In Whose Interest? Financial Surveillance and the Circuits of Exception in the War on Terror

Abstract

In this paper I argue that discourses of terrorism financing that emerged in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks encourage the practice of ethnic/religious profiling while categorically delegitimizing and criminalizing Muslim financial networks. In partnership with these discourses are legal and regulatory frameworks that alter accountability parameters for certain classifications of money. Surveillance and monitoring have become sufficiently nuanced, granting the everyday bureaucrat powers of differentiation so as to allow certain money to remain fully mobile while other money is subject to increased tracking and suspicion. The war on terrorism finance is queried as an appropriate tactic in the effort to combat terrorism. I discuss the various facets of the discursive associations forged between terrorism finance hawala wire-transfer services and Islamic charities. Drawing upon Judith Butler's notion of ‘deeming’, I make linkages between discursive associations, sovereignty, and contemporary terrorism prevention practices. Finally, I extend David Harvey's theory of accumulation by dispossession to argue that the frameworks of accountability broadened by the PATRIOT Act and related provisions can be and are being mobilized to seize control of undesirable financial flows and to further US economic interests.