Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Middle East
Jan 4 2005
Washington Report, December 2004, pages 56-58
Arab-American Activism
NAAP Conference Seeks to Empower Arab-American Community
Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha makes a point (staff photo S.
Powell).
THE NETWORK of Arab American Professionals held its second annual
conference in Boston, MA over the weekend of Sept. 24 to 26. Founded
to advance Arab Americans and Arab culture, as well as to promote
full participation in U.S. society, the theme of this year’s
conference was `Empowering Our Community.’ To that end, panels were
divided into various areas of concentration including professional,
foreign policy, civic education, and films and the media. Within
those sections were panels on such varied topics as Palestine, Iraq,
how to organize, Arab women’s movements, the vote, and civil rights
and non-profit law. The films `Selves and Others: A Portrait of
Edward Said,’ `Olive Harvest,’ `Control Room,’ and `T for Terrorist’
were all screened.
During the opening plenary, organizers emphasized empowerment, urging
members to run for office, use their careers to impact policy, and
establish their status as a minority group. The key message, they
said, was to take action – which could be as simple as writing a letter
or voting, or as complicated as starting an Arab American community
center.
The session on Palestine focused on numbers, ranging from `facts on
the ground’ to statistics on U.S. dollars spent on Israel, with
discussion on what can be done in this country to change the
situation. A moving and powerful session presented by Simon-Harak, a
priest and activist with the War Resistor’s League and Voices in the
Wilderness, examined the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ensuing U.S.
occupation. Photographs never seen in the U.S., as well as infamous
pictures that did find their way into the mainstream press,
illustrated the vast chasm between Washington’s stated goals, and the
means used to accomplish them.
The Syrian and Jordanian embassies helped sponsor the conference. A
luncheon speech by Syria’s ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Imad
Moustapha, was inspiring. Every human with any decency should be a
strong advocate of Palestinian rights, he said, `especially Arab
Americans.’ Discussing reform in his country, Moustapha said the
Syrian expatriate community could and should participate, adding that
there was to be an international conference in Damascus for exactly
that purpose. NAAP attendees could `play a great role in the United
States and make great contributions to their countries of origin,` he
said. `You are the bridge.’
Actor Sayed Badreya announces the first Arab American screenwriter
award. See the NAAP Web site for more information (staff photo S.
Powell).
Acknowledging that U.S. -Syrian relations had been strained, Dr.
Moustapha maintained they have improved. He concluded by addressing
the issues of Iraq and Palestine, the ignorance and role of the U.S.
in those countries, and the shared history and culture of the three
Abrahamic faiths which allow for hope.
NAAP solicited messages from each of the three major presidential
campaigns to be delivered during the Saturday night dinner. The Bush
campaign did not respond. The Hon. Judge William Shaheen spoke for
Sen. John Kerry. Saying that Arab Americans had never been successful
in politics, he urged `sticking together.’ While noting that audience
members agreed with Kerry on many issues such as health care and the
economy, he did acknowledge that they had a right to demand more on
the issue of Palestine. Arab Americans should vote for Kerry, Judge
Shaheen concluded, but let him know they were watching him.
Albert Mokhiber spoke for the Nader campaign. He told the crowd that
they should not vote for Nader because he was also Arab American, but
rather should vote on the issues. If everybody voted for the most
intelligent and honest candidate with the best track record, he
noted, Nader would win hands down. After dinner, award-winning
playwright and poet Betty Shamieh read two of her moving poems, then
Maysoon Zayid lightened the mood with her inimitable comedy.
The conference concluded with by far the most controversial panel, on
which representatives of Boston’s FBI, Homeland Security and police
offices seemed to spend a lot of time giving out phone numbers to
call if one was a victim of a hate crime or suspected a neighbor of
terrorism, but had no answers to problems of profiling. Lionel Bacon
of the Boston FBI office said he could not comment on Arab and Muslim
Americans being singled out for investigation or prosecution in
general, but could only answer questions about specific instances.
Audience member Merrie Najimy, president of the Boston chapter of
ADC, rose to the occasion. Reeling off a list of examples from the
1980s to the present, she evoked cheers. Bacon’s response, however,
was less welcome. He said he either did not know the case mentioned,
or could not comment.
More information on the Network of Arab American Professionals is
available at its Web site, <;.
– Sara Powell
Georgetown Conference Scrutinizes Arab Media
Thomas Gorguissian (l), Washington correspondent for Lebanon’s
An-Nahar newspaper, and Al-Jazeera’s Washington bureau chief Hafez
Al-Mirazi (staff photo L. Al-Arian).
Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies held a
conference Oct. 7 titled, `Uncovered: Arab Journalists Scrutinize
their Profession.’ Panelists representing various Arab news media
outlets engaged in a lively, and at times heated, debate on the
current state of Arab media, including the effects of satellite
television and technological developments on the field.
Thomas Gorguissian, Washington correspondent for Lebanon’s An-Nahar
newspaper, sparked a discussion with his first statement: `I wish I
could announce that the state of the Arab media is strong…but,
realistically speaking, that is not the case right now.’ While the
pan-Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera brought a new `momentum’ in
news coverage to the Arab world, Gorguissian noted, the network still
has its limitations.
`There is no free movement or access to officials,’ he maintained.
`Reporting will only come from the United States or Europe, not from
Arab capitals.’ Expounding on this point, the correspondent said Arab
governments have a `constant desire to control’ their journalists,
specifically by closing newspapers and detaining journalists.
On the latest trends in Arab media, Gorguissian observed that Dubai
is considered a `hub of electronic media,’ and said it will likely
play a role in shaping pan-Arab media. He concluded by asking for
more analysis regarding economics and the `role of giant media.’
Focusing his remarks on `broad trends in the mass media,’ Rami
Khouri, executive editor of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper,
said the media is a `reflection of the wider political culture from
which it emanates.’ Arab media, he added, present `extreme
expressions of political sentiments and polarization.’
Khouri observed that there is a `great proliferation of media taking
place’ in the Arab world, including FM radio stations and off-shore
press, with newspapers published in one Arab country now being
distributed in others.
There is `less government control, broadly speaking’ of media
outlets, he maintained, and the liberalization taking place is
causing `much greater commercial impact across the board.’ With few
exceptions, Khouri explained, Arab media outlets are `market-driven
institutions, not ideological.’
Government-owned media are losing their audience share along with
their credibility and legitimacy to private media, Khouri noted.
Another interesting development he cited is the role of media as an
`instrument of war.’ With regard to the war on Iraq, for example, the
U.S. government has made Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya an issue by
publicly criticizing them and creating the State Department-run
Alhurra, which Khouri described as `totally senseless and an
extraordinary waste of money’ to compete with them.
In fact, he argued, given the vastly superior U.S. military
capabilities in Iraq, the media represent the only `equal playing
field’ between Arabs and Americans there.
Khouri cautioned, however, that while the media provide a mechanism
for the release of tension in Arab society, they also reduce tension
that could be channeled into political processes. With this
restriction, Arab media will continue to be a `media of
entertainment, not political transformation,’ Khouri concluded.
Salameh Nematt, Washington bureau chief for the pan-Arab newspaper
Al-Hayat, was decidedly less optimistic than Khouri, as evidenced by
his opening remark: `The Arab media is worse off today than in the
`50s and `60s.’
Criticizing government control of the media, Nematt noted that Arab
journalists were not able to cover Iraq until the U.S.-led invasion
of the country. Arguing that `a free Arab media does not exist,’
Nematt charged that Al-Jazeera viewers are presented with only two
stories: Israelis killing Palestinians and Americans killing Iraqis.
`Media won’t hold themselves accountable,’ he suggested, `because
they are the government.’
Taking issue with Nematt’s comments, Al-Jazeera’s Washington bureau
chief, Hafez Al-Mirazi, responded, `It’s very easy to tell people
what they like to hear, bashing Arab governments and media.’
He disagreed with Nematt’s argument that the United States created
freedom of the press for Arab journalists, pointing out that
Al-Jazeera’s Afghanistan office was bombed during the U.S. invasion
of that country, and its bureau in Baghdad has been shut down.
`Thanks to whom?’ Al-Mirazi asked rhetorically.
Al-Jazeera provides extensive coverage of Palestine and Iraq because
they are newsworthy, he countered, and `reflect what the audience
cares about, the two occupations in their lands.’
– Laila Al-Arian
`We’re in a Mess,’ Zogby Warns
AAI president James Zogby (staff photo S. Twair).
`We’re in a mess. Our leadership has failed us and enmeshed us in a
war in Iraq with no exit.’ So said Dr. James Zogby at an Oct. 12
meeting of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council.
The president of the Washington, DC-based American Arab Institute
said that despite warnings not to invade Iraq when the consequences
were unclear, President George W. Bush heeded only his
neoconservative advisers, who predicted American troops would be
showered with flowers and the conflict ended within seven days.
`We are in a mess because there has been no real debate about our
policies in the Middle East, and now we’re part of its history and
part and parcel of its other invaders,’ Zogby told an audience of
more than 200.
Harking back to the end of World War I, he said U.S. President
Woodrow Wilson apparently understood the Arab quest for
self-determination, but the British and French overruled him and
established their mandates in Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq,
while the national aspirations of the Armenians and Kurds were
ignored.
`After World War II, the U.S. inherited the mess left by the British
and French,’ he continued. `And because the U.S.S.R. supported Arab
nationalism, the people of the Middle East became pawns of the Cold
War.’
Another development occurred in 1988, when Jesse Jackson ran as a
Democratic Party presidential candidate and the Republicans
retaliated with the Rev. Pat Robertson representing Christian
conservatives. These fundamentalists, Zogby observed, believe in
Armageddon, the ingathering of Jews into Israel until Christians rise
in the Rapture and the world is destroyed. Millions of them support
Israel politically and financially, to the detriment of the
Palestinian population.
`The neoconservatives,’ Zogby averred, `are the secular idea of the
same concept of good and evil. Their apocalyptic theory is to
prevail. They had no plan – just shock and awe – and out of our will, we
will prevail.’
In the weeks leading up to Gulf War II, Army chief of staff Gen. Eric
Shisheki warned it would take a minimum of 350,000 U.S. troops to
take over Iraq successfully. But the neocons’ `infantile fantasy that
everything would fall into place’ prevailed, Zogby stated.
Despite the monumental failures in Iraq, he noted, public debate is
stifled and the neocon machine continues to make excuses. `Iraqi
dissidents are not all thugs and gangsters as [Iraqi Interim Prime
Minister Iyad] Alawi calls them. The people are furious over what has
happened, they have no electricity, water, jobs or security.’
Zogby recalled the remark of an Iraqi who said, `Saddam was brutal,
but at least we could walk outdoors.’
Noting that the United States and its allies are at risk, the AAI
executive emphasized that each Iraqi who is killed has a family who
hates the occupiers.
The U.S. must acknowledge there is a problem and that doing more of
the same will not make it right, he said. Nor will becoming
independent of Middle East energy resources solve the problem. `We
may survive higher petroleum prices, but Europe will go down,’ he
warned.
As for the Israeli/Palestinian morass, Zogby said a solution must be
implemented to counteract the neocon claim that the road to Jerusalem
is paved through Baghdad. For too long, he said, Congress has been
controlled by Israel.
`Clinton was elected on the basis he would never pressure Israel,’
Zogby maintained. `In 1981, when he met with Perez and Rabin’s widow
instead of with Binyamin Netanyahu, 81 senators told him not to do
that.’
Another stunning example was when the current President Bush told
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to halt his invasion of the West Bank,
and dispatched Secretary of State Colin Powell to Morocco, Jordan and
Israel on a peacemaking mission. Right-wing gadfly Gary Bauer
denounced Bush’s actions and invited Netanyahu to condemn Powell’s
mission to the U.S. Congress.
Zogby proposed that someone of the stature of former Secretary of
State James Baker apply pressure to the Israelis and Palestinians and
definitively state this is the only deal on the table. `Both sides
must pay up,’ he stated, `so long as we are willing to define what
the price is and not allow any tweaking or deals on the side.’
– Pat McDonnell Twair