Context: During my tenure as Associate VP Equity at the University of Toronto Students' Union, I ran various events and this included one in which I had the Tamil Students Association, Native Students Association, Muslim Students Association, Thaqalayn Muslims Association and Filipino Women's Centre all work together. The point of the event was to spark genuine dialogue with these communities -- at least, the most genuine kind in which groups with a wide support base are engaged. Tarek Fatah got word of the event and began to cause ruckus by contacting all the non-Muslim professors/speakers involved. With this letter I was able to inform them who he was and the event went off without a hitch. Names of the Professor's involved have been taken out for privacy purposes.

Dear ----- ,

First of all, I would just like to take this time to thank you on behalf of the University of Toronto Students' Union for your involvement in this event.

I want to make clear that the point of this event is to establish genuine communication with the communities, represented here by the most representative groups, so that they have a chance to have their say regarding media irresponsibility. In particular, irresponsibility when it comes to establishing communication with them. It is their chance to let their concerns and grievances be heard which, despite Mr. Fatah's claim, are almost never heard here in Canada. In the perspective of the large/majority sector of the Muslim community which are represented by groups such as the MSA, ISNA, CAIR-CAN and so forth, it feels more like coercion than anything else. The point of the event is to teach people in this society to place its trust on these communities -- whether they be Tamils, Aboriginals or Muslims -- in being able to represent themselves, speak about the issues that are important to them, and to encourage society to establish genuine communication with them.

As it relates to the Muslim community, the media have a tendency to focus on individuals that are only representative of a small sector. Often, they pick individuals that make it easy for the media to frame issues. In the case of Tarek Fatah, quite obviously, he throws around ill-defined terms that create tensions within the Muslim community and open it to further Islamophobic attacks. He labels anyone that dares to disagree as either a radical, extremist, militant or perhaps event a would-be-terrorist. In turn, he calls himself a 'moderate' (again, whatever that means) which automatically catches the short attention span of the media. Through the use of these terms, he simplifies complex issues into these catchy punchlines. As a result, he is provided air time to speak about issues regarding Muslims and the media has very little idea (or seems like it) of how unrepresentative he is. In order to gauge how unrepresentative he truly is, one only needs to speak to every single MSA member on campus, members of ISNA (the largest Muslim organization in Canada), CAIR-CAN and many more. In this case, there is absolutely no doubt that Mr. Fatah does not have any clout in the community whatsover. If he would like to name these people as radicals, extremists, militants (again, whatever these mean) or whatever it may be, that is his own prerogative. Nevertheless, as with his other actions in the past in which he alienated himself from the majority of Muslims in Canada and how he alienated them from his arguments, his continued fear mongering and labelling/stereotyping of these people -- in this case, the members of the MSA and CAIR-CAN as extremists/radicals -- is in-line with his reputation. His attitude and opinion towards them are outright offensive. In a nutshell, who does he represent and why is he always in the media spotlight? I think the answers are pretty obvious even if I did explain it.

And as it relates to Shariah Law, that is something I do not want to speak on but rather have the MSA and CAIR-CAN do that. Clearly, Mr. Fatah already has an assumption of what the term 'Shariah Law' means and he totally ignores the complexity of this issue -- particularly, the differences of opinion about issues relating to it (in other words, it cannot be discussed as something monolithic). Once again, this is a pretty clear cut example as to why he has become a media darling and has isolated himself from large sectors of the Muslim community. This is exactly why he was not contacted for his involvement in the province wide initiative called Canadian Federation of Students Taskforce On the Needs of Muslim Students and others. Everything I am saying here is based from what I have learned from my involvement in these initiatives.

I hope that I am able to provide some clarification regarding what I know about him and his relationship with the Muslim community. But please, do not trouble yourself with whatever he may send you. If you have any concerns please do approach me Professor -----.

Sincerely,
Gabriel Galang