Don’t believe the hype about Islamofascism Week…
on American campuses this week (22-26th October). According to Think Progress, one of America’s top political blogs, the claim that 200 campuses are taking part is hype. The American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee did a survey of (the allegedly) participating campuses and found that
after we contacted those institutions, most of those institutions indicated that no such events [are] taking place on those campus. And many contacted the sponsors and told them, “do not use my institution’s name in your campaign,” including some very renowned universities such as Yale and Princeton.
Even the name of Jerry Falwell’s evangelical Liberty University was removed from the list, masha’Allah! Check out the article to read more.
Hat Tip: Ali Eteraz
Update: And Wingnuts, a US comedy programme, shows that this campaign is not above mislabeling dramatic film footage as the real thing. Hat Tip: BBRC
Update: Umar Lee gets roughed up at George Washington University for speaking his mind about IFW.
Update: Jinnzaman provides some financial background on David Horowitz’s Freedom Centre. He gets $350,000 a year to act as its Director. The center has received over $15 million in donations, with the Scaife Foundations providing around 40% of the funding. The Foundations have supported far right Christian groups and organisations some of whose positions seem out of step with IFW. Read more here.
Update: There are now only around 100 campuses apparently signed up to IFW (out of an original 200), but the scheduled speakers for IFW are only addressing 26 campuses. These include Robert Spencer, Phyllis Chesler, Ibn Warraq, Daniel Pipes and Anne Coulter. So that’s a fall to around an eighth of the originally-claimed support! See the schedule here on the IFW site.
