Pro-Mosque Dupes Plan More Media Events
Groups supporting the Park51 Islamic Cultural Center, which most Americans say shouldn't be built as planned some 300 yards from ground zero, announced today an initiative to better make their case, but admitted they face an uphill battle to eclipse the mosque opponents who dominate the debate.
"Maybe we're too late, maybe we're slow and democratic, but we're definitely changing things around," said the Rev. Donna Schaper, senior minister at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. "People who are creating this mass hysteria and manipulating the American people have power and money, but I think we can change their minds because the American people are not mean."
According to a CBS poll released today, 71 percent of Americans think "building a mosque near ground zero" is not appropriate. A more recent survey by the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) found that 63 percent of New York voters oppose the Muslim community center and mosque, which was supposed to bear the name Cordoba House.
Even in New York, said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg, "the level of opposition to building Cordoba House remains very strong." (Some New Yorkers seem to value their safety more than their political correctness.)
On Wednesday, a new coalition group called "New York Neighbors for American Values," which consists of more than 30 civil society organizations and groups from different faiths, asked people to join them in rallies and processions planned for the ninth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Many prominent people have come out in favor of the construction of Park51, most notably New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. If it is not built at its intended site, he said Tuesday at the annual Ramadan celebration at Gracie Mansion, "we would send a signal around the world that Muslim Americans may be equal in the eyes of the law, but separate in the eyes of their countrymen."
"And we would hand a valuable propaganda tool to terrorist recruiters, who spread the fallacy that America is at war with Islam," Bloomberg continued, apparently unaware that his remarks would be just the kind of propaganda the terrorists will quote if they don't get their way with building the mosque.
But popular grassroots support for that position has been lacking. Last weekend's demonstrations in lower Manhattan drew only about 200 pro-mosque demonstrators, compared with an estimated 500 people who gathered to protest against it.
Supporters of the project say one reason for their late entry into the quarrel is that they never really expected that an organized movement would be needed.
"I think New Yorkers thought it wouldn't be necessary because the mayor had done the job and he has spoken for many of us," said Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "But now that it's clear that this issue seems to have many more legs than anyone thought it would have had or it should have ... so we have more work to do."
The pro-mosque groups say they plan to steal the show on 9/11 by organizing bigger events than those of their opponents, who plan anti-mosque rallies.
"We will be talking, we will be sending out e-mails, we will be marching, we'll do whatever we need to do to turn the tide on this dangerous rhetoric," said Faiza Ali of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Unfortunately our voices have been drowned out by voices on the extreme. We are hoping to to create an impetus and provide an alternative voice."
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center, a liberal Jewish peace activist center in Philadelphia, said supporters like him weren't alone in misjudging the reaction. "I think the Cordoba people themselves didn't make too much about it and thought this is normal America," he said.
"It was no big deal -- then Rupert Murdoch and his people began calling this the '9/11 mosque' and everything exploded," he said. "I don't think they were ready."
While suggesting that a well-oiled machine backed by money and Fox News will be difficult to beat, Waskow said that smart thinking can beat out funds. He should also be able to count on the support of well-oiled liberal news outlets like NPR and MSNBC. Both have been working overtime trying to counter-spin the debate, even going as far as renaming it "the Muslim community center controversy". See Chick's WHO CARES?
"It didn't take a lot of money for us to organize this event; a lot of people chipped in and brought their expertise for free," he said. "I'm not worried about the money."
"Maybe we're too late, maybe we're slow and democratic, but we're definitely changing things around," said the Rev. Donna Schaper, senior minister at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. "People who are creating this mass hysteria and manipulating the American people have power and money, but I think we can change their minds because the American people are not mean."
According to a CBS poll released today, 71 percent of Americans think "building a mosque near ground zero" is not appropriate. A more recent survey by the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) found that 63 percent of New York voters oppose the Muslim community center and mosque, which was supposed to bear the name Cordoba House.
Even in New York, said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg, "the level of opposition to building Cordoba House remains very strong." (Some New Yorkers seem to value their safety more than their political correctness.)
On Wednesday, a new coalition group called "New York Neighbors for American Values," which consists of more than 30 civil society organizations and groups from different faiths, asked people to join them in rallies and processions planned for the ninth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Many prominent people have come out in favor of the construction of Park51, most notably New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. If it is not built at its intended site, he said Tuesday at the annual Ramadan celebration at Gracie Mansion, "we would send a signal around the world that Muslim Americans may be equal in the eyes of the law, but separate in the eyes of their countrymen."
"And we would hand a valuable propaganda tool to terrorist recruiters, who spread the fallacy that America is at war with Islam," Bloomberg continued, apparently unaware that his remarks would be just the kind of propaganda the terrorists will quote if they don't get their way with building the mosque.
But popular grassroots support for that position has been lacking. Last weekend's demonstrations in lower Manhattan drew only about 200 pro-mosque demonstrators, compared with an estimated 500 people who gathered to protest against it.
Supporters of the project say one reason for their late entry into the quarrel is that they never really expected that an organized movement would be needed.
"I think New Yorkers thought it wouldn't be necessary because the mayor had done the job and he has spoken for many of us," said Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "But now that it's clear that this issue seems to have many more legs than anyone thought it would have had or it should have ... so we have more work to do."
The pro-mosque groups say they plan to steal the show on 9/11 by organizing bigger events than those of their opponents, who plan anti-mosque rallies.
"We will be talking, we will be sending out e-mails, we will be marching, we'll do whatever we need to do to turn the tide on this dangerous rhetoric," said Faiza Ali of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Unfortunately our voices have been drowned out by voices on the extreme. We are hoping to to create an impetus and provide an alternative voice."
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center, a liberal Jewish peace activist center in Philadelphia, said supporters like him weren't alone in misjudging the reaction. "I think the Cordoba people themselves didn't make too much about it and thought this is normal America," he said.
"It was no big deal -- then Rupert Murdoch and his people began calling this the '9/11 mosque' and everything exploded," he said. "I don't think they were ready."
While suggesting that a well-oiled machine backed by money and Fox News will be difficult to beat, Waskow said that smart thinking can beat out funds. He should also be able to count on the support of well-oiled liberal news outlets like NPR and MSNBC. Both have been working overtime trying to counter-spin the debate, even going as far as renaming it "the Muslim community center controversy". See Chick's WHO CARES?
"It didn't take a lot of money for us to organize this event; a lot of people chipped in and brought their expertise for free," he said. "I'm not worried about the money."
posted by chickcomics | 7:59 PM
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