In this together

A deluge of hate seems poised to rain down on Arabs and Muslims living in the West, even before those responsible for Tuesday's abominable acts are identified
Despite instant denunciations by American Arab groups of Tuesday's awful terrorist attacks, rage in America against Arabs and Muslims has already begun to seethe.
American Arabs were swift to condemn the terrorists. "Our first and foremost feelings are for the victims," Laila Al-Marayati, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Muslim Women's League (MWL), told Al-Ahram Weekly from her house in Los Angeles. "We feel, as Americans, that we have been attacked, too. We are shocked and appalled at what happened," she added. Khalid Turaani, executive director of American Muslims for Jerusalem, told the Weekly that the six main Arab-Muslim organisations in America held an emergency meeting Tuesday night to organise practical measures like blood donations for the victims. Wednesday, they held a press conference roundly denouncing the attacks.
But such solidarity has not restrained an overflow of fury against Arab-Americans. An activist at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) told the Weekly: "Reaction has begun, and it is huge." He said that his organisation has been swamped with vitriolic hate mail and abusive telephone calls, and that reports of abuse have poured in from the Committee's chapters across America. Al- Marayati told the Weekly that women in veils have been abused and harassed. It is even rumoured that WalMart, the US chain store, has stopped selling guns, because so many were being bought for revenge. But several Arab-American activists have also said that, amidst the hate, the number of e-mails of support they have received from non-Arab and non-Muslim Americans has been heartening.
Both the Arab-American Action Network, Chicago (AAAN) and the ADC have rushed out with statements pleading for their fellow citizens not to act rashly, as this would "only lead to a grave and unfolding tragedy," a press release for AAAN, said.
In London, however, Azzam Tamimi, head of the London-based Institute of Islamic and Political Thought, was unimpressed by the stance of most Western Arab organisations: their statements haven't "helped the West not to jump to conclusions," he told the Weekly. "I don't think it should have been done; they basically sent signals to the Western media saying that we are worth accusing."
"I don't think the Arab/Muslim organisations should be doing anything," he added, "except hoping that the investigation finds that Muslims and Arabs are not involved." Tamimi added that the Western media seldom give Muslims a fair hearing, and some have an interest in making a monster of Islam.
Al-Marayati feels the American media have mostly acted responsibly. "They are avoiding inciting hatred, as opposed to causing it, as happened [during earlier terrorist incidents], by refraining from saying who is guilty." But, she added, "of course, most media are discussing the Middle East as probably the main issue and the name of Osama Bin Laden keeps coming up, though this remains speculation."
Such speculation has terrified another Muslim community in America: Afghan-Americans. They dread a brutal, unthinking reflex from the US government. An Afghan-American law student told a Weekly correspondent that she had a feeling of horror "in the pit of her stomach," when she thought of what President George Bush's vow "to hunt down" the terrorists would mean for Afghanistan. "Usually that means bombs across the country," she said. She also expects her civil liberties to be curtailed: "In such cases, Muslims' rights are usually the first thing to go out the window. I don't think the lessons have been learnt from World War II, and the internment of Japanese Americans." She was also appalled that some in the media were calling for retribution against Afghanistan.
Howard Stern, the popular US disc jockey, has called for nuclear attacks against Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Yet there were glimpses of a gentler view. Ali Abunimah, an activist for the AAAN, wrote in his newsletter that among the screeds of hate mail he has received was one from a Jewish American: "I am grateful for your work and existence. We are in this together. We are all Americans and all world citizens. This tragedy is all of ours."
Omayma Abdel-Latif, Amira Howeidy, Jasper Thornton
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