Students protest anti-Muslim hate speech

Trying to hide behind the transparent ruse of “free speech,” anti-Islamic Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders attempted to bring his hate-speech tour to Temple University here on Oct. 21. He was met with student resistance.

With very little notice of Wilders’ engagement, students quickly filled Anderson Hall and heckled him off stage long before the question and answer part of his presentation began. Temple student Josh Rosenthal said, “I think it’s completely wrong that someone who promotes racism and intolerance should be given a platform at this university. It’s hate speech disguised as free speech.”

Outside, a group of protesters held signs saying “Free Palestine” and “Prosecution for Israel’s war crimes.” They spoke to the media and engaged in conversations with passersby.

Initially the tour was rejected by the university because no student organization had sponsored Wilders. Then a fledgling group called “Purpose” made the invitation.

The Muslim Student Association immediately issued a statement saying, “The decision to allow Mr. Wilders to share his viewpoints is a danger not only for public safety of Muslims and the honor of the core principles of Islam, but also for academic integrity and objectivity on campus. We strongly urge that his invitation be rescinded immediately in order to foster appreciation of free speech that is not based on hatred and discrimination.”

Geert Wilders is a small person with a colossal hatred. His résumé is ugly. Last year he released online an outrageous 15-minute video claiming, “Islam justifies violence and terrorism.” He compared the Koran to Adolph Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and encourages a ban on Muslim immigration and the Koran itself.

Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament and chair of the “Party for Freedom”—possibly the only member—claims to be fed up with the worshipping of Allah in the Netherlands and wants to put a stop to the building of mosques.Wilders was banned at one time from Britain due to the threat he posed to community harmony.

Wilders’ hate-speech tour was supported by racist, neoconservative David Horowitz, whose organization, Freedom Center, bankrolled Wilders’ engagements at Temple University, Columbia University and at Philadelphia’s Union League on Oct. 22, where the ticket prices ranged from $100 to $2,500.

Broader anti-Muslim campaign

This anti-Muslim witch hunt has spread to the halls of the U.S. Congress, where on Oct. 15 bigoted, fear-mongering Republican Reps. Paul Broun, Sue Myrick, John Shadegg and Trent Franks held a press conference requesting an investigation into whether Muslim interns in Congress are spies. The four accused the Council on American-Islamic Relations of trying to “infiltrate the offices of members of Congress.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are also engaged in a systematic campaign against Muslim communities. Since 2001, hundreds of Muslims have been unjustly incarcerated by means of prosecutorial misconduct, entrapment and slander of Islam.

Add to that “enhanced sentencing” and “preemptive prosecution” and you’ve got sentences of life plus 30 years for crimes never committed, as in the case of the Fort Dix Five. As a reward for the soiled conviction in this case, agents provocateurs were paid $400,000 over a year and a half, had their criminal records expunged, and gained U.S. citizenship for themselves and their families.

There are many other such cases. The number can only be expected to grow with the recent loosening of FBI rules that will allow agents to go into mosques, not where they have reason to believe there is criminal activity, but as agents provocateurs trying to incite individuals to join a purported terror plot.

A disproportionate number of Muslims are held in Communication Management Units. These are an unprecedented creation of the Bureau of Prisons designed to evade public scrutiny. They house prisoners in stark isolation from the outside world and allow them no recourse to challenge their placement there.