*EPF513 07/30/2004
U.S. Arabs, Muslims Become More Involved in Civic Life
(One Arab American leader stresses involvement in local politics) (870)

By Nidal Ibrahim
Washington File Special Correspondent

Washington -- Arab Americans and American Muslims, who have tended to be politically dormant in the past, are increasing their political mobilization, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign financing and political activism.

"Without a doubt, Arab interests are increasing their clout," said Steven Weiss, the center spokesman.

He pointed to the Arab American Institute's National Leadership Conference in Dearborn, Michigan in 2003, which attracted most of the presidential candidates in this year's election.

Hady Amr, the co-founder of the New Dominion Political Action Committee (PAC), has been working for the past year and a half to encourage the roughly 70,000 Arab Americans in Virginia to participate in civic activity. His New Dominion group is the most recent Arab American PAC to be formed in the United States.

Amr, a supporter of Democratic nominee John Kerry, said it is important that Arab Americans recognize that all politics begin at the local level.

"It's been a longstanding desire of mine to launch a PAC," he said. "It's an important step for the community to take because a lot of time the Arab American community shoots too high (in trying to influence national races). We know we can be effective at the local level."

While the launching of New Dominion PAC was greeted positively by community leaders, many were aware of just how far behind the Arab American community lags other groups in their organizing efforts.

Khaled Saffuri, chairman of the board of the Islamic Free Market Institute, a conservative-leaning, Washington, D.C.-based organization, said Arab Americans are increasingly aware of the importance of donating and becoming active to campaigns, but that they don't always organize in ways that make it obvious they are operating as an Arab American interest group.

"There is lot of money giving on a personal level and most donors don't tie in on Arab and Muslim issues, they do so on personal interests rather than community interests," Saffuri said. "There's a substantial amount of funds that's raised by Arabs and Muslims in this country and sent directly (to campaigns) without any (PAC) ties."

As an example, Saffuri cites a study by the Islamic Free Market Institute of the 2000 Campaign and Arab American and American Muslim contributions to Bush's campaign. A search of databases for obvious Arab and/or Muslim names found many private contributors.

"We found hundreds of thousands of dollars of money that came to the Bush campaign from Arabs and Muslims," said Saffuri, estimating that at least $2 million may have flowed to Bush coffers from Arab American and American Muslim individuals.

As an example, he cites a Colorado doctor who gave $100,000 and a Texas doctor who contributed $50,000, both of whom happen to be acquaintances or friends of Bush.

"I personally raised $60,000 for Bush from Detroit, Washington, D.C. and Chicago" area Arab Americans and American Muslims, Saffuri said.

Amr says that Arab Americans are becoming more aware of the importance of political money giving, but are also stepping up their efforts in other regards as well.

"If you want to use (campaign donations) as an indicator, the numbers speak for themselves. The point is the door isn't closed anymore," he said, referring to the 1980s when politicians returned Arab American donations. "It's a totally different situation."

Additionally, Amr stressed, political influence in the American political system comes from three sources, only one of which is financial contributions. Volunteerism and "wasta," or connections, are just as important, he added.

"Ninety percent of the reason I am part of the system is because I volunteer," Amr said. "I'm intelligent, I'm involved in the system, people know and respect me and because I present my case in a digestible and easy manner, that's why I'm part of the system. It's not because I gave money. I'm not going to get access because I gave Kerry $1,000. Even if I raise $10,000 or $100,000 it's a drop in the bucket. When you're talking about presidential politics. The amount you need to raise is in the millions. It's the volunteering that gets you inside the political process. I can't stress that enough."

With regards to connections, or wasta, the measure there "is in a really broad sense, how involved are you in your community, with your local paper?"

Just as importantly, Arab Americans have made inroads, not only as political candidates but also in accessing some of the internal machinery of the Republican and Democratic parties, Amr said.

"The fact is now that there are enough role models, you do have Spencer Abraham (Secretary of Energy) and John Sununu (New Hampshire senator)," he said. "You have (New Hampshire Governor) Jeanne Shaheen as a chair of the Kerry campaign. These are big things. These are really big things.

"These are not the Arab Americans of the 1960s, who kept their heads down and pretended they weren't Arab Americans. These are Arab Americans who are happy to encourage Arab Americans to be involved in the process," Amr said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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