David Horowitz

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

Like David Horowitz, CC ’59, I believe that we could end most of America’s problems if we simply repeated the word Islamo-fascism enough times, preferably from some sort of stage. We diverge on the exact methodology, however.

Over the past weeks, writers on this page have decried the conflation of fascism and Islam and have written in opposition to David Horowitz’s upcoming Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. But they are guilty of a pretty egregious conflation themselves, one that prevents them from examining a potentially important idea solely on its merits: the conflation of the phrase “Islamo-fascism” with the objectively despicable individual who is speaking at our University this coming Friday.

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.”

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?

Several weeks ago, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) learned about a national campaign called “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week,” scheduled for Oct. 22-26. After reviewing the campaign, ADC found a disturbing collection of propaganda prepared by a narrow-minded interest group with seemingly only one intention: to slander Arabs and Muslims on our nation’s college campuses.

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.