Internet-mediated Islamist semiotics: policing memes and the R4BIA pizza effect

Abstract

This article explores the semiotics and trans-local dynamics of the decision by a Mancunian pizzeria to brand itself using what is widely regarded as a characteristically Islamist internet meme (the so-called ‘R4bia Sign’). The article explores the genesis, genealogy, and development of a salient religio-political symbol as a means to interrogate specific models of cultural production and reproduction. It focuses in particular on the character of meme-making as a mode of political participation and as part of dissident groups’ repertoires of action. In the process, it problematizes contemporary state policy in relation to policing internet-centred discourse among minority and dissident groups. It is particularly critical of indiscriminate interventions which obscure dynamic, reciprocal, and contextual transformations of meaning associated with ostensibly fixed symbols.