| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"-Zebra-" |
| Date: |
10 Mar 2006 10:15:00 PM |
| Object: |
Islamophobia Worse in America Now |
Islamophobia Worse in America Now Than after 9/11, Survey Finds ---
· Majority says Islam has most violent followers
· Analysts blame politicians and media coverage
by Suzanne Goldenberg
More than half of Americans believe there are more violent extremists
within Islam than in any other religion and that the faith encourages
violence against non-Muslims, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll
yesterday.
Negative feelings towards Islam are much more pronounced now than in
the immediate aftermath of the September 11 2001 terror attacks, the survey
found.
A majority, 58%, of those interviewed now believe that Islam has more
violent followers than any other religion. The poll of 1,000 was conducted
by phone last week and has a three-point error margin. Since January 2002
the proportion of those who believe mainstream Islam promotes violence
against non-believers has risen from 14% to 32%.
Analysts blame the surge on a confluence of factors: the proposed
takeover of US ports operations by a Dubai firm (now abandoned); the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan; the election of Hamas in the Palestinian territories;
and, above all, the riotous protests across the Muslim world against Danish
cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. "The coverage of the controversy
over the cartoons showed that sort of violent extremist in a way that a lot
of Americans found troubling," said Carroll Dougherty of the Pew Research
Centre for the People and the Press.
American attitudes towards Islam were not out of step with Europe, Mr
Dougherty said, adding that there was more tolerance in the US towards the
use of headscarves than in countries such as Germany or France, where there
is strong support for a ban.
But nearly half of Americans, 46%, said they held unfavourable
attitudes towards Islam - compared with 24% in January 2002. The Post quoted
analysts as saying that the demonisation of Islam by politicians and the
media during the past four years had led to an erosion of tolerance.
In the immediate aftermath of September 11 2001, George Bush made a
number of statements disassociating Islam and the general Arab and Muslim
population in America from al-Qaida. He also visited a mosque, a symbolic
gesture that helped build a more positive image of Islam.
"It seems counter-intuitive, but from the president on down there was
a very strong message from Washington that this was not representative of
Islam," Mr Dougherty said. "In the intervening years there has been an
absence of this sort of positive message."
James Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American
Institute, told the Post he was not surprised by the poll's results.
Politicians, authors and media commentators have demonised the Arab world
since 2001, he said.
"The intensity has not abated and remains a vein that's very near the
surface, ready to be tapped at any moment," Mr Zogby said. "Members of
Congress have been exploiting this over the ports issue. Radio commentators
have been talking about it non-stop."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
###
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0310-07.htm
Islamophobia, caused by the Bush Administration's propaganda machine for
five years is the exact reason Bush's Port scandal was shot down by
Americans.
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