Common Ground News Service

The end of racial and religious profiling in America?

by Nadia S. Mohammad — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

New York, New York - As the American public reads of yet another report released on governmental surveillance of Muslim American communities, it is refreshing to know that for the first time since the 9/11 attacks, the US Senate Judiciary Committee, along with various state legislatures and federal agencies, are directly addressing long-held public concerns about racial and religious profiling � a practice within law enforcement that relies solely on race, religion or ethnicity to determine possible criminal activity. With these recent developments, could we finally be seeing the beginning of the end of racial and religious profiling in America?

The Senate hearing on racial profiling, initiated by Illinois Senator Richard Durbin, took place in conjunction with Durbin�s co-sponsored bill, the �End Racial Profiling Act of 2011� (ERPA), on 17 April. Racial and religious profiling has become a particularly sensitive issue for Muslim Americans in the past decade, although it affects multiple racial, ethnic and religious minority groups in the United States. In the United States, some assume that all individuals of South Asian or Arab descent are Muslim, and that being Muslim is somehow dangerous � which has led to members of these ethnic groups being profiled. Such practices violate the constitutional right to equal treatment under the law; moreover, racial and religious profiling is ineffective as it is based on unreliable assumptions about minority groups, rather than criminal behaviour profiles.

ERPA would also provide for additional training to help law enforcement, government officials and neighbourhood watch groups avoid using such tactics.

The political debate on the effectiveness of racial and religious profiling by law enforcement goes back several decades. Interestingly enough, when it last garnered high-profile political attention, it was former President George W. Bush who proclaimed, in a February 2001 address, that racial profiling is �wrong and we will end it in America.� He went even further to say that ending racial profiling practices would not compromise security.

Then came the attacks of 9/11 and what Bush once dubbed as �wrong� became an excusable right, in the name of national security. �In the national trauma that followed 9/11, civil liberties came face to face with national security�, said Senator Durbin, and all too often the promise of national security won, at the expense of Muslim Americans and other Americans who appeared to be Muslim.

The ERPA hearing comes at a time when racial and religious profiling is being actively challenged across the nation. Numerous civil-rights advocates and legislative officials have called for an investigation and independent nonpartisan oversight of the New York Police Department (NYPD), after it was reported that the NYPD systematically surveilled Muslim Americans and certain ethnic minorities in the area without probable cause.

After several police officers were arrested for illegally targeting and harassing Hispanic Americans in Connecticut, state legislators passed a definitive bill prohibiting �the stopping, detention or search of any person� due solely to �race, color, ethnicity, age, gender or sexual orientation�.

The decades of grassroots organising have also allowed civil-rights groups to provide the public with better tools and technology to empower themselves when faced with harassment by law enforcement. The Sikh Coalition, for example, recently launched a mobile application that allows travellers to file direct complaints with the government if they feel they have been unfairly profiled. In turn, these groups have been able to provide advocacy organisations and legislators with better assessments of the extent and the overall ineffectiveness of racial and religious profiling.

Some federal agencies, after public pressure, are taking measures to prevent organisational discriminatory practices. Both the military and FBI have initiated steps to review their training materials, due to recent reports of their use of severely Islamophobic materials. Last month the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the US armed forces ordered a review of the military�s training material in its entirety to ensure it does not contain Islamophobic content. This month, the FBI is holding workshops titled �Combating Islamophobia: Truths and Myths about Islam�.

While it is difficult to tell, at this point, what the standards of either the military or the FBI are in determining what constitutes Islamophobic material, the attempt to instil better standards is a small step forward.

The passing of ERPA would be a significant achievement at the federal level, but undoing the damage of decades of racial and religious profiling will be a lengthy process. This is only the beginning � in going forward, more legislators and law enforcement agencies will also need to critically examine their discriminatory practices and materials while allowing for greater transparency. Local and federal law enforcement officers will need training to better understand and spot possible criminal behaviour using more effective practices than racial profiling.

In ending racial and religious profiling and ensuring our civil-rights are protected, it is important to remember that we are not compromising our security; instead, we are enhancing our safety and building stronger working relationships between law enforcement and community members.

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* Nadia S. Mohammad is an Associate Editor of AltMuslimah.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @nadiasmo. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 15 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Reflections from a Palestinian Israeli after a missile attack

by Rema Kheriya Irshed — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Be�er Sheva, Israel - Over a four-day period this March, sirens periodically sounded to warn residents of Be�er Sheva, one of Israel�s largest cities near Gaza, to take shelter from missile attacks.

On the first day when the siren sounded, my son was not home. Panicking, I called his cell phone. There was no answer. I began to pray to Allah and meditate to calm myself and overcome an overwhelming fear for my son�s safety. I went into our reinforced safe room but couldn�t bring myself to close the door without my son inside.

Moments later, he burst into the house, followed by two Jewish friends. I rushed the boys into the safe room and shut the iron door behind them, speaking to my son in Arabic, our native language. I told the boys, in Hebrew, to call home and reassure their mothers that they were safe. I covered our dog with a blanket. It was enough that the Jewish boys were frightened. At least I could make sure they didn�t get bitten.

When one of the boys refused to call home, my identity as a mother faded into the background so that our national identities could be addressed. One of the boys, Yossi, had never met me before. There was something in his stillness that reminded me that it could be frightening for him to be with Arabs, even from his own community, during an attack. I considered the idea that he may have chosen not to phone home because he didn�t want his mother to know he was with Palestinians.

My thoughts and sympathies stayed with the Jewish mother who did not know where her son was. I could feel that mother�s anxiety, which had been mine only moments before. I insisted the boy text his mother to say he was safe in a shelter. That way, he would be filtering out the difficult information.

I put myself in this teenage boy�s shoes, sitting in a strange room with a Palestinian family while being bombed by Palestinians. I was overwhelmed with the boy�s fear of being trapped in a room full of the �enemy�. Even though it was unnatural for me to speak Hebrew with my family, to put the boy more at ease, I forced myself to do so.

The next day, the school that my son and his friends attend was closed in anticipation of further missile attacks. Though our family is Muslim, we chose to send our son to a Jewish school close to our house. When I returned from work, my son was not at home. Searching for him, I called the mother of the other Jewish boy I had sheltered, whom I knew better, and was told that the boys had all been taken to a local swimming pool. I offered to go pick the boys up and bring them home, and was given the address of the war veterans� club where the father of one of the boys was a member. I froze, finding it offensive that the Jewish mother could be so insensitive. I didn�t want my son at a military establishment, out of solidarity with the innocent Palestinians suffering retaliation across the border in Gaza. Then I asked myself, �What is the dilemma? When the mothers took him to that swimming pool, they were not thinking of us as Arabs. We are people looking after each other�s children.�

Both Yossi and I needed to rationalise away the fear of the other�s space, and what it meant about our identities to inhabit it. This complex zooming in and out of focus from background to foreground, from person to group and back again, is crucial to maintaining real relationships. For Yossi, it was hard to differentiate the people who are threatening him from the people protecting him. For myself, it was as natural to protect Yossi as it was to protect my own son.

I empathise with the fear of both Israeli children and the children of Gaza, and with parents� desperation to keep one�s family safe on both sides of the border. When one�s identity precludes a clear �us� vs. �them�, what becomes clear is the tragedy of this destructive pattern. Only when we recognise that no one wins from terrifying the other will we understand that triumph in battle is not a solution � and that both sides can be winners if we all choose to let each other live in freedom, and with dignity.

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* Rema Kheriya Irshed is a Palestinian Israeli psychotherapist and group facilitator trainer. This article was written with Ariel Katz, who studied Middle Eastern Studies at Cornell University and now works as a play therapist. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 15 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Egyptians and Saudis can unite to promote justice

by Manar Ammar — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Cairo - Saudi Arabia has announced it will re-open its embassy in Egypt, after closing it in late April due to massive protests. The conflict began when Ahmed al-Gizawi, an Egyptian human rights lawyer, was arrested in April by Saudi security forces upon arriving in the country to take part in the umrah, an Islamic pilgrimage. He was later accused of smuggling drugs into the country, a claim that Egyptians rejected. His arrest struck a sensitive chord with Egyptians, sparked mass protests that led to the closing of the Saudi embassy and resulted in bitter online arguments between Egyptian and Saudi human rights activists.

What I think that both Egyptian and Saudi activists missed in the ensuing debate, however, is that ultimately we, as activists, are on the same side in trying to foster support for human rights in the Middle East.

Over the course of the online attacks, both sides employed angry, frustrated and emotional language. As an Egyptian, I understood the fury from my fellow citizens. I found myself angered by Saudi activists� response, as well as al-Gizawi�s claims about mistreatment in custody.

The war of words between the two sides, both online and in print publications, was inflamed by focusing on perceived problems with the other side. Saudi writers criticised the �chaos� and political turmoil in Egypt. Egyptians responded by highlighting human rights violations against Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, where the Egypt State Information Service estimates there at least 900,000 Egyptian workers.

Despite such bitter disagreements, I believe that we � as human rights activists in both countries � have the potential to change our approach. If we can begin to use respectful language and be tolerant with those who are natural allies, we can do more to fight injustice in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Some activists attempted to calm the situation by posting positive things about the other side, which is a significant step. On Twitter, some Saudis used the hashtag "an Egyptian who influenced me" and mentioned Egyptians who had left a positive mark on a Saudi's life. Unfortunately, few Egyptians responded with the same warmth.

Those Saudis who began this hashtag campaign should be praised, and supported, by their fellow human rights defenders in Egypt. They can be powerful allies in the struggle for justice.

Ultimately, both countries are in the same boat. Voices opposing the government�s human rights violations are suppressed in Saudi Arabia, just as in Egypt. Even though we Egyptians feel frustrated, we should be mindful of individual efforts to promote tolerance on both sides during the battle of words � such as the brave activists who put forward a hashtag talking about which Egyptians had inspired them. This sort of action can help develop and push dialogue and understanding forward.

The quest for justice is global, yet we � in the Middle East and elsewhere � are often blinded by anger, and have trouble seeing beyond our borders. Human rights defenders in Egypt and Saudi Arabia both face grave dangers, including attacks on personal freedoms and speech, and the possibility of being arrested and charged for what they write on Twitter. Unifying both sides is critical to nurturing a region-wide culture that respects human rights. We should reach out to similar civil society activists and youth movements in Saudi Arabia and ask them to join with us in supporting human rights, instead of making generalisations and alienating them.

On-going dialogue, even when there is no crisis, can help to bring Saudi and Egyptian activists to the table on an on-going basis to understand each side�s struggle and point of view and learn how we might work together. And by choosing tolerant and peaceful language as they relate to each other, both sides can help to foster inclusion rather than embolden the emotional responses that often create a sense of hate.

The human rights communities in both countries need to step up and speak in a unified tone. Al-Gizawi�s case should be an opportunity to reject injustice and a chance for activists on both sides to claim him as their own. Such actions are key to creating a better, more just Middle East and a better world, one based on tolerance, understanding and respect for human rights.

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* Manar Ammar is a co-founder of Bikyamasr.com. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 15 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Telling stories behind bars breaks down barriers in Lebanon

by Nada Akl — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Beirut - The legendary story of Scheherazade from 1,001 Nights has been redone with a surprising twist. The cast that performed this new version, Scheherazade in Baabda is special. They are the Scheherazades of Baabda women�s prison, and they have many stories to tell.

Baabda is a small prison for women in the northern suburbs of Beirut. Like other prisons in the country, it suffers from chronic neglect and overcrowding. In recent years, riots in Roumieh, the biggest prison in Lebanon, have often made headlines, but the Lebanese do not often hear about the inmates in Baabda, a much smaller institution originally built to accommodate 30 inmates, but which sometimes houses 70 or 80 women. Despite the fact that the penal system should be geared toward facilitating reintegration into society, its poor living conditions contribute to excluding its residents from society. With Scheherazade in Baabda its inmates� voices could finally reach beyond prison walls, and help overcome distances between people.

For the Scheherazades, the empowering exercise of performing a play was an extremely rare opportunity to speak out. It was a chance to show the world who they are, what they think, and to express feelings ranging from frustration to hope and to showcase hidden talents.

Scheherazade was a captive storyteller for 1,001 nights; the comparison with the female detainees of Baabda prison ends here. While Scheherazade told tales of wonderful adventures in a beautiful fantasy world, the ladies who took the stage here have tales of a different kind: authentic life stories that invariably end up with the heroine behind bars. Their stories are ones of theft, drug trafficking and murder, stories that are unapologetic and real.

Scheherazade in Baabda was attended by government officials, members of parliament, ambassadors, the media, human rights activists and university students, as well as the inmates own family members. The performance was the result of several months of theatre workshops and writing sessions. The play was undeniably the cathartic result of that work, but perhaps the audience benefitted from it as much as the performers.

The fact that these voices were heard by an audience comprised of their fellow Lebanese is a truly great achievement in a country where public space is taken over by political leaders and their endless squabbles, and where sharp inequalities often mean that individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds might as well be living on different planets. The play, a rare glimpse into inmates� lives through their own words, broke down social barriers. For the inmates themselves, the vast majority of whom grew up in poverty and with limited access to the arts, it was an unprecedented discovery of their own power as individuals, as well as a healing process.

The play was made possible thanks to the efforts of actress and drama-therapist Zeina Daccache, a well-known and well-loved television personality who founded the Catharsis-Lebanese Center for Drama Therapy in 2007. Many Lebanese people first heard about this NGO in 2009, when Daccache initiated a similar project in Roumieh�s prison for men, and worked with the inmates to perform an adapted and personalised version of Reginald Rose�s 12 Angry Men. This American play about a single juror going against his peers� decision on a case was retitled 12 Angry Lebanese, and touched on themes of forgiveness, hope and self-development.

This initiative brings together people who would otherwise never hear each other�s stories. Catharsis is founded on the belief that the �incorporation of drama and expressive arts in therapy is an effective and empowering method for problem solving, promoting growth and well-being within individuals and groups; and that the arts can build bridges between cultures and different segments of society.� The centre�s mission is to offer drama therapy services to the community, including some of the most isolated and disadvantaged members of the society. They have been working in prisons since 2008, providing drama therapy even when not preparing a play.

The Scheherazades at Baabda took audiences through the absurdity of navigating the Lebanese penal system and its dire living conditions. The prisoners told their stories simply, through monologues and short scenes that they wrote themselves. They were also performers, writers and even dancers � the play also included a flamenco number.

The current living conditions in Lebanese prisons do not normally favour growth and learning. While detainees are in the custody of the state, it is initiatives by motivated individuals, such as this one, that bring hope to places like Baabda prison. And by telling their stories to the public, these Scheherazades are breaking down social barriers.

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* Nada Akl is a media professional and writer in Beirut. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 15 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Faith leaders must talk about violence in the United States

by Reverend Chloe Breyer and Sarah Sayeed — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

New York, New York - For those who loved Shaima Alawadi, the Iraqi-born mother of five and California resident, the recent media storm around her case likely provides very little solace. Speculation about the motivation behind her murder has become a topic of discussion across the country and beyond. Last March, when police found her body on the floor of her California home with a note next to it saying, �This is my country. Go back to yours, terrorist�, the country and the world saw the murder as a hate crime.

Yet, in April, when court documents became public, as the New York Times reported, and details began emerging about tumult within Shaima�s family, domestic violence also became a possibility. Although the case is not yet solved, the questions that are being raised, such as the country�s stance on hate crimes and how to talk about domestic violence and religion, are important conversations for Americans to be having.

According to Robina Niaz, Founder and Executive Director of Turning Point for Women and Families, the first non-profit in New York City to address domestic violence within Muslim communities, there are special challenges faced in minority religious communities when it comes to family violence. Muslim communities in the United States and Europe face pressure and scrutiny from law enforcement, and thus suspicion from the wider public.

Accordingly, additional layers of stigma are attached to family violence on top of the shame that often prevents victims from coming forward. That makes it that more difficult to address the problem and its roots. Likewise, fear of reinforcing negative stereotypes about women in Islam too often silences public advocates within Muslim communities from speaking out on violence against women, an epidemic that knows no religious boundaries.

Niaz joins others in her community pointing out that when domestic violence occurs in Muslim communities too often the whole religious tradition is suspected of authorising such abuse�erroneously bearing even more responsibility than the perpetrator himself.

Although for centuries Christian pastors and Jewish rabbis have preached messages from the pulpit that tacitly lend support to on-going cycles of family violence, these religious traditions are not subjected to the same public scrutiny as Islam. While Christian and Jewish perpetrators of domestic violence are rarely identified by their religion, a Muslim man who abuses his wife is too often held up as representative of his religious faith.

The reality that domestic violence is an equal opportunity offender when it comes to religion is something we know well here in New York City. In 2010 alone, the Mayor�s Office reported that New York City police responded to 249,440 domestic violence incidents and state-wide, the New York State Office to Prevent Domestic Violence noted that state courts issued 301,488 protection orders. These incidents occurred in all kinds of religious, ethnic and socioeconomic communities. The same year, New York City reported 350 hate crime incidents (up 27 per cent from 2009), with 699 in the state as a whole.

One source of hope for reducing both family violence and hate crimes in the future is the education of grassroots religious leaders.

For the past two years, the Interfaith Center of New York has worked with our partner, CONNECT Faith, to train religious leaders including Roman Catholic lay leaders, Orthodox Jewish men, African Methodist Episcopal Church and other Protestant preachers, Punjabi Sikh women, and an African American Shia cleric about domestic violence and what can be done within religious communities to prevent it.

Learning to be self-critical of one�s religious tradition has been an important step in this process of education, as all too often religious leaders are silent on the issue and need to learn to speak out.

Likewise, ICNY has worked with the New York City�s Commissioner on Human Rights and the New York Police Department to educate clergy about reporting hate crimes. Of the 699 hate crimes reported in New York State in 2010, 39.9 per cent involved religion (mostly anti-Semitic). For the last several years, the Interfaith Center of New York has been part of an ad hoc rapid response across the city in which religious leaders of multiple faith traditions and organisations stand together at an interfaith press conference following a hate crime. By standing up for victims of hate-related violence from faith traditions other than our own, we hope to send a powerful message to the whole city.

The discussion around Shaima Alawadi�s sad fate should serve as a reminder that violence, both within and outside the home, must be rooted out of our society and that as faith leaders we have a role to play in this work. Our religious traditions�all of them�can be an asset in this struggle and not a liability.

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* The Reverend Chloe Breyer is the Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York and Associate Priest at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in West Harlem, New York. Sarah Sayeed, Ph.D. is a Program Associate at Interfaith Center of New York and the President of Women In Islam, Inc. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 15 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org Copyright permission is granted for publication.

�Why they hate us� debate ignores positive role of Arab men

by Dalila Mahdawi — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

London - Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy unleashed a veritable media storm on Arab gender relations with her recent article for Foreign Policy magazine, provocatively titled, �Why Do They Hate Us?� referring to male attitudes towards women.

Amid the controversy, however, important questions risk being overlooked. Instead of dwelling on whether Arab men really do hate women, our attention might be better focused on formulating strategies to achieve gender equality.

Eltahawy may be doing gender relations a great service by raising awareness about the need for supporting women�s rights, but the article�s tone is controversial. The article, illustrated with photographs of a naked woman covered in black body paint suggestive of a niqab, is an impassioned diatribe against the poor condition of women�s rights in the Arab world. Eltahawy lists a catalogue of abuses women suffer, including her own beating and sexual assault at a protest in Cairo last year, attributing such attitudes to �a toxic mix of culture and religion�. The crux of her argument is that Arab women live as second-class citizens because they are �hated� by men. �Our political revolutions will not succeed unless they are accompanied by revolutions of thought � social, sexual, and cultural revolutions that topple the Mubaraks in our minds as well as our bedrooms�, she writes.

Her critique immediately led to a crescendo of emotionally charged responses, with some lauding the Egyptian writer for her bravery. Her detractors have been more vocal, accusing her of promoting simplistic views that pander to Western stereotypes of Arab women as victims in need of rescuing from a misogynistic Islam.

Eltahawy�s article certainly did not start the debate on women�s rights in the Arab world, but it has helped popularise it. On social media websites and in cafes, Arabs of different economic and religious backgrounds are busy contemplating the status of the region�s women.

But ignored in the debate is the existence of many Arab men working in solidarity and partnership with women to exorcise the scourge of gender inequality from their communities. A sizeable number of men are equally or increasingly involved in family duties traditionally seen as women�s work, such as child-raising, cooking and housework. We would do well to consider ways to further improve men�s involvement in the struggle for gender parity.

More and more Arab men are joining in women�s struggle for greater freedoms, accompanying them on demonstrations and viewing gender equality as integral to their vision of a better society. Some, like the Egyptian writer Ahmed Kadry, have taken to the blogosphere to call for an end to sexual harassment of women. Indeed, Arab feminism has found supporters among men throughout its long history- men who realise that they are equally held captive by strict interpretations of gender expectations.

Loaded language about hate has the advantage of drawing attention to an issue, but risks alienating the very audience that needs to be engaged with. Viewing men as hateful does little to promote the end goal of all gender activists, which is greater freedom and dignity for women. Instead, initiatives that increase men�s involvement in and sense of ownership of gender equality must be fostered. Grassroots projects to rehabilitate male perpetrators of gender-based violence, such as those run by the Lebanese organisations KAFA (Enough), an organisation working to end violence and exploitation, and the ABAAD Resource Center for Gender Equality, are doing just that, helping transform misogynistic attitudes towards women.

As Arab women and men, we must harness the angry indictments of inequality that Eltahawy has rightfully brought to our attention into proactive action. Rather than laying the blame for women�s disempowerment at the doorstep of �men� or �culture�, we should use peaceful and inclusive dialogue to reinforce the idea that women�s rights are everyone�s concern.

To paraphrase the physicist Albert Einstein, one cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it. Finger-pointing and blame games will only create further antagonism. Until women and men unite to throw off the chains of strictly dichotomous gender roles and identities, we are all culpable in perpetuating the disempowerment of our societies as a whole. The so-called Arab Spring may have disappointed many, but it is not over yet. These tumultuous times present an important opportunity for the region, and indeed the world, to engage in an inclusive and peaceful battle for greater freedoms for all.

Let Eltahawy�s article be a rallying cry to improve the communication lines between women and men. Their lives, as the United Nations Population Fund has noted, �are interdependent and � the empowerment of women benefits everyone.�

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* Dalila Mahdawi is a human rights journalist based in Beirut and London. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 8 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Beyond the two-state solution

by Michael Omer-Man — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Jaffa, Israel - After two decades, peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians have failed to bear fruit or bring about two independent states for two peoples. Recent polls demonstrate that as a result, Israelis and Palestinians are growing sceptical about the viability of a two-state solution. However, the most commonly discussed alternative, a single state with equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis, has not been taken seriously by either side.

According to a poll conducted last month by Hebrew University�s Harry Truman Center and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, roughly two-thirds of both Israelis and Palestinians believe the chances of implementing a two-state solution in the next five years is low or non-existent. The one-state solution, on the other hand, enjoys the support of only one-third of both peoples, although it has increased by over 10 per cent in the past year.

But the lack of confidence in a two-state solution and limited support for a single state should not mean the conflict is destined for intractability. Other options exist. Those which creatively incorporate elements of both the two and one-state models are being examined by some Israeli and Palestinian civil society groups and academics. And this simple act could yield positive results.

One explanation of the low support for the single state solution is the suspicion both Israelis and Palestinians have of each other�s intentions. Many people on both sides view such arrangements as favouring the rights and national aims of one side over the other, thereby framing the conflict as a zero-sum game.

We need to �expand the pie� and reformulate the zero-sum equation to one in which the two sides share resources like land, instead of dividing them. Such a framework could focus on the new benefits both sides stand to gain, rather than what each side must compromise on.

In the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, there are two widely ignored alternative models that do just that.

One model is a federation between Israel and Palestine that acknowledges the intimate and small geographic area of the land, while addressing the different communities and ethnic groups� desires for national self-determination. Unlike past proposals that envisioned a wider regional federation that would include Jordan, the current models limit themselves to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Most federal models include a number of administrative regions that are largely autonomous but still subordinate to a federal government whose jurisdiction is limited in scope to areas of shared concern. The sovereign concept of territorial control is maintained while obviating the need to sacrifice territory.

The federal model offers an interesting solution for Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital. The holy city would be the seat of a federal government that serves both nationalities equally. Administratively, it would fall under the control of no single national group or district.

One group promoting a federal model is the Federation of Israel-Palestine, a civil society group composed of both Palestinians and Israelis that focuses on new potential mechanisms for solving the conflict. Late last year the group planned to hold symbolic elections for 300 districts within Israel and Palestine to form a third, federal government. Palestinian anti-normalisation protesters, however, prevented the event from taking place, highlighting the difficulty of introducing alternative ideas into the mainstream.

Another model being discussed is also composed of separate Israeli and Palestinian governments within a single state, but unlike the federal model it does so without delineating internal geographic boundaries. The idea, which has not been implemented anywhere else in the world, was formulated by Israeli and Palestinian academics working with Lund University, in Sweden, on the Parallel States Project. In this project�s model, parallel state governments based on national identity would govern religion, culture and nationality for their citizens regardless of where they live within the territory. The two governments would coordinate security, infrastructure and other areas of shared concern.

These models face serious challenges and have significant shortcomings; neither adequately addresses how military and security forces are controlled or defines their role. Another problem is that an end to violence must precede any resolution that does not physically separate the two sides. While they have yet to gain traction amongst the general public, they are becoming better known in civil society and academic circles.

By combining and incorporating elements of both one and two-state solutions, there is an opportunity to reformulate the stakes and expand the possibilities for reaching an agreement.

Surely, if the current process and ideas are not working, it can�t hurt to look at others. Introducing new ideas into the Israeli and Palestinian discourse could revitalise the peace process and reveal undiscovered paths to overcoming seemingly intractable differences that have led to its stagnation.

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* Michael Omer-Man is a journalist based in Jaffa, Israel, focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a particular interest in grassroots initiatives on both sides. He has an academic background in conflict resolution. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 8 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Women on the road to political leadership in Tunisia

by Sana Sbouai — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Tunis - There are currently 59 women in the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly (NCA), out of the 217 deputies elected last fall to draft a new constitution. These 59 women were able to run in the elections as part of a political party either because they had demonstrated leadership in the past or because they negotiated with a particular party to be included on their list. The law governing the electoral process mandated that all candidate lists had to include an equal number of men and women, thereby establishing a baseline of equality.

Without the law on gender equality, however, would women have run for the NCA? The answer, I believe, is yes. It seems that Tunisian women are increasingly interested in actively entering the political sphere.

The final election results were mixed: 27 per cent of the members of the lower house of the NCA are women. This number is higher than many countries, but disappointing in light of Tunisians� expectations about equality. Of the 1500 candidate lists, only 7 per cent had a female at the top, with men occupying the remaining 93 per cent top places. The head of the list was most likely to win a seat as Tunisia�s system is a proportional one � the more votes a party receives, the more seats it gains in the NCA. However, the high number of parties running in the election resulted in the failure of many parties to win a spot for their head candidate at all, or in only winning a few seats. And because most female candidates didn�t lead party lists, many found themselves squeezed out, despite their hard work.

But women are involved in the public sphere. Last February, for example, the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) held a short conference for women, where the attendees prepared and delivered a list of recommendations to Mustapha Ben Jaafar, president of the NCA. The ATFD requested, among other things, enshrining gender equality in the constitution. They also provided proposals for bettering several aspects of women's lives � including increasing their presence in public life and politics; improving their access to health care, education, and job opportunities; and protecting them from violence.

Other women�s projects have also emerged, including the Collectif 95 Maghreb Egalit�, a group of 40 associations and NGOs focusing on gender equality. All these projects share the common theme of promoting women�s rights to create a more just society.

Faiza Skandrani, president of an organisation called Equality and Parity, which advocates for these principles in Tunisia, held a contest on Facebook a month before the October elections. It was titled "1,000 Women's CVs for the Constituent Assembly", designed to show Tunisian women�s active interest in politics. Skandrani received 800 resumes from women in many parts of the country who were interested in her project. The contest provided an opportunity for interested political parties to learn about potential female candidates as they created their candidate lists for the elections.

Women are also taking positions as political leaders. For instance, Maya Jribi, who was Secretary General of the Democratic Progressive Party (PDP) in 2006, was the first Tunisian woman in charge of a political party and is currently a member of the NCA. She says that she has never seen being a woman as a problem in the political world, nor has she considered it an asset. She simply positions herself as a labour activist and a politician. She is an inspiration to many who see her achievements as proof that women can succeed in politics through their own talent and skills.

Finally, women from different groups are starting to work together. The Vice President of the NCA, Meherzia Labidi, has proposed establishing a committee made up of women from different political backgrounds in order to draw on its members� diverse perspectives to find solutions to problems facing women.

Gradually, Tunisian women are making their debut on the political scene, which is helping solidify their hard-won gains. And as these new realities help shape the expectations of future generations, it is likely that these committed women will pave the way for young women who may someday become policymakers without facing any obstacles because of their gender.

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* Sana Sbouai writes for the blog Nawaat, with a particular focus on social issues. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 8 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Germany to young Muslims �Berlin needs you!�

by Julia Hoffmann — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Berlin - �Islam is not a part of Germany� read a headline in the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung before the start of a high-profile conference on Islam sponsored by Germany�s Ministry of the Interior. Headlines like these show how controversial political discourse on Muslim integration is in Germany.

But these do not represent the whole reality of Muslim integration in the country. There are many examples of initiatives on both local and regional levels that are successfully addressing integration in Germany � especially when it comes to young people.

One of these initiatives is �Berlin needs you!�, a campaign borne out of the need to support immigrant youth, including 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants, in Berlin. The majority of participants come from Muslim backgrounds, and the programme helps them navigate the German vocational training system and find careers in the public sector. When the programme began in 2006, only 8 per cent of those who had completed vocational training in public service and state-run companies came from immigrant backgrounds. The number climbed to 19 per cent in 2010 and the programme aims to reach 25 per cent soon.

A vocational education involving a 3-year apprenticeship, with half of the time spent in vocational school and the other half spent training on the job, is mandatory for anyone in Germany who wants to work as a skilled labourer and receive a regular salary without relying on government benefits.

Studies have shown that immigrant youth have difficulty climbing this educational ladder. They often lack support from their parents, many of whom work as unskilled labourers or are unemployed; additionally, German high schools usually only provide information on different occupations through classroom lectures.

�Berlin needs you!� began with an information campaign addressing students, teachers and parents to let them know about the opportunity to participate in vocational training in the public sector. Berlin�s public service sector � a significantly large employer � set a goal to increase the number of young people from immigrant backgrounds amongst its employees.

In 2009 the campaign began to cooperate directly with state-owned companies and developed a comprehensive approach to introduce students from grades 7 to 10 (11-16 year-olds) to different professions. Thirty-two schools and 46 companies have joined the project and cooperate regularly.

Students start with a one-day excursion to a company to get first-hand insight into working life and in the following year do a week-long internship in industrial or technical professions. The third year involves a three-week internship in security, health or administration. Finally, students receive training to complete job applications when they are in their final year of high school.

The programme wants to ensure that immigrant students get a comprehensive picture of different possibilities for their professional future. Programme manager Klaus Kohlmeyer says that they hope students can say �no, this is definitely not what I want to be� � and be able to say �yes� to the particular career they really want.

Meriran, a participant who is training as a clerk in public administration, says �working in the public service means having more opportunities in the future, and Berlin as a multicultural city needs young people from different cultures to represent [its] diversity.�

Currently the project offers students insight into 100 different professions in more than 12 vocational fields.

The idea of �Berlin needs you!� is spreading and a similar initiative is planned in Stuttgart. Yet, in Berlin there is still more work ahead. �People want successful integration, because it increases the quality of life in the city�, Kohlmeyer says. The programme hopes that through its work to create a more diverse public sector, it can help change attitudes in the wider community about integration.

�Berlin needs you!� contributes to a more integrated society by enabling each person, no matter his or her background, to realise their potential and succeed in professional life. It also contributes to the overall success of Germany�s economy, which relies heavily on a specialised and well-educated workforce � and thus to the country as a whole.

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* Julia Hoffmann is a Berlin-based consultant specialising in labour conditions and gender equality. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 8 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

What can we learn from Byzantium?

by Mehnaz M. Afridi — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

New York, New York - As I wandered into New York City�s Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the exhibit �Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition�, I began to think about the turbulent revolutionary events of the Arab Spring which have captured the world's attention over the past year. After reading so much about the turmoil in these countries, I wanted to delve into their pasts. These countries have rich stories of dynamic exchange and tolerance which deserve to be understood more widely today.

The Metropolitan Museum�s exhibit creates a rich narrative that illuminates an era of transition and interfaith interaction, beginning in 7th century CE when much of the Levant and North Africa was part of the Christian Byzantine Empire (also known simply as �Byzantium�). During this same century, with the rise of Islam, these areas became part of the Umayyad Muslim dynasty.

Today, we hear too little about pluralism in Muslim majority countries. In the 7th century, though, the Islamic Umayyad Empire (which lasted from 661-750 CE) was seen as an empire of many religions, as it incorporated Jewish and Christian communities.

In fact, interfaith art and culture had a strong presence throughout the 16th century reign of Emperor Akbar the Great in Mughal India, where multiple religions also lived side by side. It was much later, in 1893, that Christian Americans in the city of Chicago would create the World�s Parliament of Religions and that the term �interfaith dialogue� would be born.

I was stunned by the exhibit�s array of Roman-style tunics, silks, mosaic, tapestries, folios of sacred texts, trading goods, figurines, jugs and sacred images that helped remind viewers of the depth and diversity of influences that Judaism, Christianity and Islam have had upon one another in the Arab world.

Thinking of the upheaval in Arab countries today, I realised that the time of transition from Byzantium to Islam was also a time of upheaval, and that rich developments came out of it. These include the Umayyad Empire�s development of medicine and science, the first Christian Arabic lectionary and beautifully illustrated manuscripts with the Christian Gospels. These manuscripts� sumptuous quality evokes the grandeur associated with the liturgical objects used in Constantinople�s church of Hagia Sophia, a principle church for the Byzantine Empire. The particular Byzantine styles of the Christian manuscripts were influential in the creation of the earliest Qur�ans, which were written in gold on indigo-dyed paper during the Umayyad era.

The gallery exhibits the presence of a smooth, unbroken lineage connecting Byzantine mosaics and manuscripts to Islamic calligraphy. Viewers can easily see the fluid transition to the Umayyad Islamic empire and the connections between Christian and Muslim art.

Other objects in the exhibit also exemplify the syncretic nature of artistic exchange within the Abrahamic traditions, for instance, an oil lamp with Greek and Arabic inscriptions from the 8th century. As I scrutinised the lamp I saw a Christian inscription on its right side in Greek: �The light of Christ (is resurrection)�, on the left side �Christ and light� in Arabic, and on the bottom, an Arabic Muslim inscription that read �In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate.� The presence of both Christian and Muslim inscriptions that exalt God in their own languages demonstrates the tolerance of each author for the other group�s concept of God. This lamp represents, for me, a hope for peace amongst Muslims and Christians in countries like Syria and Egypt which are experiencing so much transition today.

As I left, I read that there were objects the museum had planned to get on loan from Egypt, but they were unable to. Their absence saddened me. But then I was struck by a small image of the Nile that symbolised the story of creation, and its image of earthly paradise that all the Abrahamic faiths could relate to. Ultimately, I believe, this exhibition leaves viewers with a feeling that we are all interconnected across lines of faith and culture.

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* Dr Mehnaz Afridi is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College in New York City. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 8 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Muslim Americans and Republicans: enemies, allies or friends?

by Omar Sacirbey — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Boston - It�s hard to watch the 2012 elections and not think that political and religious lines are cutting ever deeper into America. A pair of former allies, Republicans and Muslim Americans, whose relations have become beset with stereotypes and a lack of trust and communication, are a prime example. The Republican Party is typecast as hopelessly Islamophobic, and Muslims as a Fifth Column. Thus, we�re left to believe, the relationship suffers from irreconcilable differences.

The reality is not so clear-cut. Republicans and Muslim Americans have a long history of cooperation that, despite appearances, lingers today � even in America's two-party system that often seems to reinforce division.

It wasn�t that long ago, before 9/11, when a majority of Muslim Americans voted Republican. Back then, it was mainly over cultural issues like sex and violence on television, and foreign policy � Muslims viewed Republicans as the party most likely to support fellow Muslims abroad, including Palestinians, Bosnians and Afghans. Many of these issues still resonate with Muslim Americans.

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, a well-known Muslim American leader, urged Muslims in 2010 to make �strategic alliances� with conservatives and �recognise that we share a lot of common ground . . .� Yusuf added that �premarital and extramarital sexuality, the breakdown of the family, and the proliferation of pornography and drugs� were common worries.

Many Muslim Americans have also been drawn to the libertarian ideas of Texas Congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. While conservatives favour legislating social issues, broad police powers and hard-line military policy, the 76-year-old Baptist has strongly opposed the post-9/11 Patriot Act � which increases government powers to monitor citizens � and promised to keep America out of international conflicts, which often involve Muslim nations.

There is also an important historical precedent for this libertarian commonality. Islam was founded by a prophet who was a successful merchant, and not only preached about ethical business practices, but had a soft spot for free markets.

For example, after a natural disaster sent commodity prices soaring, Prophet Muhammad rejected price controls, according to Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, founder of the Minaret of Freedom Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, which focuses on exposing Muslims to free-market thought.

Muslims, who have often complained about being viewed as a monolith, are also beginning to realise that the Republic party is home to many diverse political philosophies, Libertarianism just one among them. There are also fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, neoconservatives, paleoconservatives, liberal Republicans and Tea Partiers. Muslims may identify with any one or several of these philosophies.

Although some conservatives have repelled Muslims with unabashedly Islamophobic rhetoric, there have been a few notable exceptions. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a potential White House candidate in 2016, not only appointed a Muslim lawyer, Sohail Mohammed, to be a state superior court judge last year, but shot down as �crazy� critics who alleged that the new judge would impose sharia. Erstwhile presidential candidate and evangelical Christian, Governor Rick Perry of Texas has also established good relations with his state�s Muslims. General Colin Powell chastised Republicans in 2008 for attacking Barack Obama as a closet Muslim, saying, and �What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no.�

While the best known Muslims in American politics today are Democrats, Congressmen Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Andre Carson of Indiana, several Muslims figure prominently in conservative politics. For example, Suhail A. Khan was policy director and press officer for California Republican congressman Tom Campbell and later served in the Bush administration.

And Reihan Salam has emerged as one of the leading voices in conservative discourse, writing for conservative magazines and co-authoring in 2010 Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the working Class and Save the American Dream.

While these and other examples show that �Muslim Republican� isn�t necessarily an oxymoron, the numbers suggest that Republicans and Muslims don�t talk like they once used to. A Pew Research Center poll in August found that 70 per cent of Muslim Americans identify or lean Democratic, compared to 11 per cent who identify or lean Republican.

Given their commonalities, Republicans don�t need to make drastic changes to win back at least some Muslims, but rather address the roots of the Islamophobic rhetoric coming from within their party. Tackling stereotypes within the party would go a long way.

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* Omar Sacirbey is a Boston-based correspondent for the Religion News Service, specialising in religion and international affairs. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Did the Pulitzer Prize miss the season of change in the Middle East?

by Muqtedar Khan — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Newark, Delaware - A few days ago, I was in Ankara having a conversation with a senior advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. As we were talking, I heard a loud bang outside his office window, as if someone had fired a gun nearby. Needless to say, I was startled, but my friend and his assistant remained unmoved by the noise. �[It was] just a sound bomb�, he said. Apparently, things like this often happened. We stood near the window and watched the rushing police cars and listened to their sirens. I comforted my disturbed heart by whispering, �Relax!, this is Ankara, not Kabul or Baghdad.�

Explosions are a new normal in our world. Violence, indeed egregious violence, has become such a big part of our lives that in some ways we are even beginning to celebrate it.

Massoud Hossaini, an Afghan news photographer, was taking pictures at a Kabul shrine on 6 December, 2011, when he too heard a loud explosion. A few shocking moments later he was photographing a 10-year-old girl, Tarana Akbari, standing in the midst of dead men, women and children. A suicide bomber had struck a Shia shrine in Kabul that killed 70 people. Tarana�s soul and Hossaini�s camera were eye-witnesses to this gory reality.

One of the pictures that Hossaini took of Tarana was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. People like Hossaini deserve every reward that society can bestow upon them for their service and bravery. The stories that they tell today become our history tomorrow.

Yet despite its importance I do not feel that the photo deserves a Pulitzer Prize at this moment. My feelings are not related to Hossaini�s own accomplishments but to the larger issues at play in determining what we value.

There is a proverb that a picture is worth a thousand words. And award-winning pictures are full-fledged narratives. Hossaini�s picture has now become another episode in the never-ending Western fascination with the horrors of the Muslim world. I can understand that the dramatic nature of the picture makes it a strong candidate for an award, but the story behind the picture is unworthy of recognition at this time.

Awards like the Oscars, Nobels and Pulitzers determine how we frame history. These awards do recognise merit but they are also political markers and reflect how the West wishes to understand and portray the world. US President Barack Obama�s Nobel Prize for peace in 2009 is one of those striking examples that remind us that these awards are narratives and not just prizes. President Obama had until then done little to earn the prize, but his victory in the 2008 elections was seen by many as a promise that American discourse on world affairs would change and promote peace internationally; a message reinforced by this award.

However, in 2011, the most prominent narrative was not terrorism but the quest for democracy. 2011 did not stand out because of Muslim violence; indeed it was special for the collective Muslim cry for freedom and liberation: the Arab Spring. Pictures of Tahrir Square, full of fervour, promise and hope, deserve recognition more than pictures of what is left behind after bombs have exploded, missiles have landed and drones have struck.

In 2011, I think the Nobel Prize for Peace committee followed the momentum of history by recognising the role women peace-makers were playing, awarding the prize to Liberia�s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, and Yemen�s Tawakkol Karman. Unfortunately, though, I believe that the Pulitzer Prize this year missed a season of change.

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* Dr Muqtedar Khan is Associate Professor at the University of Delaware and Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

The Muslim Brotherhood and the road to Egyptian democracy

by Nour Bakr — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

London - Rapid political developments have become a fixture of Egyptian politics in the post-Mubarak era. In the past few days, former International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed El-Baradei established a new political party, saying he hopes to revive the values of the revolution; and Saudi Arabia withdrew its Egyptian ambassador due to protests and unrest.

Egypt�s constitutional assembly, charged with the crucial job of drafting the country�s new constitution, is also in the midst of change. In March, Egypt�s parliament created the 100-member assembly, which included representatives from parliament, civil society and religious bodies.

Since its formation, the assembly has been heavily criticised from almost all quarters for including so many members of parliament, which is dominated by Islamic political parties. However, the solution to this impasse is not the removal of Egypt�s Islamic political parties from parliament, as much as their critics would wish it so.

Instead, the Islamic political parties who form the parliamentary majority need to embrace post-Mubarak Egypt�s political pluralism.

After an initial flurry of resignations from the constitutional assembly from members of parliament affiliated with small parties who felt they did not have a voice, there were several high profile withdrawals, including those of the representatives of Al-Azhar and the Coptic Church.

Due to this criticism, Egypt�s administrative court suspended the constitutional assembly in early April; however, the court�s decision is still subject to appeal. What Egypt most needs now is to reform the constitutional assembly so that it includes greater representation of Egypt's diverse social and political spectrum, and Islamic political parties have a role to play in this.

It is increasingly important that these parties make a genuine push for greater political dialogue if there is to be any hope of democracy in Egypt and a diverse constitutional assembly. They must broaden their narrow coalition and allow themselves to be subjected to greater influence from minorities and other political groups. Beyond the widely reported under-representation of both Copts and women in the constitutional assembly, Egypt's Nubians, Sufis, Shia population and other religious and ethnic minorities were entirely side-lined.

The omission of all but one of Egypt's revolutionary activists who risked so much in the uprising was perhaps the most galling of all.

The Muslim Brotherhood is both pragmatic and flexible with regards to who they engage with. Indeed many Egyptians assume that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Muslim Brotherhood have long had some type of arrangement with regards to their respective positions of power. While the Brotherhood's realpolitik has served them well thus far, it has contributed to a growing negative perception that they are self-interested and power hungry.

It is important both for the democratic future of the country and its minority groups that the Brotherhood transform these negatively perceived traits into tools for greater pluralism and democratisation. They should use their vast political experience positively by forming coalitions with democratic groups from civil society, small political parties and groups representing social minorities, rather than forming coalitions based mostly on self-preservation.

Currently, the Muslim Brotherhood is struggling with fundamental insecurities over the continued domination of Egypt's political sphere by the SCAF, which likely prompted their decision to field a presidential candidate, Khairat El Shaiter (who was later disqualified based on electoral law technicalities). However, the Brotherhood pledged earlier not to field a presidential candidate. Its leadership likely recognises that this decision has turned some Egyptians against them, and that pressure on them continues to grow.

The Muslim Brotherhood should risk political security to embrace working with a broader coalition of political parties and social minorities. This would contribute to a pluralistic environment that is both more resistant to the ruling military council and more conducive to fostering the kind of democratic political system so many Egyptians risked their lives for. A plural political system will ultimately benefit everyone involved in the political process, including the Muslim Brotherhood itself.

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* Nour Bakr is a British Egyptian freelance writer who focuses on Middle East politics, and is a regular contributor to Your Middle East and Comment Middle East. You can follow him on Twitter @nour_bakr. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Discovering New York�s Little Syria

by Nada Akl — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Beirut - While the Arab world is sometimes characterised as the opposite of the West in general, and of the United States in particular, it is important to remember that Arab Americans have a long and rich history in the United States. Like many other immigrant communities, their journey to a new home contributed to making the United States the country it is today.

According to the 2008 American Community Survey, there are over 1.5 million Arab Americans, accounting for approximately 0.5 per cent of the American population. They come from various Arab countries and consider themselves a diverse group with rich cultures. Consider some Americans of Arab descent who have contributed a great deal to the United States: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, 2010 Miss USA winner Rima Fakih, former presidential candidate Ralph Nader and comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

A group of New Yorkers is fighting to preserve the legacy of early Arab immigrants by raising awareness about the vibrant past of Washington Street. It is in the neighbourhood of Lower Manhattan, along Washington Street, where you can find what was once known as �Little Syria�. It was previously the centre of Arab American life in the United States and where the Arab American community, made up of Christians, Muslims and Jews, lived in the 19th century.

The area, also known as the �Mother Colony�, was home to several churches, shops selling Middle Eastern goods and Lebanese and Syrian restaurants. If you were to have visited during its 19th century heyday, you would have smelled the strong aroma of Arabic coffee and spotted many men wearing the traditional red fez. It was a hub for peddlers and prosperous businesses as well as a centre of intellectual life where you could find prominent Arab American writers like Ameen Rihani, Khalil Gibran and Mikhail Naimy.

As subsequent generations spread across the country and integrated, Little Syria was slowly forgotten. By the end of the 20th century, the construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the World Trade Center was the impetus for the demolition of most of the buildings associated with the early wave of Arab immigrants. Only three buildings from the street�s lively past remain today: 103 Washington Street, formerly Saint George�s Melkite Church; 105-107 Washington Street, once a community centre inaugurated by the governor of New York to serve the Little Syria neighbourhood; and 109 Washington Street, a tenement building still containing apartments.

Save Washington Street is an initiative to preserve these landmarks and raise awareness about the street�s past, recognising the legacy of the tens of thousands of immigrants who passed through it. The two individuals behind this initiative are Carl Antoun, an American of Lebanese descent whose own family spent time on that street and ran a successful business there; and Todd Fine, a Harvard graduate who for the last seven years has been raising awareness of Lebanese American author Ameen Rihani and his important contribution to early Arab-American relations.

The organisers� current goals are to continue raising awareness of the project and to get landmark status for the buildings. They are also looking for a buyer to acquire the buildings and eventually convert them into a museum. In addition, there are plans to erect a memorial statue to Ameen Rihani in Lower Manhattan and to put a plaque at the location of his former home on Washington Street.

Save Washington Street has received support from local politicians and people around the world who appreciate Arab culture. �We have been here just as long as every other ethnic group�, Antoun explains. �New York City is the most important city in the world for these things. The amount of cultures, stories, and languages we have here is remarkable. The early Arabic speaking immigrants deserve to be remembered and honoured just [like] every other ethnic group.�

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* Nada Akl is a freelance journalist based in Beirut. You can find out more about Washington Street at www.savewashingtonstreet.org. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Heavy metal music unites Jews and Muslims across the Middle East

by Roi Ben-Yehuda — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 -0400

New York, New York - Sometimes change happens in the most unlikely ways, fostered by the most unlikely of people. In the last few years, while Israel�s relationship with the Arab and Muslim world has drastically deteriorated, an Israeli heavy metal band has been uniting thousands of Jews and Muslims across the Middle East.

Orphaned Land, Israel's biggest heavy metal band, is credited both with pioneering the genre of Middle Eastern metal and with garnering thousands of fans in Muslim-majority and Arab countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran, despite the fact that their music is banned in many of those countries.

Orphaned Land, whose members are not overtly political, are nevertheless proud of having created a reality of coexistence that has escaped both politicians and peacemakers. They often speak of the power of music to turn purported enemies into friends; frequently pay homage to and encourage collaborations with Arab and Muslim artists; and have made their latest album available to download for free in a number of Middle Eastern and North African countries.

Reciprocating the band's courageous efforts, Divan, an Iranian rock magazine, featured Orphaned Land on their cover in an eight-page spread. In 2010, the band was awarded a peace prize by Istanbul Commerce University for their contribution to the friendship between Muslims and Jews in the Middle East. And in February, during a five-city tour of Turkey (proceeds from the Istanbul concert went to victims of a recent earthquake) Orphaned Land was awarded The Friendship and Peace Award from Dr Huseyin Tugcu, an advisor to Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

How did this happen and what can we learn from it? The story of an Israeli band�s surprising success in the Muslim and Arab world rests on three pillars: music, examples of cooperation and community.

Heavy metal is a growing genre in the Middle East and North Africa. Orphaned Land pioneered a style that fuses heavy metal with traditional Middle Eastern instruments, melodies and rhythms. In doing so, they managed not only to tap into a regional aesthetic sensibility, but also to demonstrate that the Jewish people have roots in the Middle East and that engagement with globalisation does not necessarily have to lead to erasing local culture.

Singing in English, Arabic and Hebrew, Orphaned Land has peppered their lyrics, which often deal with the struggle of light over darkness, with quotes from the Torah, New Testament, and the Qur�an � the latter of which they received some criticism for. With a vision of ecumenical spirituality, Orphaned Land has also managed to connect with an ever-opening religious sensibility that is part and parcel of the modern Middle East.

As for setting an example of cooperation, Orphaned Land has worked with Muslim and Arab artists over the past few years. On their 2010 album, The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR, the band joined forces with the Arab Orchestra of Nazareth as well as Zen Two, a Jordanian artist who designed the artwork for the album. And just this year, the band, accompanied by a Lebanese belly dancer, embarked on a European tour with a Tunisian and Algerian opening act � the first Jewish-Muslim heavy metal tour of its kind. For Orphaned Land and the artists who work with them, these types of collaborations are small examples proving that coexistence is a real possibility.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Orphaned Land model is the community that has formed around the band. Orphaned Land�s official Facebook page has over 60,000 members; fans from all over the world use it to leave messages for the band, add articles and videos, and interact with one another.

The importance of the Orphaned Land community lies in the cross-cutting ties and common identities that it has established. Many fans, by their own admission, explain that being a fan of Orphaned Land has transformed the way they understand one another, the conflict and the potential for positive change.

It would be easy to dismiss Orphaned Land as an aberration of no real significance. After all, how does a story of an Israeli band with Arab and Muslim fans compete with headlines about conflict? And yet, to do so is to misunderstand the potentially transformative power that is being created.

Orphaned Land has weakened destructive patterns of perception and communication, and helped build new forms of relations and recognition about what is possible. The key is not to invest all our hopes in one heavy metal band, but rather to become cognisant of how positive change can take root.

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* Roi Ben-Yehuda is a Professor of Conflict Resolution at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is also a graduate student at Columbia University and George Mason University and blogs at RoiWord.wordpress.com. You can learn more about Orphaned Land here. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 1 May 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Lebanon: Divided by war, united by The Team

by Firas Al-Dabbagh — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Beirut - On 13 April, 1975 Lebanon�s civil war began and continued for 15 years, instilling a "fear of the other", especially regarding religious and political differences. Now, more than three decades later, Lebanese youth are working to change this painful reality through a television series called The Team.

Search for Common Ground (SFCG), an organisation dedicated to promoting non-violent solutions to conflict, is responsible for the 13-episode dramatic series which started on 14 April. It airs in Lebanon on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International channel (LBCI) Saturdays at 7pm.

The cast is made up of teenage youth � male and female � from various Lebanese confessional groups. The series presents ideas likes accepting the "other," civic participation, mutual understanding, condemning violence and cooperation. According to one character on the show, the series is "a practical attempt to combat sectarian intolerance through sports", and "creates a sense of common ground among youth�.

In the first episode, viewers learn that Abdullah, a former army officer, lost his leg at a conflict along the Green Line during the civil war. After being invited to a military football game, he has the idea of creating a young team that would help foster unity instead of division in that same place. He decides to put together a football [soccer] team that includes the youth of two Beirut neighbourhoods, Ain Al-Rummaneh and Al-Shayyah.

Ain Al-Rummaneh is a neighbourhood with a Christian majority, and the place where the civil war first began. Al-Shayyah, an adjacent neighbourhood, is predominantly Muslim. For symbolic reasons, the series takes place on the separation line between the two neighbourhoods, the Green Line, which divided Beirut into east and west for 15 years during the civil war. The resulting strife and separation prevented the youth of these neighbourhoods from understanding each other, and therefore from being able to develop a vision for the country as a whole. Instead, the separation instilled a culture of violence and fear which is still present today.

Almost one year before the series was launched, SFCG held meetings at its offices with a number of young people to talk about a sense of national identity, civic responsibility and respect for the �other�, and to learn about human rights. Participating youth were then invited to join a discussion group about the key ideas that the series should convey and the main problems facing Lebanese youth. I was part of this group.

At meeting after meeting, we presented, as young people, our ideas and our fears. We noticed that sectarianism is clearly present in our lives, or rather that it permeates many of the problems we face, and that it has become a serious burden that can only be overcome with a concerted effort to change our reality from one of division to one based on unity. Hence, we wanted The Team to spread a culture of peace, help individuals see solutions to problems and cultivate a culture of citizenship.

In the second episode, for example, Karaki, a Muslim team member, has a dispute with a Christian team mate. Karaki�s mother asks her son to apologise and restore their friendship. In the process she develops an unlikely friendship with the mother of her son�s teammate �You are like a sister to me,� she tells her. �Anyway, what�s the difference between Ain Al-Rummaneh and Al-Shayyah? Nothing.�

The series highlights characters who overcome big problems on and off the football field in order to achieve common goals. The episodes highlight ways to enhance understanding and begin the process of accepting the "other". In sum, if the characters do not play together, they cannot achieve their goals � both to win in football and, by extension, to succeed as a country.

The Team works to promote feelings of belonging among its Lebanese viewers, regardless of their confessional or political identity. The team is a microcosm of Lebanon as a whole. Just as the players need to work together as a team in order to win, so must people in Lebanon also work as a team to overcome the fear that lingers from the civil war.

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* Firas Al-Dabbagh is a Lebanese blogger and activist who helped design themes for The Team along with a number of his peers. You can watch episodes of The Team on theteamlb.com. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 April 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Polishing shoes for communal harmony in India and Pakistan

by Sabur Ali Sayyid — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Islamabad - Hunched on the floor of Gurdwara Sis Ganj, a Sikh temple in New Delhi, Khurshid Ahmad Khan, Pakistan�s Deputy Attorney General, earnestly polished the shoes of devotees flocking to him either in delight or amazement. To him, polishing shoes served as penance for the brutal killing of a Sikh man at the hands of the Taliban two years prior in Pakistan. Engaging in this lowly act, for him, relieved the burden on his conscience about the problems that minorities face in his region. He believes they deserve a better life, free of intimidation and coercion.

Some may disagree with Khan�s philosophy of redemption. Khan, himself a Muslim, took time out during his visit to India to shine the shoes of devotees at places of worship, regardless of whether they were Sikh houses of worship or Hindu temples. In doing so, he wanted to show his respect for humanity and for other religions.

No one would dispute the fact that communal harmony in South Asia � particularly in India and Pakistan, where each year a large number of people are killed in the name of religion � is far from satisfactory. And no significant progress can take place in this area unless it is backed by the introduction of a multipronged approach to bring about greater communal harmony.

The genesis of Hinduism and Sikhism lies in South Asia. It has been welcoming to Muslims, Christians and people of other faiths, such as Jainism, Taoism and Shintoism. Peaceful coexistence has been a hallmark of this region. Though there have been instances of great strife, this tradition of coexistence is equally a part of the region�s history.

The Liaquat-Nehru Pact of 1950, which binds India and Pakistan to take every possible step to ensure that minorities are protected, is one example of this tradition.

Unfortunately, this pact has sometimes been ignored.

To address this problem, key stakeholders in India and Pakistan, including members of the media and civil society, could exert maximum pressure on their governments to ensure an empowering and safe environment for all citizens. And there are other ways that both countries can help vulnerable communities be seen as part of the mainstream. For example, students could be encouraged to learn about similarities amongst different religions, rather than learning about points of friction or confrontation.

Closely examining the teachings of the region�s religions makes it clear that they stand for love and peace. The prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) always emphasised the protection of minority rights, and the teachings of Jesus, Buddha and the notable Sikh saints Bhagat Kabir and Guru Nanak, call for love and peace. Such realities should be highlighted at every opportunity.

Furthermore, the religious holidays of minority faith groups should be observed by the state as public holidays and seen as adding to the beauty and diversity of the national culture.

Lastly, activists within the judicial system have so far not given enough attention to the status of minorities in both India and Pakistan. The courts have been sluggish in discharging justice when it comes to high profile cases on these issues. For example, in India, the cases of those accused of the Babri mosque destruction in 1992, as well as those accused of the deaths of hundreds of Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat riots, are still pending.

The situation is equally disappointing in Pakistan. It�s been over three years since the ransacking of a Christian colony in the Punjabi village of Gojra where a mob attacked a Christian community on the charges of desecration of the Holy Quran in August 2009, but the accused have yet to face trial. The situation is the same when it comes to the burning of churches in Faisalabad in 2009. A formal process demonstrating a functioning legal system and rule of law can go a long way to discourage those spoiling communal harmony.

Hopefully Khan�s very public message will not go unnoticed � and will be the impetus that spurs much needed action in the region.

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* Sabur Ali Sayyid is a journalist based in Islamabad. He writes on human rights, women and India-Pakistan relations, focusing on Kashmir. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 April 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Can Israelis and Palestinians accept a divorce?

by Michael Felsen — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Boston - Israeli author Amos Oz was born in Jerusalem in 1939, the son of parents with roots in Lithuania and Ukraine. In his 2002 autobiographical novel, A Tale of Love and Darkness, his father recalls how the walls in Europe were covered in graffiti: �Jews, go to Palestine." Then, when he reached Palestine, the walls were scrawled with the words �Jews, get out of Palestine.�

This memory visibly colours Oz�s perspective as a Jew and an Israeli. He is an unapologetic Zionist. He was also one of the first Israelis to advocate a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after the Six-Day War. In a 1967 article in the Labour newspaper Davar, he wrote that "even unavoidable occupation is a corrupting occupation".

An early member of Peace Now, an Israeli NGO dedicated to promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, he has opposed the West Bank settlements for decades. And in 2011, to the outrage of many, Oz sent a copy of A Tale of Love and Darkness, to jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, with this dedication: "This story is our story, and I hope you read it and understand us better. Hoping you will soon see peace and freedom."

I had the good fortune to hear Oz speak at a plenary session at the �pro-Israel, pro-peace� organisation J Street�s �Making History� conference in Washington, DC recently. Relaxed and engaging as he addressed more than 2000 attendees in a cavernous hall, Oz hammered at his primary theme: that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a tragedy �in the purest sense�, because it is a clash between �right and right� � between one very powerful claim to the land and another no less powerful claim over the same land. Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinians in the same way Greece is the homeland of the Greeks, he said, and Israelis are in Israel �for exactly the same reason�.

Oz made clear that he has little patience for the �sentimentalist Western� idea that the conflict is just a matter of misunderstandings that can be cleared up with �a little group therapy�. �Rivers of coffee drunk together cannot extinguish the tragedy of two peoples rightly claiming the same land as their one and only homeland�, he said. Instead of coffee, what he calls for is a �liveable compromise�. Compromise means life. The opposite of compromise is not idealism and integrity, but �fanaticism and death�.

To this Israel Prize laureate, one state does not offer a solution. Rather than a honeymoon, what Israelis and Palestinians need, in his words, is a �fair, if painful, divorce�. But instead of the current arrangement � one characterised by submission and domination � the divorced parties will live side by side, and not one on top of the other.

Oz is adamant that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians are ready to accept � albeit reluctantly � the divorce: a two-state solution, the 1967 borders with modifications and two capital cities in Jerusalem. He offers another metaphor: the patient, Israeli and Palestinian, is unhappily ready for painful surgery; the doctors are cowards. The doctors � the leadership on both sides � must step forward. Oz doesn�t know which leaders will have the courage to carry out the necessary surgeries, or when, but human beings are �open-ended�; they can surprise even themselves. And, he says with confidence, individuals who are alive today will make this happen.

Literary master that he is, Oz alludes to two kinds of tragedies: those of well-known English playwright William Shakespeare and those of 19th century Russian writer Anton Chekhov. With Shakespeare, at the end of the play, the stage is covered with dead bodies, but justice prevails. Chekhov�s characters, on the other hand, are disappointed, disillusioned, and melancholy � but alive.

Oz is looking toward a Chekhovian end to the Israeli-Palestinian �tragedy�. He doesn�t expect the players � two peoples with equal claims to the same land � to be �happy� when the conflict is finally resolved. But they will be alive, and capable, over time, of healing, and of building a new and productive relationship.

Those of us who listened to Oz at J Street�s conference might differ on which of his metaphors � divorce or surgery or home subdivision � is most apt in describing how the conflict must be resolved. But I expect we agree on this: the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy needs a non-Shakespearean end, and soon. It's called compromise.

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* Michael Felsen is an attorney and is on the board of the Workmen�s Circle in Boston, Massachusetts, a 110-year old communal organisation dedicated to secular Jewish education, culture and social justice. This article first appeared in the Jewish Advocate and was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 April 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Can we give the Tunisian government a chance?

by Sonia Bahi — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Tunis - On 26 March, the government of Tunisia, which is led by the Islamic party Ennahda, officially decided against including sharia, Islamic principles of jurisprudence, in the new constitution. This may be a game-changing move at a time when there is so much criticism of the new government and concern about their �moderate Islamic� label. In fact, it could change the way people see the party.

Ennahda is a religious party. There is a vocal part of the population that is convinced that politics and religion don�t mix, and is suspicious of the government�s intentions. But with this decision, Ennahda demonstrated that when it comes to the constitution, it is not afraid to take a position contrary to Tunisia�s more conservative religious groups.

Last October, following the first free elections in Tunisia after 50 years of dictatorship, Ennahda was the primary winner, taking 89 of the 217 seats that make up the constituent assembly. It chose to align itself with the Congress for the Republic Party, which won 29 seats, and the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (also known as the Ettakatol Party), which won 20 seats, to form a majority.

National and international observers have said that despite some minor irregularities, elections took place without corruption and in line with the democratic process. Yet an air of discomfort remains.

Small extremist groups who use violence to make themselves heard, upsetting the delicate post-revolutionary balance, soon came to be seen as linked with Ennahda after a few big events that were widely reported by the media. One of the events that caused the greatest stir in the press was the occupation of Manouba University to demand that students be allowed to wear the niqab, which covers the female face, head and body. The occupation lasted over a month with no obvious reaction from the government.

In this context, can or should Tunisians give the government a chance to keep its promises to the people, and hold it accountable if it does not?

The answer is not straightforward. The role of citizen in democratic Tunisia is still new, as is the role of government spokesperson. There is little political expertise within the government, which is working in a difficult and tense context. For its part, the government must increase communication and take clear positions, particularly concerning acts of violence. Its actions and policy must be transparent enough for constituents to evaluate whether the government is upholding its promises.

Civil society also has a responsibility to give the democratically elected government a fighting chance to succeed. The problems facing Tunisia today have been in the making for decades. It is not reasonable to expect the government to find a magic solution in a few months. It is important that the government meet its responsibilities, but when we dwell only on the mistakes, we may miss the things that it has done well.

Some media outlets accuse the government of censorship, yet this same media now has the freedom to criticise government actions. This freedom bodes well for democracy.

And there are some promising developments happening on the economic front that shouldn�t be ignored. Nejib El Gharbi, communications officer of the Ennahda party, was clear: the economy is the country�s priority and when it comes to the economy, things are moving. For example, in the northern suburbs of Tunisia, work on a huge business centre has begun. In Enfidha, a few kilometres from the large coastal city of Sousse, there are plans to build a port that will accommodate large cargo ships. And the Sama Dubai project, a huge real estate development on the Lake of Tunis which had been suspended since the revolution, has resumed. These initiatives alone already represent thousands of jobs.

We can give the benefit of the doubt to the government while remaining vigilant to ensure accountability. And we can maintain a critical eye without constantly providing negative criticism. Criticism and opposition are part of the democratic process, but the celebration of positive change is just as important.

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* Sonia Bahi is a freelance journalist and editor of Baya.tn, a website for and about Tunisian women. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 April 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Yemen after the presidential elections

by Abdul Wasa Al-Saqqaf — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Sana�a - On 21 February Yemenis went to the polls and elected former vice president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi as president in a one-candidate referendum, ending the 33 year-rule of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Some see this as the end of the struggle between political elites and the popular, peaceful youth revolutionary movement.

But what it really marks is the beginning of a long-term period of growth and the first fruits of the Gulf Initiative, which was signed in November in Riyadh. The Gulf Initiative called on the Yemeni president to delegate power to his vice president and set a 90-day period for the vice president to call a presidential election. It also called for a national dialogue about the future of the country.

The Gulf Initiative was signed by most parties involved in the political crisis that led to Saleh stepping down, notably the General People�s Congress party (the ruling party) and the Joint Meeting Parties (the opposition). Other parties � including the Houthi separatist movement in the north; the Hirak in the south, a large-scale movement that includes southern separatist groups; and representatives from the popular youth movement that led many of the protests � were not present. These parties are concerned that a transition of power is not enough and are demanding a complete regime change.

Moving forward requires involving these parties in a comprehensive national dialogue to determine the future of the country. This process is both critically important and difficult to implement.

There are several groups, each with their own demands. Opposition parties and the revolutionary youth movement call for political reform involving more freedom of speech, peaceful transition of power and equal opportunities for all political parties to participate in future elections. Other demands jeopardise the country�s current constitution, which was written in 1990 and helped unify the country after a civil war: these include the Hirak demands for southern secession and the Houthi movement for northern independence. In addition, there is also a silent majority that is concerned primarily with safety and economic growth; tribes demanding power and financial resources; extremists affiliated with Al-Qaeda calling for an Islamic state; and economically marginalised groups demanding greater equality.

Furthermore, some of these powers are well-armed; others have money and authority. Some have garnered popular support. The current situation in Yemen is a recipe for a prolonged political crisis that could worsen the rift between the different groups and cause extreme economic instability.

In order to avoid such repercussions, political, tribal and social leaders must prepare for a comprehensive national dialogue that guarantees the involvement of all powers � regardless of how small their roles in the political process are. The basis for the dialogue should be finding a way that the country can move forward as a whole.

Two key points should be discussed during this national dialogue. The first is restructuring the armed forces and security forces to work for the country as a whole, and ensuring their neutrality in the political process. This will help foster greater trust in the central government and demonstrate that the armed forces do not work for any one faction or group. Second, the constitution, which was drafted in 1990, must be reworked and presented for a referendum.

The constitution should include the adoption of a federalist system, in which the central government oversees provinces that have some autonomy. In addition, it should call for an electoral system based on proportional representation, whereby even small parties can garner votes and gain a voice in the government. This will help safeguard the rights of minorities and the politically marginalised, and will guarantee the participation of all political groups in decision making.

Such measures could pave the way for political stability and security, improve development and revive the economy. They are a necessary first step before forging ahead in establishing a democratic system based on equal citizenship, the rule of law and peaceful power-sharing, and moving away from marginalisation, violence, oppression and corruption.

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* Abdul Wasa Al-Saqqaf is a member of the World Council of Press and Director of Etijahat Center for Studies and Impact Assessment in Yemen. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 April 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.