Issue 3 of a-Rab magazine is out

The third issue of a-Rab magazine is out. Click on the cover below for the announcement, or here for the table of contents.

Cover art by Katie Miranda..

My contributions to this issue are:

A short introductory note

Reflect a bit on your politics.

Are you down with Palestine, with the Zapatistas, with activists in Oakland, and even the hunger-strikers at Columbia? Your political spirituality knows no boundaries, right, and you’re down with just about every struggle?

Maybe—it’d be pretty damn sweet, if you were. But down is not a feeling. It’s not something you can be by listening to el-Sheikh Imam at your apartment on Friday nights or to Gil Scot Heron while riding the bus. It doesn’t even happen when you wear Guevara on your sleeve or a kuffiyeh around your neck.

A piece on Michael Downing’s plan to keep maps of Muslim communities in Los Angeles, based on a brief he presented to Congress:

“Law enforcement and its advocates must also avoid name-calling exchanges with political jihadists, opting instead to engage them professionally on specific issues.”

These are the words of Michael P. Downing, the Commanding Officer in the Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Bureau in the Los Angeles Police Department, to the Committee on Homeland Security on October 30, 2007, regarding his plan to plot the areas Muslims have settled in Los Angeles.

One might wonder what exactly it is to to call somebody a “political jihadist,” if not a part of a so-called “name-calling exchange.” Downing, in a moment of rhetorical brilliance, appears to have himself coined the term, bringing together the stigma of jihad with something vaguely “political.” In doing so, however, he has made explicit what commentators have been saying for years regarding ideas of security in American political discourse–that “security” in our present lexicon is inevitably linked to one’s political orientation, rather than a disposition towards violent action. Explained as proactive security measures, Downing’s proposals, too, are vaguely “political.”

Please distribute this link, and make sure to send submissions in by the end of December if you would like to be in the next issue of the a-Rab magazine (January/February). If you have any questions or would like to discuss article ideas, drop a line at yaman@a-rab.net.

taken from yaman salahi’s blog.