Phyllis Chesler On September 22, 2009
Even More Breaking News: I did a quick check of the mainstream media today (September 25th). The Former Muslims United press conference was not covered by ABC, CNN, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, or NPR nor did it appear in the Washington Post or in USA TODAY. If I have missed an article in these places, please share that information with us all in a Comment. The press conference was covered by Atlas Shrugs, JBlog, Jihad Watch, Michelle Malkin, Muslims Against Sharia, New English Review, The NY Examiner, ResistNet, Vlad Tepes, Washington Times, and right here at PJM. If I have missed other blog sites that have covered this, please post a comment to that effect.
Breaking News: The ever-excellent Steven Emerson [1] has revealed that the student who invited Nonie Darwish to speak is himself now under fire!
“Brad Mahlstedt, head of the Whittier Republican Leadership Council, is under attack for his role in bringing Nonie Darwish to speak at Whittier Law School September 22. Bill Carnahan, the school’s assistant dean for student services, threatened to file a “formal complaint” against the council after IPT News reported on Carnahan’s weak response to Islamist pressure against Darwish. “
Please read Emerson’s story and tell us all what you think. Tell the folks at Whittier Law School too.
Read what Darwish had to say in Washington DC at the press conference for Former Muslims United. Thanks to Robert Spencer [2]at Jihad Watch for this. And, read what Ibn Warraq [3] had to say in DC as well. Again, thanks to Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch.
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She founds a new organization: Former Muslims United
Not again. Ah, yes again and again until we have won this war of ideas.
Nonie Darwish, the warmest, sanest, least prejudiced Egyptian whom I know, has both been attacked and has not been defended by the administrative elite at the Whittier College Law School where she is scheduled to speak later today. According to Steven Emerson [4], the Muslim Student Association on campus defamed Darwish and tried to stop or at least delay her presentation.
Not surprising. They specialize in such demonization and censorship campaigns. Darwish [5] pleads the case of Muslim women whose human rights are seriously violated by shariah law. But the academic administrators at Whittier Law School have not strongly defended her right to speak, nor have they praised her work. This is unforgivable; according to Emerson, many happen to be women who are also feminists.
Alas, this is also not surprising. I wrote an entire book about this phenomenon: The Death of Feminism. What’s Next in the Struggle for Women’s Freedom [6]
I have written [7] about Darwish [8] before. I admit it: I adore her for her courage. Darwish is also the founder of ArabsforIsrael—c’mon, this woman warrior has guts.
But, I now wonder whether this brou-ha-ha has anything to do with a press release that Darwish has just sent round. Darwish and others have formed a new organization: Former Muslims United. Darwish is an apostate (she converted to Christianity)—just like Magdi Alam who converted to Catholicism and now requires seven police officers around the clock– and just like Rifqa Bary [9], the Ohio teenager [10] who has run away [11] from her Muslim family and is now in state custody in Florida.
The Former Muslim press release reads as follows:
“Prominent former Muslims– apostates from Islam– will hold a press conference Thursday, September 24 to announce the launch of a new civil liberties organization, Former Muslims United, and the start of a national campaign to educate the American public and policymakers about the threat from authoritative Shariah– Islamic law– to the religious freedom and safety of former Muslims.
At the press conference, Former Muslims United founders Nonie Darwish and Ibn Warraq (both internationally-respected authors and scholars) will release letters calling on the Department of Justice and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to investigate possible hate crimes and civil rights violations against apostates from Islam, including the circumstances of the current Florida case of 17-year old Rifqa Bary, a former Muslim. The letters are also signed by Former Muslims United co-founders Mohammad Asghar, Wafa Sultan and Amil Imani.”
Darwish and Warraq will release the text of Former Muslim United’s groundbreaking “Muslim Pledge for Religious Freedom and Safety from Harm for Former Muslims,” copies of which will be received in the offices of dozens of Muslim leaders across America by September 25, the 220th anniversary of Congress passing the Bill of Rights. They will also distribute a list of the names of this first group of Muslim leaders to be asked to sign the Muslim Pledge. Additional Muslim leaders will be sent the pledge in the next month as the national campaign gets underway. The names of all pledge recipients will be listed at Formermuslimsunited.org [12].”
Smart. Islamists are not the only ostensibly aggrieved people who can use civil rights law to their advantage.
Darwish and the Former Muslims United organization can be reached at info@formermuslimsunited.org.
We, the people are not boots on the ground, we are not risking our lives as soldiers in combat zones. All we can do is risk our popularity by telling the truth, standing up to the Big Lies about America, Israel and the West, and opposing Islamist and leftist “politically correct” censorship.
I congratulate Nonie Darwish for her leadership in the war of ideas.
Breaking News
Darwish contacted me to thank me for this article and to report that her lecture yesterday was extremely well attended and proceeded without any unpleasant incidents. In fact, students told her that it was the “most attended event” they had ever seen on campus. Darwish wonders whether the evil, censoring intentions might not have helped swell the ranks of the audience. If so–a good sign indeed.
Article printed from Chesler Chronicles: http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler
URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2009/09/22/nonie-darwish-under-fire-today/
URLs in this post:
[1] Steven Emerson: http://www.investigativeproject.org/1430/whittier-dean-targets-student-after-darwish-visit
[2] Robert Spencer : http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/09/im-here-in-washington-at.html
[3] Warraq: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/09/ibn-warraq-at-the-former-muslims-united-press-conference.html
[4] Steven Emerson: http://www.investigativeproject.org/1424/kerfuffle-on-campus-over-sharia-lecture
[5] Darwish: http://www.amazon.com/Cruel-Usual-Punishment-Terrifying-Implications/dp/1595551611
[6] The Death of Feminism. What’s Next in the Struggle for Women’s Freedom: http://www.amazon.com/Death-Feminism-Struggle-Womens-Freedom/dp/1403968985
[7] written: http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2007/10/22/the-heroic-nonie-darwish-faces-muslim-%e2%80%9cmean-girl%e2%80%9d-power-at-wellesley/
[8] Darwish: http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/408/no-such-thing-as-moderate-islam-nonie-darwish
[9] Rifqa Bary: http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/602/muslim-convert-to-christianity-flees-for-her-life
[10] the Ohio teenager: http://www.phyllis-chesler.com/605/muslims-dont-murder-apostates-9-11-nothing-with-islam
[11] run away: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/09/rifqa-bary-hearing-today.html
[12] Formermuslimsunited.org: http://www.formermuslimsunited.org
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