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Chronology of Islam in America (2012)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
September 2012 - page two
Coptic-Religious Right Alliance
Alex Kane of AlterNet says as the more information came out, the more it became clear that the origins of the film lie in an alliance between members of the Egyptian Coptic Christian community, right-wing Christians and the well-funded network of Islamophobes in the U.S. As the post-9/11 dust settled, a small, loosely connected group of anti-Muslim activists worked to lay the seeds of what would become a full-blown network of Islamophobes across the U.S. that peddled propaganda about the impending takeover of the U.S. by Muslims, who would impose “sharia law.” And so a small number of Coptic Christians, by no means representative of the full Coptic community, have made alliances with right-wing evangelical Christians and virulent Islamophobes in the U.S. Kane said. Press reports indicate that the anti-Muslim film was produced by an organization called Media for Christ which is head of that organization is Joseph Nasralla Abdelmasih, an anti-Muslim Coptic Christian from Egypt. Abdelmasih rose to national prominence on September 11, 2010 when he spoke at a rally organized by the anti-Islamic Stop Islamization of America (SOIA), which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. At that rally, Abdelmasih said Egypt had once been Christian, but was conquered by Muslims through deception. The United States faced the same danger, he said. "(Muslims) conquered our country with their lies," Abdelmasih said. "They can lie just to build this mosque here." Abdelmasih continued by telling the audience that if the mosque was built, the U.S. would become Islamized within 10 years. According to Kane, Abdelmasih is an ally of Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, two leading Islamophobes in the U.S. The alliance of Egyptian Christians, right-wing American Christians and anti-Muslim activists have now sowed the seeds of more chaos in the Middle East. This is exactly what they wanted. “We went into this knowing this was probably going to happen,” Klein told the Associated Press.“The people behind the film can also feel satisfied that they have contributed to a strain in U.S.-Egyptian relations at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood is in power. They hope that by destabilizing Egypt, Muslims will come off as crazy, violent people, and that U.S. relations with a government seen as hostile to Israel will be strained,” Kane concluded. The anti-Muslim film consultant, Steve Klein, a California-based insurance salesman, “is a right-wing extremist who emerged from (the mindset) that produced Anders Behring Breivik and which takes inspiration from the writings of Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, and Daniel Pipes,” according to Max Blumenthal. President Obama, after the death of Ambassador’s Stevens and colleagues (the ten Libyan staff seemingly passed him by) stated that he rejects denigration of religious belief, Felicity Arbuthnot of Global Research said adding: “Perhaps a place to start denigration’s halt would be the home-grown in the Western, Crusading, fundamentalist Christian-Zionist alliance. From Wilders to Pipes.” [AMP Report]
The fallacy of free speech
When Google was asked to remove the highly inflammatory video, it immediately cited its long established policy of supporting freedom of speech. The Google told the New York Times, that the “Innocence of Muslims” video does not violate terms of service for YouTube regarding hate speech because it is focused on the Muslim religion and not the people who practice it. However on August 1, Google had no problem removing 1,710 videos and closing their affiliated accounts because "A substantial number of those videos concerned Holocaust denial and defense of Holocaust deniers." Google "closed the user's account within 24 hours" of receiving the complaint by a group that monitors anti-Semitism in Australia, as Esam Al-Amin wrote in OpEd News last week quoting Jewish Press. People in the U.S. may not be aware of these incidents where hate or disfavored speech was taken down, Al-Amin says adding: “But many people in the Muslim world are aware of such interventions that run contrary to stated principles. Plausibly, they wonder, if foreigners such as the Attorney General of Israel or an Australian monitoring group can get Google or Facebook to shut down videos or close accounts, how can one argue that the President or the Secretary of State cannot make similar requests? They also recall that in 2009 Secretary Clinton intervened and prevailed over the executives of Facebook and Twitter on behalf of the activists of the so-called Green movement in Iran. This is not an argument to advocate closing down accounts or removing videos but simply to illustrate the hypocrisy and double standard practiced by public officials and business conglomerates when dealing with Muslim concerns.”
French journalist Thierry Meyssan argues that Western European states have passed "historical memory" laws which have transformed a historical event—the Nazi destruction of European Jews—into a religious occurrence: the "Shoa" in Jewish terminology, or the "Holocaust" as expressed in Christian evangelical parlance. “Nazi crimes are thereby elevated to the level of a unique event at the expense of the victims of other massacres, including other victims of the Nazis. Questioning the dogma, i.e. this religious interpretation of historical facts, subjects one to criminal penalties, just as blasphemy was punished in the past.” Many European countries enacted laws in the past three decades that criminalize any speech or writings that question the official accounts of the Holocaust. In 1996 French philosopher Roger Garaudy published his book, The Founding Myths of Modern Israel. Critics charged that his book contained Holocaust denial and consequently the French government indicted him, and shortly thereafter, the courts banned any further publication of the book. In 1998 Garaudy was convicted, sentenced to a suspended jail sentence of several years, and fined forty thousand dollars. In 2005, English writer David Irving was apprehended in Austria on a 1989 arrest warrant of being a Holocaust denier. He was subsequently convicted of "trivializing, grossly playing down, and denying the Holocaust," and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
As Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich recalls, there is a precedent in the US to curbing free speech when deemed harmful. In a landmark Supreme Court hearing -- Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919) , the actions of Schenck, an anti-war individual who had printed and distributed leaflets in order to discourage enlisting servicemen, was not afforded protection under the First Amendment. The issue before the court was whether Schenck's actions (words, expression) were protected by the free speech clause of the First Amendment. The Court ruled: " The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing panic." Holmes argued that "The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."
On the fallacy of free-speech Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich also recalls: On October 16, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Israel Lobby's bill, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act which requires the US Department of State to monitor anti-Semitism world wide. (It is noteworthy that 4 years later, Republican candidates ran on a platform of promoting hatred of Islam). In line with policies of selective "free speech", in August 2012, California State Assembly passed a resolution (House Resolution 35) against criticism of Israel.
The House Resolution 35, in part said: “….the Assembly recognizes recent actions by officials of public postsecondary educational institutions in California and calls upon those institutions to increase their efforts to swiftly and unequivocally condemn acts of anti-Semitism on their campuses and to utilize existing resources, such as the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights’ working definition of anti-Semitism to help guide campus discussion about, and promote, as appropriate, educational programs for combating anti-Semitism on their campuses….”
[AMP Report]
The incident exposes the deep vein of anger against the US
Dave Lefcourt, the author of "Deceit and excess in America, how the moneyed interests have stolen America and how we can get it back," argues that the Arab Spring which had the affect of removing the shackles and giving voice to the people in these countries should not be seen as contributing to anti-American demonstrations. He believes that the motivation behind the video that inspired these protests in Muslim countries was the provocative intentions by an anti Muslim Egyptian American and Coptic Christian who expected his video would likely spark anti American protests in the Muslim world with the larger hope of tainting ALL Muslims as radical jihadists and terrorists. Yet as happened previously when the American fundamentalist Minister Jones burned the Quran and the American soldiers in Afghanistan burned the Muslim holy book earlier this year that provoked outrage among Muslims, it is readily apparent there are certainly anti Muslim fanatics and ignorant Americans who have no respect for Arabs, Muslims or any of the indigenous peoples in the Muslim world that we have invaded, occupied, committed torture against and killed innocents with our drone attacks and missile strikes, Lefcourt pointed out. To borrow Prof Lawrence Davidson of West Chester University in Pennsylvania, this incident has exposed the deep vein of anger against the United States that runs through the Muslim world. “This anger is nothing new and we continue to ignore it at our peril. The Muslim world continues to be a tinder box that someone resident in the West, someone like Nakoula Bassely Nakoula, can throw a match into and spark something akin to another 9/11.” [AMP Report]
A setback for Geert Wilders
Sept 17: Last week, even as the Islamic world was erupting in yet another bout of Koran-fueled fury that put the 2006 explosion over the Danish cartoons in the shade, the Dutch electorate, apparently having decided that the clash of civilizations was yesterday’s news, handed Geert Wilders’s Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) , or Freedom Party – the only one of the Netherlands’s several major parties that is seriously critical of Islam and of the country’s current immigration and integration policies – its first setback ever. While the two top parties received about twenty-five percent of the vote apiece, up about five percent from the last election, the PVV got ten percent, down from fifteen. It remains the third largest party, but just barely, with fifteen out of 150 seats in the House of Representatives, while the fourth, fifth, and sixth largest parties will have fifteen, thirteen, and twelve seats respectively. “For the first time since he founded the PVV in 2004,” reported De Volkstrant on Friday, “Geert Wilders lost an election, and substantially so. How can that be?” The newspaper Trouw claimed to have the answer: “The Netherlands of 2012 is radically changed….the protest vote for the PVV has disappeared.”…… [Front Page]
Senate Hearing on Hate Crimes
Sept 19: The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights today held a groundbreaking hearing entitled “Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism.” It was chaired by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). The hearing was called after a surge in hate crime targeting minority communities. A coalition of some 150 organizations, led by the Sikh Coalition, requested the hearing after the horrific murders of Sikh worshippers in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Addressing growing concerns that hate groups are on the rise and that attacks could happen anywhere, Durbin highlighted that this is the first hearing in recent years focused on the threat of violent domestic extremists. “We cannot ignore the threat of homegrown non-Islamic terrorist,” he said adding: “I hope this hearing will help us to redouble our efforts to combat the threat of domestic terrorism and to take whatever steps are necessary to protect vulnerable communities.” For the hearing, ADC, CAIR, MPAC and more than 80 organizations submitted a statement for record outlining goal-oriented solutions, such as asking Congress to be more responsible with rhetoric that marginalizes communities. The statement submitted by the nation’s largest Arab American civil rights organization, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination, stressed that, "ADC stands firmly against acts of hate. The increase in violent acts against marginalized communities showcases the abundance of work left to combat discrimination in the US. Whether the crime is committed because of a person’s religious belief, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability, it is our community’s responsibility to stand against the violence."
The testimony, submitted for the hearing by CAIR and published online, includes information on the rise of "107 anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2009 to 160 in 2010" and the "thirteen days in August, the days immediately after the shocking murders of Sikh worshippers in Wisconsin, [when] there were 8 incidents in which Muslim places of worship were targeted." Anti-Muslim hate incidents detailed in CAIR's testimony include "shots [that were] fired at a mosque in Morton Grove and an acid bomb thrown at an Islamic school in Lombard, [Illinois]" and "a mosque [that] was burned to the ground in Joplin, Mo., vandals spray[ing] an Oklahoma mosque with paintballs, pigs legs [being] thrown at a mosque-site in California, and a firebomb [that] was thrown at a Muslim family's home in Panama City, Florida." CAIR's testimony also provides a listing of active anti-Muslim groups and individuals in the United States and recommendations on how to put an end to "the full range of threats posed by individual and organized perpetrators of violent hate crimes and criminal acts of domestic extremism."
The Muslim Public Affairs Council, in a press statement on the hearing said: “With Democrats being the only members of the Judiciary Committee in attendance, it is an abomination to the message that our nation’s strength lies in its unity, and it is a slap in the face of the purpose of the hearings. All committee members should have attended, not because it is their duty as members, but because they should be leading the charge as concerned citizens of our nation. Following the hearing, Haris Tarin, Director of MPAC’s Washington, DC, Office, joined Durbin and representatives from 11 organizations affected by hate crimes for a press conference to re-emphasize the need for this conversation. An attack on one American is an attack on us all. The hearing is the first step in addressing the rise in hate crimes. The next step is for our political leaders and public officials to take an oath to end hate speech that may lead to violence. However, what message are politicians sending to the country when they cannot be bothered to attend a hearing on the issue? The hearing was a brave first step by Durbin in an attempt to start the conversation on domestic terrorism and hate speech. The outpouring of support by community groups showed the want and desire for this conversation. Now we hope everyone is listening to the demand.” [AMP Report]
Muslim Advocates seeks information on NYPD and CIA collaboration on spying on American Muslims
Sept 20: This week, Muslim Advocates took another step forward in seeking to hold the New York Police Department (NYPD) accountable for its discriminatory surveillance program. One year ago, on September 21, 2011, Muslim Advocates, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), and the Brennan Center for Justice submitted a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to the NYPD, seeking records relating to that agency's program of spying on innocent Muslims based solely upon their faith and its collaboration with the CIA in doing so. The request sought records regarding the details of the policies and practices of the department’s spying program, including information about legitimate leads, if any, it had developed. After extensive delays, the NYPD produced just 26 pages of documents and denied the remainder of the request. In response, this week, Muslim Advocates and AALDEF filed a petition in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, asking the court to order the NYPD to release the requested records. Muslim Advocates and AALDEF are represented in this action by the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. This filing is an important tool to help uncover the extent of NYPD’s surveillance of American Muslims. Muslim Advocates also filed a lawsuit against the NYPD in June 2012 in federal court on behalf of a group of New Jersey Muslims to stop the spying of innocent Americans. [Muslim Advocates]
Nearly 100 Organizations Urge President Obama to Host Summit on Religious Tolerance
Sept 20: This week, Muslim Advocates led the effort to send President Obama an official request to host a summit on religious tolerance. The letter was supported by close to 100 diverse faith, civic, civil rights, and community groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Sikh Coalition, SAALT, the NAACP, and the Interfaith Alliance. The request comes after the nation has witnessed a spate of hate crimes that have spiked across the nation, including one of the deadliest hate crimes in our nation's history, the gruesome attack on a gurdwara in Oak Creek, WI, where 6 Sikh worshipers were killed and 3 critically wounded. The coalition letter highlights the precedent of President Clinton's year-long national initiative to address racial differences. The groups urge President Obama to hold a summit on religious tolerance and address the new wave of religious bigotry and hate crimes. The letter comes on the heels of a landmark congressional hearing led by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) titled, “Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism.” The hearing highlighted the son of one of the victims who died at the gurdwara shooting to recount the suffering innocent Americans are facing at the hands of hate-motivated violent extremists. Muslim Advocates submitted a statement for the hearing in which it described the escalating crisis of religious bigotry and hate crimes against religious minorities and the need for public leaders to directly address the issue. [Muslim Advocates]
When Right-Wing Crazy Backfires: 5 Ways Racist Pro-Israel Ads Make the Right Look Like Hateful Idiots
Sept 26: Anti-Muslim blogger and activist Pamela Geller must have thought she would spread her hateful, right-wing Zionist message to more people by placing inflammatory advertisements in New York City subway stations. Instead, Geller has had to deal with a ton of backlash against the advertisements, which read: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” The ads demeaning Muslims and Palestinians were placed in 10 subway stations in New York this week, following their placement in San Francisco last month. They were first rejected by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, but after Geller filed a lawsuit, a judge ordered the MTA to allow them to go up. The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), an organization run by Geller and her Islamophobic partner in crime Robert Spencer, paid more than $6,000 to New York’s transit agency to run the billboards. AFDI has been labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Geller is the nation’s leading anti-Muslim activist, regularly publishing vitriol against Islam on her blog and promoting attempts to stop the construction of mosques. She made a name for herself when she led the charge against the construction of an Islamic center in lower Manhattan in 2010, falsely labeling it a “mega mosque” on the premises of Ground Zero. The ads are the latest attempt by Geller to make a name for herself and spread her hateful message that attempts to marginalize Muslim-Americans. But it appears they have backfired hard. Here are five reasons why:
1. Defacement: Almost as soon as the ads went up, they were defaced and, well, corrected. Big stickers with the words “Racist” and “Hate Speech” were plastered over at least seven of Geller’s ads, much to her dismay. 2. Jewish Organizations Reject the Ads: Geller’s dangerous rhetoric has never been accepted by the mainstream Jewish establishment in the U.S., who prefer their pro-Israel and pro-occupation messaging to come with a prettier face. The Anti-Defamation League, who, like Geller, came out against the construction of the Islamic center near lower Manhattan, has denounced the advertisements. 3. Transit Riders Disgusted: Geller’s game is trying to infect the American body politic with her toxic message. But most New York subway riders either aren’t paying attention or are expressing outrage. 4. Geraldo Rivera Slams Geller: Rivera, talk show host, is not known for his sensitivity to minority ethnic or religious groups. The ads “are so intentionally, recklessly provocative. I don’t understand what the real purpose is other than to cause upset,” said Rivera. 5. Fox News Calls Geller ‘Inflammatory’ and ‘Anti-Muslim’: Media Matters reports that “Fox's panelists agreed that they ‘hate’ the message in the ads” and that Geller is “anti-Muslim.” [By Alex Kane – AlterNet]
Man behind anti-Muslim film is arrested
Sept 27: The man thought to have been behind the anti-Islam video that set off deadly protests across the Muslim world in recent weeks was arrested today for violating terms of his probation in a 2010 bank fraud case. The man, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, was ordered held without bond during an appearance in Federal District Court in Los Angeles this evening. Judge Suzanne H. Segal, a federal magistrate, called Mr. Nakoula “a flight risk and a danger to the community.” He will remain in jail until a probation-revocation hearing is scheduled. Mr. Nakoula is widely considered to be the filmmaker responsible for “Innocence of Muslims,” an inflammatory, amateurish video that is supposedly a trailer for a full-length film. The video depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a buffoon, a womanizer and a child molester. It was first uploaded to YouTube in June, and translated into Arabic and uploaded several more times leading up to the 11th anniversary of the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Mr. Nakoula was charged with eight probation violations, including lying to law-enforcement officers when they initially detained him for questioning, and using various aliases, which an assistant United States attorney, Robert Dugdale, said was “part of a lengthy pattern of deception.” Federal officials have been investigating whether Mr. Nakoula was the person who posted the video on YouTube using the pseudonym Sam Bacile, a name he used during the making of the movie, according to actors and crew members. If he did post the video, he would have violated the terms of his sentencing in a conviction in a 2010 check-kiting case, which restricted his use of the Internet. Mr. Nakoula served about a year of a 21-month prison term for orchestrating a check-kiting scheme against Wells Fargo Bank, court records show. As part of his sentence, Mr. Nakoula was ordered to pay restitution of $794,700. Last week, a Pakistani cabinet minister offered a $100,000 reward for the death of the person behind the video, with the incendiary statement coming a day after violent protests paralyzed Pakistan’s largest cities, leaving at least 23 people dead. [New York Times]
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