Arab-America

America contributes to maintaining the global order and has created and sustained some of the most important institutions of the international system, such as the United Nations and the World Bank. In recent years, U.S. foreign policy has resulted in billions of dollars of tsunami relief in Southeast Asia, earthquake assistance in Pakistan and economic and development aid across Muslim lands. The United States is the biggest foreign aid donor to the Muslim World.

In the past, the United States has also intervened militarily on behalf of Muslims in Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo and Kuwait.

On the domestic front, the United States is one of the best places to live on the planet according to many. People from all over the Muslim world apply, in the millions, for visas to come to the US (even after 9/11) in search of a better future. Yet hardly any indigenous American Muslims are seeking to migrate to predominantly-Muslim countries to improve their lives. The United States, and not any one of the fifty five Muslims nations, is the number one choice of Muslims for permanent relocation.

by M. A. Muqtedar Khan

Sami Merhi was recently endorsed by the Democratic party for the candicy of Freeholder (a county supervisor position). The very next day, a state legislator, Gary Shaer, attacked the endorsement, pointing to a four-year-old New York Times story in which Merhi was quoted as saying that the Sept. 11 attacks on the US were different from terror attacks against Israel.

For four years now, Merhi has insisted that the Times quote was partial and inaccurate. He has made clear that he opposes all forms of terrorism, including attacks on Israeli civilians. But it has been for naught.

by James J. Zogby

by James Zogby

Washington, DC - One of the first political lessons I learned after coming to Washington was taught to me by an African American activist who had, in his early years, worked as a strategist with Martin Luther King, Jr.

I had just won a minor political victory and was telling him about it. His response was, "Don't take any victory for granted, because the very forces you had to fight to win are still out there trying to undo what you've won. You must always protect your victories."

I was reminded of my friend and mentor's wise words last week, when a thoughtful reporter asked me to identify what, I thought, had been Arab Americans' most important accomplishments over the past three decades, and what, I felt, were the greatest challenges still facing the community.

by James J. Zogby

There are important differences between the Arab and broader Muslim immigrant experience in Europe and that of the Arab American and American Muslim communities in the United States.
First and foremost, there is the fact that America itself is different, both in concept and in reality. I have heard third generation Kurds in Germany or Algerians in France complain that they remain on the margins of their societies. With difficulty they may obtain citizenship, but not the identity of being German or French. On the other hand, becoming "American" is a process that has brought countless immigrant groupings into the US mainstream. Being "American" is not the possession of a single ethnic group, nor does any ethnic group define "America." Within a generation, diverse ethnic and religious communities from every corner of the globe have been transformed into what we know as Americans. Problems remain, to be sure, and intolerant bigots periodically rear their heads, but as US history demonstrates, the pressures of incorporation and absorption are decisive.

"Becoming American," in the end, means more than obtaining a passport and a set of legal rights. It also means adopting a new identity and absorbing a shared sense of history. At the same time as each new group has entered the American mainstream, the concept of America, itself, has been expanded and transformed.

by Sara Powell

ON THE OCCASION of its 30th anniversary, Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) hosted a two-day symposium March 31 and April 1 in Washington, DC on the state of Arab studies programs. Panelists discussed a range of topics, from "Arab Studies in the Cross-Hairs" through "Arab Studies: Arab Perspectives" to "The Legacy of Edward Said."

The symposium was dedicated to the late Hisham Sharabi, Georgetown professor emeritus and renowned Arab intellectual, and included a concluding open discussion between panelists and other participants.

The conference closed with a performance by CCAS students of Egyptian playwright Tawfiq Al-Hakim's social comedy, "The Donkey Market." Remarkably and laudably, the play was performed in the original Arabic. It is a tribute to the rigors of the language training in Georgetown's Master of Arab Studies program that the students, for many of whom Arabic is not a first language, were able to perform their roles fluently. The play was a great success.

Many of the panelists addressed the role of Arab studies in the current political clime-specifically, whether or not academics could or did or should have an impact on U.S. policy toward the Middle East. There seemed to be a general consensus that Middle East experts should advise the government, but much dissension on related questions.