An Arab Voice
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
Those who know, know that challenging US policy toward the Arab-Muslim world outside the US is one thing, but seriously challenging within the US the inequity of US actions, especially so, on Middle East and Muslim-related issues, is an entirely different cup of tea. That is one of the reasons why dissenting voices in the mainstream are few and far between.
Thirty years ago, in Washington, DC, my former law partner, US Senator James G. Abourezk, envisioned and founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) to contest the encroachment of the rights of Americans of Arab ancestry. ADC’s founding director was Dr. James Zogby. I had then played a small role in facilitating ADC’s launch. Today, ADC remains the premier American-Arab civil rights organization.
Still standing in the arena today is Zogby, the president of the Washington-based American Arab Institute, which he founded 25 years ago to empower the Arab-Muslim community. From this platform, Zogby has been tackling stereotypical falsehoods about the Arab-Muslim world and has not been afraid to attack the burning issues of the day, despite threats and intimidation directed toward him and his family. He also anchors the influential weekly TV discussion program from Washington, “Viewpoint”, which is produced by the dynamic Deborah Akel.
The foundations of Zogby’s activism were laid by parental guidance. Coming from humble beginnings, Zogby’s mother inspired him to aspire for higher goals. His mother instilled in him the value of self-esteem and staying informed through newspaper reading, to engage with the wider society, and fight for what is right. His brother, John, heads Zogby International, an authoritative opinion-polling firm. During his student life, Zogby immersed himself in Islamic studies under the tutelage of the redoubtable late Professor Ismail Faruqi.
Through his acclaimed new book, “Arab Voices”, Zogby makes three core points: that the Arab voice in the American conversation is systematically and deliberately excluded; that although 9/11 traumatized America, it also presented an opportunity for mutual understanding; and that the Zogby polls consistently depict that the Palestinian cause remains an “open wound” throughout the Arab world.
Here, one may add that some of the problems have been magnified by the incapacity of the resource-rich Arab world to convert its vast potential into socio-political leverage in the international arena. Despite one-sided official US policies favoring Israel, public polls have repeatedly shown that “a strong majority of Americans favors striking a balance.”
Then, too, some crafty operators have learned that the price of admission for a seat at the American table is to keep mum and stay away from the core Palestinian-Israel dispute so as to define and present oneself as an acceptable “moderate”. Accordingly, they tell them what they want to hear and not what they need to hear.
Instead of striving to excel, for too long the self-defeating excess baggage of victimhood has been dragged along. The empowerment and placement of Arabs and Muslims in US society hinges on US foreign policy in the Muslim world. Unless the latter changes, the former won’t. But that change – as Zogby’s work demonstrates – won’t arrive gift-wrapped on a platter.
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