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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September 2004, pages 66-75 Arab-American Activism ADC’s First Town Hall Meeting
THE AMERICAN-ARAB Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Washington, DC Chapter, held its first Town Hall meeting on May 27, 2004 to introduce ADC and its different committees to the local Arab-American community and to involve it in the organization’s future plans. The program included ADC-DC area chapter board members, ADC president the Hon. Mary Rose Oakar, and special guests Virginia state senator and candidate for lieutenant governor Leslie Byrne and Virginia Democratic congressional candidate James Socas, who is challenging longtime Republican incumbent Frank Wolf. According to the ADC Web site, <www.adc.org>), “The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage. ADC, which is non-sectarian and non-partisan, is the largest Arab-American grassroots organization in the United States.” ADC has chapters in over 25 states. Oakar spoke of ADC’s general achievements in response to the problems Arabs face both in the U.S. and overseas. On a national level, ADC wrote a report on hate crimes and worked on special registration, questioning why it only targets young Arab men. “I used to fight for women’s rights,” Oakar noted, “and now I’m fighting for the rights of men.” The former Ohio congresswoman also spoke of how dire the Homeland Security situation is, telling a story of a Palestinian cleric who was visiting the U.S. Homeland Security airport personnel asked the priest if he was a Christian or a Muslim! There is an absolute need to be and stay active, Oakar maintained. For example, she said, each Arab American should get at least 20 people to vote. She also insisted that no one should be fearful of anyone in authority, especially Congress. If there is an issue that should be addressed, constituents should visit their politicians and discuss that issue. Also, people should get involved with ADC by volunteering or attending ADC conventions and meetings. There are three major committees within the ADC-DC Area chapter: the Political and Media Committee, the Education and Outreach Committee, and the Membership, Social and Fund-raising Committee. Each plays a crucial role for ADC by providing the community with special events which include picnics, conventions, social mixers, sporting events, Arabic karaoke, fund-raising events, and workshops. If everyone stands and fights together, nonviolently, Arab Americans will win, Oakar said. The first thing to do is vote, or register to vote, because each vote counts toward making the future better for Arab Americans. Added candidate Socas, “Government is here to help the citizens, not to hurt the citizens. That’s why I’m running.” —Shereen Kandil ADC Convention: A Great Success
More than 2,000 participants attended the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s (ADC) 21st National Convention held June 10-13 at the Crystal Gateway Marriot Hotel in Crystal City, VA.The theme of this year’s conference—“Your Right, Your Vote, Our Future: Decision 2004”—was reflected in a variety of workshops, panel discussions and banquet speeches. Attendees also enjoyed a two-day film festival, dances, comedy acts, as well as shopping and gathering information at 30 exhibition tables, including the ever-popular American Educational Trust’s traveling Book Club. On the first day of the convention Arab Americans visited members of Congress in their Capitol Hill offices. Following these meetings was a reception in the Rayburn House Office Building’s Gold Room. Representatives Dale Kildee (D-MI), Barney Frank (D-MA), Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), and staff members from the offices of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attended the dinner reception. Back at the hotel, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader gave an invigorating speech and held a book signing. —Delinda Hanley Friday Panel Discussions, Luncheon And Dinner Energize Arab AmericansOn Friday morning, the excellent workshops and panel discussions began. ADC Communications Director Hussein Ibish held a workshop entitled “Winning Arguments for Arab Americans,” in which he outlined arguments to use on key issues important to the community. The workshop also examined ways in which grassroots mobilizing can bring Arab-American perspectives and balance to public broadcasting. Representatives from religious communities laboring for peace and civil liberties described the increasing importance of their interfaith work. Sadly, an invited Jewish representative could not attend. Corrine Whitlatch said her organization, Churches for Middle East Peace, brings its concerns straight to Capitol Hill. This year, she said, it is focusing on Israel’s construction of the separation wall and informing congressional staffers of the wall’s serious impact on Palestinian Christians. “We’ve stopped speaking in the generic peace and justice voice we’ve always used,” Whitlatch told the audience. “Now we emphasize our Christianity, but always note the problems are shared by Muslims. We’re trying this new approach, mentioning our Christian faith more, because of the growing influence of Christian Zionism on Congress and the Presidency,” she explained. “We refuse to allow extremists in our faith to expropriate our faith.” It’s important for religious moderates to share their concerns about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians so that lawmakers don’t just hear the Zionist Christian point of view, Whitlatch concluded. Salam Al-Marayati of Muslim Political Affairs Council wholeheartedly agreed, saying his organization steps forward at every opportunity to present the progressive moderate Muslim view of society. He spends much of his time challenging racist press claims, he said, citing as examples the charges that 88 percent of mosques in the country are run by radical Muslims; that the Islamic faith is faulty; and that only Christians understand democracy. American Muslim groups must take an unequivocal stand against the use of terror to effect policy change, Al-Marayati argued, and agree to work for the full emancipation of women. Muslims must stand up for human rights, dignity and democracy for everyone, he said, and warned there could be even harder days ahead for Muslims in America. We need to stand up to religious extremism and the threat it poses to democracy, he concluded. Timur Yusakaev of the Interfaith Center of New York described his state’s efforts to educate its citizens about other community members’ religious beliefs. An interfaith coalition in New York is working together to combat homelessness, drug problems, and other concerns. Rev. Carolyn Boyd of Black Voices for Peace said she grew up believing the Christian theology of Zionism, but that a trip to the Holy Land soon opened her eyes. She was shocked, she said, by seeing racism and ethnic cleansing in what is supposed to be a democracy. “It’s apartheid, just new ways to show it,” Reverend Boyd said. “The Palestinian people are hearing over and over they are not the chosen people. They are less than human. Well, I’ve been there and I don’t want to wear that T-Shirt ever again.” Nor, she said, can she sit by and let that happen to any people. She promised her new Palestinian friends to tell her African-American community the truth as loudly and as often as she can. ”We have a divine obligation to re-educate Americans on the theology of Zionism,” Boyd concluded. “Israel is not living up to its covenent with God. Its governement is wrong, immoral, unethical, ungodly and unholy.” —Delinda Hanley Arab-American Literature
Following a panel discussion in which Arab-American authors described their work and the experiences and inspirations that led them to write, the audience flocked to the AET Book Club booth to make a purchase—or five. Greg Orfalea, author of Before the Flames, Grape Leaves; Anne Thomas Soffee, who wrote Snake Hips Marian Haddad, author of Somewhere Between Mexico and a River Called Home; Patricia Sarrafian Ward, who wrote The Bullet Collection; and Suheir Hammad, author of the book now out of print Born Palestinian, Born Black, who talked about Drops of This Story were delighted to autograph their books on the spot. —Delinda Hanley First-Hand Accounts of InjusticeThe June 11 panel entitled “From the Victim’s Mouth” at ADC’s 21st National Convention provided a forum for victims of profiling. The four panelists who spoke of the horror and humiliation they suffered because of their ethnicity experienced different types of profiling: special registration, law enforcement profiling, immigration profiling, and airport profiling. Fadi Khawly, a young Lebanese man, registered five times under the Special Registration program. Required to report to the INS one month after he arrived in this country, he was fingerprinted, photographed, interviewed and asked many detailed questions. The INS officers he dealt with all had contradictory interpretations of the law, Khawly said, which led to confusion. His advice to those who must register was to “stay in status and do everything correctly.” Mohamed Isam Pharoan worked at the Hyatt Hotel in Baltimore for nine years. In order to work on the evening President George W. Bush was scheduled to attend a conference at the Hyatt, each employee had to pass a security clearance, which Pharoan did. On the day of the conference, however, his manager, on orders from the Secret Service, which was in charge of hotel security, asked Pharoan if his name was indeed Mohamed. When he replied that it was, Pharoan was asked to leave, and escorted first to the locker room, then to the main door of the hotel. He was the only employee scheduled to work that day who was asked to leave. After The Washington Post reported on his experience, the hotel apologized. For weeks, the hotel security and the Secret Service blamed each other for Pharoan’s treatment. Finally, after a second news story, the Secret Service took responsibility and apologized for its actions—but blamed it on scheduling, insisting he was not listed to work that evening. “[The] Secret Service cannot take any chance when it comes to the President,” Pharoan agreed, “but racial profiling is totally unacceptable.” Kussay Al-Sabunchi, an Iraqi who escaped as a child from the government of Saddam Hussain, was the victim of immigration profiling. When he was eight, he said, his father was kidnapped and murdered, and the family fled to Canada. Later, Al- Sabunchi legally entered the U.S. to work for IBM and Walt Disney in Florida. Al-Sabunchi was first arrested because he sent flowers to his ex-wife after she filed a civil injunction for their house. Eight years later, “INS inspectors,” as they claimed to be, visited his second wife because of her Iraqi citizenship. When they learned Al-Sabunchi was an Iraqi citizen as well, they focused their attention on him. They visited Al- Sabunchi again and arrested him as he showered, forcing him to leave his house handcuffed and almost naked in front of his family and neighbors. Until this day, he still does not know why he was arrested. Expressing disgust and outrage with what he called a travesty of justice, the senior federal judge who was assigned the case dismissed all charges against Al-Sabunchi. Kussay Al- Sabunchi advised victims of human rights violations to stand up for their rights and ask for help. Rehab El-Moslemany faced airport profiling. Instead of flying EgyptAir, as she usually does, to Cairo, the Egyptian woman and her family booked their flights on British Airways. Due to the security level, El-Moslemany, her husband, and two small children arrived at the airport four hours before takeoff. Before they were allowed to board the plane, personnel with dogs and guns took them aside and asked them many detailed and personal questions. El-Moslemany asked the men to show her their identification and asked them who they were, but received no response. After overhearing a conversation between officers that proved that she and her family were being held for no reason, the family finally was escorted back to the plane with an apology. After settling her children in their seats, however, security officers again boarded the plane and, giving no reason, told the family to deplane. Their searched luggage was returned to them, broken and destroyed. Refusing to give a reason, the officers told her to contact the FBI—but finally disclosed that El-Moslemany’s last name (which is different from her husband’s) was a partial match to a person they were seeking. She received an apology and was asked to work with the FBI—an offer she, not surprisingly, refused. She never made it to Egypt for her brother’s wedding. “Security does not mean humiliation and discrimination,” she said. Each of the panelists was humiliated and victimized due to his or her ethnicity and or religious affiliation. Each also contacted ADC, which provided them with legal assistance and encouragement. And each demanded and fought for their rights. —Shereen Kandil “The Media Roundtable”
ADC’s “The Media Roundtable” on June 11 consisted of 90 minutes of back-and-forth discussion about the crisis facing American media, as news outlets grapple with accurately covering a post-Sept. 11 world. The panelists criticized the media’s systemic failures and discussed major gaps in the coverage of the war on Iraq. Panelists included Raghida Dergham from MSNBC and Al Hayat; United Press International’s Shaun Waterman, who covers homeland security; Andrew Cockburn, author of books on defense and international affairs; and The Atlantic’s James Fallows. Discussion immediately centered upon the reporting on weapons of mass destruction (WMD). “The media from the beginning was not skeptical enough,” said Dergham, and engaged in “herd mentality, where one network reports something and everyone else rushes to follow.” The word “alleged” should have preceded the use of “weapons of mass destruction,” she argued, which would have shifted the perspective entirely. Fallows delineated several failures on the part of the intelligence and political systems, the military, and the press in the last three years in America. The press failed in providing “serious media on the level of serious challenges we’ve been having,” Fallows argued, saying journalists have “spun way too conveniently and did not stand by each other when we should have.” Waterman saw a different problem: “an over-reliance on official sources of information and naïve credulity” regarding the information handed out. Secret information excites and influences reporters on a dangerous level, he noted, whereby they instantly believe in its validity without questioning the motives of intelligence agencies, for instance. “Open source information is genuinely of a much higher quality,” according to Waterman. Arguing that the media is “not aggressive enough,” he cited the fact that there was no report the previous day on President Bush’s lack of response when asked, in connection with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, if U.S. policy promotes torturing people. Fallows corrected Waterman, however, saying it was on the front page of major papers the following day, but that Waterman’s point nevertheless was a valid one. Cockburn also agreed with Waterman’s claim, stating that “the war in Iraq was not well reported.” Months before the Abu Ghraib story broke out, Cockburn noted, Iraqi civilians talked about ill treatment in U.S prisons but journalists paid no attention. Similarly, he said, corruption and looting that occurs when the U.S. army raids Iraqi homes is a “huge story waiting to be covered but no one is covering it.” According to Cockburn, no one is “asking the right questions.” He pointed to the virtual media disappearance of Scott Ritter, the former U.N weapons inspector who became a “nonperson” after saying there were no WMD in Iraq. Before, Cockburn said, Ritter had been quoted left and right, but now his name never pops up because he challenged popular opinion. Steering the conversation in a different direction, Dergham said not only are the wrong questions asked, but the answers given are censored. Charging that there is “too much cleansing of the news” and “built-in prejudice,” Dergham was applauded when she stated that news of WMD in Syria would be on the front page, but if the WMD were in Israel, there would be zero coverage. The discussion ended with Waterman addressing the sticky conflict of not reporting on certain things because of patriotic responsibilities or governmental safety. Generally, he opined, that was not a problem, but in special cases, where human lives are at stake, it makes sense to withhold information. For instance, he noted, when UPI ran a story on the CIA reopening one of its bases in northern Iraq, UPI was asked to withhold some information because of security reasons—and obliged. Waterman’s general rule, however, is “If I can find out something, so can anyone else, so can the bad guys.” Thus, he concluded, there is no point in holding back news. On an end note, the general feeling was that the media’s credibility was damaged with the unchallenged belief in the existence of WMD in Iraq. In the future, said Fallows, the media must be more careful to scrutinize and question the actions and words of the government. —Mahin Ibrahim Arab Americans in a Political YearAn ADC panel focusing on Arab-American voters in the upcoming elections was intentionally controversial and thought-provoking. Martin J. Dunleavy, director of the National Democratic Ethnic Leadership Council, had harsh things to say to Arab Americans that he said he told all hyphenated Americans. His leadership council was formed in 2003 to conduct outreach and education to voters with European and Mediterranean ethnic identities. According to Dunleavy, hyphenated Americans acted in similar ways when they came to the United States. Most became entrepreneurs, he pointed out: Italian immigrants worked in construction, Irish in politics, Polish-, Russian-, and Greek- and Arab-Americans specialized in small businesses, regardless of their religious backgrounds. Each community educated their children and joined a local church, temple or mosque. Next they began to intermarry and become upwardly mobile, becoming homogenized Americans. This diluted their communities and diversified their voting patterns. This typical model is showing a radical shift since 9/11, Dunleavy said. Arab- and Muslim- American voters are finding it difficult to vote on the basis of economic issues when their civil liberties are challenged. As they are targeted because of their names or dark skin they are unifying to protect themselves. “You are not monolithic,” Dunleavy said, “but if you build consensus you can choose to be a powerful bloc that politicians will talk about. If you cancel each other out you will not have any influence.” He noted that Arab-Americans have disproportionate influence in the battleground states of Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California. He advised Arab Americans to give money and time and become part of the election process, especially in those battleground states. Referring to the Arab-American community’s growing support for Ralph Nader, Dunleavy warned against the “allure of voting for a member of your ethnic community” as some kind of protest vote. “He won’t be elected,” he stated. “A vote for Nader is a wasted vote which will impact the elections adversely. Liberal voters will succeed in reelecting the most conservative president in history.” Two Arab-American politicians, Councilmen John Akouri (R-Troy, MI) and Joseph DeMio (D-Strongsville, OH), after describing how they ran for office and were elected, declared that it was important to have an active presence in both political parties. —Delinda Hanley Hutchinson, Heinz Kerry Keynote Speakers at BanquetThe Friday Banquet later that evening featured keynote speakers Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). Awards were presented to Assad Jebara, Farouk Shami and Dolores Huerta, among others. Hutchinson promised that in the near future DHS would eliminate the special registration program completely. The long-term goal, he said, is to deal with all travelers equally and without discrimination by using unbiased technology to confirm each traveler’s identity, “consistent with the values of our land.” Hutchinson assured the audience that the Bush administration realizes the importance of educating students from the Middle East in the United States. He pointed out that 21 ministers in Saudi Arabia and Jordan’s King Abdullah had received a U.S. education. “It’s essential to provide Muslims and Arabs with easy access to education, tourism, medical care,” he said, “We’re trying to improve the entrance process.” He applauded the community’s contributions, noting that there are three Arab-American congressmen, and 10,000 Muslims serving in the U.S. armed forces. The banquet audience was eager to hear Teresa Heinz Kerry’s remarks, in hopes of getting to know her more. They were enthralled by the Democratic candidate’s wife, who was born in Mozambique and speaks five languages, and came to the United States in 1965 to work as an interpreter at the U.N. She had no family, no school friends or support system when she moved to New York, she said. “I know how hard it is for people to immigrate. I know how much harder it is at times like this when people discriminate [against Arab-Americans],” she said. “That’s really not what American people are like.” Her father, she said, a wonderful doctor, taught her how to care for and cherish the richness and diversity of people. Kerry said she loves the idea of America as a place you can be anything you want if you work hard enough. Her presence, she said, highlighted her husband’s continued commitment to working with the Arab-American community and fighting discrimination. According to Mrs. Kerry, “John will be committed to a strong America, where our nation’s laws are enforced without resorting to discrimination. He has always supported strong hate crime laws,” she added, “and he believes that the practice of racial profiling should be prohibited.” She described John Kerry as being “enchanted with history” and feeling comfortable in the world, having traveled extensively. “He would reach out to the U.N.,” she said, and, although he has great pride in his country, would have no arrogance or condescension. “Even the United States has to make friends in this world,” she concluded. —Delinda Hanley Perceptions of U.S. in the Arab World
An ADC Saturday morning panel on “Perceptions of the U.S. in the Arab World” examined America’s image among Arabs and the reasons it recently has been the target of criticism among many in the Middle East. Producer Saul Landau, whose 2002 film “Iraq: Voices from the Streets” featured candid interviews with Iraqis about the then- impending U.S.-led war, suggested that many in the Arab world “hate” the U.S. because of a perception that America displays an “I’m better than you” arrogance. “In less than three and a half years,” Landau said, “Bush has gotten the rest of the world to hate us with a passion.” In relation to the Arab-Israeli conflict, he explained, Bush has caused damage to America’s image by referring to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a “man of peace.” “If I were Sharon’s lawyer, I would have sued [Bush] for slander,” Landau joked. While conducting interviews for his latest film, “Syria: Between Iraq and a Hard Place,” Landau learned that many Syrians see the U.S. employing a double standard when it comes to enforcing United Nations resolutions. They asked him why the U.S. “disrespected” the U.N. when it came to its numerous resolutions condemning Israel, Landau said, “yet it was so determined to enforce U.N. resolutions in Iraq.” There is a general cynicism about the U.S. in the Arab world, Landau revealed, apparent in widespread conspiracy theories, such as one about the CIA’s and Israel’s joint responsibility for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There is also a sentiment that America “has no respect for Arab culture,” according to Landau. For the most part, however, the main cause of resentment is Washington’s support for Israel—which, Landau concluded, could be expressed in a simple bumper sticker slogan: “It’s the Occupation, Stupid.” Following Landau’s remarks, which included witty comments that frequently drew laughter from the audience, Ambassador Patrick Theros of the U.S.-Qatar Business Council provided an historical overview of Arab perception of America. Theros explained that, 90 years ago, during the Versailles Conference, a Syrian delegation to the historic meeting petitioned the League of Nations for the U.S. to take control of mandate Syria. Now, the ambassador noted, the Bush administration has “changed that perception to fear, contempt, and hostility.” Calling U.S. foreign policy “disjointed,” Theros said it “reflects domestic, not international interests of the U.S.” The situation in Iraq, he predicted, “will prove to be the worst possible blow to the U.S.’s image in the region.” There is also a perception among many Arabs—“thanks to [Attorney General John] Ashcroft’s policies,” Theros stated—that America persecutes its Arab and Muslim citizens. Drawing from his own experiences in Qatar, Theros said while Qatar is “one Arab state in the Gulf which has made progress in democracy,” it seems the U.S. “only defends freedom of the press if we agree with it,” referring to the Doha-based al-Jazeera satellite channel. Ambassador Ted Kattouf of AMIDEAST was more critical of Arabs, arguing that a fundamental problem of U.S. and Arab relations is a “lack of understanding of the way the United States works.” Maintaining that Arab leaders also have a “PR problem,” Kattouf cited the failure of Palestinians to explain and disseminate their version of the collapse of the Camp David negotiations in 2000. He also denounced Arab media as having “no investigative journalism [or] criticism of top leadership.” David Khairallah, an ADC board member and former deputy general counsel for the World Bank, attributed a “widening divide between Arabs and the U.S.” to a “sense of alienation, mistrust, frustration and anger” among Arabs. In America, Khairallah pointed out, media outlets and the entertainment industry tend to portray Arabs as a “frightening menace,” instead of focusing on the real problem—U.S. foreign policy. “From reading and hearing U.S. media, you would think Arab anger toward the U.S. is almost genetic,” he noted. Khairallah stressed that Washington’s support for Israel, or its “consistent assistance to an international outlaw bent on expanding its boundaries,” is a “main generator of bitterness” among Arabs. According to Khairallah, many in the Arab world also believe the U.S. “has always been on the opposite side of leaders who call for Arab unity,” as recently evidenced by Washington’s “de-Ba’athification of Iraq” and its role in changing the Iraqi flag. Redesigning the flag, he explained, is perceived as proof that America is “ridding Iraq of its Arab identity.” This is especially relevant since Arab nationalism, Khairallah asserted, is the “most powerful identifying factor among Arabs.” —Laila Al-Arian Women in the Arab WorldRim Abboud, wife of the ambassador of Lebanon; retired foreign service officer Rosemary O’Neill; Maria Mekouar, wife of the ambassador of Morocco; and Melanne Verveer of Vital Voices for Global Partnership agreed that Americans should avoid judging Arab women by Western standards. Abboud described the many political and social successes for women in Lebanon, Turkey and Tunisia. Mekouar cited Moroccan efforts to combat female illiteracy, violence against women, and unemployment. Islam alone cannot be blamed for the state of womens’ rights in Arab countries, she said. Patriarchal societies must shoulder some blame. When half the population is marginalized, Mekouar pointed out, a country cannot thrive. “We’ve made a lot of progress,” she said, “but there still is a lot to do to develop our national potential.” Syrian-American journalist Farah Atassi said that in addition to the high illiteracy rate in the Middle East, “even those who have acquired excellent educations tend to stay home after graduation. Their certificate stays in a drawer.” She did not blame males for holding females back, however. “There’s a culture of fear. Fear of progress,” Atassi said. “Women should build up self-confidence and help each other succeed.” She agreed that Islam does not prevent women from succeeding, noting that Pakistan, Turkey and Bangladesh have had women prime ministers. After working for the State Department for 37 years, many of them in the Muslim world, Rosemary O’Neill, whose father was Speaker of the House Thomas J. “Tip” O’Neill, compared Arab women to Irish. Both face war, domestic violence, and poverty, she pointed out. With educational opportunities and support, however, both groups can change their environments and help bring peace to their regions, O’Neill concluded. —Delinda Hanley Awards Luncheon Proves Educational
“The best thing about writing is that most of the time I don’t have to speak in front of people,” confessed a nervous Anthony Shadid in front of a room full of excited fans. The Washington Post correspondent and former ADC intern, who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, was the guest speaker at the ADC conference Awards Banquet Luncheon on Saturday, June 12. If Shadid was initially nervous, as soon as he began to speak of his passion for writing, nothing could stop him. He described his work in Iraq as an embedded journalist, and spoke of the struggles and achievements he faced, as well as the importance of his chosen profession. “No voice should be silenced,” he declared. His lesson: Voices should be heard and stories should be told. A journalist is a storyteller who captures a piece of the bigger picture, Shadid said. Journalists should be as strong as possible and as dynamic as possible in their writing. “Fair and balanced can sometimes be a code word for gutless,” Shadid said. There is no line that cannot be crossed when it comes to verbalizing a silenced voice. Ending his speech with a popular Iraqi proverb—“If you want a rabbit, take a rabbit. If you want a gazelle, take a rabbit”—Shadid received a well-deserved standing ovation. Because of the importance of his work, and his great influence, ADC announced its decision to rename their internship program “The Anthony Shadid Internship Program.” Awards were presented to other notable Arab Americans, including actor Tony Shalhoub, who received the Tolerance Award. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta was presented with the American Service Award. —Shereen Kandil Growing Up Arab AmericanFour panelists explored what it means to be Arab, the process of forming both Arab and American identities, and how Arab Americans can face racism in ADC’s June 12 panel discussion on “Growing up Arab American.” The 20-something speakers came from a variety of backgrounds and were reared in different parts of the nation—from inner city New York to the southern suburbs of Mobile, AL—nevertheless, they raised similar issues, suggesting the Arab American experience is a collective one. Wa’el Tony Kutayli, who just received his J.D. the previous month, was born in Pittsburgh, PA but lived in Beirut, Lebanon until 1990, when he moved to South Dakota. There, he had mixed experiences. When he first arrived, people were very receptive and interested in getting to know him, Kutayli said, since he was one of the few Arabs his peers had ever encountered. “I had to explain all the time what it’s like to be an Arab and live overseas,” he recalled However, the tide quickly changed in 1990 with the advent of the Gulf war, as people’s fear and ignorance turned on a nearby target: Kutayli. “All of a sudden people became really intimidated by me and lumped me with Saddam [Hussain] loyalists,” he said. “I might as well have been guarding Baghdad.” This taught him the importance of education, Kutayli said, and of being a living example of an Arab American who is not so different from the average person. “Beating people over the head with facts is not the way to do it,” he explained. “People get moved by the way you act around them. That has changed more minds than anything else.” He pointed to the relationships he built with friends, some of whom joined the U.S. Army and fought in the current Gulf war. These soldiers most likely “would carry around their M-16s in a very different manner” had they not befriended and understood Kutayli, he said. Raesah Et’Tawil, a Palestinian American who is currently a senior at the University of South Alabama, grew up in Mobile, where she had the distinction of being the only Arab American in the area. Because of this, she said, her parents emphasized the importance of Arab culture at home. Until high school she “kept the two lives separate,” she said, “but eventually the two lives merged” as she turned increasingly to American culture. Her father would humorously react to this with “Khalas, we have to go to Jordan because our kids are more American than the Americans.” During high school and college Raesah melded her Arab and American identities, and became more politically active. Throughout this transition, she said, she learned that “I am a representation of my culture whether I want to be or not. There is no set meaning as to what Arab or American or both is. Here I am this southern American Arab woman—what defines me, who am I? By limiting that image, you limit the woman behind that image.” The next panelist, Dean Obeidallah, a New York comedian, who is half Sicilian and half Arab, explained that he “grew up in a town where it was much easier to be Italian than it was to be Arab.” Obeidallah’s first name, he said, is a symbol of his cultural background—it was a compromise of Salahudin and Deeno. Dean brandishes humor like a sword. He uses both his backgrounds in his comedy routines, but finds he can really change mainstream perception of Arabs through his jokes. “As a comic you can say things and the audience will laugh,” he said. “I hope people get involved not just in politics but in arts,” he added. “We can define who we are in the media. It’s the only way. Get active in politics and the media, and you can change people’s perspective and they don’t even know they’re being informed.” Sarah Eltantawi remembers coming home from school to a snack of peanut butter on pita bread. A combination of East and West was central to her upbringing: she spent her childhood in an area heavily concentrated with Mexicans who curiously questioned her Arab heritage. However, she said, when she moved and attended a predominantly white school, she found “there was very little interest in the fact that I was Arab, Egyptian, or Muslim.” Years later, as communications director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Sarah said she is “just trying to reckon with what it means to be Arab or Muslim.” One realization she has made is that “we’re all diverse kaleidoscopes of people and we can enrich the societies that we live in and be whole people that way. “Be very proud of your Arab identity,” she advised the audience. “It is rich and poetic, and is a real gift to any society that we’re in.” —Mahin Ibrahim ADC Panel Examines Iraq Today
On June 12 ADC presented a panel on “The Present Situation in Iraq” moderated by Anas Shallal of the Mesoptamia Cultural Center. Amnesty International’s Beth Ann Toupin said that the only surprises regarding the torture at Abu Ghraib prison were that the photos had surfaced and that people cared. Amnesty had been reporting on the abuses since the start of the war, she noted, and was ignored. Calling the right to freedom from torture absolute, Toupin cited the Geneva Convention and the U.N. Convention Against Torture which the U.S. helped draft. Torture is even illegal under domestic U.S. law, Toupin said, but our government hides behind secrecy, denial, and justifications such as “the other side is worse,” “they deserve it,” and “it’s necessary for security.” How could a country claim to stand for freedom and human rights, she asked, when it was practicing torture? Similar methods were being used in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and worldwide, she reminded the audience, and called for thorough investigation, prosecution, and reparations for victims. Toupin urged listeners to be active on June 26—an international day of solidarity with victims of torture—by urging senators to support Richard Durbin’s (D-IL) bill to reconfirm U.S. commitment to international laws banning torture. Nancy Lessin, whose stepson, Joe, is a U.S. Marine, told how she and another activist co-founded Military Families Speak Out and filed suit against President George W. Bush and Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to prevent the U.S. from invading Iraq without a formal declaration of war. Blaming the war on the neocons and their Project for a New American Century, as well as on revenge, she said her son’s unit carried the New York Port Authority flag from Sept. 11, 2001 into battle with them, and that military personnel were taught racist epithets and cadences to stir up hate. Lessin advocated immediate U.S. troop withdrawal, and said the U.S. is obliged to pay for rebuilding. Dartmouth professor Sinan Antoon, producer of the documentary “About Baghdad,” acknowledged being bitter. An Iraqi who came to the U.S. in 1991 following the first Gulf war, Antoon said Americans do not appreciate their own capacity to change U.S. policy. Iraqis he interviewed in Baghdad, however, pointed out that the U.S. has a functioning government that can be pressured to change. Antoon said he was not impressed by the “story” the U.S. “fed” Iraqis about handing over sovereignty. The interim prime minister has worked for the CIA, he pointed out, a directive has been issued that no U.S. corporation can be subjected to any lawsuit for anything it may have done in Iraq, and over a dozen new permanent U.S. military bases are planned for the country. Noting that he had lived under Saddam Hussain, Antoon said that “at least under a totalitarian system, you know where your boundaries are. Not now.” Iraq, he stated, has become another Palestine. Apart from issues of sovereignty, Antoon enumerated ongoing problems such as the total destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure, still not back to pre-war levels, and the continuing problems of birth defects and cancer caused by the use of depleted uranium—not once, but twice, in 1991 and again over the past year. Thabit Abdullah, an Iraqi professor at York University in Ontario, Canada, said that nobody understood Iraqi concerns. While the peace movements in the West and the Arab world were right to expose U.S. imperial intentions, he emphasized, they did not fathom the extent of torture and surveillance under Hussain. It was impossible to support sovereignty without also supporting human rights, he argued. Abdullah’s second point was that false claims that Iraq was an artificial state were made in order to create conditions to divide the country. The unified administration of roughly the current territory of Iraq went back hundreds of years, he said—and, to a degree, even millenia. Nor, Abdullah added, was Iraq unique in its homogeneity of religions, tribes, and ethnicities. There had never been a civil war, he noted, and there currently are no secessionist leaders, not even among the Kurds. Abdullah said he found that record remarkable, given that Iraq has survived 40 years of dictatorship, three major wars, over a decade of the most comprehensive sanctions in history, and has no government now. —Sara Powell Panel Examines Academic FreedomRichard Byrne of the Chronicle of Higher Education and Dr. Hamid Dabashi, professor at Columbia University, where he chairs the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, expressed different views on the issue of academic freedom at an ADC panel on the afternoon of June 12. Byrne’s presentation reflected the media’s perspective, while Dabashi spoke as a victim. According to Byrne, the media needs to carefully chronicle conflicts of academic freedom because it currently is painted as too simple an issue. He presented three proposals for improving news coverage on cases of academic freedom. Because academic freedom is too complex an issue for news outlets to comprehend alone, he argued, academic groups, such as the American Association of University Professors, need to be more “pro-active in educating the media on the ins and outs of academic freedom, tenure, and academic issues.” Secondly, Byrne said, “reporters need to do a much better job of not only reporting on disputes, but on details.” These cases are not black and white, he noted, when “the mechanisms of academic freedom” come into play. Thirdly, Byrne stated, journalists need to “think outside the box” instead of “parroting the conflicts.” He urged the media to “focus on best practices, what departments should do and how departments are implementing and enhancing academic freedom.” Byrne also discussed the changing dynamics of attacks on academic freedom, from being a popular practice by conservatives to becoming a practice engaged in by all sides of the political spectrum—what he termed the “fire with fire reflex.” “Before Sept. 11,” he said, “academic bias attacks were from the right-wing. Now they come from the left as well.” Professor Dabashi told the audience that for three years he personally has felt attacks on his right to free speech and has been a “principal target of terror” because of his statements on Palestine. It is a different matter for him, he pointed out, because his job security is not at stake due to his position and work environment. However, he explained, his junior colleagues are not as fortunate, and may find themselves “bending backward to accommodate power.” Dabashi shared personal accounts of the methods used to attack him, the primary ones being phone and e-mail. The Columbia University professor played two hate messages left on his answering machine at work after he and some colleagues issued statements on the Jenin massacre in April 2002, and told of the hundreds of spam e-mails that flooded his inbox for months, which “effectively paralyzed him in terms of communication.” Dabashi identified a larger issue at stake, however: the suffocation not only of academic freedom, but of intellectual freedom. The trouble begins, he said, when professors venture outside the classroom to state their views, noting that “every single case [of harassment] is when the public is faced with” one’s views. “The task is to create alternative thinking,” Dabashi concluded, “and not only academic freedom but intellectual freedom.” —Mahin Ibrahim Palestinian Activism in the U.S.
Rosemarie Esber moderated a distinguished panel for a lively discussion on the state of Palestine activism in the U.S. at a June 12 ADC presentation. Nadia Hijab, executive director of the Palestine Center, analyzed who Palestine activists were, what they wanted to achieve, and how. With the caveat that her presentation was not a scientific study, Hijab defined Palestinians as having had activism thrust upon them, and consequently running the gamut from right-wing millionaire to left-wing radical. Many Palestinians, she added, were third- or fourth-generation Americans, and therefore knew how to communicate with other Americans. She characterized this phenomenon as the other side of the coin of weakness resulting from dispossession and diaspora. Hijab noted that, while some young Arabs were diversifying from the established advocacy groups to found their own, others were working within mainstream culture, like artist Emily Jacir and her filmmaker sister, Anne-Marie Jacir, poet Suheir Hammad, and comic Maysoon Zayid. Hijab also cited the rise of non-Palestinians active on behalf of Palestine, as well as the number of American Jewish groups speaking out against the occupation. She defined activists’ worst problem as the lack of a coherent vision within the movement, noting it had changed over the years, suffered through a disastrous Oslo process, and now was divided between those who focused on the right of return, as exemplified by Al Awda, and those whose main goal was to end the occupation, such as the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, which Hijab co-founded. Noting that after Oslo, third world governmental support and many NGOs became diffused and dispersed, Hijab said Palestinians needed to find other avenues of power and support, calling education—first ”de-education,” then “re-education”—the key to that power. Hijab advocated framing debates in terms of human rights and focusing on Americans holding their own government accountable. Noura Erakat, a law student and one of the founders of the Berkeley divestment (from Israel) movement, said Palestine was unique for the size and duration of its refugee population, for its present-day situation as a settler colony, and for its role in what she described as the U.S. plan for global dominance. Why, however, she asked, should Palestine be alienated through highlighting differences? Instead, Erakat advocated making friends with natural allies—those who lose community funding in the U.S. to dollars spent in Israel, for example—thus extending beyond identity politics into coalition building. Speaking to practicalities, Erakat said all universities have investment portfolios which may be heavily invested, as Berkeley was/is, in Israel, or in corporations which are themselves heavily invested in Israel. Describing the long-term character and attainable goals of divestment as assets, Erakat informed the audience that 20 percent of Berkeley students had so far signed the petition, and that other schools such as MIT, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Michigan, and Oberlin had all written similar petitions for divestment. Finally, Erakat said she would like to ask Harvard president Lawrence Summers why he called the petition “unsupportable,” when renowned Archbishop Desmond Tutu supported it. University of San Francisco clinical psychiatry professor Jess Ghannam, president of ADC San Francisco, said this was a crucial moment for Palestine and for the progressive movement, which now sees Palestine at the core of the anti-war (in Iraq) movement. Agreeing with Erakat, Ghannam said activists should not work in a vacuum, but take advantage of new awareness to build coalitions. However, he speculated that those Palestine activists who focus only on ending the occupation might not understand the invisible aspects of occupation, such as its systemic brutality, whether in Palestine, Iraq, Venezuela, Haiti, or East Oakland. “We’ve got to connect the dots...and Palestine is an issue where the dots can be connected in an important way,” Ghannam said, by offering clear political analysis to natural allies. Ghannam concluded by calling for Palestine activists to consider adhering to the points of unity used in some groups: 1. commitment to the right of return, 2. divestment from Israel, 3. boycott of Israeli goods, 4. and stopping all U.S. aid—not just military—to Israel. The treasurer of ADC’s board of directors, Mohammad Oweis, lamented that there was nothing left to be said. He did caution, however, that “‘neo-activists’ popping up around DC, especially,” might not have enough knowledge to help the Palestinian case. “With justice, peace will come,” Oweis said, reiterating that under all international norms, Palestinians have the right to resist occupation. Oweis urged activists to “stay solid,” saying that if they gave up on ideals now, those would be lost forever, that Palestine activists must “steadfastly be a thorn in everybody’s side” until Palestine was free. “Stay the course,” he repeated. “We [who are] under occupation, threats of deportation and ethnic cleansing, we should not be offering concessions.” —Sara Powell Exhilarating ADC Awards Banquet Dinner
Suheir Hammad’s poem “Beyond Words,” which the Palestinian-American poet and activist recited, left banquetgoers in complete silence, and some in the audience in tears. Her words were a powerful reminder of the reason activists from around the country gathered at the annual conference of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Hammad’s words also inspired hope and determination, reflected in the conference’s spectacular evening of great speeches, award presentations, and a well-needed and deserved fund-raiser. “We should celebrate our diversity,” exclaimed Joseph Abboud, the founder of JA Apparel, a line of menswear, who received the American Business Achievement Award. Fellow award winners were Carlos Ghosn of Nissan Motor Company and Mohamed Abu-Ghazaleh of Del Monte Fresh Produce Inc. Each recipient accepted his award and gave a short speech describing how proud he felt to be an Arab-American. A PowerPoint presentation next provided insight on ADC, its activities and achievements. This inspired and segued into a fund-raising segment, in which guests generously donated thousands of dollars to support ADC. One Chinese man stood up and proclaimed that he, too, was Arab, because his people had been victims of injustice as well. Explaining that he could relate to the Arab people, he proceeded to donate a generous sum of money. The audience, fired up, made the fund-raiser a great success. Mariam Said rose and spoke about her late husband, the legendary Edward W. Said, who was and still is a vital figure in Arab society. A man of great honor and dignity, he stood up for the rights of the Arab people, who have suffered injustices. ADC’s tribute to Said was in honor of his work, his intellect, and especially his heart. His widow shared anecdotes about her husband and some incidents they had experienced, after which the audience viewed a student-made film on Said. “Edward Said is the Mandela answer to the Zionist problem,” Ambassador Clovis Maksoud told the assembled guests. “The reclaiming of the Palestinian homeland is going to liberate the Jews from the Zionists,” he continued, causing an uproar of applause. “Unless we ‘re-Arabize’ ourselves, we fall into the cracks of the Israeli state,” Maksoud continued with much fervor. With that, the evening’s keynote speaker, Israeli Knesset member Azmi Bishara, was introduced. His humor and strong words continued to inspire the audience. He spoke extemporaneously of colonialism, democracy, and the segregation of Arab people within themselves. He spoke of Palestine, Israel and Zionism—and of truth. The night ended with a memorable performance by comedian Dean Obeidallah, who joked about Arabs and politics. He concluded his set by urging that everyone who can should “get involved with the entertainment business.” That of course, was not a joke. —Shereen Kandil ADC Panel Examines Perceptions of PalestineThe June 13 ADC panel on “Palestine: Perception and Reality” was moderated by ADC communications director Hussein Ibish. Refusenik Charles Lechner of Jewish Voices for Peace opened the discussion with reminiscences from his time at a peace camp. There, he said, he realized that there was a whole narrative—”a longing for their homeland, and feelings of pain from the Nakba”—which emerged among the Palestinian youth singing around the campfire, rather than during the daily political discussion. Lechner said he foresaw a shared future for Israel and Palestine, and noted that there was a culture of Arab/Israeli cooperation in Israeli peace camps that was missing among American activists. According to Lechner, Palestinians in the U.S. wanted to defeat Israel, but, he said, there were things about Israel that should be understood and defended. The “hostile, negative view” toward Israel made it difficult for Jews to work for peace in the U.S., he said, adding that he had noticed dissonance at 2003’s second divestment conference of the year at Ohio State University. Lechner concluded that the conference should have been like ADC or the Arab American Institute in its outlook. Souheil Elia of ADC, South Florida, said that while the perception was that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had agreed to trade land for peace, the reality was that Sharon gave up peace for land. There were two concepts which were perceived differently, he said: the “promised land,” and the “chosen people.” Arabs thought the covenant with Abraham included all Abraham’s descendants, not just those of Isaac, he explained, thereby promising the land to Muslims, Jews, and Christians, as well as “choosing” adherents of all the Abrahamic religions. Elia proceeded to argue, however, that the problem was not religiously based at all, but rather a question of indigenous land claims. He concluded by pointing out that by 2025, according to U.N. demographic projections, Palestinians would outnumber Jews by about a million people, thereby changing the problem altogether. Elia argued for a two-state solution to the conflict now. Nigel Parry of the Electronic Intifada said it was encouraging to see young Palestinians like Dean Obeidallah, Maysoon Zayid, and Suheir Hammad, (p)reaching outside the choir through their art. Like Lechner, Parry related his story of “seeing the light.” He went to Palestine with no previous knowledge and wound up in a U.N. bus in a refugee camp, just in time to see a small child throw a rock—very ineffectually—at an Israeli soldier, who then knelt, cocked his gun, and aimed at the child. The soldier was about to kill the child, Parry said, when he spotted the U.N. bus, and guiltily stood up. “There is no context in the media,” Parry stated. That is why the Electronic Intifada and other information outlets are crucial, he said, because “information is what will end the conflict. If we could transport Americans to Rafah for five minutes, they would never support Israel.” Alison Weir of If Americans Knew clearly agreed. When the second intifada started, she recalled, she knew nothing about the issue, but started paying attention, soon realizing she was seeing only one side of the story. Weir decided that it was the most censored story ever, quit her job, and bought a ticket to Palestine to visit the West Bank and Gaza for a month. Illustrating her talk with powerful pictures, Weir said she saw “warmth, devastation, children with bullets in their stomachs, backs, and heads.” She also saw “fixed machine guns and tank guns pointed at us.” Yet when she returned to the U.S., she said, there was no mention of any of it in the press. Weir set out to change that, and has since conducted statistical studies of the U.S. press’ opposing amount of coverage of Palestine and Israel (See the September 2003 Washington Report, pp. 22-23) and raised the consciousness of many Americans without transporting them to Rafah. Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh of Yale offered practical advice to continue along the road of education that Parry and Weir laid out. Facts give power, he reminded the audience, and activists should do research to know their facts. Images and maps were particularly powerful tools, he pointed out, adding that activists must work proactively and cooperatively with the mainstream media to get their story told, that flyers and ads could be effective, and that flyers were cheap. The proper use of language was important to point out inconsistencies, the Yale professor continued, stating that activists could and should create news, urging the use of alternative media, and emphasizing the importance of telling real stories of people. “They are our stories, our people,” he emphasized. “Tell your own story.” Qumsiyeh concluded by saying that even though only the tip of the iceberg was showing, Palestinians should never give up, because there was much more under the surface. The final speaker was Bathsheba Ratzkoff of the Media Education Foundation who showed a short but powerful clip from her latest movie—featured at the conference film festival—called “Peace, Propaganda, and The Promised Land.” Born in Israel, Ratzkoff described how she asked people on the street what the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians was about. Most of them did not know, she said, while others answered “religion,” or “terrorism.” Only a few said land. However, when she said, “Great! Whose land?” they answered “Israel’s.” Ratzkoff’s second question, “Who’s responsible?” was answered by 99 percent of respondents saying “Palestine.” When those who answered that they did not know were pressed to guess, they responded, “Palestine.” Ratzkoff then noted that they got their perceptions of Palestine and Israel from the American media. Like Parry, she said that what was left out of the picture was the context of the occupation, and that Israel’s actions were depicted as self-defense. Ratzkoff’s movie, like Weir’s studies, were meant to call attention to that lack of context and raise American awareness. —Sara Powell Helen Thomas Reflects on Post-911 Changes
Legendary journalist Helen Thomas was the keynote speaker at the ADC conference’s concluding luncheon. As White House correspondent for United Press International for 40 years, covering every president from Kennedy to Clinton, Thomas often is called the dean of the White House press corps. A Lebanese-American, Thomas reflected on growing up in the Midwest as the child of Arab immigrants. She was raised as an American, she said, and taught that the United States is a “government of law, not men.” However, she continued, since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there have been many intrusions into the privacy of Americans. Many Arab and Muslim immigrants were deported without the chance to appeal, she noted, while others were arrested without being charged or tried. These laws are uncharacteristic of the America she grew up in, Thomas said. “Keeping [detained immigrants] in limbo is oppressive,” she stated. “I maintain that’s not us.” On President George W. Bush’s efforts to democratize the Middle East, Thomas said, “Democracy has to be done by example, peacefully…not by the sword.” Instead, Thomas explained, the United States “invaded a country that hasn’t threatened us.” Calling the decision to wage war on Iraq a “painful folly,” she questioned where Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction were and if its ties to al-Qaeda really existed. “Some explanation should be forthcoming for a blunder of that magnitude,” Thomas asserted. Even though Ronald Reagan “turned our country to the right,” Thomas offered, “he appears moderate compared with President [George W.] Bush.” According to the International Red Cross, Thomas revealed, 90 percent of Iraqi prisoners are innocent. Disturbed at this statistic, she asked, “When will we be able to restore the credibility and respect we once had?” Thomas spent the remainder of her talk sharing amusing anecdotes about the presidents she has covered, often eliciting laughter from the audience. Concluding on a more serious note, Thomas called covering the presidency an immense privilege and responsibility. Reporters entrusted with that task, she insisted, “must be vigilant in covering presidents and questioning power.” —Laila Al-Arian |
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