The Corporate Funding of Islamophobia, A Multimillion Dollar Operation in Support of Donald Trump
Funding Islamophobia: $206m Went to Promoting 'Hatred' of American Muslims
Inciting hate towards Muslims has become a multimillion-dollar endeavor, supported by neocon corporate foundations, according to The Guardian quoting a recent report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the University of California at Berkeley’ Center for Race and Gender (CRG).
Of significance, several of the groups involved are working hand in glove with the Trump election campaign.
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and University of California Berkeley’s Center for Race and Gender (CRG), some 74 foundations, think tanks, research centers, etc “contribute in some way to Islamophobia in the US, the primary purpose of which “is to promote prejudice against, or hatred of, Islam and Muslims”.
The core group, which includes the Abstraction Fund, Clarion Project, David Horowitz Freedom Center, Middle East Forum, American Freedom Law Center, Center for Security Policy, Investigative Project on Terrorism, Jihad Watch and Act! for America, had access to almost $206m of funding between 2008 and 2013, the report said.
[According to] Corey Saylor, author of the report: “The hate that these groups are funding and inciting is having real consequences like attacks on mosques all over the country and new laws discriminating against Muslims in America.”
Saylor added that the Washington-based Center for Security Policy and Act! for America have the most impact, because they are trying to push their anti-Muslim rhetoric beyond their formerly fringe following. (The Guardian, June 20, 2016)
The Center for Security Policy (headed by Frank Gaffney, a former Defense official) and the David Horowitz Freedom Center have direct ties to Donald Trump’s election campaign. The CSP considers that Muslims constitute a threat to “America’s way of life”:
We at the Center for Security Policy feel it is important for Americans to better understand– and, then, be able to successfully contend with– those that attempt to destroy or subvert our way of life. As making our nation’s enemies’ threat doctrines available is a key part of our educational efforts, we are pleased to present the blueprint for the Muslim Brotherhood in America, … (CSP)
Donald and Islamophobia
Donald Trump’s controversial statements are carefully prepared. The foreign policy advisers to the Trump campaign have “ties to groups named in the Cair-UCB report” including the Center for Security Policy. Among his key advisers is Alabama’s Senator Jeff Sessions, described by Truthout as “outspoken anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim”.
In his announcement, Trump pointed to a Center for Security Policy poll finding that 25 percent of Muslims “agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and 51 percent “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Sharia.” The findings of this opt-in online poll, however, had already been widely discredited.
By citing the bogus data from Gaffney’s group, Trump helped shine a light on how the broader Islamophobic network works. Bogus statistics and trumped-up conspiracy theories are touted by mainstream figures to increase alarm and fear about Muslims.
Polls show Islamophobia to be a widely held position among Trump’s voters, and an examination of the funding behind groups stoking the fear shows that a portion of the Republican Party donor class agrees. Donors to the network include mainstream Republican Party donors, major conservative nonprofit trusts and nonprofit donor-advised funds that help conservative donors obscure their contributions to other groups.(Huffington Post)
It is worth noting that Act for America a network of 1000 racist chapters across the US, has played an important role at the local level in Trump’s election campaign, promoting grassroots support for Donald Trump:
“ACT for America stands ready to take effective action as the only national security grassroots organization in America. If each of us does just a little, together we can accomplish a lot. We are America.”
