User:Anila2008

Anila Ali was born in Karachi, Pakistan. Her father, a journalist/diplomat and mother; a teacher/philanthropist, were two critical influences on Anila’s later development as an educator, journalist, community organizer, and an advocate for human rights. Another great influence in her life was her paternal grandmother, Begum Khurshid Syed A. Hafiz. Begum Hafiz broke glass ceilings in India by becoming a member of Hyderabad State Assembly,. She got the rights of poor women secured by getting bill on limits of Jahez (dowry) passed in the Hyderabad, India. Begum Hafiz, a great force in the Movement for Pakistan, is remembered for her struggle to rehabilitate widows of Independence Movement through Women's Refugee Rehabilitation Association, an organization's whose Patron-in-Chief was Mohatarma Fatima Jinnah, the sister of the Founder of Pakistan. As a young child, Anila remembers the leadership and fight her grandmother took on to built 650 houses for the widows in Hajrabad, a housing colony in Shah Faisal Area. Her father, Qutubuddin Aziz, followed in the family legacy of public service, nation and community building and fighting for the rights of the weak and down-trodden.

In the 1980s, while studying in London, United Kingdom, Anila took her first steps in community service, with an active role as a youth leader for the All Pakistan Womens' Association - a powerful non-profit organization focused on promoting moral, social and economic welfare of the women of Pakistan. Her greatest contribution in this regard came through her thought provoking articles in various London magazines and Pakistani newspapers for South Asians. He favorite pastime was giving speeches at the Hyde Corner in London on Sundays, where she had developed quite a following at the age of 16.

Having spent many years in England, Pakistan, and then Saudi Arabia, in 1996, her family relocated halfway across the world to Orange County, California. Here, Anila continued her passion for education, pursuing a Masters degree in Education from Concordia University, Irvine CA, as well as volunteering her time to various educational programs in her home city of Irvine. Shortly after her post-graduate education, Anila became a tenured teacher in a middle school in South Bay, California.

In September 2001, Anila recognized the importance of building bridges between American society, the Muslim world and also, her land of birth, Pakistan – as an active member of the Council of Pakistan American Affairs, a non-profit organization, she campaigned in her community to promote civic engagement and also educate Americans about Pakistani culture. During this time, Anila also established herself as a regular contributor for the largest circulated Pakistani newspaper in North America, the Pakistan Link. Her articles focused on Pakistan/American affairs, community issues, education, condemning extremism, and advocacy for minorities in Pakistan. Her advocacy took a new turn after she was repeatedly stopped at the border. After a series of humiliations, she decided to find a way to bring the issue to attention. "Produced by the International Human Rights Clinic, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), at New York University School of Law, Americans on Hold: Profiling, Prejudice, and National Security reveals the harmful effects of prejudicial and ineffective U.S. counter-terrorism and immigration policies. Through the personal stories of Anila Ali and Zuhair Mahd, and expert testimony, the film exposes discriminatory profiling at the heart of citizenship delays and border-crossing detentions and delays." She worked with the NYU's CHRGJ her story got featured in the documentary, Americans on Hold. www.americansonhold.org It took a year but after the documentary hit the ground running, many Americans who were profiled, got cleared. The year 2007-2008 , turned out to be a most remarkable year for Anila, when she with the South Asian community, mobilized the Muslim community of Irvine and Orange County in raising more than a hundred thousand dollars to support two exceptional candidates. One was elected the first Asian Mayor of America’s most diverse city, Irvine – Mr. Sukhee Kang, the other was elected the 44th President of the United States (and the first African American) – President Barack Obama. Thus, she was also fortunate enough to cover the Presidential inauguration of President Obama for Pakistan Link and has met with the President many times and talked about issues that affect Muslims. She was invited to attend the Iftar at The White House where she presented a copy of her children's book on tolerance, Mommy am I a...? to the President.

Anila has served the city of Irvine as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Irvine Public School Foundation, a non-profit entity, as well as on the board of Irvine’s Children, Youth and Families Commission. She is the founder of the Irvine Pakistani Parents Association- a non-profit that promotes community involvement and leadership and raises money for the public schools in the city as well as promotes South Asian culture through the arts. She also served as director with Council of Pakistan American Affairs and the Pacific Asia Museum. She was appointed chair of the International Leadership Foundation, ILF, an organization led by Chiling Tong, which promotes civic leadership in Asian American youth. Anila Ali is a community advisor on the board of The Olive Tree Initiative of the University of California Irvine. Anila also serves on many Interfaith organizations in Orange County and Los Angeles County. She believes that if you empower a woman, you empower a whole community and as an effort to connect Muslim women with their local and federal government agencies, Anila Ali, founded the American Muslim Women's Empowerment Council: www.amwec.com The organization started with 5 board members and a few hundred members but and now has thousands of followers. AMWEC aims to empower Muslim women to engage them in civic leadership, integrate them in mainstream life. Anila has worked hand in hand with local and federal government agencies, and her organization was developed with support from the LAPD's Counter Terrorism and Muslim Outreach Department. Amwec's first conference was compared to "the Women's Liberation Movement and Muslim women should become a force against religious and political extremism." Mike Anton, L.A. Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/08/local/la-me-muslim-women-20110508 Anila was the single most daring Muslim who came out in support of US's actions in capturing Osama Bin Laden. Here she speaks to FOX's Good Day, L.A. http://www.myfoxla.com/story/18414419/anila-ali-discusses-death-of-bin-laden Anila's op-ed was published in the New York Times the day of Osama's death: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/opinion/l04binladen.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 After such bold renditions, needless to say, Anila's website was hacked and she was threatened by "Taliban Boys". That only served to make her more vocal in denouncing extremism and terrorism. She wrote a White Paper on the Radicalization of Muslim Youth and submitted it to The White House. She went on to advocate for the minorities in Pakistan as she was approached by her old Christian friends and colleagues from Pakistan to help them secure asylum to the United States. She regularly informed The White House and other agencies of the plight of the Christian minorities. Her many op-eds have been published by major newspapers: http://letters.ocregister.com/tag/pakistan/ Anila's authorial debut, "Mommy am I a?" was when she wrote an Interfaith children's book on tolerance with her Jewish and Christian colleagues, after her daughter was called a terrorist in school. Another incident of discrimination at work, inspired her to reach out to her colleagues and write a book on tolerance for Muslims in a Post 9/11 America. She also had the opportunity to do a book talk with President Obama's half-sister, Dr. Maya Soetoro Ng, who also wrote a children's book on peace and tolerance, "Ladder to the Moon". www.mommyamia.com The book, Mommy am I a? serves a a spring board for discussions on tolerance and cultural understanding of Muslims and the diversity that exists in the Muslim world. It has been adopted and used by many school districts and teachers around the United States.

Anila is a passionate believer in human rights and gender equality. She reacts passionately whenever she hears about denial of the rights of women in any part of the world and gets involved in the struggle of the women of these countries to uphold the rights of women. Recently when five women were buried alive in Pakistan, she fearlessly condemned it in her writings for newspapers and in her television interviews in Pakistan. When terrorists attacked Mumbai, Anila was the first to condemn it and hold peace rallies, when Iranian Neda was murdered, Anila spoke at rallies against the abuse of human rights in Iran.

She also advocated peace and friendship between India and Pakistan and misses no opportunity to be involved in civic efforts aimed at cementing relations between South Asian countries such as India and Sri Lanka. She works closely with advocates of India-Pakistan Peace, namely South Asian expert, William Dalrymple, in organizing events and opportunities for Pakistanis and Indians to work together.

Anila has great love for under-privileged children and children from broken homes who are at risk. She raises funds and mobilizes help for her needy, low-income students and gives them counseling and encouragement.

Anila was the recipient of the 2009 International Leadership Foundation Award 2009 for her community service and her outreach work with the mainstream community and beyond. Her community service was truly rewarded with an Excellence in Volunteerism Award from President Obama for her dedication to serving the community. She has received many awards from members of Congress and LAPD for her outreach to mainstream America and her Interfaith work. Anila also received Access California's Woman Who Make a Difference Award in 2014. She is a Democrat and has served the party and done fundraising for many campaigns, Obama for President 2008, 2012. She is now with the Greater Irvine Democratic Party. She was elected as a Delegate out of a long pool of candidates in 2012 and represented her 45th Congressional District, CA at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. She was the first Pakistani to be elected from Orange County. She was also featured in the Orange County Register as the Democratic Delegate. http://www.ocregister.com/news/democrats-370032-convention-right.html

At present, she is writing a book, Three Steps Behind, about the oppression of women in Muslim countries and denial of their God-given rights in Islam. The book should be published by spring 2014. Anila lives in Irvine, California with her family and is now running for the 74th Assembly District of California.