New Generation of Leaders
The Middle East uprisings are lead and organized by the young generation who refuses to inherit the fear of the Arab regime’s retaliation and oppression taught to the parents, and are proving in the process the delusional state their old leaders like Husni Mubarak, and Moamar Qadafi, have reached and their disconnect from reality.
The new generation of American-Arabs are proving their efficiency, organization and effectiveness in taking reigns of leadership, while recognizing the roles of the older generation of Arab-Americans.
The month of March witnessed three big successful events organized and executed totally by the students of University of Michigan Dearborn and Wayne State University, and two other events; George Galloway’s event and Gaza Hip-hop concert organized by youth out of college.
They are proving their wisdom in choosing the topics and venues. Muslim Student Union at U of M Dearborn Chose the title of Unity in Diversity for the annual dinner at Dearborn’s Civic Center, while Their counterparts the Arab Student Union at U of M Dearborn chose to honor the Amer Family for their courage in passing the Amer act, and united the children with their parents in an emotional mother’s day tribute. The Arab-American Student Union at Wayne State University decided to take the universal language of Music to feature the rich culture in the beautiful event they organized featuring the youthful Michigan Arab Orchestra Takht Ensemble.
The speeches of their union presidents and presenters are balanced, energizing and carry positive messages. Their wisdom comes from recognizing the need to take the baton from the older generation while building on their success and recognizing their efforts instead of destroying what they’ve already built.
The new challenge that faces the new, as the old, is how to coordinate all the efforts of the various organizations as not to duplicate, compete and run the community ragged trying to keep up with all the events raising funds from families facing foreclosures and diminished income, thus become counter productive to the goals of uniting not just the Arab-American community but opening it to the larger American community with its divers ethnicities to remove the walls of mistrust and fear and move towards tackling real monetary and environmental challenges facing us all as one.
Thus comes the need to form a social think tank to empower the new energy of the youth, and infuse it with the wisdom and experience of the old and have them all dancing to a new tune of music in harmony to achieve all common goals and be prepared for the real challenges ahead rushing at us by a fast changing world, locally, regionally and internationally.
Nafeh Abu Nab