The Million Muslim March was a massive protest march in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2013, attended by several dozen non-Muslim 9/11 conspiracy theorists. It was organized by the American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) which supports the conspiracy theory. [1] [2]
On July 16, 2013, U.S. News reported that the Million Muslim March had been scheduled for September 11 by 9/11 conspiracy theorists. [3] On August 15, 2013 MD Rabbi Alam appeared on the Fox National News with Sean Hannity, to defend the Million Muslim March against the host.[ citation needed ] The following day, U.S. News reported that it had been renamed as the Million American March Against Fear (MAMAF). [4] On August 17, Fox News reported that AMPAC had faced a backlash for planning the march. [5]
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights group in the United States, condemned the march. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) called the plan provocative, and criticized the group's Truther ideology. Sheila Musaji of The American Muslim magazine calls AMPAC all hype and no substance. [6]
A group called '2 Million Bikers to DC' counterprotested the march, and raised money for the families of 9/11 victims. Their Facebook page passed 40,000 members prior to their protest. [7] By 11 pm EST on the day of the demonstrations, the Facebook "likes" had grown to 254,000.[ citation needed ] The group attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure a "no-stop permit" for the ride. [7]
A Washington D.C. memo on September 10 said to expect hundreds at the Million Muslim March and 3,000 for the 2 Million Bikers to D.C. [8] At noon on September 11, 25 people gathered for the Million Muslim March, including speaker Cornel West. [9] In total a few dozen attended the March, whose speakers were mostly non-Muslim 9/11 conspiracy theorists, including Art Olivier and Merlin Miller. [10] They were met by 20 Christian counter-protesters. [9] The biker event was estimated to be 75,000 by UPI but some spectators gave greater estimates into the hundreds of thousands. [11] [12]
Beginning in late 2002 and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion.
Alexander Emerick Jones is an American far-right, alt-right radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts The Alex Jones Show from Austin, Texas, which the Genesis Communications Network broadcasts across the United States via syndicated and internet radio. Jones's website, InfoWars, promotes conspiracy theories and fake news, as do his other websites, NewsWars and PrisonPlanet. Jones has provided a platform and support for white nationalists, giving Unite the Right rally attendee and white supremacist Nick Fuentes a platform on his website, Banned.Video, as well as giving an "entry point" to their ideology. In 2023, leaked texts from Jones's phone revealed that he created the website National File.
There are various conspiracy theories that attribute the preparation and execution of the September 11 attacks against the United States to parties other than, or in addition to, al-Qaeda. These include the theory that high-level government officials had advance knowledge of the attacks. Government investigations and independent reviews have rejected these theories. Proponents of these theories assert that there are inconsistencies in the commonly accepted version, or that there exists evidence that was ignored, concealed, or overlooked.
New Tang Dynasty Television is a multilingual American television broadcaster founded by adherents of the Falun Gong new religious movement and based in New York City. The station was founded in 2001 as a Chinese-language broadcaster, but has since expanded its language offerings; in July 2020, it launched its 24/7 English channel which now broadcasts nationwide in the U.S. and UK. It is under the Epoch Media Group, a consortium which also includes the newspaper The Epoch Times. The Epoch Media Group's news sites and YouTube channels have promoted conspiracy theories such as QAnon, anti-vaccine misinformation and false claims of fraud in the 2020 United States presidential election.
The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.
The 9/11 truth movement encompasses a disparate group of adherents to a set of overlapping conspiracy theories that dispute the general consensus of the September 11 attacks that a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists had hijacked four airliners and crashed them into the Pentagon and the original World Trade Center Twin Towers, which consequently collapsed. The primary focus is on missed information that adherents allege is not adequately explained in the official National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reports, such as the collapse of 7 World Trade Center. They suggest a cover-up and, at the least, complicity by insiders.
QAnon is an American political conspiracy theory and political movement. It originated in the American far-right political sphere in 2017. QAnon centers on fabricated claims made by an anonymous individual or individuals known as "Q". Those claims have been relayed and developed by online communities and influencers. Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters are operating a global child sex trafficking ring which conspired against Donald Trump. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many other theories. QAnon has been described as a cult.
InfoWars is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC.
Mark Shouldice, known as Mark Dice, is an American YouTuber, right-wing conservative political commentator, author, activist, and conspiracy theorist. Dice describes himself as a media analyst.
ACT for America, founded in 2007, is a U.S.-based anti-Muslim advocacy group that opposes what it calls "the threat of radical Islam" to Americans.
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. The perpetrator, Adam Lanza, fatally shot his mother before murdering 20 students and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and later committed suicide. A number of fringe figures have promoted conspiracy theories that doubt or dispute what occurred at Sandy Hook. Various conspiracy theorists have claimed, for example, that the massacre was actually orchestrated by the U.S. government as part of an elaborate plot to promote stricter gun control laws.
Conspiracy theories are a prevalent feature of Arab culture and politics, according to a 1994 paper in the journal Political Psychology. Prof. Matthew Gray writes they "are a common and popular phenomenon." "Conspiracism is an important phenomenon in understanding Arab Middle Eastern politics ..." Variants include conspiracies involving Western colonialism, Islamic anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, superpowers, oil, and the war on terrorism, which is often referred to in Arab media as a "War against Islam". Roger Cohen theorizes that the popularity of conspiracy theories in the Arab world is "the ultimate refuge of the powerless", and Al-Mumin Said noted the danger of such theories in that they "keep us not only from the truth but also from confronting our faults and problems..." The spread of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist conspiracism in the Arab world and the Middle East has seen an extraordinary proliferation since the beginning of the Internet Era.
2 Million Bikers to DC was a protest/motorcycle ride which brought thousands of riders from various parts of the United States to Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2013.
The Internet Research Agency, also known as Glavset, and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino, was a Russian company engaged in online propaganda and influence operations on behalf of Russian business and political interests. It was linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former Russian oligarch and leader of the mercenary company, the Wagner Group, and based in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Protests against Donald Trump have occurred in the United States, Europe and elsewhere from his entry into the 2016 presidential campaign to his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Protests have expressed opposition to Trump's campaign rhetoric, his electoral win, his inauguration, his alleged history of sexual misconduct and various presidential actions, most notably his aggressive family separation policy. Some protests have taken the form of walk-outs, business closures, and petitions as well as rallies, demonstrations, and marches. While most protests have been peaceful, actionable conduct such as vandalism and assaults on Trump supporters has occurred. Some protesters have been criminally charged with rioting. The largest organized protest against Trump was the day after his inauguration; millions protested on January 21, 2017, during the Women's March, with each individual city's protest taken into consideration, makes it the largest single-day protest in the history of the United States.
Refuse Fascism is a U.S.-based anti-fascist coalition organization, led by the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. Until the 2020 United States presidential election, it was characterized by its call for the removal of the Trump administration by non-violent street protests. Since the election, it has counter-demonstrated at a series of pro-Trump events.
Kay Allison "Kate" Shemirani is a British conspiracy theorist, anti-vaccine activist and former nurse who lost her licence to practise in 2020 for misconduct. She is best known for promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccinations and 5G technology. Shemirani has been described by The Jewish Chronicle as a leading figure of a movement that includes conspiracy theorists as well as far-left and far-right activists.
Ty Bollinger is an American misinformation marketer and conspiracy theorist who promotes alternative medicine treatments for cancer and vaccine-preventable diseases. Bollinger has no medical training and has a history of disseminating misinformation about cancer treatments, anti-vaccine conspiracies, promoting ineffective or unproven cures, and other conspiracy theories on social media platforms. With his wife Charlene, he runs the website The Truth About Cancer and its associated social media accounts, where they sell books, videos, and nutritional supplements based on these ideas.
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