CU College Democrats Announce Anti-Bigotry Panel

Panelists will speak about strategies for countering right-wing hate on campus and in the media

Now in the midst of “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week,” Columbia University faces a coordinated barrage of right wing bigotry and misinformation. The College Democrats will fortify the campus against this assault with a panel discussion on media strategies for combating such hatred on campus this Friday, 26 October 2007, at 12:00 noon. The panel will convene in 555 Lerner and will feature Center for American Progress Deputy Research Director Amanda Terkel, Columbia University Professor of Comparative Literature Gil Anidjar, Frameshop blogger and political media expert Jeffrey Feldman, and Jewish Theological Seminary Professor Rabbi Burton Visotzky.

This Friday, former Communist and current right wing demagogue David Horowitz returns to his alma mater to spread his message of hate and to conflate the religious extremism of a few thousand terrorists with the organized right wing nationalism of mid-twentieth century Europe. This foolish man has no interest in legitimate debate because he knows that his theories lack intellectual merit; his academically indefensible hate speech can only needlessly divide a campus already shocked by other recent manifestations of racism and bigotry.

As is demonstrated by the materials distributed by Horowitz’s minions, such as The Oppression of Women in Islam and Islam: What the West Needs to Know, the target of this campaign is not terrorism but Islam itself. The College Democrats strongly condemn these efforts to demonize an entire people by linking the moderate and peaceful religion of Islam to the extreme and violent actions of a very small number of Muslims—the goal of the “David Horowitz Freedom Center.”

Friday’s panel will provide attendees with an arsenal of strategies for restoring a sane, productive debate about the issues facing America and the world today. After seven years of Bush administration mishandling of Middle Eastern affairs, it is more essential than ever that American students of all political leanings understand how to discuss problems without resorting to the race-baiting tactics employed by so many on the far right.

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