Islamo-fascism: "It is the greatest danger Americans have ever confronted," said David Horowitz, American conservative writer, activist, and founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and Students for Academic Freedom. Horowitz recently launched "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," which took place on 114 college and university campuses across the United States, making it one of the largest conservative campus protests ever.
The New Oxford Dictionary defines islamofascism as "a controversial term equating some modern Islamic movements with the European fascist movements of the early 20th century." Many believe the term to be hateful and inaccurate because it draws broad parallels between the religion of Islam and fascism. Supporters justify the term's legitimacy by referring to Islamic fundamentalism and the concept of a jihad, or holy war.
The purpose of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, according to Horowitz's Student's Guide to hosting the protest, was "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." Horowitz intended the protest to be a national effort to reject those claims and to encourage American students to join forces and defend themselves and their country.
The protests focused on raising awareness about the danger of the Islamic jihad and the repression of Muslim women. There were film screenings as well as speakers, including Ann Coulter, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Robert Spencer, Nonie Darwish, Wafa Sultan, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager, and Daniel Pipes, who traveled around the country to take part in the events.
The awareness week, however, was met with furious counterprotesters at just about every campus it visited. At Emory University, students succeeded in dismantling the protest.
In an opinion article featured in The Daily Californian, the independent student newspaper at the University of California, Berkeley, one student said that "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week does not serve to educate, but rather to fuel bigotry and fear."
The student also said, that "to place [Islamofascism] under the guise of awareness, as if it's under the same umbrella as Mental Health Awareness Week or Breast Cancer Awareness Week, is misleading."
Two members of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, wrote a letter to the editor for the student newspaper, The Badger Herald, in which they said, "David Horowitz does not speak for Muslims. Nevertheless, he has taken it upon himself to decide what is good for Muslims around the world."
Other heated students wrote articles in The Badger Herald in response: "People need to see Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week for what it is: a strategic, fear-mongering maneuver meant to salvage support for the Iraq war as public discontent reaches an all-time high."
Kenneth R. Mayer, professor of political science at UW Madison said, "Horowitz's speech … was by all accounts disappointing and not very informative … Horowitz got a respectful hearing, and probably didn't persuade many people," Mayer said.
The events of the week were covered in national and even international news. In an article featured in The Nation, Barbara Ehrenreich said, "In this special week organized by conservative pundit David Horowitz, we have a veritable witches' brew of Cheney-style anti-jihadism mixed in with old-fashioned, right-wing anti-feminism and a sour dash of anti-Semitism."
Ehrenreich said that the campaign's supposed aim to address the issue of the oppression of Muslim women is misconstrued. Indeed, many of the featured speakers, such as Coulter, Sommers, and Santorum, outwardly condemn feminism.
Thus, much of Horowitz' intended message seemed to perturb American students, the media, and other popular figures.
In an article he wrote post-protest, Horowitz said these counterprotesters were members of the "anti-American left." He also adamantly defended himself and the featured speakers against claims of being racist, religiously bigoted, and anti-Muslim.
"The attacks on Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week exposed the broad scope of the alliance between radical Islam and American leftists who regard it as their political task to run interference for America's enemies: Iraq yesterday, Iran today," Horowitz said. It is these "American leftists" that hinder the free-speech that this event promotes.
The message of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week did resonate with other young Americans. The chairman of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week at UC-Berkeley wrote in an article in The Daily Californian, that stated, "It seems that the real fear mongers are not the ones behind Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, but the ones opposing it, who have engaged in a campaign of ad hominems and misinformation to stifle this important event."
He continues to highlight the pain America has suffered at the hands of Islamic fascists. "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week provides us with both the opportunity to denounce the violence and intimidation of Islamic jihad," he said.
Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week stimulated the free exchange of ideas and motivated many students to some type of action. In that vein, the project was successful.
Whether intentional or not, the awareness week pitted many students against one another. As students attempt to convey their opinions, they find themselves caught in a web of confusion.
On UW Madison's unofficial blog, one student posted, "Islam was born with the idea that it should rule the world." In response, another student said, "You're doing the world an injustice by claiming these are overarching beliefs by every Muslim. This is why people are prejudice and racist."
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