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Panich52

(5,829 posts) Wed Feb 18, 2015, 01:30 PM Feb 2015

Report Exposes the Funders and Pundits Spreading Islamophobia

Report Exposes the Funders and Pundits Spreading Islamophobia

A new study shows how anti-Muslim discriminatory policies hurt average Americans.
By Amy Goodman, Nermeen Shaikh / Democracy Now!

In an interview with Democracy Now!, Yasmine Taeb, Islamophobia project manager at the Center for American Progress, spoke about a report she co-authored entitled "Fear, Inc. 2.0, The Islamophobia Network’s Efforts to Manufacture Hate in America." -snip- ...Taeb told Amy Goodman about the Islamophobia network: "We know that the effect of the anti-Muslim hysteria that this network generates is in an uptick in the number of hate crimes. To give you an example, for instance, in the aftermath of the hysteria that was created over the construction of the so-called Ground Zero mosque in New York City, hate crimes in New York City against Muslims in 2010 were 300 percent higher than they were in 2009."

(vid snip)

NARRATOR: This is how the Islamophobia network operates. A group of foundations and donors provides the money—to date, more than $57 million. That money is given to a selection of tightly knit organizations that rely heavily on a handful of so-called experts that orchestrate misinformation about Islam. That misinformation then spreads to a larger network of activists, politicians, media and more, creating an echo chamber around the false idea that Islam is a violent religion.

MATT DUSS: And I think defining Islam writ large as a threat, as many in the Islamophobia network do, is simply wrong and will lead to bad policy.

NARRATOR: The Islamophobia network has real consequences for Muslim Americans. There’s been a nationwide push for laws targeting Muslims. In New York City, the NYPD conducted a spying program that covertly monitored and mapped the city’s Muslim communities. And in Boston, a Muslim doctor was assaulted after the Boston Marathon bombings.

-snip-

YASMINE TAEB: Sure. Well, thank you so much, Amy, for having me. So, as you mentioned, in 2011 CAP first released their first report, their Islamophobia report, that detailed, basically—chronicled the tightly knit network, group of funders, organizations, activists, elected officials and media commentators, that are essentially fanning anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. And what we found in our new report is that this network is not only working to marginalize a community of three million Americans by promoting discriminatory policies, but also we detailed how these policies are impacting the lives of ordinary Americans. So, for example, we know that the effect of the anti-Muslim hysteria that this network generates is in an uptick in the number of hate crimes. To give you an example, for instance, in the aftermath of the hysteria that was created over the construction of the so-called Ground Zero mosque in New York City, hate crimes in New York City against Muslims in 2010 were 300 percent higher than they were in 2009. And again, we’re seeing this now, whether it was in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings or in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack and the rise in ISIS, etc. I think shedding light on this network was something that we wanted to do in 2011 in the first report, but in this second report we detailed how the policies, the discriminatory policies that this network is promoting, is in fact hurting the lives of average Americans.