- Dyab Abou Jahjah
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Dyab Abou Jahjah in 2008.
Dyab Abou Jahjah (born 24 June 1971 in Hanin, Lebanon) is an Arab political activist who came from Lebanon to Belgium as an asylum seeker. He is the founder and former leader of the Arab European League (AEL), a Pan-Arabist movement that supports the interests of Muslim immigrants in Europe.
Contents
Personal life
He was born and grew up in southern Lebanon in Hanin, near the Lebanese-Israeli border. He holds a Masters degree in political science from the Université catholique de Louvain.
He has written an autobiography titled "Between Two Worlds - the Roots of a Freedom Fight".[1]
Move to Belgium
In 1991, at the age of 19, Abou Jahjah left Lebanon. He aimed to move to the US, then France, then applied for political asylum from Belgium, claiming that he was fleeing Lebanon due to conflict with the leaders of Hezbollah. "I wanted to go abroad like a lot of Lebanese young people", he said, adding "It was just a low political trick to get my papers." In 1996 he became a Belgian citizen, after a brief marriage to a Belgian woman.[2]
Political views
Abou Jahjah is an opponent of assimilation. He wants immigrants to be treated as full citizens who can keep their own culture, rather than being treated as guests. He says he is inspired by the American human rights activist Malcolm X, who was also a Muslim and also opposed assimilation and the melting pot model of integration. He sees the integration of Armenians in Lebanon as the ideal model. He has said that, "America's race laws are more advanced than here. I have relatives in Detroit and they are Arab-Americans but they feel American. I don't feel European. Europe needs to make its concept of citizenship inclusive to all cultures and religions. I'm a practicing Muslim but I'm not a freak. I'm not a fundamentalist."[3]
Abou Jahjah has urged Flemish people to adapt to Muslims instead of the other way around, and he proposed making Arabic the fourth official language in Belgium (beside Dutch, French and German).[4] He argues for the building of Islamic schools in Belgium, and believes that wearing the hijab should be a question of free choice for Muslim women.
Arab European League
In 2000 Abou Jahjah founded the Arab European League in Antwerp, a city with a large Muslim population. He was a candidate for the AEL in the Belgian parliamentary elections in 2003. The AEL did not win any seats. Early in 2006 Abou Jahjah announced that he will no longer be leading the AEL nor holding a leadership position.[citation needed] In 2003 he helped found a new political party, the Moslim Democratische Partij or "Muslim Democratic Party", which has now disbanded.
Sabra and Shatila
Main article: Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre#Belgian_court_proceedingsIn 2001, Abou Jahjah founded the Sabra and Shatila committee, which brought a lawsuit against former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his alleged role in massacres in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during the Israel-Lebanon war in the early 1980s.[5]
9/11
He said of Arab reaction to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks that "Most of us ... felt that day something that can not be described as joy, or as happiness, but rather as that sweet revenge feeling. We all had – except that small minority- a “what goes around comes around’” attitude", but he continued that "Now, almost two months after the eleventh of September, we see things clear(er). It is terrible how criminals can cause by their acts the misery for so many people, people of their own kind and people of their alleged enemy. How violence will breed violence that will breed more violence".[6]
Controversies
Arrest
Abou Jahjah was arrested and detained for several days in 2002 after he allegedly organized riots and called for violence. The riots broke out in Borgerhout, a district of Antwerp, after a 27-year old Belgian-Moroccan was shot by his Flemish neighbor. In December 2007, Abou Jahjah received a one-year prison sentence by the Antwerp correctional court for inciting people to commit violence.[7] He appealed the verdict and was acquitted from all charges on October 21, 2008. A police officer who was watching him the night of the riots said that Abou Jahjah is innocent and that the evidence against him was fabricated.[8]
Theo van Gogh
In the Netherlands, Abou Jahjah had a row with the late film director Theo van Gogh, who was known for his opposition to Islam. After van Gogh insulted Abou Jahjah by calling him "de pooier van de profeet" ("the pimp of the prophet") in front of an audience, Abou Jahjah left the room.[9]
2006 Israel-Lebanon war
In July 2006 he announced that he would be going to Lebanon to participate in the battle against Israeli forces.[10] In response, Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter called on the Belgian government to revoke Abou Jahjah's citizenship.[citation needed] In January 2007 he returned to Antwerp.[citation needed]
He wrote a book on the Israel-Lebanon war called "Diary Brussels Beirut".[1]
References
- ^ a b Abou Jahjah's Books
- ^ Simons, Marlise (1 March 2003). "An Outspoken Arab in Europe: Demon or Hero?". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/01/world/the-saturday-profile-an-outspoken-arab-in-europe-demon-or-hero.html?pagewanted=2. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ Miller, John (8 December 2002). "The Many Faces Of Islam: The Activist". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901021216-397459,00.html. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ Osborn, Andrew (27 August 2002). "Arabic: a language for Belgium?". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/aug/27/worlddispatch.andrewosborn. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ Howeidy, Amira (12–18 July 2001). "Against the gray". Al-Ahram. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/542/fo2.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ Abou Jahjah, Dyab (November 2001). "Our Collateral damage, and theirs!". Media Monitors Network. http://www.mediamonitors.net/dyababoujahjah1.html. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- ^ Knack (Dutch)
- ^ Wankele bewijzen tegen Abou Jahjah - België - nieuws - Knack.be
- ^ Parool, May 10, 2004
- ^ Move to Lebanon, AEL website
External links
- Abou Jahjah's official website
- Abou Jahjah in his own words
- Dyab Abou Jahjah (in Dutch)
- Arab European League website
- Abou Jahjah, Dyab (8 March 2005). "The thirty-year war on terror". OpenDemocracy. http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-terrorism/article_2362.jsp. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- Bechler, Rosemary (March/April 2006). "Continental rift". New Humanist. http://newhumanist.org.uk/956. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- "Dyab Abou Jahjah". The Multicultural Netherlands. http://dutch.berkeley.edu/mcnl/index.php/Dyab_Abou_Jahjah. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- Bechler, Rosemary (19 May 2004). "Everyone is afraid: the world according to Abou Jahjah". OpenDemocracy. http://www.opendemocracy.net/faith-europe_islam/article_1908.jsp. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- Hutchison, Geoff (13 January 2003). "Muslim militants on the rise in Europe". The 7:30 Report (transcript) (ABC News (Australia)). http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s762498.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
- Beattie, Meriel (3 April 2003). "A radical voice for Europe's Arabs". Crossing Continents, BBC Radio 4 (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/2910779.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
Categories:- 1971 births
- Living people
- Lebanese people
- Arab nationalists
- Belgian activists
- Muslim activists
- Minority rights activists
- Arab people
- Belgian Shi'a Muslims
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