The Arab World, especially the oil-rich Arab nations, have continued to remain unbelievably silent about continued stereotyping and abuse in the wake of the sky-rocketing price of petrol during this long-winded American election campaign.
Shockingly, no serious attempt has been made by these Arab governments to confront these distortions and the negative images of Arabs, which only gave ammunition to their adversaries in the US body politic. This has been going on since the start of the US election campaign, 19 months ago.
Hillary Clinton complained disappointingly in her election finale at the Democratic Convention last week that in order for the US to tackle its "biggest deficit in our nation's history, money (has to be) borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis".
At the other end of the ongoing tirades is this despicable comment from one blogger who describes himself as a "Reaganite" - a reference to former president Ronald Reagan. "You and I are paying with blood at the gas pump because people selling us crude oil are gouging us at every turn," he wrote.
Although he acknowledged that it is due to "speculation," he went on, "but it wouldn't be happening if OPEC [Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries] and the Middle Eastern oil suppliers were not in to make as much money as they could". He asked: "Would you be willing to sock it to the ARABS and HUGO CHAVEZ [president of Venezuela] who are stealing the food out of our mouths?"
And, he suggested that Americans should boycott US companies "because they import oil from the Arabs", identifying these as Shell, Chevron /Texaco. Exxon/Mobil, Marathon/Speedway and Amoco.
When I called the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington to ask whether they have launched any counter-campaign to correct this Arab image, I was told dismissively to check the press releases on their website.
It is not that the Arabs are not capable of launching an effective campaign (with the help of public relations firms and the like) to tell their side of the crisis that is affecting the standard of living in many countries, but it is their timidity to tell it like it is that is infuriating.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia explained to an oil conference in Jeddah last June that there are several factors for "the recent quick and unjustified increase" of petroleum prices. "They include the frivolity of speculators in the market for selfish interests, an increase of consumption in a number of rising economies, and increasing taxes on petroleum in a number of consuming countries."
Largest exporter
One would expect Saudi officialdom and others to elaborate on these points and others in the weeks and months since that meeting, rather than continue the deplorable neglect of addressing the all-important American public. For example, they could remind their audiences here that the largest exporter of oil to the US is neighbouring Canada, not Saudi Arabia, followed by Mexico. Ray Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurial Council, says that 79 per cent of all imported crude oil came from non-Middle East Opec countries in 2006.
Even more interesting, writes Dean Esmay, editor-in-chief of Dean's World, described as one of the oldest and well-known weblogs, "is how America's government is generally accused of being chained to the Saudis."
He explained: "Roughly 14 per cent of our petroleum intake is Saudi in origin. That's big, no question about it, but the notion that we're in thrall to them is highly questionable. Indeed, considering that oil is their only export, it would seem to me that the Saudis are more dependent on us than we are on them."
Another major resource that the Arab World has in the US is the emergence of the often overlooked Arab-American community, now slowly becoming an influential minority. The Barack Obama campaign has recently tapped Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian-American attorney, to be its outreach director in Michigan, where she has just won a state primary beating eight other candidates in Detroit.
Tlaib, the eldest of 13 siblings, is among 30 other Arab-Americans running for election elsewhere in the country, 13 of whom will be entering the race for the first time. Also among the newcomers is Ferial Masry, a Democrat making her second bid for a seat on the California State Assembly. The Makkah-born author of the forthcoming book, Running for All the Right Reasons: A Saudi-born Woman's Pursuit of Democracy, is the first Saudi-American to run for political office in US history.
A leader in organising Arab-Americans in the United States for several decades has been the Arab American Institute (AAI), under its founder and president Dr James J. Zogby, which "strives to promote Arab-American participation in the US electoral system."
Once the Arab governments wake up and come to realise the importance and value of communicating with Americans, the growing achievements of AAI and several other like-minded groups in the Arab-American community would doubtless pave the way for this all-important goal.
George Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com
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