{"id":2978,"date":"2007-10-09T12:48:06","date_gmt":"2007-10-09T20:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrator.rab.olt.ubc.ca\/workplace\/2007\/10\/%e2%80%9cislamo-fascism-awareness-week%e2%80%9d-expose-defeat-this\/"},"modified":"2007-10-09T12:48:06","modified_gmt":"2007-10-09T20:48:06","slug":"%e2%80%9cislamo-fascism-awareness-week%e2%80%9d-expose-defeat-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/2007\/10\/%e2%80%9cislamo-fascism-awareness-week%e2%80%9d-expose-defeat-this\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIslamo-Fascism Awareness Week\u201d – Expose & Defeat This"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIslamo-Fascism Awareness Week\u201d – Expose & Defeat This
\nReactionary Offensive
\nFrom The National Project to Defend Dissent and
\nCritical Thinking in Academia
\nwww.defendcriticalthinking.org<\/a><\/p>\n

David Horowitz has announced \u201cIslamo-Fascism Awareness Week\u201d (IFAW) for October 22-26, to take place on campuses around the country. Horowitz has enlisted
\nsome of the most extreme, and dangerous, ideologues as spokespeople, and is working with Christian fundamentalists, military and veteran\u2019s groups, and
\nthe entire range of conservative and reactionary student organizations in an attempt to hold what he says will be the largest conservative university protest in US history.<\/p>\n

This is a move to deepen the already serious chill in
\nacademia by bringing together an aggressive social
\nbase and unleashing it on what Horowitz calls the
\n\u201ctenured left.\u201d It seeks to unleash a pogromist and
\nhate-filled atmosphere against Muslim students, equate
\ndissent and critical thinking with treason, attack
\nWomen’s Studies Departments, and build the US \u201cwill to
\nfight\u201d more wars of aggression in the Middle East,
\nparticularly against Iran. It hypocritically claims to
\noppose the oppression of women and gays under Islamic
\nrule, while promoting Christian fundamentalists who
\nwant to outlaw not only abortion but birth control as
\nwell, and argue that homosexuality is a sin punishable
\nby death and women should not work outside the home.
\nIFAW cannot be allowed to go down unchallenged. It
\nneeds to be thoroughly exposed, repudiated and
\npolitically defeated. Go to www.terrorismawareness.org
\nfor Horowitz\u2019s plans and the list of schools targeted
\n\u2013 and visit www.defendcriticalthinking.org for
\nanalysis and resources for combatting Horowitz and his
\ndangerous allies.<\/p>\n

How DARE these people parade as anti-fascist?!
\nAnyone familiar with Horowitz and his allies can only
\nrespond with outrage to their claim to be opponents of
\nfascism, intolerance and bigotry.
\nHow dare David Horowitz, who says that Blacks should
\nbe grateful for slavery and that Blacks owe a debt to
\nwhites for ending slavery, talk about the “right of
\nall people to live in freedom and dignity”?!
\nHow dare Ann Coulter, who said of Muslims, \u201cWe should
\ninvade their countries, kill their leaders and convert
\nthem to Christianity,” masquerade as an opponent of
\n“all forms of religious supremacism, violence and
\nintimidation”?!
\nHow dare Rick Santorum, who equates homosexuality with
\nbestiality and openly advocates the revoking of
\nwomen’s right to abortion and birth control, parade as
\na defender of the rights of women and gays?!<\/p>\n

“Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week:” An Avalanche of Lies,
\nDistortions, Bigotry and Hate.
\n\u2022 Horowitz claims that IFAW will confront the “Big
\nLie” that George Bush created the “war on terror:”
\nIf Bush was just responding to 911, why did he target
\nand invade a country that had nothing to do with it?
\nWhy did he lie about WMDs to justify that aggression
\nand why is he now threatening another country, Iran,
\nthat also had nothing to do with 9\/11? And for
\ndecades, the US and Israel have destroyed secular
\ngovernments and forces in the Middle East and
\nelsewhere, while actively supporting Islamic
\nfundamentalist forces, as in Afghanistan. In Iran, the
\nUS overthrow of the elected government of Iran in 1953
\nand the decades of support for the brutal regime of
\nthe Shah contributed to the conditions which gave rise
\nto Islamic fundamentalist rule there.<\/p>\n

\u2022 “A major theme of the Week will be the oppression of
\nwomen in Islam.”
\nThe speakers for IFAW include some of the strongest
\nsupporters of the Bush administration, whose policies
\nhave been catastrophic for women, both here and
\ninternationally. Horowitz’s speakers for IFAW include
\nbiblical literalists like Frank Pastore who uphold the
\nexecution of gays and the equation of abortion with
\nmurder. It’s notable that the IFAW petition includes
\nthe demand for “The equality of dignity of women and
\nmen.” Not equality, but the “equality of dignity” \u2013 a
\nmeaningless phrase which can be twisted to fit the
\nmost patriarchal of viewpoints.<\/p>\n

\u2022 IFAW will feature sit-ins “designed to protest the \u2026
\nsilence of Women\u2019s Studies departments in the face of
\n\u2026 Islamic gynophobia:”
\nWomen’s Studies Departments have hardly been “silent”
\non the treatment of women (or gays and lesbians) under
\nIslamic fundamentalism. Horowitz’s problem with
\nWomen’s Studies Departments is not their supposed
\n“silence” but the simple fact that they exist. His
\nwebsite is full of rants directed against Women’s
\nStudies professors. Part of his overall agenda is the
\nelimination of Women’s Studies, along with Ethnic
\nStudies, Social Work, Social Justice, and other
\nprograms which arose out of the struggles of the 60s
\nand 70s. And without Women’s Studies departments and
\nthe feminist struggles which gave rise to them, people
\nlike Horowitz would not even be giving hypocritical
\nlip-service to the oppression of women anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Horowitz says that IFAW only targets
\n“Islamo-Fascists,” not “non-radical muslims:”
\nIFAW is an explicit attempt to demonize and isolate
\nMuslims in this country. Horowitz identifies the
\nMuslim Student Association as a front organization of
\nthe Islamo-Fascist jihad intent on world domination,
\nand demands that they sign his petition or be branded
\nas “the enemy.” IFAW speakers like Gregory Davis say
\nthat “Islam and its faithful adherents are trying to
\nundermine our secular governments with the ultimate
\naim of replacing them with Sharia. Terrorism is a
\nmeans to this end as are Islamic proselytizing,
\nfund-raising, lobbying, education, etc.” Horowitz has
\nalso said that “the Palestinians” (not some of them,
\nor just the radical ones, but all of them, including
\nthose who are not Muslim) “are part of the
\nIslamo-fascist jihad against the West.”<\/p>\n

\u2022 IFAW’s Petition demands “The right of all people to
\nlive free from violence, intimidation, and coercion:”
\nThis, from people who are clamoring for war against
\nIran, who support Israel’s policies of military
\noccupation, targeted assassinations and collective
\npunishment; who support a government which is
\nresponsible for the deaths hundreds of thousands of
\nIraqi civilians, which has engaged in, advocated and
\nlegalized torture, established a secret prison system,
\nengaged in widespread and illegal spying, and gutted
\nhabeas corpus and other basic civil liberties?<\/p>\n

\u2022 IFAW’s Petition supports “The freedom of the
\nindividual conscience: to change religions or have no
\nreligion at all.”
\nIFAW speakers include Christian fundamentalists who
\nbelieve that anyone who does not share their literal
\ninterpretation of the Bible will go to hell. Rick
\nSantorum, one of the main speakers for IFAW, has said
\nin order to win against “Islamo-Fascism, “We must
\neducate, engage, evangelize and eradicate \u2026 We need to
\ndo more, as I said, to spread these ideas throughout
\nyour campuses.”<\/p>\n

\u2022 And more, from Horowitz’s Frontpage.com
\nJohn Perazzo, who wrote “Why IFAW is Needed” for
\nHorowitz’s frontpage.com, also wrote “Black Racism and
\n‘The Jena Six.'” He called the Jena 6 a “pack of
\nthugs” and “raging predators,” and says the real
\nproblem is “black racism, a disturbingly widespread
\nphenomenon in contemporary America” \u2013 while the
\nhanging of nooses from a “whites only” tree (in 2006!)
\nis simply “a dumb (non-violent) prank by a bunch of
\nteenage idiots.”<\/p>\n

Some suggestions on what can be done.
\n\u2022 Call a meeting (immediately!), to discuss why IFAW
\nis so dangerous, and to make plans to oppose it.
\nApproach progressive political groups, feminist and
\nWomen’s Studies Departments, GLBT groups, Muslim
\nstudent organizations and faculty. Reject the terms of
\ndebate set by Horowitz: opposing IFAW does not mean
\nsupporting terrorism or Islamic fundamentalism.
\n\u2022 Defend professors, Muslim student groups and Women’s
\nStudies Departments, which are under attack.
\n\u2022 Challenge organizers and speakers of IFAW at every
\nopportunity with facts and truth.
\n\u2022 Hold public forums by faculty and others.
\n\u2022 Saturate campuses with flyers and posters, exposing
\nHorowitz, IFAW and what it’s all about.
\n\u2022 Submit resolutions opposing IFAW to faculty and
\nstudent senates.
\n\u2022 Write op-eds, place ads, and give interviews to
\ncampus and other media.
\n\u2022 Share material (flyers, graphics, posters, articles,
\netc.) with others. Send them to the National Project
\nto Defend Dissent and Critical Thinking in Academia
\n(www.defendcriticalthinking.org). Share your
\nexperience and plans, send us reports and updates on
\nyour activities, discussions, and plans, so that
\nothers around the country can learn from them.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________________________________________
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\u201cIslamo-Fascism Awareness Week\u201d – Expose & Defeat This Reactionary Offensive From The National Project to Defend Dissent and Critical Thinking in Academia www.defendcriticalthinking.org David Horowitz has announced \u201cIslamo-Fascism Awareness Week\u201d (IFAW) for October 22-26, to take place on campuses around … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[576],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}