Gaza Prompts New Awakening Among Arab and Muslim Youth

By Yasmin Qureshi


	Calling for an end to the U.S.-led war on Iraq, young protesters carry Palestinian flags through downtown San Francisco on March 21 (Staff photo Phil Pasquini).

ISRAEL'S ASSAULT on Gaza has spurred an awakening among American Arab and Muslim youth. The 22 days of attacks took place during the year’s most festive holiday season, starting just after Christmas. Instead of celebrating the season, however, young American Arab and Muslim teenagers and kids spent their time protesting on the streets as they watched disturbing and devastating images streaming into their living rooms and onto their computers.

This new generation of youth grew up witnessing the gross violation of American civil liberties, under the shadow of the PATRIOT Act. They watched Iraq and Afghanistan being destroyed by U.S. weapons, and saw citizens of their ancestors’ countries tortured and humiliated. Nor had they forgotten Israel’s unjustified attack on Lebanon only two years earlier.

During the 2008 election campaign that culminated in the election of President Barack Obama, many discussions on mailing lists centered on why Muslims had no voice in the campaign. Some analysts concluded it was because Muslims are not part of the “American story.”

But what is an “American story”? Can those of us from immigrant backgrounds really dissociate themselves from their countries of origin, when their tax dollars are being spent on weapons to kill civilians in those countries?

The youth we see today protesting on the streets and organizing events on campuses are part of the “American story—the story of wars waged in their countries of origin. In their school essays they write of their perspective on Gaza, Palestine and the protests they are participating in here at home.

“We were very young when 9/11 happened,” explained Billal Asghar, a senior global studies and health science major at San Jose State University. “We grew up under Bush’s presidency and witnessed our community being marginalized. We were often questioned about our religion and culture. This brought many of us closer, and we started organizing awareness events on campus.”

Most Arabs and Muslims lived in fear in the first few years after 9/11, staying away from political activism and limiting their social activities to the mosque. A conscious decision was made to focus on Islam and Muslim issues within the U.S. and not speak up against the atrocities being committed in countries where their roots are.

Today, however, they are defiant and determined to stand up against injustice. The family of Yasmine Alkhatib, a 22-year-old student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), migrated from Iraq when she was 5. Last year she organized Palestinian events to mark the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. “Growing up in America, which preaches virtue and justice, I always felt that I could express my views and opinions about the way the world works,” she said. “When we see war crimes being committed by Israel on women and children or our rights being vandalized in the United States, we feel incensed and consider it our duty to fight against it.”

Karimah Al-helew, a student leader at San Jose State University and one of the organizers of the protests in that city, has traveled to the West Bank four times. “I know what it means to live under an illegal occupation. I can see that my tax dollars are going to support the poverty that has suffocated my family there,” she said. Her father, who passed away a year ago, was a Palestinian, and her mother is from Cuba. Speaking in Spanish at an immigrant rally in San Jose last month she said, “I am not speaking as a Palestinian or Cuban or American, I am speaking as a human being; you only have to be human to understand what is just.”

Raunaq Khodaai, who was born in India and is a mathematics major at Mission College Santa Clara, said that a class she took last year on the modern history of Europe motivated her to become politically active. “As I started reading more I felt that the Palestinians have been suffering for the longest time post World War II,” she said.

The unbalanced reporting on the Iraq war and Israel-Palestine issue by the mainstream media has led youth to rely on new, more innovative ways of information gathering. Their source of information is alternate media like Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now,” YouTube or Internet blogs, and social networking through instant messaging, Facebook and other such applications.

“We are Web savvy and like to search for other perspectives online,” said Raunaq. When Israel banned the media from entering Gaza, for example, these channels of communication were used effectively to broadcast the personal horror stories and images coming out of Gaza. “Facebook became a newsstand when the war broke out,” said Karimah. “The quickest way to get the word out for a rally would be to simply change your status.”

Some of these students joined with African Americans to protest the shooting of Oscar Grant by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer in Oakland. “The struggle for justice and equal rights in occupied Palestine is no different from what the African Americans struggled for in this country,” said Laila Khatib, a San Francisco State University graduate. “Racism witnessed against Arabs throughout the recent election campaign is still fresh in my mind,” she added.

Arab and Muslim youth have been getting increasingly organized during the past few years. They realize that to become part of the “American story” of their struggle for civil liberties and justice they must participate in the local community and be involved in the political process.

Their role in electing this country’s first African-American president has given them new hope. “There is new excitement about bringing change bottom-up,” said Billal. “The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine have invoked a lot of passion and energy, as well as dismay at U.S. foreign policy. People are tired of these wars and can see what they have done to our economy.”

These energetic and determined young people recognize the power of grass roots community organization to bring about change. They will continue to join hands with other student communities and push President Obama for the restoration of civil liberties and a change in U.S. foreign policy.

Yasmin Qureshi is a Bay Area activist involved in South Asian and Palestinian issues. A member of The Free Gaza Movement and Friends of South Asia, she was one of the organizers of the Mumbai peace vigil in San Francisco and worked closely with the youth to organize protests against the Gaza attacks.