Protesting anti-Islamic speakers Pam Geller and Robert Spencer at Temple University

in front of auditorium
Pam Geller was the organizer for the anti-Cordoba House Park51 community center in New York City as the property owners intend to include a prayer room with the structure. Geller and many other right-wingers protested that the "mosque" was "at Ground Zero." Actually, it'll be two blocks away and let's be clear, two blocks in New York City is a pretty fair distance. The planned community center is by no means going to be a "looming presence" as, say, a Disney attraction at the Gettysburg battlefield would be.

Geller came to speak at Temple University on Thursday, the 7th of October. Folks might remember that this is the second time that Temple has invited a speaker who was openly hostile to Islam. The first was Geert Wilders just about a year ago.

crowd
A buddy of mine got inside and told me that there were about 70 audience members. The 10 security people inside didn't have much to do. He stated that Robert Spencer was a very smooth, practiced and on-the-ball speaker. Ms. Geller? Not so much. He found their case against an aggressive Islam trying to conduct jihad against America to be a pretty unconvincing one. They were unable to show that anti-American sentiment was widespread among Muslims or that al Qaeda represents any sort of serious movement among Muslims.

Crowd chanting (Flash video)

speaker
Head of Temple University Socialist's organization makes the point that Temple does not provide pro-Islamic speakers to counter the anti-Islamic speakers.

From Fight Back News:

The wave of Islamophobia being stirred up against the proposed Islamic Center at Park51 in Lower Manhattan and Islamic institutions and people around the country has poisoned our nation’s climate. We feel we cannot remain silent and surrender the streets of New York City to the forces of hate and bigotry on this day. We must offer an antidote to this poison.

Jewish speaker
Student from the National Lawyer's Guild tells us how important it is to fight Islamphobia.

More chanting (Flash video)

Thankfully:

Jewish groups have stepped up efforts to combat anti-Muslim bigotry, with several national initiatives announced this week and supporting statements coming in from a range of Jewish voices.

In Washington, officials from several Jewish organizations took part Tuesday in an emergency summit of Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders that denounced anti-Muslim bigotry and called for a united effort by believers of all faiths to reach out to Muslim Americans.

testimony
There were several members from Delaware Valley Veterans for America and from Philly Against War present at the rally. We (Your reporter is a member of both) recently took part in the Break the Siege of Gaza fundraiser to take part in the launching of the good ship Audacity of Hope.

Update:
your author
Your author puttering around with his camera. Buddy from DelValVets Bill Perry put this and a whole group of other photos on his Facebook page.