C L O S E R

Bloggers of the world: Be Careful what you blog! – E:M | Goodbye to America

Posted on November 29th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

E:M | Goodbye to America

But when they realized I was going to the States to speak at a blog-related conference (ConvergeSouth) they googled my name right in front of me. Two of them, actually.

They carefully scanned the results and found this English blog. One of them, a very sharp guy in fact, started to read every single post on my blog. And it didn’t take long until he shocked me: “So you live in New York, right? That’s what you’ve written in your on blog.”

He was ecstatic. My blog made his day, or in this case, his night. He kept reading my posts and asking questions about a lot of them: Why did I go to Iran, what are my feelings about Bush administration, why I separated from my wife, what did think about Iranian politics, etc.

Sarcastically, I’d reminded everyone not to be surprised if, while in detention in Iran, I confessed about some absurd wrongdoings form the Islamic regime’s point of view, such as: getting money from the CIA, trafficking illegal drugs, dating Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightly, etc.

“So you are getting money for the Bush administration,” the officer asked. I was speechless. “Come on! This is a joke. Read the whole thing and put it in a context.” Fortunately the guy was a smart man and realized the sarcasm. However he said these things are not quite appropriate to be on your blog when you are at the border. He was right.
But later, when he had still doubt about letting me in or not, he found the latest issue of Newsweek in my small suitcase on which I had my NYC address. There were many others with my Toronto address, but that single was enough to convince him about my situation. I didn’t challenge him again. God, I wish I were a lawyer. I could’ve said this magazine is important for me and I didn’t want to miss a single issue of it by being away from home.

So then he took me to another room and spent about two hours writing a report and registering and documenting my refusal of entry.

Now the result is that, apparently, I can’t visit the States at least for six months and even after that I should prove I’m established enough in Canada. I also have to explain why I failed to register my departure when the bus driver didn’t stop while crossing the US border to Canada.

0 comments.

Bloggers of the world: Be Careful what you blog! – E:M | Goodbye to America

Posted on November 29th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

E:M | Goodbye to America

But when they realized I was going to the States to speak at a blog-related conference (ConvergeSouth) they googled my name right in front of me. Two of them, actually.

They carefully scanned the results and found this English blog. One of them, a very sharp guy in fact, started to read every single post on my blog. And it didn’t take long until he shocked me: “So you live in New York, right? That’s what you’ve written in your on blog.”

He was ecstatic. My blog made his day, or in this case, his night. He kept reading my posts and asking questions about a lot of them: Why did I go to Iran, what are my feelings about Bush administration, why I separated from my wife, what did think about Iranian politics, etc.

Sarcastically, I’d reminded everyone not to be surprised if, while in detention in Iran, I confessed about some absurd wrongdoings form the Islamic regime’s point of view, such as: getting money from the CIA, trafficking illegal drugs, dating Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightly, etc.

“So you are getting money for the Bush administration,” the officer asked. I was speechless. “Come on! This is a joke. Read the whole thing and put it in a context.” Fortunately the guy was a smart man and realized the sarcasm. However he said these things are not quite appropriate to be on your blog when you are at the border. He was right.
But later, when he had still doubt about letting me in or not, he found the latest issue of Newsweek in my small suitcase on which I had my NYC address. There were many others with my Toronto address, but that single was enough to convince him about my situation. I didn’t challenge him again. God, I wish I were a lawyer. I could’ve said this magazine is important for me and I didn’t want to miss a single issue of it by being away from home.

So then he took me to another room and spent about two hours writing a report and registering and documenting my refusal of entry.

Now the result is that, apparently, I can’t visit the States at least for six months and even after that I should prove I’m established enough in Canada. I also have to explain why I failed to register my departure when the bus driver didn’t stop while crossing the US border to Canada.

0 comments.

Islam & Dread Locks: Islamicly Locked

Posted on November 29th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Islamicly Locked

Intro to being “Islamicly Locked”

This site is about dread locks with in an Islamic context. I have included not only the Islamic history of dread locks among certain Muslim groups but the halal (Islamicaly correct) maintenance of dread locks. As this is an Islamic based site, Islamic materials i.e. information will be included as it pertains to certain subjects contained within.

My point in stating the above is to stress the fact that although there are many methods which can be under taken when it comes to locking ones hair, the methods entailed on this site will only entail the Islamic aspect of this process. If the reader is not Muslim but is interested in locking by all means please continue to view this site as this will also contain very valuable information and glimpse into the Islamic faith.

0 comments.

Islam & Dread Locks: Islamicly Locked

Posted on November 29th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Islamicly Locked

Intro to being “Islamicly Locked”

This site is about dread locks with in an Islamic context. I have included not only the Islamic history of dread locks among certain Muslim groups but the halal (Islamicaly correct) maintenance of dread locks. As this is an Islamic based site, Islamic materials i.e. information will be included as it pertains to certain subjects contained within.

My point in stating the above is to stress the fact that although there are many methods which can be under taken when it comes to locking ones hair, the methods entailed on this site will only entail the Islamic aspect of this process. If the reader is not Muslim but is interested in locking by all means please continue to view this site as this will also contain very valuable information and glimpse into the Islamic faith.

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Volkskrant: Sombere bladzijden in het slavernijdebat

Posted on November 26th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

In de Volkskrant van gister een recensie van hoogleraar geschiedenis Piet Emmer over slavernij. Hij schreef eerder een studie over Nederland en slavernij waar het nodige om te doen. Hij werd ervan beschuldigd de slavernij in het westen te relativeren (dat vond ik overigens niet; wat er over bleef was erg genoeg).

In de Franse studie wordt ook aandacht geschonken aan de Afrikaanse en Arabische rollen in de slavernij die niet gering waren. Vooral de conclusie dat de Europese, Afrikaanse en Arabische slavernij geen genocide vormden, zorgde voor nogal wat opheft, zo maakt Emmer duidelijk. (more…)

1 comment.

Protected: de Volkskrant – Franse rappers onder vuur vanwege ‘tot geweld aanzettende’ teksten

Posted on November 25th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: AD.nl – ’Terrorist’ winkelt bij het leger

Posted on November 23rd, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Hight School Teacher Muhammad al-Harbi’s Case

Posted on November 21st, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Just discovered: Hight School Teacher Muhammad al-Harbi’s Case

After the Saudi authorities captured the terrorists who perpetrated the may 11, 2003 tragic terror bombing in a residential area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Muhammad al-Harbi made a public announcement to his school’s students praising the Saudi police and supporting anti terrorism actions waged by the Saudi government. He explained that that terror acts are against Islam and do not represent the faith nor its followers. This announcement was not received well by some of the other teachers in the school who adopted some extremist views and conservative ideologies that did not agree with Mohammed’s thoughts. They started plotting against Mohammed for his sincere efforts in spreading the message of tolerance and support for anti terror acts.

Thanks to the Religious Policeman who states:

Now I see. Unlike the 2004 explosions in a Riyadh compound, where mostly Arab Muslims died, and everyone got upset, Al Hamra housed mostly Westerners. Now I know from “small A” experience that some teachers encouraged class cheering after that event, just like after 9/11. So it’s no wonder that Al Harbi’s humanity is going to become a bit of a problem for him.

Apparently Al-Harbi’s actions and comments against terrorism upset a number of Islamic studies teachers known for their fundamentalist beliefs. After the Al-Hamra blast in Riyadh, Al-Harbi copied an article, “Cavemen Go to Hell” written by Saudi columnist Hammad Al-Salmi in Al-Jazirah newspaper, attacking terrorists and extremists. Al-Harbi posted the article on the school bulletin board but it was ripped off and torn to pieces.

One of the Islamic studies teachers stopped Al-Harbi in a morning school assembly from speaking against Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, identified by the Saudi government as a terrorist and who was on the government’s list of wanted terrorists. The teacher told Al-Harbi that Al-Muqrin was a Muslim and that no matter what he had done, no one should speak against him.

Don’t criticize terrorists, if they are Muslims. The Theology of the brain-dead.

But this guy was really making waves. No wonder his colleagues just needed an excuse to “get him”. All it needed was some disgruntled students, some students who had…

….failed the monthly chemistry test. “They asked me to give them the exam again and when I refused, they went to the principal to complain but he upheld my decision,” he explained.

So the Principal backed him, but the I.S. teachers saw their opportunity.

The students’ actions were triggered by some Islamic studies teachers who used the students’ anger at Al-Harbi and convinced them to file the lawsuit.

Lawsuit? What lawsuit?

He was accused of mocking Islam, favoring Jews and Christians, preventing students from performing ablutions.

Note that there is no Police involvement here. Just a group of concerned citizens, upset about supposed attacks on their religion. But what if they can’t make those charges stick?

He was also charged with studying witchcraft.

Nice one! Works every time! It wasn’t just an old-fashioned Salem thing, you only have to read “Harry Potter” to realize the present-day threat from wizards and witches.

1 comment.

Hight School Teacher Muhammad al-Harbi's Case

Posted on November 21st, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Just discovered: Hight School Teacher Muhammad al-Harbi’s Case

After the Saudi authorities captured the terrorists who perpetrated the may 11, 2003 tragic terror bombing in a residential area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Muhammad al-Harbi made a public announcement to his school’s students praising the Saudi police and supporting anti terrorism actions waged by the Saudi government. He explained that that terror acts are against Islam and do not represent the faith nor its followers. This announcement was not received well by some of the other teachers in the school who adopted some extremist views and conservative ideologies that did not agree with Mohammed’s thoughts. They started plotting against Mohammed for his sincere efforts in spreading the message of tolerance and support for anti terror acts.

Thanks to the Religious Policeman who states:

Now I see. Unlike the 2004 explosions in a Riyadh compound, where mostly Arab Muslims died, and everyone got upset, Al Hamra housed mostly Westerners. Now I know from “small A” experience that some teachers encouraged class cheering after that event, just like after 9/11. So it’s no wonder that Al Harbi’s humanity is going to become a bit of a problem for him.

Apparently Al-Harbi’s actions and comments against terrorism upset a number of Islamic studies teachers known for their fundamentalist beliefs. After the Al-Hamra blast in Riyadh, Al-Harbi copied an article, “Cavemen Go to Hell” written by Saudi columnist Hammad Al-Salmi in Al-Jazirah newspaper, attacking terrorists and extremists. Al-Harbi posted the article on the school bulletin board but it was ripped off and torn to pieces.

One of the Islamic studies teachers stopped Al-Harbi in a morning school assembly from speaking against Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, identified by the Saudi government as a terrorist and who was on the government’s list of wanted terrorists. The teacher told Al-Harbi that Al-Muqrin was a Muslim and that no matter what he had done, no one should speak against him.

Don’t criticize terrorists, if they are Muslims. The Theology of the brain-dead.

But this guy was really making waves. No wonder his colleagues just needed an excuse to “get him”. All it needed was some disgruntled students, some students who had…

….failed the monthly chemistry test. “They asked me to give them the exam again and when I refused, they went to the principal to complain but he upheld my decision,” he explained.

So the Principal backed him, but the I.S. teachers saw their opportunity.

The students’ actions were triggered by some Islamic studies teachers who used the students’ anger at Al-Harbi and convinced them to file the lawsuit.

Lawsuit? What lawsuit?

He was accused of mocking Islam, favoring Jews and Christians, preventing students from performing ablutions.

Note that there is no Police involvement here. Just a group of concerned citizens, upset about supposed attacks on their religion. But what if they can’t make those charges stick?

He was also charged with studying witchcraft.

Nice one! Works every time! It wasn’t just an old-fashioned Salem thing, you only have to read “Harry Potter” to realize the present-day threat from wizards and witches.

1 comment.

spiked-online – Burning Banlieus: What was that all about?

Posted on November 19th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

spiked-politics | Article | Letter from a burning banlieue

As the dust settles over Aulnay-sous-Bois, an Oxford student asks the rioters what all that was about.
by Patrick Belton

AULNAY-SOUS-BOIS, PARIS – Before I came to fisticuffs with the young rioters I was interviewing, before they relieved me of my camera, we spoke. It was nightfall; we were solidly on their turf, their project in the Aulnay neighbourhood of Rose des Vents. The Franco-Algerian adolescent who gave me his name as Kabir The Gun, one of my two subsequent boxing partners from their group of seven, was quick to point out to me his neighbourhood was ‘ghetto’, ‘Bronx’, with an exaggerated bravado and pride in the toughness of his tract which lingered for me after.

(more…)

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Islam Online- Danish Muslims “Internationalize” Anti-Prophet Cartoons

Posted on November 18th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Islam Online- News Section
Danish Muslims “Internationalize” Anti-Prophet Cartoons

The Muslim minority in Denmark will send delegations to a number of Muslim countries to meet with senior officials and prominent scholars on the provocative caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recently published by Denmark’s main daily.

“A delegation will visit Cairo to meet with Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi,” Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a prominent Muslim figure in Denmark, told IOL Friday, November 18.

He added that Moussa has been informed of the visit, citing contacts with his secretary to schedule a meeting.

The Muslim leader further said that Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world, has been notified of the forthcoming visit.

“The delegation will also visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar to meet with renowned Muslim scholar Sheikh Yussef Al-Qaradawi,” said Abu Laban, the imam of the Scandinavian Waqfs mosque.

Twelve drawings depicting Prophet Muhammad in different settings appeared in Denmark’s largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten September 30.

The Muslim leader lashed out at Jyllands-Posten’s claim that the publishing of the cartoons was only a case of freedom of expression.

“I told a reporter from the newspaper that they have cheated the people because they did not open a debate.”

He stressed that the cartoons were meant as an insult to and provocation of Muslims.

“We have fled our countries because we were denied freedom of expression so no one should play this tune with us.

“This is not a case of freedom of expression,” averred Abu Laban.

0 comments.

Islam Online- Danish Muslims "Internationalize" Anti-Prophet Cartoons

Posted on November 18th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Islam Online- News Section
Danish Muslims “Internationalize” Anti-Prophet Cartoons

The Muslim minority in Denmark will send delegations to a number of Muslim countries to meet with senior officials and prominent scholars on the provocative caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recently published by Denmark’s main daily.

“A delegation will visit Cairo to meet with Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa and Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi,” Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a prominent Muslim figure in Denmark, told IOL Friday, November 18.

He added that Moussa has been informed of the visit, citing contacts with his secretary to schedule a meeting.

The Muslim leader further said that Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world, has been notified of the forthcoming visit.

“The delegation will also visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar to meet with renowned Muslim scholar Sheikh Yussef Al-Qaradawi,” said Abu Laban, the imam of the Scandinavian Waqfs mosque.

Twelve drawings depicting Prophet Muhammad in different settings appeared in Denmark’s largest circulation daily Jyllands-Posten September 30.

The Muslim leader lashed out at Jyllands-Posten’s claim that the publishing of the cartoons was only a case of freedom of expression.

“I told a reporter from the newspaper that they have cheated the people because they did not open a debate.”

He stressed that the cartoons were meant as an insult to and provocation of Muslims.

“We have fled our countries because we were denied freedom of expression so no one should play this tune with us.

“This is not a case of freedom of expression,” averred Abu Laban.

0 comments.

Protected: de Volkskrant – Hirsi Ali: script Submission II is af

Posted on November 17th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Mer’s Bites of Bytes » Portraying technology and ‘us’

Posted on November 15th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Mer’s Bites of Bytes » Portraying technology and ‘us’
Portraying technology and ‘us’

An interesting blog entry about technology and the way it changes the way we give meaning to things and the meaning itself.

What’s interesting to me here is that the fact that modern technology, or to be specific, media and communication technology, is increasingly used to craft and convey a message and thus changes the nature of the message itself. How technology is embedded in the image, may not really change the intended message, but it does change the process of making the message. It also changes the choices of signifiers used to signify the meaning (the message). It may change the way the message is interpreted and eventually even open a door for interpretations other than the intended one.

Cellphone, TV, and newspaper, and other technologies, each has some inherent characteristics. But when these technologies are attached to a certain social actor (a person), they are given as well as give new meanings to that actor too.

There are more dimensions can be discussed from this picture, but I’ll stop here. At least, from disccusions about power and technology here, it’s shown that inserting technology within the image (old image) can renew the way how a message is conveyed, expand the message and even give alternative to the emergence of various (new) dimensions and interpretations. This discussion also shows a little bit how technology-human relations change the way technology and human are defined in their relationships with realities surrounding them.

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Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | Opgepakte mannen in djellaba eisen excuses politie

Posted on November 14th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: nu.nl/algemeen | Opgepakte mannen in djellaba eisen excuses politie

Posted on November 14th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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MOI-Dag 2005: Muziek kent geen grenzen

Posted on November 9th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

C L O S E R MOI-Dag 2005:Muziek kent geen grenzen
Vereniging voor de studie van het Midden-Oosten en de Islam (MOI)

Muziek kent geen grenzen.
Continu�teit en verandering in muziek en identiteit

11 November 2005

Lokatie:
Kerkzaal hoofdgebouw VU

De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam
(16e etage)

Muziek is diep geworteld in het bestaan van de mens en ��n van de belangrijkste vormen van creativiteit en zelfexpressie. Op de MOI-dag op 11 november 2005 wordt u meegenomen op een muzikale wereldreis van muziek in de Arabische wereld tot hiphop en Rai in Nederland, van sufi-muziek tot gothic & trash metal, van muzikale ontwikkelingen bij de Wolga-Tataren tot muziek uit Tajikistan tot Alevitische muziek in Nederland en Turkije: Muziek kent geen grenzen. Uw gidsen tijdens deze muzikale wereldreis zijn niet alleen sprekers die zullen ingaan op diverse aspecten van deze muziek en de betekenis ervan voor mensen, maar ook muzikanten die deze dag zullen opluisteren.

Voor meer info volg de MOI-link

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ZemZem – Media Special

Posted on November 9th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Een nieuwe editie van ZemZem is uit.

Lezers en kijkers krijgen elke week weer een stroom aan opinies te verwerken over �de islam�. Inderdaad, vooral opinies en weinig feitelijke informatie. ZemZem helpt die lacune op te vullen, overigens zonder de opinie te schuwen.

Het derde nummer, dat begin november 2005 is verschenen, besteedt speciale aandacht aan media uit en over het Midden-Oosten, Noord-Afrika en de islamitische wereld.

ZemZem is een fusie tussen Midden-Oosten en Noord-Afrika tijdschrift Soera en Sharqiyyat, het tijdschrift van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor de studie van het Midden-Oosten en de Islam (MOI). ZemZem verschijnt drie maal per jaar en werkt nauw samen met de Belgische interculturele organisatie Kif Kif (www.kifkif.be).

Onder andere een artikel van Robert Fisk, een artikel over Arabische bloggers, een interview met Abdul Jabbar van de Ven, een catalogus van internetmedia en een artikel over Rashid Rida ��n van de grondleggers van het (oorspronkelijke) salafi gedachtegoed. Nou ja teveel om op te noemen eigenlijk, lees zelf maar.

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Islam Online- Do not Put Islamic Spin on French Riots: Ramadan

Posted on November 9th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Islam Online- News Section

s French riots continued unabated for the 12th night running, seeing more cars torched and French authorities threatening curfews, a well-known Muslim thinker warned against bringing religion into a situation that has nothing to do with faith and a poll showed two thirds of French people dissatisfied with their government’s policies on marginalized suburbs.

“Above all, one must not Islamisize the question of the suburbs. The question that France must answer is absolutely not a question of religion,” Muslim thinker Tariq Ramadan told Agence France-Presse (AFP) Tuesday, November 8.

“There’s an obsession about a religious divide, but no one sees the socio-economic divide in France, with places in the process of becoming ghettos with the suburbs on one side, the better-off areas on the other.”

“There must be a struggle against this institutionalized racism. There are second-class citizens in France. That is the reality.”

“People (in the suburbs) have the impression that they count for nothing, that they can be looked down upon and insulted in any way,” Ramadan added to AFP, from his current vantage point at Oxford University.

“We’re in the process of losing a footing in the suburbs. Even so-called Muslim associations are more and more disconnected. The fracture is profound… We are seeing an Americanization in terms of violence.”

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Expatica: Algerian group calls France ‘enemy number one’

Posted on November 4th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Algerian group calls France ‘enemy number one’

PARIS, Sept 27 (AFP) – An Algerian Islamist organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), has issued a call for action against France which it describes as “enemy number one”, intelligence officials said Tuesday.

“The only way to teach France to behave is jihad and the Islamic martyr,” the group’s leader Abu Mossab Abdelwadoud, also own as Abdelmalek Dourkdal, was quoted as saying in an Internet message earlier this month.

“France is our enemy number one, the enemy of our religion, the enemy of our community,” he was quoted as saying.

France was mentioned 15 times in the text, and the Algerian government was also targeted, the officials said.

Nine people detained in a series of raids west of Paris Monday are suspected members of the GSPC, officials have said. They were being questioned for a second day Tuesday at the headquarters of the DST domestic intelligence agency.

Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that the risk of terrorist attack in France is “at a very high level… There are cells operating on our territory.”

The GSPC was created from a split in the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the main force in Algeria’s long insurgency which was also responsible for a series of bombings in France in 1995.

French authorities however state that there is no involvement of muslim militants in the riots. If that is the case, this statement of GSPC is an attempt to use these riots for their own purposes.

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Expatica: Algerian group calls France 'enemy number one'

Posted on November 4th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Algerian group calls France ‘enemy number one’

PARIS, Sept 27 (AFP) – An Algerian Islamist organisation, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), has issued a call for action against France which it describes as “enemy number one”, intelligence officials said Tuesday.

“The only way to teach France to behave is jihad and the Islamic martyr,” the group’s leader Abu Mossab Abdelwadoud, also own as Abdelmalek Dourkdal, was quoted as saying in an Internet message earlier this month.

“France is our enemy number one, the enemy of our religion, the enemy of our community,” he was quoted as saying.

France was mentioned 15 times in the text, and the Algerian government was also targeted, the officials said.

Nine people detained in a series of raids west of Paris Monday are suspected members of the GSPC, officials have said. They were being questioned for a second day Tuesday at the headquarters of the DST domestic intelligence agency.

Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that the risk of terrorist attack in France is “at a very high level… There are cells operating on our territory.”

The GSPC was created from a split in the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the main force in Algeria’s long insurgency which was also responsible for a series of bombings in France in 1995.

French authorities however state that there is no involvement of muslim militants in the riots. If that is the case, this statement of GSPC is an attempt to use these riots for their own purposes.

0 comments.

Qantara.de – Syncretism in Indonesia – Where Islam Mixes with Old Rituals

Posted on November 3rd, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Qantara.de – Syncretism in Indonesia – Where Islam Mixes with Old Rituals
Syncretism in Indonesia: Where Islam Mixes with Old Rituals

Many Indonesian Muslims still practice a rather syncretistic mix of beliefs, combining Islam with other cultural and religious traditions. They are often criticized by Muslim purists for their eclecticism. Christina Schott reports

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spiked-politics | Article | What’s behind the battle of Lozells?

Posted on October 30th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

spiked-politics | Article | What’s behind the battle of Lozells?

According to the rumour, a 14-year-old Jamaican was caught stealing a wig from an Asian-run shop selling black beauty products in nearby Perry Barr. One of the shopkeepers threatened to call the police, but she pleaded with him not to (‘she was an illegal immigrant, and didn’t want the police to be led to her house’, one black man told me). The girl agreed to have sex with the shopkeeper if he wouldn’t tell the police. But then he called his friends, who came around and raped her – some say she was raped by three men, others say 13 or 19.

There is no evidence that such an attack took place. Police forensic experts have reportedly checked out the beauty parlour but found nothing. No girl has come forward, in spite of police pledges of leniency. Nobody knows her name or when the attack happened, though some claim to know her family.

The two communities are divided by the story – most local black people claim it’s true, most Asians say it’s a myth. But this is less about the girl, real or imagined, than about simmering economic grievances. One local black community activist told me: ‘Blacks get nothing, no funding, no support. Blacks made Asians rich, we support their shops. It’s a joke.’ According to a 17-year-old originally from Somalia, ‘The word on the street is that a war is on, and it’s Asians versus blacks’. On the other side, a young Asian man claimed that blacks are ‘stupid people. They go to school but don’t learn anything. I don’t know what they are moaning about. We did well because we worked hard’.

It’s no surprise that tensions exist in a run-down inner city area such as this. This is often presented as a case of two communities hating each other, with the police standing helpless in between. In fact, the script for the conflict in Perry Barr was written at the top of New Labour’s Britain. Today, different groups are encouraged to play up their victimhood and unique cultural identities, in a bid for public funds and social authority. The fireworks in Lozells demonstrate the fractious consequences.

Black campaigners were talking the language of identity politics, saying that they didn’t get any ‘respect’ and their ‘grievances haven’t been understood’. ‘[Asians] look at Jamaican people like we are nothing’, said one black woman quoted in the New Nation (1). Respectable community organisations have helped to broadcast the issue over the past week. Maxie Hayles, head of the Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Group, has been one of the more vocal activists: he was quoted on BBC News as saying ‘There are a lot of [black] people who think that the Asian people look down on African-Caribbean people’; while the New Nation recorded his comment, ‘We are not going to tolerate our women being abused. We have a zero tolerance against it’ (2). Hayles has contributed to a number of official consultations, and in 2000 was awarded the government’s ‘Active Community Award’. Meanwhile, one of the websites that played a role in spreading the rumours, Blacknet UK, has connections with official bodies including the Commission for Racial Equality.

The battle for cultural recognition is another source of friction. An article in The Voice detailed all the local African-Caribbean community’s grievances: the carnival was moved from Handsworth to Perry Barr, and renamed the ‘Birmingham International Carnival Enterprise’, while ‘unadulterated’ Asian celebrations such as Vaisakhi have taken their place; Black History Month is now apparently run by an Asian man, as is the Drum (a Birmingham centre for black arts); and the BBC has banished African-Caribbean programming to Saturday nights, while establishing the Asian Network as a 24-hr station.

On the other side, Asians also claim that everybody is set against them, and appeal for protection.

Why did it take the rumour of a rape for recent tensions to explode? Perhaps it suggests the lack of a vocabulary for discussing social and political inequalities in their own terms. Instead, conflicts are conceived as an allegory, as a personal attack on a member of your community. The rape story seems to express the fact that black people feel they are being screwed over. Some seemed to identity with her: the campaign is called ‘Silent Victim’, and speculation abounds about what the girl could be feeling. ‘She could be hurt’, said one black man. ‘It’s obvious why she did a deal [to have sex]’, said another: ‘You got no power, no position. Who is going to listen to you?’ Asians have their share of victimisation stories, too. One young man said that he heard a story about two Asian girls being attacked – ‘I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what I heard’. Another said that he heard worshippers had been attacked inside a mosque.

Beneath it all, though, it seems that some are trying to put their differences aside and move on. Certainly the last thing this community needs is council-supervised intercultural dialogues. Black people are still buying in Asian shops; most of the broken windows have been replaced, and shops reopened. A number of people I spoke to blamed the trouble on outsiders. One Asian man said that the rioters came from London; a white man blamed coachloads of visitors from London, Leeds and Bradford. At Khan’s carpet shop in Lozells Road, the young shopkeeper told me: ‘I got no tension with black people. Some local black people are driving past and saying “we’re neutral”.’

One thing that did seem to unite the communities was common hostility to the media. I was chatting to a group of young British Asians when a young African-Caribbean man cycled past. ‘News reporter?’ he asked. ‘I say fuck off. You’re not from around this area, so mind your own fucking business’. There was a pause, then the young Asians responded: ‘That’s what I say, too’, ‘and me too’.

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spiked-politics | Article | What's behind the battle of Lozells?

Posted on October 30th, 2005 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

spiked-politics | Article | What’s behind the battle of Lozells?

According to the rumour, a 14-year-old Jamaican was caught stealing a wig from an Asian-run shop selling black beauty products in nearby Perry Barr. One of the shopkeepers threatened to call the police, but she pleaded with him not to (‘she was an illegal immigrant, and didn’t want the police to be led to her house’, one black man told me). The girl agreed to have sex with the shopkeeper if he wouldn’t tell the police. But then he called his friends, who came around and raped her – some say she was raped by three men, others say 13 or 19.

There is no evidence that such an attack took place. Police forensic experts have reportedly checked out the beauty parlour but found nothing. No girl has come forward, in spite of police pledges of leniency. Nobody knows her name or when the attack happened, though some claim to know her family.

The two communities are divided by the story – most local black people claim it’s true, most Asians say it’s a myth. But this is less about the girl, real or imagined, than about simmering economic grievances. One local black community activist told me: ‘Blacks get nothing, no funding, no support. Blacks made Asians rich, we support their shops. It’s a joke.’ According to a 17-year-old originally from Somalia, ‘The word on the street is that a war is on, and it’s Asians versus blacks’. On the other side, a young Asian man claimed that blacks are ‘stupid people. They go to school but don’t learn anything. I don’t know what they are moaning about. We did well because we worked hard’.

It’s no surprise that tensions exist in a run-down inner city area such as this. This is often presented as a case of two communities hating each other, with the police standing helpless in between. In fact, the script for the conflict in Perry Barr was written at the top of New Labour’s Britain. Today, different groups are encouraged to play up their victimhood and unique cultural identities, in a bid for public funds and social authority. The fireworks in Lozells demonstrate the fractious consequences.

Black campaigners were talking the language of identity politics, saying that they didn’t get any ‘respect’ and their ‘grievances haven’t been understood’. ‘[Asians] look at Jamaican people like we are nothing’, said one black woman quoted in the New Nation (1). Respectable community organisations have helped to broadcast the issue over the past week. Maxie Hayles, head of the Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Group, has been one of the more vocal activists: he was quoted on BBC News as saying ‘There are a lot of [black] people who think that the Asian people look down on African-Caribbean people’; while the New Nation recorded his comment, ‘We are not going to tolerate our women being abused. We have a zero tolerance against it’ (2). Hayles has contributed to a number of official consultations, and in 2000 was awarded the government’s ‘Active Community Award’. Meanwhile, one of the websites that played a role in spreading the rumours, Blacknet UK, has connections with official bodies including the Commission for Racial Equality.

The battle for cultural recognition is another source of friction. An article in The Voice detailed all the local African-Caribbean community’s grievances: the carnival was moved from Handsworth to Perry Barr, and renamed the ‘Birmingham International Carnival Enterprise’, while ‘unadulterated’ Asian celebrations such as Vaisakhi have taken their place; Black History Month is now apparently run by an Asian man, as is the Drum (a Birmingham centre for black arts); and the BBC has banished African-Caribbean programming to Saturday nights, while establishing the Asian Network as a 24-hr station.

On the other side, Asians also claim that everybody is set against them, and appeal for protection.

Why did it take the rumour of a rape for recent tensions to explode? Perhaps it suggests the lack of a vocabulary for discussing social and political inequalities in their own terms. Instead, conflicts are conceived as an allegory, as a personal attack on a member of your community. The rape story seems to express the fact that black people feel they are being screwed over. Some seemed to identity with her: the campaign is called ‘Silent Victim’, and speculation abounds about what the girl could be feeling. ‘She could be hurt’, said one black man. ‘It’s obvious why she did a deal [to have sex]’, said another: ‘You got no power, no position. Who is going to listen to you?’ Asians have their share of victimisation stories, too. One young man said that he heard a story about two Asian girls being attacked – ‘I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what I heard’. Another said that he heard worshippers had been attacked inside a mosque.

Beneath it all, though, it seems that some are trying to put their differences aside and move on. Certainly the last thing this community needs is council-supervised intercultural dialogues. Black people are still buying in Asian shops; most of the broken windows have been replaced, and shops reopened. A number of people I spoke to blamed the trouble on outsiders. One Asian man said that the rioters came from London; a white man blamed coachloads of visitors from London, Leeds and Bradford. At Khan’s carpet shop in Lozells Road, the young shopkeeper told me: ‘I got no tension with black people. Some local black people are driving past and saying “we’re neutral”.’

One thing that did seem to unite the communities was common hostility to the media. I was chatting to a group of young British Asians when a young African-Caribbean man cycled past. ‘News reporter?’ he asked. ‘I say fuck off. You’re not from around this area, so mind your own fucking business’. There was a pause, then the young Asians responded: ‘That’s what I say, too’, ‘and me too’.

0 comments.

C L O S E R MOI-Dag 2005: Muziek kent geen grenzen

Posted on October 28th, 2005 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Vereniging voor de studie van het Midden-Oosten en de Islam

Muziek kent geen grenzen
Continu�teit en verandering in muziek en identiteit

11 November 2005

Lokatie:Kerkzaal hoofdgebouw VU

De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam
(16e etage)

Meer info: C L O S E R MOI-Dag 2005: Muziek kent geen grenzen

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