[wvns] Gary Leupp: Smearing a Religion
Horowitz's Latest Hate Campaign Heads for Campus
Spreading Awareness or Smearing a Religion?
By GARY LEUPP
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyunderground/
With much fanfare, a collection of far-right ideologues backed by
right-wing "think tank" money are proclaiming 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.
Muslims constitute about a quarter of the world's population and
around two percent of the U.S. population. They include members of
many ethnic groups. Arabs are a minority in the Muslim world; the most
populous Muslim countries (Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh) are
non-Arab. 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
dispassionately examine it, avoiding stereotypes.
But immediately after 9-11, the Bush administration, having no
patience with "nuance," set about trying to link the secular republic
of Iraq with the (mostly Saudi) al-Qaeda religious fanatics. It
believe that having been attacked by al-Qaeda most Americans would
support an attack on the completely unrelated target of Iraq. But what
did al-Qaeda and Iraq have in common? The former hated the latter for
its suppression of Islamic religious activism, and its tolerance for
Christians and other religious minorities. But somehow Bush was able
to conflate the two, so that even today about a third of Americans
believe Saddam was involved in 9-11. Those on the Christian right are
most inclined to this view, and to embrace sentiments like those
expressed by right-wing extremist Ann Coulter in National Review Sept.
13, 2001: "We should invade [Muslim] countries, kill their leaders and
convert them to Christianity." But they're joined by secular
neoconservatives like Norman Podhoretz who has called on Bush to bomb
Iran, which he calls "the currently main center of the Islamofascist
ideology."
Iran is another country with no ties to 9-11 or al-Qaeda, and indeed a
mortal enemy of the latter. But it is another Muslim state in the Bush
administration's crosshairs, along with Syria-yet another, very
different, Muslim country. It's in this context, and that of general
disillusionment with the Iraq War, that the radical neoconservatives
are pushing this "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week." 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. He founded (as
a non-student in his 60s) "Students for Academic Freedom" which
insists that conservative students are treated unfairly in academe.
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. 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."
The "Islam-Fascism Awareness Week" strategy is apparently to focus on
gender inequality in the Muslim world. Participating students invite
women's groups and gaylesbian groups to get involved, hoping to build
a united front of general indignation at Islamic oppression of women
and gays. Of course, in the Muslim world the status of women varies;
under Saddam's secular Iraqi women were subject to no dress code, were
among the best educated in the Arab world, and served in government,
while under U.S. occupation their status (and that of gays) has
plummeted. 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.
The term "Islamofascism" itself---popularized by Eliot Cohen (Condi
Rice's deputy), Frank J. Gaffney and other neocon writers for the
National Review, and used by President Bush in saber-rattling
speeches---is highly problematic. 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." I teach every year 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. 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."
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.
The real intention here is to couple "Islam" with a powerful epithet,
devoid of analytical content, conjuring up images of a universally
detested past. 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). 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
everybody's intelligence.
Gary Leupp is Professor of History at Tufts University, and Adjunct
Professor of Comparative Religion.
He can be reached at: gleupp @ granite.tufts.edu
===
Here is the announcement from David Horowitz, who is a true fascist,
who opposes the US Constitution, and wants America to bomb Iran next.
Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week
By Frontpagemag.com
FrontPageMagazine.com
9/21/2007
Beginning on October 22, student groups across the nation will hold
Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week on their campuses. These protest weeks
will feature a series of events designed to bring a message to these
academic communities that challenges most of what students are taught
about the so-called War on Terror both in the classroom and on the quad.
The Week's events will include speeches about Islamo-Fascism by
prominent figures, including former Senator Rick Santorum (Penn State,
Temple and UPenn), Sean Hannity (Columbia), Ann Coulter (Tulane and
USC), Dennis Prager (UC Santa Barbara), Robert Spencer (Brown,
Dartmouth, University of Rhode Island, and DePaul), Daniel Pipes
(Northeastern and UPenn), David Horowitz (Columbia, Emory, Ohio State,
Michigan and Wisconsin), Michael Ledeen (Maryland), Nonie Darwish
(UCLA and Berkeley), Wafa Sultan (Stanford) and radio talk show hosts
Melanie Morgan (San Francisco State), Michael Medved (University of
Washington), Martha Zoeller (Georgia Tech), Alan Nathan (George
Mason), Mark Larson (to be named) and many others.
A major theme of the Week will be the oppression of women in Islam.
The photo accompanying this article, which shows a teenage girl buried
before being stoned to death for alleged sexual offenses, will serve
as the poster for the protest Week. The stoning took place in Iran.
The plight of Muslim women will be featured at "teach-in" panels and
also at sit-ins in Women's Studies Departments, designed to protest
the absence of courses that focus on Islamic gynophobia. The silence
of Women's Studies departments in the face of this oppression is a
national outrage. College students are offered the opportunity to
study the "oppression" of women in Boston and Beverly Hills in
hundreds of Women's Studies courses across America. But there is not a
single course we are aware of that addresses the real oppression of
women in Teheran and Riyadh. In Saudi Arabia, to take one horrendous
example, Saudi police recently shot to death schoolgirls who were
fleeing a burning building without their veils. Better that they
should be dead than seen. A pamphlet on the subject of women's
oppression in Islam, written by Robert Spencer and Phyllis Chesler
will be distributed on campuses (and posted on Frontpage next week),
along with a petition protesting the campus blackout of this issue.
Many campuses will show the uncut version of the ABC miniseries The
Path to 9/11, which has been suppressed by ABC under pressure from the
Clintons in order to help Hilary's presidential run. This is the most
spectacular episode of political censorship in recent memory. It is
also relatively unreported, although the Los Angeles Times carried an
informative story which you can read here. The Path to 9/11 was a film
that cost $40 million to make and was seen by 28 million viewers, yet
ABC has refused to release the DVD. Other films being shown during the
Week are Obsession, Suicide Killers, Islam: What the West Needs to
Know, Islam v. Islam and Chris Burgard's Border.
The purpose of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is as simple as it is
critical: 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 global jihad and Islamic supremacism.
Nothing could be more politically incorrect than to point out these
unpleasant facts. But nothing could be more important for American
students to hear. In the face of the greatest danger Americans have
ever confronted, the academic left has mobilized to create sympathy
for the enemy and to fight anyone who rallies Americans to defend
themselves.
Already, CAIR and the Muslim Students Association -- which are fronts
for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas -- are planning to hold counter-
demonstrations during the Week called "Peace Not Prejudice." Since the
Islamic radicals whom these organizations represent and defend are
among the most prejudiced people on earth, and since their own
sponsoring organizations, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, have
declared a global war against the West, this can only be regarded as
high-order satire. The Muslim Students Association is welcome to sign
our petition denouncing Islamo-Fascism and defending the dignity of
all individuals, infidels included. It can be accessed here.
Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is a protest against the censorship that
has come to America, and whose chief enforcer is the progressive left.
Anyone who links Islamic radicalism to the terrorist campaigns that
are being waged against America, Europe and Israel and against
non-radical Muslims in places such as Darfur, is automatically labeled
an "Islamophobe." It is by this means that the enemy seeks to paralyze
the defenses of its intended victims. The progressive left is the
enabler and abettor of the terrorist jihad. It has forged an "unholy
alliance" with the most retrograde and reactionary forces in the world
today. The institutional base of the left is the university system,
from whose classrooms it is conducting a behind-the-lines
psychological warfare campaign against its own countrymen and the
democratic, secular and tolerant society they have created. It is time
for Americans to rally in their own defense and answer the corrosive
lies and libels whose goal is to sap their will to fight.
Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is the beginning of that answer and the
first line of that defense.
David Horowitz
Students interested in organizing Islamo-Fascism Awareness Weeks on
their campuses, and students seeking help obtaining speakers and
literature should contact Jeffrey @ horowitzfreedomcenter.org.
Information about Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, including petitions,
pamphlets, information about films is available at
www.terrorismawareness.org. A list of campuses holding events can be
found here. A calendar of events can be located here.
Radio talk show hosts willing to speak at their local campuses should
contact sara @ horowitzfreedomcenter.org
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