Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
University of Oran-Es Senia Faculty of Letters, Languages, and Arts
Department of Anglo-Saxon Languages Section of English
Doctoral school of British, American and Commonwealth Studies (2008) Magister Thesis
Members of the jury: Presented by:
President Dr. BELMEKKI Belkacem BOUDJAHFA Nawel Examiner Dr. BENALI Mohamed Rachid Supervisor Dr. YACINE Rachida
Academic year: 2010-2011
1 Dedication
I dedicate this work to my brothers and sister, and for most my dear parents. My special thanks go to my dear husband Mohamed who shared with me a lot of his experience, and without his patience, encouragement, and painstaking effort to support me, the completion of this work would not have been achieved.
I
2 Acknowledgements
3 Acknowledgements
I am fully indebted to many people, both professionally and personally, without whom this modest work would not have been achieved. Foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Doctor Yacine Rachida, for her commitments, dedication, and intellectual contributions to my thesis, which have been truly invaluable.
I am grateful to those who provided feedbacks to this research work, and who helped me with their encouragements like Dr. Moulfi Leila, and Fadila Madjid who in her infinite wisdom has encouraged me to pursue my research.
My warm thanks go to my family especially my father who as long as I remember, has pushed me to go forwards.
II
4 Table of Contents
5 Table of Contents Dedication ………..…………………………………………………………………………...I Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………..II Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………… ...III Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………...... VI List of Table and Figures…………………………………………………………………VIII General Introduction………………………...……………………………………………….1
Chapter One: The Origin of Arab Americans: A Historical Background...... 4 I- Introduction………………………………………………………………………….……..4 II-An Overview of Arab American Immigration to the USA…………………………….. 5 II.1. Coming to America………………………………………………………….…...7 II.1.a. Early Arab Immigrants from 1880 to 1915……………….….....…..7 II.1.b. The Second Wave of Arab Immigrants from 1930s to 1970s………8 II.1.c. The Last Wave of Arab Immigrants from 1965s to nowadays.…...10 III- Early Adaptation to the New Homeland………………………………………….…11 III.1 Adaptation of the First Wave of Arab Immigrants………………………...... …11 III.2 The Adaptation of the Second Wave of Arab Immigrants……………..………12 III.3 The Adaptation of the Last Wave of Immigrants………………………...……..13 IV- Reasons of their Departure to the New Homeland…………………….……..……….14 IV.1 The Role of the West in the Arab Immigration to the USA………………..…...16 V- The Settlement Process .. …….…………………………………………………………17 V.1 Early Settlement……………………………………………………………..…...18 V.2 Second Phase of Settlement……………………………………………….….….19 V.3 The Last Phase of Settlement………………………………………………….…19 VI- Race Classification………………………………………………………………….…..20 VI.1 Arab American Immigrants’ Case Study…...... ……………………………...….22 VI.2 Racialization and Americanization of Arab American Immigrants………….…26 VII- Amplified Arab Stereotypes……...... ……………………………………...…28 VII.1 Early Arab Stereotyping………………………………………………………..29 VII.2 The Origin of Arab Stereotypes………...... …………………….……….30 VII.3 Arab American Stereotyping Process in Post September 11th, 2001 Attacks…..31 III
6 VIII-The Involvement of the Media in Stereotyping the Arabs…...…………..………...33 IX-Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..…………43
Chapter two: Arab American Assimilation and Contribution During the 21st Century America……………………………………………………………………….……44
I-Introduction…..…………………………………………………………………………...44 II-Arab American Impact on the U.S. Society in the Twentieth century………...... 45 II.1.a Arabs Cultural and literary Contribution…....…………….…….46 II.1.b Socio Economic Contribution…………………...………………..48 II.1.c Political Contribution…………………………………………...... 48 II.1.d Scientific Contribution...... ……………………………..….49 II.1.e Arab Americans: Famous Figures...... 50 II.1.f Contribution in Sport...... 50 III- The Arab Lobby in the United States…………………………………………………50 IV- Urban Terrorism in the World……………………………………………………...…53 V-U.S. Foreign Policy before 9/11…...... …54 VI-Black Tuesday and its Aftermath for Arab Americans…………...…………………..56 VI-1 Post September 11 Backlash: Discrimination and Hate Crimes against Arab Americans………………………………………………………………………………….…57 VII- Hate Crime Prevention of the Arab American Community after September 11.....59 VIII-America in Post September 11th, 2001………………………………………...….….60 VIII.1 September 11th Impacts on Arab Americans……………………………….…61 VIII.2 America and the Rise of a Totalitarian Democracy after September 11th.……62 VIII.3 Immigration Policy after 9/11……………………………...………………….65 IX- Conclusion………..……………………………………………………………………..68
Chapter three: National Security Versus Individual Civil Liberties after September 11th, 2001 Attacks: ……………………………………………………………………...…...69
I-Introduction……..……………………………………………………………….………...69 II- The Smooth Dictator: George W. Bush: ……………………………………………....70 III- George W. Bush Government’s Fight against Terrorism and Human Rights……………………………………………………………………….……...... 73 IV
7 IV-Terrorism versus Civil Rights after 9/11…...... ……………………….….76 V- Security versus Freedom…...... ………..…78 VI-The Patriot Act………………………………...…………………………………….…..79 VII-Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp……………………………………………...... …..83 VIII-Racial Profiling Against Arab Americans……………………………….……….….86 VIII-1 Racial Profiling Controversy…………..……………………………..…..88 IX- Defamation in the Media after September 11th, 2001……..……………………….…92 X- Conclusion……………………………………………………………...………..….……97 XI- General Conclusion……………………………………………………..………...…….97 XII- List of Abbreviation....…………………………………………………….…..………99 XIII-Glossary...... …………………………………………………………………100 XIV- Bibliography……………………………………………………………………....….101
V
8 Abstract
9 Abstract
There can be no suspicion about the extent of the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001, whether on the costs of human lives destroyed as a direct impact of the attacks or to their expanded result on U.S civil liberties and the war in Iraq. After the attacks, America has been shaken to its core mainly because Americans have always thought of themselves as being the centre of world both economically and politically.
Furthermore the universal fear that immediately spread everywhere was mainly due to the media. In fact, millions of Americans and people all over the world witnessed the full horror of the attacks through their televisions.
This research is an attempt to examine the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the Arab American community and its impact on their lives. Therefore three major points have been analyzed in this work. 1) The Origin of Arab American settlement in the United States. 2) Arab American adaptation to mainstream America before and after September 11th, 2001 attacks. 3) Civil rights issues in post September 11 for Arab Americans.
The main concern of this paper is about the pressure of security issues on the American civil liberties in tackling with terrorism and the resulting U.S. Patriot Act, the pillar of George W. Bush’s policy after the attacks. American civil liberties have always been at the heart of American government since the establishment of the United States Bill of Rights which guarantees individual liberties, as ratified in 1791. Nevertheless after the attacks of September 11 numbers of these liberties have been shattered by Bush’s foreign and national policy with
VI
10 his long lasting “War on Terror”.
This research also analyses the provisions of the Patriot Act which were designed to improve information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement agencies, and try to prove that the Patriot Act goes too far in its achievements and implies unnecessary provisions.
Moreover the Act's narrow exploratory reach violates Americans’ civil liberties and once again disturb the fragile balance between U.S. strategy on national security and the civil liberties that all Americans regardless of race, color, religions affiliation, protect and embrace.
Keywords
September 11th, 200; Arab Americans; Immigrations’; Terrorist attaks; Streotypes; Adaptation process; Guantanamo bay; Patriot Act; Civil rights; American civil liverties.
VII
11 List of Tables and Figures
12 List of Tables and Figures
Tables of chapter one: Table 1: The Arab population by ancestry……………………………………… ………VII Table 2: The Arab population by ancestry for the United States, region and states 1990- 2000…………………………………………………………………………. …………..VIII Table 3: Arab Population in Selected Places: 2000……………………………………….IX
Figures of chapter one: Figure 1.1: Arab Population by Ancestry 2000….………………………………………..X Figure 1.2: Nativity and Citizenship Status 2000…………………………………………X Figure 1.3: Religious Affiliation of Arab Americans 2000……………………………….XI Figure 1.4: Arab ancestry; percent of people who reported Arab ancestry by country 2000.XI
Figure of chapter two: Figure 2.1: Anti-Arab or Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes during the Years 2000/2001………...…19 Figure 2.2: Anti-Arab and Muslim Hate Crimes before and After 9/11……………………...19 Figure2.3: Arab Americans occupation…………………………………………………...….20 Figure 2.4: Arab Americans educational attainments………………………………………...20
13 VIII
Tables and Figures
14 Table 1.1: Arab population by ancestry: 2000
Source: U.S. Census 2000(www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf4.pdf) (Refer to chapter one, page 10)
15 IX Table 1.2: The Arab Population by Ancestry for the United States, Region and States 1990/2000.
Source: U.S. Census 2000(www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf4.pdf) (Refer to chapter one, page 20)
16 X
Table 1.3: Arab Population in Selected Places: 2000
Source: U.S. Census 2000(www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf4.pdf) (Refer to chapter one, page 20)
Table 2.1: Global opinion toward the United States:
Source: http://www.gallup.com/poll/5482/Poll-Nine-Islamic-Countries-Generation-Gap- Attitudes-Toward-West.aspx.
17 (Refer to chapter two, page 55)
XI Figure 1.1: Arab Population by Ancestry 2000:
Source: U.S. Census 2000(www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf4.pdf) (Refer to chapter one, page 8)
Figure 1.2: Nativity and Citizenship Status 2000:
(Refer to chapter one, page 24)
18 XII
Figure 1.3: Religious Affiliation of Arab Americans 2000:
Source: Arab_American_religions.png (Refer to chapter one, page 9)
Figure 1.4: Arab ancestry; percentage of people who reported Arab ancestry by country 2000:
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary. (Refer to chapter one, page 20)
19 XIII
Figure 2.1: Sum of reported incidents per hate crime category for 2001-2002 from National Hate Crime Data Collection program:
(Refer to chapter two page 57)
Figure 2.2: Anti-Arab and Muslim Hate Crimes During 2001 Before and After September 11, 2001:
20 (Refer to chapter two pages 57)
XIV
Figure 2.3: Arab Americans occupation:
(Refer to chapter two page 45)
Figure 2.4: Arab Americans educational attainments:
21 (Refer to chapter two page 46) XV
22 General Introduction
General introduction
It is useless to talk about the history of the United States of America of the last hundred years without referring to September 11, 2001 attacks, the day when a group of terrorists associated to Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, a third plane into the pentagon; and the last one crashed in a field near Shanksville, (Pennsylvania). The assault took away thousands of lives. The latest estimates concerning the number of deaths caused by the attacks vary between 4,620 and 5,7561. The majority of victims were civilians from over ninety different countries. September 11, 2001 is one of those dates that get forever engraved in history and Americans’ memories as the day when America was struck as never before since the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour. The events will certainly remain in the memory of millions of people who witnessed the attacks and those who lost their relatives, colleagues or friends in the assaults. During the attacks the entire nation was on alert: All flights were grounded; the borders were closed, and national buildings
1 9 Years Later, Nearly 900 9/11 Responders Have Died, Survivors Fight for Compensation". FOX News. September 11, 2010. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/09/report-responders-died-ground-zero-illnesses/
23 were evacuated due to the immediate disorder and the uncertainty of additional attacks. The entire nation was in a period of grief and terror. For Arab Americans, the profound shock and the pain for lost relatives, and friends were deteriorated by an impetuous accusation to blame Arabs without any distinction. But since the aftermath of this tragedy, and after seven years, American paranoia towards Arabs minority is ever-present. In a country which was named by John F. Kennedy as “a nation of immigrants”, American multiculturalism was considered as the new threat of the American security.
The bombings were the most hotly contested phenomena of the last decade. They constituted the major theme of heated debates, books and articles. We can all remember the pathos of the last seconds of those victims trapped in the buildings, and those who threw themselves in an act of despair. President Bush and his disciples have portrayed the attacks as an “Act of War” and the congress swiftly joined Bush’s government response; a promise to arrest Ussama Bin Laden, the main instigator of the attacks, in addition to all those who protect him and sponsored terrorism. Military offensives were organized against Afghanistan considered as the hideout of Ussama Bin Laden his main organization; Al Qaeda.
The present research work attempts to demonstrate that September 11 event has seriously affected Arab Americans, and the worst of all is that it has had an impact on the whole American nation. Arab Americans as many other minority groups have had a great impact shaping the American society. This new continent was for most immigrants a refuge where they could exercise freely their religious beliefs and expectations. However in the aftermath of September 11, anti Arab and anti immigration policy shed the light on a new sentiment in the United States. For the first time American plurality and “open door” policy became real scapegoats. This work seeks to demonstrate the hypothesis which claims that American diversity and its request for immigrants have been the main cause of an attack such as September 11th. To better tackle with the subject, this very controversial and debatable issue has been divided into three major chapters:
The intent of the first chapter entitled: the origins of Arab Americans: a historical background, examines the Arab American community in the United States and the origin of its settlement in the American soil, from the first wave in early 1880s to nowadays. A large percentage of those who have left their motherland were pushed by political and economic circumstances. The decision to leave their motherland, families, and relatives to abandon their
24 nationality is an act of will which could be analysed by a historical background and to tackle with the Arab pioneers who departed in order to boost their fortune. This chapter provides an overview of Arabs immigration, settlement, assimilation and adaptation and discusses the reasons that pushed them to move to the United States. Moreover, this chapter also attempts to investigate the roots of Arab stereotypes in America and the evolvement of the media in the perseverance of the stereotyping of the Arabs.
The second chapter entitled the Arab American assimilation and contribution in the 21st century, deals with the impact of the Arabs on the U.S. society in all major fields. Moreover this chapter will also examine the stereotyping of the Arab Americans during the 21st century and the evolvement of the Media in the stereotyping of the Arabs. The research explores the construction or perpetuation of the negative image of the Arabs in the West. In addition, this part of the thesis will also analyse the great impact of September 11th attacks on the reflecting negative images of the Arabs in America and anti Arab racism which in recent years has come to be known as Islamophobia.
The last chapter entitled: freedom vs. security in an era of terrorism, will examine the impact of September 11th attacks on the rights and liberties of the Americans and the Arab Americans. It will help fill the void on the issue of the Bush Administration’s complicity in 9/11. Finally, this part of the research examines the U.S. Patriot Act, the pillar of Bush’s “War on Terror” and its impact on civil rights issues in America. It sees to what extent it has threatened American most fundamental liberties by giving the government the power to violate citizens’ private life. The destiny of Arab Americans has been altered after the events of 9/11. Incidents of vandalism, assaults, harassments, murders and threat against them reached their peak. Moreover, discrimination and racial profiling against the Arabs amplified significantly after the events and human rights were seriously threatened.
After such a hyperbole like September 11, America felt the need to be appeased and reassured, that those who perpetrate such horrific assaults will be found, arrested and will pay the price for their actions. However, who the United States would punish and especially, in which way it should be done was much less clear. The hijackers were originated from different countries. Therefore the blame could be put on any particular nation. However at the moment that the two planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the hijackers were identified as being Muslims, and some of them Arabs, the lives of these ethnic minorities
25 changed radically within hours. Arabs and Muslims were caught into the crossfire of American accusations and Bush’s war on terrorism.
Afghanistan has always been considered as the favourite territory of Osama Bin Laden, the alleged master mind of the plot. The failure of U.S. intelligence gathering and analysis to depict the complexity of the terrorists’ plan had to be compounded by disrupting the terrorist network of Bin Laden. Moreover the present study is intended to analyse Arab Americans response to discrimination and strategies they have used to overcome adversities. This research tries also to show cross-cultural conflicts that often occur between Arabs and Westerners, and interpretation of the West which is almost relational and superior whereas the East is bound by ancient and inferior traditions.
26 Chapter One
The Origins of Arab Americans: AHistorical Background
I-Introduction:
In this introductory chapter, a brief overview of the history of Arab Americans will be provided, from the first wave of Arab immigrants to the contemporary settlers. The push and pull causes to immigrate has created three major steps that marked the Arab immigration to the United States and which is going to be studied in this chapter. Who are
27 the Arab Americans? What does it mean to be Arab Americans? The focus of this chapter is on the first question, which is much more straightforward than the latter.
The main concern of chapter one is also to scrutinize the different phases of the Arab American adjustment to mainstream America and to analyze the different steps of their settlement. It will also explore the foundation and roots of Arab identity and their racial classification until the getting of U.S. Citizenship.
Arab acquired the cultural values of white Americans replicated their social manners and behavior pattern, and believed that only assimilation could make them accepted by American society. But being culturally American did not make them equal Americans in a racially stratified society. An even more painful reality for them was the routine rejection they faced in the American society especially after the events of September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The investigation will be fulfilled by the early Arab stereotypes that emerged and followed the history and evolution of the Arab psychology, and their impact on the unrolling of the Arab identity.
II-An Overview of Arab American Immigration to the United States:
Since the very beginning America has been a refuge for those who fled religious and political oppression or who sought for economic opportunities. This was the case not only for Europeans but also for any ambitious person who braved the high seas to seek his or her fortune on the American soil. Some were luckier than others and were able to reach the American soil but others died within few months after their arrival in the United States. These men and women wanted a new departure regardless of their. Though, these immigrants arrived freely, they had nevertheless to pay the full price: in fact they had to put up with hard conditions, bad weather, diseases and the harsh environment found in the colonies.
In a discourse given in 1859, Abraham Lincoln declared:
28 “Our ancestors among us, perhaps half our people, who are not descendants at all of these men; they are men who have come from Europe German, Irish, French, and Scandinavian men that hare come from Europe themselves… to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration (speaking about the declaration of independence)”2.
What Lincoln attempted to do was to sum up real essence of the American dream; the promise that all immigrants have a chance to achieve material wealth and success through their own effort, hard work and self discipline.
In many aspects, motivations for Arabs to move to America were the same for most immigrants. Arabs brought with them their culture, language, traditions and social institutions. Overtime they adapted themselves to their new country and became an integral part of the American society. Before dealing with the Arab American community, one has to define what is to be an Arab. People tend to think that the term Arab goes back to the people coming from Arabic speaking countries of the Middle East, however, the term is very controversial. Generally, it refers to a person whose mother tongue is Arabic; but is the fact of speaking Arabic sufficient to classify you as Arab? Most of the time, the term Arab is related to the Islamic faith, yet not all Arabs are not Muslims. Moreover this theory is not relevant because there are also some non Arab communities like the Kurds, the Chluh, The Circassians3 Armenians and Berbers who do speak Arabic. Despite all these conditions the majority of Arab Americans consider themselves Arabs because they are descendents of people from the Middle East and North African countries. The Arabic language is the language of the holy book of Islam which is the Quran. The whole majority of indigenous people of these regions embraced Islam, and adopted the Arabic language which created strong ties between them. Today 1,400 years later the Islamic holy book remains in its original Arabic text, thus this language is used and celebrated by millions of Muslims all over the world.
2 A speech Abraham Lincoln gave in 1858 at the height of anti-immigrant power within his party (available from http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/04/25/lindsay. 3 The Circassians are an indigenous people of the Northwest Caucasus region.
29 Arabs also trace their ancestry to the golden ages of the Abbasids4. With the extension of Islam and the conquest of Syria in the seventh century, the Arab population discontinued to be predominantly Christian and became Muslim at large. Nevertheless, by the thirteenth century, the Arab empire declined significantly and witnessed the rise of the Ottomans. The Ottomans conquered lots of Arabic lands and ruled them for centuries. One of the characteristics that caused the prosperity of the Ottoman Empire was the Millet5 System. This latter acknowledged the existence of non Muslim religions and faiths. As long as these religious groups paid their taxes, they were allowed to pursue their own laws, customs and faiths. The Ottoman Empire was among the most predominant civilisations for several centuries from 1500 until 1923 the period that marked the dissolution of the empire and its division.
What makes the Arab Americans feel Arabs is their cultural and historical heritage, and the collective experience they have had on the American soil. But one must not forget the huge variance within the Arab community, and the necessity for the Arab people to be distinguished as such.
II.1. Coming to America:
II.1.a. Early Arab Immigrants from 1880 to 1915:
The apparent push factors that incited the shifting of the Arabs to America thoroughly altered their development into the American society. The first Arabs to set foot on the American soil were village farmers or artisans who set out in order to gain wealth, in search of adventure, to improve themselves economically or simply to avoid military service. Fewer Muslims came at that time and many immigrated in North and South America and the majority settled in New England. For financial reasons and due to poverty of under developed countries like the Middle East, they immigrated in small numbers looking for better jobs and better opportunities, thus improving their living standards exactly as other groups of immigrants that settled in America at that time.
4 The Abbasids or the Abbasid caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but the Al Andalus region. It was founded by the descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, in Harran in 750 CE and shifted its capital in 762 to Baghdad. 5 Millet is a term for a minority religious community within a larger state of a different religion. Most commonly used to refer to communities within the Islamic Ottoman Empire.
30 Moreover, Arabs actively participated to the development of the American society in various fields, and they were recruited in America because of the mounting labour shortage.
The Arab immigration to the new world has started nearly two centuries ago around 1800. It traces its origins to several Arab countries. They arrived to the United States in two significant and different migration waves, each with its proper characteristics that have been useful in the formation of political movements of Arab Americans. No economic or political events have actually triggered the immigration of Arabs in the United States, and few have reached the American soil before the 1880s .The first wave to set foot on the new world came during the era called the great migration when more than 20 million of immigrants came to the United States from all over the world. Between the late 1800 and World War I, lots of Arabs moved to America mainly from Great Syria which includes present-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. At that period a few number of Arabs came from Yemen, Iraq, Morocco, and Egypt and many other regions from the Ottoman Empire. These provinces were divided into several independent countries as Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Iraq. (Refer to figure 1.1, page IX)
The majority of Arabs who came at that time was Christian, and belonged to a lower middle class. They fled their homelands devastated by civil wars and persecutions, looking for new opportunities. These immigrants left their original countries which were under feudal system6 until a civil war broke up in 1860 between Christians Syrians and Muslim Palestinians7. Consequently, people rapidly lost their lands and started to look for a refuge because of the Ottoman oppression which did not grant the same rights to Christians and Muslims who had fewer restrictions.
In addition the inauguration of the Suez Canal which regulated the traffic between the Mediterranean countries and the Far East made the transport of merchandise so easier and faster that Japanese silk dethroned Lebanon silk. As a result most Arabs made living through pack peddling of dry goods, however many, subsequently, became manufacturers,
6 Feudalism is a decentralized socio-political structure in which a weak monarchy attempts to control the lands of the realm through reciprocal agreements with regional leaders. 7 The Druze and their Christian Maronite neighbours, who had thus far lived as religious communities on friendly terms, entered a period of social disturbance in the year 1840, which culminated in the civil war of 1860. The civil war of 1860 cost the Christians some ten thousand lives in lots of towns of Lebanon.
31 storekeepers, and importers. Arabs continued working under this rhythm until the immigration laws restricted the entry of a number of nationalities from the Middle East, including Arabs. After the civil war, immigration took up again to stream to the United States. Nearly 12 million immigrants came to America between 1870 and 1900 including approximately 60 000 Arabs, of whom 68 per cent were single males and more than a half were illiterate. For these people the United States represented the American dream; an opportunity to seize in order to have a better life. It is important to state that extensive federal legislations on immigration were not deeply promulgated at that time, mainly because immigration was needed and required for its labour force to achieve a developed nation.
II.1.b. The Second Wave of Arab Immigrants from 1930s to 1970s:
Arab immigration to the United States was impeded by the establishment of a number of laws that restricted the flow of migration, such as The Immigration Act of 1924 also known as “Johnson-Reed Act” including the National Origins Act, and the Asian Exclusion Act8. The act was a United States federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States. The purpose of the law was to restrict further immigration from the Southern and Eastern Europeans who were coming to the United States in large numbers during the 1890s, and was also aiming at prohibiting the immigration of Asians. A verifier si c le mm act
After the end of the Second World War, and despite the huge effort of the American government to restrict the flow of immigrants through immigration quota act, Arab immigration started again around 1940 to the 1960s. Compared to the first wave, which was composed mainly of 90% of Christians and only 5% of Muslims, the new Arab immigrants’ nationalities, origins and faith were diverse9.(Refer to figure 1.3 page XI)
Indeed the second wave included 60% of Muslims coming from Palestine, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Arabs tended to transcend their religious differences as their membership comprised people from all faith communities such as Sunni, Shia, Druze,
8 Lemay, Michael Robert; Barkan, Elliott Robert, eds (1999). U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History. Greenwood Press.p148 9 Robert K. Murray, The 103rd Ballot: Democrats and the Disaster in Madison Square Garden(Harper & Row, 1976)
32 Orthodox, Melkite, Protestant and catholic. Moreover, unlike the first wave the second influx tended to stay in the United States in search of better living conditions, to escape oppression, military service and wars. Furthermore the Arab Israeli conflict has always provoked the departure of great waves of population. Clashes from 1948 to 1967 where Arabs were defeated pushed many Palestinians to flee from their motherlands.
In addition, new immigrants were well off compared to the first immigrants. Indeed the majority of them were middle class professionals who were highly educated and highly skilled including; professors, teachers, doctors and engineers. Moreover among the second wave there was a considerable number of students, who were attracted by the American universities that favoured Brain Drain10. The majority of these immigrants considered themselves as being sojourners and their motivation was to return home when life in their countries became safer. However these students chose to stay in the United States even after the end of their scholarship.
II.1.c. The Last Wave of Arab Immigrants from 1965 to Nowadays:
With the changes in laws, Arab immigration entered a new chapter in its history. Approximately 75 % of foreign born Arab Americans immigrated after 1975 and 198011. This last rush is the result of the Immigration Act12 of 1965 which abolished the original quota system which had been in place in 1924 and its bias against non European immigration13. It comprised professionals and entrepreneurs who escaped their homelands which were devastated by wars, political and economic instability. The last wave which was more diverse in terms of religion tended to make a huge effort in order to keep its identity, culture and traditions. These new comers, Christians or Muslims strongly defended Arab nationalism and kept a close contact with their motherland.
10 Brain drain refers particularly to the emigration of scientists and highly qualified people to the United States in the early 1960s for more favourable geographic, economic, or professional environments. 11 http://www.adcnj.us/Arab_Americans/arab_americans_demographics.htm 12 There were a series of laws passed in 1965, during the Civil Rights Movement. These laws have abolished quotas based on nationality, in force since, The Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. 13 http://www.adcnj.us/Arab_Americans/arab_americans_demographics.htm.
33 The term Arab Americans refers to people coming to the United States from the Middle East and the Maghreb. Most Arab Americans of the first influx came from Great Syria, mainly from what is called today Lebanon and where the majority of the population is Christian. It was the late wave that included the most diverse minority of Arabs, especially from Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine and it included a huge number of Muslims. In 2000 there were 1.2 million persons of Arab ancestry in the United States compared with 610.000 in 1980 and 860.000 in 1900. Arabs represented 0,42 percent of the U.S. population in 2000, compared with 0,27 in 1980. More than 37 per cent among those reported to be Arabs were Lebanese, the second largest group were Syrians, other nationalities; Egyptians, Palestinians, Jordanians, Moroccans, and Iraqis were also palpable. Moreover nearly 4, 3 per cent of Arab population was identified as Kurdish, Algerian, Yemenite, Saudi Arabian, Tunisian, Berber, Libyan and Kuwaiti. (Refer to table 1.1, page VII).14
III- Early Adaptation to the New Homeland:
As it is the case of many cultures, the more a minority’s culture is different from the host country, the less it is accepted. Even if the early settlers were quite accepted those who had a flagrant and pointed differences like the Arabs, Asian, Indians and many others posed a threat to the traditional American values and thus, tended to be rejected. By 1910s millions of immigrants came to the United States, these massive numbers of settlers spurred competing social and civic ideologies on how the American government should tackle with such evolvements. Therefore it was common to refer to the new immigrant groups by their race, in spite of their common European origin. Sustained by restrictions that appeared in early 1890s, those immigration amendments in the early 1920s aimed by all means to reconstitute the original balance of a European array which characterized the pre 1890 migration. Therefore the 1924 National Origins Act seriously challenged the immigrants towards the United States. The major acts that prohibited the immigration of Asians towards the United States tried to cut back the number of new settlers and give advantageous quotas to the earliest settler groups from northern Europe. The constancy of the quota system and its supremacy over the classification of the new immigrants on the basis of race and ethnicity remained until the immigration Act of 1965.
III.1 Adaptation of the First Wave of Arab Immigrants:
14 www.census. Gov/prod/cen2000/doc/sf4.pdf
34 The first wave of Arab immigrants to the United States came for economic reasons. They came temporary to provide for their relatives, and they served under the peonage system, while lots of Arabs worked as peddlers, others worked in the new factories or mills. Mainly Christians (about 90%), adapted themselves rapidly to the American society. The early Arab immigrant considered themselves as being sojourners so they learned vague notion of English, enough to peddle their goods. These new comers practiced peddling because this activity demanded little use of English language. In 1862, an increasing number of Arabs came to America attracted by the Homestead Act which gave a land to anyone who was ready to farm it in order to promote Westward expansion. Although they came temporarily to accumulate money and then return home, the majority of them ended up in bringing over their families and becoming permanent residents.
Many Arab immigrants among the first settlers came to America by boats entering the port of New York City. By the 1920s America was in a short supply of labour force, and a great number of Arabs were attracted by industries payment of that time. They settled in urban areas such as Detroit, Michigan and Ohio and found jobs in the industrial factories like Ford and textile miles which evolved the U.S. industry. Indeed at that time Ford factory offered five dollars per day to those who could support the appalling conditions. In addition the majority of these immigrants was illiterate and thus considered their wages as being favourable ones. Moreover Arabs at their arrival practiced the peddling trade which consisted in selling goods door to door and which was lucrative. By 1924, there were about 200.000 Arabs living in the United States. This population was essentially composed of less educated Maronites Christians who came from a rural environment.
Many Arabs at that time came to work for a short period of time and went back home with whatever money they had set aside from their hard labour. Nevertheless, with time, the idea of returning home fizzled out and they started thinking to settle in America.
Even though they faced some difficulties at their arrival, they adapted themselves quite rapidly to the American norms and values, like many other immigrant groups. It is important to mention that the first comers were not very politicised, due to their modest milieu, and because of the lack of any democratic notion in their mother countries.
35 III.2 The Adaptation of the Second Wave of Arab Immigrants:
By 1910, peddling activity decreased as a business and was substituted by the proliferation of stores and little shops. The second wave included immigrants of both Christian and Muslim faith. Arabs of this influx were more secular, better educated, politically sophisticated and more acquainted with democratic norms. Immigrants at that time were usually refugees from the numerous conflicts in the Middle East, and more resolute to become Americans. Moreover Arab American immigrants entered a new era which was the phase of assimilation and adaptation process. In addition this wave accentuates its communal identity, and long after their settlement they were bewildered between the inabilities of the American legal system to decide whether they classify them as white or non-white people.
Moreover, during the inter-war period immigrants were not welcomed due to the economic crisis (Great Depression), thus few Arabs came to the United States. This historical period ended with the appearance of some restrictive laws. Indeed the American society rejected the coming of Germans and Irish Catholics, who came in masses during the period of 1820s and 1860s, though lot of movements emerged after the Civil War in opposition to this rush of immigrants. A Corollary of this was the issuing of Federal law to limit the immigration of some groups of people. As a result lots of legislations as the Emergency Quota Act of 192115, and the Immigration Act of 192416 were passed to restrict the immigration movement. This broadening of legislative discrimination included Syrians and Lebanese, who, based on the location of their native land, were ostensibly classified as Asians. .
III.3 The Adaptation of the Last Wave of Immigrants:
Due to their diversity, the third wave of immigrants encountered a bad reception from their new guest. Hostility toward the people of the Middle East and especially Muslims had increased during the 1980s. An overview made in the 1981 summed up all the negative
15 Also known as ( the Johnson Quota Act) of May 19, 1921 was an immigration quota that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 3% of the number of persons from that country living in the United States in 1910, according to United States Census figures. 16Also known as the Johnson-Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, Asian Exclusion Act, was a United States federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890, according to the Census of 1890.
36 perception of the Americans toward the Arab Americans17. A majority of the interviewed answered the question concerning Arabs as being “barbaric and cruel” (44%), “treacherous, cunning” (49 %), “mistreat women” (51 %), “warlike” and “bloodthirsty” (50 %), to be “anti Christians” (40 %) or “anti Semitic” (40 %)18. These negative attitudes reached their peak with the 1973 oil crisis19, and the hostility towards Arabs lasted until the 1990s, the period that refers to the political turmoil in the Middle East.
Moreover unlike the other waves of immigration, the last influx which came during the 70s tended to be more attached to their own identity and culture. The last rush of immigrants expressed an increasing sentiment toward ethnic awareness which has developed even more recently, spurring recent generations to revive the Arabic cultural heritage; by learning the Arab language, making trips to their native countries, valorising their traditional dance and music. The main reason was due to their religion and cultural diversity. Whether the first wave was predominately constituted of Christians, the last wave was mainly constituted by Muslims as it was stated before.
Arabs settled in the American soil in the 1970s, they betted on the education of their children because they knew that it was the only way for them to guarantee the family welfare. Some graduated students who came to carry on their scholarship married American citizens and settled in the United States and others were refugees. These growing Arab communities had created their own churches, mosques, restaurants, shops and institutions.
The arrival of the last wave coincides with number of changes in the American mind. The Civil Rights movement and the relaxation of immigration laws propagated new ideals which pushed all immigrants to enlighten their ethnic background. New Arabs tended to display an Arab patriotism, in contrast to the earlier waves which inclined to hide their Arab origins. With a better sense of identity, the last wave included highly skilled and highly educated individuals who escaped from their homelands devastated by civil wars. The multiculturalist’s spirit that emerged after the 1970s stimulated the politicization of the Arab Americans, making them more aware of their ethnic patterns.
17 Slade, Shelly. “The Image of the Arab in America: Analysis of a Poll on American Attitudes.” Middle East Journal (Spring 1981). 18 Ibid, p.147. 19 The 1973 oil crisis started on October 15, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, proclaimed an oil embargo "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
37 IV- Reasons of their Departure to the New Homeland:
In the late nineteenth century America was in the eyes of the whole world a remote and mysterious reality. Nevertheless it was not enough to inhibit Arab eagerness to cross the ocean in order to get to America and have access to the American dream. As James Truslow Adams20 shrewdly defined it:
"The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement… It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."
Thus many did not resist answering the call of trade and adventure. Commercial bond first pushed the Arabs to move to the United States. It is said that the first Arabs to set foot on the American soil accompanied the Spanish explorers in the fifteenth century and actively traded with the first colonist. Economic and political alliances were formed in 1700s between North African countries and the American settlers. Algerian merchants supplied the cavalry of George Washington by exporting horses. Morocco was officially the first country which opened its ports to the United States and recognizing its independence. In a letter sent by George Washington, this later expressed his gratitude via a treaty of friendship between Sultan Mohamed III of Morocco and the United States in 1787. (Refer to document 1.1 page x) Since that moment, North African and Middle Eastern trade have had a significant impact on the Arabo-American relationships.
Unlike many immigrants who were attracted by work opportunities or escaping from religious persecution, or were in search of asylum, the majority of these Arab artisans came to the United States engaged in an enterprise of peddling. Previously informed by their relatives who were already comfortably settled, Arabs had a primary idea about where to go to find job and housing. They were not pulled from their mother country, because the bonds that link them to their friends and relatives were too rigid. However, the wish to improve their family status, in addition to the remoteness and mystery that shaped legendary America, gained the upper hand.
20 James Truslow Adams (1878 –1949) was an American writer and historian. It is believed that Adams coined the term "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America.( available from http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/97/dream/thedream.html )
38 The most significant reason of the Arabic rush was the Israeli Palestinian clash, especially after the instauration of the British Mandatory of Palestine. This later was a legal document for the administration of Palestine, formally approved by the League of Nations in June 1922. In this document the British collaborated with the Jewish community, and promoted the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Moreover they sustained a huge number of Jewish immigrants to settle in Palestine which led to the ostracism of Palestinians. Therefore, Arabs were purchased from their own land and their products were boycotted by the local Zionist movement.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Arabic speaking countries resonated with great hopes about Arab unity, especially concerning the question of Palestine. However the defeat of the Arab league in the Six Day War shattered all their optimism about the future. Even though it had been traumatic to Arabs, this war engendered an unprecedented common sense of unity. Indeed before that event Arabs were not united because of diversity of the religious faiths, dialects, cultures and nationalities. In the post Arab Israeli war and the spreading of the anti Arab sentiment, Arabs started to form cohesive groups, creating associations and organizations to fight prejudice and discrimination perpetrated towards Palestinians.
IV.1 The Role of the West in the Arab Immigration to the USA:
Through the process of Western colonization of the Middle East, lots missionaries, travellers, traders, adventurers and educators settled in the Middle East. Colonists felt that they were helping the colonized population by bringing them Christianity and civilization. Unfortunately, reality was different, more often what they brought was conflicts and death. British and American researchers and missionaries settled in the Middle East in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The Middle East like other colonized territories at that time offered colonists, an open market that would garner them a trade surplus .They brought their culture, religion and own institutions like churches and schools. Consequently a large rate of Arabic population converted to Christianity and Protestantism which led to civil conflicts in the Middle East.
America has always welcomed immigrants, for their labour contribution, therefore the Americans amplified their effort to lure cheap labour with promises of wealth and freedom.
39 One of the factors that incited Arab Immigration to the United State was the foundation of a Jewish community in Palestine. In 1948, the State of Israel was officially established, thus more than 800,000 Palestinians became refugees, escaping from persecution. Most of these Palestinians, and their families settled in neighbouring countries. In 1953 U.S. Congress passed the Refugee Relief Act considered as the first American immigration law that explicitly mentioned refugees21 as a category of immigrants. Thanks to this law, over 2000 Palestinian refugees were to be admitted to the United States. This law was extended in 1957 and another 985 Palestinians were admitted as refugees between 1958 and 196322.
V- The Settlement Process:
For the majority of immigrants, New York represented the United States. It was for them their host land, this is why, it contained the largest and the most diverse Arab community in the late nineteenth century to such a point that an area in Manhattan was know among Arab community as “little Syria”. Arabs owned businesses and residences where they were publishers, manufacturers and importers of lace, embroidery and lingerie. Commerce that ran little Syria was peddling so between 1880 and 1910 the majority of the new immigrants were peddlers. In her outstanding study entitled “Syrians in the United States” in 1911, Louise Seymour Houghton, wrote about the early Arab immigrants activities:
“From the charity visitor these peddlers refuse alms resent any well meant but incomprehensible attempt to induce them to change their mode of life, to give up peddling and go into a factory, for example. The two points of views are almost ludicrously, if not tragically, apart. They lie in different plains and are incapable of meeting.”23
Arabs became a so integrating part of the American society that they inspired by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers who created a Broadway musical entitled “Oklahoma”. The play was about an olive skinned young man Ali Hakim, a Persian peddler who sold goods
21 Refugee in the U.S. constitution refers to any person in a country or area which is neither Communist nor Communist-dominated, who because of persecution, fear of persecution, natural calamity or military operations is out of his usual place of abode and unable to return thereto, who has not been firmly resettled, and who is in urgent need of assistance for the essentials of life or for transportation. 22 http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=1419 23 Boosahda, Elizabeth, Arab-American faces and voices: the origins of an immigrant community (University of Texas Press, 2003), p.67.
40 to farms from a cart24. In spite of the pack peddling which was fruitful for Arabs, there were other reasons that pushed them to migrate to the United States; others left to improve themselves economically fleeing the bad economic conditions of the less developed countries. Lots of immigrants travelled overseas seeking for a better living condition and personal advancement in countries like the United States, Canada and Australia. Others escaped oppression, military service and parental authority or they were simply craving for adventure. Indeed in the Arab countries, parents had an overwhelming control over their children’s life including their marriage.
V.1 Early Settlement:
As stated before, at the beginning of the mid 1800s century, Great Syria’s economy witnessed a real turning point by the opening of the Suez Canal . This later made the exchange of goods with the Far East so easier that it had a catastrophic impact on local economy. Furthermore, by 1890s, the Lebanese vineyards which were destroyed by Phylloxera,25 in addition to the increasing rate of population which was not equal to agricultural and industrial productivity made matters worse.
The majority of Arab Christians coming during the first wave escaped from religious persecution. They established in America, a land of democracy, and above all, a land of freedom of religion. 26 They came from countries where religious and state matters go hand in hand. Discrimination was current especially with the decrease of the Ottoman Empire. As much as the Ottoman rulers control declined, the local rulers’ authority increased which was used to oppress local people, mainly non Muslims. This hatred against non-Muslims, especially Christians was one of the consequences of Arab departure and the clashes between Christians in Europe and Ottoman rulers. Moreover as the number of immigrants grew up there was also an increasing need of institutions to get Arab immigrants together, such as mosques for Muslims, and churches for Christians.
24 Oklahoma! Is the first musical written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. 25 Grape phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. These tiny, pale yellow sap-sucking insects, related to aphids, feed on the roots and leaves of grapevines depending on the phylloxera genetic strain. 26Naff, Alixa, Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience (Southern Illinois University Press, 1993), p.87.
41 Lots of Christian Arabs also built churches like the Syrian Orthodox Church established in 1885 in the Eastern part of the United States. By and large few mosques have been created before 1960s, in fact the first mosque was built on the American soil in 1915. According to the Faith Communities Today (FACT) survey, 87 per cent of mosques in the United States were founded within the last three decades.
V.2 Second Phase of Settlement:
While the first wave came to obtain material wealth, the second wave came for more ambitious and intellectual opportunities. Arab immigrants of the second influx were obviously better educated, packed with idea about democracy, eager for education and a better life. From 1965 until 1992, more than 400.000 Arab immigrants arrived to the United States.27
After the Second World War, lots of Arab immigrants who were well established American citizens helped their families to join them. A great number among these latter came to improve their education. They came thanks to student visas which would limit their stay on the American soil, obliging them to return home one their education completed. Nevertheless many of them chose to remain there and married American citizens or just because they had the opportunity to obtain a work permit by an employer who would sponsor their right to stay.
V.3 The Last Phase of Settlement:
The third influx of immigrants was the largest one due to the relaxation of the immigration laws and quota system. The Pan- Arab movement28 which arose during the 1950s gave many Arabs pride great and hope about their future. Nevertheless, in 1967 the defeat of the Arab people in the Six Day War (the damn date29) brought them disillusionment. Indeed it was the most tragic and affecting date in the history of Arabs who saw then their hopes and
27 Kayyali, A. Randa, The Arab Americans (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006), p25. 28A form of cultural nationalism, Pan-Arabism is a movement for unification among the peoples of the Arab World. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation. The idea was at its height during the 1960s, and the movement has strongly opposed colonialism and Western political involvement in the Arab world 29 Parrs, Alexandra, Construction de l'identité arabe américaine : Entre visibilité et mise en scène stratégique(Editions L'Harmattan, 2005),p.49.
42 their unity shattered the fact that made immigration towards the United States and other non Arab-countries an inevitable alternative.
In addition to the Six Day War, there were clashes within Arab countries that brought about insecurity. The civil war that took place in Lebanon from 1975 to 1992 made 90.000 people move from Lebanon in addition to other thousands of Palestinians, Syrians, Jordanians and Egyptians.30 The Gulf War in 1991 added many waves of immigrants who move to the United States, escaping Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and caprices.
In many Arab countries, the educational system became upgraded after independence and thus the number of graduates increased. Yet, it was still not adapted to their skills and ambitions, so many left their countries triggering of “Brain Drain” phenomenon. The American educational system answered the needs of Arab immigrants as for their career advancement, placing at their disposal the best engineering training, latest technology and medical advance. During the 1970s the rise of multiculturalism in America created an atmosphere of tolerance and equality among all immigrant groups, giving them the right to express themselves freely and practice their customs, language and faiths freely.
Nowadays the distribution of the Arab population in America is as follow: 26 per cent are settled in the South, 24 per cent in the Midwest, and finally 22 per cent in the west. 2000 U.S. Census demonstrated that 48 per cent of the Arabic population is concentrated mainly in five states, namely California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey and New York. Over one decade, Arab population has increased in most states specifically in New York City which gathers the largest Arab community. (Refer to table 1.2, page VII and table 1.3 page VIII) (See also figure 1.4 page XI)
VI- Race Classification:
The problem of race classification and social identity are surely dominant elements in America. The long struggle about racial equality and the continuous waves of immigrants to America have had a huge impact on the way American government handled racial classification. Throughout America's history the pretense of race has been used as a method for deporting, incarcerating, and otherwise controlling the activities, movements, and status's
30 Ibid, p.33.
43 of minority populations as deemed necessary for the needs of "national security" (Friedman, Reddick, & Fauchon, 2004).
During the first two decades of the twentieth century, the world was affected by economic rivalry. At that time America was seeking cheap labor, this is why a huge number of immigrants arrived to assuage this need. American citizens were frightened by these new comers for their political, religious and cultural differences. These new immigrants challenged the way the government was going to deal with such change into the American society. Consequently Americanization program flourished in order to make these new comers gasp the language, culture and civil laws of their host country. However these programs dealt with these immigrant groups as being inferior in all aspects.
These Americanization programs... received new impetus on the eve of the First World War. July 4, 1915 was the first official “National Americanization Day” with the motto “Many Peoples, But One Nation”. But this slogan soon was replaced by “American First” and the seeds of nativism would take strong root throughout the war years culminating in the law of 1924 that dramatically altered the face of immigration for four decades31.
Racial classification has been at the heart of government concern; this is why it had a great impact on the Arab Americans experience and how and why they have evolved throughout U.S history. Indeed America has perpetually fought for the melting of new immigrant waves into its society. Arab immigrants like other minority groups have had great difficulties trying to find themselves a place within the American society. This had strongly shaped the way Arab Americans are categorized within immigration policy and the American census.
The suspicion that Syrians were unfit to become American citizens because
they were “aliens other than white”, had led to the series of prerequisite cases
between 1909 and 1915.32
The way U.S census treated the problem of race was ambiguous, however, it was an obsession to set apart non-white populations. The Civil War stood out as a turning point in how immigrants would be classified on census class. This latter was established according to two principles: new questions on the foreign born and new race categories for Asians. The
31 Arabs in America building a new future 32 Amaney A. Jamal,Nadine Christine Naber: Race and Arab Americans before and after 9/11: from invisible citizens to visible subject. P 161
44 1870 census, for example, included the first question on citizenship and birthplace of parent. By 1880, questions on the ability to read, write or speak English reflected the demographic realities of the times. In 1890, foreign-born persons were asked their year of immigration (a question discontinued from 1940-1960) and in 1910, the language of parent was asked.
After the Second World War, there was a need to re-examine classification on the basis of race and replace it by another one based on national origin. Worries about racist origins of the immigrant categories launched a fight by the American Civil Liberties Union to omit the race question from the 1960 analysis. Moreover the Voting Rights Act33 passed in 1965 there was a necessity of a detailed data about all minorities in the United States. Later on different federal agencies that took on the implementation of civil rights policies had the necessity of similar definitions of the racial (and ethnic) groups recorded.
In 1974, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare34 solicited Federal Interagency Committee on Education35 to put forward common ethnic and racial definitions put into government needs. Thus, five characteristics were recommended as a reference for laws promulgated in the following three years by the Office of Management and Budget36. Consequently the committee shed the light on differences between black, Latino, American Indian and Asian American population as compared to the white population already recorded in existing census collection.
VI.1 Arab American Immigrant Case Study:
To refer to an immigrant as a “white person” had been the result of numerous restrictive naturalization laws passed by congress during the late of the nineteenth century. For instance the term Caucasian has been generally applied to a group commonly called “White Americans”, as defined by the American government and Census Bureau. From 1917
33 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S. 34 The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. 35 The Federal Interagency Committee on Education (FICE) is mandated to ensure "effective coordination of Federal education programs." 36 The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a Cabinet-level office, and is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The OMB's predominant mission is to assist the President in overseeing the preparation of the federal budget and to supervise its administration in Executive Branch agencies.
45 to 1965, immigration towards the United States was restricted by a national origins quota. The Supreme Court decided that Asian Indians were Caucasian, and thus not white. According to Alixa Naff37
“If the naturalization law of 1870 declared that free whites and settlers of African descent could applied for naturalization they failed to define the term “white”, leaving the interpretation to the subjective opinion of individuals in the court”38
The immense number of immigrants coming to America was creating social, cultural and economic disturbances in a country which was considered as a heaven for immigrant, and which did not anticipate large number of so many immigrants in so short a time. Consequently legislation acts such as the Emergency Quota Act39 and the Johnson Reed Act40 of 1924. The motivation under these two acts were to impede immigration of people outside the European countries, thus a few Arab immigrants were admitted to the American soil for three decades.
Comparing with other non European immigrants, the impact of racial classification on the Arab American community has been inferior, except two blatant periods in the Arab American immigration history. Issues of race became significant due to the larger social policies that were influencing opinions about minority groups. Moreover in both periods, the interjection of race issues turned around the theory that Arabs are not quite white.
During the period of World War I America entered a period of speculation around the issues of citizenship that deeply altered the racialization of Arab Americans. The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization directives had the purpose of questioning the credibility of certain immigrants for naturalization. As a result the courts began to question whether the Arab national origin and racial appearance designated them as white rather than Asian, therefore ineligible for citizenship.
37Ibid, p.48. 38 Ibid, p125. 39 1921, restricted immigration into the United States. Although intended as temporary legislation, the Act "proved in the long run the most important turning-point in American immigration policy"because it added 2 new features to American immigration law: numerical limits on immigration from Europe and the use of a quota system for establishing those limits. 40 The Johnson Reed Act was a United States federal law that limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States
46 While most of the Arab immigrants of the second wave developed strong bonds in their homelands, yet they chose to become American citizens. The advantages of citizenship were the opportunity to homestead in the west, and to have the right to vote. To get citizenship Arabs had to file two papers: a declaration of objective to become a citizen and just after five years of residency, a petition of naturalization. However the residency requirement for men had one condition which was to serve in the armed forces. Indeed when man of the house was naturalized, his wife and children naturally gained citizenship.
The Americanization process speedily accelerated after the First World War; generally Arab American imitated the trail of the American middle class and adopted their social and cultural attitudes. Americanization programs flourished to make sure that the new settlers would learn the language, civic values and cultural ways of their adopted homeland. Nevertheless this process concealed a pervasive common ideology that considered the new settlers as intellectually, racially, culturally inferior. Nevertheless by the 1950s the fancy of assimilation process41 steadily gave way to the new ideal of acculturation process42 which implied fewer restrictions to the coming immigrants. Consequently Arabs Americans started to develop an Arab distinctiveness, thus struggling against the American tendency to renounce their Arab identity.
Arabs immigrants found lots of difficulties to gain citizenship in the United States. It was mainly due to the legislations and laws of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) that exclude Arabs from citizenship on the basis of not being totally white. In fact these latter were classified as Caucasians and the passing of the Emergency Quota Act of 192143 impeded the Arab flow of immigrants to the United States. The crisis encountered in their host country incited them to fight for their integration and assert their right of citizenship. (Refer to figure 1.2 page X).
Early Arabs continued to feel insecure about their future right of citizenship until 1924. Nevertheless in the same year, Johnson-Reed Act, including the National Origins Act
41 The assimilation process is a political response to the demographic fact of multi-ethnicity which favoured absorption of the minority into the dominant culture thus it contradicted affirmative philosophy such as multiculturalism which recognizes and seeks to maintain immigrants’ differences. 42 Acculturation process is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first hand contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both groups may be altered, but the groups remain distinct. 43 The Quota Act was an immigration quota that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 3% of the number of persons from that country living in the United States in 1910.
47 was passed as well as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 195244 which restricted the migration flow on the basis of the national origin. The effect was bias towards people of Northern and Western Europe, which had been the major areas of immigration during the era of great migration.
The passing of the Immigration Act of 1965 illustrated a significant shift in the U.S. immigration policy. Indeed the act abolished the national origin quotas that had been in place in the United States since the Immigration Act of 1924. The relaxation of immigration law and the establishment of the system of lottery had brought to the United States all social categories.
Among Arab immigrants who came after the Second World War, there were a large number of graduate students. These latter were more secular, moderate, educated and self confident, this is why they wanted to be a counterpart in the American politics. Moreover they were conscious about the necessity of being enrolled in the American economy and politic that would give them an access to better opportunities and wealth.
In the beginning of the twentieth century the U.S. census bureau classified people from the Eastern Mediterranean as Asian thus, the question of Asian nativity remained unsolved and was subject of lots of interpretations. Annual immigration from Arabic countries like Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Iraq reached 15,000 by the late 1960s and often eclipsed Lebanese and Syrian immigration to America.
Arab Americans have addressed the problem of their racial classification in number of ways. First encouraged by the ethnic revival of 1960s and dismayed by their vilification after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, they formed pan-ethnic organizations that asserted their Arab identity as political strategy for countering racism and claiming rights. After the Civil Rights movement there was a new stimulus for racial classification as Civil Rights which transformed drastically the role of the census, which acquired a political importance that it never had in the past. Indeed the Civil Right movement inspired lots of immigrant groups to review their ethnic identity. The movement paved the way to several ethnic groups to reconsider their
44 INA of 1952 (also known as the McCarran–Walter Act) restricted immigration into the U.S. and is codified under Title 8 of the United States Code. The Act governs primarily immigration and citizenship in the United States.
48 status in the American society. Especially concerning the Palestinian cause, new significance had been attributed to the Arab American identity.
The 1967 Arab Israeli war and the blatant American support of Israeli settlement in Palestine profoundly marked the Arab Americans and engendered the birth of a new Arab American identity. However the third generation transcended the humiliating defeat of the Six Day War and the denigration of Arabs’ images after that. Consequently the Arab identity became the focus of analysis and investigation of a huge number of Arab intellectuals, who had been constrained to preserve and voiced their right in order to be considered as fully Americans. From 1965 until onwards family reunification, refugees and highly educated people have been favoured for immigrant visa. Consequently more than 400,000 Arab immigrated to the United States from 1965 to present day.45 Others settled in countries such as Canada, Australia, France and Great Britain
The Refugee Act of 1980 that reformed American immigration legislations and which for the first time admitted refugees on the basis of humanitarian reasons, came in response to the huge influx of refugees from Southeast Asia. The act created a turning point which had institutionalized a definition to a refugee and created the right of asylum.
Two active Arab organizations, Arab American Institute and the American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee lobbied congress to change the classification of Arabs as Caucasian on the 2000 census to either a separate Middle Eastern or Arab American category. The office of Management and Budget decided not to introduce a new category, citing a lack of consensus and the relatively small size of the community as two important reasons. Arab Americans wanted a change in their status, because they wanted to have a more accurate count of Arabs in the U.S soil. However after 9/11 Arab Americans are afraid of being profiled with information registered in the U.S Census, so they are not insisting on the fact of being included as a racial group in the following census.
VI.2 Racialization and Americanization of Arab American Immigrants:
45 Louise Cainkar, “The History Of Arab Immigration to the US: An Introduction for High School Students,” Arab American Encyclopedia, (Detroit: Gale Publishers, 2000)
49 To boost the assimilation process of the early Arab Americans, English instruction and citizenship classes were offered; Americans taught them about the most common American values in order to get them integrated. Therefore in the turn of the century when the American economy started to expand, Arabs’ standard of living started to improve radically. Consequently Arab immigrants began to assimilate easily the American values and viewed the reward of being accepted more important than to be categorised as Arab Americans. Mainly when many non white Americans, especially Arabs, were stigmatized and marginalized on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and national origin.46
“ The Arab community in the United States is noted for its diversity, which is evident in its ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious sectarian, tribal and national identities”47.
As Abdo El kholy the author of Arab Moslems in the United States argued that; Islam was an impediment to Arab adaptation to their new homeland and assimilation of immigrants of Arab ancestry to the United States. His theory demonstrated the fact that religion retards assimilation process into their new background. According to his research, there are factors which determined Arab assimilation process and the most important factor for him is their occupation. He based his research comparing two regions, Detroit and Toledo. Detroit with an overwhelming population of working class tended to preserve the classical sense of family, whether Toledo Arab immigrants were more liberal with a higher income presented a common sense to preserve their middle class status. However this later tended to be completely ignorant about the Islamic instructions, El kholy noticed that the third generation in Toledo was more Islamic than its ancestors and it did not embed their assimilation process.
In western countries there is also a phenomenon of politically motivated threats and intimidation against Arabs and Muslims in the United States. According to Nabeel Abraham:
“Jewish extremist group constitutes an undeniable source of anti Arab hate and violence not discussed in the conventional accounts of racial violence in the United States”.
In early 1900s a Jewish organization called the Anti Defamation League (ADL) was established with an addictive energy to fight anti Semitism and defend other minority groups. However after the creation of Israel in 1948 the focus of the ADL aimed to discredit
46 El badry, Samia, “the Arab American market,” (American demographics, 1996 ) 47 Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, Not quite American?: the shaping of Arab and Muslim identity in the United (Baylor University Press, 2004)
50 defenders of the Palestinian cause. Beside the publication of a handbook in 1983 entitled (Pro- Arab Propaganda in America: Vehicles and Voices) which was a kind of black list where were gathered names of individuals who were against the establishment of Israel. Despite the ADL there was another Jewish organization which listed Arab American individuals who show solidarity with the Palestinian cause, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Both organizations violated the law by assembling and hiding private information about millions of Arab Americans, anti apartheid, peace, and justice and Human Right organization. By far the most intriguing feature of the ADL when it was dismantled in 1999 was its direct connection to Israel and the Mossad.48
Since 1970s the federal government has founded the preparation of standard curricula in foreign languages, wherever there is a sufficiently large non English speaking population in order to promote multicultural diversity. In addition during the era of Civil Rights movement Arab attitudes toward race has changed drastically. Not only did new Arab immigrants diverged and amplify, it brought completely different political cultural and religious identities that contrasted with the assimilated identity of the American born immigrants. The American governmental schedules and other structural programs that developed in the 1970s and 1980s around racial integration that certainly contributed to corresponding awareness and societal attitudes of tolerance of multiculturalism in America.
VII- Amplified Arab Stereotypes:
Stereotypes are generalizations, or acceptance that someone makes about the characteristics of members of a group based on pre-established images or ideas which are often wrong. Generally stereotypes, especially those directed against ethnic groups, cast a group of people within the same mould attributing them the same characteristic and depicting them as mentally and physically inferior. Like other minority groups Arab Americans encounter a multitude of stereotypes that constraint their adaptation and integration with others. Gordon W. Allport who was one of the most influential psychologists of the twentieth century, made a research about the impact and the power of stereotypes. According to him the reason why stereotypes are so efficient is that
“Stereotypes offer prejudiced persons a clear cut structuring of the world, a way of imposing order where there is none, an opportunity to “latch
48 The Mossad, is the national intelligence agency of Israel. "Mossad" is the Hebrew word for institute or institution.
51 onto what is familiar, safe, simple, and definite”.49
In other words, one tends to accept stereotypes so easily without questioning their reliability and he tends to think that prejudiced persons utter or consume the stereotype for its functional significance50. Moreover stereotypes hide diversity among the group being stereotyped, it hides the concerns that members of a community may face.
VII.1 Early Arab Stereotyping:
Arab Americans have always been stereotyped and are still undergoing the same treatment. Americans have a vague negative and distorted idea about Arabs. In both popular culture and government policy, anti Arab stereotypes are still on the upswing and have given a negative opinion about Arab ethnicity. Americans have always had specific opinions about Arabs, indeed the first wave brought a sort of exotism to the American culture with fantastic stories of mummies, with folk heroes such as Ali Baba, Sindibad, Aladdin, and One Thousand and One Nights.
After the Arab Israeli war of 1967 and the Arab oil embargo of 1973, the relations between Americans and Arabs deteriorated. These latter were depicted by the American media as greedy oil sheiks and religious fanatics. Some common American stereotypes are to identify Iranian as being Arabs though they are Persians. Other stereotypes concerning Arabs assume that “Arabs are nomads” when only two per cent of them are nomads, and that “all Arabs are Muslims”, and “all Palestinians are terrorists” .
Arab women for their part are described as submissive, whereas the rate of physical abuses of women is clearly higher in the United States. Indeed according to the National Institute of Justice, nearly 1.3 million women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner annually in the United States.51 According to the American mass media, Arabs are primitive and a menace to society. These misleading preconceived ideas about Arabs should be prohibited. The mass media have to present more realistic images about Arabs as individuals rather than as a homogenized group. According to James Zogby the president of Arab American Institute (AAI), newly arrived immigrants Arabs and Muslims from the Middle East are the most vulnerable in the Civil Rights chain.
49 Allport, W. Gordon , the nature of prejudice(Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1979), p.59. 50 P 6 evil Arabs in American popular film :Orientalist fear : Tim Jon Semmerling 51 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/183781.htm
52 VII.2 The Origin of Arab Stereotypes:
The roots of distorted pictures and stereotypes go back to the tensions that existed between Christians of Europe and the Muslims of the Middle East specifically during the crusades of the Ottoman Empire. Dealing with the origins of Arab stereotypes, Edward Said, suggested that they date back to the first friction between the East and Europe. He noted that there was a constant gap between the East and the West which depicted this latter as the superior one52. According to him all cultures have an opinion about other cultures that are mysterious and exotic, however when these cultures try to bring a sort of entertainment, and a touch of exotism to distract their people it could be harmful to the concerned culture, especially when they are referred to as being “inferior” or simply as being the “others”53. Moreover for Edward said, Orientalism constructs a binary opposition between the East and the West and attributes an immutable “essence” to the East or Orient. Orientalism continues to penetrate western media, government policies and literary work, and operates as a discursive ideological justification for western colonial and imperial projects in the Middle East54.
Well established stereotypes about Arabs have always existed in the American popular culture. Americans have the tendency to lump all Arabs together, not caring about the Arab Americans feelings. In fact they have endured a continuous demonization which has sullied their history. Famous writings about Arabs and Muslims have frequently classify them in an unfavourable way, as most Americans do not make any distinction between Arabs and Muslims and tend to think that both are the same while only 12 per cent of Muslims are Arabs. Michael Suleiman notes that:
“Americans have a general picture of Arabs which though vague is distorted and incorrect and almost invariably, negative at times bordering on racist”55
During the post World War II period, anti Arab sentiment grew along with the U.S. military and economic development in the Middle East. In the course of the 70s, the expansion of Arab Americans stereotypes had reached its peak due to the Arab Israeli clashes in the one hand and to the important status that gulf countries acquired in the oil market.
52 Said, W. Edward, Orientalism (Vintage Books Edition, 1979). 53Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 Suleiman, W. Michael, Arabs in America: building a new future (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1999), p.251.
53 Moreover, U.S. involvement in the Middle East had expanded dramatically, and the 1967 Arab Israeli war marked a turning point in the Arab Diasporas to the United States.56 According to Edward said 1978:
“The war of 1967 marked the intensification of representation of Islam as a signifier of “evilness” and “otherness” which was exacerbated in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution …and deploy the assumption that all Arabs are Muslims and Islam is an inherently backward and uncivilised religion”.
Arab wealth caused suspicion among Western countries which tarnish the image of the Arabs even more, making the image of “the stupid immoral Arab” change into “ Muslim fanatic” plotting against the West. In 1972, Nixon’s “Boulder Operation” created a big impact on individual liberties it gave the FBI complete power to harass individuals, especially Arabs, with phone calls and inspections to intimidate them on the pretext of their alleged relation with terrorists activities.
Later on, the Gulf War intensified the anti Arab hostility in the United States intensified in addition to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Saddam Hussein became the major enemy of U.S interest, becoming the main target of Bush’s administration. Consequently, when the United States went to war with Iraq in1991, violence against Muslims and Arabs increased radically, and lots of Arabs were targeted, their home vandalized and their mosques bombed. They were physically assaulted, subjected to hate calls, menace, and even murdered. They were almost portrayed as immoral emphasizing the differences of their culture, representing them as being odd people alien to democratic axioms and extremist fanatics.
VII.3 Arab American Stereotyping Process in Post September 11th, 2001 Attacks:
Arabs have always been the target of discriminatory acts long before the events of September 11th. Historical conflicts with Arab countries and military presence of the United States in some countries altered animosity between the Arab world and America. The result of these tensions was the propagation of lots of negative stereotypes about Arab people. Throughout the last hundred years, Hollywood has perpetuated negative images of Arabs
56 Amaney, A. Jamal & Naber, C. Nadine, Race and Arab Americans before and after 9/11 from invisible citizens to visible subjects (Syracuse University Press, 2008),p86.
54 which affect how Arab Americans are perceived by the world. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Orient was used as a commercial product to boost the film industry.
The Arab stereotyping has gone through three major phases: at the beginning Westerners pictured Arabs as rich sheikhs with harems full of belly dancers, and oil wells such as in Laurence of Arabia57. Even if these images allowed the expansion of the Arab culture all over the world, the majority of the Arab Americans do not identify themselves to these pictures.
The second phase started with the Six Day War and the rise of Arab nationalism. During this period Arab stereotyping got worse; Arab men were described as cruel fanatic, whereas women were seen as submissive and sexual objects.
The third phase witnessed the most deteriorating stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims immediately after the events of September 11th, 2001.Consequently the majority of Americans tend to relate all Arabs to terrorist activities. The event worsens their situation to such an extent that nowadays the word Arab is systematically associated to the term terrorist. Modelling prejudices and stereotypes throughout public opinion is overwhelming. Movies and novels have engendered lots of stereotypes about some races deteriorating their images. For instance American movies always reflect images of courageous cowboys versus bad savage Indians.
Hollywood has largely exploited Americans’ fear and an anxiety resulting from September 11th attacks producing hundreds of movies and serial using images of Muslim terrorists attacking the American homeland. Flight plan (2005) and Red Eye (2005) contained a scene that perfectly illustrates post September 11th worries about air travel.
A poll conducted just after the terrorist attacks by the Newsweek magazine revealed that 32 per cent of Americans were for putting Arab Americans under special surveillance, as it had been done for Japanese Americans during the Second World War. Most writers of Israeli origin such as Joan Peters58, Barbara Tuchman59 tend to depict the Muslims in a way
57 Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. 58 Joan Peters well known for her book: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, a book by about the demographics of the Arab population of Palestine and of the Jewish population of the Arab world before and after the formation of the State of Israel. 59 Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour: a book about English involvement in Israel over the centuries, 1956.
55 that justify their presence in Palestine, and act of violence toward Arabs and Muslims. They spread the idea of Israeli superiority over Palestinians, describing them as religious fanatic and terrorist that should be destroyed and who deserve their fate.
Arabs have never been screened as ordinary persons who love their families, neighbours and nation. Arabs and Muslims have served their host country in all main historical events of the American history. They have participated in American wars, in politics, in the development of American economy and industry but they have never been recognized for their engagement as a good citizen. This is why today lots of Arabs feel unwelcome on the American soil due to the stereotypes that tend to relate them to terrorist activities and fanaticism. 60
Despite the popular stereotypes the majority of Arab Americans are natives and more than 82 per cent are full American citizens, although Arab Americans came from various Arab countries they could trace their ancestry to five major areas which are ; Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Egypt.
VIII-The Involvement of the Media in Stereotyping the Arabs:
Nowdays means of communication have an overwhelming influence in the American society. The American public opinion is totally forged by the media. Anyone who inspect North American entertainment and news media will notice that members of ethnic and visible minorities are inadequately represented in entertainment and news media, and that portrayals of minorities are often stereotypical and demeaning. This tendency is particularly problematic in a multicultural country like America.
Anti Arab racism does not emanate from a single source, and does not emanate from the Arab-Israeli conflict. Xenophobia fed by films and media stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims also altered the hate toward Arab Americans. Hollywood projections and Western media, for example, have always associated the image of Arabs with negative actions. The influence of the media is so deep that it shapes people’s opinion and decisions concerning important matters as well as the most banal one.
60 Pulera, J. Dominic, Visible Differences: Why Race Will Matter to Americans in the Twenty-First Century (The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, 2002), p.117.
56 Our daily lives are hanged on the current news in news papers, Television, the radio, internet, magazines. We tend trust the media which impose on us their version of truth. Nowadays all what concerns religion, race, appearances and other fields are mainly introduced by the media.
Lots of people are not conscious about the influence that the government has over the media which on their turn manipulate the public opinion in order to fit government policies, especially concerning Middle East issues and its war on terror. Moreover the media have a tendency to exaggerate events to increase the audience. Its impact on stereotype buildings has been a major factor in contributing to the image of Arabs in the United States.
In the United States media are profit driven. There is no time to develop characters and bring to the audience details about a given culture. The media usually prevent the viewer with characters that he or she could immediately recognize, this is the reason why stereotypes are inevitable. So when a scriptwriter wants to portray a terrorist he has just to put into the screen a dark skinned character with a Middle Eastern background and gives him an orient accent and thus making him look Arab.
Arabs have always been popular targets for stereotyping in Western media. Moreover long before September 11th attacks, the association of Arab and Muslim with the images of terrorism had taken hold in the American mind and fuelled anti Arab prejudice.
Representation of Arabs and Muslims propagated by the media and film industry reflected in government policies have been extremely effective in garnering public support in the American war against terrorism. The western media have often projected Arab individuals in a negative way describing them, they never talked about Arab contributions to the world in science, algebra and mathematics.
But who owns the Media, which are the companies or people that shape American values, beliefs and decisions? Mass Media are basically dominated by five major companies: Time Warner, VIACOM, Vivendi Universal with Jewish directors on their heads. In addition to News Corp who is the world's second-largest media conglomerate (behind Walt Disney Company), and whose its founder openly supported the war in Iraq, and makes no secret of it.
57 The Guardian reported before the war that Rubert Murdoch61 gave "his full backing to war, praising George Bush to act 'morally' and 'correctly', and describing Tony Blair as 'full of guts'" for his support of the war. Murdoch said just before the war:
"We can't back down now – I think Bush is acting very morally, very correctly.".62
Those four companies own 95% of all the media that we get every day, They own the major entertainment theme parks, entertainment movie studios, television and radio broadcast networks and programming, video news and sports entertainment. According to Gordon W. Allport:
“Stereotypes are socially supported continually revived and hammered in by the media of mass communication”.
Mass Media harbour prejudice about Arab people, such evidence was so overwhelming, irrefutable and could not be denied, and memories of anti-Arab discrimination during gulf war are still vivid. American Media have the power to put people and events into a specific categories of “good” and “bad”, “vicious” and “virtuous” using methodological truth, therefore they usually portray Arabs as criminals or terrorists. Stereotypes is the creation of biased view; an individual will pick up the attitude of one person and state that all people belonging to that specific group are the same. William Wetherall assures that:
“There is no demarcation line separating the serious from entertaining because the only thing that distinguishes popular work from other serious works is whether it is available to anyone who want to read it or not”.
Feeding already existing stereotypes about Arabs, media have readymade audience that guarantee the success of their production when it matches popular demands. Walter Lippmann argues that:
“We imagine most things before we experience them and those preconceptions, unless education has made us acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception”63
61 Keith Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-American media magnate and the founder, Chairman, and CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER of News Corporation. 62 http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/07/b122948.html , (New York Times, 4/9/03; Guardian, 2/12/03) 63 Lipmmann, walter, Public Opinion.P 55
58 Those, who want to have an idea about an Arab character in the American screen or news, collide with a plethora of different negative stereotypes. Dirty myths are purposely forged as an instrument of political propaganda against the East and the Arabs. These feelings are reinforced by Hollywood movies that negatively portray Muslims and Arabs in particular.
In the 1960s, when the United States were in the throes of their Civil Rights movement, Arabs and Muslims have become increasingly targeted by discriminatory policies. Moreover, the Middle East conflicts fuelled a wave of negative apprehension in popular media, consequently so Arabs became an obvious target for fear, anger and hubris. Because the United States saw a new power rising in the East concerning the oil market in addition to Arab solidarity about the Palestinian cause, U.S media, cunningly, hastened to spread negative stereotypes about the Arabs. As a result, during the 70s, a first wave of negative myths about the people of the East washed away whatever was good in Arab history to substantiate the threat they represented. According to Said
“Orientalism as a cultural myth had been articulated through metaphors which characterized the East in a way which emphasized its strangeness and otherness, the orient (whatever this term may signify) is seen as separate, passive eccentric, backwards with a tendency to despotism” 64
The most destabilizing thing about stereotypes is that the real motives behind these images are not evident for the viewing audience, indeed it does not show that these stereotypes correspond with the American policy which boosts the American government’s foreign policy.
Anti Arab government policies have coincided with the increasing significance of oil as necessary to the world’s economy and the growing interest in the Middle East. Mass media express politicians’ concerns about the oil issue, making American actions as morally justified for the American economy compared with Arabs oil boycott as an unfair economic and political blackmail. According to Edward Said’s theory of the oriental person which “carries a taint of inferiority”65, reactions of American Media, suggest that Arabs have no right or “savoir faire” on their own resources and that Arabs must be grateful to receive Western investment in their countries introducing them to civilization in the same time. Hence, it has emerged a proliferation of images of the greedy Arab oil sheikh, eager to control the natural resources of the whole world. Edmund Ghareeb claims that
64 Ibid, p.36. 65. Op.cit 51
59 “Most Americans picture Arabs as being backward, scheming, fanatics, terrorist who are dirty dishonest, oversexed and corrupt, bumbling cowardly Arab after 1967 war, the Arab terrorist and the super rich Arab sheikh controlling the world oil, squeezing jugular vein of the Western world”.66
Newspapers and television play an essential role in the way we perceive individuals and the way we shape stereotypes. It is not surprising to find colloquial expressions which guarantee that a movie or a book will reach a wide audience. Movies that deal with the Middle East increased dramatically during the 1980s, lot of images depict heroes who represent the noble glorious Western principles of justice and bravery versus the cruel, greedy, savage arrogant Arabs who are always eradiated at the end.
Overwhelming stereotypes about Arabs in movies easily fit the popular demands, especially in the United States where mass media’s power has no limit and where Americans tend to take the information without suspicion. According to Steven Salaita, hatred against Arabs in the American culture is originally derived from the idea of “patriotism” and “national pride” that are strongly promoted by the government whose foreign policy shapes the public opinion and sets the standard of nationalism and loyalty to their country.67
Mass media are used to fit government policy and interest, to let the public see the world from the same as the perspectives of their government. As an example, after the 1967 Arab Israeli war, overwhelming stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims were perpetuated by the media and popular culture so, American coverage of the Arab Israeli conflicts produced distorted images between victims and their oppressors.
No issue has generated more anti Arab racism than Israel occupation of Palestine, because Israel is a staunch ally of the United States and is the main concern of much media today. In deed Hollywood has a consistent record of Palestinians thrashing or bashing Israelis, and they are usually depicted as terrorists deserving anything that befalls on them instead of showing them as revolutionary figures who try desperately to free their motherland from foreign control. Alfred Lilienthal states that:
66 Ghareeb, Edmund, Split vision: the portrayal of Arabs in the American media ( Michigan University Press, 1983) 67 Salaita, Steven, Ethnic identity and imperative patriotism: Arab Americans before and after 9/11(College Literature, 2004) available from www.jstor.org/stable/25115271.
60 “The Israelis exploited the public opinion in the West where there have Christian sand Jewish lobbies, which have their own political agenda; furthermore they play an important part in directing and conditioning the mainstream media”.68
The Civil Rights movement helped to bring a more realistic portrayal of black, Hispanic, Native Americans and several minority groups who were screened as slaves or servants, Hispanic as gangsters. However today blacks appears as doctors, professors, as ordinary Americans who care about their families, nevertheless, Arabs did not have that luck. In spite of changing attitude on racial issues, one ethnic group still provides Hollywood with a consistent set of villains.
Arabs are diverse religiously, culturally and nationally, yet few people know about that diversity. By far the most evident thing about the portrayals of the Arabs is the impossibility for an Arab to be considered as an ordinary person with a family, social interactions or a number of communities such as scholars, writers or scientists.
Jack Shaheen is famous for his work and media appearances that give challenging ideas about the stereotypes directed toward the Arabs in Hollywood production. His book “Reel Bad Arabs: “How Hollywood vilifies a people”” a well restored tome of Hollywood movies in which Shaheen exposes racism against the Arabs in numerous movies. Moreover it shows in detail the degree to which Arab continue to serve as bad guys in Hollywood production, and Shaheen reminds us that “when one ethnic, racial or religious group is vilified innocent people suffer”. Hollywood movies have perpetuated images of Arab villains who are obsessed by evoking terror and chaos in the American life.
Exactly as the popular images of good cowboys roaming the range to pursue the savage Indians which are raised in the American minds. Therefore accustomed with unpopular stereotypes about the Arabs, the American public was quick to develop images of Arab terrorists destroying American property.
Similarly during the Gulf War in 1995 as an example, the Oklahoma City bombing occurred, reporters and journalists attempted to link the bombing to Arabs, even though the perpetrators of the attacks were American anti-government militias Timothy McVeigh, with the assistance of Terry Nichols both a white Christian Americans. Unfortunately more than
68 Lilienthal, M. Alfred, There goes the Middle East, ( Michigan University Press, 1957)
61 200 hate crimes were committed against Americans of Arab descent. This event was just another opportunity to remember the anti Arab sentiment in the United States and to legitimate the numerous insults and stereotypes that they were referred to. According to Shaheen there are four perpetual stereotypes that stick to the Arabs:
"They are all fabulously wealthy, they are barbarians and uncultured, they are sex maniacs with a penchant for white slavery, and they revel in acts of terrorism."69
Arab Americans are not the only ethnic group in who feeling discriminated against, many others experienced the same treatment in the United States, such as Japanese. In fact, in February 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order which stipulate that the Japanese Americans unfit for U.S military service, thus designed them as enemy aliens. According to Shaheen:
“The present day Arab stereotype parallels the image of Jews in pre- Nazi Germany, where Jews were painted as dark, shifty-eyed, venal and threateningly different people”.70
Shaheen’s research demonstrated that since 1970s the media have increasingly portrayed Arab Muslims not only culturally backward, uncivilised, and potentially dangerous but also as potential enemies of the U.S. nation.
Hollywood movies are full of stereotypes of bad Arabs bounded to eradiate America, in his analysis about Television shows, Shaheen has reviewed more than 900 Hollywood movies over a period of five years where he denounces the deliberate vilifying of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists and dishonest subhuman. According to him too many films portray Arabs by demonizing their images. They have been painted as the direct public enemy, bullies, uncivilized, backwoods, religious fanatic, women oppressors, dirty, black bearded, repulsive Arab sheiks with harem, and camels controlling world oil.
At the beginning of the century, the first images reflected about the Arabs were first and always in desert Arab greedy merchants on their camels, deceitful, black bearded, turbaned, billionaires in harems surrounded by hundred of women and belly dancers like in (Indiana Jones 1981), (Jewel of the Nile 1985), (Never say never again1983).According to
69 Ibid. 70 Ibid.
62 Shaheen, Arab images started to change immediately after the Second World War because of three main reasons: The first one was the Arab Israeli conflicts which engendered the apparition of the uncivilized Arab terrorizing the west specially Christians and Jews , brutal murderers, abusers of women, bloodthirsty fanatics like in( Back to the future 1985), (GI Jane 1988). The second reason was the Arab oil embargo, which engendered the images of the magnate old sheikh in his limousine eager to control the world production shaking up the western interest and that the Arab is synonymous to the OPEC.
The last event was the Iranian revolution where Iranian were portrayed as rats male entering a house infesting a region killing every one torturing or killing them. Men have been attributed with having evident tendencies of oppressing women opposing the west, lazy and brutal with an inherent lack of democratic culture and despotism. Besides portraying Arab women in a very degrading way, these later are seen through the lenses as frail, week and mute, covered in black or as scantily clad belly dancers devoted to satisfy sexual desires.
Nowadays, there are about three million Arabs living on the American soil, yet this number is s not significant into the American society. In spite of the fact that Arabs do not have an impact on the U.S policy making, they nevertheless have made significant contributions to in the American society. They are teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, and writers. In spite of their participation in the shaping of the American society they are still discriminated. People rarely hear of the history of Arab heritage of the twentieth century: Casey Kacem, F.Murray Abraham, Paul Anka; khalil Gibran, and countless others whose name re familiar but whose culture and origin are permanently maligned in the American media.
Moreover after September 11th, Arab stereotypes reached their climax in the U.S media, the worst portal of Islam and the Arabs in popular media have certainly occurred after that event. Ussama Bin Laden, the main responsible of the attacks, personifies the old fashioned stereotypes about Arabs. Consequently Arab stereotypes are nowadays the only really vicious attitudes still considered acceptable in television. New York columnist Russell Baker assures that:
“Arabs are the last people except Episcopalians who Hollywood feels free to offend in mass”.
63 The popular caricature of Arabs that is widespread in popular fiction today is, the turbaned robber, sinister and dangerous terrorist specialized generally in hijacking planes and blowing up buildings.
Arabs should encourage the American cinematic audience to look with a more realistic and critical mind at the description of the “bad Arab” and to promote another way of depicting Arabs making a difference between how they are portrayed and how they really are. Mahmood Mamdani argues in 2004 that:
“Within official discourse after September 11, “bad Muslims” were clearly responsible for terrorism…”good Muslims” were anxious to clear their names and consciences of this terrible crime and unless proved to be “good “every Muslim was presumed to be bad “.
Unfortunately racial discrimination still exist today in the United States, Ernest Mc Carus assures that:
“Few people would dispute that racism, prejudice and hat violence continue to features our society, one is likely to hear that such phenomena are on the upswing” 71
At the beginning of the 1970s several government investigations aspired to fight terrorism. Thereby some executive orders have violated the rights of lots of Arabs living in the United States and promoting Arab American activism. Thus lots of Arab Americans have arisen to promote Arabs’ point of views.
Organizations such as: the National Association of Arab Americans, the Association of Arab- American University Graduates, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and the Arab American Institute were founded to respond to these political, civic, and cultural challenges.
Nowadays, Arab Americans’ cultural heritage has caught public attention and recognition. Nevertheless, the stigma of unpopularity and controversy induce some to hide their ethnic origin and religious affiliation, especially such sectors as the media, academic activity and entertainment.
71 McCarus, Ernest Nasseph, The development of Arab-American identity (the University of Michigan Press, 1994), p.155.
64 The perpetual existence of Arab stereotypes demeans their character, and it is their main task to challenge their reliability. On the other hand, it is the mission the media to stop lumping Arabs all together. Finally what the entertainment industry should do is to depict the Arab with positive or at least neutral images that impede their adaptation process.
IX-Conclusion:
In this chapter we tackled with the Arab immigration to the United States, and their settlement process in the nineteenth century. Nowadays Arab Americans trace their roots to different nations from the Middle East and North Africa. Moreover they claim many different religious backgrounds, and though Muslims come from all over the world, these distinctions
65 are smeared and negative pictures about Arabs and Muslims are usually featured to these two groups.
Nevertheless, these negative feelings have also dropped over a general public opinion among all Americans especially after the attacks of September 11th 2001. This chapter has given a scrutiny on the Arab immigration settlement and adaptation process in order to understand the origins of the negative stereotypes that embody the Arab people and their evolvement after the tragic event of 9/11.
For lots of Arab Americans, racial classifications in America are ambiguous, impertinent, or incongruous. Those who have immigrated in recent years, often relate more with American minorities and people of colour. The damage of racial profiling, discrimination, and cultural intolerance that a majority of them have experienced, especially after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, has just amplified the feeling of being distinct and apart from the white majority.
66 Chapter Two
Arab American Assimilation and Contribution during the 21st Century America:
I-Introduction:
67 In the first chapter we attempted to analyse the adaptation process of Arab Americans to mainstream America throughout the nineteenth century. Moreover we had shed the light on the push and pull factors that made Arabs move from their homeland and settle in America. We have also analysed the roots of Arab stereotypes that casts their adaptation to mainstream America during the nineteenth century and after September 11th, 2001.
The main concern of the following chapter will be to scrutinize the adjustment of Arab Americans to the U.S society. The analysis will be fulfilled through the Arab Americans’ contributions and its impact on the United States. Moreover there will be an attempt to look at the influence of the Arab lobby in the U.S. foreign policy and the impact of September 11th events on it.
This chapter will also be endeavoured to the developments of terrorism throughout the twentieth century and its influence on immigration enforcement policies mainly concerning people from Arab and Muslim countries. Many people point to the sources of anti-Americanism as the cause of terrorist attacks and anti American sentiment.
Dissatisfaction about George W. Bush policy in Iraq and the absence of nuclear weapons there, in addition to the perpetual track of Osama bin laden are shaping opinions about foreign policy as much, if not more than, Americans' continuing concerns over terrorism.
Americans are acutely aware that their country lost its credibility in the eye of the world especially concerning the war in Iraq. However it is clear that the constant threat of terrorism continues to influence public attitudes toward the use of force in the aftermath of September 11th attacks.
II- Arab American Impact on the U.S. Society in the Twentieth Century:
Arabs contributions to the modern world have been considerable. Lots of areas such as chemistry, mathematics, geography, medicine, philosophy, astronomy, art and literature have been influenced by Arab creativity and findings. They have enhanced and developed sciences as well as arts and are well known for their contribution in preserving the libraries of
68 the Greek, the Roman and the Byzantine cultures. According to the Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee:
“During the Dark Ages of Europe, much learning was preserved for the world through the Arab libraries in the universities of Morocco (Fez), Mali (Timbuktu) and Egypt (al-Azhar).”
Americans have long kept a divergent approach towards immigrants and immigration. On the one hand they feel proud to belong to a nation of immigrants, and on the other hand they attempt to see contemporary immigration with skepticism. Immigrants have long been accused of competing with the Americans in the job market and made responsible for the decreasing rate of poverty. From the beginning, Irish, Italians, Latinos, and now Arabs, immigrants have always carried the can for social, cultural or economic problems. The era when immigrants have been celebrated as the main contributors of the melting pot process that American was so proud of is over. Abdeen Jabara who is a famous Arab American lawyer and activist argues:
“We have entered a time of greater national awareness of Arab Americans as an emergent community within the American quilt of many colours, one whose experiences, traditions, and culture provide a very distinct hue”72
Americans of Arab heritage have made considerable contributions to the United States in all major fields, such as politics, the military, music, literature, philosophy, sports, business, economy, and sciences. Moreover, Arab Americans work in various domains with more than 72 per cent work in professional, sales, technical, managerial or administrative jobs73. (Refer to figure 2.3 page 20) Moreover a large number of them mainly recent immigrants owe family businesses, and have the tendency to value education. 63 per cent of all Arab Americans of 25 years old and over have been to college74. (Refer to figure 2.4 page 20)
II.1.a Arabs’ Cultural and Literary Contribution:
From 1870s to the First World War Arab Americans did not consider themselves as a part of the U.S. society thus their evolvement in politics was nearly non-existent. At the turn
72 Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Service Journal,p.2( available from http://www.accesscommunity.org/) 73 Ibid, p.1. 74 Ibid, p.2.
69 of the century the Arab culture amplified with the development of international expositions. The exhibition of Arabic products such as textile, arts, architecture and food brought exotism to the American culture.
Arab immigrants who settled in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century took residence in the major urban areas such as; New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Boston. A group of intellectuals and artists formed literary movements in the 1930s named the Pen League (Al-Rabita al-Qalamiyyah). This movement included some famous authors such as Ameen Rihani, Khalil Gibran, Mikhail Naimy, Nudra Haddad, and Elia Abu Madi. With a better sense of identity and nationality, these Arab intellectuals have been a driving force in the establishment of lots of institutions. Among the institutions that have been created, The Association of Arab-American University Graduates (1967), the first Arab American lobbing organization (1973), American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (1980), the Arab American institute (1985), the American Lebanese League which constituted a lobby to promote the interests of the Maronite, in order to serve as a lobby for the Arabs in the same way that the Jewish community functions as a lobby for Israeli interests. In addition there was an increase in the establishment of Muslim schools, mosques, churches and Arabic language classes to promote the Arabic culture. Arab Americans tend to concentrate on personal conflicts between the U.S. foreign policy and their own opinions on concerns such as Palestine and Iraq and the occupancy of their relatives and friends in those countries.
Another instance of Arabs’ contribution in the United States is “Mizna” which is the only journal completely devoted to Arab Americans issues in addition to Al Jadid” and “Jusoor” which both focus mainly on the Arab American literature in the United States. According to Ernest Nasseph McCarus:
“The presence of Arab expatriates (students, businessmen, tourists, relatives, and diplomats as well as those who settled and find employment) and their involvement in the Arab American community has had an impact on what might be called the process of Americanization of members of that community.”75
Arabs have also prompted the establishment of alliances between U.S. born Arabs and those freshly arrived. Indeed as it has been stated before, the Arab Israeli conflicts have
75 Ibid, p.112.
70 provoked among those Arab Americans the emergence of Arab nationalism and a need to share their history and identity that transcend their religious and national affiliations.
These organizations expelled Arab Americans from margin to mainstream America, fighting to change the perpetual old negative wrong images of the Arabs and introduce them to the political process of America. Among the most remarkable writers the Lebanon poet Gibran khalil Gibran, chiefly known in the English speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet. According to the New Yorker magazine he is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu. Another well known writer is Nasib Arida who worked as an editor for several Arabic publications, and published his own literary journal al-Funun (The Arts) in 1912. He played an important role in the development of modern Arabic poetry. He was a pure romantic who brought about a permanent change in several fundamental aspects of poetry.
A huge number of Arab American scholars and intellectuals have marked the U.S. society, among whom William Blatty the author of The Exorcist, Naomi Shihab Nye a famous poet and children author, David Adamany who had been the longest serving President of Wayne State University in Detroit, and currently serves as (Temple University president). Edward Said, one of the most influential cultural critic and author, well known for his controversial book Orientalism (1978). Robert Fisk76 described him as the Palestinians' most powerful political voice. In addition to Susie Gharib is a leading business news journalist, co- anchor of the Nightly Business Report and 100 most influential business journalists, and Helen Thomas who is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist.
II.1.b Socio-Economic Contribution:
Arab Americans like other immigrant groups have made a lot to the development of the American economy. It covers various sectors of the economy such as building, government, households, manufacturing. Major Arab American contributors to U.S economy include Dr. Joseph J. Jacobs, the founder of the international billion-dollar engineering firm “Jacobs Engineering Group”, in
76 Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist. He holds more British and International Journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent.
71 addition to the business man Najeeb Elias Halaby who was a government official and the former head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Richard Caleal helped create the hugely popular Ford of 49, a design that some credit with saving the company and John Mack is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Morgan Stanley, one of America’s largest investment banking firms, Steve Jobs is an American business magnate and inventor. He is the co- founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc.
II.1.c Political contribution:
Politics and government other fields in which Arab Americans have blossomed. The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Arab American Institute were established to contrive curriculum teaching and text books which are generally full of Arab prejudices. In addition they have made Arab-Americans and their concerns more distinct and perceptible, and enabled them to participate more actively in the political process.
“Arab Americans have served in the cabinets and other high offices of Republican and Democratic administrations, including Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala , and most recently, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Office of Management and Budget director Mitchell Daniels”77.
America has lots of Arab American activists. among the most famous political figures are: the American attorney, author and Green party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, the Lebanese American billionaire Joseph D. Jamail who is one of the richest lawyers in the United States referred to as the King of Torts, in addition to Edward Masry who was a partner in the law firm of Masry and Vititoe and a city councilman. He was a direct action lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric for polluting the drinking water of Hinkley and one of his most famous cases was the one of Erin Brockovich. There is also the leadership of Cabinet secretaries Spencer Abraham and Donna Shalala, of U.S. senator George Mitchell. Furthermore, the first elected governor of Arab descent in the United States was Victor George Atiyeh, the 32nd Governor of Oregon, Selwa Roosevelt, former Chief of Protocol of the United States and wife of the late Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt, Jr., grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt. George Joulwan is a retired general and
77 Samhan, Helen Hatab, Arab American institute foundation: Who Are Arab Americans?( available from http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics)
72 former NATO78 commander-in-chief. Rosemary Barkett is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, prior to her nomination for that post, she was Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court, where she was the first woman ever to serve on that court.
II.c.d Scientific contributions:
As far as the scientific field is concerned, a number of Arab Americans have made great accomplishments the most prominent of which are Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Elias A. Zerhouni a world-renowned leader in radiology and medical research, he was the 15th director of the National Institutes of Health appointed by George W. Bush in May 2002. Ahmed Hassan Zewail is an Egyptian-American scientist, and the winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry79; he is the Linus Pauling Chair Professor Chemistry and Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. Farouk El-Baz, an Egyptian American scientist who worked with NASA to assist in the planning of scientific exploration of the Moon. In addition to George A. Samara a Lebanese American physicist perhaps the world’s most accomplished scientist in the use of high pressure for fundamental studies of electronic and structural properties of solid state materials, and Fawwaz T. Ulaby winner of the 2006 IEEE Edison Medal80 and former Vice President of Research for the University of Michigan.
II.1.e Arab Americans: Famous Figures:
More recently, a large number of Arab Americans people have achieved prominence in public life. For example in entertainments Danny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy, or The Danny Thomas Show, actress Kathy Najimy, and Tony Shalhoub, singers Paul Anka and Paula Abdul, and the radio personality Casey Kasem. In fashion industry Joseph Abboud is an award-winning Lebanese American menswear fashion designer and author, and Reem Acra who is an internationally known Lebanese fashion designer. Rima Fakih, Miss USA 2010
78 is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty 79 Femtochemistry is the science that studies chemical reactions on extremely short timescales. 80 The Edison Medal is presented by the IEEE "for a career of meritorious achievement in electrical science, electrical engineering or the electrical arts." It is the oldest and most coveted medal in this field of engineering in the United States.
73 II.1.f Sport contribution:
In addition a number of Arab Americans have achieved fame and success in sport domain an impact on American sports such as Doug Flutie and Jeff George of the National Football League. Rocco Dan Baldelli who is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder and designated hitter. Because of his excellent size and speed, and in reference to his hometown, he was nicknamed, "The Woonsocket Rocket," early in his professional career. Ahmed Kaddour who is a famous boxer, his multi-cultural background has contributed to him being able to speak five languages and Omar Sheika, professional boxer, four-time world title challenger.
III- The Arab lobby in the United States:
In the United States, the Arab lobby is a congregation of formal and informal groups that try to lobby public opinion and U.S. government to act on Arab Americans’ own interest. It traces its root to 1951 when King Saud of Saudi Arabia requested American diplomats to finance a pro-Arab lobby to challenge the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs (better known as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, “AIPAC”). The influence of the Arab lobby increased as well as oil came to play a predominant role in the American economy.
The National Association of Arab-Americans (NAAA), established in 1972, was a political advocacy group whose objectives were "to strengthen U.S. relations with Arab countries and to promote an evenhanded American policy based on justice and peace for all parties in the Middle East."81 Moreover NAAA is implicated in a variety of concerns belonging to Arab American relations, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, including Jerusalem, the Middle East peace negotiations, democracy and Human Rights issues. NAAA is opposed to military occupation in all different ways, and advocates a permanent end to the occupation of Palestine, Lebanon and the Syrian Golan Heights through the achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the region.82
In the 1970s, there was an increasing resentment against Arabs and Muslims in the Middle East and against all Arab countries that support the Palestinian cause. Consequently
81 NAAA, available from http://www.cafearabica.com/organizations/org12/orgnaaa.html 82 Ibid, p2.
74 organizations and groups such as the Association of Arab American University Graduates, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Arab American Institute promote Arab interests especially anti-Arabism83. Thus, the Arab lobbies entered an era where it became much more prominent and visible than ever before.
The most remarkable individual who belongs and supports the Arab lobby in the last fifties years was Clark McAdams Clifford who was a key adviser to Democratic U.S. presidents such as Harry Truman. Another key figure in the Arab lobby has been Fred Dutton, former Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs and special assistant to President John F. Kennedy84.
Nevertheless the Arab lobby has been strongly criticized being accused of supporting terrorist activities and organizations such as Al Qaida, the Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic organization. This latter are considered by America and lots of European countries as terrorist organizations.
The Arab American lobby is less influential than the Jewish one. Indeed, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is well known for its influence on the U.S. foreign policy in Israel, mainly because they are more powerful and better organized. They sponsor political candidatures and vote for politicians who support the Israeli cause. In fact even today the U.S. government remains faithful to the support of the Jewish occupation in Palestine.
“It is no over statement to say that the pro Israel lobby has effectively gained of virtually all of Capitol Hill’s actions on Middle East policy”85
Conservative Illinois congressman Paul Findley went far accusing the Jewish lobby to divert the attention of the U.S. policy from its national interest, he argues that:
“Last year, he said President Bush had it all wrong when he told the nation that we were attacked by evil and fanatical Islamic terrorists on Sept. 11. The real cause of the devastation our nation experienced that day was because of our unjustified support for the nation of Israel.”86
83 Anti-Arabism or Arabophobia is consistent advocacy of discrimination, prejudice, hostility, or genocide toward Arabs. 84 A Guide to Political Left, available from http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/guideDesc.asp?catId=178&type=group. 85 Marrar, Khalil, Arab lobby and U.S. foreign policy ( Routledge, 2009), p.8. 86 http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30690.
75 September 11th 2001 events have shifted the Arab community to the spotlight. Previously Arabs were invisible in mainstream America, especially in the American government policy.
“Up until the horrific attacks of septeber11, 2001 several Arab American writers used the trope “invisibility” to refer to the place of Arab Americans within dominant U.S. discourse on race and ethnicity”87.
After the attacks Americans claimed from Arab American community to justify the atrocities of September 11th.They did not think about the possibility that Arab Americans also condemned such horrific acts. Nowadays, the Arab lobby has a few members in Congress and little influence, its impact is felt mainly as a result of its joint efforts with organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union to dilute anti-terrorism measures. The lobby, says Emerson, "is mainly in the process of building up a grassroots network around the United States, with the anticipation that, abetted by growing demographics, it will be in a position of political influence in the future."88
IV- Urban Terrorism in the World:
According to Professor Colin S. Gray of international politics89, terrorism results from various causes that defy any clear distinction “between the political and the criminal.”90 Terrorism is, in the most general sense, the systematic use of terror especially as a means of pressure. Nowadays, the International community has been unable to formulate a universally agreed definition of terrorism. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), and perpetrated for an ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).91
The first half of the twentieth century witnessed two major events that brought about nowadays conflicts, namely the world wars. The consequences of these wars arouse passions and ambitions of nationalists all over the world and seriously deface the legitimacy of the international order.
87 Amaney, A. Jamal & Naber, C. Nadine, Race and Arab Americans before and after 9/11 from invisible citizens to visible subjects (Syracuse University Press, 2008),p.1. 88 Ibid, p1. 89 Colin S. Gray is a British-American strategic thinker and professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, in Berkshire. 90 Gray, S. Colin, Thinking Asymmetrically in Times of Terror (Parameters, Vol. 32, 2002). 91 Deen, Thalif, POLITICS: U.N. Member States Struggle to Define Terrorism (Inter Press Service, 25 July 2005).
76 Terrorism became the main concern of various political platforms both of the right and the left wings. The progress of technology in numerous fields such as automatic weapons, weapon of mass destruction and compact ones, electrically detonated explosives allow terrorists to become more flexible and dangerously effective. Terrorism was adopted as a sort of state policies by totalitarian regimes such as of Nazi Germany under the leadership of Adolph Hitler and the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin. These governments used every single means to squeeze information; Imprisonment, torture, and execution were used to create an atmosphere of consternation, fear, and horror.
However contemporary terrorism have begun in 1968 when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an El Al airliner en route from Tel Aviv to Rome. The PFLP has been described as a terrorist organization by the United States government and the European Union. Although hijackings of airliners had already occurred before, it was the first time that an Israeli airplane was targeted as a denial against the Israeli government.
Terrorism also gathers individuals or groups endeavoured to undermine or defeat the already existing political institutions. It has been used by terrorist groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Ireland, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in Algeria and France.
September 11th, 2001 attacks have radically changed the meaning of terrorism. Since that event people, mainly Americans, tend to associate the word terrorism to Arabs and Muslims. In fact, before 2001 assaults, a number of terrorist organizations were listed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security92 as a domestic terrorist organization. They included: the Animal Liberation Front engage in direct action tactics on behalf of animals, the Army of God which militates for the end of abortion and the evolvement of the gay community in the United States, the Jewish Defence League which objective is the protection of Jews from harassment and anti-Semitism, and the Ku Klux Klan which claims white supremacy. Nevertheless since 9/11 attacks, the activities of the above listed groups became less important, for they were curtailed by the one of Al Qaida.
Lot of people argue that the global “War on Terror” launched by George W. Bush’s administration after the attacks of 9/11 has become a thinly disguised justification to wage a
92 The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the U.S. from terrorist attacks and responding to natural disasters.
77 war on Islam, and a devotion to change the political regime in Muslim countries such as the war in Iraq. Millions of Muslims tend to believe that terrorism impeded the development of their religion by perverting Islam.
V-U.S. Foreign Policy before 9/11 attacks:
Throughout the twentieth century the United States has been a major actor in Middle East politics. From Iran in the 1950s, to the Gulf War of 1991, to the dismantling of contemporary Iraq, the American policy has had a deep impact on the domestic affairs of the area. Anti- Americanism sentiment has been a pervasive feature of modern Middle East public opinion which has been most of the time justified especially concerning the Israeli Palestinian conflicts and the blatant support of the U.S. government to Israel.
Since the Six Day War, the main focus of U.S. policy in the Middle East has been sympathy and support for Israel. The steady alliance with Israel, and the inexhaustible U.S. effort to spread democracy all over the world has teased the Arab and Islamic animosity and threatened not only U.S. security but also much of the rest of the world. This situation has no equal in American political history. The relations between both countries were based on shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, but neither explanation can account for the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the US provides.
“Israel has been the largest annual recipient of direct economic and military assistance since 1976, and is the largest recipient in total since World War Two, to the tune of well over $140 billion (in 2004 dollars). Israel receives about $3 billion in direct assistance each year, roughly one-fifth of the foreign aid budget, and worth about $500 a year for every Israeli. This largesse is especially striking since Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to that of South Korea or Spain”93
At the beginning of 1990s, and far after the terrorist attacks of september11th, American approval and assistance to Israel has been legitimized by the claim that both states are jeopardized by Arab and Muslim terrorist groups which may possess nuclear weapons even if this has never been proved. Suspicion towards the Americans does not come out of blue. Anti-Americanism sentiment is tangible and predictable. It is mainly due to the discontent of Middle Eastern and North African countries with the American foreign policy, and its craving for the natural resources of these countries.
93 Mearsheimer John & Walt Stephen, The Israel Lobby (London Review of Books, Vol. 28 No. 6 • 23 March 2006)
78 For lot of people Osama Bin Laden is the quintessence of anti Americanism sentiment. An attack such as September 11th implies that a group of men have sacrificed years preparing it. Furthermore it was not until these tragic attacks that the intensity of animosity against America became obvious to the whole world. (Refer to table 2.1, page IX).
A student at Cairo University said, “People don't like the Americans; the reasons for that are everywhere,” above all in America's pro-Israeli and anti-Arab policies. Another one said that “only the Americans think they are intelligent. They have money. They have culture, they have the movies … and now they are looking for a new enemy, a scapegoat in addition to Iraq.” Some even doubted that bin Laden was the culprit.94 After the attacks of September 11th Bush launched a war against terrorism and declared that this war would carry on as long as the victims would not have been revenged. Any person who criticised him in his foreign policy was badly considered.
From the day they enter the school, Americans are taught that America is superpower in all fields. The majority of their media continue this process hardly reporting any negative trait. One could almost call it brainwashing. Any negative comment about American foreign policy could be considered as unpatriotic. Nevertheless, after a common international compassion for the victims, people started to feel exasperated about Bush policy and its repression on the immigrants and illegal treatment of detainees.
The United States has had long term of national and economic interests with Israel and Iran. Moreover the gradual control of the Arab countries over their oil exploitation which until then had been in the hand of the British and American companies expanded with a Pan Arab oil revolution in October 1973. After the independence of lots of countries in the Middle East and North Africa which were under the western colonization, there was a reinforcement of the Arab Islamic identity which embodied the root of anti colonial sentiment.
VI- Black Tuesday and its Aftermath for Arab Americans:
Millions of Americans have been concerned with the nearly 3,000 people who passed away in the hijacking of four airplanes and their collapse into the Twin Towers of the World
94 Crockatt, Richard, America Embattled: September 11, Anti-Americanism, and the Global Order(Routledge, 2003), p.68.
79 Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a field outside Philadelphia. Nevertheless few of them are conscious that many others were also killed in days, weeks, and months as a result of the attacks of September 11th linked hate backfire. This attack will be forever remembered as the most shocking event of the twenty first century, but it will also mark the beginning of a long lasting backlash against Arab Americans.
Moreover September 11th hate crime backlash substantiated the apprehensions and fears of Arab and Muslim Americans because the attacks of such an amplitude have propagated a nationwide wave of hate crimes directed towards persons, organizations and institutions perceived to be Arab or Muslim. For members of the Arab and Muslim community, the events conducted an epoch branded by discrimination and racial profiling directed toward the Arabs. Because all the perpetrators of the attacks were Muslims or Arabs, rage of millions of Americans turned against the Arab and Muslim community. (Refer to figure 2.1 and figure 2.2 page 19)
VI-1 Post September 11 Backlash: Discrimination and Hate Crimes Against Arab Americans:
Since September 11th, America has been on turmoil mainly because of the increasing number of hate crime directed towards the Arab and Muslim communities. These latter were well assimilated into mainstream America, but after 9/11 attacks, they tended to think that the majority of their fellow citizens regarded them with suspicion. According to Dominic Pulera: “The attacks will have a permanent effect on Arabs and Muslims especially on their assimilation and integration to the American culture”95.
In weeks following such an event like September 11th, anger of millions of Americans turned against those who were perceived to be responsible of the catastrophe. Arabs become the object of resentment and outright hate. People who looked Middle Eastern were harassed, assaulted their property vandalized in a wave of misplaced retaliation though many of them were not Arabs, but usually fit the popular Arab stereotypes. Due to discriminatory acts experienced by Arabs ranged from: racist epithets, unpleasant looks, obscene gestures, in addition to deportation or other forms of pressure many Arabs hesitated to report hate crimes directed against them. Arabs found themselves caught between empathy with victims and the anger of being stereotyped. Moreover they experienced anxiety and
95 Ibid.
80 confusion over the terrorist attacks, fear of an additional threat of personal harassment and sufferance from personal stigma or shame of being related to the perpetrators of the attacks.
Lots of Arab Americans dreaded retribution from their fellow Americans, and were turning on themselves shying away from a society increasingly inclined to equate Islam with terrorism. The harm was not only psychological but engendered physical threats. After September 11th, there have been numerous racially motivated attempts against people of Arab descent or those perceive to be Arabs such as Sikhs96 or Hispanic. Weeks after the attacks, Arab Americans appreciated rhetorical opposition of their president George W. Bush to the backlash directed against them. According to James Zogby the head of the AAI:
“The president saved lives by speaking out against anti-Arab and anti Muslim violence”97.
Nevertheless numerous Arab and Muslim Americans were less enthusiastic by the actions done by their President after September 11th. The justice department measures undertaken months after the events aimed at excluding people from the Middle East and Asia and led to the incarcerations, deportations and the interrogation of hundred of individuals who were guilty of nothing but being Arabs or Muslims. Indeed facets of the anti terrorism campaign that have been launched by President Bush which led tothe detention of twelve hundred people98, especially Middle Easterners and South Asians because of their presumed connections to terrorist activities. The victims of this violent hatred have not been bound to one nationality or religion. Those who have been attacked comprise persons who only share the physical appearances of the Arab and Muslim people.
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)99, the largest and the most engaged Arab American Civil Rights Organization in the United States, was founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk in order to protect the civil rights of people of Arab descent in the United States and to support their cultural heritage. Actually, the ADC has been at the forefront in combating discriminatory acts towards Arab American community. According to them, hate crimes against Arabs and racialization of Islam increased 40 times in
96 http://www.harisingh.com/newsBacklash.htm 97 Middle East report 224 Arab race and the post September 11national security. http://www.merip.org/mer/mer224/224_hassan.html#footnotes 98 COUNTRY STUDIES: THE HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT OF COUNTER-TERRORISM MEASURES IN TEN COUNTRIES, http://www.islam4all.com/new_page_227.htm 99 2003-2007Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab Americans (American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee Research Institute).
81 weeks following September 11th. Moreover, one month after the attacks, the (ADC) received more than 700 reports of hate crimes. The Council on American Islamic Relation (CAIR) had received 785 reports100.
Suspicion against the Arabs heightened dramatically, and people who fit the traditional stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims were singled out and assumed to be terrorists. Fears, frustration, and discontentment turned into menace warning remarks and murders. However the rise of hate towards the Arab community has threatened whole America.
Moreover, even if Arabs are categorized racially as white according to the 2000 U.S. Census, the American government has informally represented them as a divergent racial category by associating Arabs with terrorism and a menace to national security. Thus it usually casts a shadow upon Arab-Americans, who are treated as perpetual foreigners and denied the Rights of Citizenship.
VII- Hate Crime Prevention of the Arab American Community after September 11th:
In addition to the sorrow they felt after the tragic event, Arabs had to confront the negative atmosphere between them and their fellow citizens, fear, suspicion, hostility, and discrimination that would inevitably follow. Indeed people who are victims of hate crimes usually feel themselves twice victimized; by the offender and by officials of the judicial system who turn a blind eye to discriminatory acts.
It will take years to restore the harm, and heal such trauma is still the most essential ongoing task for the coordinated ADC. With rare exceptions, Arab Americans were strongly contradicting the invasion and occupation of Iraq. However they tended to think that speaking out loud against the war would be a viable cause for suspicion. According to the October 2001poll101, 35 per cent of Arab Americans said that they have been reassured by measures taken by President Bush forbidding any hate crimes against their fellow citizens. However the significant shift in Arab Americans point of view since September 11th is that those reassured by Bush’s reward against hate crimes declined considerably. According to Jack Shaheen:
“After you vilify a people, you can do anything to them. You can have
100 Raging Against the Other, http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all- issues/2001/winter/raging-against-the-other. 101 http://aai.3cdn.net/64de7330dc475fe470_h1m6b0yk4.pdf. Page 5
82 a holocaust. You can put them in camps. You can deny their civil rights and no one will say anything. Look at all the hate crimes since the massacre (of 9/11)”102.
American officials are aware of their responsibility to arrest, inspect, and prosecute criminals and to ensure all the American citizens, regardless to their race, national origin, or religious beliefs.
Arab Americans hoped that things would slowly return to norm, nevertheless they continued to experience an increase level of harassment. Unfortunately Arab Americans keep encountering important problems with hate crimes and discrimination, mainly relating to airline travel and issues, in addition to employment discrimination in the public and private sectors. Employment discrimination is one of the most severe problems continuing to affect Arab Americans because they have been confronted to various forms of employment discrimination, particularly a hostile work environment due to repeated negative remarks done by colleagues. Incidents consisted on phone call threat, hateful e mail, assault, vandalism, shooting directed to their homes, businesses and place of worship. On November 19th , 2001, four teenagers burned down the Gobind Sadan, a multi-faith worship center Oswego, New York because they believed the worshippers were supporters of Osama Bin Laden103.
VIII-America in Post September 11th , 2001:
The attacks of September 11th expressed nothing but an exceptional hatred towards America. As the French newspaper le monde described Bin Laden referring to him as “un Anti-Américanisme absolu,” to some extent September 11 has been the cause and the consequence of anti Americanism.
“Anti-Americanism has grown in step with the rise of the United States to world power. Like imperial nations of the past, the United States wields disproportionate power that is an object both of attraction and resentment. Moreover, America exerts power at all levels. Such power has often been an object of suspicion by America's friends as well as by its enemies.”104
The facts advocate that the attacks were carried out by a group of terrorists originated from a number of Middle Eastern areas performed under the orders of Osama bin Laden. Furthermore, the obvious U.S. support for the establishment of a Jewish state, U.S. foreign
102 Boston Globe journal; article dated November 25th, 2001. 103 Ibid. 104 Crockatt, Richard, America Embattled: September 11, Anti-Americanism, and the Global Order (Routledge, 2003), p.72.
83 policy toward Palestinians, and the war against Iraq altered the hate of Arabs and Muslims toward the United States. It seems obvious that this latter underwent the attacks because of its involvement in the Middle East and its support to Israel. Nevertheless it was insufficient for the whole Americans because most of them rejected the idea that American policies in the Middle East were the only reasons behind the horrific attacks that they had gone through. Days after the attacks President Bush declared that “his War on Terror” that had been launched “will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil105”.
The reverberations of September 11th events and the resulting War on Terrorism in all fields of American life engendered various modifications that have had an effect on the whole world, mainly for Arab American community. Immediately after September 11th, people who looked Middle Eastern became the target of their fellow Americans’ anger and need for revenge.
Moreover after the events the government has put in a series of policies that have promulgated laws that focused on Middle Eastern and Asian communities. These initiatives set out a contradictory message of tolerance that Bush presented after 9/11 attacks to protect the interests of Arab and Muslim communities.
VIII.1 September 11th Impacts on Arab Americans:
Since the tragic attacks of September 11th, immigration officials have strengthened American borders, especially for the Arabs and Muslims. Consequently U.S. immigration officials enhanced their concentration on nationalities, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa. Lots of students, tourists and Arab businessmen have noticed that their visa applications were rejected more than ever. Over 80 cases of illegal and discriminatory removal of passenger happened from aircraft after boarding. Airline discrimination also remains a responsibility for all Arab Americans, with various profile instances showing that unjustified apprehension and illegitimate stereotypes persist to affect the perceptions of airline workers or worse to influence Transportation Security Administration (TSA)106 officials. TSA and the “no fly list” or “the terrorist watch list”, furnish a current source of government propagated apprehension and discrimination against Arab-American passengers or those perceived to be Arab Americans.
105 http://www.newspaperarchive.com/DailyPerspectiveFullView.aspx?viewdate=09/12/2008&jumpto 106 TSA was created after September 11 attacks to protect the transportation systems in the United States and to guarantee freedom of movement for people and commerce.
84 The American No Fly List created and maintained by the American government gathered a group of people who are not permitted to board on a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States. Americans should focus on a true terrorist who pose a real threat and not just rely on subjective judgments about ethnicity. The list is really stereotyping and racist; the idea that someone can be identified as a risky person based on the counties he or she travelled to during his or her life and investigate on them more than the normal people is highly discriminatory. The atmosphere in airport and abroad in planes has changed radically. Bag and body scanners, metal detectors, armed federal marshal abroad many flights and further sophisticated tools have been provided to strengthen passengers’ security, but how many restrictions on the citizens rights would be allowed in the future.
VIII.2 America and the Rise of a Totalitarian Democracy after September 11th:
After the horrific event of September 11th lots of Arabs and Arab Americans have been detained, they were held without any charge against them. These people have been suspected to have a link with terrorists. The Arab American Institute reports that approximately 5,000 individuals were detained in weeks following the attacks, and almost all were deported. Professor of law David Cole at Georgetown University of Law and Jules Lobel a Professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh summarize the American policy as anti-terrorism measures of preventive detentions such as the mass arrests and other policies based on stereotyping or ethnic, or religious criteria, as noted in their controversial book Less Safe, Less Free.
“the administration called in 80,000 foreign nationals for fingerprinting, photographing, and ‘special registration,’ simply because they came from predominantly Arab or Muslim countries, sought out another 8000 young men from the same countries for FBI interviews, and placed more than 5000 foreign nationals here in preventative detention. Yet as of January 2007, not one of these individuals stand convicted of a terrorist crime. The government’s record, in what is surely the largest campaign of ethnic profiling since the Japanese internment of World War II is zero for 93,000.”107
It is awful to notice that these immigration enforcement law policies are plainly discriminatory since they are based on stereotypes or simple ethnic, religious or national identities. Registration of many aliens from Muslim countries and new restrictions on visitors
107 http://www.truthout.org/article/bushs-war-terror-tactics-make-america-less-safe-less-free.
85 from the Middle East did not encouraged assimilation as it did hundred years ago. After September 11th George W. Bush announced his determination to do whatever was necessary to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States. His government has tightened its immigration laws and has increased the protection of the American borders in ports and infrastructures that tore down the wall between intelligence and law enforcement agencies which had crippled counter terrorist efforts for decades.
The civil libertarian's narrative about how democracies are lost is basically as follows. First, the government, in the name of national security or some other such cause, trims some rights, which raises little alarm at the time (e.g., the massive detention of Japanese Americans during World War II). Then a few other rights are curtailed (e.g., the FBI spies on civil rights groups and peace activists during the 1960s). Soon, more rights are lost and gradually the entire institutional structure on which democracy rests tumbles down the slope with nobody able to stop it.108
Some of the regrettable acts the government engaged in months following September 11th terrorist attacks keep on having a negative effect on the Arab, Muslim, and South Asian American communities. Among these actions, the Homeland Security Act became a law in November, 25th, 2002. The act displaced the Immigration and Naturalisation Services (INS) activities to the recently established the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Since 2003 the act carried out a special registration program also known as the National Security Entry-Exit program (NSEERS), the FBI’s “voluntary interviews, the American “No Fly List”, and the forbidden surveillance of electronic communication. America, the so called “nation of immigrants”, has been undergoing a period of confusion since the attackers of the World Trade Centre were immigrants who took advantages of the American freedom and civil liberties. As attorney general john Ashcroft said while defending the new anti- war policy after September 11 attacks:
“We want to enhance the authority of the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) to detain or remove suspected terrorists from our borders”109
The NSEERS has been a source of worries for lots of Arabs and Arab Americans. It has been associated with many civil penalties, including arrest, detention, and removal from the United States. Moreover, under this program, men older than 16 who penetrated the American soil since October 2002 from certain countries were asked to report to immigration
108 Etzioni,Amitai, How patriotic is the Patriot Act?: freedom versus security in the age of terrorism(Routledge, 2004), p. 11. 109 Elaasar, Aladdin, Silent Victims: The Plight of Arab & Muslim Americans in Post 9/11 America( Author House, 2004), p.58.
86 offices to be photographed and fingerprinted on an annual basis. This covers immigrants from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The system required adult males from twenty five Arab and Muslim countries to be interviewed, fingerprinted, and photographed at United States ports of entry. The authorities arrested hundreds of Iranian and other Muslim men in Los Angeles who showed up at the registration office in December 2002 which is a clear demonstration of the abuses associated with this system. The NSEERS obviously was just an additional tool used in immigration law enforcement engendering serious constitutional issues since the program categorize on the basis of national origin. Moreover the system constitutes the finger printing of high risk foreign visitors in addition to the obligation to foreign nationals to register their residence with authorities.
ADC has assiduously tried to cast a public light on the NSEERS program and has kept a discussion with the organization hoping to curb abuses of the program and ultimately seeing it retired. The ADC struggles against the American government in order to repair the mistakes created after September 11th, calling upon the government leader to do more to stop mistreating Arab people. Detainees and prisoners who were accused to have a link with Al Qaeda without evidence remain a serious task for the organization. In months following the 9/11, the ADC declared that it received 120 to 130 reports of ethnically motivated attacks each year between 2003 and 2007, a distinct decrease from the 700 violent incidents registered in the weeks following the 2001 attacks110.
Arab and Arab-American detainees have faced meaningful discriminations and abuses in both prisons and immigration detention facilities. The forms of discrimination included denial of religious adjustments. There have been also lots of instances of transfer without notice.
The American government must be able keep away any form of preventative detention which has no place in its legal system. Bush’s administration abused the Human Rights of captured presumed terrorists, and acted without a regard to law. Congress and executive branch agencies must make an effort to avoid stigmatizing entire communities like the Arab American community.
110 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2144881/posts
87 VIII.3 Immigration Policy after 9/11:
After the 9/11attacks, immigration officials have been harsh with Arab nationals. Since 2001, security officials have seriously attempted by all means to slow down Arab immigration to the United States. Consequently, U.S. immigration authorities contributed to the targeting of Arab and Muslims. Their visa applications tended frequently to be rejected after 9/11. Lots of activists and human rights advocators have related this selective enforcement to the use of racial profiling.
Hundreds of men were arrested and detained for months without being charged with crimes, and many were deported for insignificant infractions. Arab and Muslim charities were targeted by intelligence agencies, and many of them were persecuted. Student visas were more hardly to obtain. Furthermore Arab institutions were also under constant observation. Many Muslim and Christian Arabs felt intimidated about speaking out loud about U.S foreign policy or criticizing it mainly about its impact on civil liberties and the war in Iraq.
Excessive and unlawful suspensions in immigration procedures, particularly naturalization processes have affected millions of Arabs. Negative repercussions resulting from the ongoing registration process persist to haunt large numbers of Arab Americans. "We are all here today because September 11 taught us an invaluable lesson that border security is national security, Effective border security is perhaps our best hope of preventing another terrorist attack on American soil."111
One of the most striking modification, after the attacks of September 11th, is that the U.S. immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was considered as being the first agency supervising different immigration issues, was virtually abrogated as an independent federal agency and, as of February 2003, reorganized under the new Department of Homeland Security as the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Service. Among the major policy changes; local and state law enforcement agencies, along with their federal counterparts, are being required to use rigorous characteristics in seeking out and detaining illegal immigrants.
The majority of these problems implied officers with the Customs and Border Protection (CBP)112 services. Difficulties have been especially notable for Arab-Americans on
111 Kephart, Janice, Checking Terrorism at the Border, APRIL 6, 2006.(available from http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa26908.000/hfa26908_0.htm
88 the American and Canadian borders, particularly the border crossing near Detroit, Michigan, residence of one of the largest Arab-American communities in the United States. This is a frequent difficulty that Arab-Americans encounter due to misleading so called positive challenges linked with the numerous government watch lists developed as part of national security and law enforcement efforts. After September 11th, another agency was created which is the Terrorist Screening Centre (TSC)113 was intentionally created to consolidate the terrorism-based watch lists into a central files and make it accessible to a number of different government agencies.
Intelligence and law enforcement agencies appoint individuals to be put on the watch list found on well organized characteristics. Both the No Fly list and the Selectee list114 belongs to the Terrorist Watch list, the first one comprises people who are not allowed of boarding and airplane, and the second one contains a list of people who should be subjected to further security investigations before being allowed to board an airplane. “Many non European white Americans, especially Arabs are stigmatized and marginalized on the basis of their ethnicity, religion and national origin”115.
Civil libertarian organizations such as the ACLU have described the inclination of the government toward gaining additional powers after September 11, 2001, as an “insatiable appetite,” characterized by government secrecy, a lack of transparency, rejection of equality under the law, and “a disdain and outright removal of checks and balances.”116
IX-Conclusion
In post September 11th, lots of innocent victims have gone through wrongful hate because of their physical appearances and religious beliefs. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) organized an assembly to get information on the discriminatory acts targeted against Arab and Muslim people in their workplace. Moreover
112 (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S Department of Homeland Security charged by securing the American soil by preventing the illegal entry of people and goods while facilitating legitimate travel and trade. 113 (TSC) ) is a FBI organization for identifying suspected or potential terrorists created in 2003 114 Also known as Secondary Security Screening Selectee, the SL is an airport security measure in the United States and Canada which selects passengers for additional inspection. 115 Ibid, p.42. 116 Insatiable Appetite: The Government's Demand for New and Unnecessary Powers After September 11, October 15, 2002, (available from http://www.aclu.org/national-security/insatiable-appetite-governments- demand-new-and-unnecessary-powers-after-september-
89 the U.S. Department of Justice created the Civil Rights Division National Origin Working Group and they joined together to challenge the discrimination and racial profiling that emerged after September 11th, in addition they endeavour to fight violations of federal civil rights affecting people of Arab descent, Muslims and those perceived to be so. One singe hate crime can terrorize a whole community, and American laws should be more severe against those who threaten the most guarded civil liberties of their citizens.
Indeed the American government must prosecute those who commit discriminatory acts towards any citizens. It should also cancel policies that discriminate on the basis of national origin, race or religious faiths. America is a democracy therefore American politicians should act on the basis of a democracy that protect the rights and liberties of all human beings , there is no place for secret detention, hearing, evidence or illegal deportation. American politicians should not sacrifice people’s human and constitutional rights on the basis of their protection.
90 Chapter three
National Security versus Individual Civil Liberties after September 11th, 2001
I-Introduction
September 11th 2001 attacks have had major ramifications around the world. The United States launched a war on terrorism, invading Afghanistan and passing the Patriot Act. Lots of countries reinforced their anti-terrorist legislations and borders to sustain the U.S. struggle. Furthermore violence against Arabs and Muslims was unprecedented. Over the past twenty
91 years backlash hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in the United States have become expected, prompted by clashes in the Middle East, and acts of terrorism related to the Arab and Muslim people.
This chapter first calls attention to the pressing need of Americans to be appeased and reassured that those who perpetrated such horrific assaults would be found, arrested punished. However who the United States was to punish and especially how that should be done was much less clear. Moreover the hijackers were originated from different countries; therefore any particular nation could be blamed.
The main concern of this chapter revolves round the heated debate over the protection of Americans’ Civil Liberties in a country which has been newly on an alert about the danger of large-scale terrorist attacks. In addition 9/11demonstrated that what is normally considered a being unaccepted in times of peace it is tolerable in time of national crisis and civil hysteria.
The last section will deal with the Patriot Act and demonstrate how the broader investigative scope of the Patriot Act has invaded Americans’ Civil Liberties and once again disturb the delicate balance between U.S domestic security and the protection of civil liberties that Americans, protect and embrace.
II- The Smooth Dictator: George D. Bush:
September 11th attacks resulted on a war on terror which had support of the majority of Americans. The popularity of Bush soared in weeks after the attacks. Indeed before the attacks of September 11th and his war on terror, Bush was the laughing stock of all Americans mainly politicians. The media did not miss an opportunity to criticize his absence in Washington and his everlasting vacation in his ranch in Texas. Moreover Americans questioned Bush capacity as a President concerning terrorist issues.He was referred to as being his father’s puppet.
In the United States, democracy is very important; it is the basis of all Americans’ principles. Indeed, the United States is fiercely promulgating democracy to other nations in world. Nevertheless after Al-Qaida assault, democracy has been shattered somehow, and citizens’ rights were under growing threat in an era where terrorism is the main concern of all democratic countries. Moreover disparities of power, wealth, and access to opportunity are
92 growing more sharply in the United States than in many other nations, and gaps between races and ethnic groups persist. Progress toward realizing American ideals of democracy may have stalled, and in some arenas reversed.
Months after September 11th attacks, Bush’s administration nearly became a totalitarian nation that controls every aspect of the life of its citizens. Consequently lots of politicians among U.S government started to criticize the President. Over 1.000 people of Arab descent have been put in jail, even though there was no evidence of their implication with September 11th. The absence of evidence towards these people is so noticeable that the U.S. government does not possess sufficient grounds to present them before a sort of military trial established previously by Bush in order to divert the principles of freedom set up by the American Constitution.
At first, President Bush demand to put up his own court, to oblige people to go under military tribunals has been strongly criticized. However the President has gone further in his gait. He decided to give those detainees no trial at all and simply put them in jail. His administration claimed that those people were suspected of being terrorists or were involved in one way or another in terrorist activities. But on what basis does Bush approve and legitimize his dictatorial decisions? The power given to him is the core of totalitarianism, and now that George W. Bush has taken the opportunity to apply his policy, he looks nothing but as a dictator.
America’s New War is not confined to Central Asia. Using the “war on terrorism” as a pretext, the Bush administration had announced already in 2001, the extension of US military operations into new frontiers, including Iraq, Iran and North Korea. While accusing these countries of developing “weapons of mass destruction», Washington has not excluded itself from using nuclear weapons as part of the “war on terrorism”.117
After September11th, the government intentionally teased and exasperated the emotions of the American people in order to distort their discernment about the truth. American liberals have long declared that Bush is leading America to a sort of dictatorship because he went to the United States Congress and exploited the raw emotions of Americans’ about the national tragedy to get a congressional authorization to use force and a formal declaration of war. What is amazing is that, Americans did not care about that, as long as Bush’s policy was
117 , Michel, America's "War on Terrorism"(Global Research, 2005), p.115.
93 applied only on the Arab’s minority behalf and as long as Americans could live safely in their homes, no matter if their President is abusing of his power.
George W. Bush has slide in, quietly getting more and more powerful in secret and took measures that never got to the public. American citizens were blinded only by a desire of revenge and a need for security. Bush declared that he will look for additional dictatorial power after immune the Supreme Court status for his office and six months widow to fulfil what ever draconian policy he wanted such as surveillance methods.
Constitutional experts have pointed a finger at the danger of the latest initiatives taken by the administration of Bush. These additional power has given to the American government the green light to deal with backdoors in system of communication that permit wiretapping of American citizens which is an obvious attempt to the fourth amendment.
After the September 11th attacks, President Bush put an end run around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which prohibits eavesdropping on Americans without judicial oversight. Instead of going to Congress to change the law, Bush decided simply to monitor without warrants the international phone calls and e-mails of people inside the United State.
The ongoing war waged by Israel against the Palestinian people is part and parcel of America’s New War strategy. The 2003 invasion of Iraq could trigger a broader war throughout the Middle East in which Israel would be aligned with the Anglo- American military axis.118
American attention was so monopolized by the over mediatisation of the war in Iraq, that they did not realize that their civil liberties were scorned. Words such as superpower, empire and imperial democracy became fashionable after September 11th, which connote that America would become a superpower democracy. These two words seem not only contradictory but opposed to basic assumptions that Americans hold about their political system and their role within it.
“ You know something’s wrong with this congress when a democratic champion of privacy rights feels compelled to vote for republican legislation that compromises those rights. That’s what California Senator, Dianne Feinstein did last week when she joined a stampede to approve a temporary “fix” sought
118 Ibid, p. 115.
94 by the Bush administration in a law governing electronic surveillance.” 119
As the Los Angeles Times pointed out: to see America as a super power democracy sounds erroneous because the main principles of the American constitution is the limitation of power, meanwhile democracy signifies the total implication of citizens with their government and the total devotion of this latter. Thus superpower and empire stand completely at the opposite of democracy’s principles. What is crucially important is not just the amplification of governmental power but the risk to make people doubt about the limits of the American constitution and the inverted system into totalitarian one.
Bush’s administration wanted a continuously mobilized society that would support his “War on Terror” without complaint and enthusiastically vote “yes” for new legislations. This was possible thanks to pervasive atmosphere of fear abetted by propaganda machinery using the corporation between local police and national law enforcement agencies aimed at identifying terrorists. Like previous form of totalitarianism, Bush administration boasts a rash unilateralism that trusts blindly the United States’ vision.
III- George W. Bush Government’s Fight against Terrorism and Human Rights:
George W. Bush and his administration has seized upon the event of September 11th to give an upbeat assessment of democratic reforms in the Middle East. Ironically, America is promoting its corporate interests over the resources especially energy reserves, dressed up in western values. Born out of September 11th, Bush’s democratic crusade is animated by the belief that Islamic authoritarianism120 engenders terror, and that the only response to it is to spread democracy in the Muslim and Arab countries such as Iraq.
Bush under cover of freedom and democracy is seeking an excuse to enact draconian laws that are changing America into a totalitarian society. No administration before his claimed such sweeping power for a hazardous enterprise as a worldwide war against terrorism and evil hunting, on an enemy who could be everywhere. Bush claimed a total support from
119 Editorials, The politics of fear ( The Los Angeles Times, August 07, 2007) 120 Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is opposed to individualism and democracy. In politics, an authoritarian government is one in which political power is concentrated in a leader or leaders, typically unelected by the people, who possess exclusive, unaccountable, and arbitrary power.
95 his people ignoring treaties and the violating civil liberties. The attacks of September 11th, created harsh political realities that further complicate the picture for civil society. The outcomes of the new appreciation for government and its functions arising as a consequence to the event are easily blatant. The new legislation that federalized airport security supplied millions of federal jobs, and created a new vast bureaucracy to keep an eye on homeland security, something which was unthinkable before.
Up to September 11th, Bush credibility was questionable and his policy strongly criticized all over the world for its position in lots of fields whether domestically and internationally. Moreover extensive unity that emerged among Americans after the attacks a heightened sense of security has resulted with an evident interest echoing everywhere. Many people have felt concerned by the crackdown of freedom and civil liberties in various countries. Many were afraid that Bush’s administration misuses the “War on Terror” to pursue additional aggressive actions and policies which could have a permanent impact on human rights. In the name of security, American government has hastened to usher in draconian measures that threaten freedom. As the universal declaration of independence states that:
“Recognition of inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.
However, Bush’s policy concerning anti terrorist actions represent a stunning offensive on the main principle of justice. Furthermore there is a risk that war on terror will also threaten all those association on any person working for peace and justice, as they would come under investigation.
In a blind pursuit of national security, the American government is scarifying the main values of Human Rights and the main principles of the American constitution. Many might feel they are willing to give up some of their rights for more security but the “War on Terror” has in some aspects led to what could be described as a war on freedom, and many citizens have been caught in the middle of the conflict.
Some years after Bush started his crusade against terrorism, Americans were unable to know if America was winning or losing the war especially in Iraq which they considered to be the forefront on that battle. The New York Times revealed that on September 24th, 2006 American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic
96 radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown. Bush administration has presented an instruction known as the National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive launched on May, 2007. It has gone almost unnoticed by the mainstream and alternative media. In this directive, Bush announces that in the event of a “Catastrophic Emergency”, he will be in charge of leading the activities to warrant the Constitutional Government. This would in fact transform the President into a dictator in the case of such an emergency. Bush describes his directive as the following:
“Catastrophic Emergency" means any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, and economy, or government functions” 121
Bush’s obstructive actions against terrorism had gone further; it had advocated the use of force against countries that sustain terrorism, and it exercised pressure against those who refuse to prevent it. This has engendered stormy debates throughout the United States. According to George P. Shultz, a senior fellow in foreign policy and national security affairs, and a distinguished fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution: “using preventive force across international borders is generally considered to be a violation of international law, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and most international legal authorities. Currently construe the United Nation Charter as prohibiting any use of force not sanctioned by the UN Security Council with the exception of actions taken in self defence”122.
Nowadays, American citizens have realised that Bush’s unreliable performance in post September 11th has made them suspicious about his judgement and leadership. In fact he has granted himself dictatorial powers which would give him the right to give orders to all branches of government in spite of the fact that they are supposed to be equal in power.
Now that Bush is no longer in power, lots of people claim that his strategy to fight terrorism should be deferred. Nevertheless, the ambition to defeat terrorist menaces before they really happen is now well established as an essential element of American national security. In 2008, President Barack, Obama then a presidential candidate, confessed to the American Society of International Law that “the preventive use of force may be necessary but
121 Rogers, Lee Rogers, Bush To Be Dictator In A Catastrophic Emergency(Global Research, May 21, 2007) 122 Sofaer, D. Abraham D. & Shultz,P. George, The Best Defence? Preventive force and international security by (Foreign Affairs magazine, January/ February 2010).
97 rarely”. In addition, Joe Bidden the actual Vice President of the United States declared at the 45th Munich conference on security policy:
“We’ll strive to act preventively, not pre-emptively, to avoid whenever possible, And wherever possible the choice of last resort between the risks of war and the dangers of inaction. We’ll draw upon all the elements of our power, military and diplomatic, intelligence and law enforcement, economic and cultural… to stop crises from occurring before they are in front of us”123.
Preventive efforts attempt to ward off threatening actions before they occur, which is set apart from “pre-emptive actions” when a nation took in a case of self defence. In disparity “preventive actions” look for divert threats that are non existent yet, and consequently non perceptible. Prevention is not acknowledged by the United Nation Charter; moreover it can provoke more damage than prevent it. However nations that use preventive force preventively should be able to agree with their responsibility for their miscalculation.
IV-Terrorism versus Civil Rights after 9/11:
All Americans tend to take the assumption of their civil liberties for granted and that nothing could disturb the principles of freedom and right set up by the Founding Fathers. Moreover, the American constitution was established mainly to maintain stability in time of domestic disturbance.
The twentieth century has been full of great divergence over the issue of civil liberties. During times of national crises, there have been lots of divergences between civil libertarians and national security advocates around the request of national security at detriment of democracy. It was the case during previous conflicts in the United States and now with September 11th attacks. Many Americans believe that these tensions occurred due to the American relaxation of civil restrictions and its openness to diversity.
9/11 attacks have raised a debate between federalists a group that want revenge and claim more national security and civil liberties officials, a group who is frightened to see the most jealously guarded civil liberties flouted. The American constitution was introduced in order to set borders and limits on what the government can or cannot do in regard to personal
123http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/RemarksbyVicePresidentBidenat45thMunichConferenceonSecur ityPolicy/
98 freedom. Alexander Hamilton, as other Federalists in 1987, was sceptical about the U.S. Constitution, he criticised the Bill of Rights, emphasizing the fact that ratification of the American Constitution did not mean that Americans were giving up their rights. For him, these protections were redundant. What Hamilton was afraid of in the American Constitution, was that protecting specific rights (those stated in the U.S. constitution) could involve that rights which are not mentioned would not be defended:
“I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and in the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colourable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do” 124
Furthermore Hamilton was afraid that during time of war and national crisis, citizens’ liberties would be shattered by zealous politicians motivated by super patriotism. In post September 11th and after more than two centuries, Hamilton’s worries seem contemporary. All Americans wonder whether the choice between liberty and security is inevitable and to what extent a nation that has been forged on the basis of democracy can fight terrorism and preserve its citizens’ rights at the same time.
After the catastrophe of September 11th, there was an immediate request for national security that overwhelmed the basis of Democracy. History taught us that in time of war little place is left for tolerance for those who ought to disapprove government policies. Moments of national menace for citizens’ security usually go with what the American historian Richard J. Hofstadter described in his essay “the Paranoid Style in American Politics” published in 1964. He explores the impact of conspiracy theory and "movements of suspicious discontent" in the U.S. history. Hofstadter depicts the whole features that shape the typical paranoid politician thus:
“The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms, he Traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, and whole Systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization... he Does Not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the Manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated”
124 Hamilton, Alexander, Federalist, no. 84, 575-81, 28 May 1788
99 Critics and domestic group such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)125 have claimed that the American government “war on terror” is as terrifying as terrorism itself. Bush’s administration is trampling on the civil liberties and the rights of Americans. Nevertheless as an immediate reaction to the attacks, there was a growth of a patriotic sentiment among the American people. Assisted by the media, U.S government made Americans regard terrorists as the most threatening thing and made them put their total trust in the hand of their government giving it the green light to use every possible means to capture the perpetrators of the attacks. Americans did not suspect that the measures taken in the “War on Terror” would be harmful to democracy or civil rights. Moreover they did not consider the outrageous possibility that if they criticized the U.S. policy according to John Ashcroft, they would automatically be accused of assisting terrorism.
In the twentieth century Civil Rights have been curtailed many times in the name of national security, mainly during three major periods: the First World War, the Second World War and the Cold War. During these eras, when nationalism was on the upswing, protesting openly against civil rights violation tended to be limited. September 11th attacks and the have altered significantly Americans’ Civil Liberties by allowing the President to over use his power in foreign policy. After September 11th America entered an era of terrorism, thus, extraordinary means have been taken to make sure that those who perpetrated such horrific crimes and challenged American supremacy would be dealt with in a way that circumvent ordinary procedures. Moreover the true patriot is motivated by a sense of responsibility out of self interest motivated only the security of his country. In order to protect citizens’ rights in an era of terrorism, one should take into consideration that patriotism does not mean systematically obedience to the state.
V- Security versus Freedom:
When we speak about rights in the United States we often refer to constitutional and human Rights. In times of national crisis, constitutional, legal or human rights are usually flouted. People in a threatened nation are often ready to sacrifice certain rights to ensure their own security. Calumny in the Media about future attacks is merely used by the government to keep the people fearful and willing to yield increasing power to the state.
125 The ACLU is U.S. guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in the United Stated.
100 After September 11th, both the executive and the legislative branches of the federal government have taken the liberty to transgress some civic rights for two main reasons: first to enable the government to arrest, detain, persecute and punish a person is implicated with terrorist activities, second to prevent further attacks.
Tensions between freedom and security in times of national crisis were well expressed by Bush a couple of weeks after the attacks:
“Ours is a land that values the constitutional rights of every citizens, and we will honour those rights, of course, but we are at war… and in order to win the war we must make sure the law enforcement men and women have got the tools necessary, within the constitution to defeat the enemy”
American politicians were facing a dilemma: how could they preserve Americas’ security without violating Americans’ civil liberties. Throughout U.S history the first president who was obliged to suspend the rights of his citizens was Abraham Lincoln. Indeed during the Civil War, he exploited the U.S. Constitution Emergency Provision which gave him the right to delay the use of the Habeas Corpus126. After September 11th, 2001, George W. Bush and General John Ashcroft proved a second time with the “War on Terror” that in time of national crisis, the law remains silent.
Restrictive laws and legislation will have an effect on the freedom of Americans. However civil liberties defenders have been afraid that racial and ethnic profiling will violate citizens’ rights. Many wondered to what extent their rights of privacy will be challenged by new measures of surveillance aimed at preventing acts of terrorism. For instance many citizens complain about the use of controversial software program such as “Carnivore”127 which according to them violate private life since it intercepts any e-mail going through its server. The extent, to which Americans’ rights become more and more limited will depend on how long it will last. Americans seem to be indecisive about the debate between freedom and security.
VI-The Patriot Act:
126 Habeas corpus is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. 127 Carnivore was a system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that was designed to monitor email and electronic communications. It used a customizable packet sniffer that can monitor all of a target user's Internet traffic.
101 On 26 October, 2001 six weeks after the terrorist attacks, the government reacted by making an overnight re-examination of the American inspective laws by issuing the Patriot Act which stands for (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism). The act was the pillar of Bush administration. It grants to the federal government and its inspective agencies an increase of their power.
The aim of the act is to equip law enforcement by the tools needed to inspect and fight terrorism. The four major fields in which the act has had the most significant impact are: (1) enhancing the federal government’s capacity to share intelligence; (2) strengthening the criminal laws against terrorism; (3) removing obstacles to investigating terrorism; and (4) updating the law to reflect new technology.128 It also introduces extensive changes to U.S. law, including amendments to: ·Wiretap Statute · Electronic Communications Privacy Act · Computer Fraud and Abuse Act · Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act · Family Education Rights and Privacy Act · Pen Register and Trap and Trace Statute · Money Laundering Act · Immigration and Nationality Act · Money Laundering Control Act · Bank Secrecy Act · Right to Financial Privacy Act · Fair Credit Reporting Act
However this accumulation of power needs more investigation since individuals’ civil liberties are seriously competed in a nation eager to launch a war on terror. Moreover the act increased significantly the government authorities to keep the American citizens under a permanent surveillance and at the same time abating checks and balances on those powers such as judicial control to or inspection and the capacity to dispute government pursuit in the court. The Patriot Act equips the federal government with more power in the gathering of information such as: E-mail records, wiretapping phone conversation, video camera in public
128 Johnston, A. Howard, The Patriot Act and Civil Liberties:ACloser Look (USAWC STRATEGY RESEARCH PROJECT) available from http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA449681&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf.
102 places and transforms the country into an aquarium where everybody can have an access to citizens’ information. In addition, it gives the government the right to detain people suspected for being terrorists without any evidence the fact that violates the fourth amendment. In fact it is just continuity to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) enacted in 1978. This latter prescribes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers" (which may include American citizens and permanent residents suspected of being engaged in espionage and violating U.S. law on territory under United States control.
FISA application is guided by both political and judicial aims; politically, the executive branch’s authorities for intelligence collection into domestic areas in an effort to protect the nation and government, and judicially, the court’s attempts to balance the First and Fourth Amendments.16 An act that removes or limits this balance in favor of the executive branch can potentially endanger the safeguards provided by the judiciary. The desired ends, national/domestic security, do not always justify the means, eroding civil liberties in the name of defeating terrorism. It is difficult to challenge such a moral and just cause but laws that go unchallenged potentially grow and without proper oversight go too far in their protections. 129
FISA’s purpose is to balance the stockpile of foreign intelligence, making the difference between the counter-intelligence and criminal prosecution, serving as a barrier between foreign and domestic intelligence gathering.
Furthermore, the Patriot Act jeopardizes citizens’ rights who are protected by the U.S. Constitution, the universal declaration of human right, the international convention of civil and political rights, the convention against torture, and the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. Among all the amendments that have been infringed in the name of security are the First, the Fourth and the Fifth Amendments. The first amendment states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”130
The First amendment of the U.S. constitution guarantees to the Americans freedom of speech, religion, press and the right to assembly peaceably. However, in the Patriot Act
129 Bazan,B. Elizabeth, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: An Overview of Selected Issues(CRC Report For Congress, July 7, 2008 ) available also from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34279.pdf 130 http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html
103 violates those rights by authorizing the intelligence agencies such as the FBI and CIA to launch research on American citizens in part for exercising their freedom of speech. Moreover the act represents a serious risk that innocent victims could be deported for their association with political of organization that the U.S. government has labeled as a terrorist group. Since the definition of the word terrorist is vague that anyone could be accused of being a terrorist. Finally under the patriot act new immigrants could find themselves deported from the U.S. soil, provided that the secretary of the states considers them a menace to the United States because of their faith.
The fourth amendment of the U.S. constitution states:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized”.
The fourth amendment guarantees the American people the protection from unreasonable searches and seizures without a probable cause. However, the Patriot Act violates it by authorizing foreign intelligence searches for criminal purposes without probable reason or a crime and by failing to provide a notice to person whose home has been searched. Besides, the act allows the intelligence agencies to have an access to medical and financial records of every citizen and to have access to citizens’ telephone and computer conversations; in addition to the list of books that someone has consulted. Furthermore the Patriot Act allows the government to seize records in intelligence and terrorism investigation without probable suspicion.
The Fifth Amendment states that: “No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
It guarantees that no individual can be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. However the Patriot Act allows the government to incarcerate a person indefinitely without judicial trial thereby denying due process and equal protection of law, and without revealing their identities or charges against them. It implies a serious risk that a
104 person could be deported for association with political groups that the government labelled as a terrorist institution.
More and more Americans feel concerned with the crackdown of freedom and Civil Liberties in their country. Many are afraid that their government uses the “War on Terror” as an excuse to restrict their Civil Liberties. Furthermore, there is a concern that this war will also affect all those working honestly for peace and social justice. In fact, since the term “terrorist” is used in its general way, they can find themselves in the terrorist watch lists. Any person may be deportable not for being engaged in a terrorist activity, neither for supporting terrorism, but for providing any kind of aid to any group which American intelligence agencies decide to label as terrorist group or organization. By the end of 2006, it was revealed that the pentagon was keeping secret watching over peaceful activities.
“When Congress passed the Patriot Act immediately following 9/11, we warned that the definition of terrorism was so broad that it could sweep in benign groups who were simply using tools of civil disobedience to make a political point, or even unions engaged in picketing”131.
Moreover, the courts have always found difficulties to find equilibrium between the protection of civil liberties of individuals and protecting public interest. The major problem is for how long the U.S. government could hold these detainees, without a free and fair trial for security issues. “The events of September 11 convinced ... overwhelming majorities in Congress that law enforcement and national security officials need new legal tools to fight terrorism. But we should not forget what gave rise to the original opposition - many aspects of the bill increase the opportunity for law enforcement and the intelligence community to return to an era where they monitored and sometimes harassed individuals who were merely exercising their First Amendment rights. Nothing that occurred on September 11 mandates that we return to such an era”.132
The attacks of September 11th have raised serious questions about national security. Especially because, unlike previous acts that have been perpetuated against the United States, it was held out by an external enemy who managed to infiltrate the American soil. The United States answered twofold responses, internationally America waged a war on Afghanistan and Iraq, and at a national level America has strengthened its law enforcement agencies via through the Patriot Act.
131 http://johnconyers.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%25 132 Podesta, John, USA Patriot Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Sunset(American Bar Association, Human Rights Magazine) available from http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/winter02/podesta.html
105 VII-Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp :
After Al-Qaeda assaults, military tribunals133 replaced civil courts. More than 5000 American residents from Arab and Muslim descent have been interviewed and 1200 people were detained mainly Arabs and Muslims. Indeed few concerns have emerged concerning the use of military tribunal known to be less fair than civilian one and the treatment used in the detention camps.
“Not many of them (Americans citizens) known that the first amendment, while it look good in print, becomes inoperable when the nation is at war, or there is some tense international situation short of war”134
After the attacks, Bush administration established Guantanamo Bay located in Cuba. The choice of the location was made by the Justice Department which believed that it could be considered outside U.S. legal jurisdiction. In this way detainees were not accredited to any of the protections of the Geneva Conventions.
The Guantanamo Bay was initially used to maintain dangerous persons suspected of plotting against the state to keep a close watch on them. The camp has become a problematic issue for United States politicians, tarnishing not only the country's reputation, but involving it in several lawsuits as well. While activists assert that the existence of such camp is against human rights, the American government has been trying to deny this criticism, and many speculate that the camp should be closed sooner or later.
The use of military tribunals is not a new phenomenon. It has been used during the American Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War and both World Wars. While tribunals can make provision for quick trials under the conditions of war, many critics assert that this happens at the detriment of justice. In fact time restrictions and the inability to obtain evidence can considerably impede a case for defence. In addition Civilian trials have to be open to general audience while military tribunals can be held in secret.
133 Military tribunal is a kind of military court designed to try members of enemy forces during wartime, operating outside the scope of conventional criminal and civil proceedings. The judges are military officers and fulfil the role of jurors. 134 Goldberg, Danny & Goldberg, S. Victor, Robert Greenwald, It's a free country: personal freedom in America after September 1111 (RDV Books/ Akashic Books, 2002), p.25.
106 U.S. treatment to terrorist suspects captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other areas has been a subject of endless debates, concerning conformity of such a treatment to the U.S. treaties such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention against Torture. As a result the Congress issued the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 which bans cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. It requires military interrogations to be performed according to the U.S. Army Field Manual for Human Intelligence Collector Operations135; and strips federal courts of jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus petitions filed by prisoners in Guantanamo, or other claims asserted by Guantanamo prisoners against the U.S. government.
Thereafter, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was passed and accredited the establishment of military commissions subject to certain requirements and with a designated system of appealing those decisions. Delineated after the decision of the Supreme Court on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld,136 the U.S Military Commissions Act was an act of Congress signed by President Bush on October, 2006. The intention behind this act was to enable trial by military commission for violations of the law of war.
“The great majority of the people don’t know very much about their constitution, therefore they are indifferent to other people’s rights. And when you say “security”, the very accurate point that there are invisible enemies among us, that’s all they have to hear”137.
The Patriot Act infringes Americans Civil Rights by making it impossible for the average person to be able to know whether their government violates the law or not. George W. Bush has sought through his War on Terrorism to seek the limit that stand between civil liberties and the need of security for Americans.
Moreover under the Patriot Act the detainees in Guantanamo bay were considered as being unlawful combatants and not war’s prisoners, thus they will be treated in accordance with law. However lot of critics and civil rights activist are denouncing the fact that the U.S. government is disregarding the international law in its treatment of the detainees. It seems
135 It was issued by the Department of the Army in 2006. The manual gives instructions on a range of issues, but the largest and most newsworthy section of the document details procedures for the screening and interrogation of prisoners of war and unlawful combatants.
136 Hamdan v. Rumsfeld is a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949." 137 .Ibid.
107 that Benjamin Franklin’s worries seem topical.More than two centuries ago, in another difficult time, he said:
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."138
Both national security and personal liberty are valuable and cherished by all Americans. The need of revenge should not alter these rights which have been accomplished at the cost of significant sacrifices. Bush stated after the terrorist attacks that his government was going to launch a war on terrorism. However the American could not afford to turn this war on their civil liberties and freedom. In his book “How Patriotic is the Patriot Act”, Amitai Etzioni strongly asserts that both sides, liberals and conservatives, tend to polarize the debate about the Patriot Act instead of examining the act on its own merit.
VIII-Racial Profiling against Arab Americans:
Rare are the event that jolt the whole world. Before September 11th, the United States of America have grown serene with their cushy position in the world, however the attacks have created a new reality for the American people. These latter have always thought themselves safe from any act of violence and that their geographical situation keeps them away from any harm. Indeed, since Pearl Harbour attacks, America has experienced no sustained external attacks.
Unfortunately September 11th made the Americans adjust themselves to the new reality. In addition like other countries, they were obliged to take measures to make themselves safe. Before September 11th thirteen states had passed anti profiling bills and hundreds of police departments had started to gather data on all traffic stops in order to make easier unbiased practices. The End Racial Profiling Act was passed in 2001, a bill created in order to reduce racially biased traffic stops.
After a long time of condemning use of racial profiling as a discriminatory method, critics began to allow and event to promote the practice as an indispensable method to fight terrorism. A practice which once was considered by hundred of Americans to be blatant civil rights abuse is today accepted as a necessary practice during a time of terrorism.
138 http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin.
108 After 9/11 assaults Arabs were used to justify the hysteria and the measure undertaken to restrict freedom and violate basic rights of the American people. In addition, in order to prevent further attacks, law enforcement agencies at the local and the federal level underwent a great pressure, especially within communities with a significant Arab Americans population. For instance, today Muslim communities across the United States are having difficulties to establish mosques because of the local opposition.
Indeed, in the aftermath of September 11th, irrational feelings pushed some ill- informed Americans to harass and terrorize brown skinned immigrants from south Asia such as Hindus, and Sikhs who were even not Muslims and to exclude the Arab and Muslim people who have no connection with the terrorist attacks. Lot of people were victimized because of their resemblance to the stereotypical image of Muslims. The best example is the refusal of lot of American passengers on airliners to fly with other passengers who have a Middle Eastern appearance.
Today the words “civil liberties” that hundred of Americans fought for forty two years ago seem deprived of their meaning. Indeed, Civil Right movement arose as a reaction to racism, however when the war on terrorism started its immediate enemy was civil liberties. Americans’ response to 9/11is similar to the response of earlier immigrants to Pearl Harbour assaults, it has made all immigrant groups come to an agreement about the necessity of a war against the attackers.
By far the most contentious issues arising from civil right restrictions after September 11th events refer to ethnic and racial profiling. This latter refers to the false discriminatory method used by law enforcement officials towards individuals suspected of crime; it is often based on the individual's race, ethnic appearances, religion or national origin. Usually practiced by police, criminal profiling is based on a category of features they believe to be associated with crime. Furthermore law enforcement officials submit people of a specific ethnic group to imprisonment, questioning, detainment and so forth when there is no evidence against them.
One of the most eminent examples of police racial profiling is the arrest of people on the basis of race which is commonly known as “driving while black” (DWB). The origin of DWB goes to the slave patrols. It targets African Americans at traffic stops because police
109 tend to think that blacks are more likely to be involved in criminal activity. The practice has long been refuted and considered by lots of Americans as unfair and discriminatory against African-American and Latino populations all over the United States.
Nevertheless, after September 11th attacks, Americans changed their point of view claiming that racial profiling in airport, and public places were acceptable as long as Arabs and Muslims were the only group profiled. One of the most controversial appointee to the US Civil Rights Commission by Bush, Peter Kirsanow stated public that:
“If there's another attack by Arabs on U.S. soil, not too many people will be crying in their beer if there are more detentions, more stops, more profiling, There will be a groundswell of public opinion to banish civil rights. There will be internment camps."139
Nowadays, the issue is subjected to heated debates. In fact, overnight, Americans found themselves adjusting to searches, their properties being inspected especially when they work in public field such as government offices, sports grounds, or airports. Furthermore, immigrants are refused access to the American soil because of racial profiling.
VIII-1 Racial Profiling Controversy:
Minorities have always encountered discrimination in the United States; most of them have been treated unjustly by the American law enforcement agencies. In the past, Blacks were racial profilings’ main victims; however, after the 9/11 event, Arabs and Muslims turned to be their main targets. The attacks have made terrorism the primary concern of the government the fact that has unfortunately led to an obvious increase in the profiling of Arabs and Muslims. . Kathleen Parker has given voice to this way of thinking in The Kentucky New Era,the major daily newspaper in Hopkinsville (Kentucky):
"When a police officer apprehends and searches an African American only because he’s black, assuming no other mitigating factors, that’s unjustified racial profiling. When an airport security guard searches a male of Middle Eastern extraction following a historical terrorist attack by males of Middle Eastern extraction, that’s common sense." Parker wrote that "a terrorist attack of such enormous proportions, followed by a declaration of war, makes racial profiling a temporary necessity that no patriotic American should protest.140"
139 http://www.rougeforum.org/camps.htm 140 (Parker, Kathleen, All Is Fair in This War Except for Insensibility (Kentucky New Era, p 4, 19 October 2001).
110 In October 2001, a memo entitled “Assessing Behaviours,” has been defused to the American law enforcement agent by senior U.S. intelligence officials. It fingers out the weaknesses of the racial profiling process. According to this report, trying to intercept an eventual terrorist focusing just on his or her racial characteristics could probably divert attention away from doubtful attitudes by somebody who does not fit the already fixed profile. Few days after the assaults, some officials began to single out people who seem from the Middle East. Some weeks later, the Arab American institute which represents the Arab interests in government and politics in the United States has received more than 400 complaints of discrimination. The best example of such discrimination is the way Arab Americans are treated in airports and planes. Is race, nationality or religion sufficient to justify an arrest? According to David Harris:
“Racial profiling uses race or ethnic appearance as a broad predicator of who is involved in a crime or terrorism, as a defacto policy, racial profiling dismisses the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty”141.
However racial profiling implies the criminalisation of entire groups in America. Indeed, lots of Arab and Muslim Americans have experienced dire prospects of incarcerations, secret trial and deportation. It is morally incorrect because the work of investigators should be based first on strong facts, not on serotypes. However how many innocent victims would be stopped as a consequence of these investigative tactics? And especially how efficient is this kind of strategy?
Nevertheless in the post September 11th terrorist attacks, the relationship between race and criminality can be noticed as general to the American officers.Officers in America tend to think that a person with a dark skin or to look Middle Easterners is more likely to be involved in a criminal activity. Moreover the perpetual emphasis on Arab individuals diverts law enforcement from targeting of other probable terrorists who are not Arab. In fact among the persons involved in the 9/11 attacks a number of them were not conform to the characteristics listed by racial profiling agencies among which, john walker Lindh a white American, Richard Reid a half West Indian and half English and finally Jose Padilla a Hispanic American. The three individuals were not Arabs but were Muslims and they all did
141 David Harris : Profile in justice.
111 not fit American racial profiling theory. The terrorists have proven that terrorism is not bound to one ethnic minority.
To use ethnic appearance, or religion as a means to decide whom to arrest, search, screen and regard as a potential terrorist may be ineffective because many innocent people may be the victims of erroneous investigations causing damage to the American enforcement policy. Racial profiling in its extreme form can lead to police viciousness; which means the use of extreme and unnecessary force and inhuman treatment by police agent against potential criminals.
“Government policies such as the patriot act, special registration, and the FBI Investigation put the logic of “good Muslim/bad Muslim” into practice by targeting non citizens as“potential terrorist” or “bad Muslims” and distinguishing them from “citizens” or “good Muslims”142.
America is a country where citizens’ rights are protected by their constitution where liberty and equality are essential values. Lately, racial profiling has seriously jolted these principles. Indeed a country which violates the civil liberties of its citizens and refuse to give equal protections to them can hardly be called a democracy.
The American constitution prevents its citizens from random arrest and grants them the right to fair trial. Yet, the real challenge of any democratic society is to protect civil liberties of its people, particularly minorities. Nevertheless, racial profiling violates those jealously guarded democratic values by pointing a finger to the Arab and Muslim communities, instead of protecting them and led them blossom out in a democratic environment. The debate on racial profiling has brought to light its drawbacks. Unfortunately, the attitudes against racial profiling subsided right after September 11th attacks, even though the problem of racial profiling is still prevalent.
Instead of targeting Arabs and Muslims with distrust, law enforcement should work in collaboration with Arab and Muslim Americans to recognize suspected individuals. This method creates links between communities and results in more efficient law enforcement. Moreover while the use of race in law enforcement activities is not usually considered illegal,
142 Ibid,3
112 it is generally inappropriate and ineffective to use it. The question that arises in discussions about racial profiling is how the use of race and physical appearance could be effective. Supporters of racial profiling argues that the practice could be acceptable if race and ethnic appearances were not the only characteristics that prompt suspicion, but only one characteristic among many others; in other words, race and ethnic appearance should not be the only features that rises distrust. The War on Terror has given other dimensions to racial profiling: in one hand it has led to a shift in the target population, and in the other hand, it has transformed the practice in which racial profiling is conducted.
There have been vigorous efforts to make an end to the practice of racial profiling and police brutality against minorities in the United States. Unfortunately, these attempts have only produced minimal results because the Congress has failed to pass the required laws to fight racial profiling. George W. Bush has supplied directives to federal law enforcement agencies in order to combat it. However, these directives have had a little impact on the activities of law enforcement agencies. John Conyers, Senator Frank Lautenberg, and Senator Russell Feingold who are representatives in the Congress have made great efforts in order to fight racial profiling by passing a law against this process. Their determination has borne fruit and drawn the attention of the Americans on Blacks’ profiling which led to the attempt to pass the Traffic Stops Statistics Act of 1997/1999 and the End Racial Profiling Act of 2001/2004. Unfortunately, these bills have not passed congress and thus did not pass. The breakdown of the initiative to stop racial profiling has revealed an apparent lack of interests to eradicate it.
While racial profiling has been recognized as a weakness in a democratic institution as the American one, the profiling of Arabs and Muslims has not been completely recognized as a problem yet. Consequently after the attacks of September 11th, attempt and steps to end with the racial profiling process have been ended. Even if racial profiling aims clearly at protecting the United States from further terrorist attacks the risk is that such an instrument of profiling directed toward Arab and Muslim communities may become a latent tool that threatens American civil liberties. Such abuses can seriously disturb the essence of democracy. It is imperative that the American government should resist the use of racial and ethnic profiling and admit that combating terrorism policies based on stigmatizing broad identity groups is erroneous.
IX- Defamation in the Media after September 11th:
113 September 11th jolted the American policy in a way that would have been improbable few years ago. These events had repercussion all over the world and the responses were empathy and rage. At such moments, the real task of the media was to report the truth about what has happened. Nevertheless, after the attacks, they launched a wave of propaganda against the East specifically Arabs and Muslims. Nevertheless there are other important features of the press attitudes that the public strongly criticized. Lot of American tend to think that U.S. media try to draw a veil over government mistakes and many of them think also that American journalists are politically biased in their reporting. According to a poll done after the bombings of September 11th, 35 per cent say media help the society to elucidate its problems143. The American government has used propaganda to justify its fight against terrorism to make the nation safe and bring the principles of democracy to countries that perpetrate terrorism. Indeed American media were enthusiastic boosters of Bush administration and an inestimable means in his foreign policy. Consequently, outright defamation in addition to stereotyping in popular culture and the media are among the most oppressing and deteriorating problems that have worsened the situation of the Arab American community. Furthermore, what have worsened Arab Americans’ situation is their lack of involvement in various fields. Furthermore the unexpected attacks of September 11th have driven the Arab American community into the spotlight. Arabs were faced to an urgent need to transmit their culture to mainstream America. In other words, the real worry concerning patterns of defamation is that advocate of fear and hatred whether consciously or unconsciously is getting American society ready to perceive American Muslims and Arab Americans as disloyal, violent. Consequently, such perceptions promote severe civil rights and civil liberties abuses.
Many critics argue that the U.S. government has created its own external enemy to exercise its own foreign policy having the total approbation of all the Americans and nations of the world even if it means contravening civil liberties. whom Counterterrorism and war propaganda are intertwined. The propaganda Apparatus feeds disinformation into the news chain. The terror warnings must appear to be “genuine”. The objective is to present the terror groups as “enemies of America”144.
143 http://articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/29/news/mn-9413 144 Michel Chossudovsky , US Propaganda and the War on Terrorism.
114 Nowadays, confusing the public opinion at home and all over the World has become a fundamental characteristic of the “War on Terror” agenda. After the terrorist attacks Bush, together with his ally Tony Blair, glistened the possibility of future attacks from Al Qaeda, the fact that spread a sort of hysteria among the population obsessed by its security. Moreover, one of the most influential U.S governmental organizations is the civilian intelligence agency (CIA) which secretly sponsored lot of writers, critics, journalist and screenwriters, putting pressure on them to control and guide subject writings in order to influence the public opinion.
“Hollywood stars and scriptwriters are rushing to bolster the new message of patriotism, conferring with the CIA and brainstorming with the military about possible real-life terrorist attacks”145.
Throughout history propaganda has been used to obtain people’s support. However, lot of journalists would not admit that they apply self censorship. One of the most media figures in American news, Dan Rather146 of CBS confessed that there has been lot of censorship and that in post September 11 media have been intimidated by a fever of patriotism. What resulted according to him is that accusation of lack of patriotism is leading to the fear that keeps journalist from asking too much detail about the information given.
Arab Americans are aware of how they are perceived and how their cultures and traditions are reproduced in visual caricatures. Moreover, they are described in the media and political discourses in a nuanced way with the innuendo that “evil” is exclusive to the Islamic world meanwhile America has the monopoly of “goodness”. During the 2004 campaign of George W. Bush, this latter reinforced that discourse using the term “evil” to refer to anyone who stands in America’s way obstructed the appetite of America for foreign resources. One of the most prominent discourses given by the attorney general John Ashcroft:
“Islam is a religion in which god requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which god sends his son to die for you”.
The atmosphere of fear and suspicions was worsened by a campaign in the American popular culture and the Media of lot of vicious defamation against the Arabs and Muslims which has been a period of great challenge for the Arab and Muslim Americans.
145 Ibid, p.154. 146 http://www.historycommons.org
115 Momentous historical events like September 11 and the war on terror which resulted after that test social theories and provide a challenge to give convincing account of the events and its consequences. The Media should not give hate speech as a legalized contribution in the fight against terrorism or resort regularly racist stereotypes that stigmatized a whole community.
X-Conclusion
According to Americans, America is paying the price of its diversity and appreciation of individual freedom. Few of them however would neglect the fact that September 11th attacks have been a turning point in the history of their country. Since that day, efforts made to dissolve racial profiling have ended.Lots of Arabs and Muslims have been wrongfully detained, mistreated, or denied a free and fair trial. At the exception of protests against Iraq war and the actions of committed human rights activists, there have been no noticeable efforts to end the profiling of Arabs and Muslims. The second challenge is to protect the values of liberty and equality from the anti-democratic features of the new security regulations that aimed at combating terrorism. While the regulations are clearly aimed at protecting the United States from terrorism, the danger is that any new instrument of profiling directed toward Arabs and Muslims can become a potential tool for the violation of civil liberties. Such violations can seriously undermine the essence of Democracy. As we struggle to end racial profiling, the goal should not be to substitute one victim for another, but to fight for the values of liberty and equality, which protect all citizens in a democratic society.
So far in this chapter, we have dealt with one of the most controversial issues of the twenty first century, the conflicts between the need of security and Civil Rights issues in the era of terrorism for Americans. Institutionalized discrimination against the Arab and Muslim communities has been strengthened by governmental legislations such as the U.S Patriot Act in addition to governmental agencies’ abuse of power. Discriminatory policies have encouraged racism and bigotry against the Arabs. In the name of public safety, Americans have been ready to experience more restrictions. However, all the draconian legislations passed after September 11 do not guarantee the safety of Americans from another terrorist attack.
116 Many questions are still unsolved. The Patriot Act has hastened a necessary debate on how surveillance laws should manage tools of communication such as Internet. Moreover, the Congress has to be vigilant on law enforcement methods and technology to maintain the fragile equilibrium between privacy and security and between personal freedom and protection. It has enacted laws that in less critical times might have been approved rather than criticized.
In their pursuit of security American leaders are losing their moral principles, infringing their citizens Rights and the general human values. Security is meaningless when people are detained without any evidence. Bush has been waging a war against Americans’ civil liberties, not on terrorism. The threat is more real and more dangerous when it comes from inside, not from outside America. Not only did September 11th take away more than 3000 lives, but it also tried to destroy the intangible values of the American constitution and democracy which characterise America.
117 General conclusion
XI-General Conclusion:
September 11th, 2001 attacks have been the primary concern of the modern world and have increasingly become a major factor in all international relations in the 21st century. Nearly a decade has passed after the attacks; yet it is difficult to refer to them in the past tense mainly because of the ongoing consequences that emerged in America and the whole world.
118 Indeed the events have changed the entire world and the global order to the point that the pre and post 9/11 era now have to be seen from completely different perspectives.
The attacks gave the opportunity to a president who saw his popularity rating tumble down before 9/11, waging a war on terror, and on an enemy who was everywhere and nowhere. Lots of American civil liberties associations have considered the Patriot Act as a typical example of insatiable craving of the American government for additional power and control disregarding the importance of checks and balances.
Since the events of September 11th, lots of people in the world begin to associate the Arab people with terrorism. In spite of the fact that the hijackers are all Muslims there is nothing in the Islamic and the Arab culture that promote violence.
This dissertation sought to investigate Arab Americans sufferings and how they endure the resulting severe backlash after September 11th attacks, in addition to the violent hate crimes which they have been subjected to. Nowadays they are still suffering from racism from their fellow Americans in lots of fields. In addition Arab and Muslim immigrants have been the center of new governmental legislation and restrictions that infringe their civil liberties.
In any case the events of September 11th have promoted a series of theoretical debates and political conflicts. Now that America regained its prosperity and confidence it continues to prosecute terrorists everywhere in the world. However, the upswing in security issues has generalized the use of racial profiling of the Arab Americans. The American government must find out a way to ensure national security without any disregard to the rights and liberties of Arab Americans. America’s main duty is to protect the rights of all its citizens.
September 11th has threatened not only Arab Americans’ lives and liberties but it has had an impact on the whole nation. Measures taken after the events have created a real anxiety among Americans about their civil rights’ future and freedom. Bush benefited from near shoulder-to-shoulder support for the war in the major U.S. news media. The cable news channels, in particular, competed to demonstrate the greatest degree of "patriotism" and unfortunately it was impossible for any American to oppose Bush’s policy without being accused of un-patriotism. However, seven years after the terrorist attacks and the application of the war on terrorism, launched by President Bush, people get conscious and are now aware
119 that it was a mistake. Nowadays there are lots of Americans who openly express their opposition to the Anglo-American war on Iraq which prompted unprecedented anger and anti- American feelings among peoples of the Arab world.
The U.S. Patriot Act impelled more power to law enforcement officials in their quest for terrorists hunting. Moreover this act has flouted the privacy of Arab Americans because it has violated their intimacy, meanwhile the American constitution states that every citizen should be treated equally. Recently, the Office of Homeland Security has set up Operation Liberty Shield in order to protect the rights and liberties of the Arab American community which have been flouted after the event of September 11th. However the protections do not ratify the harming of victims of hate. Legitimate fears do not give the rights for people craving for revenge to lash out at innocent people because of their skin color, religious beliefs.
Ultimately, prevention of anti-Arab violence will require an ongoing national commitment to tolerance, respect for multicultural diversity, and recognition that “guilt by association” has no place in the United States. In the meantime, public officials face the challenge and the responsibility under U.S. and international law of combating backlash violence undertaken by private individuals.
120 List of abbreviations
XIII-List of abbreviations
121 AAI………………………………………………………………The Arab American Institute. AAIF………………………………………………...The Arab American Institute Foundation. ADC………………………………………… The Arab American Discriminatory Committee. ADPAC ……………………………………The American Druze Political Action Committee. CAIR…………………………………..…………The council on American Islamic Relations. CBP…………………………………………………..…..The Customs and Border Protection. DHS…………………………………………………. The Department of Homeland Security. EEOC………………………………. ……The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. INS……………………………………………. The Immigration and Naturalisation Services. TSC………………………………………………………….. The Terrorist Screening Centre. NSEERS…………………………………………. The National Security Entry-Exit program.
122 Glossary
XII-Glossary
Americanization: “A term used to describe the movement during the first quarter of the 20th cent. Whereby the immigrant in the United States was induced to assimilate American speech,
123 ideals, traditions, and ways of life. As a result of the great emigration from Eastern and Southern Europe between 1880 and the outbreak of World War I, immigration, entrance of a person (an alien ) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important, the Americanization movement grew to crusading proportions. Fear and suspicion of the newcomers and of their possible failure to become assimilated gave impetus to the movement. Joined by social workers interested in improving the slum conditions surrounding the immigrants, and by representatives of the business and industrial world, organizations were formed to propagandize and to agitate for municipal, state, and federal aid to indoctrinate the immigrants into American ways. The coming of World War I with the resultant heightening of U.S. nationalism strengthened the movement. The Federal Bureau of Education and the Federal Bureau of Naturalization joined in the crusade and aided the private Americanization groups. Large rallies, patriotic naturalization proceedings, and Fourth of July celebrations characterized the campaign. When the United States entered into the war, Americanization was made an official part of the war effort. Many states passed legislation providing for the education and Americanization of the foreign-born. The anti-Communist drive conducted by the Dept. of Justice in 1919–20 stimulated the movement and led to even greater legislative action on behalf of Americanization. Virtually every state that had a substantial foreign-born population had provided educational facilities for the immigrant by 1921. The passage of this legislation and the quota system of immigration caused the Americanization movement to subside; private groups eventually disbanded.”(The free dictionary by Farlex) available from http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Americanization.
Assimilation: the term is synonymous with acculturation, “culture changes resulting from contact among various societies over time. Contact may have distinct results, such as the borrowing of certain traits by one culture from another, or the relative fusion of separate cultures. Early studies of acculturation reacted against the predominant trend of trying to reconstruct cultures of presumably isolated societies. Such work was faulted for implying that various cultural groups enjoyed an unchanging, pre-contact period. In this view, the anthropologist's job seemed quite simple, since each culture could be perceived as a unitary whole. Interactions with other peoples have, in fact, always been a significant feature of social life. Early studies of contact called attention to resulting social and individual psychological disturbances. Studies today often call attention to the development of one complex world system, in which some societies dominate others economically, politically, and socially. Many cultural theorists also observe the ways in which cultural groups resist domination, often working against acculturation in the process. Syncretism occurs when a subordinate group moulds elements of a dominant culture to fit its own traditions. Acculturation differs from assimilation, in which different ethnic groups combine to form a new culture.” http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/acculturation.
Demonization: To demonize someone means, to try to make someone or a group of people seem as if they are completely evil. The Nazis used racist propaganda in an attempt to demonize the Jews.
124 Racial profiling:The consideration of race when developing a profile of suspected criminals; by extension, a form of racism involving police focus on people of certain racial groups when seeking suspected criminals
Racialization: refers to processes of the discursive production of racial identities. It signifies the extension of dehumanizing and racial meanings to a previously racially unclassified relationship, social practice, or group. To be put simply, a group of people is seen as a "race", when it was not before. It also refers to the social process by which a population group is categorized as a race. .( Scott, John & Marshall, Gordon, Oxford Dictionary of Sociology ( Oxford University Press, 2009).
Stereotype: (stereotyping) derived from the Greek (stereo=solid, typos=mark), and applied in the late 18th century as a technical term for the casting of a papier mâché copy of printing type, the concept was developed by the North American journalist Walter Lippman in his book Public Opinion (1922) to mean the fixed, narrow ‘pictures in our head’, generally resistant to easy change. It usually carries a pejorative meaning- in contrast to the sociological process of typification. Scott, John & Marshall, Gordon, Oxford Dictionary of Sociology (Oxford University Press, 2009).
Superpatriotism: a term synonymous with jingoism or chauvinism; advocacy of a policy of aggressive nationalism. The term was first used in connection with certain British politicians who sought to bring England into the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) on the side of the Turk.
Islamophobia: extreme dislike, fear or hatred of Muslims, including their politics or culture customs, and religions etc.
125 General Bibliography
XIV-Bibliography
-Amaney, Jamal A.,& Naber, Nadine C., Race and Arab Americans before and after 9/11 from invisible citizens to visible subjects (Syracuse University Press, 2008).
- Bazan, Elizabeth B., The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: An Overview of Selected Issues(CRC Report For Congress, July 7, 2008 ) available also from http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34279.pdf
126 -Bolton, Kent M., U.S. National Security and Foreign Policymaking after 9/11: Present at the re- creation (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2008).
-Boosahda, Elizabeth, Arab-American Faces and Voices: the Origins of an Immigrant Community (University of Texas Press, 2003).
- Chossudovsky, Michel, America's "War on Terrorism"(Global Research, 2005).
-Cohen, B. David & Wilson, john Wells, American national security and civil liberties in an era of terrorism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).
- Crockatt, Richard, America Embattled: September 11, Anti-Americanism, and the Global Order (Routledge, 2003).
- Deen, Thalif, POLITICS: U.N. Member States Struggle to Define Terrorism (Inter Press Service, 25 July 2005).also available from http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29633.
- El badry, Samia, “the Arab American market,” (American demographics, 1996 ).
- Etzioni,Amitai, How patriotic is the Patriot Act?: freedom versus security in the age of terrorism(Routledge, 2004).
- Ghareeb, Edmund, Split vision: the portrayal of Arabs in the American media ( Michigan University Press, 1983).
-Goldberg, Danny & Goldberg,S. Victor, Robert Greenwald, It's a free country: personal freedom in America after September 11th (RDV Books/ Akashic Books, 2002).
*-Gray, Colin S., Thinking Asymmetrically in Times of Terror (Parameters, Vol. 32, 2002)available also from http://www.questia.com/.
- Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck, Not quite American?: the shaping of Arab and Muslim identity in the United (Baylor University Press, 2004).
-Harris, David D., Profiles in injustice: why racial profiling cannot work (New Press, 2002).
-Jacoby, Tamar, Reinventing the melting pot: the new immigrants and what it means to be American (Basis Book, 2004). - Kayyali, A. Randa, The Arab Americans (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006).
- Lilienthal, Alfred M., There goes the Middle East, ( Michigan University Press, 1957).
-Lippmann, Walter, Public Opinion (Courier Dover Publications, 2004).
- Marrar, Khalil, Arab Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy ( Routledge, 2009).
-McCarus, Ernest Nasseph, The Development of Arab-American Identity (the University of Michigan Press, 1994).
127 -Michaels, William C., No greater threat: America after September 11 and the Rise of a National Security State (Algora Publishing, 2002).
-Naff, Alixa, Becoming American: The Early Arab Immigrant Experience (Southern Illinois University Press, 1993).
- Parrs, Alexandra, Construction de l'identité arabe américaine : Entre visibilité et mise en scène stratégique (Editions L'Harmattan, 2005).
-Pulera, Dominic J., Visible Differences: Why Race Will Matter to Americans in the Twenty- First Century (The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, 2002).
-Said, Edward W., Orientalism (Vintage Books Edition, 1979).
-Salaita, Steven, Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes from and What it Means for Politics Today (Pluto Press, 2006).
-Salaita, Steven, Ethnic identity and imperative patriotism: Arab Americans before and after 9/11(College Literature, 2004) available from www.jstor.org/stable/25115271.
- Scott, John & Marshall, Gordon, Oxford Dictionary of Sociology (Oxford University Press, 2009).
-Semmerling, Tim Jon, "Evil" Arabs in American Popular Film: Orientalist Fear (the University of Texas Press, 2006).
-Shaheen, Jack G., The TV Arab (Popular Press, 1984).
-Suleiman,W. Michael, Arabs in America: Building a New Future (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1999).
128 XV- Newspaper and Magazine Articles
-Akram, Susan M., The aftermath of September 11, 2001: The targeting of Arabs and Muslims in America (Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), 2002.
-Livengood S. Jennifer & Stodolska, Monika, The Effects of Discrimination and Constraints Negotiation on Leisure Behaviour of American Muslims in the Post-September 11 America (Journal of Leisure Research. Volume: 36. Issue: 2. Publication Year: 2004) Available from http://www.questia.com/read/5007672486.
129 -Mearsheimer John & Walt Stephen, The Israel Lobby (London Review of Books, Vol. 28 No. 6 · 23 March 2006).
-Mona Faragallah H., & Walter R. Schumm, Farrell J. Webb; Acculturation of Arab- American Immigrants: An Exploratory Study (Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Vol. 28, 1997) - Podesta, John, USA Patriot Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Sunset (American Bar Association, Human Rights Magazine) available from http://www.abanet.org/irr/hr/winter02/podesta.html. -2003-2007Report on Hate Crimes and Discrimination Against Arab Americans (American- Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Research Institute).
-Rogers, Lee Rogers, Bush To Be Dictator In A Catastrophic Emergency(Global Research, May 21, 2007)available from http://www.globalresearch.ca - Slade, Shelly. “The Image of the Arab in America: Analysis of a Poll on American Attitudes.” Middle East Journal (Spring 1981).
-Sofaer, Abraham D., & Shultz, P. George, The Best Defence? Preventive force and international security by (Foreign Affairs magazine, January/ February 2010).
130