One of the major political developments in the United States that has been overlooked after the Democrats' stunning loss in the November 5 election is the success of the Arab American political movement.
A new generation of political activists has emerged that has gained unprecedented representation and influence in the 3.5-million-strong Arab-American community in elected and appointed political office. It also put Arab Americans on the electoral map for the first time by launching a non-committal party during the Democratic primaries and making a foreign policy issue – the Israeli massacre in Gaza – a national moral issue.
The Democratic Party underestimated the power of this new generation and the intensity of citizens' anger, which cost them dearly in the elections.
What happened to the Arab American community is an all-American myth. They, like other communities, began to pursue political influence as a group of low-class immigrants who became active citizens after political developments threatened their lives and inspired them to take action.
Arab American mobilization traces its beginnings to minority participation in Jesse Jackson's 1984 and 1988 Democratic Party presidential campaigns. Jackson was the first important president to include Arab Americans as delegates to the Democratic Party convention, part of his Rainbow Coalition of “whites, Hispanics, Blacks, Arabs, Jews, women, African Americans, small farmers, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, activist for peace, young, old, single, gay, and disabled [who] make an American quilt.”
His campaign gave impetus to voter registration programs among the Arab American community, which continued for the next three decades. By 2020, nearly 90 percent of Arab Americans are registered to vote. By 2024, the Arab American bloc – in its expanded integration with other groups – had grown enough to influence the results in critical states, especially Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The 9/11 attacks and the aftermath encouraged Arab Americans even more to engage in meaningful politics. Many members of the community refused to live in fear, trying to avoid the intimidation and anointing that had long kept their parents and grandparents humble and silent in politics.
As Omar Kurdi, the founder of Arab Americans in Cleveland, said to me, “We stopped being silent because we saw the dangers to us of not moving and doing nothing in politics. We refuse to live in fear of politics. Since then, we have been proud, confident and active in the community. We no longer accept the crumbs, but we want our share of the pie, and we understand now how to serve that to you.”
As a result, during the last two decades, Arab Americans have entered the public and political spheres at all levels: from local, city, and regional positions to federal and state.
Elected officials say they succeeded because those who voted for them knew and trusted them. Candidates who won state and national congressional seats — like Rashida Tlaib in Michigan — inspired hundreds of young Arab Americans to enter the political fray.
Successful experiences in urban politics taught newcomers how to influence decision-making, improve their lives, and serve the community as a whole. They are well versed in the basics of local politics, one Ohio activist told me, “such as lobbying, pressure, protest, public education, building consensus, and creating coalitions based on shared values, issues and goals”.
All this momentum, built up over the years, came together in the Non-Committal movement in 2024. As the Biden administration unconditionally supported Israel to commit genocidal violence in Palestine and Lebanon, Arab-American activists moved to exercise their new power as voters in the polls. politics.
They joined like-minded social justice activists from other groups mainstream political parties have long taken for granted — including Muslim Americans, blacks, Hispanics, youth, progressive Jews, churches, and unions — and sent a strong message during the primaries that they would. not support Biden's bid for re-election unless he changes his position on Gaza.
The campaign hoped that tens of thousands of voters in the primaries would send the Democrats a big message by voting “not committed”, but in reality, hundreds of thousands of Democrats did so in all the critical states. These numbers were enough to send 30 Pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, where they could persuade their colleagues to shape the party's national platform.
Another activist involved in the process told me that he convinced 320 delegates out of 5,000 others to support his request for the party's commitment to the freeze on Gaza and the arms embargo on Israel – not enough to change the party's position, but enough to prove that it works internally. the political system over time can move things to a better place.
Intergenerational support and motivation were major factors in the success of the Non-Committal movement. The Executive Director of the Arab American Institute Maya Berry, who has been involved in such activities for thirty years, told me that Arab Americans are always in political positions, but in small numbers, so they have little influence. However, they learned how the program works and provided valuable information when it came time to take action this year. He cited Abbas Alawiyeh as an example, who is the co-chairman of the Uncommitted National Movement and worked as a congressman for many years.
The exact role of the non-aligned movement in the defeat of the Democratic Party is a hot debate right now. One activist told me that the organization “put Arab Americans at the center of Democratic Party politics, led progressives, helped Harris lose swing states, and nationally brought attention to Gaza, separatism, and moral issues in a way we never could.” before.”
All this happened in an unspecified area, without specifying that Arab Americans can influence both the Democratic and Republican parties that may now compete for their vote.
Another Arab-American activist in his 30s added, “We've been liberated from the Democrats who took us for granted, and we Arab Americans are now officially a swing vote.”
Some activists I spoke to thought that the election experience could set the stage for a major anti-AIPAC movement of the pro-Israel lobby, although that would require overcoming the next hurdle of establishing Political Action Committees (PACs) and raising large sums of money.
That may happen in the future. At the moment, it is important to note that the Arab-American national level political effort was born out of the fire and damage of the US-Israeli genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. Whether it can improve the well-being of Arab Americans and all Americans will be revealed in the coming years.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
