[Peace] Public Forum on Islamophobia/Manufacturing the" Muslim Menace" Location: Champaign Public Library Time: ‎7:00PM Thursday, July 14th

[Karen Medina]

> Public Forum on Islamophobia/Manufacturing the" Muslim Menace"
> Location: Champaign Public Library, Robeson rooms A and B
> Time: ‎7:00PM Thursday, July 14th, 2011

I will be introducing the event, so I thought I would share what I
plan to say...

Welcome to the Public Forum on Islamophobia/Manufacturing the "Muslim
Menace." This event is sponsored by the ISO and AWARE. My name is
Karen Medina. I am a member of AWARE, the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort
of Champaign-Urbana. I am also a friend and supporter of the
International Socialist Organization at the Unversity of Illinois. I
am honored to introduce the speakers this evening.

Many of the flyers we circulated about this event indicated an ACLU
(American Civil Liberties Union) representative as a speaker. An ACLU
speaker wasn't able to make it this time, but is in support of this
event. Incidently, the ACLU website is a good resource on the topic of
Islamophobia. We also have put together a list of other good resources
that will be available after the discussion.

Each panelist will speak for about 10-15 minutes. After all the
presentations, there will discussion. Please hold questions and
comments for the discussion period.
* Please turn off your cell phones.
* We are videotaping this event. If, during the discussion, you would
like us to turn of the recording, ask and we will.
* We have the room reserved until 9pm; The library closes at 9pm.

Islamophobia is the fear and hatred of Muslims as a religious group
resulting in people who even "look Muslim" being targeted. "Arabs" are
equated with barbaric, fanatical, miogynistic, anti-modern, and
violent.

We are not saying that overt Islamophobia is omnipresent, but we are
saying that the public, including well-meaning and reasonable people
are accepting policies and actions that they never would accept toward
any other group. When we recognize racism, we can explore who benefits
from spreading the fear and racism.

Our goal is to educate the public in respect to Muslim religion,
values, and politics, Islam and democracy.

[The order of the speakers is Stuart Levy, David Green, Raad Ismail,
Matthew Niemi, and Eric Heim.]

[Then I do the introductions]

=========
Stuart Levy:

Stuart Levy grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in a liberal Jewish
family, and migrated to Champaign 13 years ago. He hopes to be an
antiwar activist.  He spends time with Sierra Club and ICJPE (Illinois
Coalition for Justice Peace and the Environment), and with AWARE (the
Anti-War, Anti-Racism Effort), which has sometimes felt like attending
a church and often felt like acquiring an education.  He spends time
watching stars too.

========

David Green:

David Green, a resident of Urbana and a social policy analyst at the
University of Illinois, has been active in local antiwar and
pro-Palestinian activities for the past 12 years. He has published
articles on websites such as ZNet, Counterpunch, Electronic Intifada,
Palestine Chronicle, and Mondoweiss.
========
Raad Ismail:

Raad Ismail was born in Baghdad, Iraq. In the late 1980's, Raad was an
occasional contributer to a few Iraqi periodicals, translating them
from English to Arabic, in topics related to music, specifically in
the genres of Progressive Rock, Punk, and Reggae. He left Iraq in
1992, and has been living in Champaign-Urbana Illinois since 1993.
Locally, Raad has collaborated with CAN (the Campus Antiwar Network),
AWARE (the Anti-War, Anti-Racism Effort), and the ISO (International
Socialist Organization) in organizing and as a panel speaker in topics
related to war, history, and US (and UK) foreign policy in the Middle
East.
===

Matthew Niemi:

Matthew was raised in West Suburbs of Chicago as non-denominational
Protestant. As Matthew began studying Arabic at the University of
Illinois, he found out about Islam and converted the following summer
after months of research.  Matthew has an undergraduate degree in
International Studies with a focus on the Middle East and Linguistics.
 Matthew is now a graduate student in Middle Eastern Studies with a
focus on Religion and the languages of Arabic and Hebrew.

=======
Eric Heim:

Eric Heim is a 2011 graduate of the University of Illinois in History
and Asian American Studies. Eric won an award for his senior thesis
""The 1970 UIUC Student Strike: Lessons for our Present Struggles." As
an activist, Eric engages in work ranging from building solidarity
with striking graduate students to protesting Israeli policies towards
Palestinians. In the fall, Eric will continue his education at Indiana
University in Bloomington studying Library and Information Science.
While in graduate school, he hopes to remain an activist committed to
building a better world for the future.
========
Ola Moshref is a teacher of Arabic studies, while pursuing her Ph.D in
linquistics at the U of I.  Ola arrived in the US in 2005 from Egypt.
We joined her in showing local support for the Egyptian uprising this
year.

Ola Moshref will introduce each of the speaker's topics. She is also
prepared to answer questions during the discussion section, especially
as a Muslum woman.
=========
I am really looking forward to this discussion this evening.

                               ###
Topics

Stuart Levy:
What forms does islamophobia take in the US, and what purposes does it serve?

Matthew Niemi:
"Understanding Muslims"