Statement on anti-Muslim "satire" at GWU

* * For Immediate Release: Friday, 12 October 2007 * *
Statement on anti-Muslim "satire" at GWU
Press Contacts:
Rayyan Ghuma (Univ. of Maryland): 410-530-6078
Chris Schwartz (Univ. of Northern Iowa): 319-230-5677
Chris Dols (Univ. of Wisconsin): 608-215-7035

On October 8, 2007 at George Washington University, anti-Muslim posters were plastered all over campus, saying “Hate Muslims? So do we!!!” This poster claimed to be in the name of the conservative students on campus, but in fact, it seems that some misguided anti-war activists issued the posters as “satire.” The Campus Antiwar Network condemns this action in the strongest possible terms. We do not believe the posters were an “anti-war action.” Instead, they played into the racist atmosphere that Muslim and Arab students and people in general suffer today.

No doubt, the racist right-wing and the police will use these events to try to clamp down on genuine anti-war and anti-racist actions at George Washington as well as on other campuses across the country. We oppose all attacks on free speech on the part of the university and police authorities.

We call on all anti-war activists and anti-racist people to condemn the actions that took place at George Washington University. Despite this terrible action, we continue to believe that the organizers of the so-called “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” are themselves stoking the racist hysteria against Muslims and Arabs.

CAN will continue to organize in solidarity with Arab and Muslim people against the Islamophobia that George Bush is using to justify his war in Iraq. We believe that the continued occupation of Iraq is a crime against humanity and we demand that we bring all the troops home now.

passed by CAN chapters at the following schools
Kent State University
University of Maryland--College Park
San Francisco State University
Northeastern Illinois University
Rochester Institute of Technology
University of California--Berkeley
City College San Francisco
University of Wisconsin--Madison
University of Illinois--Chicago
University of Illinois--Champaign-Urbana
City College New York