Rich Use Racism to Divide

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This commentary was written jointly by Students for Peace and Justice, the Worker-Student Alliance and the Muslim Student Union.

The UC Irvine community should oppose and protest the racist decision by numerous far-right organizations to host ‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’ during the week of Oct. 22 on colleges across the country. This event represents a deliberate effort to incite hate against our Muslim and Arab sisters and brothers. Under the guise of ‘fighting terror,’ these hatemongers want to win students and workers to anti-Muslim racism in order to justify more imperialist wars for profit in the Middle East. Students, faculty and workers must fight for multiracial solidarity against hate and racism on our campuses and in our communities.
‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’ is being promoted nationwide by David Horowitz, a well-known rightwing ideologue and racist. Horowitz is infamous for his attacks on affirmative action, which he claimed is ‘only necessary because some blacks can’t find the ladder of opportunity within reach of others.’ Horowitz blames the victims of institutional racism for the economic injustices prevalent in the United States, completely overlooking the long history of racist inequality that continues to characterize most, if not all, American institutions.
Now Horowitz, along with politicians and media pundits, wants to convince us that the ‘War on Terror’ is about saving ‘civilization’ from Muslim ‘barbarians.’ From Horowitz’s racist standpoint, the United States’ ‘War on Terror’ is part of a larger ‘clash of civilizations,’ in which supposedly despotic and uncivilized Muslim societies and cultures stand violently at odds with freedom-loving Western democracies. By vilifying Muslims and Islam in general, Horowitz and his ilk are attempting to build support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

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