Get Herald RSSI've heard a lot of non-Muslim Americans in the post-9/11 world complain that moderate Muslims have failed to stand up and condemn extremism in the Muslim world, or as David Horowitz would label it, "Islamofascism." Basically, if you are an American Muslim and you don't approve of terrorism - which is basically every Muslim in America - then it is your patriotic duty to stand up every day and remind the rest of the country that its fears are unfounded. Never mind the fact that many Muslim leaders have stood up and condemned extremism, I wonder why there aren't more of us asking non-Muslim America to stand up and support our Muslim community members.
I don't mean to be insensitive to the suffering caused by the 9/11 attacks or any other such attacks. Especially for those who were personally affected, in my unprofessional opinion, I think anger and fear toward the perpetrators is entirely healthy and appropriate. But Islam was not the perpetrator, and allowing the actions of 19 men to define our understanding of the world's second largest religion is a prejudiced idea that non-Muslim Americans owe to America and the world to get out of our collective head. This kind of discrimination often follows in the wake of wars and violence in many cultures, not just ours, but this does not make it acceptable. I think we all remember the Japanese internment camps of World War II.
Some may wonder what discrimination I'm talking about. Certainly there is no current equivalent of internment camps for American Muslims, thank God (or whatever you thank). But the stabbing of a Sikh man in Santa Clara, Calif., directly following 9/11, mosques vandalized all over the country, a friend being told by another student on this campus to "go back to her fucking country," a friend at Brown physically threatened and called "fucking Muslims, fucking Egyptians" by other Brown students - these things are happening and they are happening here.
The full page ad in The Herald suggests that David Horowitz's "IslamoFascism Awareness Week," is actually a way to support moderate Muslims as well as a way to raise awareness about the supposed greatest threat to America's security. The notion is, I think, that raising awareness of the deplorable actions of some Muslim leaders and/or extremists will help lead to the rest of the Muslim world being freed of their control. Not an ignoble aim in itself - though in terms of "raising awareness" it's hard to imagine that anyone in America would be unfamiliar with the idea that terrorism is a threat or that some Muslims are terrorists, unless they happen to have lived in the wilderness without access to any form of media for the last ten years.
As admirable as it is to support Muslims against oppression, to claim that violent religious fundamentalism practiced by a tiny minority of Muslims needs to be labeled "Islamofascism" as if it were of an entirely separate nature from the kinds of violent religious fundamentalism that have been practiced by individuals of many different faiths in many different regions and eras but never labeled "Christianofascism" or "Hindufascism" is not much of a way to support people, and it certainly hasn't been taken as such. If Horowitz wants to promote awareness about oppression in Muslim countries, why not organize a weeklong gathering of respected intellectuals to talk about the differing and complex political and social conditions in a variety of majority Muslim nations? Or if Horowitz wants to show support for "moderate Muslims" (i.e., the majority of the Muslim community) why not try to raise awareness about Islam itself and the actual practices of your fellow Muslim students, faculty and citizens? If we make this about the civilized, enlightened West saving the backwards, evil Muslims from themselves, I can't think of many better ways to convince the Muslim world that Americans hate them.
Green has been a color associated with Islam for many centuries, probably since the beginning of Islam itself. Students across the nation called for Americans to wear green on October 24 to show support for our Muslim community members and opposition to the discrimination Horowitz's week promotes. I think probably the majority of Brown students do not buy the notion that Muslims are the enemy and I'm skeptical of the value of clothes choices to make a difference in big issues, but though it may be only a small thing, I think it's important to show support when Muslims on our own campus are facing prejudice and discrimination. So today at the speech, let's show the IslamoFascist Awareness Week campaign what Brown is really about and bring out some green!
Kate Goodin '08 thinks everyone should go see the Parent's Weekend Dance Concert (wearing green?).
