Unity Productions, the co-producer of this documentary, at first look seemed to be the typical ‘progressive’, building-bridges liberals promoting Islam. However, after the screening, with a bit of research there were a few surprises. The New York screening on November 10, 2009, was at the Scholastic Auditorium ( described on-line as “combining corporate design and (and corporate sponsors) style with a touch of schoolhouse whimsy…”
So now we have the venue, but the title, “Inside Islam:What a billion Muslims Really Think”, was really all we needed to lure us downtown, to the wrong address thanks to the ticket agency, but in the company of other lost-patrons we managed to find our way to the screening . Thought this was going to be a quick evening, in and out, just another documentary promoting Islam (that misunderstood Religion of Peace).
The synopsis: Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, a new documentary film from Unity Productions Foundation, explores the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization.
Some thoughts we had regarding the film as well as statements made at the talkback :
The Gallup poll said no one they interviewed used the Quran as a reason for 9-11.
Terrorists hate us for our Freedom. Frustrated because they have no power only fear. Hate us because we meddle. They just want a Democracy. Unrelated to religion. Dislike that we treat them like children (referring to Iraq) When 9-11 happened Bloomberg’s Commissioner, Fatima Shama, and the female narrator in the film, Dalia Mogahed said they were so fearful the perpetrators might be Muslim.
Dahlia, also happens to promote Sharia (…says it’s misunderstood)
John Esposito had a lot of face time as well (director of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal center for Muslim-Christian understanding at Georgetown University.)
Fatima Shama was so thankful for Bloomberg’s administration and the diversity; the tolerance; his good example. Shama also quoted Obama (who had been at Ft. Hood that day) “No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor” . This of course brought self-congratulatory applause from the audience (which was white, Jewish, western-dressed Muslims, a few hijabs and blacks.) It seemed at a glance like more of the black women were in hijab compared to the others.
Vets and PTS were mentioned…of course….related to Ft. Hood. Stress of war…
LOTS of children through out the film. Always in prayer groups (a circle) reading happily the Quran
KKK, IRA, McVeigh…always get mentioned as examples of all religions and countries have terrorists
M.E.C.C.A. is an outreach organization in midtown Manhattan for Christian to Muslim converts (oh, my)
Change the Story, Intersections, something called 20,000 dialogues were all about talktalktalking. We can make peace happen if we would just talk. Talking means we would learn there is no reason to fear Muslims or Islam.
The review of the screening in Chicago was actually critical
BTW, the talk-back had implied they would be taking questions from the audience. That was so NOT on their agenda. An hour of tedious patting on the back from the producer and the director, Rob Gardner (Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain, Egypt: Quest for Immortality) on making this important film and then after about 15 minutes of let’s pretend that we’re finally taking questions (NOPE) back to long-winded speeches from the panelists. After about 80 minutes of this, we’d heard enough.
Here’s some info on the panelists:
Keynote Speaker
Alex Kronemer, Executive Producer & Co-Founder of UPF (bio)
The bio makes no mention of the fact that he’s a Muslim convert (which he goes in to detail here) but he made no mention of this during the talk-back.
Panelists
- Rev. Robert Chase - Intersections International and Change the Story.net
Intersections, is a new justice-based global initiative of the Collegiate Church of New York. Previously, Chase served as Director of Communication for the 1.2 million member United Church of Christ. (an apologist for Christianity)
- Shamil Idriss – Soliya has merged with the UN–established Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund.
Soliya on the Middle East
Our mission remains the same using new media technologies to foster cross-cultural understanding and the thousands of young alumni and volunteers who give life to our programs in 25 countries.
Mr. Idriss served as Executive Director of the Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund which merged with Soliya in 2009.On video re the Alliance of Civilizations:
In 2005 he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Deputy Director of the Alliance of Civilizations. He served on the Steering Committee of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and as COO of Search for Common Ground, a global conflict resolution organization. He is a member of the WEF’s Young Global Leaders and of the ASMA Society’s Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow.
- Fatima Shama - Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. As Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Commissioner Shama currently serves as Senior Education Policy Advisor in the Mayor’s Office, where she previously served as the Health Literacy and Language Access Coordinator.
Born in the Bronx to immigrant parents – her mother is Brazilian and her late father was “Palestinian” – (as she spoke….she was all about The Hair…no hijab for this one)
- Moderator – Zeba Iqbal - Muslim Public Affairs Council NYC. She is the Vice-Chair of CAMP International (Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals). Additionally, she was the conference manager for CAMP’s 2008 and 2009 conferences.
Found this interesting article she wrote about being Muslim and unmarried here>>
Click after click on the computer took us through the sponsors, the producers, the speakers (the film) and revealed a web of organizations deeply embedded in our schools and colleges. Ft. Hood has exposed, again, how seriously this indoctrination (this one-sided propaganda) has corrupted our schools, our libraries, our media and our military.
And just this week Columbia and Princeton have reinforced this one-sided non-critical revisionist view of the Islamic World History by refusing outright and shamelessly canceling last-minute the appearance of an “unapproved” speaker, Nonie Darwish.
Her list of ‘dangerous’ speakers includes(amongst many others) Geert Wilders, David Horowitz and Robert Spencer , who was assaulted this week while speaking at NYU.
(For the latest outrageous cancellations and assaults of these reputable and respected critics of Islam, go here> )
This screening and its sponsors’ have reinforced how critical our timing is with this relentless RE-’education’ of the West the doors to transparency are creeping shut. And those present at this screening are a microcosm of the machine that is responsible. We must not cease to expose Islam and to challenge these Islamic Revisionist lies.
Their man is in the White House so they confidently intimidate with accusations of hate-speech. Sadly, this censorship combined with our own self-censorship has gone deadly as the murders at Ft. Hood have revealed.
They own the message, for now, but we must NOT relent. Look for this film. It’ll be on PBS in February and probably in our schools and our libraries. FIGHT BACK . The books , their speakers and the films must be challenged. Demand the right to be heard. Our future depends on it.
Much more at the Silent Majority
H/T: David F.