Ismailis Rise Up: Get to Know Us
What is Ismailis Rise Up?
On a macro-level, we’re building a movement of trained and mobilized progressive Ismailis to amplify our community’s political power in November and beyond.
On a micro-level, we’re training hundreds of Ismailis across the country on the nuts and bolts of electoral organizing during a pandemic. Our goal is to build a national network of progressive organizers that lead their own communities and Jamats around efforts to elect political leaders that actually reflect our community’s values and needs.
What does this campaign stand for?
We view Ismailis Rise Up as a way to actualize Ismailism in practice. To us, that means using our collective power to safeguard a strong civil society and improve the material conditions of our communities.
It also means living out the ethics of our faith, many of which align with bedrock progressive principles, like being good stewards of an increasingly and dangerously warming planet, standing up for marginalized and oppressed groups, shoring up resources to chip away at poverty and gross inequality, and recognizing the rights and humanity of all people no matter who they love or how they identify.
Who is this campaign for?
This campaign is led by and built for progressive Ismailis across the United States.
It is for young Ismailis, elderly Ismailis, Ismailis with disabilities, Ismailis that are LGBTQ+, religious Ismailis, non-religious Ismailis, Ismailis that have never voted before, Ismailis that have dedicated their lives to public service or politics, and so on.
Why now?
For too long, there has been a massive gap between the political priorities of the leaders we elect into office and the actual demands, needs, and values of the Muslim American community. The election of a President whose first act of leadership was to ban our Muslim brothers and sisters from entering this country made that fact painfully obvious.
What’s more, many Ismaili immigrant families have been slow to adopt the right and responsibility we have earned as citizens to vote in a representative democracy.
With at least 3.5 million Muslims residing in the United States, we cannot and must not waste our collective opportunity to make a difference in the communities in which we work, live, pray, and raise our families. As we’ve witnessed and experienced, particularly over the last four years, it is too high a price to pay.
That’s why we’re rising up, and lifting up our loved ones, as we mobilize en masse for what will be the most historic election of our lifetimes.
Learn more about Ismailis Rise Up by following us on Instagram
And be sure to join our email list to get involved!
DISCLOSURES:
This campaign is unaffiliated with the Jamati institutions. This
campaign does not claim to represent or speak on behalf of the Ismaili community. This campaign does not endorse or donate money to political candidates.
