Thread: CAIR-Chicago Asks Library Group to Drop Spencer from Panel

Although run as news stories, the information in this and the second article below seem to be taken word for word from press releases by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR-Chicago Asks Library Group to Drop Islamophobe From Panel
US Newswire

posted: 6 DAYS 15 HOURS AGO

CHICAGO, July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR- Chicago) today called on the American Library Association (ALA) to drop an "Islamophobe" from a panel discussion on dispelling stereotypes about Islam.

Robert Spencer, publisher of the anti-Islam Internet hate site "Jihad Watch," is scheduled to speak July 12 on a panel, titled "Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping," at the ALA annual conference in Chicago. One other panelist already withdrew in protest over Spencer's participation.

SEE: Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping
http://tinyurl.com/kkhuy9

SEE ALSO: An Open Letter to ALA
http://tinyurl.com/n9qhsq

In a letter to the ALA, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab wrote in part:

"I ask you to rescind the invitation to Mr. Spencer in order to maintain the integrity of the panel and the reputation of the ALA.

"I understand that the ALA will argue that it is in favor of promoting diversity of opinion and that it is strongly against censorship. I fully concur with those ideals, but question if that is in fact what you are doing by abetting grotesque viewpoints that lie well outside the bounds of reason and civilized debate...one would hope that the ALA would employ some level of professional criteria to ensure the topical integrity of those whose opinions it seeks.

"The ALA clearly failed to properly vet the professional integrity of Mr. Robert Spencer, a man who claims that Islam is synonymous with fascism, and that Islam at its core is a violent doctrine that encourages the murder of non-Muslims. Spencer's website Jihadwatch.com is a haven for the most vile and hateful of anti-Muslim innuendo...

"The independent national media watch group, FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), identifies Spencer as one of the 'Dirty Dozen: America's leading Islamophobes' who systematically 'spread fear, bigotry, and misinformation.' The special report, entitled 'Smearcasters' provides examples of Spencer's sensational views...

SEE: Robert Spencer
http://www.smearcasting.com/smear_spencer.html

"Would the ALA invite a notorious anti-Semite on a panel that aims to dispel stereotypes against Jews? Would they allow such an invitation to squeeze through under the guise of promoting diversity and averting censorship?

"People are free to hold extreme, bigoted views but whether they should be invited by reputable associations like the ALA to spew these views is a different question. That is the question ALA must answer..."

In recent months, even other anti-Muslim Internet sites have criticized Spencer for his ties to "Eurofacists."

The blog "Little Green Footballs" (LGF) notes that Spencer was listed as a speaker at a European conference in May "organized by a group called 'Pro Koln' -- a successor to the notorious fascist group 'Deutsche Liga fur Volk und Heimat' (the 'German League for People and Homeland')."

LGF goes on to note that the Pro Koln group "is under observation by the German inland secret service... One of the main organizers of 'Pro Koln' is Manfred Rouhs. Here are two photos of Rous with hardcore neo-Nazi activist Axel Reitz, who the local media call 'the Hitler of Cologne.'"
The LGF blog, also known for its Islamophobic viewpoint, wrote of Spencer's site: "His website has descended into a true hate site at this point, dominated by extreme, bigoted commenters who regularly advocate genocide and mass murder of Muslims."

Spencer also recently supported a conference in Florida featuring Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders.

SEE: Fla. House GOP Leader Linked to Anti-Islam Hate Fest
http://tinyurl.com/cloeqz

In 2007, Spencer spoke at a so-called "Counterjihad Brussels 2007" conference in Belgium attended by those with links to far-right parties such as Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang ( Belgium) and Ted Ekeroth of Sverigedemokraterna ( Sweden). Both parties have been accused of either having a racist platform, a neo-Nazi past or having links to neo-Nazis and other racists.

Vlaams Belang is the successor to the Vlaams Blok party, which was banned in 2004 for being an illegal racist political faction. (Vlaams Belang's founders were Nazi collaborators in World War II.)
SEE: Court Rules Vlaams Blok is Racist
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3994867.stm

Of Sverigedemokraterna, the International Herald Tribune wrote: "Sverigedemokraterna, or the Sweden Democrats, have been part of this country's political landscape for almost 20 years, but they were considered too close to the Nazi-inspired far-right to contend for large numbers of votes." (7/7/06)

Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald wrote on that hate site: "Only one group, only one belief-system, distinguishes itself by appearing incapable of fitting in. And that is Muslims, and Islam...if one really knew what Islam contained...then how could any decent person remain a Muslim?"

He also recommended that western nations be "Islam-proofed the way a house is child-proofed," compared Muslims to Nazis and urged that they be boycotted: "[I]t should not be hard to find ways to limit the spread or practice of Islam. And if in addition to whatever local, state and federal government officials do, private parties simply conduct their own boycott of goods and services offered by Muslims, in the same way that they would have refused to buy, in 1938, a German Voigtlander camera..."
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab, 202-870-0166, E-Mail: arehab@cair.com; CAIR-Chicago Communications Coordinator Reem Rahman, E-Mail: rrahman@cair.com, 312-212-1520 or 217-493-0912; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com
SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations
2009-07-09 16:01:00

http://news.aol.com/article/cair-chicag ... aol_inpage

CAIR: Library Group Panelists Withdraw Over Role of Islam-Basher

Coalition of 50 Muslim organizations joins call to drop Robert Spencer as speaker

US Newswire
posted: 4 DAYS 22 HOURS AGO

CHICAGO, July 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that all other panelists scheduled to speak at an American Library Association (ALA) annual conference session on stereotyping of Islam have withdrawn in protest over the participation of Robert Spencer, one of the nation's leading Islam-bashers.

The Council on Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), a coalition of more than 50 Muslim organizations, also joined CAIR-Chicago, the other ALA panelists and a number of librarians and academics in calling on ALA to drop Spencer from the July 12 panel titled "Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping."

SEE: Library Group Asked to Drop Anti-Muslim Bigot from Panel
http://www.cairchicago.org/presscenter. ... er07092009

SEE: The Librarians' Open Letter to ALA
http://tinyurl.com/n9qhsq

SEE: Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping
http://tinyurl.com/kkhuy9

SEE: ALA Under Gun Over Panelist Robert Spencer (Library Journal)
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6670156.html

Spencer is the publisher of the anti-Islam Internet hate site "Jihad Watch." The independent national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) identifies him as one of "America's leading Islamophobes" who systematically "spread fear, bigotry, and misinformation." A FAIR special report, called "Smearcasters," provides examples of Spencer's Islamophobic views.

SEE: Robert Spencer
http://www.smearcasting.com/smear_spencer.html

All of the three other panelists originally scheduled to speak along with Spencer have now withdrawn in protest.

In announcing her withdrawal, Dr. Marcia Hermansen, a professor of Islamic Studies at Loyola University, wrote to the ALA:
"While I heartily endorse the principles of free expression and diversity of viewpoints that are part of the ALA mission, the way in which this information session about Islam and Muslims for Ethnic and Multi-Cultural librarians was modified and politicized at the last moment raises serious concerns about the integrity of the session."

Dr. Alia Ammar, a Neuropsychologist from Hinsdale, Illinois, wrote:
"Given the substantial changes in the composition, subject, and direction of the ALA panel to which I was invited to present as well as the blatant misinformation provided regarding the purpose of the session, it would [be] untenable to present in your forum...The lack of professionalism with which this matter has been handled has been wholly disappointing as the efforts of the originally invited panelists to reach a respectable solution to the problem were simply ignored. In light of these developments, I respectfully decline to participate in the panel."

CIOGC Executive Director Junaid Afeef had joined the call for Spencer's invitation to be rescinded. In a letter to the ALA he wrote:

" Robert Spencer is an Islamophobe and his hateful views, while clearly protected under the First Amendment, are antithetical to promoting diversity. Mr. Spencer promotes hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric. Giving this individual a platform to advance his hate speech on a panel discussion aimed at dispelling stereotypes about Islam is simply wrong.

"[CIOGC] joins CAIR-Chicago and all people of good will and of conscience in asking you to rescind your invitation to Robert Spencer to speak on your panel this Sunday in Chicago, Illinois."

Tara Lannen-Stanton, a librarian in New York, wrote in her letter to the ALA:

"While ALA has invited controversial figures to their conferences before, this appears to be the first time that they have invited someone that makes such sweeping generalizations that demonize an entire group of people.

"I now am uncertain as to my future activity and membership in ALA due to the lackluster response that has been given to very genuine concerns which have the potential to alienate a significant subsection of library users."

In his letter to the ALA, Karim Boughida, a librarian in Washington D.C., wrote:

"This is the first time that ALA is doing such a poor job of choosing a panel without informing panelists and choosing a hatemonger Robert Spencer to talk about Islam and stereotyping. It is very ironic."

None of the invited panelists were informed by the ALA that Spencer was invited to participate in the panel.

In his letters to the ALA, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab emphasized that the issue is not censorship, but is instead about the need for the ALA to take responsibility for its misrepresentation of the event to the panelists and the public.

"We too support freedom of speech, including that of bigots; what we oppose is false advertising. If the ALA was sponsoring a debate on whether Islam is evil and publicized that Mr. Spencer was an invited panelist, we would not have asked to rescind Spencer's invitation, as the sordid nature of the event would have been honestly communicated to all," said Rehab. "Everyone could then have made informed decisions about whether they wished to be co-panelists or attendees."

"But that is not what happened," Rehab said, adding that the other panelists agreed to participate in anticipation of a session that would dispel stereotypes, not promote them.

"The ALA's conduct was unethical. Our community, our librarians, and all people of conscience who place their trust in the ALA deserve to know what went wrong and what they intend to do to correct their error rather than sugarcoat it," said Rehab.

Spencer recently supported a conference in Florida featuring Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders.

SEE: Fla. House GOP Leader Linked to Anti-Islam Hate Fest
http://tinyurl.com/cloeqz

In 2007, Spencer spoke at a so-called "Counterjihad Brussels 2007" conference in Belgium attended by those with links to far-right parties such as Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang ( Belgium) and Ted Ekeroth of Sverigedemokraterna ( Sweden). Both parties have been accused of either having a racist platform, a neo-Nazi past or having links to neo-Nazis and other racists.

CAIR-Chicago, a chapter of America's largest Muslim civil rights group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to promote justice, enhance the understanding of Islam, and empower American Muslims.

CONTACT: Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director, CAIR-Chicago, E-Mail: arehab@cair.com, 312.212.1520; or 202.870.0016; Reem Rahman, Communications Coordinator, CAIR-Chicago, E-Mail: rrahman@cair.com, 217.493.0912 or 312.212.1520; Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR National Communications Director, ihooper@cair.com, 202.488.8787 or 202.744.7726

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations
2009-07-11 08:51:00

http://news.aol.com/article/cair-librar ... aol_inpage