Abbreviation | SIOA |
---|---|
Formation | 2010 |
27-2518993 | |
President | Pamela Geller |
Co-founder | Robert Spencer |
Website | freedomdefense |
Formerly called | American Freedom Defense Initiative |
Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), also known as the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), [1] is an anti-Muslim, [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] pro-Israel [7] [8] [9] American counter-jihad [10] organization known primarily for its controversial, Islamophobic advertising campaigns. [11] The group has been described as extremist and far-right. [12] The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) lists SIOA as an anti-Muslim hate group. [8] [9] [13]
SIOA was founded in 2010 by its current leaders, Pamela Geller and author Robert Spencer, at the request of Anders Gravers Pedersen, the leader of Stop Islamisation of Europe, of which it is the American affiliate. [1] It has launched ad campaigns in urban public transit systems, including one in New York City opposing Park51, a Muslim community center that had been proposed for Lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center site in 2010. [14] In 2016, they have run public transit advertisements in San Francisco calling for the end of United States security assistance to the Palestinian National Authority.
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Islamophobia |
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SIOA describes itself as a human rights organization, promoting freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equal rights. [15] The SIOA's ideology has been called Islamophobic by political and historical scholars, news sources, religious leaders, and hate group watchdogs. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]
SIOA opposed the construction of Park51, originally named Cordoba House, a 13-story Muslim community center proposed for a location two blocks from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. On May 6, 2010, Geller posted a blog piece calling the building a "monster mosque" and a "stab in the eye of America" and comparing it to the reconsecration of the Hagia Sophia as a mosque by the Ottoman Turks after they conquered Constantinople in 1453. [1] In another blog post, Geller encouraged readers to protest its construction. [1] [22] [23]
In July 2010, the organization purchased bus advertising in New York and other American cities promoting a website purporting to advocate for Muslims who wanted to disclaim their religion but who feared they might be killed by other Muslims if they did so. [24] The Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized the premise of the ads, that there were any such Muslims, calling it "a smoke screen to advance [Geller's] long-standing history of anti-Muslim bigotry". [25]
The Anti-Defamation League, beginning in 2010, included SIOA in their online resource on extremist groups, saying that it "promotes a conspiratorial anti-Muslim agenda under the guise of fighting radical Islam" and "seeks to rouse public fears by consistently vilifying the Islamic faith and asserting the existence of an Islamic conspiracy to destroy 'American' values." [26]
In 2011, the Southern Poverty Law Center named SIOA an anti-Muslim hate group, [27] [13] calling it a "propaganda powerhouse" that paints moderate Muslims as radical terrorists. [13] Geller described the SPLC listing as a "badge of honor" [28] and later, in 2015, stated to CNN, "Who designated the SPLC as a legitimate authority? They are a radical leftist group who targets patriots, vets and even GOP presidential candidates. They have never named a jihadi group as a hate group." [29]
In July and August 2011, Geller and Spencer were discussed in the media because Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik's anti-Muslim manifesto quoted Spencer at length, and also cited Geller's blog. [30] According to Heidi Beirich, deputy director of SPLC, Geller and Spencer's writings were "the primary sources for the anti-Muslim propaganda that had helped give voice" to Breivik's 1500+ page manifesto. [14] SIOA published a statement jointly with Jihad Watch and Stop Islamisation of Europe condemning Breivik's attack. [31]
In 2012, SIOA sponsored ads in the public transit systems of New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago reading, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad." [32] The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) initially refused to display them. [33] The authority's decision was ruled unconstitutional by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in July 2012. Judge Engelmayer held that SIOA's ad was "core political speech" protected by the First Amendment. [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]
Rabbis for Human Rights, the Sojourners Community, and United Methodist Women all sponsored subway ads countering SIOA's original ad and promoting religious tolerance. [38] The Jewish Council for Public Affairs called SIOA's ad "bigoted, divisive, and unhelpful", and Steve Gutow, its president, said, "The fact that ads have been placed in the subway attacking Israel does not excuse the use of attack ads against Muslims." [39] William McGurn, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal supporting the ads, arguing that "savage" was an appropriate term to describe jihadists, and criticizing "our new political correctness". [40]
During the 2012 tax year, the organization reported total revenue of $157,870.00, no employee salary or compensation, and total operating expenses of $296,044.00. [41]
In early January 2013, the SIOA placed advertisements in New York City Subway stations. that juxtaposed images of the September 11 attacks with a quote from the Quran: "Soon shall we cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers." [42] [43] By that time the New York City Transit Authority, had changed its advertising policy to accept what it called "viewpoint advertisements" but to require a disclaimer saying that the Transit Authority did not endorse the advertiser's views. [44]
In the fiscal year 2013, the organization disclosed a complete revenue amounting to $958,800.00. Employee wages and benefits stood at $243,150.00, while the overall operational costs totaled $419,652.00. [45]
In response to an ad by the American Muslims for Palestine that the SIOA called "Jew-hating", the SIOA sponsored an ad on Washington, D.C., buses with a photograph of Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who supported the Nazi dictator before and during World War II. [46]
In May, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was not required to grant SIOA a trademark registration for its name because it could be disparaging to American Muslims. Geller criticized the ruling, calling it a "complete whitewash" and describing the court as having a politically correct bias. [47]
In 2015 the SIOA started a new ad campaign in New York, that included one parody billboard with a quote from Hamas stating 'Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah.' A court judgement in April 2015 ruled that New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority cannot prevent the ads from running on buses. [48] [49]
In January 2015 a Muslim group organized a fundraiser called "Stand With the Prophet in Honor and Respect" at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. [50] Pamela Geller spearheaded about 1,000 picketers at that event. [51] [52] The Garland Independent School District board president Rick Lambert said in January, "The Culwell Center is available for rental as long as you comply with the law. Because it is a public facility, the district is not allowed to discriminate based upon viewpoint." [52] [53]
On May 3, 2015, the SIOA invited Geert Wilders to an art exhibit in Garland, Texas that offered a $10,000 prize for the best cartoon of Muhammad. During the event, a shooting incident occurred. [54] Both gunmen, later identified as ISIL-inspired, [55] were shot and killed by police shortly after the suspects shot a security guard. [56]
The SIOA says it spent $10,000 on security, and had 40 police officers and private security guards present. [57] The event was hosted at the Curtis Culwell Center, rented from the Garland Independent School District, which hosted an event in January called "Stand with the Prophet". [58]
Stop Islamization of Nations (SION) is an international counter-jihad [10] organization founded in 2012 by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer of SIOA, and Anders Gravers Pedersen of SIOE. Other board members are Debbie Robinson, of Q Society of Australia; [59] Ezra Levant, a Canadian publisher; Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American writer; Ali Sina, an Iranian-born Canadian activist; Stefan Herre, a German author of the blog Politically Incorrect; Mordechai Kedar, an Israeli author; Babu Suseelan, a Hindu activist; Oskar Freysinger, a Swiss politician; Cliff Kincaid, editor of the Accuracy in Media Report; and Ashraf Rameleh the President of Voice of the Copts. [60] [61] Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer are President and Vice President of SION. [60] SION has taken part in hosting international counter-jihad conferences along with other organisations and multiple individual speakers, including in Stockholm, Sweden and New York City in 2012 and in Melbourne, Australia in 2014. [62]
Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereotype Muslims as a geopolitical threat or a source of terrorism. Muslims, with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, are often inaccurately portrayed by Islamophobes as a single homogenous racial group.
Robert Bruce Spencer is an American anti-Muslim author and blogger, and one of the key figures of the counter-jihad movement. Spencer founded and has directed the blog Jihad Watch since 2003. In 2010 he co-founded the organization Stop Islamization of America with Pamela Geller.
Nonie Darwish is an Egyptian-American author, writer, founder of the Arabs for Israel movement, and director of Former Muslims United. Darwish is an outspoken critic of Islam.
The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a US far-right, anti-Muslim, Washington, D.C.–based think tank. The founder and former president of the organization was Frank J. Gaffney Jr.. The current president since January 1, 2023, is Tommy Waller, a former US Marine. CSP sometimes operates under its DBA name Secure Freedom. The organization also operates a public counter-jihad campaign and the website counterjihad.com.
Jihad Watch is an American far-right Anti-Islam blog operated by Robert Spencer. A project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Jihad Watch is the most popular blog within the counter-jihad movement.
The post-9/11 period is the time after the September 11 attacks, characterized by heightened suspicion of non-Americans in the United States, increased government efforts to address terrorism, and a more aggressive American foreign policy.
The David Horowitz Freedom Center, formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC), is a conservative anti-Islam foundation founded in 1988 by political activist David Horowitz and his long-time collaborator Peter Collier. It was established with funding from groups including the John M. Olin Foundation, the Bradley Foundation and the Scaife Foundation.
The Clarion Project is an American nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that was founded in 2006. The organization has been involved in the production and distribution of the films Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision For America and Iranium. These films have been criticized by some for allegedly falsifying information and described as anti-Muslim propaganda. The organization publishes a weekly "Extremism Roundup" newsletter.
Ali Sina is the pseudonym of an Iranian-born Canadian ex-Muslim activist and critic of Islam. Sina is the founder of the anti-Muslim website WikiIslam and maintains a number of websites promoting what he refers to as "the truth" about Islam. He is associated with the counter-jihad movement.
Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) is a Boston, Massachusetts, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which describes itself as being devoted to "promoting peaceful coexistence in an ethnically diverse America by educating the American public about the need for a moderate political leadership that supports tolerance and core American values in communities across the nation." It has been labeled a hate group by American Muslim organizations, which allege that it has consistently targeted the Boston Muslim community through smear campaigns and guilt-by-association tactics. US Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz has labeled the group and its claims "incredibly racist and unfair."
ACT for America, also referred to as ACT! for America, founded in 2007, is a US based advocacy group that stands against what it perceives as "the threat of radical Islam" to Americans. The group has been characterized by some media outlets as anti-Muslim.
Pamela Geller is an American anti-Muslim, far-right political activist, blogger and commentator. Geller promoted birther conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama, saying that he was born in Kenya and that he is a Muslim.
Counter-jihad, also known as the counter-jihad movement, is a self-titled, anti-Islamic political movement loosely consisting of authors, bloggers, think tanks, demonstrators, and other activists across the Western world. Proponents are linked by a far-right view of Islam as an actively destructive ideology rather than a religion, arguing that it constitutes an existential threat to Western civilization. Consequently, counter-jihadists consider all Muslims as a potential threat, especially when they are already living within Western boundaries. Western Muslims accordingly are portrayed as a "fifth column", collectively seeking to destabilize Western nations' identity and values for the benefit of an international Islamic movement intent on the establishment of a caliphate in Western countries. The counter-jihad movement has been variously described as anti-Islamic, Islamophobic, inciting hatred against Muslims, and far-right. Influential figures in the movement include the bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer in the US, and Geert Wilders and Tommy Robinson in Europe.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) is a non-profit research group founded by Steven Emerson in 1995. IPT has been called a prominent part of the "Islamophobia network" within the United States and a "leading source of anti-Muslim racism" and noted for its record of selective reporting and poor scholarship.
David Yerushalmi is an American lawyer and political activist who is the driving counsel behind the anti-sharia movement in the United States. Along with Robert Muise, he is co-founder and senior counsel of the American Freedom Law Center. He is also general counsel to the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., a national security think tank founded by Frank Gaffney described as far-right and conspiracist.
Gatestone Institute is an American conservative think tank based in New York City, known for publishing articles pertaining to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, specifically with regard to Islamic extremism. It was founded in 2012 by Nina Rosenwald, who serves as its president.John R. Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former National Security Advisor, was its chairman from 2013 until March 2018. Its current chairman is Amir Taheri. The organization has attracted attention for publishing false or inaccurate articles, some of which were shared widely.
Nina Rosenwald is an American political activist and philanthropist. An heiress to the Sears Roebuck fortune, Rosenwald is vice president of the William Rosenwald Family Fund and co-chair of the board of American Securities Management. She is the founder and president of Gatestone Institute, a New York-based right-wing anti-Muslim think tank.
American Muslims often face Islamophobia and racialization due to stereotypes and generalizations ascribed to them. Due to this, Islamophobia is both a product of and a contributor to the United States' racial ideology, which is founded on socially constructed categories of profiled features, or how people seem.
Bosch Fawstin is an American cartoonist and anti-Islam activist who is known for drawing the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Born a Muslim, his parents came from Albania. Fawstin left the religion and now describes himself as a "radical critic of Islam". He won a controversial Muhammad cartoon contest in 2015 that saw the Curtis Culwell Center attack take place.
The International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA) is an international counter-jihad organization that was originally founded in 2006, and which has spanned over twenty countries. Central to the organization has been Edward S. May of the Gates of Vienna blog, Alain Wagner and Christine Brim.
...the other leading sources of anti-Muslim racism are... Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer's Stop Islamization of America...
In the Bay Area, more than 125 religious leaders of various faiths signed a statement in July denouncing the ads as "Islamophobic"
Geller heads a small but vocal extreme right-wing group, called Stop Islamization of America. cf. note 4 (p.374) SIOA is associated with Stop Islamization of Europe, an organization with branches in nearly a dozen countries (mostly in Western Europe), founded by an eponymous Danish group that opposes immigration of Muslims to Europe.
...the other leading sources of anti-Muslim racism are... Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer's Stop Islamization of America...
In the Bay Area, more than 125 religious leaders of various faiths signed a statement in July denouncing the ads as "Islamophobic"
A statement published on July 25 on Jihad Watch, by Spencer and Geller 's SIOA and Stop Islamisation of Europe, their group's European ally, condemned the attacks. The statement went on to say that Breivik had attempted to join SOIE, but had been kept out of the organization 'because of his Nazi ties.'