American Muslims furious at “hatred” week
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
New York, October 24: The American Muslim community expressed deep concern over the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week being held this week in U.S. universities.
Terrorism Awareness Project, established by David Horowitz, is sponsoring the “hatred” week which began on the 22nd of October and is expected to end on the 26th.
According to Horowitz, the event is designed to "confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the 'war on terror' and that global warming is a greater danger to Americans than extermism.”
But Muslim leaders say that the event is mainly aimed at targeting Muslim students at various universities and smearing the Islamic religion by allowing anti-Islamic figures to tour American campuses and propagate their Islamophobia.
The U.S. Muslim community released a statement condemning the "hate" campaign, saying that it clearly fosters racism in the American society.
“We represent a broad range of religions, nationalities, ethnicities and beliefs, but, we are united in raising our voices to denounce the campaign of racism and bigotry otherwise known as Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," said a statement from the U.S. Muslim community, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
Unfortunately, the project, described as the “biggest conservative campus protest ever“, is supported by many people who would be able to portray their one-sided opinions regarding Islam.
Among those supporters is Robert Spenser, who is known for saying that Islam is “the world’s most intolerant religion”. Despite his relentless efforts to smear the Islamic religion, Spencer’s anti-Islamic writings have never been published by any university press.
David Horowitz is also famous for his racism attacks. As a matter of fact one of his favorite quotes is “guns don't kill black people, other blacks do”, which shows that his racism is taking a much broader scale.
Benish Shah, an associate researcher for the Emory Wheel of Emory University in Atlanta, discussed Horowitz’s ignorance when it comes to Islam.
"Horowitz knows little to nothing about Islam, and uses his minuscule knowledge to spark anger, hatred and frustration. Anger in Muslims who are misrepresented by his bigoted language: Hatred in Americans who have no knowledge of what Islam or terrorism is really about”.
Gary Leupp, Professor of History and Comparative Religion at Tufts University in Massachusetts, also condemned the “hatred” week, stressing that one of the main Islamic principles is equality between all human beings.
He also criticised the use of the term “Islamo-fascism”, and questioned its origin. "The term 'Islamo-fascism', used by President Bush in saber-rattling speeches, is highly problematic”, Leupp wrote in Tufts Daily, the University's student newspaper.
Even though Muslims are convinced that others have the right to express their feelings and opinions, they believe that a line must be drawn for such freedom when it becomes more of an insult. -Agencies
The Siasat Daily, 2004.
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