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Reaching
the Power Elite: The Muslim American Lobby
The
Supreme Court judgment notwithstanding, many Muslim Americans were proudly
proclaiming that Florida’s Muslim voters sent George W. Bush to the White
House. Bush was the candidate who had nudged toward Muslims and had promised to
repeal the despised Secret Evidence law enacted during the Clinton presidency.
Muslim Americans had an agenda to get the law that violated American principles
– enshrined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution – repealed.
On
their part, the Republicans had also done their job by promoting an “Islamic
Institute” headed by a Muslim Arab-American that espoused Republican causes
and lobbied the Muslim vote.
The
euphoria of the Bush victory was immense, and so was the disillusionment. On
February 12, the American Muslim Council (AMC) and the Center for the Study of
Islam and Democracy (CSID), two organizations with a deep interest in getting
Muslims involved in the US political system, congratulated Bush and claimed that
as many as 74% Muslim voters had supported him. However, many Muslims had
started expressing their doubts even before the 43rd president’s inauguration.
The
euphoria of the Bush victory was immense, and so was the
disillusionment. |
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Even
as Muslims sought to obtain recompense for their support, the memorandum they
sent to the Bush transition team outlining the main policy recommendations was
not assertive but pleading in its nature. They asked Washington to be nice to
Muslims in its “own best interest.” A new policy for Iraq was requested that
“meets the US security objectives without punishing the Iraqi people by
economic sanctions.” There was yet again a call for Washington to be an
“honest broker” in the Middle East and in Kashmir. In response, Bush bombed
Iraq and drew closer to Hindu fundamentalist-ruled India.
Muslims
had an eye on domestic policy. They hoped for appointments on the Commission on
International Religious Freedom and the State Department. And some Muslims
organized forwarding of resumes to the Bush transition team. The appointments
never came.
Post-9/11
American Muslims’ sense of insecurity isolated them from overseas
Muslim problems. |
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The
post-September 11 scenario has affected lobbying priorities. Before that Muslim
immigrants generally felt so safe in the US that they focused much of their
political activism on helping Muslims overseas. Today, this is changing and
quickly, and often to the detriment of genuine Muslim causes worldwide. For
instance, AMC recently organized an imam training conference in Washington,
where the dozen panel discussions at the meeting, only one dealt with an
international issue: Iraq. Israel and the Palestinians were mentioned only
fleetingly, while complaints about Attorney General John Ashcroft were plentiful
in the speeches and comments from participants.
This
new priority is not just a response to the government’s domestic reaction to
September 11, Muslim leaders say. Souheil Ghannouchi, president of the
Washington based Muslim American Society, sees a change which indicates that
many Muslims are letting go the idea that they will someday go to their
“native” countries.
Dr.
Muqtedar Khan, a political scientist at Adrian College in Michigan and author of
“American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom,” warned “The American
government itself has become a threat to our civil rights.”
Today,
Muslim advocacy groups are searching for candidates in the 2004 elections who
will give importance to Muslim civil rights problems in their campaigns.
The
proceedings of the imam conference offer important insights. Raeed Tayeh, public
affairs director for the Muslim American Society, in his Jum’a khutba (Friday
speech at the mosque), told the imams that as they begin to deal with injustices
in the US, learning how to navigate the American political system is “a matter
of survival” for Muslim Americans.
Learning
how to navigate the American political system is “a matter of
survival” for Muslim Americans. |
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This
change in the immigrant community is welcome for African Americans who,
according to some estimates, comprise about one-third of Muslims in America. The
indigenous Muslims have long desired Muslim immigrant Islamic leaders of
ignoring pressing domestic issues involving African Americans. Indeed, African
Americans with their immense exposure to the civil rights movement are a
valuable asset in this effort.
Muslims
are reaching across the religious lines to create and nurture partnerships. The
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has a vibrant interfaith program, which
helps introduce Muslim views and issues to a wide spectrum of American faiths.
While ISNA is not a lobbying organization, several Muslim organizations are
actively involved in lobbying issues.
The
hot issue at present is the nomination of arch-Islamophobe Daniel Pipes to the
federally funded think tank, the United States Institute of Peace. Muslim
lobbying organizations are united in their stand against his nomination because
it will not only feed the Administration with misinformation but also adversely
affect the American image abroad.
African
Americans comprise about one-third of Muslims in America. |
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The
Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has emerged as the strongest
lobbying group, which is not only working with the federal structure, the
Administration and Congress but also involved in local issues through its many
branches.
CAIR
has rightly concluded that Muslims need more than regularly political lobbying,
but they also need to educate their fellow Americans about Islam. Thus, CAIR has
launched a massive drive to place a set of Islam related books in the nation’s
libraries.
The
American Muslim Council (AMC), which was among the pioneer Muslim lobbying
organizations, has not been so successful, and has a much reduced presence in
the capital. It was recently moved to combine with another struggling
organization, the American Muslim Alliance (AMA). They will now be known as the
Muslim American Congress (MAC).
Muslim
lobbying will require closer cooperation with minorities. |
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The
situation seems dire as Muslims face another election in 2004. The Democratic
slate is not only unpromising but also disappointing because with a couple of
exceptions, all of the candidates have bent over backwards to locate a Jewish
gene. The Bush campaign rolls forward, and now has a war chest of over $41
million, far more than the combined collections of all the Democratic
candidates.
Muslim
lobbying will require closer cooperation with the minorities. However, with the
convergence of Indian and Israeli interests, the fast growing Indian lobby is
another threat for the Muslims. The Indians in the American technology sector
are not only high earners but are gaining influence in the US. Thus this lobby
is not only highly financed but also very well connected through government and
industry contacts. A look through Indian American ethnic newspapers reveals the
growing government appointments of Indians. As opposed to this, Muslims can
hardly boast of any significant Muslims in government, except one or two Muslim
names who are more loyal that the king, like Zalmay Khalilzad.
The
Muslim lobby will be increasingly faced with this opposition that is working in
close tandem with the Israeli lobby.
The
presence of fundamentalist governments in the US, India, and Israel only creates
bigger challenges for Muslims.
The
Israeli lobby, like the Christian fundamentalist lobby, is highly opposed to
Muslim American rights and now they have a willing bedfellow in this venture,
the Indian lobby.
Omer
Bin Abdullah is a policy analyst and public relations specialist for a
Washington, DC based lobbying organization. As a journalist, he serves as editor
of Islamic Horizons--the largest circulating Muslim American English Language
magazine.
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