They recently advertised their "vision" as they see it on their Dutch website. I was hoping they'll put up an English translation, but since they didn't, here's my attempt at it.
The vision of the AEL
The Arabic European League is a political and social organization that stands for the rights of the Arab and Muslim communities in Europe and the Arab interest in general. The AEL stands also for solidarity with all Muslims and Muslim communities and all oppressed peoples of the world. A member of the AEL declares to stay true and to aspire to the following 19 principles and objectives.
Regarding the Arabic Diaspora, we declare:
1. We declare as the Arabic Diaspora that we belong to the Arab Nation, and at the same time we are valued and rights-deserving citizens of Europe. We demand the right to nourish our cultural identity while we take active place in the lands of residence, with equal rights and treatment.
2. We declare that we will promote and establish Arabic as lingua franca between our people all over Europe.
3. We declare that we will establish structural ties between the Arabic Diaspora in Europe in order to form a community all over Europe. And we will strengthen the ties between our Diaspora and the Arab nation.
4. We declare that we will fight all forms of racism, and especially Islamophobia.
5. We will fight all forms of discrimination and especially in the domain of employment, housing and education.
6. We declare that we will resist all attempts to curtail freedom of expression, religion, admittance of religion and all other fundamental human rights as they are mentioned in the universal declaration of human rights.
Regarding the Arabic world, we declare:
7. We will actively stand up for all just Arab interests in whole of Europe.
8. We will work for balanced and productive Arab-European relations based on mutual respect and awareness and admission of the crimes committed against the Arab people by European colonialism.
9. We are a part of the Arab national movement that aims at achieving freedom, social justice and unity in the Arab homeland.
10. We are an anti-colonial and anti-Zionist organization. Therefore we condemn colonialism and occupation of any Arab territory by a foreign power.
11. We condemn the Zionist project in Palestine and we call upon for the dismantling of the Jewish entity and the establishment of a united Palestinian democratic state in the whole of historic Palestine. A state where Arabs and Jews can live together in peace and enjoy equal rights without any form of discrimination. This includes the return of all Palestinian refugees to their original houses with compensation. To enforce such a solution in practice we will support the opposition to the Zionist occupation of Palestine
12. We oppose all non-Democratic regimes and all other regimes that do not ensure the full width of all human rights named in the universal declaration of human rights. We don’t believe that freedom can be fragmented. It is the freedom of the society without outside occupation and colonization. It is at the same time also the freedom of the individual without any form of oppression. We will not trade one freedom for the other, nor put one aside for the other.
13. We believe that the unity of the Arab people in a democratic federal state is a necessary translation of the actual objective unity of the Arab people, that is a result of the century long history of division.
14. We consider this Arab unity also as a process of decolonization given that the current Arab map is delineated by colonist powers and not by sovereign regimes. Therefore we reject any project for the Arab region that does not take into account its identity, right to unity and freedom. We also reject fragmenting our Arab identity according to the borders of the current Arab states. The future federated Arab entities do not need to follow the present colonial partitions, but will be fixed by the whole of the Arab people.
15. Arab unity will guarantee the necessary space for any form of diversity and will admit the right of old and new minorities to nurture their language and culture.
16. Armenian-Arabs, Assyrian-Arab and Berber-Arabs in particular will be recognized as elements of our nation. Rif, Sous and Kabilya [Berber provinces] will each be federal provinces, enjoying internal autonomy as part of the Arab federal state. The AEL recognizes also the disastrous assimilation and oppression police that Arab minorities endured under dictatorship; such as for example the Berbers and Assyrians. Therefore the AEL calls for the restoration of all threatened languages such as Berber and Assyrian next to the Arabic language. Armenians, Assyrians and Berber Arabs have contributed largely to the formation of the Arab nation which makes them an integral part of the Arab people. Any racial separatist tendency that claims a supremacy and exclusivity of a certain race or ethnic form must be fought.
17. The Arab state, as a secular state, will also respect religious diversity and provide by law full freedom of religious practice for all individuals and groups. It will also guarantee the protection of its citizens to alter their religion, and the right to practice no religion, without persecution of discrimination. The Arab constitution will make Islam as religion of the Arab state.
18. Freedom can be complete only if political freedom and freedom of expression go together with social rights and a social economy. The uprooting of poverty and the prevention of concentration of capital is therefore necessary for a social society. The prevention of all concentration of power either economic, media or any other form of power, is crucial for maintain a free society.
19. Democracy in all respect, political as well as economic is the only acceptable manner of government. Democracy guarantees the sovereignty for the people and all power for the people. Democracy is not strange for the Arabic people and our Arab-Islamic history was witness to many democratic experiments and movements. Also our Arabic philosophy and literature knew many thinkers who promoted democratic standards and norms. But it is especially a necessity to bring out and to lead the established social potential for expansion in our people to prosperity and development.
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All actions and activities of the AEL as a movement or its members will service one of all 19 principles.
The AEL will fight for these aims and principles by the logic of empowerment with the belief that only strengthening our society can lead to the realization of its aims. But also from the idea of emancipation that the stress lies on the principle of responsibility. We must free ourselves, we must solve our own problems, we must take responsibility for our own and lead the way to change.
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