Dames van het koor Al Wahda hebben een filmpje gemaakt waarin opgeroepen wordt tot solidariteit met vrouwen met een hoofddoek. Daarnaast bevat het een pleidooi voor empowerment op basis van de islam die de vrouw, in tegenstelling tot gangbare vooroordelen, wel degelijk rechten, vrijheden en mogelijkheden tot ontplooiing zou geven.
An anthropologist in the Muhammad Cartoon debate. Last week there was a lot of talk about the publication of one of the Muhammad cartoons in a Dutch newspaper. A Muslim group responded and launched a video in which several people appeared, including your blogger. In this post I reflect about that and the ensuing debate and its relation to the Dutch Islam debate and public anthropology.
Een wekelijks portie burgerschap. Deze week de scouts, deugdzame burgers en de morele gemeenschap.
Marokkanensjamanisme is een wazig tovergedoe die een grimmige schijnwerkelijkheid schept en een hele industrie aan de gang houdt en ons blind maakt voor structurele problemen. Het geeft het idee dat we daadwerkelijk weten waar het om gaat en wat de oplossing is, maar houdt uiteindelijk vooral zichzelf in stand.
Dutch newspaper AD reported about the death threats against Vilks and in that same article also showed the cartoon he draw. This led to complaints in some Muslim circles. So far nothing new. But the ensuing conflict shows how the freedom of speech has become a disciplining frame and the repeated publishing of the cartoons after complaints against it by Muslims, can be seen as an attempt to teach those Muslims who is boss here. A conflict such as this reveals the moral underpinnings of dealing with religious feelings and of secularist and believers going public in a time of islamophobia combined with the rise of religious movements that do not without conditions surrender to the secular truce.
A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.)
A major Islamic website is on strike: IslamOnline. Who decides what to say about Islam (be it liberal, conservative or whatever other label) seems to be at stake it here as well as job security. Interestingly by following Twitter and Ustream it is possible to live follow this strike that has turned into a sit-in.
Een wekelijks portie burgerschap. Deze week over het schoon houden van de publieke ruimte.
Linda Herrera and Arjan de Haan reflect on the connections between the current criminal case of Karadzic and the recent municipal elections in The Hague both involving “the Muslim question” in Europe). They argue that the Hague is a microcosm for Europe, with two contradictory forces. A reconciliation of crimes and mistakes of Europe’s recent past. And at the same time possibly reproducing the conditions that make such crimes possible in the first place.