PRA In The News

Senior Analyst Chip Berlet was in great demand after the bombing and shooting in Oslo this summer.  He was published in the New York Times in July as one of a number of prominent debaters on the topic “Will the Norway Massacre Deflate Europe’s Right Wing?” on the Times’ Room for Debate.  His article, Culture Warriors, argues that Breivik is unaffiliated with fundamentalist Christians and neo-Nazis per se, and rather a right-wing populist crusader against “multiculturalism” and other threats to Western Christian civilization.

The Thom Hartmann radio program featured Chip’s expertise in July for an hour about the link between Norway’s Christian terrorist and U.S. right-wing ideology.
He was also interviewed on an August Between the Lines Radio program, Norwegian Anti-Islamic Mass Murderer Influenced by American Christian Right Extremists, which addressed Andres Breivik’s fear of “Islamization” of Norway and Europe and its ties to many U.S.-based right-wing Christian activists’ anti-Muslim hatred.

PRA’s Senior Researcher Pam Chamberlain was also interviewed in response to the Oslo tragedy in July.  She spoke with Jim Brown of The Current on CBC radio for “Ideological Architects,” about the writers, academics, and philosophers quoted by Breivik, and whether in such cases writers should be considered responsible for the actions of others.

Pam also spoke with Amanda Marcotte on the RH Reality Check program on RealityCast radio.  “Terrorism in Norway, Anti-Contraception Sentiment in the U.S.” explored Breivik’s views on women’s rights and reproductive rights and how they contributed to his violence.

PRA’s Civil Liberties Project Director Thom Cincotta’s work from 2010 is continuing to be relied upon in the press.  New American Media.org and the San Jose Bee both published articles in July about the San Jose, CA police department’s possible participation in the federal government’s Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) program. 

Raj Jayadev wrote about the controversy surrounding this decision and drew upon Cincotta’s report Platform for Prejudice: How the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative Invites Racial Profiling, Erodes Civil Liberties, and Undermines Security.  He quoted Platform contributor Hamid Khan (executive director of the South Asian Network) and noted the main findings of the report.

Thom’s second report for PRA, Manufacturing the Muslim Menace: Private Firms, Public Servants, & the Threat to Rights and Security, has continued to make headlines and serve as a resource for journalists since its publication in March. CNN’s “‘Ex-Terrorist’ Rakes in Homeland Security Bucks” exposed more of the controversial figure Walid Shoebat, one of the “expert” speakers for police and Homeland Security counter-terror training courses that Cincotta documented in his report.  These trainings proliferate anti-Muslim among law enforcement and are partially funded by federal tax dollars.  The CNN piece was originally aired on Anderson Cooper’s “360,” whose Special Investigative Unit used PRA as a key resource for their report.

Chris Hedges also wrote about Walid Shoebat in Your Taxes Fund Anti-Muslim Hatred for Truthdig.org, interviewing Thom at length about the rise of anti-Muslim hatred since 9/11 and how it is perpetuated by news personalities, politicians, supposed “experts,” law enforcement and intelligence officials, and members of the Christian Right.

Fall 2011
Volume 10, Number 2

In This Issue:

• Reflections On The Last Thirty Years
• From the Executive Director
• Celebrating PRA's Thirtieth Anniversary
• PRA in the News
• Download PRAccess (PDF)