IslamAnti-Islamic posters to be displayed on NYC buses, subway stations
An advocacy group has purchased $100,000 worth of advertising space on a hundred New York City buses and two subway stations to display anti-Islamic messages and images. The campaign features six posters, including one of James Foley, the American journalist beheaded by ISIS in August, and another of Adolf Hitler. In 2012 the MTA rejected the group ad purchase, but a court ruled that the posters were “political” in nature, and therefore covered by the First Amendment.
Pamela Geller with a poster from her previous campaign // Source: youm7.com
Activist Pamela Geller’s advocacy group American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) has purchased $100,000 worth of advertising space on a hundred New York City buses and two subway stations to display anti-Islamic messages and images. The campaign features six posters including one of James Foley, the American journalist beheaded by ISIS in August, and another of Adolf Hitler.
According to the Guardian, AFDI sought to display similar posters in New York subway stations in 2012, but the New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) rejected the purchase. A court then ruled that the posters were “political” in nature, and therefore covered by the First Amendment.
The new campaign includes some of the original posters and is scheduled to launch on 29 September.
“We review every viewpoint ad,” said Kevin Ortiz, deputy director of external communications at the MTA “but a series of court rulings have made clear that our hands are largely tied.”
MTA is concerned that Geller’s posters will provoke some residents of New York City, leading them to retaliate. Adam Lisberg, spokesperson for the MTA, recently announced that one of the posters submitted by AFDI was rejected by the MTA’s safety and security director because it had the potential to “imminently incite or provoke violence.”
In 2012, Mona Eltahawy, the Egyptian-American activist and writer, was charged with “criminal mischief” after spray painting over the posters. Four other people were arrested the same year for defacing the posters with stickers.
The Arab-American Association of New York says that the new campaign will cause more anti-Muslim hate crimes. Linda Sarsour, executive director of the organization, points out that anti-Muslim hate crimes are up 143 percent since 2013, according to the New York Police Department’s hate crimes task force. “The question here is what could be the consequences of these ads going up at a time like this,” Sarsour said. “We have ignorant people walking around who are waiting to act on their hatred for Muslims. We don’t need ads across New York City that try to link Islam and Isis.” Sarsour was herself the target of a hate crime earlier this month, after being chased by a man who threatened to behead her on a New York City street.
Since AFDI’s 2012 campaign, the MTA has updated its advertising standards to require political advertisements to display the words “this is a paid advertisement sponsored by [sponsor]. The display of this advertisement does not imply MTA’s endorsement of any views expressed.”
On the decision to reject one of Geller’s posters, Lisberg told the Guardian: “We make these decisions in a content-neutral way. We have narrowly drafted our advertising standards because of the First Amendment considerations involved.”
