The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
June 7'th, 1997

This issue of the Free Arab Voice is dedicated to the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's (ADC) 14th National
Convention in Arlington, Virginia June 12-15:

1) "Organization is Power": Information about the ADC's convention

2) A Comment at the Margin of the Convention: An analysis of long-time
    obstacles to organizing, and ways for the ADC and other groups to
    overcome them in order to muster the power to organize.

3) A Call to Organize

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1) "Organization is Power": We at the Free Arab Voice salute the
efforts of the ADC, and we'd like to take this opportunity to remind you
of the ADC's 14th National Convention which will be held at the Crystal
Gateway Marriott Hotel, Arlington, Virginia, June 12-15.

 For more information, please visit their website at http://www.adc.org
 You can also contact them via:
 email: adc@adc.org   phone: (202) 244-2990 or fax : (202) 244-3196

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2) The ADC Convention: A Comment at the Margin

The main theme of the fourteenth national convention of  the
ADC is "Organization is Power". 

And there's no question about the truth of that theme. 

There is a question though about whether or not we'll
be able to effectively organize.

We number in the millions.  Economically, as a minority,
we may not be doing as well as some, but still we're doing better
than others.  Furthermore, unlike a few decades ago, those among
us with a college education are perhaps in the hundreds of
thousands. And neither do we as individuals lack the ability to
articulate our likes and dislikes or express ourselves.

What is it then that prevents us from having an actual impact
given our great potential here or back home?  Why can't we still
in spite of a long string of catastrophes understand the urgent
need to harness our great potential by organizing?

So far the drive to organize has lost steam every time it met
with the cold shoulder of indifference and idleness that many of our
people have nurtured in the last few centuries..!  Let's face it:
many among us neither know nor care to know anything about anything
outside the rigid socially acceptable sequence of going to school,
graduating, making as much money as possible, then getting married
and reproducing the same cycle of idiocy somewhere in between.

Activists sometimes blame the Arab people for not knowing any better:
Why can't they see that your chances as an individual are partly
determined by how well your group is doing?! For example, if you're
born "Israeli", then your government can legalize torture or you
personally can feel free to stroll into South Lebanon, or some town
in the West Bank, kill a few civilians, and get away with it in
front of the whole "civilized" world.  You simply get better
opportunities and special treatment wherever you go, and woo to the
Swiss banks if they refuse to pay up.  BECAUSE YOUR PEOPLE ARE
ORGANIZED.

                But if you're born Arab, well you can fill in the
blanks on your own!! And you get to be called a terrorist too!
It was kind of funny, but I didn't laugh, when an American friend
who was looking at pictures of destroyed civilian houses in South
Lebanon, in the aftermath of an "Israeli" air raid, asked calmly if
insurance will pay for the damage ......

But really we can't just blame the Arab people because their apathy
and inactivity was the result of centuries of oppression, and modern
dictatorships and theocracies that sought to channel the people's
attention AWAY from public decision-making with iron and fire.

As a result, many developed a sheepish mentality that revolves around
justifications and excuses.  We have become the slaves of our doubts
and fears, and thus oppress ourselves by ourselves which was the
exact intention of our rulers for long. 

So there's been a historical accumulation of mistrust between the
Arab regimes and their peoples.  One result of which has been to
avoid public affairs altogether, and mock those who don't. 

Those who sacrifice for public causes are frequently deemed 'losers'
by our people to the chagrin of Islamic, Arab, and Palestinian activists..

The result of the apathy delineated above has been that we have had a
political impact that is far too small compared to our potential.
Our remaining human and political rights are in jeopardy from the
tyranny of media stereotypes, the infringement of discriminatory laws
like the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996 or Passenger Profiling,  and the
murderous consequences on our people back home of a horrendously
biased U.S. foreign policy. 

So if the ADC, or other concerned Arab or Islamic groups, are to
break that self-destructive apathy, they must make sure that they
preserve their identity as grassroots organizations that represent
the interests of the people. They should STAY AWAY FROM THE
ARAB REGIMES because they don't represent the Arab people, and
some of them are unabashed clients or puppets of "Israel" and the West.
The policies they've followed and the agreements they've signed are not
binding to us because we didn't ask them to represent us in the first
place.

                Therefore, the ADC in this convention, and always,
should not make any of those official Arab policies or agreements part
of its agenda in any shape or form.  And this includes the Oslo
Agreements, Wadi Araba, etc.. as well as the official Arab adherence to
the unjust sanctions against Iraq, Libya, Sudan, and (potentially) Syria..
The ADC must not under any circumstance become the mouthpiece of
any Arab regime, including the Palestinian National Authority of Mr.
Arafat.

And we're not saying all this in an accusational sense, because we
value and prize the efforts of the ADC, and those organizations that
try to speak out for or pull together the ranks of Arabs and Muslims.
But just a few weeks ago, there were several newspaper reports claiming
that Mr. James Zogby, a prominent Arab-American spokesman affiliated
with another organization, received half a million dollars from Prince
Sultan Bin Abdul-Azziz, the Saudi minister of defense, during the latter's
last trip to Washington, D.C. 

That of course is just the kind of thing that turns Arabs and
Arab-Americans off, and nips in the bud calls to organize.  How many
times have we heard the Arab people call their leaders, in power and in
the opposition, "crooks" or "traitors"?

You can rest assured that Arabs will not heed calls to organize,
thus exposing themselves to the wrath of the powers that be,
from any group or person that they can't fully trust.  And trust can
only be earned the hard way, whereas the official Arab way is the wrong
way........

Let's organize and mobilize, but in order to do that we should learn
from the mistakes of the past, and in the darkest hour never lose
hope in our people, our potential, and our future ...... in ourselves.

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3) A Call to Organize

Dear Sisters and Brothers

While we paddle through the stream of life, flirting with our dreams
and honing our hopes, we learn from our rendez-vous to respect the
logical, and the rational, while still appreciating the chaotic, and the
exceptional.

Throughout this process, we are inclined, as well as forced to act,
and to react to the stream of events bombarding us.  And in doing so,
we hope that our decisions will function as a bridge to the future,
while learning from the past (its good, and especially its bad).

As the world insulates itself with hypocrisy, and increasingly tries
to confine justice to the privileged few, while  programming its
conscience to filter the candidates for the basic right to fairness and
equality of opportunity,

and as we become more entrenched into our daily lives, and forget, or
get diverted from the biased stand of some nations that claim morality,
while practicing brutality,

the need to organize and revolt against all aspects of discrimination
or racism becomes more apparent, and far more crucial.

As Arabs, our coherence is essential to the continuity of a great
culture that was responsible for Europe's rebirth from it's darkness,
and to the prevention of the double standard, and heinous acts that
bombard our people.

Usually, the best type of dance music is one that is danced to by more
than one person. Surely, you could pretend to Tango solo, or dance to a
beatless melody. But it's only when you harmonize your steps with those
of others that you can achieve better satisfaction, and be true to your
Arabic heritage.

Let's organize and mobilize, but in order to do that, we should learn
from the mistakes of the past, and in the darkest hour, never lose hope
in our people, our potential, and our future........... in ourselves.

         ==========  :) We hope to see you there :) ===========  

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