Middle East Awareness Committee

The Middle East Awareness Committee (MEAC) is an educational organization whose purpose is to promote self and community understanding of issues related to the Middle East. MEAC supports the rights of all peoples to self-determination and freedom from oppression. MEAC is opposed to political systems in which the state apparatus is used to further the economic and culutral interests of privileged economic, ethnic, or religious groups at the expense of other groups. MEAC believes that the concept of a “Jewish state” or an “Islamic state” or a “Christian state” inherently creates a group of second class citizens. MEAC seeks to understand the extent to which U.S. foreign policy, including arms sales, aid programs, loan programs, and energy policy, supports forces which form an obstacle to a just solution of the problems of the Middle East. MEAC is concerned with the effects these policies have on our community, including their relation to political surveillance in this area. To achieve its goal of self and community education, MEAC will cooperate with organizations with compatible goals and will sponsor a wide range of activities, including talks, forums, films, demonstrations, and other appropriate actions.