Protesters to counter racists at 9/11 rally

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, activists and community members are organizing to confront a racist rally being planned by anti-Muslim forces on that day.

The Emergency Mobilization Against Racism, War and Anti-Muslim Bigotry, a broad coalition formed in 2010, has reconvened and is holding a series of meetings in New York City. The group successfully held a counterprotest of some 10,000 people on Sept. 11, 2010, drowning out a much smaller hate- and fear-mongering rally protesting the building of an Islamic Center in the vicinity of Ground Zero.

This year — with all the fanfare surrounding the 10th anniversary — the Mobilization says, “It is more important than ever that we do not allow these racist hate-mongers to be the only voices speaking to the media and to the world. It is especially important to counter, in this period of economic crisis, the forces that want to blame immigrants and Muslims for the growing cutbacks in social services, rising unemployment and continuing wars.”

Stressing the danger of allowing these racist forces to go unchecked, the Mobilization notes that two of the main organizers of the anti-Muslim protest — Pamela Geller of Stop Islamization of America and Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch — were quoted from extensively in a manifesto by Anders Breivik, the racist right-winger who carried out the mass murder of 77 mostly young people in Norway on July 22.

For more information and to endorse the Sept. 11 rally, visit www.IACenter.org/muslimsolidarity.