David Horowitz Freedom Center

David Horowitz Freedom Center

Founded	1988
Founder	David Horowitz Peter Collier
Type	Conservative think-tank
Tax ID no.	95-4194642
Focus	Media
Location	14724 Ventura Blvd., S-820 Sherman Oaks, CA 91403[1]
Coordinates	34°09′05″N 118°27′16″W / 34.1514°N 118.4544°W / 34.1514; -118.4544
Area served	United States
Product	FrontPage Magazine
Key people	David Horowitz, Founder & CEO Peter Collier, Vice President of Publications Michael Finch, President
Revenue (2013)	$7,095,015[2]
Website	www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org
Formerly called	Center for the Study of Popular Culture

The David Horowitz Freedom Center, formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC), is a conservative^[3][4][5] foundation founded in 1988 by political activist David Horowitz and his long-time collaborator Peter Collier. It was established with funding from groups including the John M. Olin Foundation, the Bradley Foundation and the Scaife Foundation. It runs several websites and blogs, including FrontPage Magazine, Students for Academic Freedom and Jihad Watch. Both it and its Jihad Watch blog have been described as Islamophobic.^[6][7][8]

Mission and budget

The original intention of the CSPC was to establish a foothold in Hollywood, California. It was to serve as a platform for conservative speakers and debates between conservative and liberal speakers.

In 2003 Horowitz expanded the scope of the CSPC to include monitoring what CSPC views as an ingrained hostility towards conservative scholarship and ideas within academia. He established Students for Academic Freedom (SAF) to further that goal.

DHFC is a 501(c)(3) charity. In 2005 it had revenues of $4.9 million, expenses of $4.0 million, 8.4% of which was $336,000 compensation for David Horowitz.^[1] For 2008 the DHFC reported on IRS Form 990 revenues of $5,466,103 and expenses of $5,994,547 with total compensation to David Horowitz of $480,162 and to vice-president Peter Collier of $228,744.^[9]

Programs

The Center has the following ongoing programs.^[10]

• FrontPage Magazine^[11] – a political website edited by Horowitz with a focus is on issues pertaining to foreign policy, war, and terrorism.
• TruthRevolt – a news website edited by Mark Tapson^[12] whose mission is "to expose the leftist news media and to hold them accountable for their hypocrisy and bias."^[13]
• Discover the Networks^[14] – a database of alleged left-wing agendas, activists and groups. After two years of development, went online in February 2005, with a staff of two at a cost of about $500,000.^[15]
• Students for Academic Freedom^[16] – addresses issues of alleged liberal bias in American universities.
• Wednesday Morning Club – events with speakers ranging from former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Victor Davis Hanson, Wafa Sultan, General Georges Sada, Judge Charles W. Pickering, Dennis Prager, Shelby Steele, Melanie Morgan, Dinesh D'Souza, Dore Gold, Bruce Herschensohn, John O'Sullivan, George W. Bush (1999), Dick Cheney, Robert Bork, Representatives Tom DeLay and Henry Hyde, Senators Trent Lott, Bill Frist and Joseph Lieberman, Christopher Hitchens, Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and George Will.^[17]
• Jihad Watch (formerly Dhimmi Watch) – a blog run by blogger Robert Spencer^{[18][19][20][21][22]} which has been described as one of the main homes of the Counter-jihad movement on the internet.^[23]
• The Individual Rights Foundation^[24] – an organization of lawyers to fight "speech codes" and "political correctness" on campuses and elsewhere. Participated as an amicus curiae in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the successful defense of the Boy Scouts of America against the ACLU in the Supreme Court.^[25][26]
• Restoration Weekend – an annual conservative political activism conference and fundraising/networking event.

Heterodoxy was a news magazine published in a tabloid format by the center, edited by David Horowitz and Peter Collier. Its focus was said to be on exposing the excesses of "political correctness" on college and university campuses across the United States.^[27]

Funding activities

Between July 2000 and February 2006, the center (under its old name) was the sponsor of 25 trips by United States senators and representatives, all Republicans, to six different events. Total expenditures were about $43,000.^[28]

In 2014–2015, Horowitz provided $250,000 in funding to the Dutch right-wing nationalist Geert Wilders's Party for Freedom, possibly violating U.S. tax law.^[29][30][31]

Criticism

Part of a series on
Islamophobia
Issues Persecution of Muslims Islamophobia in the media Flying while Muslim Airport racial profiling in the United States Stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims in the United States Islamic scarf controversy in France Head rag tax Minaret controversy in Switzerland Counter-jihad Eurabia Quran desecration
Status by country Australia Bosnia and Herzegovina Canada China India Indonesia Myanmar Norway Sweden United Kingdom (and its Conservative Party (2016–present)) United States
Specific incidents 2017 Beckton acid attack Bijeljina massacre Bosnian Genocide Cave of the Patriarchs massacre Dove World Quran-burning controversy Expulsion of Muslims from the Northern province by LTTE 2017 Finsbury Park attack Foča massacres Flying imams incident Glogova massacre 2002 Gujarat riots The Holocaust Innocence of Muslims Jerry Klein's 2006 radio experiment Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy Kattankudy mosque massacre Lašva Valley ethnic cleansing Malmö Mosque Attacks 2016 Minneapolis shooting Murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi Murder of Marwa El-Sherbini Murder of Du'a Khalil Aswad 2013 Myanmar anti-Muslim riots Muslim Massacre: The Game of Modern Religious Genocide National Socialist Underground murders 2011 Norway attacks Omarska camp 2017 Portland train attack 2005 Quran desecration controversy Quebec City mosque shooting 2012 Rakhine State riots Sabra and Shatila massacre 1993 Solingen arson attack Srebrenica massacre
Organisations 969 Movement Bodu Bala Sena American Freedom Defense Initiative ACT! for America Australian Defence League David Horowitz Freedom Center Dove World Outreach Center English Defence League European Defence League Gatestone Institute Pegida Stop Islamization of America Stop Islamisation of Denmark Stop Islamisation of Europe Stop Islamisation of Norway
Media Atlas Shrugs FrontPage Magazine Jihad Watch Politically Incorrect The Rebel Media
Opposition Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism Islamophobia Watch Tell MAMA UK CAIR Muslim American Society Southern Poverty Law Center Muslims Condemn

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has described the Center as a far-right organization^[32] and anti-Muslim hate group.^[33][34] According to Horowitz, the SPLC's designation of his conservative think tank as a hate group resulted in his Freedom Center's donation processing system being blocked by Visa and Mastercard,^[35] in which he plans to "fight back" and "push for an investigation" against the SPLC and Visa and Mastercard.^[36]

Chip Berlet, writing for the SPLC, accused Horowitz of blaming slavery on "black Africans ... abetted by dark-skinned Arabs" and of "attack[ing] minority 'demands for special treatment' as 'only necessary because some blacks can't seem to locate the ladder of opportunity within reach of others,' rejecting the idea that they could be the victims of lingering racism."^[37] Responding with an open letter to Morris Dees, president of the SPLC, Horowitz stated that his reminder that the slaves transported to America were bought from African and Arab slavers was a response to demands that only whites pay blacks reparations, not to hold Africans and Arabs solely responsible for slavery, and that the statement that he had denied lingering racism was "a calculated and carefully constructed lie." The letter said that Berlet's work was "so tendentious, so filled with transparent misrepresentations and smears that if you continue to post the report you will create for your Southern Poverty Law Center a well-earned reputation as a hate group itself."^[38] The SPLC replied that they stood by the accuracy of the report,^[39] and subsequent critical pieces on Berlet and the SPLC have been featured on Horowitz's website and personal blog.^[40][41]

In a 2011 report, the Center for American Progress cited Horowitz as a prominent figure instrumental in demonizing Islam and spreading fear about an Islamic takeover of Western society.^[42] Horowitz responded, saying that the Center had "joined the Muslim Brotherhood".^[43]

The Anti-Defamation League wrote that Horowitz sponsors a college campus project that promotes anti-Muslim views and arranges events with anti-Muslim activists.^[44] The DHFC was also a sponsor of the 3 May 2015 Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in Garland, Texas,^[45] where two Muslim terrorist attackers were shot and killed by a school security guard.^[46]

References

External links

• David Horowitz Freedom Center website Official Website.
• Discover the Networks "Guide to the Political Left".
• NewsReal Blog Focused to "analyze and critique cable shows, newspapers, magazines, and the blogosphere to reveal the political Left's methods and agendas".
• Jihad Watch