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Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Madelyn E. Spirnak
Remarks at the CSID's Annual Banquet
Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
Arlington, VA
May 5, 2009
 I am grateful to the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy and
its President, Dr. Radwan Masmoudi, for inviting me to speak at such a
welcoming event. It is with particular pleasure that I address leaders
and members of the Muslim-American community gathered here this
evening. As Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern
Affairs, I oversee the Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative
- MEPI - as well as regional public diplomacy and press issues. It is
within this context that I deal on a daily basis with democracy policy
and programming in the Middle East and North Africa. As you know,
President Obama has made clear his commitment to pursue a deep and
positive dialogue with Muslims around the world based on mutual respect
and in support of our mutual interests. That is one of the reasons he
gave his first televised interview as President to Al Arabiya,
an important pan-Arab media outlet. It is also why in a Nowruz message
to the Iranian people and government he emphasized that he seeks a new
dialogue on the full range of issues that we face.
Secretary
Clinton has spoken of a new diplomacy powered by partnership,
pragmatism, and principle and the importance of using all of the tools
at our disposal to achieve our national interests, but also to
implement policies that will have a positive effect on the lives of
people throughout the world. And as the Secretary told a group of civil
society activists when she met with them in Indonesia, the challenges
that we all face are too great to limit ourselves to interactions
between governments. It is important for us to reach out and develop
partnerships with all elements of civil society to help us meet and
conquer these challenges.
The Secretary has made it clear that
public diplomacy lies at the heart of America's smart power. True
public diplomacy is not simply lecturing other people. True public
diplomacy is about engagement - it is actually having a real dialogue -
and listening as much as talking.
The President has laid out a
foreign policy vision that rejects the false choice between our values
and our security; the world needs to see that we can be true to our
values and ideals while advancing our interests.
Throughout
the region, our embassies and consulates emphasize outreach to local
religious leaders and educators. We bring a significant number of
religious educators to the U.S. on educational visits to observe
religious diversity here and to see Muslim life in America first hand.
Muslims are an integral part of America.
Muslim-Americans are not "outsiders" looking in; you are a part of the
fabric of this country and have been for generations. We in the
government welcome dialogue and have an open door to your communities,
which play a constructive and important role in improving the public
policy of our country.
Rest assured that the United States government
remains committed to democratic principles and human rights and will
continue to support those in the Middle East -- and throughout the
world - those who seek to enjoy these universal freedoms.
Full Speech
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FM receives Muslim Democrat of the Year Award
08 May 2009
 Republic of Maldives Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmed Shaheed on Tuesday night received the Muslim Democrat of the Year Award at the end of the 10th Annual Conference of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.
In presenting the Award, Dr. Radwan Masmoudi, President of the CSID said that the Board of Directors of the CSID made the award every year to an individual who had made an outstanding contribution to democratization in the Muslim world. He said that the Award for the Foreign Minister was the first time that a politician in office was being honored and that this was in recognition of the contribution that Dr. Shaheed had made to the vast strides of democratization that the Maldives had taken in recent years.
The citation of the award read: "In recognition of your role in building democracy and preserving it in the face of hardship, for promoting tolerance and harmony, and for opening a window into a century of reason, freedom, human rights and democracy in the Maldives and South Asia."
In accepting the award, Dr. Shaheed said that he was greatly honored by the award and that he regarded it as recognition of the important steps that the people of Maldives had made in recent years. He said that he would like to dedicate the award to his parents and family, who were exposed to danger and fear because of his beliefs and work, and further that he would like dedicate the award to his New Maldives colleagues in the former Cabinet and in the Open Society Association for their collaboration in promoting a pro-human rights agenda. The Minister also dedicated the award to President Nasheed for his courageous and relentless quest for regime change, and to President Gayoom for his courage in undertaking a high risk reform program and for showing the good grace to step down when he lost the election. Dr. Shaheed also said that he was dedicating the award to all the people of the Maldives who had embraced people power and called upon them not to abandon people power. The Minister also dedicated the award to his staff at the Foreign Ministry for their support in using his mandate as Foreign Minister to adhere to international norms on human rights in the Maldives.
Full Article
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Excellent Report by the Stimson Center on Islam and Politics - We highly recommend reading it, especially the following essay by Amit Pandya. 
Islam and Politics
Faith, Justice, and Violence: Islam in Political Context
Amit A. Pandya
Introduction: Muslim Renewal and Western Understanding
 The
difficult encounter between the Muslim world and the West at the level
of security policy, diplomacy, and politics is complicated by cultural
and ideological tension, and a degree of intellectual incomprehension.
Western concerns about violence and political extremism in the Muslim
world, and their impact on the security of the West, often rest on
assumptions about the philosophical, cultural, and intellectual
character of Islamic thought and Islamist political movements. Muslim
concerns about Palestine, Western geostrategy and oil policy, and
Western support to autocratic regimes are often accompanied by similar
assumptions.
Mainstream Western commentary on these issues has overstated the
importance of culture and religion as factors in Muslim anti-Western
sentiment. We should acknowledge that other equally important factors
are at work. These include a clash of objective interests, a sharp
debate about what political objectives should be pursued, and a
divergent understanding of the objective world, of the meaning of the
principal trends observed in world affairs, and of the intentions of
the key actors. These would remain sources of contention between the
Muslim world and the West even were there not a high degree of mutual
suspicion about the philosophical, cultural, and intellectual character
of the other.
It is in Western discussions of political mobilizations on the basis of
Islam and the place of violence in Islamic thought that security policy
and interest in ideological trends converge most closely. This paper,
in discussing the ideological context of these issues in the Muslim
world, cautions against simplistic understandings because of the
complexity and richness of intellectual developments there.
The Muslim world today is struggling with modernization, and with the
relationship among the local, traditional, and global. Muslim societies
are grappling with economic development, effective governance,
corruption, and democratic mobilization against dictatorships or
entrenched elites. These challenges have given rise to a rich
intellectual life. This includes contestations over the reach of
religious faith into the public realm, regional variations in the ways
that Islamic thought bears the marks of its cultural and historical
contexts, and secular discourse on global political issues that are
shared with the non-Muslim world, such as climate change and migration.
What may appear to
outsiders as merely opposition to the West, based on a sense of
grievance, is experienced from the inside as a Muslim renaissance, a
renewal of thought and culture, an aspiration to development and
modernization without loss of identity.
Read Amit A. Pandya's essay on Muslim Renewal and Western UnderstandingDownload the full report |
No Questions Asked
What will unconditional aid buy from Egypt's Hosni Mubarak?
Washington Post Editorial - Thursday, May 7, 2009
 DEFENSE SECRETARY Robert M. Gates earned modest headlines in the United States this week for playing down the possibility of a "grand bargain" with Iran after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But al-Jazeera, the leading media outlet of the Arab Middle East, focused on an entirely different piece of news out of Mr. Gates's Cairo news conference. Asked whether U.S. aid to Egypt would be linked in the future to democracy or human rights, the Pentagon chief answered that "foreign military financing" for Mr. Mubarak's autocracy "should be without conditions. And that is our sustained position."
The Obama administration, which has rushed to embrace Egypt's 81-year-old strongman, would do well to consider why al-Jazeera -- not known for pro-American sympathies -- would choose to trumpet that report. The Obama administration's policy assumes that the Bush administration's attempts to promote democratic reforms in Egypt produced yet another case of damaged ties and bad public relations to remedy, such as Guantanamo Bay or the war in Iraq. So Mr. Gates, like Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton before him, heaped praise on Mr. Mubarak while making clear that the new administration will not trouble him about his systematic and often violent repression of the country's politicians, bloggers and human rights activists.
Yet, as al-Jazeera well understands, Mr. Mubarak and his fellow Arab autocrats are widely despised across the region -- and the United States is blamed for unconditionally propping them up. In fact, Mr. Bush won credit from many Egyptians for pressing for democratic change; he was criticized because he failed to follow through. Now, Arabs around the region are learning that the Obama administration is returning to the old U.S. policy of ignoring human rights abuses by Arab dictators in exchange for their cooperation on security matters -- that is, the same policy that produced the Middle East of Osama bin Laden, Hamas and Saddam Hussein.
The pullback is not only rhetorical. Funding for democracy promotion in Egypt has been slashed from $50 million to $20 million this year. The State Department has agreed to Egyptian demands not to use economic aid to fund civil society organizations not approved by the government. As a result, U.S. funding for pro-democracy and human rights groups will drop by about 70 percent. Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee this week inserted $260 million in fresh security assistance for Egypt into a supplemental appropriations bill, along with $50 million for border security. No conditions were attached.
What will all this appeasement buy from Mr. Mubarak? He keeps a cold peace with Israel, withholds an ambassador from Iraq and, as Mr. Gates tacitly acknowledged, opposes any broad rapprochement between the United States and Iran. He is grooming his son to succeed him, a step that could entrench Egypt's autocracy for decades more -- or maybe produce an Islamic revolution. Does all that really merit unconditional U.S. support?
Read the Full Washington Post Editorial
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Obama picks Egypt for Address to the Muslim World
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Barack Obama will make his long-awaited address to Muslims in Egypt on June 4, accelerating his bid to mend the U.S. image in the Islamic world from an epicenter of Arab civilization.
 The speech, fulfilling an Obama campaign promise, will focus on how Americans and Muslims abroad can secure the "safety and security" of their children in a more hopeful future, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
"On June 4, the president will give a speech in Egypt. The speech will be about America's relations with the Muslim world," Gibbs said.
As Obama tries to kick start Middle East peacemaking, the visit will follow trips to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.
Gibbs defended Obama from claims that by choosing Egypt, where the State Department says there are "significant restrictions on the political process and freedom of expression" the U.S. president was watering down U.S. support for democracy promotion abroad.
"It is a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world," Gibbs said. "I think it will be a terrific opportunity for the president to address and discuss our relationship with the Muslim world."
The president said U.S. ties with Islam could not be simply defined by opposition to terrorism, decades into a U.S. struggle with extremism that was sharpened by the September 11 attacks in 2001.
"The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country -- I know, because I am one of them."
Full Article
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Opinion
Islam and democracy can - and do - coexist
Just look at successes in Indonesia and Turkey
By John Hughes | Christian Science Monitor
 Over the years American presidents have preached the power of freedom to the un-free nations of the world. In recent times, the focus has been on the Arab world, where democratic progress has been scant. President George W. Bush's efforts - from candid speeches to Arab leaders to a costly war in Iraq - have yielded mixed results.
President Obama is pursuing a different course, using a blend of personal charm abroad and efforts at home to burnish America's image as a democratic example.
Throughout all this, skeptics have argued that this is a lost cause, and that democracy and Islam are incompatible.
So it is heartening to see the integration of democracy and Islam taking place in three huge countries whose Muslim populations make up somewhere between a quarter and a third of the world's entire Muslim populace.
Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population (205 million), is undergoing national elections that will strengthen its steady democratic progress. India, which has a minority population of some 150 million Muslims, is finishing up month-long elections for a nation of more than 1 billion people. Turkey, with a Muslim population of 77 million, is a working example of a secular democracy in a Muslim country.
These examples may not offer a blueprint for the mostly undemocratic Arab world. But their success does offer welcome evidence that Islam and democracy can coexist, maybe even integrate.
Months ago, Mr. Obama said he wanted to make a major address in an Islamic capital early in his presidency. He hasn't done that yet, but it is no surprise that he chose Turkey for his "the US is not at war with Islam" speech. Turkey has proved, as Steven Cook, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, once said, "that you can have a democracy in a Muslim-majority country." In free elections, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has successfully maintained Turkey as a secular, free-market society since 2003.
Though Indonesia, India, and Turkey, each in their different ways, present welcome examples of compatibility between Islam and democracy, it is often democracy molded to accommodate local cultures and customs. It is freedom, but not necessarily democracy as defined in Washington or the capitals of western Europe.
John Hughes, a former editor of the Monitor, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1967 for his coverage of Indonesia. He writes a biweekly column for the Monitor Weekly.
Full Article
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Obama: Endorse the Arab Peace Initiative Now
By MJ Rosenberg | Israel Policy Forum
The entire state of Israel, and many Jews worldwide, are anguished by
the continued captivity of one soldier, Gilad Shalit. Jews from Long
Island to Paris were pained by the repression of Soviet Jews. Why
wouldn't Arabs (and Muslims) empathize with the suffering of millions
of their kinsmen or coreligionists who live either in the same region
or not far away? For Jordanians, Egyptians, Syrians, Lebanese, Saudis,
and Iraqis, they are people who live virtually next door. Why wouldn't
they be horrified that 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza war
and that a third of them were children? It is not as if they are the
only ones to feel that way.
 The ability of the Palestinian issue
to unify Arabs and Muslims is precisely what has turned the issue into
the best recruiting tool terrorists have ever had. I don't think (or
care) if Osama bin Laden feels for the people of Palestine. But I do think that all these thugs
happily invoke the Palestinian issue because the Arab "street" does
care about it. And they understand that it is the locomotive that
drives anti-American feeling throughout the region.
Solve the
Palestinian problem, and you rob the radicals of the most powerful
weapon they have to use against America (especially now that Obama, and
not Bush, is in the White House). Allow it to fester and you further
jeopardize U.S. interests and Israel's security.
And that is why President Obama needs to act. But what should he do?
I
think it's clear. He should go for a comprehensive approach. A
step-by-step plan is death by a thousand cuts. A solution will only be
reached by a president who uses his prestige to solve not only the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but also the larger conflict of which it
is the core.
There is only one vehicle that can carry that much weight and that is the Arab Peace Initiative (the former Saudi Plan). The
Arab Initiative, endorsed by every Arab state and the Palestinians,
offers Israel full peace, recognition, and normalization of relations
in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West
Bank and Gaza with its capital in East Jerusalem.
President
Obama should unequivocally endorse the Arab Initiative as the rubric
under which negotiations should begin. No, Likud Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu may not like it. But neither did his predecessor
Yitzhak Shamir like the idea of the Madrid Conference, which President
George H. W. Bush convened right after the first Gulf War. It was there
that Israelis and Palestinians began formal negotiations. Madrid
totally changed the terrain for the better.
Full Article
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Muslims take page from interest group playbook and submit CVs
US Muslims seek jobs with Obama administration
By Courtney C. Radsch | Al-Arabiya
Muslim Americans overwhelmingly supported Barak Obama during the campaign and community leaders, including the first Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison, want to ensure they are considered for positions in the new administration.
 During the election campaign last year, Obama vowed to improve US ties with the Muslim world. "The goal is to bring to the Obama administration the talent that is available out there in the Muslim community," Ellison's senior policy advisor, Rick Juaert, told AlArabiya.net.
"There's some 8,000 jobs yet to be filled, so his (Ellison's) point is there's a lot to be done but a lot has been done already, and that we should be doing something proactive which is what this is in terms of getting Muslim names and faces out there so that as the jobs get filled we make sure that there are Muslim faces among them," he added.
But Obama has yet to name any of America's estimated seven million Muslims to a key position. Community leaders hope this will change, so after culling through hundreds of résumés they chose 45 - Ivy League graduates, Fortune 500 executives and civil servants from both sides of the aisle - of the most experienced, most highly educated with a commitment to public service.
"They want to show their patriotism," said Williams. "It's also our fair right to try to promote our full civic and government participation at all levels."
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Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy
Membership/Donation Form - 2009
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To become a member of CSID, please click here. To make a donation, please click here. Please remember that CSID needs your membership and support to continue its mission of promoting a greater understanding of Islam in the US, and a better understanding and implementation of democracy in the Muslim world. With our best wishes and regards,
Sincerely,
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Radwan A. Masmoudi
President
Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy |
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