May/June 1991, Page 63

Arab-American Activism

By Catherine M. Willford

ADC Holds 8th Annual Convention

A record crowd attended the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) 8th National Convention, "Arab Americans: In the Struggle for Peace and Justice, " held in Arlington, VA the weekend of May 2-5. Many of the speakers addressed challenges facing Arab Americans in the aftermath of the Gulf War.

Molly Yard, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), stressed that "One of the reasons we exist is to eradicate discrimination wherever it exists and whomever it is against. Because of the war we became aware that there is yet another group discriminated against in the US-Arab Americans."

She apologized for misstatements made by NOW officials at the beginning of the war regarding the status of Kuwaiti women, as well as the "ignorance of NOW regarding this part of the world. " When asked about NOW's formal position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Yard responded that, "We are backward on this issue, " but she was encouraged that the time has passed when "you couldn't talk about it" and that "Jews in this country are changing, and a dialogue is beginning within NOW, and it's about time."

At the panel "Press Coverage in the Gulf, " Ms. magazine editor Robin Morgan responded to Yard's statements. "With all due respect to Molly and NOW, " she said, "I would like to point out that NOW is not all of the feminist movement in the US and that the national, and certainly the international, feminist movement has taken a stand on Israel-Palestine, and supports a free Palestinian state. " Morgan also asked what would have happened if "the press had covered the fact that Israeli and Palestinian women marched together in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem after the Scud missile attacks and were gassed, not by the Iraqis, but by the Israeli military."

Linkage has become "an Orwellian term for diplomacy."

At the same panel, noted scholar and author Noam Chomsky accused the Bush administration of taking the US to war "in the manner of a totalitarian state. " He lambasted Bush's assertion that "aggressors must not be rewarded" as " sordid and ludicrous " in light of US policy in the rest of the Middle East. Chomsky stated that linkage has become "an Orwellian term for diplomacy; no linkage means that there will be no diplomacy" between key players in the region.

Panel member Mark Hertsgaard, a critic and author, accused the US media of a "reflexive attitude of deference" toward government projects like Desert Storm, born of the press's "timid acquiescence" to military censorship during the invasions of Grenada and Panama.

Other speakers on the convention program included Randall Robinson, executive director of Transafrica, Father Elias Chacour, author of Blood Brothers, and Edward Said, Columbia University scholar and member of the Palestine National Council. Dr. Said called on the Arab countries to expend more intellectual and other resources on understanding the many dimensions of America and its people instead of acting on myths and stereotypes. There is not a single institute or department of American studies in any university in the Arab world, he pointed out.

Mesopotamia Cultural Society Raising Relief Funds

Among new organizations represented at the ADC convention described above was the Mesopotamia Cultural Society, with an exhibit entitled "Iraq: The Cradle of Civilization. " Prominent Arab and Iraqi artists donated original works for sale by MCS, with proceeds to be forwarded to international relief organizations working to aid Iraqi Arab and Kurdish civilians in the wake of the Gulf war and subsequent fighting. For information about the society and its activities contact the MCS president, Ammar Hindi, P.O. Box 9339, Arlington, VA 22209, (703) 524-0600.

US-Arab Chamber Forms Gulf Business Development Committee

The National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce will serve as coordinator for the recently established Gulf Business Development Committee, composed of business and trade associations interested in ensuring a major role for US business in the Gulf. The committee will support the Department of Commerce Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCQ, which enhances trade and investment opportunities for American firms in Kuwait and the Gulf.

"The Committee is an important vehicle for the private sector to work in concert with the Department of Commerce for the mutual benefit of our shared goal to maximize the participation of US companies in the Gulf, Chamber President J.R. AbiNader said.

The Gulf Business Development Committee will meet regularly with the Department of Commerce and other federal agency representatives of the TPCC to identify issues of concern for US corporations doing business in the Gulf. The committee will produce an information directory of public and private resources for pursuing Gulf market opportunities. The directory will identify Gulf business information bulletins, monthly trade missions and seminars, and US-Arab business issues such as visa procedures, investment laws and boycott laws.

The National US-Arab Chamber will also identify trade opportunities in the Gulf private sector for listing in Department of Commerce data bases. For information contact the Chamber at (202) 331-8010.

ADC Confronts US Air Over "Hijacking Prank"

ADC President Albert Mokhiber secured an apology from US Air Vice President for Corporate Communication Patricia Goldman over a January 26th "hijacking prank" by four US Air flight attendants. According to a Detroit News article, the flight attendants, wearing Arab headdresses, rubber noses and sunglasses, marched two coworkers down the aisle pretending that they were hijacking the plane to Baghdad. A Lebanese-American couple aboard the flight filed a complaint with US Air and the Federal Aviation Administration criticizing the airline for the offensive behavior.

Mokhiber stated that "public expressions of Arab-bashing such as the US Air incident only reinforce negative stereotypes; the Lebanese-American couple aboard the flight suddenly found themselves implicated in a crude and insensitive incident because of their ancestry."

US Air executive Goldman expressed deep regrets over this "reprehensible and disgusting act, " and promised that the airline would take "immediate and appropriate disciplinary action, " including the possible dismissal of the employees.

Lebanese and Kuwaiti Nationals Granted Safe Haven

The US Department of Justice has designated Lebanese and Kuwaiti nationals for the newly created Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a provision of the Immigration Act of 1990. TPS is a mechanism for humanitarian relief and allows nationals of countries torn by civil strife or natural disaster to remain in the US for up to 12 months with work authorization.

Several Arab-American organizations worked with Rep. Mary Rose Oakar (D-OH) in securing passage of this legislation, including ADC, the National Association of Arab Americans and the American Task Force for Lebanon. ADC plans to hold seminars in communities with large Arab populations, such as Detroit, Houston and Los Angeles, for education on the specific requirements to obtain TPS status.

Council of American Palestinian Organizations Formed

The Council of American Palestinian Organizations has been formed in Washington, DC to coordinate the various programs of Palestinian-American groups such as the American Federation of Ramallah, the El Bireh Society, the Palestine Youth Organization and the United Holy Land Fund.

The Council endorses all objectives of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and of the leadership of the intifada inside the occupied territories, and intends to "facilitate and execute a collective agenda based upon national interests and on behalf of Palestinian national ideas. " For information call (202) 223-2439.

Catherine M. Willford is the circulation director for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.