US Gov’t Must Engage All Relevant Actors

MPAC

As countries in the Middle East and North Africa make their transitions from revolution to creating and stabilizing a new form of government, faith based political movements have emerged as the front runners in post revolutionary governance.  As these changes happen abroad, we are seeing a shift in our foreign policy here as well. These political movements were generally isolated from conversations in the past. Now, the United States is making a more concerted effort to engage these groups as legitimate actors in their countries. An interesting aspect of the current emerging trend of opening dialogue with these groups is that it seems to many to be a novel idea. In fact, civil society groups such as the Muslim Public Affairs Council have advocated for such inclusion and dialogue for decades.

In the early 1990s, MPAC Senior Adviser, Dr. Maher Hathout was invited by the State Department to give a speech titled “Emerging Political Trends in Islamic Movements.” The critical speech on emerging trends coming from an American Muslim organization was eye-opening to policy makers and diplomatic practitioners. Among the foundational values addressed in Dr. Hathout’s lecture was for Islamic political groups to establish democratic governance, rights of minorities and the role of women’s participation in political and civic life.

Recently, we have seen an increase in interaction between the United States government and members of Islamic political parties. Delegations from the an-Nahda party in Tunisia and the Freedom and Justice Partyin Egypt are two recent examples of groups visiting civil society organizations, federal agencies, think tanks and academic institutions in Washington.

MPAC has long advocated that as long as these groups work within the rules of democratic governance, they should be allotted a seat at the proverbial table. What other way is there to hold leaders accountable if we continue to marginalize them from the conversation? As such, MPAC has worked tirelessly to bring to fruition this very phenomenon we witness today. The role of MPAC and other civil society organizations is incredibly important in playing the role of the convener creating a shift from dialogues to “trialogues.” It is imperative that civil society organizations remain just as much a part of the conversation as government and political actors are in maintaining a civic component of a check to all leaders.

From the very beginning however, those seeking to create a divide, such as the ilk of Robert Spencers, Steven Emersons and Daniel Pipes, kicked and screamed as they perceived Islamic political groups gaining political legitimacy from these meetings. As they sought to marginalize these relevant actors, policy makers began to see the utility in engaging Islamic political groups in dialogue; and in an interesting turn of events, the Islamophobes became sideliners in the conversation. Indeed, when dealing with those who seek to pedal the myth of a fifth column of American Muslims, we must rely on the Quranic verse that states:The true servants of (God) the Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, reply with (words of) peace (25:63). It has become obvious that the cottage industry of Islamophobes were indeed addressing the American public with ignorance.

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