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Getting
our point of view across
Leaders of Arab-American organizations who were in Cairo as part
of a delegation visiting the Arab League met with a small group
AmCham Egypt members on the morning of September 4 to discuss ways
to present Arab perspectives more effectively in the United States.
The breakfast meeting, billed as "Getting our point of view
across: working with Arab-American associations, also focused on
how to improve the images that Arabs and Americans hold of each
other.
Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) president Dr.
Ziad Asali, in a brief set of remarks, noted the relative weakness
of Arab-American and Muslim-American voices in Washington DC political
circles. "There is a scandalous imbalance of power in the United
States," he said. "We need to mobilize and energize the
Arab-American community."
Building a strong and influential lobby network will take time
and hard work, he added. "There are no quick fixes. We will
- if we start today - be able to make a serious difference 10 years
from now."
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, had raised the profile
of the US Arab community, Asali said, but unfortunately this has
been in an unfavourable light. "Arab Americans [previously]
existed outside the consciousness of Americans," he said. "Now,
we are part of it in a negative way."
While Asali's ADC is a pillar of Arab-American efforts at political
activism, the Arab-American business community was also well represented
at the meeting. Americas Arab Chamber of Commerce chairman Ahmed
Chabbani and executive director Nasser Beydoun highlighted the significant
role of Arab-American businesses in the US economy as well as how
these businesses share the concerns of the wider Arab community
with regard to US policy in the Middle East. "On the economic
front, it is possible for us to make headway," Beydoun said.
"The US understands trade and business. We are a capitalist
nation."
The guest speakers reiterated that Arab-Americans are in every
sense Americans, as well as being Arabs. The most constructive contribution
they can make to improving US-Arab relations - and indeed their
duty as US citizens - is to work within the American political system
to make their voices heard, they said.
As for how to positively influence the US administration's attitudes
towards problem areas such as Palestine and Iraq, where pro-Israeli
organizations often seem to set the agenda in Washington, Beydoun
echoed Asali's sentiments. "Politically," Beydoun said,
"we are no match for the opposition in terms of making headway
in the near future."
With regard to swaying the US media, he stressed that Arab Americans
should consider buying stock in the major media organizations that
they currently see as biased against them. "Many media outlets
are publicly traded companies," he pointed out. "And believe
me, these companies listen to their shareholders."
Other speakers described two upcoming initiatives aimed at strengthening
Arab Americans' community consciousness. First, Asali introduced
fellow guest Sam Hamdan, an event organizer and information-technology
specialist who is involved in preparations for a nationwide Arab-American
conference to be held in Detroit in May of next year.
Second, Ismael Ahmed, executive director of the Arab Community
Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) described plans
for the proposed Arab-American National Museum and Cultural Center,
due to open in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2004. The Museum will show
the largely uncelebrated contributions of Arab citizens throughout
American history. "People respect you when they know who you
are," Ahmed said.
Most of the meeting consisted of an informal exchange of questions
and comments with the roughly 20 AmCham Egypt members in attendance.
In response to a question from Arab Banking Corporation corporate
communications head Hanaa El Hilaly about Saudi assets being frozen
in the United States, the Arab-American leaders said that - up to
that point - they knew of know case of assets actually being frozen.
Executives at US financial institutions, they added, had assured
them that people's money was safe in US banks. (Later the same week,
the assets of one Saudi citizen were frozen following the addition
of his name to the US government's terror-funding suspect list.)
Asali, meanwhile, warned of the dangers of "Clash of Civilizations"
worldviews and stressed that the moderate majorities of all communities
must work together to find common ground. He concluded on an optimistic
note, however, stating - in a comment played up by the English-language
Al-Ahram Weekly of September 12 - "We're going to win this
one."
The guest speakers, along with the heads of other Arab-American
organizations, went later the same day to address the Arab League
on how they could help to facilitate more constructive US-Arab dialogue.
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