I really began to embrace my Arab identity during the formative years of my life, while a student at the University of Michigan. This was a turbulent time for Arab-Americans after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, yet the community persevered (and continues to do so). Much of the credit goes to Dr. Hala Maksoud who, as the President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was able to mobilize, empower, and unite the community more than any one before - or after. It was around this time, under the leadership and inspiration of Dr. Maksoud, that I became an active participant in Arab-American advocacy. In 2002, the entire community suffered a tremendous loss with her passing. Arguably, the community - today rife with divisions - has yet to rebound. It is an understatement to say that Dr. Maksoud is greatly missed.
In her memory, the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership was created to train a new generation of Arab-American leaders. Specifically, the Foundation sponsors 5-day seminars that bring together young Arab-Americans for leadership training. The seminars are organized by Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine. Below is a review of the seminar by an attendee. I will not comment on this account, other than to say two things. First, many past attendees of this program have openly complained that the 5-day seminar is a waste of an otherwise excellent idea and opportunity. Specifically, attendees have complained that it is nothing more than a self-created opportunity for Hussein Ibish to dictate belligerently and endlessly, giving little to no opportunity for participants to chime in. "We weren't taught to lead, we were taught to follow Ibish's agenda," says one former attendee. My comment, there's no surprise here. Anybody who has seen Ibish publicly speak is aware of his inability to know when to shut up... I think even Ibish will admit this. Second, there is no excuse for Ibish's gay-bashing. What a shameful desecration of Dr. Maksoud's memory.
Foundation for Arab-American Leadership:
Earlier this year, I attended the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership. The leadership training, led by American Task Force on Palestine's (ATFP) Hussein Ibish, promises to "identify, educate and motivate outstanding young individuals who demonstrate the promise of becoming tomorrow's Arab-American leaders." Those who attended the leadership training were a promising group of Arab-Americans who hope to have a positive impact on the future of the community. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to actually hear what this promising group had to say – about anything. Throughout the training, "discussion" was dominated by Ibish, with little room for participants to actually voice their ideas, concerns and thoughts about the Arab-American community.
I felt as though we were being told what to think and what to say – namely, what ATFP and Ibish have to think and say concerning Arab-American issues and current events in the Arab world. I was being trained to be a follower – to have no independent thought, no independent solutions, and certainly no independent voice of my own. These compromise the opposite of what many of us define as a "leader."
On Palestine…
The reading packet was mailed to each participant a week or so before the training and contained chapters on all the major issues of relevance to the Arab-American Community. Palestine, Iraq, War on Terror, Arab-American Civil Rights, and so on. I immediately flipped to the section on Palestine since being an activist for Palestine served as my pathway and first connection to the Arab-American activist community. Almost all the materials in the reading packet provided in the chapter on Palestine were ATFP material – with, thankfully, an excerpt from Edward Said’s "The Question of Palestine." This was especially troubling for me – why not include many great writers like Amira Hass, Joseph Massad, writers from Electronic Intifada, Uri Avnery, Bill and Kathleen Christenson and Jonathan Cook?
All of these writers come from various religious, ethnic and educational backgrounds but have one common goal – to open up debate about Zionism in the United States. To include only ATFP material along with Edward Said is to silence and exclude many other important voices and views in the Palestinian-Israeli discourse.
During the Training…
The Foundation's website promises that the training will drive leaders "to inspire positive change in the Arab-American community.” Ibish proceeded to do the complete opposite when he referred to and commented on the sexual orientation of a well-known professor who does extensive research and writing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. What does someone's sexual orientation have to do with his or her ability to constructively add to Palestinian-Israeli discourse? He also mentioned many other prominent members, institutions and organizations in the Arab-American community by name and proceeded to bad-mouth them and what they do.
If the training is meant to teach participants to be able to positively represent the community in public, trash-talking, putting other organizations down, and commenting on others’ sexuality is definitely not the way to do it! Not only is this unprofessional and inappropriate, but comments such as calling someone a “flaming homosexual” is a terrible way of exemplifying how to represent that Arab-American community. Inappropriate comments and attacks on other members of the community may also make participants hold back from speaking out. As an activist not only for issues of importance to the Arab-American community but also for Gender issues – this definitely kept me from wanting to participate in the training and, I thought, only added to some of the negative images that the issues the Arab-American community has to constantly fight – like misogyny and extremism.
The leadership training also promises to train leaders to be "committed to protecting the civil and political rights of Arab Americans". By the sound of Mr. Ibish's comments, it seems as though these rights are not protected, respected or advocated for if they happen to be a "flaming homosexual." As a leader of a training, you should be promoting open communication, unification and outlining common goals for the future leaders of the community.
Being Taught To Follow…
A perfect example of being taught to follow was the "discussion" on advocating for Palestine. It was not a discussion at all, but a lecture by Ibish basically outlining the agenda of the ATFP – an organization that does not enjoy the unanimous support of the Arab-American/Palestinian-American community. The first indication of this was that almost all of the materials in the reading packet provided in the chapter on Palestine were ATFP material. Since this conflict is central to Arab-American activism, discussion should have included what others in the group thought where appropriate and effective ways to advocate for Palestine.
I do not advocate for a Two-State Solution nor agree with the way ATFP is willing to negotiate the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees. After some of the comments Hussein made about other members of the community, I certaintely did not feel comfortable speaking up or sharing my views. There was no discussion on Zionism itself – which should be the root of any discussion about advocating for Palestine – whatever solution one chooses to advocate for. It is obvious that following in the footsteps of previous "leaders" in the Arab-American community is not working for the Palestinian cause here in the United States – so why are we being taught that these are the only things we should be advocating for? It was frustrating not being able to voice my opinion about what the different organizations were doing on behalf of Palestine, and even more frustrating not to be able to discuss with others in the group about what they think. Leadership is not dictating to others what they should think or feel about Palestine or any other topic.
I think the idea of an Arab-American leadership training is extremely valuable and definitely a need in the community. We need to empower and promote the next generation of Arab-American activists and leaders by encouraging their freethinking, imagination and passion for all the issues that are important to them. This is not done by putting others in the community down, commenting on their personal lives and sexual orientations or by attempting to silence the diverse views and ideas the community has. I have to look no further than my friends to see the next leaders of the Arab-American community – the doctors, lawyers, hip-hop artists, poets, performers, photographers, film-makers, writers, those planning the next big conference on Palestinian rights and those attending the best schools in the world and educating themselves– they are all representing themselves and the Arab-American community in the best way possible!
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“God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.” Gibran Khalil Gebran
