Description
In this presentation, I will argue that in mainstream media, religious concepts were systematically exploited for propagandistic purposes intended to ‘manufacture the consent’ of the Spanish population, obstructing public deliberation regarding the Madrid (2004) and Barcelona (2017) attacks, and strengthening Spanish ‘democracy’ by defining it in opposition to ‘jihadist terrorism.’
In particular, I will discuss, first, the emergence and consolidation of the use of ‘jihad’ (جهاد) and ‘Islamism’ in Spanish and Catalan mainstream media as supposedly synonymous with political violence and terrorism in the name of Islam, beginning with the national cover of the Spanish newspaper of record, El Mundo, in its issue of March 15th, 2004. Second, I will examine the metaphorization of the 13-year absence of major attacks between the Madrid bombings and the Barcelona incident as a baraka (بركة) in the Spanish mainstream newspaper of record, El País, which reduces this period to a simplistic “blessing of peace” that has supposedly expired when “terrorism” occurs. Third, I will analyze IS’s conceptualization of the victims of the Barcelona attacks as “Jews and Crusaders” (اليهود والصليبيين), also stated as “Crusaders and Jews,” in its 95th issue of the weekly newsletter Al Naba, contrasting with the Spanish mainstream press, which would typically describe them as "innocent citizens."
I will conclude that religious terminology—especially when used in mainstream media—can serve as a potent tool for shaping public opinion, constructing national identity, and delineating perceived threats. By selectively framing certain terms or ideas, propaganda can both oversimplify and intensify the perceived dichotomy between national or democratic ideals and “jihadist terrorism,” or alternatively, between righteous “soldiers of Allah” and “Jews and Crusaders.”
