Why AIFD provides the “Arizona Islamist Media” Reports

Providing an information service and stimulating debate within our local Arabic and Muslim community In our ﾓArizona Islamist Mediaﾔ reports we are disseminating articles and opinions from the Arab Voice and the Muslim Voice. We do this not to stifle freedom of speech which we most certainly defend as a core right guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution. Rather, we are widely disseminating this information to make sure that our fellow Arabic and Muslim community members are fully aware of the type of ideology being distributed by our businesses and places of worship under the guise of the only cultural newspapers. As the only newspapers in our community, they become whether we like it or not representative of the type of newspaper our community supports, endorses, and distributes. AIFD was founded as an organization based upon the consistency of the separation of religion and state within our faith of Islam. So certainly, following local media organs which embody the very ideology (islamism) with which we disagree is natural in an open debate no different than any ideological antagonists would do in a free society. However, more importantly, the extremism and tenor of some of the ideologies presented on the pages of the Arab voice and the Muslim voice make it necessary that our community fully understand what is being distributed as the only media ﾑcommunityﾒ organ of American Arabs and American Muslims in the Valley. We certainly defend Breek Publishingﾒs right to freedom of speech as we do all of its sponsors and distributors. But, perhaps its sponsors or distributors are not aware that an advertisement or shelf space for distribution is a clear tacit endorsement of the acceptability of the ideology. Certainly, advertisers and distributors need not agree with all of the ideas presented in a newspaper, but when the paper travels into the distant margins whether far to the left or far to the right from mainstream America it becomes a real liability for all of its sponsors. Perhaps, the vast majority of these businesses are not aware of how extremely leftist and Islamist these publications remain. Many businesses and places of worship utilize these publications to contact the cultural and Muslim community since they are the only game in town. Perhaps some awareness of the liability of these publications will awaken some in the community to provide other community newsletter options which are free of politics and free of radical leftists and Islamist ideology. The Arabic writers of the Arab voice depend on the fact that few mainstream Muslims or Arabs or other Arizonans read this and obtain great comfort from its dissemination in a foreign language. We just cannot believe that our Arabic and Muslim communities are fully aware of the ideology of these newspapers. Some may say that these reports are ﾑpolicingﾒ or censoring free speech. Quite the contrary, we are not asking that Breek Publishingﾒs right to publish or distribute be changed. In fact we defend it. Rather, we are simply exercising our own right to free speech in order to finally open the long overdue debate concerning whether Marwan Ahmed and Breek Publishingﾒs material actually represents our community.