Film Screening and Panel Discussion
In September 2008, 28 million copies of the award-winning film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” were distributed free of charge in newspapers across the United States, including the New York Times. The film’s central thesis is that Islamism poses an existential threat to the West: “As we sleep in the comfort of our homes,” warns the film’s website, “a new evil rises against us. A new menace is threatening, with all the means at its disposal, to bow Western Civilization under the yoke of its values. That enemy is Radical Islam.”
To support this conclusion, “Obsession” relies on many of the same claims that feature in the broader Western discourse on Islamism: that Islamists worldwide constitute a unified front with significant support from seemingly moderate Muslims in the West; that Islamists are motivated by an irrational hatred for Western and Judeo-Christian civilization; and that Islamism parallels Nazism.
Please join us at Noor for a screening of “Obsession” and an expert analysis of its main arguments by our distinguished panel:
Dr. Abigail Bakan: Queen’s University, Department of Political Studies
Dr. Robert Brym: University of Toronto, Department of Sociology
Dr. Richard Bulliet: Columbia University, Middle East Institute
Isabel Macdonald: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Moderated by Faisal Bhabha (Baker Law) and Azeezah Kanji (Noor Cultural Centre)
Date: December 14, 2008
Time: 2:00 – 5:00 pm
Location: Auditorium, Noor Cultural Centre
Admission: $5
For more information on “Obsession”, please see the film’s website at http://obsessionthemovie.com/index.php
Links to some responses to “Obsession”:
Jews on First. “Rebutting Obsession.” http://www.jewsonfirst.org/obsession/index.html
Imam Zaid Shakir. “Obsessed with Defamation and Slander.” http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/
Sheila Musaji. “In-Depth Summary & Analysis of ‘Obsession: Radical Islam’s War on the West.” http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles
Obsession with Hate. “Rebuttal of the Film, ‘Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.” http://www.obsessionwithhate.com/therebuttal.php
Omid Safi. “Who Put Hate in My Sunday Paper?” http://omidsafi.com/index.php
Panelists:
Dr. Abigail Bakan: Queen’s University, Department of Political Studies
Abigail B. Bakan is Professor of Political Studies and Women’s Studies at Queen’s University, where she teaches as a Queen’s National Scholar. She has written extensively in the areas of international political economy, critical race theory and the politics of development. Professor Bakan has published articles in numerous scholarly and popular journals, including Atlantis; Canadian Race Relations Reports; Directions; Public Policy; Science and Society; Studies in Political Economy; North/South; and Asian and Pacific Migration. She is also the author, co-author or editor of six books, including most recently Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System, which was awarded the 2007 Canadian Women’s Studies Association annual book prize for the Best Book in Women and Gender Studies in Canada.
Dr. Robert Brym: University of Toronto, Department of Sociology
Robert Brym studied in Canada and Israel and is now a professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. He won the 2007 Northrop Frye Award for excellence in fusing research with teaching, and in 2008 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His research focuses on the social bases of politics in Russia, Canada, and Israel. The author of eight books and about 100 scholarly articles, his work has been translated into half a dozen languages. With the assistance of a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, he is currently researching suicide bombers in Israel and Palestine.
Dr. Richard Bulliet: Columbia University, Middle East Institute
Richard W. Bulliet is Professor of Middle Eastern History at Columbia University where he also directed the Middle East Institute of the School of International and Public Affairs for twelve years. He is a specialist on Iran, the social history of the Islamic Middle East, and the 20th century resurgence of Islam. His most recent book before The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization (2004), a brief interpretation of the current crisis, was Islam: The View from the Edge,published in 1994. It presents an alternative interpretation of Islamic history emphasizing the role of religion as a social force. His op-ed pieces have appeared in Newsday, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Arizona Republic, L’Unitá (Italy), Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), and elsewhere. Recent news media appearances by Professor Bulliet include CNN International, The History Channel, National Public Radio, and Charley Rose.
Isabel Macdonald: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Isabel Macdonald is the Communications Director at the U.S. media watchdog group FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting). She is a co-author of FAIR’s recent report, “Smearcasting: How Islamophobes Spread Fear, Bigotry and Misinformation.” She has an MA in Communication and Culture from York University, and her research on the media has been published in the Canadian Journal of Communication, Journalism Studies, Media Development and in FAIR’s magazine Extra!