Muslim Awareness Week at Marquette

It’s coming up. The poster for the event is here.

We have criticized various Muslim and Arab (not quite the same) events in the past, when they featured a virulent anti-Israel bias, or featured hard leftist anti-American speakers.

At one point, it became so bad that the local Jewish community and Jewish faculty complained to Marquette, and urged that the university try for more balance. (Since these events are virtually always cosponsored and financially supported by Marquette, it’s not any sort of violation of academic freedom to urge that Marquette as an institution take a more balanced approach.)

But this event seems rather moderate and constructive. Most Americans understand little about Islam, and “coming to understand” doesn’t mean one has to adopt an anti-Israel and anti-American viewpoint.

Hijab-for-a-Day at Marquette

From an e-mail sent to all faculty:

This WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, the Muslim Student Association is hosting Hijab-for-a-day! Wear a hijab (headscarf) for one day, and then come in the evening ready to discuss your experiences!

We will be having a hijab-wrapping workshop on TUESDAY, from 12-1, in the International Center (AMU 407), where we will demonstrate different styles from around the world and provide you with a chance to ask questions and to learn more about how Muslims dress and why they do so.

On Wednesday night, at 6 pm, in the MCC, we are hosting an Outspoken so that people can come to discuss their experiences throughout the day. How did you feel? Did people look at you differently? Did your opinion of those who choose to wear the hijab change at all?

Please bring your own scarf (rectangular, pashmina, square, triangle, etc. . . . as long as it’s large enough to cover your hair, we can make it work) on Tuesday. If you do not have one, we will have a few available for you to use.

For more information, please contact Shazeen Harunani (shazeen.harunani@mu.edu) or Pam Peters (pamela.peters@mu.edu)

It’s almost certainly too late, by the time you see this, to make the Tuesday session (although we have blogged about the entire schedule of events), but it will be interesting to see how this unfolds (no pun intended).

Unlike most “multicultural” events at places like Marquette, this strikes us as a genuine example of multicultural consciousness raising. Muslim covering has long been derided by feminists as a symbol of the subjugation of women under Islam, although recently Muslim women have had some success in packaging it as a kind of feminist statement.

It’s perhaps best to view this as an example of modesty in dress -- something that Christian conservatives should applaud. Admittedly, Marquette women virtually always dress modestly by U.S. and Western standards (one virtually never sees any cleavage around here), but the Hijab is a symbolic statement that the average Marquette student would benefit from learning about.

Islamic Heritage Celebration at Marquette

Just announced, Islamic Awareness Week, with a variety of events, ranging from a “Gaza Conflict Memorial” to a film called “Stand Up: Muslim American Comics Come of Age.”

We have been rather critical of the Arab Student Association (not the same as the Muslim Student Association) for rabid hostility toward Israel and the Jews.

But again, the Arab Student Association is not the Muslim Student Association. So are we going to have the same sort of bias that the Arab Student Association has shown?

We particularly wondered what the “Gaza Conflict Memorial” will be like. But now we know. One of the speakers is going to be hard-leftist Simon Harak, who can be counted on to blame the whole situation on Israel -- and throw in a lot of anti-Americanism too.

There is a movie titled “Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain.” It pushes the now politically correct notion that when Muslims ruled Spain, all was sweetness and light -- a nice piece of mythology that sounds good, but is historically suspect.

The trip to the Islamic Center is also interesting, since Othman Atta, the president of that organization has defended Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel, and blamed the entire situation on the Jewish state. Another person associated with the Center, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, was associated with a “charity” that raised money for Hamas.

Not all the events are so suspect. We wonder what feminists think about the “Hijab Wrapping Workshop,” for example.

Perhaps it is normal for Muslim students to take the “Muslin” side of conflicts in places like the Middle East. But that doesn’t require wanting an end to Israel. And it doesn’t require a defense of terrorism. Some parts of this program risk reinforcing the stereotype of Muslims as violent and extreme.

Politically Correct Students Would Censor “Hate Speech”

From Frontpage Milwaukee, a column from one Edgar Mendez who forthrightly states that Walid Shoebat, who recently spoke at UWM should have been censored.

When the MSA asked for the support of a student group that I am a member of in the form of signing a petition protesting the event, we were forced to make a quick decision. We decided not to sign the petition. As a group it was an easy decision to make. As an individual my decision was much tougher. In fact I will say right now that I regret the position we took. When a member of my student org asked someone from the MSA to explain their position on the event they said “Shoebat coming here to speak on Islam is like the KKK coming up here and giving a speech on race.” That thought has been reverberating in my mind ever since.

What would be my position of free speech if the Klan were coming to town? How about if the Montana Freemen were giving a speech on immigration on campus? It would make me sick to my stomach to know that they were going to be on campus, and it would make me downright irate if I knew that the students’ segregated fees were being used to host such an event.

Messages of hate and ignorance have no place on our campus or in our society. They help perpetuate stereotypes. Stereotypes cause damage both in the long and the short term.

It would be nice to believe that this is just a naïve student. But in reality, he has probably been taught to think this way by faculty, especially if he is a major in some victim studies department, or in the humanities.

Then there is a fellow who is part of a group calling itself “Jews Against Islamophobic Hate Speech.” According to him, “there is a huge amount [sic] of us who believe in equality, believe in respect for others and who don’t really also want this kind of angry, kind of provocative hate speech on campus.”

There is no reason to think that politically correct students at Marquette are any more tolerant. The president of the Gay/Straight Alliance, after all, said that no speaker should be allowed on campus who opposed gay marriage.

That too would have been “hate speech.”

The irony, of course, is that the real hate speech is coming from the would-be censors.

Muslim Student Association’s Case Against Shoebat

He was controversial when his speech was announced, and he remains controversial.

Walid Shoebat will speak at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee tonight.

And his talk will be followed by a panel sponsored by the Muslim Student Association attacking Shoebat and supporting Muslim belief.

We have advance copies of some of the material that will be used to attack Shoebat.

The handouts include:

• An article claiming that his biography made up, and questioning whether he really was a terrorist
• A list of talking points likewise questioning his background, and attributing extreme beliefs to him
• A statement from the Muslim Student Association at UC Davis that “called today on the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate and deport Walid Shoebat, a self-confessed ‘ex-terrorist.’”
• A handout claiming that Shoebat has preached violence, rather than peace
• A statement from the UWM Muslim Student Association claiming that Shoebat is a “purveyor of hate, fear and violence.”

This latter statement has some bizarre elements.

For example:

We firmly believe in Shoebat’s right to promote his hateful views and his right to demonize Islam and Muslims. Neo-Nazi’s, the KKK and Shoebat all have the right to speak and we firmly uphold that right. However, we also believe that a venue other than a university would have been more appropriate for Shoebat to disseminate his bigotry and xenophobia. Shoebat has no academic credentials. He is a charlatan, a snake oil salesman and a fraud. Shoebat is a former “nobody” and is now an extremist Christian terrorist.

This sounds a bit bizarre in the face of the fact that the Muslim Student Association did try to get Shoebat’s speech cancelled.

Our experience in dealing with the Kennedy assassination might give us some insight on issues like this.

In the first place, people will come forward to tell “interesting” but quite false stories about their participation in important historical events. For the most part, these people are attention seekers.

On the other hand, when a witness gives testimony that certain people don’t like, it will get twisted out of context and all sorts of bogus claims will be made against the witness.

Either way, the Muslim students may have much more success discrediting Shoebat than they had trying to shut him up. In the very tolerant American culture, people automatically side with the person who is the object of a censorship attempt. But if it’s just speech (Shoebat’s) against speech (Muslim student’s) it’s an equal playing field.

There is a lesson here.

End of lecture.