Dear HumanDHS network friends
Please find below the Common Ground News Bulletin for 12-18 February 2008
Kind regards
Brian Ward
Common Ground News Service Partners in Humanity
for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
12 - 18 February 2008
The Common Ground News Service – Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue about Muslim–Western relations. CGNews-PiH is available in Arabic, English, French, Indonesian and Urdu.
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Inside this edition
1) Where freedom is relative by Diana Ferrero
In this fourth article in our series on freedom of expression, Diana Ferrero, a producer for Al Jazeera, discusses her documentary, They Call Me Muslim, which follows the narratives of an Iranian women who wishes she were not forced to wear a headscarf, and a French-women who wishes she could.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 12 February 2008)
2) Who speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed
John L. Esposito, a Georgetown University Professor and Dalia Mogahed a Gallup Senior Analyst give voice to 1.3 billion Muslims around the world – the “silenced majority” – in their new book Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 12 February 2008)
3) A new world peace initiative by Saboor Syed
Islamabad-based freelance journalist Saboor Syed considers the increasing militancy in the Muslim world, and the increasing propensity of media sources to refer to Islam as a religion of intolerance and violence. Syed looks at religious and historical examples of constructive religious plurality and calls for an international, inter-religious movement for a just peace.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 12 February 2008)
4) Shi’a meets Sunni in a Baghdad park by Bassim Al-Shara
In war-stricken Baghdad, Bassim Al-Shara, an IWPR contributor, finds a unique venue for peace and reconciliation. The famous Al-Zawra Park – a popular gathering point – provides respite from the tensions between the city’s Sunni and Shi’a residents.
(Source: IWPR, 17 January 2008)
5) US elections through Arab American eyes by Ghassan Rubeiz
Ghassan Rubeiz, a Lebanese-American Middle East analyst, examines the diverse political interests of Arab Americans in the presidential race for the White House.
(Source: Daily Star, 8 February 2007)
1)Where freedom is relative
Diana Ferrero
Tehran - As she opened the door and welcomed me into her home on a snowy morning in Tehran, “K.” (her name is withheld to protect her anonymity) – a 33-year-old mother – appeared to me as an unexpected epiphany. A brunette, speaking fluent English in a surprising American accent, she was wearing only skimpy shorts and a clingy tank top, showing her bare skin and her boyish haircut.
That day, K. talked to me on camera for three hours straight. She spoke freely, without hesitation, giving me the most outspoken, courageous and defiant interview I could ever hope for as a journalist in Iran.
“No, I am not afraid” she said at the end – while I was rolling my last tape. “These are my thoughts, and there is nothing I said that I cannot take the consequences for…. I am actually very happy I told you about myself.”
I only had two weeks in Iran. I travelled there alone with my Italian passport, hoping to shoot the second part of my first documentary, They Call Me Muslim, a project I undertook as a Fulbright fellow at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
But it’s tough to make a movie in Iran – especially for a woman. I had to wear a hijab, or Muslim headscarf, and remain inconspicuous as I gathered footage. Shooting scenes on the subway, on the street and at illegal late-night parties was risky, because the Iranian police patrol the streets and watch women closely to enforce the dress code.
The toughest part was in fact access: finding women who were willing to tell me their stories.
Before my departure, I had lined up several interviews through Iranian-American contacts in California. But when I got to Iran, my main source was too scared to participate in the project, so I started conducting private meetings with other women – lawyers, filmmakers, journalists, bloggers, photographers – and finally K., a woman who felt a documentary could move beyond stereotypes and give the Western world an accurate portrait of Iranian women.
But Iran was only half of the story.
They Call Me Muslim is a tale of two women struggling for their individual freedom – one who wants to wear the hijab, another who wants to take it off.
Samah, a French Muslim girl in Paris, feels naked without her hijab, but was banned from wearing it in the classroom. K., on the contrary, wouldn’t wear the hijab if she weren’t forced to do so by the regime.
I shot the film from December 2004 to January 2005. The idea for the project struck me about a year before when France enacted a controversial law banning religious symbols, including the hijab, in public schools. The law generated only minor interest in the United States but sparked a fiery debate in France. I started imagining the dilemma some Muslim girls were going through as they faced a dramatic choice between religious belief and education.
Having lived in Paris myself as a teenager, I was intrigued by what was going on in France. The law on religious symbols affected some 800 Muslim girls, and a few who refused to take off the hijab were even expelled from school. It seemed paradoxical that a country like France – one of the true models of democracy in the West and a country so deeply rooted in the revolutionary principles of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité – was expelling girls from public schools for exercising their Liberté on a personal matter. France seemed to be denying its people one of the basic principles and foundations of democracy.
Through this film, I wanted to explore freedom of choice in both cultures, East and West, though neither is of course monolithic. I wanted to give voice to a minority, fighting against discriminatory laws. In France, girls who wanted to wear the hijab were seen as rebels. But in Iran, the rebels were girls who dared to walk down the street wearing tiny, transparent and slippery headscarves. I wanted those women to speak for themselves. And the final message – if there is one – is the need for women to be free to choose, to find their own voices, and to dialogue with each other for a better understanding.
After seeing the film, both K. and Samah expressed respect for each other’s position. While Samah didn’t see Iran as a model for Islam because in her opinion women should not be forced to wear the hijab, K. felt French secularism – as a foundation of democracy – could be better appreciated if one lived in a country like Iran. In fact, she even hinted about the desire to move to France one day.
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* Diana Ferrero, a native of Rome, is a reporter and producer currently working in Washington, DC for Al Jazeera’s new English-language channel. This article is part of a series on freedom of expression written for the Common Ground News Service.
Source: Common Ground News Service, 12 February 2008, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
2)Who speaks for Islam?
John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed
Washington, DC - Extremists and terrorism have too often monopolised the media’s coverage and thus the message coming out of the Muslim world. But what do the vast majority of mainstream Muslims really believe, think, and feel? What are their hopes, fears, and resentments? Why is it that a robust anti-Americanism seems to pervade the Muslim world? Is it the sign of a clash of cultures – do they hate who we are? Or is it what we do? Rather than listening to extremists or simply relying on the opinions of individual pundits, why not give voice to the silenced majority?
We asked Muslims around the world what they really think and discovered that when we let the data lead the discourse, a number of insights are revealed. The most important finding from our research was this: conflict between Muslim and Western communities is far from inevitable. It is more about policy than principles. However, until and unless decision-makers listen directly to the people and gain an accurate understanding of this conflict, extremists on all sides will continue to gain ground.
Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think is based on six years of research and more than 50,000 interviews representing 1.3 billion Muslims who reside in more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have sizable Muslim populations. Representing more than 90% of the world’s Muslim community, this poll is the largest, most comprehensive study of its kind. The results defy conventional wisdom and the inevitability of a global conflict – even as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue.
The study revealed some surprising findings. It showed that Muslims and Americans are equally likely to reject attacks on civilians as morally unjustifiable. Those who do choose violence and extremism are driven by politics, not poverty or piety. In fact, of the 7 percent of responders who did believe 9/11 was justified, none of them hated our freedom; they want our freedom. However, they believe that America, and the West in general, operate with a double standard and stand in the way of Muslims determining their own future.
We are constantly bombarded with images of angry Muslim teens partaking in violent demonstrations or being trained in Al Qaeda camps. This study showed, however, that the vast majority of young Muslims aren’t dreaming of going to war; they are dreaming of finding work. Similarly, when asked about their hopes for the future, Muslims of all ages said they want better jobs and security, not conflict and violence.
The findings also revealed that Muslims across the world want neither secularism nor theocracy. They want freedom, rights and democratisation. At the same time, however, they claim that society should be built upon religious Islamic values and that the shari’a (Islamic law) should be a source of law. Simply put, the majority of Muslim women and men want rights and religion, and they don’t see the two as being mutually exclusive.
The West will be pleased to learn that nine out of ten Muslims are moderates – good news for those optimistic about co-existence. Muslims say the most important thing Westerners can do to improve relations with their societies is to change their negative views toward Muslims, respect Islam and re-evaluate foreign policies.
The unfortunate news is that there is a large number of politically radicalised Muslims (the 7 percent previously mentioned, which translates to approximately 91 million individuals) that could be pushed to support or perpetrate violence against civilians. Challenges for the West will only grow as long as these Muslims continue to feel politically dominated and disregarded.
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* John L. Esposito is a Georgetown University Professor and Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Dalia Mogahed is a Gallup Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. This article is written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and was first printed in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
Source: Common Ground News Service, 12 February 2008, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
3)A new world peace initiative
Saboor Syed
Islamabad - Worldwide attention has for some time now been focused on media sources that paint Islam as an ideology that causes unrest, turmoil and mayhem in the world at present.
Religious plurality in this world is willed by God, as is stated in the Qur’an. It equates the unlawful killing of a person – Muslim or non-Muslim – with the killing of all of humanity. The Qur’an also clearly calls for reconciliation during times of conflict. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) extended the greeting of peace to all without distinction, his actions serving as an example to Muslims.
In Islam, war is permitted for Muslims only as a last resort and only under three conditions: in self-defence, for the removal of a tyrannical force or against those who breach a pact or agreement.
Even after engaging in war with non-Muslims, Muslims must never prevent them from practicing their religion. British historian and Middle East expert Karen Armstrong acknowledges that after conquering Jerusalem in 637 AD, Caliph Omar declined the offer to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by the Archbishop of Jerusalem, fearing it might prompt Muslims to commemorate the event by erecting a mosque at the site of the church at some later date.
In his book, More in Common Than You Think, Dr. William Baker explains that when the Jews were being persecuted in Europe during the Middle Ages, they found peace, harmony, and acceptance among the Muslim people of Spain. In fact, Jews themselves refer to this era of Jewish history as the “Golden Age”.
If these examples illustrate Islam’s principal position on war and violence, why then is the Muslim world currently presenting a different image, leading many in the West to think that violence and terrorism are the hallmarks of Islam?
The issue of Muslims engaged in militancy must be viewed in context, and not in isolation. Palestinians have been denied their right to an independent state notwithstanding the existence of several UN resolutions in this regard. Similarly, UN Security Council resolutions giving Kashmiris the right to self-determination remain unimplemented. In many cases, Muslims – be they Palestinians, Kashmiris, Afghans, or Iraqis – believe they are fighting in self-defence and to regain the usurped right of independence and freedom.
Thus, it needs to be reiterated that peace never exists in vacuum – it is in fact the ultimate outcome of justice. Where there is injustice, there is bound to be violence and terrorism. Hence, unless injustice is rooted out, there can be no real peace in the world.
We must launch an international movement to arrest the menace of violence and turmoil in the world today. Based on the principal of “no peace without justice”, the movement must stand for those who are oppressed and victimised, no matter politically or otherwise, without any heed to their faith, colour and creed.
Commanding huge respect from their followers, top religious voices – such as clergy and scholars – must come forward to shape and lead this movement by establishing a regional and international network. Taking the lead from synchronised international protest demonstrations against war and violence, this peace movement should make a principal decision to oppose war and bloodletting in every case and organise mass protests in case of any such eventuality.
One can safely claim that such a movement is bound to elicit a positive response from the adherents of different religions who can emerge as strong pressure groups to force their respective governments to avoid indulging in violence or supporting an unjust war anywhere in the world.
Since Islam is routinely blamed for the present spate of violence in the media, the onus is on its worldwide acclaimed and respected voices to come forward and take the lead in organising this movement. With all religious voices speaking out as one, this movement can act as a shield against those forces working toward violence and confrontation.
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* Saboor Syed is an Islamabad-based freelance journalist who has worked with several different developmental and advocacy organisations. This article is written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: Common Ground News Service, 12 February 2008, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
4)Shi’a meets Sunni in a Baghdad park
Bassim Al-Shara
Baghdad - Mohammed Omar Ali sits on a bench under a tree in Al-Zawra Park, looking around impatiently for any sign of his friend. Ali, 31, has not seen Ayad Murtadha for almost a year since he and his family, who are Shi’a Muslims, were forced to leave the Baghdad neighbourhood where the two friends grew up together.
Murtadha, 32, is Sunni, but sectarianism has not affected his friendship with Ali. When the men finally reunite with tears, hugs and non-stop conversation, it is clear that the capital’s sectarian battles have failed to break the bond.
According to the United Nations refugee agency UNCHR, more than 700,000 Iraqis have been displaced by sectarian violence since 2006. Many of the capital’s once mixed areas have become either purely Sunni or purely Shi’a after militias forced families out for belonging to the other religious branch of Islam.
Improved security in Baghdad has enabled Sunni and Shi’a friends to once again spend time together in safety. However, many are still reluctant to visit particular neighbourhoods where one sect dominates and are instead choosing to meet in Al-Zawra Park.
“These get-togethers are the only thing that makes us optimistic about the future,” said Murtadha.
Al-Zawra is a famous 10 square-kilometer park located near Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone. The park’s centralised location and the tight security in the area have made this a popular gathering point for Baghdad residents of all sects and ethnicities.
Lines of people waiting to enter the park stretch for hundreds of metres at weekends. Park officials say the number of visitors has soared from just a few thousand per month in early 2006 when violence was on the rise in the capital, to over 1.5 million in December 2007 when Iraq was celebrating the major holiday Eid al-Adha.
“The park is so well protected that it’s very hard for militias or terrorists to infiltrate it,” said the official.
Cars must pass through several checkpoints on the approaches to the park, and all visitors are searched before they enter.
Mohammad Sad, 27, a university student from the Sunni-dominated Al-Adhamiyah neighbourhood, said the park is the only place where people do not have to fear the militias based in other Baghdad neighbourhoods.
Sad frequently meets up with Shi’a friends in the park.
“When you enter Al-Zawra Park, you have a special feeling,” he said. “You feel like you are no longer in Baghdad because it is so mixed with people from different sects.”
Sad said he took a position against Shi’a Muslims after he heard that the Mahdi Army – the powerful militia of the firebrand Shi’a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr – was killing Sunnis.
“Sometimes I even hated my Shi’a friends,” he said. “But when I thought about my childhood and my memories with them, I realised that they had nothing to do with what was happening.”
For sociologist Ahmad Dhiya, these reunions are a positive sign that the country will survive sectarianism.
“Young people in Baghdad need a life without violence, and they’re tired of the sectarianism that the various armed groups propagate,” he said.
Dhiya said the park provides an important social outlet for Iraqis and believes it is helping to repair rifts among the capital’s fractured population.
Some Baghdad residents interviewed by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) acknowledged that the sectarian violence has tainted relationships between Sunni and Shi’a.
Raid Jafar, a 30 year-old Shi’a from the Baya neighbourhood, said that although he is happy to meet his Sunni friends in the park, he admitted that he does not trust Sunnis as much he did in the past.
Jafar said his feelings towards his Sunni friends changed after his brother was killed by Al-Qaeda militants in a neighbourhood called Al-Sayidiyah.
“I was so angry that I thought seriously about killing any Sunni in revenge,” he said.
He now tries to avoid talking about politics or his brother’s death with his Sunni friends, instead concentrating on personal issues, gossip and work.
Still, Jafar said that he hopes that sectarian rifts will heal and that “what is left of the relations between the two sects will be protected.”
Others have similar hopes.
“There is a small bright light coming out from the darkness in Iraq,” said Sad. “It is slowly getting bigger and brighter.”
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* Bassim Al-Shara is an IWPR contributor in Baghdad. This article originally appeared in the Iraqi Crisis Report, produced by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. www.iwpr.net. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: IWPR, 17 January 2008, www.iwpr.net.
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
5)US elections through Arab American eyes
Ghassan Rubeiz
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida - There are about 3.5 million Arab Americans. According to a 2007 Zogby poll, 61 percent of Arab American voters mention Iraq as the leading issue in the election, and 66 percent also rank “Palestine” as very high on their list of concerns.
In the past, Arab Americans – especially the more affluent – voted Republican. Currently, however, the same poll 62 percent of Arab Americans vote Democratic and 25 percent vote Republican.
In the vote on Super Tuesday, 5 February, Democrats confirmed two liberal presidential candidates as the front-runner nominees: Hilary Clinton with 1045 delegates (out of the 2025 required for winning the nomination) and Barack Obama with 960 delegates. Ron Paul, the only “dovish” Republican candidate that Arabs tend to support, is likely to soon vanish from the race.
A few days before Super Tuesday, the Arabs took an electronic straw poll, sponsored by Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera viewers – who are for the most part Arabs or interested in Arab affairs – were asked to vote electronically for their choice for US president. A majority of Arabs, 61 percent, voted for Obama; Ron Paul came in at a distant second, with 10 percent.
“Arab Americans should be greatly encouraged by last Tuesday’s Democratic primary results,” says Abdeen Jabara, a civil rights attorney and the former President of Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee. Jabara continues, “Senator Obama’s … message of change is resonating with large segments of an American public, of which Arab Americans are a part, who are deeply unsatisfied by the status quo and the business-as-usual prescriptions for America’s foreign and domestic policy ills. This was a truly historic day and Arab Americans can be proud of the part they played in it.”
Maysoon Haddad, an Iraqi American, is fascinated by Super Tuesday. She represents many Arab Americans and many people living abroad who are impressed with Americans’ respect for the rule of law in electing politicians: “As an American originally from Iraq, I watch Super Tuesday, admire the system, appreciate real democracy and hope to see the same thing happening in Iraq.”
Haddad holds a Republican point of view on the continued US military presence in her home country, Iraq: “I’m looking for a president who supports the war wholeheartedly; a president who doesn’t want to rapidly decrease the United States presence in Iraq. A quick troop withdrawal is asking for trouble.”
The Arab American community of Dearborn, Michigan, is 300,000 strong and diverse in ethnicity and its views on politics. M. Kay Siblani, the Executive Director of Dearborn Weekly: The Arab American News, supports Obama as the candidate who will overhaul American politics. Siblani says, “Super Tuesday proved that Arab Americans and American Muslims must forge ties with African American voters. They must all work harder together to get Barack Obama elected.”
In Washington, Subhi Ghandour runs a centre for political and cultural dialogue. His electronic newsletter, Alhewar, is well respected and has a wide circulation among Arab intellectuals. In a conversation with him about the US elections, he explained that Arabs do not have a better choice than Obama “in dealing with the Arab-Israeli peace process, ending the Iraq occupation with diplomacy and opening channels of dialogue with Iran and Syria.”
Obama, as a community organiser, appreciates the power of listening and respect of the adversary. He realises that the Syrian and Iranian regimes are challenging, but he knows that they have real issues worth negotiating. Ghandour added that Obama cannot be expected to see the entire world through a Palestine lens, and that “Arab Americans must chose among the existing candidates, even if there is no ideal custom-made candidate to fully suit Arab requirements.”
Obama is a reliable defender of Israel, but he believes that the longer Israel delays a final resolution of the conflict the less secure it will become. Similarly, he knows that the Palestinians can only win their struggle by concentrating on a strategy of non-violence and civil empowerment.
Arab sentiments on Obama are not at all uniform, especially among Palestinians. The Electronic Intifada, a Palestinian activist website, angrily criticised the senator from Illinois, who “offered not a single word of criticism of Israel, of its relentless settlement and wall construction, of the closures that make life unliveable for millions of Palestinians.”
On Super Tuesday, the midpoint in the race, Obama came close to matching Clinton’s popularity, and has since become the front-runner following the next set of primaries. Many of his supporters believe that he will continue to gain momentum over the next few months and be chosen as the Democratic candidate to face McCain, the likely Republican nominee.
Obama’s Arab American supporters see that a man with such a diverse international, interfaith, and inter-racial background is bound to make America more inclusive – both domestically and globally. He is a Christian American with the gift of respect and appreciation for Islam. He is a US leader and a citizen of the global village.
For Arab Americans, the 2008 presidential election offers a strategic opportunity to tie America with the Arab world not through war and fear of terror, but through ideas and aspirations.
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* Dr. Ghassan Rubeiz ( grubeiz@comcast.net ) is a Lebanese-American Middle East analyst. He was previously the Secretary of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches for the Middle East. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: Daily Star, 8 February 2007, www.dailystar.com.lb
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
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The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) provides news, op-eds, features and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of issues affecting Muslim-Western relations. CGNews-PiH syndicates articles that are constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, to news outlets worldwide. With support from the British, Norwegian, Swedish and US Governments, the United States Institute of Peace, the National Endowment for Democracy and private donors, the service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international NGO working in the fields of conflict transformation and media production.
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