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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What a nice piece. Should resonate with
everyone except those who already <STRONG>know</STRONG> that what they
believe is the only truth and their bible is the inerrant word of
god. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sue H. </FONT></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 5:04
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] UI not having
anti-Islam event</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<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>
<TABLE class=contentpaneopen>
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<TD vAlign=top align=left width="70%" colSpan=2><SPAN
class=small>Written by Jessica Mullins - Argonaut </SPAN>
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD class=createdate vAlign=top colSpan=2>Tuesday, 23 October 2007
</TD></TR>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>
<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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