Anti-Arab racism

Anti-Arabism is prejudice or hostility against Arabs. According to The Guardian, "anti-Arabism" is considered to be the same as anti-Arab racism and the terms are used interchangeably in the media .

Anti-Arabism in the U.S.

According to a 2001 poll of Arab Americans conducted by the Arab American Institute

"32% of Arab Americans reported having been subjected to some form of ethnic-based discrimination during their lifetimes, 20% reported having experienced an instance of ethnic-based discrimination since September 11. Of special concern, for example, is the fact that 45% of students and 37% of Arab Americans of the Muslim faith report being targeted by discrimination since September 11.[1]

According to the FBI and Arab groups, the number of attacks against Arabs, Muslims, and others mistaken as such rose considerably after the 9/11 attacks. [2] Among the victims of the backlash was a Middle Eastern man in Houston, Texas who was shot and wounded after an assailant accused him of blowing up the country [3] and four immigrants shot and killed by a man named Larme Price who confessed to killing them as revenge for the 9/11 attacks.[4] Although Price described his victims as Arabs, only one was from an Arab country.

Arab Americans also experienced backlash as result of other terrorist attacks including the bombings of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and even in events where Arabs were not involved like the Oklahoma City bombing, the Iranian hostage crisis, and the explosion of TWA Flight 800.[5] According to a report prepared by the Arab American Institute "In just three days after the Oklahoma City bombing...more than 200 serious hate crimes were committed against Arab Americans and American Muslims. The same was true in the days following September 11."[6]

Eric Boehlert has accused the US media, in particular Fox News, of "pandering to anti-Arab hysteria" by "fudging the facts and ignoring the most rudimentary tenets of journalism in their haste to better tell a sinister story about lurking Middle Eastern dangers". John F. Sugg has accused prominent media terrorism expert Steve Emerson of persistent anti-Arab prejudice and of rushing to accuse Arab-Americans after the Oklahoma City bombing.

Prominent conservative commentators in the United States have voiced hostility towards Arabs. Bill O'Reilly has described Iraqis as a "prehistoric group" and "primitive" [7]. Michael Savage described Arabs as "non-humans" and "racist, fascist bigots" and advocated a nuclear attack on a "major Arab capital" .

Earl Krugel and Irv Rubin, two members of the Jewish Defense League, classifed by some as a hate group[8], planned to bomb Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa's office and the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California. The two were arrested as part of a sting operation when they received a shipment of explosives at Krugel's home in L.A. and both met their end in prison. [9]. The group was also suspected in the 1985 bombing of ADC leader Alex Odeh, though no arrests were made [10].

Anti-Arabism in Australia

Cronulla race riots in Sydney, Australia in December 2005. NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the violence revealed the "ugly face of racism in this country" . It has also been described as "anti-Arab racism" by community leaders [11].

A 2004 report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission said that more than two-thirds of Muslim and Arab Australians say they have experienced racism or racial vilification since the September 11 terrorist attacks and that 90 percent of female respondents experienced racial abuse or violence.

Anti-Arabism in Iran

Anti-Arabism in Iran is related to the notion that Arabs forced Persians to accept Islam in 7th Century AD (See: Islamic conquest of Persia). Author Richard Foltz in his article "Internationalization of Islam" states "Even today, many Iranians perceive the Arab destruction of the Sassanid empire as the single greatest tragedy in Iran’s long history. [12] See also: Anti-Persianism by Arabs

Anti-Arab prejudice was also inflamed by the hostilities between Iran and Iraq. Iranian Arabs were mistrusted and accused by some fellow Iranians for supporting and collaborating with Iraqi forces in the Iraq invasion of Iran in 1980. However such sentiments were not widespread inside Iran. During a visit to Khuzestan, which has most of Iran's Arab population, one British journalist, John R Bradley wrote that despite the fact that the majority of Arabs supported Iran in the war, "ethnic Arabs complain that, as a result of their divided loyalties during the Iran-Iraq war, they are viewed more than ever by the clerical regime in Tehran as a potential fifth column, and suffer from a policy of discrimination."[13]

However, the role Iran's Arab population played in defending Iran during the Iran-Iraq War and the fact that most refused to heed Saddam Hussein's call for an uprising and instead fought against Iraq is known to many.[14]

In a report published in February 2006, Amnesty International claimed that the "Arab population of Iran is one of the most economically and socially deprived in Iran" and that Arabs have "reportedly been denied state employment under the gozinesh criteria". Furthermore, it states

land expropriation by the Iranian authorities is reportedly so widespread that it appears to amount to a policy aimed at dispossessing Arabs of their traditional lands. This is apparently part of a strategy aimed at the forcible relocation of Arabs to other areas while facilitating the transfer of non-Arabs into Khuzestan and is linked to economic policies such as zero interest loans which are not available to local Arabs. [15]

However, critics of these reports have pointed out that such reports are often based on sketchy sources and are not always to be trusted at face value (see: Criticism of human rights reports on Khuzestan). Furthermore, critics contend that Arabs do have social mobility in Iran, with a number of famous Iranians from the worlds of arts, sport, literature and politics having Arab origins (see: Famous_Iranian_Arabs) illustrating Arab-Iranian participation in Iranian economics, society, and politics.

Some critics of the Iranian government contend that it is carrying out a policy of anti-Arab ethnic cleansing.[16] [17] While there has been large amounts of investment in industrial projects such as the Razi Petrochemical Complex [18], local universities [19],[20][21], and other national projects such as hydroelectric dams (such as the Karkeh Dam, which cost $700 million to construct) and nuclear power plants [22], many critics of Iran's economic development policies have pointed to the poverty suffered by Arabs in Khuzestan as proof of an anti-Arab policy agenda. Following his visit to Khuzestan in July 2005, UN Special Rapporteur for Adequate Housing Miloon Kothari spoke of how up to 250,000 Arabs had been displaced by such industrial projects and noted the favourable treatment given to settlers from Yazd compared to the treatment of local Arabs.[23]

However, it is also true that non-Arab provinces such as Kohkiluyeh and Buyer Ahmad Province, Sistan and Baluchistan Province, and neighboring Ilam Province also suffer high levels of poverty, indicating that government policy is not disadvantaging Arabs alone but other regions, including some with large ethnically Persian populations. Furthermore, most commentators agree that Iran's state controlled subsidized economy is the main reason behind the inability of the Iranian government to generate economic growth and welfare at ground levels in all cities across the nation.

Anti-Arabism in Israel

During the 2000 October riots, thousands of Jewish Israelis rioted in Nazareth and Tel Aviv, throwing stones at Arabs, destroying Arab property and chanting "Death to Arabs" . Two Arabs were killed in the violence and Haaretz editorialized that that year's "Yom Kippur will be infamous for the violent, racist outburst by Jews against Arabs within Israel" .

The Israeli political party Yisrael Beitenu, whose platform involves redrawing Israel's borders to include about 500,000 Israeli Arabs in a Palestinian state, won 11 seats in the 2006 Israeli elections and may form part of a coalition government alongside Kadima. This policy has been described as "anti-Arab" by The Guardian [24]. Labour party chairman Amir Peretz, referring to Yisrael Beitenu, has said "Anyone who opposes racism must not let the extreme right-wing bloc run Israel" [25].

Some Israeli politicians and leaders have used negative language when discussing Arabs and Palestinians. In 2004, Yehiel Hazan, an Israeli member of parliament, declared at the Knesset that "The Arabs are worms. You find them everywhere like worms, underground as well as above." and went on to describe them as "murderers" and "terrorists". [26], [27]. Raphael Eitan, former Israel Army Chief, once said "When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle." [28]. In 2004, then Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim asked "What is it about Islam as a whole and the Palestinians in particular? Is it some form of cultural deprivation? Is it some genetic defect? There is something that defies explanation in this continued murderousness." [29].

In Hebron the slogans "Arabs to the crematoria" and "Arabs - sub-humans" were once spray-painted on a wall, and anti-Arab graffiti has been spraypainted in Jerusalem [30]. Leftists have noted that this graffiti remains for long periods of time, and have therefore painted swastikas beside the graffiti in order to hasten the city to take action.[31]

A comic strip for children was carried in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish weekly, Sh'a Tova, that negatively depicted Arabs, and made the statement, "Yes, a good Arab is a dead Arab." [32]

In Western media

Hollywood has been accused of using a disproportionate number of Arabs as villains and of depicting Arabs negatively and stereotypically. According to Godfrey Cheshire, a critic on the New York Press, "the only vicious racial stereotype that's not only still permitted but actively endorsed by Hollywood" is that of Arabs as crazed terrorists. .

The 2000 film Rules of Engagement drew criticism from Arab groups, described as "probably the most racist film ever made against Arabs by Hollywood" by the ADC. Paul Clinton of the Boston Globe wrote "at its worst, it's blatantly racist, using Arabs as cartoon-cutout bad guys".

Jack Shaheed, in his book Reel Bad Arabs, surveyed more than 900 film appearances of Arab characters. Of those, only a dozen were positive and 50 were balanced. Shaheed writes "Seen through Hollywood's distorted lenses, Arabs look different and threatening." .

Anti-Arabism in polls

France

In March 1990, according to a poll reported in Le Monde:

• 76% of those polled said that there were too many Arabs in France (46% said there were too many blacks);
• 39% said they had an "aversion" to Arabs (21% to blacks). [33]

Israel

A recent poll conducted by an Israeli research institute [34] has revealed widespread anti-Arab hostility in Israel.

• 41% were in favour of segregation
• 40% believed "the state needs to support the emigration of Arab citizens"
• 63% believed Arabs to be a "security and demographic threat" to Israel
• More than two thirds would not want to live in the same building as an Arab
• 36% believed Arab culture to be inferior
• 18% felt hatred when they heard Arabic spoken

Groups that fight against discrimination

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is a group founded to counter anti-Arab discrimination.[35]

The Anti-Defamation League, (ADL) dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, gave this response shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9-11. "We are disturbed that a number of Arab Americans and Islamic institutions have been targets of anger and hatred in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks."[36]

During July 2003 the Anti-Defamation League urged the Speaker of the United States' House of Representatives to approve a bill condemning bigotry and violence against Arab-Americans and American Muslims. (The bill was resolution 234.) The American Jewish Committee, and American Jewish Congress have issued similar responses.[37]

See also

• Arab
• Islamophobia
• Persecution of Muslims
• Anti-Persianism by Arabs

Organizations

• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

References

• J. G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588 (July 2003), 171-193. Also see an interview with the author.
• Testimony of Dr. James J. Zogby to the US Commission on Civil Rights October 12, 2001. With an appendix of hate-based incidents, Sept. 11 to Oct. 10, 2001.

External links

• An October 2001 report on civil liberties in the U.S. including an appendix of some anti-Arab hate-based incidents
• The American Gulag - A record of anti-Arab bigotry in America
• ADL statement against Anti-Arab prejudice
• ADL Urges House of Representatives to Consider Resolution Protecting Arabs, South Asians, Muslims and Sikhs
• Al Jazeera article: What do Israelis say about the Arabs