Why are White Activist ignore Middle Eastern People?

unfortunately the left, just like the right, can be snotty and run in small gangs. The best advice i can say is just be nice and friendly, find people that aren't so involved in activism or whatever that you can trust, and learn, know, and discuss the issues as level-headed as possible. Honestly you cant' change people's minds, they do it on their own.
as for the fringe groupies.. until they quit this in-fighting and bickering and snubs, they won't accomplish anything, guranteed, I am certain that a movement is or will be underway soon, and if a lot of these green clubs don't quit the nonsense, they will miss out on the good stuff.

Shiva im going to email you. I totally understand how you feel. Im from Iran too, and being an activist since Seattle Ive had to deal with this directly. I'll tell you that I saw the worst showcase of this white fucked up mentality in Berkeley at the CSAW conference. Do you know what I have noticed over the years? Ive noticed that the white mentality most of the times comes from secterain and vanguard groups i.e ISO,Spartisus,RCP,PLP,IAC and etc. etc. That's where the root of the problem is. They feel like they own the left so they end up dictating to the left and preaching to the left.
The only way to beat them in their own game is to stand up and say the things you just did to their face. If you look at the people who run their groups, the people who are in charge, well guess what you find? all white people. Yeah they have the token middle easter, black, and mexican person in the group. But visit your local ISO or Spartisus chapter and I bet you a candy bar that 85% of the members are white.
It's real easy to see why, talk to them about racism and you'll find out they are blind and clueless. For some reason thay have it in their heads that once this wonderful socialist or communist revolution happens things like racism and sexism will not be around any loner.
A cult, brainwashed and weak minded. Once you see them for who they are, you'll be able to tell who is NOT one of them, and that way you can only focus on working with those people.
There are great activist, Ive found myself to get along with Anarchist and surprisingly even Greens. The Anarchist seem to be the most open regarding the race and actually involvment from the community issues. but fuck the vanguards and the secterians, run and hide when you see them walking towards you with a paper to sell.

i'm glad you pointed all that at white western Activists. because it sounds like some heavy wimpering to me. but i'm not a activist. if you need the poor white trash angle, i'm your man. poor white trash to busy trying to get by without taking handouts to spend time activitisting.

Thanx.. i don't know if this post makes me sad or happy. but im glad that im not the only one feeling like this. I thought i was crazy or seeing things that were not actually there. Im always outspoken, but everytime I have opened my mouth regarding this issue all I have gotten back was negative feedback. That I was wrong, maybe Im just generelizing.. so slowely I started to shut my mouth because I started to feel that these issues were only evident in my head. After I read your post, I decided to finally sit down and write what I was feeling. I knew that I would get negative responses but I didn't even care. I had to get it out, thank you for giving me that courage. Here is what I wrote. and below it I posted your post that you wrote.

hi everyone, I know this is going to make a lot of people mad, and Im sure I'll get plenty of hate mail but at this point I don't really mind. This is kind of hard for me to write but ive found the courage to after reading Shivas letter that I posted below. She is an Iranian/Armenian girl that I do not know, but she posted something on the LA IMC site that I felt needed to be heard. Maybe even heard over and over until we start to pay attention to it and have no choice but to respond to it.
She wrote about how she feels as someone from the Middle East who feels alianated in the anti war movement and by white activist. As I was reading her letter, so many of my emotions took over and I started to cry because so much of what she was saying was true, and I comend her for opening up herself like that.
Ever since September 11 I have been in so much of a haze, I watched the horrific act that happned on that day and within minutes knew what the punishment of it would be, and knew almost instantly how those punishments would be carried out and who it would hurt. I read over 259 death and racist emails that were sent to the mosque that my dad volunteers at by 2:15 PM on the day of Sep. 11. I helped clean up shattered glass from a window down the street at th Iranian supermarket that had been targeted by racism, and saw on TV account after account of people who looked like me and my little brother get brutalized, beaten, humilitaed, jailed, thrown off planes, spit on, called names, assaulted. I watched one of my friends deny being Iranian and lie and say she was Mexican when someone asked her where she came from. I watched my mom who prides herself in being an open minded progressive feminisit buy a small US flag and attach it to her car window, when I asked her why, she said she felt safer at work that way. My dad, a man I greatly respect who gave up his job as a Biology Proffesor to help organize students in Iran in 1979 to help lead the people there in a Revolution.. I had to listen to him tell me to stop going to meetings, and he asked me to get rid off my entire "activist" newspapers and flyers from the house... because he was scared for me and the family. In all this I found a bit of hope. that hope was that finally people around the world might actually look and turn their eyes so much more on the middle east and see the struggle the people in that region of the world have had to endure over such a very very very long time. I felt really a glimmer of hope, that now with activist and countries joining together maybe, just maybe there is a way that something could be done. Not just my country but other surrounding countries could be helped and the fundamentalist regimes who have killed and spilled the blood of so many people there would finally have their grips loosned. I want my country and every country to be free, free from Imperialism, free from this fundamentalist way of life.. I want to go back home, I want to see the country that I have only seen in pictures and movies, the country my parents and I had to flee from when I was just a child.. I had hope. Those hope that I carried around in my heart the first few days after Sep 11 were killed when the first bomb was dropped in Afghanistan.
Still I had faith in the activist, I had faith that at least they would be one place for us to turn, for someone to listen and at least try to understand what our cultures and our religons were about. Again I had hope that we would be included, and that some people would for a small time not look at our cause, this war, our people, our religion as a tool to further personal political idealogy and gain, but really see us and sincerly be intrested in understanding. I guess I was naive in this way of thinking.. but I so wanted to be right. I had hope.
Now im not going to lie and say that I have not meet some amazing activist in the past few monthes who have shown so much love and care and have went out of their way to listen, aide, help, and reach out to so many in the Middle Eastern community... but inside I always thought there would be more. I see all the preperations, press conference, protests, coalitions,conference and meetings that are going on, and I have taken the time to attend a lot of them, and through it all I still see the token middle eastern person at times being used, being exploited. I sit at events and meetings and listen to "strategy" on what to do next, I listen to "how to draw in more arabs" and i wonder and sometimes say out loud... well maybe it would help if we all were not called "arabs"
It's so simple you see, but for some reason there is still a roadblock. So many claim to be fighting for us, in our name, advocating everything they can think of.. but they do so much of it without taking the time to listen, to really touch, to hear, to feel what we really need at this time is not just your screams in the air but in a lot of ways just a leanding ear...we need to know that when this is all over that you are all still there. We need for you to come shop at our stores and help us see that you care, and come to our small music shows and ask the person next to you if they can interpret what's going on stage. ask someone that speaks pashtun, farsi, or arabic to write some of your protest signs in their language, come to our events, come to our mosques and other religious centers and see for yourself the spirituality and hope that plays such a big part in the lives of our people. instead of only showing the poorest and dirty pictures you can find of Afghanistan and it's people why not also along side it show the beautiful eyes of the people, and the true beauty that Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc. etc holds. Yes our people are broken right now and hurt in mental and physical way, and yes they might be living in a 3rd world country.. but that does not mean they people themselves are 3rd world.. help us all to find the beauty that still DOES exist there, you can even come to our homes and see how we live.. all im really saying is to PLEASE HELP US TO ACTUALLY FEEL LIKE WE STILL BELONG HERE IN THIS COUNTRY!!!! that can only be done if you actually include us in all that you are doing in our name. I have never in my 11 years of living here felt like I don't belong here, but over the past 3 mon. that's all ive felt, and i know im not the only one that feels this way. Ive never felt so much like such an outsider, such a foreigner.
Im rambling on, and ive lost track of what i was going to say next. All I ask is that you talk to us, don't even listen to me or what I have to say but continue talking to as many middle eastern people as you can, even if they are not activists. We can't forget the people we all claim to be fighting for, we can't just make them look like victims as much as we can, and hope that by doing that all of a sudden the American public, the world will suddenly care and change their ways. Instead of making the people in our countries just another charity cases like Shiva said and asking everyone out of pity to help them, why not help empower Middle Eastern people to help themselves.

Im sleepy and have to go to bed, but I hope that you guys understand im not saying the work that you are doing is bad, Im just saying that I wish more middle eastern people were given the chance to be included and that their opinions were actually asked. Many of us and our parents have had to live through this either ourselves or have have had family live through it. I was only 5 years old and living in Iran and I clearly remember the Iran and Iraq war, i remember the bombs, the blackouts, the soldiers, and the wave of refugees moving all over the country, and all the homeless people. Im just saying that getting input from the people who are effected DIRECTLY by the things going on in the Middle East, who still have LOTS Of family who reside there would help not just the Middle eastern communities but also help ALL of us in our organizing and mobilizing. Shiva is right, lets break down this white mentality that thinks that they know best when it comes down to doing EVERYTHING and that they know best when it comes to activism, politics, and organizing. As activist we can't afford to alianate the people we claim to be fighting this struggle in.

i have a lot more to say, but I'll let you guys read the post below that Shiva put on the IMC site, she says it all pretty much.
Thanx for listening to me rant.
xoxo
Chantel

all of us come from unique perspectives, unique circumstances. some of us are used to being profiled; some of us are used to privlege; some of us are used to discrimination; others aren't aware it exists.

i am 'hapa' ; hawaiian for mixed race.

it seems to me that when i look around at the activist community, i would have to concur with chantel and shiva that the various movements seem overwhelmingly white. this is worth trying to understand.

we do need exchanges of the kind that shiva is asking for. understanding (even just trying to understand) other cultures and peoples often results in tolerance, forbearance, and respect. i was fortunate enough to be born in hawai'i where i grew up amongst so many different cultures and peoples, that the shear diversity really did lead to understanding. i am not contending that hawai'i is a paradise either, only that i feel that i grew up in a very diverse cultural soup which fostered understanding in me and the people around me...so much so that i grew to live with all of the cultures at once, rather than this one or that one.

it seems to me that we all need each other. we need everyone who is in the struggle against the-powers-that-be to be able to stand together. black, brown, white, all colors, all faiths.

we we need to facillitate an atmosphere which fosters cooperation and trans-movement unity. once we unthrone the Man we'll be able to work out the other differences. and some differences are inevitable and healthy.

BUT, why are all of these activist groups mostly white?

whites are wealthier. access to information, particularly alternative media is not encouraged in this country. many brown skinned folks in this country (like me) grew up with not a lotta cash. having the time and resources to un-program yourself from the constant assault of the american media machine; subscribing to alternative media (not TV and not radio, in particular) is expensive. let's face it: there are still a lot of people out there--mostly poor minorities--who don't have access to computers/internet/cool websites like this one. whites generally are better paid, have more years of college level education on average, and come from environments which fosters a sense of empowerment and superiority.

a lot of whites will be angry at that last sentence, but it is not meant to offend, but to demonstrate what i as a non-white person understand by experience. whites in this country really truly only understand racial discrimination from their perspective: a white perspective. the same difficulties which present themselves in daily discrimination will undoubtedly make themselves plain in activism as well.

i would suggest that most people--including activists--do not always act intentionally. we all have flaws, make mistakes, and forget one of the most important facets of humanity: compassion. we can all teach eachother something, share something with the other. try to see things from the other's perspective and then give them a window into yours. invite them in.

don't forget that we need eachother. the battle with the Man is a BIG DEAL and it will take all of us, working together, to see real change.

let's make bridges. bridges of compassion.

peace.

i have to admit, i'm really cynical about white leftie activists for the most part. smug, self-righteous and so convinced of their inherent rightness that they don't know how to listen anymore -- especially when it comes to race.

so. what to do about that? well...truth? i think we radical people of color need to organize ourselves, and let the occasional white folks who do want to work on these issues approach *us*.

in terms of allies, though? a few possibilities:

race traitor
challenging white supremacy
RACE (revolutionary anti-authoritarians of color)

good luck,

liby

Shiva,
This activist is doing what you ask, and I will do more in my own community. I understand what you are saying and appreciate your saying it outright. Just because we believe in non-violence does not make us inately graceful. One of these days we will get it right.
We all need to work together. I am very proud to be a part of an organization in Kentucky that still has no leader...we all lead and we all follow...they are called Patriots for Peace and just a cool bunch of college kids. One student gave us information and a mini teach in on Islam at our last action. I will spread the word north to Michigan also in your behalf to the peace groups there. Thank you. Peace.

Just a question,
If you don't like capitalism
and you don't like imperialism
and you don't like globalization

of all the countries in the world to move to, why did you move to the US?

Do you just like the fruits of capitalism, imperialism and globalization?

Don't look at this as a 'go back where you came from" outburst. I'm honestly courious. Why would someone voluntarily move to somewhere that represents what they hate?

Its great to see you people wallowing in race baiting.
You're so busy defining things by race that you miss each other as people.

A few things jump out here:

1) Aren't ME people 'white'? If not what are they? and by the way, I'm not the one that started all the labeling with this site.

2) >>whites generally are better paid, have more years of college level education on average, and come from environments which fosters a sense of empowerment and superiority.
--other than Asian Americans of course.
--if there is one thing that comes in all colors, its a sense of superiority.

and I bet you. the person who posted above me is white. you can lie and say you are not, but the arrogance can be smelled even through this computer. White acitivists have done this to all type of groups have it be South or Central American organizers, Mexican groups, black groups, Asian groups. Etc. this type of white way of organizing has driven many groups away from them and they refuse to work with them. The are not able to acknowledge this at all.

I am really glad that i took a friends advice and read the above post. i am thankful for all of the people who are making so clear their feelings. I am full of emotions and want to continue to lisiten to the voices of color. please contiune to call out white activist ... and power behavior... thanks again...
and please contact me if you want to chat - Jamie

Where have I heard this before. I worked with a black organization back in the early 70s and sweety we had the same problems. It's so sad to see that times have not changed. I have come to a point that I only choose to work with other people of color. I cannot stand by and think in my head that a white person will know what is best for my community or for any of my people.
the do and they will not. Everything they do is from their prespective so how can they know what will help us?
I will contact you tonight and lend you a few words of advice. Thank you for speaking out, thank you for all to all the people that are speaking out. never let your voice die in this white america.
Someone that slaps on the activist logo does not mean that they will just stop being racist. it's something deep rooted and honestly it always remains at the surface in one way or another.
Thank you again Shiva
Anita

Khalida,
white people don't do this to other race groups. They do it to themselves. Most groups just want to blend into society and are hindered by so called leaders. Hispanic leaders, for example, are terrified that normal hispanics become the next italian-americans.
The average person doesn't give a damn about being red yellow or white. they just want to raise kids and fit in. They see the road that the road leads to a common US culture. Many also see that this road is what has kept america free (mostly) of the problems that face overseas chinese, armenians, bosnian, roma, etc. They saw the success of whites stopping being Hannovians, Cornwallians, French, Corsicans, Basques, etc.

Course this isn't politically correct to say in Berkley but its true non the less.

People want a quiet life.

saying people want a quiet life sounds poetic jhi, but what you mean by a quite life, if i understand you correctly, is one in which people go undetected by radar and are left alone. but this 'aloneness' that they are after is a response to social and material conditions. people don't want someone knocking at their door because experience tells them it will most likely be a pest trying to sell something or other. people are uncomfortable walking the streets at night because TV and/or experience tells them bad shit can happen. a quiet life in america doesn't mean a life of reflection and spiritual fulfillment; it means, instead, the alienation of the strip mall.

in america, virtually the entire landscape is dominated by the laws of capitalist value. ironically, and tragically, these laws produce a society in which people feel a need to recede into a privatized existence -- your "quiet life" -- which only perpetuates the alienation the manifestations of which they are attempting to escape. the other day, on the job, i had reason to be in a south bay "middle class" gated condo community comprised largely of south asian people and looking around at the barreness of the place i felt sad that i live in a world in which this shit-hole would be considered desirable. it offers putative safety, but i wonder how many pine for something more, or, in their hearts, miss -- for all its poverty and problems -- the richness, texture, and conviviality of their former home.

this world offers so much. i want to see a movement arise that vanquishes a world in which some die of starvation and others of loneliness and boredom.

you are absolutely right aaron in what people should want.

what is attractive about your approach is that it is built on an ideal - anti-capitalism - rather than something that is intellectually void - race.

I guess I should have said that people want to transcend race into something with meaning -whether its a quiet life or anti-capitalism and dynamics.

Good post.

Hey Khalida,

Well, I'M white and I find your racism disgusting. It must be nice to plug everyone into a little box:
YOU wrote:
"and I bet you. the person who posted above me is white. you can lie and say you are not, but the arrogance can be smelled even through this computer"

I'll bet to other posters you have written:

"and I bet you...are a Jew...the avarice can be smelled even through this computer."

"and I bet you...are Black...the laziness can be smelled even through this computer."

"and I bet you...are a Jap...the perfidity can be smelled even through this computer."

"and I bet you...are an arab...the violence can be smelled even through this computer."

You are nothing but the worst kind of racist. You can llie and say you are not - that some of your best friends are white in fact - but your sicko mind can be smelled even though this computer.

you owe hji and others a fucking apoligy.

"you're a jew,
don't lie and deny it,
I can just tell,
your behavior reeks of jewness."

yeah, you're a real piece of work Khalida.

I am not aiming to refute your arguments, but merely make a contribution.

Vanguard mentality and the college:

Socialist organizations have had it bad over the last century. They have braved the red scare, and the 'McCarthyist' days, an onslaught which finally resulted in the 'labor-liberal alliance.' This alliance was more of a hostile take over, with bloodless red (no pun int.) purges among the labor leadership. Gradually, the labor movement's unions lost all of their finest proderucerist qualities; even moreso, their rank and file have become effectively depoliticized, and marginalized (equally voting for dems and reps), a fact which has contributed to the perverted trend of 'union bureaucracy.'This severance has proven detrimental to socialist thought and praxis in america. Socialism, without a life of earth has sought refuge in the ivory tower of auto-didacticism, usually finding fertile ground in the anti-social; with predictable results:elitism

Re:Racism and class conflict

Class conflict and racism are as intertwined as town and country:both containing funtions conducive to antagonism: for reasons of social behavior generally, but moreso there is an intructive historical dynamic which requires study for contructive understanding amongst loose knit activist 'sects' with varying enthnic of class tinges. I recommend reading the 'Drawing the color line' chapter of a people's history of the united states (Howard Zinn). This may help to understand what effects class relations have on racism, and whose interests they are really in. This in turn explains the divisive functions of religion, both as reality and illusion. In short, these 'divisions' are not divisions in themselves, but rather as reflections of material condition. The divisions are as inert and cosmetic as the american flag

genetically encoded fear of that which is unlike "us". any us. all us's.
its monkey stuff. not that complicated. a planet that believes in faery tale gods sprouted from fear will propogate fear in all they weave.
ignorance, prejudice and fear, all monkey stuff. faery tale stuff. big brained monkeys making mountains out of mole hills.
if this animal ever rises above religions and other fictions, he may escape the monkey. not likely.

Why categorize us as YOU WHITE PEOPLE.... I'm sick and tired of hearing oh the white people did this the white people did that get on with life and turn the page... Caucasian people are probably the least racist of all..... at least this one is.....

This question is directed to Chessy,
Do you have any idea what repression or oppression are like?
We have freedom in the U.S. that many other countries are not able to have. Just because someone isn't for globalism, imperialism and capitalization doesn't mean that anyone doesn't belong here.

It is about people trying to open your eyes to all the injustices done to the ones without power in the name of capitalism, imperialism and globalism. The U.S. has only acheived the riches land power that it has by holding others down. If you can't see that then you are blind.
You can love the country you live in and be against things it stands for without lessening the emotions you feel for your country. I love my country, but I don't agree with all the oppression we afflict upon others in the name of our self interests, big business and hurting the little people. People aren't fighting against imperialism, globalization and capitalism. They are fighting for basic human rights. Everyone deserves housing, food, clean water, medicine, education, and stability. When someone is denied these rights it is a violation of human rights. Globalization, imperialism and capitalism contribute to human rights violations. If there was a little research done on your part it wouldn't be that hard to understand.

Why are White Activist ignore Middle Eastern People?

Well, it could be your awful grammar.

Sorry, Tina, I don't buy your argument.

I still wonder why the author moved to the US.
Capitalism is so ingrained in America, so much a part of what America is that I question either the wisdom or the honesty of someone who claims to hate such a major part of this society and yet moves to it.

Your oppression speech is real nice but.... are you saying that only capitalist-globalist societies have freedom from oppression? Are you claiming that there is no oppression in America?

Or are you saying that the author is right to move here in order to fight oppression rather than fight oppression in the land of his/her birth? Is it better to move to another country and fight to change what the settled people there do or to stay in one's one and change that? IF moving is better than you seem to be in the same camp as imperialists.

Or perhaps the person finds the fruit of capitalism/globalisation makes America a really nice place to call home while playing at radicalism? KInd of like driving from Grosse Pointe MIch to Detroit to attend a civil rights march and then going back home afterwards.

Or did the person move here and like Captain Renault, was "shocked, shocked" to discover gambling/capitalism in the US?

I am still interested in hearing the reasons.

Parev Shiva,
I want to thank you for your great article "Why white activists ignore Middle Eastern people."
More people need to express these same insights.
I too am part Armenian, I grew up knowing many Armenians, Greeks, Arabs and Turkish people.
I'm a percussionist in a couple of Middle Eastern music groups and I have many friends from Kurdish, Iranian, Arabic and Turkish communities.
I know from personal experiences the beauty of Middle Eastern cultures and its people.
Since September 11th I continue to do my best to educate any ignorant people who do not understand Islam or the Middle East.
To anyone reading this, terrorism does not represent any culture or beliefs from the Middle East no more than white supremist groups represent white Americans.
Thanks to the editor for printing Shiva's article.
-Eric Peterson, Atlanta Ga

We keep going around in circles on racism ... but there's another thing happening here too, in all of us, regarding how much we are willing to put up with in order to work with people who are not like us.

I keep going back to the words of the great organizer, Saul Alinsky:

"You can't go outside your people's experience."

Shiva, both you and the rather difficult white activists extended a hand and said "Here, be a part of what's going on in my world." You were open to a new experience ... but the people you invited to the mosque weren't. This isn't too surprising, given that many people in left or fringe groups aren't comfortable with religion. If you approached white activists from the faith-based, Christian social justice groups, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the American Friends Service Committee, etc., you'd find someone who would join you at the mosque. You might also find it easy to make friends with some of the drummers at demonstrations, because they'd appreciate your muscial tradition.

Clueless people who are rude, and who don't know enough to accept a hand stretched out in friendship, are truly annoying. I always feel bad when someone says "I can't work with people of a different race because of their race." The frustration is perfectly understandable, but it still makes me feel sad. I hope, given our multi-racial society, that we start making it a priority to develop better social skills, and make a habit of looking for common ground with people who aren't like us.

.

I'm white, recently radicalized, and only beginning to tackle my own sexism and racism. To all those who seek to educate white people, realize that their defensiveness is often a sign of fear. Also, I believe that the propaganda and indoctrination systems are primarily directed to privileged groups (men, whites, upper-class, college-educated, etc.), and work powerfully because they fulfill a basic need of self-justification. Thus privileged groups are harder to educate. Of course, only a white person could possibly say that race is not a serious issue in US society; only a man would say that gender is not an issue.

Thank you to all of you of color who continue to reach out despite the difficulties.

I guess that I am the only one that thought that the author began the article by saying he was happy about September 11th because it would bring attention on the middle east. No one else caught that?

thnks 4 bringing tht out John. you are absolutely right. the exact quote is:

>>>..After September 11 happned, in a lot of ways I was so happy ...<<<

In what other ways was this person happy? (the quote says "a lot")

what a horrible, insensitive, disgusting way to start a posting.

Shiva clearly says that she is "happy to see that finally after so many years so many of you wonderful activist that I had seen work so hard before were paying so much attention to what was going on in the Middle East." maybe that's too long a sentence for your small minds, let me shorten it: After Sep 11 she is Happy That Activists are Paying attention to the Middle East.

John and Amous, they do make text-to-speech software, so your computer reads web pages to you - this might make it easier for you.

Gee Turtle Soup,

Maybe you can get the software yourself and see that
John specifically mentioned that fact. Read his post and you'll see its pretty fucking obvious.

My note is what else is he happy about and the fact that using that statement about 9-11 is a bit like saying "one good thing about Hitler killing the Jews was....".

One can complete the above statement to something true (an Isreali could write "it helped lead to the creation of Isreal" for example) but generally its frowned upon to jump into articles with "gee, its great my mother has cancer.." or "That John Wayne Garcy did some great things for the Chicago area..."

I am still wondering why Shiva was happy 'in a lot of ways'.

First and foremost, it is difficult to read a post with poor grammar and spelling. I admit that. I feel for those of you who are frustrated with many possible meanings in the post that initialized this discussion. My response is, until you can type with facility in Farsi, or Yiddish, or even Spanish, deal with the fact that there are people to whom English is a second language.

That being said, I am white, non-religious, non-activist, male, trying to get ahead financially (capitalist, I suppose), an ex-Mensa member, an ex-Greener from the Pacific N.W., an ex-Canadian, and about to become an ex-American. I am looking to move to the Middle East, and find work there. While I am interested in Islam, and the new culture (and especially the new food!!), I am moving because I am a pilot, and there is no work for me, here in the U.S. due to the 9/11 debacle, and subsequent continued economic slump. There is no nobility anywhere in my soul. In the end I am an Anarchist in a way best described by R.A. Heinlein. I believe that in the end, you are responsible for your actions. There is no more, and no less to my belief system. I am willing to accept that responsibility. Why won’t everyone else? In moving from Canada to Houston, TX, I learned that I can sympathize with racism. I find it in my own makeup, when I see so many people who fit “the profile”. I always try to remind myself mentally that I am falling into the trap of the small-minded, classifying people by superficial similarities. To give an example, just because a white male has a sunburn, large belt buckle, cowboy hat, and cowboy boots, that doesn’t mean he also is a “redneck hick”. I chose this example with care, and stacked the deck, because, here in Houston, it almost always does work to follow those generalizations. In the end, any time you try to generalize, and deal with a group of people, you are being an “ist”, be it classist, racist, sexist or what ever. Unless you deal only with individuals, a proposition that is nigh on impossible, in a world of nearly 7 billion, you will need to group them. As soon as you group people, you have “us” and “them”. Once that step is taken, you are right back where you started, maybe with new groups, but still living in an “us vs. them” world. I myself try to give any individual a chance, and I try to separate the world into “I haven’t met ‘em”, “they are cool”, and “screw ‘em, I don’t like ‘em” but I will admit that I personally have a difficult time with this philosophy. I tend to dislike a speaker of “ebonics” more often than not, and of course this usually means a lower economic class black person. Everyone has their issues. I am sure I will receive many “corrections” for my use of the inaccurate descriptor “black”, as “African-American” “Person of Colour” and other such euphemisms are currently more acceptable. I choose to be politically incorrect, on the basis that one cannot please everyone.

In the end, what I am trying to say is this:
Let’s all just take a step back from the posts flying back and forth, and look at what Shiva said. Yes, the grammar and spelling left something to be desired, but I found the content quite understandable. Shiva is a fairly recent immigrant who sees people trying to tell him/her what he/she should be, as a “Middle-Eastern-American” (cumbersome, no?) and what he/she hears is a bunch of people who don’t understand him/her. He/She doesn’t want Big Brother killing Afghanis, and who knows who, next, in order to establish a U.S. world peace. Shiva expressed horror at what happened, as do I. But I contest the idea that killing even one Afghani civilian will help end the hatred many militant Islamic sects feel towards the U.S. With all the advantages we have, in North America, in terms of education, religious and economic freedoms, etc. the first reaction that was felt all across N.America after 9/11 was “bomb them!”. If the misdirected violence is escalated at every turn, we who are so wealthy have much more to lose!

To sum up, and end the ramble:
Unless an individual person steps on you, don’t step on him. It needn’t be about colour, religion, or anything else. Maybe, if we stop thinking in terms of groups, we may, someday, grow out of acting like mobs!

I went back and read what Shiva wrote. I think she/he has a point. I am a white activist, but it never even occured to me to involve myself in middle eastern culture to learn more about it. I am also not sure if I would be welcome. But I guess it's on me to find out.
I think that all Shiva was saying is that white activists need to listen more, and frankly who doesn't need to listen more.
I would also like to say that this post has become disgusting. On the white and people of color side. If I were a right wing conservative I would be laughing knowing that my work was being done for me. I would just like to note that at least almost all of us on this post are on the left and that is something.
A note to Middle Eastern activists - have a little more patience with us, we are learning. Keep posting informative letters like Shiva's and avoid ones that berate and maybe we will learn a little faster.

considering it has been reported over and over again that "arabs" do not believe "arabs" were involved in the attack against "my" country. i for can see why am some hate for against arabs.
before you anti-america readers of this try to blast me out of the water for this post. just remember,
i am not a white activist. the original post has nothing to do with me. seems he or she is sympathizing with his or her own demons. moving into this pit of vipers and complaining about the hissing, yet condemning the non hissers for not not hissing correctly.

i see a soup kitchen conspiracy to wreck the economy so more will be poor and attend the soup kitchen, and then, oh ya, and then a millionaire with a taste for soup complaining that the soup isnt humble enough loking. so the cospiraters must create more poor to further stretch the ingredients so it becomes acceptable to the goal of what is okay with one who chooses it over what they want.

why am not for olives in this soup ?

because its god damned america, thats why. DEMOCRACY , CAPITALISM , FREEDOM , LIBERTY .
whimper about it all day but by god dont start complaining we arent wipping our asses with our bare hands, or forcing our women to be third class citizens.

why for am so many radio evil stations music ? why naked am legs women ?

its a different fucking universe here thats why. and two hundred eighty nine million nine hundrd ninety nine of us like it that fucking way. we'll gladly let ya in and we'll gladly leave you alone to do whatever you want. but we aint gonna change the curtains for ya or run your bath water. if you dont like the lay of the land and you cant get over your distaste for it, MOVE WHERE IT GOD DAMN SUITS YOU. we dont fucking care. we who ? 99.999% of every mother fucker you can see, thats who.

I will be truthfull and tell you guys right off the bat that i am not an activist and I am not really aware of your causes and motivations. But while surfing the internet at work (I have a real boring job) I came across this web page and all of your comments. While reading them most of the time I was very offended and could not believe what i was reading. As for some of the stories of middle eastern people finding prejedice after the 11th, I understand that and was just as sickened by it as the rest of you. During the months after the 11th I perticipated in a program that allowed Muslims and Christians to visit eachothers place of worship and it was a very enlightening experience. It allowed everyone to ask questions and find out about each other. However that is not the main point I wanted to get at. It was more of some people making the comment that "whites are wealthier" thats an exact quote and another one "whites in this country really truly only understand racial discrimination from their perspective. A white perspective" another exact quote. I find this very narrow sighted, not that its wrong because it isn't. It is right sometimes. Some whites are like that. The same way blacks only see racial discrimination from the black perspective. During the last decade or so I think there has been a major change in racism. There is still the old white agianst black racism, but now there is a new racism a black agianst white racism. If you listen to the media (I know you guys are agianst it and call it the machine but just once listen to it) you will find that some blacks have started to use rasicm as a tool. How do you ask??? By threatening whites and accusing them of it when perhaps they really never did anything. Obviously this does not happen all that much but it does happen. I have gone to school with blacks and I have found that if you say soemthing in class they don't like, sometimes they will out of the blue call you racist just cause you don't agree with them. I believe this goes into why some people in the world hate America, because they have begun to use Americas superiority complex agianst us. Yeah I said it, we do have one I agree with that. Now that I think about it I have to say that i think I am the perfect example of what some of these people seem to be agianst. I am white, I live in a wealthy neighborhood, my parents are well off (although that means nothing because they do not even give me the time of day nor any money) and the real kicker is that I have never gone to a public school always catholic private schools (haven't gone to college yet). Whenever I tell anyone that, they usually say soemthing along the lines of, oh well you have been brain washed. I am always taken back by that. I have never understood why some people act like that, and why some poeple who are not as fortunate as others tend to project their problems onto those who are. That also plays onto why some countrys hate America, its simple jealousy. Sure its not the same as that guy has that cute girl and I don't, but its still the same basic human feel. It all goes back to psycology and how the mind works. The Human mind is a very interesting subject. If it encounters an environment that it finds to a disadvantage (such as poverty or even middle class looking at high class) the human mind will create jealousy to make itself feel better. Most of you will completely reject that idea, but here is a very interesting question that you might want to think about. If you were born richer then you are now would your views on the world, the governemnt, or even other people be the same? Its an interesting question that some people should think about.

HEY, I REALLY LIKED YOUR ARTICLE. I CAN TOTALLY RELATE TO IT. I AM FROM AFGHANISTAN, AND I WANT THE WORLD TO SEE THE BEAUTIFUL CULTURES OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND NOT TO DISCRIMINATE PEOPLE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. WE ARE GREAT PEOPLE AND WE ARE AGAINST THE HORRIBLE ACTS OF 9/11. WE LOVE AMERICA AND CONDEM TERRORISM. I HOPE PEOPLE DONT STEREOTYPE, AND GET TO KNOW US BETTER.

This is a good article and a great critique of the current activist scene. This is where we need to improve. To the writer, be assertive and don't be afraid to think critically even when it comes to the movement. Everything has room for improvement. If you feel patronized you should speak out. Perhaps the people behaving this way towards you don't realize what they are doing because we who have grown up here have been subjected to massive amounts of psychological propaganda and sometimes its necessary for people like you to break that and say what you are thinking. I think you will find if you do that without being confrontational you will find a good response from people, and perhaps this is the role you are meant to play in the movement.

Basically, I found the articles above very interesting. I would really like to know how diverse all of you're upbringings were. I am currently an 11th grader in Michigan. Up till I entered high school I was in mostly white schools. Strangely enough, I wasn't raised with a sense of superiority b/c I was white. How do you explain that? I don't remember one lecture, one speech on diversifying and somehow I came out all right. Many of you are shaking their heads and thinking I'm just fooling myself.
Well, let me tell you about my high school. It's based in a latino ghetto, and its tuition is salary-based, so anyone can go. Blond hair and blue eyes are a minority in my school. Yet I fitted in right away. My best friend is black, one of my white friends is dating a Mexican, and we all basically get along. How? By realizing our differences for what they are and moving on in life. We don't ignore our differences, we accept them. Without my friends I wouldn't have developed a taste for Latino food, rap, blues, and Chinese writing. Heck, I wouldn't be the person I am today without them being different then me.