American Freedom Defense Initiative
The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) is part of the Counterjihad movement. It was founded by Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Anders Gravers, Richard Davis, and John Joseph Jay in May 2010.[1]
According to a New York Times report the AFDI also operates under the name Stop Islamization of America.[2]
The organisation has the stated goal of "going on the offensive when legal, academic, legislative, cultural, sociological, and political actions are taken to dismantle our basic freedoms and values."[3] The FDI was incorporated as a non-profit in 2010 in the State of New Hampshire.[4] The organization is registered at Robert Spencer's personal address, which is also the address for Jihad Watch and Stop the Islamization of America.[5] It manifests itself primarily through campaigns waged against Islam and individuals it targets as challengers to its goals for US domestic and foreign policy.
From the FDI's About Page:
- FDI acts against the treason being committed by national, state, and local government officials, the mainstream media, and others in their capitulation to the global jihad and Islamic supremacism, the ever-encroaching and unconstitutional power of the federal government, and the rapidly moving attempts to impose socialism and Marxism upon the American people.[3]
Contents
Activities
- Funding anti-Islam bus advertisements [6]
- Organizing anti-Islam protests and rallies[7]
- Sponsoring anti-Islam Conferences[8]
FDI CPAC Conference
On February 19, 2010 Geller and Spencer funded a conference entitled "Jihad: The Political Third Rail -- What They Are Not Telling You" sponsored by the FDI at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC.[9] According to Eli Clifton, topics covered by the speakers included "the usual set of Islamophobic rhetoric cloaked in selective quotations from the Koran" and 4 out of 8 of the speakers attended or were otherwise connected to the CounterJihad Europa 2007 conference in Brussels.[10] Clifton notes:
- This conference has received a great deal of attention because of its Nazi sympathizing hosts — Vlaams Belang — and the feud which erupted between Charles Johnson and fellow bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer when he called them out for associating with Nazi apologists.[10]
From the Conference Press Release:
- The conference is designed to speak the truths that others will not speak. It will educate Americans about the Muslim Brotherhood's infiltration at the highest levels of the U.S. government, as well as its war on free speech: its attempt to silence and discredit those who speak up against the jihad and Sharia encroachment in the West. Emphasis will be on the international character of the jihad against the West and on how the Islamic war on free speech (and the media's self-imposed blackout on this issue, as in the Fort Hood massacre) is part and parcel of the same jihad against the West that terrorists are pursuing by violent means.[9]
Conference Speakers
- Pamela Geller | Robert Spencer | Wafa Sultan | Steve Coughlin | Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff | Anders Gravers | Simon Deng | Allen West
No Mosque at Ground Zero Rally
In June 2010 the FDI hosted a rally in New York City against the Cordoba House Initiative.[11] Participants were photographed holding signs equating Islam with terrorism and the speaker list included Geller and Spencer, as well as Jay Townsend, Anders Gravers, Jim Lafferty, and Pamela Hall.[12] The FDI reports another anti-Cordoba House rally on the anniversary of 9/11 with "confirmed speakers" including: Newt Gingrich, John Bolton and Andrew Breitbart.[13]
Mohammed cartoon contest
In May 2015 AFDI hosted a 'Muhammad Art Exhibit' in Garland, Texas, at which Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders spoke and organisers planned to award a $10,000 prize for the 'best caricature of the Prophet Muhammad'. Two armed men believed to have been attempting to kill those inside the building were shot and killed by police outside the event.[14]
People
FDI's incorporation signatories
Funders
Largely unknown, one of the few recorded donations was $5000 in 2010 from the Alan and Hope Winters Family Foundation.
- Jewish Communal Fund - gave 70,000 USD to the AFDI in 2013 and 30,000 in 2012. [15]
- Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego
- Mz Foundation displays AFDI's logo on its grantees page although the exact sums are unknown.
Contact details
- 7 Colby Ct. #7213
- Bedford, New Hampshire 03110
- Website: http://freedomdefense.typepad.com/
External Resources
- Richard Bartholomew Bolton and Boykin Back Geller Bartholomew's Notes on religion Posted on August 5, 2011, accessed 11 August 2011.
Notes
- ↑ American Freedom Defense Initiative, Articles of Agreement of a New Hampshire Non-Profit Corporation, 4 May 2010.
- ↑ Anne Barnard and Alan Feuer, Outraged, and Outrageous, New York Times, 10 October 2010.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Freedom Defense Initiative, "About", FDI Website, accessed on 21 August 2010
- ↑ American Freedom Defense Initiative, Articles of Incorporation for American Freedom Defense Initiative, Scribd, accessed on 21 August 2010
- ↑ Bill Warner, Stop the Islamization of America group refused US government trademark bloggers Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller shut out again/, Bill Warner Private Detective (blog), 15 May 2010
- ↑ http://freedomdefense.typepad.com/photos/bus_ads/index.html
- ↑ http://freedomdefense.typepad.com/fdi/fdi-action/
- ↑ http://freedomdefense.typepad.com/fdi/fdi-at-cpac/
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 FDI, FDI at CPAC, FDI Website, accessed on 21 August 2010
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Eli Clifton, [CPAC’s Third Rail http://www.lobelog.com/cpacs-third-rail/], LobeLog, 19 February 2010
- ↑ 911 Ground Zero Mosque Rally, "No Mosque at Ground Zero Rally", No Mosque at Ground Zero Website, accessed on 21 August 2010
- ↑ No Mosque at Ground Zero June 6 Rally, No Mosque at Ground Zero Website, accessed on 21 August 2010
- ↑ "911 Ground Zero Mosque Rally", FDI Website, accessed on 21 August 2010
- ↑ Liam Stack, Texas Police Kill Gunmen at Exhibit Featuring Cartoons of Muhammad, New York Times, 3 May 2015
- ↑ IRS 990s 2013 and 2012
