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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Off-line, I received these articles which offer some of
the information that I was hoping to receive.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A class=moz-txt-link-freetext
href="http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/judeo_christo_fascism_awareness_week_comes_to_american_campuses/0014850">http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/judeo_christo_fascism_awareness_week_comes_to_american_campuses/0014850</A><BR>
<DIV class=entry>
<DIV class=entry-title><B>Judeo-Christo-Fascism Awareness Week Comes to American
Campuses! </B></DIV>
<DIV class=entry-author>
<P><B>Rabbi Arthur Waskow</B> </P></DIV></DIV><!-- -------------------------TOP PERMA LINK------------------------- -->
<DIV class=entry-info2>Posted Oct 21, 2007 </DIV>
<CENTER></CENTER><!-- -------------------------TOP PERMA LINK------------------------- -->
<HR>
<P>Judeo-Christo-Fascism Awareness Week Comes to American Campuses! </P>
<P>by Rabbi Arthur Waskow <BR></P>
<P>Did that title make the hair on the back of your neck bristle? Did it feel
like a bigoted attack on Christianity and Judaism? </P>
<P>When the feature film sent out for use in this Week—which focused on the
disgusting Christian-led war that killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and the
disgusting Jewish-led killing of Muslim children by airplane bombng raids on
Gaza -– also included interviews with a few peacenik Quakers, Methodists, and
left-wing Jews, criticizing that war and those bombings, did you relax, feeling
it was a balanced presentation of Judaism and Christianity? <BR><BR>NO??!! —Your
guts, your kishkes, felt that practically all Christians and Jews were being set
up as potential – indeed probable— bad guys? Could-be terrorists who –
often manipulated by governments that Christians or Jews controlled—-- hated
other religious communities but had not yet got around to buying the plastique
for their bombs? <BR><BR>And since Christians are a huge majority in
America but Jews are a small minority with a past of being persecuted, did you
especially fear for the impact of Judeo-Christo-Fascism Awareness on Jews and
Judaism? That this Week might incite anti-Semitism? <BR><BR>Did you urge
universities to condemn this “travesty” and institute instead a real
Judeo-Christian Awareness Week that looked at the wonderful achievements of
Christian and Jewish prayer, charity, and social justice; the history of their
persecution; AND the history of their violence against others? That did look
closely at the murders of Muslims by Baruch/Aror Goldstein – but as an
aberration? And looked at the support of Nazism by the leading respectable
Lutheran theologians of Germany as terrible – a mistake? That discussed the
genocidal passages of Torah as a long-ago transcended worldview in the light of
Hillel’s teaching, “Do not do to your neighbor what would be hateful if your
neighbor did it to you?” <BR><BR>Wow. Now THERE’S a concept!— Do not do to your
neighbor what would be hateful if your neighbor did it to you! </P>
<P>So what are you doing about the fact that there is NO such week about to
appear on US campuses, but on many campuses this coming week, there WILL appear
a whole industrial machine called “Islamofascism Awareness Week”?
<BR><BR>If you think it would be hateful toward you to have somebody produce
Judeo-Christo-Fascism Awareness Week, what do you owe your Muslim
neighbors? Or is Hillel’s teaching (and of course Jesus’ parallel
interpretation of “Love your neighbor as yourself") a mere utopian joke aimed at
naďve children? <BR><BR>Are there some Muslims who claim the authority of
God to kill and destroy? Yes. Are there some Jews who claim this? Yes. And
Christians? Yes. What do we do about this? <BR><BR>There are two valid
responses, aimed at loving connection-making rather than at demonization. One is
to learn about what drives SOME of the members of EVERY religious community –
even polytheistic Hindus and compassionist Buddhists —to using aggressive
violence SOME of the time. <BR><BR>How do we brighten the threads of peace
and justice and healing in ALL our traditions, while bleaching toward calm and
caring the fiery blood-red threads of violence in all of them? Truly, what
tugs us toward compassion, what toward war? Scarcities or plenitudes of water,
of oil, of safety, of health care, of honor and respect? <BR><BR>The other path
is to learn from and with each other rather than preserving our ghettos of fear
and alienation. <BR><BR>On Labor Day weekend, I had the honor and the pleasure
of being one of three rabbis who spoke at the national convention of the Islamic
Society of North America —an immense gathering of more than 35,000 American
Muslims, held in hotels near Chicago. ISNA is the umbrella group for
American Muslims. <BR><BR>The other rabbis were Rabbi Eric Yoffie, head of
the Reform movement, and Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, vice-president of the
Central Conference of American Rabbis (the Reform rabbis), who is slated to be
the next president of the CCAR. Both of them were eloquent, and both were
welcomed with excitement and long applause. I will come back to them. <BR><BR>My
own experience was joyful. I shared a panel on interfaith relations with,
among others, Shanta Premawardanha, associate general secretary of the National
Council of Churches. We both spoke about plans for the October 8
Interfaith Fast, and its meaning. Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, executive
director of ISNA, chaired the session and added his own excitement that Jews and
Christians were ready to take part in one day of the Ramadan fast, and his hope
that mosques everywhere would welcome others to their prayers. <BR><BR>And then
I went wandering the ISNA bazaar. Books bound in silver. Flimsy pamphlets on how
to observe the New Moon. Arabic calligraphy. Jewelled crescent moons. Head
scarves. Robes in white, in black, in purple. Meditation beads. Travel agents
for trips to Mecca, Karachi, Fez, Istanbul, Nairobi. <BR><BR>And the people:
<BR><BR>Every shade of skin, every twirl of hair. Jeans. Head scarves. Business
suits. Long robes. Full-body covers, leaving only the eyes open to the world –
and such eyes! From one ear, I heard “Asalaamu aleikum.” From another ear,
“Wossup, bro?” Palestinian-Americans. African-Americans. Kuwaiti-Americans.
Indonesian-Americans. Pakistani-Americans. Anglo-Saxon Americans. <BR><BR>One
thing I did not hear, or see: Speeches or conversations or pamphlets that were
anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, anti-Christian. Maybe there were some in Arabic, or
other languages. But the lingua franca of the conference was English. <BR><BR>Oh
yes. ISNA, like CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) was named by the US
Department of Justice (under Attorney-General Gonzales) an unindicted
co-conspirator in a case alleging a Muslim-American charity was funneling aid to
Hamas. <BR><BR>AND – the FBI placed a full-page ad in ISNA’s program.
<BR><BR>What is going on here? <BR><BR>Best-case scenario: Is the present
government of the United States just crazy, does not know its right hand from
its left? Worst-case scenario: is this good-cop/ bad-cop tactics?
The government intimidates Muslims to cooperate with any intrusions the FBI
cares to make, by smearing their name until they submit? <BR><BR>This
“unindicted co-conspirator” label is both clever and vile. The government does
not even have to persuade a grand jury – almost always ready to do what any
prosecutor wants – that there is enough evidence even to begin trial. And once
it puts the"co-conspirator" label on someone, there is no way to get acquitted –
because you are not standing trial. <BR><BR>So they stuck this label on
ISNA and also on CAIR – the Council on American-Islamic Relations. I have worked
with both in efforts to end the Iraq war and to condemn terrorism.
<BR><BR>While ISNA is a broad Islamic umbrella, CAIR is more analogous to the
American Jewish Congress when Rabbi Joachim Prinz and later, Rabbi Henry Siegman
were its directors and the AJCongress was still vigorously committed to
protecting the human rights and civil liberties of Jews as well as of others.
<BR><BR>In that vein, the feisty CAIR has condemned the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian territories, while in the name of God and Islam it has also
condemned terrorist attacks upon Israelis. It has built strong American
constituencies in local areas where there are sizeable Muslim communities.
<BR><BR>Result: It is often condemned by those official Jewish organizations
that brook no criticism of Israeli governmental policy and actions. It is
accused of supporting terrorism although its website is full of condemnations of
attacks by Palestinians on Israelis and of Al Qaeda on America. Thank God (and I
do mean thank God), centrist American officials have rejected these attacks and
have honored CAIR’s presence in the fabric of American life – as Governor Ed
Rendell of Pennsylvania and former Admiral, now Congressman, Joe Sestak – did
when they spoke at the annual CAIR dinner in Philadelphia. <BR><BR>I have gotten
to know the staff of two local CAIR chapters—Philadelphia and Florida – as
co-members of the Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah. Since the Tent (Jews,
Christians, and Muslims) meets for extended retreats, sharing our spiritual
journeys, our social-change work, and our prayer lives —I have gotten to know
them in depth. I have been deeply impressed by them. <BR><BR>Back to Rabbis
Yoffie and Dreyfus at the ISNA convention. Rabbi Dreyfus said, in part:
<BR><BR></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>And finally Micah [the Prophet] tells us to walk modestly with our
God. Of course this phrase, like so many others, is open to
interpretation. I read it now to say that God has the power and the
answers, and we need to be modest as we walk with God. In this context I
would respectfully suggest that each of our faiths interprets God’s will and
God’s expectations of us differently. We are only human, and cannot know
everything. By walking modestly with our God, we recognize that we do
not have all the truth and all the answers. I believe in religious
pluralism. Pluralism recognizes that others hold truths that I do not share,
but even while fundamentally disagreeing on what we hold sacred, we can
respect others and their beliefs. This is, of course, very difficult and
challenging, since we believe what we believe with great passion and
sincerity. But it is the key to authentic interreligious
relationships. … <BR><BR>As we listen to each other, as we weave
together the strands of our Abrahamic faiths, we have the potential to face
our common challenges, to serve God and humanity. May we continue the
conversation as we journey forward together.</P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>She was greeted with long and vigorous applause. For her full text, see —<A
href="http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shalomctr.org%2Fnode%2F1303">http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1303</A>
<BR><BR><BR>And Rabbi Yoffie, speaking to a plenary session, said: <BR><BR></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>There exists in this country among all Americans — whether Jews,
Christians, or non-believers — a huge and profound ignorance about Islam. It
is not that stories about Islam are missing from our media; there is no
shortage of voices prepared to tell us that fanaticism and intolerance are
fundamental to Islamic religion, and that violence and even suicide bombing
have deep Koranic roots. There is no lack of so-called experts who are eager
to seize on any troubling statement by any Muslim thinker and pin it on Islam
as a whole. Thus, it has been far too easy to spread the image of Islam as
enemy, as terrorist, as the frightening unknown. </P>
<P>How did this happen? </P>
<P>How did it happen that Christian fundamentalists, such as Pat Robertson and
Franklin Graham, make vicious and public attacks against your religious
tradition? </P>
<P>How did it happen that when a Muslim congressman takes his oath of office
while holding the Koran, Dennis Prager suggests that the congressman is more
dangerous to America than the terrorists of 9/11? </P>
<P>How did it happen that a member of Congress, Tom Tancredo, now running for
President, calls for the bombing of Mecca and Medina? </P>
<P>Even more important, how did it happen that law-abiding Muslims in this
country can find themselves condemned for dual-loyalty and blamed for the
crimes of terrorists they abhor? </P>
<P>And how did it happen that in the name of security, Muslim detainees and
inmates are exposed to abusive and discriminatory treatment that violates the
most fundamental principles of our constitution? </P>
<P>One reason that all of this happens is the profound ignorance to which I
referred. We know nothing of Islam — nothing. That is why we must educate our
members, and we need your help. And we hope in doing so we will set an example
for all Americans. </P>
<P>Because the time has come put aside what the media says is wrong with Islam
and to hear from Muslims themselves what is right with Islam. </P>
<P>The time has come to listen to our Muslim neighbors speak, from their heart
and in their own words, about the spiritual power of Islam and their love for
their religion. </P>
<P>The time has come for Americans to learn how far removed Islam is from the
perverse distortions of the terrorists who too often dominate the media,
subverting Islam’s image by professing to speak in its name. </P>
<P>The time has come to stand up to the opportunists in our midst — the media
figures, religious leaders, and politicians who demonize Muslims and bash
Islam, exploiting the fears of their fellow citizens for their own purposes. …
</P>
<P>We hope to accomplish all this and more with our dialogue program. This
dialogue will not be easy. … Because God is God and we are not God, we can
recognize that other religions have much to teach us. </P>
<P>The dialogue will not be one way, of course. You will teach us about Islam
and we will teach you about Judaism. We will help you to overcome stereotyping
of Muslims, and you will help us to overcome stereotyping of Jews. </P>
<P>We are especially worried now about anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
Anti-Semitism is not native to Islamic tradition, but a virulent form of it is
found today in a number of Islamic societies, and we urgently require your
assistance in mobilizing Muslims here and abroad to delegitimize and combat
it. </P>
<P>A measure of our success will be our ability, each of us, to discuss and
confront extremism in our midst. As a Jew I know that our sacred texts,
including the Hebrew Bible, are filled with contradictory propositions, and
these include passages that appear to promote violence and thus offend our
ethical sensibilities. Such texts are to be found in all religions, including
Christianity and Islam. </P>
<P>The overwhelming majority of Jews reject violence by interpreting these
texts in a constructive way, but a tiny, extremist minority chooses
destructive interpretations instead, finding in the sacred words a vengeful,
hateful God. Especially disturbing is the fact that the moderate majority, at
least some of the time, decides to cower in the face of the fanatic minority —
perhaps because they seem more authentic, or appear to have greater faith and
greater commitment. When this happens, my task as a rabbi is to rally that
reasonable, often-silent majority and encourage them to assert the moderate
principles that define their beliefs and Judaism’s highest ideals. </P>
<P>My Christian and Muslim friends tell me that precisely the same dynamic
operates in their traditions, and from what I can see, that is manifestly so.
Surely, as we know from the headlines, you have what I know must be for you as
well as for us an alarming number of extremists of your own — those who kill
in the name of God and hijack Islam in the process. <BR><BR>It is therefore
our collective task to strengthen and inspire one another as we fight the
fanatics and work to promote the values of justice and love that are common to
both our faiths. </P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>Rabbi Yoffie’s address brought a standing ovation from thousands of Muslims.
Even if he had not been representing more than a million American Jews, what he
said would have been, IS, profoundly important. For his full text, see – <A
href="http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shalomctr.org%2Fnode%2F1302">http://www.shalomctr.org/node/1302</A>
<BR><BR>Any honest and Godly assessment of Islam must, in this moment of extreme
danger and high promise in our complex histories, include just such words as
these. Any program, like the impending “Islamofascism Awareness Week,” that does
not, is a slap in the face of the Living God we claim to celebrate. </P>
<P><I>Rabbi Arthur Waskow, co-author, The Tent of Abraham; director, The Shalom
Center <A
href="http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shalomctr.org">http://www.shalomctr.org</A>,
which voices a new prophetic agenda in Jewish, multireligious, and American
life. To receive the weekly on-line Shalom Report, click on—<A
href="http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.shalomctr.org%2Fsubscribe">http://www.shalomctr.org/subscribe</A></I>
</P>
<P></P>--------------------------<BR>'ISLAMO-FASCISM AWARENESS WEEK' STOKES
DEBATE - <A
href="imap://ghazi@imap.uidaho.edu:143/fetch>UID>/INBOX>367318#AMERICAN">TOP</A><BR><A
href="http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=MX3y_e9Q4Caucznbg7iQkg..">National Public
Radio</A>, 10/21/07<BR>
<P><A href="http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=AFNITEASE7unFchB44FAEQ..">Listen</A> to
this story.<BR><A class=moz-txt-link-freetext
href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15496216">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15496216</A><BR></P>
<P>Tempers may flare over Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. David Horowitz, a '60s
anti-war radical who later took a right turn, says he's trying to sound an alarm
about radical Islam. His efforts have drawn much
criticism.</P>=======================<BR><B>Spreading awareness, or attacking a
religion?</B>
<H3>By: Gary Leupp</H3>
<H4>Posted: 10/9/07 (TUFTS-DAILY, MA) <BR></H4>With much fanfare, the "Terrorism
Awareness Project," funded by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, has proclaimed
an "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" on college campuses beginning Oct. 22. It is
a calculated effort to vilify Islam in general, place Muslim Student
Associations on the defensive, and generate support for further U.S. military
action in the Islamic world.<BR><BR>Muslims constitute about a quarter of the
world's population and around two percent of the U.S. population. Muslims are a
part of many ethnic groups. Arabs are actually a minority in the Muslim world;
the most populous Muslim countries (Indonesia, Pakistan, India) are
non-Arab.<BR><BR>The Muslim world is complex and divided religiously (into
Sunni, Shiite and other groups) and politically. There are Muslim absolute
monarchies, constitutional monarchies, secular states and Islamic republics. To
understand this world, one needs to avoid stereotypes and dispassionately
examine it. <BR><BR>But immediately after Sept. 11, the Bush Administration,
having no patience for nuance or dispassionate examination, set about trying to
link the secular republic of Iraq with the mostly Saudi al-Qaeda terrorists. The
Bush Administration believed that, having been attacked by al-Qaeda, Americans
would support an attack on the completely unrelated target of Iraq. But what did
al-Qaeda and Iraq really have in common, besides a common
ancestry?<BR><BR>Al-Qaeda hated Iraq for its suppression of Islamic religious
activism and its tolerance of Christians and other religious minorities. Despite
this rocky relationship, the administration was somehow able to conflate the
two, so that even today about a third of Americans believe Saddam Hussein was
involved in Sept. 11.<BR><BR>Those responsible for the Terrorism Awareness
Project espouse this view. On Sept. 13, 2001, one of the speakers of
"Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week", right-wing extremist Ann Coulter, said in
National Review: "We should invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders and
convert them to Christianity." <BR><BR>They're joined by secular
neoconservatives like Norman Podhoretz, who has called on Bush to bomb Iran,
which he calls "currently the main center of the Islamo-fascist ideology." Iran
is another country with no ties to Sept. 11 or al-Qaeda, and indeed a mortal
enemy of al-Qaeda. But it is another Muslim state in the Bush administration's
crosshairs, along with Syria. It is in this context of unbalanced and
unsophisticated foreign policy in addition to the threat of American
disillusionment with the Iraq War that the radical neoconservatives are pushing
for "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week."<BR><BR>It's the brainchild of David
Horowitz, professional "former leftist" and Fox News commentator, proponent of
the Iraq War who called one antiwar demonstration in 2002 "100,000 Communists,"
and author of a book attacking college professors as "far left" in general.
<BR><BR>He founded (as a non-student in his 60s) "Students for Academic
Freedom," which insists that conservative students are treated unfairly in
academia. Horowitz is known for his 1990s ads in student newspapers protesting
calls for reparations for slavery, stating that African-Americans should be
thankful that they're here.<BR><BR>In 2003 he maligned Rachel Corrie, killed by
an Israeli military bulldozer while protesting a house demolition in Gaza, as a
"terrorist" supporter. He is not about spreading "awareness" but selectively
focusing on aspects of the Muslim world that might produce sympathy for more
U.S.-sponsored "regime change."<BR><BR>The "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week"
strategy is apparently to focus on gender inequality in the Muslim world.
Participating students invite women's groups and gay/lesbian groups to get
involved, hoping to build a united front of general indignation at Islamic
oppression of women and gays.<BR><BR>Of course, in the Muslim world, the status
of women varies. There is a big difference between the status of women in Syria
and in Saudi Arabia. Recall how Laura Bush made a big deal about the burqa in
Afghanistan, implying that the U.S. invasion would somehow remove it? It's still
worn by the great majority of Afghan women. It was not invented by the Taliban
and has not disappeared just because the U.S. has installed a client
regime.<BR><BR>The term "Islamofascism" itself - popularized by Eliot Cohen
(Condi Rice's deputy), Frank J. Gaffney and other neoconservative writers for
the National Review, and used by President Bush in saber-rattling speeches - is
highly problematic. <BR><BR>It's defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary
as "a controversial term equating some modern Islamic movements with the
European fascist movements of the early twentieth century."<BR><BR>I teach
Japanese fascism in the 1930s and '40s. I discuss different definitions of
fascism, pointing out how some seem to fit the Japanese case, while others
don't, causing some scholars to even reject application of the term. But there
is precious little in any mainstream scholarly definition of fascism that
applies to the Islamic world in general or even specific countries.<BR><BR>What
"ideology" links the disparate targets of this administration - the al-Qaeda and
Taliban Sunni fanatics, the Baathists of Iraq and Syria, the Shiite
"mullocracy-guided democracy" of Iran - other than the common denominator of
Islam? But you can't in polite company attack Islam in general, so you dub it
"Islamofascism."<BR><BR>Those seeking to link contemporary Islam with European
fascism emphasize feelings of victimization and dreams of restoring lost glory.
But where in the Muslim world is the charismatic leader? Bin Laden? The
Baathists and Shiites hate him. Where's the mass-based party? Where's
ultranationalism or racism? Islam emphasizes the equality of peoples before God,
while the Qur'an explicitly states that righteous Christians and Jews will enter
Paradise. <BR><BR>The real intention here is to couple "Islam" with a powerful
epithet, devoid of analytical content, conjuring up images of a
universally-detested past. President George W. Bush insists on comparing the
constitutionally weak Iranian President Ahmadinejad, leading a country that
hasn't attacked another in hundreds of years, with Hitler (as his father
compared Saddam to Hitler).<BR><BR>Similarly, the proponents of the
"Islamofascism" concept want to play upon emotions rather than really spread
"awareness." Their historical analogies are absurd, while their planned week is
more than an affront to Muslims. It is an insult to their intelligence.
<HR SIZE=1>
© Copyright 2007 Tufts Daily<BR>-----------------<BR><A
class=moz-txt-link-freetext
href="http://www.gwhatchet.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=da9d65d6-2a0a-44e4-89de-ba5a05bbb704">http://www.gwhatchet.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=da9d65d6-2a0a-44e4-89de-ba5a05bbb704</A><BR>Note:
The GW Hatchet Video is accessible via the website.....<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jeanlivingston@turbonet.com
href="mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com">Bruce and Jean Livingston</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, October 23, 2007 11:54
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] UI not having
anti-Islam event</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I noted that there was something being sponsored by a
Young Republican club at WSU recently, something about Islamo-fascism, and I
have not understood what that was. Now I note this article in the UI
paper, the Argonaut.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://www.uiargonaut.com/content/view/4683/48/">http://www.uiargonaut.com/content/view/4683/48/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Not having read much if anything about the
so-called "Islamo-fascist" movement, I wonder whether the Islamo-fascist
movement has been mis-representing Islam and tarring the entire religion
with the acts of an extreme faction? This story in the Argonaut makes me
think that is what has been happening, but the story does not say
specify the message of hate that the opposers of "Islamo-fascism" are
promulgating. I would like to hear more about this from people who
surely have followed this issue much more closely than I.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I am curious about what is going on with this issue, as
I have only heard this term "Islamo-fascism" in the last several weeks, other
than seeing the term in a book review that I did not read closely about a year
ago. I assume from the very little I have read about "Islamo-fascism"
that the announced aim of the Islamo-fascist movement is to
address/publicize/oppose those who practice terrorism in the name of the
Islamic religion -- the Bin Laden/Al Queda/Taliban camp. But it
seems, based on the story in the Argonaut, that much more is going on than
that, and that good Muslims are being caught in the overbroad net aimed at the
terrorists by those who oppose/head-up the "Oppose Islamo-fascism"
movement. As I understand the statements of the Al Quaeda/Bin
Laden terrorists, they practice a form of Islam that is anti-thetical to
the vast majority of the Islamic world, killing in the name of religion but
without the approval of most of the Muslim world. Essentially, as I
understand it, the terrorist, so-called "Al Quaeda" wing of
Islam mis-represents and mis-uses Islam as it is understood by the
vast majority of Muslims. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Am I correct in assuming that the Islamo-fascist
movement is castigating all/most Muslims, rather than the small minority
of terrorist sects that are murdering in the name of Islam, while violating
Islamic law? Are there any on this list who might
elaborate on this issue for me?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bruce Livingston</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
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<TD vAlign=top align=left width="70%" colSpan=2><SPAN
class=small>Written by Jessica Mullins - Argonaut </SPAN>
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<TD class=createdate vAlign=top colSpan=2>Tuesday, 23 October 2007
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<P><STRONG>Community members gather against movement</STRONG> </P>
<P>Palouse community members organized events and spread information in
response to this week’s national “Islamo-Fascism <BR>Awareness Week.”
</P>
<P>The movement is intended to promote hostility and hate toward
Muslims, Arabs ands people who resemble them, said retired University of
Idaho economics professor Ghazi Ghazanfar. “The whole idea is to create
more hate and demonize the religion and people,” Ghazanfar said. “This
is a systematic, well-organized effort in the country.”</P>
<P>The week, part of a “terrorism awareness project,” is sponsored by
the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Activities are planned at
nearly 100 U.S. universities including Washington State University, but
none at UI. “The movement is unfortunately all over the place,”
said Andy Neukranz-Butler, UI’s human rights compliance officer.
The Web site, www.terrorismawareness.org/islamo-fascism, says the
protest is to confront the two “big lies of the political left”: that
President George W. Bush created the war on terror and that global
warming is a greater American danger than the terrorism threat.</P>
<P>In light of the movement, UI President Tim White re-released the UI
civility statement on Oct. 11 to “raise to top-of-mind” UI civility
expectations. The civility statement acknowledges everyone comes
from different backgrounds and supports the discussion of different
points of view in a civilized manner, Neukranz-Butler said. The
statement says “expressions of hate and intolerance meant to
discriminate against entire groups are beneath the ideals that we aspire
to at the University of Idaho.” </P>
<P>While there are no events planned at UI, organizers wanted to
prepare, just in case. “We want to be proactive to include people
in community discussion,” Neukranz-Butler said. “We would hope things
wouldn’t get out of hand.” While debate is important, it
shouldn’t include hateful or fighting words, she
said. “Obviously, good debate is what we want. We just want
to do it in a respectful manner,” she said. “We want to create an
environment where we can talk about it.” The civility
statement is appropriate to combat feelings of threats, said Rula
Awwad-Rafferty, UI faculty and JUNTURA committee chair. </P>
<P>The WSU College Republicans will show the film “Obsession” on
Wednesday. “The film has a lot of nasty things to say about the
Muslim religion,” Neukranz-Butler said. The film doesn’t encourage
constructive discussion, she said. Palouse community members,
including Neukranz-Butler, Awwad-Rafferty and Ghazanfar, met and
organized events and ads to run in local newspapers in response to the
week. “Regardless of your political orientation or religious
orientation, I think knowledge is power and it is important to question
information and go to try to find other sources,” Awwad-Rafferty said.
</P>
<P>The efforts in response to the awareness week focus on the unity of
the community. “We all stand together,” Awwad-Rafferty said. “If
it hurts someone in the community it hurts us all. We combat stereotypes
because we believe they hurt all of us no matter where they come
from.” Awwad-Rafferty said it is nice how the community came
together against the movement. “I don’t think hatred ought to be
tolerated anywhere,” Awwad-Rafferty said. “But you don’t fight hatred
with hatred.” </P>
<P>The Islamic community at UI is growing, Ghazanfar said. Since Sept.
11 more Muslims are returning to the U.S. There are more than 25 Islamic
faculty members, he said. Movements such as this week are
extremely counterproductive as far recruiting foreign students,
especially from the Islamic world, Ghazanfar said. “We are doing
everything possible and organizing things on campus to create more
harmony and unity,” he said, “but a group is here to create
exclusiveness.” The movement is inflammatory and has incorrect
information, Awwad-Rafferty said. "It is important to assure
everybody they will not be harmed,” Awwad-Rafferty said. “The fear of
being harmed is, in my opinion, equivalent to being
harmed.”<BR></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV>
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