Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia
One of the significant effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York was the politics of the US-led war on terror encompassing secularism and calls for Islamic reformation. The political discourse of war on terror was not limited to the Americas but was witnessed in other Western nations...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/11/1358 |
| _version_ | 1797457900534235136 |
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| author | Heela Popal |
| author_facet | Heela Popal |
| author_sort | Heela Popal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | One of the significant effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York was the politics of the US-led war on terror encompassing secularism and calls for Islamic reformation. The political discourse of war on terror was not limited to the Americas but was witnessed in other Western nations, such as Australia. The discourse of “Islam needs reforming” by the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, in response to the Lindt Café siege (labelled as “Islamic terrorism”) tacitly associates Islam with terrorism and represents Muslims negatively to the wider Australian society. This paper with the research question of “How does ‘Islam needs reforming’ discourse perpetuate Islamophobia?” carried out critical discourse analysis on the selected speeches of Tony Abbott in response to the Lindt Café siege in 2014 to find out the context and implications of Abbott’s discourse in relation to calls for Islamic revolution. The study found that Abbott through the example of al-Sisi’s (Egypt’s president) calls for Islamic reformation forwarded his stance of the need for change in Islam to counter terrorism. Therefore, the present paper argues that the calls for Islamic reformation in response to terrorism can associate Islam with terrorism, thus, perpetuating Islamophobia. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:29:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-63c377ceb76e4511828e95a61ba4bb33 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:29:25Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-63c377ceb76e4511828e95a61ba4bb332023-11-24T15:03:41ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442023-10-011411135810.3390/rel14111358Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in AustraliaHeela Popal0Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2050, AustraliaOne of the significant effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York was the politics of the US-led war on terror encompassing secularism and calls for Islamic reformation. The political discourse of war on terror was not limited to the Americas but was witnessed in other Western nations, such as Australia. The discourse of “Islam needs reforming” by the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, in response to the Lindt Café siege (labelled as “Islamic terrorism”) tacitly associates Islam with terrorism and represents Muslims negatively to the wider Australian society. This paper with the research question of “How does ‘Islam needs reforming’ discourse perpetuate Islamophobia?” carried out critical discourse analysis on the selected speeches of Tony Abbott in response to the Lindt Café siege in 2014 to find out the context and implications of Abbott’s discourse in relation to calls for Islamic revolution. The study found that Abbott through the example of al-Sisi’s (Egypt’s president) calls for Islamic reformation forwarded his stance of the need for change in Islam to counter terrorism. Therefore, the present paper argues that the calls for Islamic reformation in response to terrorism can associate Islam with terrorism, thus, perpetuating Islamophobia.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/11/1358Islamic reformationIslamophobiapolitical discoursecritical discourse analysiswar on terrorrepresentation |
| spellingShingle | Heela Popal Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia Religions Islamic reformation Islamophobia political discourse critical discourse analysis war on terror representation |
| title | Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia |
| title_full | Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia |
| title_fullStr | Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia |
| title_short | Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia |
| title_sort | analysing the rhetoric of islam needs reforming tony abbott s political discourse in response to terrorism in australia |
| topic | Islamic reformation Islamophobia political discourse critical discourse analysis war on terror representation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/11/1358 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT heelapopal analysingtherhetoricofislamneedsreformingtonyabbottspoliticaldiscourseinresponsetoterrorisminaustralia |