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National Iranian American Council
Oct 16 2012
What Iranian Americans Can Learn From Other Communities
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
By: NIAC Staff - News
Washington, DC - `If you do not manage your differences, others will
manage them for you,' observed Aram Hampurian, spokesman for the
Armenian National Committee of America, speaking on a panel along with
the head of Arab American Institute (AAI) and former head of American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Moderated by Noosheen Hashemi, President and Co-Founder of the HAND
Foundation, the panelists provided attendees of the National Iranian
American Council Leadership Conference with guidance from top ethnic
organizations on how best to mobilize civic participation and impact
policy in Washington.
Former AIPAC president Tom Dine highlighted the philosophies that he
said contributed to the success of AIPAC in becoming an enormously
powerful lobby group despite being relatively small in numbers. He
underlined the importance of having a clearly defined mission, as well
as coordination between advocacy efforts in Washington and at the
grass roots level.
Dine emphasized the importance of active participation in the
political process, including informed civic political action among
ordinary people at the grassroots level. `Grassroots political
action,' Dine stressed. `It's just not grass roots - that's where you
live - it's what you do where you live.'
Strengthening the Iranian-American community, Dine counseled, begins
with the most basic social relationships. `Its starts within your own
family, and then your neighbors, those with whom you work, and those
with whom you play,' he continued, `in building a consensus, in
building a coalition, you befriend people and you explain to people
what you believe in and how this can serve America.'
`The people that make up the national leadership of our country,
they've all come from school boards, county this, state representative
that. Get `em early, get `em often and stick with `em. They're looking
for friends.'
Dine also highlighted his own efforts to mobilize AIPAC on college
campuses, which Hampurian also noted was critical to Armenian-American
efforts. Organizing Armenian Americans on campus, Hampurian said,
ultimately resulted in Armenian Americans being elected to office and
being `on the other side of the door' in the lobbying process.
James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute,
discussed how his organization has increased the Arab-American voice
in the political process. He noted that Arab Americans comprised just
4 delegates at the 1984 Democratic Convention, but that number has
grown to 55 this year. While crediting that success in large part to
the emergence of cultural nationalism within his community, he also
noted that Arab Americans faced serious difficulties as the community
grew, including what he hinted were efforts by AIPAC to undermine his
group.
`We had another community that delegitimized, that didn't want us
involved, that did everything they possibly could to malign us, or
marginalize us, or in some cases demonize us.' Zogby said that fully
embracing - even insisting on - his community's identity as American
was critical in countering attempts to differentiate Arab Americans on
the basis of ethnic roots.
He also counseled that resolving internal divisiveness as a community
was essential to standing up to any opposition. AAI and its members,
Zogby said, `had to overcome internal difficulties' to be successful.
`With new immigrants everyday there is constantly the issue of
division and complex identities from back home.' He compared this to
the Iranian-American experience, arguing that `despite being one
country, Iran is as complex, in many ways.' This complexity
necessitates an affirmative understanding of identity. `Knowing who
you are is very important, knowing the differences, knowing what the
common ground themes are is important, but also knowing what the
issues are that divide you are important - being able to either
reconcile them or face them honestly,' Zogby said.
Hamparian offered a template of what he said were the ingredients for
success, including engaged constituents, consensus, an understanding
of the political system, and a fundamental belief in democracy.
Quoting labor organizer A. Philip Randolph, he said: `At the banquet
table of nature, there are no reserved seats. You get what you can
take, and you keep what you can hold. If you can't take anything, you
won't get anything, and if you can't hold anything, you won't keep
anything. And you can't take anything without organization.'
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8631&security=1&news_iv_ ctrl=-1
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Oct 16 2012
What Iranian Americans Can Learn From Other Communities
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
By: NIAC Staff - News
Washington, DC - `If you do not manage your differences, others will
manage them for you,' observed Aram Hampurian, spokesman for the
Armenian National Committee of America, speaking on a panel along with
the head of Arab American Institute (AAI) and former head of American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
Moderated by Noosheen Hashemi, President and Co-Founder of the HAND
Foundation, the panelists provided attendees of the National Iranian
American Council Leadership Conference with guidance from top ethnic
organizations on how best to mobilize civic participation and impact
policy in Washington.
Former AIPAC president Tom Dine highlighted the philosophies that he
said contributed to the success of AIPAC in becoming an enormously
powerful lobby group despite being relatively small in numbers. He
underlined the importance of having a clearly defined mission, as well
as coordination between advocacy efforts in Washington and at the
grass roots level.
Dine emphasized the importance of active participation in the
political process, including informed civic political action among
ordinary people at the grassroots level. `Grassroots political
action,' Dine stressed. `It's just not grass roots - that's where you
live - it's what you do where you live.'
Strengthening the Iranian-American community, Dine counseled, begins
with the most basic social relationships. `Its starts within your own
family, and then your neighbors, those with whom you work, and those
with whom you play,' he continued, `in building a consensus, in
building a coalition, you befriend people and you explain to people
what you believe in and how this can serve America.'
`The people that make up the national leadership of our country,
they've all come from school boards, county this, state representative
that. Get `em early, get `em often and stick with `em. They're looking
for friends.'
Dine also highlighted his own efforts to mobilize AIPAC on college
campuses, which Hampurian also noted was critical to Armenian-American
efforts. Organizing Armenian Americans on campus, Hampurian said,
ultimately resulted in Armenian Americans being elected to office and
being `on the other side of the door' in the lobbying process.
James Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute,
discussed how his organization has increased the Arab-American voice
in the political process. He noted that Arab Americans comprised just
4 delegates at the 1984 Democratic Convention, but that number has
grown to 55 this year. While crediting that success in large part to
the emergence of cultural nationalism within his community, he also
noted that Arab Americans faced serious difficulties as the community
grew, including what he hinted were efforts by AIPAC to undermine his
group.
`We had another community that delegitimized, that didn't want us
involved, that did everything they possibly could to malign us, or
marginalize us, or in some cases demonize us.' Zogby said that fully
embracing - even insisting on - his community's identity as American
was critical in countering attempts to differentiate Arab Americans on
the basis of ethnic roots.
He also counseled that resolving internal divisiveness as a community
was essential to standing up to any opposition. AAI and its members,
Zogby said, `had to overcome internal difficulties' to be successful.
`With new immigrants everyday there is constantly the issue of
division and complex identities from back home.' He compared this to
the Iranian-American experience, arguing that `despite being one
country, Iran is as complex, in many ways.' This complexity
necessitates an affirmative understanding of identity. `Knowing who
you are is very important, knowing the differences, knowing what the
common ground themes are is important, but also knowing what the
issues are that divide you are important - being able to either
reconcile them or face them honestly,' Zogby said.
Hamparian offered a template of what he said were the ingredients for
success, including engaged constituents, consensus, an understanding
of the political system, and a fundamental belief in democracy.
Quoting labor organizer A. Philip Randolph, he said: `At the banquet
table of nature, there are no reserved seats. You get what you can
take, and you keep what you can hold. If you can't take anything, you
won't get anything, and if you can't hold anything, you won't keep
anything. And you can't take anything without organization.'
http://www.niacouncil.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8631&security=1&news_iv_ ctrl=-1
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress