After spending about 5 hrs. today on the phone w/ my contacts at the mosques

in LA and OC, and my fathers friends.. one message that became clear the the

Islamic school/mosques/centers would like to send out to all those helping

out is....

1) they thank you for your support in trusting them and knowing that they

love this country and that they were horrified at the event that unfolded

last Tuesday, in no way shape or form do they support those actions, or find

any type of justification for them. They wanted to thank all the people who

have called and asked to volunteer, people how have held meetings in support

of them.

2) they do need volunteers and help in the coming weeks to do simple tasks

at their locations or to help them w/ press releases, press conferences.

3) they DO NOT want to see their plight used as a platform to move the

agenda of socialist, communist, anarchist, leftist point of view. They are

very conservative actually, and would not like to be used a stepping stone

for others to move their agenda ahead.. and im quoting when i say this...

they refuse to work w/ an American/White groups of activists who will make

their issue of discrimination an issue about globalization, about socialism,

communism, anarchy, etc. etc. etc. They need your help but refuse to be used

as pawns in other fights, and would not like to participate or condone any

groups that will spend their next few weeks bashing the Unites States. They

want their basic human rights and realize they need help from outside

groups, to make sure they are given those rights.



4) They respect the United States, The Constitution and the President, and

do not want to bring more hate and discrimination upon themselves by

participating w/ groups and/or activists who are at this point focused on

bashing the USA and "fighting in the name of all Arab-Americans"... they are

not here to diminish someone's white guilt. They have seen a lot of emails

being sent back and forth and postings on IMC that have discouraged them a

lot. A lot of "American/White" activist who are now claiming that the USA

deserved this, that the terrorism was justified, making statements such as

"they should have hit the white house" "USA needed for this to happen to

wake up" "this is the Revolution we need to fight now and show them how

strong we are" "We all need to use Direct Action the way Bin Laden did" ...

these type of ideas and words are making them very very scared because in NO

WAY do they agree w/ that.. and in NO WAY do they want to work w/ people who

DO agree w/ statements and ideas like that.



5) they would like to participate in programs that allow groups to work

together and put on discussions, rally's, press conferences, articles, radio

show programs.. but once again do now want to be caught in a maze of

personal agendas.



As a person from the middle east I would just like to please remind everyone

to keep in mind that if you choose to do this type of volunteer work within

these middle easter groups, please remember that in general you are going to

be dealing with a very conservative community... please respect that, if you

cannot do this from the bottom of your heart, by putting aside your own

agendas and working in their struggle to be able to live in this country and

provide a safe living conditions for themselves or their families, you are

doing a dis-service to them and their fight. That is how they feel, and

personally after hearing their reasons for feeling this way, I would have to

say I agree w/ them. They have had to work w/ activist groups before, and

they said that most of the time that experience has left them w/ a bad taste

in their mouth because their cause gets lost in the sea of personal

agenda... food for thought.. and ideas to focus..

I personally think we should have a HUGE meeting sometimes this week or next

week. If anyone has ideas about locations, time and date please send the

info along. We need to pull together in complete solidarity and support of

one another, to not let this horrific tragedy rip us and our communities

apart, it's time to pull together, we are not talking about another mass

mobilization here, or a protest... all of which are important.. but were

talking about the safety and basic human rights of a large group of people

living in this country.



Sorrow knocked at the door,

Faith answered,

And found no one there. -Japanese Proverb-

feel free to circulate this email



xoxo

Chantel

"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience.

Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed

the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war,

and millions have been killed because of this obedience. . . Our problem is

that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and

starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people

are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while

the grand thieves are running and robbing the country. That's our problem."

Howard Zinn, "Failure to Quit", p. 45

Tell them to stop oppressing women. Bunch of sexist hypocrites!