Ahmed Promotes Violent Hate Speech Against Congressman Raja
• At a recent protest (on 5/21/22) outside Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi’s District Office, Pieter Friedrich led a group of Junaid’s campaign staff and supporters in chanting “Nazi’s out, Raja must go” and “death to Krishnamoorthi.” The video can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q6uXSsRC3t02IEpLJjnRpQvzMAMZgJXE/view
• Instead of condemning the speech, Junaid repeatedly promoted the protest on social media (before, during, and after), its leader, Pieter Friedrich, and the hate speech used at the protest
Pieter Friedrich
• Pieter Friedrich is a highly controversial lifelong provocateur who spent much of his life as an anti-gay, anti-abortion advocate. He opposed gay marriage and said that gay rights and homosexuality should be illegal by default. (“08/25/2003: “Why I Hate Democracy”,” Pieter Friedrich, Deus Ego, 8/25/2013)
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o Specifically, he said: “as for ‘gay’ rights and abortion, those should never have become issues in the first place. The people and the representatives should be restrained by unchangeable laws from even messing with issues like those. Those things ought to be illegal by default.” (Ibid)
• In 2017 and as recent as 2020, Friedrich has led calls to tear down Gandhi statues, comparing them to Confederate Monuments (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fclbrN72ctE)
• Various reporters and intelligence experts question his source of income and affiliations (Michael Rubin, Washington Examiner, 2022)
6/2/2022
“I know Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi to be an outstanding Member of Congress and leader in our state. I was deeply disturbed that anti-gay and anti-abortion activist Pieter Friedrich used violent, extremist, and racist language toward Congressman Raja, and that his opponent, Junaid Ahmed, promoted Friedrich’s activities,” said IL Secretary of State Jesse White. “As an African-American who grew up in the Jim Crow era, I know what it’s like to have your motives unfairly questioned based on the color of your skin or where you were born. This form of stereotyping people of color and minorities, along with Friedrich’s vile rhetoric, have no place in the Democratic Party or in our broader political system, period. This is the Trump playbook, and we are much better than this.”
6/3/2022
“The days of people like Friedrich making threats against non-white people, especially because of the color of their skin, their religious affiliation, or their country of origin must remain behind us. To put it bluntly: saying ‘Nazis out, Raja must go’ and ‘Death to Krishnamoorthi’ is racist, bigoted, incendiary rhetoric that does not belong in our political or civic discourse. I condemn Pieter Friedrich and others who engage in bigoted extremist rhetoric, and I condemn Junaid Ahmed’s actions in continuing to promote Pieter Friedrich, this event, and sharing this hate speech publicly and on social media. In the strongest possible terms I urge all candidates for elected office to use your platform to unite us, not divide us, and to refrain from using hate as a means to scoring cheap political points.”
Can someone help me wrap my head around this Friedrich guy? It sounds like he’s targeting Krishnamoorthi for connections to Hindu nationalism (RSS = “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,” a Hindu nationalist party… but I have no idea how that applies to Krishnamoorthi)… but from a pro-Islam point of view? Huh? I feel like I am watching this from the perspective of a Martian and can’t parse it.
Comment by granville Friday, Jun 3, 22 @ 3:56 pm
So Ahmed is supposedly running to the left of Raja, and he’s associating with this guy? OK…
Comment by Ron Burgundy Friday, Jun 3, 22 @ 3:56 pm
Granville, this stuff isn’t coming through the lens of American politics. Hindu-Muslim relations have been complicated (to put it mildly) since India and Pakistan gained independence.
This is sad to see for obvious reasons. But more so because it threatens to undermine the amazing work that so many Asian elected officials have done to unite their communities to gain representation. This no-chance candidate is trying to stir up old sectarian hatred so he has a shot at 15% of the vote. It’s despicable.
Comment by vern Friday, Jun 3, 22 @ 4:12 pm
that has got to be the weirdest Democratic primary.
Comment by Amalia Friday, Jun 3, 22 @ 4:23 pm
===that has got to be the weirdest Democratic primary===
And yet it has flown completely under the media radar.
Also, vern, good stuff.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Jun 3, 22 @ 4:34 pm
I guess the Russians were too busy to interfere in this election so they sent the ISI. So bizarre.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Friday, Jun 3, 22 @ 4:41 pm
I don’t like throwing around words like “undercovered” but Asian political syncretism has been a fascinating development in Illinois. People whose origins are in countries thousands of miles away from each other have found common cause and gained meaningful representation because of it. From where we are now it seems natural to refer to one “Asian community” but this episode shows that it wasn’t inevitable. It was an impressive organizing feat.
Comment by vern Friday, Jun 3, 22 @ 4:43 pm