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A Director's Chairby Lenore Gensburg and Jim Morrison Recently a Coop member requested of the Board of Directors that we sign a statement of support for Arab and Muslim local community members who have been attacked and discriminated against. The Board’s first reaction was an "of course" one: They are our neighbors and friends. Although the Coop is not a political organization in the narrow sense of taking stands on political questions, and the Board cannot and does not necessarily speak for all of its members, this is a matter of simple human rights and "of course" we ought to agree. We welcome and cherish all forms of cultural and religious diversity in our community; we are all the richer for them. Many in the Arab and Muslim communities are members or shop at the Coop and are part of "our community" in that smaller sense as well. In a way our response is moot, since it turns out that we were being requested to sign off on a statement ultimately published in Metroland on November 18. The information did not reach us in time. But simply signing a general statement of support, as good as it is, is a rather passive response. We need to do more. All of us ought to protest vigorously the attempt by some parts of the media and even some parts of government to transform the current struggle for control of the Middle East into a religious war, into some transcendent "clash of civilizations." While of course there are religious dimensions to it, in the sense that the U.S. and its allies are largely Christian and the countries of the region are largely Muslim and both sides use religious rhetoric to justify their actions, it is no more a "holy war," a crusade (despite President Bush calling it that) than the original Crusades were holy wars. Both were/are attempts to conquer land and control the indigenous population and resources. The Nazis of World War II were often devout Christians and used Christian rhetoric, but that does not make their strategy of conquest a Christian strategy. Nor is bombing the World Trade Center a jihad one. Unfortunately Arabs and Muslims in our communities are caught in the middle of this struggle, and become the target of overzealous and misguided self-styled "patriots." Individuals are attacked. Mosques are raided by the government on the flimsiest of excuses. People lose their jobs. We must take the initiative whenever we get the chance. When we witness anti-Arab and anti-Islamic attacks — verbal or otherwise — we need to speak out. When the current war is presented as Christianity (sometimes with Israel added on) against Islam, we must object. We need to ask the President why he allows military personnel — one of them a general — to assert on speaking tours that this war is about Christianity vs. Islam, the true god against false gods. And when families of victims of anti-Islamic attacks appeal for aid we must do what we can. Fundamental values are at stake here, values important to Honest Weight members. If not us, then who? And if not now, when? The targets of the government raid on the Central Avenue mosque last summer are still under arrest, must wear monitoring shackles, and have a curfew. |
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