Macleans Magazine: a Case Study of Media-Propagated
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MACLEANS MAGAZINE: A CASE STUDY OF MEDIA-PROPAGATED ISLAMOPHOBIA Prepared by: Khurrum Awan, Muneeza Skeikh, Naseem Mithoowani LLB (Osgoode Hall Law School – 2007) Ali Ahmed LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School - 2008) Daniel Simard LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School - 2009) TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF CONCERNS: ................................ ............................ Promoting Islamophobia and Fear of Muslims .................................................................................... 4 Representing Muslims as violent people who are incapable of living peacefully in their host societies ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 Casting of suspicion on Muslims at large as potential terrorists, extremists, and radicals: ................ 6 Representing the presence and growth of Muslims in Western societies as a threat to traditional Western culture and the “Western” values of democracy, freedom, and human rights ....................... 8 Attempting to import a racist discourse and language into mainstream discourse in Canadian society ............................................................................................................................................................. 10 Attacking multiculturalism and religious freedoms ............................................................................ 11 Attacking laws that provide protection to identifiable communities from discriminatory journalism 12 Condemning any and all efforts by Politicians, Law Enforcement, Media and other institutions to reach out to Muslim communities and to exercise sensitivity. ............................................................ 13 Conclusion: ......................................................................................................................................... 14 APPENDIX ................................................................ ............... The future belongs to Islam ................................................................................................................. 17 Wake up, ostriches: Islam's in an expansionary phase. In case you hadn't noticed ............................ 24 Wake up, Europe. It may already be too late --- Why the fall and spring riot seasons in France are signs of the coming apocalypse ........................................................................................................... 27 What should I do, Imam? Novelist Robert Ferrigno imagines the Islamic Republic of America in the year 2040 ............................................................................................................................................. 29 Celebrate tolerance, or you're dead - Oriana Fallaci appeals to Europe to save itself. Good luck ..... 32 The press darling who became 'the Jew' ............................................................................................. 36 Why are teachers trashing Western values? ........................................................................................ 37 Feeding the hand that bites them ......................................................................................................... 40 The little mosque that couldn't - We're so boundlessly tolerant we tolerate endless dreary shows about how intolerant we are ................................................................................................................ 42 The war on terror is the real women's issue - Feminists whine about life in the West but they won't fight the bigger battle .......................................................................................................................... 45 The church dance that snowballed - A masterful new work on al-Qaeda and 9/11 explains how a loser cult has metastasized .................................................................................................................. 47 Q&A with terrorism expert David Harris - On how Canada is handling the issue of Islamic extremism ............................................................................................................................................ 49 A Twilight zone of insanity - Cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting the prophet Muhammed have set off a clash of civilizations. Problem is, all blonds look alike in a jihad. .............................. 53 2 Finally, someone who cares about Christians - Christendom might finally have a saviour in the Pope ............................................................................................................................................................. 55 Far better to be at the zoo than this circus ........................................................................................... 58 Racism is the core force behind the carnage in Darfur ....................................................................... 60 The Making of a Canadian Terrorist - From small-town boy to al-Qaeda assassin ........................... 62 A 'Canadian spy' - Afghan authorities claim a Calgary man in a Kabul jail is part of a larger network backing the insurgency ........................................................................................................................ 66 'I begged to confess' - William Sampson makes stunning revelations about his rape and torture by the Saudis .................................................................................................................................................. 68 3 STATEMENT OF CONCERNS: The objective of this document is to detail the general anti-Islam and anti-Muslim content of articles published by Maclean’s Magazine. We will demonstrate that Maclean’s is engaging in a discriminatory form of journalism that targets the Muslim community, promotes stereotypes, misrepresents fringe elements as the mainstream Muslim community, and distorts facts to present a false image of Muslims. This document and its conclusions are based upon a selection of articles found in Maclean’s Magazine between January 2005 and July 2007. Extracts from these articles can be located in the Appendix attached to this document. At the end of each article, the reader will also find a brief commentary and listing of assertions contained in the relevant article. It is submitted that Macleans’ publications vis-à-vis the Muslim community are: (1) promoting Islamophobia and fear of Muslims; (2) representing Muslims as violent people who are prone to engage in violence and are incapable of living peacefully in their host societies; (3) casting suspicion on Muslims at large as potential terrorists, extremists, and radicals; (4) representing the presence and growth of Muslims in Western societies as a threat to the Western values of democracy, freedom, and human rights; (5) Attempting to import a racist discourse and language into mainstream discourse in Canadian society; (6) Attacking multiculturalism and religious freedoms; (7) attacking laws that provide protection to identifiable communities from the type of discriminatory journalism that Macleans is engaging in; (8) condemning any and all efforts by politicians, law enforcement, media and other institutions to reach out to Muslim communities and to exercise sensitivity. Promoting Islamophobia and fear of Muslims The articles supporting the comments made in this section include, but are not limited to: “The Future belongs to Islam,” “Wake up Ostriches: Islam’s in an expansionary phase,” “Wake up Europe. It may already be too late,” “What should I do, Imam,” “Celebrate tolerance, or you’re dead,” “Feeding the hand that bites them,” “The War on Terror is the real Women’s Issue,” and “I begged to confess.” Relevant extracts from these articles can be located in the Appendix. One of the central themes in these articles include the allegation that the Muslim community, including the Canadian Muslim community, is part of a global Muslim conspiracy to takeover Western societies and impose an oppressive form of Islamic law on them; a war is underway between Muslims and non-Muslims and Muslims need to be viewed through this lens as potential enemies. This alleged Muslim conspiracy is juxtaposed with the assertion that Muslims are flooding Western society through immigration and higher than average fertility rates in order to instill fear that Muslims will in fact 4 takeover Western and Canadian societies and impose an oppressive form of Islamic law on all citizens. Fear of Muslims is also promoted by raising doomsday scenarios about what will transpire when the alleged impending Muslim takeover occurs: Muslims will burn books and libraries, 1 women will be forced to wear the Muslim veil, 2 Christians will be expelled from their countries, 3 Jews will be massacred, 4 Muslim religious police will enforce Islamic norms on the population, 5 honour killings of women will become common practice, and women will be unable to vote. 6 Other examples of fear mongering include: • The extent of the terrorist threat to Canada is grossly exaggerated by presenting unsubstantiated allegations of fact: Canada has allegedly been infiltrated by Muslim terrorist, bases of anti-Canadian and anti-Western hatred have been set by Canadian Muslims, and a high number of Muslim Canadians have devoted themselves to “radical Islamism” and have acquired “combatant status” with terrorist enemies. 7 • Private and public places of worship such as private homes and universities