AMT New York Chapter Formed
New York, NY: The American Muslim Taskforce
on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of 11 national
Muslim organizations, has recently formed a state chapter
in New York. A similar chapter already exits in Florida since
July 2004.
Imam El-Hajj Talib Abdul Rasheed, Niab Ameer of Muslim Alliance
in North America (MANA), will coordinate the AMT-New York
chapter.
“Formation of our New York chapter is yet another milestone
in our campaign to build a bottom-up, democratic decision
making system,” AMT Chair Dr. Agha Saeed said.
The AMT is a US-wide coalition of American Muslim Alliance
(AMA), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic
Circle of North America (ICNA), Islamic Society of North America
(ISNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), Muslim American
Society (MAS), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Muslim
Student Association – National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah
of North America (MUNA), Project Islamic Hope (PIH), and United
Muslims of America (UMA).
A survey commissioned by Georgetown University and conducted
by Zogby International in 2004 had shown that 83 percent of
American Muslims support AMT ‘s program and political
strategy.
The AMT statement reads:
“We are pleased to announce the formation of our New
York State Chapter. It marks yet another milestone in our
campaign to build a bottom-up, democratic decision making
system.
“It is our mission to organize and democratically unify
American Muslim community at city, state, and federal levels.
Forging cooperation among local chapters of AMT member organizations
as well as other local organizations will help us consolidate
and expand a genuine grassroots movement of outreach, education
and mobilization.
“As a state level coalition, the membership of AMT-New
York will not be limited to the New York chapters of national
organizations currently represented in AMT. However, only
organizations, and not individuals can become members of AMT.
“AMT’s four main objectives are to: 1) become
full partners in the defense, development and prosperity of
our homeland, the United States, 2) defend civil and human
rights of all, 3) mainstream the American Muslim community,
and 4) develop alliances with like-minded fellow Americans
on a wide variety of social, political, economic and moral
issues.
“We have operationalized our objectives through our
action program, which includes equally strong commitment to
civil liberties, education, homelessness, economic recovery,
inner-city development, universal health coverage, affordable
housing, environmental and ecological safety, electoral reform,
crime prevention, and global peace and justice. Our ‘civil
rights plus agenda’ is broadly organized under three
categories: a) civil and human rights, b) domestic issues
of public good and general welfare, c) global peace with justice,
prevention of war, and US relations with the Muslim world
“Our overall strategy is premised on the belief that
‘Our vote is the best guarantee of our civil rights
and the best expression of our citizenship’ ”.
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