A ‘Draw Mohammed Day’ event hosted by the SFU Sceptic Society devolved into a shouting match between Muslim and non-Muslim students on Thursday May 20.
The event was intended to protest Comedy Central’s censoring of a recent episode of South Park that depicted the Prophet Mohammed. However, the event quickly turned from a discussion about free speech and censorship into a fight about Islam.
“This has been the Society’s first time addressing Islam and the results have been startling,” said George Parker, President of the SFU Sceptic Society.
At one point a group of 50 to 60 students formed. Parker described them as “Muslim students and [non-Muslim] people who were very ignorant and discriminatory—all of them expressing their opinions loudly, and none of them focusing on the idea of free speech and censorship.”
The conflict escalated when a number of people showed up to the event and drew images of terrorism, the abuse of women, and other images associated by some with Islam. Members of the Sceptic Society, who criticized the drawings, quickly realized their predicament.
“I can understand people who aren’t familiar with our club thinking we were endorsing hateful messages because a lot of people showed up to the event claiming they were supporting us but were instead saying hateful, racist and derogatory things” Parker told The Ubyssey.
“I’ve been doing all day is sending off e-mails to groups such as the MSA and The Peak newspaper. I’d like to give a huge apology to [those affected],” said Parker.
In the past, the Society has held similar events that poke fun at topics such as Christianity and homosexuality.
“Muslims are a very particular ethnic group minority in Canada [while] Christianity is more of an ideology. When you criticize an ideology you are criticizing ideas but when you criticize Islam it comes off as racism,” he argued.
Former president of SFU’s Muslim Student Association, Sana Siddiqui, said the event proved that “there is a lot of prejudice against Muslims on campus and in the larger community.”
At one point a group of students in hijabs (veils) visiting the booth were allegedly called ‘Hitlers’. Siddiqui said the event created a “climate where you didn’t feel safe and connected but isolated as a Muslim”.
The Society had started experiencing bad publicity in the days leading up to the event. A member of the Sceptic Society told The Ubyssey that hateful and racist advertisements were posted on campus by an unknown person or group.
Similar events were held across college campuses in North America, with varying results. The Atheist, Humanist, and Agnostic group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison posted stick figure depictions of the Prophet Mohammed throughout campus. The Muslim Student Association, in hot, comical pursuit followed behind, drawing boxing gloves on the hands of the stick figures, turning Draw Mohammed Day into Draw Mohammed (Ali) Day.
The MSA remains willing to work with non-discriminatory clubs on campus. “We would like to work with the Student Society and others on campus to create an environment where all students feel safe and welcome” Siddiqui told the The Ubyssey.
But for Parker, this may be the end.
“I might stop talking about Islam altogether. It’s just impossible to talk about right now,” he said before heading off to send out more reconciliatory e-mails.
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