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Phoenix College Buckles to Anti-Muslim Pressure PDF  | Print |  E-mail
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By Michael Gillespie

for The Independent Monitor

Marwan Ahmad is no stranger to controversy, and he’s not a man who takes the responsibilities of citizenship lightly or surrenders his First Amendment rights because exercising them occasionally proves to be inconvenient.  The 42-year-old publisher is proud of his citizenship and his professional accomplishments.  He has every right to be.  Ahmad earned the right to call himself an American, studying for the exam and becoming an American citizen in 2000. “The day I passed the test and became an American citizen is one of the proudest days of my life,” said Ahmad. Ahmad’s family is originally from Palestine.  He came to the USA from Qatar when he was 17 years old.  He doesn’t flaunt it, but talk with him for half an hour and it becomes apparent that he is as knowledgeable about his adopted country’s history, culture, and politics as many Americans who were born here and have lived here all their lives.Ahmad, who attended both the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, graduated from the with a degree in Computer Information Systems in 1991.  Today, he is responsible for three publications, two community newspapers, The Arab Voice and The Muslim Voice, and an annual directory, the Multicultural Yellow Pages, with a total circulation of about 20,000.Ahmad, who is married and has three sons, takes an active role in community life.   “Service, giving something back to the community, is important,” said Ahmad, who has served on the Phoenix Human Relations Commission. Some people and some ethnic groups fear the growing political influence of other ethnic groups and more recent immigrants.  One such group has targeted Ahmad.  He’s been singled out for criticism and abuse by ardent Zionists who support and defend Israel, right or wrong.  They began their campaign against Ahmad and his publications years ago, but since the genocidal Israeli attack on the captive civilian population of Gaza in December and January, Zionist propagandists in the USA display signs of increasing desperation as public opinion here turns against Israel and those who support that country’s crimes and excesses.  In an effort to shift attention away from war crimes committed by Israeli military forces, Zionists here have ratcheted up their efforts to marginalize and discourage politically active Arabs, especially Palestinians, and Muslims.  In Arizona, their chief complaint against Ahmad has long been that he did not include enough information about Israel in the Multicultural Yellow Pages.  For that supposed crime, Zionists have sought to smear Ahmad as an anti-Semite.In an April 1 article in the Sonoran News, which describes itself as “the Conservative Voice of Arizona”, Linda Bently took the Zionist campaign of character assassination against Ahmad to new depths.  It wasn’t enough to characterize him and his publication as anti-Semitic without a shred of evidence to support that false charge.  Bently approvingly quoted an e-mail from alumnae Sara Fryd to Phoenix College President Anna Solley.  The subject line of Fryd’s e-mail asked, “Why is Phoenix College using tax dollars & alumni contributions to support terrorists?” Fryd was responding to an e-mail that Solley had sent in reply to a complaint by Jeremy Marwil about Phoenix College advertising in the Multicultural Yellow Pages.  Solley had written to Marwil saying, “In the upcoming month, the Phoenix College International Student Center will be reviewing all of their advertising and will meet with the PC Marketing and Public Relations Department for assistance in the completion of an international advertising plan. With the recognition that the Multicultural Yellow Pages does not serve all of the Middle Eastern-American community, we plan to search for a publication that will serve a more diverse population, or if none is found, we plan to identify a local publication that targets the Jewish community.”Such a solution did not suit the Zionist ideologues.Fryd swiftly reacted with a blatant attempt to intimidate the Phoenix College president by comparing her to Adolph Hitler.  She wrote to Solley declaring, “Your response to Mr. Marwil was not only insufficient, it was insulting to all Jews. … My parents, who came to Phoenix in 1951 … were Holocaust survivors – so am I; I am an alumnus of Class of 1965; received two scholarships at graduation; I was the first person in my family lucky enough to go to college – Hitler denied my parents that right. … And you think we’re all pissed because you didn’t include Jewish publications in your advertising? And we’ll be quiet if you advertise in Jewish publications? A lot’s happened since I was a student 1963-1965. Phoenix College is now a school that teaches anti-Semitism openly while the president nicely explains it away. You’ve come a long way. Hitler did the same thing,” wrote Fryd.  Marwil’s and Fryd’s goal has nothing to do with improving relations between various ethnic communities or promoting higher education, freedom of information, or freedom of speech.  It has everything to do with intimidating and silencing anyone who dares to depart from the compulsory Zionist program of abject obeisance to Israel and obedience to the arbitrary dictates of the leaders of Zionist organizations in the USA.  That is un-American; such actions are contrary to the core principles upon which our nation was founded.Ahmad chooses not to lend dignity to the suggestion that he is a terrorist by responding to Fryd’s defamatory slur.  He recognizes it for what it is, yet another example of hyperbolic hate speech that reveals far more about the fanatics who spew the hurtful lies than about the objects of their pathological paranoia and abuse.Ahmed notes that he is not anti-Jewish.  The issue, he says, is Israel.   “I list three Jewish holidays in the publication.  It’s not about Judaism.  It’s about Israel.  Unfortunately, many people can’t distinguish between them,” said Ahmad. Ahmad also notes that he has actively sought to include organizations and communities that are neither Arab or Muslim in his publication, too often to no avail.“Anybody can advertise in my directory,” said Ahmad.“Years ago I contacted the local chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice and invited them to advertise in my publication.  But they refused.” said Ahmad.  The National Conference for Community and Justice, or NCCJ, was formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews.  The organization’s leadership changed the name some years ago, presumably in an effort to address perceptions that the name represented an attitude toward community relations that was exclusive rather than inclusive.  NCCJ’s Des Moines, IA office was forced to close after local Zionist leaders and some Jewish organizations withdrew financial support for the organization.  Des Moines NCCJ’s crime against Zionist hegemony?  A young NCCJ staffer agreed to place a poster in the NCCJ office window advertising a film festival in Ames, IA sponsored by the Ames Public Library and the Ames Interfaith Council in 2003.  The film festival featured some films by Palestinian directors.  For that, a poster in the office window, Zionist leaders shut down Des Moines NCCJ.  Word gets around.The Independent Monitor contacted Phoenix College president’s office with questions about the controversy and spoke with Eileen Archibald, executive assistant to Solley, on April 14.  Asked why Phoenix College made the decision to stop advertising in the Multicultural Yellow Pages after 11 years, Archibald first cited economic reasons.  “The decision was made largely due to our economy right now and we were reviewing all of our marketing practices and that was one of the things we decided we could do better.   We don’t have the money to advertise in all the diversity publications there are here in the valley,” said Archibald.The Independent Monitor called Archibald’s attention to a statement Solley made to the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix Online and cited by associate editor Deborah Sussman Susser in an April 10 article titled “Phoenix College pulls ads from publication that omits Israel”.Solley’s statement explicitly mentioned her appreciation of Marwil’s concerns and noted that, “Phoenix College does not teach nor support anti-Semitism, and we are no longer placing ads in the Multicultural Yellow Pages,” strongly suggesting a basis in fact for Marwil’s false charge that Ahmad’s publication is tainted by anti-Semitism.
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