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Being Muslim in America Just Got Harder

Last weekend, I was in the Detroit airport heading home from our “Jobs and Human Needs” event.  I rounded a corner and almost bumped into a young woman who was wearing a head scarf – I assumed she was Muslim.  I smiled and apologized for nearly colliding with her.  She looked down, and hurried away.  I wondered why, until I saw the reason on the big screen TVs blaring out news around the airport — the news of Rep. Peter King’s upcoming hearings on the “Radicalization of Islam” had hit the talk-show circuit.

I thought about the horrible videos we had seen of the crowds in Orange County, California, screaming “go home” at Muslims — including children — attending a fundraising event.  Their radical crime?  They were raising money for a battered women’s shelter.  The young woman in the airport would probably be subjected to some of that invective today, I thought.  I was ashamed to think that she feared that kind of behavior from me.  As a Muslim woman, she would be even more visible and vulnerable to attack than her male relatives, whose garb is less distinctive.  I wanted to tell her — not all non-Muslims agree with Peter King and with that crowd in Orange County.  But when I looked back, she was gone.

On the plane, I drafted a letter to the members of the Homeland Security Committee, to urge them to reject the very premise for the hearing… to reject the idea that Congress has any authority at all to look into the teachings and practices of a particular religion.  This Congress is particularly interested in following the Constitution… sometimes.  I hope they look at it closely this time.

Prevention Funding Update

A few weeks ago, Bridget Moix reported that the CR passed by the House slashed every FCNL priority prevention account through September 30, 2011. Even though the House is determined to cut spending, the Pentagon’s bloated budget was left untouched while modest investments to prevent crises were deeply affected.

With the clock ticking before the CR’s expiration on March 4, the House and Senate struck a deal late last week and averted a government shutdown by passing another short term stop gap Continuing Resolution (CR) that expires on March 18.  This CR will cut $4 billion from the federal budget in two weeks.

Now it’s up to the Senate to follow the House and pass a Continuing Resolution to fund the government through September 30, 2011.

We asked you last week to urge your Senator to fully fund the Complex Crises Fund (CCF) and United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in the Senate CR.  The Prevention and Protection Working Group, a NGO coalition convened by FCNL, also responded to the House’s CR by emphasizing that drastic cuts to prevention accounts will result in costly emergencies in the coming years.

The CCF and USIP were completely eliminated in the House’s version of the CR, but the Senate responded by including these vital investments in its proposal.  We’re not in the clear yet,  but we’re encouraged that the Senate included these accounts which will help avert expensive humanitarian crises and military interventions. Thank you for writing your Senators!

Until Congress funds the government through September 30, the debate over the budget will continue to dominate the Hill’s agenda.  Stay tuned for updates and opportunities to make your voice heard.

Still Searching for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

The weather is getting warmer here in Ramallah and the almond trees are in full bloom. The fields in the West Bank and Israel are a rich green as a result of abundant and welcome winter rains (and irrigation). The natural beauty is striking and uplifting here in the land that is holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims. But amidst the natural beauty, there is a sense of deep uncertainty about the future among both Israelis and Palestinians.

I have spent the past ten days talking with people on both sides of the barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank. The barrier/wall/fence (the terminology varies depending on your geographic location, as well as your political perspective) often delves deeply into the occupied West Bank, particularly around east Jerusalem and when it is proximate to Israeli settlements. In other places, the barrier snakes its way along the armistice line drawn at the conclusion of the 1948 conflict referred to by Israelis as the War of Independence and by Palestinians as the Nakba (the catastrophe).

I am sojourning with a group of high school students. Our students hail from the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China, and the United States. Our journey thus far has taken us to east and west Jerusalem, as well as to the Jezreel Valley and the Galilee, and to Bethlehem and Ramallah. Over the course of the past ten days, we have had the opportunity to hear differing perspectives on the quality of life and the current impasse in negotiations for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Here are some initial thoughts about what we have heard.

War Is Not the Answer to Libyan Protests

The non-violent protests that  ousted authoritarian governments in Tunisia and Egypt have inspired people across the world demand political change. As readers of this blog will note, many people  in the FCNL community were particular delighted by the reaffirmation of the power of nonviolence.

Yet the power of nonviolence seems lost to some policymakers here in Washington. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that as soon as the protests in Libya turned violent there were calls for military intervention. What amazed me is that even before some of the groups (and certainly not all) in Libya began calling for international military intervention, some individuals in Congress, in the administration, and in the policy making community began arguing for a no-fly zone over Libya.  Has the United States really learned that little?

Welcome Diane Randall!

This morning we welcomed Diane Randall to her first day on the job as Executive Secretary of FCNL.

Welcome to FCNL--here's your first photo op!

Breakfast and a chance to say hello to staff

Here's hoping the rest of her first day is as fun as this moment

Among Diane's introductions to the Hill was a reception cosponsored by FCNL to honor Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller for her leadership in negotiating and securing adoption of the New START Treaty. From left: Diane Randall, Joe Volk, Rose Gottemoeller, David Culp

At the reception, Diane had the chance to meet some of FCNL's coalition partners in the arms control community.

David Culp introducing Diane to Rose Gottemoeller.

Preventing Genocide and Mass Atrocities: What More Can Be Done?

Sandy Robson/FCNL

Last Thursday, the Prevention and Protection Working Group (convened by FCNL) and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill called “Preventing Genocide and Mass Atrocities: What More Can Be Done?”.  The briefing featured a panel discussion comprised of U.S. government officials from the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  Michael Gerson, a columnist for the Washington Post and contributor to the Genocide Prevention Task Force, also participated in the briefing.  The panelists described the work they are currently engaged in to prevent genocide and identified tools and capacities that would enable the U.S. to halt violence before it starts.

The briefing room was packed with House and Senate staffers (representing both sides of the aisle), officials from the Department of Defense and State Department, and many of our friends from the NGO community.

This off-the-record discussion commemorated a historic anniversary; twenty-five years ago this month, the U.S. Senate gave its consent to ratify the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.  Despite the Convention’s aspirations, the past quarter century has born witness to horrific violence in Rwanda, the Balkans, and Sudan.  Clearly, much work remains.  Fortunately, the Prevention and Protection Working Group stands ready to work with Congress to enact practical policy solutions to prevent future genocides.

Peace Lobbyists Must Be Doing Something Right

The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war…

[Read the whole article in Rolling Stone]

It seems some military leaders have decided that, in addition to the swarms of lobbyists on the Hill that work for defense contractors, they need to employ PSY-OPs to convince congress to spend more money on the Pentagon.

Sounds to me like the Our Nation’s Checkbook campaign is having an impact.

Prevention Funding Slashed – Take Action!

Despite broad bipartisan recognition that investing in an ounce of prevention to avert wars is much wiser and less costly than paying a pound (or a few billion pounds) of cure after international crises erupt, the 112th Congress appears ready to pour billions more into war while slashing away at the few small investments in peaceful prevention of deadly conflict that FCNL and others have lobbied hard for in recent years. We have our work cut out for us.

House Slashes Funds to Prevent War: Last week the House passed a Continuing Resolution for FY2011 which cuts all of FCNL’s priority prevention accounts, and even zeros out funding for the United States Institute of Peace.  The House cut the Civilian Response Corps budget down t0 just $47 million in 2011 (the budget was $150 million for 2010), completely terminates the Complex Crises Fund (it had been $50 million in 2010), and slashes international peacekeeping funding by $283 million.  In addition, the House approved an amendment that zeros out funding for the bipartisan, congressionally-mandated United States Institute of Peace.  Any potential short-term savings from cutting these accounts will amount to less than a day’s worth of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but these same determined budget cutters refused to include real cuts to military spending in the bill.

What’s next for 2011 funding? The Senate will now have to pass its own version of a Continuing Resolution for FY11 funding, and the two chambers will have to reconcile the two bills by March 4 to avoid a government shutdown.  The Senate is not pursuing all the draconian cuts that the House is pushing, but pressure is on to cut anywhere possible.  FCNL is lobbying Senate appropriators to maintain funding for key prevention accounts, particularly the Complex Crises Fund, and funding for USIP.  Given how far the two chambers are from each others’ approaches, many are predicting the government will come to a standstill in March.

What about the 2012 budget? In the meantime, the President sent his FY2012 budget to Congress last week as well, and appropriators need to begin work on legislation for next year even while the FY11 budget is unsettled.  The White House has proposed continuing key accounts to help prevent wars in FY2012 at quite reasonable levels:  $92 million for the Civilian Response Corps; $75 million for the Complex Crises Fund; and meeting US contributions to the UN and for UN peacekeeping.  The Obama administration seems to understand that these relatively small investments can generate great savings by helping avert humanitarian crises and military operations.  We will be lobbying Congress to support the President’s budget for these accounts in 2012.

What can you do? Please write your senators and urge them to maintain funding for the Complex Crises Fund and US Institute of Peace in 2011.  If these programs are zeroed out or deeply cut it will be very hard to restore their funding in the future.  Sign up for our Prevent War emails to get future updates on investing in an ounce of prevention to avoid a pound of war.

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