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Protected: Antropologe Mary Douglas in NRC: We proberen te ontsnappen van het niets om ons heen

Posted on November 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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“Are you Canadian first, or Muslim?”

Posted on November 4th, 2006 by .
Categories: Young Muslims.

At SAFspace:“Are you Canadian first, or Muslim?” an impression of a visit of a delegation of Dutch mayors and the police service to learn something from the way ethnic and religious communities interact with the state society.

During the discussion they asked various questions about the Muslim experience in Canada. They seemed quite taken with the young Muslims on the panel. “Dutch Muslims aren’t like you!” the mayor beside me exclaimed. “They are not educated. They are…what do you call it…they are illiterate, many of them.” They marvelled at the way young Muslims had almost seamlessly merged into the public institutions and organizations of this country. How had we accomplished so much, they wanted to know.

Come on, dear mayor, you know better then that. Many Muslims are active in all kinds of political and student organizations and the amounts of Muslim youth in higher education is getting quite impressive (although it can and should be more, yes).

Or this question:

“Let me ask you something,” one of the mayors interjected. “Do you consider yourself Canadian first, or Muslim?” Someone else answered the question, and in retrospect I’m glad I didn’t, because as I thought about it later that day, its complexity became clear to me.

Well since one is a religious affiliation and the other a national one, these two don’t have to bite, I think.

But I don’t see that as problematic because I don’t imagine why I’d be forced to choose between being a Muslim and being Canadian. Each individual, Muslim or not, has various characteristics that make up a single identity. These characteristics intersect and diverge from one another. Sometimes they even clash. Part of living is learning how to reconcile the various aspects of one’s identity. Living in a secular context, a Muslim adapts the religious discourse she uses as well as her religious practice so that they fit into the society in which she chooses to live. Similarly, in a liberal democratic society, this same Muslim expects that the institutions of the state will lay a solid foundation for the very real protection of her right to freedom of expression and religion.

So I hope this post from SAFspace will be send to all the people of that delegation; they might learn something from and ask smarter questions.

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She had it coming…

Posted on November 4th, 2006 by .
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues.

A lot to do about Hilali’s comments on rape and women. His comparison with meat is ridiculous of course:

If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it … whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat? The uncovered meat is the problem […]

Since when is rape the fault of women. Yes of course you can say women should be careful and but of course you should say that men should keep their hands (and whatever else) to themselves. Something like Hilali’s comments are also made about veiled women but then the other way around by the distinguished French scholar Bernard-Henry Lévi:

Our time is almost up, but BHL becomes the most animated I have seen him when I ask him about Jack Straw’s intervention on Muslim women and the veil. ‘Jack Straw’, he says, leaning close to me, ‘made a great point. He did not say that he was against the veil. He said it is much easier, much more comfortable, respectful, to speak with a woman with a naked face. And without knowing, he quoted Levinas, who is the philosopher of the face. Levinas says that [having seen] the naked face of your interlocutor, you cannot kill him or her, you cannot rape him, you cannot violate him. So when the Muslims say that the veil is to protect women, it is the contrary. The veil is an invitation to rape […]

(more…)

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Neerlands hoop

Posted on November 4th, 2006 by .
Categories: Arts & culture.

Het boek van Laila Lalami, bij bloggers misschien beter bekend als Moorish Girl, is nu ook uit in Nederland. Haar boek Hope and other Dangerous Pursuits is vertaald als Hoop en andere gevaarlijke verlangens. In januari is zij in Nederland bij het Winternachten festival.

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Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| podium – Radicale islam / Oorlog tegen het terrorisme werkt averechts (Podium)

Posted on November 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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Protected: Trouw, deVerdieping| podium – Radicale islam / Oorlog tegen het terrorisme werkt averechts (Podium)

Posted on November 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization.

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