Media to blame for anti-Muslim crimes

We wish we could say that we are surprised at the recent London Ont., terror incident, however the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War has been warning, for the past 20 years, about the dangers posed to our society by the permanent condition of the “War on Terror,” initiated by former U.S. president George W. Bush in 2001.

It is time to recognize that successive Canadian governments and the corporate media apparatus have consistently promoted war and violence, based on disinformation such as weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and blanket slander of whole countries like Syria or Libya as an acceptable tool for remaking whole countries and regions.

But at the same time they have supported, and have had close relations, trade and military sales with some of the biggest human-rights violators in the world, such as Saudi Arabia and other conservative Gulf autocracies. This has helped to put hostile Islamophobic ideas inside vulnerable minds, especially in a time when social instability and institutions are fraying apart, when the march of progress has seemingly ended, when people have nothing to look forward to other than war, cutbacks and joblessness.

Misguided individuals will use harmful ideas influencing them such as: Muslims are dangerous, killing is acceptable and violence will be rewarded, and put them into practice. They are following a template that has been created for them. Islamophobia must be combated.