The Decline of Arab American Power

Desert Storm was by no means a community unifier.  Those who championed Kuwait's right to independence have accused the opposite camp of hypocrisy.  The Palestinians would have never declined foreign intervention in their quest for independence, the pro-interventionist argument goes,  including resorting to a Desert Storm type foreign intervention be it from the Soviets or the US.  The pan-Arabists insisted that an end to the Iraqi occupation can be achieved via Arab diplomacy and without resorting to military foreign intervention.

The resulting rift between the pro-interventionists and the pan-Arabists was mirrored in the Arab-American community in the US with Gulf countries waving financial sticks against those who broke rank with the pro-interventionists.  It was a zero sum game.  If one is anti-interventionist and pan-Arabist, one is anti-Kuwaiti.  If one is pro-intervention, one is anti-Arab and a foreign puppet. No middle ground was permitted and no middle ground was desirable for such an emotionally charged issue.  To each camp, the opposite camp revealed ideological and moral flaws and the two shell never meet.  And the rift in the grassroots began to widen and immediately resulted in opposing lobbying efforts and a weakened Arab-American front.

Memberships in community organizations were shuffled as contributions and volunteer support were withheld from certain organization and channeled to others more friendly to a member's cause.  Grassroots organizations such as ADC initially witnessed a drastic jump in membership and activism as a result of their pan-Arab position to ending the invasion of Kuwait.  But the price ADC had to pay was the decline of deep-pocketed Gulf members and others who sided with US intervention.

Other organizations who attempted to tread the muddy waters were not successful either.  Leaders were forced to take sides.  The choices leaders had to wrestle with were to capture Gulf members’ money or pan-Arabists sheer numbers and permanence in the US. As a grassroots organization, ADC opted for a stronger grassroots support and lost the hard currency. AAI and NAAA opted for their financial security but witnessed diminished grassroots support.  Members who once belonged to multiple Arab-American organizations now had fewer options to pick from.

Enter Bosnia with all its “ethnic cleansing” including the usual medieval garden variety barbarism and genocide targeted primarily at European Muslims.

The Arab-American community being comprised of both Muslims and Christens and all the flavors in between, had to take a stand.  The question of the day was to arm or not to arm the Bosnian Muslims.  With the Muslim-Arab camp in the US primarily embracing mainstream American positions in favor of Bosnian Muslims' right to self-defense on one side and the Christian-Arab camp primarily split based on denomination some pro and some against the arming of the Bosnian-Muslims.  Also, ideological differences contributed significantly to the discord with anti-militarist Arab-Americans in favor of a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Bosnia instead of sending arms.

The rift was reflected at the leadership level also.  With some Arab-American organizations going publicly against arming Bosnian Muslims while others went as far as lobbying with American-Jewish organizations for the right of Bosnian Muslims to self-defense.

Another realignment of the grassroots occurred again; reducing further membership contributions to some already financially strapped Arab-American organizations and pouring money into relatively new ones that emerged as single issue organizations cashing in on the absence of an effective and united mainstream front in the face of the Bosnian conflict.

Just when you think you have witnessed a worst case scenario for Arab-American activism, think again.  The “Peace Process” comes along to complicate matters further.  The 90s have ushered in a new turn in Israeli-Palestinian relationships on one side and Arab-Israeli relationships in general.  Three camps have emerged as a result: those in favor of a non-violent and eventually peaceful settlement with the Israelis, those in favor of land in exchange for no war but no peace status,  and finally, the rejectionist camp which prefers to hold out for a South Africa style settlement or an Islamic solution to the Palestinian plight.

The result, a further weakening of the activist base as each camp withdrew or extended its support to subgroups or new organizations vowing to promote one camp's agenda over the other.

Other factors have also conspired to further disintegrate the Arab-American grassroots.  The rising acceptance of contemporary interpretations of Islamic thought and ideology.  This trend was facilitated in part by the corresponding weakening of leftist ideologies and lackluster mainstream and secular leadership.  The often touted death of worldly ideologies left the disenchanted with ideological hunger and in search of a substitute. Enter Islam.

Many Arabs Muslims speak of the failures of Nationalism, Secularism, Communism, Socialism, Dictatorship, and Democracy in the Arab world as the impetus for the re-introduction of an indigenous and once successful solution: Islam. Why? Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Chechnya, Pakistan, Hamas, Jihad, Hizbollah and other examples demonstrate, it is argued, how the Islamization of the struggle can lead to more favorable results in the quest of deposing tyrants or independence from foreign aggressors against seemingly impossible odds.

For the politically and economically dispossessed, there is no better ally than God.  For millions, this is a simple and effective argument to absorb. Hence, the widespread and rapid acceptance amongst the less fortunate in the Arab World of an interpretation of Islam that promises a better existence if not on earth, then in heaven if you only pay your dues.

Also, with rising literacy and political awareness in the Arab world, natural leader find few or no channels to express an innate energy to control one's destiny and impact the lives of others.  With corruption rampant in Arab governments and opportunities to lead are shut to highly energetic and capable young Arabs, Islamic movements, which are self-legitimizing as political and social reform movements become an ideal forum and training grounds for young leaders to express opposition to the status quo and to experiment with leadership and release compressed energies.

Often times, such religious movements garner significant support from the underprivileged masses triggering disproportionate reprisals from dictatorial Arab governments only for those Islamic movements to be legitimized further by such repression and resurface as more potent and as less compromising adversaries to the status quo.

Here in the US, the weakening secular and mainstream Arab-American organizations as a result of the previously mentioned developments has prompted Arab-American Muslim leaders to capitalize on the trend in the Arab world and in the US to search for an Islamic alternative.  The result was a mass movement towards Muslim organizations in the US that claims to champion causes of liberation and anti-corruption in the Arab World as well as empowerment in the US.

An unexpected benefit, and a very potent one, was the immediate coalition built as a result of common agenda Arab and non-Arab Muslim organizations in the US have discovered and moved to strengthen these ties in recent years to promote Muslim rights against a perceived Jewish American campaign to discredit Islam in the media and deprive American-Muslims of political access.

An increasing number of Arab-American Muslims recognize themselves as Muslim-Americans first and view the Arab-American mainstream as politically impotent in the 90s with no coherent agenda and led by bunch of warmed-up Arab nationalists and leftists from a bygone era.

But nothing can be more effective a de-motivator to Arab-American activism as the rising disillusionment with the perceived unfairness of the American political system.  For many Arab-Americans, a simple count of UN resolutions in support of Palestinian rights for self-determination and resolutions condemning the resulting Israeli brutal oppression indicates clearly the lopsided support of the US towards Israeli.  Often times US vetoes fly in the face of the world community in general and US allies in Europe in specific resulting in charges of excessive US pandering to Jewish lobbyists and the devastating impact their deep pockets had and continue to have on the course of settling the Palestinian tragedy.  With the pro-peace Jewish Lobby being as ineffective as the mainstream Arab-American lobby, a change in this trend is unlikely in the near future.

The outcome of these series of events resulted in political disunity within the community leadership across religious, national, and international lines.  With the Arab-American Old Guard almost extinct, and no shining stars have emerged in this dark Arab-American political winter only lackluster leaders have come forth without the skills or credibility to rally and unite the Arab-American community.

But does the community wishes to be recognized as an Arab-American community anymore.  Some have opted to be as Muslim-Americans as possible, others opted to be as Americans as possible preferring to leave behind what seems to them intractable political and social problems plaguing the Arab-American community in favor of what hundreds of millions of Americans and their ancestors have done before them: drop the hyphen and go 100% American.  Others simply wait for a reversal in the present situation and continue to be active within mainstream American humanitarian and political organization until more effective Arab-American mainstream organizations emerge with a clearly defined agenda and the credibility and pragmatism to lead effectively.

What can we do to halt the interminable disunity? Arab-American attitudes towards tolerating differences be it political, social, or religious differences must mature to a Western level before we can stem the tide of disunity which may result in the dissolution of what remains of the Arab-American political front. The community with all its talents and energies must take action to avoid further dismemberment and emasculation of our organizations by demanding a coordinated front amongst our institutions both religious and non-religious.  If such efforts fail initially, there should be no limit to the number of attempts.  These trials and errors should be welcomed as part of the normal evolution and maturity processes within our community.

And while disagreements are natural and sometimes healthy, they should not mushroom to undermine the process of institution building.  A friend once shared with me what he described as a golden rule of successful activism. He said if you spend most of your time on internal battles and less of your time reaching out and building bridges within the community and outside the community, stop and rethink your strategy.  If you cannot change this pattern, than leave the arena since you are adding to the problem not the solution regardless of who you think is right or wrong.  Nothing can be more damaging  and demoralizing than internal conflict.

But above all, each Arab-American regardless of religion, origin, and social status must accept his or her share of the responsibility for any political renewal to take place.  And by recognizing that without sacrificing some of our time, money, and self, nothing of value can be accomplished in this effort to salvage our institutions and move forward to a better coordinated, better funded, more effective Arab-American institutions.