Following up on my earlier post about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modiâs invitation to speak at the conference of the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL, tipster Anuj G. alerts us to the fact that Chris Matthews of Hardball has canceled his speaking commitment after being pressured by Muslim groups. The New York Sun reports:
A prominent talk show host has canceled a speech to a conference of Indian-American hoteliers after coming under pressure from Muslim organizations and human-rights groups, who said another speaker invited to the meeting has a record of condoning anti-Muslim violence.
The host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” Chris Matthews, announced yesterday that he would not appear as planned on March 24 at the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“Due to a scheduling conflict, Chris Matthews has canceled this appearance,” an MSNBC spokesman, Jeremy Gaines, said. He would not elaborate on the nature of the conflict.
In recent days, Muslim activists and others flooded the network with calls, letters, and e-mail urging Mr. Matthews to distance himself from the group. An Indian official billed as the “chief guest” at the meeting, Narendra Modi, has been accused of tolerating anti-Muslim violence in the state of Gujarat, where he is chief minister.
The president of the Indian Muslim Council-USA, Dr. Ashwini Rao of New York, said he does not credit the official explanation for Mr. Matthews’s action. “Most likely, that’s not correct, because we’ve been talking to him for the last week and a half, at least, and they’ve never said it’s a scheduling conflict,” Dr. Rao said. “I was hoping he’d take a more moral stance.”
There is another interesting twist to this story however. Apparently the way the press found out that Matthews was backing out was via a PENTAGON mailing list. What the heck does the Pentagon have to do with Matthews and Modi?
In a bizarre and mysterious twist, some in the press corps learned of Mr. Matthews’s decision from a Council on American-Islamic Relations news release that was distributed to reporters yesterday via an e-mail list the Pentagon uses to circulate stories about the military.
The Pentagon later issued a statement calling the distribution unintentional and saying it had “taken steps to guard against a recurrence.”
A spokesperson for the Islamic group, Rabiah Ahmed, denied that her organization sent the message out through the Pentagon list. “We had nothing to do with it,” she said. “Apparently, somebody hacked into their computer system and sent out our press release on their listserv.”
In addition to having an invitation to speak at the AAHOA conference, Modi has also been invited to give a talk to the Association of Indian Americans for North America as shown in an email they have distributed:
Narendra Modi
Visionary & Dynamic young Leader of India
&
Lion of Gujarat
Madison Square Garden, New York City
The Theater
4 Pennsylvania Plaza
New York, New York 10001
212.465.MSG1 (6741)
Date: Sunday, March 20th 2005
Time 4:30 PM Onwards
For more information please contact: Tel: 732 246-1753
I have never heard of this Association of Indian Americans for North America and they have no website that I can find. DRUM might be organizing a protest against this event as well.
Finally, Trinity College Professor Vijay Prashad writes an insightful commentary on the CounterPunch.org website. Here is an excerpt:
Within AAHOA there is considerable diversity, between the members who own a single motel or else those who own what amounts to a chain. AAHOA’s president from a few years ago, Bakulesh “Buggsi” Patel is the chief of Buggsi Hospitality Group that owns at least thirteen hotels and is widely integrated in the property markets in Washington, Idaho and Oregon states. Patel told a business journalist, “Our members own 35 to 40 percent of all lodgings in the United States, and when you get into the mid-market to budget range, it’s more like 55 to 60 percent of the market.” Even with this clout, Patel continued, Asians faced discrimination, “In the beginning, we were stereotyped as bad operators. It was hard to get insurance for properties, and we faced discrimination from suppliers.” People like Patel formed AAHOA to fight against these forms of business discrimination, and to gain a higher profile for their work.
In 2000, at the height of his game, Patel told the journalist J. N. Shenoy that AAHOA had not “leveraged our strengths for political purposes.” Patel wanted to hire a full-time lobbyist in DC, who would get some respect for AAHOA’s over seven thousand members who own over $40 billion worth of real estate and dominate the sector used by most of us when we’re on the road. In early February of 2005, AAHOA went on a legislative field trip of Congress, meeting with members to ensure either funds or exemptions from the Americans with Disabilities Act, to protect access to the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) start-up funds, and the 504 program for long-term financing of fixed assets (along with fixed-rate second mortgages). In other words, like other business associations in these neo-liberal times, AAHOA wanted as much free money from the government and as little regulation as possible. For a group founded to fight discrimination, it is a scandal that it will not honor the Americans with Disabilities Act without question.
AAHOA realized Patel’s hope of having a politician bless the organization when newly minted Congressman Bobby Jindal (Republican-LA) addressed the field-trip in February 2005. But even this is not enough for a group that wants visibility. What better way to gain the public eye than welcome the butcher of Gujarat to be the chief guest at its next major event?
Update: Sepia Mutiny reader Ashwin correctly points out the following:
I have a couple of complaints about the NY Sun article :
1. The headline says “Matthews of ‘Hardball’ Retreats from Speech After Muslim Protest”. The Coalition Against Genocide which organised the protest (including the signing of this petition), is a much broader group with members of many religions (and no religion).
2. As far as i can tell Ashwini Rao is not the president of Indian Muslim Council-USA; but is, rather, associated with the CAG and INSAF (International South Asia Forum). Correct me if I’m wrong.
