LOS ANGELES: The life and way of thinking of Arab-Americans have changed since the Sept 11 terrorist attacks. What used to be an introvert community, engaged in their own business and way of life, is now increasingly aware of its civil rights in the post attack period. Political activism is also on the rise among many Muslim in general and in Arab-Americans in particular. “Before the 11th I was like most Arabs. I watched a lot of television and always had the perfect solutions to the problems I saw. I could recite all sorts of facts and point out all the inaccuracies. But I was, like most Arabs, a talker. No action,” said Basem Hassan in an interview from New Jersey. “Then Sept 11 happened and everything changed.”

He and other newly-born Arab-American activists have started attending regular meetings of Arab-American groups and also meet weekly with their congressman. Now, Hassan is signing on as a founding member of the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee’s New Jersey chapter. He is also working to launch the People’s Rights Alliance, a group that will support Arab and Muslim organizations and “all organizations that strive for accountability and justice,” Hassan said.

“I realized that there will not be a change in US foreign policy until there is a change in its domestic policy, mainly how Arabs and Muslims are treated through this attack on their nation - America,” he said. “The key to justice is through politics.” Hassan is not alone in his thinking. Young Arab-Americans, already frustrated by US foreign policy in the Middle East and now concerned about their civil rights post-Sept 11, are becoming increasingly outspoken and active, youth leaders reported in e-mail interviews. Rayan Elamine, 34, is a board member of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s San Francisco chapter. The chapter’s 15 board members are all under the age of 35, with the majority in their mid-to-late 20s.

Since the attacks on the United States and the subsequent hate crimes committed against Arab- and Muslim-Americans, Elamine and other board members have spoken at community, university and anti-war events about Arab-American issues. His chapter and civil rights groups also set up a hotline to help Arab-American victims of discrimination, and they held workshops to educate Arab-Americans about their constitutional rights.

Immigrant Arab-Americans “came here to make a decent living and leave (the) politics that brought them here behind,” Elamine said. “A second generation wanting to understand their roots and fight against (the) misconception of their culture have been bolder than their parents, who just wanted to fit and get along.”

“These young people are savvy because they’re totally Americanized, and they have a strong sense of ethnic pride,” Michael Hudson, professor of Arab Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, said in a phone interview. The attitude of his Arab-American students today is, “These are our rights and we demand them,” Hudson asserted.

Much of the anti-war movement has come from Arab-Americans, students and leftists and has occurred on campuses, according to Elamine. An anti-war conference held earlier this month at the University of California at Berkeley, was mainly led by Lebanese and Palestinian students who belong to the Student for Justice in Palestine.

Julie Eadeh, a former American Federation of Ramallah Palestine youth director in Washington, DC, asserted that the younger generation feels more strongly about the political situation in the Middle East than older generations, who were grateful to immigrate to the US.