The Arab American News
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Museum program nets national award
WASHINGTON — SURA Arts Academy, an Arab American National Museum program that gives Dearborn youth the opportunity to learn and use photography to foster cultural understanding, is being nationally recognized as one of 15 U.S.-based youth arts and humanities programs to receive the prestigious 2008 Coming Up Taller Award....
Election results: CHANGE
November 8th, 20080 The Arab American News endorsed President-elect Barack Obama and 23 state and local candidates in October. All of them were successfully elected. They included US and state congressional races, judicial races at the state, county and district level, county races, school board races and a university board of governors...
Record turnout among Arab Americans
November 8th, 20080 DEARBORN — Ibtisam Ahmed, 38, voted for the first time on Tuesday. She became a U.S. citizen two years ago. She's been in the country for 18 years. "I felt like I was going to cry. I felt that I could actually do something," she said after voting. Ibtisam Ahmed, 38, enters her ballot for the first time on Tuesday at Woodworth...
Entire AAPAC slate emerges victorious
November 8th, 20080 DEARBORN — It was an historic triumph for the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) on Election Day as every one of their 19 endorsements emerged victorious. Husband and wife Khaled and Hana Odeh vote at McDonald Elementary School on Tuesday. PHOTOS:...Bush’s “Freedom Agenda” stumbles in Syria
WASHINGTON (IPS) — With media and diplomatic attention focused on the international incident ignited by a U.S. cross-border raid from Iraq into Syrian territory two weekends ago, the Syrian government quietly handed down 30-month prison terms to a group of democracy activists on Wednesday. Palestinians living in Syria take...Rare Saudi Arabia protest tests limits of political speech
Forty Saudis plan a hunger strike this week to bring attention to the prolonged detention of 11 political activists. Riyadh — As hunger strikes go, the 48-hour fast that Fowzan Mohsin al-Harbi and 39 other Saudis plan to stage this week is not likely to have a dramatic outcome. Rather, says the mechanical engineer, the rare...
For peace, the U.S. will have to change
November 8th, 20080 RAMALLAH (IPS) — Barack Obama has been elected U.S. President at a time when the number of extremists has risen dramatically since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, going by the resistance to Western forces in the region. The U.S.-led "war on terror" has itself now become a threat to peace. A Palestinian holds a newspaper...Playgrounds for Palestine: One marathon at a time
My right knee is wrapped. My left ankle is iced. I lost the nail on my right big toe, and I have about 20 blisters and a similar number of bruises on both of my feet. This doesn't even begin to convey half of the story of the punishment that my body has been subjected to in recent months. Why, you ask? Because I will join Susan Abulhawa,...
The Obama revolution
November 8th, 20080 Abraham Lincoln, another president from Illinois, fought a civil war that divided a nation and succeeded in uniting it again. But when he tried to take on the bankers, he got assassinated. John F. Kennedy took on Russia in the Cuban missile crisis, but when he took on the Feds, he got assassinated. They both were trying to finish a...Reading the subtext: Muslims and American politics
…all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. — The Virginia Statute of Muqtedar Khan Religious Freedom (1786) In this presidential election cycle, American Muslims became a...Said, Halloween treat, not a trick
The late Edward Said said that the West has an imagined, false picture of the East, which he called Orientalism. Halloween weekend was the occasion for a conference held jointly at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, dedicated to the thought of Edward Said, the Palestinian-American thinker and vocal advocate for the...
Berry’s stunt did Abbatt in
November 8th, 20080 Negative campaign tactic backfires, causes loss In the most hotly contested race in Dearborn, 19th District Court Judge Mark Somers this week prevented Candyce Abbatt from taking over his seat, in spite of, or maybe because of, negative and poor tactics on the part of the Abbatt campaign and poorly chosen associations with some Arab...Arab Student Union stands with AAPAC
To the editor: As proud members of the Arab American community and as former and current members and leaders of the Arab Student Union at UM-Dearborn, we are compelled to write in response to a piece of election mail sent out to Dearborn's Arab American households which we believe was distasteful and counterproductive. There were...
Obama picks pro-Israel hardliner for top post of chief of staff
November 8th, 20080 During the United States election campaign, racists and pro-Israel hardliners tried to make an issue out of President-elect Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. Such people might take comfort in another middle name, that of Obama's pick for White House Chief of Staff: Rahm Israel Emanuel. Democratic presidential nominee...
Shake-up in Dearborn School Board
November 8th, 20080 Lane unseats Dulmage, Blackburn comes back strong DEARBORN — The Board of Education will have a new look on January 1, 2009, after the Arab American community played a key role swaying a heated local election. Former board member Mary Lane unseated incumbent Sharon Dulmage, receiving 13,698 votes to Dulmage's......
Nader seeks change in two party system
November 8th, 20080 DEARBORN — Presidential candidate Ralph Nader visited the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Friday afternoon of last week in an attempt to connect with local voters before the presidential election. A photo of Ralph Nader in The Michigan Journal sits in an empty section of a room as University of Michigan-Dearborn students,...
Film series will examine Muslim influence
November 8th, 20080 ROCHESTER — A Muslim Film Series at Oakland University begins on Sunday at 2 p.m. The first film set to be screened on Nov. 9 is "Le Grand Voyage," at 156 North Foundation Hall in Rochester. Screenshots from the film "Le Grand Voyage" Directed by Ismael Ferroukhi, the film is about a French-Moroccan patriarch determined to......
Khalidi, the Arab scapegoat
There's no question. The candidates agree, the pundits agree and the American people agree: this has been a tough election season. Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama have a palpable contempt for one another, and neither has been especially good at hiding it thus far. But it's possible for a candidate to cross the line. When they do,...
Gas station fuels election hopes
November 1st, 20080 DETROIT — The presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have bombarded the public with images, slogans and soundbites for months, but in one Detroit neighborhood, even the corner gas station is covered with Obama logos, since its owners decided to repaint and rename the business after their favorite candidate three...Analysts question timing of Syria raid
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A cross-border raid into Syria by U.S. forces in Iraq, and a subsequent stonewalling by U.S. officials unwilling to divulge details, has led to rampant speculation among U.S. analysts about the origins and meaning of the attack. Syrian villagers stand near and mourn for the bodies before a mass funeral for...Pumping up Muslim voter turnout
SAN FRANCISCO — American Muslims are feverishly working for the largest-ever Muslim voter turnout on Nov. 4, with a particular focus on battleground states. Muslim civic organizations have worked in coalition to generate dozens of rallies, town hall meetings and neighborhood get-togethers, all geared toward voter mobilization.......
War, economic collapse, peak oil and climate change
Is it writers' block, or is it that the world is in such a mess that it has simply short-circuited my mind? So many bad news scenarios present themselves on several fronts that I am somewhat amazed and dumbfounded. Is there any order, any sense to be found in the current insanity of war, economic collapse, peak oil, and climate...
VOTE
November 1st, 20080 The Arab American News, AAPAC and Arab American community organizations all over the country urge citizens to VOTE on Tuesday, Nov. 4, and to press family and friends to do the same. In Dearborn, residents can vote early at the city clerk's office on Saturday between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Check with your local clerk's office in other......
Next president will inherit Guantanamo dilemma
NEW YORK (IPS) — Leading human rights groups reacted with outrage Tuesday to media reports that the administration of President George W. Bush has decided not to close the iconic prison at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Quoting anonymous senior Bush Administration officials, The New York Times reported that the issue...Nam, nehnu nastatyeh! (Yes, we can!)
GAZA CITY — This morning I walked to the Indian Ocean and made salt in defiance of the British occupation of India. This morning I marched in Selma, I stood down tanks in Tiananmen Square, and I helped tear down the Berlin Wall. This morning I became a Freedom Rider. The Freedom Riders of the 21st Century are sailing small boats into......