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<h1 class="title" id="page-title"><small>Artists alter Islamophobic ads
on SF buses, MUNI adds disclaimers</small></h1>
<div class="submitted"> <span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2012-08-18T16:15:58+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username" xml:lang=""
about="/users/nora" typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name">nora</span>
on Sat, 08/18/2012 - 16:15<br>
<small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/artists-alter-islamophobic-ads-sf-buses-muni-adds-disclaimers">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/artists-alter-islamophobic-ads-sf-buses-muni-adds-disclaimers</a></small></small><br>
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src="cid:part1.03070003.00030802@freedomarchives.org" alt=""
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<p>The original ad. (Photographer unknown)</p>
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<p>After artists altered the ad. (Photographer unknown)</p>
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<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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<p>Days after <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/hate-group-places-islamophobic-advertisements-san-francisco-buses">shockingly
racist and Islamophobic ads</a> started appearing on city buses in San
Francisco — paid for by a notorious anti-Muslim group led by notorious
racist <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/pamela-geller">Pamela
Geller</a> — anonymous artists wheatpasted over the ads with an image
of a hand and a stamp with the words “HATE SPEECH.”</p>
<p>Additionally, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority (SFMTA)
posted full-sized disclaimer placards on MUNI buses that carry the
Islamophobic ads. The disclaimer says that “SFMTA policy prohibits
discrimination based on national origin, religion, and other
characteristics, and condemns any statements that describe any group as
“savages.”</p>
<div class="media-image media-image-left"
style="width: 280px; float: left;">
<div id="file-21858" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg">
<div class="content"> <img typeof="foaf:Image"
src="cid:part3.05090607.09020400@freedomarchives.org" alt=""
height="137" width="244">
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<p>MUNI’s disclaimer, which is placed next to the racist ads.</p>
<span class="field-group-format group_credit credit">(<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/people/abclocalgocom"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">ABClocal.go.com</a>)</span></div>
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<p>As <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/zahra-billoo">Zahra
Billoo</a>, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/electronic-intifada-weekly-podcast-featuring-zahra-billoo-rise-islamophobia-us">on
The Electronic Intifada podcast this week</a>, MUNI made it clear “that
they would not be removing the ads,” because as vile as the message
was, “it was likely protected by the First Amendment.” However, the
community has mobilized and was in talks with MUNI and the SF Human
Rights Commission to determine the impact of the ads and how to move
forward. Earlier in the week, the SFMTA announced that the revenue from
the ads would be directed to the Human Rights Commission.</p>
<p>Pamela Geller and her group “thrives on lawsuits,” Billoo added.
“She goes from city to city, waiting for someone to turn her down, so
that she can sue them. She’s using lawsuits to essentially blackmail
other cities into submission.” After New York City’s transit agency
rejected the same ads, Geller filed a lawsuit and won a temporary
injunction last month when a federal judge ruled that Geller’s ads were
protected by the First Amendment.</p>
<p><span style="margin-left: -5px;" class="dquo">“</span>San Francisco
said, ok, we’re not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole,” Billoo
said. “We’ll give her the ad space. And so they caved because of the
fear [of a lawsuit].”</p>
<p>To hear more of our important interview with Zahra Billoo, <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/electronic-intifada-weekly-podcast-featuring-zahra-billoo-rise-islamophobia-us">listen
to our podcast</a>. </p>
<p>In other news, <a
href="http://gothamist.com/2012/08/16/islamophobic_billboard_at_metro-nor.php">The
Gothamist reported on a new ad</a> from Pamela Geller and her
Islamophobic hate group that turned up at the Hartsdale Metro-North
station in Hartsdale, New York. The poster reads, “19,250 Deadly
Islamic Attacks Since 9/11/01* (*And Counting)” and “It’s Not
Islamophobia, It’s Islamorealism.”</p>
<div class="media-image media-image-left"
style="width: 280px; float: left;">
<div id="file-21859" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg">
<div class="content"> <img typeof="foaf:Image"
src="cid:part4.06040101.08090906@freedomarchives.org" alt=""
height="201" width="201">
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<p>Geller’s new ad in New York.</p>
<span class="field-group-format group_credit credit">(<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/people/supertrampnyc"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">supertrampnyc</a>
/ <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/people/gothamist"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">The
Gothamist</a>)</span></div>
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<p>The Gothamist reported:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Naturally, this upsets a local Westchester politician.</p>
<p>Paul Feiner, the Greenburgh Town Supervisor, tells the Daily
Politics that he wants the MTA “to warn passengers that the ads could
be upsetting and don’t represent Metro-North’s views or that of the
community,” noting, “There are many Muslims residing in Greenburgh and
in our villages. They should not be discriminated against. the posters
encourage hatred, discrimination and do not help the efforts to fight
hate crimes.”</p>
<p>Feiner added that he wants the MTA to donate the ad profits to an
anti-discrimination campaign, “I feel it’s not a violation of free
speech for Metro North to put up a competing sign and it’s also not a
violation of free speech if they donate the profits to an
anti-defamation league or an organization that objects to hate crimes.
I feel that it should be clear that the people of Metro North and the
town do not support this message.”</p>
<p>The poster is from the American Freedom Defense
Initiative (from Pamela Geller), which complained about some Jewish
organizations criticizing the ads, “Look how tough these Jews are when
it comes to going after their own who are brave enough not to hide
behind the genocidal rhetoric of the annihilators. Are we to understand
that these liberal Jews sanction the jihad war on innocent civilians in
Israel?</p>
</blockquote>
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