The Clinton-Gore Administration's Assault On Arab And Muslim Rights

To aggravate matters, Arabs and Muslims in America are now suspects running the risk of being humiliated in public view at airports as a result of Vice President Gore's infamous terrorist profiling system. But with a sound economy, we happily closed an eye to the gravest erosion of our rights in recent history.

A line has been drawn by the Clinton-Gore administration especially for Arab and Muslim Americans. This line forbids championing democracy, human rights, or liberation in the Middle East and the Muslim World-- aside from token lip service. All of the above have been deemed by the administration as a threat to America's national security. After all, the Middle East and the Muslim World today, with few exceptions, is a haven for Clinton's foreign policy regardless of the cost to Arab and Muslim human and political rights. The bulk of the Arab and Islamic World continues to languish under American-sponsored dictatorships and occupation. Our Cold War has never ended thanks to this administration.

A decade ago, some would have described the serious erosion of our rights we are enduring presently as the work of an imaginative but very pessimistic mind. A tribute to the Clinton-Gore administration, and partly to our political procrastination, the loss is a reality our communities have to live with but must reverse.

NATIONAL CASTE SYSTEM

While many Arab and Muslim Americans celebrate Clinton's campaign of national reconciliation and dialogue, they ignore the disparity between words and actions. With Clinton's approval, Vice President Gore fathers the infamous national terrorism profile employed by US security agencies to "smoke out" potential terrorists. Gore's profile causes many American Arabs and Muslims to suffer great indignities at airport security checkpoints in full view of thousands of different nationalities every day.

Conveniently, Gore's profile seems to ignore violent postal workers, drug dealers, murderous students, serial killers, abortion clinic bombers, and the McVeighs of the world all of whom according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report of 1996 killed 19,645 Americans. Instead, and for political purposes only, Gore's profile seems to specialize in Middle Eastern ethnic stereotypes and surnames. Hundreds have filed complaints but the remedies have been cosmetic. As for Clinton's national reconciliation and dialogue, we are merely on the sidelines with token representation.

CLINTON'S COUNTER-FREEDOM LEGISLATION

It is the Clinton-Gore administration which pushed aggressively for sinister legislations under the innocent title of "counter-terrorism." These new laws have weakened due process and resulted in the persecution of untold Arabs and Muslims in the US based on secret evidence that otherwise would have been thrown out of court few years ago when challenged.

At the discretion of  well-funded foreign lobbyists such as the pro-Israelis and "friendly" authoritarian Arab and Muslim regimes, the Clinton administration can declare any legitimate organization which does not engage in terrorism as a supporter of terrorist activities. This effectively silences pro-democracy and pro-human rights organizations by intimidating their leadership and driving their members away.

As with the State Department's infamous list of states who sponsor terrorism, the application of the so called counter-terrorism laws follows the political objectives of the Clinton administration's foreign policy which closes an eye to regimes friendly to Washington who commit egregious human rights violation but punishes those who won't play ball. The counter-terrorism laws have been cynically reduced into political and legal intimidation tools completely devoid of their supposed purpose of fighting terrorism. They are currently used to silence effective political oppositions to regimes the administration considers essential to its policies and political longevity.

For many Arabs and Muslims in the US who fled the oppression of the Third World for the freedom and protection of the New World, Clinton seems determined to nurse their nostalgia.

VIRTUAL ACCESS

"But Clinton appointed Donna Shalala as Secretary of Health and Human Services," many Arab Americans naively boast as they foolishly herald the new era of Arab and Muslim "access." When objectively assessing alleged gains from the Clinton administration, only scraps have been offered. A handshake here and photo op there for the viewing enjoyment of few Arab and Muslim American leaders who were led down the road of feel-good politics devoid of substance while ignoring mounting setbacks domestically and internationally.

Access with declining influence and eroding civil liberties can hardly be considered progress. But with a great economy and a full wallet, the monetary sedatives have induced in many delusions of well-being which cannot pass the test of our painful reality.

If you still think Clinton feels your pain, wait until Al Gore, the father of profiling and a staunch friend of the Israeli and the religious right, assumes the Presidency. Then, you are about to feel pain in the absence of Bill's sedating charisma. With Gore, we can kiss goodbye more of our civil liberties.

AND STILL, IT TAKES TIME AND MONEY

As for the young generations and late comers to political activism, liberal or conservative, membership in organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org) should be seriously considered. If there is such a thing as civil liberties insurance, the ACLU will do nicely. They are obsessed with safeguarding the US constitution and civil liberties. And they are more effective at battling it out with the Clinton administration than some of our organizations who are limited in what they can do for fear of losing "access" to either the administration or Arab and Muslim authoritarian regimes.

Additionally, we should consider supporting organizations which seek to reform campaign contribution laws such as Common Cause (http://www.commoncause.org). They are also worthy of our serious consideration. Either you invest your money in defense of your rights or stop others from, unethically but legally, using their wealth to buy yours.

Then select a community organization(s) you trust in, and support their effort to grow and mature politically to be more effective. Mistakes will be made in the process but we must support the building of viable grassroots Arab and Muslim institutions. Our numbers are not lacking, but we need the spirit to win. Such political battles have been won before by smaller but better organized minorities. Building coalitions is also a vital part of a winning strategy. Any minority be it ethnic, political, or religious,  needs others to make an impact. An often neglected strategy but one to be taken seriously.

Vigilant upholding of the Constitution can be our only safeguard against unrestrained government and the tyranny of the majority. In case some of us have not noticed yet, we are not part of the majority. And we should never forget that a dollar of prevention many of us refused to pay yesterday have resulted in today's bitter harvest and will cost us more tomorrow. As with any investment, our civil liberties also depreciate with time if we don't make the right amount of contributions periodically in effort and money.

And never forget that as we speak, Arab and Muslim activists still languish in US jails or await deportation with no rights to due process, curtsey of Bill and Al. All the while, oppressive dictatorships and occupation continue to flourish in your nick of the wood.

Until then, and if we play our cards right, next election we can bypass presidential hopeful Al Gore and his abhorrent profiling system and vote in a president committed to civil rights at home; and a president who will not stifle democracy, human rights, and liberation campaigns abroad.

Little progress can be made with the US not on our side. Therefore, it is our duty as Arabs and Muslims in America to reverse this erosion by taking the initiatives to win back rights taken away by the Clinton-Gore administration. Then we should organize to influence the foreign policy of the greatest superpower that ever existed to safeguard human rights, democracy, and liberation no matter how long it takes. It is an enormous responsibility we should embrace wholeheartedly instead of being relegated to the annals of historical oblivion built for those who chose to be silent.