Combating Islamophobia in Milwaukee

ILDC executive director spoke on October 20, 2007 at a seminar addressing the issue of Islamophobia, organized by Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin and the Islamic Center of Milwaukee. The program, entitled “Combating Islamophobia,” is part of a series of seminars on the question of Islamophobia organized throughout the month.

The seminar was attended by educationists, university students, and members of the media and law enforcement community. The panel included, along with Louay Safi, Hussein Ibish, executive director of the Hala Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership, and Edina Lakovic, communication director with the Muslim Political Action Council (MPAC).

Dr. Safi pointed out the Islamophobia is the new face of the old tradition of Orientalism, albeit in a more crude and ugly face, as it aims at demonizing Muslims throughout the world to perpetuate hostility and war between western and Muslim countries. Islamophobes, he emphasized are the counterpart of Muslim extremists and indeed feed on their rhetoric.

Dr. Safi further stressed danger of Islamophobic discourse to both the American Muslim community and the country at large, as it undermine both the civil rights of Muslims and the credibility and long term interests of the United States. Islamophobes are keen to turn the war on terrorism into a war on Islam, and as such, he stressed, they undermine all genuine efforts that aim at effectively dealing with extremism and terrorism.