A Complete Readout from ArabCon 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan
Plus, Analysis on why Kamala Harris Is On Track to Lose Michigan + Israel’s Terror Attacks in Lebanon + Supporting Haitian Neighbors in Springfield, Ohio
I just returned home to San Francisco from Dearborn, Michigan, the largest city with an Arab majority population in the U.S, after attending ADC’s ArabCon 2024, an annual convening of the Arab American community. I had a phenomenal time, learned a ton, and have a lot to share with you.
In case you didn't know, I am not Arab. But as a Pakistani American, I attended ArabCon because I believe Palestine is the greatest moral issue of our time. And my country’s decades long role in Israel’s military occupation of it, and ongoing oppression and now genocide of the Palestinian people, is not something I can live with.
A large focus of ArabCon was building political power for a community that has been highly dehumanized and vilified in the Western world and specifically here in the U.S., and working towards building the strength to change things is what I want to do.
The ArabCon Experience: A Breakdown of All Four Days of the Conference
Day 1: Thursday, September 12
We heard from Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein who courted the Arab vote all four days of the conference. She delivered a full throated condemnation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza to a packed room on Thursday evening.
Like or hate her, Stein is demonstrating how badly she wants Arab and Muslim people to vote for her; Kamala Harris isn’t. And that is a huge strategic error on part of the Democrats in this election who are on course to lose Michigan over Harris’ position on Gaza (more on that below).
Finally, we closed the kickoff reception by watching Laila Al-Arian’s haunting 78 minute documentary on Gaza The Night Won’t End: Biden’s War on Gaza. I encourage you to watch the film - it’s available to stream for free on YouTube via this link.
“If this is not a genocide; I don’t know what is. This is the elimination of entire families.” - Laila Al-Arian, Executive Producer of the Fault Lines documentary The Night Won’t End: Biden’s War on Gaza.
A long form vlog of day 1 is available on YouTube here and a shorter version is available on Instagram here.
Day 2: Friday, September 13
This was the first full day of ArabCon and there were so many epic and notable speakers on the day’s panels - a full list is available here.
And some of us also took a special lunch break trip to Jummah prayer at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.
Dr. Jill Stein was at the mosque speaking to the community and whipping up Arab and Muslim votes - this is how you court votes and show respect to people who you need to vote for you. She’s doing what the Harris Walz campaign is not in Michigan, a critical swing state.
Photo: I shared an Uber to the conference with renowned journalists Laila Al-Arian (Al Jazeera) and Said Arikat (Al Quds).
A long form vlog of day 2 is available on YouTube here and a shorter version is available on Instagram here.
Day 3: Saturday, September 14
This was an exceptionally emotional day. The stories from the physicians who traveled to Gaza coupled with the photos and videos they shared with us was by far the most powerful session. What the people in Gaza are enduring is unimaginable. I compiled a video for YouTube of some highlights of this emotional session that is available here.
The common thread that loomed large throughout all of the sessions today was the November election. The community is so angry, rightfully so, at the Biden Harris administration for enabling, arming and continuing to fund the genocide in Gaza, and at the Democratic Party at large for turning a blind eye to it while intentionally cutting out the community from its “big tent.”
“And if you now, while we are all watching this live genocide, if you decide that you’re going to fall in line, they will do anything to you. You are literally telling them that you will fall in line. That you can genocide us - you can make us watch our babies burn to death, their brains spilling out of their heads, but we are going to go and vote for you. That is the only message you are sending. And I beg of you not to do that. I beg of you to not betray the hundreds of thousands of dead Palestinians; because that is what you are going to be doing.” - Susan Abuhalwa, Author of Mornings in Jenin. Her complete remarks from the Women of Palestine: The Heartbeat of Resistance panel are available on YouTube here.
There was also a panel with local elected officials including Hon. Alabas Farhat (MI), the Hon. Ruwa Romman (GA), the Hon. Iman Jodeh (CO), and the Hon. Abdelnasser Rashid (IL). The session got heated between supporters of the Abandon Harris campaign and the panelists of local elected officials who are members of the Democrat party and take a less active stance opposing the candidacy of Kamala Harris. Highlights of that session are available to watch on YouTube here.
The day closed with a gala reception which included honoring rapper Macklemore with the Rachel Corrie award. Highlights of his remarks are available to watch here.
Photo: Doctors Against Genocide: Dr. Nidal Jboor (standing), Dr. Adam Fahs, Dr. Alaa Ali, Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, and Dr. Sara Badran.
A long form vlog of day 3 is available on YouTube here and a shorter version is available on Instagram here.
Day 4: Sunday, September 15
The final day of ArabCon was short and sweet. It included a panel on the state of the Arab American community’s rights here in the U.S. and a rally for Palestine.
Photo: The ‘Palestine Will Be Free’ Rally
A long form vlog of day 4 is available on YouTube here and a shorter version is available on Instagram here.
Closing Thoughts on ArabCon 2024
ArabCon was a beautiful expression of community, and one of the most meaningful things I’ve participated in this year. The warmth, generosity, and kindness of Arabi people is what makes me so appreciative of the full mosaic of Arabi cultures. For those of you less familiar, I hope the vlogs linked above will give you some additional awareness and insight that you did not have before. My full playlist of ArabCon videos is available on YouTube here.
Big kudos and thanks to everyone on the ADC team who worked on the planning for this conference.
I hope to see you at ArabCon in 2025.
Analysis: Kamala Harris Is On Track to Lose Michigan
As mentioned above, the 2024 election was a common thread throughout ArabCon, and Dr. Jill Stein, the candidate of the Green Party was present at all four days of the conference, actively courting the community’s vote. Stein was polling at 45%+ with Arab Americans nationally as of the end of July, and I’d wager that support has only grown with Harris’ terrible and unwavering stance on Israel & Gaza at the DNC in Chicago in August, and then again during the presidential debate earlier this month.
Given that Harris needs Michigan to win the election, my sense is that her commitment to uphold Biden’s policy on the issue, the status quo, is going to lose her and the Democrats the presidency. And I do not say that lightly.
As a reminder, over 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” in the Michigan primary this year to protest Biden’s handling of Gaza and his policy on Israel. For context, Biden won Michigan by 154,000+ votes, and Hillary Clinton lost Michigan by less than 10,000 votes. The “uncommitted” voters will determine who wins Michigan, and many of those voters, specifically most of the Arab American community, are going to be voting for Stein.
And in case you missed it yesterday, the official Uncommitted Movement released a statement that it will NOT be endorsing Kamala Harris for President. That means two significant coalitions of voters who would have voted for the Democratic presidential candidate will not be supporting that candidate. The other coalition is the Abandon Harris campaign which is actively supporting Stein for President. Abandon Harris was originally a campaign called ‘Abandon Biden’ which was rooted in the Muslim American community and it officially transitioned to ‘Abandon Harris’ immediately after the DNC in Chicago in August. This piece does a good job of detailing the differences in both campaigns + movements.
The plain truth is that there is only one party that will be able to win the presidency running on being pro-war and pro-genocide; and that is the Republican Party. The Democrats cannot win with policies unpopular within their own coalition, and are on track to lose the presidency if they do not stop sending arms to Israel, and if they do not stop Israel’s war on Gaza before the election.
I heard and saw first hand at ArabCon how the Democratic Party has irrevocably damaged itself by being the Party in power enabling the genocide over the last year, and by silencing and pushing out anti-war voices at every level - locally, state, and nationally; most notably Palestinian, Arab & Muslim American voices.
Given that the anti-war coalition includes most Arabs, Muslims, anti-Zionist Jews, college age voters, and other allies, I do not see how Harris can win Michigan without supporting an arms embargo on Israel, and ending Israel’s war before Election Day.
And I also feel that there is a huge segment of voters that she will not be able to win back at this point because of the damage done to her credibility on the issue over the last two months since she became the presumptive presidential candidate for the Democratic Party.
This is a change election, and Biden is the person voters want change from. Many undecided voters are not going to vote for the “lesser of two evils” or more of the same (Biden 2.0) in this election. They will show up and they will vote for a third party or they will write-in a candidate. And I strongly feel that the Democratic Party establishment consultants are miscalculating how voters will act differently in this moment. Partly because they do not understand how these voters think, but also because they refuse to acknowledge that the American electorate’s opinions on Israel and Palestine have drastically changed over the course of the last year since the genocide began.
Regardless of how you feel about the presidential election, we need change in local and state offices, and you need to vote to make sure we support anti-war, pro-human rights, non-sellout candidates at those levels. Please make sure you are registered to vote by visiting vote.org today!
Global Condemnation: Israel’s Terror Attacks in Lebanon & Epic Win for Palestine at the United Nations
Two rounds of cyberattacks on pagers, cell phones, and other mobile devices in Lebanon this week by Israel killed more than 20 people, including a young girl and other children and innocent bystanders; injured more than 3,000 people; and set a dangerous new precedent that has the potential to impact everyone with a mobile phone. These attacks by Israel constitute terrorism and a breach in international humanitarian law.
However, western and white supremacists continued to demonstrate how little they value Arab and Muslim human life; the pro-Israel narrative of these acts of terrorism in Lebanon by Israel were described as “remarkable,” precise,” and/or a “strategic win” – sick and twisted propaganda by a number of Western outlets including The Atlantic whose Editor-in-Chief once served in the IDF. And of course, opportunistic and sellout politicians joined in with their AIPAC talking points - both Republicans and Democrats shamelessly celebrated the terror attacks.
Beware the people and outlets celebrating this as a “win” for Israel which is, by all relevant and legitimate measures, actually losing on all fronts. And the terrorist actions of Israel’s genocidal government are a reflection of knowing that it is losing.
And the perfect example for how it is losing is the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) setting a 12 month timeline for Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, meaning that Israel is required to end its military occupation of the Palestinian territories, end the blockade and siege of Gaza, and dismantle its illegal settlements on Palestinian lands. UNGA voted to impose sanctions against Israel for the first time in 42 years which included an arms embargo.
In Case You Missed It
TikTok: ArabCon Summary x Saint Levant’s ‘On This Land’
Twitter/X: Anti-Arab racist cartoon about Congressional Rep Tlaib runs in the National Review
Threads: Falastin night at the Cal Academy of Arts
YouTube: the full ArabCon playlist (7 videos)
The posts above are highlights of some of the social media content I produce across channels. Follow me on your favorite social media platforms to access all of my content: TikTok, Twitter/X, Threads, YouTube, Instagram, Medium
Up Next
There was so much news this week that I wasn’t able to cover in this already long newsletter including the Republican voters the Harris campaign seems to be targeting while dismissing the Arab and Muslim votes; Senator John’s Kennedy’s blatant display of Anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia during a Senate committee hearing; and the self immolation of American Matt Nelson over the Biden Harris Gaza policy. I’ll cover this and whatever else comes up in the next several days next week.
I badly wanted to go but couldn’t make the time! Thanks for this readout.