Islamo-Facism Awareness Week

In a much-anticipated appearance last Friday, conservative writer David Horowitz, CC ’59, attacked the professors at Columbia University, addressed abuses of women’s rights in predominantly Muslim countries, and discussed the U.S. War on Terror.
• CTV NEWS VIDEO: Horowitz's Speech

To protest a speech by conservative author David Horowitz, CC ’59, a small crowd clad in orange gathered on Low Plaza to chant against racism.

The same editorial board that openly condemned the College Republicans for inviting David Horowitz, CC ’59, called Columbia’s decision to invite Ahmadinejad “an impressive demonstration of the University’s respect of free speech and open debate.” In their warped reality, “it is one thing to invite a world leader to campus to share his or her views,” but far worse, “to celebrate incendiary pundits that generate fear and loathing instead of meaningful discourse.”

Imagine a 21st-century Pope who ruled by 13th-century standards. Imagine hundreds of millions subjected to the whims of Papal fiat. Imagine a government that hangs homosexuals, buries “promiscuous” women alive, executes children, jails and tortures dissidents, calls for the destruction of Protestant nations, and relies upon a secret police to enforce Catholic social mores.

We, the Progressive Jewish Alliance, repudiate the mission of David Horowitz’s “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.” We reject the manner in which he manipulates Jewish grief over the Holocaust and the situation in Israel. As Jews and members of a larger campus coalition community, we speak out as allies of our fellow Muslim students.

“Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” purports to examine a link between Islam, institutionalized violence, and oppression, but its organizers dangerously (if unsurprisingly) conflate extremists who practice Islam with the faith itself—a fallacy sure to negate any potential worth in such a discussion.

Why is an idea so frightening to some members of the Columbia community that they need to organize a campaign to suppress it before it is even aired? Why have some Columbians taken it upon themselves to conduct a hate campaign against students who want to discuss issues that affect us all?

With all due respect to freedom of speech and the awareness of terrorist activity in the political world, David Horowitz should rethink the arguments and ideas of “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week,” and look at the facts.