Conference on Literature and Intercultural Dialogue

Farah Pandith, Senior Advisor to the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs on Muslim Engagement
Remarks at the Centro Studi Americani Conference on Literature and Intercultural Dialogue
Rome, Italy
May 21, 2007

Good afternoon, and thank you Karim [MESRAN, CSA DIRECTOR] for that nice introduction. I also want to thank the Center for American Studies for sponsoring this conference and for all the good work it does. And what a brilliant idea, casting intercultural dialogue in the context of literature.

Literature not only reports on a culture, but forms it as well. The England and Spain of today are different places because of the lives of Shakespeare and Cervantes. If we are to have a dialogue between cultures, writers must be at the heart of it.

And, of course, thank you for inviting me. It's great to be here in Rome. A simple stroll through the streets of Rome makes it impossible to forget that this city was the center of its own eponymously named empire. Ancient Rome reached its zenith 2,000 years ago, and yet its impact is very much alive today.

More than 200 million Europeans speak languages derived from Latin, as do more than half a billion people on the other side of the Atlantic, which gives some idea of this city's cultural footprint.

And, of course, Rome is the center today of one of the world's great religions, also named after your city: Roman Catholicism.

The identity of Italy is bound up with its history and its religion, and yet in the time I've spent here already I have learned about the efforts underway to integrate new Italians who are not Catholic or even Christian. I have learned much from Imams and the Islamic community leaders. And in Rome, I've had the opportunity to hear about Italian inter-religious dialogue initiatives at the Vatican.

I want to speak with you today about how my country has adapted to different ethnic communities and religions -- particularly Islam -- and about the integration of citizens from diverse backgrounds.

I am fortunate to share the floor with two American authors - Reza Aslan and Samina Ali; and two Italian authors - Amara Lakhous and Younis Tawfik, and I look forward to hearing about literature's role in dialogue.

Immigration is a new phenomenon in Italy, but let me in the same breath qualify that statement. I am aware, of course, that this peninsula is by no means new to new comers. Rome was a very cosmopolitan empire, and during its time this city was teeming with residents from the Atlantic to the Caspian and from the North Sea to the Sahara. This was the first melting pot. Over the centuries these disparate peoples had time to become the Italians and Romans of today.

In the past few centuries, however, it is safe to say that Italy became more used to sending its citizens overseas. In my country we have 16 million people who describe themselves as Italian-Americans, making up the sixth largest ethnic group in the U.S.

Your economic success over the past half century has meant, however, that you have ceased being a nation that sends its sons and daughters to enrich other nations, but one that now welcomes immigrants. As such you are having to relearn old traditions.

In the talks I have had here in Italy so far I have already heard about the progress being made on integration, and also about some of the problems some Muslims can encounter in becoming full participants in Italian society. Some particular concerns have been voiced, including difficulties in obtaining Italian citizenship, building a mosque and good job prospects.

How Italy welcomes and integrates its new immigrants will shape both its society and its economy. There is no question that the immigrants are needed. With declining birth rates and aging populations, all of Europe in fact needs immigrants to maintain its workforce and sustain its welfare systems. This is especially true in Italy. But as we have learned from terrorist attacks planned or executed by first- and second-generation immigrants in Madrid and London, the success of integration also can directly affect security.

I have learned that, in order to address these problems, the Italian government has proposed some important steps toward easing the roadblocks in the path for immigrants to become Italian citizens. The importance of this effort cannot be overstated. Allowing the immigrant to feel that he or she has a stake in Italian society-allowing them to have hope is vital. Without the prospect of becoming a citizen, immigrants have little reason to protect and defend their new homeland and little hope of being treated as anything but temporary workers.

So I want to applaud efforts by Italian regional and local administrations, and actors in Italian civil society, to help immigrants find jobs, housing, education and health care. In America, we have learned that these are the keys to successful integration.

I am under no illusion that we get everything right in America, incidentally. We make mistakes like everyone else. Our successes and our mistakes are magnified sometimes, so they may feel outsized.

It is true that we have, from the very outset of our history as an independent republic, dealt with the issue of immigration and integration. One of George Washington's first acts as President was to write to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, reassuring its members that the new government gave "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." That letter was written in 1790, or only seven years after winning independence from Britain.

These sentiments of religious freedom have been sustained throughout the history of our republic. As President Eisenhower said in 1957 when he opened the Islamic Center in Washington, "America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have here your own church and worship according to your own conscience. This concept is indeed a part of America, and without that concept we would be something else than what we are."

These issues are not academic or abstract to me. I am neither Anglo-Saxon nor Christian. I am, however, 100 percent American. Perhaps by saying some words about myself I can explain a little bit about the U.S.

I have been extremely fortunate, and I'm not saying that my story is typical of all American Muslims. I am in many ways, however, a realization of the American dream, and walking proof that, although there are no guarantees, the American Dream is also not a myth.

I was born in Srinagar, a city in the foothills of the Himalayas in India, and brought to the States when I was just a baby in 1969. I grew up in New England, a northeastern region comprising six states and which has a very rich cultural heritage. New England is in some ways atypical: it has a history going back centuries, and history plays an important role in the lives of New Englanders.

In my state of Massachusetts I learned first hand about the many stories of earlier immigrants from Ireland, Poland, Italy and other countries, and how they struggled to overcome the challenges of living in a new land. These communities strived to belong, to take part in the story of America. And America, I must say, offered them the opportunity to do so.

I grew up with few Muslims around me. There were Episcopalians, Unitarians, Catholics, Jews and Congregationalists, who are the descendants of the New England Puritans. And yet, I never had a feeling that I didn't belong. I always felt that education put me in the game. It is the great equalizer. I understood from very early on that whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim, education put us all on a level playing field.

I also learned-and this is something that Americans work assiduously at-to balance pride in my cultural heritage with a deep attachment to the values of America. As I said earlier, we are not perfect, and we have much to learn from others. Just a little over a century ago, slavery remained legal; just over 60 years ago, Japanese Americans were force to relocate into camps; and just over 4 decades ago, African Americans were still locked in an often vicious fight for equal rights. But this is a balance that I would say we have close to mastered, if only because we devote so much time, attention and practice to it. Like with all balances, the trick lies in getting it just right.

Of all of America's values, democracy and freedom come near the top, especially in my list. So I felt quite comfortable when my government asked me to play my part in bridging the gap of understanding between Muslim communities and my country. In my current role I work with officials in Washington and our embassies overseas to seek the best ways to engage Muslim communities in Europe - to build stronger bridges and to learn more about Muslim communities in this part of the world.

My participation in this conference here today illustrates my government's interest in reaching out and connecting with the Muslim community in Europe. I am here to share my experience and listen to your perspectives and concerns.

While the Special Advisor position is new, the State Department has been engaging in outreach activities and discussing issues of integration with friends and allies for many years.

Given what I do, and what my personal history is, I like to drive home some points that I think are important, and also dispel some myths about my religion and my country. Islam and America, two notions to which I am deeply attached, which have helped shape my identity, share the following traits: people around the world hold strong opinions about both, and yet I would put to you that Islam and America are often deeply misunderstood.

I would like to touch briefly on three points.

1. As my first I'd like to underscore the point that Islam and Democracy are compatible. That they are incompatible is an argument made-curiously-both by people who are extremely critical of Islam and by people who pose as its would be defenders.

2. As my second point, I'd like to try to dispel the myth that the U.S. is at war with Islam. This is also a myth spread by people who are all over the map in terms of ideologies and motives.

3. Lastly, I'd like point out that, in many instances, it is Muslims who are raising their voices against those who want to highjack their religion for violent ends.

Let's start with the compatibility between Islam and democracy.

Islam allows for a diversity of views, which explains why such diverse countries as Indonesia, Turkey and Albania are majority-Muslim societies. These three countries, along with Malaysia, are all democracies. They also account 350 million people, a great swath of humanity. If you add to them the 120 million or so Muslims who live in India, the world's largest democracy, and the 60 million Muslims who live in Iraq and Afghanistan, two fledgling democracies, that makes it more than half a billion Muslims worldwide.

This is a large number already, but in fact it is larger. Millions of other Muslims participate in the democratic processes here in Western Europe and in my country, as well as in Israel.

In these countries, Muslims and others are free to express their views. Indeed, a significant number of Muslims here in Europe emigrated from the Middle East expressly because they wanted to enjoy more freedom of speech and expression.

So it is misleading to view Islam as authoritarian or monolithic. Islam encompasses a wide diversity of observance and practices. What is "Muslim" is in many ways shaped by the cultural environment. Muslims around the world adapt to their local cultures - practices vary widely between Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. None of this variation makes these people any less Muslim.

The diversity across Muslim communities extends to thought and the arts as well. As this conference rightly highlights, literature is a key vehicle for free expression and for building links between cultures. Literature in all its forms - prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction, books and articles - allows ideas to flow and creates a space for open and healthy debate.

The authors here today have elegantly woven together the threads of culture, religion, personal experience and human relationships. They have stayed firmly rooted in their religious and cultural backgrounds, and at the same time reached out to people of different backgrounds. A book may seem like a monologue being spoken by the author, but as the reader gets swept into the world created in the book, a dialogue of impressions and reactions ensues. Today we have a chance to engage in that dialogue out loud and in person.

Religion and culture are tied up with the question of identity. This is a delicate issue here in Europe, as Muslims often feel they have to choose between an identity rooted in their religion and the identity of the country they live in. I look forward to hearing from the authors here today how they navigate these issues in their writings.

As I alluded to earlier, one of the traditions that has served Americans well is the knack for finding a balance between the two identities. The right balance depends on the individual, and obviously it must suit the individual as well as society. But we have found that it is possible not to make an exclusive choice, that being American-being a good American or even a great American, that highest of accolades-does not require turning your back on your background or religion. People here in Europe, new immigrants and especially Muslim ones, may want to take a look at our experience and let it inform in some way theirs.

Whether you do or not, one thing the Muslim experience in America does prove is that Muslims who live their religion can be unqualified democratic Americans.

The American experience with Islam brings me to my second point, which is the myth that America is at war with Islam. We are at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, two countries that are majority Muslim, but I find it perverse to say that in either of these cases we are fighting Islam. In fact, we are supporting fledgling democracies in both. There are problems in both countries, to be sure. But before U.S. involvement they were ruled by, respectively, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, the first an obscurantist regime that targeted and banned centuries-old Afghan culture, and the latter one of the worst dictators ever to tyrannize Muslims.

Whatever one feels about U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, we can at least agree that these conflicts are not about Islam. Indeed, in Afghanistan, the follow-on stabilization force includes Muslim countries such as Turkey. I am asked very frequently if America has a policy against Muslims. Of course we do not. Islam is respected and valued as an important part of America. We have millions of American Muslims who have chosen to come to America and practice their faith freely. Muslims in America come from more than 80 different countries of origin. We have Muslim workers in every possible field of employment - from teachers to athletes to doctors to military serviceman to diplomats.

Further, we are active in coming to the aid of Muslim communities globally and we do so in many ways. We have given billions of dollars in humanitarian and economic aid around the world in Muslim communities. A case in point is our help in the aftermath of the tsunami in Indonesia. Our aid to the victims of the earthquakes in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan were also very significant.

Here are details of just some of the aid we have given recently to Muslim societies:

In response to the conflict in Lebanon last summer, total U.S. government humanitarian assistance has reached $108 million. These programs are reaching more than two million beneficiaries in over 500 villages across 24 of Lebanon's 26 districts.

In Somalia, our aid has reached $129 million over the last year and a half. American emergency relief activities in Somalia benefit more than 2 million people affected by repeated shocks of drought, floods, and conflict.

In Pakistan, one of the world's largest Muslim nations, when the earthquake struck, the U.S. swung into action with a massive and immediate response. A total of $290 million has moved through the pipeline so far, on a pledge of $400 million.

And in Indonesia, following tsunami and earthquake, America launched a comprehensive reconstruction program with $656 million provided by Congress. When compiling the total assistance of American dollars our assistance totaled $841 million.

In addition to the U.S. government response, the American people responded in great numbers. The total for U.S. private tsunami donations amounted to more than $1.8 billion.

And of course, since we're in Europe, I should add that American and European troops helped to liberate Kosovo and Bosnia. We are still there to help their people build productive, peaceful lives.

But while giving you some examples of how my government is helping Muslims around the world I wouldn't want to leave the impression that Muslim communities are helpless and need the U.S. to come to their aid. In fact, in the all-important area of fighting violent extremist Islamic ideologies, it is Muslims around the world who are leading the effort taking on the critical need of pushing back against this ideology. And this is my third and final point.

The July 7, 2005 bombings in London were a wake-up call for Muslims across the West. As you know it was the first time that Muslims who were born and raised in a Western country carried out an attack.

Many know this fact, but less well known is that condemnations poured in from Islamic community leaders - and from all corners of the globe and leaders who do not always see eye to eye on things. We heard from all kinds of groups and individuals - from the British Muslim Forum, an umbrella group that has nearly 300 mosques affiliated with it, to Al-Azhar University in Cairo's Grand Imam, who denounced the killing of civilians. And just last week Imams and Islamic scholars from throughout Afghanistan condemned suicide attacks, beheadings and burning schools as un-Islamic.

American Imams have also distinguished themselves in the fight against violence, by issuing Fatwas against violence. The same goes for a Spanish Muslim organizations that wrote a declaration [against the use of violence ], hundreds of articles and blogs that did the same.

By working within the democratic system and using institutional instruments for the redress of grievances, American Muslims demonstrate the three points I have tried to make today.

• One is that Islam and democracy can go hand in hand.
• The second is that Muslims are part of the American fabric, whether they work for the Bush Administration like me or through civil society institutions.
• And the third is that Muslim voices are essential and are leading the effort against those who want to hijack Islam.

There are many misconceptions, as I said, about both Islam and about America, so it would be hardly surprising that these misconceptions would multiply at the intersection where Islam and the United States, my religion and my country meet. This intersection can be a school in Afghanistan where girls are finally able to be part of the classroom, or a Mosque holding a bake sale somewhere in the Midwest.

The writers who will speak here today have given us through their works their interpretations on the intersection between Islam and culture, and now I will pass the baton to them.

Like any other monotheistic, revealed religion, Islam has been intricately linked with literature because God chose literature to reveal his word. And even those who would deny that these works are divine revelations might agree that the Torah, the Bible and the Koran are great works of literature. God and literature, from the beginning, have been linked, and it was none other than St. John who began his Gospel with these words: "in the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Thank you for your attention.

 

Released on May 24, 2007