Hate crimes directed at Muslims in the United States have continued to rise in frequency since the attacks on September 11, 2001, and many of these attacks have been abhorrently violent.

In one horrifying example reported in the New York Times on Sept. 17 a 52-year-old woman entering her workplace was forced inside by two men. The Times reported that the men hit her with a hammer and sliced her with a box cutter before writing “anti-Muslim” language on a mirror.

Closer to home, just last November in Fremont, Alia Ansari, an Afghan-American mother of six, was shot dead at point blank range. She was not carrying a purse or money. These are not isolated incidents; these crimes are part of a national trend. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, in their most recent Civil Rights Report stated that in 2006 they received 167 reports of anti-Muslim hate crimes, a 9.2 percent increase from 2005.

As hate-filled, fear-driven acts like these continue to increase, the extremely right wing writer David Horowitz plans to launch what he termed “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” on college campuses across the country beginning on Oct. 22. Here at SF State, the College Republicans are working to bring this event to our campus, and SF State students concerned with fighting oppression are standing up to say “No!”

The SF State organizers of “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” claim it is an effort to “challenge most of what students are taught about the so-called ‘War on Terror’ both in the classroom and on the quad.” Its message is filled with propaganda aimed at specifically linking the religion of Islam to violence and oppression.

Part of the event is Horowitz’s effort to begin a nationwide campaign aimed at Women’s Studies Departments. He sustains that these departments should be forced to have classes that focus on what he calls “Islamic gynophobia.” But so far, Horowitz’s attempt to single out Islam as a religion that oppresses women more than any other has shown to be both fraudulent and hypocritical. For instance, Horowitz, in his online journal, wrote that a photo accompanying the article promoting his movement “shows a teenage girl buried before being stoned to death for alleged sexual offenses.” Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC’s “Countdown,” explained on his show that this picture was actually created for a Dutch film in 1994. Serious issues concerning the status of women around the world are better left to the people who actually have their facts straight, not sexist hacks like David Horowitz and the College Republicans, who want to bring his discredited campaign to this campus.

While this week of events claims to be themed around the oppression of women in Islam, Horowitz has blatant disrespect for women himself. In a section of his Web site, Discoverthenetworks.org, Horowitz lists one feminist after another on an ominous list he has titled “Leftwing Gender Bigots.” Included in this list are well known feminist writers and professors from across the country. Judging from Horowitz’s obvious sexism, it seems clear that he and Gator GOP are just using the issue of women in Islam as a platform to initiate a malevolent affront to all Muslims, in an effort to further justify America’s ongoing wars in the Middle East.

With support for the U.S. occupation now at marginal levels, this blanket attack on all of Islam represents an attempt to once again whip up fervor for a continued U.S. presence in Iraq. Furthermore, the Bush Administration seems once again eager to engage in military action against a Middle Eastern nation: Iran.

For all of these reasons, “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” is best classified as a platform for hate speech and pro-war propaganda. The College Republicans’ inevitable response to this claim will be to accuse campus activists of attacking their “free speech.” This is merely a ploy to deflect attention from the real context in which the events that they are sponsoring are taking place: namely, the horrific tide of anti-Islamic prejudice and hate-crimes. The reality is, by sponsoring events like this one, the College Republicans are not only continuing to justify a costly and atrocious war, but also contributing to a climate of hatred and fear. Since at the root of this fear-mongering is an attempt to justify war, anti-war activists need to join hands with Muslims and other concerned students on campus to respond to the rising tide of “Islamophobia” which has swept the country.