MUSLIM PROPAGANDIZES REVISIONIST AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 9/11
Islamophobia and Islamophilia:
An Unusual Connection | Nazia Kazi | TEDxStocktonUniversity
AT STOCKTON UNIVERSITY,
GALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY
Nazia Kazi Sheds Light on Politics and
Anti-Muslim Racism in New Book
Nazia Kazi, assistant professor of Anthropology at Stockton University, wants to start an important and often misunderstood conversation with readers in her recently published book, “Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics.”
Kazi was a college student during the tumultuous time of 9/11, the start of the Afghanistan War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It resulted in her becoming immersed and a little obsessed with studying American involvement in the Middle East.
Keynote speaker Dr. Nazia Kazi discussing her book, "Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics."
Georgetown’s Hamas-linked Bridge Initiative hosts professor who says US war on terror is a manifestation of Islamophobia
BY ROBERT SPENCER
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research
purposes:
See? It’s as I’ve been pointing out for years: for the Hamas-linked Bridge Initiative, a program of the bought-and-paid-for Georgetown University, and for establishment academics such as Nazia Kazi, no resistance to the global jihad whatsoever is allowed, no matter how tepid, half-hearted, or fantasy-based. It’s all “Islamophobia.”“Islamophobia Permeates Foreign Policy, Speaker Says,” by Jaime Moore-Carrillo, The Hoya, February 21, 2020 Leave a CommentYoung U.S. citizens risk forgetting how post-9/11 U.S. policies have harmed Muslim communities at home and abroad, author and researcher Nazia Kazi said at a Wednesday event.After terrorist organization Al Qaeda attacked U.S. military and economic targets Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. launched a decades-long effort to neutralize terror threats across the globe. U.S. counterterrorism efforts, which remain a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy, focus on Islamic fundamentalist organizations in the Middle East. Experts, pundits and policymakers have criticized the undertaking — dubbed the war on terror — for its allegedly unclear goals and problematic methods.The U.S. government’s war on terror is a manifestation of Islamophobia, according to Kazi. U.S. citizens must recognize state actions can qualify as Islamaphobic to begin to counter bigotry more broadly.“If we are to understand Islamophobia at all, we must push ourselves to think beyond the actions of bigoted individuals, and we must push ourselves to understand the roots of their hate,” Kazi said. “We must push ourselves to see the Islamophobia that is perpetrated by the state and all too often paid for by our tax dollars. And most importantly, we must push ourselves to see our own tragic and often invisible complicity.”The post-9/11 expression “never forget” has been used to justify and mask U.S. foreign policy blunders, according to Kazi.“‘Never forget’ is the brand name of 9/11, and as a slogan ‘never forget’ is on par with ‘Just Do It,’ and we have to ask: If ‘Just Do It’ makes us go out and buy Nikes, then when it comes to ‘never forget,’ what exactly are we being sold?” Kazi said. “‘Never forget’ functions ideologically, making sure we do forget — that we forget the uneasy global histories that have better memory, a more nuanced, contextual memory would force us to remember.”Kazi serves as an assistant professor of anthropology at Stockton University, a public university in New Jersey, where she studies Islamophobia and U.S. foreign policy. Her 2018 book “Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics” discusses the intersection of Islamophobia and U.S. foreign policy, according to the publisher’s website….The event, titled “Islamophobic Nationalism and Forgetfulness in the Terror Decades,” was hosted by the Bridge Initiative, a university research group that investigates Islamophobia, in the Intercultural Center. During the event, Kazi discussed the diverse manifestations of Islamophobia in the United States, especially in the foreign policy arena.U.S. society has glossed over unflattering aspects of U.S. foreign policy after 9/11 through slanted ceremonies and educational programs, according to Kazi. She referenced the United States’ often overlooked support for Saudi Arabia and CIA sponsorship of mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, instances she said reflected United States’ willingness to compromise purported U.S. human rights values for political ends.“These are not the histories that make it into our social studies books. They might not even be the histories you expected to hear at a university lecture on Islamophobia. But there are ideological underpinnings at the heart of U.S. empire building,” Kazi said. “It might begin to help us understand how it is that generations of Americans have come to see their country as a global force for good or a hapless victim of evil, but never, to quote Martin Luther King Jr., as ‘the greatest purveyor of violence’ on Earth.”_____________________________________________________________Hamas-linked “Bridge Initiative” wants to re-litigate Holy Land Foundation trial
BY KYLE SHIDELERrepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational and researchpurposes:The Bridge Initiative, a project of the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, continues to embarrass its host, Georgetown University, this time by publishing a “factsheet” in defense of the convicted Hamas fundraising organization known as the Holy Land Foundation.The sheet is short on facts, and long on emotional appeal. It distorts basic facts about the Holy Land Foundation case, in which the nation’s largest Islamic charity and five of its employees were convicted on 104 felony counts, including providing material support for the terrorist organization Hamas.While the Bridge Initiative wants to relitigate the HLF case, wholly endorsing arguments made by the defense that were soundly rejected by judge and jury, ultimately what it seeks to do in their factsheet is argue that Hamas should not be designated as a terrorist organization at all. They likewise condemn U.S. Treasury Terrorism designation efforts in general, despite these efforts being a mainstay of the effort to combat terrorism since 9/11.The Jewish Journal describes the project’s factsheet noting,“The fact sheet says that Hamas ‘was founded in Palestine in 1987 as a political and social organization, with an armed wing aimed at resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestine.’ It acknowledges that the United States designated Hamas a terror organization in 1997, but then states that designating Hamas as a terror group “has been criticized by legal scholars as being politicized by the State Department, and as raising issues concerning due process, equal protection, judicial deference, the chilling of free speech, and having ‘disparate impact on the Arab Muslim community.’”The defenders of Hamas have long relied on the false distinction that the group has an “armed wing” which engages in violence, claiming the majority of the group merely performs otherwise legal work in the social and political spheres. Ironically, Hamas’ own founder rejected the distinction between armed and unarmed wings, and the organization is tightly integrated. Terrorist activities take place under the direction of the group’s political leadership, as Matt Levitt, Author of “Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in Service of Jihad” has ably documented.It’s no surprise that Bridge Initiative would be playing the role of Hamas apologist, given that its founder, John Esposito, has a history with the very Hamas network of which the Holy Land Foundation was the prominent member. Esposito served as a member of the advisory editorial board for the journal of the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). UASR, which the federal government described as a Hamas “think tank”, was founded by Mousa Abu Marzook, currently deputy chairman of Hamas’ political bureau. UASR’s executive director and the editor of the journal of which Esposito was an advisor, Ahmad Yousef, who went on to serve as a Hamas spokesman.Esposito’s Bridge Initiative is not alone among groups with questionable ties seeking to memory-hole the reality of the Holy Land Foundation Trial. The Charity and Security Network (CSN), a project of the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch), has been a leader in this regard. CSN also attempts to paint the Holy Land Foundation case as an overly broad smear of Muslim charities. As Sam Westrop of Middle East Forum has ably demonstrated, however, CSN itself receives funding and support from several charities with known links to terror finance.First designated for its terror ties in 2001, and convicted in 2008, it seems that HLF’s partisans believe the time is right to proclaim these Hamas financiers as champions of virtue wrongly convicted. They are no doubt counting on the fact that few in 2020 remember the long trial or the copious documentary and surveillance evidence the government produced in the case. They likewise are convinced of their ability to falsely slander those experts who have studied the case as Islamophobes and bigots.But it isn’t going to work._______________________________________________________________Spotlight On: Kazi Sheds Light on Politics and Anti-Muslim Racism in New Book
BY Mandee McCulloughrepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational and researchpurposes:Galloway, NJ -- Nazia Kazi, assistant professor of Anthropology at Stockton University, wants to start an important and often misunderstood conversation with readers in her recently published book, “Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics.”Kazi was a college student during the tumultuous time of 9/11, the start of the Afghanistan War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It resulted in her becoming immersed and a little obsessed with studying American involvement in the Middle East.“What struck me at the time was just how little many Americans knew about this history. Perhaps more interestingly, I began to observe that it was often those who knew very little about the so-called Muslim world who had very strong opinions about what the U.S. should do there. I began to think very carefully about what we call in anthropology ‘systemic ignorance’ and how it shapes American politics,” Kazi said, citing a poll done once that found a huge number of Americans were in favor of bombing the city of Agrabah, a fictional city from the Disney film Aladdin.Her research and heightened awareness into this subject helped inspire her to write this book geared toward an introductory reader who is curious about American politics – both domestically and abroad.“It shows the connections between U.S. politics and the history of American racism, looking specifically at the case of anti-Muslim racism, also called Islamophobia,” Kazi said. “In this book, I show that Islamophobia is not a product of the Trump administration or the Republican party, as many people assume. Instead, I draw attention to the actions of a powerful nation like the United States and how these actions have shaped the landscape of race relations in the U.S.”She discusses her goal of inspiring readers to dig further into the concept of Islamophobia. “I hope it whets readers’ appetites to go check out some of the more substantive books I reference in the text, so that they can continue the conversation I begin in the pages of my book,” Kazi said.She also hopes that her readers begin to rethink their conception of “politics.” “In the U.S., we all too often think that political engagement means supporting a political party, participating in elections and fulfilling one’s civic duties,” Kazi said. She discusses how political change is often driven by people’s mass movements that force society to transform into a more just one.She has given a number of book talks and radio interviews already including a book launch at The Wooden Shoe in Philadelphia, a talk at Uncle Bobbie’s Bookstore in Philadelphia, and an interview on D.C.-based radio show “Loud & Clear,” and has more lined up across the country, in between teaching full time and advising students. She hosted a book signing on Feb. 19 at Stockton where students and staff could hear her read a few excerpts from the book and ask questions. She also was interviewed by The Intercept, an award-winning news organization that covers a variety of topics including national security, politics, civil liberties and more. Kazi is also working on a second book that focuses on the relationship between Muslim Americans and U.S. intelligence agencies, which is still in the early stages.“But I must confess, my favorite part of my work is in the classroom, working with students. I’m excited to continue teaching my classes on race, migration and cultural anthropology, and I’m really pumped to offer a new class in the fall: Ethnography of the United States,” Kazi concluded.Kazi grew up in Schaumburg, Illinois and Dubai, United Arab Emirates before moving to Philadelphia where she currently lives. She also spent a decade in New York City. She has been teaching at Stockton since 2014 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Northwestern University, a master’s degree in Social Welfare from Columbia University, and a doctorate in Anthropology from The Graduate Center at the City University of New York.
