Page - 125 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

Making Space, Claiming Place | 125www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 107–131 who are encouraged and praised for their critical stance.85 The comments and the thousands of likes the post received not only indicate that DENK’s support- ers agree with this argument, but also reinforce the idea that DENK is alone in these political spaces in standing up for the perspective of a large section of Dutch Muslims who until now have largely been invisible or misunderstood. NIDA followed up on this issue by inviting the initiator of the petition, Imam Abou Soumayyah, to participate in one of their live sessions on Face- book.86 In this session, El Ouali and Abou Soumayyah discussed how they felt like Islamophobia has become normalized to the point that there is na- tional outrage or indifference when Muslims express their needs and wishes through civic engagement (by signing or supporting the petition in this case). They also discuss the arguments used by people who have criticized the peti- tion (claiming it was bad timing, for example) and explain their perspectives on why they think the petition was a necessary signal from Dutch Muslim communities.87 Thus NIDA provided the platform for Abou Soumayyah’s voice and activism to be amplified and given positive attention rather than attract- ing the uproar it had caused in parliament. NIDA were thus doing something similar to DENK in visibly and consciously siding with the voices of people who have not felt heard or seen in a long time (or perhaps ever), and demon- strate that social media is a convenient place to facilitate this message. Conclusion The emergence of the political parties DENK and NIDA is clearly a direct response to right-wing populist rhetoric about Islam, but it also brings up a myriad of new questions in relation to Dutch politics, religion, and media. Exploratory in nature, this article has examined the role of social media in how these parties have been able to successfully “talk back” to the domi- nant integration discourse in relation to Muslims by on the one hand crit- icizing mainstream media for the ways they are framed and on the other hand utilizing social media platforms as “third spaces”. By combining social media data, qualitative interviews with politicians, newspaper articles, and academic literature, this article argues that it is im- 85 DENK 2020. 86 NIDA 2020b. 87 NIDA 2020b.