Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week – with a Balkan twist

Lucy Moore RSS / 26.10.2007. u 16:31

Fit neatly between Columbus Day and Halloween, this past week was unofficially declared Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week – a week of “national efforts to oppose the lies [of the academic left] and to rally American students to defend their country”against the threat of Islam.

In an unlikely blend of Red Scare themes and civil rights movement tactics, students on college campuses across America were encouraged to hold sit-ins, canvas their schools with fliers like these, and attend lectures by the likes of Ann Coulter and Rick Santorum.

The week, intended to draw attention to the threat posed by Muslim jihad to the American way of life, has also proved a celebration of anti-Islamism, anti-feminism, anti-Semitism, and right winged Christian conservativism. But as I myself am no longer a member of any college community, I figured I’d easily be able steer clear of the whole thing.

Then midweek I decided to attend a conference on the status of Kosovo held by the Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies and the American Council for Kosovo – the prior, a poetically named front organization for Serb nationalist publications; the latter, an advocacy branch of the Serbian National Council on Kosovo and Metohija.

Given the respective hosts, I did not anticipate the occasion to be one of ranging perspectives or balanced debate. But after hearing so much talk on the matter last year in Belgrade, I was curious to see what form this dialogue would take on American soil.

I also assumed that, this being a conference on a small South Eastern European province, I would not find myself audience to the Al Qaeda, jihad, and global terror themes of this week's Islamo-Fascism Awareness raising. On this front, I was wrong.

As was often the case in Belgrade, this Kosovo discussion was no debate, but rather a gathering of likeminded individuals listing the reasons why they are right and why the absent voice of dissent is wrong. But here in DC, in the East Capitol Hill Club (a traditional Republican hangout), the anti-independence argument took on a strange apocalyptic, war-on-terror form, latent with the preachy quality and patronizing tone of an evangelical minister.

The discussion’s panel was chaired by Cliff Kincaid, a right-wing commentator and UN “watcher” whose most concrete complaint against the United Nations, a body that produces almost daily material for criticism, lay in its founding connections to Alger Hiss.

Setting the tone for the remainder of the discussion, Kincaid – a burly man, red in the face with helmet-like hair – spoke with a confidence grounded more in his own inflated sense of self-worth than in any matter of substance. And, as would be the case for most of the panel, he addressed Kosovo only as a starting point for a speech guided by his own personal agenda. Kincaid’s assessment of the Kosovo crisis: “The ultimate target is Israel.”

Following Kincaid’s foreboding introduction, the first panelist to speak was Professor John Schindler from the Naval War College. Like Kincaid, he cut right to the chase, immediately linking Bosnian Muslims to Al Qaeda and the global jihad. He argued that the war in Bosnia was merely a case of the Islamic world exploiting one more unstable region in efforts to break down the West. At the end he did rattle off a few lines about how he predicts a partitioned Kosovo and supports the unification of Serbia and the Republika Srpska, but then quickly moved on to explain that, unfortunately, his publisher didn’t send him the copies he requested of his recent book: Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qaeda and the Rise of Global Jihad. (Side note: Schindler’s book shares its title with an album released by the American death metal band W.A.S.P..)

David Binder, the second panelist and former New York Times correspondent to Yugoslavia, did not paint a pretty picture of Kosovo’s future, but at least he deviated from the Islamo-Fascism theme that had bulldozed its way into the Kosovo debate so far. Binder warned that an independent Kosovo was likely to falter on its own, economically and politically. As proof, he cited the grave state of Kosovo’s demographics, its heavy reliance on remissions, and its underground crime rings with connections to local authorities, UNMIK, KFOR, and the NGO scene. And in a moment counter to the sentiments of that morning, Binder lamented the fact that no one present at this conference spoke Albanian, let alone represented an Albanian perspective.

But if Binder was a step forward from the Muslim-world conspiracies of Professor Schindler, the final panelist, Bill Warner from the Center for the Study of Political Islam, was a giant leap backward. After what amounted to little more than a passing reference to Kosovo and Serbia, Warner launched into an us-versus-them lecture with us as “the modern person” of “a civilization based on the golden rule” and them as the Muslims who, apparently, are entirely at fault for this irreparable clash of civilizations. And to this discussion of jihad and global-terror, Warner brought only the simple language and exaggerated mannerism of a televangelist. As though believing clarification of his argument would come through repetition, he told us again and again that in the eyes of Muslims we are merely kafirs (non-believers) or, at best, dhimmis (kafirs protected by Muslims), and that we are all being lulled into a false sense of security when we talk of Muslims as anything but the enemy. Warner’s conclusion on the matter: be it in Kosovo or in Timbuktu, Muslims want to kill us all, so we should kill them first.

As I sat and listened to Kincaid make cracks at the UN, to Schindler rattle on about Al Qaeda hangouts, and to Warner bark out “kafir” and “dhimmi,” I began to wonder who these men were and what they were doing at a conference on Kosovo. They weren’t Serbian Nationalists – the deluded defenders of the Motherland and Serbian soil. In fact, only two of the four speakers made any reference to actual visits to the region. The best I could come up with is that they are simply opportunists, willing to stretch the religious aspect of the Kosovo situation to fit the attention-grabbing, Islam-fearing themes of the day.

The panel was followed by lunch and a brief address from members of the Congressional Serbian Caucus who, with the smooth superficiality of American politicians, made it perfectly clear how little this whole issue matters to them and to the American government.

Democrat Melissa Bean told the audience that few in Congress knew much about the issue, but that she, as a Serbian American, hoped to change that. Then before concluding, she, almost as a condolence for the government’s lack of knowledge, made reference to her American husband and his newly acquired ability to “roll a really good sarma.”

Then Republican Dan Burton, a.k.a. Indiana Dan, took the mic. “Kosovo has always been a part of Greater Serbia,” he said, clearly confident in how little his pandering and extreme remarks would matter in this country. He then went on to absolve the American government of any and all responsibility in the matter, explaining that, “the Serbs and the Kosovars need to sit down at the conference table and work this out.” In his mind, the issue would be best solved "not in the halls of Congress, but by the people over there."

What a novel idea – too bad he didn’t come up such insight before voting for the war in Iraq.

In the end, the entire production proved little more than an exercise in frivolity. I left the conference no better informed on the Kosovo issue, yet all the more aware that no matter the topic at hand, politicians will always be politicians and pompous pseudo-experts will always be willing to give lip service to a marginal issue in exchange for an audience willing to listen to their apocalyptic rants and shameless self promotion.

But, hey, at least I got free lunch.

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Komentari (25)

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oldtajmer oldtajmer 17:02 26.10.2007

Ann Coulter

I would have linked to this :))

Ilija Gromovnik Ilija Gromovnik 19:28 26.10.2007

Free lunch

A free lunch wouldn't have been enough to get me to go. When I saw the list I knew that it couldn't be anything productive. Wish I could have informed you about it earlier.....
Lucy Moore Lucy Moore 23:42 26.10.2007

Re: Free lunch

Yeah, I was expecting the intense anti-independence routine, just not the full Islamic world conspiracy bit...
Nietzsches Aprentice Nietzsches Aprentice 22:10 26.10.2007

...

Ann Coulter sure is a piece of work... The woman spews barbs in every direction, without so much as a hint of remorse. My personal opinion is that she's just an attention-seeking clown who was smart enough to cash all the commotion out like no mans business, and for that I give her some props... Otherwise, she's an idiot.
oldtajmer oldtajmer 02:31 27.10.2007

Re: but...

but, she's hot :) and that's the key!
m.agrippa m.agrippa 03:02 27.10.2007

Re: ...

Ann Coulter - an idiot? Is that what you liberals call a conservative who wins an argument?
DejanOz DejanOz 07:03 27.10.2007

Re: ...

m.agrippa
Ann Coulter - an idiot? Is that what you liberals call a conservative who wins an argument?

To call her "a conservative" is an insult to conservatives. The only thing that makes her different from Vojvotkinja Seselj is absence of the huge gut (and the fact that, while he's where he should be, she's out there making millions... but that tells something about the US, doesn't it).
nsarski nsarski 12:31 27.10.2007

Re: ...


Ann Coulter has no argument - just outrageous abuse thrown at those who disagree with her.

m.agrippa
Ann Coulter - an idiot? Is that what you liberals call a conservative who wins an argument?


And, btw, is this your Ann Coulteresque "argument"? Anyone who criticizes her is a wacko liberal? Mr. Sheshely must be smiling now:) She can be an idiot, independent of what somebody's political convictions may be.
Srđan Fuchs Srđan Fuchs 13:25 27.10.2007

Re: ... ajd malo ulja na vatru

nsarski
Ann Coulter has no argument - just outrageous abuse thrown at those who disagree with her.

m.agrippaAnn Coulter - an idiot? Is that what you liberals call a conservative who wins an argument?And, btw, is this your Ann Coulteresque "argument"? Anyone who criticizes her is a wacko liberal? Mr. Sheshely must be smiling now:) She can be an idiot, independent of what somebody's political convictions may be.



HAVE YOU HUGGED AN ISLAMO-FASCIST TODAY?
October 24, 2007

College liberals are in a fit of pique because various speakers are coming to their campuses this week as part of David Horowitz's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week -- not to be confused with Islamo-Fascism Appreciation Week, which I believe is in April.

Apparently liberals support Islamo-fascism.

The Democratic leadership might want to have a powwow with their base because I believe their public position is to pretend to oppose Islamic fascism.

Elected Democrats at least make empty rhetorical gestures about opposing Islamic fascism. Of course, amidst their nonspecific condemnations of Islamic terrorism, they make very specific demands that we genuflect before Islam and perform exotic fetishes on the fascists.

Liberals believe in burning the American flag, urinating on crucifixes, and passing out birth control pills to 11-year-olds without telling their parents -- but God forbid an infidel touch a Quran at Guantanamo.

College campuses across the nation are installing foot baths to accommodate Muslims' daily bathing ritual, while surgically removing the Ten Commandments from every public space in America. Maybe the Ten Commandments could be printed on towels and kept next to the foot baths.

The National Council for Social Studies recommended a lesson plan after 9/11 that included a story titled "My Name Is Osama" about a nasty little white boy, "Todd," who taunts a fine upstanding Iraqi immigrant named "Osama." Go ahead, laugh it up -- we'll see who's laughing when "My Name Is Osama" ends up on ABC's prime-time lineup next year.

This story was proposed in response to an event in which Muslims with names like "Osama" committed the most massive hate crime in U.S. history against 3,000 innocent civilians with names like "Todd."

Still and all, Democrats who seek the votes of their fellow Americans continue to claim in a vague, meaningless way to oppose Islamo-fascism.

And then when speakers like Cyrus Nowrasteh, the writer and producer of the ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11," and Nonie Darwish, whose father founded the Fedayeen, show up on college campuses to criticize Islamic terrorism, the Democratic base threatens to riot. The only thing that makes the cut-and-run crowd mad enough to fight is the idea that someone, somewhere might be criticizing radical Islam.

Consequently, the speakers for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week require the sort of security phalanx one would expect for someone more like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Oh wait -- no. Ahmadinejad was cheered by college students a few weeks ago -- at least until he expressed reservations about sodomy. (On the basis of Ahmadinejad's claims, instead of looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, how about we start looking for gays in Iran?)

Even American intellectuals like Dennis Prager and Michael Medved who are speaking during Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week are denounced by liberals as if they were David Duke. One pro-Islamo-fascism Web site indicts Medved on the grounds that he "has claimed that Islam has a 'special violence problem.'" It doesn't get much more diplomatic than that.

Conservative speakers are constantly being physically attacked on college campuses -- including Bill Kristol, Pat Buchanan, David Horowitz and me, among others. Fortunately the attackers are Democrats, so they throw like girls and generally end up with their noses bloodied by pretty college coeds. But that doesn't make it right.

Michael Moore can waddle anywhere he wants in America without fear of violence from Republicans. But we still have to hear about every testy e-mail Paul Krugman ever receives as if liberals are living in the black night of fascism. Any time Krugman wants to get into a "Most Vicious Hate Mail" contest, just say the word. You don't hear me sniffling.

Congressional Democrats are constantly calling for conservative private citizens to be silenced. Even Democratic candidates for president and their wives are getting in on the act.

A few weeks ago, in the midst of Senate Democrats' demand that Rush Limbaugh's microphone be silenced, Lizzie Edwards distracted herself from the latest National Enquirer by announcing on Air America that Limbaugh's draft deferment was phony.

I was pretty shocked. Who knew Air America was still on the air?

I know every time Democrats call for me to be silenced, I feel a delicious surge of martyrdom. For a brief moment, I understand the thrill the left gets by going around claiming to be victimized all the time.

I could almost imagine a poem:

First they came for Rush Limbaugh, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Rush Limbaugh;

And then they came for Ann Coulter, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Ann Coulter;

And then they came for David Horowitz, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't David Horowitz;

And then ... they came for me ... And by that time there was no one left to speak up.


Liberals claim to be terrified that the Religious Right is going to take over the culture in a country where more than a million babies are exterminated every year, kindergarteners can be expelled from school for mentioning God, and Islamic fascists are welcomed on college campuses while speakers opposed to Islamic fascism are met with angry protests.

If liberals want to face real fascism, try showing up on a college campus and denouncing fascism.

COPYRIGHT 2007 ANN COULTER
DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE
DejanOz DejanOz 13:40 27.10.2007

Re: ... ajd malo ulja na vatru

The bloody idiot makes no distinction between babies and foetuses.
Srđan Fuchs Srđan Fuchs 13:46 27.10.2007

Re: ... the daughter of light vs darkness

nsarski
Ann Coulter has no argument - just outrageous abuse thrown at those who disagree with her.

And, btw, is this your Ann Coulteresque "argument"? Anyone who criticizes her is a wacko liberal?


it's kind of "if you are against me you are evil" argument.
how strong is american christian right? is america predominantly white-christian? it seems from afar that any time christians get themselves out to vote, the conservative candidate wins. it is not certain whether "the intellectual rethorics" surrounding conservative politicians, such as Ms. Coulter's one is, is a new phenomen typical for Dybia's era, or it existed eversince - with the distinction only that the transmission of mass information is much more powerful nowadays, hence we hear of such people in likes of Coulter?


DejanOz DejanOz 13:52 27.10.2007

Re: ... the daughter of light vs darkness

Srđan Fuchs

it seems from afar that any time christians get themselves out to vote, the conservative candidate wins.

You might be forgetting that Dem. candidates like Obama like to pay lip service to Christians every bit as much as the Republicans. You can be gay, black, woman or whatever in American politics - but god forbid if you admit to being an atheist.
m.agrippa m.agrippa 14:00 27.10.2007

Re: ...

No, nsarski... I am just curious. I don't care about AC one way or the other, and I'm not [much of a] conservative either (hence no ideological axe to grind here).

Just to tie this into another issue brewing back home -- has anyone read the LDP bill on (in my view) the limitation of free speech?

regards to all
Srđan Fuchs Srđan Fuchs 14:56 27.10.2007

Re: ... the daughter of light vs darkness

DejanOz

You might be forgetting that Dem. candidates like Obama like to pay lip service to Christians every bit as much as the Republicans. You can be gay, black, woman or whatever in American politics - but god forbid if you admit to being an atheist.


hmm. i can understand Barack there, since he has to deal with huge Black Baptist population and manage to drive them somehow to vote Democrat. but such stance does not help him much since he is trailing within his own camp with some 50-few percent to 20-something, for Hillary, respectively. i believe, nonetheless, that he will still have to keep an obligation to purusue his people to come out and vote [Democrat].
Vasa S Tajcic Vasa S Tajcic 23:53 28.10.2007

Re: ... ajd malo ulja na vatru

This is called freedom of speech. Fortunately, US still allow it. I do not agree with AC, but it is her right to write what she believes. Same as Richard Holbrook can express his insane opinions.
In Serbia, freedom of speech will be introduced in 50 years Everyone from DSS, DS, SRS, LDP to NGOs, wants to introduce their version of freedom of speech. This basically is, “if you do not agree with me you’re a nationalist or a traitor, depending who you criticize.
DejanOz DejanOz 01:39 29.10.2007

Re: ... ajd malo ulja na vatru

Vasa S Tajcic
This is called freedom of speech. Fortunately, US still allow it.
And is actually one of the few countries where the freedom of speech is taken quite literally. I am not sure that it should ever be exported anywhere else (the same way I feel about the US attitude to freedom to bear arms). Many AC's statements are unarguably way out of the domain of freedom of expression and well into the territory of inciting hatred and bigotry.
DejanOz DejanOz 02:20 27.10.2007

Excellent

What a well-written blog entry! Many could take a cue from this what it means to write quality blog articles. It is indeed sad that the American people will learn more about the lunatic fringe of islamists before they get any knowledge of the mainstream islamic and/or arabic cultures. And what a great manipulation it is. And, as if that weren't bad enough, the completely unrelated issue of Kosovo is thrown in for good measure. Creepy.
Srđan Fuchs Srđan Fuchs 02:42 27.10.2007

binder

David Binder, the second panelist and former New York Times correspondent to Yugoslavia, did not paint a pretty picture of Kosovo’s future, but at least he deviated from the Islamo-Fascism theme that had bulldozed its way into the Kosovo debate so far. Binder warned that an independent Kosovo was likely to falter on its own, economically and politically. As proof, he cited the grave state of Kosovo’s demographics, its heavy reliance on remissions, and its underground crime rings with connections to local authorities, UNMIK, KFOR, and the NGO scene. And in a moment counter to the sentiments of that morning, Binder lamented the fact that no one present at this conference spoke Albanian, let alone represented an Albanian perspective.


hm. what was binder doing there? he received some money from the lord byron foundation to address the meeting, or he just tried, together with melissa, to make it seem more multilateral?

i m not surprised that the serb lobbying in the US sounds evangelical.
m.agrippa m.agrippa 03:12 27.10.2007

Re: binder

Binder has been following Albanian separatism/irredentism in K & M since 1980/1. He'd written tonnes of stuff while with the NY Times. I believe he's retired now...
m.agrippa m.agrippa 06:18 27.10.2007

Conspiracy, eh?

John Schindler (Unholy Terror: Bosnia, Al-Qa'ida and the Rise of Global Jihad [2007]) and Bat Yeor (Islam and Dhimmitude [2001], Eurabia [2005]...) beg to differ.
s56a s56a 11:31 29.10.2007

DC

Binder lamented the fact that no one present at this conference spoke Albanian, let alone represented an Albanian perspective.

Great article on USA state of mind on the everpresent war! I guess DC is becoming part of "democratic" Greater Serbia with this kind of conferences without opposition I was surprised here hearing famous Albanian Azem Vlasi on Pink TV of all places! Dec. 10th is yet another D-day here.

Palma rulz in Jagodina Bidja in Svilajnac. Belgrade is standing still with old Sava bridge repair.

Sarma outstanding but kavurma done!




Lucy Moore Lucy Moore 17:26 29.10.2007

more on Islamofascism

Paul Krugman's column from the NYTimes discusses Islamofascism and scare tactics among US presidential candidates...troubling.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/opinion/29krugman.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/Paul%20Krugman
DejanOz DejanOz 02:19 30.10.2007

Re: more on Islamofascism

Fearing Fear Itself

If Ron Paul can get a Republican nomination, however remote a chance that is, that would make him the only candidate who doesn't play the fear factor at all. There is a split in the Rep. party between Bush/war supporters and the moderates who could swing the anti-war way if convinced. And Paul has a chance in that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/us/26paul.html?bl&ex=1193630400&en=55e0abeb42f86c76&ei=5087%0A
s56a s56a 01:48 06.11.2007

Re: more on Islamofascism

Very good article about exagerated terorist and Islam threats!
Igor_Jaramaz Igor_Jaramaz 01:35 15.11.2007

Re: more on Islamofascism

Ron Paul, Liberatiran, fiscal Conservative... hmmm, sounds pretty nice for a change

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