Pointing The Finger
My post at Mideast Youth:
The Organization of the Islamic Conference concluded at the end of a meeting Wednesday that Islamophobia has become the “worst form of terrorism.” Foreign Ministers and representatives of Islamic societies gathered in Islamabad for the 34th annual Islamic Conference of FM’s, and spoke in unison in highlighting what they percieved as negative attitudes towards followers of their religion living in the West. An article in the Arab News had this to say:
“The increasingly negative political and media discourse targeting Muslims and Islam in the United States and Europe has made things all the more difficult,” the foreign ministers said. “Islamophobia became a source of concern, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but the phenomenon was already there in Western societies in one form or the other,” they pointed out. “It gained further momentum after the Madrid and London bombings. The killing of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh in 2004 was used in a wicked manner by certain quarters to stir up a frenzy against Muslims,” the ministers pointed out. Van Gogh had made a controversial film about Muslim culture.The Foreign Ministers seem to have a grip on what is causing Islamophobia, correctly highlighting events in Holland, Spain, and the United States that have certainly provided backlash on Muslim communities. Yet, in this same context, is Islamophobia really the largest form of terrorism?
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