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Muslim Counterpublics Lab

The mission of Muslim Counterpublics Lab (MCL) is to disrupt and subvert dehumanizing narratives that are designed and deployed to justify state violence against Muslims.

Join Muslim Counterpublics Lab for a closing reception of&nbsp;Shattering Justice &amp; Re-Making the Muslim Threat at the American Poetry Museum and a zine-making workshop exploring memory as an act of resistance. The exhibit traces how the War on Terror has constructed Muslims as threats to justify warfare, surveillance, criminalization, detention, and torture. Together, we will reflect on these histories and the lives, experiences, and resistance that dominant narratives have silenced or erased. Building on MCL and Muslim Power Building Project&#39;s zine call, &ldquo;We Remember What They Tried to Erase,&rdquo; the workshop will use the exhibit as inspiration for participants to write, collage and art to create zines to share our stories, honor our grief, and articulate our demands for justice. What do we refuse to let be forgotten? Whose stories do we carry? What futures can we imagine beyond the violence of the War on Terror? As the exhibit closes, we will carry its questions into a shared practice of memory and remembrance and the power - and indeed necessity to document our histories, challenge the narratives that justify state violence, and tell our stories on our own terms. No prior zine-making experience is necessary. Light snacks will be provided.

Shattering Justice & Re-Making the Muslim Threat:  Zine Making Workshop and Closing Reception

Over the last 25 years, Muslim American leadership and community organizations have sought to define Muslim American political identity in the wake of 9/11 and in the War on Terror that was subsequently launched after the attacks. As part of Muslim Counterpublics Lab&rsquo;s work to build narrative power rooted in accountable leadership, this conversation will identify the successes and failures of Muslim American leadership after 9/11 and critically assess the ways in which Muslim leaders have served (or failed to serve) Muslim communities. This session will illuminate our understanding of the extent to which the boundaries of Muslim American political identities have come to be defined by our leadership class, including the extent to which they have accommodated, reproduced, or legitimized the very systems responsible for targeting Muslim communities. With these identities in mind, we will also analyze the narratives that have been embraced by the community had the most influence over how we see ourselves, and perhaps most importantly, how certain narratives have managed to gain footholds in Muslim spaces through internalized Islamophobia - including collective responsibility, appeals for recognition from agencies within the national security and carceral state, Zionism, and American exceptionalism.&nbsp; As we cover the historical memory of Muslim leadership over the last 25 years, we seek to learn what our leaders, and we as community members, can do better so that we can make thoughtful and informed decisions about who and what we&rsquo;re supporting with our voices and money. &nbsp;Our goal is to preserve our community&#39;s rights to self-determination by building our authentic expressions of identity without allowing them to be funded or manipulated by other forces.&nbsp;Finally, we hope to remind community members that we have an obligation to hold our leaders accountable through critical analysis of their decisions and chosen strategies. This obligation is where communal power and authentic community representation lie.&nbsp; MCL Advocacy Director Sanaa Ansari-Khan will be in conversation with Ahmed Shaikh, a Tax, Trusts, and Estates attorney who has advised and investigated Muslim American organizations to educate the community on transparency, ethics and leadership of organizations. You can find his work at his Substack, Towards Ehsan.&nbsp; We invite you to register now to join a grounded, candid discussion with space for reflection and strategy.

Coloring within the Lines: Rethinking Muslim American Leadership After 9/11

Islamophobia does not only operate through discriminatory policies, state violence, media representations, and public discourse - it impacts the way that Muslim communities perceive themselves and one another. In a perpetually toxic environment that is ripe with Islamophobia &nbsp;constructs Muslims as threatening, backward, violent, irrational, or perpetually suspect, Muslims sometimes internalize the very tropes that demonize us causing consequences ranging from self-hatred, dissociation from the community, and working in capacities that directly contribute to their targeting. &nbsp; At Muslim Counterpublics Lab, we believe that it is critical to dismantle institutionalized and structural Islamophobia, while at the same time unlearning and rejecting internalized Islamophobia. &nbsp; That&rsquo;s why, together with Muslim Wellness Foundation, we are hosting an internalized Islamophobia intensive that will provide participants with a framework for understanding the ways in which dominant structures of Islamophobia seek to weaponize us against our own selves. For example, participants will explore how dominant narratives about Muslims become internalized and reproduced within Muslim communities through respectability politics, &ldquo;good Muslim/bad Muslim&rdquo; binaries, distancing from those deemed too Muslim or too political, policing expressions of Muslim identity, and pressures to demonstrate innocence, moderation, patriotism, or belonging. Through political education, facilitated discussion, reflection exercises, case studies, and narrative analysis, participants will explore the manifestation of internalized Islamophobia from Muslims while equipping participants with the tools and shared language necessary to recognize, interrupt, and challenge internalized Islamophobia in themselves, their organizations, and their communities.&nbsp; By doing so, participants will work toward building forms of Muslim solidarity, leadership, and narrative power rooted in dignity, political clarity, collective liberation, and the refusal to accept the terms through which Muslims have been taught to understand our own humanity.

Who Taught You To Hate Yourself?  Unlearning Internalized Islamophobia Training Intensive

This September marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and the War on Terror that was subsequently launched in the name of national security. We know that this anniversary &ndash; like many anniversaries past will be used to narrate events that justifies the multiple wars and systemic violence of the War on Terror, while also legitimizing the ongoing criminalization and demonization of our communities domestically and across the globe. &nbsp; At the twenty-five-year juncture of the catastrophic War on Terror and the infrastructure of state violence it has institutionalized, it is imperative that we hold space for our communities to reflect on this history, our resistance, and how we can pave the path toward our collective liberation. Register for the GWOT Conference to join Muslim Counterpublics Lab and our partners. We will analyze the impacts of the global War on Terror and how America and its allies continue to deploy War on Terror frameworks, particularly Islamophobia and xenophobia, to manufacture consent for draconian surveillance and immigration policies, and exorbitant military spending for campaigns of ethnic cleansing, genocide, occupation, and extractivism.&nbsp;

Conference: When Will This War End:  Lessons and Legacies of the War on Terror

Come share your story at our Monthly Open Mic 🎤 &mdash; a welcoming space to perform or just listen. Each bit you share helps develop the narratives and performance skills our communities need to build the world we want.&nbsp; Hosted by &nbsp;Muslim Counterpublics Lab, this gathering centers Muslim experiences and our many intersecting identities. Use this form to tell us how you&rsquo;d like to participate, so we can hold the mic and room with care.&nbsp;

Clapback at the Machine:  Monthly Open Mic Series

Get ready to laugh because&mdash;Muslim Counterpublics Lab is coming to you with our first-ever Comedy Night! 🎤✨ Our comedy night is a proudly anti-colonial, radical leftist space featuring sharp, thought-provoking humor where we challenge the dehumanizing narratives that are used to justify our oppression. At a time when we need community more than ever, join MCL for a politically charged evening of solidarity and laughter. This comedy show is part of our Narrative Power program and your ticket purchases will help us expand our programming. &nbsp;Please also consider donating in addition to your ticket purchase so we can continue to provide this type of community programming. &nbsp; Until liberation, we resist - and laugh!

Clapback at the Machine:  A Leftist + Anti-Imperialist Comedy Show from the Heart of Empire!

Join us for our inaugural community open mic program where community members will share their narratives - from comedy to stories to everything in between. &nbsp;Our open mics are designed to collectively build community narrative infrastructure that centers our humanity and dignity while also building our resilience and resistance against state violence. &nbsp; Celebrating MCL&#39;s four year anniversary, this event will also be a fundraiser to help us grow and sustain the important work of building Muslim narrative power.

Clapback at the Machine:  A Community Open-Mic Night & Birthday Party

Join us to get involved with MCL and our political education committee!

Volunteering with MCL

The mission of Muslim Counterpublics Lab (MCL) is to disrupt and subvert dehumanizing narratives that are designed and deployed to justify state violence against Muslims.

Muslim Counterpublics Lab

Muslim Counterpublics Lab

Past events

Past events

Shattering Justice & Re-Making the Muslim Threat: Zine Making Workshop and Closing Reception

Coloring within the Lines: Rethinking Muslim American Leadership After 9/11

Who Taught You To Hate Yourself? Unlearning Internalized Islamophobia Training Intensive

Conference: When Will This War End: Lessons and Legacies of the War on Terror

Clapback at the Machine: Monthly Open Mic Series

Clapback at the Machine: A Leftist + Anti-Imperialist Comedy Show from the Heart of Empire!

Clapback at the Machine: A Community Open-Mic Night & Birthday Party

Volunteering with MCL

More ways to support us

Support Muslim Counterpublics Lab

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