recognise the relevance of a decade of mayhem is not to condone violent murder, but this guilt-by-explanation is also a practised evasion, and it is this evasion that makes these new narratives of bustling resolution so important. |
| The denial of any connection to recent history and politics not only closes down public debate, but provides for the policing of acceptable ideas through surveillance programmes, and a renewed attention on university campuses (despite a 2012 home affairs committee report admitting that there was "seldom concrete evidence" to link campus activity to violent extremism). It will also, by linking the image of the swamp to the lives and spaces of British Muslims, expand the space for exaggerated and often openly racist speech. As the last weeks have once again illustrated, each violent event presents a strategic opportunity for ideologues to "finally break the taboo" and "tell the uncomfortable truth" that they have profitably based their careers on cultivating and promoting. | The denial of any connection to recent history and politics not only closes down public debate, but provides for the policing of acceptable ideas through surveillance programmes, and a renewed attention on university campuses (despite a 2012 home affairs committee report admitting that there was "seldom concrete evidence" to link campus activity to violent extremism). It will also, by linking the image of the swamp to the lives and spaces of British Muslims, expand the space for exaggerated and often openly racist speech. As the last weeks have once again illustrated, each violent event presents a strategic opportunity for ideologues to "finally break the taboo" and "tell the uncomfortable truth" that they have profitably based their careers on cultivating and promoting. |
| Ultimately, only certain extremists live in swamps. The violent extremist Anders Breivik was also given a habitat, but that of the lone wolf, magically extracted from the swamp of bloggers, politicians, activists and journalists that provided him with ideological sustenance and inspiration. Despite their violent presence on Britain's streets, the swamp of the EDL is not listed for drainage. Perhaps, in the current political climate, that ideological terrain is a little more challenging. | Ultimately, only certain extremists live in swamps. The violent extremist Anders Breivik was also given a habitat, but that of the lone wolf, magically extracted from the swamp of bloggers, politicians, activists and journalists that provided him with ideological sustenance and inspiration. Despite their violent presence on Britain's streets, the swamp of the EDL is not listed for drainage. Perhaps, in the current political climate, that ideological terrain is a little more challenging. |
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