This past week, colleges around the country mobilized in support of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, a project of that oh-so-liberal minded David Horowitz. In celebration of Islamo-Fascism Awareness, conservative college students were told to put on events, show movies and generally spread the word about "the violent, expansionary ideology of the so called ‘religion of peace’ that seeks the destruction or subjugation of other faiths, cultures, and systems of government."
Islamofascism, as a phrase and a worldview, builds an us-versus-them mentality between Islam and the rest of the world and inaccurately links the diverse and geo-politically motivated movements led by Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to each other and to unrelated dictatorships in mid-century Italy, Germany, and Japan. Counter-demonstrations that emphasized these points and sought to bridge cultural divides also marked this past week.
Some have argued that discussing Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week only lends credibility and publicity to the ridiculous, xenophobic beliefs of Horowitz and his cronies. Maybe. But failing to call out the perpetrators of this racist, verbal lynch mob not only betrays the millions of Muslims worldwide who practice their religion in dignity and peace, but also concedes to the likes of Horowitz the hearts and minds of those ambivalents likely to be swayed by such propaganda.
Media misinformation infiltrates the airwaves, and too often misinformation has given way to flat-out falsities. (FOX’s Business Channel, anyone?) The White House and their allies in the media have consistently refused to quell false rumors, or they have emphasized irrelevant, slanted information. Just a brief glance to recent events shows the necessity for a progressive counter-voice, one that is loud, clear, and angry.
ON IRAQ:
Internal emails show that the State Department was aware of Blackwater’s potentially harmful conduct back in 2005 and yet attempted to cover it up. In one instance, the Department resisted a Los Angeles Times inquiry into a civilian death at the hands of a Blackwater guard, with one official saying, "Give [the LA Times] what we can and then dump the rest on Blackwater. We can’t win this one."
President Bush has submitted his request for an additional $196 billion in Iraq, handing in his supplemental budget late as usual. He quickly began a political guilt-trip campaign of pressuring Congress to approve the funding before they leave for winter holidays. Dragging feet on a bill all year and then expecting Congress to thoroughly review it and turn it over in such a short time is irresponsible. Making Congress out to be the ones placing the troops in danger is just wrong.
ON IMMIGRATION
The administration is facing some tough criticism on its immigration reform stance. To placate the base, Bush has turned a blind eye to the significant increase in unconstitutional raids on Latino homes by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. ICE claims that the raids are searching for fugitive gang members but few gangsters are actually being apprehended. Surprisingly, in most cases, ICE agents enter illegally without a search warrant, point guns and intimidate residents, and then investigate the legal residency status of all of the home’s occupants. In the case of one series of raids in Long Island in which dozens of houses where searched, only six fugitives were caught out of a list of 96 potential criminals.
ON CLIMATE CHANGE
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino spoke Wednesday about the administration’s decision to alter the testimony of Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Julie Gerberding to the Senate to focus on the public health benefits of global warming. Gerberding was speaking on the human impacts of global warming—disease, flooding, famine, fire, among others. Perino instead gave global warming’s health effects a rosy tinge, saying, "It is true that many people die from cold-related deaths every winter. And there are studies that say that climate change in certain areas of the world would help those individuals."
Perino did mention concerns over the spread of tropical diseases, but did not elaborate. The World Health Organization estimates that 150,000 people die annually from climate-change-related issues. Recent years have seen the widening of such deadly scourges as malaria in the Andes, parts of Africa and Europe, dengue fever in the tropics, and cholera in South America. All of these diseases are moving into areas where cooler temperatures once prevented their spread.
Interestingly, at the same time, about half a million people have been displaced in California due to raging wildfires. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, said earlier this year that global warming encourages wildfires and extends the window when wildfires are likely to occur.