14 February 2010

Clinton Cites Mutual Respect and Shared Values with Muslim World

Secretary Clinton calls for greater cooperation between the United States and Muslim communities to advance common goals.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton renewed President Obama’s call for a “new beginning” in relations between the United States and Muslim communities, as she urged a cooperative focus on common challenges and goals.

Speaking at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, February 14, Clinton said the Obama administration has “worked to alter the tone and deepen the substance of our relationships with people from all regions and all backgrounds” during its first year in office. The new U.S. approach rests on the three core pillars of “mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual responsibility; a shared commitment to universal values; and broad engagement with governments and citizens alike,” she said.

Clinton said the message of President Obama’s June 4, 2009, speech in Cairo remains vital in encouraging open dialogue and equal partnership.

“Building a stronger relationship cannot happen overnight or even in a year. It takes patience, persistence and hard work from all of us … to take responsibility for retiring stereotypes and outdated views and for bringing a renewed sense of cooperation,” she said.

The United States shares the values, hopes and ambitions that all hold “as mothers and fathers, students and workers, business leaders and social advocates, and members of the human family,” she said.

Democratic reform is a critical element of progress in modern societies, Clinton said, and those who have a say in the decisions that affect their own lives, and who can freely access information and express their views, are in the best position to fulfill their potential, which will also serve the interests of their country.

In addition, “women’s rights and national progress go hand in hand,” she said. “No country can achieve its full potential when half the population is left out or left behind.”

The secretary said violence against women “is not cultural. It is criminal.” She called for religious leaders to take a stand against practices such as honor killings, child marriages, and domestic and gender-based violence.

Violent extremism remains a threat to Muslim countries as well as the United States, Clinton said. “True and lasting security takes root in places where people have the opportunity to find jobs, to be educated, to raise healthy families, and benefit from the scientific and technological breakthroughs.”

The Obama administration believes that “education and innovation are the currency of this century,” and is working to expand educational opportunities, support entrepreneurs in the Muslim world through programs such as the Global Technology and Innovation Fund, and promote advances and exchanges in science and technology.

“Our goal is to identify excellent ideas and successful projects in Muslim communities and then invest in them, help to scale them up, and to connect innovators and entrepreneurs so they can support and enhance each other’s work,” she said.

The United States shares the view of Islamic leaders and community members who are outraged at “those who claim to kill in the name of God,” and, Clinton said, “we are determined to prevent extremists from driving wedges between Muslims and non-Muslims — in America or anywhere.”

“Islam is — and must be — an important part of the solution in confronting violent extremism,” she said.

On February 13, President Obama announced that White House staff member Rashad Hussain has been appointed as his special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Hussain will focus on mutual interests between the United States and Muslim communities such as education, entrepreneurship, science and technology, health issues such as eradicating polio, and opposition to violent extremism.

“As an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff, Rashad has played a key role in developing the partnerships I called for in Cairo,” Obama told conference attendees in Doha through a video address.

The president acknowledged that realizing the goals he outlined in his speech “will take a long-term commitment,” but in the eight months since his remarks “I believe we’ve laid the groundwork to turn those pledges into action.”

Senator John Kerry, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the U.S.-Islamic World Forum February 13 that President Obama’s speech in Cairo and subsequent U.S. actions mark “the beginning of a long road.”

“Today, we are in a fundamentally better place than we were a year ago,” Kerry said. “Quiet accomplishments and new attitudes and polices have put our partnerships on firmer footing.”

Americans recognize the need for deeper understanding and reject the demonization of Islam, he said. “Our values and our history remind us constantly that religious bigotry — whether it is anti-Semitism or Islamophobia — has no place in our public life.”

There is also “serious debate … under way within Muslim communities over how best to address extremism and combat prejudice,” the senator said. He praised Jordan’s King Abdullah II for promoting Muslim-Christian dialogue through his “A Common Word” initiative, as well as dialogue efforts by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the OIC conference itself, which is being hosted by Qatar.

Kerry also said Obama has worked to increase educational and science exchanges between the United States and Muslims around the world in order to promote people-to-people relationships.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)