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19 October 2004

Citizens in U.S., Islamic Countries Seek to Ease Tensions

Hope not Hate initiative holds town meetings, videoconferences

By Phyllis McIntosh
Washington File Special Correspondent

Washington -- Through town hall meetings and videoconferences linking college students in the United States and Islamic countries, a project that grew out of the tragedy of September 11, 2001, aims to ease tensions between Americans and Muslims in the United States and abroad.

The initiative, known as Hope not Hate, was launched on the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by Americans for Informed Democracy, an organization that works to raise global awareness on college campuses. The first round of town hall meetings, held in more than a dozen U.S. cities on September 12 and 13, 2003, brought together 1,500 concerned citizens, policymakers, journalists, military leaders, and scholars to explore common ground between America and the Islamic world.

In 2004, the project expanded to a full month and involved 5,000 people at more than 30 town hall meetings held on college campuses in 21 states and the District of Columbia. The Families of September 11, and The People Speak, an initiative that promotes discussion of foreign policy, joined Americans for Informed Democracy in sponsoring the series.

Hope not Hate 2004 concluded with three days of videoconferences between young leaders at nine universities in Middle America -- from Georgia to South Dakota --and nine in predominantly Muslim countries, including Egypt, Indonesia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, Turkey and Uganda.

"The goal of this unprecedented series is two-fold," says Hope not Hate co-chair Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, former Pakistani High Commissioner (Ambassador) to the United Kingdom. "First we want to build a bridge of understanding between non-Muslims and Muslims in the U.S. and then extend that bridge of understanding from the U.S. to the Muslim world."

U.S. action in Iraq and the global war on terrorism were the main topics of an October 13 videoconference involving 80 students at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, Dakar, Senegal, and Kampala, Uganda. The Americans expressed strong views both for and against the war in Iraq, while the Africans, mostly opposed to the war, argued that America should not act unilaterally but in the words of one young man "should begin to move with the world."

Many of the American and African students agreed that eradicating poverty and injustice in the world will be more effective than military action in fighting terrorism. "Violence is not the solution to terrorism," said a student in Senegal. "I would like to see the U.S. use its money to help people improve themselves. Then you will have peace."

The Africans also cautioned against viewing all Muslims as Arabs and blaming Islam for terrorism. "The solution is to open yourselves to other cultures," advised a young man in Uganda. "It would be good for younger Americans to get information about other cultures from outside your country."

Reflecting on the impact of terrorism, a young woman in Atlanta said, "More than anything I fear the fear. We must be determined not to let hate shape our future."

"The biggest enemy of peace is not Islam but the heart of man," said a student in Uganda. "All of us should look into our hearts, study our hearts, and there will be peace in the world."

At a town hall meeting at Georgetown University in Washington, October 6, speakers discussed how the September 11 attacks changed American policy toward Muslims in the United States and abroad and called on moderates everywhere to help stem the growing animosity between America and the Islamic world.

"In reality, people in the Muslim world and Americans have more in common than they have differences," said Samer Shehata, visiting scholar at Georgetown's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies. "Whenever I hear 'Why do they hate us?' I have this sort of revulsion because the question is so fundamentally flawed. People in the Mideast may be angry with our policies, they may not respect our political leaders, but is 'hate' the proper word? What about the word 'they'? Are we going to homogenize the 280 million people in the Arab world or the 1.2 billion people in the Muslim world and say they all feel the same way? The word 'us' is also problematic. [People in the Muslim world] might hate some of our leaders, but they don't hate you and me."

Helen Samhan, executive director of the Arab American Institute, spoke about the impact of the September 11 attacks on Muslims in the United States. She contended that most Americans have long held negative images of Arabs in their midst, "so when 9/11 happened it was not surprising that all those negative stereotypes exploded."

Samhan identified three phases of reaction following the terrorist attacks: the "hot pursuit stage" in the immediate aftermath of September 11, when some people who were perceived to be Muslim were harassed or attacked; then "under-the-radar discrimination and harassment," especially in the workplace; and finally the "most onerous" phase, in which Muslim people and organizations are subjected to various forms of racial profiling.

"We as Arab American advocates are very concerned that the backlash since 9/11 has impacted a lot of cultural and political discourse in this country and that there is now a real license for anti-Islamic bigotry."

Nikki Stern, whose husband died in the September 11 attacks and who now serves as executive director of Families of September 11, declared, "I do not now and I have never given permission for the death of my husband to be an excuse to perpetrate stereotypes, intolerance, or prejudice."

She used the analogy of a bridge to call for moderation: "Structurally a bridge is stronger near the ends than where it is suspended. Because it is most vulnerable in the middle, it needs special reinforcements. In an age when it may seem that dialogue has been replaced by diatribes and reason has been overtaken by rancor on both sides of the bridge, we need to strengthen the middle of that bridge and what it represents, which is thoughtful discussion and compassionate understanding."

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