Muslim civil rights group calls for federal probe into ‘whether any laws were violated,’ urges policymakers, media outlets to ‘never again give credence to the hateful, dishonest attacks leveled against Linda Sarsour’ and other civil rights activists
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/18/2022) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today responded to a major report in the New York Times revealing how Russia targeted prominent American Muslim activist and community leaders Linda Sarsour and the historic Women’s March with an online smear campaign designed to benefit Donald Trump.
CAIR said the “federal government should investigate this conspiracy to determine whether any laws were violated.”
The New York Times article states in part:
“The weekend before, she had stood in Washington at the head of the Women’s March, a mobilization against President Donald J. Trump that surpassed all expectations. Crowds had begun forming before dawn, and by the time she climbed up onto the stage, they extended farther than the eye could see…
“More than 4,000 miles away, organizations linked to the Russian government had assigned teams to the Women’s March. At desks in bland offices in St. Petersburg, using models derived from advertising and public relations, copywriters were testing out social media messages critical of the Women’s March movement, adopting the personas of fictional Americans.
“They posted as Black women critical of white feminism, conservative women who felt excluded, and men who mocked participants as hairy-legged whiners. But one message performed better with audiences than any other.
“It singled out an element of the Women’s March that might, at first, have seemed like a detail: Among its four co-chairs was Ms. Sarsour, a Palestinian American activist whose hijab marked her as an observant Muslim.
“Over the 18 months that followed, Russia’s troll factories and its military intelligence service put a sustained effort into discrediting the movement by circulating damning, often fabricated narratives around Ms. Sarsour, whose activism made her a lightning rod for Mr. Trump’s base and also for some of his most ardent opposition.”
New York Times: How Russian Trolls Helped Keep the Women’s March Out of Lock Step
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/18/us/womens-march-russia-trump.amp.html
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Nihad Awad said:
“Every American should read today’s New York Times article, which reveals that the Russian government spent years systematically targeting Linda Sarsour with Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism on social media in order to undermine the Women’s March, protect President Trump and further polarize our society.
“By creating and elevating racist, Islamophobic posts about things that Linda never said or did, the Russian government easily manipulated social media and bolstered the efforts of pro-Trump extremists on the right and anti-Palestinian extremists on the left who wanted to smear and silence Linda because she is a prominent Muslim, Palestinian female activist who has spoken out against injustice here and abroad.
“We cannot let this happen again. The federal government should investigate this conspiracy to determine whether any laws were violated. In the meantime, policymakers, activists and media outlets must never again give credence to the hateful, dishonest attacks leveled against Linda Sarsour and so many other civil rights and human rights activists inside and outside the Muslim and Palestinian communities.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Coordinator Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com