Anti-Arab racism

Anti-Arabism is prejudice or hostility against Arabs. Anti-Arab sentiment may be expressed in negative stereotypes. This happens, in particular, when Arabs are deindividualized and portrayed as intolerant, backward and violent, while positive aspects of Arab culture are ignored.

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 .

In the Western world, Anti-Arab feelings are complicated by issues of Middle Eastern politics. As in the case of anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews), hatred of Arabs is different from political opposition to the policies of Arab states. In Europe the perception of Arabs as foreigners often results in their discrimination and social isolation. In the USA, incorrect conflation of Arabs and Muslims adds to a stigma held especially after September 11, when some Muslims (and therefore Muslim-majority Arabs) have been viewed as potential terrorists.

Terminology

Owing to the etymology of the term anti-Semitism, some argue that anti-Arabism, as well as miso-Judaism, constitutes anti-Semitism. To make clear that the prefix anti- in anti-Semitism does not imply "against Semitism" and the term anti-Semitism almost always means "hatred of Jews", some scholarly authorities of the subject (such as Emil Fackenheim and Yehuda Bauer, among others) prefer the unhyphenated form antisemitism. Using the term anti-Semitism to refer to anti-Arab sentiment is likely to cause confusion.

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. Most affected were the vulnerable parts of my community. 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. 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."

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" [5]. Michael Savage described Arabs as "non-humans" and "racist, fascist bigots" and advocated a nuclear attack on a "major Arab capital" .

Conservative pundit and author Michelle Malkin has accused the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of exaggeration and questioned the existence of a post-September 11 anti-Arab hate crime epidemic. She says that the "hype artists" and "book-cookers" of ADC reported that "a Muslim student was pelted with eggs at Arizona State University", but that of two such incidents logged at the university, one was a "complete hoax", and the other was not considered a hate crime by police.

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 [6].

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 among Iranians

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. [7]

Anti-Arab prejudice was also inflamed by the hostilities between Iran and Iraq[8]. Iranians Arabs were mistrusted and accused by fellow Iranians for supporting and collaborating with Iraqi forces in the Iraq invasion of Iran in 1980. However, many Iranians have stressed 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.[9]

Anti-Arab sentiment among Iranians can range from distrust to outright hatred. There are some who advocate purging Arabic culture and even Arab civilians from Iran. Racial-based politics are limited to a number of small factions in Iranian society and are not believed to be popular in the mainstream. Such advocates include popular Iranian media outlets like The Persian Journal. They suggest ways of "de-Arabizing" Iran:

• Take out Arabic words from your language as much as possible.
• Do not listen to any speaker who uses too many Arabic words, especially the Mullahs.
• Try to explain for as many as possible people around you, starting from the family members, and extending to the people you meet at work place, neighborhood and so on and take any occasion to explain that Iranians are not Arabs.
• Explain your Iranian sentiments about the nomadic Arabs who invaded Iran in every occasion.
• Do not let the issues about Islam, as a religion, which is like any other, block your view about the barbaric Arabs who plundered Iran and changed the fate of a civilized nation to the course of nomadic Arabs.
• Find new ways to do this task and let others know them.[10]

Some Iranians have rejected the argument put forward by The Persian Journal, accusing it of upholding racism that has no place in Iranian society.[11]

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. [12]

However, critics of human rights organisations contend that Arabs do have social mobility in Iran, pointing to the fact that an ethnic Arab - Ali Shamkhani - was appointed defence minister under the government of President Khatami. Nevertheless, some critics of the Iranian government contend that it is carrying out a policy of anti-Arab ethnic cleansing.[13] [14]

Anti-Arabism amongst Hindus

Anti-Arab (and anti-Muslim) sentiments exist with many Hindus in India and abroad (particularily with those who subscribe to the Hindutva ideology), as the first offensive invasions by Muslims into India were carried out by Arabs, including Al-Hajjaj bin Yousef and Muhammad bin Qasim, who insisted that those who were not People of the Book be killed or enslaved. This legacy of Islamic invasions was carried on by Turks (Mughal, Khilji dynasty), Afghans (Delhi Sultanate).

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" .

A recent poll conducted by an Israeli research institute [15] has revealed widespread anti-Arab hostility in Israel. Large proportions of respondents were in favour of segregation and encouraging Arabs to leave. 63% believed Arabs to be a "security and demographic threat" to Israel and "more than two thirds" would not want to live in the same building as an Arab. 36% believed Arab culture to be inferior and 18% felt hatred when they heard Arabic spoken.

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 [16]. 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" [17].

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". [18], [19]. 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." [20]. 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." [21].

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 pro-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." .

In History

One of the early explorations of anti-Arabism in literature is Shakespeare's Othello, in which the central character is a Moor and ostracised in Venetian society due to his ethnicity. There is some debate about what constitutes a Moor in Elizabethan England with many contemporary interpretations suggesting Othello was a black African (see [[Othello. However, Arab theatre directors interpreted Othello as Arabic. [22] Othello has also been played as an Arab on screen by Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles. There is some debate about whether Shakespeare's depiction of Othello was racist or sympathetic, with some interpreting the character as a jealous and violent lover and others a man driven to despair by the racial prejudices of European society.

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). [23]

Groups that fight against discrimination

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee says that it works to fight and expose anti-Arab discrimination.[24]

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. At this time of profound anger and anxiety, no group in this country should be singled out for hatred, prejudice or blame based on their ethnicity or religion. Threats, harassment or acts of hate-motivated violence against members of a group are un-American and must be forcefully condemned. In laying blame on an entire people, we undermine our nation's core values of equality and respect for the individual."[25]

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.[26]

Examples of anti-Arab incidents

• Earl Krugel and Irv Rubin, two members of the Jewish Defense League, a militant organization commonly identified as an anti-Arab hate group, 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. [27]. The group was also suspected in the 1985 bombing of ADC leader Alex Odeh, though no arrests were made [28].
• Anti-Arab graffiti has been spraypainted in Jerusalem.

See also

• Arab
• Anti-Semitism
• Islamophobia

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