Op-Ed
Islamo-Facism Week: Offensive or Necessary?
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Heartless, Not Stupid
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Across the country this week, concerned college students on over 100 campuses took part in the largest conservative student protest in history. The Terrorism Awareness project, founded by prominent conservative activist David Horowitz, organized workshops, film screenings and protests as part of the group’s Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.
The event spurred useful dialogue concerning the extreme threat that militant Islam poses to our nation. Conservative campus groups and liberal student activists alike attended IFAW events to engage in well reasoned, peaceful, intellectual debate about the merits of the Terrorism Awareness’ message.
Conservative student activists saw Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week as an opportunity to present a historical analysis of terrorism perpetuated against the West by radical terrorists — who happen to be Muslims. Their goal was to shed some light on conservatism’s national defense policy. IFAW organizers used workshops to defend their use of the term Islamic Fascism; conservative speakers, like Horowitz and Dennis Prager, attempted to make speeches explaining the dangers of appeasement in American foreign policy.
Liberal student groups saw Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week as an opportunity to showcase their ability to scream really loud, disrupt events and throw temper tantrums. Their goal was to bully and silence their ideological opponents; you know, those racist fascists on the Right.
This week at Emory University, Horowitz was escorted off the stage by police after only half and hour of speaking because chaos erupted in the auditorium; additional police units were called in after officers on the scene could no longer control the rowdy liberals. Leftist organizations, like Amnesty International, Veterans for Peace, the Muslim Student Association, Students for Justice in Palestine and the National Project to Defend Dissent & Critical Thinking in Academia — pause for irony — used “loud chants, sign-waving and disruptive gestures” to effectively silence and censor the conservative viewpoint.
Emory’s Prof. Mark Bauerlein saw the disruptive protests as counter productive to dialogue: “Even the students who did not agree with David Horowitz did not get a chance to speak their minds because of the protesters’ disruptive actions … No one was able to listen to the lecture or to speak themselves — pro or con — everyone was shut down.”
Tossing around slews of obscenities trumped intellectual debate at Emory.
Sadly, for campus conservatives, censorship is nothing new.
In the past, liberal “intellectuals” have thrown pies at conservative speakers, like Ann Coulter ’84 and Horowitz, as they delivered speeches to packed auditoriums.
Last year, police officers had to escort Minutemen leader Jim Gilchrist out of a Columbia University auditorium after a large group of liberal protesters stormed the stage during his speech.
Liberals have replaced engaging in intellectual debate with name calling. The issue at hand could range anywhere from immigration to switching to the gold standard and liberals could still find a way to condemn the conservative position as racist, bigoted, anything-phobic and fascist (shortly before violently removing the conservative from the debate).
Not one argument has been made that logically challenges IFAW’s comparison of the fascist and jihadist ideologies. Liberal criticism of the Terrorism Awareness Project has been rooted in emotion, rather than logic. While liberals are quick to denounce the Religious Right in America as fascist, they criticize the term “Islamofascism” because it applies the title to only one religion. They see the term as an indictment of the Muslim religion.
But an event like IFAW could do more to harness a greater understanding between Americans and Muslims. The moderate Muslims that I hear so much about — but rarely see — should embrace, rather than protest, IFAW. Doing so would put a greater distance between mainstream Islam and Islamofascism, by severing any connection to such a hateful ideology.
The IFAW does not endorse a racial claim that all Muslims are terrorists. Practically speaking, however, all terrorists that have visited violence upon the West since the early 1980’s — Timothy McVeigh is a notable exception — have been Muslims. Since the U.S. embassy in Iran was seized in 1979, over 20 violent terrorist attacks have been visited upon the United States alone. IFAW’s goal is to expose the true roots of this particular brand of terrorism.
Islamofascism is a term that applies to the violent and (truly) hateful ideology that has been embraced by radical Islamic militants; there is no term more appropriate.
Fascism is defined as “a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.”
Islamic extremists’ primary aim is the creation of a global state ruled by one Caliphate; any challenge to the ruler of the world would be met with extreme suppression. Under this state, all people would be forced to convert to Islam or live in a state of even lower subordination. Radical Islamists also embrace racial hatred, inherent in the fascist ideology. Practitioners of heathen religions, like Hinduism and Judaism, are considered unworthy of life by these religious fanatics.
Islamic terrorists have wholeheartedly embraced what Christopher Hitchens has called “Fascism with an Islamic Face,” in their fight against the West. It is not, as liberal academics, like Ward Churchill have asserted, an “anti-colonial” struggle. To confuse these two ideologies is a most fatal mistake; it is the same mistake that the CIA made when they aided Osama bin Laden in his fight against the Soviet Union. Islamofascists do not just want the United States out of the Middle East; they want our brand of liberalism replaced with their brand of fascist domination.
The United States finds itself in a similar position as the free world of 1939; we are fighting an ideological battle that can only result in the death of liberalism or the eradication of Islamofascism. The Terrorism Awareness Project’s goal was to remind people of this fact; it is too bad no one could hear them over all the irrational yelling.
Bill McMorris is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be contacted at bmcmorris@cornellsun.com. Heartless, Not Stupid appears alternate Wednesdays.
Open Season on Women's Studies Week
Horowitz might have got a better reception, had he done his homework. His call for sit-ins at women's studies departments is a demonstration of his ignorance. Here's a Los Angeles Times article from 2001, just after 9/11:
September 25, 2001 in the Los Angeles Times
Falwell Should Have Listened to the Feminists
by Robert Scheer
Ever hear of the Feminist Majority? Just the sort of people Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson held responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack because they "make God mad." Well, it's the Feminist Majority, more than any other organization in the U.S., that sounded the alarm that the Taliban's suppression of freedom, led by its harsh treatment of women, posed "a threat to humanity" that extended beyond the borders of Afghanistan and that "the Taliban and [Osama] bin Laden are interdependent and inextricable."
If Falwell and Robertson had listened to the feminists instead of attacking them, the two men might have recognized the frightening parallels between their brand of religious extremism and that spewed by the Taliban. Instead, they fanned the flames of hate. As Falwell put it before public outrage forced him to recant: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen."' Robertson heartily agreed. Although the Taliban are actually milder in their condemnation of abortion than these two, they doubtless would applaud Robertson for saying that the terrorists' success is owed to God's wrath over our courts permitting "35 [million] to 40 million unborn babies to be slaughtered." In the homophobia department, the Taliban agrees that gays are to be condemned, having buried five men alive under a crushing pile of stones for the "crime" of being homosexual, according to Amnesty International. And the Taliban undoubtedly shares Falwell's hatred of civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and People for the American Way for their opposition to state-imposed religion.
The rest of the article is here:
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0925-07.htm
Emory’s Prof. Mark Bauerlein, a charlatan worse than Horowitz
So, when bigots get resoundingly REJECTED on-principle, that rejection in now, according to the worm Emory’s Prof. Mark Bauerlein, "disruptive." What a farce. I suppose Horowitz is trying to convince us through his "lecture" or "dialogue" (yeah . . . right!), that the following represents the actions of an ally? Don't make us puke:
http://www.gtr5.com/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/fiveisraelis.html
http://www.ukemonde.com/zhydy/jewsandcommunism.html
Disputable Facts
"Practically speaking, however, all terrorists that have visited violence upon the West since the early 1980’s — Timothy McVeigh is a notable exception — have been Muslims."-Bill McMorris
If we take a brief peek at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents#1980s or if we don't trust Wikipedia, at the National Counterterrorism Center Reports published by the US Government, we can see that this quote is not completely accurate.
For instance, in 1980: M-19 (a Columbian Guerrilla Movement), FALN (a Puerto Rican Separatist Movement), Croatian Separatists, NAR (a Italian Neofascist Organization) are all implicated in terrorist activities. Islamic Terrorists carried out 2 out of 8 attacks listed for 1980 (Wikipedia).
If you feel 1980 is too early, you can move later, where we see that the ETA (Basque separatists) and the IRA (Irish Paramilitary organization) are to blame for most attacks (along with the Medellín Cartel in Columbia and other non-Islamic organizations).
It is true that recently (say, 2006) the majority of attacks are carried out by Islamic extremists. Where though? In Iraq. If we look at the 'West':
"Western Hemisphere
The number of incidents occurring remained steady—the tally of 826 in 2006 was just
below the 868 incidents recorded for 2005. Ninety percent of the incidents—nearly 800
of them—were conducted in Colombia by terrorist organizations and paramilitary
groups. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest terrorist and
insurgent group in Colombia, was most often reported as the assailants in these
attacks" -- (a direct quote from the 2006 NCTC Report).
Interesting.
The ETA is a Muslim Group.
The ETA is a Muslim Group. Just, because Colombian drug cartels blow up each others families more often than Muslim Terrorists takeover cockpits doesn't mean that what Muslim terrorists do is Ok. Downplaying the terrorist acts of one group with the statistics of another is insane and being sympathetic to TERRORISTS, you Nazi. The reason you focus on Muslim Terrorists is, because they are the ones that are against America, Colombians and Croatians are killing each other. Wikipedia is always a good source for terrorism statistics.
What is an American?
No, matter your political party affiliation, and setting aside your thoughts on issues. We all need to remember what it is to be an American Citizen. We need to make sure our elected representatives obey their Oath of Office and keep their Oath of Allegiance. See http://tinyurl.com/2znnvl Know whom you are voting for.
islamofascism?
I take offense on the use of the word islamo-fascism. While it is true that there are few radicals and terrorists among the Muslim population, thier way of thinking is never Islamic. Islam has nothing to do with fascism. Unless of course you are willing to label the actions of Hitler as Christian-Nazism or the actions of Mussoulini as Christian-Fascism which indeed is relevant since both persons were claiming to be doing thier actions in the name of the Christian faith. In fact in the case of Hitler, his mother was a devout Christian and based on his book "Mein Kampf" he was influenced by the bible that most of his policies were bible-inspired! (www.nofaith.com/nazi).
There is no awareness being done in such seminar but rather the spewing of hatred, bigotry, islam-bashing and muslim discrimination. Imagine if a Muslim school will host a Christian-Fascism Awareness week, how would these people react? There is a hypocrisy underlying here. It seems Islamophobia is beginning to be accepted as the newest trend in our society now that even the halls of free thinking, our schools, are fast becoming to be the footholds of the islamophobes. If they are really on for a dialogue, then why not invite Muslim scholars and personalities to explain what is Islam and what is happening to the Muslims nowadays. I am sure that Muslims have many things to say and talk about the real reasons why there is a radicalization of Muslims because they have seen it, experienced it and heard it first hand. But instead, these people invited all the islamophobes in America and let them spew their bigotry in the halls of learning. What a shame! Check out all the speakers for this "seminar" and now tell me if these people are not islamophobes?
If this trend will continue, I am afraid that American-Muslims will be experiencing the discrimination experienced by the African-American in the 60's and 70's. And this time it's really more horrifying because people are not discriminated anymore because of thier skin color or race but because of their faith. So it doesn't matter whether you are white, black, asian, latino,middle eastern as long as you are a Muslim, you can be subjected to this kind of shameful treatment. And if that happens, you can flush American democracy and equality down the drain...
Is this way of thinking also
Is this way of thinking also not Islamic?
"Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.
In a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful "mutaween" police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday. "
"One witness said he saw three policemen "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".
The Saudi Gazette quoted witnesses as saying that the police - known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - had stopped men who tried to help the girls and warned "it is a sinful to approach them".
The father of one of the dead girls said that the school watchman even refused to open the gates to let the girls out.
"Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the newspaper concluded. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm
Great Article!
I am very glad to see an article like this come from a student. It's unfortunate that no one had the chance for a serious debate as an ignorant group of people shut it down.
Horowitz, intellectual?
The most unfortunate feature of this article is the assertion that conservative intelletual point of view is undermined as spokespersons like Ann Coulter and David Horowitz are not allowed to speak. I'm a conservative myself and if these two individuals represent any reasonable intellectual discourse, then we are headed for a doom. Their opinions, particularly in reference to Islamofascism week are poorly formed and researched; nothing but full of hate. We're not yet naive enough to believe that this week was a simple way to inform people of the dangers of terror threat. These conservatives have implicated all Muslims and Islam in it's entirety as an enemy and threat to America. On the contrary, no other peoples have been more afflicted with the tyranny of terrorism than the muslims around the world. Lastly, this sort of hate mongering is deleterious to the pluralistic values of our society and must be stopped.