In their own words

• On major issues facing Arab Americans and British Arabs…
• On the aims of community activism…
• On identity…
• On citizenship…
• On locating 'home'…

On citizenship…  

A major aim of this study has been to investigate how Arab American and British Arab activists interpret and act upon ‘citizenship’.    Do they see themselves as part of a political community?   If so, what and where is that community?  Is citizenship simply a legal status or is it more meaningful than that?   Most of the study participants view citizenship as conferring certain rights and responsibilities, as well as privileges, on members of a nation-state.   They also regard citizenship as involving an element of belonging to a specific place and community of people.  Some see the ‘belonging’ aspect of citizenship as problematic either for themselves or for Arab immigrants in general.   Most, for instance, reject the view that belonging should require conformity to a dominant culture or that one’s sense of responsibility should be confined to any single country.  Nonetheless, many see themselves as motivated by concepts of citizenship, emphasizing the need for Arab immigrants to engage politically and socially in localities both to empower themselves and to contribute positively to countries of settlement. 

[Citizenship] is an interesting concept now, with all the jingoism that’s going on in this country.  It’s made me rethink it in the last few years.  We’re all citizens of the world.  These are artificial boundaries.  I think when people realize that we’re all human beings…and everything about human beings is just as valid from one to another.  I think these artificial ideas of citizenship are probably the root of a lot of problems, because you’re saying that one is better than the other one.  Growing up in Lebanon, where the Lebanese thought they were God’s gift to the planet compared with Syria, and you watch this and you’re thinking, ‘But it’s just an artificial boundary.  France sat down with a little ruler and they drew it and said, ‘This is your little country’.  So I tend to see myself as a citizen of the world.  I happen to live in the US and have US citizenship… [Lebanese-born activist involved in gay and minority cultural associations]

[Citizenship is] working within the laws and norms of a society as long as equality is present … When it comes to political stuff, if there is ever a clash between my British identity and my Arabic identity, the solution is simple:  I don’t oppress anyone in the way we have been oppressed... I am British, but if Britain does something that is unjust to Arabs, then I am Arab. If Arabs do something that is unjust to Britain, then I’m with the Brits. It is quite straightforward really. It is not a big deal …As a Brit I can be perfectly British and worry about what is happening in another country or what my Government here is doing to another country, and in the same sense I can worry about what Palestinians are doing and what the Palestinian government to its own people or to Israelis or to anyone. Being able to have a higher moral authority, if you like, makes it easier being a citizen; there isn’t a clash then.  [Palestinian-Egyptian-origin columnist, filmmaker, and internet activist]

I think a citizen is someone who feels connected to a vision and a belief about a society and a culture, and buys into it and works to support that and feels proud of it.  And I don’t feel that I am an American.  I don’t buy into what the American system is doing, either domestically or internationally.  I mean, legally, I’m a citizen, but psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, I don’t consider myself a citizen of this country.  I consider myself kind of an exile…The passport is good because it allows me to travel, but in terms of feeling connected and feeling that I’m part of larger community that is working toward a goal, and feeling that we share the same values and ideas, I don’t feel that…  I feel that as a citizen you can disagree with what the majority is doing and still feel good about it.  But…we don’t feel like disagreement matters.  It’s not taken in the spirit of ideas, where you present an opposing idea and you struggle with the majority around something and you come to a compromise.  The experience that we have is that the majority - or even the minority, for that matter - has their idea, and that’s it.  There’s no room for struggle right now.  [US-born activist involved in Palestinian rights organizations, civil rights groups, and other social justice activities]

Citizenship is belonging to the place where you live and work and having duties to the culture and people, and also to have rights of citizenship of that place. It does not, for my understanding, extend to share the national feeling, or the political stance of that country. But it contains the same element about society, and acceptance of society and offering to society and going by the rules of that society and respecting the culture and traditions of that society even if it is not what I like, because I understand them. You'll find most Arabs understand British culture, and that they respect that… [Syrian-born physician involved in various British-Arab cultural and professional organizations]

Despite my sense of alienation, I think my perspective grows out of certain American traditions…I guess it involves a notion of democratic citizenship.  At the core of it is a sense of what it means to be a citizen in a democracy and what rights and duties and responsibilities that entails.  I think it means having the expectation that you participate in civic and political life - not only that you are entitled to, that you have a right to it, but you have to do it.  A component of it is a very fundamental sense of equality and the feeling that your voice and your perspective as a citizen is as important as anybody else’s, including the leaders, who are only other citizens of this country. [US-born activist involved in Palestinian, Arab-American, and human rights activities]

…Somebody else might see me as an immigrant or a foreigner or whatever, but I play an equal part of this society as a next door neighbour and sometimes we have found ourselves more Liverpudlian than the next English person because some people are not interested in politics, they are not interested in community work. They go and do nine ‘til five and watch the football and then go to the pub. For us it is more than that.  We think you have to be active citizens in your community, try to engage in local issues, take part, contribute to the diversity within the city, enjoy what the city offers, as well, by being part of that.  [Yemeni-born cultural event organizer]

Top