Lulu Schwartz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lulu Schwartz (born Stephen Schwartz, September 9, 1948) is an American Sufi[1] journalist, columnist, and author. She has been published in a variety of media, including The Wall Street Journal.[2] Schwartz worked as a senior policy consultant and held the role of director of "Islam and Democracy Project" at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a neo-conservative think-tank based in Washington, D.C.[3] She is the founder and executive director of the Washington, D.C.–based Center for Islamic Pluralism. In 2011–2012 she was a member of Folks Magazine's Editorial Board.[4]
Lulu Schwartz | |
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Born | Stephen Schwartz (1948-09-09) September 9, 1948 (age 75) Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, writer |
She has been an adherent of the Hanafi school of Islam since 1997.[1] Schwartz was a key figure in the neo-conservative movement that held considerable influence in the administration of George W. Bush.[5] Schwartz's criticism of Islamic fundamentalism, especially the Wahhabi movement within Sunni Islam, has attracted controversy. Alongside fellow neo-conservative writer Daniel Pipes, Schwartz has been a major critic of Islamism and has depicted Islamists as the new ideological nemesis of the West after the fall of Nazi Germany and Soviet Union.[6][7]
Schwartz has been strongly critical of the AKP government in Turkey, portraying it as a hostile pan-Islamist threat following the Gaza flotilla raid incident in 2010.[8][9] Schwartz has also condemned the Iranian government, asserting that American academia is being threatened by the infiltration of pro-Khomeinist state agents of Iran.[10] Schwartz's works have also been a major influence on neo-con factions that favour the severing of Saudi Arabia-US relations and lobby US foreign policy officials to take a hostile stance against the Saudi government.[11]