CNN: A Muslim lobby as a counterattack to Fear Inc.

Note: This is one of my 30 Blogs, this particular blog contains only my writings or writings about me. Engy Fouda has quoted me in this write up.

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A Muslim lobby as a counterattack to Fear Inc.

CNN: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1281975

Recommended to visit CNN site, for colorful graphics on the subject matter.

By Engy Fouda (@engyfoda)

According to a recent report and investigation by the Center for American Progress (CAP), Fear Inc. is a $57 million fund network acting with the goal of spreading Islamophobia and hatred against Muslim minorities. It makes money out of what CAP describes as a “hate” business. A number of American Muslim organizations formed a coalition to launch what they described as a Muslim lobby to counter the increasing influence of Islamophobia.

The network funds misinformation from the so-called experts, who exploit a larger network of politicians, media outlets and organizations. “The name Fear Inc. is an analogy [to suggest] that a relative small group of people are pushing [towards] these ideas. They are similar to a corporation because they are making large amounts of money [by] spreading hateful messages,” said Ken Gude, senior fellow with the national security team at CAP and a member of the crew who developed Fear Inc. reports.

A coalition of leading national and local American Muslim organizations coalesced to form a Muslim lobby, also known as The US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO). USCMO hosted the first National Muslim Advocacy Day in Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on April 13, 2015. However, still at its inception, the Muslim lobby faces significant challenges in reaching media and influencing legislation.

Media

One of the main goals of the Muslim lobby is to pushback against the daily stereotyping of Muslims in the media. Moustafa Elhusseiny, broadcaster in Al Jazeera network, expressed his frustration with prevalent stereotypes of Muslims and Arabs saying: “Americans who do not have Muslims in their social circles, carry the stereotype of the Muslim as a terrorist and an Arab as a potential threat. Some people cringe when they hear my name!”

The Fear Inc. and Islamophobia can be demonstrated by the polls resuts -shown in the pictures above- that were conducted in September 29, 2015 by the Public Policy Polling in North Carolina.

Gude added that the current Muslim lobby is doing well, but it is not enough. There is a need of more organizations to spread out. Anyone who is counterattacking Islamophobia should focus on having more communication with the media and the reporters covering the presidential campaigns. For example, on Trump’s campaign, the media focused most on “Obama is Muslim” as a smear. It is a smear but the response should not have been directed to that only. The response should have been to push back on the whole notion.  The media should get educated on how to talk about such issues.

As a reaction to Ben Carson’s Islamophobic attacks during his presidential campaign, Mike Ghouse co-founded the American Muslim Institution. “Bigoted people might not change their minds but when we talk in media on a daily basis, stand out and respond. This push back will make them hesitate to say any false statement again. After two or three years, they will not do it”, said Ghouse.

Education and Social diffusion

The Muslim lobby is faced with several challenges on both the Muslim and non-Muslim fronts. On the one hand, very few American Muslims know about the new coalition. “The Muslim community in the Unites States is self-enclosed. Even the organizations and Sheiks do not show up in the advocacy and human rights events. They neither interact with the American society nor support any persecuted minority groups from Latinos, and Blacks,” Elhusseiny said.

On the other hand, the wider public still harbors significant prejudices against Islam and Muslims. In 2014, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey about positive thinking towards Muslims; Republicans ratings were 33%, and Democrats ratings were 47%.

The FBI crime rate reported on their website stated that Anti-Muslim cases have slightly increased from 2012 to 2014. The Southern Poverty Law Center stated that Islamophobia in the United States goes into overdrive following France attacks. In 2015,  crimes such as Chapel Hill shooting, the discrimination incidents such as Ahmed Mohamed’s arrest in Dallas, and the latest anti-Muslim statements made by the Republican presidential candidates.

“It is highly required to found a new educational organization to train new cadres to represent Muslims. The education can be done through conferences and workshops,” Hesham El-Meligy, 2013 NYC comptroller candidate, co-founder of Muslims for Liberty (M4L), added.

El-Meligy added that M4L is making conferences to correct people’s misinformation about Islam through the American Constitution. The audience is from the Tea Party. M4L is arranging a conference to counter Carson’s false claims with three of his campaign managers.

El-Meligy and Elhusseiny both emphasized that Muslims should be keener to vote. Muslims’ population should show up in: the voting base, the city council and the senate candidates.

Legislation

Gude declared that, from the legislative perspective, most of the Muslim organizations are playing defense. None tried to issue a law specific to Muslims, as this is not the target. It should be for all religions not only Muslims. The organizations are mainly concerned to stop the NYPD surveillance programs and the anti-Sharia bill.

Mapping the anti-Sharia bill shown in the pictures above.

USCMO announced on their website that the domestic priorities of the American Muslim community, includes: “Calling on Congress to urge the U.S. Department of Justice to amend its racial profiling guidance for federal law enforcement by removing any existing loopholes that continue to permit profiling in the name of national security, domestic surveillance and policing the border. Many of these programs have disproportionately targeted Latinos, Muslims and other minorities, and raise serious due process concerns.”

Gude declared that stigmatization and training of law enforcement to profile Muslims and monitor every mosque as a counter-terrorism strategy had negative consequences and lead to many false alarms. Moreover, he said that there should be no aligning based on practicing any religion, the society should stand out against Anti-Muslim, Anti-Jew, Anti-Christian, and Anti-Atheist.

Nevertheless, Ghouse added, “Muslims are safe in the United States, it is better than any other country in the world. It is a good country, it supports free speech and I am blessed to be here.”

Gude concluded that here is no big Fear Inc. report yet, but they intend to monitor and comment on the direction of the media, shed some light on respectful Muslims to recognize them and push back Islamophobia during the presidential campaign. Probably they will produce shorter videos to combat the negative Muslims’ stereotyping.

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Yomna Ali and Michael Fitzgerald for their editing.

SPEECH : Preventable Diseases of Faith: Suspicion, Fear, Mistrust -- Pluralistic Solutions

Preventable Diseases of Faith: Suspicion, Fear, Mistrust -- Pluralistic Solutions

The milieu of pervasive social diversity requires that serious persons of faith deeply examine the bases of their personal commitment as they try to develop positive awareness of the pluralistic reality of cultural interactions in the world of today and tomorrow. Mike Ghouse will share his perspective.

Metroplex Breakfast Meetings at Canyon Creek Club house, Richardson
Friday, October 11, 2013

Talking points

Diversity is given

Thumb print to religion bud

What is it that we want?

Resources v consumers :Birth of conflicts : 1) Space, 2) Sustenance and 3) nourishment 

What did Moses, Muhammad .... Do?
Build cohesive societies

Trust – is the driver for safe and secure communities and a panacea for suspicion and fear.
The goal of all religions and Civil societies

Dialogue critical to Suspicion- the monster among us

Mistrust
Fear - the right wing fears phobia MUSLIM take over

Mulberry entry-
Unity day Sikh and Zoroastrian example – reversing the alphabetical order

Firm but fair

INCLUSIVE ATTITUDES ARE CULTIVATED

Our sense of responsibility is akin to wearing the seat belt. If you live in America, and don't wear the seat belt in the car while you drive, not only you feel guilty, but certainly uncomfortable. It was not the case before the seat belt was made mandatory for the driver and the front seat passenger. It is indeed a consciously learned behavior. I feel the same sense of discomfort, when I get to the podium and not mention or include different religions in the speech. My only fear is excluding others in the public square even by mistake.  To allay that fear; I have learned to start my speeches with Pluralism greetings and prayers that are inclusive of every one including my Atheist friends (Pluralism Speaker).

Thanks to my father, mother, and grandfather who lived their lives as an example inculcating Islamic pluralism in my brothers and the sister, like millions of Muslim parents whom you may have not met.  In my talks, I share small examples and incidents where small things do matter. We learned the Islamic version of Vasudhaiva Kutumbukum; the whole world is one family. 

Indeed, Pluralism flows in my veins, and that is respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God-given uniqueness of each one of the 7 billion of us.

BOLDLY CHANGING THE COURSE OF HISTORY

My father was a Mayor of the town of Yelahanka in the fifties, and we always had construction work at our apartments or remodeling at our historic house, originally owned by the founder of Bangalore, Hon. Kempe Gowda in the 16th century. My father was a maverick, and dared challenging the abusive but prevalent norms of the society, he had the Dalits (shameful word: Untouchables) work at our place, my mother would make them tea or give them food in the plates and cups we used, it was a big no-no in the society at that time, you ‘kept them' away from your house, just as it was for the Blacks in America then. I am proud of my father, and my mother for supporting him in breaking the uncouth norms. He was constantly called on to quit, and at times threatened, but the dare devil held on to his ground firmly and the town loved him dearly and gradually followed his example.

I saw humiliation in the eyes of men, women and children, who came to collect water from the public tap on each corner of the street, the upper caste person would wash the tap three times before he or she collected the water. It was difficult for me, and I played out my share of the drama and mumbling in protest. Despite the significant progress made, we have a long way to go in the housing discrimination, indeed, even in America we have ways to go, but we are all going forward.

As I am writing this, I grudgingly acknowledge that I have learned nothing new; my father did everything that I am doing now, Gee, a drop of tear rolls down my cheek in reverence to Mahatma Gandhi for becoming a catalyst in uplifting the down trodden and restoring their God-given dignity to them. I just have to pray for the Mahatma for saving the Indian souls by getting rid of guilt from our minds, by having us open our hearts and minds toward the fellow beings, just as MLK did in America. 

COMMUNAL RIOTS

My father is my hero and opened the doors of wisdom to us. Pluralism indeed runs in my family. He taught us one of the biggest lessons of my life in social cohesiveness and dealing with extremism that I continue to reflect in my talks, acts and write ups.

During the communal riots in Jabalpur (India) in the early sixties, both Muslims and Hindus were killed in the mayhem, as it happens every time. I wish every father in India, America and elsewhere teaches this lesson to his kids. He was crystal clear on his take; He told us the "individuals" are responsible for the bloodshed and not the religions. If we get the guy who started the conflict and punish him for disturbing peace, rather than calling it a religious issue for the communities to jump in and aggravate it further, we would have saved many lives. He would emphasize that you cannot blame the intangible religion and expect justice; we must blame the individuals who caused it and punish them accordingly for disturbing the peace and thus bring a resolution to the conflict by serving justice. He said you cannot annihilate, kill, hang or beat the religion, then why bark at it?

WHAT IS PLURALISM?

Simply put, it is respecting the otherness of the other and accepting the uniqueness of each one of us. In cultural terms, it is recognizing your culture as a beautiful expression of life to you, as my own is to me. When it comes to food, it is appreciating the Rice you enjoy over the Naan I delight, or vice-versa. For Americans, it is medium rare stake versus the well done. In religious terms, it is learning to honor the way your worship or bow to the creator in gratitude, is as divine as my own.

OUR FUTURE IS PLURALISM

By the end of 2020, there will not be a major work place America or India and other places, where you will not find people of different faiths, cultures, ethnicities, races, nationalities and social backgrounds working, eating, playing, marrying, and doing things together.

We need to prepare ourselves for those eventualities to prevent possible conflicts and lay a good foundation for nurturing goodwill and effective functioning of the societies.  Exclusive communities will become a thing of the past. (Foundation for Pluralism, Pluralism Center)

Being a Muslim, I am deeply committed to nurturing the pluralistic values embedded in Islam (World Muslim congress). The role of a Muslim is to mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill, most people get that, a few don’t, just as with any other religious group.

Pluralism is our future, and as a futurist, based on the trends, I foresee, that two generations from now, we would be comfortable in saying, my religion, culture or life style is one of the many choices, and further down the road, a significant number will proclaim that my way of life is not superior or inferior to any.

They will consider ‘claiming superiority’ would be sheer arrogance and religion (a major part of life to many) is believed to imbue humility that builds societies, communities and nations in creating that elusive kingdom of heaven where all of us can live  without apprehension or fear of the other.

WE ARE ONE NATION

We are one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We are represented by every race, nationality, ethnicity, language, culture and religion. We see God as one, none and many and in every form; male, female, genderless and non-existent, being and non-being, nameless and with innumerable names. Indeed, we must preserve the pluralistic heritage of America. 

 

 Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and has done that throughout his life as an activist. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links.

David Horowitz and the fear factor

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/david-horowitz-and-fear-factor.html

There are men and women, who know how to make money in the name of Israel, Palestine and God among other things. The best product to sell is hate, there is money in it, I guarantee it.

There are frightened souls out there who happen to be rich and it is very easy to tap their wealth, poor suckers will fall to the fear mongering tactics and write big checks. All you have to do is frighten them and “act” as the defenders for them and see how quickly your bank account swells.

The test is simple – write an article or speak about the imminent and impending danger and then say, you are going to stand against them like a Rock. You can test it and see how many suckers will fall for it.

There are several websites and appeals out there, invariably asking for the money. If the cause is real, one should give the money.

But,

Do you want to give the money to those who create a bigger mess? Or those whose work to mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill?

In case of Israel and Palestine, if you give the money, give it to those who find solutions and not aggravations. There is a Chinese saying, “if you want the enemy gone for good, make friend, if you kill, his son will wait to kill you when you are dozing off”. Mother Teresa said, if you want peace, go talk with your enemies, you don’t make peace with your friends.

The Brotherhood Organization has an ugly history and some of the members harbor hate towards the western powers and certainly towards some of the policies of Israel. Then there are the settlers who are going against the laws and taking over the land illegally to build their own. Both are shamelessly quoting Quraan and Torah to justify their actions, and we  are letting them do it.

The question is, do you want the Brotherhood to continue doing what is not right? Do you want the settlers continue doing what is not right?  Do you want to fund these groups to dig in their heels? Do you really believe peace will come by pushing them to the corner? Neither of them are law abiding and we should not fund those ideas that aggravate the situation.

I wish David Horowitz collected the monies to build bridges, I will send him the money, but if he is selling books, and collecting the money in the name of protecting Israel, he will to continue to drain you as the situation gets worse with requests for more monies.  Is that what you want?

Those who are endangering Israel are no friends of Israel, they care about money for themselves, and they are many out there milked or milking monies like Madoff. Let’s find a way without opening your check book or if you open, let it be productive and not messy. There are organization who are doing the right thing to bring security to Israel following the Chinese saying and Mother Teresa quoted earlier, give it to them, make it conditional that the money should mitigate conflicts and not aggravate.

I urge Mr. Horowitz to make the enemy gone for good, make friends with them, at least go talk with them and don't do the opposite; dig in their heels. It is not good for Israel.

Mike Ghouse for building cohesive societies

http://www.mikeghouse.net/

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HERE IS PROFESSOR HOROWITZ'S APPEAL

Get ready for the Brotherhood!

The situation in Egypt remains chaotic, but the Obama White House -- while trying to cover its tracks with doublespeak -- has finally settled on a position: Hosni Mubarak, lynchpin of Mideast stability for the last 30 years, must be thrown under the bus on the Arab streets.

And if he is replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood--anti semitic, anti American godfather organization to Hamas and al Qaeda? So be it! The Brotherhood is just another leopard whose spots will be transformed by the President Obama's message of "change." In fact, all the President's men are telling the press, off the record of course, that Obama's 2009 Cairo speech -- chock full of apologies for U.S. misbehavior -- actually caused the potentially catastrophic changes now occuring in Egypt.

Do business with the Muslim Brotherhood? Boast about creating the situation in which this organization can come to power?

This is not foreign policy, it is madness! That's why I'm writing to ask for you help today. Will you follow this link right away to make an emergency contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or even $500 to the Freedom Center's campaign to tell the Truth About the Muslim Brotherhood? If you are able to give $50 or more today, I'll rush you a copy of Jamie Glazov's best-seller, United in Hate: The Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror, which unveils the "Unholy Alliance" between the Radical Left and Radical Islam, and Robert Spencer's latest pamphlet "Obama and Islam," which illustrates the dangers present on President Obama's "outreach" to the Muslim world.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the source of jihad in the Middle East (and, for that matter, in the U.S. where the FBI has proven that it operates through the Muslim Student Association and other fronts). Its Palestinian branch, Hamas, is a terror organization whose charter calls for the annihilation of Israel. In fact, Osama bin Laden was a graduate of the Brotherhood and so was the mastermind of 9/11, Sheik Khalid Mohammed! So in suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood can be a democratic partner in Egypt, the Obama White House -- so quiet when real democrats were being killed on the streets of Teheran in 2009 -- has outdone even the Carter administration's destabilization of the Shah of Iran in 1979 and its welcoming of the theocratic fascist Ayatollah Khomeini as a "saint."

In the current chaos of Egypt, the radical left and its radical Islamist allies see possibilities. This unholy alliance wants a takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood because this would be the most dangerous possible outcome for the U.S. and Israel. They want to persuade the American people that the Brotherhood is actually committed to "democracy," not hatred and violence. And even now, while pulling its punches with an eye toward attaining power with a hands-off assist from the Obama White House, this sinister organization admits that it will tear up the Egyptian-Israeli agreement of 1979, which means that Israel will be once again under the gun as it was in the first few years of its existence... and that a war engulfing the whole of the Middle East is once again on the table.

We can't allow this to happen! That's why I'm urgently asking you to make a contribution of $50 or more to support the Freedom Center's efforts to alert every American to the gravity of the situation in Egypt.

The Freedom Center cannot determine how the present chaos in Egypt will end. But exposing the big lies of the left is the core of our mission and we can educate America about what is at stake. That's why we need to get my book, Unholy Alliance, United in Hate, "Obama and Islam," and the other pamphlets we have produced on the radical Islamic jihad into as many hands as possible.

Will you help us today by following this link to make a donation of $50 or more to the Freedom Center's campaign to tell the Truth About the Muslim Brotherhood? Don't forget that we'll send you copies of both United in Hate and "Obama and Islam", as well.

We stand at a critical crossroads which has potentially catastrophic implications for the future of Israel and America itself. We need to act quickly to tell the Truth About the Muslim Brotherhood! I hope the Freedom Center can count on your support.

Sincerely,