Search Results

The War on Terror

Ben Herzog

in Revoking Citizenship: Expatriation in America from the Colonial Era to the War on Terror

In practice, the United States has abandoned the ideal of undivided national membership. Although every administration through the present has officially opposed dual citizenship, millions of ... More

In practice, the United States has abandoned the ideal of undivided national membership. Although every administration through the present has officially opposed dual citizenship, millions of Americans have multiple national identities, which the United States tolerates. This chapter discusses recent developments in the policy of expatriation in light of the War on Terror. Several proposals for new expatriation laws, such as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act and Senator Joseph Lieberman's Terrorist Expatriation Act, exemplify the reemergence of the idea of exclusive national allegiance, which applies even to native-born Americans and even when it contradicts U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The case of Yaser Esam Hamdi is further explored to illustrate the reemergence of expatriation as punishment.Less

The voice of authority?

Susan Watkins

in Doris Lessing

In 1979, Doris Lessing published Shikasta, the first novel in her Canopus in Argos: Archives quintet (1979–1983) and her first novel written entirely in the speculative mode. Science fiction (SF) has ... More

In 1979, Doris Lessing published Shikasta, the first novel in her Canopus in Argos: Archives quintet (1979–1983) and her first novel written entirely in the speculative mode. Science fiction (SF) has always involved extrapolation, so in what ways is writing about new worlds a way of writing about our own? Does SF require a different voice or narration? If it does, how might that make a writer such as Lessing rethink her authorial and narrative voice when she returns to realism? How might it impact on her attempt to write about a subject like terrorism? In the Canopus in Argos: Archives series, and in The Diaries of Jane Somers (1984) and The Good Terrorist (1985), questions of voice are central. Lessing suggests here that style and voice cannot be separated from content, and that there is no such thing as a characteristic authorial style or voice. Her work in the early to mid-1980s, despite its apparently vast differences in mode, genre and subject, can be viewed as a self-conscious experimentation with the authority of voice.Less

Expansion: Night Moves

E. Dawn Hall

in ReFocus: The Films of Kelly Reichardt

This chapter discusses Night Moves as a political thriller about ecoterrorism, and focuses on Riechardt’s adjustments in form, style, and content as compared with her prior body of work. While on the ... More

This chapter discusses Night Moves as a political thriller about ecoterrorism, and focuses on Riechardt’s adjustments in form, style, and content as compared with her prior body of work. While on the surface, Night Moves appears to have more commercial intentions, it is an overt challenge to cinematic commercialisation. Although the thriller genre promises sex, action, and special effects, Night Moves, in true independent cinematic fashion, never shows these events on screen. Night Moves invites ethical questions through the ecoterrorist actions of the protagonists and the gender commentary supplied through the sparse dialogue and character interactions. Through interviews with Reichardt and her cast and crew the chapter covers production methods and makes connections with contemporary environmental activist groups, such as the Earth Liberation Front, the Occupy Wall Street movement and to terrorist acts such as the Oklahoma City bombing.Less

What’s so Funny about a Dead Terrorist?: Toward an Ethics of Humor for the Digital Age1

Paul Lewis

in A Decade of Dark Humor: How Comedy, Irony, and Satire Shaped Post-9/11 America

This chapter examines what internationally powerful mass humor scandals/stories suggest about new directions for empirical research on humor and satire and highlights the need for a new kind of ... More

This chapter examines what internationally powerful mass humor scandals/stories suggest about new directions for empirical research on humor and satire and highlights the need for a new kind of approach to humor studies in the digital age. Focusing on the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark and Jeff Dunham’s sketch “Achmed, the Dead Terrorist,” each of which features humor about terrorists and terrorism, it discusses the contrast between tactless and tactful treatments of potentially explosive materials after 9/11 and illustrates what happens when a joke goes wrong or when satire misfires.Less

8 The War on Terror

Ben Herzog

in Revoking Citizenship: Expatriation in America from the Colonial Era to the War on Terror

In practice, the United States has abandoned the ideal of undivided national membership. Although every administration through the present has officially opposed dual citizenship, millions of ... More

In practice, the United States has abandoned the ideal of undivided national membership. Although every administration through the present has officially opposed dual citizenship, millions of Americans have multiple national identities, which the United States tolerates. This chapter discusses recent developments in the policy of expatriation in light of the War on Terror. Several proposals for new expatriation laws, such as the Domestic Security Enhancement Act and Senator Joseph Lieberman's Terrorist Expatriation Act, exemplify the reemergence of the idea of exclusive national allegiance, which applies even to native-born Americans and even when it contradicts U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The case of Yaser Esam Hamdi is further explored to illustrate the reemergence of expatriation as punishment. Less

Into the New Century, 2000–2004

James M. Denham

in Fifty Years of Justice: A History of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

This chapter begins with the confused presidential election of 2000 and disputed vote totals in Florida. Some litigation in the Middle District involving counting of the votes is included in the ... More

This chapter begins with the confused presidential election of 2000 and disputed vote totals in Florida. Some litigation in the Middle District involving counting of the votes is included in the chapter. George W. Bush’s justice department is introduced. The September 11 terrorist attacks and their impact on federal law enforcement is discussed. The Bush Administration’s reaction to the attacks, its subsequent “War on Terror,” the passage of the Patriot Act, and the War in Iraq had a transformative effect on American society and the Middle District of Florida. The Middle District’s reaction to the attack and the heightened security measures are covered. Extensive coverage of the U.S. Attorney’s office is included. The chapter then turns to the unhealthy conditions (sick courthouse syndrome) in the various courthouses. The construction of a new courthouse in Orlando is discussed. A number of corruption cases are discussed, including the Jacksonville Police Department and several other agencies receiving federal funds are chronicled. The chapter concludes with the implementation of the Case Management/Electronic Case Files System (CM/ECF) by the Middle district clerk’s office as well as how the system functioned during the four hurricanes that swept through the district in 2004.Less

Theorizing sexuality in Comics

Joe Sutliff Sanders

in The Rise of the American Comics Artist: Creators and Contexts

This chapter examines sexuality in contemporary comics and how it is represented in antagonistic historic relation to preexisting trends, such as those generated by official sanctions and the ... More

This chapter examines sexuality in contemporary comics and how it is represented in antagonistic historic relation to preexisting trends, such as those generated by official sanctions and the underground comix. It looks at how comics creators have pushed off against the mainstream and then pushed off against the alternative as they explore sexuality. The chapter begins by outlining the broader history of sexuality in American comics that is grounded in the particular to-and-fro of the industry’s odd history of revolutions, first against the mainstream, and then against the alternative press. It then describes a theory of sexuality in comics that emphasizes the ideological camps in the current debate about the medium’s depiction of sexuality. To prove its point, the chapter analyzes Diane DiMassa’s book Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist, which responds to the anti-misogynist movement while also anticipating the new wave of alternative comics exemplified by Jennifer Camper’s anthology Juicy Mother.Less

Constructing the ‘terrorist’ other: a ‘new’ and ‘evolving’ threat to the European Union

Christopher Baker-Beall

in The European Union's fight against terrorism: Discourse, Policies, Identity

Chapter Three analyses four strands of the ‘fight against terrorism’ discourse in a detailed manner. The first part of the chapter maps each of the discourse strands, demonstrating how they help to ... More

Chapter Three analyses four strands of the ‘fight against terrorism’ discourse in a detailed manner. The first part of the chapter maps each of the discourse strands, demonstrating how they help to construct the figure of the ‘terrorist’ other. The chapter argues that the ‘terrorist’ other is constructed within the discourse as an extreme and radical threat to the EU who is simultaneously perceived to potentially be a ‘criminal’, a ‘new’ and ‘evolving’ threat, a non-state actor, a member of a group or an individual, such as a ‘lone actor’ or a ‘returning foreign fighter’, who seeks to inflict ‘massive casualties’ against the EU and its member states. The second part of the chapter reflects on the how the ‘fight against terrorism’ discourse functions. It argues that the EU has adopted a criminal justice-based approach to counter-terrorism, which can be differentiated from the US war-based discourse of the ‘war on terror’. The chapter argues that the EU understanding of terrorism is based upon and also constructs an ‘accepted knowledge’ about terrorism that is highly contested, as well as considering the political and societal implications of the discourse.Less

Experiences, Apprenticeships, and Careers in Terror

Mia Bloom

John Horgan (ed.)

in Small Arms: Children and Terrorism

This chapter focuses on children’s experiences of engagement. It examines the multitude of roles, functions and ‘jobs’ that children have in terrorist movements and describes the progression from one ... More

This chapter focuses on children’s experiences of engagement. It examines the multitude of roles, functions and ‘jobs’ that children have in terrorist movements and describes the progression from one kind of role to another. These accounts will be examined within Hundeide’s ‘communities of practice’ framework that has been especially important in explaining the graduation from ‘novice’ to ‘expert’ through a gradual but incremental process of socialization.Less

The Weight of an Impossible World: McVeigh Confronts His Public Image

Jody Lyneé Madeira

in Killing McVeigh: The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure

This chapter examines how Timothy McVeigh confronted his public image. It considers the media's portrayal of McVeigh as a malicious, even monstrous, individual and McVeigh's response to this ... More

This chapter examines how Timothy McVeigh confronted his public image. It considers the media's portrayal of McVeigh as a malicious, even monstrous, individual and McVeigh's response to this treatment with media interviews and an authorized biography. It also analyzes the increase in McVeigh's public visibility between June 13, 1997, when he was sentenced to death, and June 11, 2001, when he was executed; the two-way, reciprocal relationships that developed between McVeigh and journalists and victims after the bombing; and McVeigh's attempts at reputation management and his feelings toward victims. Finally, it cites the publication of McVeigh's biography, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing.Less

10 The Weight of an Impossible World: McVeigh Confronts His Public Image

Jody Lyneé Madeira

in Killing McVeigh: The Death Penalty and the Myth of Closure

This chapter examines how Timothy McVeigh confronted his public image. It considers the media's portrayal of McVeigh as a malicious, even monstrous, individual and McVeigh's response to this ... More

This chapter examines how Timothy McVeigh confronted his public image. It considers the media's portrayal of McVeigh as a malicious, even monstrous, individual and McVeigh's response to this treatment with media interviews and an authorized biography. It also analyzes the increase in McVeigh's public visibility between June 13, 1997, when he was sentenced to death, and June 11, 2001, when he was executed; the two-way, reciprocal relationships that developed between McVeigh and journalists and victims after the bombing; and McVeigh's attempts at reputation management and his feelings toward victims. Finally, it cites the publication of McVeigh's biography, American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. Less

The Rap Sheet: The Nimble Surveillance State

Max Felker-Kantor

in Policing Los Angeles: Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD

The LAPD’s ability to maintain its independent partisan power in the face of procedural reforms and antipolice protest rested on its intelligence operations. Police spying, this chapter shows, ... More

The LAPD’s ability to maintain its independent partisan power in the face of procedural reforms and antipolice protest rested on its intelligence operations. Police spying, this chapter shows, targeted groups that challenged the status quo, none more so than anti–police abuse activists and movements for racial justice, using a capacious definition of “disorder.” But these same groups exposed the Public Disorder Intelligence Division’s surveillance operations (previously known as the Red Squad), leading to new regulations on the department’s activities, the end of the PDID, and the establishment of the department’s new intelligence unit, the Anti-Terrorist Division. The reforms, however, did not change the underlying power relations between the police and residents.Less

Movement in the 1930s

Uma Das Gupta (ed.)

in Friendships of 'Largeness and Freedom': Andrews, Tagore, and Gandhi : An Epistolary Account, 1912-1940

For the country and for the three friends, there was a mounting struggle in the 1930s. The struggles were particularly over the Provisional Settlement, Indian terrorist activities, and the absence of ... More

For the country and for the three friends, there was a mounting struggle in the 1930s. The struggles were particularly over the Provisional Settlement, Indian terrorist activities, and the absence of a Hindu–Muslim agreement. Those problems held Gandhi back from attending the Round Table Conference in London. He went finally in September 1931. Speaking at the Federal Structure Committee, he presented India’s demand for complete independence. Andrews was in Britain preparing for Gandhi’s visit by writing about Gandhi’s life, ideas, and work for the general uninitiated public. He was also interviewing Lord Irwin, Lord Sankey, Sir Samuel Hoare, and Ramsay MacDonald.Less

Introduction

Petter Nesser

in Islamist Terrorism in Europe: A History

The chapter theorizes the inner life of terrorist cells, and presents a new model for interpreting data on radicalization and recruitment. It distinguishes between four ideal-type terrorists: the ... More

The chapter theorizes the inner life of terrorist cells, and presents a new model for interpreting data on radicalization and recruitment. It distinguishes between four ideal-type terrorists: the entrepreneur, the protégé, the misfit and the drifter, who join militancy differently. The chapter highlights the role of ideologically motivated entrepreneurs in building terrorist cells on behalf of armed jihadis in conflict zones. Entrepreneurs bring structure and organization to the disaffected majority of misfits and drifters, turning them into tools for groups such as al-Qaida and IS. This dynamic makes the threat more organized and transnational than is commonly assumed.Less

The Peace Camp Without Rabin

Samy Cohen

in Doves Among Hawks: Struggles of the Israeli Peace Movements

Yitzhak Rabin's assassination triggered a burst of enthusiasm for his project. In the months that followed, his supporters continued the struggle. It was a good opportunity for the dovish left to ... More

Yitzhak Rabin's assassination triggered a burst of enthusiasm for his project. In the months that followed, his supporters continued the struggle. It was a good opportunity for the dovish left to capitalize on the widespread emotion and so to consolidate its base and marshal support for the peace process. It was able to count on the support of Shimon Peres, who had meanwhile been named interim prime minister. He was committed to abiding by the commitments of his predecessor and was also very popular. The context could not have been more favorable to Israeli pacifists. Yet the opportunity was missed. Rabin's assassination did not benefit his supporters. The image of the peace camp continued to deteriorate and increasingly seemed to go against the grain of the dominant public mood in Israel. This chapter explains this inability to capitalize on the “Rabin effect".Less