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 glitch. 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 would just like 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 a genuine communication with
them.
As it relates to the Muslim
community, the media has 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 which creates a lot of tension within the
Muslim community and opens it to further attacks and hostilities
such as 'Islamophobia'. He labels anyone that disagree with him
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 what otherwise are 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 it is assumed so) 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 who hold an extremely broad
representational base -- is in-line with his reputation. His
attitude and opinion towards them is 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 regarding many issues relating to it.
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 other initiatives. Everything I am saying here
are 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. Nevertheless, if
you have any concerns please do approach me Professor -----.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Galang
