ID :
185336
Mon, 05/30/2011 - 13:45
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/185336
The shortlink copeid
Political Analyst Warns of Growing Islamophobia in US
TEHRAN (FNA)- A political analyst and Maryland University professor warned of the growing waves of Islamophobia in the West, specially in the US.
Speaking in an interview with FNA, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad cautioned that "Islamophobia in the United States has become an increasing problem".
"Politicians are using the general ignorance of the American public about the religion of Islam, its teachings, and its history in order to manipulate the fears of average Americans to think that a so-called "sharia law" is about to be imposed by the small Muslim minority upon the enormous majority of Americans who are secular or Christian," he explained.
"In order to benefit from this manipulation, the politicians rely on media stereotypes about Muslim law, ignoring its fundamental calls for justice and tolerance and instead misrepresent it as a matter of imposing a Muslim penal code and culture on non-Muslim Americans," Ahmad continued.
"They devise nightmare fantasies of women forced into burkas in order to provoke working class Americans into thinking they must take pre-emptive action against their Muslim neighbors who are plotting to deprive them of their beer and pork chops," he said.
"Many Americans, who are devoted to those universal values that Islam shares with America, such as the freedom of minorities to practice their religion, are speaking out and acting, but they too are under attack. The silliest of these attacks is the accusation, believed by 18% of Americans that President Obama is a secret Muslim," the analyst concluded.
In relevant remarks last month, Deputy Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations Eshaq Ale-Habib lashed out at the growing trend of insults to Islam in the West, and called on the United Nations to take proper measures to confront the spread of Islamophobia in the western societies.
Ale-Habib called on the UN and its Committee on Information to take practical steps to promote "religious tolerance" and to counter the growing Islamophobic trend in the West, and to stop the desecration of Islam.
Ale-Habib also condemned the recent act of burning Islam's holy book, the Quran, by an extremist US pastor, and said the incident runs counter to the UN's efforts to promote "religious tolerance and mutual respect between religions and cultures."
He further slammed Western media for their bias against developing countries as well as their monopolistic control over global information and communications technology.
"This is unfortunate that, by using their modern and exclusive communications technology, some developed countries are constantly distorting the realities and fabricating events… specially with regard to developing countries," Ale-Habib told the UN's Committee on Information.
"Developing countries have been hindered by the unfair… duplicitous and exclusive approach of the (western) media," he added.
The Iranian diplomat urged the international community to promote "fair" media coverage of world events, and called for essential steps to promote equal access to information and communications technology.
"We encourage the UN's information department to play an effective role in establishing a new order of information and global communications based on the free and balanced flow of information," Ale-Habib noted.
Speaking in an interview with FNA, Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad cautioned that "Islamophobia in the United States has become an increasing problem".
"Politicians are using the general ignorance of the American public about the religion of Islam, its teachings, and its history in order to manipulate the fears of average Americans to think that a so-called "sharia law" is about to be imposed by the small Muslim minority upon the enormous majority of Americans who are secular or Christian," he explained.
"In order to benefit from this manipulation, the politicians rely on media stereotypes about Muslim law, ignoring its fundamental calls for justice and tolerance and instead misrepresent it as a matter of imposing a Muslim penal code and culture on non-Muslim Americans," Ahmad continued.
"They devise nightmare fantasies of women forced into burkas in order to provoke working class Americans into thinking they must take pre-emptive action against their Muslim neighbors who are plotting to deprive them of their beer and pork chops," he said.
"Many Americans, who are devoted to those universal values that Islam shares with America, such as the freedom of minorities to practice their religion, are speaking out and acting, but they too are under attack. The silliest of these attacks is the accusation, believed by 18% of Americans that President Obama is a secret Muslim," the analyst concluded.
In relevant remarks last month, Deputy Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations Eshaq Ale-Habib lashed out at the growing trend of insults to Islam in the West, and called on the United Nations to take proper measures to confront the spread of Islamophobia in the western societies.
Ale-Habib called on the UN and its Committee on Information to take practical steps to promote "religious tolerance" and to counter the growing Islamophobic trend in the West, and to stop the desecration of Islam.
Ale-Habib also condemned the recent act of burning Islam's holy book, the Quran, by an extremist US pastor, and said the incident runs counter to the UN's efforts to promote "religious tolerance and mutual respect between religions and cultures."
He further slammed Western media for their bias against developing countries as well as their monopolistic control over global information and communications technology.
"This is unfortunate that, by using their modern and exclusive communications technology, some developed countries are constantly distorting the realities and fabricating events… specially with regard to developing countries," Ale-Habib told the UN's Committee on Information.
"Developing countries have been hindered by the unfair… duplicitous and exclusive approach of the (western) media," he added.
The Iranian diplomat urged the international community to promote "fair" media coverage of world events, and called for essential steps to promote equal access to information and communications technology.
"We encourage the UN's information department to play an effective role in establishing a new order of information and global communications based on the free and balanced flow of information," Ale-Habib noted.
