Customer Reviews

Civil Rights In Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims

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To the list of casualties in America's so-called war on terror must be added the civil rights of Arabs and Muslims living in the United States. Boosted by the tragedies of 9/11, neoconservatives in and around the government have pursued a zealous strategy of curtailing everyone's civil liberties and broadcasting stereotypes of violence-prone Islam.

The contributors to Civil Rights in Peril provide a sound, political analysis of the post-9/11 backlash that could not be more timely. They explain that the relationship between the attacks on the rights of Arabs and Muslims living in America and aggressive U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East go hand-in-hand, propelled by deeply conservative supporters of Israel. (See any recent piece by Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson or Michael Savage if you need convincing about the flourishing of prejudice going on right now or the convergence of racism and empire-boosting.)

Robert Morlino's essay on the American media deserves to be widely reproduced and read in classrooms and community groups. His chapter and others cast a needed light on the corporate media's contribution to a climate of fear and hatred in the United States. Furthermore, this book shows the extent to which secular and religious Zionists are able to manipulate the media to both broadcast their message and portray themselves as victims of a liberal, anti-Israel conspiracy.

Yet the well-documented, insightful analysis of Civil Rights in Peril on the trends and conflicts within the elite political establishment is marred by a failure to look beyond this narrow, though powerful section of the population. This is a case of missing the forest for the trees, whether it is Naseer Aruri rightly (and intelligently) decrying preventative, unilateralist war but not U.S. wars in general on Third World countries or Elaine Hagopian's condemnation of U.S./Israel manipulation of the United Nations without looking for factors beyond the UN in resolving the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This sometimes too narrow, wonkish focus cedes the parameters of the debate to the status quo and accounts for, I think, the mostly absent discussion of resistance to empire, at home and aboard.

That said, its no wonder to me why this book received the prestigious Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award for advancing human rights and opposing bigotry in the United States. Hagopian and her colleagues have given us a trenchant critique of the repression of Muslims and Arabs and the co-called war on terror. The onus is now on the reader to stand up to empire, organize and challenge the neocons in their efforts to demonize and deport our brothers and sisters.

BUT, I could not help but respond to Mr. Kents comments.

Civil Rights is for everybody regardless of whether you come from a country ruled by a Dictatorship or not.

Or are you saying Mr. Kent that people from countries that abuse Civil liberties do not deserve Civil liberties in a country that claims to be free.

You must have missed the point of the entire book and your statements show your Ignorance of the world issues.

Regardless of where anyone is from we are all human beings and deserve to be treated with dignity.

Editor Elaine G. Hagopian is a scholar and activist. This 2004 publication by the Trans-Arab research Institute contains eight essays (plus a Preface by Ms. Hagopian) about legislation (Pre- and Post-9/11) affecting civil liberties; racist images of Arabs and Muslims; the "Criminalization of Arab and Muslim Communities," etc.

She writes in the Preface, "This book analyzes the way that the demonization of Arab and Muslim communities facilitates the legal, political, and social diminution of their civil and human rights... The intention of this volume is to lay bare the interplay of domestic and foreign policy that must be understood if we are to reverse the dangerous course on which the nation is embarked and restore rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 some twelve hundred people, most of them Arab, South Asian, and Muslim citizens and noncitizens, were arrested and questioned ... Of this number, 762 noncitizens were placed on the 'INS Custody List' ... Not one of these 'special interest' detainees held in connection with the PENTTBOM investigation has been linked to the September 11 attacks." (Pg. 31)
"Most of the detainees were charged with civil violations of immigration law, such as overstaying a visa or entering without inspection or with invalid documents, which enabled the Justice Department to dispense entirely with criminal justice safeguards." (Pg. 33)
"The formula of security at all costs---even at the expense of minority groups and foreign populations---is borrowed from Israel, the network's primary model and ally." (Pg. 115)