Robert Spencer, founder and director of "Jihad Watch" and author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam," will speak tonight as part of the first Islamofacism Awareness Week, the brainchild of controversial conservative activist David Horowitz.
Spencer's lecture, which will take place at 7 p.m. in Salomon 001, is part of a national campaign bringing conservative pundits to college campuses to discuss the threat posed by Islamic radicals. Horowitz, the author and editor of the conservative FrontPage Magazine and creator of the Terrorism Awareness Project, got the idea for Islamofascism Awareness Week this spring, when Pace University refused to allow a student to show "Obsession," a documentary on radical Islam. In response, he declared April 19 Islamofascism Awareness Day.
"The first goal was to show a film, and when I saw that I was able to get 96 campuses to do it, I said I'm going to do a week," Horowitz told The Herald.
Speakers at other universities this week include right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter, former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and Horowitz himself.
The Terrorism Awareness Project Web site describes Islamofascism Awareness Week as "a wakeup call for Americans on 200 university and college campuses" and "the biggest conservative campus protest ever."
According to the Web site, the purpose of the campaign is "as simple as it is crucial: 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 the terrorist threat ... Islamofascism Awareness Week is a national effort to oppose these lies and to rally American students to defend their country."
Horowitz said his statements are intended to be somewhat "tongue-in-cheeky."
"This is not a conservative campaign to make people conservatives. Islamofascism is a threat to all Americans, no matter what their politics," he said. "The idea, of course, is to focus on who the enemy is. We have this censorship that we can't talk about the enemy. Campuses are the worst censored places."
Horowitz said he is hopeful that Spencer will be well-received at Brown. "Civility is a cornerstone of a democratic society and tolerance for people who have a different opinion," he said. "The vast majority of students at Brown are hardworking, intelligent and civil and will come and listen politely."
The Muslim Students Association is encouraging its members to act civilly. "Should you choose to attend the event, any type of questioning should be done in a manner consistent with our values of academic freedom and respectful dialogue, even if the speaker being questioned does not adhere to these values," the MSA executive board wrote in an Oct. 23 e-mail to its members. "Responding to this campaign in a reactionary manner merely reinforces the very stereotypes that the campaign seeks to promote and creates controversy, which will draw unnecessary attention to the campaign."
The Brown Republicans decided to bring Islamofascism Awareness Week to the University after Herald Opinions Columnist Sean Quigley '10 saw information about the campaign at the College Republican National Convention.
The Brown Republicans are advertising Spencer's upcoming lecture through tableslips and posters, some of which Quigley said have been ripped down since last night. Regarding the negative reaction to the event, Quigley said he is disappointed but not surprised.
The Brown Republicans did have some reservations about inviting Robert Spencer to speak. "We thought he might be a bit too much to the right," Quigley said. "He not only criticizes radical Islam, but he also criticizes Islam in general. That was something that came up."
Some students object to the term "Islamofascism" itself. "The very term 'Islamofascism' inherently connects the entire religion of Islam with the totalitarian ideology of fascism," the MSA executive board wrote in its Oct. 23 e-mail.
"When you label an entire group of people with such a hostile name, you are not advocating for the equality and the freedom that you mean to uphold. You are closing the door to any kind of dialogue," said MSA President Noor Najeeb '09. "Extremism on both ends is not going to breed any type of tolerance."
Horowitz has responded to this frequent objection by citing examples like Italian fascism and clerical fascism - terms which he says are widely accepted.
"First of all, they assume that it's aimed at an entire group, which is a false premise. This is a civil society," Quigley said. "I don't ally myself with the IRA even though I'm Irish."
The origins of the term "Islamofascism" are unclear. In an article entitled "Defending Islamofascism" on the Terrorism Awareness Project Web site, author and pundit Christopher Hitchens says the term was coined by a Scottish journalist.
But in an article titled "Vocabulary of War" on the same Web site, Horowitz says it was coined by moderate Muslims in Algeria to describe their radical oppressors. "How does using a term invented by Muslims to describe their oppressors equate all Muslims with the fascists?" Horowitz wrote in the article.
When asked about the discrepancy, Horowitz told The Herald the origin of the term was
unimportant.
