Common Ground News Bulletin for 20-26 May 2008
Common Ground News Service
Partners in Humanity for constructive & vibrant Muslim-Western relations
20 - 26 May 2008
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Inside this edition
1) Dark clouds and silver linings in Lebanon by Abbas Barzegar
Abbas Barzegar, a Ph.D. candidate studying the history of religion at Emory University, considers whether there are any silver linings to the recent violence in Lebanon, and identifies ways for all involved players to take advantage of these opportunities.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 May 2008)
2) Turkey’s turning point by Christina Bache Fidan
Turkey’s “emerging generation of leaders” must be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to handle the country’s domestic and foreign affairs in coming years. Christina Bache Fidan, program coordinator for the Turkey-US Public Policy Initiative at the Istanbul Policy Center, outlines the strategies necessary for this transition in power.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 May 2008)
3) Historical accidents and collective learning in Iran by Ahmad Sadri
Professor of sociology and James P. Gorter Chair of Islamic World Studies at Lake Forest College, Ahmad Sadri, examines the historical and cultural reasons why US military action in Iran could set back the clock to the late 1970s and prevent the country from implementing internal reform.
(Source: Common Ground News Service, 20 May 2008)
4) Lebanon challenges the status quo… by Hazem Saghieh
In the wake of recent fighting in Lebanon, Hazem Saghieh, a political commentator at the London-based paper Al-Hayat, explains why the Lebanese people keep challenging the status quo, concurrently defying a one-party system, an absolute truth imposed through official ideologies and rule by force.
(Source: Al-Hayat, 13 May 2008)
5) A surprising interfaith youth meeting by Dilara Hafiz
Dilara Hafiz, an author and interfaith activist, describes a monthly session of the Arizona Interfaith Youth Movement and its implications in the broader context of America’s religious communities.
(Source: altmuslim.com, 2 May 2008)
1) Dark clouds and silver linings in Lebanon
Abbas Barzegar
Atlanta, Georgia - Some say that politics is warfare by other means. Lebanon has been trying to avoid such a reality, but the recent outbreak of violence seems to have confirmed its worst fears. Hopefully, as the dust settles, the shops re-open and the Beirut shoreline once again greets her mountains, Lebanon’s political leaders and their international patrons will take a moment to reflect on the lessons and losses of the latest fiasco.
While many are convinced that this round of conflict will domino into a full-fledged civil war, even in the haze of gunfire Lebanese leaders have shown restraint at the brink of an abyss. That all parties have deferred to the army, choosing cease-fire over chaos, is in itself cause for optimism.
Last week’s violence only proved to the country’s politicians what they already knew. Hizbullah and the opposition are overwhelmingly strong, and the government is a sitting duck, exists only in name, and has no command over the state structure. Most importantly, the army is the only party in Lebanon that can broker a way out of the stalemate.
In fact, the endorsement of General Michel Suleiman as the consensus president in December was a premonition of things to come. At that juncture, the pro-government camp and the opposition forces effectively capitulated, handing the stalemate over the presidency to the army. Through last week’s violence, Suleiman and his military forces are now the only standing entity in the country with the confidence of all national and international actors.
While some see the army’s involvement as a sign of Lebanon’s fragility, they fail to recognise the political opportunity it provides. Since Rafik Harriri’s assassination in 2005 and through the 2006 Israeli aggression and 2007 Fatah al-Islam campaign, the army has proved the most credible and stable state structure in Lebanon. As a result, it is being guaranteed support by the United States at the same time Hizbullah has decided to trust the army with the current crisis. It is indeed a rare moment when US President George W. Bush and Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah both look to the same entity for conflict mediation.
The army’s challenge now is to deal with the country’s most complex problem – the status of Hizbullah. That the “Party of God” has accepted the army’s intervention into the issue of its telecommunications infrastructure should not be underestimated. Nasrallah’s trust of the army with a part of its “defence system” could be the first stage in the long road of reconciling its overall military status into a more normalised political one.
What is most needed now is breathing room, something international meddlers need to understand. While the Iranian president’s claim that it is not interfering in the country will rank as one of his more “memorable” comments, the extent to which Lebanon has become a proxy war between Washington and Tehran is only now being fully realised.
The USS Cole is returning to Lebanon’s waters even as Secure Plus, the American-trained private security firm that is loyal to the ruling government, was routed on the street last week in West Beirut. Such manoeuvring should prove that 21st century global political challenges will not be resolved by 19th century war tactics. Instead, pragmatism, prudence and self-restraint will offer the way out.
The fact that the Arab League’s mediation delegation managed to return things to the way they were ten days ago can be qualified as a short-term success. One hopes that Tehran and Washington will nurture this accomplishment by simply staying quiet. This would allow Lebanese political leaders to tone down the vitriolic rhetoric and walk away from the standoff without giving the impression of having lost.
Like their constituents, they do not want war, but a way out. Their immediate de-escalation of last week’s outburst and deferment to the National Army attest to that.
When I left the United States last summer to visit Lebanon’s strangled capital, most pundits were convinced, as they are today, of a pending civil war. But in Beirut, the Hizbullah guard at downtown’s “tent city” offered only a reluctant and ambiguous sigh to the notion, expressing a weariness shared by American University of Beirut students I spoke with in the posh district of Hamra. Tension, yes. Anger, yes. Desire for more? Not an ounce.
Even in the midst of the latest violence, one can see that Lebanese political leaders reflect their constituents’ reluctance and restraint. It is on this that Lebanon – and the rest of us – can place confidence that the endgame is near.
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* Abbas Barzegar is a Ph.D. candidate at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. His research concerns early Sunni-Shi’ite divisions, contemporary Islamic politics and Islam in western countries. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: Common Ground News Service, 20 May 2008, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
2) Turkey’s turning point
Christina Bache Fidan
Istanbul, Turkey - Turkey’s emerging generation of leaders finds itself tasked with a complicated and challenging set of both domestic and foreign policy issues to address in the coming years. Facing this imminent responsibility, many young people remain cynical about the events unfolding around them. The Court Case against the ruling Justice and Development Party and the recent police reactions to the 1 May Labour Day protests have further undermined the environment for various interest groups to find common ground.
Turkish society finds itself at a crossroads with the vision of a homogenous nation challenged by various social elements, particularly among minority communities that are calling for greater cultural freedom and economic development.
An atmosphere of distrust and despair remains among the poor who feel isolated from the protection of the nation-state. Rural regions in Turkey are highly underdeveloped compared with urban areas, with poverty rates twice as high. The slow pace of sustainable development reinforces the social and economic exclusion of a significant portion of Turkish citizens – namely ethnic Kurds who live in the southeast.
Over the last few decades, Turkey has experienced a significant internal migration from rural to urban areas, which has offset Turkey’s progress, posed challenges for integration and put pressure on the four largest metropolitan areas – Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Bursa.
At present, Turkey possesses a limited number of avenues that allow a broad spectrum of young people to participate in foreign and domestic policy discussions. Institutes of higher learning and civil society organisations can help fill this gap by supporting already established initiatives such as the Ari Movement, Youth for Habitat, and the Youth Services Center. In the United States, there is a long-standing tradition to invest in programmes and centres to inform, train and further educate students beyond the classroom.
As a starting point, institutions of higher education should establish a comprehensive strategy to strengthen the sense of citizenry, governance, leadership, and social responsibility among youth by offering:
1) training on conflict resolution and social responsibility;
2) leadership, cooperative advocacy and cross-cultural communication workshops; and
3) simulations focusing on group decision making and problem-solving skills.
To broaden understanding of the principles and institutions of a participatory democracy, civil society organisations and educational institutions should:
1) arrange meetings with representatives from various branches and levels of government;
2) promote the role of young people in a democratic society with representatives from political parties and youth-oriented NGOs;
3) promote interactions with civic and community organisations; and
4) join in an exchange of views on the role of faith, identity and culture in society.
In order to foster better communication and understanding among Turkish youth, as well as between Turkish and foreign counterparts, it is essential to:
1) put forth significant funds to support youth designed programs;
2) design and conduct team-building exercises to increase intra-group trust and mutual understanding;
3) recruit and train emerging leaders in dialogue; and
4) support already-established networks.
Policy debates remain polarised and unproductive, leaving the emerging generation of leaders little room to witness the constructive process of debate and compromise. Although the 2006 Progress Report of the European Commission highlighted positive developments growing out of the recent reform environment, saying that “civil society organisations have become relatively more vocal and better organised, especially since the adoption of the new “Law on Associations”, more still needs to be done to promote a strong sense of citizenry, governance, leadership, and social responsibility in Turkey.
As Ian Lesser, Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States noted, “a reinvigorated strategic relationship is possible, but it is likely to have quite different contours, with new forms of engagement – and more realistic expectations.” People-to-people interactions – particularly among civil society – can reinvigorate Turkey-US relations, which were largely damaged after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
In order to build a healthier relationship between Turkey and the United States, strides need to be made to equip emerging Turkish leaders with the skills and knowledge required to engage in constructive dialogue with diverse domestic and international stakeholders.
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* Christina Bache Fidan is the programme coordinator for the Turkey-US Public Policy Initiative and the Germany Meets Turkey Program at the Istanbul Policy Center. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: Common Ground News Service, 20 May 2008, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
3) Historical accidents and collective learning in Iran
Ahmad Sadri
Lake Forest, Illinois - “Why, oh, why me?” is a common theme of Persian poetry, and complaining about the disfavour of the stars is a general Iranian art form. There is no dearth of evidence in Iranian history for this attitude. King Xerxes was probably the first to complain about his Persian luck when a tempest sank his armada off the coast of Magnesia in the 5th century BC.
Fortuna was looking the other way 1,100 years later when the Persian Empire lost a decisive battle against Muslim Arabs with a tough wind on their back. And appearing to help Iran’s enemies with hurricanes and sand storms, the heavens seem unforgiving of the slightest Iranian ineptitude. All it took was one lapse from a careless Shah and the Mongol steamroller stopped its westward march to turn South, literally flattening Iran’s thriving 13th century civilisation.
And it’s even more unfair when Iranian leaders act correctly only to be tricked by the law of unintended consequences. About 30 years ago, Iran’s first post-revolutionary prime minister, Mehdi Bazargan, obtained the blessings of Ayatollah Khomeini for a fairly secular and democratic constitution.
But Bazargan, the inveterate liberal optimist, could not leave well enough alone. He insisted on ratification of the constitution by a democratically elected Assembly of Experts. To Bazargan’s dismay, a loud right-wing cabal took over that elected body and transformed the democratic constitution into a blueprint for a semi-theocratic system.
The troubled history of the Islamic Republic is largely due to its flawed constitution, which privileges unelected theocrats over democratically elected leaders. The scion of genuine democratic sentiments, Iran’s undemocratic constitution, is evidence of the importance of historical accidents in Iranian history.
For all their complaining, Iranians are also good at seizing the moment on rare occasions when their stars do line up. It is well known that the political idealism of Ayatollah Khomeini was the reason Iranians continued to fight against Iraq years after it was clear that they could not prevail.
Khomeini inveighed against negotiating with the “world arrogance” odiously represented by Saddam. It was a brilliant stroke of good luck that Khomeini did not die in the middle of the ten-year war in the 1980s. The charismatic leader lived just long enough to drain “the chalice of poison” (his poetic allusion to accepting the UNSC 598 Resolution) that ended the hostilities in August 1988.
By quaffing that cup, Ayatollah Khomeini became the universal symbol for the triumph of realpolitik over the “ethics of ultimate ends”. Iranians had made the best of their good fortune that came in the guise of capitulation and defeat.
In the summer of 1988, it became suddenly clear that theocracy was an optical illusion; that Iranians (not cosmic misfortune or invisible foreign hands) were the authors of their own woes. It was Ayatollah Khomeini’s turnabout that put the reformist cadre elite of the revolution on the path of disestablishment, democracy, and normalisation of Iran’s international stance.
What Iranians learned about the inadvisability of mixing religion and politics at the conclusion of the Iran-Iraq War could never have been taught by preaching secularism to dissident groups in clandestine workshops. Nor could it have come out of the barrel of invading armies of liberation. Of course the current frame of the Islamic Republic, like any empowered political system, is obdurately resistant to reform. But the fact remains that the post-war period in Iran has been a time of sobriety and intense collective learning.
The current penchant of Iranians for democracy is the result of their matriculation in the school of hard and very expensive knocks.
The key now is to stop supporting the Iranian right wing’s vision of the world where external enemies lurk behind all of Iran’s problems. Those supporting any future military intervention by the United States must realise that foreign bombs will not only destroy suspected nuclear sites and kill Iranians but also anger all of Iran. The day streaking missiles and invisible bombers crowd the Persian sky might also be used as an excuse to crush the reform movement. But the main danger of a massive military strike is that it will wipe out the dialectic of Iran’s indigenous collective learning and set the clock back to the fearful and pessimistic mindset of the late 1970s.
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* Ahmad Sadri is professor of sociology and James P. Gorter Chair of Islamic World Studies at Lake Forest College in Chicago, Illinois. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: Common Ground News Service, 20 May 2008, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
4) Lebanon challenges the status quo…
Hazem Saghieh
London - “But it spins,” said Galileo Galilei in reference to earth, contrary to the belief of the Inquisition that the sun revolved around the earth. Galileo uttered those words with the penalties of death or life imprisonment looming ahead.
Early in Italy’s 17th century, that statement was true. And it still is in the early years of the 21st century in Lebanon. It spins even if some authority, an authority that lacks neither force nor prowess, says otherwise. It spins even when certain wrongs are forcibly made sacrosanct.
It spins in the sense that Lebanon cannot be ruled by one group or one ideology. With its 18 confessions and subcultures, Lebanon cannot tolerate an absolute truth imposed in the fashion of official ideologies. It spins in the sense that this Lebanon is strong, not by the resistance and its force, but with its model deemed more pluralist than its neighbours’, with its press, parties, ideas, books and trade unions. It spins in the sense that Beirut, the city of languages, cultures, universities, hospitals, banks, hotels, and nightclubs, defies one-party rule or a single “national front”. It spins in the sense that the airport and the port are two concepts rather than two locations.
It spins in the sense that this Beirut, a platform for Arabs, the Mediterranean, and the whole world, is rich in the diverse races and mixed identities it groups. It spins in the sense that Beirutis, and hence all Lebanese, are far more complicated than is thought at first sight. They defy any attempt to coin a specific binding definition. A song there is far dearer than an anthem, and the word is far stronger than the gun. Every one of the communities there demands respect and attention from the others. Otherwise, they will be all swept by a destructive red-hot hatred.
It spins in the sense that ignoring Lebanon’s complexities and believing that the country can be taken by force will take all parties to annihilation. It spins in the sense that eliminating the moderates in one confession only allows the more radical and suicidal elements to thrive. It spins in the sense that Lebanon’s strength lies in its weakness and its weakness in its strength.
It spins in the sense that no matter how new things may seem to be, they cannot make a new start nor end whatever preceded them. For the wisdom and experience of previous generations can never be forgotten. It spins in the sense that every revolutionary novelty in our world soon reveals what turns out to be older than that which it accuses of oldness. It spins in the sense that every revolutionary novelty that rules by force eventually collapses or loses the passion that once made it seem so new.
It spins in the sense that the values of modernity will prevail in the end, and if they do not, then the level of decadence will rise to drown all of us, one by one, and one community after the other. It spins in the sense that the world is made of states and boundaries; that politics rules within states, and international law serves as the referee amongst them even if this truth was difficult to see or was delayed. It spins in the sense that any state that was not meant to rise or may never rise has the jungle as its only alternative.
It spins, in Lebanon and elsewhere, in the sense that accomplishment is not violence and that violence is often a phoney compensation for the failure to accomplish. And indeed, it spins….
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* Hazem Saghieh is senior commentator for the London-based Arabic paper Al-Hayat. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: Al-Hayat, 13 May 2008, english.daralhayat.com
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
5) A surprising interfaith youth meeting
Dilara Hafiz
Phoenix, Arizona - Eighteen teenagers jot down on colourful Post-It notes their one-word impressions of the eight religions listed on the poster boards in front of them. Some show no reservations as they work their way quickly down the list, while others hesitate to put down their thoughts for fear of appearing intolerant or ignorant. Is this a Bible study class? No, it’s just another monthly meeting of the Arizona Interfaith Youth Movement – a safe, inclusive gathering to which youths of all faiths are encouraged to come together in dialogue, games, and of course, food.
“What if I’ve never heard of this religion?” asks one of the teens. “That’s okay – just write down the first thing that comes to your mind,” I reply. As the Youth Director, I’m pleased to see the seriousness that has settled over this group. They’re sincerely giving this activity their full attention, as it is partly a challenge to their general knowledge as well as an opportunity to share the “truth” of their religious beliefs.
The eight religions I randomly chose contain some familiar to all, but I’ve also thrown in some lesser known beliefs as well: Catholicism, Islam, Atheism, Sikhism, Christian Science, Buddhism, Judaism, and the Church of Scientology. The teens stick up their impressions on the poster boards, grab a water bottle or cookie, and then return to their seats. I survey the range of words listed by each religion and ask for a volunteer to come up and read aloud the results.
My son volunteers to read the comments posted on the board under Islam – his own faith group. “Violent, weird clothes, brain-washed,” his voice is subdued as he slowly goes through the impressions. “Tourist? Hey Mom, look: they think Muslims are tourists – that’s pretty neat!” I walk over and read the note for myself – turns out he misread the word “tourist” – the correct reading is “terrorist”. We briefly review the major tenets of each religion in order to correct misperceptions and reduce stereotypes.
According to the Pew Forum’s 2008 US Religious Landscape Survey, 83 percent of Americans identify themselves as belonging to an organised religion; however, “people not affiliated with any particular religion stand out for their relative youth compared with other religious traditions.”
“Among the unaffiliated, 31 percent are under age 30 and 71 percent are under age 50. More than one-quarter of American adults (28 percent) have left the faith in which they were raised in favour of another religion, or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestant Christianity to another is included, 44 percent of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.”
What accounts for this conflict within those of faith? On one hand, they identify themselves as being religious, even if it means they’ve left behind the religion of their childhood, while on the other hand, as Americans age, they seem to leave organised religion behind them.
Is this search for spiritual fulfilment a trend that begins in youth? As a Sunday school teacher at the Scottsdale Mosque for the past seven years, I’ve observed the diversity in faith from kindergarteners all the way up to the high school seniors. Depending upon their home environment, these kids either skip cheerfully into Sunday school or drag themselves reluctantly into their seats, testing the limits of the dress code (which stresses modesty) by tugging their T-shirts down to cover their bare midriffs or yanking the required headscarf into place. How much of their lessons will these teens remember when faced with the overwhelming secularism of their public school environment in which the age-old tensions of peer pressure and cliques rule the day?
Religion remains a personal issue and rightly so, but is there a safe space for teens who are interested in exploring their faith beliefs? A brief glance at the teen non-fiction aisle in any Borders or Barnes & Noble reveals the abundance of faith-based books aimed at teens. >From Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism – even a Wiccan guidebook – the variety is astounding. So, teens are indeed seeking answers through the privacy and safety of books. But is this education encouraging them to leave their parents’ beliefs behind as they discover other traditions?
As our interfaith meeting continues, I see that Buddhism received the most positive comments by a landslide – even though only one of the kids knew a Buddhist personally. And which religion received the most negative comments? No, it wasn’t Islam – it was atheism.
Turns out that even if kids switch allegiance from one faith group to another, the thought of not living a life of faith scares them most of all.
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* Dilara Hafiz is a retired investment banker, Sunday school teacher, interfaith activist, and co-author of The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook along with her daughter, Yasmine, and son, Imran. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org .
Source: altmuslim, 2 May 2008, www.altmuslim.com
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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