Allochtonen Weblog – LMJO: Op naar een democratische Tsunami

Posted on November 16th, 2006 by .
Categories: Multiculti Issues.

Allochtonen Weblog
LMJO: op naar een democratische Tsunami

Net als eerder de sueculiere organisaties HTIB, DIDF en Emcemo deden, heeft nu ook de Landelijke Moslim Jongeren Organisatie (LMJO) een oproep gedaan om deel te nemen aan de verkiezingen. De LMJO roept alle stemgerechtigde moslimjongeren op te gaan stemmen, omdat de organisatie deelname aan de verkiezingen als een belangrijk middel ziet om politieke besluitvorming voor de komende vier jaar te beïnvloeden.

In haar oproep, getiteld ‘op naar een democratische Tsunami’, schrijft de LMJO:

Stemmen is een instrument om aan te tonen met welke problemen moslimjongeren te maken hebben en om ze op de politieke agenda te zetten, denk daarbij aan de achterstandspositie in het onderwijs en op de arbeidsmarkt. Voor de verdere acceptatie en participatie van moslims in de Nederlandse samenleving als volwaardige Nederlandse burgers, is het van belang dat moslimjongeren hun verantwoordelijkheden als burgers op zich nemen. Stemmen hoort bij deze verantwoordelijkheid. Want door te stemmen kun je duidelijk maken welke veranderingen er moeten komen. Daarnaast tonen we als moslims aan dat ook wij moslims te maken hebben met problemen waarmee iedere Nederlander te maken heeft, zoals woningnood, stijging van vaste lasten, veiligheid en leefbaarheid in wijken. Met stemmen kun je ook invloed uitoefenen op zaken als het buitenlandbeleid en het milieu. Hiernaast reken je af met de boodschappers van angst, die schermen met de komstvan een islamitische Tsunami. En belangrijker nog hiermee geef je een signaal af aan de politiek dat de politiek zich niet alleen moet bezig houden met de islam als integratieproblematiek.

De Landelijke Moslim Jongeren Organisatie is een nieuwe organisatie die streeft naar een betere participatie en actieve houding van moslimjongeren in de samenleving. LMJO is het zat dat er over moslimjongeren wordt gepraat in plaats van met moslimjongeren. Meer informatie op de website van de organisatie: www.lmjo.com

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Qantara.de – Portrait Emel Abidin-Algan:Faith without the Headscarf

Posted on November 16th, 2006 by .
Categories: Gender, Kinship & Marriage Issues.

Qantara.de – Portrait Emel Abidin-Algan – Faith without the Headscarf
Portrait Emel Abidin-Algan
Faith without the Headscarf

Her decision caused quite a stir – in Germany as well as in Turkey. Emel Abidin-Algan, daughter of the founder of the Islamic association Milli Görüs, has put aside her headscarf after wearing it for over thirty years. The 45-year-old mother of six children spoke with Ariana Mirza about her motives

“We need fewer religious people and many more believers”, says Emel Abidin-Algan

“It is absurd to infer about someone’s beliefs on the basis of outward appearances!” said Emel Abidin-Algan, expressing her views in a ready to print form. She has experience in articulating her positions. A few years ago, the former chairwoman of an Islamic women’s association took part in Germany’s headscarf debate – and offered some rather unconventional suggestions.

First, Emel Abidin-Algan and a group of Berlin women designers created fashionable hats as an alternative to the controversial headscarf. Then, in early 2005, she took off her own headscarf for good.

Since then, there have been many changes in the life of the mother of six. She dances with an Irish folklore group, practices martial arts in a mixed Aikido team, and goes to night school. Emel Abidin-Algan continues to take care of her three youngest children, who still live at home, together with her husband, although they have decided to separate. Her conservative husband refuses to accept his wife’s new attitudes.

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Alliance of Civilizations: Politics not religion

Posted on November 16th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Alliance of Civilizations :: The Alliance of Civilizations
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has launched an initiative, co-sponsored by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey, for an Alliance of Civilizations.

The key reasons for the growing divide between Muslim and Western societies are not religious, but political, concludes a report presented to Secretary-General Kofi Annan today in Istanbul. On receiving the report, the Secretary-General said: “We need to get away from stereotypes, generalizations and preconceptions, and take care not to let crimes committed by individuals or small groups dictate our image of an entire people, an entire region, or an entire religion. “We should start by reaffirming – and demonstrating – that the problem is not the Koran, nor the Torah or the Bible. Indeed, I have often said the problem is never the faith – it is the faithful, and how they behave towards each other.”
In its report, the High-level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations maintains that although
religion is often cynically exploited to stir passions, fuel suspicions and support alarmist
claims that the world is facing a new “war of religion”, the root of the matter is political.
Furthermore, the Arab-Israeli conflict has become a critical symbol of the deepening rift.
Along with Western military interventions in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan the Group
argues, this conflict contributes significantly to the growing sense of resentment and mistrust that mars relations among communities. The report also suggests that the repression of nonviolent political opposition and the slow pace of reforms in some Muslim countries is a key factor in the rise of extremism.

(more…)

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Qantara.de – Debates on Religion and Democracy in Iran: Abdolkarim Soroush vs. Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Posted on November 16th, 2006 by .
Categories: Internal Debates.

Qantara.de – Debates on Religion and Democracy in Iran – Islamic Reformers Are Meeting Opposition
Islamic Reformers Are Meeting Opposition

A controversy in religious theory between two Muslim scholars, Abdolkarim Sorush and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, throws an interesting light on the divisions between conservative and reformist forces in Islam. Faraj Sarkohi says the two sides are taking increasingly irreconcilable positions

Abdolkarim Soroush has been supporting the idea of Islamic democracy. Nasr, his intellectual opponent, compared him to second-rate Western intellectuals who know neither Islam or the West.
It wasn’t a new topic. The debate has been going on for about a hundred years. The guests were well-known only in intellectual and academic circles, and it was assumed that the seminar would take place without much interest being shown by the public and with little media coverage.

But a fierce dispute between two scholars over a purely theoretical issue on the fringes of the seminar was quickly taken up by the parliament, the mosques, the religious colleges, the media, the universities and those in power in the country.

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