When the Canadian government went to war against Iraq in 1991, many Canadians of Arab or Muslim background became the targets of hostility, harassment, and racism. This book recounts and analyzes their experiences during the Gulf War.
Journalist Zuhair Kashmeri interviewed over seventy Arabs and Muslims across Canada before finally focusing on the experiences of nine families. The nine case studies illustrate the reaction of different social institutions, including schools, the media, police, municipal governments, the work place, and churches.
The Gulf Within also includes a detailed discussion of the actions of police and security services who targetted Canadian Arabs and Muslims during the first Gulf War.
"This book tells one of the most important and neglected stories in the Gulf War - the experience of Arab- and Muslim-Canadians in Canada during the conflict. When the Canadian government went to war against Iraq, many Canadians or Arab or Muslim background found that they were being identified with the enemy. ... [Kashmeri's] book offers an important new perspective on the impact of the Gulf War on Canada. It also offers a model for similar works on other ethnic minorities in the country."
- Canadian Book Review Annual
"In writing this book Kashmeri has done us all a great service. Should the next showdown come, whether it be another Oka, Middle East war or strife on the streets, nobody should be too surprised when the mainstream and powerful in the so-called multicultural Canada jettison those that don't look or think like them."
- The Toronto South Asian Review
"The Gulf Within forces us to reflect on those issues and to focus on the effects of the still culturally and politically 'legitimate' racism whose targets are Arabs and Muslims, to which we are too often exposed and whose lying images too many of us accept. Kashmeri has presented us with a challenge - to bridge the gulf within. It is a challenge we can meet if we dare."
- Compass
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