Obama's press secretary gives overview of Obama speech to Middle East

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release
June 3, 2009

PRESS BRIEFING
BY PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS,
SPEECHWRITER BEN RHODES,
AND DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR
FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS DENIS McDONOUGH

Marriott Filing Center
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia


7:20 P.M (Local)


MR. GIBBS: Thank you guys for coming. We'll do this in a couple of different waves. First I will have Ben Rhodes come up and walk you guys through a little bit of the structure of the President's speech tomorrow, with a full understanding that the President is still working on the text. Next we'll have Denis McDonough walk you through a readout of the President's meeting with King Abdullah today. And then at the conclusion of that we'll take some questions.

Ben.

MR. RHODES: Thanks. Well, as Robert said, the President is still working on the final text of the speech, so we'll get that when we have it. But he tends to work on these things to the wire.

Just to talk a little bit about what the structure of the speech is -- the President really sees this as an opportunity to continue a dialogue he's had since his inauguration -- you saw that in his Al Arabiya interview, in his Nowruz message, in his speech in Turkey, among other things -- to really start a new chapter of engagement between the United States and Muslim world.

Now, the foundation of that engagement as he sees it is the ability to engage each other on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interests. And in that light, he feels it's important to speak very openly and candidly about the very full range of issues that have caused some tensions between the United States and the Muslim world, and then also present a great deal of opportunity for partnership in the future.

To begin with, I think he'll take on directly some of the misperceptions that may have emerged as well as some of the differences that have emerged. I think he'll acknowledge the need for us to get to know each other better. As he has said, he'll, for instance, discuss the relationship between Islam and America within America, particularly in light of the contributions of American Muslims.

But then what he will do is really go through in a very thorough way a broad range of issues that have been at the forefront of the agenda: violent extremism and the threat that it poses, and what America has done in response; the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan and what we're doing there, and what we hope to do in the future in partnership with Afghans and Pakistanis. He'll discuss Iraq, both what we have done there and what we are doing in the future, again, to transition to Iraqi responsibility for Iraq. He'll discuss of course the Israeli-Palestinian issue and the broader Arab-Israeli issue, and acknowledging the fact that this has been a very important source of tension and passion for people of all faiths within this region and around the world, and he will discuss in some detail his view of the conflict and what needs to be done to resolve it. He will discuss both what that means in terms of Israelis and Palestinians and the United States and the Arab states, as well.

Then there's a broader set of issues that have also been -- or presented both causes for tension in the past but partnership in the future that have to do with areas such as democracy, human rights, and related issues to that. And so I think you'll see a forthright discussion in those areas.

And finally, though, the President is very committed to the positive partnerships that can be developed not just on the issues that I just discussed, where he thinks there's actually a very broader convergence of interests than has often been acknowledged or is often reflected in the debate, but also on issues that really matter in people's lives, in terms of economic development, in terms of education, in terms of health, in terms of science and technology; and the fact that as he said in Turkey, this can't just be what we're against; it has to be what we're for and what we can do together. And I think you'll see some concrete steps towards developing partnerships in these areas so that we can deepen engagement between the United States and Muslim communities, and point towards opportunity for all of our people.

And so that's really the broad framework of the speech. There's obviously a lot more that will be contained within that. There's a lot -- I don't want to preview the details of what he'll say on some of these more pressing challenges. I'll obviously leave that to him; he's far more equipped to do it. But that gives you a sense of it.

And there's been some interest in the process of the speech. The President has obviously been focused on the speech for a long time, dating back to the campaign. I will again, though, highlight that he's been focused on it as a part of an engagement, not an engagement in and of itself. So this is one step, not the final step. There will be further communication to come, just as we've already done a number of things.

But in terms of this speech, what he was very clear with us was to cast a wide net both within the U.S. government and outside of the U.S. government. So we talked to a broad range of experts in the government, but also in Washington and beyond. He was very adamant that that include Muslim Americans; there's a great number of Muslims who work in very important positions in the U.S. government on some of these issues. And he got engaged in this at a very early point and has basically provided all of the vision for what should be in the speech and a lot of the content. And for the last week he's really just been frequently holed up with his draft and editing it very heavily.

So we've benefitted from a broad range of views; we know the interest that is in the speech and we believe that we've reached out and tried to hear from and understand a lot of the views that are out there. But at the end of the day, the President has personally also been very invested in this, and I think you'll see that in the speech he gives tomorrow.

Thanks.

MR. GIBBS: Let me just bring Denis back in here to give you a readout of the meetings thus far.

MR. McDONOUGH: Thanks, Robert. And thank you, Ben.

The President and the delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia this afternoon at the airport and were greeted by a full official welcoming ceremony. From that we went to a series of delegation meetings, one at the airport very briefly, and then another at His Majesty's Farm. The meetings there consisted of a delegation meeting followed by a working lunch, including the entire delegation; then another short delegation meeting that was covered by the pool that I think you all saw. And then after a short break, the President and His Majesty went into a meeting, one on one, which I just confirmed is still going.

So obviously, as Robert suggested over the course of the last couple of days, the purpose of the visit is to stop in and see a very strategic and critical ally of the United States, to discuss a range of issues as it relates to energy, as it relates to Middle East peace, as it relates to Iran and other matters, and as much as anything, to underscore our shared interests in the region, as well, as Ben just talked about, the continuing effort the President has been undertaking here since the inauguration to reenergize a dialogue with the Muslim world.

The one thing I can report -- I'll be able to report more I think after we have a readout once the meeting finished, but it did start at about 5:00 p.m. and I think now it's 7:30 p.m. or so local, so it still continues, and we'll give you a further readout on that when it finishes up.

MR. RHODES: I should just add one more thing. As I went through the checklist in my head -- and it's really tough when Denis comes up here and I realize how short I must be at this podium -- but Iran, he'll also discuss the issues of nuclear proliferation and our ongoing efforts to engage the Islamic Republic of Iran on those issues.

MR. GIBBS: So with that we'll take a few questions. Yes, ma'am.

Q I have one for Ben and one for Denis, if that's okay.

MR. GIBBS: Sure.

Q Ben, when you talked about how the President is going to talk in some detail about what each of the parties should do in Mideast peace, does that mean that he's going to talk specifically about settlements with respect to Israel and the Arab states, giving more money to the Palestinians, and get down in the weeds like that?

MR. RHODES: I mean, what I'd say is, without, again, preempting the speech, the key issue is that the fundamental issues that have been at the core of the conflict are ones that he will address. You know, he's addressed settlements in recent days; he's addressed the question of the role of the Arab states; the obligations, frankly, of all sides. So what you'll see is a robust discussion of how to make progress and how to finally break this stalemate.

And with that, I'll let his words tomorrow speak for themselves. He's not, as we said, presenting any detailed plan, but he is addressing, again, in a very robust way, what he thinks needs to be done on all sides, and also, frankly, just how he personally views the conflict. So with that, I think I'll leave the rest for tomorrow.

Q How is that not a plan, though? I mean, what's the distinction in his mind between talking specifically about what each side should do and talking about a plan for peace?

MR. RHODES: Well, again, without getting into too much, some of these things are things that have already been agreed to; they're things that are responsibilities that -- under the road map, for instance. So that's how I would draw that distinction. I mean, in a sense that these responsibilities will lead to peace, he will be addressing how to achieve peace. In the sense that he's going to revise dramatically those responsibilities, that's what I'd put aside.

Q And then quickly for Denis. Did the President make any progress or raise with the King the issue of working on Taliban extremism in Pakistan and the issue of the Yemenis at Guantanamo?

MR. McDONOUGH: Again, I don't want to prejudge. We haven't had a chance to debrief with the President since the meeting is still going on, but those were certainly among the issues that he was intending to address.

The bottom line I think -- and this goes to Ben's question -- and the speech -- is, just your question, Jennifer, underscore -- your questions underscore that this is a very broad dialogue that the President is going to continue to engage in in the speech in Cairo tomorrow; that it started with his first televised interview being with Al Arabiya. It continued obviously with outreach around the Nowruz message; the speech and the student discussion in Ankara and Istanbul.

So this is a very robust and wide-ranging discussion that's been going on now for some time. Obviously your question about -- Israeli-Palestinian question and issues is a part of it but it's not all of it. And so I think what Ben and the President are working on together is a very robust set of issues that continues a very broad dialogue. And I think he's looking very much forward to it.

Q Does the administration have any reaction to the bin Laden tape and the timing of it? What does it say about whether al Qaeda has been squeezed by the President's outreach? And in Turkey the President said he would present some specific programs on health care, education, and trade for the Muslim community. Can we expect that in the speech tomorrow?

MR. GIBBS: Let me handle the first part, and then I'll turn the second part over to someone else. Obviously we've seen news reports of the message but not had an opportunity to review it in its entirety. I think the reports we've seen are consistent with messages that we've seen in the past from al Qaeda, threatening the U.S. and other countries that are involved in counterterrorism efforts.

But I don't think it's surprising that al Qaeda would want to shift attention away from the President's historic efforts and continued efforts to reach out and have an open dialogue with the Muslim world.

MR. RHODES: Just to your second point, he will be addressing some specific initiatives in areas like health and education and development, and he'll be doing so from the standpoint, again, of so much of the discussion, when it comes to the set of issues we've talked about here today already, sometimes overlooks the kind of tangible issues that matter in people's lives. When you discuss mutual interests between the United States and the Muslim world, as the President has, that of course pertains to issues of peace and security, but it also pertains to opportunity and innovation and the ability for people to pursue a better life.

And I think he's committed to exploring ways to not present -- I mean, committed to exploring partnerships; that are initiatives that won't just be the United States doing something, it will be opportunities for the United States to partner with Muslim communities, Muslim-majority countries, to make progress on issues like health, education, economic development. So it's really a sense of concrete partnerships that can be undertaken to make a difference and to also both increase opportunity for people, but also that's a key part of building bridges and broadening the engagement so that there's engagement at a broad level of society and people, and not simply, again, the very important other issues but also the additional things that really matter in people's lives.

MR. GIBBS: Before I take another question, there's one thing I meant to outline in the beginning that I want to just go through for people -- I was asked this I believe either yesterday or the day before -- but just some of the efforts that our government was undertaking to ensure as many people around the world were exposed to what the President's remarks tomorrow. So let me go through a couple of different efforts.

Out of the State Department, callers worldwide can register to receive free text messages of the speech in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and English on www.america.gov/sms/html.

Q Can you repeat the languages again?

MR. GIBBS: Yes, and I've got -- it's Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and English. Callers will receive text messages during the speech and have the option to reply and give feedback to the State Department. The State Department will collect and post feedback on the Web site that I just gave you. Obviously this speech will be Webcast on whitehouse.gov. There will be links to fully translated transcripts of the speech in 13 different languages, which we'll give you in a second.

In addition to that, I mentioned this -- sort of the aspect of social networking -- the full speech, the speech excerpts and videos with translations, where applicable, will be pushed not only on the White House's YouTube site, but on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts. And just to give you a sense of the impact that something like Facebook can have, Facebook is the largest social network in Muslim countries, reaching close to 20 million users. For instance, there's 10 million in Turkey, 4 million in Indonesia, 1.2 million in Egypt. We will create a special event page where subscribers can receive text messages and do live chatting during the speech and watch the video online. And Facebook is doing a promotion of the event in Muslim countries.

And that is obviously in addition to -- I know networks in a number of countries around the world are going to show the speech, or plan to show the speech live with real-time translation.

Ed.

Q Robert, there's a report in an Israeli newspaper suggesting that the President stopped into meeting with the Israeli Defense Minister at the White House yesterday -- I think he was meeting with General Jones. Can you talk about what he said? Because this paper is claiming that the President suggested there was some sort of ultimatum that within four to six weeks he wanted the Prime Minister to come forward with new positions on two-state solution as well as settlements. And there's a perception that you're pressuring the Israelis right now, so can you talk about that?

MR. GIBBS: Yes, let me have Denis --

MR. McDONOUGH: Thanks, Robert. Thanks, Ed. I haven't seen the report but it doesn't sound exceedingly accurate. The President did stop by a meeting in General Jones' office yesterday for about 12 minutes, discussed a range of issues -- I think we sent a readout on that yesterday -- that include obviously the Israeli-Palestinian issues, larger Arab-Israeli peace efforts, the role that Senator Mitchell is playing, concerns about proliferation of technology -- nuclear technology -- and other matters.

But the idea that there was some kind of ultimatum given is not accurate. The fact is that I think what the President is trying to do is create some space for commitments that have already been made in the road map and elsewhere to be fulfilled. He was very clear on that during the visit of President Abbas last week. I think those of you who work where we work every day heard that, as it relates to incitement, as it relates to security, as it relates to governance.

And so the President, in that same vein, I think was also clear with Prime Minister Netanyahu on his visit, and in the short meeting yesterday with the Defense Minister Barak, underscored our interest in a range of issues. But, again, the idea of an ultimatum of that sort is not accurate from the meeting, but not also accurate from what the President is trying to accomplish.

MR. GIBBS: Jake.

Q I have a couple questions, Robert. One, what do you hope the average man on the street in a Muslim country will take away from the President's speech tomorrow?

And then for Mr. Rhodes. Does the President plan on mentioning at all his father's Muslim roots in the speech tomorrow?

MR. GIBBS: Let me let Denis do the first one, I think, just in terms of the man on the street.

MR. McDONOUGH: I think you've heard the President talk about in the course of the last couple of days that he wants the Arab and Muslim worlds to get to know a little bit more about America, wants America to get to know a little bit more about the Arab and Muslim worlds. I think the takeaway will be in the best circumstances an audience that recognizes that we, the United States, and they have mutual interests in a range of issues as it stems from extremists who have killed thousands of Muslims -- innocent Muslims, just as they did thousands of Americans, including on one day in September when all they wanted to do was go to work; will underscore our shared interest in the dignity of all people, the opportunities that they have as it relates to health and education.

But the bottom line is I think what they'll hear is, as Ben suggested, a good deal of truth-telling about our range of issues and concerns, as well as our common and mutual interests across the board.

MR. RHODES: And all I'd say on the other question is simply that the President will be making a broader point that, in some sense -- and this relates to what Denis said -- in some sense, we've let differences drive a lot of relationships instead of the things we hold in common. And we've also let artificial categories emerge -- divisions -- and Islam in America, for instance, can't be divided by definition because Islam is a part of the American story through American Muslims.

And of course, the President's family demonstrates that there are many Americans, as he said in Ankara, who are either Muslim or have Muslims in their families or can trace their lineage to Islam. So that is a part of a broader point that, again, there's more convergence of experience and interest than has been acknowledged in the past at times, and that we need to build off of that common ground in order to make progress on this set of issues.

Q Robert, one question for you, and then one for Denis. In terms of the outreach that you've done to make sure that people hear the speech, obviously this White House has done a lot of that at a number of events. Would you describe what you've done in this case to be extraordinary and above what you've done for previous efforts?

And for Denis, could you tell us a little bit just about what the President's message was on energy and anything you can about the early feedback from the first meetings on that subject?

MR. GIBBS: On the outreach question, I mean, obviously I think we have a fairly sophisticated, in general, outreach program that uses some of these tools. But I think it's very -- I would very much characterize the efforts that are being undertaken here as far broader; again, through either setting up special links on these social networking pages to draw -- to not just draw people into see the speech, but also to discuss it. Obviously throughout the world embassies are reaching out to the media in their countries to assure them that translations will be available. Obviously in I think in bigger countries in the world you'll see the speech actually broadcast live.

So there's a tremendous amount of outreach. I think I would -- at this point, too, I think this would be a good place also to caution -- and I did a little of this in the last couple of days -- and that is, both the President, the entire foreign policy team, and everybody that's been involved in this speech -- I think obviously the speech of tomorrow is important, but it's also important to realize that this is one of many events in a continuing dialogue that the President believes not only should happen but, in all honesty, must happen to continue to make progress on many of the issues that Ben outlined that the President will discuss tomorrow.

This is not a one-time event. Obviously, as Ben outlined, there have been points throughout his first few months in office that have noted his outreach. This is obviously a bit more high profile, but it is part of that continued dialogue that has to take place. All our problems and all of our outreach efforts are not going to either be solved or culminated in one speech. And I think that's the way the President certainly looks at it.

Denis, do you want to do the --

MR. McDONOUGH: Sure. I would just -- I'll just piggyback a minute on Robert's point, I mean, both as it relates to traditional media. I think what we've been struck by is the extent to which there is a demand at our embassies to get access to the speech. So, for example, as we've worked on languages into which we ought to have this translated, there's been a lot of demand from embassies throughout the Arab and Muslim/Islamic world, which really stretches from Morocco to Indonesia, to have it translated into languages in those countries.

And so there's a lot interest in it, for the fact that this is a very broad set of issues that people are interested in, but also because it's been an ongoing process, as Robert underscores. We've also learned by doing a little bit here, so we're identifying new social networking sites like Orkut, for example, which is a networking site that's particularly popular and accessed in South Asia. So we're learning kind of as we go along here.

As it relates to the readout of the meeting, I'm just not going to get into any particular specifics until we have a better sense of how the one-on-one meeting went.

MR. GIBBS: Chip.

Q Back on bin Laden, you said that this is largely consistent with past messages, but some of the analysts have said that the language of this that is directed at the American people, threatens the American people, is a step beyond what he has done before, since President Obama has been in office. How would you -- what would you say to the average American who sees or reads these words, and given his history, finds them chilling if not frightening?

MR. GIBBS: Well, Chip, again, I haven't had -- we haven't had a chance to analyze the full message. But I think Americans have seen these types of threats before. I don't -- from the reports we've seen, these seem very consistent with what has happened in the past. And again, I would reiterate I think this is much more of an effort to upstage and to try to become a part of a story seeking a different way.

Q Can you give an assurance to Americans that there's nothing to fear here?

MR. GIBBS: I can give the American people every assurance that everything is being done to protect them and to protect our homeland, as we've done since we took office.

Yes.

Q There are reports that the U.S. has urged Cairo University to invite members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other human rights groups. Can you talk a little bit about --

MR. GIBBS: Yes, Denis can talk a little bit about it.

MR. McDONOUGH: Thanks for the question. Thanks, Robert. The fact is, I think as we talked to many of you last Friday night, that we wanted to make sure that the speech -- that the President in his speech had an opportunity to speak to the full range of political representation in Egypt and really across the Muslim world. So the process by which invitations are made is that we from the States had folks that we were interested in making sure were invited; the embassy obviously in Cairo played a leading role in identifying people to invite; I think the Egyptian government had people that they would like to see -- wanted to see invited.

And so it's hard for me to disaggregate who was -- who invited which specific group of people. I got an email earlier today from somebody asking if we had pressed for the inclusion of a particular group. I think the bottom line is that the President wants to have an opportunity to speak to the broad range of political representation in Egypt, but really across the region.

Q -- (inaudible) -- toward Israel for the countries in the Middle East and the neighbors of Israel? And what does he specifically expect from them to move the peace process forward? For Denis.

MR. McDONOUGH: You know, I just want to underscore again that this is one piece of a much broader picture that the President will be addressing tomorrow; albeit an important one, but just one. But I think you heard it in the President's meeting with President Abbas and obviously from day one when the -- the first day the President reported for duty in the Oval Office, he picked up the call and called the leaders of this region to discuss with them the range of issues that are at play in the peace process.

So specifics, I'm not going to get into many of those, but I think there are some things that certainly make sense, including obviously support for the Palestinian Authority and its ability to extend its writ of governance, support for opportunity for Palestinians and so forth.

So we'll hear some more about that tomorrow, but we'll also hear more about that from Senator Mitchell in his efforts, and certainly Secretary Clinton has been leading the charge on this, as well.

Q Do you foresee the President inviting Muslim leaders, political leaders specifically from Arab countries to America in the coming months or the next year or so as part of his effort to --

MR. GIBBS: Well, I think that -- we've already begun to do some of it. Obviously he's spoken to leaders on the phone throughout his time, and I do believe -- I believe this will be -- this is something that the President will continue to do throughout his time in office. Again, the speech shouldn't be seen as a one-time event. Just as you go from the Al Arabiya interview and now, I think it is very safe to assume that moving forward, the President will want to strongly build on the foundation that has been laid, but to understand that one speech is not enough; that we've got much more outreach to do and many more meetings to do. And I think that will be a focus of his administration.

Let me go to Chuck and I'll come back.

Q Robert, back to -- it seemed as if you were sort of intimating that you guys think it's an empty threat. I mean, how seriously think this threat --

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, I haven't seen the whole thing. I don't think the rhetoric on the tape seems markedly different from what I've seen in the reports, and I don't think the motives and the timing are all that surprising.

Q So you're not being dismissive of it? I mean, it just seems like --

MR. GIBBS: I'll let you characterize what I just said, but it wasn't a long quote. I'd prefer just to go ahead and use that.

Yes, ma'am. END 8:14 P.M.

Committee to Protect journalists offers issues for Obama to address in Middle East speech

Committee to Protect Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA Phone: (212) 465‑1004 Fax: (212) 465‑9568 Web: www.cpj.org E-Mail: media@cpj.org
Contacts:
Mohamed Abdel Dayem, program coordinator
Phone: (212) 465-1004, x103; E-mail: m.abdel.dayem@cpj.org

Mariwan Hama-Saeed, research associate
Phone: (212) 465-1004, x104; E-mail: mariwan@cpj.org



As Cairo speech nears, concerns for Obama


June 1, 2009

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Via facsimile 202-456-2461

Dear Mr. President,

The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing ahead of your scheduled speech in Cairo on June 4 to bring to your attention important matters that are crucial to the long-term success of your stated goal of engaging the people—and not just the regimes—of the Arab and Muslim worlds.

In a few days, hundreds of millions of Arabs and Muslims will be listening to you with a mix of skepticism and hopeful anticipation. I would like to suggest concrete steps that you and your administration can take to bring U.S. policy in the region in line with the country’s unwavering commitment to press freedom and free expression, not just at home but also across the globe.

The overseas detention of journalists without due process has markedly damaged U.S. prestige worldwide and especially in the Muslim world. It is likely that it has also contributed to an overall increase in imprisoned journalists by authoritarian regimes that have used this policy as a pretext for sidelining critical journalists in their own countries. To date, 14 journalists have been held by the United States for extended periods of time without adequate legal consideration in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo. One remains in custody.

Reuters freelance photographer Ibrahim Jassam was detained by U.S. forces at his home just outside Baghdad on September 2, 2008. A November 30 Iraqi Central Criminal Court decision found that there was no evidence to hold Jassam, and an order that U.S. forces release him was rejected by U.S. military authorities, who concluded that he “continued to pose a serious threat to the security and stability of Iraq.” The military did not provide evidence to corroborate that finding. In correspondence dated February 9 of this year, Chief of Public Affairs Major Neal Fisher told CPJ that Jassam “is awaiting release ...as [are] the other remaining approximate 14,800 detainees” in accordance with a “ranking based on their assessed threat” level. Fisher could not provide more detail as to when that would take place.

The prompt release of Ibrahim Jassam, the last remaining journalist in U.S. custody, and a firm commitment that any journalists detained in the future will be guaranteed a timely judicial review would send a clear message to the people of the Muslim world that the United States has brought a difficult chapter of history to an end and is upholding its stated commitment to press freedom.

Since 2003, at least 16 journalists have died and an undetermined number have been seriously injured by U.S. fire in Iraq. CPJ research indicates that the U.S. military has investigated less than a handful of these deaths, and has absolved troops of wrongdoing in all of them. The substantive results of these cases, such as the 2003 strike on Al-Jazeera’s Baghdad bureau that killed correspondent Tareq Ayyoub, have not been made public.

U.S. military authorities should conduct thorough investigations into all instances of journalists killed by U.S. fire. The results of these investigations must be made public and their conclusions should be integrated into the military’s operational procedures. Such a step is not only beneficial for future U.S. military objectives, it is also an essential element in winning over the masses of Muslims who have been disillusioned by the real or perceived lack of accountability for journalist and civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. CPJ’s own report into a U.S. tank shelling of the Palestine Hotel in 2003, which killed Spanish cameraman Jose Couso and Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk, concluded that an apparent breakdown in operational command and control was a contributing factor.

President Obama, when we wrote to you in January just before you assumed office, we asked you to ensure that as U.S. troops find themselves increasingly engaged in fighting foes that move among the civilian population, they are trained to accommodate the presence of journalists who have a legitimate right to cover the conflict. Far too often CPJ gets reports from local journalists in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq of verbal and sometimes physical abuse and detention by U.S. troops.

As you know, the Middle East and North Africa have some of the most repressive environments for journalists in the world. Journalists in Egypt, for example, must endure numerous implicit and explicit threats to their safety and physical integrity to bring news of corruption, mismanagement, and negligence to their audiences.

We commend you for your statement on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, in which you said that the United States “sound[s] the alarm about the growing number of journalists silenced by death or jail as they attempt to bring daily news to the public.” We ask that you reaffirm this commitment when you travel to the heart of the Arab world by seeking the release of journalists unjustly jailed merely for doing what their colleagues in the United States do every day: Report the news as they see it.

Sincerely,
Joel Simon Executive Director

Cancer disparity reflected in minority population growth -- new study concludes

NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: April 1, 2009
Contact: Adelina Espat 713-745-7544 ajespat@mdanderson.org

Minority Population Growth Equals Cancer Health Disparity M. D. Anderson Observes National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, April 19 – 25
HOUSTON – Does race and ethnicity affect cancer risk? This is the question frequently asked throughout the year and especially during National Minority Cancer Awareness Week, April 19 to 25. Each year, cancer statistics show that minority groups are more likely than the general population to develop and/or die from certain types of cancer.
“As U.S. minority populations continue to grow, this question becomes even more important,” said David Wetter, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
According to recent Census Bureau figures, minorities make up about one-third of the U.S. population and are expected to become the majority in 2042. Hispanic, black, Asian and other nonwhite men and women already make up half the population of the country’s largest cities. Many small towns also are seeing similar changes in their communities.
Minorities and Cancer RiskBelow are current cancer trends among some of the larger minority groups in the U.S., according to the Office of Minority Health in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
African Americans are more likely than any racial and ethnic group to die from all cancers combined and for most major cancers.
American Indians/Alaska Natives are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to develop liver cancer.
Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders are twice as likely than non-Hispanic whites to die from stomach cancer.
Hispanics are more likely to develop cancers related to viral infection. For example, Hispanic women have the second highest number of cervical cancer cases. Cervical cancer is related to the human papillomavirus (HPV).
Participate and Reduce the RatesMore information is needed to fully understand the factors that affect cancer rates among minority populations. Factors that may contribute to health disparities include:
Lack of or inadequate insurance coverage
Lack of coverage from insurance providers to pay for related study costs
Barriers to early detection and screening, such as lack of knowledge of screening tests
Language and cultural barriers
Unequal access to improved cancer treatments
“Before additional information can be obtained, it is critical that members of minority populations participate in research studies to help scientists learn more about the health needs of these populations as well as how to better address these needs,” Wetter said. “Without minority participation in research studies, it becomes difficult to determine whether or not study results are applicable to all populations.”
Unfortunately, minority groups are less likely than the white population to participate in research studies. Factors contributing to low participation rates may include:
Insufficient discussions between physicians and their minority patients on the availability of studies
Lack of information in the community about the potential benefits of participating in research studies
Insufficient studies in communities where people affected by disparities often live
Exclusion of patients with multiple health problems, many of whom are minorities, from research studies based on extensive eligibility criteria
Fortunately, minorities can take an active role in their health management to reduce their risks for cancer, in addition to participating in a research study. Up to two-thirds of all cancer cases could be prevented if people adopted healthier lifestyle habits, such as healthy eating, increased exercise, sun protection and tobacco cessation, according to the American Cancer Society.
Observing National Minority Cancer Awareness WeekNational Minority Cancer Awareness Week is the perfect opportunity to draw attention to issues unique to minority communities. “It gives physicians, nurses, health care professionals and researchers an opportunity to develop creative approaches to remove barriers to health care for these populations,” Wetter said. M. D. Anderson collaborates with various community organizations to organize programs that address these issues and target specific minority populations in the Houston area. For more information on upcoming programs, visit www.mdanderson.org/focused.
- 30 -

ADC Chicago to honor five Chicagoland journalists May 12

PRESS RELEASE


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Ray Hanania
April 2, 2009 rayhanania@comcast.net


ADC Chicago to honor five top Chicagoland journalists
for professional journalistic excellence

(Chicago) The Chicago Chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is proud to announce five recipients of the ADC Excellence in Media Professionalism to be honored at the 30th Annual ADC Media Awards Banquet.

ADC is the nation’s largest grassroots organization championing the fight against bigotry and discrimination, with more than 2,000 paid members in the Chicagoland area.

The ADC Chicago board voted unanimously to award this year’s honors to

Mr. Jay Levine senior reporter for WBBM (CBS) TV Chicago
Ms. Amani Ghouleh, publisher of al-Offok al-Arabi American Arab Newspaper.
Mr. Burt Constable, columnist for the Arlington Heights Daily Herald Newspaper
Mr. Mansour Tadros, publisher of al-Mustaqbal American Arab Newspaper
Mr. Stephen Franklin, former Middle East correspondent for the Chicago Tribune (now with Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism)

All five recipients will be honored at a dinner banquet to be held Tuesday May 12, 2009 at the Drury Lane Oak Brook Center, 100 Drury Lane Oak Brook. The reception begins at 6 pm, followed by dinner and awards ceremony at 7 pm.

“All five recipients of this year’s American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Award have earned the respect not only of our community but the entire Chicagoland region for their fair, balanced and sensitive coverage,” said Fadi Zanayed, ADC Chicago President.

“The presentation of these awards is a tradition driven not by political considerations but rather a respect for the challenges that journalists must overcome in today’s world to provide accurate, fair, balanced and sensitive news reporting and coverage,” said Shafic Budron, ADC Chicago Vice President and National Board member.

“All of the recipients have demonstrated the highest in professional journalism over the years and are role models for all who pursue the journalism professional as a career,” said Ray Hanania, a veteran Chicago journalist, radio talk show host and chairman of the Media Awards Event.

The event is open to the public. Tickets to the event are available at $60 each with discounted tickets available to students with valid student IDs for $30.

For more information on the event and ceremony and bios of the award winners, visit the ADC Chicago web page at www.ADCChicago.com.

Contact Fadi Zanayed, 708-257-7755 for information

# # #

PROFILE: Ray Hanania, Arab World needs American Arab journalists to help

Palestinian radio talk show host takes on mainstream and Middle East issues

(Arab American Writers Group Syndicate) – Ray Hanania has always been a fighter. He has no choice. He is American Arab, and he refuses to put his ethnicity in the back of the bus where many Americans today demand Middle Eastern people sit.

Hanania, who has written seven books, authors a syndicated column, and hosts both a radio and TV Show in Chicago, Illinois, believes that the answer to the challenges facing the Arab World is to empower American Arab journalists to help change the false stereotypes and perceptions that undermine justice and feed anti-Arab bias in the West.

“The Arab World is making a critical error by believing that they can change the Western mindset by simply writing about world events and doing so mainly in the Arabic language,” argues Hanania, who is managing editor of Arabisto.com and whose columns often appear in the mainstream American and Arab world media.

“They have failed to take advantage of the one single asset that can empower the Arab voice in the West and especially in America, the American Arab professional journalists.”

Hanania, who is a co-founded of the National Arab American Journalists Association, reports that the voice of American Arabs are shifting from partisan activism to professional journalism.

“We have more than 90 independent American Arab ethnic newspapers and magazines, a dozen radio and cable TV programs hosted by American Arabs, and we have more than 250 journalists in this country, half of whom work full or parttime in mainstream American journalism positions,” Hanania says.

“The failure of the Arab World to support that growing movement has handicapped efforts to correct inaccurate stereotypes among Americans of the Arab World, and has undermined efforts to correct injustices often times driven by misguided American foreign policy. With the new sense of justice of the administration of Barack Obama, the Arab World is poised to change all that. But they must empower American Arab journalists to help lead that change in America.”

The American-born Palestinian quickly rose through the ranks of the Palestinian American community in the early 1970s under the guidance of then Northwestern Political Science Professor Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, who helped Hanania become spokesman for the Arab American Congress for Palestine in 1975.

That year, Hanania also launched an English language newspaper that immediately put him in the sights of the Midwest Office of the FBI – resulting in a two-year long investigation and secret FBI report – and a head-to-head debate on national Public TV with Israel’s Foreign Minister, Abba Eban.

Since then, Hanania entered journalism believing that Arab cultural tradition of directing young children into white collar professions like medicine, engineering, law and even corporate and retail business had to be changed. American Arabs had to enter the field of journalism.

“Communications is the most powerful profession in America and in the world,’ says Hanania, who has since won three Society of Professional Journalism awards for his columns and was named Best Ethnic Columnist in America by the New America Media.

“In America, perception is reality. Americans oftentimes do not care about the facts or the truth. They care more about who is saying the facts and the truth. And if you do not look and sound exactly like them, oftentimes justice falters and injustice rises to a national clamor.”

The view has pushed him into frequent clashes with the leadership of the American Arab community, especially with those who have relied on emotion and tragedy to keep the community in line.

Hanania, whose father is from Jerusalem and mother from Bethlehem, also advocates that Palestinians must reject violence and even resistance, and embrace a compromise with Israel arguing that failing to do so has resulted in giving the Israelis carte blanche not only in the PR field but in the reality of everyday life for Palestinians in Palestine.

“Every day, Israel is erasing the rights and existence of the Palestinian people. They have played a cunning, deceptive and clever game of advocating for peace while increasing illegal settlements, stealing Palestinian owned lands, expelling Palestinians from their homes, and engaging in terrorism themselves through the military and through the terrorist settler movement,” Hanania explains.

“What has been our response as Palestinians and Arabs? To help Israel by responding not with our brains but with our emotions. With our anger. Instead of being strategic, as the Israelis have been, we have been reckless in our leadership. When you argue reason, community leaders who have based their leadership not on skills but manipulating and exploiting the tragedy and emotions of our people have responded by calling you a traitor and worse. We have to stop letting our emotions control our destiny because so far it has not worked.”

Hanania believes that the problem is compounded by the absence of American Arabs in Western mainstream journalism.

“It’s not enough to have Arab journalists in the Middle East covering these events because they are writing primarily in Arabic and they are writing under a system of repression that is oftentimes more harsh for them in Arab countries than under Israeli occupation,” Hanania asserts.

“Arab World journalists are faltering by failing to speak to the Western audiences in the English language. And in those few instances where they try to write and broadcast in English, the Western audiences have resisted and rejected those programs. The answer is to build a new Arab Media not in the Middle East but in the heartland of America. Strengthen the voices of professional American Arab journalists and empower them to engage the American and Western publics in a natural form of English and in a professional form of Journalism.”

Hanania was one of the first Palestinians to enter professional journalism full time in 1976, covering Chicago City Hall and politics for 16 years. He currently is the only American Arab to host a weekday Monday through Friday morning radio show in Chicago (WJJG 1530 AM) which speaks to mainstream American issues with an “Arab flare.”

“We are American like anyone else in this country. We served in the military and are often more patriotic than the so-called patriots who disparage and attack and defame the Arab people in this country,” Hanania says.

“No one can more effectively speak for the Arab cause in America and the West than American Arabs who have integrated themselves into American life while still clinging to their Arab heritage with pride.”

Hanania’s morning show, which covers the Chicagoland region with a more than 6 million audience reach, aggressively asserts its Arab heritage in almost every topic discussion.

“Americans need to know that we Arabs are just like them. We are no different. We can do that better than anyone else,’ Hanania argues.

(For more information on Ray Hanania, visit www.TheMediaOasis.com or his radio web site at www.RadioChicagoland.com. He can be reached at rayhanania@comcast.net.)

Iraqi Writers Association Workshop, Saturdays in April, Ferndale, Michigan

Iraqi Artists Association
Presents:
Connecting American Writers of Middle Eastern Backgrounds through a Workshop

Workshop Led by:
Weam Namou - Yatooma
Novelist, Poet & Freelance Writer

In this FREE Creative Writing Workshop:

● You receive honest, constructive feedback.
● The courses are structured towards your learning style.
● You’re allowed to write at your own pace.
● You learn to write with a published author as your mentor.

American Writers of Middle Eastern background have been around for a long time but have not been acknowledged even though…

Writing started in Mesopotamia, now called Iraq, over 7300 years ago. The first writer in recorded history was Enheduanna, a woman from ancient Iraq. She lived, composed and taught roughly 2,000 years before Aristotle.

This workshop is designed to improve your writing skills and allow you to reach your full writing potential. Whether you're dreaming of writing the great American novel or you've just got a few poems you're trying to publish, this workshop is for you!

Every Saturday for the Month of April (April 4, 11, 18 & 25) 12:00– 4:00 pm
Location:
800 Livernois Ferndale, MI 48220

This event is free and open to anyone of Middle Eastern background
Please register early as seating is limited
By calling Weam Namou Yatooma (586) 212-4490 or weamn@hotmail.com

Sponsored by Poets&Writers, the Chaldean Educational Center of America
& Iraqi American Media Network

HBO documentary on transexuals in Iran coming up in May

HBO DOCUMENTARIES

presents

BE LIKE OTHERS

A film by Tanaz Eshaghian

Premieres May 20, 2009


In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country with strict social mores and traditional values, sex-change operations are legal. Over twenty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious edict) making sex change permissible for “diagnosed transsexuals.” Yet homosexuality is still punishable by death.

With Iran’s international arms negotiations dominating news headlines worldwide, a very private kind of drama is unfolding behind the scenes. Highly feminine and attracted to members of the same sex, yet forced to live in secret for fear of retribution, a generation of young Iranian men are adopting an identity legally allowed to them—transsexual. In pursuit of what one man calls simply, “a decent life,” they flock to the country’s best-established gender reassignment surgeon, Dr. Bahram Mir Jalali, and are counseled by 24-year-old Vida, a post-op woman who claims to be “reborn” but warns of dangers that still await.

Iranian-American filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian accompanies several young men as they contemplate and prepare for their transformation, then follows them into and out of surgery. Intimate and unflinching, BE LIKE OTHERS is a fascinating look at those on the fringes of Iranian life—those looking for acceptance through the most radical of means.

About Tanaz Eshagian:
Tanaz Eshaghian was born in Iran in 1974 and left with her mother at the age of six, at the start of the Iran-Iraq war. She grew up in New York City, where she still lives, and graduated from Brown University in 1996 with a BA in Art Semiotics. Tanaz began making films a few years later, with a focus on documenting the Iranian experience in America. In 2001 she made the short documentary I CALL MYSELF PERSIAN. Framed by the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 and the World Trade Center attacks, the film reveals how Iranians living in the U.S. are often stereotyped and held responsible for anti-American activity, and weighs the effects on their identity. Her second film, the 63-minute LOVE IRANIAN-AMERICAN STYLE (2005), was shot over a period of four years and documented her own traditional Iranian family’s obsession with marrying her off. Sexual purity, money and a mother’s worries come together in this humorous guided tour lead by Tanaz through the Iranian-Jewish communities in New York and Los Angeles. BE LIKE OTHERS is her first film set in Iran—a country she had not visited for decades.

TO REQUEST AN INTERVIEW WITH TANAZ ESHAGIAN
OR A SCREENER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CONTACT:
Lauren Schwartz
Donna Daniels Public Relations, LLC
20 West 22nd Street, Suite 1410
New York, NY 10010

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ray Hanania
708-403-1203
rayhanania@comcast.net

Palestinian & Israeli leaders discuss Middle East peace on local TV show

Orland Park – Leaders from the Palestinian and Israeli community are the featured guests on the latest edition of TV Chicagoland on Comcast Cable TV Channel 19.

Guests Fadi Zanayed, President of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Chicago Chapter, and David Steiner, president of Friends of Peace Now, talk about ways to overcome the divide that separates the two important Chicagoland communities as events spiral out of control in the Middle East.

The show, hosted by journalist Ray Hanania, is broadcast every Friday night in 145 Chicagoland suburban communities on Channel 19 on Comcast Cable TV at 7 pm and 8:30 pm, the broadcast time depends on your suburb.

The show features an interview Zanayed and Steiner conducted on Hanania’s morning radio show “Radio Chicagoland” which is broadcast every Monday through Friday at 8 am on WJJG 1530 AM Radio, “The G.”

For more information on the TV or radio shows, visit www.TVChicagoland.com and also www.RadioChicagoland.com.

END

President Obama names minority and new media team, no Arabs included

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: White House Media Affairs Office, 202- 456-6238

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

President Obama Announces More Key White House Staff

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced the following White House Staff: Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, White House Research Director; Daniella Gibbs Leger, Director of Message Events; Macon Phillips, Director of New Media; Christina Reynolds, Director of Media Affairs; Dag Vega, Director of Broadcast Media; Dana E. Singiser, White House Office of Legislative Affairs, Amy Brundage, Regional Communications Director; Cammie Croft, Deputy New Media Director; Jason Djang, Deputy Director for Video; Corey Ealons, Director of African American Media and Coordinator of Special Projects; Shin Inouye, Director of Specialty Media; Jesse Lee, Online Programs Director; Katherine Lyons, Deputy Director of Message Events; Luis Miranda, Director of Hispanic Media; Moira Mack Muntz, Regional Communications Director; Katie Stanton, Director of Citizen Participation; Joelle Terry, Deputy Director of Message Events; Gannet Tseggai, Regional Communications Director; and Samantha Tubman, Assistant Social Secretary.

President Obama said, “Each of these individuals brings deep expertise in their fields, and a strong commitment to public service. I am confident in their abilities to fill these roles with distinction, and I welcome them to our team as we begin the work of bringing the change that the American people need in these troubled times.”

The following announcements were made today:

Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, White House Research Director
Jarvis-Shean was the Head of Research for the Presidential Transition Team. Prior to that, she was Deputy Director of Content for the Obama campaign. She previously worked as a research and communications strategist at CNBC and as Vice President at IMS, Inc., a research consulting firm. A native of Sacramento, California, Jarvis-Shean studied at the University of Cape Town and was the fifth generation of her family to attend the University of California, Berkeley, from which she graduated with high honors in political science.

Daniella Gibbs Leger, Director of Message Events
Daniella Gibbs Leger was most recently the Vice President for Communications at American Progress. At the Center she specialized in domestic and economic policy, as well as the Center's overall communications strategy. Prior to joining the Center, Daniella was Deputy Director of Communications at the Democratic National Committee. She began working at the DNC in June of 2002 in the political department as Communications Director for the Women’s Vote Center. During her tenure at the DNC, Daniella also handled African American and specialty media and was a regional media director during the 2004 presidential cycle. Daniella spent two years at the National Newspaper Publishers Association as their marketing associate and political liaison before joining the DNC. Before moving to Washington, D.C., Daniella worked at Sony Music in New York City for three years. Daniella has been a guest on numerous TV and radio shows and has been quoted in various print publications. Daniella holds a degree in Government and a minor in Sociology from the University of Virginia.

Macon Phillips, Director of New MediaSince the election, Phillips has served as Director of New Media for the Presidential Transition Team, developing Change.gov and overseeing the transition's overall online communications. Prior to that, he served as the Deputy Director of New Media for Obama for America, managing the day to day operations of the campaign's online program. Before the campaign, Macon led Blue State Digital's strategy practice, working with clients like the Democratic National Committee and Senator Ted Kennedy. A native of Huntsville, Alabama, Phillips is a graduate of Duke University and lives with his fiancée in Washington, DC.

Christina Reynolds, Director of Media AffairsReynolds was most recently the Director of Rapid Response for the Obama-Biden campaign. Prior to that, she was research director and senior communications adviser for John Edwards' 2008 presidential primary campaign, and research director in 2004. She has also served as research director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Tim Johnson's 2002 reelection campaign and as communications director for Tom Daschle's 2004 campaign. Reynolds graduated from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dag Vega, Director of Broadcast Media
Most recently, Vega served as Director of Surrogate Press for the Obama campaign where he supervised the TV booking operation and managed the media outreach for elected officials and policy experts speaking on behalf of the campaign. Previously, he was Deputy Communications Director at the Democratic National Committee where he helped implement Chairman Howard Dean’s media strategy. A veteran of presidential races, he served as Deputy Communications Director for TV News during John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004 and a spokesperson for constituency media for Al Gore’s presidential bid in 2000. He also held communication positions in The White House Press Office during President Clinton's administration.

Dana E. Singiser, White House Office of Legislative Affairs
Singiser brings over 15 years of political, campaign, and legal experience to her position as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. At the White House, she serves on the team charged with promoting President Obama’s legislative priorities with the U.S. Senate. During the 2008 election cycle, she focused on the women’s vote, first as Director of Women’s Outreach for then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign and then as Senior Advisor for the Women’s Vote to Barack Obama. Her other campaign experience includes serving as Deputy Political Director for Governor Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, and as staff on President Bill Clinton’s campaigns in 1992 and 1996. On Capitol Hill, Dana was Staff Director for the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee under the leadership of former Senator Clinton and Majority Leader Harry Reid. At the Committee, she led the effort to strengthen core constituency support for Democratic party positions. She practice law at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld for five years, and served in President Clinton’s Administration, both in the White House and the Department of Commerce. She grew up in Vermont and received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Amy Brundage, Regional Communications Director
Brundage most recently served as a spokesperson for the Obama-Biden Transition Team and as the Midwest Communications Director in the Chicago headquarters for Obama’s presidential campaign. Prior to the campaign, she served as then-Senator Obama’s Press Secretary in his Washington, DC office. Before joining the Obama team, Brundage was Senator John Kerry’s National Press Secretary. She also served as the Communications Director for Kerry’s political action committee in 2006. Brundage worked in the scheduling department in the national headquarters during Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, and joined Kerry’s Senate staff in early 2005. A native of Rockport, Massachusetts, Brundage graduated with a B.A. in both English and Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross.

Cammie Croft, Deputy New Media DirectorCroft comes to the White House from the Obama-Biden Transition Project, where she served as the Deputy New Media Director, specializing in online communications. Prior to that, as the New Media Rapid Response Manager for the Obama for America campaign, she oversaw efforts to integrate new media and communications, including managing websites such as FighttheSmears.com and UndertheRadar.com. Before joining the campaign, Croft built the tracking and media monitoring program at Progressive Accountability, a rapid-response communications advocacy campaign that provided video of Republican Presidential candidates for the mass public. Croft also worked as the Rapid Response Mobilization Director for Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, where she led their new media efforts, working with MoveOn.org’s online tools to mobilize Americans opposed to the war. Croft holds a B.A. in Political Science and Communication from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she graduated with distinction. She is also an alumnus of the New Organizing Institute (NOI), a unique online organizing forum for technologically-savvy, progressive campaigners.

Jason Djang, Deputy Director for Video
Djang served on the New Media video teams for both Obama for America and the Obama-Biden Transition Project as an editor and producer. Prior to joining the campaign, he worked in documentary film and television in New York City and Los Angeles. Versed in all aspects of the production world, his experience includes commercials, broadcast series, and short films. Djang also has a background in church leadership and holds a Masters degree from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA. He earned his bachelors degree from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Corey Ealons, Director of African American Media and Coordinator of Special Projects
Ealons served as director of African American Media during the General Election for the Obama-Biden campaign. Prior to joining that operation he was deputy chief of staff and communications director for U.S. Representative Artur Davis of Alabama for six years. A communications professional for nearly 15 years, Ealons’ experiences include three presidential campaigns and active duty service as the public affairs director and photojournalist for the 3rd United States Infantry (The Old Guard), the Presidential Honor Guard in Washington, D.C. Ealons graduated from the University Of Alabama School Of Communications with a concentration in public relations and political communications.

Shin Inouye, Director of Specialty Media
Shin Inouye was most recently a spokesperson for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Prior to that, he was the Constituency Communications Coordinator at the Obama for America campaign. In that capacity, he served as the communications officer for a variety of campaign constituency groups, including: LGBT, AAPI, First Americans, Veterans and Military Families, Youth, Seniors, Faith, Jewish, Rural & Sportsmen, Americans with Disabilities, and Ethnic. Before the campaign, Inouye was the Communications Director for Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-8), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. A member of the Congressman's Senior Staff, Inouye served as an official spokesperson. Prior to that, Inouye was the Senior Legislative Communications Associate at the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union. During his tenure at the ACLU, Inouye played a key role in their "Keep America Safe and Free" campaign. He graduated with departmental honors from the Johns Hopkins University, with a degree in political science.

Jesse Lee, Online Programs DirectorLee worked in the New Media department for the Transition team doing online outreach, having done online communications for the Democratic National Committee during election season. Prior to that he was Senior New Media Advisor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the 110th Congress, having worked for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee online from 2004-2006. Lee graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 2002.

Katherine Lyons, Deputy Director of Message Events
Lyons most recently served as the Southwest regional spokesperson for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee. Prior to that, she served as the Obama campaign’s Director of Message Events for the general election. During the presidential primaries, Lyons was New Hampshire Deputy Communications Director and spokesperson in a number of other states. Before joining the Obama campaign, Lyons coordinated communications and grassroots strategies for Dewey Square Group in California. A native of Sacramento, California, Lyons graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Luis Miranda, Director of Hispanic Media
Miranda was most recently Deputy Communications Director at the Democratic National Committee, overseeing regional and specialty press. In that capacity Miranda was the Democratic Party's lead spokesperson for Hispanic and Spanish-language media. Prior to joining the DNC, Miranda worked for John Kerry’s presidential campaign, first starting the campaign’s internet communications program, and later working as a liaison to Hispanic media. Miranda has also worked with organized labor at the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) Florida State Council, among other things reaching out to the union's Hispanic members. Miranda has also worked on campaigns at the local and state level, served as a Research Analyst at the DCCC, and worked as the Miami-Dade Field Director for the 2000 coordinated campaign in Florida, where he also worked on operations for the Florida recount.

Moira Mack Muntz, Regional Communications Director
Mack has advised and managed earned media strategy for numerous political, ballot initiative and issue campaigns. Most recently Mack served as deputy national press secretary for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, managing the candidate’s national interview requests. Mack spent three years at Hildebrand Tewes Consulting where she advised non-profit organizations, labor groups and U.S. Senate campaigns on communications and served as spokesperson and communications director for the multimillion dollar Iraq campaign advocating a timeline to end the war. As researcher and program coordinator at Campaign for America's Future, Mack drafted policy materials on a variety of issues and coordinated the simultaneous release of television ads and state reports in nearly 50 states. A native of Albany, NY, Mack is a graduate of the George Washington University.

Katie Stanton, Director of Citizen Participation
Katie Jacobs Stanton joins the New Media team as Director of Citizen Participation. Prior to this role, Stanton was at Google where she was a Principal in the New Business Development team responsible for OpenSocial, Google Moderator, and various election-related initiatives. Also at Google, Stanton managed several real-time vertical products including Google Finance, Google News, and Blog Search. Stanton joined Google from Yahoo! where she helped build the investing program on Yahoo! Finance as well as lead Yahoo Finance's growth internationally. Prior to Yahoo!, Stanton worked for Chase as an Associate in the Corporate Emerging Markets group. Her professional experience also includes a Fellowship at the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, a volunteer position in Kenya, and a teaching role in Japan. Stanton has an MA in International Affairs at Columbia University and a BA in Political Science from Rhodes College.

Joelle Terry, Deputy Director of Message Events
Terry most recently served as the Director of Communications Planning for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee and as the Deputy Director of Surrogate Press during the General in the Chicago headquarters for Obama’s presidential campaign. In the Primary Terry served as the Surrogate Press Secretary. Prior to the campaign, she served as an Associate in the Dewey Square Group’s Sacramento office. In 2004, Terry worked in the regional press office in the national headquarters during Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and later as a member of the national advance team. A native of Sacramento, California, Terry graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from the University of California, San Diego.

Gannet Tseggai, Regional Communications Director
Tseggai started on Obama’s presidential campaign as the Iowa Deputy Press Secretary in 2007 and worked in five states during the primary. During the general election, she served as the Northeast Communications Director in the Chicago headquarters. Before joining the Obama campaign, Tseggai served as Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s Deputy Press Secretary from 2005 to 2007. Prior to her work for Senator Kennedy, Tseggai spent the 2004 election cycle working for Missouri Governor Bob Holden’s re-election campaign and John Kerry’s Presidential Campaign in Missouri and Ohio. Tseggai is a Rolla, Missouri native and graduated with a B.A. in both Political Science and Communications from the University of Missouri.

Samantha Tubman, Assistant Social Secretary
Tubman served as a Press Wrangler for President-Elect Barack Obama’s presidential campaign beginning in January 2008. She first joined the campaign as a member of the Scheduling and Advance Team in February 2007. Tubman previously served as Deputy Press Secretary for Governor Edward G. Rendell’s gubernatorial campaign in 2006. Prior to this, she worked as a legal assistant at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC from 2001-2004. Samantha received her Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Haverford College in 2001 and received her Master’s degree in Governmental Administration from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006.

##

Bridges TV noble mission collapses under weight of its founder's tragedy and stereotypes

When Bridges TV first launched in 2004, there was great hope that it would do two things: First, open the door to Arab and Muslims to portray themselves accurately through engaging and professional journalism. And, more importantly, address the stereotypes that weigh down objective reporting in the mainstream American media which includes not only the news media but the entertainment media of Hollywood and TV and the communications media which includes organizational PR. But over the years, Bridges TV became a kind of challenge to itself.

Instead of promoting a positive image of the Arabs and Muslims, the Cable TV station fell into the community habit of playing to the divisions in the community, siding with those who fit into its religious perspective and pushing out those who did not fit.

In other words, Bridges TV became just like the mainstream media it hoped to change, discriminating against Arabs and Muslims who were too secular, weighing down the issues facing secular Muslims and secular Arabs, pushing out those whose views challenged the rising religious zealotry and political extremism that continues to plague the community.

And audiences started to see this as programming tended toward political spheres and away from the Cable TV's stated mission, which was (with their emphasis):

"Bridges TV aims to foster a greater understanding among many cultures and
diverse populations. Through our high-quality, informative, 24-7 programming in
English; we seek to become a unifying force that can help people understand our
diverse world through education and entertainment."

On Friday Feb. 13, 2009, their web site was brought down. Not by computer Internet hackers, but by the conflict that apparently not only consumed the cable TV's mission, but by internal conflicts involving the personal life of the owner and the individual who championed its creation, Muzzammil Hassan.

Muzzammil Hassan, 44, was charged with Second Degree Murder in the grusome the beheading of his wife, Aasiya Hassan, 37, at the Cable TV studios of Bridges TV in a suburb of Buffalo New York on Friday night. (Read story?) Orchard Park is just south of Buffalo New York which also dominated the headlines on Friday when a Continental plane carrying 49 people crashed just outside of the city's airport (Read story?) on its way from Newark Liberty Airport.

Hassan was such a nice person. I spoke with him often about the challenges he faces. He understood that he was fighting two battles. The first against stereotypes in the mainstream American news media and public that oppress Arabs and Muslims. The second in our own community which is divided by an internal war of political extremism versus moderation, rivalries nurtured by years of a community that has been pushed down to the furthest depths of victimization, and rising religious activism which often dictates what is and is not acceptable these days in the Arab and Muslims community.

No one can navigate through those turbulent community waters -- a common denominator across the board in the Arab and Muslim community from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles -- while also having to face up to the persistent challenges of righting the notions of America towards Arabs and Muslims which is drawn with stereotypes of hatred, suspicion, fear, lack of education, ignorance and politics is impossible.

You can't but help to acknowledge the irony that Muzzammil Hassan's tragedy involves one of the most heinous stereotypes that is constantly used to demean Arabs and Muslims. We don't know all the circumstances outside of the charges filed and the victim's remains. We do know that the stereotype runs even deeper, as his wife, who was listed on the now removed Bridges TV web site as "General Manager," was filing for a divorce.

Over the next few days and weeks, we will see the chatter in the mainstream media shift as it always does when it involves Arabs and Muslims from the facts of the issue and crime to the more prevalent stereotypes fueling the racism and ignorance in this country.

Mr. Hassan is innocent until proven guilty. But the circumstance of the events in this tragedy will reach far beyond logic and the damage this will inflict on Arabs and Muslims in America will not yet be fully felt immediately.

Tragically, it will set back and derail the forward movement of Arab American journalism. And it will separate even more the American public from the understanding of the Arab and Muslim community in this country, serving only to reinforce the extremists in the internal battle with the besieged and abandoned moderates that are the majority but who also have come to accept that the challenge of righting the keel is insurmountable and futile.

This is one of the most disturbing setbacks I think I have seen in years in the battle to change the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotypes in this country. Instead of achieving the noble goals stated in the Bridges TV Mission, this event has served to make that road far longer and more difficult.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

SPJ asks me to remove post on encouraging Arab journalists to mail their shoes to protest President Bush

This is a response to a letter fromt he President of the SPJ requesting that I remove a post which urged Arab American journalists and others to "mail" their shoes in protest to President Bush ... at the request of SPJ, I removed my post, which is reprinted below under my response.

-- Ray Hanania

Friday Dec. 19, 2008

Dave Aeikens
President
SPJ

Re: My post on throwing shoes and mailing my shoes to President Bush:

Hey Dave … I viewed the shoe-throwing incident as representing a form of free speech that is not violent … I know some people say throwing a shoe is violent, but I don’t see it that way … I also felt that Arab American journalists feel that the Iraqi cameraman responded in a way that is denied many Arab world journalists, not just in Iraq where people are not allowed to fully express themselves … I didn’t see it as a political statement at all … I also think that mailing my shoes to President Bush as an Arab American journalist and opinion writer is an appropriate form of protest against the repression his administration has come to symbolize not just in the Arab World but in the Arab American community.

I will take it down as a courtesy to the SPJ … BUT, I think this topic should be discussed in more detail …

Arab journalists and Arab American journalists are discriminated against every day … I don’t see the concern or attention to these matters at all. In fact, for example, UNITY would not even discuss our issues with them, but they decided to address our issues on their own by reaching through the Arab American journalism community rather than working with the Arab American journalism community.

Because SPJ has done so much to work with Arab American journalists, and ONLY for that reason, I will remove the posting, and replace it with this. I think that in an America where Arab satellite television can’t find a place on Comcast Cable or most major cable TV programs because Americans think that Arab World journalism is “biased” is an outrage, but Arab American journalists are the only ones who see that and get no support from the mainstream media.

Arab American journalists are always a problem, but never a part of the solution, never a part of the positive movement forward, always excluded, always ostracized, always put under severe scrutiny for our words in ways that no other community is also measured. It’s unfair and I protest it. But, again, out of respect to the SPJ and only to the SPJ because the SPJ has more than any other organization reached out to Arab Americans at least in this small manner to give us a platform where we might express our views, I will remove it and post this instead.

I hope to see mainstream American journalism show the same concern for the discrimination that we continue to face in this country as Americans of Arab heritage trying to carve out a place in professional journalism. I hope one day to see mainstream journalism ask aloud why there are no Arab Americans writing columns at major newspapers given the fact that the Arab World and the Middle East are among the TOP stories and the main focus of this country’s news media attention.

I hope that is an acceptable compromise.

Thank you and I appreciate and respect your views
Ray Hanania
http://www.themediaoasis.com/



THIS IS THE POST THAT WAS REMOVED AT SPJ'S REQUEST

I just came back from the post office and mailed an old pair of shoes to President Bush at the White House in protest of his policies.

Arab journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Kanye West of the Arab World, has started a trend that I think is great. Let's face it, he didn't go there and blow himself up. That's progress in a region where violencebecomes the protest form of choice. But al-Zaidi, who was brutalized by guards (one reportedly yelling not to kick him in the face"), is a hero. Instead of violence, he used a cultural form of protest that is popular in the Arab World, and that one many American came to know when American soldiers during the invasion of Iraq, pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in front of one of the dictator's palaces in Baghdad, (trying to make it look like the "people" did it) and then those civilians who were brought there by the military started to express their disdain for Saddam Hussein in the way they knew best, by throwing their shoes at the statue.

How ironic that more than five years later, Iraqis are now throwing their shoes at President Bush?

And I want to help, as a fellow Arab American journalist who believes that violence is NEVER the right choice, NEVER a good choice, and NEVER a strategy for success, the symbolic throwing of my shoes at Bush (courtesy of the US Postal Service) is the most powerful expression of free speech today against the Iraq war possible.

I hope you will join me and others.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Protest President Bush by mailing your shoes to the White House

I just came back from the post office and mailed an old pair of shoes to President Bush at the White House in protest of his policies.

Arab journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, the Kanye West of the Arab World, has started a trend that I think is great. Let's face it, he didn't go there and blow himself up. That's progress in a region where violencebecomes the protest form of choice.

But al-Zaidi, who was brutalized by guards (one reportedly yelling not to kick him in the face"), is a hero. Instead of violence, he used a cultural form of protest that is popular in the Arab World, and that one many American came to know when American soldiers during the invasion of Iraq, pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein in front of one of the dictator's palaces in Baghdad, (trying to make it look like the "people" did it) and then those civilians who were brought there by the military started to express their disdain for Saddam Hussein in the way they knew best, by throwing their shoes at the statue.

How ironic that more than five years later, Iraqis are now throwing their shoes at President Bush?

And I want to help, as a fellow Arab American journalist who believes that violence is NEVER the right choice, NEVER a good choice, and NEVER a strategy for success, the symbolic throwing of my shoes at Bush (courtesy of the US Postal Service) is the most powerful expression of free speech today against the Iraq war possible.

I hope you will join me and others.

Here is the information on the White House, where to mail your packages:

The White House
President Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington DC., 20500

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Amnesty urges release of dissidents in Tunisia

Amnesty International Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, Dec. 12, 2008

Trial of Tunisian Trade Union Leaders a Travesty of Justice, Charges Amnesty International


Contact: AIUSA media office, 202-544-0200 x302, lspann@aiusa.org

(Washington) -- Amnesty International is calling on the Tunisian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those arrested and tried for exercising peacefully their right to freedom of expression and assembly. Others should be retried in fair proceedings in line with Tunisia’s international obligations.

The human rights organization issued its appeal after yesterday’s prison sentences handed down to 38 trade union leaders and protesters in unfair trial proceedings for their involvement in demonstrations in the Gafsa area.

“The verdict and sentences have been a subversion of justice and they should not be allowed to stand,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Middle East and North Africa deputy program director at Amnesty International.

A Gafsa Court handed down prison terms of up to 10 years against 33 trade union activists and protesters who were accused of leading the unrest against unemployment and high living costs in the first half of this year in the phosphate-rich Gafsa region in southeast Tunisia. Four were tried in absentia.

Charges included “forming a criminal group with the aim of destroying public and private property” and “armed rebellion and assault on officials during the exercise of their duties.” They were among the hundreds arrested after a wave of protests against unemployment and high living costs that wracked the phosphate-rich Gafsa region in south-east Tunisia in the first half of this year.

“The Tunisian authorities must immediately stop criminalizing social protest. Instead of trying peaceful protesters and trade unionists, the authorities should investigate the allegations of torture previously raised by the defendants,” added Sahraoui.

Amnesty International is concerned that serious violations of fair trial standards have been committed, including that the defense lawyers were not able to present the case of their clients; the defendants were not interrogated in court and the demands of the lawyers that their clients be medically examined for trace of possible torture and to call and cross-examine witnesses were rejected by the court.

Yesterday’s verdict came amid reports of a heavy security presence. Security forces were deployed along the roads leading to the court as well as in main access roads to the city of Gafsa. The roads leading to the court were said to have been barred by the security forces who prevented a number of human rights activists from reaching the court.

“The trial raises yet again questions as to the independence of the judiciary in Tunisia and shows the Tunisian authorities’ determination to quell any independent voices inside the country,” said Sahraoui.

The leader of trade union and spokesperson for the Movement of Social Protest in Gafsa, Adnan Hajji was sentenced, along with six others, to 10 years’ imprisonment in the trial. The rest received prison sentences ranging from two to six years, including at least eight suspended sentences. Journalist Fahem Boukadous and France-based human rights activist Mouheiddine Cherbib, received, respectively, six and two years in absentia.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

# # #


For more information, please visit: www.amnestyusa.org.

Foods of Chicago Features Arab American recipes and writers

Gloria Baraks
Vice President/Marketing
G. Bradley Publishing, Inc.
112 W. Jefferson/Suite 122
St. Louis, MO 63122
Cell phone 314-651-9079
Office phone 314-966-8336
Fax 314-966-5110
E-mail marketing@gbradleypublishing.com
Web - gbradleypublishing.com



THE FOODS OF CHICAGO

A Delicious History

Chicago was built by immigrants, and in creating this urban behemoth these newcomers they got their hands dirty. First, they toiled to clear and rebuild the city from the charred remains of the Great Fire. They labored in the awesome and fearsome vast Union Stockyards and faced the fiery furnaces of the mighty steel mills. Many took pride in their workmanship raising and supporting the impressive Worlds Columbian Exposition of 1893.

These immigrants came to a Lake Michigan shoreline paved not with gold, but with opportunity. They raised families, taught their children and built divinely inspired houses of worship. They opened the door for people of every nation and culture to come and share the intense drama of life in a growing city.

But even as they aspired to become fully American, these immigrants did not leave everything of their old worlds behind them. They brought memories, photographs, languages and faiths. They also brought Grandmas recipes, the cherished taste of home reminding them of the love and warmth of their roots. Indeed, they were defined by what they put on the table.

This publication is a companion piece to the television program The Foods of Chicago: A Delicious History, produced by WTTW11 Chicagos public television station. WTTW producer/writer Dan Protess and host Geoffrey Baer see the program and book as a celebration of Chicagos diversity. Dan summed it up perfectly when he said, I really cant think of a better window into Chicagos distinct communities than food.

The Foods of Chicago: A Delicious History is a wonderful blend. a book like no other. Much like a recipe that offers delightful combinations to entice the senses, this book is a delectable mixture of culinary delights and reflections on the rich cultural history of Chicagos diverse communities. You and your family will enjoy and cherish this book for years to come.

Afghan Chronicles Chicago Premiere Thursday, December 4

Afghan Chronicles Chicago Premiere Thursday, December 4, 6-8pm
International House at the University of Chicago
1414 E. 59th Street

In partnership with the Canadian Consulate of Chicago and the International House at the University of Chicago Free AdmissionReservations required. Click here to RSVP.Call 312 222 7871 for more information Join the Freedom Museum, Canadian Consulate of Chicago and the University of Chicago's Global Voices series for a screening of the riveting film Afghan Chronicles. This documentary explores the expanding role of media in Afghanistan and its contributions to the country’s efforts to rebuild after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. Filmmaker Dominic Morissette will be on hand for a short discussion after the film.

MidEast Youth TV relaunches at www.MEYTV.com

We have been working extremely hard on improving Mideast Youth and its services. After launching the beta version of MEY TV, our video-sharing community, more than a year ago, we have come a long way! So we invite you to check our newly developed video platform here:Mideast Youth TV

The Internet has transformed the video medium into an increasingly powerful and interactive form of communication, and allowed for the circumvention of censors. Recognizing this power, Mideast Youth TV was created in order to provide a forum for worthy videos to be shown and distributed.

Through this space, we would like to recognize and support important documentaries, video op-eds, independent regional filmmaking, music, and more, while welcoming controversy.

Although the Internet abounds with video sharing sites, censorship of controversial content has become apparent in them, and we felt it was crucial to finally have a place we call our own, where we can showcase our videos and those of others without having to protest their wrongful removal.

In order to start publishing videos, you don't necessarily have to register! Our website supports Open ID. That means that if you have an AIM account, a WordPress.com account, or Yahoo, Blogger, Livejournal, or more, you can simply sign in with one of those accounts and start posting videos/comments. Once you log in you would notice many great features on the site and we hope that you will take good advantage of them.

We hope that you like what we did with the site and that our hard work has paid off. Don't forget to spread the word about it!

-- Esra'a Al ShafeiMideastYouth.com, Director

Jordanian film producer in Chicago Nov. 18

MEDIA CONTACT:
Natalie Campbell Lisa Xia
Phone: 312.744.2172 Phone: 312.744.9181
E-mail: Natalie.campbell@cityofchicago.org E-mail: lisa.xia@cityofchicago.org

First-ever Jordanian Independent Film, Captain Abu Raed, Debuts in Chicago Nov. 18
Guest Appearance by Film’s Writer, Director and Producer

(November 11, 2008) – The Chicago debut of Captain Abu Raed, the first-ever independent film to come out of Jordan, will be hosted by the Amman Committee of Chicago Sister Cities International during Arab American Heritage Month on Nov. 18, 2008. Already a winner of numerous awards at Sundance and other festivals, the film will be screened at Columbia College Chicago with a guest appearance and question and answer session by its renowned writer, director and producer, Amin Matalqa.

Winner of the 2008 Sundance Best Audience Award, the 2008 Helsinki International Film Fest Best Audience Award, the 2008 Seattle International Film Fest Best Director Award, and Jordan's entry for 2009 Oscar's Best Foreign Film Category, Captain Abu Raed is about an elderly airport janitor mistaken for a pilot by the children in his neighborhood. Seeing the grim realities that surround them all inspires him to play to the children's assumptions and try to make a difference in their lives.

The Amman Committee has facilitated the inaugural screening of this ground-breaking Jordanian film as part of its mission to support projects relating to urban affairs, education, culture, economic development, social services and fundraising. In addition, since the Sister Cities signing in June 2004, the Committee has dedicated itself to fostering meaningful social service and humanitarian exchanges, raising more than $100,000 in 2008 with the assistance of HRH Princess Ghida Talal and HRH Princess Dina Mired of Jordan for the King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman.
The screening is free, and RSVPs are required. For additional information and to RSVP, contact Adrienne Tongate at Adrienne.Tongate@cityofchicago.org. More information about the film can be found at www.captainaburaed.com.

Event Details:
November 18
Columbia College Chicago1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor, Film Row Cinema. Reception at 7 pm and movie screening at 8 pm.

###

About CSCIP
The Chicago Sister Cities International Program, under the auspices of the City of Chicago, provides leadership to develop, manage, and coordinate comprehensive programs and projects with Chicago’s sister cities. It aims to increase international trade, promote economic development and support exchanges in the fields of culture, education, medicine, social services, environment, and technology with its sister cities for the benefit of the City of Chicago, its residents and businesses. For more information about the Chicago Sister Cities International Program, please call (312) 744-2172 or visit www.chicagosistercities.com.

Chicago’s Sister Cities include: Accra, Ghana (1989); Amman, Jordan (2004); Athens Greece (1997); Belgrade, Serbia (2005); Birmingham, England (1993); Busan, Republic of Korea (2007); Casablanca, Morocco (1982); Delhi, India (2001); Durban, South Africa (1997); Galway, Ireland (1997); Gothenburg, Sweden (1987); Hamburg, Germany (1994); Kyiv, Ukraine (1991); Lahore, Pakistan (2007); Lucerne, Switzerland (1998); Mexico City, Mexico (1991); Milan, Italy (1973); Moscow, Russia (1997); Osaka, Japan (1973); Paris, France (1996); Petach Tikva, Israel (1994); Prague, Czech Republic (1990); Shanghai, China (1985); Shenyang, China (1985); Toronto, Canada (1991); Vilnius, Lithuania (1993); and Warsaw, Poland (1960).



Lisa Xia
Chicago Sister Cities International
78 E. Washington St., 4th Floor
Chicago, IL, 60602

Arab American newspapers increase significantly in past year

This is a mirror post from the al-Sahafiyeen Society of Professional Journalists Arab Journalism Blog at http://www.naaja-us.com/ and http://www.spj.org/blog/blogs/aaj/.

The National Arab American Journalists Association (http://www.naaja-us.com/) monitors the comings and goings of Arab American publications. We are proud to report that the number of Arab American publications (newspaper and magazines) have increased in the past year by the addition of 7 new publications.

The number increased from 81 to 88.

Here is the breakdown of the Sept. 2007 study:

Regional Breakdown of newspapers

Midwest – 29 – (6 States) IL., MI., IND, OH, MN, WI
South – 5 – (2 States) FL., GA.
East – 19 – (8 States) NY, NJ, MD, MA, VA, PA DC, CT
Northwest – 2 – (2 States) OR, WA
West – 26 – (4 States) CA, TX, AZ NV

(Including National Magazines – 11)

Here is the new update as of November 8, 2008:

Regional Breakdown of newspapers

Midwest – 30 – (6 States) IL., MI., IND, OH, MN, WI
South – 7 – (2 States) FL., GA.
East – 19 – (8 States) NY, NJ, MD, MA, VA, PA DC, CT
Northwest – 2 – (2 States) OR, WA
West – 30 – (5 States) CA, TX, AZ NV, CO

(Including National Magazines – 12)

It also represents an increase of one more US State, from 22 to 23, with the latest state offering an Arab American publication to be Colorado.

The complete breakdown of the statistics are on our web site at http://www.naaja-us.com/.

This is quite a contrast from October 2002, just over a year after Sept. 11 when the number of publications still publishing in the face of rising anti-Arab animosity after the terrorist attack dropping to an all-time low of about 57 newspapers and 8 magazines.

Chicago, for example, prior to Sept. 11, 2001, had seven Arab American publications. In the months after, all but one closed down and remains in publication although with new ownership as of 2006.

We also monitor the number of Arab American radio programs and cable TV programs and we have seen a slight increase in those areas also, although the print media continues to dominate Arab America journalism.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/
http://www.naaja-us.com/

New play addresses religious oppression in Iran, debuts in Chicago in November

For Immediate Release: September 19, 2008
Jay Paul Deratany, Writer/Producer, 312.375.3574 jaypaul@haramiran.com
HaramIran.com
Two Iranian Teenage Boys sentenced for crimes against God
Permoveo Productions, presents the world premier of the play:
Haram Iran a play written by Jay Paul Deratany
At the Athenaeum Theater
Please Be Our Guest on Opening Night, Saturday, November 8th, at 8 p.m.

Chicago – Haram Iran, written by Jay Paul Deratany and Directed by David Zak, is based on the true story about the trial of two Iranian teenagers in Mashad, Iran in 2005.
Haram Iran tells the story of two boys coming of age, and struggling with their identities as Arab Iranians, and as typical teenagers longing to discover their place in the world. Ayaz Marhouni and Mahmoud Asgari, two fifteen year old boys who may have been experimenting with their sexuality-- like many teenagers do, however, they get caught in an innocent situation, publicly humiliated and tried in the Iranian legal system. The story follows the boys' passions--one for literature and the other for sports--and their friendship. The play takes the audience into the complexity of their relationship, and then the horrifying ordeal of being tried by an unforgiving Iranian legal system which misinterprets the Muslim law of Sharia.
The dates, names and many of the facts are true, however the trial scenes and much of the side story of the boys is fictional since it is not known exactly what occurred during the trial. What is known is that they were adolescents, who were tried and sentenced for "moral sins".
In Iran thousands of people, including children, are jailed or killed each year, some because they are women who have had pre-maritial sex, and others because they are considered to be homosexual.
Haram Iran is critical of Iranian politics and their very flawed legal system. This play does not, however critique or criticize Muslims, or the Islamic faith, which is a loving and peaceful religion. In fact, to the contrary, the writer draws the distinction between a loving faith and some of its misguided extremist followers.
Producer/writer Jay Paul Deratany has said "this play is about exposing the human rights violations being committed on a daily basis, therefore I will be donating a significant portion of the of the profits from this play to Amnesty International for the aid and assistance to Iranians who suffer from torture and injustice." So when you buy your ticket, remember that some of your ticket price will go to help those who are in desperate need of our care and love.

Opening Night
Thursday, November 8th at 8:00
Regular Performances are
November 6, 7 and 8 - 8:00 pm
November 9 - matinee 2:00 pm
November 13, 14, 15 - 8:00 p.m
November 16 - matinee 2:00 pm
November 20, 21, 22 - 8:00 pm
November 23 - matinee 2:00 pm
November 28, 29 - 8:00 pm
November 30 - matinee 2:00 pm
December 4, 5, 6 - 8:00 pm
December 7 - matinee 2:00 pm
$20 for Adults
$18 for Students & Seniors
Theater seats 60
Tickets are available through TicketMaster® at ticketmaster.com or by calling TicketMaster® at 312-559-1212, you will be able to guarantee your space and print your tickets online.

Tickets are also available at the Athenaeum Theater.
ATHENAEUM THEATER

2936 N. Southport
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 935-6860
athenaeumtheatre.com
info@athenaeumtheatre.com

Taybeh Palestine OctoberFest Oct 11-12,2 008

Release, Taybeh Municipality,
Taybeh-Ramallah, Palestine
Festival Coordinator: Dr. Maria C. Khoury,
Mobile: 054 5 465 845 or 059 318 347 Email: Khourymaria@hotmail.com
(Nadim Khoury +972 2 289 8868) Sept 20, 2008

Taybeh Oktoberfest, the 4th annual village festival is scheduled, Sat and Sun, Oct 11 &12, 2008 in Taybeh-Ramallah, Palestine, 11 am to 10 pm with the opening celebration, 11am at the Taybeh Municipality on Sat, Oct 11th including Al Kamandjati Music and Duernbach Blas Music Band from Bavaria. A successful 2005 first time event initiated by Taybeh Brewing Company, the Oktoberfest in Palestine promoting all local products produced in Taybeh thus boosting the local economy has become a favorite for thousands including dignitaries, ministers and head of representative offices. The festival is the cooperative work of Taybeh Municipality (www.taybehmunicipality.org) and its mayor David Canaan Khoury with all local civic organizations.

The most magnificent site in Taybeh, the Byzantine ruins of St. George Greek Orthodox Church is now a national protected archeological site. New plans are underway in cooperation with Riwaq and the Spanish Cooperation for preventive restoration of Taybeh’s historical old town maintaining traditional architecture with the vision of moving future Oktoberfest activities to the historic neighborhood.

The Taybeh Oktoberfest allows participants to share in the ancient roots of Palestine since Taybeh is one of the oldest places in the region known by its Biblical name Ephraim thereby offering visitors a cultural, educational and ancient heritage on one of the highest mountain regions in Palestine. With a population of less than 2,000, Taybeh residents who suffer to exist under Israeli occupation experience the Oktoberfest as the ultimate form of non violent action.

Taybeh Beer, a leading Palestinian manufacturer who made history launching Taybeh Golden Beer in August 1995 will continue its leading role by introducing the first Palestinian non-alcohol Brew made in traditional German style, 100% malt. This light, crisp, refreshing drink will continue to inspire a Palestinian Oktoberfest in search for freedom and democracy.

The origins of the “Oktoberfest” date back to 1810, when a lavish five-day celebration was held all over Munich to mark the wedding of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig.

Music groups will include Spafford Children’s Center, Wael Abu Salom and Mohamed Hadeeb; Culture Shock, the new Rock-Rap Band; Sanabel; G-Town Hip Hop Makers; Zaman Arabic Gipsy Music; Cinderella-Al Kasaba Theater; Karate Demonstration from Japan; Sarab for Dance; Assayel Dance Troup; Ramallah Orthodox Club; Al Ghad Al Jadid Folklore (Beit Sahour); Ibdaa Dance Troup (Bethlehem) and many local Dabkeh groups. Taybeh will host the first Tag Rugby in Palestine Ramallah Blue Snakes vs Beit Jala Lions RFC, 1 pm, Sunday, October 12th, Taybeh Soccer Field, North entrance of Taybeh.

Please join us Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, 2008, in Taybeh, Palestine.

Press COnference Thursday Sept. 25, New York on anti-Muslim hate DVD "Obsessions"

Contact and RSVP: Meryl Zegarek Public Relations,
info@mzpr.com, 917-493-3601

FOR NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR - PRESS CONFERENCE 9/25/08 4:30-5:30PM

DATE/TIME Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:30pm - 5:30pm
WHERE: Intersections, 274 Fifth Avenue (at 29th Street) NYC
WHAT: The Cost of War at Home & Abroad Series addresses Muslims in the Media– panelists discuss the media's portrayal of Muslims post 9-11 and how that has affected the Islamic community. They will also address the 60 minute video “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” distributed by the Clarion Fund, which plays on fear, and distorts the reality of the Muslim community. As recent as this past weekend, this DVD has begun distribution to 28 million households in the U.S. bundled as an advertising supplement in newspapers, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (specifically in cities outside of NYC). The film features Daniel Pipes, Alfons Heck, Walid Shoebat, Nonie Darwish and others.

Intersection’s Executive Director, Rev. Robert Chase, will moderate the press conference and will also unveil a new website about Muslims in America called ChangeTheStory.net. The website addresses the lack of understanding of Muslims in the U.S. with the intent to build bridges of understanding across lines of faith and culture, and counter the stereotypical narratives of Muslims portrayed in our media, and in propaganda such as the Obsession video.

WHO: (the multi-cultural global initiative of The Collegiate Churches of NY), and Faith House Manhattan. Panelists will address the press and take questions (prior to the public event, 7pm - 9pm)

• Debbie Almontaser, founding & former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy
• Anisa Mehdi; Emmy-award winning filmmaker, consultant about Muslims to academic institutions and media outlets;
• Hussein Rashid, founder of islamicate.com, works with major political figures and institutions, advising them on the history and culture of Muslims.

ChangeTheStory.net – is a new website aimed at combating harmful stereotypes about Muslims that persist in American society. It was inspired by a new and major report, Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World. The report was compiled by the Leadership Group on U.S. Muslim Engagement, comprised of more than thirty American leaders, including such luminaries as Madeleine Albright, Stephen Covey, Daniel Yankelovich, Vin Weber and Imam Feissal Abdul Rauf. This report will be released on September 24th at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

(Daisy Kahn, Ex. Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), is on the public panel, but not yet confirmed for the press conference.)


Meryl Zegarek Public Relations, Inc.
255 West 108th Street, Suite 9D1
New York, New York 10025
Office/Land-line 917-493-3601 Fax: 917-493-3598
mz@mzpr.com

ADC commemorates Sabra and Shatilla massacres

ADC Remembers Sabra and Shatila

Washington DC | September 16, 2008 | www.adc.org | Today, marks 26 years since one of the bloodiest and most brutal massacres in recent history, the 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.

Twenty six years ago, shortly after the Israeli army seized control of West Beirut, Lebanon, right wing Phalangist militia forces, under the direction of Israeli forces, made their way into the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila located on the outskirts of the city. Once in the camps the militias massacred hundreds of defenseless men, women and children. Israeli troops, who were in control of the area, allowed the militias into the camps, prevented the refugees from fleeing for their lives, and lit the night sky with a continuous series of flares as the killing raged for two days. The US had pulled its troops out of Beirut just days prior to the massacres, and had given a guarantee of protection to the residents of the refugee camps.

Following massive outrage and protest from the international community as well as from Israeli citizens, the Israeli government formed The Kahan Commision of Inquiry. The Commission found that Israel was responsible for participating in the violence and recommended the dismissal of the Army Chief of Staff. Then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was also forced to resign after the Commission concluded that he bore personal responsibility for the massacre, and should never hold public office again. In 2001, Sharon became the Prime Minister of Israel a position he held until he suffered a massive stroke which rendered him incapable of carrying out his duties as Prime Minister.

ADC C President Mary Rose Oakar said, "We must take the time to remember the victims of the horrific Sabra and Shatila massacre. The massacre is a reminder to us all of the tragedy of Palestinian refugees who have been excluded from their homeland for more than half a century and their vulnerability as a stateless people. It underlines the necessity for a just settlement to the refugee issue based on the Right of Return, which is enshrined for all refugees in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention, and was specifically applied to the Palestinian refugees in UN Resolution 194."
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______________________________________________________________
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee | www.adc.org
1732 Wisconsin Ave., NW | Washington, DC | 20007
Tel: 202-244-2990 | Fax: 202-244-7968 | E-mail: media@adc.org
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