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Orange County Weekly reports that "Bill Baker has resurfaced as a frequent guest speaker at Muslim functions across North America despite articles in OC Weekly in 2002 that outed the Laguna Hills resident as the former head of the neo-Nazi Populist Party and led to his ouster as a close associate to the Reverend Robert Schuller of Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral." (Thanks to Ruth King.)
He just won’t go away.Bill Baker has resurfaced as a frequent guest speaker at Muslim functions across North America despite articles in OC Weekly in 2002 that outed the Laguna Hills resident as the former head of the neo-Nazi Populist Party and led to his ouster as a close associate to the Reverend Robert Schuller of Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral.
Baker’s appearances are causing consternation, public recrimination and bad feelings wherever he goes. He spoke amid protests on Jan. 3 at "Reviving the Islamic Spirit," a conference attended by more than 7,000 people in Toronto, Ontario. The Toronto Star reported that Canadian Jewish Congress-led protesters cited the OC Weekly series as the basis for their descriptions of Baker as a professional anti-Semite, self-promoter and huckster. . . .
In 1984, Baker was national chairman of Costa Mesa-based Holocaust denier Willis Carto’s Populist Party, whose platform called for the repeal of U.S. civil rights laws. Baker now states that, although he planned his party’s national convention, he had no knowledge of its platform or ideology.
His topic in Toronto was "More in Common Than You Think," an attempt to gloss over deep historical and theological differences between Muslims and Christians. A similar talk at the Crystal Cathedral in 2002 left a group of moderate Christian pastors shaking their heads.
According to Toronto conference spokesman Jeewan Chanicka, Baker was recommended "as an individual working towards building bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities. His lectures . . . reflected nothing that could be considered racist or anti-Semitic. Because interfaith dialogue was a component of the conference, once we knew that he was nominated for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, we thought that he would be a good candidate at such a forum." . . .
A similar appearance by Baker at a Muslim conference in Florida last year produced an angry exchange between the Jewish human rights organization the Anti-Defamation League and the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). The latter organization published a letter from Baker claiming that "The so-called ‘quotes’ attributed to me [in OC Weekly] are pure, insulting, and outrageous lies."
Baker also spoke last October at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as a guest of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). His appearance drew protests from both students and the Philadelphia Jewish community. In the wake of that speech, embarrassed Muslim students exchanged visits and lectures with Jewish students, and their presidents, Muhammed Mekki and Jason Auerbach, signed the following joint statement published in the Daily Pennsylvanian:
"Hillel and the MSA reaffirm our commitment to unity and friendship. As we rediscover our common roots and our shared history, we urge all Penn students to follow our example in rising above perceived differences. Let us be proactive in building interpersonal relationships that, God willing, will further strengthen our unique Penn community and inspire peace in our world."
Contacted by the Weekly, Shaheen Kazi, MSA’s national manager, denied she’d ever heard of Baker, claimed her group would never knowingly invite a neo-Nazi and maintained that an independent chapter had booked his appearance. "We have so many MSAs that we can’t track every one," she said. "We would definitely take [Baker’s background] into consideration, and we would be inclined not to invite him in the future."
Baker’s influence extends to other pro-Arab outlets. The website for the pro-Palestinian magazine Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, widely regarded as representing the views of Saudi Arabia, offers a favorable review of Baker’s incoherent, anti-Semitic book, Theft of a Nation, which it sells for the discounted price of $12.
Hussam Ayloush, director of the California CAIR branch in Anaheim, says he’s heard Baker speak at many Islamic events—and Ayloush was loath to rebuke Baker. "His focus is that we all hold stereotypes—and that we shouldn’t feel threatened by knowledge or interaction," Ayloush said. "As a Muslim, I have been accused of so many things that I would be very hesitant and careful before condemning anyone."
You can read my own exchange with Hussam Ayloush here.
Posted by Robert at January 29, 2004 8:00 AM
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While this may indeed be true, I would want a reputable source. I wouldn't trust the OC Weekly to tell Me the weather.
Posted by: Former Californian at January 29, 2004 9:28 AMHappy to oblige:
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1431
Canadian Islamists host a neo-Nazi
by Daniel Pipes
WorldNetDaily.com
January 7, 2004
A just-finished, very large Islamist conference in Toronto (the Toronto Star says it attracted 7,000 participants) called "Reviving the Islamic Spirit" featured such stars of the Islamist circuit as Tariq Ramadan and Siraj Wahhaj. It also hosted a neo-Nazi named William W. Baker.
Baker was exposed in February 2002 in the Orange County Weekly in a major investigation by Stan Brin, titled "Hour of White Power: Reverend Robert H. Schuller relies on a man with ties to Neo-Nazis to build religious understanding." Brin established Baker's close ties to Willis Carto, the "dean of American neo-Nazi politics," and revealed Baker's many other insalubrious activities, including his chairmanship in 1984 of a neo-Nazi organization called the Populist Party. Soon after, the Crystal Cathedral's Schuller expelled Baker and cut all ties to him.
But the news has not gotten out. William W. Baker stills gets invited to – and paid by – reputable institutions. In October 2003, Campus Watch exposed Baker's presence at an event sponsored by the Muslim Student Association at the University of Pennsylvania.
As Jonathan Calt Harris noted, "Baker's selection as speaker is bad enough, but the use of university funds to pay for it is a scandal; the Office of the Chaplain and the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life helped MSA come up with nearly $5,000 for the week-long program," part of which money went to pay for Baker. Our expose prompted press coverage, red faces and lots of denials – but the talk went ahead as scheduled.
On Jan. 3, Baker appeared at the Toronto conference and delivered a talk titled, "More in common than you think." The Star archly characterized his presentation this way: "During his panel, which was to explore common ground between Islam and Christianity, Baker criticized Israel's treatment of Palestinians and asked audience members if they were willing to stand up and demonstrate for the Palestinian people."
We have some idea of the content of his talk because "More in Common Than You Think: The Bridge Between Islam & Christianity" also happens to be the title of Baker's 1998 book, which Stephen Schwartz characterizes as an attempt "to bring together fringe Christians and extremist Muslims."
The Canadian Jewish Congress protested William W. Baker's presence, but the Toronto Star reports this in the softest possible way, stating only that the CJC alleged Baker "been connected with American groups with a racist agenda."
The Star then provides this full-bodied – but duplicitous – quote from Jeewan Chanicka, the event's media-relations director: "We have no business being involved in inviting anyone who shares any agenda of hate and racism, because we don't find that to be anything within the realm of Islam or beliefs as Muslims, especially within the purpose of this conference, which is promoting a pluralistic Canadian society."
It also bears noting that such big-time authority figures as Toronto mayor David Miller, Toronto police chief Julian Fantino and Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli participated in the "Reviving the Islamic Spirit" conference, thereby giving it – and by implication, William W. Baker – their blessing.
As I wrote recently of a comparable case in Boston where politicians did favors for a radical mosque: "The moral of this too-oft-repeated tale is not hard to guess: politicians – and bureaucrats, journalists, clergy, academics, et al. – need to know an Islamic institution is clean of Islamist associations and intentions before endorsing it ... Good will and ecumenical intent cannot substitute for research."
Posted by: Robert Spencer at January 29, 2004 9:31 AMAh. WND is a only little more creditable. But, an article that Mr. Pipes signed his name to? I'll accept that.
Darn.
If all the other anti-semitic scum start coalescing, this might end up over in Jihadwatch. I would really NOT want to see the KKK or Aryan Nation armed with Pakistani nukes.
Posted by: Former Californian at January 29, 2004 5:17 PM
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