http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/media/storage/paper932/news/2007/10/25/Ne wsFeatures/IslamoFascist.Week.Goes.Unobserved.At.Hopkins-3058286.shtml
Islamo-Fascist week goes unobserved at Hopkins By: Husain Danish Posted: 10/25/07 Student groups on college campuses across the country will participate in the controversial Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, from Oct. 22-26. Organized by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, the event aims to highlight Islam's oppression of women and the threat posed by the Islamic crusaders on the West, according to the Center. The event will take place at more than 100 colleges and universities, according to Jeffrey Wiener, Terrorism Awareness Project National Campus Coordinator at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Participating schools include Princeton, Brown, Yale, University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University. No group at Hopkins will officially participate. "We support the event, but we will not be participating this year," Evan Lazerowitz, vice president of the Hopkins College Republicans, said. "It's partially because Hopkins is a politically apathetic campus, and also the fact that the event didn't plan out very well. I don't think the University administration would have liked the idea." "Had the administration been contacted about the event, it would have been treated like any other activity," Dorothy Sheppard, Associate Dean of Students, said. Sheppard explained had students approached the administration with the intention to participate, the administration would have needed to know the details, such as where the funding is coming from, who is organizing the event and whether the event may cause unrest on campus. "Generally, the University is careful with events that may be harmful or that attack the beliefs of others," she said. Though Hopkins is not participating in the event, the IFC has planned a response. "The way the IFC chose to respond to this hateful programming is by showing the greater Hopkins community that not only are Muslims being marginalized but that all faith groups on campus are being marginalized by this event," said Farah Quereshi, a Satellite Intern for the Interfaith Youth Core. "By demonizing one religious group, we attack the pluralism which exists at Hopkins." The IFC, in conjunction with the campus volunteering and faith groups, is planning to hold a "collaborative interfaith service day" during mid-November in response to IFA week. "We think it is very important for us to react it in a constructive way," Quereshi said. "We are going to come together to show that we are in solidarity in the full sense of pluralism we all hold dear." "This awareness week is framed as combating terrorism," Shayma Jawad, Vice-President of the Johns Hopkins Muslim-Students Association [JHUMA], said. "In the process, Islam is labeled as the cause of this terror. The message they are conveying is that Islam is inherently violent, oppressive and unjust.? I think it's an Islam hate week in disguise where many speakers frame it as though they're participating in an awareness week in which they?have similar political agendas." Jawad found it offensive that the Freedom Center called on Muslims to be active in the protest. "Asking Muslim groups to participate in this Islamo-Fascism awareness week is blatantly disrespectful," she said. "Holding teach-ins, sit-ins, demonstrations and protests against Islam is not a form of dialogue; rather it's a destructive attempt to brainwash and marginalize people." Though Lazerowitz did not see anything wrong with the event, he did understand how it could be misconstrued. "The term Islamo-Fascism is correct but the word makes it appear that these people are following Islam," he said. "It is a very unfortunate effect. I really hope this whole week doesn't turn out to be a hate week." Though they will not participate in the event, the College Republicans will screen Obsession, a film on radical Islam, in November. In protest of IFA Week, a student group calling themselves "Peace not Prejudice" formed on the GWU campus. Those involved in organizing the event feel that it has been unfairly prejudged. "To me and to others it is frankly laughable," said Jeffrey Wiener, Terrorism Awareness Project National Campus Coordinator. "No way do we intend this week to be an Islamic hate week. We are trying to educate about the nature of Islamic terrorism. In fact we have asked Muslim groups to participate." The week-long event will feature memorial services, sit-ins to protest the oppression of women in Islamic societies, panel discussions and keynote speakers. Students are also asked to sign a petition denouncing Islamo-Fascist violence against women, gays, Christians, Jews and non-Muslim people. A great emphasis is placed on getting other campus organizations involved, including campus Republican party groups, Hillel centers and Muslim Student Associations. The list of keynote speakers across the U.S. includes former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, conservative author Ann Coulter, Horowitz, author Robert Spencer, Nonie Darwish, Wafa Sultan and Sean Hannity. The Freedom Center has urged campuses to hold screenings of films highlighting the threat of Islamic radicalism, including Suicide Killers, Islam: What the West Needs to Know and Obsession. "I think that the attacks on IFA week are ridiculous," said Jordan Neidig, the correspondence director of George Washington University's Young America's Foundation. Neidig said the event was designed to bring awareness to the extremist sects of Islam that carry out terrorist acts, and that it was never meant as an attack on Islam as a whole. "We are trying to stress that this is an open forum," Neidig said. "We are not trying to shove our ideas down everyone's throats. Anyone is more than welcome to come as long as they are willing to be civilized and appropriate. We are willing to talk." Neidig said that the event has been running smoothly so far. He helped hand out pamphlets in front of GWU's Women's Studies Center the morning of Oct. 24. "IFA week seems alright to me as long as it is done properly," stated junior Esther Shin. "If we have an Islamo-Fascism Awareness week, we should have a Christian-Fascism Awareness Week, a Hindu-Fascism Awareness week and one for every other religion," freshman Chris Pohlmeyer, said. _____ C Copyright 2007 News-Letter [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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