Across western publics, a dangerous claim is spreading that Muslim civic participation is secretly linked to a coordinated Muslim Brotherhood plot to subvert these nations from within.
They claim that Muslims - many of them third-generation immigrants - who organise in communities, assert their rights as equal citizens, and engage in democratic politics are doing so as part of a hidden takeover scheme. It is a conspiracy theory, and a familiar one.
Following the Trump administration's State Department designation of Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO), several US state governors and European politicians have used this as a carte blanche to target their own domestic Muslim populations.
The governors of Texas and Florida have moved to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) as a terrorist organisation - a largely symbolic but still severe step towards criminalising Muslim civic engagement.
Meanwhile, the Dutch parliament voted by a slim majority to designate the Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation, while the Dutch government still has to decide how to act on this.
