From Zahed’s list, the following about Farah Pandith:
Initial successes were promising enough that incoming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expended political capital to retain Pandith and elevate her position to one that covers the entire Muslim world as a “Special Representative to Muslim Communities” that reports directly to the Secretary. She plans to continue leveraging her position, and the pull it has with the Obama administration, to recruit more Muslim Americans to the cause. “The reason I was successful in Europe is because American Muslims helped me become successful,” says Pandith. “I want to have consistent dialogue with American Muslims, and I will do that face to face.”
Now, I am trying to say this in a way that doesn’t sound insulting because I don’t know Ms. Pandith and I don’t want to offend a certain “crowd” of Muslims because I know and like some of them, but Ms. Pandith may be well known and even respected among the ‘crowd’ of American or European Muslims that travel in those circles, but the idea of Ms. Pandith having consistent face to face dialogue with American Muslims generally I found a bit bizarre. I assure you that of the hundreds of Muslims I know outside of the blogosphere, but in real life, none of them (except for possibly the few that travel in such circles) have ever heard of Farah Pandith. I live in one of the largest Muslim communities in the US and am unaware of Ms. Pandith speaking at any masjid or Islamic organization here in Chicago. Maybe she was speaking of future plans?
abunoor 10:49 am on January 4, 2010 Permalink |
I don’t mean to be vague or ominous about “circles.” I am talking here about the small circle of American Muslim academics or acivists who might be involved in State Dept. sponsored trips to Europe to talk about American Muslims or stuff like that.
zahed 4:29 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink |
Don’t know what to tell you other than that Farah has been/is a behind-the-scenes person who has worked in Europe networking with European Muslims (and helping them network with each other) for the past several years and not so much with American Muslim communities per se. The American Muslims she refers to, presumably, are those that have assisted her with her work. Not all of them work for/with/speak on behalf of the State Department. If she is referring to future dialogues within America, I agree that would be a good thing (although her job right now is to focus overseas).
abunoor 4:51 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink |
Like I said, I am not trying to attack her or anyone, just trying to figure out what she means by “I want to have consistent dialogues with American Muslims, and I will do that face to face.”
shahed 11:39 pm on January 4, 2010 Permalink |
Actually (since I was the one that interviewed her) I believe she meant that as a response to those who felt that her predecessors in the State Department shied away from interacting with Muslim Americans for various reasons, and stayed locked in their ivory tower making up policy.