We Should Work Together

     I believe that the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Palestinians and supporters of Palestine on Facebook, Twitter and other social media need to organize themselves in a cohesive and productive force to combat the Apartheid State of Israel.  There are many people organizing their own web sites with different news, reprinted articles and referring sites about many different subjects relating to Palestine.  Everyone wants to give out an opinion about every subject. I am guilty as well.  I am afraid that the message may be getting lost in the voluminous cyberspace tweets, posts and texts.

                There must be a way to harness this energy. There must be a way to galvanize this massive swarm of productivity into a massive force for action.  But how?

                I am just thinking about this subject in hopes of creating a discussion about what we should do.

                It seems to me that the goal of all Palestinians and their supporters is to have a Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital—whether that State is a State separate from the Apartheid State of Israel should not be a guiding element.  Whether you support a one state or two should not make you at odds with the other.  I supported a two state solution but now believe that it is not possible any longer because I truly believe that the Apartheid State of Israel does not want peace and, therefore, I do not think that a two state solution is possible.

                But my beliefs about a solution should not stop me from working with anyone who advocates a two state solution.  The common element between my belief in a one state solution and an advocate of a two state solution is that we both want to end the occupation of Palestine; we both want to dismantle the apartheid wall; we both want to eliminate the apartheid military checkpoints; we both want to lift the siege of Gaza.  There is no reason why we cannot work together.

                There are many facets to achieving our collective goals.  I choose to expose the Apartheid State of Israel for what it really is: an Apartheid State.  The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is a notable and excellent way to work towards our collective goal.  Others may want to lobby their elected leaders to support Palestine.  Still others want to break the siege of Gaza through the boat flotillas. Whichever way we work for Palestine, there surely must be a way to work together? 

                Whether you support one political party in Palestine or another should not matter as well.  Every Palestinian, regardless of his political affiliation still has the common goal of ending the cruel occupation.  Additionally, whether you are Muslim or Christian should not matter.  What matters is that we coordinate our efforts toward our common goal.

                One idea is to have a Palestinian CyberSpace Congress (PCSC) organization totally devoted to organizing Palestinians on the internet.  This idea has to come from the grassroots level.  Leaving it to one political party to organize this would cause many drifts and a takeover by that party to the exclusion of any other party.  This must come from the young Palestinian activist who can program a web site to encompass everyone and then it needs to wisdom of the independent thinking elders who can give appropriate counsel for such and endeavor.

Can we organize such an organization? Can we put away our egos and work together towards this end.   In 1989, I wrote the poem “If The Sun Rises,” mainly because of an internal strife within a Chicago Arab organization.  In the next to last stanza I wrote the following words:     

If our leaders are no longer able to lead

Will we yield to the more able?

Or will personal glory

Be the death of us all[1]

                Where are the young intellectual cyberspace Palestinians who can develop a social network site that can encompass all Palestinians and their supporters for the purpose of working together in one cohesive manner?  Maybe there is such a site and I do not know about it. 

                My point in this article is to state that Palestinians and their supporters need to start working together for the common goal of ending the occupation of Palestine by the Apartheid State of Israel.  

The power of social networking is tremendous; it has brought down rulers who we thought were all-powerful and invincible.  That power can bring down the Apartheid State of Israel. We just have to work together to achieve that result.  

(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

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[1] Fadi Zanayed, If The Sun Rises http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9174176248780432420#editor/target=post;postID=271653373863274468

ADC has failed to protect American-Arabs

                The mentality imbedded into Arab culture from decades of decadent dictators ruthlessly ruling is that everyone wants to lead and nobody wants to follow.  Thus we have too many chiefs and no warriors. It is the same with our American-Arab organizations. Every organization wants to operate exclusively from the rest of any other organization to the detriment of the American-Arab advancement.

                This past two weeks the American-Arab community missed a golden opportunity to confront bigotry and racism in the Newt Gingrich and Lowes Corporation Islamophobia incidences.   While major American-Arab organizations each individually tried to “do something” their efforts will be unsuccessful because each claps with one hand.

                The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has failed miserably to live by its mandate to fight discrimination.  When Lowes pulled its ads from the TV show “All American Muslim” because an insignificant organization called Florida Family Association objected to a positive portrayal of Muslims in the US, ADC should have taken immediate action.   This weekend, finally, ADC is trying to organize demonstrations in front of Lowes stores across the country. Too little too late.

ADC should have rallied immediate widespread support across the country to organize massive telephone calls to Lowes customer care center during this Christmas gift giving season—effectively shutting down their telephone operations.  ADC needs a rapid response action alert system whereby it can respond to acts of racism and discrimination within hours. After 30 years of operation, it is absolutely amazing that ADC does not have such a system.  ADC should use the electronic media in set up a rapid text messaging system to move the young people to action.

                Each American-Arab organization has a specific purpose.  As I stated, ADC’s mandate is to fight discrimination.  The American-Arab Institute (AAI) headed by Jim Zogby and George Salem, has distinguished itself as the leading organization in improving American-Arab participation in the electoral process by increasing the number of voters (Yalla Vote), getting people to become involved in political campaigns or assisting candidates to run for political office.  The American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine (AFRP) and other town based Palestinian organizations keep their members together because of their loyalties to their specific town. Religious organizations have a specific faith based membership.  Political organizations who owe their allegiance to a particular party or government in the Middle East have their own agendas.  Business organizations, who can really benefit from a cohesive community, have not attempted to produce an environment of cooperation.

                What is common to all these organizations is a self interest in promoting the American-Arab image. Everyone wants greater American-Arab participation in the electoral process; wants to stop the discrimination and the Islamophobia engulfing America; wants to promote family ties between members of “hometowns” in the Middle East; wants to promote religious activities within the community and wants a strong business community.  Yet each organization acts so independently that the greater good does not prevail and ironically, the interest of each organization is thus marginalized.

                ADC should reach out to AAI, AFRP and other cultural, political and religious organizations to promote the common interest of fighting discrimination and Islamophobia. AAI should reach out to ADC and these other organizations and help promote participation in the American electoral system.  The AFRP and other organizations should encourage its members to participate in ADC, AAI and others to promote American-Arab causes. 

                The problem with these leading organizations is that they operate in a mutually exclusive environment rather than a mutually inclusive environment.  Each organization is doing whatever it does with its own members rather than working together to get beneficial results which benefit the entire community. In the final analysis, the result of each organization is a dismal failure.

                Thus when Lowes and Newt Gingrich took aim at the American-Arab community, they did it knowing that the community does not have the ability to fight back.  This is really sad.

                It is time for American-Arabs to start telling its organizations to start cooperating with each other. They owe it to each other, they owe it to the American-Arab community. 


(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)