Washington, DC - In a 2009 report by Gallup entitled Muslim Americans: A National Portrait, surveyors found that only 51 per cent of Muslim American youth (ages 18 to 29) were registered to vote the lowest percentage recorded amongst young Americans. With the 2012 elections approaching in November, Muslim Americans are aiming for a higher percentage of registered voters and accordingly a higher turnout at the polls.
Imams and Muslim community activists across the United States are encouraging young Muslims to play their part in addressing and remedying the ills they see in their communities. Their calls are rooted in a verse from the Quran which states, Truly, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves (13:11). Understanding this call to action through their faith, Muslim Americans can work towards becoming effective agents of change and a recognisable voting bloc for this defining year.
Muslim institutions, including mosques and civic groups, have kick-started the drive to mobilise the Muslim community by producing informational material on candidates and planning election forums where voters can meet to ask questions about candidates and learn about their respective platforms on issues like foreign policy. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national civil rights organisation, has produced a document called the 2012 Presidential Voter Guide as part of its Muslims Vote campaign. This guide lists biographical information on candidates as well as their positions on issues like the economy, healthcare, national security, foreign policy and civil rights.
While Muslim civic engagement has always been encouraged, this election year proves to be significant in the struggle for the civil rights and liberties of Muslim Americans. Specifically, a pressing struggle has been addressing the rise of Islamophobia this year. This fear has manifested itself in anti-Muslim statements from candidates that show a prejudice and lack of concern for hard-working Muslim American citizens and their well-being. Muslim Americans believe they have to continue educating elected officials and decision-makers in order to challenge prejudices and replace false ideas of Islam and Muslims with accurate ones.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a national public policy organisation established in 1988, is currently running the I Am Change civic leadership programme, a three-hour workshop that promotes civic engagement by teaching people how to effectively talk to public officials about domestic and foreign policy issues.
This program is part of a critical strategy to counter the idea of Muslims as a source of fear. Rather, it shows a commitment to the civic process and the nation. Youth groups, including different chapters of the nationwide Muslim Students Association (MSA), are scheduling these workshops on their campuses throughout the United States. Similarly, organisations like the New York City-based National Network for Arab American Communities encourage civic engagement by providing access to human services and support for national service projects to member organisations.
Muslim Americans are not focused only on increasing voting, but also modelling citizenship in other ways, including volunteering. At Georgetown University in Washington, DC, for instance, the MSA is encouraging civic engagement by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, a Christian organisation, to build a house for a family in West Virginia. In answering the call to service, these Muslim students of Georgetown hope to set an example of model Muslim citizenship and build relationships with other volunteers as they build a home together for a family in need. This project will also have an interfaith aspect to it; each day will begin with an interfaith prayer.
With all these preparations underway, the example of young people leading the way in Muslim American civic engagement from voter drives to volunteer activities will hopefully continue to increase and make a strong impact in all aspects of civic society. This way, our political leaders can represent the interests of a truly diverse United States of America.
###
* Shazia Kamal is an Associate Editor at AltMuslimah.com, a platform for commentary on the intersections of faith and gender in Islam and beyond. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 7 February 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Posts Tagged Common Ground News Service
Newark, Delaware - Islam has become an important part of American discourse leading up to the 2012 federal elections and candidates everywhere appear eager to take a position on Islam for political gain. Across the country, rising Islamophobia has made it difficult for some Muslims to build mosques and practice their faith, although their right to do so is enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
In the current race for the presidential nomination, some presidential candidates are invoking Islam and Muslims in a negative fashion in an attempt to bolster their popularity with populations they perceive to be suspicious of Muslims or Islam. For example, if elected, former presidential candidate Herman Cain promised not to appoint Muslims to his cabinet.
This is representative of recent trends. In 2010, some Republican Congressional candidates used the proposed Park 51 Muslim community centre, famously branded as the ground-zero mosque, and fear of sharia, the principles from which Islamic law is derived, to rally voters to their cause. And elected Congressional leaders, such as Peter King (R-NY), have used their committee appointments to argue that American Muslims are deeply radicalised, a fact repeatedly debunked by several surveys and reports.
However, there are others within the Republican Party who eschew this rhetoric, such as presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, as well as others like Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who appointed American Muslim Sohail Mohammed as a state judge despite much opposition.
Individual tolerance or fear of different groups is not confined to political elites. A September 2011 study conducted by two think tanks, Brookings Institution and Public Religion Research Institute, found that over 47 per cent of Americans say Islam and American values are incompatible and similar numbers express discomfort with Islam in America.
Many events have combined to create distaste for Islam and Muslims in the minds of some Americans: the attacks of 11 September 2001, the resultant decade long war on terror involving American military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, several attempted terrorist attacks by Muslims in America and negative coverage of political and social events in the Muslim world. The present manifestations of Islamophobia are the consequences of a very complex sequence of events and narratives emerging as a result of those events.
Yet rather than resorting to Muslim-bashing, American leaders should show their potential to lead by taking on the more difficult task of combating intolerance. After all, this country was founded on the ideals of religious tolerance, pluralism and democratic freedom.
It is not difficult to make the case that American Muslims are well integrated and a positive asset to the nation. A major study published by the research and polling organisation Gallup in August 2011 shows that American Muslims are well integrated and loyal citizens. Indeed, it also shows that Islamophobia is not impacting the economic well-being of most American Muslims.
I understand why some 2012 presidential candidates are succumbing to the temptation of exploiting intolerance since negative attitudes towards Islam among Republicans are higher than the national trend, according to the September 2011 Brookings poll. But this is also an opportunity for these candidates to demonstrate that they are truly presidential, that they understand the spirit of the US Constitution and that they are determined to uphold it in spite of what campaign strategists might recommend.
Presidential candidates need not play to the lowest common denominator. Many non-Muslim political and religious leaders, both laity and clergy, have in recent years engaged in systematic interfaith dialogue with Muslims. Many of them have stood up for their Muslim friends and for American Muslims in general when Islamophobic incidents have taken place, usually in the form of opposition to mosque building or false accusations against Muslim leaders.
The conservative ranks are packed with sensible leaders, such as Governor Christie and evangelical Christian pastor Rick Warren, who have successfully reached out to American Muslims. Warren, who leads a large church in southern California, spoke at The Islamic Society of North Americas annual conference in July 2011, despite receiving criticism for his appearance. At the conference, Warren called for Muslims and Christians to work together.
Republican candidates should draw on these leaders and their expertise. By showing presidential leadership in combating intolerance the result would ultimately be good for these candidates campaigns, as well as for the general inter-religious environment in the country.
###
* Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Associate Professor at the University of Delaware and a Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. His website is www.ijtihad.org. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
In the current race for the presidential nomination, some presidential candidates are invoking Islam and Muslims in a negative fashion in an attempt to bolster their popularity with populations they perceive to be suspicious of Muslims or Islam. For example, if elected, former presidential candidate Herman Cain promised not to appoint Muslims to his cabinet.
This is representative of recent trends. In 2010, some Republican Congressional candidates used the proposed Park 51 Muslim community centre, famously branded as the ground-zero mosque, and fear of sharia, the principles from which Islamic law is derived, to rally voters to their cause. And elected Congressional leaders, such as Peter King (R-NY), have used their committee appointments to argue that American Muslims are deeply radicalised, a fact repeatedly debunked by several surveys and reports.
However, there are others within the Republican Party who eschew this rhetoric, such as presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, as well as others like Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who appointed American Muslim Sohail Mohammed as a state judge despite much opposition.
Individual tolerance or fear of different groups is not confined to political elites. A September 2011 study conducted by two think tanks, Brookings Institution and Public Religion Research Institute, found that over 47 per cent of Americans say Islam and American values are incompatible and similar numbers express discomfort with Islam in America.
Many events have combined to create distaste for Islam and Muslims in the minds of some Americans: the attacks of 11 September 2001, the resultant decade long war on terror involving American military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, several attempted terrorist attacks by Muslims in America and negative coverage of political and social events in the Muslim world. The present manifestations of Islamophobia are the consequences of a very complex sequence of events and narratives emerging as a result of those events.
Yet rather than resorting to Muslim-bashing, American leaders should show their potential to lead by taking on the more difficult task of combating intolerance. After all, this country was founded on the ideals of religious tolerance, pluralism and democratic freedom.
It is not difficult to make the case that American Muslims are well integrated and a positive asset to the nation. A major study published by the research and polling organisation Gallup in August 2011 shows that American Muslims are well integrated and loyal citizens. Indeed, it also shows that Islamophobia is not impacting the economic well-being of most American Muslims.
I understand why some 2012 presidential candidates are succumbing to the temptation of exploiting intolerance since negative attitudes towards Islam among Republicans are higher than the national trend, according to the September 2011 Brookings poll. But this is also an opportunity for these candidates to demonstrate that they are truly presidential, that they understand the spirit of the US Constitution and that they are determined to uphold it in spite of what campaign strategists might recommend.
Presidential candidates need not play to the lowest common denominator. Many non-Muslim political and religious leaders, both laity and clergy, have in recent years engaged in systematic interfaith dialogue with Muslims. Many of them have stood up for their Muslim friends and for American Muslims in general when Islamophobic incidents have taken place, usually in the form of opposition to mosque building or false accusations against Muslim leaders.
The conservative ranks are packed with sensible leaders, such as Governor Christie and evangelical Christian pastor Rick Warren, who have successfully reached out to American Muslims. Warren, who leads a large church in southern California, spoke at The Islamic Society of North Americas annual conference in July 2011, despite receiving criticism for his appearance. At the conference, Warren called for Muslims and Christians to work together.
Republican candidates should draw on these leaders and their expertise. By showing presidential leadership in combating intolerance the result would ultimately be good for these candidates campaigns, as well as for the general inter-religious environment in the country.
###
* Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Associate Professor at the University of Delaware and a Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. His website is www.ijtihad.org. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Washington, DC - During the course of six years as a federal prosecutor and investigator I interviewed at great length more than 100 radicals and terrorists who fought in the name of Islam. I chronicled the stories of many of these extremists leaving the path of violence when exposed to the corruption of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Ahmad al-Shayea, a 19-year-old Saudi, went to Iraq to fight Americans partly because he saw photos online of tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib. His is a story of disenchantment one that many other young Muslim men told me.
When arriving in Iraq with some 45 would-be fighters from all over the Arab world, an Al Qaeda leader exhorted Ahmad and his fellow recruits to undertake suicide missions, but no one volunteered. As Ahmad later explained, he came to Iraq to defend the honour of Islam against Abu Ghraib and American torture, not die right away in a suicide bombing before I could even help a single soul. But Al Qaeda had other ideas. After four months in virtual isolation and no training, Al Qaeda leaders deceived Ahmad into driving a truck loaded with explosives which they remotely detonated in Baghdad.
Miraculously, Ahmad survived, but woke to in his words the lie that is Al Qaeda. He now wanted nothing more than to expose how Al Qaeda is not for Islam and humanity. I am a living example of Al Qaedas hellfireI want everyone to see how Al Qaeda tricked me into killing innocent people.
Ahmad is not alone. Another young Saudi, Abdullah, fought in Iraq because he saw it as the only way to marry his sweetheart in heaven, as he could not afford the dowry to marry her on earth. Yet when Abdullah witnessed firsthand the duplicity, corruption and sectarian power grab of Al Qaedas leaders, he realised their struggle was anything but a holy war. Similarly, Malik an Afghan refugee who grew up in Pakistan, joined the Taliban and even became a seer, interpreting dreams for Taliban leader Mullah Omar over time personally saw the theft of oil and other commodities by Taliban leaders.
These stories and others bear telling witness to how Al Qaeda and the Taliban manipulate idealistic young Muslim men to follow a hateful ideology that kills untold innocents, largely other Muslims. Indeed, perhaps the most influential weapon against Osama bin Laden would have been to frequently re-broadcast an impromptu December 2001 taping in which bin Laden laughed when recounting that some of the foot soldiers from Asir in the south of Saudi Arabia who participated in the 9/11 hijackings were never told they had embarked on a suicide mission until the very end. Likewise, Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al Qaeda leader killed by an American drone strike in Yemen in September 2011, had been arrested three times for soliciting prostitutes in San Diego and the Washington, DC area. Disseminating the detailed records of these arrests would have accomplished more to discredit his cause than the drone strike that killed him.
Bearing witness to the reality of Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders is a far more constructive and effective way to weaken them than reducing this struggle to assassination by American drone attacks. Our ultimate danger lies less in particular men, but their message of extremism. Our ultimate hope lies in the courageous Muslims who have led the path away from radical hatred. Through a policy that emphasises killing alone, current US actions may in the end serve to harden the resolve of the most recalcitrant, rather than help peel away the potentially disillusioned. Exposing the truth could prove the most powerful deterrent.
###
* Ken Ballen is the author of Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals and President of Terror Free Tomorrow, a non-profit organisation that researches attitudes toward extremism. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Ahmad al-Shayea, a 19-year-old Saudi, went to Iraq to fight Americans partly because he saw photos online of tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib. His is a story of disenchantment one that many other young Muslim men told me.
When arriving in Iraq with some 45 would-be fighters from all over the Arab world, an Al Qaeda leader exhorted Ahmad and his fellow recruits to undertake suicide missions, but no one volunteered. As Ahmad later explained, he came to Iraq to defend the honour of Islam against Abu Ghraib and American torture, not die right away in a suicide bombing before I could even help a single soul. But Al Qaeda had other ideas. After four months in virtual isolation and no training, Al Qaeda leaders deceived Ahmad into driving a truck loaded with explosives which they remotely detonated in Baghdad.
Miraculously, Ahmad survived, but woke to in his words the lie that is Al Qaeda. He now wanted nothing more than to expose how Al Qaeda is not for Islam and humanity. I am a living example of Al Qaedas hellfireI want everyone to see how Al Qaeda tricked me into killing innocent people.
Ahmad is not alone. Another young Saudi, Abdullah, fought in Iraq because he saw it as the only way to marry his sweetheart in heaven, as he could not afford the dowry to marry her on earth. Yet when Abdullah witnessed firsthand the duplicity, corruption and sectarian power grab of Al Qaedas leaders, he realised their struggle was anything but a holy war. Similarly, Malik an Afghan refugee who grew up in Pakistan, joined the Taliban and even became a seer, interpreting dreams for Taliban leader Mullah Omar over time personally saw the theft of oil and other commodities by Taliban leaders.
These stories and others bear telling witness to how Al Qaeda and the Taliban manipulate idealistic young Muslim men to follow a hateful ideology that kills untold innocents, largely other Muslims. Indeed, perhaps the most influential weapon against Osama bin Laden would have been to frequently re-broadcast an impromptu December 2001 taping in which bin Laden laughed when recounting that some of the foot soldiers from Asir in the south of Saudi Arabia who participated in the 9/11 hijackings were never told they had embarked on a suicide mission until the very end. Likewise, Anwar al-Awlaki, the Al Qaeda leader killed by an American drone strike in Yemen in September 2011, had been arrested three times for soliciting prostitutes in San Diego and the Washington, DC area. Disseminating the detailed records of these arrests would have accomplished more to discredit his cause than the drone strike that killed him.
Bearing witness to the reality of Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders is a far more constructive and effective way to weaken them than reducing this struggle to assassination by American drone attacks. Our ultimate danger lies less in particular men, but their message of extremism. Our ultimate hope lies in the courageous Muslims who have led the path away from radical hatred. Through a policy that emphasises killing alone, current US actions may in the end serve to harden the resolve of the most recalcitrant, rather than help peel away the potentially disillusioned. Exposing the truth could prove the most powerful deterrent.
###
* Ken Ballen is the author of Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals and President of Terror Free Tomorrow, a non-profit organisation that researches attitudes toward extremism. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Cairo - On 25 January, hope filled the air as Egyptian activists took to the streets in tens of thousands on the anniversary of the revolution, this time asking for a new president before a new constitution. Stories from the square were mostly of renewed optimism but there were also a few stories of sexual harassment.
Many women have stood up to demand a change, and alongside them a few men, who are demonstrating the important role that they too must play in stopping such behaviour.
Sexual harassment at protests is not a popular topic in Egypt as activists fear that it will give ammunition to state media to tarnish their revolution, and English language newspapers who write about it are accused of sensationalism. But it happens, and Egyptian women are speaking up about it. In December 2010 some of them started HarassMap, a Google map used to collect and locate complaints as evidence.
Samira Ibrahim, a detained activist, made headlines recently when she won a groundbreaking suit against the military for performing a virginity test during her detention. Her victory showed those in denial about the problem that it is a reality.
Similarly, reporting incidents of harassment on a map shows people that these happen too.
But womens efforts need to be accompanied by those of men so that when a girl shouts at an aggressor in a public space, men step forward alongside them to immediately condemn such actions.
Unfortunately, harassers are unlikely to value womens opinions as much as their male peers, so the latter must speak up in support of women.
Meet Wael, Mohammed and Ahmed, three young men who are making a difference, standing up for women each in their own way.
In November, Wael al-Sanaaani, 26, was sitting in a tent just outside Tahrir Square in Cairo where he and fellow protesters were lobbying the Arab League on behalf of the Yemeni revolution. From this vantage point he saw a girl set upon by a group of young men. They had pushed her against the metal railing in the middle of the road in front of him. I ran in like Rambo, Wael told me a few days later, re-enacting the motions of scooping her up in his arms and rushing her back to the safety of the tent. He hid her behind some wooden boards and fought off the young men who came to claim the girl. They said they were security officers, but I knew better, he said. When a family finally drove past, he bundled her into the car and asked them to take her home.
But is a single heroic action enough? Egyptian Mohammed el-Hateeb, 24, thinks talking is just as important. In Cairos tourist market, Khan el-Khalili, he once caught a tout telling a tourist she was hot and spicy. What youre doing is wrong! he informed the young man.
Whos doing anything right nowadays? was the mans reply.
Mohammed is a community outreach volunteer with HarassMap, whose Arabic name, Imsik Mutaharrish, literally means Catch a Harasser. Fifty per cent of HarassMap volunteers are men. As one, he speaks to men who stand or sit in the street: doormen, vegetable sellers, men in coffee shops. He explains man-to-man that cat-calling and groping is not manly, and encourages them to intervene instead when a woman is harassed. This February, he will take part in training more young men to help him.
And then, there is Ahmed Awadalla, 27, who is an outspoken defender of human rights. When he lost his father at a young age, he and his four sisters were brought up by their mother and he saw how women face many more difficulties than men in their access to basic human rights like health and education. Today, he writes openly about gender issues, discrimination and human rights violations in English on his blog Rebel With a Cause, and is a programme director for an Egyptian non-governmental organisation focusing on reproductive and sexual health education. It is important to speak out about harassment, he says, and it is important for men to rally behind womens rights because the countrys gender gap is impeding its development.
The world needs more men like these.
Awadallas words echoed those of Hibaaq Osman, the founder of the Egyptians womens rights organisation Karama. Whats good for women is good for Egypt, she told the audience at the Change Your World summit this January in Cairo, which focused on womens use of technology to create positive change. And whats good for women is good for the rest of the world too. It all starts with a little respect.
###
*Alice Hackman is a freelance journalist in Cairo. You can follow @harassmap on Twitter.
This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Many women have stood up to demand a change, and alongside them a few men, who are demonstrating the important role that they too must play in stopping such behaviour.
Sexual harassment at protests is not a popular topic in Egypt as activists fear that it will give ammunition to state media to tarnish their revolution, and English language newspapers who write about it are accused of sensationalism. But it happens, and Egyptian women are speaking up about it. In December 2010 some of them started HarassMap, a Google map used to collect and locate complaints as evidence.
Samira Ibrahim, a detained activist, made headlines recently when she won a groundbreaking suit against the military for performing a virginity test during her detention. Her victory showed those in denial about the problem that it is a reality.
Similarly, reporting incidents of harassment on a map shows people that these happen too.
But womens efforts need to be accompanied by those of men so that when a girl shouts at an aggressor in a public space, men step forward alongside them to immediately condemn such actions.
Unfortunately, harassers are unlikely to value womens opinions as much as their male peers, so the latter must speak up in support of women.
Meet Wael, Mohammed and Ahmed, three young men who are making a difference, standing up for women each in their own way.
In November, Wael al-Sanaaani, 26, was sitting in a tent just outside Tahrir Square in Cairo where he and fellow protesters were lobbying the Arab League on behalf of the Yemeni revolution. From this vantage point he saw a girl set upon by a group of young men. They had pushed her against the metal railing in the middle of the road in front of him. I ran in like Rambo, Wael told me a few days later, re-enacting the motions of scooping her up in his arms and rushing her back to the safety of the tent. He hid her behind some wooden boards and fought off the young men who came to claim the girl. They said they were security officers, but I knew better, he said. When a family finally drove past, he bundled her into the car and asked them to take her home.
But is a single heroic action enough? Egyptian Mohammed el-Hateeb, 24, thinks talking is just as important. In Cairos tourist market, Khan el-Khalili, he once caught a tout telling a tourist she was hot and spicy. What youre doing is wrong! he informed the young man.
Whos doing anything right nowadays? was the mans reply.
Mohammed is a community outreach volunteer with HarassMap, whose Arabic name, Imsik Mutaharrish, literally means Catch a Harasser. Fifty per cent of HarassMap volunteers are men. As one, he speaks to men who stand or sit in the street: doormen, vegetable sellers, men in coffee shops. He explains man-to-man that cat-calling and groping is not manly, and encourages them to intervene instead when a woman is harassed. This February, he will take part in training more young men to help him.
And then, there is Ahmed Awadalla, 27, who is an outspoken defender of human rights. When he lost his father at a young age, he and his four sisters were brought up by their mother and he saw how women face many more difficulties than men in their access to basic human rights like health and education. Today, he writes openly about gender issues, discrimination and human rights violations in English on his blog Rebel With a Cause, and is a programme director for an Egyptian non-governmental organisation focusing on reproductive and sexual health education. It is important to speak out about harassment, he says, and it is important for men to rally behind womens rights because the countrys gender gap is impeding its development.
The world needs more men like these.
Awadallas words echoed those of Hibaaq Osman, the founder of the Egyptians womens rights organisation Karama. Whats good for women is good for Egypt, she told the audience at the Change Your World summit this January in Cairo, which focused on womens use of technology to create positive change. And whats good for women is good for the rest of the world too. It all starts with a little respect.
###
*Alice Hackman is a freelance journalist in Cairo. You can follow @harassmap on Twitter.
This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 31 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Salatiga, Indonesia - US President Barack Obama's November visit to Bali in November 2011 to attend the 19th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia Summits was his second official visit to Indonesia in his role as president. In November 2010 he gave a speech at the University of Indonesia in which he praised the country for successfully reconciling Islam and democracy, as well as its ability to manage diversity democratically. This praise was undoubtedly welcomed by many. However, many Indonesians find these words at odds with recent US policy in the region and feel that more must be done to improve relations between the two countries.
In late November, before his arrival in Bali, Obama announced the deployment of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force of 2,500 in Darwin, Australia a mere 800 kilometres away from Indonesia for the first time since World War II.
This decision surprised and worried many Indonesians. While most analysts and politicians believe the move is related to the United States relationship with China, some Indonesians fear that the presence of US troops will create tensions and mistrust between the two countries. For many, a US military presence so close to their shore is at the very least seen as too close for comfort.
At the summit in Bali, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa commented on such concerns by stating, What I would hate to see is if such developments were to provoke a reaction and counter-reaction precisely to create a vicious circle of tension and mistrust or distrust."
Sadly this mistrust is already rising. Diplomats in Indonesia, the United States and Australia have all stated publicly that the deployment is not aimed to create further tensions in the region and is purely for humanitarian disaster-management purposes. However, this explanation has generally been met with disbelief in Indonesia, where analysts and observers continue to voice suspicions regarding the motives of the troop deployment.
This situation has had consequences at the grassroots level in Indonesia.
The US troop deployment feeds into the propaganda perpetuated by radical groups in Indonesian that the United States has imperialistic aims when it comes to Indonesia. This could in turn make it more difficult for Indonesian civil society to stand up against exclusive ideologies and promote greater pluralism domestically.
In the Asia Pacific region, many people see diplomatic and political means as being equally important to the end goals. Accordingly, most Indonesians share US interests in the region, but disapprove of using demonstrations of military might to achieve them.
Many Indonesians admire the US government system, business community and culture and have no issue with the American public in general. At the same time they disapprove of some elements of American foreign policy, especially those they see as imposing a double standard when it comes to upholding human rights on the one hand, and business and corporate policies on the other.
Opportunities to truly understand the United States and Americans are only experienced by a minority of Indonesians.
This gap could be overcome if both sides were more sensitive to each others values and frames of reference. Media and public figures on both sides could refrain from presenting half-baked and poorly informed opinions as fact. Diplomatic approaches between the two governments could encourage more direct cooperation between American and Indonesian citizens at several levels. These could take the form of government, educational and civil society exchanges that would allow Americans and Indonesians to share their experiences of everyday life and see one another with human faces that are kind, fair, friendly and considerate.
Scepticism and mistrust continue to fill the pages of Indonesian papers with regards to US actions in Darwin. But if leaders on both sides can use this as an opportunity to look at the US-Indonesian relationship more carefully, it could result in the building of new connections based on common interests and good will rather than suspicion or fear.
###
* Singgih Nugroho is a researcher at PERCIK (The Institute for Social Research, Democracy and Social Justice) in Salatiga, Indonesia and a 2011 participant of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on Pluralism and Democracy. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
In late November, before his arrival in Bali, Obama announced the deployment of a Marine Air-Ground Task Force of 2,500 in Darwin, Australia a mere 800 kilometres away from Indonesia for the first time since World War II.
This decision surprised and worried many Indonesians. While most analysts and politicians believe the move is related to the United States relationship with China, some Indonesians fear that the presence of US troops will create tensions and mistrust between the two countries. For many, a US military presence so close to their shore is at the very least seen as too close for comfort.
At the summit in Bali, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa commented on such concerns by stating, What I would hate to see is if such developments were to provoke a reaction and counter-reaction precisely to create a vicious circle of tension and mistrust or distrust."
Sadly this mistrust is already rising. Diplomats in Indonesia, the United States and Australia have all stated publicly that the deployment is not aimed to create further tensions in the region and is purely for humanitarian disaster-management purposes. However, this explanation has generally been met with disbelief in Indonesia, where analysts and observers continue to voice suspicions regarding the motives of the troop deployment.
This situation has had consequences at the grassroots level in Indonesia.
The US troop deployment feeds into the propaganda perpetuated by radical groups in Indonesian that the United States has imperialistic aims when it comes to Indonesia. This could in turn make it more difficult for Indonesian civil society to stand up against exclusive ideologies and promote greater pluralism domestically.
In the Asia Pacific region, many people see diplomatic and political means as being equally important to the end goals. Accordingly, most Indonesians share US interests in the region, but disapprove of using demonstrations of military might to achieve them.
Many Indonesians admire the US government system, business community and culture and have no issue with the American public in general. At the same time they disapprove of some elements of American foreign policy, especially those they see as imposing a double standard when it comes to upholding human rights on the one hand, and business and corporate policies on the other.
Opportunities to truly understand the United States and Americans are only experienced by a minority of Indonesians.
This gap could be overcome if both sides were more sensitive to each others values and frames of reference. Media and public figures on both sides could refrain from presenting half-baked and poorly informed opinions as fact. Diplomatic approaches between the two governments could encourage more direct cooperation between American and Indonesian citizens at several levels. These could take the form of government, educational and civil society exchanges that would allow Americans and Indonesians to share their experiences of everyday life and see one another with human faces that are kind, fair, friendly and considerate.
Scepticism and mistrust continue to fill the pages of Indonesian papers with regards to US actions in Darwin. But if leaders on both sides can use this as an opportunity to look at the US-Indonesian relationship more carefully, it could result in the building of new connections based on common interests and good will rather than suspicion or fear.
###
* Singgih Nugroho is a researcher at PERCIK (The Institute for Social Research, Democracy and Social Justice) in Salatiga, Indonesia and a 2011 participant of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on Pluralism and Democracy. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Philadelphia - Whats so scary about sharia, or Islamic legal principles? According to a recent decision from a US Federal Appellate Court one level below the Supreme Court not much.
The recent decision of the 10th Circuit Court effectively blocks implementation of Oklahoma Law 755, also called the Save Our State measure. Law 755 was passed as a constitutional amendment by 70 per cent of Oklahoma voters in November 2010. Along with prohibiting courts from using international law, it also expressly forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law. Similar laws have passed in Tennessee and Louisiana and comparable bills are pending in at least 20 states.
The 10th Circuit Court received the case after US District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange decided in favour of Muneer Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, who had sued to block the law. He claimed Law 755 violated his rights to religious freedom, which are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
The three-judge panel that issued the ruling against Law 755 did so largely for procedural reasons, claiming Awad had grounds to raise First Amendment issues. Law 755, they agreed, expressly condemned only one religion, Islam, thus violating the establishment clause of the US Constitution, which dictates that the government cannot favour one religion. Finally, the judges also suggested there was little reason for Law 755. Supporters of Law 755 admitted they did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law.
This issues salience here in the United States is symbolic, it isnt really about law. While the term sharia sounds scary to lots of Americans, the irony is that many who think they are opposed to sharia would be only too happy to support many of its general claims. For instance, those who claim to mistrust it would often love to have Americans (and perhaps especially lawyers and judges) pay more attention to the Ten Commandments a kind of reasoning encouraged by sharia.
Decades ago, Princeton University professor Edward S. Corwin published a still-used short book entitled The Higher Law Background of American Constitutional Law, which should be assigned reading for anybody wary of sharia. According to Corwin, American constitutional law was founded not only upon Enlightenment philosophical notions, but also upon theological affirmations. In fact, he suggested, American jurisprudence rested on a deep ethic that was quite congenial to transcendent higher reasoning.
At root, sharia asserts this fact. This was what the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was trying to say in 2008 when he opined in a BBC interview that there are perfectly proper ways the law of the land pays respect to custom and community; thats already there.
As Williams discovered, much of the furore over his comments has focused on issues prone to sensationalism. Different customs have developed in Western democracies and Muslim majority countries regarding property (especially borrowing and lending) and family life (especially monogamy and divorce). But these contrasts could just as easily be applied to England and the United States a century ago and England and the United States today. Divorce laws in particular have changed dramatically.
In the vast majority of cases, there is no conflict between Islamic legal principles and the jurisprudence of English common law or American constitutional law. One reason for this is that the higher law backgrounds of the different traditions in fact share an Abrahamic ethic: the social covenant to command the good and prohibit the evil. As expressed in A Common Word, a consensus document between Muslim and Christian religious leaders, Muslims share two basic ethical principles with Jews and Christians: love God and love your neighbour as well as other core values.
US courts have the responsibility to uphold constitutional rights. Other scholars and professionals have responsibilities to educate the public and dispel myths about sharia.
For example, the American Bar Association recently sponsored a webinar entitled Dispelling the Sharia Threat Myth. And Muslim scholars have been offering clarifications, among them Dispelling Myths about Sharia by Imam Mustapha Elturk. According to Elturk, sharia is a set of principles that guides Muslims to secure five protections: faith, life, family, property, and intellect. In this sense sharia is analogous to the higher law background of American Constitutional law. The challenge is in the application. After all, consider the debate in Western tradition about how to apply the commandment Thou shalt not kill.
Sharia is bound to resurface in the 2012 US presidential campaign. The way to move forward is to point out demagogues and allay fears of those concerned. The debate over sharia might even help us define a clearer role for religious reasoning in public life. In short, it might help us find common ground.
###
* Jon Pahl, Ph.D. is Professor of the History of Christianity in North American and Director of MA Programs at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
The recent decision of the 10th Circuit Court effectively blocks implementation of Oklahoma Law 755, also called the Save Our State measure. Law 755 was passed as a constitutional amendment by 70 per cent of Oklahoma voters in November 2010. Along with prohibiting courts from using international law, it also expressly forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law. Similar laws have passed in Tennessee and Louisiana and comparable bills are pending in at least 20 states.
The 10th Circuit Court received the case after US District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange decided in favour of Muneer Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, who had sued to block the law. He claimed Law 755 violated his rights to religious freedom, which are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
The three-judge panel that issued the ruling against Law 755 did so largely for procedural reasons, claiming Awad had grounds to raise First Amendment issues. Law 755, they agreed, expressly condemned only one religion, Islam, thus violating the establishment clause of the US Constitution, which dictates that the government cannot favour one religion. Finally, the judges also suggested there was little reason for Law 755. Supporters of Law 755 admitted they did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law.
This issues salience here in the United States is symbolic, it isnt really about law. While the term sharia sounds scary to lots of Americans, the irony is that many who think they are opposed to sharia would be only too happy to support many of its general claims. For instance, those who claim to mistrust it would often love to have Americans (and perhaps especially lawyers and judges) pay more attention to the Ten Commandments a kind of reasoning encouraged by sharia.
Decades ago, Princeton University professor Edward S. Corwin published a still-used short book entitled The Higher Law Background of American Constitutional Law, which should be assigned reading for anybody wary of sharia. According to Corwin, American constitutional law was founded not only upon Enlightenment philosophical notions, but also upon theological affirmations. In fact, he suggested, American jurisprudence rested on a deep ethic that was quite congenial to transcendent higher reasoning.
At root, sharia asserts this fact. This was what the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was trying to say in 2008 when he opined in a BBC interview that there are perfectly proper ways the law of the land pays respect to custom and community; thats already there.
As Williams discovered, much of the furore over his comments has focused on issues prone to sensationalism. Different customs have developed in Western democracies and Muslim majority countries regarding property (especially borrowing and lending) and family life (especially monogamy and divorce). But these contrasts could just as easily be applied to England and the United States a century ago and England and the United States today. Divorce laws in particular have changed dramatically.
In the vast majority of cases, there is no conflict between Islamic legal principles and the jurisprudence of English common law or American constitutional law. One reason for this is that the higher law backgrounds of the different traditions in fact share an Abrahamic ethic: the social covenant to command the good and prohibit the evil. As expressed in A Common Word, a consensus document between Muslim and Christian religious leaders, Muslims share two basic ethical principles with Jews and Christians: love God and love your neighbour as well as other core values.
US courts have the responsibility to uphold constitutional rights. Other scholars and professionals have responsibilities to educate the public and dispel myths about sharia.
For example, the American Bar Association recently sponsored a webinar entitled Dispelling the Sharia Threat Myth. And Muslim scholars have been offering clarifications, among them Dispelling Myths about Sharia by Imam Mustapha Elturk. According to Elturk, sharia is a set of principles that guides Muslims to secure five protections: faith, life, family, property, and intellect. In this sense sharia is analogous to the higher law background of American Constitutional law. The challenge is in the application. After all, consider the debate in Western tradition about how to apply the commandment Thou shalt not kill.
Sharia is bound to resurface in the 2012 US presidential campaign. The way to move forward is to point out demagogues and allay fears of those concerned. The debate over sharia might even help us define a clearer role for religious reasoning in public life. In short, it might help us find common ground.
###
* Jon Pahl, Ph.D. is Professor of the History of Christianity in North American and Director of MA Programs at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Are Arab Jews extinct?
Jan 16
Geneva - The growing rift between Israel and the Arab world makes it hard to imagine that Jews and Arabs once coexisted across the Middle East. At one point these identities could be found not only in the same neighborhood, but even in the same person.
Is it an oxymoron to be an Arab Jew? An Arab Jew refers either to a Jew living in the Arab world or whose ancestors came from Arab countries. This term flourished once in the Middle East but is not widely known today. Not long ago there were Jews living in the cities of the Middle East who were integrated into their societies and held influential roles in their communities and economies.
My grandfather, Baba Yona Mashiah, was such a figure in Baghdad. He was, I would say, an Arab
Jew. My childhood was sprinkled with stories of his grand personality, power and business acumen. He was a prominent land and real-estate developer and in the 1940s contributed to building Baghdad el Jedidah, a chic neighbourhood in the Baghdad suburbs. His partners were mostly Muslim and some were prominent government officials.
Over the years I have accumulated stories about Baba Yona like pearls on a string and play with these beads, just as he played with the beads on his misbaha,the traditional Muslim prayer beads. My father recalled how he used to accompany my grandfather, who was also known by the Arabic name Abu Fuad, to meetings in cafs and the respect that people showed him.
Baba Yona was an integrated member of Baghdad society and its business world, yet he was a Jew.
In the 1950s the Jews of Baghdad experienced an exodus from Iraq. A reluctant exodus, I would claim, which was brought about by a combination of increasing Zionism, anti-Semitic propaganda, envy of the privileged life Jews had when Iraq was under British control and the creation of Israel. The displacement of thousands of Palestinians and the humiliating defeat of the Arab armies were the final blow.
Life had become unbearable for the Jews and even those who had wanted to stay were compelled to leave. Jews were assumed to be a fifth column and turned into scapegoats following the defeat of Arab armies by the Israeli Defense Forces. Baba Yona watched his empire crumble. His peer and neighbour, Mr. Addas, another influential Jew, was hung in the square. He himself was imprisoned for three months, accused of having Zionist connections.
At a certain point the Iraqi government offered a deal for Jews, inviting them to escape to Israel if they would renounce their citizenship and relinquish their property. Baba Yona was forced to leave Baghdad with over 100,000 other Jews to the one country that would accept them at the time Israel. Ironically, the Zionists, whose movement played a part in alienating Muslims from their Jewish compatriots, were there to save them.
So as they were airlifted out of Baghdad, did my nine year-old father know where he was headed? Was it en route to Cyprus and during the eventually landing in Israel that he stopped being an Arab Jew?
In Israel the younger generations became embarrassed by their Arabic-speaking parents. My father, Sabah, was given a Hebrew name, Shaul; but his brother who had arrived in his late teens, too late for a name change, is called Jamil until this very day.
In fact, my fathers Arab identity was totally effaced in Israel. It was a combination of external pressures and self denial. Thus he became successfully integrated into the dominant culture in Israel of that period.
My interest in my Arab roots began about 10 years ago when I established my business, which focuses on economic cooperation between Israel and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Many Israelis asked me why I had chosen to do so. The notion that Israel should forge economic ties with other countries in the MENA region is not self-evident within Israeli society.
Their questions led me to excavate my own identity and connect with my grandfathers world. I am discovering more and more young Jews like myself who have been able to distance themselves from their parents traumatic experiences and proudly reclaim their Arab roots.
I recall one day when I brought home old records of Abdul Wahab, a famous Egyptian singer, and put them on the phonograph. My father Shaul transformed back to Sabah and sang all the words. He did not understand how I could be interested in this music. My curiosity for the poetry and music is deep-rooted to an extent that baffles him.
Today when I ask my father if my grandfather was an Arab Jew and he proclaims, No way, there is no such thing, I beg to differ.
###
* Naava Mashiah is CEO of M.E. Links, focused on the transfer of technology from Israel to the MENA region, Senior Consultant at ISHRA and the editor of MEDABIZ. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 17 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Is it an oxymoron to be an Arab Jew? An Arab Jew refers either to a Jew living in the Arab world or whose ancestors came from Arab countries. This term flourished once in the Middle East but is not widely known today. Not long ago there were Jews living in the cities of the Middle East who were integrated into their societies and held influential roles in their communities and economies.
My grandfather, Baba Yona Mashiah, was such a figure in Baghdad. He was, I would say, an Arab
Jew. My childhood was sprinkled with stories of his grand personality, power and business acumen. He was a prominent land and real-estate developer and in the 1940s contributed to building Baghdad el Jedidah, a chic neighbourhood in the Baghdad suburbs. His partners were mostly Muslim and some were prominent government officials.
Over the years I have accumulated stories about Baba Yona like pearls on a string and play with these beads, just as he played with the beads on his misbaha,the traditional Muslim prayer beads. My father recalled how he used to accompany my grandfather, who was also known by the Arabic name Abu Fuad, to meetings in cafs and the respect that people showed him.
Baba Yona was an integrated member of Baghdad society and its business world, yet he was a Jew.
In the 1950s the Jews of Baghdad experienced an exodus from Iraq. A reluctant exodus, I would claim, which was brought about by a combination of increasing Zionism, anti-Semitic propaganda, envy of the privileged life Jews had when Iraq was under British control and the creation of Israel. The displacement of thousands of Palestinians and the humiliating defeat of the Arab armies were the final blow.
Life had become unbearable for the Jews and even those who had wanted to stay were compelled to leave. Jews were assumed to be a fifth column and turned into scapegoats following the defeat of Arab armies by the Israeli Defense Forces. Baba Yona watched his empire crumble. His peer and neighbour, Mr. Addas, another influential Jew, was hung in the square. He himself was imprisoned for three months, accused of having Zionist connections.
At a certain point the Iraqi government offered a deal for Jews, inviting them to escape to Israel if they would renounce their citizenship and relinquish their property. Baba Yona was forced to leave Baghdad with over 100,000 other Jews to the one country that would accept them at the time Israel. Ironically, the Zionists, whose movement played a part in alienating Muslims from their Jewish compatriots, were there to save them.
So as they were airlifted out of Baghdad, did my nine year-old father know where he was headed? Was it en route to Cyprus and during the eventually landing in Israel that he stopped being an Arab Jew?
In Israel the younger generations became embarrassed by their Arabic-speaking parents. My father, Sabah, was given a Hebrew name, Shaul; but his brother who had arrived in his late teens, too late for a name change, is called Jamil until this very day.
In fact, my fathers Arab identity was totally effaced in Israel. It was a combination of external pressures and self denial. Thus he became successfully integrated into the dominant culture in Israel of that period.
My interest in my Arab roots began about 10 years ago when I established my business, which focuses on economic cooperation between Israel and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Many Israelis asked me why I had chosen to do so. The notion that Israel should forge economic ties with other countries in the MENA region is not self-evident within Israeli society.
Their questions led me to excavate my own identity and connect with my grandfathers world. I am discovering more and more young Jews like myself who have been able to distance themselves from their parents traumatic experiences and proudly reclaim their Arab roots.
I recall one day when I brought home old records of Abdul Wahab, a famous Egyptian singer, and put them on the phonograph. My father Shaul transformed back to Sabah and sang all the words. He did not understand how I could be interested in this music. My curiosity for the poetry and music is deep-rooted to an extent that baffles him.
Today when I ask my father if my grandfather was an Arab Jew and he proclaims, No way, there is no such thing, I beg to differ.
###
* Naava Mashiah is CEO of M.E. Links, focused on the transfer of technology from Israel to the MENA region, Senior Consultant at ISHRA and the editor of MEDABIZ. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 17 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Tunis - On 28 November 2011, the Dean of the Department of Letters, Arts and Humanities of Manouba University refused to give in to pressure from a group of protesters using violence to demand that classes be accessible to young women wearing the niqab, or face veil. Faced with this refusal the protestors erected barriers to block the professors and students from their classrooms and prevent classes from taking place. Numerous parents, students and professors quickly moved to protest these actions and defend the institutions rules.
The preservation of neutrality in public institutions, respect for their rules and the protection of individual freedoms have been up for debate in recent months. The end of the previous regime and subsequent political transition has allowed for greater openness and more public debate on key issues, such as ensuring the rights and freedoms of all Tunisians including minority groups. The 217 deputies of the recently elected Tunisian Constituent Assembly, which is responsible for writing a new Tunisian constitution, must work together to establish the basis for Tunisian democracy in the coming weeks.
However the Constituent Assembly is already facing serious challenges in the form of a small group using violence as it seeks to impose its vision of society on academic institutions, such as compulsory veiling for female teachers, allowing women to wear the niqab on campus and even separate classes for men and women.
We might see such conflicts in Tunisian universities as the result of a clash between two extremes: that is, a clash between Tunisians who demand policies they believe to be rooted in Islam and others who demand the removal of Islam and all religions from the public sphere. That means a separation of religion and state, as well as a ban on religious clothing and symbols in public places. The reality, however, is more complex than that. Such polarisation doesnt reflect the real views of Tunisian society. The majority of Tunisians are Muslim and do not espouse one extreme or the other. Some are practising, others practise less and some dont practise at all.
Many say, we are Muslim but our relationship to God is a personal matter, or even say that we dont need someone else to tell us how to practise our religion. While some might see this as secularism, its actually a characteristic of Islam in Tunisia: an open and tolerant Islam where everyone is free to practise their religion as they see fit.
On 10 December, the Constituent Assembly passed its first legislation concerning procedures and regulations of the exercise of executive, legislative and judiciary powers until the constitution is written and new institutions begin work. But recent incidents in universities which show a desire by some to express extreme ideologies are already challenging the balance of individual freedoms and institutional rules.
In Tunisian universities, equality is assured; all students have access to universities regardless of their religion or how they practise it. Currently young women have the right to wear the niqab in the street but in the classroom they must reveal their identity. This practice encourages communication between professors and students and helps with the pedagogic exchanges needed for interactive education. This practise also aims to ensure better security within the university.
Yet the right to protest must also be preserved so that anyone can speak freely if they feel their rights have been violated. On the other hand, Tunisians have had enough violence from both protestors and law enforcement. Each side must therefore find a peaceful way to convey their message to the Constituent Assembly.
News articles, petitions, flash mobs and films that promote awareness and debate are all potentially effective tools to invite dialogue and an understanding of differences while respecting the rules and rights of institutions. For its part, the assembly must strike a balance between the demands of its diverse constituents in order to create the foundation for the new democratic Tunisia.
###
* Omezzine Khlifa is an engineer in Computer Science and Telecommunications, activist and was a candidate for the Tunisian Constituent Assembly for the Ettakatol Party. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 17 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
The preservation of neutrality in public institutions, respect for their rules and the protection of individual freedoms have been up for debate in recent months. The end of the previous regime and subsequent political transition has allowed for greater openness and more public debate on key issues, such as ensuring the rights and freedoms of all Tunisians including minority groups. The 217 deputies of the recently elected Tunisian Constituent Assembly, which is responsible for writing a new Tunisian constitution, must work together to establish the basis for Tunisian democracy in the coming weeks.
However the Constituent Assembly is already facing serious challenges in the form of a small group using violence as it seeks to impose its vision of society on academic institutions, such as compulsory veiling for female teachers, allowing women to wear the niqab on campus and even separate classes for men and women.
We might see such conflicts in Tunisian universities as the result of a clash between two extremes: that is, a clash between Tunisians who demand policies they believe to be rooted in Islam and others who demand the removal of Islam and all religions from the public sphere. That means a separation of religion and state, as well as a ban on religious clothing and symbols in public places. The reality, however, is more complex than that. Such polarisation doesnt reflect the real views of Tunisian society. The majority of Tunisians are Muslim and do not espouse one extreme or the other. Some are practising, others practise less and some dont practise at all.
Many say, we are Muslim but our relationship to God is a personal matter, or even say that we dont need someone else to tell us how to practise our religion. While some might see this as secularism, its actually a characteristic of Islam in Tunisia: an open and tolerant Islam where everyone is free to practise their religion as they see fit.
On 10 December, the Constituent Assembly passed its first legislation concerning procedures and regulations of the exercise of executive, legislative and judiciary powers until the constitution is written and new institutions begin work. But recent incidents in universities which show a desire by some to express extreme ideologies are already challenging the balance of individual freedoms and institutional rules.
In Tunisian universities, equality is assured; all students have access to universities regardless of their religion or how they practise it. Currently young women have the right to wear the niqab in the street but in the classroom they must reveal their identity. This practice encourages communication between professors and students and helps with the pedagogic exchanges needed for interactive education. This practise also aims to ensure better security within the university.
Yet the right to protest must also be preserved so that anyone can speak freely if they feel their rights have been violated. On the other hand, Tunisians have had enough violence from both protestors and law enforcement. Each side must therefore find a peaceful way to convey their message to the Constituent Assembly.
News articles, petitions, flash mobs and films that promote awareness and debate are all potentially effective tools to invite dialogue and an understanding of differences while respecting the rules and rights of institutions. For its part, the assembly must strike a balance between the demands of its diverse constituents in order to create the foundation for the new democratic Tunisia.
###
* Omezzine Khlifa is an engineer in Computer Science and Telecommunications, activist and was a candidate for the Tunisian Constituent Assembly for the Ettakatol Party. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 17 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Jerusalem - Twelve years ago, I travelled to a monastery in the Syrian desert, where I met an Italian priest by the name of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio. For 20 years, he had been living in rural Syria, serving as the abbot of the ancient monastery of Deir Mar Musa. There, he led a community of Arabic-speaking monks and nuns dedicated to prayer, hospitality, manual work and dialogue with Muslims. As I settled in I was astonished to notice Muslims visiting all day, admiring the church frescoes, joining the local Syrian Christians for lunch, even excusing themselves so that they could perform their prayers in a quiet corner of the monastery grounds. I had never seen love between Muslims and Christians embodied so effortlessly, a communion of human beings sharing daily life.
Over the following years I came to know Father Paolo well, and grew accustomed to the Muslims who visited his monastery almost daily. Father Paolo told me stories. He spoke of Muslim sheikhs who came to discuss their faith, of Muslim visitors who arrived bearing gifts one prominent Muslim artist even sculpted a cross for the monastery of meals and songs and fears shared between faiths. He quoted the Quran as easily as the Bible. To Christians, he told stories of Muslims and their love of Jesus, Mary and the Prophet Mohammed. To Muslims, he told stories of the respect early Muslims had for Christian monks.
Last year, as the crisis in Syria escalated, Father Paolo publicly called for reconciliation in an attempt to avoid civil war. In late November the government issued an order for his expulsion.
For weeks I was haunted by what Father Paolos expulsion would mean for Syrian Christians. The conflict in Iraq had already led to the exodus of more than half of the country's Christian population. The threat of a mass exodus in Syria was equally real for they had been placed in an impossible situation. As minorities protected by the government, local Christians were terrified of a civil war that would leave them vulnerable to Muslim extremists, just as they were frightened that if an Islamic party took control of the country, their rights would no longer be recognised. Yet now the government was demanding they silence themselves and abandon the Christian principle of confronting injustice and working towards peace.
Eventually, Father Paolo was allowed to stay in Syria after he promised that he would not speak about politics.
When I talked to him two weeks ago, the monastery, always crowded, was almost entirely empty.
First I was terrified of his expulsion. Now I am terrified of the conditions that have led to his silence.
It is not up to me to ask the Syrian Christians to stay, but I cannot be silent on the matter of what will be lost should they leave. Nor can I avoid the price of their silence. Much has been written about the destruction of antiquities in Baghdad. Yet as the conflict escalates and becomes sectarian in Syria, something even more precious might be lost there: centuries of stories of Muslims and Christians living together.
These stories were not only Father Paolo's to tell. They are deeply embedded in the culture: tales of the monk Buheira, who tradition says met the Prophet Mohammed in southern Syria; stories about Muslims and Christians visiting the monastery of Seidneyya together to honour Mary or seeking the remains of John the Baptist at the Umayyed Mosque; of meals shared and prayers offered in proximity to one another.
The death toll in Syria mounts. The likelihood of exodus increases. Daily, in our helplessness, we are faced with the question of what we might do.
We can tell stories. Tell a story of Muslims and Christians living together. It may be the smallest form of resistance and yet resistance it is. It battles the dangerous narrative of Muslims and Christians destined to be at odds with one another. It gives Christians, the receptacles of these stories, a reason to stay in place. It creates and restores in a moment what so many forces seem bent on destroying. It gives voice to those storytellers who now feel compelled to stay silent.
Come, let me tell you a story.
###
* Stephanie Saldana is the author of The Bread of Angels: A Journey to Love and Faith, a memoir of her life in Syria. She teaches at Al-Quds Bard College in Jerusalem. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 17 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Over the following years I came to know Father Paolo well, and grew accustomed to the Muslims who visited his monastery almost daily. Father Paolo told me stories. He spoke of Muslim sheikhs who came to discuss their faith, of Muslim visitors who arrived bearing gifts one prominent Muslim artist even sculpted a cross for the monastery of meals and songs and fears shared between faiths. He quoted the Quran as easily as the Bible. To Christians, he told stories of Muslims and their love of Jesus, Mary and the Prophet Mohammed. To Muslims, he told stories of the respect early Muslims had for Christian monks.
Last year, as the crisis in Syria escalated, Father Paolo publicly called for reconciliation in an attempt to avoid civil war. In late November the government issued an order for his expulsion.
For weeks I was haunted by what Father Paolos expulsion would mean for Syrian Christians. The conflict in Iraq had already led to the exodus of more than half of the country's Christian population. The threat of a mass exodus in Syria was equally real for they had been placed in an impossible situation. As minorities protected by the government, local Christians were terrified of a civil war that would leave them vulnerable to Muslim extremists, just as they were frightened that if an Islamic party took control of the country, their rights would no longer be recognised. Yet now the government was demanding they silence themselves and abandon the Christian principle of confronting injustice and working towards peace.
Eventually, Father Paolo was allowed to stay in Syria after he promised that he would not speak about politics.
When I talked to him two weeks ago, the monastery, always crowded, was almost entirely empty.
First I was terrified of his expulsion. Now I am terrified of the conditions that have led to his silence.
It is not up to me to ask the Syrian Christians to stay, but I cannot be silent on the matter of what will be lost should they leave. Nor can I avoid the price of their silence. Much has been written about the destruction of antiquities in Baghdad. Yet as the conflict escalates and becomes sectarian in Syria, something even more precious might be lost there: centuries of stories of Muslims and Christians living together.
These stories were not only Father Paolo's to tell. They are deeply embedded in the culture: tales of the monk Buheira, who tradition says met the Prophet Mohammed in southern Syria; stories about Muslims and Christians visiting the monastery of Seidneyya together to honour Mary or seeking the remains of John the Baptist at the Umayyed Mosque; of meals shared and prayers offered in proximity to one another.
The death toll in Syria mounts. The likelihood of exodus increases. Daily, in our helplessness, we are faced with the question of what we might do.
We can tell stories. Tell a story of Muslims and Christians living together. It may be the smallest form of resistance and yet resistance it is. It battles the dangerous narrative of Muslims and Christians destined to be at odds with one another. It gives Christians, the receptacles of these stories, a reason to stay in place. It creates and restores in a moment what so many forces seem bent on destroying. It gives voice to those storytellers who now feel compelled to stay silent.
Come, let me tell you a story.
###
* Stephanie Saldana is the author of The Bread of Angels: A Journey to Love and Faith, a memoir of her life in Syria. She teaches at Al-Quds Bard College in Jerusalem. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 17 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Portland, Oregon - People, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, often tell me that I cant be both a Muslim and a feminist. At a recent book reading in Oregon, for example, a male audience member asked me, How does that even work? These questions demonstrate some of the rigid misconceptions individuals have about Islam and feminism; many people think that theyre mutually exclusive categories. In fact, as a Muslim feminist, I have found them to have more in common than people realise, especially when it comes to social justice.
Ethos the fundamental spirit that guides my faith is more important to me than edicts, or strict dogma, and so when religious questions arise, I defer to big-picture themes. One of Islams major themes is that of equity and justice. The Quran details equitable divorce proceedings, fair treatment of orphans and just conduct when it comes to prisoners of war situations that differ in details and circumstances in our modern times, but which are often fraught with unfairness and injustice. When I read the holy book, the themes of justice and dignity for humanity stand out to me.
These themes are the same ideals I take from feminism. Some assume that feminism is concerned only with the protection and advancement of women. But as a bi-racial Muslim woman, I cant ignore the ways that different socially constructed categories, such as gender and race, interact and interrelate. My feminism is concerned with the dignity and rights of every person. Regardless of gender, race, religion, ability, or anything else, we all deserve to have control over our own destinies, earn equal compensation for our work and have the same chances at happiness and success.
For these reasons, I dont see contradictions between Islam and feminism at the big-picture level. There are echoes of Islam and feminism in each other; though Islam is about submission to God, an important facet of that is submission to whats just. Thus, both Islam and feminism guide my outlook and my work.
In 2007, I founded Muslimah Media Watch, a website dedicated to critiquing global media images of Muslim women. I also write for Racialicious, which looks at pop culture and race, and an alumnus of the American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute, which works with civic leaders in the American Muslim community. I use my writing and editing skills as a way to advocate for what I believe is right.
Theres a wealth of scholarship on Islam and feminism. Margot Badran, an author and academic, has published extensively on Muslim women and Islamic feminism. In an article for Egypts Al-Ahram Online, she wrote, Islamic feminism, which derives its understanding and mandate from the Qur'an, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence. Islamic feminism advocates women's rights, gender equality, and social justice using Islamic discourse as its paramount discourse, though not necessarily its only one.
Academics arent the only ones blending Islam and feminism in their lives and viewpoints. Dr. Amina Wadud is an Islamic scholar who has written several books on Islam from a feminist perspective, as well as an activist who works to break rigid roles for women in the mosque by leading prayer.
Sisters in Islam, a non-profit group of Muslim women in Malaysia, advocates within legal and media frameworks for womens and childrens legal and social rights within Malaysia. A student-owned independent network, Mideast Youth, embarks on projects using digital media that fight for the rights of marginalised groups in predominantly Muslim countries to amplify diverse and progressive voices advocating for change throughout the Middle East and North Africa. These people and organisations understand that egalitarian scholarship and ideas are essential to battling different types of oppression on the ground.
Writing and engaging with the media through Muslimah Media Watch has been my biggest step in blending my Islam and feminism. There are plenty of different ways to be Muslim and feminist: people write, rally around causes and live out feminist interpretations of the Quran. But one thing is for sure: Islam and feminism are not mutually exclusive.
###
* Fatemeh Fakhraie is an editor, author and blogger who writes from her perspective as an Iranian-American Muslim woman. She is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Muslimah Media Watch. You can follow her at http://fatemehfakhraie.com/ and @fatemehf. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 10 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication
Ethos the fundamental spirit that guides my faith is more important to me than edicts, or strict dogma, and so when religious questions arise, I defer to big-picture themes. One of Islams major themes is that of equity and justice. The Quran details equitable divorce proceedings, fair treatment of orphans and just conduct when it comes to prisoners of war situations that differ in details and circumstances in our modern times, but which are often fraught with unfairness and injustice. When I read the holy book, the themes of justice and dignity for humanity stand out to me.
These themes are the same ideals I take from feminism. Some assume that feminism is concerned only with the protection and advancement of women. But as a bi-racial Muslim woman, I cant ignore the ways that different socially constructed categories, such as gender and race, interact and interrelate. My feminism is concerned with the dignity and rights of every person. Regardless of gender, race, religion, ability, or anything else, we all deserve to have control over our own destinies, earn equal compensation for our work and have the same chances at happiness and success.
For these reasons, I dont see contradictions between Islam and feminism at the big-picture level. There are echoes of Islam and feminism in each other; though Islam is about submission to God, an important facet of that is submission to whats just. Thus, both Islam and feminism guide my outlook and my work.
In 2007, I founded Muslimah Media Watch, a website dedicated to critiquing global media images of Muslim women. I also write for Racialicious, which looks at pop culture and race, and an alumnus of the American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute, which works with civic leaders in the American Muslim community. I use my writing and editing skills as a way to advocate for what I believe is right.
Theres a wealth of scholarship on Islam and feminism. Margot Badran, an author and academic, has published extensively on Muslim women and Islamic feminism. In an article for Egypts Al-Ahram Online, she wrote, Islamic feminism, which derives its understanding and mandate from the Qur'an, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence. Islamic feminism advocates women's rights, gender equality, and social justice using Islamic discourse as its paramount discourse, though not necessarily its only one.
Academics arent the only ones blending Islam and feminism in their lives and viewpoints. Dr. Amina Wadud is an Islamic scholar who has written several books on Islam from a feminist perspective, as well as an activist who works to break rigid roles for women in the mosque by leading prayer.
Sisters in Islam, a non-profit group of Muslim women in Malaysia, advocates within legal and media frameworks for womens and childrens legal and social rights within Malaysia. A student-owned independent network, Mideast Youth, embarks on projects using digital media that fight for the rights of marginalised groups in predominantly Muslim countries to amplify diverse and progressive voices advocating for change throughout the Middle East and North Africa. These people and organisations understand that egalitarian scholarship and ideas are essential to battling different types of oppression on the ground.
Writing and engaging with the media through Muslimah Media Watch has been my biggest step in blending my Islam and feminism. There are plenty of different ways to be Muslim and feminist: people write, rally around causes and live out feminist interpretations of the Quran. But one thing is for sure: Islam and feminism are not mutually exclusive.
###
* Fatemeh Fakhraie is an editor, author and blogger who writes from her perspective as an Iranian-American Muslim woman. She is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Muslimah Media Watch. You can follow her at http://fatemehfakhraie.com/ and @fatemehf. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 10 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication
Ottawa - This May, as Muslims mark the twentieth anniversary of the induction of Al-Rashid mosque in Fort Edmonton Park, the countrys largest living history museum, the spotlight will be on the leadership role of Muslim women in this historic event.
Fifty years after they burst onto the front line to help complete the construction of Canadas first mosque in 1938, Muslim women took over a floundering campaign to save it from demolition. They surprised many by not only preserving this irreplaceable piece of Canadian heritage but enshrining it in the history museum. Al-Rashid, once a bustling hub of community life, started drifting into disrepair after the congregation outgrew it and moved to a new Islamic centre in 1982. Numerous efforts to raise money and find a new location for the old structure failed. Al-Rashid was set for demolition in 1988. Out of options, the Muslim community could only hope for a miracle.
To many, including Canadians of other faiths, the loss of the countrys oldest mosque and a Canadian heritage building was unthinkable. Al-Rashid was more than a place of worship. It was also the story of the struggle, adjustment and integration of early Muslim settlers.
While the community braced itself for the inevitable, the Terrific Twelve, a group of twelve women who belonged to a relatively new and untested organisation, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW), which was founded in 1982 to speak for Muslim women, defiantly dug in to save the mosque. Led by Lila Fahlman and Razia Jaffer, founder and president of CCMW respectively, these young, highly educated women of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds included second-generation Canadians and new immigrants, working moms, full-time homemakers and single professional women.
Their audacity to take on what had thwarted community leaders sparked a buzz. The media was taken by surprise by this strange twist because the Terrific Twelve did not fit the stereotype of Muslim women as subservient housewives. Within the Muslim community itself, there were sceptics. Doubts were raised about the ability of a womens organisation to lead the project. Some called the move nave, while others welcomed it.
Unfazed, the women pressed on. Their unyielding resolve won over many naysayers and inspired a dispirited Muslim community. They formed alliances with Canadian mainstream organisations interested in preserving old and unique buildings in order to draw upon their influence, and launched an educational campaign to calm the fears of those who viewed the admission of a mosque into a Canadian history museum as a foreign intrusion, emphasising the contribution of Albertans of all faiths in building the mosque and the deep Muslim roots in the country that predate the Canadian Confederation in 1867.
In the end, they prevailed. Funds were raised and conservation authorities agreed that the mosque, as an historic place with heritage value, deserved a place in the history museum. In 1992, a renovated Al-Rashid, repaired to the meticulous standards prescribed for the heritage buildings and restored to its 1938 look with the original furnishings, opened to the public in Fort Edmonton Park amid tributes to the leadership of these remarkable women.
Today, the mosque is a living legacy for all Canadians. Instead of hewing to the old thinking, the Terrific Twelve transformational leaders challenged ingrained attitudes, discarded outdated assumptions and shifted the way local authorities see the collective heritage of all Canadians.
Preserving Al-Rashid was not a Muslim issue, they argued to the surprise of many Muslims. As a heritage building, it belonged to all Canadians and they shared the obligation to pass their collective heritage to the next generation, undiminished. Their call was heard. Prominent organisations like Fort Edmonton Foundation and the Alberta Historical Society committed funds, making it the only instance that a Muslim religious institution was wholly funded by Canadians with contributions from mainstream organisations.
Simple as this sounds, it was in fact a big leap in thinking and orientation. It made Muslims see themselves as an integral part of the broader society and made all Canadians aware that Canadian heritage is more than just the customs, traditions and artefacts of European sources.
###
* Daood Hamdani (hamdani@sympatico.ca) is a pioneer in the study of Muslim Canadians, faculty member of the Canadian Muslim Leadership Institute and author of The Al-Rashid: Canadas First Mosque 1938 and In the Footsteps of Canadian Muslim Women 1837-2007. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 10 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Fifty years after they burst onto the front line to help complete the construction of Canadas first mosque in 1938, Muslim women took over a floundering campaign to save it from demolition. They surprised many by not only preserving this irreplaceable piece of Canadian heritage but enshrining it in the history museum. Al-Rashid, once a bustling hub of community life, started drifting into disrepair after the congregation outgrew it and moved to a new Islamic centre in 1982. Numerous efforts to raise money and find a new location for the old structure failed. Al-Rashid was set for demolition in 1988. Out of options, the Muslim community could only hope for a miracle.
To many, including Canadians of other faiths, the loss of the countrys oldest mosque and a Canadian heritage building was unthinkable. Al-Rashid was more than a place of worship. It was also the story of the struggle, adjustment and integration of early Muslim settlers.
While the community braced itself for the inevitable, the Terrific Twelve, a group of twelve women who belonged to a relatively new and untested organisation, the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW), which was founded in 1982 to speak for Muslim women, defiantly dug in to save the mosque. Led by Lila Fahlman and Razia Jaffer, founder and president of CCMW respectively, these young, highly educated women of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds included second-generation Canadians and new immigrants, working moms, full-time homemakers and single professional women.
Their audacity to take on what had thwarted community leaders sparked a buzz. The media was taken by surprise by this strange twist because the Terrific Twelve did not fit the stereotype of Muslim women as subservient housewives. Within the Muslim community itself, there were sceptics. Doubts were raised about the ability of a womens organisation to lead the project. Some called the move nave, while others welcomed it.
Unfazed, the women pressed on. Their unyielding resolve won over many naysayers and inspired a dispirited Muslim community. They formed alliances with Canadian mainstream organisations interested in preserving old and unique buildings in order to draw upon their influence, and launched an educational campaign to calm the fears of those who viewed the admission of a mosque into a Canadian history museum as a foreign intrusion, emphasising the contribution of Albertans of all faiths in building the mosque and the deep Muslim roots in the country that predate the Canadian Confederation in 1867.
In the end, they prevailed. Funds were raised and conservation authorities agreed that the mosque, as an historic place with heritage value, deserved a place in the history museum. In 1992, a renovated Al-Rashid, repaired to the meticulous standards prescribed for the heritage buildings and restored to its 1938 look with the original furnishings, opened to the public in Fort Edmonton Park amid tributes to the leadership of these remarkable women.
Today, the mosque is a living legacy for all Canadians. Instead of hewing to the old thinking, the Terrific Twelve transformational leaders challenged ingrained attitudes, discarded outdated assumptions and shifted the way local authorities see the collective heritage of all Canadians.
Preserving Al-Rashid was not a Muslim issue, they argued to the surprise of many Muslims. As a heritage building, it belonged to all Canadians and they shared the obligation to pass their collective heritage to the next generation, undiminished. Their call was heard. Prominent organisations like Fort Edmonton Foundation and the Alberta Historical Society committed funds, making it the only instance that a Muslim religious institution was wholly funded by Canadians with contributions from mainstream organisations.
Simple as this sounds, it was in fact a big leap in thinking and orientation. It made Muslims see themselves as an integral part of the broader society and made all Canadians aware that Canadian heritage is more than just the customs, traditions and artefacts of European sources.
###
* Daood Hamdani (hamdani@sympatico.ca) is a pioneer in the study of Muslim Canadians, faculty member of the Canadian Muslim Leadership Institute and author of The Al-Rashid: Canadas First Mosque 1938 and In the Footsteps of Canadian Muslim Women 1837-2007. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 10 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Jakarta - In November 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially added Indonesias Saman Gayo, a sitting dance from the Gayo Lues district of Aceh, to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Urgent Need of Safeguarding. While other intangible Indonesian cultural traditions including batik textiles and wayang puppet theatre have already been recognised as part of the countrys cultural heritage, Saman Gayo is the first to carry the stipulation that parties to the matter consider implementing urgent measures to keep it alive.
As an Indonesian and a teacher of Acehnese dance, I am proud that Saman Gayo has been acknowledged by UNESCO. However, I am equally worried that instead of keeping this dance alive, Saman Gayos new status will unintentionally lead to its stagnation and decline if it becomes associated only with a specific historical time and place, rather than becoming a living tradition that can reach many groups of people.
Saman Gayo is performed by a group of men sitting in a tight row who execute various coordinated hand and upper-body movements accompanied by music. Saman Gayo is unique from other sitting dances as it is performed using the Gayo language and costumes instead of those of coastal Acehnese. In Indonesia, such dances often incorporate Islamic themes in their song lyrics.
UNESCO reasoned that Saman Gayo is in need of urgent safeguarding because of the declining number of leaders with knowledge of Saman Gayo, a dearth of skilled dancers and a lack of funds for performances all of which have resulted in the decreasing frequency of presentations of the dance.
The Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, spoke in support of the initiative in November, saying: We are worried that if [Saman Gayo] is not registered immediately, another nation may claim it as theirs [...] To prevent [this], the dance must be acknowledged, preserved and promoted. While Pangestu wants Saman Gayo to be recognised and protected, she also has an interest in Saman Gayo being recognised as distinctly Indonesian.
I question the idea that in order for an art form to remain a vital, living tradition, it must be limited to a single region or set of rules. Indeed, this very purism can lead to stagnation, decay and even the eventual extinction of cultural traditions.
Indeed, if we look at Saman Gayo in the wider context of Acehnese dance, we find two sitting dances from Aceh Saman Gayo and Ratoh Duek whose origins are only a few dozen kilometres apart, yet that have followed very different paths. Unlike Saman Gayo, the global success and popularity of Ratoh Duek, which is traditionally performed in Acehnese by women, is not dependent on any special international status, but by its popularity at the grassroots.
Since the 1960s, sitting dances including Saman Gayo, have been performed in large cities like Jakarta, Medan and Yogyakarta. However, Ratoh Duek has been the most popular and widely performed of these dances thanks to the support of dedicated Acehnese artists, schools, universities, NGOs and governments. But this popularity is due primarily to the dances appeal to youth groups, who have made it a popular extracurricular activity across the archipelago. Moreover, its popularity is not limited to Indonesia. Various international educational and cultural institutions have studied it, often travelling to Indonesia to learn from local teachers.
One of the keys to Ratoh Dueks popularity has been the dances openness to hybridisation. New costumes, songs and variations on movement have been incorporated to performances that reflect global values, along with a shift to mixed-gender dance troupes. Ratoh Duek expresses Islamic messages in its song lyrics, but its main appeal is its focus on harmony and teamwork. Indeed, Ratoh Duek has become so popular that it is now also performed by non-Muslims, a rarity in todays divided world.
Ratoh Duek has proved a uniting force. Before migrating outside of Aceh, it provided a common activity for people of different families, villages or social statuses to participate in together. Today, youth from different ethnic, gender, religious and national backgrounds sit side-by-side and perform the dance on stages around the world.
Those who worry that Saman Gayo is endangered and in need of urgent safeguarding should learn from Ratoh Duek, which has not only been preserved but has thrived, in large part by being open to change. If we truly want to ensure Saman Gayos vitality and survival, we must allow one of Indonesias great traditions to adapt.
###
* Marzuki Hasan is a lecturer at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts. He is also a singer, dancer and choreographer who has taught many Acehnese dances for over 50 years. Examples of Saman Gayo can be viewed here. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 10 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication
As an Indonesian and a teacher of Acehnese dance, I am proud that Saman Gayo has been acknowledged by UNESCO. However, I am equally worried that instead of keeping this dance alive, Saman Gayos new status will unintentionally lead to its stagnation and decline if it becomes associated only with a specific historical time and place, rather than becoming a living tradition that can reach many groups of people.
Saman Gayo is performed by a group of men sitting in a tight row who execute various coordinated hand and upper-body movements accompanied by music. Saman Gayo is unique from other sitting dances as it is performed using the Gayo language and costumes instead of those of coastal Acehnese. In Indonesia, such dances often incorporate Islamic themes in their song lyrics.
UNESCO reasoned that Saman Gayo is in need of urgent safeguarding because of the declining number of leaders with knowledge of Saman Gayo, a dearth of skilled dancers and a lack of funds for performances all of which have resulted in the decreasing frequency of presentations of the dance.
The Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Mari Elka Pangestu, spoke in support of the initiative in November, saying: We are worried that if [Saman Gayo] is not registered immediately, another nation may claim it as theirs [...] To prevent [this], the dance must be acknowledged, preserved and promoted. While Pangestu wants Saman Gayo to be recognised and protected, she also has an interest in Saman Gayo being recognised as distinctly Indonesian.
I question the idea that in order for an art form to remain a vital, living tradition, it must be limited to a single region or set of rules. Indeed, this very purism can lead to stagnation, decay and even the eventual extinction of cultural traditions.
Indeed, if we look at Saman Gayo in the wider context of Acehnese dance, we find two sitting dances from Aceh Saman Gayo and Ratoh Duek whose origins are only a few dozen kilometres apart, yet that have followed very different paths. Unlike Saman Gayo, the global success and popularity of Ratoh Duek, which is traditionally performed in Acehnese by women, is not dependent on any special international status, but by its popularity at the grassroots.
Since the 1960s, sitting dances including Saman Gayo, have been performed in large cities like Jakarta, Medan and Yogyakarta. However, Ratoh Duek has been the most popular and widely performed of these dances thanks to the support of dedicated Acehnese artists, schools, universities, NGOs and governments. But this popularity is due primarily to the dances appeal to youth groups, who have made it a popular extracurricular activity across the archipelago. Moreover, its popularity is not limited to Indonesia. Various international educational and cultural institutions have studied it, often travelling to Indonesia to learn from local teachers.
One of the keys to Ratoh Dueks popularity has been the dances openness to hybridisation. New costumes, songs and variations on movement have been incorporated to performances that reflect global values, along with a shift to mixed-gender dance troupes. Ratoh Duek expresses Islamic messages in its song lyrics, but its main appeal is its focus on harmony and teamwork. Indeed, Ratoh Duek has become so popular that it is now also performed by non-Muslims, a rarity in todays divided world.
Ratoh Duek has proved a uniting force. Before migrating outside of Aceh, it provided a common activity for people of different families, villages or social statuses to participate in together. Today, youth from different ethnic, gender, religious and national backgrounds sit side-by-side and perform the dance on stages around the world.
Those who worry that Saman Gayo is endangered and in need of urgent safeguarding should learn from Ratoh Duek, which has not only been preserved but has thrived, in large part by being open to change. If we truly want to ensure Saman Gayos vitality and survival, we must allow one of Indonesias great traditions to adapt.
###
* Marzuki Hasan is a lecturer at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts. He is also a singer, dancer and choreographer who has taught many Acehnese dances for over 50 years. Examples of Saman Gayo can be viewed here. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 10 January 2012, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication
Ramallah, West Bank - A Facebook page with nearly 2000 members has recently attracted the attention of the Palestinian public and media. Puzzled young women is becoming an important arena in the debate on womens rights in the Palestinian territories, a debate which previously lacked one essential element: dialogue with proponents of a more traditional role for women.
The page is run by a group of young Palestinian women who lobby and fight against injustice towards women and initiate dialogue with those who have differing views. Members use the page to ask legitimate questions about the situation of women within different communities. Topics range from early marriage, to violence against women, the right of inheritance and so-called honour killings. Many members claim that the institutions working in this sector have so far accomplished very little in addressing these important issues.
The founders of this Facebook group say their primary concern is the continued injustice against women within the Palestinian territories. They insist that the oppression of women is in direct contradiction with the Palestinian objective of ending Israeli occupation and attaining independence. The founders ask: how can we insist on our freedom as a people when we also insist on limiting the freedoms of certain groups in our society, namely women?
In the heated debate following the murder of Aya Baradiya a young woman from the southern West Bank who was reportedly killed by her uncle because he did not approve of the man she was in a relationship with a breakthrough in the long struggle for equal rights was achieved as young women rallied to discuss this atrocity on Facebook. The uproar was heightened by local and international media coverage of this horrible crime, resulting in an amendment of a law that had enabled lenient sentencing for men who kill a female relative. The amendment is significant, even if it is ignored in the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip, which severely restricts womens liberties and rights in Gaza.
Although changes in legislation are important, social traditions within the Palestinian territories too often stand in the way of progress. As such, education and dialogue are becoming much more crucial in challenging traditions and a conservative culture.
The sites administrators hold discussions, as well as online dialogue with journalists, religious clerics and key politicians, such as Hanan Ashrawi, the only female member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee. The group also welcomed remarks by the Palestinian television anchor Mohammad Abu Obaid, who criticised women for not putting up a strong enough fight for their rights.
Engaging opposing camps in these discussions broadens the horizon of the debate and allows those involved to tackle issues that concern both sides.
Many opponents of womens rights argue that some of the rights enjoyed by women in Western countries run counter to Islamic law and culture and that this could lead to social decadence. Some discussions revolve around the Westernisation of Arabic culture and the threat to age-old customs and traditions. They also worry that Western values could lead to severe familial challenges including high divorce rates, children born out of wedlock and the phenomenon of single mothers.
The subject of honour takes up a large share of the discussions. Many women argue that society applies a double standard when dealing with women. While it tolerates men having extra-marital relations, women who do so are considered disgraceful.
Although at times, the discourse still in an early stage of development lacks the sophistication found in similar discussion elsewhere, it reflects the profound need to begin to talk about these issues.
Those who manage the "Puzzled young women page often turn to religious men for support. But they are not the only ones. In a religiously conservative society, womens associations, such as the Palestinian Violence Against Women Forum, rely on Muslim imams to address violence against women and issues like inheritance rights in their Friday sermon. This is noteworthy because although this trend will not necessarily mobilise religious leaders to join the general struggle for womens liberation, it does demonstrate that there are resources within the religious community that may be utilised to ease womens plight.
Compared to some other Arab countries, Palestinian women are considered to fare better. The fact that there are women in influential public positions and women leaders in fields like education, management and politics confirms this idea. However, Palestinian women are still struggling for certain rights that women in Western countries take for granted.
Whatever the future holds for the struggle for Palestinian womens rights, it is clearly a dynamic and transformative process with the potential to spill over into politics and other areas of society, helping create a modern, strong and just state.
###
* Nida' Tuma is a freelance journalist who lives in Ramallah. She holds a B.A. degree in Media from Birzeit University. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 December 2011, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
The page is run by a group of young Palestinian women who lobby and fight against injustice towards women and initiate dialogue with those who have differing views. Members use the page to ask legitimate questions about the situation of women within different communities. Topics range from early marriage, to violence against women, the right of inheritance and so-called honour killings. Many members claim that the institutions working in this sector have so far accomplished very little in addressing these important issues.
The founders of this Facebook group say their primary concern is the continued injustice against women within the Palestinian territories. They insist that the oppression of women is in direct contradiction with the Palestinian objective of ending Israeli occupation and attaining independence. The founders ask: how can we insist on our freedom as a people when we also insist on limiting the freedoms of certain groups in our society, namely women?
In the heated debate following the murder of Aya Baradiya a young woman from the southern West Bank who was reportedly killed by her uncle because he did not approve of the man she was in a relationship with a breakthrough in the long struggle for equal rights was achieved as young women rallied to discuss this atrocity on Facebook. The uproar was heightened by local and international media coverage of this horrible crime, resulting in an amendment of a law that had enabled lenient sentencing for men who kill a female relative. The amendment is significant, even if it is ignored in the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip, which severely restricts womens liberties and rights in Gaza.
Although changes in legislation are important, social traditions within the Palestinian territories too often stand in the way of progress. As such, education and dialogue are becoming much more crucial in challenging traditions and a conservative culture.
The sites administrators hold discussions, as well as online dialogue with journalists, religious clerics and key politicians, such as Hanan Ashrawi, the only female member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Executive Committee. The group also welcomed remarks by the Palestinian television anchor Mohammad Abu Obaid, who criticised women for not putting up a strong enough fight for their rights.
Engaging opposing camps in these discussions broadens the horizon of the debate and allows those involved to tackle issues that concern both sides.
Many opponents of womens rights argue that some of the rights enjoyed by women in Western countries run counter to Islamic law and culture and that this could lead to social decadence. Some discussions revolve around the Westernisation of Arabic culture and the threat to age-old customs and traditions. They also worry that Western values could lead to severe familial challenges including high divorce rates, children born out of wedlock and the phenomenon of single mothers.
The subject of honour takes up a large share of the discussions. Many women argue that society applies a double standard when dealing with women. While it tolerates men having extra-marital relations, women who do so are considered disgraceful.
Although at times, the discourse still in an early stage of development lacks the sophistication found in similar discussion elsewhere, it reflects the profound need to begin to talk about these issues.
Those who manage the "Puzzled young women page often turn to religious men for support. But they are not the only ones. In a religiously conservative society, womens associations, such as the Palestinian Violence Against Women Forum, rely on Muslim imams to address violence against women and issues like inheritance rights in their Friday sermon. This is noteworthy because although this trend will not necessarily mobilise religious leaders to join the general struggle for womens liberation, it does demonstrate that there are resources within the religious community that may be utilised to ease womens plight.
Compared to some other Arab countries, Palestinian women are considered to fare better. The fact that there are women in influential public positions and women leaders in fields like education, management and politics confirms this idea. However, Palestinian women are still struggling for certain rights that women in Western countries take for granted.
Whatever the future holds for the struggle for Palestinian womens rights, it is clearly a dynamic and transformative process with the potential to spill over into politics and other areas of society, helping create a modern, strong and just state.
###
* Nida' Tuma is a freelance journalist who lives in Ramallah. She holds a B.A. degree in Media from Birzeit University. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 December 2011, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Boston, Massachusetts - Over the weekend, protestors gathered at Lowes Home Improvement stores, criticising the US retail chains recent decision to pull its advertisements from a show on the television station TLC, All-American Muslim. Lowes decision came following complaints by the Florida Family Association a conservative evangelical Christian group that aims to educate people on what they can do to defend, protect and promote traditional, biblical values that the show was propaganda. The group also said that [it] riskily hides the Islamic agendas clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.
All-American Muslim is a reality television show, portraying five Muslim Arab American families in Dearborn, Michigan. The purpose of the program is to provide viewers with a window into what life is like for Muslims of Arab descent living in the United States today. Because it shows real life situations, the show sometimes includes incidents of discrimination and how the families choose to handle it.
As a theology professor focusing on both Islam and Christianity, I am often asked to comment on faith-related issues. My investigation into the episodes and blogs about the show found these families engaged in planning weddings and getting married, facing the challenges of raising a family, recognising that being a dad means putting the welfare and needs of your children ahead of your own, coaching high school football and reflecting on motherhood as Gods greatest gift.
I personally found none of this to be offensive, dangerous or propagandistic. In fact, I was under the impression that this focus on the family was supposed to be the heart of traditional American liberties and values.
So what is the problem?
The problem seems to be ignorance about who Muslims are and what they believe. Despite efforts since 9/11 to educate the American public about Islam and Muslims, there remains a lack of accurate information and understanding that sadly often leads to deeply felt fear, hatred, prejudice, bigotry and ultimately, discrimination.
Remaining silent in the face of prejudice and hatred means becoming complicit with those forces. Just as we demand that Muslims speak out against those committing acts of terrorism and extremism in the name of Islam, so Christians must also speak out against those preaching hatred, bigotry and ignorance in the name of Christianity.
As an American, I believe that we have an obligation to uphold the responsibilities that come with the freedom of speech responsibility to ensure that our words are not used to harm others, whether physically or emotionally; responsibility to use our words to convey accurate information rather than to perpetuate negative stereotypes; and responsibility to use our words to build, rather than tear down, communities and each other.
As a Christian, particularly in light of the coming Christmas season, I want to use my free speech to clarify that Muslims and Christians believe in many of the same values the centrality of family, concern for social justice and the importance of faith in God. Although Muslims and Christians do not agree on whether Jesus is Gods Son, Muslims nevertheless hold Jesus in high esteem as one of Gods prophets and messengers who brought to humanity the gift of Gods revelation through the Gospels.
The Quran teaches that Jesus is a word from God (3:45) and a spirit from God (4:171), conceived and born of the Virgin Mary (3:47 and 19:16-23), who has been taught the Scripture and wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel by God (3:48). The Quran also reminds us that Jesus comes to heal him who was born blind and the leper, to raise the dead (3:49 and 5:110) and to confirm that which was before [him] of the Torah (3: 50). These teachings parallel much of what Christians believe about Jesus, offering us common ground as we enter into the Christmas season a season of hope, fellowship and, most of all, peace on earth.
Our common faith, whether Muslim or Christian, commands us to love God and each other. It is my prayer that more Christians and Muslims will use this latest incident to reach out to each other and recognise how much we share in common through the power of that love, rather than allowing fear to continue to divide and conquer us.
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* Dr. Natana J. DeLong-Bas is Editor-in-Chief of The [Oxford] Encyclopedia of Islam and Women and author of Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. She teaches comparative theology at Boston College. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 December 2011, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
All-American Muslim is a reality television show, portraying five Muslim Arab American families in Dearborn, Michigan. The purpose of the program is to provide viewers with a window into what life is like for Muslims of Arab descent living in the United States today. Because it shows real life situations, the show sometimes includes incidents of discrimination and how the families choose to handle it.
As a theology professor focusing on both Islam and Christianity, I am often asked to comment on faith-related issues. My investigation into the episodes and blogs about the show found these families engaged in planning weddings and getting married, facing the challenges of raising a family, recognising that being a dad means putting the welfare and needs of your children ahead of your own, coaching high school football and reflecting on motherhood as Gods greatest gift.
I personally found none of this to be offensive, dangerous or propagandistic. In fact, I was under the impression that this focus on the family was supposed to be the heart of traditional American liberties and values.
So what is the problem?
The problem seems to be ignorance about who Muslims are and what they believe. Despite efforts since 9/11 to educate the American public about Islam and Muslims, there remains a lack of accurate information and understanding that sadly often leads to deeply felt fear, hatred, prejudice, bigotry and ultimately, discrimination.
Remaining silent in the face of prejudice and hatred means becoming complicit with those forces. Just as we demand that Muslims speak out against those committing acts of terrorism and extremism in the name of Islam, so Christians must also speak out against those preaching hatred, bigotry and ignorance in the name of Christianity.
As an American, I believe that we have an obligation to uphold the responsibilities that come with the freedom of speech responsibility to ensure that our words are not used to harm others, whether physically or emotionally; responsibility to use our words to convey accurate information rather than to perpetuate negative stereotypes; and responsibility to use our words to build, rather than tear down, communities and each other.
As a Christian, particularly in light of the coming Christmas season, I want to use my free speech to clarify that Muslims and Christians believe in many of the same values the centrality of family, concern for social justice and the importance of faith in God. Although Muslims and Christians do not agree on whether Jesus is Gods Son, Muslims nevertheless hold Jesus in high esteem as one of Gods prophets and messengers who brought to humanity the gift of Gods revelation through the Gospels.
The Quran teaches that Jesus is a word from God (3:45) and a spirit from God (4:171), conceived and born of the Virgin Mary (3:47 and 19:16-23), who has been taught the Scripture and wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel by God (3:48). The Quran also reminds us that Jesus comes to heal him who was born blind and the leper, to raise the dead (3:49 and 5:110) and to confirm that which was before [him] of the Torah (3: 50). These teachings parallel much of what Christians believe about Jesus, offering us common ground as we enter into the Christmas season a season of hope, fellowship and, most of all, peace on earth.
Our common faith, whether Muslim or Christian, commands us to love God and each other. It is my prayer that more Christians and Muslims will use this latest incident to reach out to each other and recognise how much we share in common through the power of that love, rather than allowing fear to continue to divide and conquer us.
###
* Dr. Natana J. DeLong-Bas is Editor-in-Chief of The [Oxford] Encyclopedia of Islam and Women and author of Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad. She teaches comparative theology at Boston College. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 December 2011, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
Bringing the world to Tahrir
Dec 19
Cairo - At least 13 people have died since Friday in renewed clashes between protestors and security forces in Egypt, as protestors call for a faster return to civilian rule. In the face of this violence, ordinary Egyptians have found a way to help those in need even from outside the country.
In late November, a 22 year-old Egyptian graduate student named Ahmed had been watching the violence against peaceful protesters in Cairos Tahrir Square for two days with shock, and was growing more frustrated by the minute. He was in Dubai and felt too far away to help. But after talking to a friend, he had an idea. He launched a Twitter account.
From the world to Tahrir. While politics and borders divide, humanity unites us, he wrote. He had no idea that @tahrirsupplies would acquire so many followers in so little time. He had no idea that, with the help of other volunteers, he would create a model of nonviolent civic engagement that could inspire the world.
At one point, the Twitter reporting system told him that he was acquiring 200 followers a tweet. Soon the initiative had over 16,000 fans (or Tweeps) of whom many, helped by a Twitter account that double-checked and broadcast medical needs from the square during the clashes, donated time and money to deliver supplies to the square to treat the injured and save lives.
The Tahrir Supplies team were only some of the thousands of volunteers who helped during the November uprising. In the square itself, brave men and women, some there without their families knowledge, tended to the wounded, protected ambulance routes and took stock of available medicine. Beside the human chains that protected field hospitals, people handed out face masks and date biscuits. At the slightest hint of tear gas, volunteers were ready with a mixture of water and yeast, as well as eye drops and asthma inhalers.
It was from Mohammed Mahmoud, the frontline street to the east of the square, that most of the wounded were being ferried out by foot, motorbike and ambulance, some of whom had been shot or were unconscious from tear gas.
In the evenings, the uninterrupted sirens of ambulances threw a sense of urgency over the crowds chanting Down with the military regime! as smoke from small fires dispelled the tear gas lingering above. But in the face of heart-wrenching violence, resulting in over 40 dead and 3,000 wounded, there was also incredible community spirit. Violence continued, but by the fifth day the squares hospitals, which included a mosque and a church, were reportedly overstocked with medicine.
On Twitter, after 24 hours of manning the Tahrir Supplies account alone, Ahmed was joined by three new volunteers: two students in Cairo, Yara and Amira, and Azza, a Ph.D. candidate studying law in London. Delegating responsibilities and drawing up spreadsheets, they took turns answering enquiries and liaising with doctors. When eye injuries increased, as security forces were reportedly targeting protesters eyes, they launched an appeal for surgical equipment including a machine worth 120,000 Egyptian pounds (over 20,000 US dollars). Within five hours, says Ahmed, they had collected enough money for two machines.
When Amira headed down to her local pharmacy in New Cairo with donated money and a list of required medicine, the clerk behind the counter told her she had no medicine left because so many people had come before her. In several other parts of the city, pharmacists were reportedly giving 10 per cent discounts or even giving away medicine for free. In the street, she walked, humbled, past people she had never met holding up signs saying Tahrir Supplies at donation drop-off points.
At another drop-off point across the Nile, Mohammed, a 27 year-old engineer, spent a good part of the week running down the stairs from his office to his car to receive medicine and food from strangers, before driving the supplies to the field hospitals in the square. When he discovered that his car wouldnt start, no less than five Tweeps offered him and his supplies a ride.
At the end of November, Tahrir Supplies went quiet on Twitter for three weeks. Military rule remained, but Egypt held its first parliamentary elections since Mubarak. Mohamed launched EgyPatriots, together with over 35 friends and new Tweep aquaintances, to provide injured protesters with long term medical support. In Tahrir, a field hospital announced that it would be open to the general public every Friday, thanks to public donations.
But this Friday, violence broke out again. Amid live coverage of the clashes and shocking photos of women being beaten by soldiers, Tahrir Supplies was back in action. The only positive story on Friday night among the jaded volunteer doctors receiving the injured on the edge of Tahrir was that they were well stocked enough to barely have to call out for medicine.
At the time of writing, after clashes early on Tuesday morning, Tahrir Supplies, now 18,000 followers strong, was calling out for blood donations for an injured engineering student in hospital, and encouraging followers to learn first aid. One Tweep, a scuba diver, suggested asking scuba diving instructors to help.
This is just one more idea by one of many Egyptians to make a difference in a country that they now feel is their own.
###
* Alice Hackman is a freelance journalist in Cairo. You can follow @tahrirsupplies and @EgyPatriots on Twitter and Facebook. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 December 2011, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.
In late November, a 22 year-old Egyptian graduate student named Ahmed had been watching the violence against peaceful protesters in Cairos Tahrir Square for two days with shock, and was growing more frustrated by the minute. He was in Dubai and felt too far away to help. But after talking to a friend, he had an idea. He launched a Twitter account.
From the world to Tahrir. While politics and borders divide, humanity unites us, he wrote. He had no idea that @tahrirsupplies would acquire so many followers in so little time. He had no idea that, with the help of other volunteers, he would create a model of nonviolent civic engagement that could inspire the world.
At one point, the Twitter reporting system told him that he was acquiring 200 followers a tweet. Soon the initiative had over 16,000 fans (or Tweeps) of whom many, helped by a Twitter account that double-checked and broadcast medical needs from the square during the clashes, donated time and money to deliver supplies to the square to treat the injured and save lives.
The Tahrir Supplies team were only some of the thousands of volunteers who helped during the November uprising. In the square itself, brave men and women, some there without their families knowledge, tended to the wounded, protected ambulance routes and took stock of available medicine. Beside the human chains that protected field hospitals, people handed out face masks and date biscuits. At the slightest hint of tear gas, volunteers were ready with a mixture of water and yeast, as well as eye drops and asthma inhalers.
It was from Mohammed Mahmoud, the frontline street to the east of the square, that most of the wounded were being ferried out by foot, motorbike and ambulance, some of whom had been shot or were unconscious from tear gas.
In the evenings, the uninterrupted sirens of ambulances threw a sense of urgency over the crowds chanting Down with the military regime! as smoke from small fires dispelled the tear gas lingering above. But in the face of heart-wrenching violence, resulting in over 40 dead and 3,000 wounded, there was also incredible community spirit. Violence continued, but by the fifth day the squares hospitals, which included a mosque and a church, were reportedly overstocked with medicine.
On Twitter, after 24 hours of manning the Tahrir Supplies account alone, Ahmed was joined by three new volunteers: two students in Cairo, Yara and Amira, and Azza, a Ph.D. candidate studying law in London. Delegating responsibilities and drawing up spreadsheets, they took turns answering enquiries and liaising with doctors. When eye injuries increased, as security forces were reportedly targeting protesters eyes, they launched an appeal for surgical equipment including a machine worth 120,000 Egyptian pounds (over 20,000 US dollars). Within five hours, says Ahmed, they had collected enough money for two machines.
When Amira headed down to her local pharmacy in New Cairo with donated money and a list of required medicine, the clerk behind the counter told her she had no medicine left because so many people had come before her. In several other parts of the city, pharmacists were reportedly giving 10 per cent discounts or even giving away medicine for free. In the street, she walked, humbled, past people she had never met holding up signs saying Tahrir Supplies at donation drop-off points.
At another drop-off point across the Nile, Mohammed, a 27 year-old engineer, spent a good part of the week running down the stairs from his office to his car to receive medicine and food from strangers, before driving the supplies to the field hospitals in the square. When he discovered that his car wouldnt start, no less than five Tweeps offered him and his supplies a ride.
At the end of November, Tahrir Supplies went quiet on Twitter for three weeks. Military rule remained, but Egypt held its first parliamentary elections since Mubarak. Mohamed launched EgyPatriots, together with over 35 friends and new Tweep aquaintances, to provide injured protesters with long term medical support. In Tahrir, a field hospital announced that it would be open to the general public every Friday, thanks to public donations.
But this Friday, violence broke out again. Amid live coverage of the clashes and shocking photos of women being beaten by soldiers, Tahrir Supplies was back in action. The only positive story on Friday night among the jaded volunteer doctors receiving the injured on the edge of Tahrir was that they were well stocked enough to barely have to call out for medicine.
At the time of writing, after clashes early on Tuesday morning, Tahrir Supplies, now 18,000 followers strong, was calling out for blood donations for an injured engineering student in hospital, and encouraging followers to learn first aid. One Tweep, a scuba diver, suggested asking scuba diving instructors to help.
This is just one more idea by one of many Egyptians to make a difference in a country that they now feel is their own.
###
* Alice Hackman is a freelance journalist in Cairo. You can follow @tahrirsupplies and @EgyPatriots on Twitter and Facebook. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 December 2011, www.commongroundnews.org. Copyright permission is granted for publication.