Posted on 08/03/2002 7:28:14 AM PDT by Stultis
TALK SHOW HOST INCITES HATE AGAINST CANADIAN MUSLIMS
Canada and Christianity under attack from 'Muslim men,' says host Lowell Green
(OTTAWA, CANADA - 8/1/02) - The Canadian office of the Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today filed a complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regarding racist and hate-inciting comments by talk show host, Lowell Green.
On July 8th, 2002, on Ottawa station CFRA 580 AM, Mr. Green stated that 'North America - democracy - the Christian faith is under attack - not just in North America, but elsewhere around the world' and that the threat 'almost exclusively comes from Muslim men.' When a caller criticized President George Bush's vision of the Middle East as 'commendable but impractical,' Mr. Green told the caller, 'Fine, Monar (sic), then keep on killing yourselves. But leave us alone.'
In a letter of formal complaint to the CRTC, CAIR-CAN Executive Director Riad Saloojee stated in part:
"Mr. Green's comments are racist generalizations and incite hatred against an identifiable group by portraying a distinct segment of Canadian society as a fifth column. In the aftermath of September 11th, and in an environment that has seen a substantial Muslim backlash documented by both our organization and police services, Mr. Green's statements are a dangerous incitement to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab violence."
CAIR-CAN Chair Sheema Khan said, "Is Mr. Green so divorced from reality that he is unable to understand that his words have real consequences in the lives of Canadian Muslims?"
"We are calling on the CRTC to ensure that media professionals whose irresponsible statements demonize minorities are held fully accountable," she added.
CONTACT: Riad Saloojee at 613-798-0003
E-mail: Canada@cair-net.org
In Canada, am I allowed to say
radical Islam is an insane murder cult, and "moderate" Islam is its Trojan Horse in the West?"
Will the Islamikazis in Canada insist that Free Republic be stopped at the border?
Diary: Fear at Home
I am so happy we have this great organization. I didnt even know they existed before September 11th. Theyre the greatest thing happening right now. They tell people to do so much that I cant keep up with them, gushes my friend.
I dont respect other Muslim organizations as much as them. They confronted Ashcroft (U.S. Attorney General). They go out and do their job and theyre not afraid.
My friend is talking about an organization called Cair, the Council on American-Islamic Relations which has seen its prominance explode since September 11th. This organization is a Muslim advocacy organization which seeks to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America.
They monitor the media ceaselessly for evidence of anti-Muslim bias and issue action alerts to the Muslim community at large. Muslims respond through phone call, faxes and letters. And the community has responded especially after seeing evidence of success. A few years ago Cair was successful at getting NIKE to remove a running shoe that had a word that resembled Allah in Arabic on its sole.
Cair was established in 1994 in Washington. Cair chapters mushroomed throughout the United States and in 1998, the Canadian chapter opened. By 2000, Caircan formed and went national with an independent Canadian board from the mother organization in United States.
In 1994 CAIR was the only Muslim organization that knew what they were doing with the media in North America, says Dr. Sheema Khan. She has a phD in chemical physics from Harvard and is the director of Caircan. She is the only woman leading a national Muslim organization.
She remembers 1994 when a Montreal high school student was sent home for wearing a headscarf in her class.
At that time there was no effective community response, says Khan.
It was this event that inspired her to start Caircan. They now offer publications such as An Employers Guide to Islamic Religious Practice', workshops and media kits to both Muslims and non-Muslims on their website caircan.ca. But most importantly they track the media.
In 1999, CBCs Air Farce had a sketch about a Terrorist Depot with Muslim terrorists. I called them about this episode and they hummed and hawed. So we issued an action alert to the Muslim community to respond, she says from her office in Ottawa.
Within a couple of hours the CBC faxed an apology."
Since September 11th, CAIRs work civil rights advocacy has increased dramatically. They keep track of anti-Muslims incidents, particularly at airports.
On December 18th, a 17 year-old high school student was forced to remove her headscarf by security at Baltimore/Washington International Airport. She immediately informed CAIR which has a civil rights coordinator Hodan Hassan. Hassan asked the airline for an apology. Delta President and Chief Operating Officer Frederick W. Reid called the 17-year-old personally after writing a formal letter of apology.
Sabiha Khan is the media relations coordinator of the national CAIR chapter in Washington.
If theres positive portrayals of Muslims, we get them out. If something negative happens in the media we encourage people to write articles to the editor, says Khan.
Were trying to reach out to the broader community and work with different minority groups and different civil rights groups and make relationships with each other.
CAIR was one of the sponsors of the Mosque Study Project, the largest, most comprehensive survey of mosques ever conducted in the U.S. The study is available on their website cair-net.org.
Its a fascinating study which among its vast statistics, breaks down the ethnicity of Muslims, counts the number of converts to Islam per year and tracks Muslim participation in mosques.
As a direct result of September 11th, the Muslim community in Canada and the U.S. are getting their act together in a new way. They are trying to teach their community skills that were normally not part Muslim agenda until now. In the past, the focus has been raising money for mosques and Islamic Schools but now more effort is starting on training Muslims in political activism.
Cair is running a voter drive in the U.S. for the November election of the U.S. House of Representatives. Their goal is to get 100,000 Muslims to register for the vote.
In Canada its different. Theres a permanent voters list, says Sheema Khan.
Caircan hasnt organized Canadian Muslims for any election yet.
Were not there yet. There hasnt been any wide spread political initiative. We will do it but later on, she says.
In Washington, Cair is holding a training conference on March 30. On the agenda is media relations basics, how to be an effective spokesperson, mobilizing grassroots activism, positive interaction with elected officials and most interestingly lobbying 101.
One of Cairs outreach projects in the U.S. is the Billboard Campaign. Although this project was in the works before September 11th, it was fast tracked because of the increased need to promote good will between Muslims and their neighbours.
Three billboards have been situated outside three major highways. There are seven smiling Muslim men and women with the slogan Even smile is charity a message from your Muslim neighbor."
Cairs profile has grown tremendously since September 11th. Ibrahim Hooper, a Canadian born convert to Islam, is the national coordinator of CAIR.
Ive talked to more journalists in the last several months then I have since the formation of Cair, he says from his Washington office.
They have easily become the most popular Muslim organization in North American.
During our fundraising dinner, we had highest return ever," says Hooper.
I ask my admiring friend why she thinks Muslims have responded so strongly to Cair and Caircan.
Muslims are getting more active because September 11th affected our freedom. When things start affecting you on a personal level you have to start doing things.
because September 11th affected our freedom. When things start affecting you on a personal level you have to start doing things.
And that ,I suppose, is to be exclusively Muslim?
How many muslims will renounce islamism?
Answer: Virtually none.
Thus this war. We'd better get serious about it.
Implying?
What implying? These Muslim Mass Murder sympathizers are as subtle as a wrecking ball.
We represent those Canadians who believe they have no voice amid the clamor from the multitude of special interest groups which capture the ear of government too frequently.
In particular, those with what are considered to be "conservative" views as frequently expressed on the Lowell Green Radio Program, will be interested in becoming members of CANADA FIRST. Those who want Canada to pull back from the welfare state, who demand real justice in our courts, a real education for our children, a hard line against separatists, an end to government handouts to big business, big unions and big porkbarrelers.
Muslims are getting more active because September 11th affected our freedom ..."Incredible. As if muslims are the primary victims, rather than the perpetrators, of 911.
Well before September 11 courageous American Muslims were warning their fellow Americans about the danger of Islamic extremism. On Jan. 7, 1999, Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani addressed a State Department forum on the topic "Islamic Extremism: A Viable Threat to U.S. National Security." "Here at home," he said, "we see a threat that will grow if the leadership of this country does not quickly stop the kind of extremist ideology that is filtering in - the same extremist ideology that is being spread all over in many places around the United States." Born in Lebanon, Kabbani is chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, a Fenton, Michigan-based organization that emphasizes the common heritage of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Calling militant Islam "something that is going astray from Islam," Kabbani argues that traditional Islam stresses "moderation and tolerance and love and living in peace with all other faiths and religions." In his 1999 speech, Kabbani singled out Osama bin Laden and warned that "something major might hit quickly." He said bin Laden had formed a coalition with the terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and Jihad-al Islami to wage terror against the West. And he warned against Muslim nonprofits in the U.S. "whose job is only to collect money and to send it to extremists outside the United States." Another important American voice for a tolerant Islam is Khalid Duran. Duran has taught at Islamabad University in Pakistan, the University of Berlin, and American University. He is the editor of TransIslam, a quarterly journal of Islamic issues, and he is the founder of the Ibn Khaldun Society, an educational network of independent Muslim academics. To promote greater understanding between Jews and Muslims, The American Jewish Committee commissioned him to write Children of Abraham: an Introduction to Islam for Jews (2001). In his book, which was praised by prominent Muslims throughout the world including Jordan's Prince Hassan, Duran criticizes militant Islamic regimes such as Iran and Sudan that violate the rights of nonbelievers. He writes that militant Islam in those countries and in terrorist groups like Hamas "is a form of late twentieth-century totalitarianism. It follows in the wake of fascism and communism, has been influenced by them, and seeks to refine their methods of domination." He argues that the concept of jihad-understood by many Muslims as fighting against the evil within or self-purification-has been hijacked by extremists who use it to justify holy war. The book also warned against bin Laden.
Muslims like Kabbani and Duran are often denounced by "mainline" Muslim groups when they speak out-and they can be in physical danger. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) bashed Duran's book in a press release and questioned whether he was Muslim by suggesting that he had a "mysterious identity." After reading the CAIR assessment, a militant sheikh, 'Abdu-I-Mun-im AbuZant, called Duran an "apostate" in a Jordanian newspaper and issued what many considered an edict for him to be killed. When this was publicized, CAIR's New York chapter issued a press release saying the death threat was a "cheap publicity stunt" concocted by Duran and the American Jewish Committee to sell books "at the expense of Muslims."
Khaled Saffuri, chairman of the Islamic Institute, shares many of CAIR's views about Duran. "Khalid Duran's not a Muslim," Saffuri told me in a November interview for Insight magazine. When I asked Saffuri to explain his opinion, he would only say, "If you read his book about the introduction of Islam to Jews, you will see that Khalid Duran has nothing to do with Islam." Saffuri made similar remarks on the United States Information Agency television show "Global Exchange," broadcast overseas in 1999. When asked about the biggest impediment to Islam in the U.S, he replied that "there are some sects or denominations that claim to represent Islam, and their ideas and views are different and alien from those of mainstream Islam." Most likely he was referring to Duran and Kabbani. Saffuri speculated that "some of these entities are supported by Zionist organizations and entities unfortunately."
In his speech to the State Department Sheikh Kabbani noted that many advocacy groups with extremist agendas claim to be the official voice of Islam in America. He lamented that the media and government officials ignore moderate Muslim voices and concluded: "The problem of extremism is a big danger, and it can be solved if the West better understands Islam and build bridges with the moderate Muslims, the traditional Muslims. This way, the Muslim community will eliminate the extremist threat from within."
http://www.capitalresearch.org/publications/organizational_trends/0204c.htm/
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