04 August 2009
Obama Administration Reaches Out to Muslims Worldwide
Farah Pandith named special representative to Muslim communities
Washington — President Obama has said he seeks a new beginning with Muslims worldwide “based upon mutual interest and mutual respect” and also “based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition.”
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed Obama’s commitment. On June 26, she appointed Farah Pandith as a special representative to Muslim communities. Pandith will be responsible for implementing the administration’s efforts to engage with Muslims around the world on a person-to-person and organizational level.
“I’m an American Muslim, and … that’s the lens with which I look at things,” Pandith said at a July 1 press conference. “If you look at the diversity of Islam in America, it’s multifaceted, it’s nuanced. Our mosques are in every state of our nation. Muslim Americans are from more than 80 different ethnic backgrounds.”
At a July 17 event entitled “Muslim Engagement: The Obama Administration’s Approach” that was hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Pandith said, “We will go beyond [governments] to create opportunities for nonstate actors and individuals to contribute solutions. We believe this approach will advance our interests by uniting diverse partners around our common goals.”
About her new role, she said, “I am charged to directly engage with Muslims around the globe, to listen to voices inside these communities, learn from them, brainstorm with them and take collective actions to create and grow sustainable, organic and scalable solutions to the greatest challenges we face.”
Pandith’s role reflects a new perspective: “We must seize the special moment and we will, by reaching out to the next generation, building networks of like-minded thinkers and providing connectivity to diverse groups of partners.”
“We will work directly on a people-to-people level, and we will use the power of partnership with individuals, businesses, academia, philanthropies and more to move ideas forward that are from the bottom up and not the top down,” Pandith said. “We will also create platforms for youth from around the world to engage with one another and with religious leaders and others to help young people understand and balance their many identities.”
She added, “We will seek to address … the unemployment and lack of economic development in many Muslim communities the world over, and to this end, we will work to promote entrepreneurship, education, enable access to funding for entrepreneurs of all kinds — traditional, social, technological — and encourage mentorships between business leaders and the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship can unlock potential within communities, and hinges on creative solutions, critical thinking and ingenuity, all qualities which are vital for any community to succeed in today’s global economy.”
Pandith described her confidence in the Muslim community: “We know that Muslims themselves are voices that have credibility to expel extremists’ messages and ideology from neighborhood streets and village squares. There is a wonderfully healthy diversity among the world of approximately 1.3 billion Muslims, and within these communities there remains a reservoir of untapped potential for excellence.”
Pandith received a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts. From 2007 to 2009, she served as the senior adviser to the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia. Her focus was on Muslims in Europe and issues relating to violent Islamic ideology. Before joining the State Department, she served as the director for Middle East regional initiatives at the National Security Council.
