Graduating to Violence

This chapter addresses student violence at the University of Karachi, between 1979 and 1989. During this decade there was a spectacular rise in student violence at the university, from fistfights to gunfights, to “political” assassinations, and culminating in a massacre. On one occasion, this violence spilled over from the campuses and acquired an international dimension: when a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) airplane was hijacked in March 1981 by Salamullah Tipu. During the second half of the 1980s, it also spread through the city of Karachi, fuelling larger social and political conflicts. The chapter then considers two different aspects of the dynamics of conflict escalation: that of intensification, which concerns the magnitude of the violence in terms of casualties; and that of expansion, which concerns the amplitude of the violence in spatial terms.

The Management of Identities in and by Turkey’s Political Parties

This chapter explores the partial, and at times total, failure of mobilizations via mechanisms aiming to neutralize the political weight of identity within political parties. In Turkey, identity politics has become a means of claiming and proclaiming particularist rights since the 1980s, although such questions are often settled and regulated outside “legitimate” policies. Demands based on issues of identity—which are illegal—are quasi-taboo for the political parties, which are reluctant to become public relays for these sorts of demands, particularly on the national level. The parties consider the identity dimension as a central parameter in their relations with voters, however, and they incorporate it for this purpose, particularly in terms of personnel management of candidates and party officials. In order to face this double constraint, they use specific modes of communication that are characterized by connotation and ambiguity.

Self-Radicalisation of a Young Indian Jihadist in Great Britain

This chapter looks at a case of transition to violence by self-mobilization (outside militant structures) through an exacerbation of identity and difference. Specifically, it examines the trajectory of a young Indian jihadist who, together with an accomplice, planted bombs in London 2007 and then tried to ram Glasgow airport with a car. The sources are exceptional: the author interviewed the jihadist before the events, which offers a unique perspective. The varying differences in scale at work are symptomatic of a transformation in conflicts of differentiation. The chapter then describes how one goes from a “banal” identity differentiation—an expatriate becoming aware of his or her status as Muslim in a non-Muslim land—to the stage where the feeling of difference appears insurmountable, with violence its only discernible expression.

The Origins of the Protest Movement Against Ethnic Hierarchy

This chapter looks at the central role of entrepreneurs of mobilization. The study of different routes taken by entrepreneurs of the Azerbaijani cause has proven helpful when attempting to understand the genesis of the cause. These actors play a crucial role in the initiation and development of the movement, restructuring it throughout the revolutionary period and working toward the subversion of ethnic ranking. Indeed, resource mobilization highlights the decisive role played by intellectual figures from the educated middle classes. Based on their cultural and social capital, these entrepreneurs have specific resources that give them the ability to carry out a redefinition and enhancement of “turkishness” in its Azerbaijani specificity. The chapter then points out that Azeri elites with significant cultural capital tend to be integrated in the political system, whereas those with more “local” capital have been involved in setting up the Azeri rights movement.

The Transformation of a Conflict in the Diaspora

This chapter assesses the role of the political context bringing a transformation of identity rankings in diasporas. Specifically, it studies the role played over the past 15 years by British state policies in the transformation of relationships between two migrant communities originating from South Asia: Sikhs and Muslims. Each community shares antagonistic representations of the other, based on past conflicts, such as the Partition. What they perceive as a hereditary antagonism is not simply imported but transformed in the diaspora by several local variables. Among these, British integration policy toward ethnic minorities is a key factor. While striving since 2005 to foster “community cohesion,” it actually tends to exacerbate the competition between migrant communities related to the allocation of resources, both symbolic and material.

Introduction

This introductory chapter provides an overview of identity and identity hierarchies, identifying the three ways in which hierarchies are transformed. The rapid and even brutal transformation of identity hierarchies, a common feature in the countries studied here, is based on three dynamics: a revolution in which the center redefines the reference identity, socio-economic transformations increasing the level of interaction and competition, and moral shocks or changes to the regimes of subjectification. The brutal denaturalization of group hierarchies occurs when the state instigates a new relative value of religious or ethnic identities in the aftermath of a revolution. Moreover, migrations, rural exodus, and the redefinition of ethnic skills in industrialized modes of production all transform the value of identities. Lastly, the shift from the left-wing “revolutionary idea” to Islamism brings with it new regimes of subjectification, placing religious identities at the center of the political stage and of individuals' identifications.

Quetta City and the Baluch Guerrilla

This article explores the incidents linked to Baloch nationalism, highlighting what is at play behind this urban armed struggle, with a special focus on the city of Quetta—the capital city of Balochistan, Pakistan's most underdeveloped province. Since 2000, and for the first time, violent clashes of very different natures coincided in the city: target killings by Baloch nationalists, suicide attacks from militant Islamist groups, assassinations against the Shi'ite (primarily Hazara) community, and a growing non-politically motivated criminality perpetuating a number of murders and kidnappings. The legitimization of some aspects of this violence by a population witnessing but not producing it enables the reconfiguration of social relationships and/or spaces in the urban context. In particular, the chapter argues that violence, far from bringing about a rejection and delegitimization of groups using it, can on the contrary redefine the relationship between social groups, leading in particular to the marginalization of the groups it targets.

Conflicting Emotions

This chapter focuses on the riot that took place in Lahore, Pakistan following the publication of the “Danish cartoons” on February 14, 2006. It shows the importance of emotions in the transition to violence by focusing on three levels of observation. At the micro (individual) level, one must articulate certain types of emotions to moral sentiments and specific frameworks of perception. At the meso level (the riotous crowd), the “emotional work” of the entrepreneurs of mobilization failed to stem the micro-conflicts that were playing in the crowd, and these entrepreneurs are to be seen in the wider context of everyday urban violence. Finally, at the macro level (the political system), the chapter highlights the need for a renewed interest in an aspect often neglected in studies on the impact dimension of social movements, namely the politics of emotions produced by the state.

Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Hierarchy

This chapter examines the production of identity by the media. Grounding the analysis on how private Turkish television channels deal with the Kurdish population and “problem,” it shows how ethnic categories are used to legitimize, explain, or deny cultural difference, thereby conditioning political practices and public perceptions. This has contributed to creating a double discourse that consolidated during the next decade: the new rhetoric of “cultural diversity” coexists with the older one on the Kurdish issue, defined as a development or civilization issue. The coexistence of these two discourses shows the relative value of identities and their ranking. The chapter then explores the hypothesis according to which, recognizing cultural diversity in Turkey—and in particular the existence of Kurds—triggers a change in the definition of the conflict and in the political practices at a certain level while, at another level, allowing to confirm old categories founding the ethnic hierarchies.

The Instrumentalization of Ethnic Conflict by the State

This chapter examines the ethnic tensions between Kurds and Azeris in and around the city of Naqadeh in Western Azerbaijan shortly after the Iranian Revolution. Favored by the Iranian state, the Azeris held dominant social and political positions in comparison to the Kurds, adding to the tensions between these populations. The shift to violence is the result of several elements: first, the collapse of the old regime brought into question the hitherto legitimate ethnic hierarchy. Being Shi'ite became a key element in the relationship with the state and Sunni Kurds were marginalized. Second, Kurdish political demands were a source of concern for the region's Azeri population. Finally, the new government, freshly installed, had yet to establish its authority over Kurdish areas. Ethnic violence among different groups only served to justify government intervention and strengthen state influence.