Hatred and Ignorance on Display for “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week”

This report is published to raise awareness and as a call out for people to counteract the messages of hate, ignorance and bias on display at UC Santa Cruz and other college campuses.

Three young men sat behind a table in the Baytree Plaza at UC Santa Cruz on October 22nd as part of "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week." The men and their table of hate-charged literature denouncing Islam were largely ignored for the hour they sat in the plaza. The table had a black, green and red sign for "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," glossy booklets and a petition about "Islamo-Fascist Jihad."

A student disgusted with the table looked at the literature, read some quotes out-loud and then asked the people behind the table if they believed the statements made in the booklets they were hoping to hand out. The people behind the table were not in agreement with each other about the influence of the United States and Israel in Islamic Jihad. They also said that they did not really support or agree with a lot of what the booklets were saying.

The people behind the table said that on Wednesday, October 24, they would be showing a film called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against The West." The screening is said to take place at 7pm at UCSC's College 8, room 240. I know that people are busy with life, school or skool and activist organizing, but it might be worth the time and effort to attend the film screening and counteract the intolerance advocated by David Horrowitz and several other hate-peddlers.

The booklets were all a publication of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the titles and authors are as follows:

  • The Nazi Roots of Palestinian Nationalism and Islamic Jihad by David Meir-Levi
  • The Islamic Mein Kampf
  • What Americans Need to Know About Jihad by Robert Spencer
  • The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam by Robert Spencer and Phyllis Chesler

"Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" (IFAW) is taking place at other campuses. You can see a flyer on Indybay by the College Republicans at San Francisco State University (SFSU) for "Terrorism Awareness Week". The National Project to Defend Dissent and Critical Thinking in Academia has called for people to expose and defeat this reactionary offensive. Protests to expose and oppose IFAW are being organized at SFSU, UC Berkeley, UCLA and elsewhere.

This report is published to raise awareness and as a call out for people to counteract the messages of hate, ignorance and bias on display at UC Santa Cruz and other college campuses.

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Crossposted at Indybay.org.