It's "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" - Did you know?

You may not know that this week is Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. I found out from Talking Points Memo. Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is the brainchild of David Horowitz, a one-time hippie radical who has turned seriously to the right. He runs something called the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and is apparently unaware that naming a think tank after yourself is a move that pretty much screams "egotist" and "I'm a world-class narcissist" from the rooftops. But it's his Freedom Center, and he, of course, has the freedom to name it after himself.

And I have the freedom to find out just what Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is all about. I followed the link from TPM, but noticed something a little odd. There's lots of fire-and-brimstone "we're under attack! oh my god the Islamo-Fascists are coming!" rhetoric. There's lots of suggestions for how people can get involved to preserve the American way of life, which is under attack from Islamo-Fascists. It seems to be mostly aimed at students in college, presumably because they have the kind of free time that is required to raise awareness about how desperate the situation is here in the fragile and vulnerable United States of America. But there isn't much in the way of actual activities. Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week seems to be much more potential and ideas than, say, real protests and awareness-raising. I recognize this because I tried to do roughly the same when I was in college, except from the other side. "Here's a list of WHAT YOU CAN DO!!!" It's very easy to write that stuff. Not so easy to get it done. So I kept digging. And found a whole lot of not much.

I have something of a personal connection with the David Horowitz Freedom Center. I've never met the man, but one of the projects of his Freedom Center is the Liberty Film Festival, a conservative film festival that used to take place in the fall here in LA. It was started by a couple, Jason Apuzzo and Govindini Murty. I met them when I helped out with a movie they made, "Terminal Island". They're very nice, and I knew them for a while before I realized that they are very conservative, but they're still good friends. Terminal Island is about a bounty hunter on the search for some Islamic terrorist. I didn't realize how serious it was until I saw the final cut (I never read the whole script). As the credits rolled, I realized that maybe they were actually serious about this whole hunting-down-the-terrorists thing. But Jason and Govindini are still friends of mine. I don't think they personally have hunted down any terrorists. The focus of their fight against Islamo-fascism has been starting and running a film festival, the Liberty Film Festival. Maybe not the kind of thing that has Osama bin Laden shaking in his boots, but everybody can contribute in their own way to preserving our way of life from the terrifying terrorists threatening us every day.

There have been three Liberty Film Festivals, and I have attended every one. It's fun to listen to the opposition when you know you're going to be friends afterwards, and I usually learn something. And it's great to see people making a living doing something that they are passionate about, even if you disagree with them. A while ago, the Liberty Film Festival merged with, or was acquired by, or somehow became associated with, the David Horowitz Freedom Center. I think this means that the David Horowitz Freedom Center provides some kind of financial backing for the Liberty Film Festival, but I'm not sure. I remember some announcement to the effect that this was a great thing for the LFF, but it doesn't seem to be generating much activism.

One odd thing I noticed as I was poking around the various Web sites of this Not-So-Vast Right Conspiracy is that the Liberty Film Festival Web site doesn't seem to have been updated for several months. The latest item is Govindini's appearance on Fox News. In November. This is particularly strange because Libertas, the blog of the Liberty Film Festival, is updated several times a day, just like any good blog. It's just about the only conservative blog I read on a consistent basis. The blogger, who goes by the nom de blog "Dirty Harry," is a self-described "right-wing extremist." I don't agree with him on much, but he does know his movies, he's got a decent sense of humor, and every now and then he's open-minded when a liberal makes a good movie.

Yet another odd thing about this tangled web is that the relationship between the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the Liberty Film Festival doesn't seem to be particularly dynamic or fruitful. On horowitzfreedomcenter.org, I only found one link to Libertas, and the description seems a little off. It reads, in part:

"Each year, Libertas presents a Conservative Film Festival in Hollywood attended by thousands of viewers."

I am ever-more intrigued, because this is sloppy. It's not "a Conservative Film Festival," it's the Liberty Film Festival. Also, Libertas is a blog, and it is my understanding that Libertas is a project of the Libery Film Festival, not the other way around. I think this partially because the URL for Libertas is this: http://www.libertyfilmfestival.com/libertas/, and on the home page of Libertas, there's a link that reads "produced by The Liberty Film Festival." So apparently the David Horowitz Freedom Center does not employ a proofreader, or the relationship isn't all that important.

So, thus far we have the Liberty Film Festival apparently on hiatus, or something, and the David Horowitz Freedom Center not really clued into how one of its affiliated organizations works. As far as conspiracy goes, this one doesn't seem to be coordinating its various projects all that well. That really raises questions in my mind about just how competent these people are. Not much of a surprise if conservatives don't have their act together, given their recent track record, and kind of encouraging for a liberal, but a little sad for me personally, since some of the people involved are friends of mine.

And then there's the relationship between the "Terrorism Awareness Project" and the David Horowitz Freedom Center. The TAP is a project of the DHFC. But what exactly does the "Terrorism Awareness Project" do? Once again, the important thing is to spread the word through colleges and universities about this deadly threat. But how?

"This Project will provide conservative students with an intellectual toolkit containing all the elements of the truth about jihad: a speakers’ bureau featuring figures such as Steve Emerson, Daniel Pipes and Robert Spencer; DVDs of films such as “Obsession” that dramatically underline the threat we face; printed material about the Islamists’ objectives and the successes they have had in penetrating Western culture and its institutions."

An "intellectual toolkit!" A speaker's bureau! DVDs! printed material! Wow, that's really going to overwhelm the jihadists.

I should not be making fun of this kind of awareness-raising activity, because I used to do the exact same thing. I put together several events for Amnesty International at Swarthmore. Except that, as a liberal, I actually believe in "soft power." Of course, as a liberal, "soft power" to me means the power of ideas to change the minds of people in other cultures and who have ideologies I don't agree with. And to me, changing people's minds means convincing them that we can all get along. For David Horowitz and his friends, I think the purpose of this propaganda is a little less touchy-feely.

But again, I find that this web is not just tangled, but possibly fraying. On the page describing the "Terrorism Awareness Program," there's no link to the Web site of the Program itself.

And now I must pause to point out another bit of sloppiness. As I was typing that last sentence, I first typed "Terrorism Awareness Project." But then I went back to the site, and noticed that it is the "Terrorism Awareness Program," not "Project." At least that's what it says at the top of the page. Within the text, tho, it's back to "Project." No wonder I was confused! Is it a Project or a Program? Not that there's much difference, but I thot these people were supposed to be smart. Can't they get the names of their Program/Project straight on a single Web page?

Yet more weirdness: I clicked on "Events" from the homepage of the DHFC Web site, and "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" isn't listed! I thot this was the most important fight of our lives! We're under attack! But apparently it isn't so important that the latest effort of awareness-raising gets a link from its sponsor's Web site. I finally managed to find the Web page for the "Student Guide to Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week II" from the Web site of the Terrorism Awareness Project (so it is a "Project," and not a "Program"), which I found by clicking on a slide show at DHFC, "What Really Happened In The Middle East." But, as far as I can tell, there's no direct link between the David Horowitz Freedom Center Web site and this one Web site for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. This despite the fact that the only email address on the Web site for the Awareness Week is Jeffrey@horowitzfreedomcenter.org. So maybe this is a special project of Jeffrey's. Maybe he's a very ambitious intern, and they gave him this special project for his very own, but they (the head honchos at the David Horowitz Freedom Center) don't have much interest in publicizing Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week.

Which is ridiculous! What are these people thinking!?!? They are slackers! This is the worst threat America has ever faced! And this incredibly important fight is in the hands of an intern!?!?!

End sarcasm, forgive me, couldn't help myself. I was an intern once, and had dreams of grandeur. I, too, once solicited signatures for a petition. Except that participants are being asked to sign not a petition, but a Declaration!

"The focus of our spring campaign will be the Declaration Against Genocide, which we will ask campus groups to sign."

Never again am I going to listen to conservatives make fun of liberal college students for being high-minded but naive. When I worked with Amnesty, we wrote letters to dictators like Saddam Hussein. We rarely found out if they did any good, but at least we did something. Looks like conservatives are taking the same tack. Sign a petition! You, too, can wage the good fight against Islamo-Fascism with the stroke of a pen and no other commitment!

Oops, there I go again. I just can't help myself. I know it's a serious subject, but every now and then you have to take these opportunities for political humor and just run with them. For example, I just noticed that one of the activities recommended for this Week are Sit-Ins. But they're a little different from the take-over-the-president's-office events we all remember from the '60's:

"Please note: Sit-ins should not obstruct university operations or violate university rules. We encourage you to station yourselves in a public area (directly outside the office of the Student Activities Center) and to set a start and end time for the protest."

Make some noise, but be polite about it. Be sure to bring video cameras and laptops so you can capture the excitement of your protest and share it on YouTube! We're going to raise so much awareness about Islamo-Fascism!

This is a serious subject. What bothers me, apart from the ironies of conservatives planning student protests and lighting candles (that's another suggestion - one candle can equal 100 victims of Islamic terrorism) is the implication that the rest of us are somehow unaware of the threat or don't take it seriously. We do. We know how horrible Islamic terrorists can be.

But we don't think that the best way to end a war is to start one.