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215,692 | france24--2019-05-29--New Zealand teachers go on countrys largest education strike | 2019-05-29T00:00:00 | france24 | New Zealand teachers go on country's largest education strike | Marty Melville, AFP | New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to the media during a press conference at the Justice Precinct in Christchurch on March 28, 2019. Tens of thousands of New Zealand teachers walked off the job on Wednesday, a day before the government announced its ‘wellbeing’ budget, calling for higher pay and shorter hours in the country’s largest ever education strike. Almost 50,000 secondary and primary school teachers joined the strike across New Zealand, according to their unions, closing schools around the nation. The strike came a day before Jacinda Ardern’s government was set to release its first ‘Wellbeing’ budget, which had been touted globally as a new approach to fiscal decision-making guided by a broader range of indicators to improve New Zealanders’ living standards. Unions working on behalf of teachers have been negotiating with the government for months for pay rises and measures to reduce workloads, but so far have ended in deadlock. “The offers we have received from the government have not addressed the issues our profession is facing. They will not turn around the crisis in education that is looming,” said Lynda Stuart, the president of teachers’ union NZEI Te Riu Roa, in a statement when the strike was announced earlier this month. Education Minister Chris Hipkins said earlier this month when the strikes were announced that the extra NZ$1.2 billion (€703 million) over four years in pay rises on offer was the “biggest offer teachers have had in a decade” and told Radio New Zealand on Wednesday there was no more money for teachers’ pay in this year’s budget. The strike spotlights the difficulties Ardern’s government faces in delivering on its promise to pour money into social services and rein in economic inequality when it took office in 2017. The centre-left government’s traditional union support base says sluggish wage growth and soaring living costs have left workers struggling, with junior doctors, nurses and court officials taking action in the past year to demand pay hikes. The government on Tuesday said it was “hacked” following the early release of some budget information by the opposition National Party. The Finance Minister said not all the details in the information was correct. Police were investigating and the National Party denied involvement in any illegal activity. | NEWS WIRES | https://www.france24.com/en/20190529-new-zealand-teachers-country-largest-education-strike | 2019-05-29 06:21:29+00:00 | 1,559,125,289 | 1,567,539,909 | education | teaching and learning |
219,436 | freedombunker--2019-01-31--School Choice Also Gives Teachers Like Me More Choice | 2019-01-31T00:00:00 | freedombunker | School Choice Also Gives Teachers Like Me More Choice | During a moment of small group discussion in a professional development session, a teacher near me gave his opinion: In most school buildings, there smolders an animosity of which most people aren’t aware between teachers and administrators. It shows up in staff meetings. It’s heard in teachers' lounge gossip. “If only they trusted us and gave us the freedom to do our jobs as we saw fit,” goes the refrain of frustrated teachers. This tension, while a problem in itself, is indicative of a larger issue. There is a handful of different ways to teach that are based on different educational theories; public schools, not committed to any particular theory, mandate a poor mixture of them all onto their teachers. Private schools, a different option where the curriculum may be more aligned to individual beliefs, contain only 10 percent of school enrollment, leaving most teachers to teach a hodgepodge curriculum with which they don’t agree. It’s a matter, then, of hampered choice. A quick overview of the two broad educational theories to which teachers ascribe is needed to understand this problem. The first has a classical view of education and sees schools as a way to make a well-rounded, generally knowledgeable individual; the focus is on content. The second could be called skills-focused educators who see schools as a way to train the next generation of civically-minded workers. Within each broad theory are a myriad of subdivisions and practices. Asking "What and how should we read in class?" exemplifies the diversity in teaching methods. Regimented charter schools would model a systematic method for analyzing a text, practice with their class, and then ask the students to do so as an assessment. The progressive urban educators would treat a text as a cultural artifact to compare and contrast the systems of oppression in various eras. A private Christian school would read a work and guide their students into understanding what the author believed. Montessori schools would ask students to pick their books and subsequently discuss what it made them think about. This short list doesn’t even touch on vocational, STEM, or arts-based schools. In this market of choices, no one method is inherently superior to the other. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. In this market of choices, no one method is inherently superior to the other. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. Each does, however, require a unique set of skills to create a unique set of students. Speaking for myself, I was educated in the progressive, urban school method and taught myself into a regimented charter school one. During my first year of teaching, an administrator required that I implement a classroom structure I had never learned. Within a few weeks, my class was chaos, as I had no idea how to do what they asked, and I, like the teacher in my anecdote, learned to ignore administrative mandates. This problem is professionally stifling. Many teachers required to teach Shakespeare stumble through a month of an author for whom they have neither respect nor understanding. Others have a unit that implements Montessori-like choice reading without the knowledge of how to push the depth of a student’s thought when every kid in the class has a different book. Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow at the Fordham Institute, says: School choice will create a system without this inherent tension between teacher freedom and bureaucratic mandates. This system ties funding to students and deregulates the system, allowing for a diversification of schools to contend for skilled teachers. Many teachers worry that a system like this would allow for anti-scientific, overtly racist, or simple bad teaching to spread. Two things can work against this concern. First, any mixture of state or local content standards, intermittent standardized tests, or school inspections can ensure a minimum of quality without the need for the federal government to run schools. More importantly, the system allows for market pressure to keep schools accountable. If a school is ineffective, parents can choose to send their kids elsewhere, thereby draining funds away. This school, with its poor practice, will then either have to change or close. It is a system that will provide them with the freedom they long for. Sadly, 79 percent of teachers, both Republican and Democrat, oppose school vouchers. Along with their concerns about accountability, many believe they will drain money from their paychecks to private schools, but studies have shown reality to be the exact opposite. Instead, it is a system that will provide them with the freedom they long for. Ashley Berner of John Hopkins University wrote in a review of the research on school choice that “many educators will find [this] pluralistic system professionally attractive. Funding an increasingly diverse spectrum of schools will likely generate innovative working environments and strong school cultures that mirror teachers’ individual commitments and pedagogical styles.” A disciple of classical education could leave the mediocre curriculum of the public school and teach strict grammar through philosophy at a private school. The progressive educator can leave Shakespeare behind and teach reading through culturally relevant materials. The Montessori people can say goodbye to curriculum altogether and let the kids guide the class as they go along. While applying for jobs during graduate school, I had the pleasure of interviewing at a choice-funded Christian charter school in a poor neighborhood of Milwaukee. Every individual teacher in that school had a shared vision and pedagogy that created an energetic atmosphere, which I have yet to feel again. Seeing the mandated curriculum at this school, a professor with whom I discussed this opportunity drew back in horror. “How can they teach like this?” she gasped. She disagreed with almost every curricular choice this school had made, while I praised them for it all. In a system with choice, she could pick a school that better fit her belief, leaving me happy at a school that fits mine. | Sean McBride | http://freedombunker.com/2019/01/31/school-choice-also-gives-teachers-like-me-more-choice/ | 2019-01-31 19:00:05+00:00 | 1,548,979,205 | 1,567,550,053 | education | teaching and learning |
219,724 | freedombunker--2019-02-13--School Choice Is about Rewarding Good Teachers | 2019-02-13T00:00:00 | freedombunker | School Choice Is about Rewarding Good Teachers | One of the most common myths in education is that school choice is somehow bad for public school teachers. In fact, teachers started striking against school choice in Los Angeles just last week. However, basic economic theory tells us that school choice is actually good for teachers because it introduces competition for their employers. In a competitive education labor market, employers must compete for talent by offering teachers smaller class sizes, more autonomy, and higher salaries. In fact, the five studies that exist on the subject all find that charter and private school choice lead to higher salaries for teachers in traditional public schools. For example, a study published in the Journal of Public Economics finds that charter school competition increases teacher salaries by about 3.4 percent in difficult-to-staff public schools. None of the five studies indicate that school choice competition is bad for public school teachers. Some of the teachers make well over $1 million each year. Now that’s an incentive structure that’s good for both students and teachers. But that’s not all. As shown in Andrew Coulson’s School Inc. documentary, teachers in private institutions in South Korea are highly satisfied with their jobs because their students actually want to be there. And, of course, it’s easier for teachers in private educational institutions (“hagwons”) to tailor their lessons to students because the children “are matched with classes based on their performance levels” and interests. Highly demanded teachers in South Korea are also financially rewarded for a job well done. As shown in the clip below, some of the teachers make well over $1 million each year. Now that’s an incentive structure that’s good for both students and teachers. Maybe the teachers in Los Angeles should have been striking for more school choice, not less. This article was reprinted from the Cato Institute. | Sean McBride | http://freedombunker.com/2019/02/13/school-choice-is-about-rewarding-good-teachers/ | 2019-02-13 18:00:15+00:00 | 1,550,098,815 | 1,567,548,608 | education | teaching and learning |
223,086 | freedombunker--2019-10-12--Teachers Who Quit to Create Schooling Alternatives | 2019-10-12T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Teachers Who Quit to Create Schooling Alternatives | It’s not uncommon for public school teachers to experience burnout or feel demoralized by the weight of their work. Many leave the classroom and the education profession behind to pursue other careers. In fact, U.S. Labor Department data reveal that public school educators are quitting their jobs at record-breaking rates. But some public school teachers wonder if conventional schooling may be the root of their discontent, not education itself. They are frustrated by standardized curriculum expectations, more testing, an emphasis on classroom compliance and the antagonistic relationships between teachers and students that a rigid schooling environment can cultivate. Rather than abandoning their passion for education, some of these teachers are building alternatives to school outside of the dominant system that nurture authentic teaching and learning relationships. One of the pioneers of schooling alternatives is Kenneth Danford, a former public middle school social studies teacher who left the classroom in 1996 to launch a completely new learning model. Along with a teacher colleague, Danford opened North Star, a self-directed learning center in western Massachusetts. They sought to create a space for young people, ages 11 and up, that prioritized learner freedom and autonomy, while rejecting the coercion and control they witnessed in the conventional classroom. This involved building the learning center as a resource for peer interaction, optional classes, workshops, and adult mentoring while providing teenagers with the opportunity to come and go whenever they chose. Using homeschooling as the legal mechanism to provide this educational freedom and flexibility, North Star members attend when they want, frequently using the center to supplement community college classes, extracurricular activities and apprenticeships. Full-time, annual membership up to four days per week is $8,200, but no family has ever been turned away for an inability to pay these fees. Some families choose part-time enrollment options that start at $3,250 per year for one day a week at North Star. In his new book, Learning Is Natural, School Is Optional, Danford reflects on his more than 20 years of running North Star and the hundreds of young people who have gone through his program, often gaining admission to selective colleges or pursuing work in fulfilling careers. He told me in a recent interview: Sharing this model with others was the next step for Danford. After receiving many calls and emails from educators across the country and around the world who wanted to launch centers similar to North Star, in 2013 Danford helped to establish Liberated Learners, an organization that supports entrepreneurial educators in opening their own alternatives to school. One of the centers that sprouted from Liberated Learners is BigFish Learning Community in Dover, New Hampshire. Founded by Diane Murphy, a public school teacher for 30 years, BigFish allows young people to be in charge of their own learning. Murphy opened the center in January 2018 with five students; today, she has over 30. Full-time tuition at the center (up to four days a week) is $9,000 per year, with part-time options also available. An English teacher, she never expected to be the founder of a schooling alternative. “I loved my job,” she says, but she quit to create something better. “The main reason I left is because the kids began showing up more and more miserable,” Murphy continues. Granted more freedom and less coercion, young people at BigFish thrive—and so do the teachers. “Real teachers understand that our role is to support and lead young people to discover and uncover their talents, most especially to find their passions and their voice,” says Murphy. Working outside of the conventional school system may be a way forward for more teachers who want to help young people to drive their own education, in pursuit of their own passions and potential. According to Kevin Currie-Knight, an education professor at East Carolina University, it’s rare for teachers to recognize that their dissatisfaction as an educator may be a schooling problem, not a personal one. Currie-Knight, who studies self-directed education and alternative learning models, says that the tendency is for teachers to internalize the problems they encounter in the classroom. If children aren’t engaged or are acting out, teachers typically assume that it must be their poor teaching and that they must not be cut out for the job, rather than seeing it as a problem with coercive schooling more broadly. “School isn’t challengeable,” says Currie-Knight of its entrenched position in our culture. Currie-Knight explains that most teachers go into education either because they really like a certain subject area or they really like kids, or both. “In the conventional environment,” he says, Many of these teachers conclude that it’s their teaching that is the problem, rather than the underlying dynamics of conventional schooling that compel young people to learn certain content, in certain ways and at certain times. Teachers who leave the classroom to create schooling alternatives can be an inspiration to other teachers who may feel frustrated or powerless. Rather than blaming themselves, entrepreneurial teachers are the ones who imagine, design, and implement new models of education. As BigFish’s Murphy proposes: This article is republished with permission from Forbes. | Sean McBride | http://freedombunker.com/2019/10/12/teachers-who-quit-to-create-schooling-alternatives/ | Sat, 12 Oct 2019 13:00:15 +0000 | 1,570,899,615 | 1,570,921,703 | education | teaching and learning |
534,614 | sputnik--2019-05-27--Ramadan Interferes With Learning Process Finnish Teachers Complain | 2019-05-27T00:00:00 | sputnik | Ramadan Interferes With Learning Process, Finnish Teachers Complain | May has become a gruelling time for some Finnish schools, as the Muslim fasting month, Ramadan, complicates the learning process, the newspaper Suomen Kuvalehti reports. Hungry children experience difficulties in maintaining concentration during their lessons and while preparing for the final exams at the end of the spring semester, the newspaper said. Furthermore, the anxiety of the fasting children is quickly passed on to their classmates. In early May, the administration of the city of Tampere announced that Ramadan would not be observed at the city's schools. Katja Simonen, an organiser of language and cultural education at a secondary school in Tampere, equated school to working life, where people need to adapt to certain rules. "It is about the state of Muslim children and the welfare of all students. In Finnish schools, children should eat," Simonen explained. "Young children can fast at home and cannot cope at school without food," she added. According to her, primary school children don't need to observe Ramadan at all, since only healthy adults in the Muslim community fast. READ MORE: Swede Complains About Death Threats Over 'Ramadan Pork and Booze' Joke However, the prescription is not strictly observed. At Pohjois Hervanta school alone, where 40 percent of the schoolchildren are migrants, 60 students observe Ramadan, despite the city administration's instructions. "We cannot force-feed children or give injections with nutrients. All we can do is advise parents not to force children to fast," school headmaster Ilpo Nybacka said. According to the director, the effects of Ramadan are tangible. At Pohjois Hervanta, the lack of concentration has reached such high levels that parents were asked to immediately stop the children's fasting. However, it is still difficult for some parents to accept the school's instructions. "It may be hard for them to understand the school's call to stop fasting if at the age of 9, the child is already a Muslim believer who wears the Islamic headscarf as a symbol of faith," Katja Simonen explained. For those pupils who observe Ramadan, despite the city of Tampere's instruction, water is offered alongside an additional 15-minute break. According to headmaster Nybacka, the most problematic aspect from the school's point of view are the students who parade their piety as a way of getting additional benefits. "Religion and fasting cannot be used to obtain special status. Sincere religiosity is one thing, yet reluctance to eat food that 'doesn't taste good enough', have a longer recess or buy food from the kiosk is another", Nybacka argued. According to him, there should be the same rules for all students in Finnish schools. According to the Finnish Teachers Trade Union, schools and municipalities have different approaches to Ramadan. While some forbid fasting, others support it. "Schools play a big role in integrating Muslim migrants into the Finnish education system. Ways to ensure freedom of religion can be sought together, but the rules should be common to all. You can not seek benefits, hiding behind Ramadan or prayers", union representative Päivi Lyhykäinen explained. "The freedom of religion is entrenched in the Finnish constitution. However, families' religious principles should not adversely affect school life or work," Leena Nissilä of the Finnish Education Commission said. READ MORE: 'Not Halal Enough': Finland's Strict Slaughter Rules Roasted by Local Muslims During Ramadan, which this year lasts from 5 May to 4 June, fasting from dawn until sunset is obligatory for all Muslims, except except those who are ill, travelling, elderly, pregnant, breastfeeding, diabetic, chronically ill, or menstruating. | null | https://sputniknews.com/europe/201905271075372520-finland-ramadan-schools/ | 2019-05-27 06:28:00+00:00 | 1,558,952,880 | 1,567,540,138 | education | teaching and learning |
552,643 | sputnik--2019-12-11--Teachers From 30 Countries Complete Online Course on Digital Learning, Russian Culture | 2019-12-11T00:00:00 | sputnik | Teachers From 30 Countries Complete Online Course on Digital Learning, Russian Culture | The online courses “Digital Pedagogy” and “The achievements of Russian culture in a multilingual world” are part of the project “Building a digital cooperation space,” and are publicly available in the public domain. The online course “Achievements of Russian culture in a multilingual world” tells about the history of Russian culture and its impact on world culture. The curriculum includes lectures on avant-garde, constructivism, theatre, cinema, ballet, non-conformism and philanthropy. The online courses were created as part of the project “Building a digital cooperation space”, introduced by the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia through a grant from the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and the International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo). | null | https://sputniknews.com/society/201912111077540207-teachers-from-30-countries-complete-online-course-on-digital-learning-russian-culture/ | Wed, 11 Dec 2019 13:02:45 +0300 | 1,576,087,365 | 1,576,068,537 | education | teaching and learning |
802,699 | themanchestereveningnews--2019-07-03--Brexit is putting pupils off learning modern foreign languages say teachers | 2019-07-03T00:00:00 | themanchestereveningnews | Brexit is 'putting pupils off learning modern foreign languages' say teachers | Brexit is causing students across the UK to become disinterested in learning modern foreign languages (MFL), according to the British Council. While more than two-thirds of teachers surveyed by the council said the difficulty of exams was the issue, one in four secondary school teachers said Brexit was having a "negative impact" on pupil's motivation to learn languages. Out of the 1600 surveyed, an impact on parental attitudes was also noted, with some parents actively discouraging their children from learning languages. As teachers blame Brexit for a decrease in pupil engagement, two in five added that Britain leaving the EU poses a major challenge to providing high quality language teaching, as the majority of secondary schools depend on EU citizens to help staff their language departments. The recent report over attitudes coincides with a long-term decline in the number of entries for GCSE language exams, with both French and German seeing a reduction of 30 per cent since 2014. Trends also support the little likelihood of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds studying languages, as after revisions to the syllabus, 84 per cent of state schools say lower attaining students are now less likely to take a language than three years ago. Lead researcher, Teresa Tinsley, said: "The report paints a picture of language learning in England becoming increasingly segregated along both socio-economic and academic lines. "Pupils from poorer backgrounds and those who are less academically inclined are much less likely than their peers to acquire any substantial language skills or access foreign cultures in any significant way, challenges that Brexit looks to exacerbate. "We all know the pressures schools are under, but these inequalities are not good for our society or the future of our country." The Language Trends report also indicates declining levels of international engagement in primary and secondary schools, with half offering pupils no international activity at all. Vicky Gough, schools adviser at the British Council, said: "We need to give our young people more opportunities to learn about and engage with different cultures. "Languages open up so many doors - not only are they a valuable skill highly sought after by employers, they also allow for a deeper understanding and appreciation of the wider world." A spokeswoman for exams regulator Ofqual, said: "We take seriously concerns about the perceived difficulty of MFL subjects and continue to look at this issue in detail. "We are currently conducting a comprehensive review of grading standards in GCSE French, German and Spanish, looking at statistical evidence, contextual data including trends in the numbers taking these subjects and the quality of students' work, to see if there is compelling case for an adjustment to grading standards in these subjects." The Department for Education say they are supporting schools to encourage students to study languages. Initiatives include the £10m Mandarin Excellence Programme, which will put 5,000 young people on track to be 'fluent in Mandarin by 2020.' This research is based on an online survey completed between January-March of this year by teachers in 776 state primary schools, 715 state secondary schools and 130 independent secondary schools across the country. | [email protected] (Saffron Otter) | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/brexit-putting-pupils-learning-modern-16523468 | 2019-07-03 10:42:25+00:00 | 1,562,164,945 | 1,567,537,075 | education | teaching and learning |
117,296 | conservativehome--2019-02-01--Mark Lehain Gove was right to support headteachers over excluded pupils | 2019-02-01T00:00:00 | conservativehome | Mark Lehain: Gove was right to support headteachers over excluded pupils | Mark Lehain is Director of Parents and Teachers for Excellence, and founder of the Bedford Free School. Robert Halfon is a brilliant exponent of an expansive, effective, and inspiring conservatism. Few have done more than him to challenge Tory stereotypes and champion policies that cut through to the wider public. However, I worry that when he addresses educational matters, as in his column on Wednesday, he undermines all the other great things that he has done over the years. It contained quite a few errors and misconceptions, but I’ll just focus here on the four biggest. Exclusions rates – they’re up, but for good reasons Halfon correctly states that exclusion rates are up in recent years, but omits two important facts. First, that the rate is no higher now than they were a decade ago; secondly that the increase is largely down to a deliberate decision by Michael Gove to help headteachers make their schools safer, after numbers were kept artificially low under Labour. In the bad old days, heads operated in a regime where if they expelled a student a group of strangers on an Appeal Panel, with little understanding of the challenges schools face, could overturn things. This had two terrible consequences: bad behaviour went unchallenged, as heads avoided expulsions in case they were overturned and their credibility undermined; and schools were literally forced to take back students who had assaulted staff and students, or brought weapons into school. For many heads it just wasn’t worth the risk to their school’s reputation, and behaviour and learning suffered. Conservatives should be proud that Gove put a stop to this and backed headteachers, whilst ensuring fairness through introducing “Independent Review Panels” instead. Schools today are safer, happier places because of this change. Exclusions do not lead to crime and prison Another error is the way Halfon links exclusions to crime, saying “we know that pupils who are excluded from schools are twice as likely to carry a knife, and 63 per cent of prisoners report having been excluded from schools in their youth.” It’s not exclusions that make people carry knives or go to prison, but other underlying issues in families and communities that cause them all. Schools are places of learning, and we should not ask them to compromise their purpose or safety to address such complex underlying problems. Different rates of exclusion for different students do not mean discrimination is occurring The law is clear that exclusions should always be a last resort. School leaders take this seriously, and bend over backwards to support students and avoid exclusion if they possibly can. Sadly, in recent years a small but influential group of activists have been successful in convincing some politicians and journalists that, because some groups of students experience higher rates of exclusion than others (e.g. those on Special Educational Needs registers), there is systematic discrimination in our school system. When Halfon writes that “children with special educational needs account for around half of all permanent and temporary exclusions”, he does so to reinforce this view above. However, the statistic in isolation is misleading – and he knows this, as it’s been pointed out to him repeatedly. As the teacher wrote in a : “Children are not excluded for having SEN. They are excluded for one of the main reasons they end up being given the SEN label, their behaviour.” High student mobility does not mean pupils are being dumped Finally, I worry at how Halfon referenced data published by Ofsted regarding schools with high levels of student mobility during GCSE years. Ofsted has not “identified” these schools as ones who are dumping kids: they’ve just said that they wanted to examine why these particular schools were experiencing high pupil turnover, which is perfectly reasonable. He also wrote that “over 19,000 students disappeared from the books”, making it sound like schools made them vanish. This is just incorrect. Schools are not allowed to remove a child from their roll without permission and evidence of where they are going on to be educated. As Ofsted said when it released its statistics here, half of those that moved went to other state schools, another chunk into home education, and some more probably to independent ones. Knowing what’s happened with the remainder is important, but it’s not right to judge institutions without having all the facts. Education is a big success for the Conservatives While we’ve definitely not got everything right, I would argue that it is disadvantaged children who have benefited most from Conservative school reforms. Smearing schools, and confusing correlation with causation, doesn’t help anyone. Restricting how schools can keep their staff and students safe would damage vulnerable pupils most. There is so much that we can be proud of having achieved in England’s schools since 2010. The list of successes is quite incredible: a stronger National Curriculum, more rigorous exams, fairer funding, more autonomy for schools and staff, hundreds of popular free schools, a more enlightened Ofsted, proper phonics teaching… I could go on and on. But we mustn’t forget though that all of these achievements rely on safe, orderly schools. Let’s be careful as fix the bits of the system that aren’t working, and not inadvertently throw away all our hard-earned gains by letting behaviour slide like it did under Labour. | Mark Lehain | https://www.conservativehome.com/platform/2019/02/mark-lehain-gove-was-right-to-support-headteachers-over-excluded-pupils.html | 2019-02-01 11:00:13+00:00 | 1,549,036,813 | 1,567,549,955 | education | teaching and learning |
642,970 | thedailyrecord--2019-01-18--Pupils global lessons from teacher Keri | 2019-01-18T00:00:00 | thedailyrecord | Pupils’ global lessons from teacher Keri | A primary teacher from Crieff has been recognised in the New Year Honours with an MBE for the global outlook she’s brought to her school. Keri Reid (45), principal teacher at Muthill Primary School, has been praised for her outstanding work in bringing a global awareness to her Perthshire pupils. Keri has made sure her pupils are well aware of the world outwith Perthshire and that helped net her a MBE when the gongs were dished out at the end of last year. With her help, kids at Muthill have become ambassadors in their learning, retained their full International Schools Award status for the last six years and have spoken to local community groups and other schools. Muthill children have written to the prime minister - and received replies - and have started up a food bank and a Fair Trade shop. Last year Martha Cannon, in P6, represented Scotland and spoke to education ministers at the G20 meeting in Argentina via a video recording, explaining why it is important to be learning about the UN Sustainable Development Goals in schools. Keri has been teaching at Muthill for nearly 15 years and part-time for 10. Her efforts over the last decade have led to Muthill becoming a British Council Partnership School, which has meant getting to know peers in the West African nation of Ghana. It began in 2006 when through Keri’s dedication, Muthill PS was first successful in getting funding from the British Council. Teachers from the Tafo community in Ghana have come on exchange visits and with pupils, use technology to share experiences and knowledge, forging strong links. And since then, it has secured four or five further British Council grants so that Muthill Primary School has hosted 13 teachers from Ghana as part of a Connecting Classrooms project. Children at Muthill are currently working on a collaborative song video to raise awareness of global goals, written by Muthill pupils and choreographed and put to music by the pupils of Juliet Johnston School in Ghana. In April they will proudly show it to visiting Ghanaian teaching colleagues. Keri herself has made several trips to West Africa and this summer in the holidays, she is going back to Ghana together with former pupil, Mae Mackay, her niece and two Muthill teachers. Building on their school’s global connection has been a big thing for children at Muthill, with several fundraising events. “At Muthill we’ve looked at sustainable development issues, global rights and the Fair Trade movement,” Keri explained. “We’re not just learning about the pupils in Ghana, we’re learning through them and with them. “In Ghana, their exports are bananas and chocolate. So we put questions to the pupils out there and straight away, they sent us pictures and made a film of the cacao plantation and the bananas growing right beside their school.” Responding to the announcement of the MBE honour soon to be bestowed by the Queen, mother-of-one Keri said: “It was a complete surprise but a lovely one. Working with the teachers, children and parents in both schools like this is a joy and something I feel quite passionate about. “This award is something I intend to share with both communities. Our Global School activities would not have been so successful without the community of Muthill being so strongly behind the link-up.” Keri’s nomination for a MBE was also for the work she has done in the academic field. She spent two years at the University of Stirling as the early years co-ordinator and a teaching fellow. “It was a real privilege to work with the next generation of teachers and interesting to work alongside colleagues who worked within education, but in a different context,” she told the PA. “While there I also took on an additional role as an associate tutor on a masters programme. This secondment led to me starting up a professional reading and enquiry group with staff on return to Muthill, which then led to my other current role, as an associate tutor for the Scottish College of Leadership (SCEL) on a teacher leadership programme.” Keri also co-ordinates a similar programme for teachers in Perth and Kinross. “I hugely appreciate that Perth and Kinross Council has let me take up these secondments,” she said. “I’m fortunate to have gained such rich experiences and to be able to share what I’ve learned with other teachers.” When she received the letter announcing her award at the end of November, Keri revealed she’d glanced at the formal tone of the communication and froze: “My heart sank, I thought it was bad news - or a hoax. I expected to be asked for my bank details next.” Luckily it was 100 per cent good news, for her and the small school near Crieff. | Melanie Bonn | https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/pupils-global-lessons-teacher-keri-13876150 | 2019-01-18 16:47:05+00:00 | 1,547,848,025 | 1,567,551,895 | education | teaching and learning |
786,554 | theirishtimes--2019-04-24--Pupils in small schools forced to practice emergency drills in case teacher falls ill | 2019-04-24T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | Pupils in small schools forced to practice emergency drills in case teacher falls ill | Pupils in single-teacher schools are practicing emergency drills in case their teacher falls ill in the classroom, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation has heard. Many rural schools with just one or two teachers are highly vulnerable and face major health and safety concerns, Eoin Fenton, a Galway-based teacher told delegates at the conference in Galway. One small school in Co Galway has a list of emergency phone numbers on the school whiteboard. “There’s the number of the chairperson, the local Garda station, parents, etc. Nobody should feel the need to run that drill,” he said. One teacher, Pádraig Lohan, principal of a small school in Derryoober, Co Galway, said he had given his pupils the passcode for his mobile telephone in case of an emergency. “ It was so they could call the nearest people and family always. Thank God that never happened,” he said, adding that teachers working on their own must constantly keep pupils under supervision, not even taking a toilet break. The isolation, he said, meant he looked forward to “the visit of the postman every day”. “And I did look forward even to the Rent-A-Kill guy. I looked forward to the special delivery guys.” His school recently gained a second teacher after pupil numbers rose from seven to 16. In all, there are 26 single-teacher schools and 537 two-teacher schools in mostly rural areas across the State. In January, the Department of Education announced it would provide a grant to ensure there is more than one adult on the premises at all times. On Wednesday, INTO delegates demanded that no school should have less than two full-time teachers, while they also argued that enrolment thresholds for third and fourth teachers be restored to previously lower levels. Falling enrolments at primary level due to demographic change gives the Minister for Education Joe McHugh a “unique opportunity” to reduce class size to the EU average of 20 pupils per teacher with “minimal or no cost” to the State. Irish class sizes of 25 pupils per class are among the biggest in the EU, second only to the UK: “It’s simple, Minister – hold on to our primary teachers as the number of pupils drops,” said INTO general secretary, John Boyle. Many schools are forced to hold bake-sales and raffles to pay basic bills. “Headaches over rising light, heat and electricity costs distract our leaders from their primary function: to lead teaching and learning,” teacher, Michael McConigley said. Delegates heard how primary schools get just 92 cent/per pupil/per day to cover running costs, while second-level schools receive almost double that amount. This is because the capitation grant per pupil has dropped from €200 in 2010 to €70 at primary level. The equivalent figure at post-primary is €296. | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/pupils-in-small-schools-forced-to-practice-emergency-drills-in-case-teacher-falls-ill-1.3870571 | 2019-04-24 19:14:45+00:00 | 1,556,147,685 | 1,567,541,927 | education | teaching and learning |
800,519 | themanchestereveningnews--2019-05-14--No test can assess the unique brilliance of you - headteachers heartwarming letter to pupils doin | 2019-05-14T00:00:00 | themanchestereveningnews | 'No test can assess the unique brilliance of you' - headteacher's heartwarming letter to pupils doing SATs | A headteacher has been praised for her heartwarming letter to pupils doing SATs tests. Year 6 pupils have had their heads down across the country as they take on the tests throughout this week. The assessments face criticism every year by campaigners who say it's wrong to put pressure on children of such a young age. But at Manley Park Primary School in Whalley Range, headteacher Sarah-Jane Henderson has been keen to put pupils at ease and reassure them that SATs don't measure how great they truly are. In a letter to every child in the school's two Year 6 classes, she said: "The SATs are an important moment in your school lives. But that is all they are. A moment in the wonderful 8 years of exciting learning you have engaged in. "We know you have worked hard, we have worked hard with you and watched you grow day by day. "It is really important that you know that these tests cannot possibly test all of the knowledge and skills you have. "They cannot measure how determined you are to address issues of inequality in our world despite only being 10 or 11 years old. "They have not heard you passionately discussing climate change and taking responsibility by joining in those marches to show your solidarity for change. "The tests cannot measure how effectively you have taken on your Playleader, Prefect and Eco Peer Educator roles. They won’t know that you have been inspiring role models for our younger children. "They haven’t seen you compete in sports competitions or sing with the Halle. Basically, there is no test that can assess the unique brilliance of you!" In it, Miss Henderson, who had been at the school for 21 years before being appointed headteacher in February, added that she had 'total faith' the pupils were ready for the challenge and told them 'do your best and feel proud of that'. The letter adds: "We are incredibly proud of the progress you have made academically and personally. We remember the tiny Nursery versions of you who turned up ready to explore the sand, water, paint and play-doh. "Now, we see the determined Year 6 versions of you. You are ready for high school and to experience all of the new opportunities this will provide." Eve Holt is a parent and governor at the school and her son Jacob was one of the Year 6 pupils to get the letter. She told the M.E.N: "He was really moved by the letter, as was his friend who read it with him. "As a parent too it was nice to get that reassurance before the weekend and not to have that pressure that maybe they should be staying in and revising. "It reminded him to be proud of all the other things they have done and that they're not taken for granted." Mum-of-three Eve, who is also a councillor for Chorlton, said the school has always gone to great lengths to put the children at ease. She said: "He's definitely aware of it and has been talking about the tests but the school takes any pressure away and staff are always conscious of the best ways of teaching and giving feedback to meet the pupils' needs. "I've heard in other schools people talking about how the passion to learn is squashed under the pressure and it's nice to be able to say to parents that the children like Year 6 here because it's nothing like that." Explaining why she decided to send the letter, Sarah-Jane said: "It was really an opportunity to share with the pupils that we see how hard they worked and how committed they were to learning and how they have approached the SATs really with the values we celebrate in our school - positivity, compassion, persistence and understanding. "And also to share with them that tests are just that, just a moment in time which measures what you can do on that date, they're not a reflection of the growth they have had over time." She added: "I wanted to say to them 'yes work hard and we'll work hard with you', but keep things in perspective because tests are not everything." | Emma Gill | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/2019-sats-papers-letter-headteacher-16275275 | 2019-05-14 16:55:56+00:00 | 1,557,867,356 | 1,567,540,721 | education | teaching and learning |
58,242 | birminghammail--2019-03-15--Ofsted slams The Streetly Academy for decline in teaching and poor pupil progress | 2019-03-15T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Ofsted slams The Streetly Academy for 'decline' in teaching and poor pupil progress | A previously ‘outstanding’ Sutton Coldfield school has been told to raise its standards after falling two grades following a recent visit by Government education inspectors. The Streetly Academy has been told it ‘requires improvement’ after an Ofsted visit last month – having previously been rated as ‘outstanding’ back in 2012. Education watchdog, Ofsted, said: “In the past, leaders have not acted quickly enough to address the decline in standards at the school. Consequently, pupils, especially the disadvantaged, pupils with special educational needs, and/or disabilities and most-able pupils have made weak progress.” In addition inspectors said some teaching at the school did not take in to ‘full account’ pupils’ needs. This has caused both the most-able pupils and disadvantaged pupils’ progress to suffer. Lead inspector, Bianka Zemke, criticised the teaching and said: “Pupils made poor progress due to variable teaching that was not identified or acted upon quickly enough.” “Some teachers do not have high enough expectations of their pupils. They plan lessons, use resources or ask questions that do not routinely match pupils’ needs, abilities or interests.” This led to the most-able pupils finding work too easy and limiting their progress and disadvantaged students not receiving the extra support they needed – and being left with ‘work of poor quality or left unfinished.” Management at the school was criticised for not recognising weaknesses with the quality of teaching in the school ‘too mixed’ to be good. The Ofsted inspector said: “Leaders’ analysis of the quality of teaching in the past has been over-generous. As a result they were not able to stem quickly the decline in the quality of teaching. “The quality of teaching remains mixed, especially in science and languages.” But the inspector added: “The headteacher has recognised this relatively recently introduced several initiatives to bring about improvements.” However, as a result of the ‘variable’ teaching, results were ‘not good enough’ with ‘weak progress’ for the most able and children with disabilities, disadvantaged or with special needs. Results for students in sixth form had also ‘declined’. Ofsted said: “There remain approximately 10 subjects in which students do not make the progress they should.” A particular concern was the school’s literacy policy not being consistently applied by all teachers. This led to spelling and grammatical mistakes being repeated and becoming ‘errors over time’. Ofsted said there needed to be an external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium (a grant given to help disadvantaged children in schools) to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved. On the plus side pupils’ behaviour was said to be ‘good’ with students said to be ‘friendly, polite and courteous’. Pupils spoke with pride about the school and said: “All of our teachers care about us.” Strengths in teaching included drama. Students’ personal development and welfare at the school was also ‘good’. And governors were praised for being ‘dedicated to the school’ and having a clear view of the strengths and areas that need improvement. The Streetly Academy headteacher, Billy Downie, said: “We are hugely disappointed that the outcome of the inspection has resulted in the school losing its outstanding judgement and that the view of the inspection team is that the school requires improvement. “Whilst the inspection team accepted that a lot of our provision is good, our progress data suggests that our work has not yet had enough impact. “There are a number of reasons why I would challenge that assertion. Nonetheless, the report is as it is and gives us a clear steer on how we improve consistency in teaching and rebuild to a good grading and onwards to outstanding again. "As we go forward, we will work tirelessly to do two things. Firstly, since the inspection, we have accelerated our ongoing work to raise the pace and urgency of student learning in lessons, “Secondly, we will maintain all that is great about Streetly. Our values, our outstanding ethos, our extensive and inclusive extra-curricular provision. “I am confident that the same people who delivered huge improvements in our school over the last decade will do so again over the coming years. I relish the challenge, and I invite the Streetly community - staff, pupils, parents, and governors - in joining us on our journey.” | Nick Horner | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/ofsted-slams-streetly-academy-decline-15976511 | 2019-03-15 15:46:47+00:00 | 1,552,679,207 | 1,567,546,067 | education | teaching and learning |
68,201 | birminghammail--2019-11-20--GCSE pupils who miss breakfast before school 'more likely to fail exams' | 2019-11-20T00:00:00 | birminghammail | GCSE pupils who miss breakfast before school 'more likely to fail exams' | Pupils who skip breakfast on school days are more likely to fail their GCSEs, according to a new study. Researchers found that school children who eat breakfast “regularly” perform better in exams, scoring on average two grades above their fellow students. But only a fraction of the 24,000 state-funded schools in the UK offer their students breakfast, which is traditionally labelled the 'most important meal of the day.' Lead researcher Dr Katie Adolphus, of the University of Leeds, said: “Our study suggests that secondary school students are at a disadvantage if they are not getting a morning meal to fuel their brains for the start of the school day. “The UK has a growing problem of food poverty, with an estimated half a million children arriving at school each day too hungry to learn.” Dr Adolphus added: "This research suggests that poor nutrition is associated with worse results at school." The researchers found 30 per cent of kids “rarely or never” ate breakfast, after surveying 300 students from schools and colleges in West-Yorkshire. While 20 per cent said they only ate breakfast occasionally. The team then tallied students GCSE grades across all subjects and found missing the morning meal meant they scored on average ten points less others. Schools have had to sponsor breakfast clubs themselves or depend on charities such as Magic Breakfast and Family Action, as the government’s free school meal programme only sponsors lunches. Alex Cunningham, Magic Breakfast CEO, said: “This study is a valuable insight, reinforcing the importance of breakfast in boosting pupils' academic attainment and removing barriers to learning. “Education is crucial to a child's future life success and escaping poverty, therefore ensuring every child has access to a healthy start to the day must be a priority.” He added: “We are grateful to the University of Leeds for highlighting this positive impact and welcome their findings, highlighting once again the importance of our work with schools.” The findings reflect the latest national data, which found 16 per cent of secondary school children skip breakfast. Nicola Dolton, programme manager at Family Action, added: “The National School Breakfast Programme is delighted to see the publication of this thorough and compelling research, highlighting the impact that breakfast consumption has on a child's GCSE attainment. “This report provides impressive evidence that eating a healthy breakfast improves a child's educational attainment, which supports our own findings of improvements in a child's concentration in class, readiness to learn, behaviour and punctuality." The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health. | [email protected] (Brett Gibbons) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/gcse-pupils-who-miss-breakfast-17285917 | Wed, 20 Nov 2019 10:57:41 +0000 | 1,574,265,461 | 1,574,252,967 | education | teaching and learning |
347,814 | newspunch--2019-01-16--Education Watch Dog To Crack Down On Pupils Using Their Mobile Phones During Lessons | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | newspunch | Education Watch Dog To Crack Down On Pupils Using Their Mobile Phones During Lessons | Britain’s education watchdog Ofsted is cracking down on discipline in schools following a rise in classroom disruption caused by mobile phones. It’s been found that kids are too busy to listen to their teachers as they are texting, watching videos or checking social media on their phones. Parents, who no doubt purchased the phones for their kids, say they are concerned about children being distracted from their school work. The Mail Online reports: Schools inspectors said they had also seen a marked increase in low-level disruption such as swinging on chairs during lessons, toe-tapping, passing notes and whispering. As a result, Ofsted reports will now contain a behaviour category that schools must pass with flying colours to get an overall rating of ‘outstanding’. At the moment, they are judged on the wide-ranging category ‘personal development, behaviour and welfare’. The proposal is contained in a consultation document published today, with the changes due from September. It states: ‘Creating a sufficiently disciplined environment is a prerequisite to any learning taking place. If behaviour is not managed effectively and learners are not instilled with positive attitudes to learning, nothing much will be learned.’ Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director for education, said: ‘We want to really update the profile of behaviour. If every child behaved in school the standard would rocket up.’ Ofsted research shows that while serious and violent incidents have decreased, smaller distractions are on the rise. Mr Harford added: ‘There aren’t the terrible examples as often as there were, if you go back 15 to 20 years, of behaviour. The problem now is more one about low-level disruption. That kind of thing is what has been on the rise and is the bane of teachers’ lives.’ He said teachers should instil attitudes that can be taken into the workplace, such as punctuality, being courteous and listening to each other. Inspectors will gather evidence for their reports by interviewing staff and pupils to discover whether the school is being strict enough. Luke Tryl, director of corporate strategy, said: ‘We had a series of polling and focus groups with parents. ‘They wanted to know would their child be learning in an environment without that low-level disruption and which is free from bullying.’ Many schools ban mobiles, an idea backed by Education Secretary Damian Hinds. Teachers have complained that their jobs are made tougher by pupils constantly texting each other during class. Some female staff have even been sexually harassed by students who take ‘upskirt’ photos and then post them on social media. But Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: ‘Ofsted already judges schools on behaviour, so we know the overwhelming majority of schools are orderly places where children learn effectively. ‘What parents really want to know is whether their children are happy and safe in school and making good progress. ‘In nine out of ten schools, this is the case. In places where it’s not, support rather than sanction is what is needed.’ | Niamh Harris | https://newspunch.com/education-watch-dog-to-crack-down-on-pupils-using-their-mobile-phones-during-lessons/ | 2019-01-16 11:39:22+00:00 | 1,547,656,762 | 1,567,552,197 | education | teaching and learning |
75,936 | breitbart--2019-11-18--Report: Teacher Defends Drag Queen at School, Condemns 'Bigoted' Parents | 2019-11-18T00:00:00 | breitbart | Report: Teacher Defends Drag Queen at School, Condemns 'Bigoted' Parents | A teacher reportedly defended the presence of a drag queen during a high school class with a Facebook post in which he asserted the parents who objected are “bigoted” and “should not have the final say” in raising their own children. English teacher Anthony Lane, of Willis Independent School District (WISD) High School in Texas, reportedly removed his Facebook post in which he defended another teacher’s decision to host a drag queen in the high school’s cosmetology class to offer makeup tips. Lane sharply criticized parents who complained about the drag queen’s presence without their knowledge. Faithwire posted a screenshot of Lane’s post before it was allegedly removed. The screenshot reportedly shows Lane posted on October 26 that he is “both a parent and a teacher.” “Our society is very sensitive when it comes to criticizing parents, and teachers are often afraid of parents because they are given so much authority,” he reportedly wrote and continued: I believe that raising a child is the responsibility of the community, and that parents should not have the final say. Let’s be honest, some of you don’t know what is best for your kids. Parents believe they should be able to storm the school in the name of political and religious beliefs if something happens in the school that they are morally opposed to. They forget that we make a promise to prepare their children to live in a diverse world. We are not required to protect the misguided, bigoted views of their parents. If you want your children educated with your values, find a private school that will do it. The public education system is not here to serve your archaic beliefs. Local news media Community Impact reported a Willis High School cosmetology teacher invited a drag queen who uses the name Lynn Adonis-Deveaux to attend the class: According to a statement from WISD sent to parents, the administration was aware Adonis-Deveaux performed in drag previously, but was understood they would not be in “full drag.” “School administrators learned at the end of the day that the man was wearing jeans but also wore heels and makeup,” the statement said. “However, the speaker did as asked, which was to talk to students about makeup application. The guest speaker did not discuss sexual orientation, lifestyle or anything else other than makeup application.” Dale Inman, a Conroe Independent School District (CISD) trustee who has three daughters who attend Willis High School, said a parent contacted him with concerns after the drag queen event and he decided to find out more about it. “I put numerous calls into the administrator’s office, which of course they made it abundantly clear they will not talk about it,” Inman said, according to Community Impact. “I’ve got a problem when somebody with a false name enters a school and has advertised himself as an adult exotic dancer for men … Nobody would be allowed in a school under those circumstances.” The local news report noted several Facebook screenshots showing the drag queen makeup event was listed on the high school’s monthly calendar. “As a parent, I have a right to know who’s in that school building,” Inman said. The controversy over the drag queen’s presence in the school intensified when Lane reportedly posted his criticism of parents expressing concern about the event to Facebook. As Community Impact also reported, Inman subsequently asked at a November 11 WISD board meeting, “Who’s responsible for authorizing this adult entertainer who works in the sexually oriented business industry to enter the Willis High School and lay hands on our children?” According to the report: Willis High School Principal Stephanie Hodgins was booed as she introduced herself. She said her staff is working on a model to improve student learning and student growth. “We make decisions always keeping in mind these questions: Is this what’s best for kids? Is this going to help us grow academically?” Hodgins said. “If the answer to these questions is no, then we move on. But if the answer is yes, then we are moving in the right direction.” Lane reportedly spoke at the board meeting in defense of LGBT community members. “I think as a district we need to make an initiative to teach our kids to be tolerant and respectful,” Lane said. However, David Riley, a pastor at Grace Family Fellowship Church, asked, “Who examined the character of the person who stood before our kids?” WISD reportedly released a statement to parents that said the trustees “have examined our process on guest speakers and have made some adjustments in regard to communication to better serve the Willis ISD Community.” | Dr. Susan Berry | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/QMovWlTC57c/ | Mon, 18 Nov 2019 15:21:42 +0000 | 1,574,108,502 | 1,574,104,089 | education | teaching and learning |
117,668 | conservativehome--2019-03-13--John Bald Mixed ability teaching is still stopping our children learn languages | 2019-03-13T00:00:00 | conservativehome | John Bald: Mixed ability teaching is still stopping our children learn languages | John Bald is a former Ofsted inspector and has written two books on the history of writing and spelling. He is Chairman of the Conservative Education Society. Readers of this column will know that I have been worried about the decline of language learning for many years, and have been doing my best to help the government tackle it. At a DfE seminar in 2010, some of our critics, including several drawing six-figure salaries from quangos, argued that I was wrong to say that we were facing a national disaster. Sitting beside me was the head of languages at Mossbourne Community Academy, whose department had just achieved 24 A* grades in German, and 28 A* grades in Spanish, by the simple method of grouping pupils according to their needs and abilities, teaching them well, and ensuring that they worked hard and behaved themselves. Correcting the errors of these quangos, and their friends in teacher training, is a long, hard task. Wholesale cheating in examinations was only removed last year, and the position is still not secure in speaking tests. The errors began with the late Professor Eric Hawkins, who advocated “tolerance” of pupils’ errors – leading to no progress at all for many – and continued with the work of a series of overlapping and expensive organisations that put all of their efforts into exposing children to language, with no attention to the results. Mixed ability teaching was the hidden agenda, and research efforts kept well away from it, because it was obvious that there was a price to be paid in terms of the achievements of the most able pupils. The zealots in charge of the quangos were prepared to pay this price, though they could not afford to do so openly. Through the efforts of Michael Gove and Nick Gibb, their quangos have been closed down, but their legacy and continuing influence are clear in reports issued by the British Academy on behalf of four others – including the Royal Society – and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Languages. The first report proposes a “national strategy”, reminiscent of Blair’s solution to every problem. It makes no reference to standards or teaching methods, and proposes a link to similar strategies in Scotland and Wales, neither of which has shown any evidence of improved standards. In Wales, under 20 per cent of pupils took a GCSE in a language other than Welsh in 2017, which indicates that they have a problem rather than a solution. The BA report cites an estimate from Cardiff Business School that failure to learn languages is costing us £48bn a year, but does not mention the report’s admission that it contains “a wide margin of error.” It’s hard to see the Royal Society accepting this in any other area of its work, and highlighting the estimate without the qualification is more suited to propaganda than to science. Much more reliable is a comment by Richard Hardie, former Chairman of UBS, to the All-Party Parliamentary group, that what was needed was linguists with the levels of linguistic skill and fluency needed to design and negotiate contracts and understand regulations. The Cardiff recommendation of high-level business placements, including MBAs, is in line with this view. The All-Party group is something of a misnomer, as a large number of Conservative MPs are members, but never attend its meetings. Its “National Recovery Programme” makes the important point that the decline in languages has damaged the supply of teachers, a phenomenon that has resulted in one civil servant receiving a decoration from the French government for providing work for French nationals who couldn’t find any in France. Otherwise the report is very similar to that of the British Academy, an uncosted wishlist with no mention of the issue of standards, which is at the heart of the decline in A level, or indeed of the steps the government is taking to address the issue. The first of these, the Mandarin Excellence Project, is leading to higher standards in the learning of Chinese than we have ever had in the UK, and has turned round a situation in which millions of pounds, and the goodwill of the Chinese government, were squandered through lack of consistency and support. It was mortifying to see some of the best teaching anywhere wasted because no-one provided any consolidation between lessons, leaving the visiting teacher to start from scratch each time. Now, pupils are given an intensive course that ensures that they really understand how spoken and written Mandarin work, and have the satisfaction of knowing that they are making real progress, as the All-Party group has seen. A similar, though less intensive, approach is to be developed through the national system of Language Hubs, based at York University and led by Dr Rachel Hawkes, a former president of the Association for Language Learning, and Professor Emma Marsden. Unlike the British Academy and APPG proposals, these initiatives have a clear emphasis on standards and outcomes, which is the only long-term way to address the concerns of Richard Hardie, and of the APPG itself in relation to the supply of teachers. For these two organisations to take no notice of them at all would be disappointing, if it were not for the ever-present elephant in the room, mixed ability teaching, which remains a matter of principle for our opponents, whether it enables children to learn effectively or not. The pupils I see are being failed by the system. They need better teaching, not wishful thinking. PS. The Select Committee has reported on the nursing degree apprenticeship, and the government replied on Monday. | John Bald | https://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2019/03/john-bald-mixed-ability-teaching-is-still-stopping-our-children-learn-languages.html | 2019-03-13 06:10:18+00:00 | 1,552,471,818 | 1,567,546,409 | education | teaching and learning |
220,312 | freedombunker--2019-03-21--Parents Not Government Should Decide How To Teach Their Kids About LGBT Issues | 2019-03-21T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Parents, Not Government, Should Decide How To Teach Their Kids About LGBT Issues | "They need to be allowed to be children rather than having to constantly think about equalities and rights." That's the explanation Fatima Shah has given for temporarily pulling her 10-year-old daughter out of school in Birmingham, England. She is one of apparently hundreds of Muslim parents who object to a newly developed school program to teach children the basics of LGBT issues. Now some primary schools in England are suspending this program, called No Outsiders, developed by educator Andrew Moffat, in order to discuss the issue with parents who object to Moffat's curriculum. A petition signed by 400 parents calls for it to be dropped from the schools. Here's more from Shah in The Guardian in January: Shah claimed her children were becoming "confused" about homosexuality and that the local community's concerns were not being taken on board. She said: "We have nothing against Mr. Moffat – we are as British as they come. We respect the British values … but the problem is, he is not respecting our ethos as a community. "We don't send our children to school to learn about LGBT. We send them to school to learn maths, science and English." There are, of course, people who support and have defended the Moffat program, arguing that schools should continue the classes and require all children to attend them. I suspect these op-eds are much kinder and more respectful of the religious objections of Muslims than they would be of Christians. But I'm not here to participate in the culture wars. Rather, I'd like to point out how poor a job the school system clearly did in engaging with these people when developing the program in the first place; the belief of government education bureaucrats that they are responsible for teaching students and their families to be "better" people; and the inability of many people in the education system to recognize what services parents actually want from them. Shabana Mahmood, a member of Parliament for parts of the Birmingham community, explained that the parents she had spoken to weren't even against teaching children about LGBT issues. She herself has backed gay rights measures and voted in favor of same-sex marriage recognition. What she heard is that parents are uncomfortable with the early age at which this is all happening. They want these lessons to begin in secondary school, not when their kids are under the age of 10. The fight is as loud as it is dumb and unnecessary. Learning about LGBT issues, families, and relationships is something that should be handled on the cultural level, not via standardized government lessons. Western nations have become far more accepting of LGBT people over the past 30 years, but it wasn't government that drove the change. Rather, it was a result of passionate activism and cultural engagement with the communities themselves. Whenever there's a conflict between educators and parents about what children should be learning, there's a clear and obvious solution: school choice. This fight doesn't have to have winners and losers. Parents who want their children to learn about gay families at a younger age and parents who want their children to wait can both get what they want. But that would require government officials and educators to see parents as customers, and accept that their business must be won, not assumed. And that's not very British at all. | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/03/21/parents-not-government-should-decide-how-to-teach-their-kids-about-lgbt-issues/ | 2019-03-21 17:45:00+00:00 | 1,553,204,700 | 1,567,545,309 | education | teaching and learning |
222,658 | freedombunker--2019-09-05--Great Tools for Teaching Kids Economics and Liberty | 2019-09-05T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Great Tools for Teaching Kids Economics and Liberty | Whenever my children express an interest in economics or are curious about the ideals of freedom and responsibility, I can barely contain my excitement. It wasn’t until college that I discovered, and fell in love with, economics, and it wasn’t until much later that I understood liberty as a life philosophy. Fortunately, I can avoid stifling their budding interest by drawing demand curves or quoting Hayek and Hazlitt (though I’ve been known to do both!) and turn to some outstanding resources just for kids. Designed to introduce economic principles and the foundations of a free society to young children, these tools are interesting, engaging, and easy-to-understand—for children and adults alike! The popular Tuttle Twins book series continues to grow, with 10 children’s books now available, as well as accompanying activity sheets and instructional materials. Created by Connor Boyack, a father who was disappointed by the dearth of good economic and civic content for kids, The Tuttle Twins series introduces concepts ranging from spontaneous order and how money works to individual rights and youth entrepreneurship. The latest book in the series, The Tuttle Twins and the Education Vacation, makes a case for non-coercive learning outside of the classroom. These may seem like big ideas for small children, but Boyack says we underestimate children’s ability and interest. “I've been blown away at how well little kids can understand big ideas,” he says. Boyack recently launched Free Market Rules, a new weekly, family-centered curriculum for exploring free-market principles in greater depth, and FEE readers can use the coupon FORTY to get 40 percent off the Tuttle Twins books. FEE’s founder, Leonard E. Read, wrote his famous essay, “I, Pencil,” in 1958, celebrating the miracle of the free market in facilitating voluntary exchange and producing the goods and services we want and need. This process happens spontaneously, without any central planner determining what to produce and how to produce it. Indeed, the remarkable message of “I, Pencil” is that “not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me.” One day when I was re-reading Leonard Read's "I, Pencil" it hit me that I canmake it more kid-friendly? I changed the pencils to pizza. Now, author and economics commentator Julie Borowski offers a kid-friendly version of Read’s classic essay in her new book Nobody Knows How to Make a Pizza. Like a pencil, a pizza may seem simple to make, but it relies on millions of strangers working together peacefully and spontaneously to produce a basic cheese pizza. Borowski explains why she decided to write this book: Over the years, many parents have told me that their kids enjoy listening to my commentary because I make learning about economics fun and simple. Some have asked if I would ever consider writing a children's book. One day, I was re-reading Leonard Read's "I, Pencil" when it hit me. It's already a fascinating story, but can I make it more kid-friendly? I changed it to pizza cause, well, kids are more interested in pizza than pencils. And my illustrator, Tetiana Kopytova, did an amazing job creating cute characters with bright colors. It's a fun, positive book that will revolutionize the way kids think about the world. A 2017 survey by the University of Pennsylvania found that 37 percent of American adults couldn’t name one right protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and only one-quarter of them could name all three branches of government. Clearly, there is a crisis in American civic education and a disturbing lack of understanding of individual liberty. Author Rory Margraf wanted to address this problem by creating an accessible, colorful children’s book that easily explains the Bill of Rights and the principles of liberty to kids. He says: The book was so well-received that Margraf plans to release a sequel to I Know My Rights before the holidays. He adds: FEE also provides many high-quality resources to help young people expand their knowledge of economics and individual liberty. The free Invisible Hands video series for kids combines fun puppets and a famous YouTuber to offer an introductory look at basic economic principles. And for teenagers, FEE’s three-day summer seminars on college campuses across the country offer an opportunity for more in-depth exploration of these important ideas. Additionally, FEE’s free online courses on economics and entrepreneurship are great for people of all ages! Parents are perfectly positioned to introduce economic and civic concepts to their children. In fact, they may be the best ones to do it. With authors now creating exceptionally good material for young children on these topics, it has never been easier or more enjoyable for parents to present these ideas to their kids and help them to deepen their knowledge throughout their teenage years. | Sean McBride | http://freedombunker.com/2019/09/05/great-tools-for-teaching-kids-economics-and-liberty/ | 2019-09-05 13:00:44+00:00 | 1,567,702,844 | 1,569,331,166 | education | teaching and learning |
233,919 | hitandrun--2019-03-21--Parents Not Government Should Decide How To Teach Their Kids About LGBT Issues | 2019-03-21T00:00:00 | hitandrun | Parents, Not Government, Should Decide How To Teach Their Kids About LGBT Issues | "They need to be allowed to be children rather than having to constantly think about equalities and rights." That's the explanation Fatima Shah has given for temporarily pulling her 10-year-old daughter out of school in Birmingham, England. She is one of apparently hundreds of Muslim parents who object to a newly developed school program to teach children the basics of LGBT issues. Now some primary schools in England are suspending this program, called No Outsiders, developed by educator Andrew Moffat, in order to discuss the issue with parents who object to Moffat's curriculum. A petition signed by 400 parents calls for it to be dropped from the schools. Here's more from Shah in The Guardian in January: Shah claimed her children were becoming "confused" about homosexuality and that the local community's concerns were not being taken on board. She said: "We have nothing against Mr. Moffat – we are as British as they come. We respect the British values … but the problem is, he is not respecting our ethos as a community. "We don't send our children to school to learn about LGBT. We send them to school to learn maths, science and English." There are, of course, people who support and have defended the Moffat program, arguing that schools should continue the classes and require all children to attend them. I suspect these op-eds are much kinder and more respectful of the religious objections of Muslims than they would be of Christians. But I'm not here to participate in the culture wars. Rather, I'd like to point out how poor a job the school system clearly did in engaging with these people when developing the program in the first place; the belief of government education bureaucrats that they are responsible for teaching students and their families to be "better" people; and the inability of many people in the education system to recognize what services parents actually want from them. Shabana Mahmood, a member of Parliament for parts of the Birmingham community, explained that the parents she had spoken to weren't even against teaching children about LGBT issues. She herself has backed gay rights measures and voted in favor of same-sex marriage recognition. What she heard is that parents are uncomfortable with the early age at which this is all happening. They want these lessons to begin in secondary school, not when their kids are under the age of 10. The fight is as loud as it is dumb and unnecessary. Learning about LGBT issues, families, and relationships is something that should be handled on the cultural level, not via standardized government lessons. Western nations have become far more accepting of LGBT people over the past 30 years, but it wasn't government that drove the change. Rather, it was a result of passionate activism and cultural engagement with the communities themselves. Whenever there's a conflict between educators and parents about what children should be learning, there's a clear and obvious solution: school choice. This fight doesn't have to have winners and losers. Parents who want their children to learn about gay families at a younger age and parents who want their children to wait can both get what they want. But that would require government officials and educators to see parents as customers, and accept that their business must be won, not assumed. And that's not very British at all. | Scott Shackford | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reason/HitandRun/~3/iGylHgKNBvU/parents-not-government-should-set-framew | 2019-03-21 17:45:00+00:00 | 1,553,204,700 | 1,567,545,351 | education | teaching and learning |
382,892 | npr--2019-01-02--Why Millions Of Kids Cant Read And What Better Teaching Can Do About It | 2019-01-02T00:00:00 | npr | Why Millions Of Kids Can't Read, And What Better Teaching Can Do About It | Why Millions Of Kids Can't Read, And What Better Teaching Can Do About It Jack Silva didn't know anything about how children learn to read. What he did know is that a lot of students in his district were struggling. Silva is the chief academic officer for Bethlehem, Pa., public schools. In 2015, only 56 percent of third graders were scoring proficient on the state reading test. That year, he set out to do something about that. "It was really looking yourself in the mirror and saying, 'Which 4 in 10 students don't deserve to learn to read?' " he recalls. Bethlehem is not an outlier. Across the country, millions of kids are struggling. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 32 percent of fourth-graders and 24 percent of eighth-graders aren't reading at a basic level. Fewer than 40 percent are proficient or advanced. One excuse that educators have long offered to explain poor reading performance is poverty. In Bethlehem, a small city in eastern Pennsylvania that was once a booming steel town, there are plenty of poor families. But there are fancy homes in Bethlehem, too, and when Silva examined the reading scores he saw that many students at the wealthier schools weren't reading very well either. Silva didn't know what to do. To begin with, he didn't know how students in his district were being taught to read. So, he assigned his new director of literacy, Kim Harper, to find out. Harper attended a professional-development day at one of the district's lowest-performing elementary schools. The teachers were talking about how students should attack words in a story. When a child came to a word she didn't know, the teacher would tell her to look at the picture and guess. The most important thing was for the child to understand the meaning of the story, not the exact words on the page. So, if a kid came to the word "horse" and said "house," the teacher would say, that's wrong. But, Harper recalls, "if the kid said 'pony,' it'd be right because pony and horse mean the same thing." Harper was shocked. First of all, pony and horse don't mean the same thing. And what does a kid do when there aren't any pictures? This advice to a beginning reader is based on an influential theory about reading that, basically, says people use things like context and visual clues to read words. The theory assumes learning to read is a natural process and that with enough exposure to text, kids will figure out how words work. Yet scientists from around the world have done thousands of studies on how people learn to read, and come to the conclusion that that theory is wrong. One big takeaway from all that research is that reading is not natural; we are wired to read from birth. People become skilled readers by learning that written text is a code for speech sounds. The primary task for a beginning reader is to crack the code. Even skilled readers rely on decoding. So, when a child comes to a word she doesn't know, her teacher should tell her to look at all the letters in the word and decode it, based on what that child has been taught about how letters and combinations of letters represent speech sounds. There should be no guessing, no "getting the gist of it." And yet, "this ill-conceived contextual guessing approach to word recognition is enshrined in materials and handbooks used by teachers," wrote Louisa Moats, a prominent reading expert, in a 2017 article. The contextual guessing approach is what a lot of teachers in Bethlehem had learned in their teacher preparation programs. What they hadn't learned is the science that shows how kids actually learn to read. "We never looked at brain research," said Jodi Frankelli, Bethlehem's supervisor of early learning. "We had never, ever looked at it. Never." On a wintry day in early March of 2018, a group of mostly first-and second-grade teachers was sitting in rows in a conference room at the Bethlehem school district headquarters. Mary Doe Donecker, an educational consultant from an organization called Step-by-Step Learning, stood at the front of the room, calling out words: "Tell me the first sound you hear in 'Eunice'?" Nope. "/Y/, /y/, before you get to the /oo/," Donecker explained. "How about "Charlotte?" This was a class on the science of reading. The Bethlehem district has invested approximately $3 million since 2015 on training, materials and support to help its early elementary teachers and principals learn the science of how reading works and how children should be taught. In the class, teachers spent a lot of time going over the sound structure of the English language. Since the starting point for reading is sound, it's critical for teachers to have a deep understanding of this. But research shows they don't. Michelle Bosak, who teaches English as a second language in Bethlehem, said that when when she was in college learning to be a teacher, she was taught almost nothing about how kids learn to read. "It was very broad classes, vague classes and like a children's literature class," she said. "I did not feel prepared to teach children how to read." Bosak was among the first group of teachers in Bethlehem to attend the new, science-based classes, which were presented as a series over the course of a year. For many teachers, the classes were as much about unlearning old ideas about reading – like that contextual-guessing idea – as they were about learning new things. First-grade teacher Candy Maldonado thought she was teaching her students what they needed to know about letters and sounds. "We did a letter a week," she remembers. "So, if the letter was 'A,' we read books about 'A,' we ate things with 'A,' we found things with 'A.' " But that was pretty much it. She didn't think getting into the details of how words are made up of sounds, and how letters represent those sounds, mattered that much. The main goal was to expose kids to lots of text and get them excited about reading. She had no idea how kids learn to read. It was just that – somehow - they do: "Almost like it's automatic." Maldonado had been a teacher for more than a decade. Her first reaction after learning about the reading science was shock: Why wasn't I taught this? Then guilt: What about all the kids I've been teaching all these years? Bethlehem school leaders adopted a motto to help with those feelings: "When we know better, we do better." 'My kids are successful, and happy, and believe in themselves' In a kindergarten class at Bethlehem's Calypso Elementary School in March of 2018, veteran teacher Lyn Venable gathered a group of six students at a small, u-shaped table. "We're going to start doing something today that we have not done before," she told the children. "This is brand spanking new." The children were writing a report about a pet they wanted. They had to write down three things that pet could do. A little boy named Quinn spelled the word "bark" incorrectly. He wrote "boc." Spelling errors are like a window into what's going on in a child's brain when they're learning to read. Venable prompted him to sound out the entire word. "What's the first sound?" Venable asked him. "We got that one. That's 'b.' Now what's the next sound?" Quinn knew the meaning of "bark." What he needed to figure out was how each sound in the word is represented by letters. Venable, who's been teaching elementary school for more than two decades, says she used to think reading would just kind of "fall together" for kids if they were exposed to enough print. Now, because of the science of reading training, she knows better. "My kids are successful, and happy, and believe in themselves," she said. "I don't have a single child in my room that has that look on their face like, 'I can't do this.'" At the end of each school year, the Bethlehem school district gives kindergartners a test to assess early reading skills. In 2015, before the new training began, more than half of the kindergartners in the district tested below the benchmark score, meaning most of them were heading into first grade at risk of reading failure. At the end of the 2018 school year, after the science-based training, 84 percent of kindergartners met or exceeded the benchmark score. At three schools, it was 100 percent. Jack Silva says he's thrilled with the results, but cautious. He's eager to see how the kindergartners do when they get to the state reading test in third grade: "We may have hit a home run in the first inning. But there's a lot of game left here." Emily Hanford is a senior correspondent for APM Reports, the documentary and investigative reporting group at American Public Media. She is the producer of the audio documentary Hard Words, from which this story is adapted. | Emily Hanford | https://www.npr.org/2019/01/02/677722959/why-millions-of-kids-cant-read-and-what-better-teaching-can-do-about-it?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-01-02 11:00:21+00:00 | 1,546,444,821 | 1,567,554,262 | education | teaching and learning |
486,735 | slate--2019-02-28--Ask a Teacher What Questions Should I Ask When Choosing a School for My Child | 2019-02-28T00:00:00 | slate | Ask a Teacher: What Questions Should I Ask When Choosing a School for My Child? | Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. In addition to our traditional advice, every Thursday we feature an assortment of teachers from across the country answering your education questions. Have a question for our teachers? Email [email protected] or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group. Matthew Dicks, fifth grade, Connecticut Amy Scott, eight grade, North Carolina Katie Holbrook, high school, Texas Brandon Hersey, second grade, Washington I live in a large city and am lucky to have the choice of multiple different public elementary school options. My child will be entering kindergarten, and it’s the time of year where I’m supposed to attend open houses and put together a ranked list of my preferences for a school choice. Apart from the obvious differences, like physical building features or different art/music/after-school program offerings, I am at a total loss for what I should be looking for to compare these schools. What kinds of questions should I be asking the principals and prospective teachers? —Mystified by Choice When it comes to asking questions, the first thing to do is prioritize what is important to you. What kind of school environment and learning experience do you imagine for your children? For example, some parents prefer a school day that prioritizes high academic achievement and the behavioral skills that come with that type of learning—determination, focus, the ability to sit still, and how to apply knowledge. Others (like my wife and I) prefer that their young child has more access to free play, time outside, art, music, and literature. You may value science and math over art and literature. You may value free play over a structured environment. Or maybe you’re hoping to find a perfect balance of the two. Think about the priorities you set for your child to determine the questions you should ask. How is your home life structured, and do you want your child’s school day to mirror that philosophy? Try to envision what you want your child doing on a typical school day. What do you want your child learning? Your answers to those questions will shed light on what exactly you should ask teachers and principals. Last, let me urge that in addition to talking to principals and teachers, you speak with parents. While principals and teachers can offer you an excellent picture of their programs and priorities, parents can often offer a less idealized version of the school and what is happening within its walls. My family lives in a town that has remained pretty darn red despite … well, despite everything. Meanwhile, I’m in the other direction politically. My young son recently had a homework prompt asking him what he would do if he became president. Other than casually pointing out the prompt on the homework sheet to him, I didn’t have anything more to do with it. I assumed he was going to write something like “ice cream for breakfast!” He wrote that when he’s president, he’s going to tear down Trump’s wall. I was thrilled and entertained by his answer, though I kept it cool and told him I was proud of how hard he works on his homework. The homework has been turned in, and there’s no going back now, but I’m wondering how it will go over. I can’t imagine his teacher, who appears very nice, would possibly react badly, but I’m sure this issue will come up again. I try to teach him about things and, while I don’t believe in indoctrinating children politically, I believe there is right and wrong, and that right now one party is firmly on the wrong side. He asks questions and (sort of) knows some things that are going on in our country. I am worrying, though, whether these views could negatively impact him in this town. Do I need to do anything to tone him down when it comes up? Do I steer him away from such answers? If he does the work, but it might upset someone, do I make him redo it? That doesn’t seem fair. Thanks. You didn’t say what grade your son was in, but based on the “ice cream for breakfast” line, I’m assuming lower or middle elementary. Your son may be a little too young to understand this quote from Elie Wiesel, but your letter brought it to mind: “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” The quote goes on: “Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe.” If your son believes that lives are at risk and dignity is imperiled, that people are being oppressed, he should speak up about it. I would, however, prepare your son for the consequences of doing so. You may want to warn him about possible backlash from his “red” peers; certainly, let him know some of his classmates will disagree with him. It might be helpful to coach him on how to respond dispassionately to criticism, how to argue with reason rather than emotion. He may get pushback from a teacher—if not this year, then down the line—but I certainly hope not. Any teacher worth her salt will be an impartial critic of the task she assigned. For example, I do an argumentative unit with my eighth-graders during the third quarter, and my students get to choose which issue to argue in their essay. I teach them how to research their topic, find reputable and unbiased sources, identify and avoid logical fallacies, and support claims with facts, statistics, data, and expert testimony. Some of the kids take positions I fervently disagree with, but as long as they meet the criteria on the rubric, they get a good grade on the essay. I’ll end with this: Going against the political grain will, at the very least, sharpen your son’s debate skills. Here’s a quote from another sage (wink, wink), Isaac Jaffe (played by Robert Guillaume) on Sports Night: “If you’re dumb, surround yourself with smart people, and if you’re smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you.” It sounds like your son is a smart kid. If he can hold his own against smart people who disagree with him, he will do fine in school, and well … he should probably run for office. I’m a teacher, and my colleagues and I are stumped. I teach at an alternative high school, so most of our students have trauma, emotional or behavioral issues, mental health issues (especially anxiety), and the resulting truancy records that go with these things. One of our students has had a problem with body odor for over a year. Students complain, teachers gently hint, the counselor has had a heart-to-heart, and the administration has called home, but nothing changes. Apparently this teenager just doesn’t care, and no one can physically force her to shower. It’s not just a little body odor; it’s a pervasive oily, meaty smell that follows her around and lingers around her chair. She has friends, and apparently none of them say anything to her. Many of her other teachers use air fresheners or fragrances in their classrooms, but I have a severe sensitivity to artificial fragrances, so my room just stinks. Other students come in and complain about it. I find myself avoiding her in class as well, which is not how I’m supposed to do my job! Any ideas? I would love an inspired solution. Oh my. My heart goes out to both of you. Poor hygiene can be a sign of depression, neglect, and even sexual abuse. I wonder if the counselor and administrators who’ve interacted with her have looked for signs she might be suffering from something more serious than B.O.? Since your school serves a high number of students with mental health issues, I am guessing you have already considered that possibility. But maybe it’s worth asking the counselor to meet with her once more to see if there is a deeper problem? Of course it’s possible she’s one of the rare teens who is simply unconcerned and impervious to peer pressure. If she is suffering from abuse or a mental health crisis, a counselor is unlikely to solve her hygiene issues immediately. You need to find a way to cope with her smell and mitigate the stench that remains after she leaves the room without artificial fragrances. I must confess I’m not knowledgeable about sensitivity to chemical scents. Can you smear some natural menthol vapor rub under your nose? Take an Altoid? Chew mint gum? Dab lavender oil on your wrists? Breathe through your mouth? Apparently coffee grounds and activated charcoal will absorb bad odors. This won’t solve the problem, of course, but might help with the lingering smell. I hope you can find a solution that helps you both. Good luck! I’m having some issues with my son’s school. He’s 5 and goes to a public school for kindergarten. My child has probably missed six days of school for illness. Since I work from home, if he’s sick or not feeling well, I don’t feel the need to force him to go sit in a class with 21 other kids and potentially get them sick. He missed two more days of school when we needed to go out of town for court for my divorce. He has also been late a few times. (We have had to adjust to this new schedule of him going to school, but it has been no more than three times that he’s been late.) I started to receive letters from the school that are a little threatening about him missing 10 percent of the school year, even if the absences are excused. They say that if this continues, we can be liable for legal action. To me, what it seems to come down to is that our town is fairly poor, and every time a child misses school, they don’t get paid for that day. Yesterday, my son came home from school with impetigo. (This is a contagious blistery thing on his face—he has had it before.) I took him to the doctor, and he’s on antibiotics. (He also has a cough, stuffy nose, and diarrhea.) I don’t want to force him to go to school with this. I am home, and there is no reason for it. His missing school has not affected his learning. I’m in constant contact with his teacher, and he’s keeping up with his class in his reading, writing, and math. Am I wrong to want to keep him home? First off, thank you for keeping your son home when he’s sick. My recommendation is always to keep kids home if they are contagious. Regarding the letter you received, we have similar issues in our school, so I can see the problem from both sides. While I can’t speak to your district’s funding structure, I can say most states have some type of law that requires kids under the age of 18 to “attend school regularly.” The term “regularly” varies depending on your state’s law. Here in Washington, our law takes effect when a student has more than 10 unexcused absences. However, we try to avoid litigation by contacting the families and beginning a conversation about improving their child’s attendance. Since you’ve received a letter, it seems your son’s school is trying to start that conversation before legal action is taken. I’d recommend chatting with the principal or counselor to get a better understanding of what the expectation is for your child’s attendance going forward, and how a contagious illness fits into that. The school district likely has a legal obligation to inform your family of the law and its consequences. In my experience, legal action is rarely taken unless a child misses a considerable amount of school. Legalities aside, it doesn’t sound like you’re wrong here to want to keep him home, especially since you’ve been in constant contact with his teacher. I am sure your son’s teacher and classmates are very grateful. I hope he feels better soon! | Matthew Dicks, Brandon Hersey, Katie Holbrook, and Amy Scott | https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/02/ask-teacher-public-school-education.html?via=rss | 2019-02-28 10:59:08+00:00 | 1,551,369,548 | 1,567,546,945 | education | teaching and learning |
486,910 | slate--2019-03-14--Ask a Teacher My Daughter Doesnt Do Her Homework Is She a Slacker or a Genius | 2019-03-14T00:00:00 | slate | Ask a Teacher: My Daughter Doesn’t Do Her Homework. Is She a Slacker or a Genius? | Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. In addition to our traditional advice, every Thursday we feature an assortment of teachers from across the country answering your education questions. Have a question for our teachers? Email [email protected] or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group. Amy Scott, eighth grade, North Carolina Katie Holbrook, high school, Texas Carrie Bauer, middle and high school, New York Matthew Dicks, fifth grade, Connecticut My daughter is in middle school, and her school’s policy is that homework only counts for 5 percent of a student’s final grade. Since my daughter can maintain A’s and B’s without that 5 percent, she doesn’t ever do her homework. I feel that she is being disrespectful to her teachers by not doing it. I think teachers work hard to plan the lessons. My daughter says if it is important to the teacher, then they’ll assign it as classwork (worth 30 percent), and then she will do it. Part of me wants to ground her, and part of me says she is in middle school and this is not my place. It would be nice if there were natural consequences, but there aren’t any. Her getting a final grade of 92 vs 97 doesn’t matter, since it’s still an A. I know I would be very frustrated if I was a teacher and my students refused to do any homework I assigned. Sometimes respect for people is more important than good grades. What do you think. Should I just back off? —Don’t Want to Offend the Teacher A lot of schools are moving toward a policy of reducing the amount and grade weight of homework, and that’s for three reasons. First, teachers generally assign homework to reinforce concepts, raise achievement levels, and promote responsibility, among other things, but there’s conflicting research as to whether it achieves these goals. Second, homework often precludes extracurricular activities, sleep, socializing, and getting bored, all of which contribute to students becoming healthy, well-rounded people. Last, and most importantly, homework creates inequity in grading because students have different levels of support at home. In my second year of teaching, I was tsk-ing a student who usually had his homework done but that day didn’t. He explained that he couldn’t because his family’s power had been turned off, and they had no lights. That was a learning experience for me. A week ago, I would’ve told you to sit your daughter down and have a conversation about responsibility and integrity. I would’ve said to include the following: • Part of growing up is learning to do things we don’t want to do, either because it’s required or because not doing it will create a bigger problem in the long run. • How does she want to know herself—as someone who cuts corners or someone who goes above and beyond? “There are times when ‘leaving it all on the field’ is appropriate, but why exhaust ourselves for minimal marginal gains in situations when it’s not really that important?” But … then I read this op-ed in the New York Times about how girls tend to put much more effort into school than boys and worry a lot more about it, and how these traits don’t translate to success in the workplace. I’ve seen this scenario play out so many times in my classroom—boys doing the bare minimum, and girls fretting over every point. I’d never looked at “skating by” as a strength, but of course it is. There are times when “leaving it all on the field” is appropriate, but why exhaust ourselves for minimal marginal gains in situations when it’s not really that important? So now, instead, I’ll say this: It’s pretty clever of your daughter to figure out that she doesn’t actually need the homework in order to maintain her average, and if she feels OK about it, let her manage that herself. The only thing she may want to consider is that students often need teacher recommendations to participate in activities and opportunities. Mention that her teachers may say, “She’s smart, but she doesn’t work that hard.” If she doesn’t like the sound of that, she should ask herself what she wants them to say about her, and act accordingly. My husband and I live across the country from his 5-year old daughter from a previous marriage. He and his ex-wife have joint legal custody, and my husband has physical custody for all major breaks. Even though we don’t live nearby, we are as involved as possible in her life. This is made more difficult, however, by the fact that my husband has a very high-conflict ex-wife who tries to shut him out as much as possible from major events in his daughter’s life. His ex-wife and I have zero relationship as she actively shows her disdain for me. My stepdaughter enters kindergarten in the fall, and we’re hoping you can offer us some advice on how to navigate schools and teachers from so far away. Next year, we would like to be involved in parent-teacher conferences and general updates from her teacher, but we don’t want to overstep or make it awkward. When my stepdaughter attended day care, my husband tried to have a biweekly or monthly chat with her teacher, and he remarked that the teacher seemed “cool” to him. He didn’t know if his ex-wife had said something to her about him or if that was the teacher’s nature. He’d like to do what he can to ensure that next year he has open communication with her teacher, and that he receives updates on her progress and is kept in the loop about any concerns in her first year at school. How does he broach this awkward topic with the teacher? Should he be upfront that he and his ex-wife do not have a good relationship and that while he doesn’t want to put the teacher in the middle, he would like separate communication from them regarding his daughter? How do teachers deal with parents who aren’t together? We are all for any do’s and don’ts as to how to make sure the focus stays on my stepdaughter, and that the custody/divorce situation doesn’t become a burden or distraction for her teachers. Divorced parents are very common, so your stepdaughter’s teacher is bound to have experience with your situation. Although you and your husband live in another state, he should still receive all school-issued communication—especially since much of this is online anyway. Not all school districts work the same, but typically when parents register a child for school, they provide both parents’ contact information. He can indicate that he needs newsletters or other communications to be mailed (or emailed) to both addresses. Most schools have websites where families can stay abreast of school news and events, and some are even active on social media. Your husband can probably even join the PTA and get the newsletter. I’m emphasizing that your husband do these things, since one of your goals is to avoid drama with his ex. I’m sure that you are an important person in your stepdaughter’s life, but if the mother is in fact a “high-conflict” woman who “actively disdains” you, reaching out to the school yourself may only sow the seeds for more conflict. A biweekly chat might be a bit much for a busy teacher to handle, honestly, but of course your husband should be included in updates on his daughter’s progress. I recommend he email the teacher to explain his geographical location and desire to be involved, but I would not mention anything about conflict with the mother. He should ask the teacher how she communicates with families and request to be included. Some teachers send out newsletters or use classroom apps, for example. For parent-teacher conferences, if he is unable to attend in person, perhaps they can schedule a phone conference, or maybe he could Skype in. These are reasonable requests of the teacher and avoid the ex-wife’s gatekeeping. I have taught students who are caught in the middle of a contentious divorce. It’s no fun for anyone, especially the children. Your husband can’t control his ex-wife’s behavior, but he can control his own. Keeping all communication professional in tone and centered on his daughter should help your husband build a positive rapport with the teacher and hopefully relieve some residual stress that is bound to impact his daughter. It might be difficult for you to take a step back on this, but that’s what I recommend you do. You can support your husband behind the scenes and hear all about school from your stepdaughter during her breaks. My son is a bright third-grader who generally enjoys school. He was very apprehensive about entering third grade and fretted about it for most of the summer because he had been told by other children that he was in the “mean teacher’s class.” We talked about it several times and discussed that some teachers are stricter than others, but that it doesn’t make them mean, and he should really assess for himself how he gets along with “Mr. Jones.” We have noticed during the year that Mr. Jones is, in fact, stricter than other teachers and quick to temper, but I have no reason to believe that he is intentionally mean or cruel to the students. My son and I have had some conversations about dealing with different personalities, and I consider this a life lesson—you won’t love every teacher. My concern is that in conversations with the teacher, and on progress reports, Mr. Jones consistently asks that my son participate more in class because he is bright and would help others with his interactions. I’ve talked about this with my son, and while he will raise his hand occasionally, he has taken on a “keep my head down and don’t get in trouble” kind of mentality. He doesn’t like to be reprimanded, and because he is intimidated by this teacher, he doesn’t want to participate and risk drawing more attention to himself. I feel a little stuck. I want my son to learn how to deal with difficult situations on his own, and while I have encouraged him to participate more, part of me also wants to say something to Mr. Jones. I don’t like that my son is reluctant to participate because he is concerned that it will end in a reprimand. We’re many months into the year, so this can’t just be what kids have told him from last summer… he’s experiencing something in the classroom that makes him feel it would be better to stay silent. Do I let it go? Do I have a conversation with Mr. Jones and explain my concern? Do teachers care or even want to know that students believe they are the mean ones? It’s hard to get a grasp on Mr. Jones and his approach to classroom management, filtered as he is through your third-grader to you to me. You describe him as stricter than others and “quick to temper,” but at the same time, you don’t believe he’s intentionally mean. You consider your son’s experience in his class a life lesson, yet you don’t like the way this experience is affecting him. Mr. Jones says he’s eager for your son to participate, yet your son is afraid that complying with the teacher’s explicit request will ultimately earn him a reprimand. From what you’ve said, I’m envisioning the type of teacher that others tend to call “old-school” or “gruff,” the type who “runs a tight ship” and “doesn’t tolerate nonsense.” Not abusive, not a tyrant; a competent teacher, but no nurturing teddy bear, either. To answer one of your questions: Yes, teachers generally do care about how they’re perceived by students, but you’d be hard-pressed to land on a universal agreement of what exactly constitutes a “mean teacher” even among teachers, let alone between teachers and kids. This teacher, if I’m imagining him correctly, probably would not put much stock in that feedback, anyway. From what you’ve said, it sounds as if your son has already landed on a reasonable coping strategy for this issue. You’re right that it’s not possible for a student to love or even be compatible with every teacher they’ll be paired with in an educational career, and while Mr. Jones is encouraging your son to participate more, your son isn’t actually obligated to do so. Frequently volunteering answers aloud in class is a nice-to-have in student behavior; it’s not a base requirement. If the end result is that your son isn’t a vocal contributor in this classroom because he prefers to minimize his interactions with a teacher he doesn’t much like, and he’s learning and mastering material and continues to generally enjoy school, keeping his head down and flying under the radar sounds like a perfectly workable option for his tenure in Mr. Jones’ classroom. If this continues to bother you, however, or if Mr. Jones asks again for your son to increase his participation, I think you certainly could reach out and explain that your son has had a hard time adjusting to Mr. Jones’ style of classroom management and that you’re eager to encourage him to volunteer more, but that you’d like to discuss how to make him feel more comfortable and confident in doing so. I also think you could let it go without guilt. From what you’ve said, it sounds like this isn’t a great fit, but that there’s nothing really wrong, and your son has found a strategy that works. Good luck! What is your opinion of an arts education? My son has attended a private school for the past year that we selected for its small class size. He generally seems to like the school. The school advertises itself as focusing on “traditional education.” What I’ve come to realize is that they mean an education in the arts. All students do music and a foreign language—serious instrument instruction starts around the third grade. My son comes home with a lot of drawings and first-grade attempts at creative writing. The school puts on two large-scale performances per year, one of which has several public performances. However, they seem to be slightly light on the sciences. His classroom has two computers, and I don’t get the impression they’re used very often. The math education seems fine, though, and follows a well-known homeschool curriculum. At a time when it seems like a lot of the country is focusing on STEM, should I be concerned that my son is attending what seems to be an arts academy? We do regular science projects at home, so maybe it will even out, but I’d appreciate an outside opinion. As a teacher who has built a stage in his classroom—complete with lights, curtains, and a sound system—and teaches Shakespeare to his fifth-graders all year long, I might be a little biased when it comes to assessing arts education. What I can say is this: A strong background in arts education will produce students who are outstanding readers, writers, and thinkers. The arts promote empathy, cooperation, and understanding, and the skills he learns in the arts are transferrable across all subjects. There are enormous benefits to an education steeped in the arts. That said, math is also critical to a student’s success and should be a priority in every classroom, but it sounds as if there is good curriculum in place for your son to learn. It doesn’t sound like a concern. When it comes to science and technology, yes, your child’s schoolday may be lacking these components to a certain degree, but your child is in first grade. It’s early. It’s more important for your child to become interested and enthusiastic about science and technology than it is for him to learn about these subjects with any specificity. Ideally some science is taking place in the classroom, but if it’s playing second fiddle to the arts, that’s fine right now. The greatest challenge that a teacher faces is the crunch of time. Every year new material is added to the curriculum, and rarely is anything taken away. When I was a child, for example, personal computers did not exist, internet safety and evaluating the reliability of sources wasn’t something that needed to be constantly addressed. There were 40 fewer years to study in history class. About 25 fewer countries. As a result, teachers prioritize, and if your child’s school prioritizes the arts over science, I think it’s fine. By the time your son is in middle school, he’ll be receiving science instruction every day. So continue the projects at home. Take him to museums. Fill your home with nonfiction. Foster a love of science. The actual learning can come later. | Carrie Bauer, Matthew Dicks, Katie Holbrook, and Amy Scott | https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/03/ask-a-teacher-education-homework-grades.html?via=rss | 2019-03-14 09:59:11+00:00 | 1,552,571,951 | 1,567,546,199 | education | teaching and learning |
487,605 | slate--2019-04-11--Ask a Teacher My First Grader Is Brilliant Should She Skip a Grade | 2019-04-11T00:00:00 | slate | Ask a Teacher: My First Grader Is Brilliant. Should She Skip a Grade? | Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. In addition to our traditional advice, every Thursday we feature an assortment of teachers from across the country answering your education questions. Have a question for our teachers? Email [email protected] or post it in the Slate Parenting Facebook group. This week’s Ask a Teacher panel: Brandon Hersey, second grade, Washington Katie Holbrook, high school, Texas Amy Scott, eighth grade, North Carolina Matthew Dicks, fifth grade, Connecticut My daughter is a very bright first grader, excelling at both reading and math well beyond her grade level. Because of this, she has become quite bored and disengaged with school, and has even asked if I could teach her at home full time (not currently a viable option). The school did respond to the situation, but the response was not robust, and I am considering transferring her to another district that has a gifted program. In the meantime, I am teaching her higher-level math and science at home. My parents have asked why I don’t just have her skip a grade. While it used to be more common, this option has not been presented to me by the school, and I have not heard of any child skipping a grade in years. Is grade skipping still a thing? Is it too late to consider, as she would skip from second grade to third? Wow! Your kiddo sounds like quite the math whiz. I feel her pain—sitting through material that is too easy can be a real drag. As for skipping a grade, that is a fantastic question. You’re right that around the time you were probably growing up, very bright kids sometimes skipped a grade. You’re also right that it’s not really a common option for gifted students these days. To be honest, when I got your question, I wasn’t sure why this practice fizzled out, so I asked a few veteran teachers. This is what I learned: In their opinion, as highly capable or “gifted” programs expanded into more districts, the demand to skip a grade began to wean. Parents preferred the idea of keeping kids with their classmates rather than uprooting them from their friend groups. Another factor has been the rise in online learning services, which have allowed parents to enrich their children’s education at home while keeping them with their peers at school. That being said, while less common, grade skipping still exists. If you’re interested in it for your daughter, you can ask your school whether it’s a possibility, though I wouldn’t make any changes right this minute. We’re entering the homestretch for this school year, and most other classrooms are fairly deep into their curricula. You should also, of course, consider the social aspect of this potential path. Moving her up means starting a new grade level and adjusting to a new group of (slightly) older kids. I am in my 20th year of teaching an elective foreign language, and I currently work at a Title 1 high school. I am passionate about what I teach, and I love helping my students learn and grow. I am also completely swamped with lesson planning, grading, department meetings, committee meetings, parent night, cafeteria duty, professional development, club sponsorship, emails, and all we teachers do outside regular instructional time. I have successfully built up my program to the point where the school will be adding two upper levels of my subject next year—but not hiring any additional staff. These upper levels will be very rigorous test prep classes (think AP or IB) that will require even more training, curriculum development, meetings, committees, information nights, grading, and so on. I am already stretched extremely thin during the day, and I have family responsibilities outside the classroom that prevent me from taking home more work. Additionally, I have some very scary health concerns that require me to spend time going to doctor appointments, meal-prepping healthy food, exercising, and generally taking care of myself. However, that is the first thing to go when I get another late afternoon meeting on my calendar. How can I balance the increased demands of teaching this upper-level program with my need to take care of myself? How can I be professional but say no to some of these meetings and requests? I want to be a great educator but also live long enough to enjoy my retirement. Our culture loves to glorify teachers who commit their entire lives to their students, to the detriment of their own families and health. (Think Freedom Writers, Stand and Deliver, etc.) Memes and articles about selfless teachers who make profound sacrifices for their careers don’t take into account the toll those sacrifices exact on teachers’ well-being. Giving every ounce of your time and energy to your job is not sustainable, even if you are passionate about teaching. Our culture loves to glorify teachers who commit their entire lives to their students, to the detriment of their own families and health. You have the right to live! You should be able to live and teach at the same time! But you obviously can’t at your current pace. I hereby give you permission to say “No” to more things. Resign from committees, pass the torch on club sponsorship, and let some of those emails languish in your inbox. Say “No” to last-minute meetings that stretch on into the evening. I realize this is hard to do. It may feel “unprofessional” or even scary, but it is necessary. Consider what you must prioritize in order to teach your foreign language. Consider which balls you can let drop. Some of those balls may need to roll under the couch to be picked up later (or forgotten entirely). I will give you one more tip: You don’t have to grade everything. You mentioned that your upper-level course will require significant grading. As a high school English teacher, grading is the bane of my existence. I love to teach writing, but grading compositions is a beast. Obviously I have to grade essays–I’m an English teacher. But I don’t have to grade every single task my students complete. Students will take notes, annotate poems, create graphic organizers, and participate in discussions, but they won’t get a grade every time. My district requires one grade per week, so that’s what I do. Sometimes the grade is an essay, but other times it’s a scannable multiple-choice quiz. Are multiple-choice questions as rigorous as open-ended ones? Nope. But they save me loads of time. And you know what? Everyone is just fine. When I had children, I could not continue being the type of teacher I was pre-baby. While I genuinely love my students and my work, I love my own children more. And they need me! I think they need me more than my students need me. They definitely need me more than any committee or after school club. Your health is more important than any of your responsibilities at school. Protect it. Our 4-year old is very bright. She’s currently enrolled at a language immersion school that has a preschool program. Upon the recommendation of her teachers, she tested to enter kindergarten a bit early—they feel she is ready academically, socially, and emotionally. She tested to attend both the dual-language immersion program she already attends as a preschooler as well as the accelerated program at the district magnet school. She was accepted into both programs. We now have the happy dilemma of choosing between dual-language or the accelerated program, and we are torn. I’d love your thoughts and recommendations. What a great yet difficult position you’re in! If it were my child, I’d likely stick with the dual-language program. Being bilingual and biliterate is hugely valuable. If you google “benefits of bilingualism,” you’ll find the obvious ones like ease of travel and access to more job opportunities. Learning another language can clarify English for children, too, and it also makes it easier to eventually learn a third (or fourth!) language. I had extensive grammar instruction in middle school, but it wasn’t until my high school Spanish teacher taught us more obscure verb tenses that I finally understood them in English. And later, learning Italian grammar was a cinch. There are additional advantages that are less obvious. Did you know that speaking another language may make you more open-minded? Or that it can delay cognitive issues associated with aging? Perhaps not least, considering our current political climate, knowing another language gives the speaker insight into linguistic and cultural diversity. Speaking another language makes it easier to understand the historical and political issues of other countries, and perhaps even those of one’s own. I’m sure the accelerated program is great, but here’s one more thing that tips the scales for me: While it’s possible to accelerate a bilingual program, the accelerated program won’t be offered in another language. Over the past decade, there’s been a major push in education toward differentiation. This means that teachers are expected to meet different students’ needs in four ways: content (what they learn), process (how they learn it), environment (where they learn it), and product (what they’re expected to produce). Your daughter can and should be pushed to learn advanced content and create complex products in both languages. Her teachers can and should challenge her academically and intellectually. When I combine all the advantages of bilingual education with the probability of accelerated education, that side wins for me. My question is related to a recent answer you gave another letter writer about not starting kindergarten before it’s absolutely necessary. How do you feel about holding kids back from kindergarten even though they meet the age qualification? My daughter has a late August birthday, right before my district’s cutoff, so she should be entering kindergarten this fall. However, I can think of one big reason to send her in the fall and lots of little reasons to hold her back. Intellectually, she seems more than ready—her preschool teachers all say she’s very bright. But I’m unsure about her social and emotional development—her teachers say she’s about average in this area. I like the idea of enjoying her early childhood for one more year, as you point out. She also has a younger sibling with an early October birthday, so if I send her to kindergarten now, even though she and her sister are almost exactly two years apart in terms of age, they would be three years apart in school, which seems weird and unfair for both of them. I have to admit, part of what’s getting me worked up about this issue is that I also have an August birthday, and I was an intellectually precocious kid who was bored out of my mind most of the time until I went to college. I was also way behind socially and emotionally, although I was so far behind in that respect I don’t think waiting a year would have helped me much. However, she’s not me. I’d love to get your thoughts. —Ready or Not, Here She Comes? I wouldn’t allow your specific and unfortunate experience as a child to influence this decision. Though it’s a shame that you were bored out of your mind at times in school, I’m sure that you’ll be able to prevent this from happening to your daughter through advocacy and enrichment, especially considering what you know now. Your awareness alone should be enough to help your child if she isn’t being challenged. I stand by my original position: Childhood is the most precious time in the life of a human being. Make it last as long as possible. Steal that extra year for both you and your child. You also make a good point: Though your daughter may be intellectually ready for kindergarten, social and emotional development is as important, and it is often the source of the greatest struggle for children. There are lots of ways to help a child who is struggling in reading or math, but maturity isn’t something that can be taught. It takes time. Giving your child an extra year to mature and further develop her social skills will only help her in the future. | Matthew Dicks, Brandon Hersey, Katie Holbrook, and Amy Scott | https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/04/why-dont-kids-skip-grades-anymore.html?via=rss | 2019-04-11 09:59:00+00:00 | 1,554,991,140 | 1,567,543,124 | education | teaching and learning |
664,311 | thedenverpost--2019-08-25--How do you teach kids about texting Bring in the teenagers as media scouts | 2019-08-25T00:00:00 | thedenverpost | How do you teach kids about texting? Bring in the teenagers as media scouts | ESSEN, Germany — How do you teach tech-savvy kids to safely navigate the digital world? In Germany, you bring in the teenagers. Chantal Hueben, 18, stood in front of a group of fifth-graders and asked them to brainstorm about the messaging program Whatsapp, which most are using to participate in a group chat for their class. They spoke about themes like cyberbullying and what material is OK to post. “Many are not really aware yet of the impact their messages can have on others,” said Hueben, dressed all in black except for white sneakers. “We’re teaching them not to post anything private on the class chat, not to send photos of others and not to insult anybody.” The session at the Gesamtschule Borbeck high school, in the western German city of Essen, is part of a large-scale program in which teenagers teach their younger schoolmates how to stay safe and sane online. As they grow older, they also participate in workshops about media copyright issues or sexting, and, at the end of eighth grade, they take a test to get a laminated “mobile license” that allows them to use their smartphones at certain times at school. The exam includes 10 multiple choice questions. One asks what to do when somebody sends an embarrassing Snapchat photo of a fellow student. The answer, of course, is to not forward the picture to others. Over two-thirds of kids in Germany have smartphones by the age of 11 and, like children around the world, many are stressed by the huge number of messages they receive and don’t know how to handle inappropriate and hurtful posts. With many parents and teachers lacking in digital skills and unable to relate to what it means to grow up with a smartphone, German authorities decided peer education was the best approach. At Borbeck, which has about 1,000 students and is considered one of the most advanced schools in Germany when it comes to teaching digital skills, there are 32 students teaching in the “Medienscouts,” or media scouts, program. “We’re also students, so we have this buddy and role model relationship with the younger kids that definitely motivates them to learn from us,” Hueben said. With the program, Germany is ahead of many other countries, where “media skills” are often taught by teachers and are more about how to read or watch news media rather than the personal impact. It was founded in 2011 by public authorities in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In Germany, education is managed by the country’s 16 separate states, and now 11 of them have established similar programs in hundreds of schools. In North Rhine-Westphalia, 766 schools have so far participated in the media scout program. More than 3,120 high school students have been trained as scouts and around 1,500 teachers have acted as guidance counselors to help the kids grow up as mature cyber world citizens. “It would be great if the media scouts would be established at every high school,” said Sven Hulvershorn, from the media authority agency for the western German state, who oversees the media scout program. “We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.” Beyond teaching children how to deal with the daily stress of digital communications, experts in Germany agree there’s a need to coach them in how to protect themselves from online bullying, sexual predators or fake news. “We first had a complete ban on phones in our school,” explained teacher Vera Servaty, who is the media scouts’ guidance counselor at Borbeck high school. “But the reality is that media is a central aspect of the students’ lives. If the school doesn’t help them navigate the media and the parents aren’t of any help either, then how should the children learn responsible ways with the digital world?” The program is more developed than in many other countries. In the United States, many schools have not fully embraced peer-to-peer tutoring in social media, says Liz Kolb, a professor of education technology at the University of Michigan. U.S. schools are required by a federal program to teach appropriate online behavior, but that is done by teachers, and while some schools offer peer-to-peer tutoring, it is not on the scale of what Germany is doing. “Schools are pretty much figuring out their own way because there really is no strong mandate they have to have a certain curriculum or specific goals,” Kolb said of the U.S. “It’s definitely needed and schools are seeing that it’s needed, they just don’t know how to go about fitting it into the already tight curriculum they have.” At Borbeck high school, the media scouts spend several hours teaching the fifth-graders how not to let WhatsApp take over their lives. Beyond practical tricks, like turning off the setting that lets the sender know if a message has been read, the older students also talk with the fifth-graders about learning how to take breaks from their smartphone. After the end of Hueben’s workshop, 11-year-old Simon Scharenberg looked relieved. He said he often felt overwhelmed by the hundreds of WhatsApp messages he receives every day, most of them from schoolmates in the class group chat. He felt obliged to follow up on all of them out of fear of missing important information about homework or school activities. After the WhatsApp workshop, Scharenberg said he felt more confident about taking a break from messaging. “I will put down my phone in the kitchen when I come home from school,” he said, explaining his new strategy. “Before I go to sleep, I will check all the messages. But I only reply if I really feel like it.” | Kirsten Grieshaber | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/08/25/children-technology-cyberbullying-texting/ | 2019-08-25 17:00:42+00:00 | 1,566,766,842 | 1,567,533,411 | education | teaching and learning |
297 | 21stcenturywire--2019-04-30--Sri Lanka US-Saudi Terror Links to Deadly Easter Bombings | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | 21stcenturywire | Sri Lanka: US-Saudi Terror Links to Deadly Easter Bombings | Picture Perfect: Cleric poses for the camera, and filed accordingly for later media consumption (Image: JVP News) As predicted, the Sri Lankan Easter Day blasts which killed hundreds and injured hundreds more – have been connected to the so-called “Islamic State” (ISIS). US Ambassador to Sri Lanka – Alaina Teplitz – would openly claim foreign groups were most likely behind the attacks. Reuters in an article titled, “Foreign groups likely behind Sri Lanka attacks, U.S. ambassador says,” would report: ISIS itself would also later claim responsibility for the attacks. The Washington Post in an article titled, “Sri Lankan Easter bombings, claimed by ISIS, show the group maintains influence even though its caliphate is gone,” would claim: Absent from US diplomatic statements and Western media reports is any mention of ISIS’ inception, its state sponsors, and even admissions by Western intelligence agencies themselves of Washington and its allies’ role in the terrorist organization’s rise. Zahran Hashim, the chief suspect behind the Easter Sunday bombings was a ‘known wolf‘ (Image: JVP News) At face value – devastating and disruptive terrorist attacks visited upon Sri Lanka – a nation that has recently and decisively pivoted from West to East and is now a major partner of Beijing’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative – is suspiciously coincidental. Examining the West’s decades of using terrorism – particularly terrorism fuelled by Saudi Wahhabism – and the inception of ISIS itself – leaves Washington and its partners as the prime suspects behind Sri Lanka’s tragic terrorist attack – with its motivation strikingly similar to what prompted the US-Saudi aided rise and use of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda throughout the Cold War. When US-engineered regime change stalled in Syria between 2011-2012, it became clear more drastic and open measures would be required. This included not only the Western media mobilizing a massive propaganda campaign to account for the increasingly overt role terrorist organizations were playing among supposed “moderate rebel” formations – but also in the sudden appearance, rise, and overwhelming force of the “Islamic State.” It was in a leaked 2012 US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo (PDF) – however – that revealed it was the US and its allies’ deliberate intent to create what it called a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria. The memo would explicitly state that (emphasis added): On clarifying who these supporting powers were, the DIA memo would state: The “Salafist” (Islamic) “principality” (State) would indeed be created precisely in eastern Syria as US policymakers and their allies had set out to do. It would be branded as the “Islamic State” and be used first to wage a more muscular proxy war against Damascus, and when that failed, to invite US military forces to intervene in the conflict directly. Since then, ISIS has been used as a convenient and even predictable element amid Washington’s various gambits as it struggles globally to maintain its unipolar world order. Washington’s “Salafist Principality” vs China In Asia where Washington’s self-proclaimed primacy has waned in recent years as China rises, traditional “allies” like the Philippines have begun to seek bilateral ties with Beijing negating Washington’s supposed role in underwriting what it calls its “free, open, and rules-based“ order in the Indo-Pacific region. In 2016, Manila sought to have US troops removed from its territory. An October 2016 article by the Independent titled, “Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte orders US forces out of country, cutting 65 years of military ties,” would report: The Independent would also report (emphasis added): SEE ALSO: Sri Lanka: Supposed ‘ISIS’ Attack Targets Another Ally of China The following year, beginning in May 2017, ISIS terrorists suddenly appeared, overrunning the city of Marawi. The US used the “serendipitous” development to not only insert US military forces into the fighting – the NYT reported, but has since used the threat of ISIS’ resurgence in the Philippines as a pretext to pressure Manila in maintaining a permanent US military presence in the Southeast Asian state. US government-funded propaganda outlet “Rappler” would report in a 2019 article titled, “[ANALYSIS] Despite Duterte rhetoric, US military gains forward base in PH,” that: And despite the “terror” pretext Washington has used to cling to its military holdings in the Philippines, Rappler itself admits that the true goal is confronting China: US-Saudi backed extremism in another Southeast Asian state – Myanmar – has created a growing conflict in Rakhine state where China is attempting to build another major leg of its OBOR initiative. In neighboring Thailand – another pivotal OBOR partner – similar US-Saudi led efforts to sow ethnoreligious tensions and create a vector for ISIS-style terrorism are underway. Even in China itself – the threat of ISIS militants returning from Syria and expanding an already looming US-Saudi backed extremist threat in Xinjiang – plays into Washington’s wider efforts to sabotage OBOR and contain China’s regional and global rise. The recent blasts in Sri Lanka and ISIS’ now supposed “interest” in the South Asian state follows massive inroads made by China in including the nation in its OBOR initiative. Highways, railways, and ports developed with China’s assistance have transformed Sri Lanka into a strategically valuable partner for Beijing, and yet another example to the world of Washington’s waning influence not only in Indo-Pacific – but globally. The US went as far as creating ISIS in the first place in a desperate bid to rescue its failed regime change campaign in Syria. It and its partners in Riyadh are now the prime suspects behind ISIS’ coincidental arrival on the shores of a newly established and major OBOR partner. ISIS is the New Al Qaeda If the US using extremism to fight its major power rivals sounds familiar – that’s because the US and its Saudi partners used Al Qaeda in precisely the same way throughout the Cold War vis-a-vis the Soviet Union. Al Qaeda’s precursor – the Muslim Brotherhood – took part in a failed attempt to overthrow Syria – then a Soviet ally – in the early 1980s. Many of the fighters that took part in the failed uprising fled to Afghanistan and participated in the US-Saudi backed war against the Soviet Union there. The virulent perversion of the Islamic faith that serves as the ideological bedrock of groups like Al Qaeda and now ISIS – Wahhabism – is admittedly a political tool used by Riyadh in the aid of Washington’s decades-spanning geopolitical ambitions. In a 2018 Washington Post article titled, “Saudi prince denies Kushner is ‘in his pocket’,” it was admitted (emphasis added): Thus it is all but admitted that the US and Saudi Arabia used extremism as a geopolitical tool to hinder the Soviet Union and both protect and expand Western hegemony globally. It is admitted that the US and its partners sought the creation of ISIS – its sudden appearance everywhere China is attempting to do business fits the now documented and admitted pattern of Washington’s use of extremism to fight and coerce wherever its standing armies cannot afford to intervene and a degree of “plausible deniability” is desired. When terrorism strikes – as in any sort of criminal investigation – the first question that must be asked is “cui bono?” To whose benefit? The US played a central role in deliberately creating ISIS. If ISIS is indeed behind the attack on Sri Lanka, then it is by extension an act of terror carried out by Washington. Destabilizing Sri Lanka – a critical South Asian partner of Beijing and its OBOR initiative – with terrorism and ethnoreligious conflict, serves only the interests of China’s overt global opponent – Washington – as well as elements within India’s ruling elite and intelligence agencies. The US is both arsonist and self-appointed fireman. And until this racket is fully and repeatedly exposed – until after each terrorist attack the US is put forth as the primary suspect and made to pay a high political price for its use of global terrorism – this game of arson-firefighting will continue at the cost of innocent lives, national development, and global peace and stability. *** Author Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer and special contributor to 21st Century Wire, and whose work can be found at a number of popular news and analysis outlets the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. | 21wire | https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/04/30/sri-lanka-us-saudi-terror-behind-deadly-blasts/ | 2019-04-30 21:53:05+00:00 | 1,556,675,585 | 1,567,541,585 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
8,095 | aljazeera--2019-01-14--Al Jazeera reporter Asad Hashim wins AFPs Kate Webb Prize | 2019-01-14T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Al Jazeera reporter Asad Hashim wins AFP's Kate Webb Prize | Al Jazeera correspondent Asad Hashim has been named the winner of the 2018 Agence France-Presse Kate Webb Prize for his coverage of the plight of ethnic Pashtuns and blasphemy issues in his native Pakistan. The award, named after late AFP news agency correspondent Kate Webb, recognises journalism by locally-hired reporters in Asia operating in risky or difficult conditions. Hashim, 33, was honoured for a series of articles for Al Jazeera on ethnic Pashtuns and other minority groups caught in the crossfire of Pakistan's fight against the Taliban. These included an investigative report into enforced disappearances allegedly conducted by the country's powerful military and a reporting mission to the South Waziristan tribal region - the birthplace of Pakistan Taliban - to look into the civilian toll from landmines. Pakistan has battled homegrown revolt for nearly 15 years, with tens of thousands of people killed, and fighters retain the ability to carry out devastating attacks despite recent improvements in security. "These are challenging times for journalists in Pakistan, and Asad Hashim's work stands out for the kind of courageous, independent reporting the Kate Webb Prize was created to recognise," said AFP Asia-Pacific regional director Philippe Massonnet. "His deeply-researched articles tackle sensitive subjects with an admirable balance of passion, commitment and journalistic detachment." The award also recognised his work for Al Jazeera on other highly sensitive issues, such as Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the country's judicial system. "I am honoured by the jury's decision to select my work this year," Hashim said after learning he was the winner of the 2018 prize. "It has become increasingly difficult to report on rights issues, particularly on the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement rights group, due to restrictions imposed by Pakistani authorities in the last year. This award is a recognition of the increasingly restrictive reporting environment all Pakistani journalists are facing. "I'd like to thank Al Jazeera for consistently supporting investigative reporting on human rights issues - real stories, that affect real people. I would also like to thank Saud Mehsud, a colleague without whose guidance and help on the ground my stories would have been impossible to report." The Kate Webb Prize, with a $3,400 purse, honours journalists working in perilous or difficult conditions in Asia, and is named after a crusading AFP reporter who died in 2007 at the age of 64, after a career covering the world's trouble spots. The award, which in 2017 went to Myanmar journalist Mratt Kyaw Thu for his brave coverage of the ethnic and religious conflict in his homeland, is administered by AFP and the Webb family. The prize will be formally presented at a ceremony in March. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/al-jazeera-reporter-asad-hashim-wins-afp-kate-webb-prize-190114080600377.html | 2019-01-14 08:36:39+00:00 | 1,547,472,999 | 1,567,552,576 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
11,100 | aljazeera--2019-03-21--Christchurch attack Damaged mosque repaired for Friday prayers | 2019-03-21T00:00:00 | aljazeera | Christchurch attack: Damaged mosque repaired for Friday prayers | The bullet-scarred Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch was being repaired, painted and cleaned ahead of Friday prayers as grieving families buried more victims of New Zealand's worst mass shooting on Thursday. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that Friday's call to prayers for Muslims will be broadcast nationally and a two-minute silence will be observed. Armed police have been guarding mosques around New Zealand after 50 people were killed last Friday by a lone gunman who attacked worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch. "We will have a heightened presence tomorrow in order to provide reassurance to people attending the Friday call for prayers," police said in a statement on Thursday. "Police have been working relentlessly, doing everything in our power to gather all appropriate evidence from what are active crime scenes so we can allow people to return to the mosques as quickly as possible." Both mosques attacked, Al Noor and the nearby Linwood Mosque, plan to reopen. Thousands of worshippers are expected at the Al Noor Mosque, where the majority of victims died. Most victims were immigrants or refugees from countries such as Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Somalia, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. A mournful cry of "Allahu Akbar" over a loudspeaker signalled the service had begun on Thursday. Mourners prayed before raising the bodies of two of the victims above their heads and carrying them to their graves. Hundreds of mourners, including non-Muslims and many schoolchildren, wept and embraced as they said goodbye to 14-year-old Sayyad Milne and 24-year-old Tariq Omar. Sayyad's father, John Milne, said his son was gunned down while praying at Al Noor. Milne previously described his son as "a beautiful boy" and "my special little one" who longed to play for the northern England football club Manchester United. Mourners arrived at the cemetery in long lines on a grey day, schoolgirls struggling to keep scarves on their heads in the wind. Many came from Cashmere High School, which Sayyad attended alongside fellow victim Hamza Mustafa, a Syrian refugee who was buried Wednesday. Omar was a coach for junior football teams. Christchurch United Academy Director Colin Williamson described him as "a beautiful human being with a tremendous heart and love for coaching". Local media reported he was dropped off at the Al Noor mosque on the day of the killings by his mother who survived the attack because she was trying to find a parking space when the gunman launched his assault. "He was one of those people that everyone knew," said Cashmere student Bailey Jordan, 15, as he left the funeral. A mass burial is expected to be held on Friday. Police said on Thursday they had identified and were able to release all 50 bodies to the families. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also announced an immediate ban on the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons along with related parts that could allow them to fire more rounds. "It's in the national interest and it's about safety … to prevent an act of terror from ever happening again in our country," Ardern said of the ban. Twenty-nine people wounded in the attacks remained in hospital, eight still in intensive care. Many have had to undergo multiple surgeries because of complicated gunshot wounds. The gunman used semi-automatic AR-15 rifles, with large magazines, and shotguns. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a white supremacist who was living in Dunedin, on New Zealand's South Island, has been charged with murder following the attack. He was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, when police say he is likely to face more charges. The scale of the attack has caused global revulsion, including for Tarrant's use of social media to livestream the carnage in real-time. In a rambling "manifesto", he said he was motivated partly by a desire to stoke religious conflict between Islam and the West by targetting "invaders". | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/christchurch-attack-damaged-mosque-repaired-friday-prayers-190321015907052.html | 2019-03-21 03:40:26+00:00 | 1,553,154,026 | 1,567,545,385 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
14,947 | aljazeera--2019-08-04--How ethnonationalists use the UNESCO World Heritage label | 2019-08-04T00:00:00 | aljazeera | How ethnonationalists use the UNESCO World Heritage label | On July 6, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the success of Myanmar's application to recognise the ancient Buddhist city of Bagan as a World Heritage Site - a boon for the image and tourism industry of a country accused by the UN's own fact-finding mission of committing genocide and crimes against humanity. While preserving the archaeological remnants of "the heart of the largest Buddhist empire of its time" (from the 9th to 13th century) at Bagan, Myanmar has simultaneously been erasing all traces of the living Muslim-majority Rohingya from the landscape: physically, historically, socially, culturally, and legally. Just two days before UNESCO's World Heritage announcement, international human rights lawyer Christopher Sidoti, a member of the UN fact-finding mission, told an academic conference that the now-decimated Rohingya population in Myanmar remains confined to concentration camps and ghettos "like those Jews lived in under Nazi-occupied Europe". Myanmar is now preparing to pursue World Heritage status for Mrauk U, the historical capital of the kingdom of Rakhine, which existed between the 15th and 18th century. In the present, Rakhine state has been ground zero of the regime's genocidal operation against the Rohingya, as well as atrocities against the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists - who have collaborated with the Tatmadaw military in brutalising the Rohingya even while being brutalised themselves. In preparation for the Mrauk U bid, local archaeologists are busy assessing how to repair the damage wrought by the military's war crimes, and protect the ruins from future harm - while for almost a million Rohingya left to rot in refugee camps in Bangladesh, there are no reparations or protection in sight. The government is building a new airport at Mrauk U to facilitate the anticipated influx of tourists - while the humanitarian aid workers and UN investigators attempting to gain access to the state's persecuted communities have routinely been barred. Other tourist attractions in Rakhine include its famously idyllic beaches, where according to one Canadian ambassador who recently vacationed there, the waters are "pleasingly turquoise coloured, warm, clean and clear ... perfect for snorkelling," betraying no sign of the ethnic cleansing perpetrated a few kilometres away. The profits from such touristic pleasures are largely reaped by the military and its cronies. Former military arms broker and military government collaborator Tay Za, for example, owns one of the country's largest network of luxury hotels and resorts. Yangon and Naypyidaw International Airports are operated by Asia World, another corporation with deep ties to the Tatmadaw. Asia World is also involved in constructing the Chinese-funded deep-sea port at Kyaukpyu, where Rohingya were butchered and burned out of their homes in an organised campaign of violence in 2012. "There would be global outcry if any entity declared the labour camps at Auschwitz are to be opened for a commercial activity," notes Burmese scholar and genocide expert Maung Zarni (not to mention if those profiting included the architects of genocide themselves). "But that is precisely the moral equivalent of what Myanmar is doing with its fresh crime sites." While a disco club located near Auschwitz was closed following international outrage, Myanmar is open for tourism business, the evidence of its atrocities carefully bulldozed away. Myanmar's staunch supporters, India and China, also celebrated the inauguration of new World Heritage Sites in July: The Rajasthan state capital of Jaipur in India, and the ruins of Liangzhu City in China. In the Indian government's nomination dossier for Jaipur, the famed Pink City is described in barely concealed supremacist terms. "Jaipur is driven by Hindu town planning principles," claims the document, producing a "more universal model" and "more advanced and futuristic vision" than the "Indo Islamic cities" developed "in a political context dominated by Islamic rule." In fact, Jaipur's history is a testament to the deeply engrained pluralism systematically being destroyed by the forces of Hindutva nationalism. Echoing the Mughal concept of sulh-i kul (universal toleration), generations of Jaipur's Hindu rulers patronised Muslim mystics and artisans. During Partition the Maharaja pledged to protect the Muslim inhabitants of the city and asked them to stay - an "advanced and futuristic vision" indeed, one under existential threat from the extreme-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) currently in power. In Jaipur's state of Rajasthan and other areas under BJP control, history textbooks have been rewritten to delete or demonise Muslim figures of the past, as vicious mob lynchings target Muslims and other marginalised communities in the present. Last year, the government stripped nearly four million Muslim Indians of their citizenship in Assam. In denigrating Muslims as foreign tyrants, the BJP is itself parroting the propaganda of a foreign tyrannical force that arrived in India with an agenda to dominate and exploit. British colonisers "Benefitted from pitting Hindus and Muslims against one another and portrayed themselves as neutral saviours who could keep ancient religious conflicts at bay," according to eminent historian Audrey Truschke. "While colonialism ended in the 1940s, the modern Hindu right has found tremendous political value in continuing to proclaim and create endemic Hindu-Muslim conflict." Even the iconic monument to enduring love, the World Heritage Site of the Taj Mahal, has been turned into a battleground. Some BJP officials insist that the Taj was originally a Hindu temple, not a Muslim Mughal tomb, and so should be renamed the Ram Mahal or Krishna Mahal (a theory debunked by the Archaeological Survey of India). Since November, Muslims have been banned from praying at the Taj Mahal mosque except on Fridays, by order of the Supreme Court: exclusion rationalised as historical preservation. In China, too, the mantra of preserving heritage has been used to strip dominated communities of their histories. Like the "vocational training" China has professed to be providing Uighur Muslims - thin cover for the internment and indoctrination of as many as three million Uighurs in concentration camps - "cultural protection" serves as a vehicle for forcible assimilation. "China utilizes the UNESCO [cultural heritage] lists to gain international recognition of minority cultures, such as the Uighurs', as small parts of Chinese national heritage, allowing them to take only narrow officially defined forms," observes a 2018 study by the Uighur Human Rights Project. "The government frames its interventions in Uighur culture as 'saving' it and uses this to justify thorough control of Uighur cultural production." This "saving" has involved China demolishing the centuries-old Uighur city of Kashgar, once the "best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in central Asia" according to architect and historian George Michell - a stop visited by Marco Polo and others travelled along the fabled Silk Road. For modern-day travellers, the government has erected a potemkin version in which tourists can witness "exotic" Uighur cultural performances and catch a peek inside "authentic" Uighur homes: a cultural theme-park in the midst of the world's most intensive surveillance state. In China's rendering, Uighur musical traditions have been stripped of their Islamic roots and presented as a branch of Han Chinese culture. Dozens of Uighur mosques and shrines - some more than 800 years old - have been destroyed by a state that now boasts the largest number of World Heritage Sites in the world. From China to India to Myanmar, a common thread is the persistently colonial conceptualisation of "heritage" - as a collection of aesthetic commodities severed from the social context that gives them life and meaning, as cultural fossils disinterred from their human soil. It was in the name of safeguarding humanity's "heritage" that European colonisers appointed themselves the rightful guardians of the rest of the world's treasures, while ruthlessly dismantling the civilisations that produced them. It is in the name of "heritage" that the United States parades as the protector of Iraq's precious artefacts, having illegally invaded the "cradle of civilisation" and ripped it apart for spoils. Equally enduring, however, is the cultural resistance of the people who have been colonised, subjected to genocide, and dispossessed; the people who continue to bring poetry, music, dance, and art into the world, in defiance of the powers violently determined to erase them. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/ethnonationalists-unesco-world-heritage-label-190802112838549.html | 2019-08-04 15:01:00+00:00 | 1,564,945,260 | 1,567,534,896 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
30,785 | bbc--2019-09-11--Pope Francis in Africa Five things we learned | 2019-09-11T00:00:00 | bbc | Pope Francis in Africa: Five things we learned | Pope Francis drew huge crowds during his three-nation visit to Africa, reflecting the growth of the Roman Catholic Church on the continent. This was his fourth visit to Africa since he became the pontiff in 2013. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, visited just twice during his eight-year papacy. The BBC's Religion Editor Martin Bashir accompanied Pope Francis on his visit to Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. Here, he reflects on five things which can be learned from the trip. This visit was an opportunity for Pope Francis to refresh and rehearse the themes that he has wanted to be marks of his pontificate. Much of this year has been overshadowed by the issue of clerical abuse, with the Pope hosting a summit of international bishops in February to seek a uniform approach to an issue that threatens the church globally. This was followed by Cardinal George Pell's conviction on five counts of sexual abuse - the most senior Roman Catholic cleric to be found guilty of such offences. Pell failed in his appeal against the verdict, and he was returned to jail to continue serving a six-year sentence. Escaping from Rome, Pope Francis used the trip to focus on promoting compassion for the poor. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, 80% of Mozambique's population cannot afford the minimum costs of an adequate diet. It says that 90% of Madagascar's population live on less than $2 a day. In Mauritius, which by comparison scores more highly on economic development, the Pope repeated his theme of recognising the needs of the poor. "It is the young who are suffering the most," he said. "They suffer from unemployment, which not only creates uncertainty about the future, but also prevents them from believing that they play a significant part in your shared history." Pope Francis was also eager to press the theme of conservationism. In 2015, he issued the only Encyclical in history dedicated entirely to the environment. Entitled "Laudato Si (Be Praised), On the Care of Our Common Home", the letter argued that scripture teaches care for the planet as well as its people. It was no accident that he chose to visit Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar has suffered rampant deforestation, with 40% of its forests having disappeared in the last 60 years. The environmental danger is aggravated because conservationists say that 80% of its plant and animal species are not found anywhere else on the planet. Similarly, the World Bank says that Mozambique has lost 8 million hectares of forest (about the size of Portugal) since the 1970s and, according to US non-profit organisation Forest Trends, it is now the 10th largest supplier of rosewood to China. Whether speaking to diplomats or addressing a youth event, the Pope repeatedly stressed humanity's responsibility to protect the planet. And he used assertive language to make this point. In Mozambique, he deplored the "tendency towards pillaging and plundering driven by a greed generally not cultivated even by the inhabitants of these lands, nor motivated by the common good of your people". And in Madagascar, he said: "Your lovely island of Madagascar is rich in plant and animal biodiversity, yet this treasure is especially threatened by excessive deforestation. The last forests are menaced by forest fires, poaching [and] the unrestricted cutting down of valuable woodlands." Organisers said more than a million people gathered at a special open-air Mass in Madagascar. This was yet more evidence that the demographic axis of the Roman Catholic Church is shifting. The roar of the crowd when Pope Francis arrived on the outskirts of the capital, Antananarivo, would have been more fitting for a rock star than an 82-year-old cleric. According to the Vatican Book of Statistics, the Catholic population across the continent increased by 6.3 million between 2016 and 2018. This takes the total number of Catholics in Africa to more than 150 million. While attendance and affiliation in Europe and North America are declining, the church in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and Latin America is growing. The final visit on this trip involved a two-hour flight to Mauritius. At the presidential palace, in the presence of civil servants and the diplomatic corps, Pope Francis referred to the way he felt Mauritius had managed to blend different races and religions. "Thanks to this brief visit," he said, "I have the pleasure of encountering your people, known not only for cultural, ethnic and religious diversity, but above all for the… ability to acknowledge, respect and harmonise existing differences in view of a common project." Pope Francis also asked the people of Mauritius to live up to their history. "I encourage you to take up the challenge of welcoming and protecting those migrants who today come looking for work and, for many of them, better conditions of life," he said. "Make an effort to welcome them, following the example of your ancestors, who welcomed one another." The purpose of the Pope's appeal in Mauritius, a Hindu-majority nation, was to encourage the economic contribution of migrant workers which he believes will help prevent inter-religious conflict. You may also be interested in: Whenever journalists travel on the Papal plane, Pope Francis comes to the back of the aircraft to greet us about an hour after take-off. He welcomes the travelling media and then says a few words about the nation we will be visiting together. This normally takes no more than 15 minutes. He then walks down both aisles in order to shake the hand of each member of the press, taking time to greet each of us personally. Since my wife and I have recently welcomed our first grandchild, I decided to show Pope Francis a picture of baby Nate, explaining that he was born to our daughter Phoebe and son-in-law Tom at the beginning of March. He offered his congratulations and gave a thumbs up to the picture on my phone. He then said: "You don't look old enough to be a grandfather." The cabin fell about laughing, though I was perfectly happy to accept his assessment. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-49646179 | 2019-09-11 00:28:09+00:00 | 1,568,176,089 | 1,569,330,415 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
72,084 | breitbart--2019-08-22--WaPo Islamist Militants Targeting Christians in Burkina Faso | 2019-08-22T00:00:00 | breitbart | WaPo: Islamist Militants ‘Targeting Christians’ in Burkina Faso | Post writer Danielle Paquette noted that jihadist death squads have been checking people’s necks for Christian symbols, killing anyone wearing a cross, crucifix, or some other Christian image. As Breitbart News reported last month, Burkina Faso Bishop Laurent Birfuoré Dabiré has publicly condemned the ongoing, targeted slaughter of Christians by Islamic radicals, warning it could lead to the elimination of a Christian presence in Burkina Faso. “If this continues without anyone intervening, the result will be the elimination of the Christian presence in this area and — perhaps in the future —in the entire country,” Bishop Dabiré told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic organization providing assistance to persecuted Christians around the world Since January 2019, there have been five major jihadist attacks on Christians in the country, ACN reported in July, the last of which happened in late June. “It happened in the neighboring Diocese of Ouahigouya,” the bishop said. “The Islamists arrived and forced everyone to lie on the floor. Then they were registered, and four of them who were carrying crucifixes were killed for being Christians.” After the massacre, the jihadists told the other villagers that if they did not convert to Islam, they would also be killed. These targeted killings “followed attacks on churches in the West African nation that have left at least two dozen people dead since February,” Ms. Paquette stated in her Wednesday piece. “A spreading Islamist insurgency has transformed Burkina Faso from a peaceful country known for farming, a celebrated film festival and religious tolerance into a hotbed of extremism,” she said. She also noted that attacks by militants with ties to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda “have quadrupled since 2017 in Burkina Faso,” and the environment of terror has driven some 70,000 people from their homes since January. Paquette said that the attacks specifically aimed at Christians “signal a shift in the militants’ strategy from indiscriminate gunfire to attempts at dividing communities,” citing Chrysogone Zougmore, president of the Burkinabe Movement for Human and Peoples’ Rights. “They are planting seeds of a religious conflict,” Zougmore said. “They want to create hate. They want to create differences between us.” Last February, a team of jihadists opened fire on a customs post in southern Burkina Faso, slaying a missionary priest as well as four customs officials. Father Antonio César Fernandez Fernandez, a Spanish priest of the Salesian order, had been working as a missionary in Africa for the last 37 years and helped found the first Salesian community in Togo in 1982. The 72-year-old priest was riding in a car with other Salesians when the attack occurred, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the southern border of Burkina Faso. He was killed by three gunshot wounds but his companions escaped unharmed. The three men were returning from Lome, Togo, where they had participated in the first session of the provincial chapter of the Salesians of Francophone West Africa. | Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/IlctrhQfIKg/ | 2019-08-22 21:16:38+00:00 | 1,566,522,998 | 1,567,533,674 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
146,782 | drudgereport--2019-04-16--Muslims convert to Christianity in town once besieged by ISIS | 2019-04-16T00:00:00 | drudgereport | Muslims convert to Christianity in town once besieged by ISIS... | KOBANI, Syria (Reuters) - A community of Syrians who converted to Christianity from Islam is growing in Kobani, a town besieged by Islamic State for months, and where the tide turned against the militants four years ago. The converts say the experience of war and the onslaught of a group claiming to fight for Islam pushed them toward their new faith. After a number of families converted, the Syrian-Turkish border town’s first evangelical church opened last year. Islamic State militants were beaten back by U.S. air strikes and Kurdish fighters at Kobani in early 2015, in a reversal of fortune after taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria. After years of fighting, U.S.-backed forces fully ended the group’s control over populated territory last month. Though Islamic State’s ultra-radical interpretation of Sunni Islam has been repudiated by the Islamic mainstream, the legacy of its violence has affected perceptions of faith. Many in the mostly Kurdish areas of northern Syria, whose urban centers are often secular, say agnosticism has strengthened and in the case of Kobani, Christianity. Christianity is one of the region’s minority faiths that was persecuted by Islamic State. Critics view the new converts with suspicion, accusing them of seeking personal gain such as financial help from Christian organizations working in the region, jobs and enhanced prospects of emigration to European countries. The newly-converted Christians of Kobani deny those accusations. They say their conversion was a matter of faith. “After the war with Islamic State people were looking for the right path, and distancing themselves from Islam,” said Omar Firas, the founder of Kobani’s evangelical church. “People were scared and felt lost.” Firas works for a Christian aid group at a nearby camp for displaced people that helped set up the church. He said around 20 families, or around 80 to 100 people, in Kobani now worship there. They have not changed their names. “We meet on Tuesdays and hold a service on Fridays. It is open to anyone who wants to join,” he said. The church’s current pastor, Zani Bakr, 34, arrived last year from Afrin, a town in northern Syria. He converted in 2007. “This was painted by IS as a religious conflict, using religious slogans. Because of this a lot of Kurds lost trust in religion generally, not just Islam,” he said. Many became atheist or agnostic. “But many others became Christian. Scores here and more in Afrin.” One man, who lost an arm in an explosion in Kobani and fled to Turkey for medical treatment, said he met Kurdish and Turkish converts there and eventually decided to join them. “They seemed happy and all talked about love. That’s when I decided to follow Jesus’s teachings,” Maxim Ahmed, 22, said, adding that several friends and family were now interested in coming to the new church. Some in Kobani reject the growing Christian presence. They say Western Christian aid groups and missionaries have exploited the chaos and trauma of war to convert people and that local newcomers to the religion see an opportunity for personal gain. “Many people think that they are somehow benefiting from this, maybe for material gain or because of the perception that Christians who seek asylum abroad get preferential treatment,” said Salih Naasan, a real estate worker and former Arabic teacher. Thousands of Christians have fled the region over decades of sectarian strife. From Syria they have often headed for Lebanon and European countries. U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017 banned entry for all Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day ban on travel from several other predominantly Muslim countries. “It might be a reaction to Daesh (Islamic State) but I don’t see the positives. It just adds another religious and sectarian dimension which in a community like this will lead to tension,” said Naasan, a practicing Muslim. Naasan like the vast majority of Muslims rejects Islamic State’s narrow and brutal interpretation of Islam. The group enslaved and killed thousands of people from all faiths, reserving particular brutality for minorities such as the Yazidis of northern Iraq. Most Christians preferred not to give their names or be interviewed, saying they fear reaction from conservative sectors of society. The population of Kobani and its surroundings has neared its original 200,000 after people returned, although only 40,000 live in the town itself, much of which lies in ruins. | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/XwHqGtXHZ-c/christianity-grows-in-syrian-town-once-besieged-by-islamic-state-idUSKCN1RS19N | 2019-04-16 20:13:38+00:00 | 1,555,460,018 | 1,567,542,882 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
160,202 | eveningstandard--2019-01-18--Mary Queen of Scots review Itaposs queen vs queen but the audience are the real losers here | 2019-01-18T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | Mary Queen of Scots review: It's queen vs queen, but the audience are the real losers here | In a spooky accident of timing, the screening of Mary Queen of Scots began at the literal moment Murray King of Scots entered his supposedly final set of tennis. This account of Mary Stuart’s demise would be a painful watch in any circumstances. By keeping me from following Sir Andy’s, it compounded the agony. The film opens with Mary’s execution in 1587 by order of her cousin Elizabeth I, before jumping back to tell the story of the rivalry between the warring queens. Like all our history, it stems from Henry VIII’s extrication of England from Vatican rule, the original Brexit, and the religious conflicts that ensued. Two years after the protestant Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) inherited the English throne, devoutly Catholic Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) became Scotland’s queen at five days old. Raised in exile at the French Valois court, at 16 she became queen consort of France via marriage to Francis II. When Franky dies a couple of years later, Mary sails home to Edinburgh, ginger hair swept up into a fan and a gleam of steel in her eyes, to begin pushing her claim to the English crown she believes is hers by divine right. But enough with the tedious history lesson. That isn’t my job. That’s the job of Beau Willimon’s stiflingly expository screenplay, which moonlights as the undergraduate lecture David Starkey would give after a partial lobotomy. If it takes a few liberties with the facts, it isn’t the first Mary vs Liz drama to fabricate a face-to-face showdown between women who never met. It is equally entitled to pepper the Tudor court with advisers of colour (the excellent Adrian Lester among them, as Elizabeth’s ambassador to the Scottish court, Thomas Randolph). But when the inclusivity retro-fitting extends to its subject’s moral sensibilities, credibility loses its head to the axe of virtue signalling. Unlike Yorgos Lanthimos’s delectable historical drama The Favourite, about the later Stuart monarch Queen Anne, the only laugh here is unintended. In her cold stone castle suffused with flickering candlelight and lute music, Mary finds courtier David Rizzio (Ismael Cruz Córdova) dancing in a ball gown. “Be whoever you wish to be,” she tells him. “You make a lovely sister.” It’s a sentiment that most of us would share here in 2019. But would an early-modern woman in thrall to the strictures of Rome, as introduced to us chanting the mass in Latin, come over all Oprah about that? Would she be so nonchalant on finding Rizzio in bed with Lord Darnley (Jack Lowden), her poisonous second husband? Ronan, a sensational talent, does her heroic best. She looks right and switches effortlessly from perfect French to a spot-on, high-born Edinburgh brogue. But the part is so imprecisely written that she cannot find the definition to make her real. As Elizabeth, who sublimates her libido into weaving ribbons into roses while Mary optimistically slips her fingers into Darnley’s knickers, Robbie is wildly miscast. Dead glam even after smallpox has ravaged her features, she sounds less convincing than she looks. She only excises the traces of her native Aussie twang in the invented woodland meeting that belatedly brings the film to life. Until then, it is a turgid, soporific snorefest that thinks itself bold for showing Mary’s menstrual blood stain but is wholly anaemic. It feels like part misrouted stage play (director Josie Rourke made her name at the Donmar), part treachery-laden political intriguer (Willimon wrote House of Cards), part under-budgeted Eighties TV costume drama (the battle scenes are woefully underpopulated) and part monstrously elongated Scottish Tourist Board promo (yeah, we knew the countryside is exquisite). What it never does is locate its subject’s heart. Even when her arrest and removal to England separates her from the baby who is destined to realise her dynastic dream as James I of England and VI of Scotland, she rouses not a droplet of empathy. In so far as the film has a heart of its own, it beats with a metronomic message about how the women’s desire for sisterly friendship is perverted into lethal enmity by the men seeking to control them. “How cruel men are,” murmurs Elizabeth, pile-driving the point home when advised against sending an army to ousted Mary’s aid. The paradox is that the film infantilises the women it wants to lionise — as if these sovereigns were incapable of hating each other without male manipulation. A rabbinically bearded David Tennant lends a slither of gumption as the protestant hellfire preacher John Knox, ranting about Mary being the whore of Rome. Guy Pearce bests Robbie by masking his Australian timbre as Elizabeth’s cunning counsellor, William Cecil. But these are measly scraps to set before a pair of queens whose captivating fight for supremacy is reduced to a mechanical power struggle with the soapy flavour of Frank Underwood’s White House. By ignoring Mary’s presumed involvement in the murder of Lord Darnley, whom she tenderly cradles in his death throes, the film attempts to launder her reputation. If they really wanted to endear her to us, they should have shown her playing golf at St Andrews, as Mary did, days after his death. An eagle on the long 13th might have done it. The route to transforming a Scot from an English hate figure into an English love object runs not through sanctifying cinema but ungodly sporting brilliance, as the career of Murray King of Scots attests | Matthew Norman | https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/film/mary-queen-of-scots-review-saoirse-ronan-margot-robbie-a4042431.html | 2019-01-18 09:15:00+00:00 | 1,547,820,900 | 1,567,551,845 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
222,583 | freedombunker--2019-08-31--Can Private Cities Help Solve the Refugee Crisis | 2019-08-31T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Can Private Cities Help Solve the Refugee Crisis? | At present, 70 million people worldwide are fleeing from their homes, mostly as a result of armed conflict. Think of Za’atari, the great tent city, which is composed of 80,000 refugees and NGO workers making it Jordan’s fourth-largest city. Normally, war refugees find shelter in neighboring countries and return home after the conflict has passed. But this option can be difficult, if not impossible. As long as conflict and persecution persist at home, the refugees will be denied reentry or belong to an oppressed minority. Beleaguered refugees are forced to find new homes elsewhere. The situation becomes more dramatic when one considers the extent of non-war-related migration. According to a Gallup survey from 2017, nearly 710 million people want to leave their homeland, mostly from African and Arab states. Their preferred destinations are Western states. From a humanitarian perspective, this is understandable. Western states offer greater opportunities. But when the number of those willing to emigrate is high, helping immigrants integrate can be problematic, even in stable industrialized countries. Conflicts are programmed into this scenario. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Shouldn’t asylum seekers be offered opportunities—somewhere—to prove themselves and improve their lives? Migrant cities based on the concept of free private cities would be one such option. Think of these as “Special Economic Zone Plus,” that is, semi-autonomous areas run as profit-oriented companies. For a one-year fee, the operating company could guarantee the protection of life, freedom, and property in a defined territory. Free private cities would include basic infrastructure, police, fire brigade, emergency rescue, a legal framework, and independent jurisdiction that would allow residents to enforce their legitimate claims through a regulated process. Migrant cities are therefore free private cities for refugees and migrants, providing a reliable, on-the-ground, legal framework. Furthermore, free private cities offer opportunities for migrants easily to acquire real estate, as well as to import and export goods without corruption. Establishing a company should be quick and easy. These are precisely the conditions usually missing in the countries of emigration that therefore hinder economic development. First, it is necessary for free private cities to secure appropriate territories in a given host country. The establishment of such a territory requires an agreement between the respective government and the private operator. It makes sense for such an agreement not only to be concluded between the private operator of the private city and the host country but also to have other countries’ governments sign, acting as quasi-guarantors of the migrant city. For example, the contractual parties would agree to respect fundamental rights and international agreements in a free private city, such as prohibitions against inhumane working conditions, human trafficking, and money laundering. States can be persuaded of the value of free private cities if they expect to benefit from them. Nevertheless, the advantages that would come from migrant cities run by private companies are not to be underestimated. Because no country likes to have territory within their own jurisdiction managed by foreign powers, adoption of free private cities is likely to be much higher if a host state takes over the administration but leaves the free private cities legal framework as a carveout from the host-state’s status-quo institutions. Under international law, the private city would be still part of the host country but would constitute a special administrative area that maintains its own rules, its own jurisdiction, and its own security. A comparable example is the status that Hong Kong has vis-à-vis China. Such a regime can initially be put in place for a period of time—for example, 50 years—long enough to provide security for residents and investors. States can be persuaded of the value of free private cities if they expect to benefit from them. That’s precisely why a belt of densely populated and prosperous areas has formed around the city-states of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Monaco. These newly-created areas belong to the surrounding states. If similar metropolitan areas emerge in a previously underdeveloped area, then this is also just good business for the host country. In conflict areas, it’s essential to protect the migrant city from the outside. The city itself should be absolutely neutral, like the Swiss model, and should abstain from any interference in conflicts nearby or far away. External security should not be provided by local forces, then, but by internationally active and recognized security companies. This is especially true if one wants to avoid the presence of military troops from other states. If other guarantor states have signed the contract, they can provide a security guarantee for the migrant city. What about security within the city? Here, a certain robustness is inevitable if one does not want to carry over existing regional conflicts into the city. In the contract with the operating company, each resident commits to the observance of the rules, which include renunciation of violence against people of other faiths and dissenters. Ultimately, a migrant city will only be economically successful if the personal freedom of those who have different beliefs is guaranteed. A violation, on the other hand, could lead to the termination of the contract and removal from the city. Each resident declares in advance in the covenant contract that he or she is prepared to leave in such a scenario. If this is not possible, the city sets up a reception center that the expelled resident can leave at any time. This may seem harsh to some, but it sets the critical incentive to renounce violence. This is precisely because in a migrant city, it is expected that there will be diverse groups that may lack cultural and religious understanding. Ultimately, a migrant city will only be economically successful if, in addition to economic freedom, the personal freedom of those who have different beliefs—even non-believing ones—is guaranteed. Proving this relationship in practice is a meaningful way to take the wind out of the sails of fundamentalists. Building basic infrastructure, security, administration, and a judicial organization requires significant funding. Given the policy component of the project, it is obvious that potential immigration countries will provide financial support, such as lenders to the operating company. This would not be a bad deal at all. According to estimates, the costs of mass immigration to Germany in 2016 have amounted to 23 billion euros, and this amount is expected to rise to 30 billion euros per year by 2020. This amount of money would support the pre-financing of several migrants' cities in the affected areas. Unlike detention centers, after a start-up period, they would be self-supporting and, if successful, able to repay the benefits. Newcomers with no financial means could be subsidized by the private city for one year—provided that the costs are to be repaid later once income is earned. Administrative activity, including municipal services, is carried out by the operator himself or assigned to an experienced general contractor. This corresponds to the Sandy Springs model, named after the city near Atlanta, Georgia, that privatized all public functions and, after 10 years, concluded that the quality of urban services consistently increased while costs decreased by 10 to 40 percent depending on the administrative department. Private security service providers are already exercising a police function when it comes to ensuring security and order in special economic zones. The operator of the city also provides a civil law system that includes courts. The idea is to adopt a proven legal system that offers investors security and is suitable for promoting economic prosperity, such as the Swiss civil law or English common law. There are already precedents for such imports of foreign legal systems, as evidenced by the Dubai International Financial Center and Abu Dhabi Global Market Special Economic Zones, which have both introduced legal systems based on British common law. Newcomers with no financial means could be subsidized by the private city for one year—provided that the costs are to be repaid later once income is earned. This would reinforce the idea that the area is not a refugee camp that is run for charity or the United Nations, but a city that lives by and through its inhabitants. It is important that migrant cities provide incentives for the settlement of more highly-educated individuals, entrepreneurs, and investors. Cities whose inhabitants consist exclusively or predominantly of people who lack literacy, education, and basic skills will find it hard to succeed. Therefore, each city needs to be able to choose its own inhabitants to achieve a healthy mix of quantity and quality. If the private city flourishes later, additional jobs for the unskilled will automatically be created. The operating company will certainly have to pre-finance the first few years. However, if the break-even point is calculated to be 100,000 inhabitants, for example, and then 200,000 people actually come to live there, the company will make a profit. The reason is that police, justice, and infrastructure do not have to be doubled to provide the same level of service. Due to the system itself, political conflicts in the migrant city do not even emerge—the less politics the better. Alternatively, or additionally, it is possible to levy indirect taxes, in particular, value-added taxes or moderate real estate-related taxes such as property transfer taxes or property taxes. The operating company initially acquired the landed property in the area of the private city. The subsequent increase in the value of the land may represent a profit and allow for the cross-financing of other areas. If a particularly high surplus is generated, the contributions can be reduced. The private structure of the city avoids the risk that in the event of a victory through election, the winner will favor a close associate or install a regime that jeopardizes stability or chases away businesses and investors. As experience shows, this, unfortunately, happens again and again at both the city and national level, especially in Africa and Arabia. Due to the system itself, political conflicts in the migrant city do not even emerge—the less politics the better. Economic development, security, and stability take precedence over political participation. This can be introduced in a second phase, say after 10 years, with the residents then being able to choose the city manager or mayor or refuse measures or rule changes through referendums. [Migrant cities] can offer many people a real perspective that they otherwise would not have simply because they were born in the wrong place. Further, it is conceivable that over time, the inhabitants themselves become their co-owners through the allocation of shares in the operating company. This would bring about an alignment of interests, as the residents would then not only have the right of participation and co-decision at the shareholder meetings of the municipal operator, but also an economic interest in the prosperity of the private city. The allocation of shares can be linked to a minimum length of stay in the city and the punctual payment of the contributions or similar criteria, which create incentives for good behavior. Imagine a new Hong Kong or a new Dubai arising one day in the Mediterranean! This would have significant positive effects for all nearby communities. In terms of size, free private cities should comprise at least 10 (better 100) square kilometers in order to enable later commercial and industrial development. Ideally, the corresponding area has access to the sea and is initially unpopulated. Guaranteed security, commitment to law and contracts, personal and economic freedoms, and refusing to accept political or religious conflict are all indications that such communities will grow and thrive. They can offer many people a real perspective that they otherwise would not have simply because they were born in the wrong place. This article was originally published in German at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung | Sean McBride | http://freedombunker.com/2019/08/31/can-private-cities-help-solve-the-refugee-crisis/ | 2019-08-31 13:00:10+00:00 | 1,567,270,810 | 1,569,416,822 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
227,420 | globalresearch--2019-01-15--The Fall of Biafra Landmark in Nigerian History | 2019-01-15T00:00:00 | globalresearch | The Fall of Biafra. Landmark in Nigerian History | January 15th is a significant date in Nigerian history. On that day in 1966, a group of middle-ranking army officers staged a mutiny which overthrew the civilian government that had ruled Nigeria since it had been granted independence from Britain in October 1960. It began a concatenation of violence which led to a 30-month civil war that formally ended on January 15th 1970. Tracing a line from 1966 to 1970 is clear enough: the mutiny which was led by officers drawn mainly from the Igbo ethnic group came to be viewed as an attempt to establish a form of ethnic hegemony over the rest of the country, a perspective which was consolidated by the Unification Decree announced by the Igbo Head of State, Major-General J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi in May 1966. The decree abolished Nigeria’s federal structure and created a unitary system of governance. The reactions came in the form of anti-Igbo pogroms in the Northern Region in May and September, as well as a counter-coup in July 1966 which led to the murders of Igbo army officers and soldiers. The frustration of peace efforts, notably that of the meeting in Aburi of members of the Supreme Military Council and Lieutenant-Colonel Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the military governor of the Igbo-dominated Eastern Region who disputed the legitimacy of the successors to Aguiyi-Ironsi, led to the secession of the Eastern Region and the creation of the Republic of Biafra in May 1967. This paved the way for the civil war which officially commenced on July 6th 1967. But Nigeria’s drift towards regional and ethnic violence did not begin in 1966. A conglomerate state put together by imperial draughtsmen in the early part of the 20th century, the country was composed of over 250 ethnic groups who spoke over 500 different languages. The Northern Region was largely Islamic while the south, with its Western and Eastern regions (a Mid-West Region was carved out of the West), was largely Christianised. The south also led the north in terms of economic development and educational attainment. Thus, the stability of this artificially created multi-ethnic state was always certain to be tested. The multiple elements of the Nigerian polity have often meant that a multiplicity of perspectives are in perpetual competition. For instance, the hegemony feared by sections of the country in the wake of the Igbo-dominated first coup was one effectively practised by the leaders of the Northern Region over the rest of the country. And violence related to the desire of the leaders of the North to ensure northern domination occurred in the Western Region as well as in the mainly Christian ‘Middle-Belt’ of the Northern Region. Corruption among the political elite, a fraudulent census, electoral fraud and trade union strikes created the requisite tinderbox which ultimately led to a bloody civil conflict. Ojukwu’s declaration of independence was a measure undertaken with widespread support among the Igbos who dominated the Eastern Region. Most felt that they had been chased out of the federation and had been left with no alternative. The federal position enunciated by Gowon also resonated. If the Eastern Region was allowed to split from the rest of the federation, there was every reason to believe that Nigeria would chaotically splinter into smaller parts and that foreign powers would become involved in backing each of the warring entities. The Biafran propaganda machinery driven by Mark Press, a Geneva-based public relations company, was skillful in setting out the grievances of the Igbos. The themes disseminated began by positing the rationale of the creation of Biafra as one that was predicated on the need for tribal emancipation. It also portrayed the Igbo cause as one based on a religious conflict between a feudal-minded Muslim leadership hell-bent on continuing the pre-colonial Sokoto Caliphate which intended to expand southwards, routing the animist and Christian peoples, until euphemistically, they would dip the Koran into the Atlantic Ocean. And as the war developed, Biafran propaganda utilised the images of starvation as a means of emphasising the claim that they were being purposefully subjected to a policy of genocide. The evidence assembled appeared to back up the claims. The series of pogroms against Igbo civilians, the massacre of Igbo soldiers, the rise of northern Muslim soldiers to positions of military and political power, as well as the mass starvation symbolised by Kwashiorkor-afflicted children all offered strong corroborative evidence. But this presented a one-sided and uncomplicated view. Many of the minority groups within the Eastern Region, as well as in the Mid-West Region which was invaded by Biafran troops early in the war, did not want to live under what they perceived as Igbo domination. And many minority communities were subjected to brutal occupation by Biafran forces. The conflict was also not simply a case of Muslims waging a jihad against Christians. Many of the soldiers involved in the counter-coup of July 1966 were Christians from the Middle-Belt, and, indeed, the man who emerged as the Head of State after that coup, Gowon, was himself a Christian. Also the claim that the blockade mounted by the federal government was inflexible towards the idea of relief supplies being allowed into Biafran territory was not true. The federal side wanted such relief to pass through Nigeria while the Biafran government asserted their belief that such supplies would be tainted by poison deliberately introduced by the Nigerian side. As military and civilian casualties mounted dissent arose within Biafran ranks. Some saw what some in the international community saw: that the starving millions were being used as part of a high-stakes political game through which the Biafran leadership hoped foreign military aid or even intervention would materialise. The leadership of Ojukwu was also seen as having a malign affect on the interests of his people. As Ralph Uwechue put it: Divisions within the Biafran military led to the development of two factions: the ‘Port Harcourt Militia’ and the ‘National Militia’. Internal sabotage, one fruit of this division, severely undermined morale, as well as the effort of national self-defence. The early memoirs of the likes of Uwechue and N.U. Akpan, as well as later ones by Alexander Madiebo laid bare the divisions existing within Biafra: the civil servant against the intellectual, the soldier against the mercenary, the Igbo against minority groups, and the ‘Nnewi clique’ against the others; a dynamic based on the allegation that Ojukwu promoted nepotism in regard to his Nnewi kinsmen. Added to this was the gap in knowledge between the elites and the masses, with the latter being manipulated by a highly efficient propaganda machinery and according to Uwechue possessing “neither the facts nor the liberty to form an independent opinion” about the option of seeking a negotiated peace with the federal side. The skillful use of propaganda by the Biafrans, which included the organising of relief concerts, the use of Igbo celebrities such as the writer Chinua Achebe and Dick Tiger, the world boxing champion, was successful to a good degree in projecting Igbo pleas for self-determination to a global audience. But decisive help from the major world powers save for an infusion of a limited amount of French arms in the later stages of the war, eluded them. They had been subjected to a blockade and encircled early in the war. While Gowon continued to insist that Biafra had to surrender unconditionally, Ojukwu attempted to rouse his people whose ill-equipped army began to increasingly rely on what would be contemporarily termed child soldiers. After much delay, Nigeria began a final offensive on December 23rd1969, using the Third Infantry Division. The end was soon in coming. At a meeting of his cabinet held in Owerri on January 8th 1970, Ojukwu presented what he would describe as the “grim hopelessness of continued formal military resistance.” He left Biafra soon after, claiming that he was going in search of a peaceful settlement. His deputy, Philip Effiong, previously a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Nigerian army, took over the reins of leadership and sued for peace. The surrender was arranged on the ground with Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo, the commander of the Third Infantry Division, and a formal ceremony of surrender took place before General Gowon at Dodan Barracks in Lagos. Dressed in civilian attire, Effiong made the following declaration: I, Philip Effiong, do hereby declare: I give you not only my own personal assurances but also those of my fellow officers and colleagues and of the entire former Biafran people of our fullest cooperation and very sincere best wishes for the future. It is my sincere hope the lessons of the bitter struggle have been well learned by everybody and I would like therefore to take this opportunity to say that I, Major-General Philip Effiong, officer administering the government of the Republic of Biafra, now wish to make the following declaration: That we are firm, we are loyal Nigerian citizens and accept the authority of the federal military government of Nigeria. That we accept the existing administrative and political structure of the Federation of Nigeria. That any future constitutional arrangement will be worked out by representatives of the people of Nigeria. That the Republic of Biafra hereby ceases to exist. Ojukwu’s final statement as leader released through Mark Press to Reuters reiterated the claim that the there had been no alternative other than to have declared a Biafran state. He emphasised the valour of its people in fighting against tremendous odds while enduring enormous privations and criticised what he termed the “international conspiracy against the interest of the African”, which he felt had played the biggest part in Biafra’s demise. That demise, it was feared in some quarters, would be accompanied by mass killings of Igbos. From the Vatican, the Pope was quick to call for concerted efforts to prevent “massacres of a defenceless population exhausted by hardship, hunger and the lack of everything.” Such fears, stoked by Biafran propaganda were repeatedly referred to by Ojukwu in his statement who wrote that the aim of the Nigerian government had been to “apply the final solution to the Biafran problem away from the glare of an inquisitive world”. It did not happen. Gowon’s post-war speech emphasised the need for national reconciliation via the rhetoric of “No Victor, No Vanquished”. It was a claim backed by the fact that no medals were awarded to federal soldiers. Some Igbo officers were reabsorbed into the Nigerian military as where civil servants. And Igbos gradually returned to the north and other parts of the country. The reabsorption of Igbos has over the decades nonetheless been accompanied by claims of marginalisation. This has often centred on two main issues: the amount of money allocated for the development of states composed of Igbo majorities and the fact that no Igbo has been allowed to lead Nigeria in the period since the end of the war. In recent times movements have been created that have called for the resurrection of a Biafran state, the most prominent being the now proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob). But protests organised by these groups have been violently put down and their leaders hunted down by Nigeria’s security forces. In July 2017, a specially convened meeting of Igbo leaders consisting of state governors, legislators, traditional and religious leaders issued a statement giving their “full support” to a “united Nigeria”. It was a gesture aimed at diffusing mounting tensions, but their call for a restructuring of the country in order to achieve a “just and equitable society” underlined the sense of grievance many feel decades after the civil war. Renewed agitation for separation has also served to reopen fears among minority groups of the former Eastern Region who alarmed at the inclusion of their territories in various versions of maps of a new Biafran state felt compelled to issue statements of their own. For instance in July 2017 the Efik Leadership Foundation (EFL), after impliedly disavowing their previous incorporation into a historical entity known as Biafra, accused the leaders of Ipob of attempting “to annex or conscript us surreptitiously or use our people, land and territory as (the) basis for bargaining” an exit out of the federation. Aside from the persistent and widespread misgivings of neighbouring minority groups are doubts over the historical existence of a kingdom of Biafra for which no records, archaeological or other, can be offered as evidence. There is no oral chronology identifying who its rulers were, no accounts as to how it was formed or of its system of laws. Today, there appears to be a generational divide on pressing for a separate Biafran entity with much of the rhetoric coming from younger people with little or no memory of the civil war. And with other parts of the federation implacable in their resolve to maintain the territorial unity of Nigeria, the catastrophic failure of the war commenced over fifty years ago must serve as a cautionary note for those intent on pursuing the path of secession. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. This article was originally published on the author’s blog site: Adeyinka Makinde. Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Featured image is from the author | Adeyinka Makinde | https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-fall-of-biafra-landmark-in-nigerian-history/5665542 | 2019-01-15 23:22:24+00:00 | 1,547,612,544 | 1,567,552,338 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
227,635 | globalresearch--2019-01-27--Fighting Corruption in Latin America Politics and Religion | 2019-01-27T00:00:00 | globalresearch | Fighting Corruption in Latin America. Politics and Religion | Here is the first part of this interview: Brazil and the Illusion of the Rich: An Island of Prosperity Surrounded by Misery and Suffering In the wake of the Brazilian presidential election where reserve army captain Jair Bolsonaro was inaugurated in January to lead the largest country in South America back to the far right, returning it to the narrower US imperial orbit while strengthening ties to the global bullies in Washington and Tel Aviv. Frei Betto (Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo) served for a short period as an advisor to the PT government. He resigned his office because he could not accept responsibility for some of the decisions taken where he was engaged.[i] It is often said in Brazil that the PT lost the elections by their own actions—grossly disappointing their supporters—and turning the election this year into a protest vote, which the party governing since 2002 was bound to lose. Of course elections themselves do not change the power structures of a state. And the manipulation of elections even to the point of usurping the lawfully elected candidates (e.g. Honduras) has a long tradition in the “backyard” of the United States. Nevertheless the demand for integrity and fairness in government is not restricted to those “white glove” regimes of the North. Frei Betto discussed the issues made central to the election hysteria: corruption and religion. Dr Wilkinson: One explanation given for corruption is the presence of dishonest people in the institution. The other explanation is that there is incoherence between the institution’s structures and procedures and the needs of those working with the institution. The Reformation that began nearly 500 years ago was partly motivated by the corruption of the Church. Some argued that it was sufficient to purge the dishonest clergy while others argued that the rule of the Church itself was corrupt. They wanted another church or to completely reorganise the existing one. The last elections have focused attention on corruption. The most publicised response was to put former president Lula in jail. What kind of corruption does Brazil have and what options are there for remedying it? Does Church history offer any lessons? Frei Betto: Corruption has always existed in human history, including in the group of Jesus (Judas). To combat it, good intentions do not suffice nor the encouragement of the practice of virtues. It is necessary to create a political institution that inhibits and severely punishes corruption. This is the case in Cuba. The construction company Odebrecht[ii], responsible for corruption in almost all the Latin American countries in which it maintained works, confessed to corruption in of all of them, except Cuba. Does that mean there are no corrupt people in Cuba? Is there no corruption? There is, and I was invited to give a lecture at an important event of the General Comptroller of Cuba in May 2018. However, Cuban officials have to think long before accepting corruption. And in the work of the Port of Mariel, Odebrecht could not corrupt anyone. Without this institutional mechanism that inhibits and punishes corruption, it tends to spread. Not only did Castro give you the opportunity to explain the relationship between him, the Cuban revolution and religion (especially Catholicism). The book also shows your own relationship. At least this is what I saw after reading your prison memoir. The presidents of the largest countries in the Western hemisphere, the US and Brazil, both claim their policies have a religious foundation. Does that make the present conflict in Brazil (and the US) a religious conflict too? If yes, what are the religious issues? And how might they be resolved? If no, what does the religious rhetoric mean—for those who are religious and those who are not? FB: Religion, like politics, serves to liberate or to oppress. That of Jesus was liberating; that of the Pharisees and Sadducees, oppressing. In the medieval period religion was used to expand the power of the Church. Dictators like Franco, in Spain; Salazar, in Portugal; and Pinochet, in Chile, used religion to justify the atrocities they practiced.[iii] Today, oligarchic governments, such as those of Trump, and neo-fascists, such as Bolsonaro’s, use religion to manipulate the conscience of the people.[iv] This is the “opium of the people” religion denounced by Marx. The religion of the gospel, liberating, is that of Pope Francisco, that of Saint Oscar Romero[v], that of Dom Pedro Casaldáliga. However, the state must be secular. Confessional politics is to yield to religious fundamentalism. As most people in the West are religious, many opportunists take advantage of this to distort the purpose of religion and make money. They announce that “Jesus is the Way” but they are there to collect the toll… TW: The Catholic Church in the Middle Ages was probably the great “mass media” of that epoch. Today the Mass Media- mainly owned by private corporations—plays an important role in shaping the perceptions of reality and at the same time creating reality when people act according to their perceptions. An outside observer, following Brazilian history, cannot avoid seeing that there has always been a complaint about corruption in Brazil, in political and economic life. Yet for the past several years now the PT has been portrayed as the “most corrupt” political party in all Brazilian history. Much of the PT support seems to have been lost because people believe the PT was completely corrupt. Is this a “perception” of corruption or a “reality”? Can you place the accusations of corruption in Brazil in historical context? The statements of many supporters of military government are based on the idea that the military is not corrupt. However the regime that the current president supported was also accused of corruption before 1986. Is it possible that the corruption that lost the PT the election is a corruption in the Mass Media, too? FB: Corruption has always existed in Brazilian politics. The failure of the PT was not to react vigorously when some of its leaders got into corruption. And I must stress that there is no proof that Lula has been corrupted. He is an unjustly imprisoned political prisoner.[vi] But other PT leaders have become corrupt. A minority that greatly damaged the Party’s image in general. And this was well exploited by PT opponents in the election campaign. The new Brazilian government, headed by Bolsonaro, has ministers accused of corruption and under investigation.[vii] The president’s own son, currently Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, will have to explain how one of his assistants, named Queiroz, handled so much money when Flávio served as a state deputy in Rio de Janeiro. Operation Lava Jato,[viii] which investigates corruption in Brazil, is a very important initiative, but assumed a partisan character. It sends to jail the PT politicians accused of corruption and leaves in freedom politicians of other parties evidently involved in the corruption. TW: When the CEBs began to proliferate in Brazil, one explanation given was that they filled the gaps left because the Catholic Church never had enough priests for the Brazilian masses. The CEBs were both potentially democratic and potentially competition for the growing Protestant churches. For this reason even conservative clergy were willing to work with these new forms of church. An analogy could be drawn in secular life. The size of Brazil has always been a problem for those who want to govern it. The country’s administration was concentrated in the coastal cities and the interior was left to the control of the private sector (latifundistas). This has also meant that even though Brazil is a rich country—with much natural and human potential—there has been great difficulty creating and implementing national policies that balance the great differences between the peoples and regions of Brazil. In the 1950s and 1960s there were movements to develop the Brazil as a whole. In Europe there was a “redevelopment” after the destruction of WWII, which culminated in the European Union. Yet the difference between Germany and Portugal show that even the rich European countries are not able to balance the distribution of wealth between rich and poor regions. And now there are movements to break-up the EU. Do you think it is even realistic to make, let alone expect, successful and sustained socio-economic policies for the entirety of a country as big as Brazil—at a time when, at least in the rich parts of the West, large highly differentiated political entities appear incapable of such policies? Does this mean that all social-economic policy will be surrendered to the private sector? FB: The economic policy of a country always derives from an ethical option. And in Brazil, except the two terms of President Lula and the first of President Dilma, economic policy was never aimed at reducing social inequality. The goal now, under the Bolsonaro administration, is to make the rich richer and preserve this huge inequality. By 2018, Brazil was the 9th most unequal country in the world and the most unequal in Latin America. The richest 1% of the population appropriated more than 25% of the national income. And the sum of the wealth of the richest 5% was equal to the sum of the wealth of the remaining 95% of the population. 80% of the Brazilian population – 165 million people – survived with an income of less than two minimum wages per month (R $1,908). And 0.1% of the richest portion concentrates in its hands 48% of all the national wealth. And the richest 10% get 74% of the national wealth. And 50% of the population –104 million Brazilians– share 3% of the country’s wealth. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. [i] Frei Betto published his reflections on this period in A Mosca Azul: Reflexão sobre o poder, São Paulo 2006 [ii] Organização Odebrecht, is one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the Americas. It was founded in Salvador, Bahia, by Norberto Odebrecht in 1944. In 2016, the group admitted to illegal payments to politicians in such countries as the US, Switzerland and Brazil, settling in one of the largest consent decrees in the world. [iii] For a discussion of this topic see Karlheinz Deschner, God and the Fascists, 2013. [iv] For a detailed history of Rockefeller overt and covert promotion of right-wing “Pentecostal” religious groups throughout Latin America, esp. in Brazil, see Gerald Colby and Charlotte Dennett, Thy Will Be Done, 1995. [v] Roman Catholic Monsignor Oscar Romero was murdered by a US-funded death squad, while saying mass in San Salvador on 24 March 1980. He was canonised in October 2018 under Pope Francis. Romero was probably the most notorious victim of the US “Phoenix” political warfare operations throughout Central America. His elevation to sainthood has been seen as at least partial vindication of liberation theology in Latin America—persecuted both politically and ecclesiastically during the previous papacies. [vi] Lula was committed to prison prior to the presidential elections (thus disqualifying him) by a judge who flagrantly disregarded the law whereby an accused is entitled to exhaust the course of appeal before a sentence is enforced. [vii] The Folha de S. Pauloreported in the third week January that the investigation of Flavio Bolsonaro was suspended last week due to his immunity as a deputy and his election to the Brazilian senate. However new accusations have been made. [viii] “Operação Lava Jato”. This is a kind of designation for police investigations into suspicions of large-scale criminal activity, esp. corruption, common to Brazil and Portugal (e.g. Operação Marquês, ongoing). Lavo Jatois a combination of investigations conducted by Brazil’s federal police into corruption, obstruction of justice, etc. that began in 2014. | Frei Betto | https://www.globalresearch.ca/fighting-corruption-in-latin-america-politics-and-religion/5666565 | 2019-01-27 02:36:47+00:00 | 1,548,574,607 | 1,567,550,634 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
227,684 | globalresearch--2019-01-29--Southeast Asia Terribly Damaged but Lauded by the West | 2019-01-29T00:00:00 | globalresearch | Southeast Asia Terribly Damaged but Lauded by the West | Come to Southeast Asia.Hang around this part of the world in whichever way you like; wearing flip-flops, shorts and t-shirts. You were told that ‘everything is easy here, that things are cheap and people are friendly and happy’. Do what you want, as almost everything is allowed, especially if you are from the West, and have plenty of cash and some credit cards in your pockets. That’s what your simplified perception of Southeast Asia is supposed to be. This stereotype has been created, refined and fine-tuned, then finally hammered into the subconscious of the people in North America, Europe, Australia and Japan. It has been done consistently, for many years and decades, until these lies, repeated a thousand times, have replaced reality. As a result, tens of millions of holiday-makers, sexual tourists, adventurers and single men on power trips, descend on Southeast Asia, annually. Most of them do not see anything, and they do not hear. Most of them leave for home after getting suntanned, a bit fatter, and much more confident. They come with clearly formed ideas, and they leave without learning much. Most of the ‘visitors’ do not want to be disturbed by reality, because the reality could be extremely unsavory, even horrifying. The ‘hidden’ and extremely uncomfortable truth is: most of Southeast Asia is actually absolutely unfit for tourism. It is deeply, and terribly injured, even, a broken part of the world which has never been allowed to leave its brutal, feudal system behind. Its people are barely surviving in the straightjacket of extreme capitalism. All sorts of imported rubbish, from brainless pop music to the lowest grade of Hollywood films, junk food, mass media and ‘fashion’ as well as ‘me-me-me habits’ have been put to work in order to irreversibly ruin their traditional cultures. Generally, people here are unhappy; often thoroughly confused. Societies from Thailand to Indonesia and the Philippines are becoming increasingly violent. At the same time, the politically ‘pacified’ population does not rebel against the rulers in the West or its own servile elites: right-wing political and religious extremism are often the only ‘answers’ to popular outrage. The land of Southeast Asia is devastated, as it is nowhere else on our planet; in fact, it has been totally plundered by unbridled mining, logging, palm oil and rubber plantations. The extraction of natural resources is done in a monstrous fashion; often by poisoning rivers with mercury, by cutting most of the primary forests down or by flattening entire mountains. From an airplane, places like the island of Borneo or Peninsular Malaysia appear as nothing less than hell on earth. This vast part of the world with a total population of around 650 million, does not count on any renowned thinkers or scientists, and with the exception of Vietnam (which is Communist and therefore to a greater degree different) on even one single globally renowned writer or a film director. All this is not supposed to be discussed ‘like this’; in this fashion. Writers and filmmakers, local and foreign both, are discouraged from describing and documenting what is right in front of their own eyes. But why? How come that Southeast Asia has managed to escape almost entirely all the scrutiny by the Western mainstream media? It is because what I have just described above is nothing else other than a result of the monstrous mass murder, plunder and destruction, which has been perpetrated by the West. It has been happening all over here; in all corners of Southeast Asia. The destruction has been so appalling and frightening, that almost no liberals in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Canberra or Washington are willing to acknowledge it, instead sticking to bizarre clichés and glorification of the state to which the victims have been reduced to; in which they are forced to live. Entire teams of academics, notably those at the Australian National University (ANU), but also at several other institutions, continuously repeat the official Western dogma, which describes Indonesia as ‘a normal country’. But isn’t this what the so-called Western ‘political correctness’ is all about? Doesn’t it work like this: “A country is attacked, left-wing government gets overthrown, corrupt leaders put on thrones; then natural resources get plundered, and extreme right-wing ‘elites’ fully subservient to the West quickly steal everything from their country and people, while dutifully sharing the booty with Western corporations. The population gets indoctrinated, totally brainwashed and the opposition either murdered or scared into submission. And then, and then, the West ‘shows great respect’ for that local ‘culture’ and for ‘local people’. Read: respect for its own Frankenstein; for its own creations. It goes without saying that this gangrenous monster which the West first created and then ordered everyone to ‘respect’, has nothing to do with the culture and ‘the people’. In the end, the victims themselves, get methodically conditioned with tools such as mass media, ‘education’, and continuous propaganda dispensed by the political regime. They stop being aware of their own conditions. They become resigned.They become religious, submissive. They blame and fight each other, but never the true oppressors; never the regime. The victims often feel they are not well, but they have no idea, why? For centuries, Southeast Asia suffered terribly at the hands of the French, Dutch, US and British colonizers. For instance, at the beginning of the 20th Century, the US forces brutally massacred around 1 million Filipinos, in their Asian colony. Official independence from European and North American colonial masters did not stop the suffering of the people. After WWII, no other part of the world endured more Western massacres and terror than Southeast Asia. Not even Africa, the Middle East or Latin America. The numbers are truly striking. The West’s lovely ‘holiday destinations’ inhabited by ‘friendly locals’, were carpet-bombed, and poisoned by chemical weapons. Millions of people were slaughtered; by injected military regimes, by monarchs, by elites and military juntas. Not unlike in Latin America, but with numbers astronomically higher, because the West never considered Asian people to be equal human beings (For instance: around 2 million Indonesians were slaughtered during the 1965 military coup of General Suharto. The coup perpetrated by General Pinochet in Chile, in 1973, took lives of 2-3 thousand people. Adjusted to the numbers of people living in both countries, Indonesia still lost approximately ten times more people than Chile). Everyone knows about the suffering of Vietnam, under French brutal colonial rule, and then, during the terrorist war unleashed against the country by the US and its allies. But no one really knows, precisely, how many Vietnamese people died. The number of victims goes in to millions. At least 4 million Vietnamese citizens vanished. Laos and the so-called ‘side-kick’ or ‘Secret War’ was even worse, on a per capita basis. Hundreds of thousands vanished in this sparsely populated country, which is inhabited by humble and gentle people. Strategic B-52s bombers were deployed against farmers and their water buffalos, using evil cluster bombs that are, to this day, killing thousands, all over the Laotian countryside. There was no reason for this brutal, monstrous genocide, except some abstract ‘concern’ in Washington that this poor nation could follow Vietnam’s example and ‘go Communist’ (it did, after it tasted true Western ‘democracy’, literally on its skin). Cambodia – a country where the West nurtured corrupt and brutal elites in Phnom Penh, and then began the same monstrous carpet-bombing campaign as in Laos, against unarmed, desperately poor peasants, using B-52s, killing hundreds of thousands, and displacing millions. People lost their minds from the horrors of the bombing. They were also driven from their land, and began dying from famine. Dismal situation opened doors to Khmer Rouge, which the US decisively supported (on the battlefield and at the UN), even after this deranged murderous group got defeated by heroic Communist forces of Vietnam. Thailand – country which has been choked by car industry and monstrous form of extreme capitalism, while upholding its backward feudal system. Thailand with countless military coups designed to sustain pro-Western monarchy. Thailand which accepted on its turf part of defeated Chinese anti-Communist army, and ‘put it to work ‘almost immediately’, allowing it to massacre substantial part of its own left-wing movements. Thai state that massacred and raped its own students, and butchering thousands of Cambodian refugees. Thailand that technically attacked both Vietnam and Laos, by flying Air America missions against those countries, opening its airports to the West, while selling its own women in countless brothels in Pattaya and elsewhere, to the Western pilots and ground staff. Indonesia, where the 1965 US and UK -sponsored military coup against left-wing President Sukarno and (then) the third largest Communist Party in the world (PKI), took the lives of between 1 and 3 million people, installing perhaps the most grotesque fascist extreme-capitalist regime on earth. Indonesia, where all the great artists and thinkers were killed, or imprisoned in the Buru concentration camp, and, where the West helped to install a totally brainless system de-intellectualizing the nation and forcing it back to the Middle Ages. Indonesia, where secularism is now collapsing, and where, during the upcoming April 2019 elections, voters will decide between an inept and weak pro-capitalist leader, and a truly fascist military mass murderer. East Timor (Timor Leste) – a tiny country which was overrun by Indonesia in 1975, shortly after it gained independence from Portugal, under the leadership of the left-wing FRETILIN movement. The right-wing dictator of Indonesia – Suharto – declared that he was ‘not going to tolerate a second Cuba near its shores’, and got a big pat on his back, as well as full support from the US, UK and Australia. The result: around 30% of the entire population of East Timor vanished during the occupation. Countless Indonesian leaders, including the former President ‘SBY’, served there. If Indonesia was a ‘normal country’, these individuals would now be facing long jail sentences for genocide, or in some cases, a firing squad. In West Papua – hundreds of thousands of people have already died, also under the Indonesian genocidal occupation, which is fully supported by the West, because Papua, like Borneo (which is known in Indonesia as Kalimantan) is getting thoroughly plundered by multi-national companies, of course under the careful supervision of Indonesian military forces. Horrors like the state-sponsored ‘trans-migration’ policy, designed to make people of Papua a minority on their own island, are ongoing and relentless. The people, who have lost everything under the occupation, are forced to convert to Islam, and they are also forced to abandon their way of life and their land. What Indonesia does in West Papua is nothing less than genocide. It is not only the killing and rape, of which its military could be accused of. The plunder of Papuan resources is as deadly for many other reasons, it is like if the force would be used to ‘open up’ vast parts of the Amazonia or Orinoco basins in South America – areas inhabited by indigenous tribes that have never come in contact with the outside world. Even the most insane right-wing presidents of Brazil or Venezuela (of the past), would never dream about such brutal genocidal undertakings (although this may change under the fascist presidency of Bolsonaro in Brazil). In West Papua, dozens of fragile cultures are disappearing. People who have never come into contact with the ‘outside world’ are being forced out of their rainforest, as trees are cut down and mining companies, backed by the Indonesian armed forces, ransack the land. Defenseless tribal people are dying from diseases and hunger, at the same time as corrupt Indonesian officials and businessmen are burning money in Jakarta’s overprized malls, as well as in Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong. And now, thousands of Western tourists fly into West Papua, to Raja Ampat, which is becoming an ‘in place’ for diving! Malaysia had its own share of inter-religious conflicts, although never at the level of neighboring Indonesia. Nature in Malaysia, almost like in Indonesia, is totally devastated, due to massive palm oil plantations and mining. The Philippines lived through horrific decades of US neo-colonialism, experiencing the similar extreme capitalism that has been imposed on Indonesia. Only in the recent years, sound social policies have been introduced, and a moratorium on mining, at least in some parts of the Mindanao Island, has been enforced. Brunei, one of the richest exporters of oil on earth, is now governed by Sharia Law, which, at least in theory, allows amputations, flogging, stoning and other religious practices. Another place where such regressive brutality is officially allowed is in an autonomous province of Indonesia – Aceh. I worked in this part of the world for decades. I covered countless horrors and conflicts in Indonesia. I used to live in Hanoi, and I covered in-depth the situation in Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Papua. I covered East Timor, during the occupation, and was tortured there by Indonesian forces. It happened after I exposed mass rape in Ermera town. Right now, I am working on a detailed and shocking documentary film about the total environmental destruction of Borneo. As a local (I actually feel like a ‘local’ in all parts of the world), I often look at the Western travelers visiting this part of the world, and I am wondering, sincerely: are they really so ignorant about the past and the present of Southeast Asia? Or perhaps, are they making sure not to know? Are they ‘enjoying themselves’, surrounded by devastated nature, privatized and ruined beaches, and a deranged culture? Do they feel powerful, unique, superior, because their countries managed to destroy the entire Southeast Asia, bringing it into shameful submission? Is it, at least partially, why they are here? Don’t they see? The Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok have become thoroughly grotesque: everything has been stolen along the coasts, people forced out of their dwellings, and the culture has been fully ruined. Bali suffers from traffic jams and pollution, from over-population, poverty and filth. There is hardly anything pristine there, now. ‘Culture’ is only for sale! The coastline of Thailand is totally finished. The once pristine islands are now dotted with mass-produced, low quality market towns, with makeshift bungalows and ugly concrete structures. There are standardized, repetitive ‘offerings’, most of them of extremely low-quality. There are Thai and Western ‘beach food’, bad old (Western) pop music, countless massage parlors and ersatz bars. There is almost nothing truly Thai left on the Thai coastline. Thai women, the poorest of the poor, many from the north of the country, walk in flip-flops and tasteless T-shirts hand in hand with Western grandfathers, some of them in their 80’s. What a sight! Everything feels ‘forced’, unnatural, and in terrible taste: in Indonesian ‘resorts’, on the Thai coast, and in the bars of the Philippines, as well as in Cambodia. In and around Phnom Penh, ‘genocide tourism’ has reached its peak. It is fueled and sponsored by countless Western NGO’s, which are literally pimping the terrible Cambodian past as ‘proof’ that ‘Communism is evil’. Not a word about the fact that most of people who died here, were actually victims of the Western carpet-bombings and consequent famines, and that the Khmer Rougewas in reality a US-sponsored band of freaks, who knew very little about Communist ideology (I spent substantial time talking to them, deep in jungle, and most of them admitted that they had no clue about Marxism or Communism, when they were in power). But to the Westerners, genocide tourism is something thrilling, it represents ‘something new’; ‘something they did not experienced before’. It is good for selfies and for colorful pub stories back at home. And Cambodia is now making huge money out of all this, willing to twist its own horrid past, just to gain some cash. Go to the villages and talk to people: they know the truth. But almost nobody goes. Not even the Western media. The West has totally stolen historic narrative, all over Southeast Asia. Academia in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand is deeply influenced, and manipulated from abroad. ‘Soft power’ is being used; scholarships, funding and invitations to the ‘academic exchanges’. Both the academic narrative and the mass media in Southeast Asia, are now much more “Westernized” than in the West itself. Clichés about this part of the world are mostly incorrect, in fact, surreal. Despite the fact that it is suffering from the horrid religious intolerance, racism and perpetual conflicts and tensions, Indonesia is portrayed in the West as ‘tolerant’. Not having one single political party that would represent the majority (which is poor), it is branded as ‘democratic’. A place where a Chinese, black, white or Papuan person can hardly make few steps without being insulted on the street, or being mocked for his or her appearance, Indonesia is described by the Western mass media as ‘friendly’. Thailand is the same. A staunch ally of the West during so-called Vietnam War, and ‘fight against Communism’, the Kingdom is portrayed as ‘Land of Smiles’. In fact, it has higher homicide rate per capita than the United States, and more female tourist are raped here, annually, than in South Africa. Smiles are reserved only for those who are ready to pay any price, without demanding much in return. Any confrontation here can easily deteriorate to violence. The West hardly ever criticizes outrageous capitalist models of Thailand or Indonesia, as well as collapsed infrastructure and inhuman city planning that is prioritizing motor vehicles and ruthless real estate developers over people. Bangkok and Jakarta are much more polluted than the Chinese cities, and Thai and Indonesian governments do almost nothing to change the situation. But, cliché says that it is dangerous to go to Beijing due to the air quality, while Bangkok or Jakarta are hardly ever mentioned. In Southeast Asia, deafening noise is often administered, in order to silence fear. Thinking is discouraged. It is considered impolite to discuss, to face terrible past and the present. Brainless banging into the phones is recommended. Social media is used here much more than anywhere in the world. While some countries like Indonesia have the lowest readership of books on earth, per capita. Southeast Asia had been living through genocides, coups, and total submission to the Western masters and to savage capitalism. It has been robbed of its nature, and of natural resources. Its population has been ‘pacified’, forced into obedience and submission. Extreme religious concepts have been injected and upheld from abroad. Only in the Philippines, is the situation now gradually changing. In Vietnam, the state is still strongly resisting subversion from the West, although the country had also been damaged to a great degree, by Western NGOs and social media. Elsewhere, it is getting much worse. Laos is now moving closer to China, which is literally pulling this beautiful and sparsely populated nation out of slumber, building a high speed rail system, infrastructure, factories, dams, schools and hospitals. But the more China does for Laos, the more it is demonized by the West, by its press, academia and the NGOs. It is now one big battle, over Laos. However, it is clear that the Laotian people are benefiting greatly from their proximity to China, after being literally ruined by French colonialism and the Western “Secret Wars”. On purpose, here, I don’t mention Burma, as there, the situation is extremely complex, and ‘specific’. But later this year, I expect to publish a detailed report on the topic. Southeast Asia is clearly a victim. It is also an ‘untold story’. Deep, dark story. With the exception of Singapore and to some extent Malaysia, it is a devastated, an impoverished victim. It is also a ‘time bomb’. People here are discontent, often desperate. Often, they do not know why. Unlike in Latin America and Africa, where the political awareness of the victims is extremely high; here the victims often believe that they are treated justly and that ‘this is the only way how the society can be arranged and governed’. If someone travels here, searching for ‘culture’ and ‘new ways to understand life’, they should think twice. In most of Southeast Asian countries, the local culture was thoroughly uprooted. What they will see are some folk shows for foreigners, hardly ever attended by locals. Most of the native music venues, as well as theatrical and other art forms, have been replaced by the most vulgar Western entertainment, by video games and naturally, by social media. Western men often feel good here. It is because in Southeast Asia, ‘they have won’. They are often ‘respected’ here, just for being both men, and white. They are respected, the same way as the French, Dutch and British colonialists used to be respected here, a century ago. Not loved, not admired, but esteemed for belonging to the race and culture that managed to conquer, destroy and then to give orders. In fact, for those who want to relive those days of imperialist ‘grandeur’, this is the perfect place to visit. Naturally, Southeast Asia is glorified by the West, with the exception of the Philippines, Vietnam and Laos (and Burma, for different reasons) – countries that are trying to get away from Western dictates. It is because this part of the world is ‘perfect’ in the eyes of rulers of the Empire. Here, human lives are freely sacrificed for the profits of corporations, both Western and local, like when a pedestrian here has to wait until the cars pass by; entire villages have to give way to the mining venues and to palm oil plantations. Social services for the citizens are not something secondary, but tertiary, almost irrelevant. Profit is all that matters. The well-being of the citizens is hardly considered. The West is almost never criticized here. Like in any ‘good’ feudal society, the West is seen as a ‘daddy’. It is severe, but always right. It beats its ‘children’, but gives directions. Religions help to reinforce this sort of obedience, which in many other parts of the world would be synonymous with the Middle Ages. The local ‘elites’, in the meantime, are ‘having a ball’. They govern unopposed. They are only accountable to the much bigger, mostly Western, power. They can do anything they want with their subjects. They drive their super expensive sedans and SUVs, purchased with funds stolen from the poor, and the poor bow, and bend, prostrating themselves in great respect, fear, servility and admiration. And they do the same in front of the West. In brief: perfect societies, observed from New York, Canberra, London or Paris. And in Bali or Phuket, women dressed in traditional clothes dance in 5-star hotels, roll their big eyes, and twist their slender arms. In order for the foreign visitors to say: “What a great culture!” While, of course, the true great culture was killed by the military pro-Western regimes; choked and murdered in the concentration camps and inside the army barracks. The only victims of this ‘perfect’ state of things, are the poor; in fact, the great majority in Southeast Asia (no matter what the official statistics say). But who really cares about them? Did most of the Southeast Asian countries really gain their independence, some decades ago? Were the famous merdeka shouts just a big farce? Is it true that Thailand was ‘never colonized’? Is this entire huge region still a de factocolony? And if it is, can the situation change? These are not just rhetorical questions; they are real. And the answers to them are never simple. The People of Southeast Asia were violated, robbed and then encircled by pseudo-reality; by lies about their past and present. They were told that they are well, happy, and that what they are experiencing is progress, freedom and democracy. They were also ordered to believe that what their usurper, the West, represents, is synonymous with ‘good governance’ and honesty. Many of them have never encountered any alternative views. After burying tens of millions of corpses, and after having their rainforests, rivers and mountains thoroughly ruined, most of the Southeast Asians are still convinced that their tormentors are fully qualified to control the world. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Four of his latest books are China and Ecological Civilizationwith John B. Cobb, Jr., Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism a revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his . He is a frequent contributor to Global Research. All images in this article are from the author | Andre Vltchek | https://www.globalresearch.ca/southeast-asia-terribly-damaged-but-lauded-by-the-west/5666842 | 2019-01-29 05:23:36+00:00 | 1,548,757,416 | 1,567,550,349 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
229,800 | globalresearch--2019-06-26--In Israel the Push to Destroy Jerusalems Iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque Goes Mainstream | 2019-06-26T00:00:00 | globalresearch | In Israel the Push to Destroy Jerusalem’s Iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque Goes Mainstream | This ancient site that dates back to the year 705 C.E. is being targeted for destruction by extremist groups that seek to erase Jerusalem’s Muslim heritage in pursuit of colonial ambitions and the fulfillment of end-times prophecy. The iconic golden dome of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque, located on the Temple Mount or Haram el-Sharif, is the third holiest site in Islam and is recognized throughout the world as a symbol of the city of Jerusalem. Yet, this ancient site that dates back to the year 705 C.E. is being targeted for destruction by increasingly influential extremist groups that seek to erase Jerusalem’s Muslim heritage in pursuit of colonial ambitions and the fulfillment of end-times prophecy. Some observers may have noticed the growing effort by some Israeli government and religious officials to remove the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque from the Jerusalem skyline, not only erasing the holy site in official posters, banners and educational material but also physically removing the building itself. For instance, current Knesset member of the ruling Likud Party, American-born Yehuda Glick, was also the director of the government-funded Temple Institute, which has created relics and detailed architectural plans for a temple that they hope will soon replace Al-Aqsa. Glick is also close friends with Yehuda Etzion, who was part of a failed plot in 1984 to blow up Al-Aqsa mosque and served prison time as a result. “In the end we’ll build the temple and it will be a house of prayer for all nations,” Glick told Israeli newspaper Maariv in 2012. A year later, Israel’s Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel stated that “[w]e’ve built many little, little temples…but we need to build a real Temple on the Temple Mount.” Ariel stated that the new Jewish Temple must be built on the site where Al-Aqsa currently sits “as it is at the forefront of Jewish salvation.” Since then, prominent Israeli politicians have become more and more overt in their support for the end of Jordanian-Palestinian sovereignty over the mosque compound, leading many prominent Palestinians to warn in recent years of plans to destroy the mosque. In recent years, a centuries-old effort by what was once a small group of extremists has gone increasingly mainstream in Israel, with prominent politicians, religious figures and political parties advocating for the destruction of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque in order to fulfill a specific interpretation of an end-times prophecy that was once considered fringe among practitioners of Judaism. As Miko Peled, Israeli author and human-rights activist, told MintPress, the movement to destroy Al-Aqsa and replace it with a reimagined Temple “became notable after the 1967 war,” and has since grown into “a massive colonial project that uses religious, biblical mythology and symbols to justify its actions” — a project now garnering support from both religious and secular Israelis. While the push to destroy Al-Aqsa and replace it with a physical Third Temple has gained traction in Israel in recent years, this effort has advanced at a remarkably fast pace in just the past few weeks, owing to a confluence of factors. These factors, as this report will show, include the upcoming revelation of the so-called “Deal of the Century,” the push for a war with Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and the Trump administration’s dramatic lenience in regards to the activity of Jewish extremist groups and extremist settlements in Israel. These factors correlate with a quickening of efforts to destroy Al-Aqsa and the very real danger the centuries-old holy site faces. While the U.S. press has occasionally mentioned the role of religious extremism in dictating the foreign policy of prominent U.S. politicians like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it has rarely shone a light on the role of Jewish extremism in directing Israel’s foreign policy — foreign policy that, in turn, is well-known to influence American policies. When taken together, the threats to Al-Aqsa are clearly revealed to be much greater than the loss of a physical building, though that itself would be a grave loss for the world’s Muslim community, which includes over 1.8 billion people. In addition, the site’s destruction would very likely result in a regional and perhaps even global war with clear religious dimensions. To prevent such an outcome, it is essential to highlight the role that extremist, apocalyptic interpretations of both the Jewish and Christian faiths are playing in trends that, if left unchecked, could have truly terrifying consequences. Both of these extremist groups are heavily influenced by colonial ambitions that often supersede their religious underpinning. In Part I of this two-part series, MintPress examines the growth of extremist movements in Israel that openly promote the destruction of Al-Aqsa, from a relatively isolated fringe movement within Zionism to mainstream prominence in Israel today; as well as how threats to the historic mosque have grown precipitously in just the past month. MintPress interviewed Israeli author and activist Miko Peled; Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta in New York; Imam and scholar of Shia Islam, Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini, of the Islamic Institute of America; and Palestinian journalist and academic Ramzy Baroud for their perspectives on these extremist groups, their growing popularity, and the increasing threats to the current status quo at Haram El-Sharif/Temple Mount. The second part of this series will detail the influence of this extremist movement in Israeli politics as well as American politics, particularly among Christian Zionist politicians in the United States. The ways in which this movement’s goal have also influenced Israeli and U.S. policy — particularly in relation to the so-called “Deal of the Century,” President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and the push for war against Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah — will also be examined. Two centuries in the cross-hairs Though efforts to wrest the contested holy site from Jordanian and Palestinian control have picked up dramatically in recent weeks, the Al-Aqsa mosque compound had long been targeted prior to Israel’s founding and even prior to the formation of the modern Zionist movement. For instance, Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Kalisher — who promoted the European Jewish colonization of Palestine from a religious perspective well before Zionism became a movement — expounded on an early form of what would later be labeled “religious Zionism” and was particularly interested in the acquisition of Haram el-Sharif (i.e., the Temple Mount) as a means of fulfilling prophecy. As noted in the essay “Proto-Zionism and its Proto-Herzl: The Philosophy and Efforts of Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalisher” by Sam Lehman-Wilzig, Professor of Israeli Politics and Judaic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, Kalisher sought to court wealthy European Jews to finance the purchase of Israel for the purpose of resettlement, particularly the Temple Mount. In an 1836 letter to Baron Amschel Rothschild, Kalisher suggested that the eldest brother of the wealthy banker family use his abundant funds to bring Jewish sovereignty to Palestine, specifically Jerusalem and the Temple Mount: Kalisher’s request was met with a noncommittal response from Baron Rothschild, leading Kalisher to pursue other wealthy European Jewish families, like the Montefiores, with the same goal in mind. And, though Kalisher was initially unsuccessful in winning the support of the Rothschild family, other notable members of the wealthy European banking dynasty eventually did become enthusiastic supporters of Zionism in the decades that followed. Kalisher was also influential in another way, as he was arguably the first modern Rabbi to reject the idea of patiently waiting for God to fulfill prophecy and proposed instead that man should take concrete steps that would lead to the fulfillment of such prophecies, a belief that Kalisher described as “self help.” For Kalisher, settling European Jews in Palestine was but the first step, to be followed by other steps that would form an active as opposed to a passive approach towards Jewish Messianism. These subsequent steps included the construction of a Third Temple, to replace the Second Temple destroyed by the Romans around the year 70 C.E., and the reinitiation of ritual animal sacrifices in that Temple, which Kalisher believed could only be placed on the Temple Mount, where Al-Aqsa then sat and still sits. Kalisher wasn’t alone in his views, as his contemporary, Rabbi Judah Alkalai, wrote the following in his book Shalom Yerushalayim: Though Kalisher wasn’t the lone voice promoting these ideas, his beliefs — aside from promoting the physical settlement of European Jews in Palestine — remained relatively fringe for decades, if not more than a century, as secular Jews were hugely influential in the Zionist movement after its official formation. However, prominent religious Zionists did influence the Zionist movement in key ways prior to Israel’s founding. One such figure was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who sought to reconcile Zionism and Orthodox Judaism as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Palestine, a position he assumed in 1924. Yet, Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group based in New York that opposes Zionism, told MintPress that many religious Zionists have since latched onto Kalisher’s ideas, which were widely rejected during his lifetime, in order to justify neocolonial actions sought by secular Zionists. “This rabbi, at the time, other rabbis ‘roared’ against him and his beliefs weren’t accepted,” Rabbi Weiss stated, “But now, the ones who are talking about building this Third Temple….these are Zionists and they have found some rabbi whose ideas benefit them that they have been using to justify Zionist acts” that are not aligned with Judaism “and make them kosher.” Weiss further expanded on this point, noting that the participants of the modern religious Zionism movement that seek to build a new Jewish temple where Al-Aqsa currently stands are, at their core, Zionists who have used religious imagery and specific interpretations of religious texts as cover for neo-colonial acts, such as the complete re-making of the Temple Mount. “It’s like a wolf in a sheepskin…These people who want to incorporate the teachings of this rabbi [Rabbi Kalisher] are proudly saying that they are Jewish, but are doing things Jews are forbidden from doing,” such as ascending to and standing upon the Temple Mount, which Rabbi Weiss stated was “a breach of Jewish law,” long forbidden by that law according to a consensus among Jewish scholars and rabbis around the world that continued well beyond the formation of the Zionist movement in the 19th century. Rabbi Weiss noted that, for this reason, the Muslim community that has historically governed the area where Al-Aqsa mosque stands never had any problems with the Jewish community in relation to the Temple Mount, as it has been known for centuries that Jews cannot ascend to the area where the mosque currently sits and instead prayed only at the Western Wall. He also stated that the prophetic idea of a Third Temple was, prior to Zionism, understood as indicating not a change in physical structures on the Temple Mount, but a metaphysical, spiritual change that would unite all of mankind to worship and serve God in unison. Rabbi Weiss asserted that the conflict regarding Al-Aqsa mosque started only with the advent of Zionism and the associated neo-colonial ambition to fundamentally alter the status quo and structures present at the site as a means of erasing key parts (i.e., Palestinian parts) of its heritage. “This [the use of religion to justify ascending to and taking control of the Temple Mount] is a trap for conning other people into supporting them,” concluded the Rabbi. Nonetheless, Kalisher’s impact can be seen in today’s Israel more than ever, thanks to the rise and mainstream acceptance within Israel of once-fringe elements of religious Zionism, which were deeply influenced by the ideas of rabbis like Kalisher and have served in recent decades as an incubator for some of Israel’s most radical political elements. Meanwhile, as the debate within Judaism over the Temple Mount has changed dramatically since the 19th century, its significance in Islam has remained steadfast. According to Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini, “Al-Aqsa is the third holiest mosque in Islam…it is considered to be the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and has been mentioned in the Qoran, which glorifies that mosque and identifies it as a blessed mosque. All Muslims, whether they are Sunni or Shia, revere that mosque” — a fact that has remained unchanged for over a millennium and continues to today. The modern rise of the religious Zionist movements that promote the destruction of Al-Aqsa mosque and its replacement with a Third Jewish Temple is most often traced back to the Six Day War of 1967. According to Miko Peled, who recently wrote a piece for MintPress Newsregarding the threats facing Al-Aqsa, “religious Zionism” as a political force became more noticeable following the 1967 war. Peled told MintPress: Peled further noted that this model, employed by the religious extremist groups that founded illegal West Bank settlements like Kiryat Arba, “has been used successfully since then and it is now used by the groups that are promoting the new Temple in place of Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.” He continued, pointing out that “whereas 20-30 years ago they were considered a fringe group, this year they expect more than 50,000 people to enter the compound to support the group and their goals. Religious Israeli youth who opt out of military service and choose national service instead may work with the [Third] Temple building organizations.” Extremist settlers escorted by Israeli after they stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on July 22, 2018. Mostafa Alkharouf | Anadolu Dr. Ramzy Baroud — journalist, academic and founder of The Palestine Chronicle — agreed with Peled’s sense that the Third Temple movement or Temple Activist movement has grown dramatically in recent years and has become increasingly mainstream in Israel. Baroud told MintPress: However, Rabbi Weiss disagreed with Peled and Baroud that this faction presents a real threat to the mosque, given that the mosque’s destruction is widely rejected by Diaspora Jewry (i.e., Jews living outside of Israel) and that destroying it would not only cause conflicts with the global Muslim community but also numerous Jewish communities outside of Israel. Weiss argued that many of these religious Zionists in Israel that are pushing for a new Temple “do not follow Jewish law to the letter and don’t come from the very religious communities, including the settlers…They don’t go to expressly religious schools, they go to Zionist schools. Their whole view is built on Zionism and [secondarily] incorporates the religion,” as opposed to the reverse. As a result, the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque, in Weiss’ view, could greatly alienate the state of Israel from these more religious and ultra-orthodox communities. In addition, Rabbi Weiss felt that many Jewish and secular Israelis would also reject such a move because it would create even more conflicts, which many Israelis do not want. He described the Temple Activists as “a vocal minority” that represented a “fringe” among adherents to Judaism and a group within Zionism that has tried to use the Temple Mount “in order to be able to excuse their occupation and to try to portray this [the occupation of Palestine] as a religious conflict,” with the conflict surrounding the Temple Mount being an extension of that. Weiss believed that the push to take over the Temple Mount was a “scare tactic” aimed at securing the indefinite nature of the occupation, and noted that many Israelis did not want a spike in or renewal of conflict that would inevitably result if the mosque were to be destroyed. He also added that he did not think there was a “real threat” of the mosque being targeted because international rabbinical authorities have stood fast in their opposition to the project promoted by the Temple Activists. “Tomorrow might be too late” It is hardly a coincidence that the growth of Temple Activism and associated movements like “neo-Zionism” have paralleled the growth in threats to the Al-Aqsa mosque itself. Many of these threats can be understood through the doctrine developed by Rabbi Kalisher and others in the mid-19th century — the idea that “active” steps must be taken to bring about the reconstruction of a Jewish Temple at Haram El-Sharif in order to bring about the Messianic Age. Indeed, during the 1967 war, General Shlomo Goren, the chief rabbi of the IDF, had told Chief of Central Command Uzi Narkiss that, shortly after Israel’s conquest of Jerusalem’s Old City, the moment had come to blow up the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock. “Do this and you will go down in history,” Goren told Narkiss. According to Tom Segev’s book 1967, Goren felt that the site’s destruction could only be done under the cover of war: “Tomorrow might be too late.” Goren was among the first Israelis to arrive at the then-recently conquered Old City in Jerusalem and was joined at the newly “liberated” Al-Aqsa compound by a young Yisrael Ariel, who now is a major leader in the Temple Activist movement and head of the Temple Institute, which is dedicated to constructing a Third Temple where Al-Asqa mosque currently stands. Narkiss rejected Goren’s request, but did approve the razing of Jerusalem’s Moroccan quarter. According to Mondoweiss, the destruction of the nearly seven centuries old Jerusalem neighborhood was done for the “holy purpose” of making the Western Wall more accessible to Jewish Israelis. Some 135 homes were flattened, along with several mosques, and over 700 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed as part of that operation. Following the occupation of East Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa has come under increasing threat, just as extremist movements who seek to destroy the site have grown. In 1969, a Christian extremist from Australia, Daniel Rohan, set fire to the mosque. Rohan had been studying in Israel and, prior to committing arson, had told American theology student Arthur Jones, who was studying with Rohan, that he had become convinced that a new temple had to be built where Al-Aqsa stood. Then, in 1984, a group of messianic extremists known as the Jewish Underground was arrested for plotting to use explosives to destroy Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. Ehud Yatom, who was a security official and commander of the operation that foiled the plot, told Israel’s Channel 2 in 2004 that the planned destruction of the site would have been “horrible, terrible,” adding that it could provoke “the entire Muslim world [into a war] against the state of Israel and against the Western world, a war of religions.” One of those arrested in 1984 in connection with the bomb plot, former Jewish Underground member Yehuda Etzion, subsequently wrote from prison that his group’s mistake was not in targeting the historic mosque, which he called an “abomination,” but in acting before Israeli society would accept such an act. “The generation was not ready,” Etzion wrote, adding that those sympathetic to the Jewish Underground movement “must build a new force that grows very slowly, moving its educational and social activity into a new leadership.” “Of course I cannot predict whether the Dome of the Rock will be removed from the Mount while the new body is developing or after it actually leads the people,” Etzion stated, “but the clear fact is that the Mount will be purified [from Islamic shrines] with certainty…” Upon his release from prison, Etzion founded the Chai Vekayam (Alive and Existing) movement, a group that Al Jazeera’s Mersiha Gadzo described as aimed at “shaping public opinion as a prerequisite for building a Third Temple in the religious complex in Jerusalem’s Old City where Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are located.” Gadzo also notes that “according to messianic belief, building the Third Temple at the Al Aqsa compound — where the First and Second Temples stood some 2,000 years ago — would usher the coming of the Messiah.” Six years later, another group called the Temple Mount Faithful, which is dedicated to building the Third Temple, provoked what became known as the Al-Aqsa massacre in 1990 after its members attempted to place a cornerstone for the Third Temple on the Temple Mount / Haram El-Sharif, leading to riots that saw Israeli police shoot and kill over 20 Palestinians and wound an estimated 150 more. This was followed by the riots in 1996 after Israel opened up a series of tunnels that had been dug under Al-Aqsa mosque that many Palestinians worried would be used to damage or destroy the mosque. Those concerns may have been well-founded, given the involvement of then- and current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Third Temple activist groups in creating the tunnels and in subsequent excavations near the holy site, which were and continue to be officially described as “archaeological” in nature. During the 1996 incident, 80 Palestinians and 14 Israeli police officers were killed. Some Israeli archaeologists have argued that these tunnels have not been built for archaeological or scientific purposes and are highly unlikely to result in any new discoveries. One such Israeli archaeologist, Yoram Tseverir, told Middle East Monitor in 2014 that “the claims that these excavations aim at finding scientific information are marginal” and called the still-ongoing government-sponsored excavations under Al-Aqsa “wrong.” When those “archaeological” excavations at Al-Aqsa resulted in damage to the Western Wall near Al-Aqsa last year, a chorus of prominent Palestinians, including the spokesman for the Fatah Party, claimed that Israel’s government had devised a plan to destroy the mosque. Since 2000, Al-Aqsa mosque has been the site of incidents that have resulted in new state crackdowns by Israel against Palestinians both within and well outside of Jerusalem. Indeed, the Second Intifada was largely provoked by the visit of the then-Likud candidate for prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who entered Al-Aqsa mosque under heavy guard. Then-spokesman for Likud, Ofir Akounis, was later quoted by CNN as saying that the reason for Sharon’s visit was “to show that under a Likud government it [the Temple Mount] will remain under Israeli sovereignty.” That single visit by Sharon led to five years of heightened tensions, more than three thousand dead Palestinians and an estimated thousand dead Israelis, as well as a massive and still continuing crackdown on Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and in the blockaded Gaza Strip. Dr. Ramzy Baroud told MintPress that Sharon’s provocation in particular, and subsequent provocations, are often planned and used by Israeli politicians in order to justify crackdowns and restrictions on Palestinians. He argued: While there have long been efforts to destroy the historic Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, recent weeks have seen a disturbing and dramatic uptick in incidents that suggest that the influential groups in Israel that have long pushed for the mosque’ s destruction may soon get their way. This reflects what Ramzy Baroud described to MintPress as how support for the construction of the Third Temple where Al-Aqsa currently sits is now “greater than at any time in the past” within Israeli society. Earlier this month on June 2, a religious adviser to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Al-Habbash, took to social media to warn of an “Israeli plot against the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” adding that “If the Muslims don’t act now [to save the site]… the entire world will pay dearly.” Al-Habbash’s statement was likely influenced by a disturbing event that occurred that same day at the revered compound when Israeli police provided cover for extremist Israeli settlers who illegally entered the compound during the final days of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Israeli police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse Palestinian worshippers who had gathered at the mosque during one of Islam’s most important holidays while allowing over a thousand Israeli Jews to enter the compound. Forty-five Palestinians were wounded and several were arrested. Though such provocative visits by Jewish Israelis to Al-Aqsa have occurred with increasing frequency in recent years, this event was different because it up-ended a long-standing agreement between Jordan’s government, which manages the site, and Israel that no such visits take place during important Islamic holidays. As a consequence, Jordan accused Israel’s government of “flagrant violations” of that agreement by allowing visits from religious nationalists, which Jordan described as “provocative intrusions by extremists.” Less than a week after the incident, Israel’s Culture and Sports Minister, Miri Regev, a member of the Netanyahu-led Likud Party, called for more settler extremists to storm the compound, stating: “We should do everything to keep ascending to the Temple Mount … And hopefully, soon we will pray in the Temple Mount, our sacred place.” In addition, Regev also thanked Israel’s Interior Security Minister, Gilad Erdan, and Jerusalem’s police chief for guarding the settler extremists who had entered the compound. In 2013, then-member of the Likud Party Moshe Feiglin told the Knesset that allowing Jewish Israelis to enter the compound is “not about prayer.” “Arabs don’t mind that Jews pray to God. Why should they care? We all believe in God,” Feiglin — who now heads the Zehut, or Identity, Party — stated, adding, “The struggle is about sovereignty. That’s the true story here. The story is about one thing only: sovereignty.” In other words, Likud and its ideological allies view granting Jewish Israelis entrance to “pray” at the site of the mosque as a strategy aimed at reducing Palestinian-Jordanian control over the site. Feiglin’s past comments give credibility to Rabbi Weiss’ claim, referenced earlier on in this report, that the religious underpinnings and religious appeals of the Temple Activists are secondary to the settler-colonial (i.e., Zionist) aspect of the movement, which seeks to remove Palestinian and Muslim heritage from the Temple Mount as part of the ongoing Zionist project. Feiglin, earlier this year in April, called for the immediate construction of the Third Temple, telling a Tel Aviv conference, “I don’t want to build a [Third] Temple in one or two years, I want to build it now.” The Times of Israel, reporting on Feiglin’s comments, noted that the Israeli politician is “enjoying growing popularity.” Earlier this month, and not long after Miri Regev’s controversial comments, an event attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Leon, used a banner that depicted the Jerusalem skyline with the Dome of the Rock noticeably absent. Though some may write off such creative photo editing as a fluke, it is but the latest in a series of similar incidents where official events or materials have edited out the iconic building and, in some cases, have replaced it with a reconstructed Jewish temple. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman poses with a picture of the ‘Third Temple,’ May 22, 2018. Israel Cohen | Kikar Hashabat The day before that event, Israeli police had arrested three members of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s Reconstruction Committee, which is overseen by the government of Jordan. Those arrested included the committee’s head and its deputy head, and the three men were arrested while performing minor restoration work in an Al-Aqsa courtyard. The Jordan-run authority condemned the arrests, for which no official reason was given, and called the move by Israeli police “an intervention in their [the men’s] reconstruction work.” According to Palestinian news agency Safa, Israeli police have also prevented the entry of tools necessary for restoration work to the site and have restricted members of the authority from performing critical maintenance work. In addition, another important figure at Al-Aqsa, Hanadi Al-Halawani, who teaches at the mosque school and has long watched over the site to prevent its occupation by Israeli forces, was arrested late last month. Arrests of other key Al-Aqsa personnel have continued in recent days, such as the arrest of seven Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, including guards of the mosque, and their subsequent ban from entering the site. The Palestinians were arrested at their homes last Sunday night in early morning raids and the official reason for their arrest remains unclear. So many arrests in such a short period have raised concerns that, should the spate of arrests of important Al-Aqsa personnel continue, future incidents at the site, such as the mysterious firethat broke out last April at Al-Aqsa while France’s Notre Dame was also ablaze, may not be handled as effectively owing to staff shortages. Soon after those arrests, 60 members of a settler extremist group entered the al-Aqsa compound under heavy guard from Israeli police. Safa news agency reported that these settlers have recently been accompanied by Israeli intelligence officials in their incursions at the site. All of these recent provocations and arrests in connection with the mosque come soon after the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, publicly stated in late March that he had recently come under great pressure to relinquish Jordan’s custodianship of the mosque and the contested holy site upon which it is built. Abdullah II vowed to continue custodianship over Christian and Muslim sites in Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa, and declined to say who was pressuring him over the site. However, his comments about this pressure to cede control over the mosque came just days after he had visited the U.S. and met with American Vice President Mike Pence, a Christian Zionist who believes that a Jewish Temple must replace Al-Aqsa to fulfill an end times prophecy. In May, an Israeli government-linked research institute, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, wrote that Abdullah II had nearly been toppled in mid-April, just weeks after publicly discussing external pressure to relinquish control over Al-Aqsa. The report stated that Abdullah II had been a target of a “plot undermining his rule,” which led him to replace several senior members of his government. That report further claimed that the plot had been aimed at removing obstacles to the Trump administration’s “Deal of the Century,” which is supported by Israel’s government. Last year, some Israeli politicians sought to push for a transfer of the site’s custodianship to Saudi Arabia, sparking concern that this could be connected to plans by some Third Temple activists to remove Al-Aqsa from Jerusalem and transfer it piece-by-piece to the Saudi city of Mecca. On Thursday, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs published an article asserting that “tectonic shifts” were taking place in relation to who controls Al-Aqsa, with a Saudi-funded political group making dramatic inroads that could soon alter which country controls the historic mosque compound. Sayyed Hassan Al-Qazwini told MintPress that, in his view, the current custodianship involving Jordan’s government is not ideal, as control over the Al-Aqsa mosque “should in the hands of its people, [and] Al-Aqsa mosque belongs Palestine;” if not, at the very least, a committee of Muslim majority nations should be formed to govern the holy site because of its importance. As for Saudi Arabia potentially receiving control over the site, Al-Qazwini told MintPress that “the Saudis are not qualified as they are not even capable of running the holy sites in Saudi Arabia itself. Every year, there has been a tragedy and many pilgrims have died during hajj time [annual Islamic pilgrimage].” The threat to Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock compound, the third holiest site in Islam and of key importance to three major world religions, is the result of the dramatic growth of what was once a fringe movement of extremists. After the Six Day War, these fringe elements have fought to become more mainstream within Israel and have sought to gain international support for their religious-colonialist vision, particularly in the United States. As this article has shown, the threats to Al-Aqsa have grown significantly in the past decades, spiking in just the past few weeks. As former Jewish Underground member Yehuda Etzion had called for decades ago, an educational and social movement aimed at gaining influence with Israeli government leadership has been hugely successful in its goal of engineering consent for a Third Temple among many religious and secular Israelis. So successful has this movement been that numerous powerful and influential Israeli politicians, particularly since the 1990s, have not only openly promoted these beliefs, and the destruction of Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, but have also diverted significant amounts of government funding to organizations dedicated to replacing the historic mosque with a new temple. As the second and final installment of this series will show, this movement has gained powerful allies, not just in Israel’s government, but among many evangelical Christians in the United States, including top figures in the Trump administration who also feel that the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the reconstruction of a Jewish Temple are prerequisites for the fulfillment of prophecy, albeit a different one. Furthermore, given the influence of such movements on the Israeli and U.S. governments, these beliefs of active Messianism are also informing key policies of these same governments and, in doing so, are pushing the world towards a dangerous war. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. Whitney Webb is a MintPress News journalist based in Chile. She has contributed to several independent media outlets including Global Research, EcoWatch, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She has made several radio and television appearances and is the 2019 winner of the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism | Whitney Webb | https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-push-destroy-jerusalems-iconic-al-aqsa-mosque-goes-mainstream/5681794 | 2019-06-26 13:12:38+00:00 | 1,561,569,158 | 1,567,537,985 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
229,867 | globalresearch--2019-06-29--In Indonesian Borneo Humiliate Native People Then Loot Their Land | 2019-06-29T00:00:00 | globalresearch | In Indonesian Borneo: Humiliate Native People, Then Loot Their Land | You will never read about it, but Dayak people, the “First Nation” of the enormous island of Borneo, are broken, robbed and brainwashed. “Unity in diversity” it says; the motto of Indonesia. But it could be argued that the opposite is true. There is very little unity, and less and less diversity, as the country is controlled from Jakarta, an enormous, overpopulated stinky and sinking megapolis which is located on the island of Java. Jakarta does not want to allow any dissent. For half a century it has made sure that everyone on this huge and unfortunate archipelago thinks the same, while desiring no improvement. Here, everyone is religious, everyone anti-Communist and fanatically pro-capitalist. The result is: the country collapsed, a long time ago, but ‘no one noticed’. While the Western media is paid ‘not to notice’. “It is a modern-time colonialism”, I heard thousands of times. Java is perceived by many who are living on those proverbial thousands of islands (the Indonesian archipelago has over 17 thousand isles which are spread over a great area), as a colonialist, aggressive and morally corrupt entity. No wonder: after independence from Netherlands, the country was formed, generally, along the old colonial boundaries. During the era of the progressive anti-imperialist President Ahmed Sukarno, Indonesia was at least a co-founder of the Non-aligned Movement. It nationalized its natural resources, while building an enlightened socialist motherland. That did not last very long. Following the West-sponsored brutal military coup of 1965, socialism was destroyed, Communists and atheists murdered, and the US-style neo-colonialist rule managed to smash all hopes for a better future. Ever since, most of the islands have been run as colonies: pillaged, and oppressed. The ‘transmigration’ policy has been turning local people into a minority, at least in the various ‘strategic’ areas. Those have literally been flooded with state-sponsored immigrants from Java, Southern Sumatra, and other densely-populated Sunni Muslim parts of the country. Modern-day Indonesia has lived through three cruel genocides in its modern history: one triggered during and after the fascist coup (1965/66), then one that was perpetrated in (formerly) occupied East Timor, and the one, on-going one, in the conquered West Papua. But that is not all: terrible inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflicts have been shaking Indonesia for decades: from Aceh to Sulawesi, Ambon, Kalimantan (Borneo), to name just a few. Anti-Chinese pogroms have been common for centuries. If there was to be a referendum, most of the islands, including the tourist island of Bali, would opt for independence. But that is a hushed fact, as it would never be allowed. The unproductive and depressingly over-populated island of Java virtually lives off the plundering of the riches of the entire archipelago. Indonesia’s ‘wealth’ mainly comes from commodities; from unbridled plundering of the outer islands. That of course is true about one of the biggest booty – the enormous Kalimantan. Many of the filthy rich Javanese families are connected to the plunder. Their wealth comes directly from destruction of the archipelago. The five-star hotels surrounded by Jakarta’s slums, malls with overpriced European brand names, and tasteless villas in gated communities, are built on blood and robbery. The island of Borneo is the third largest island on earth, after Greenland and Papua. It is shared by Indonesia (where it is known as Kalimantan), and also by Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam. And it has, or more precisely, it used to count on all kinds of imaginable treasures, from oil to coal, gold, uranium and timber. It also used to be one of the most pristine and stunning parts of the world, covered by plush native forests, which grew all along the mighty and clean tropical waterways. Borneo’s native people, the Dayaks, used to live in true symbiosis with nature. Whatever their internal problems were, they never tried to conquer other islands. But this self-contained paradise had been brutally penetrated and eventually destroyed; first by the Dutch colonialists, and later by the legendary Javanese greed united with Western multi-national companies. Today, Borneo, or at least its Indonesian part, is almost entirely ruined. Most of its forests have been cut down, giving way to the endless and toxic oil palm plantations. Rivers where gold is being mined both legally and illegally, are poisoned by mercury, while entire mountains are levelled by local and foreign mining companies. Coal mines are of tremendous proportions, and expanding. The wisdom of the local people is still alive, but only deep in what is left of the native forests. Most of the ‘modern-day’ Dayak people have been cannily incorporated by the regime into the system which thrives on plundering of the land and of all that nature holds above and below the surface. Mr. Krisusandi, the chief of “Dayakology Institute” located in the city of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, does not hide his frustration, when he sits across the table from us, in his office: “Local people used to inhabit some of the richest lands on earth, in terms of natural resources,” I suggest. Mr. Krisusandi agrees: That was, of course, not all. The so-called ‘New Order’ of Suharto’s pro-Western cronies and collaborators, was determined to liquidate all left-wing beliefs. That’s what it was ordered to do by Washington. And Indonesian culture before 1965 was at least ‘communitarian’, if not out rightly Communist. The cultures of Dayak people were no exception. To be a ‘Communist’ was, for decades, synonymous with the highest crime, punishable by death. Julia, a female activist and researcher from West Kalimantan, now a PhD student at Bonn University in Germany, gave a similar testimony as Mr. Krisusandi’s: Misery in rural Kalimantan is widespread. Enormous palm oil plantations turned huge areas into monocultures. Local people who stayed, are now forced to basically import everything from outside. Life has become extremely expensive. Thousands of villages are literally surrounded, choking by commercial entities. The traditional, natural way of life is totally ruined. To obtain any substantial information in the cities and villages of Kalimantan, is almost impossible. That is why the tragedy of this plundered island is almost ‘undocumented’. People are scared to talk, or they do not comprehend their own conditions and their position in the Indonesian and global context. In Banjarmasin, Palangkaraya, Pontianak and in other urban and rural areas of Kalimantan, people who live in absolute destitute, are refusing to even admit that they are poor. The inhabitants of filthy and hopeless slums lacking almost all basic services, consider their life ‘normal’, and most of them describe their state as ‘pasrah’, which means ‘abandoning, surrendering their lives to fate and God’. Just as in the rest of Indonesia, oppressive forms of religion (mainly Saudi-style Wahhabi Sunni Islam) have already managed to take full control over the population. Under such conditions, no rebellion is possible. This is of course a brilliant arrangement for savage capitalism and for the bunch of corrupt captains of the Indonesian regime. Since 1965, the logic of pro-Western rulers was simple and effective: ‘Do not allow the arts, philosophy and creativity to ‘pollute’ people’s minds. Kill everything socialist and communist. Make Indonesian citizens simple, pious, uniformed, and uninformed. Smash everyone who is different. Native people in the resource-rich parts of the archipelago (such as Kalimantan) were the most affected. They have been treated precisely as the South Americans were treated by their Spanish or Portuguese colonialist masters and tormentors: all the resources have been stolen, while local beliefs and languages smashed. Simultaneously, totally foreign religious concepts have been pushed down their throats. Those who were willing to collaborate, were given important government and academic positions, ridiculous titles, and at least some cut from the loot. The price was terrible: the destruction of both land and the original population. The ‘primitive people of the forest’ were actually much more advanced than their conquerors. They knew how to live with their nature, their environment. Before colonialism, rivers and forests, mountains and villages were intact and thriving. The destruction of local culture led to the collapse of the environment, and in the case of Borneo, of the entire island. I am making a long documentary film here: about this damaged culture, and about the whole island that used to be much closer to ‘paradise’, than any other place on Earth. As I film, in all the corners of Borneo, I feel terrified. What I see is indescribable. I have to use visuals, images, to prove the point. Words are not enough. It often feels that the destruction is unreal; that all this is just a nightmare, that I will wake up, that the horror will go away. But it is real; nothing goes away. People, their greed, are capable of ruining anything, even the most stunning places on our planet. Mr. Krisusandi speaks about his Institute of Dayakology with pride: “We established it, in order to return dignity to our people.” Then he recalls the terrible on-going struggle: A prominent educator from West Kalimantan, who did not want to be identified out of fear of losing his job, clarified: What he meant is that the person often chooses to work for the companies or the government, that are intensively ruining the Borneo island, while further indoctrinating and disempowering local population. While deep in Borneo, one year ago, we visited a longhouse, where we were told by Mr. Paulus, the elder in a traditional Bali Gundi longhouse in the Putusibau area: Recently, President Jokowi decided to at least give some land back to the Dayak people. It was a symbolic gesture, but practically, nothing changed, and almost nothing was returned to the native people. I think about those once mighty and pure rivers, endless tropical forests, deep and ancient cultures of local people. I close my eyes, trying to imagine hundreds of already vanished species of fauna and flora. Then, I imagine the huge, repulsive, kitschy dwellings of local ‘elites’, in Jakarta and Surabaya. I imagine European and North American cities built from the loot of places such as Kalimantan. “Maybe the next generation will,” comes the hesitant reply. “But not this one. Definitely not this one.” In Palangkaraya city, we spoke to one of the most prominent Dayaks, an author J.J. Kusni, a man who spent long years in France, but finally returned to his native land. I filmed his long, passionate testimony, in which he expressed sadness, even outrage over the state into which the Dayak people were reduced. “Philosophically, a Dayak is a fighter,” he said. But the spirit of Dayak people was obviously smashed. Most of them have become victims, while others were convinced to convert themselves into collaborators. The entire Indonesian part of the Island of Borneo is now burned down, poisoned and logged out. There are few ‘protected parks’, but even in the middle of them, commercial activities are now detectable. Entire original cultures here are humiliated. People are confused. Most of them gave up, accepted, resigned. Destruction and thorough ruin are being propagated as ‘progress’, by the Indonesian regime. Brainwashing is passed as ‘education’. “Through the national and even village government structures established by Suharto, everything in Kalimantan became “Javanized”,” explained J.J. Kusni. “So, what are the Dayak people doing?” I asked. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. This article was originally published on New Eastern Outlook. Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Four of his latest books are China and Ecological Civilizationwith John B. Cobb, Jr., Revolutionary Optimism, Western Nihilism a revolutionary novel “Aurora” and a bestselling work of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. View his other books here. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo and his film/dialogue with Noam Chomsky “On Western Terrorism”. Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his . His Patreon All images in this article are from the author | Andre Vltchek | https://www.asia-pacificresearch.com/indonesian-borneo-humiliate-native-people-then-loot-their-land/5628724 | 2019-06-29 13:58:56+00:00 | 1,561,831,136 | 1,567,537,558 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
329,558 | nationalreview--2019-01-21--Anti-Christian Ideology Is an Emerging Aspect of White Progressive Populism | 2019-01-21T00:00:00 | nationalreview | Anti-Christian Ideology Is an Emerging Aspect of White Progressive Populism | One of the hallmarks of populism is that it rarely represents mass mobilization simply for the people. It’s also typically mass mobilization against an opposing force — whether it’s the hated elite or the despised “other.” The for/against dynamic is inherent to some degree in all of politics, but mobilization against other people as a group is a core component of the populist enterprise. Take, for example, old-school southern populism. Yes, there was a powerful economic component, often centered around government-sponsored economic development. But white southern populism was also focused directly and intentionally against black southerners. Despite the fact that they lived and work alongside southern whites, they were still the “other.” They were still the threat. Much ink has been spilled analyzing Trump’s populism. And the for/against dynamic on the right is alive and well. If Trump’s appeal were based mainly around his calls for tariffs, his desire to retreat from the Middle East, or even his immigration restrictionism, he likely would have crashed and burned in the general election. Each of those positions is contentious within the Republican community, much less the nation at large. Instead, his core appeal is built around his combativeness. He can flip from position to position — govern as a traditional Republican in 2017 and then shift to economic populism and military withdrawal in 2018 — but so long as he fights the common enemy, he retains his hold on the base. Less ink, however, has been spilled analyzing the combative side of progressive populism. We know what progressive populists are for — Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, etc. — but who are they fundamentally against? Yes, of course it’s Donald Trump. But progressive populism existed before Trump, and it will exist after him. I’d submit that at least one of the common enemies — especially for white progressives — is conservative Christians. As I wrote earlier this month, attacks on conservative Christians are certainly popular in some quarters of the Left, but now I also fear they’re populist — they can help animate a mass movement. The combination of ignorance, fear, and hatred wielded against conservative Christians in progressive quarters is disturbing. Just in this new year, we’ve seen two progressive senators aggressively question a Christian judicial nominee because of his membership in a mainstream Catholic service organization, we’ve seen a days-long attack on Karen Pence for teaching part-time at a Christian ministry, and we watched a stunning online feeding frenzy against students at a Catholic boys’ school based on a misleadingly clipped video segment of a much longer confrontation. Moreover, we just concluded a Supreme Court term in which progressive governments attempted to erode the constitutional firewall against compelled speech by attempting to compel Christians to advance messages they found immoral. California attempted to compel pro-life pregnancy centers to advertise free or low-cost abortions. Colorado attempted to compel a man to custom-design a cake for a gay wedding. And along with each of these events we’ve seen tens of thousands of words of commentary declaring Christians bigoted and hateful — often based on condescending claims of hypocrisy premised on sheer ignorance of Christian theology and tradition. For example, how many times must Christians hear from know-it-all commentators that they can’t possibly be credited for their sincere religious beliefs unless they fully apply all elements of Jewish Levitical law? Who can forget the avatar of progressive populism himself, Bernie Sanders, in 2017 aggressively grilling a nominee for the Office of Management and Budget over his theological views on the differences between the Christian and Muslim faith? He actually said that the nominee was “not someone who this country is supposed to be about.” And of course Dianne Feinstein famously rebuked Trump judicial nominee Amy Coney Barrett by declaring that the “dogma lives loudly within you, and that’s a concern.” This week, in response to my defense of Christian education (I attended a Christian college, sent my three kids to a Christian school, and served as the chairman of the school board of their school), an activist started an “Expose Christian Schools” hashtag designed to elicit stories of the terrible things Christian educators do. Yes, there are bad people who attend and teach at Christian schools, but I find it interesting when anecdotes about Christians abuses are illuminating, but anecdotes about, say, illegal immigrant crime are by definition racist and illegitimate. Or, if you want to see grotesque stereotyping in action, look no farther than this viral tweet from — you guessed it — a BuzzFeed writer: These stories represent a partial list of the political and legal attacks on Christian free exercise and — just as importantly — traditional, orthodox Christianity itself. I spent most of my career litigating in campuses from coast to coast, often to simply preserve the right of Christian student groups to pray and worship in empty classrooms. When large majorities of Americans oppose your party or stand outside your culture, the natural human tendency is to ask, “What’s wrong with them?” I’ve seen this for years in the Republican response to the reality that overwhelming majorities of black Americans vote Democratic. At worst there’s hostility. Sometimes there is condescending sympathy: “They’re misguided. They’re voting against their interests. They’re brainwashed.” Less often is there respect and reflection. If a vital member of the American community is that united against us, should we consider whether any aspect of that opposition is our fault? One striking feature of left-wing hostility to conservative Christianity is its insistence that opposition to secular progressive morality is proof of malign intent. Instead of asking whether progressive intolerance (or the selection of a corrupt Democratic candidate) played any part in the 81 percent white Evangelical opposition to Hillary Clinton, all too many progressives use that level of united opposition as grounds for further hatred. And, yes, there’s also the condescending sympathy: “They’re brainwashed by Fox. They’re voting against their interests.” Last summer I wrote an essay called the Great White Culture War. In it, I argued that a great deal of America’s political division isn’t just explained by the division between white Americans and racial minorities — there are also immense cultural divisions within “white America” itself. And in few areas are those cultural divisions more stark than in religious belief. According to Pew Research Center data, 72 percent of white Republicans believe in the God of the Bible. Only 32 percent of white Democrats share that belief. That’s a stunning gap, especially considering the historical dominance of the Christian faith in the United States. Our culture war is also a religious conflict, and that means progressive populism will almost certainly continue to trend against conservative Christianity. And as this happens, it will be increasingly difficult to confine our differences to the political realm. The fear and loathing will extend to individuals. It will mean more attempts to destroy lives and limit individual liberty. And when it does, our divide will only grow. Hostility to traditional, orthodox Christianity is no longer confined to the white progressive elite. It’s now popular in the white Left. Liberal elites who attack traditional Christian beliefs and express contempt for traditional Christians aren’t demonstrating their disconnect from America, they’re giving their constituents exactly what they want. | David French | https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/01/anti-christian-ideology-is-an-emerging-aspect-of-white-progressive-populism/ | 2019-01-21 21:02:01+00:00 | 1,548,122,521 | 1,567,551,476 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
330,870 | nationalreview--2019-04-24--Dehumanizing Speech Is Still Free Speech | 2019-04-24T00:00:00 | nationalreview | ‘Dehumanizing’ Speech Is Still Free Speech | If you’re going to ask a conservative which predominantly leftist idea is the greatest threat to our nation’s culture of free speech, I’d expect that they’d immediately answer with “speech is violence.” It’s an understandable response. After all, “speech is violence” is not only the most dramatic claim, it’s a claim that has occasionally justified and rationalized actual violence — including on campus. But there’s another claim, one that’s slightly less lurid and thus somewhat easier to justify. It applies in the most emotionally fraught debates about race, sexuality, and gender, and it goes something like this: No person should be required to “debate” his right to exist. Free speech is fine, but “dehumanizing” speech is something else entirely. For example, if you argue that a man cannot get pregnant, you are “erasing” trans people. If you argue that marriage is a union of a man and a woman, then you are “dehumanizing” gay Americans. To take another example, as Jesse Singal points out in his invaluable newsletter, campus activists once tried to deny Heather Mac Donald a platform to critique Black Lives Matter by arguing that “if engaged, Heather Mac Donald would not be debating on mere difference of opinion, but the right of Black people to exist.” As these ideas do, it has spread off-campus to Silicon Valley, where Google employees objected to Heritage Foundation president Kay Cole James’s very presence on a Google advisory panel on artificial intelligence, in part because they said they didn’t want to debate their “humanity” or because James (allegedly) believed that people like one Google critic “should not exist at all.” More than 2,500 “Googlers” signed a petition to remove her from the panel, and Google eventually canceled the board entirely. The idea that James denies the humanity of any human is, as they say, big if true. But it’s not true. The belief that another person is created in the image of God, endowed by that same Creator with unalienable rights, but is also morally, philosophically, or scientifically wrong is not dehumanizing. It does not deny any person’s existence or proclaim that he or she should not exist. Moreover, even if you (wrongly) believe that an opponent’s point of view dehumanizes you, should you shy away from engaging that idea? Earlier this month, Singal tweeted this obvious truth and kicked up a predictable online storm: The debate quickly derailed into a bizarre mischaracterization of Singal’s position, with critics claiming that Singal had wrongly argued that black abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass had “debated his people to freedom.” No one thinks that emancipation was won entirely through debate and engagement, but also no reasonable person should understate the importance of debate and engagement to advancing and articulating the abolitionist idea. Slavery is reviled in modern America not just because Pickett’s Charge failed on Gettysburg’s third day. Writing in The New Republic, Josephine Livingstone also took aim at Singal, arguing that “debate is fruitful when the terms of the conversation are agreed upon by both parties.” This is false — debate is often at its most valuable when you can expose the bad faith or duplicity of an opposing party. And then Livingstone makes this extraordinary statement: But how do we know when an argument “fails” unless it is engaged, interrogated, evaluated, and — yes — debated. An argument doesn’t “fail” when it is simply declared false. It truly fails when it is tested and found wanting. It is curious indeed that free speech is now labeled an instrument of oppression. Historically, it has been an instrument of liberation. Ask yourself, are America’s historically marginalized communities better off now or in 1924, the year before the Supreme Court made the free-speech clause of the First Amendment applicable to state and local governments in Gitlow v. New York? Douglass himself declared free speech to the “great moral renovator of society and government.” He rightly identified free speech as “the dread of tyrants.” An atmosphere that is devoid of truly meaningful debate is one that is more likely to give birth to bankrupt ideas. And the woke progressive monocultures in quarters of academia and Silicon Valley have advanced and protected both the idea that speech is violence and the idea that disagreement is dehumanizing — especially when disagreement touches on matters of race, gender, and sexuality. It’s an odd thing that we now take for granted the notion that traditional Christians, Jews, and Muslims can and should work together, attend schools together, and debate matters of faith with one another, even as many people now contest the idea that traditional Christians or other people of traditional faith can easily work next to (much less debate) matters close to the heart of LGBT citizens. After all, are matters of sexuality somehow more fraught than matters of eternity? Is declaring a person’s faith to be false less offensive than arguing that a man doesn’t have a uterus? History teaches us that religious conflicts are the norm, not the exception, and rivers of blood have been spilled attempting to decide disputes over dogma through force of arms, but in the United States we’ve achieved a level of peaceful religious pluralism that is rare in the annals of world history. We have proven that we can tolerate religious differences and debate ultimate truths — matters of identity every bit as fundamental as the popular categories of modern intersectional politics, if not more so. It’s time to recognize the American culture war for what it is — a religious dispute — and incorporate it into America’s existing religious pluralism. A Christian no more “dehumanizes” a gay man when he believes in traditional sexual morality than a gay man “dehumanizes” a Christian for believing that the theology he’s based his entire life upon is nothing but an ancient fiction. A proposed limit to freedom of conscience is no more “dehumanizing” than a proposed limit to the reach of a public-accommodation statute. Finally, is speech really free if it can’t touch on the weightiest matters? Debates about the worst Star Wars movie (it’s still Phantom Menace, but Last Jedi is close) or even about economics or foreign policy may be interesting, and they can certainly be important, but absent debate about first principles, the First Amendment is but a trifle — a cosmetic protection for cosmetic speech. Every American should be able to handle a challenge to his or her most foundational values. Healthy pluralism requires nothing less. | David French | https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/04/dehumanizing-speech-is-still-free-speech/ | 2019-04-24 14:56:01+00:00 | 1,556,132,161 | 1,567,541,879 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
332,350 | nationalreview--2019-09-11--The Need for a Revival of Lockean Liberalism | 2019-09-11T00:00:00 | nationalreview | The Need for a Revival of Lockean Liberalism | A revival of Lockean liberalism would do much to tame the hatreds now afflicting the soul of the West. In the summer of 1704, English philosopher John Locke began writing a response to a critic of his controversial treatise on religious freedom, A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689). It was, in fact, the third letter from Locke addressed to Jonas Proast, a chaplain at Oxford University, who insisted that government coercion in religious matters was necessary to preserve social order. Locke fired back: “Men in all religions have equally strong persuasion, and every one must judge for himself,” he wrote. “Nor can any one judge for another, and you last of all for the magistrate.” Locke died before finishing the letter, but his revolutionary voice is being heard once again. A manuscript titled “Reasons for Tolerating Papists Equally with Others,” written in Locke’s hand in 1667 or 1668, has just been published for the first time, in The Historical Journal of Cambridge University Press. The document challenges the conventional view that Locke shared the anti-Catholicism of his fellow Protestants. Instead, it offers a glimpse into the radical quality of his political liberalism, which so influenced the First Amendment and the American Founding. “If all subjects should be equally countenanced, & imployed by the Prince,” he wrote, “the Papist[s] have an equall title.” Here was a visionary conception of equal justice for all members of the commonwealth, regardless of religious belief — a principle rejected by every political regime in the world, until 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. “Locke was willing to contemplate the toleration of Catholics in a fashion which others would never countenance, and he did so with startling impartiality,” write independent scholar J. C. Walmsley and Cambridge University fellow Felix Waldman, who discovered the manuscript. “The tone is emollient, and nowhere replicated in Locke’s works.” They have it half right. The attitude of English Protestants toward Catholicism in Locke’s day was shaped by over a century of religious conflict. To the Protestant mind, the advance of “Popery” and “priestcraft” represented a temporal and spiritual threat: ranks of religious believers loyal to a foreign potentate, blinded by superstition, hungry for arbitrary power, and latent with schemes of papal domination. Protestant sermons routinely identified the pope with the Antichrist. Locke’s career coincided with the Restoration (1660–88), when Catholics were excluded from public office and their rights of religious worship were severely restricted. By the 1660s, the rise of Catholic France under an absolute monarch, Louis XIV, instigated a fresh round of anti-Catholic fervor. In this acrimonious climate, Locke’s plea for political equality for Catholics was remarkably egalitarian. Yet — contrary to Locke’s modern interpreters — it was consistent with his views about Catholics and other religious minorities throughout most of his political career. As an assistant to Sir Walter Vane, for example, Locke’s first diplomatic mission in 1665 took him to the Duchy of Cleves, in modern-day Germany. In one of his reports, Locke admits that Locke also records his surprise at the social harmony between Calvinists, Lutherans, and Catholics, who each practiced their faith in relative freedom: “The distance in their churches gets not into their houses. . . . I cannot observe any quarrels or animosities amongst them upon the account of religion.” It was his first encounter with religious pluralism, and it left a deep and lasting impression. In his first major treatise supporting religious liberty, An Essay Concerning Toleration (1667), Locke constructs an argument, a defense of the rights of conscience, that he will build upon for the rest of his life. He argues that magistrates have no right interfering in religious beliefs that pose no obvious threat to the social order: “In speculations & religious worship every man hath a perfect uncontrolled liberty, which he may freely use without or contrary to the magistrate’s command.” The challenge of accommodating different religious traditions, including Roman Catholicism, is front and center. “If I observe the Friday with the Mahumetan, or the Saturday with the Jew, or the Sunday with the Christian, . . . whether I worship God in the various & pompous ceremonies of the papists, or in the plainer way of the Calvinists,” he wrote, “I see no thing in any of these, if they be done sincerely & out of conscience, that can of itself make me, either the worse subject to my prince, or worse neighbor to my fellow subject.” It was an extraordinary claim for an Englishman of his era: that Catholics, Calvinists, Jews, and Muslims alike could all be good citizens and good neighbors. Twenty years later, in the throes of another season of anti-Catholic anxiety, Locke delivers the same argument, yet even more forcefully. In A Letter Concerning Toleration — now considered foundational to the Western canon — Locke insists that the equal protection of civil rights for all religious groups is “agreeable to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the genuine reason of mankind.” He uses Catholicism as a test case for explaining why religious doctrines should be of no concern to the magistrate: “If a Roman Catholic believe that to be really the body of Christ, which another man calls bread, he does no injury thereby to his neighbor.” Locke applies his argument not only to Catholics but to the most despised religious minorities of 17th-century Europe. The best way to safeguard the rights of conscience, he concludes, is “to distinguish exactly the business of civil government from that of religion.” The American Founders took note. Nevertheless, Locke has his critics. Political progressives find his religious outlook — he considered the pursuit of God’s gift of salvation the “highest obligation” facing every human being — outdated and offensive. Many conservatives are also ambivalent or even hostile. Catholic thinkers such as R. R. Reno, editor of First Things, not only take Locke’s anti-Catholicism for granted, they view it as evidence of animus toward biblical religion, underwritten by a contempt for the sources of “traditional authority.” In Why Liberalism Failed, Notre Dame’s Patrick Deneen faults Lockean liberalism for “the destruction of social norms” and the “untrammeled expansion of private identity.” Others, such as Yoram Hazony, in The Virtue of Nationalism, denounce Locke’s entire approach to politics as “a far-reaching depreciation of the most basic bonds that hold society together.” We are entitled to wonder whether these critics have the slightest idea of the actual political and cultural catastrophe that had engulfed Western society when Locke made his most famous arguments for human liberty. The sources of “traditional authority” wistfully recalled by these writers — the state churches and social hierarchies of European society — had transformed much of Europe into a violent, sectarian battlefield. Under the banner of the cross of Christ, the “basic bonds that hold society together” — such as compassion, forgiveness, and mutual respect — were being shredded without a twinge of conscience. It was Locke’s moral outrage over the widespread abuse of power, reaching another crescendo in the 1680s, that drove him to compose his Two Treatises of Government (1689) and A Letter Concerning Toleration. English society was in crisis: riven by a brutal crackdown on religious dissent, by the return of political absolutism, and by the growing threat of militant Catholicism. “The idea of a Counter-Reformation design against English Protestantism was far from absurd,” writes historian John Coffey, “and we should resist the temptation to treat Protestant fear as irrational paranoia.” The Dutch Republic, where Locke was living in political exile, was absorbing thousands of religious refugees fleeing Catholic France. The reason: On Oct. 22, 1685 — a few weeks before Locke began composing his Letter — Louis XIV invalidated the Edict of Nantes. France’s brief experiment in religious toleration of its Protestant (Huguenot) population had come to an end. And a bloody end at that. At least 200,000 Protestants fled in the first wave of persecution. Locke met and befriended many of them. It would have been impossible to ignore the reports of Protestant children taken from their parents, of churches demolished, of ministers beaten, imprisoned, or executed because of their faith. Princeton historian Jonathan Israel describes the mounting Catholic–Protestant tensions thus: “The resurgence of anti-Catholic sentiment, in reaction to the persecution of the Huguenots in France, pervaded the entire religious and intellectual climate of the Republic.” Despite all of this, Locke defends the civil and religious rights of Catholics in his Letter, as part of a broader argument for freedom of conscience. “I will not undertake to represent how happy and how great would be the fruit, both in church and state, if the pulpits everywhere sounded with this doctrine of peace and toleration.” It is a curious doctrine coming from a man supposedly hobbled by anti-Catholic bigotry. Why, then, do Locke’s critics conclude that he opposed equal protections for Catholics in the commonwealth? Because in his Letter and other writings, Locke objects to tolerating those who teach that “faith is not to be kept with heretics” or that “kings excommunicated forfeit their crowns and kingdoms.” Such views were a matter of Catholic policy, and it seems clear that Catholic leaders were the chief subjects in Locke’s mind. Yet Locke makes a crucial distinction between Catholics who pledged loyalty to the political regime under which they lived and those who sought its overthrow — a fifth column “ready upon any occasion to seize the government.” Locke’s detractors fail to acknowledge the machinations of the Catholic Church, in England and elsewhere, in which the Holy See acted to destabilize political authorities or condemn them as heretics and see them toppled. What Locke found intolerable was not Catholic theology per se but rather the agents of political subversion operating under the guise of religious obedience. As he put it in the newly discovered manuscript: “It is not the difference of their opinion in religion, or of their ceremonys in worship; but their dangerous & factious tenets in reference to the state . . . that exclude them from the benefit of toleration.” On this point, Locke could be as tough on Protestants as he was on Catholics. Today we take political stability and civil order for granted; we do not exist in fear of sectarian forces sweeping away our liberties. But no one living in Locke’s tumultuous times enjoyed this luxury. Some ideas threatened the moral taproot of civil society; they could not be tolerated. In Locke’s world — as in ours — the constitution must not become a suicide pact. Political philosopher Greg Forster insightfully observes that Locke “towers over the history of liberalism precisely because virtually everything he wrote was directed at coping with the problem that gave birth to liberalism — religious violence and moral discord.” Such is the world as we find it. If prejudice taints Locke’s political legacy, perhaps it is the prejudice of those who prefer false and comforting narratives to difficult moral and historical realities. Locke’s critics have blinded themselves to the bracing nature of his democratic vision: “But those whose doctrine is peaceable, and whose manners are pure and blameless, ought to be upon equal terms with their fellow-subjects.” Here is the only tenable solution to the challenge of religious diversity: equal justice under the law for people of all faith traditions. No political doctrine has been more integral to the success of the United States, for no nation has been so determined to regard religious pluralism as a source of cultural strength. America’s experiment in human liberty and equality is profoundly Lockean. It is also, in some important respects, deeply Christian. Locke believed that the gospel message of divine mercy — intended for all — implied political liberalism. The founder of Christianity, he wrote, “opened the kingdom of heaven to all equally, who believed in him, without any the least distinction of nation, blood, profession, or religion.” It would be hard to conceive of a better doctrine on which to build a more just and humane society. A revival of Lockean liberalism would do much to tame the hatreds now afflicting the soul of the West. | Joseph Loconte | https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/john-locke-catholicism-american-founding/ | 2019-09-11 10:30:28+00:00 | 1,568,212,228 | 1,569,330,377 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
383,350 | npr--2019-01-21--Analysis How The Rise Of The Far Right Threatens Democracy Worldwide | 2019-01-21T00:00:00 | npr | Analysis: How The Rise Of The Far Right Threatens Democracy Worldwide | Analysis: How The Rise Of The Far Right Threatens Democracy Worldwide A new president is elected. Within days of being sworn in, he pulls his country out of a U.N. migration pact. His path to power has been pockmarked by disparaging comments about women, including a congresswoman. His preferred choice for top posts are members of the armed forces. When he appoints a fifth military official to his cabinet, he makes the announcement via Twitter, his favored means of communications. These are the tactics of Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was sworn in to office on Jan. 1, 2019. On Tuesday, Bolsonaro will headline the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an annual gathering that attracts heads of state — 65 of them this year — corporate CEOs and billionaire investors. Bolsonaro's nationalistic rhetoric is in sharp contrast to a gathering that has long stood for globalization and has pushed to strengthen international ties. His tactics may remind many of the American president's. But it is actually symptomatic of a global wave that started almost a decade ago and has only strengthened in recent years. From Turkey and Hungary, to India and the Philippines, the voices of nationalism and the far right have become dominant forces that begin with the election of a charismatic, influential and powerful man. Hungary, for instance, was once a leader in the drive for democracy in East Europe. But after strongman Viktor Orban rose to power as prime minister in 2010, Hungary's democratic institutions have been dramatically weakened. In his first year in office, Orban's party amended the constitution 10 times. A wholly new constitution was put in place. It whittled down the power of courts, changed how elections are supervised and dramatically curbed media. New positions were created and filled with Orban allies. The moves have been broadly condemned, including by the European Parliament and the United States. Orban is one of the strongest symbols of this shift. He was one of the first Western leaders to endorse Donald Trump and pursue friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last year, Orban won a third term in a landslide victory after pledging to create a "Christian homeland." Similarly, in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte swept to power in 2016, promising to be tough on drug criminals. As he carried out that promise, it resulted in the deaths of thousands of alleged drug dealers across the country. Human rights groups say the innocent poor have borne the brunt of these killings. Duterte uses profanities with abandon, he has compared himself to Hitler and has insulted world leaders. He too wants to change the constitution in Philippines. And Turkey, once a bastion of secularism, today is rife with religious conflict. Its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president since 2014, has crushed dissent and jailed journalists. Last year, the government's Directorate of Religious Affairs ordered all of Turkey's nearly 90,000 mosques to broadcast a verse from the Koran through loudspeakers on their minarets. The move led Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, to declare that Sharia is gradually taking over long-secular Turkey. And then there's India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the world's largest democracy. Under his Hindu nationalist party, the country has pursued laws that hurt the minority Muslim population. For instance, his party declared that eating beef is "against the idea of India." This led to a ban in the sale of cows for slaughter. While beef is taboo for Hindus, it isn't so for Muslims and the decree led to the closing of many slaughterhouses and meat shops, traditionally owned by Muslims in India. The nationalist zeal has also led to curbing of charities operating in India. Tens of thousands of foreign-funded non-government organizations, like Greenpeace India, Ford Foundation and Amnesty International, were either put on notice or had their licenses revoked. Amnesty, which often accuses the Indian government of human rights violations, said a raid of its offices was aimed at silencing critics. In Brazil, President Bolsonaro pushed forth an almost identical move after taking office earlier this month. He used an executive order that gave his government far-reaching and restrictive powers over non-governmental organizations working in Brazil. Ultimately, it is moves like these that have global hackles rising for proponents of democratic values. In almost each of these instances, the leaders have swept into power on a promise to accelerate economic growth and create new opportunities for those left behind by globalization. But the promises are often laced with undercurrents of nationalism that harp on race or religion and closing borders. These leaders often have a strong base of support. And often they have a pro-business agenda, which stock markets cheer. The American stock market has been on a roller coaster — calmer now after a rough ride at the end of the year. But for many months after Trump's election, investors gave the U.S. president a clear thumbs up. Brazil's investors are doing the same, and Bolsonaro has tweeted about it. Last year, Trump told the crowd at Davos: "I'm here to deliver a simple message: There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and to grow in the United States. America is open for business." Bolsonaro will likely echo the same sentiments. Trump also said: "America First does not mean America alone." Undoubtedly, Bolsonaro believes in Brazil First. And Orban in Hungary First. Likewise, Erdogan for Turkey and Modi for India. But if it is everyone for himself, and keep the others out, who really wins? | Pallavi Gogoi | https://www.npr.org/2019/01/21/687128474/analysis-how-the-rise-of-the-far-right-threatens-democracy-worldwide?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-01-21 16:33:17+00:00 | 1,548,106,397 | 1,567,551,561 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
478,871 | russiainsider--2019-10-13--The Necessity of Anti-Semitism | 2019-10-13T00:00:00 | russiainsider | The Necessity of Anti-Semitism | In 1989, the Jewish screenwriter and journalist Frederic Raphael was invited to deliver the 25th Anniversary Lecture at the University of Southampton’s Parkes Institute for the study of Jewish/non-Jewish relations. Founded by Rev Dr James Parkes(1896–1981), a neurotic Church of England minister who made a career out of the promotion of philo-Semitism in Christianity and the promotion of guilt narratives among Christians (in 1935 he was both celebrated by Jews and targeted for assassination by National Socialists), the Institute quickly became a hub for the production of scholarly-appearing pro-Jewish propaganda. Rather than offering objective analyses of Jewish/non-Jewish relations, the Institute furthered the familiar narrative that Jews were the blameless and catastrophic victims of an entirely irrational European hatred. Raphael, given the honor of addressing the 25th anniversary of this project, opted on the appointed evening to be a witty gadfly, choosing “The Necessity of Anti-Semitism” as the title of his address. It could be the title of a book, said Raphael, one that could sit in the Parkes Institute library but for the fact it had never been written, and did not exist. In the meandering speech that followed, Raphael explored the putative contents of this imaginary book, suggesting its potential arguments, and what they might say about the author and about European culture. Confirming the opinions of everyone present, Raphael offered the assurance that although this ghostly and ghastly book did not exist, such a haunting product would not be out of place on a continent where anti-Semitism is “a constant and essential working part of Europe’s somber and unreformed logic.”[1] For Raphael and his smug audience, “The Necessity of Anti-Semitism” lay only in its utility in salving the pathological European mind. Anti-Semitism was in fact extremely illogical and, in a moral sense, completely unnecessary. Since reading Raphael’s speech several years ago, The Necessity of Anti-Semitism has, in a sense, haunted me too. As a single book, of course, it does not exist. But it perhaps has existed, after a fashion, in the thousands of tracts, pamphlets and books on the Jewish Question that have been written by Europeans over many centuries. In this collected body of anti-Semitic apologetics, one finds The Necessity of Anti-Semitisminflected in varying religious, political, and social hues. But what would the book look like if it was in fact written today? How could any author distill the various aspects of the Jewish Question into a single volume? In the essay that follows, part literary experiment, part historiography, I want us to join Raphael in imagining that this spectral book exists, even if our approach is rather different. I imagine our author to introduce his volume with the broad case for The Necessity of Anti-Semitism, namely the presence of Jews and their influence in the four primary cultures of White decline: the Culture of Critique, the Culture of Tolerance, the Culture of Sterility, and the Culture of Usury. The section titled ‘Culture of Critique’ is a both a nod to the work of Kevin MacDonald, and an expansion upon the same. Setting out this section, our author might recall the notorious remark of the Jewish historian Louis Namier (1888–1960) when asked why he did not deal with Jewish history: “The Jews do not have a history, they have a martyrology.” It is this martyrology that lies at the heart of the Culture of Critique. Whereas almost every nation possesses a history that is in most respects objective, the Jews alone possess a mere quasi-history, riddled with mythic and esoteric self-deceptions that give psychological permission for the most clannish and subversive of social behaviors and the most hostile of attitudes towards other peoples. The Culture of Critique, a kind of cultural revenge inspired by the Jewish martyrology, is the clearest expression of the corrosive nature of the disastrous Jewish/non-Jewish relations so mourned by the woefully misguided Rev James Parkes. In the Jewish mind, the corrosive nature of their interactions with European peoples has always taken on a heroic aspect. The ruse is played out, for themselves and us, that in these interactions we see a unique and virtuous questioning by ‘insiders/outsiders’ uniquely and helpfully placed to show Western culture its own flaws. Jews believe themselves to possess special talents in this respect, and maybe in a perverse sense they do, but in any case, in their great charade they break us down to “benefit” us. David Dresser and Lester Friedman, Jewish scholars of the media, maintain the position that Jewish filmmakers have a unique, untainted objectivity because of their Jewishness. They write that “Jewish artists’ marginality allows them a vantage point denied other, more culturally absorbed, creative thinkers.”[2] This compares remarkably well with a writer in the Times of Israel who, commenting on the activities of the Jewish politician Alan Shatter in destroying the legal supports of the family in Ireland, has argued that Shatter’s Jewishness “appeared to put him at an advantage, freeing him from the baggage that weighed on his Catholic counterparts.” Just like the Frankfurt School, these cultural heroes know us better than we know ourselves, which allows them to help us see that we are irrational and evil, bigoted and in need of Jewish redemption. We are constantly and warmly assured by our Jewish helpers that this process is undertaken for the West’s own good. They free us from our “baggage.” In truth, this process is undertaken for our destruction. The Critique, having no coherent objectives beyond the will to decay, never ends. It never ceases the search for novel and unsullied corners of Western culture to drag through the mud. The ‘Rabbi’s Speech’ from Hermann Goedsche’s Biarritz (1868) is a work of fiction, but it drew on a multitude of facts and instincts. In the Jewish cemetery of Prague, Goedsche’s Rabbi addresses a secret nocturnal meeting of thirteen Jewish elders, promising they shall “extirpate all belief and faith in everything that our enemies the Christians have venerated up to the present and, using the allurements of the passions as our weapon, we shall declare open war on everything that people respect and venerate.” The direction here is accurate, but Goedsche didn’t get everything right. There are no clandestine midnight meetings, no gatherings of Elders of Zion, but instead a shared instinct defending shared interests in a spirit of bitterness and, in reality, the Culture of Critique is not a declaration of open war, but the pursuance of war disguised as friendship, as medicine, as liberation. Boas tore down Western cultural confidence while claiming to set Westerners free from the errors and burdens of chauvinism. Freud perverted everything that was sacred about sex and marriage, and called it a cure. Marx called on the workers of the world to unite, and unite them he did — in the lines for food, in the gulags, and in the mass graves of a starved Ukraine. War has been noisily and bloodily waged, but it has been only silently and subversively declared. And still they wage it, even if they’ve already toppled “everything that people respect and venerate.” The churches are infiltrated, vanquished, mocked and disdained. The history of Christianity has been put through the Jewish intellectual meat grinder, and emerges today only as a tale of persecutions and slavery. It is a shell, co-opted for endless tolerance. Even discounting religion, no notable Western historical figure has survived the Culture of Critique. And when our uniquely insightful Jewish helpers tired of toppling reputations, they used their ethnic proxies to start toppling statues, removing names, and burning portraits. No aspect of Western culture was to be left standing. Its science, philosophy and moral systems were mocked, derided, and savaged, with every sonnet, concerto, and technological innovation leading obscurely but somehow definitely to a World War II camp in Poland where to this day, we are earnestly told, no birds sing. Except that I’ve visited what remains of this camp, and the birds do sing. There is no magic there. Time does not stand still. The children, forced to be there by their schools, laugh and scrawl graffiti on old bunks and doors, while adults, clearly worried that someone is watching them, do their best to appear solemn and moved rather than cold and bored. Our author might concur, pointing out in The Necessity of Anti-Semitism that this particular camp is the jewel in the crown of the Jewish martyrology, and perhaps even the engine of the most advanced form of the Culture of Critique. Almost 55 years after it was written, Jerzy Kosiński’s The Painted Bird is now back in the news. It’s a memoir about his experiences around this same notorious wartime Polish camp, and it is replete with child-rape, bestiality, and pornographic depictions of violence including the feeding of a man’s eyes to pet cats. It’s also a long-exposed fraud, a fanciful pastiche of Kosiński’s own psychosexual fantasies. This hasn’t stopped it recently being made into a film that is being roundly applauded by critics, nor has the fact it has induced viewers to vomit, faint, and remove themselves from movie theaters. Perhaps, in the age of the Culture of Critique, many Whites have learned to love being told how evil they are towards Jews, taking each condemnation like a dose of welcome medicine. Joanna Siedlecka, a journalist and author of writers’ biographies, studied the life of Kosiński and concluded “[The Painted Bird] has nothing to do with Kosiński’s real childhood; he invented those horrors, while he himself experienced only good, while the villagers took the risk to hide his whole family. (…) Kosiński is still treated as a victim, even though we now know a lot more about his biography. We know Poles didn’t torment him.” Our author might point out in The Necessity of Anti-Semitism that the example of Kosiński and the Poles is wholly commensurate to the historical relationship between Jews and Europeans. A biographer of these two peoples can attempt to show the reality of the situation, but the Jew “is still treated as a victim.” And this “victim” elevates himself to the position of moral arbiter and arch critic. Armed with their very own sadomasochistic historical pastiche, Jewish activists direct the Critique into action for what one assumes to be a Racial Endgame. They deny this, of course, and call it a wicked conspiracy theory. But in reality, they are like the proverbial Irishman who denies he stole the bucket, adding the indignant criticism that it had a hole in it anyway. The Jews vigorously deny any role in the decline of Western culture, adding indignantly that Western culture is rotten, sick, racist, bigoted, and irrational anyway. Their denial is a form of admission. This is the essence of the Culture of Critique. This section might open with the remark that the Culture of Tolerance is itself a child of the Culture of Critique. When did Jews first start calling for Whites to abolish themselves in their own lands? Our author might argue that they began right at the first Jewish entry into European culture — not European lands, but European culture. Isn’t it Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) who is often held up as the first “assimilated” Jew, the first real Jewish intellectual who wanted to be ‘part of German culture’ and who advocated for “tolerance”? Well, what did Mendelssohn, the first “German of the Jewish faith,” actually ask Europeans to do? That much is clear, and a matter of historical record. He impudently and impatiently asked, “For how long, for how many millennia, must this distinction between the owners of the land and the stranger continue? Would it not be better for mankind and culture to obliterate this distinction?”[3] [emphasis added]. And there we have it — the very first Jewish intrusion into Western culture was accompanied by a call for the obliteration of borders and the migration and settlement rights of “the stranger.” From the very beginning of Jewish activism in Western culture, it was in the interest of Jews to undermine the position of the owners of the land and to promote “tolerance.” It was Mendelssohn’s 1781 work, On the Civil Amelioration of the Condition of the Jews, that is said to have played a significant part in the rise of “tolerance” in Western culture. But tolerance, despite all the glowing propaganda, is a curious word. Place it in a medical context, and tolerance means “the immunological state marked by unresponsiveness to a specific toxin or other foreign substance which induces an immune response in the body, especially the production of antibodies.” And isn’t this exactly what Mendelssohn prescribed almost two and half centuries ago— that the owners of the land should be “unresponsive,” suppressing all natural “immune responses” even in the face of intruding toxins? We have to ask ourselves how tolerance ever became regarded as a virtue. The answer is that it became a virtue in the context of the Jewish intrusion into Western culture. The Culture of Tolerance is now more than two centuries old. It matured slowly, but there can be little doubt that it has now come of age. Kevin MacDonald’s work has conclusively demonstrated that Jewish groups organized, funded and performed most of the work aimed at combating America’s 1924 immigration law, toppling it finally in 1965. Brenton Sanderson has shown that Jewish intellectual movements and ethno-political activism were pivotal in ending the White Australia policy — a policy change opposed by the vast majority of the Australian population. I have written on how Jews were conspicuous in the dramatic changes in Britain’s citizenship, race, and speech laws from the 1950s to the 1980s. A Jewish Minister for Justice transformedIreland’s citizenship process, opening the country up to Africans and Pakistanis. Today, Jews dominate the mass migration NGO scene, demonstrably holding executive roles at the International Rescue Committee, International Refugee Assistance Project, the Immigrant’s Rights division of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Immigration Justice Center, Equal Justice Works, The Immigrant Defense Project, National Immigration Law Center, Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, Northwest Immigrants Rights Project, the Asylum Advocacy Project, Refugee Council USA, the New York Civil Liberties Union, American Immigration Council, The Immigrant Learning Center, the Open Avenues Foundation, the Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project, Central American Legal Assistance, Halifax Refugee Clinic, and the UK Refugee Law Initiative. The migration policy advisor for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is not a Catholic, but a Jewish woman. Third World mass migration into Europe and the West is a Jewish project. It has been curated by Jews, promoted by Jews, explained and excused by Jews. It is driven by a Jewish need, as old as Mendelssohn’s tract and perhaps older, to dispossess the owners of the land and open up that land to the stranger in the name of tolerance. Much like the Culture of Critique, Jews offer us the Culture of Tolerance in the guise of friendship. With broad grins and mellifluous tones, they assure us that we are doomed if we don’t obliterate “the distinction between owners of the land and the stranger.” After all, haven’t we been helpfully informed that our own culture is worthless, bigoted, illusory, tainted, and morally bankrupt? Why not import an array of new, vibrant cultures? That way we can experience a more exciting life and, what’s more, it would go some way to proving ourselves morally acceptable to our Jewish friends, the innocent martyrs of humanity. And we should listen to them primarily because their advice makes perfect sense. After all, we need unemployable Africans to fund our pensions, Islamic terrorists to care for our ageing populations, and millions more people in our countries in order to solve our housing crises. We need floods of cheap labor to increase our wages. We need poorly trained foreign sex criminals to staff our hospitals, perform our surgeries, and nurse us back to health. We need to tolerate the burqa to demonstrate how profoundly feminist we’ve become as a society. We need to express our patriotism by denying we exist as a people. We need more speech-gagging laws to ensure freedom. And, most importantly of all, we need to become a less racist society by eliminating Whites everywhere. Our helpful friends deliver these messages to us in a number of ways. When they are feeling generous, they simply bombard us with screen garbage, portraying multiculturalism on film in a manner entirely divergent from the way it plays out in reality. Jewish cinematic magic is a form of cultural alchemy. Take Black crime and low academic achievement, dip it in Hollywood, and muggers and rapists are transformed into educated Black “love interests” fawned over by nubile blondes. Or, take the stability and tranquility of the White middle-class family, dip it in Hollywood, and what now emerges is a claustrophobic den of neuroticism, control and bigotry. When our Jewish friends are feeling less generous, they force their way into your child’s school curriculum, and when they are angered they remove your right to free speech and imprison you. On the other hand, if you try to impede Jewish particularism by, for example, banning one of their tribal rites such as circumcision, the lesson of the ADL’s threats to the sovereign nation of Iceland shows that blackmail, slander, and unrelenting economic warfare are equally deployable tools in their armory. In this example, of course, we’re back to the Irishman and the bucket. The Jews deny they have outsized influence, adding that if you make that accusation again, their little club in New York will bring your entire country to its knees. While the Culture of Tolerance is in full swing, one lingering problem is that White babies, for now, keep coming. Here our author might begin the third section of his book. Jews are everywhere in the Culture of Sterility, an appropriate term for what the world’s leading scholars have described as the “rapid increase” in “levels of childlessness in most European countries.”[4] Our author could start with the fact the oral contraceptive was invented by the Jew Gregory Goodwin Pincus, but really Jews have everywhere in the West been, to use the Jewish historian Howard Sachar’s own words, “pioneers in the underground contraceptives industry.”[5] By plan, co-ordination, or raw instinct, Jews have accumulated in those areas toxic to the White birth rate — contraception, abortion, divorce laws, and the promotion of pornography, homosexuality, gender confusion, and promiscuity. The pioneers of abortion clinics, birth control literature for couples, and birth control policy measures in America were, according to one scholar, “Anna Samuelson in the Bronx; Olga Ginzburg and Rachelle Yarros in Chicago; Sarah Marcus in Cleveland; Nadine Kavinoky and Rochelle Seletz in Los Angeles; Esther Cohen and Golda Nobel in Philadelphia; Hannah Stone, Marie Warner, Cheri Appel, Anna Spielgeman, Naomi Yarmolinsky, Bessie Moses in Baltimore, Elizabeth Kleinman in Boston, and Lena Levine in New York, Hannah Seitzwick-Robbins in Trenton, and Lucile Lord-Heinstein in Massachusetts.”[6] All of these women were Jews. Stone was particularly influential, working closely with Sanger and producing key birth control texts like Contraceptive Methods of Choice (1926), Therapeutic Contraception (1928), Contraception and Mental Hygiene (1933), and Birth Control: A Practical Survey (1937). In the 1920s and 1930s, the primary lawyer for Margaret Sanger, the non-Jewish public face of the pro-abortion and birth-control movement in New York, was the Jew Morris Ernst. And when Sanger decided to move for Federal birth control legislation, she wrote to Rabbi Stephen Wise in 1931 asking him to use Jewish political influence and his own extensive list of political contacts to help make it happen, a request he happily obliged.[7] Of course, Sanger had married a Jew, and according to one biographer “surrounded herself with Jewish colleagues and friends.”[8] In fact, Jewish influence is so tightly bound up with the origins of abortion in America that historian Daniel K. Williams has characterized the abortion debate of the 1930s as a “religious conflict because nearly all the doctors speaking out against abortion were Catholic while the most vocal proponents of abortion legalization were Jewish.”[9]Williams adds the fact “Reform Jewish rabbis also became early leaders in the abortion law liberalisation movement.”[10] The link between Jewish organizations and the more sordid (and often Jewish-dominated) corners of the medical profession came into stark relief during investigations into illegal abortions in the 1940s and 1950s, when the crossover was such that, according to historian Leslie J. Reagan, local authorities in New York, found “pro-birth control and Jewish organisations of particular interest.”[11] By the time Pincus developed the Pill, he was sufficiently aware of the potential for birth control and Jewish activism to be linked in the popular mind that he deliberately selected John Rock, a Catholic, rather than Abraham Stone and Alan Guttmacher, long-term colleagues and leaders of the birth control movement, to develop a contraceptive regimen in women, in order to avoid “anti-Semitic stigma.”[12] The same pattern has been repeated in every other Western nation. Alan Shatter may have acted as chief propagandist for birth control legislation in Ireland in the 1970s, but even a century before Shatter’s actions a member of the Irish clergy reported: In New York, Jews like Moses Jacobi and Morris Glattstine were particularly influential and conspicuous in the sale of illicit contraceptives and in the underground abortion scene as early as the 1870s.[14] Similarly, during the late nineteenth century, “Jews were among the leaders of the revolution in birth control in southern Germany.”[15] In interwar Germany, according to scholar Harriet Freidenreich, “Jewish women physicians played a very prominent role in the campaign to legalise abortion. … Jewish women physicians were disproportionately involved in the sex reform movement that promoted more widespread availability of birth control. They were very visible in the dissemination of contraceptive devices.”[16] In the Polish Second Republic, the central pioneer of sexual education, contraception, the promotion of homosexuality, and abortion was Irena Krzywicka (née Goldberg). As well as founding Liga Reformy Obyczajów (The League to Reform Mores), Krzywicka wrote for the influential journal Wiadomosci literackie (Literary News) where she argued the case for civil unions, easy divorce, easily accessible contraception, female “sexual liberation,” and abortion.[17] In his Antisemitism and Its Opponents in Modern Poland, historian Robert Blobaum points out that the “anti-Semitic press” in Poland made the link between Jews and “the spread of birth control literature” as well as pornography, but is notably shy of discussing Krzywicka’s career or that of her many Jewish colleagues.[18] Ronald Modras notes that even the Polish birth control movement’s non-Jewish leaders stood out for their “philosemitism.”[19] In France, the main body behind the legalization of contraception and abortion was Choisir (To Choose), founded by the Jewish lawyer Gisèle Halimi, and the relevant legislation was finally passed by the Jewish Minister of Health Simone Veil (born Simone Jacob).[20] In the United States, of course, Roe v. Wade was effectively the product of activism by the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, founded by the Jew Bernard Nathanson. Nathanson worked closely on abortion legislation activism with Jewish feminist Betty Friedan, until he experienced an apparently legitimate crisis of conscience in the late 1970s and subsequently converted to Catholicism. By that date, he had personally performed more than 60,000 abortions, later explaining in an interview: “We fed a line of deceit, of dishonesty, of fabrication of statistics and figures; we coddled, caressed, and stroked the press. … We were calling ourselves pro-abortionists and pro-choice. In fact we were abortifiers: those who like abortion.” And Jews certainly like abortion. According to Pew data, Jews have a higher rate of support for abortion than any other religious group in America. In fact, Jews enjoy limiting the fertility of other populations so much that in 2013 Israel admitted giving birth control to incoming Ethiopian migrants without their consent. Our author might linger on the subject of birth control and abortion only because the prevalence of Jews in other areas of the Culture of Sterility is now so well-documented. Jewish involvement in early sexology, through influential figures like Albert Moll, Iwan Bloch, Magnus Hirschfeld, Albert Eulenberg, Hermann Joseph Lowenstein, Julius Wolf, Max Marcuse, and Eduard Bernstein, was universally concerned with the need for “tolerance” and social pluralism. What they in fact promoted were pathological sexual aberrations, distant from reproduction and toxic to social cohesion. Hirschfeld, probably the originator of “Love is Love” propaganda, had “subverted the notion that romantic love should be orientated toward reproduction,” arguing instead for the acceptance of homosexual lifestyles and hedonistic, non-reproductive, sexual relations in general.[21] Here it is worth stressing that Jews have not accumulated in the promotion of “tolerance” for homosexuals, gender-benders, abortion-seekers, and transvestites because they genuinely believe in the “rights” or “worth” of these people. Rather, Jews see in these people traits that it wishes to promote in the population at large and recruit them to the Culture of Tolerance. Society never really accepted homosexuality and transgenderism, but rather society itself first became ‘homosexual’ in its traits before it could tolerate actual homosexuals and transgenders. As the West became progressively more childless, promiscuous, hedonistic, and brimming with delusional self-confidence, the differences between the normal and the abnormal narrowed, and there appeared fewer reasons to continue to deny ‘equality.’ Societies with demographic concerns will have harsh penalties for both homosexuality and abortion/infanticide. The West, celebrating both, is in demographic free fall but, ignorant of the profound implications of this racial death, its people are actually in the process of indulging a culture cultivated for their demographic assassination. Homosexuality has never been more tolerated. Abortion has never been easier and less stigmatized. And Whites have never been closer to leaving the stage of history. Promiscuity has replaced the pushchair. A glance at the modern generation of Whites of child-bearing age is sobering. Rates of sexually transmitted disease in America have never been higher. According to senior physicians, the U.K. is heading for a “sexual health crisis.” The same phenomenon has been reported in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, and Germany. Meanwhile, the Gatestone Institute reports that: “Abortion has recently assumed epic proportions in countries such as Sweden or France. In France, there are 200,000 abortions a year. To put things in perspective, there are in France around 750,000 births a year. France, therefore, is aborting 20% of its babies/fetuses/embryos/cell clusters — choose according to your personal convictions — each year.” You can be sure it isn’t French Muslims who are aborting their babies by the hundred thousand, and this perhaps explains why they’ve been telling the Archbishop of Strasbourg that “France will be theirs one day.” In The Population Bomb (1968), the Jewish biologist Paul Ehrlich wrote that the best method to reduce population is the legalization of abortion. That was without considering the effect of birth control or the broader Culture of Sterility that glorifies perverted, empty, childless visions of “love.” When Europeans began to legalize both birth control and abortion 40 years ago, a few years after Roe vs. Wade (1973), the Catholic Church warned of the risk of Europe entering into a “morbid civilization.” This is what we now inhabit. In a West gone wildly materialistic, it can be difficult to see the extent of Jewish usury. When you mention Jewish moneylenders to most people, the response normally relates to the Middle Ages. But Jewish usury is alive and well in modernity, and entire countries are in debt to Jewish financiers, who then pass on some of their wealth to Jewish organizations dedicated to the promotion of the three other cultures of White decline (Critique, Tolerance, Sterility). Paul Singer, of the Jewish “investment fund” has been described by Bloomberg as “The World’s Most Feared Investor,” but really he’s the world’s most feared exploiter of debt. The Democratic Republic of Congo owes Singer and his Jewish colleagues $90 million, Panama owes him $57 million, Peru owes him $58 million, and Argentina owes him $1.5 billion. When payments have been late, Singer seized and detained the flagship of the Argentinian Navy, and when South Korea put up a fight to prevent him getting control of Samsung, he drove the nation’s President to impeachment and imprisonment. While these activities may appear very high-level, and distant from the reality of day-to-day life (unless you are a citizen of the Congo and Singer is blackmailing you for payment by withholding essential work on your water supply), Singer and his Jewish financial clique have a hand in almost every purchase you make, and every war your country wages. Singer, his son Gordin, and their colleagues Zion Shohet, Jesse Cohn, Stephen Taub, Elliot Greenberg and Richard Zabel, have a foothold in almost every country, and have a stake in every company you’re likely to be familiar with, from book stores to dollar stores. With the profits of exploitation, they fund the Culture of Sterility, boost Zionist politics, invest millions in security for Jews, and promote wars for Israel. Singer is a Republican, and is on the Board of the Republican Jewish Coalition. He is a former board member of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, has funded neoconservative research groups like the Middle East Media Research Institute and the Center for Security Policy, and is among the largest funders of the neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He was also connected to the pro-Iraq War advocacy group Freedom’s Watch. Another key Singer project was the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI), a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group that was founded in 2009 by several high-profile Jewish neoconservative figures to promote militaristic U.S. policies in the Middle East on behalf of Israel and which received its seed money from Singer. Although Singer was initially anti-Trump, and although Trump once attacked Singerfor his pro-immigration politics (“Paul Singer represents amnesty and he represents illegal immigration pouring into the country”), Trump is now essentially funded by three Jews—Singer, Bernard Marcus, and Sheldon Adelson, together accounting for over $250 million in pro-Trump political money. In return, they want war with Iran. Employees of Singer’s firm, Elliott Management, were one of the main sources of funding for the 2014 candidacy of the Senate’s most outspoken Iran hawk, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who urged Trump to conduct a “retaliatory strike” against Iran for purportedly attacking two commercial tankers. These exploitative Jewish financiers have been clear that they expect a war with Iran, and they are lobbying hard and preparing to call in their pound of flesh. As one political commentator put it, “These donors have made their policy preferences on Iran plainly known. They surely expect a return on their investment in Trump’s GOP.” When Adelson and Singer first made overtures to Marco Rubio, Trump tweeted that Rubio would be their “puppet.” Trump has now taken money from the same puppetmasters, but has thus far refused to go “all the way” with their demands, even firing John Bolton, a favorite of the Jewish triad. How the latter will proceed in the face of Trump’s defiance on the matter remains to be seen. The Intersection of the Culture of Usury and the Culture of Zio-Wars: Paul Singer, Bernard Marcus, and Sheldon Adelson The Jewish triad behind Trump is a perfect example of the role of Jewish finance and the Culture of Usury in sustaining and advancing Jewish power and influence in contemporary society. Singer embodies usury and vulture capitalism, while Bernard “Home Depot” Marcus is symptomatic of bloated consumerism, and Adelson represents the sordid commercial exploitation of vice (gambling). There is nothing productive in the economic activity of any of these figures, their vast accumulations arising from sociopathic parasitism, ethnic nepotism, and the will to cultural decay. We feel this decay lower down the scale, since we live in a society of conspicuous consumption, funded by ever-escalating household debt. Everywhere, people buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have. Household debt is rising yet again in the United States. According to the New York Federal Reserve, Americans owe $13.86 trillion in household debt, slightly higher than the total amount right before the 2008 financial crisis. In Australia, the household debt to income ratio is above 190%, among the highest in the developed world. The same situation is seen in the U.K. Jews, of course, were involved disproportionately in the development of department stores, the fashion industry, retailing business, and other aspects of the consumer society.[22] Jews in late nineteenth-century Germany, as they did in several other Western countries, initiated the “consumer revolution,” and “held, or at least started, the overwhelming majority of department stores and clothing and fashion houses throughout the country.”[23] Werner Sombart remarked at the time that department stores were the herald of a new, degenerative economic culture, typified by “the anonymous, objectifying forces of capitalism and marketing.” Contemporary anti-Semites saw these centers of the economic culture as “a consuming temple in two senses, as both a temple of consumption and a temple that consumes — that is, a place of destruction, a Moloch even, that greedily devours vulnerable customers and neighbouring businesses.”[24] Today, largely worthless “branded” consumer products are overwhelmingly Jewish, are promoted via Jewish dominance of the advertising industry, and their purchase by consumers is funded by Jewish financiers. Calvin Klein, Levi Strauss, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Kenneth Cole, Max Factor, Estée Lauder, and Marc Jacobs are just some of the Jews whose very names have become synonymous with debt-fueled consumer culture and the subscribing to carefully cultivated fashion fads, while Jewish-owned companies like Starbucks, Macy’s, the Gap, American Apparel, Costco, Staples, Home Depot, Ben & Jerry’s, Timberland, Snapple, Häagen-Dazs, Dunkin’ Donuts, Monster Beverages, Mattel, and Toys “R” Us have come to epitomize the endless and superfluous production of garbage for mass consumption on credit. The consuming temple of debt-fueled consumerism is also linked to the cultures of Critique, Tolerance, and Sterility. So-called anti-racism, support for gender confusion, and the celebration of mass migration and multiculturalism have become mainstays of modern advertising as the Racial Endgame nears its conclusion and the West commences its death rattle. You might ask what tortilla chips have to do with sodomy, but that’s only because you’re suffering from a tolerance deficiency, and the best way to correct that is to admit White privilege, buy a Starbucks, and go try on a new pair of $200 jeans at Macy’s. Critique, Tolerance, Sterility and Usury have converged. This is the necessity of anti-Semitism. As much as The Necessity of Anti-Semitism has haunted me, so too has the image of Goedsche’s Rabbi addressing the graveyard meeting of thirteen elders. It haunts me because it appears so antiquated and naive, as if the situation could ever have been so simple. The reality has always been much more profound, and infinitely more dangerous. The Jewish Question, such as it might exist for Jews, has always amounted to “Is it good for the Jews?” For Whites, it should always have been “Are the Jews good for us?” An answer might be found in their accumulation in their four aspects of White decline. Our opposition to this accumulation and its associated activities is perfectly logical, and morally necessary. [4] M. Kreyenfeld Childlessness in Europe: Contexts, Causes, and Consequences(Cham: SpringerOpen, 2017), v. [5] Cited in T. Russell, A Renegade History of the United States (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010). [6] M. R. Klapper Ballots, Babies, and Banners of Peace: American Jewish Women’s Activism, 1890-1940 (New York: New York University Press, 2013), 151. [8] E. Chesler Woman of Valor: Margaret Sanger and the Birth Control Movement in America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 51. [9] D. K. Williams Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v Wade (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 27. [11] L. J. Reagan When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States, 1867-1973 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 173. [13] M. P. Leone Atlantic Crossings in the Wake of Frederick Douglass (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 111. [15] A. C. Crombie (ed) History of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 371. [16] H. P. Freidenreich Female, Jewish, and Educated: The Lives of Central European University Women (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002), 154. [17] Y. Hashamova (ed) Transgressive Women in Modern Russian and East European Cultures: From the Bad to the Blasphemous (New York: Routledge, 2017), 16. [18] R. Blobaum, Antisemitism and Its Opponents in Modern Poland (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005), 87. [19] R. Modras The Catholic Church and Antisemitism: Poland, 1933-39 (New York: Routledge, 2004), 62. [22] G. Reuveni, Consumer Culture and the Making of Modern Jewish Identity(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017), xiii. [23] P. Lerner, The Consuming Temple: Jews, Department Stores, and the Consumer Revolution in Germany, 1880-1940 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015), 5. | Dr. Andrew Joyce | https://russia-insider.com/en/necessity-anti-semitism/ri27775 | Sun, 13 Oct 2019 11:10:00 -0400 | 1,570,979,400 | 1,571,007,810 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
496,057 | sottnet--2019-01-30--Grenade attack on mosque in southern Philippines kills 2 comes on heels of cathedral bombing | 2019-01-30T00:00:00 | sottnet | Grenade attack on mosque in southern Philippines kills 2, comes on heels of cathedral bombing | Two people were killed and at least four wounded in a grenade attack on a mosque early on Wednesday (Jan 30) morning in Zamboanga city, a key gateway in the Philippines' restive south.This occurred just three days after twin blasts rocked a Roman Catholic cathedral on Jolo island, southwest of Zamboanga, and left at least 21 dead and more than 100 injured.Chief Inspector Shellamae Chang, Zamboanga police spokesman, identified those killed as Mr Habil Rex, 46, and Mr Haj Sattal Bato, 47. Both were said to be Muslim missionaries, known as "tablighs".An unidentified assailant reportedly turned off a nearby streetlight and lobbed a grenade at the Kamahaldikaan mosque, in Talon district, where about 10 people on a Muslim retreat were sleeping, just past midnight on Wednesday.One investigator told online news site Rappler that a safety lever of a Belgian-made grenade was recovered at the scene.In a statement, the Ulama Council of Zamboanga Peninsula called the attack "devilish, irrational and inhumane".President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a text message: "Terrorism has once again reared its barbaric and ugly head.""The successive attacks on two different places of worship depict the ruthlessness and the godlessness of these mass murderers," he said.Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a news conference on Wednesday that it was possible the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group could also be behind the attack on the mosque."ISIS may want to bring it to a higher level of religious war. But Catholics, Christians and even mainstream Muslims are not biting into that," he said.For now, he said, "there doesn't seem to be any connection".Security forces are currently chasing after militants from the Ajang-ajang faction of the Abu Sayyaf, a small but brutal gang of self-styled Islamic militants founded in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.Initial investigations showed the two blasts that tore through the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel were set off remotely using a cellphone, and were not a suicide attack.Wading into the issue, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said in a tweet: "Now the mayhem is interfaith.""That means the secession is over, and plain vanilla mass murder has taken over," he said.Security officials, though, advised against painting the Jolo and Zamboanga attacks as a religious conflict."It is not a retaliatory act," Colonel Leonel Nicolas, commander of Joint Task Force Zamboanga, said of the attack on the mosqueLieutenant-General Arnel de la Vega, chief of the Western Mindanao Command, called suggestions of a religion-defined war "fake news".A local militant, meanwhile, was killed in a raid on Tuesday on a home where one of the suspects in the Jolo attack was hiding.Colonel Gerry Besana, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, said Ommal Usop, 64, was killed when he drew a firearm as security forces were swooping down his home.Usop is said to be a kin of a certain "alias Kamah", who was suspected to be one of the key planners of the bombing. Kamah and one other unidentified man managed to flee.Only Kamah was seen in CCTV footage running away seconds after the first bomb exploded inside the Jolo cathedral. Usop, however, is a known Abu Sayyaf militant.President Duterte said on Tuesday the twin blasts that rocked the Jolo cathedral may have been a suicide attack, carried out by the Abu Sayyaf, citing a briefing given to him by military commanders."It exploded. That is terrorism and suicide," he said when asked by reporters to clarify an earlier remark.He said a woman wearing a crucifix detonated a bomb inside the cathedral, and that a male companion had blown himself up outside minutes later.Military investigators, however, have said that bystanders saw a woman, presumably the female bomber, put a bag onto a wooden pew and leave the cathedral shortly before the blasts.They also believe the second bomb was rigged onto a motorcycle parked just outside the church's compound.Mr Lorenzana told reporters on Wednesday "the suicide bombing theory is hanging in the air"."It appears to be suicide bombing... but we're still waiting for confirmation," he said.He said one unvetted report where Mr Duterte could have drawn conclusion from was a text message from Mr Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert with Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, claiming a Yemeni couple were behind the Jolo attack."These are all things that we have to validate," he said. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/406107-Grenade-attack-on-mosque-in-southern-Philippines-kills-2-comes-on-heels-of-cathedral-bombing | 2019-01-30 17:18:31+00:00 | 1,548,886,711 | 1,567,550,315 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
497,008 | sottnet--2019-02-12--Anti-semitism is growing in France weekend vandalism and spike in hate crimes | 2019-02-12T00:00:00 | sottnet | 'Anti-semitism is growing in France, weekend vandalism and spike in hate crimes | after multiple incidents of anti-semitic vandalism, and a spike in anti-Jewish hate crimes last year.Parisians were greeted with crudely daubed anti-Semitic slogans on shop fronts last weekend, including swastikas sprayed over images of late politician and Holocaust survivor Simone Veil, and the German word for Jews ("Juden") sprayed on a bagel shop in the city center.A memorial tree planted in honor of a young Jewish man, tortured to death in a 2006 attack, was also chopped down. Visiting the suburb where the tree once stood,It's rotting minds, it's killing," Castaner continued, before vowing to crack down on anti-Jewish hatred.Castaner did not blame any particular group for the spread of anti-Semitism, butGovernment spokesman Benjamin Griveaux linked the graffiti to an arson attack on the home of Parliamentary Speaker Richard Ferrand one week earlier, believed to be the work of the Yellow Vests. The Union of French Jewish Students also pinned blame for the racist daubings on the Yellow Vests.The number of reported anti-Semitic attacks in France rose 74 percent last year to 541, up from 311 in 2017. The most vicious of these attacks was carried out by Islamic extremists, who have revived an ancient religious conflict on the streets of modern France.After surviving the Vichy government's roundup of Jews in 1942, 85-year-old Mireille Knoll was was stabbed to death and set on fire in her apartment last March by her Muslim neighbor. Prosecutors said the attack was motivated by the neighbor's anti-Semitic beliefs.One year earlier, another elderly Jewish woman, Sarah Halimi, was killed by a Malian man who shouted: "Allahu Akbar," before throwing her out of a window. In 2015, a gunman pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terror group killed four people in a Kosher supermarket in Paris, while 2012 saw three children and a teacher from a Jewish school in Toulouse killed by an Islamist fanatic.Ilan Halimi, whose memorial tree was vandalized over the weekend, was abducted and ransomed by a group of attackers who believed that all Jews were rich, and could afford to pay up. His family could not afford the ransom, and Halimi died after being tortured for three weeks. In court, the ringleader of the attackers appeared unrepentant, declaring and pointing upwards while saying: "Allahu Akbar."After every attack, the French government pledged to do more to combat anti-Semitism. However, some of France's Jewish population - the largest in the world behind the United States and Israel - have had enough. An EU-wide survey last year found thatwhere citizenship is a birthright for Jews worldwide. More than 20,000 of France's roughly half a million Jews made the one-way trip since 2014."In two months we'll be emigrating to Israel because of the anti-Semitism in Europe," one French woman told the survey. "Nothing is being done about it. So we are leaving voluntarily." | null | https://www.sott.net/article/407087-Anti-semitism-is-growing-in-France-weekend-vandalism-and-spike-in-hate-crimes | 2019-02-12 20:25:50+00:00 | 1,550,021,150 | 1,567,548,857 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
522,315 | sputnik--2019-01-22--Indias Crackdown on Rohingyas Has Prompted A Reverse Exodus Reports | 2019-01-22T00:00:00 | sputnik | India's Crackdown on Rohingyas Has Prompted A Reverse Exodus – Reports | 30 Rohingyas who were roaming inside Indian territory in search of livelihood have been detained by the authorities in the north-eastern state of Assam. The group, comprising 12 children and a few women, were travelling to Guwahati, the capital of Assam, from the neighbouring state Tripura when the police identified and nabbed them, reports newspaper The Assam Tribune. "During routine interrogation at the check-post, these Rohingyas were found without valid documents. They have violated the Passport Act hence steps would be taken accordingly. Further investigation is in progress", a senior police official, Inom Saikia, told The Assam Tribune on Tuesday. Another police official told Sputnik on condition of anonymity that during the interrogation, all of the Rohingyas confessed that they came to Tripura from Jammu via Delhi last week. After spending three days in Agartala, the capital of Tripura, they were unable to find work; therefore they decided to travel to Guwahati. They also revealed that a local named Raju had brought them to northeast India from Jammu by promising to assist them in finding jobs. A similar attempt by 31 Rohingyas, including nine children and six women, were foiled last week by the border forces after they were stranded between the Indian barbed wire border fencing and the border pillars demarcating India and Bangladesh. In the last few weeks, hundreds of Rohingyas in India have started fleeing to Bangladesh after the Indian government tightened the noose around them in terms of gathering their biometric data and other such details. "Massive detentions are under way in different Indian states. The level of the crackdown on the Rohingyas in the Muslim-dominated Jammu-Kashmir, Hyderabad and New Delhi is extreme. Fearing deportation to Myanmar, they are crossing the border into Bangladesh", Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Abul Kalam Azad told a Bangladeshi news portal last week. In 2018, at least 230 Rohingyas were apprehended by India's Border Security Force guarding the Indo-Bangladesh border. Rohingya Muslims are originally from Myanmar, which they fled owing to inter-religious conflicts in 2017. Currently, over 1.1 million Rohingya reside in Cox's Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh. An estimated 40,000 Rohingya have taken refugee in states like Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, and Telangana in India. Fewer than 15,000 are registered with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. | null | https://sputniknews.com/asia/201901221071713195-indian-rohingya-refugees/ | 2019-01-22 14:51:00+00:00 | 1,548,186,660 | 1,567,551,420 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
526,417 | sputnik--2019-02-22--OSCE Following Events Around Ukrainian Orthodox Church Aware of Risks - Chief | 2019-02-22T00:00:00 | sputnik | OSCE Following Events Around Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Aware of Risks - Chief | "We are very closely following what is happening, so we are also fully aware of potential risks. SMM [Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine] is asked to monitor, if you follow the reports of SMM, you can see there are regular reports about it", Greminger said. Greminger told Sputnik that the OSCE had responded to a request by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. WATCH: Orthodox Christmas Midnight Mass at Church of Nativity in Bethlehem Earlier in February, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church addressed the United Nations, the European Union and the OSCE, expressing concerns about the increased risk of escalation of religious conflict in Ukraine. The church subsequently said that it had not received a response from any of organisations. In the wake of the recent recognition of the independence of the newly established church in Ukraine, the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church has cited various cases of discrimination and aggression against its priests, congregation and properties on the part of the authorities, members of the new church, and nationalist groups. | null | https://sputniknews.com/europe/201902221072644383-osce-ukraine-orhodox-church/ | 2019-02-22 06:20:00+00:00 | 1,550,834,400 | 1,567,547,704 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
536,314 | sputnik--2019-06-24--Jewish Diaspora in Swedens Third Largest City Facing Extinction Amid Growing Anti-Semitism | 2019-06-24T00:00:00 | sputnik | Jewish Diaspora in Sweden's Third Largest City Facing Extinction Amid Growing Anti-Semitism | Malmö's Jewish community is about to disappear from the city in the very near future if nothing is done about the spread of anti-Semitism in the city, the Jewish community has written to Malmö City Hall. In recent decades, Malmö has been one of the hardest hit by the rise of anti-Semitism, ranging from hateful messages to attacks on synagogues and even stabbings. This has prompted serious measures such as surveillance cameras and extra policing. The Jewish congregation itself has called the situation “critical”, because its numbers have more than halved in the past two decades alone. In 1999, there were 842 members. In 2009 it was 610 and this year it is 387 members. In the early 1970s, the congregation still had 2,500 members. “The Jewish congregation will soon disappear entirely if nothing is done drastically. Malmö is already a no-go zone for Jews around the world. When Malmö is mentioned in the media around the world, far too often it happens in connection with anti-Semitism. A Google search for 'anti-Semitism Malmö' yields 215,000 results. Unfortunately, current initiatives are not enough”, the congregation wrote, as quoted by the news outlet Nyheter Idag. Svante Lundgren, associate professor of theology at Lund University's Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, has attributed the hatred of Jews in Malmö to a long religious conflict in the Middle East, exacerbated by the fact that Malmö has received a large number of immigrants from the Middle East. “In many Middle Eastern countries, there is strong anti-Semitism, and hence there are people who grow up with it, not just hate against Israel but against all Jews. There is a lot of research on this and what you see then is that some people from the Middle East bring along strongly anti-Semitic views from their home country”, Lundgren told the Expressen tabloid daily. In its action plan, the congregation describes a picture of constant threats. “In recent years, the threats and risks have increased dramatically, and many believe that it is only a matter of time before a more serious incident will occur”, the Jewish congregation said. Before the Swedish state joined in and took care of the policing costs three years ago, the congregation had to bear the costs itself. Alarm agreements still set the congregation back SEK 100,000 ($106,000) per year. According to the action plan, almost no insurance companies are willing to insure the Malmö synagogue. “Our insurance has more than doubled compared to what we paid a few years ago. Today, it amounts to almost SEK 400,000 [almost $425,000] per year. There is only one insurance company that today is still willing to insure the Malmö synagogue”, the Jewish congregation stressed. Malmö, which is often hailed as Sweden's most multicultural city due to the fact that 140 languages are spoken there, is on its way to becoming a “minority majority” area. While official statistics put the share of immigrants at over 45 percent of the population in 2018, individual studies estimated that immigrants already outnumbered Swedes at some point in the 2010s. Many of the newcomers belong to the Muslim community, such as Iraqis, Iranians, Bosnians, Turks, and Kurds. Sweden's Jewish diaspora currently numbers some 20,000 people and is still one of Europe's largest. Yiddish is listed as one of Sweden's official minority languages. | null | https://sputniknews.com/europe/201906241076030625-sweden-jewish-diaspora-anti-semitism/ | 2019-06-24 05:31:13+00:00 | 1,561,368,673 | 1,567,538,342 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
549,524 | sputnik--2019-11-15--Ayodhya Verdict Has Shredded Secularism in India, Mosques Under Threat - Pakistan Foreign Ministry | 2019-11-15T00:00:00 | sputnik | Ayodhya Verdict Has Shredded Secularism in India, Mosques Under Threat - Pakistan Foreign Ministry | Pakistan on Thursday again voiced its deep concern over the Ayodhya verdict, maintaining that all mosques in neighbouring India are now under threat. "The decision has failed to uphold the demands of justice. The decision has put the security of all mosques and places of worship in India under threat. It has made clear that minorities in India are no longer safe," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Dr. Mohammad Faisal said during his weekly media briefing. Last Saturday, the Pakistan Foreign Office had said in a statement that "a process of rewriting history is underway in India in order to recast it in the image of a Hindu Nation” in pursuance of an ideology in favour of the majoritarian Hindu community. It further warned that "The rising tide of extremist ideology in India, based on the belief of Hindu supremacy and exclusion, is a threat to regional peace and stability." While calling on the international community to restrain New Delhi from pursuing this Hindu-centric “extremist ideology”, Islamabad said the Indian government should ensure the protection of Muslims at all costs. The Ayodhya land dispute, a decades-old religious conflict between the Hindu and Muslim communities in India, flared up following the 1992 demolition of a Muslim mosque, Babri Masjid, by Hindus claiming that Mughal Emperor Babar had ordered the demolition of a Hindu temple in Ayodhya, a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The Supreme Court of India’s decision to hand over the disputed piece of land to the Hindu community came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who has led a campaign to build the temple for years after the 16th-century Babri mosque was demolished, appealed to the masses to maintain calm, saying the verdict was not anyone’s victory or loss. The Hindu community has always believed that the Babri mosque had been built over the birthplace of one of their most revered deities, Lord Ram. Muslims, however, have countered that argument by insisting that they had worshipped at the mosque for centuries until an idol of Ram was covertly placed inside the mosque in 1949. After the demolition of the mosque on 6 December 1992, Hindus constructed a makeshift temple in the name of Lord Ram, a physical incarnation of the god Vishnu, who is believed to have been born at the site. The destruction of the mosque was followed by Hindu-Muslim violence that left at least 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. Subsequent years have seen groups belonging to both religions bickering in courts over who had control over the historic site. | null | https://sputniknews.com/asia/201911151077305856-ayodhya-verdict-has-shredded-secularism-in-india-mosques-under-threat---pakistan-foreign-ministry/ | Fri, 15 Nov 2019 00:51:00 +0300 | 1,573,797,060 | 1,573,821,887 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
556,522 | talkingpointsmemo--2019-03-15--White Supremacist References Plaster NZ Mosque Killers Rifles Online Posts | 2019-03-15T00:00:00 | talkingpointsmemo | White Supremacist References Plaster NZ Mosque Killer’s Rifles, Online Posts | The self-proclaimed racist who attacked a New Zealand mosque conducting Friday prayers during an assault that killed 49 people opened fire with rifles covered in white-supremacist graffiti and listened to a song glorifying a Bosnian Serb war criminal. These details highlight the toxic belief system behind an unprecedented, live-streamed massacre, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Much of the material posted by the alleged killer resembles the meme-heavy hate speech prominent in dark corners of the internet. He even seemingly randomly referenced a prominent YouTube user before carrying out the attack. But amidst those online tropes lies a man who matter-of-factly described himself in writing as preparing to conduct a terrorist attack before opening fire on Muslims who simply had gathered to pray on a Friday. — The shooter’s soundtrack as he drove to the mosque included an upbeat sounding tune that belies its roots in a destructive European nationalist and religious conflict. The nationalist Serb song from the 1992-95 war that tore apart Yugoslavia glorifies Serbian fighters and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, who is jailed at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide and other war crimes against Bosnian Muslims. A YouTube video for the song shows emaciated Muslim prisoners in Serb-run camps during the war. “Beware Ustashas and Turks,” says the song, using wartime, derogatory terms for Bosnian Croats and Muslims. — When the gunman was finished in the mosque and returned to his car, the song “Fire” by English rock band “The Crazy World of Arthur Brown” can be heard blasting from the speakers. The singer bellows, “I am the god of hellfire!” as the man, a 28-year-old Australian, drives away. — At least two rifles used in the shooting mention Ebba Akerlund, an 11-year-old girl killed in an April 2017 truck-ramming attack in Stockholm by Rakhmat Akilov, a 39-year-old Uzbek man. Akerlund’s death is memorialized in the gunman’s apparent manifesto, published online, as an event that led to his decision to wage war against what he perceives as the enemies of Western civilization. — The number 14 is also seen on the gunman’s rifles. It may refer to “14 Words,” which according to the Southern Poverty Law Center is a white supremacist slogan linked to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” He also used the symbol of the Schwarze Sonne, or black sun, which “has become synonymous with myriad far-right groups,” according to the center, which monitors hate groups. — In photographs from a now deleted Twitter account associated with the suspect that match the weaponry seen in his live-streamed video, there is a reference to “Vienna 1683,” the year the Ottoman Empire suffered a defeat in their siege of the city at the Battle of Kahlenberg. “Acre 1189,” a reference to the Crusades, is also on the guns. — The name Charles Martel, who the Southern Poverty Law Center says white supremacists credit “with saving Europe by defeating an invading Muslim force at the Battle of Tours in 734,” was also on the weapons. | Summer Concepcion | https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/white-supremacist-references-rifles-new-zealand-mosque-killer | 2019-03-15 13:32:09+00:00 | 1,552,671,129 | 1,567,546,121 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
562,319 | tass--2019-02-28--Number of extremism-related crimes in 2018 went down by 17 says Putin | 2019-02-28T00:00:00 | tass | Number of extremism-related crimes in 2018 went down by 17%, says Putin | MOSCOW, February 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded the Interior Ministry should take a hard line against extremist crimes. Speaking at a board meeting of the Interior Ministry on Thursday Putin said the overall number of such cases was on the decline. "Resistance to extremism is the most important guideline. True, the overall number of registered extremism-related crimes in 2018 went down by nearly 17%. However, different manifestations of such crimes have been registered practically in all regions of Russia," Putin said. "The Interior Ministry must take a hard line against the radical groups and pool efforts with the public and other bodies of power locally to prevent ethnic and religious conflicts and take resolute measures to expose and punish those who may try to spread ideologies of aggression, violence and intolerance in different social strata. Possibly, among youth in the first place," he said. In other media | null | http://tass.com/society/1046861 | 2019-02-28 11:01:02+00:00 | 1,551,369,662 | 1,567,546,985 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
564,344 | tass--2019-04-16--Foreign intelligence may plot to destabilize North Caucasus warns security official | 2019-04-16T00:00:00 | tass | Foreign intelligence may plot to destabilize North Caucasus, warns security official | BALASHIKHA, April 16. /TASS/. The North Caucasus may become a target for those who seek to spread instability in the country, Deputy Director of Russia’s National Guard Sergei Melikov told reporters on Tuesday. According to him, "the Caucasus has been and for now will remain a region that, from our foreign partners’ standpoint, may become a target for intelligence agencies and those who may try to create instability of various sorts there." The deputy director pointed out that religious conflicts and territorial disputes occasionally break out in the North Caucasus. "The deployment of law enforcement units [the Joint Military Force] cools off hotheads and makes it possible to timely respond to challenges and threats," he said, adding that "law enforcement agencies have complete control of the situation in the Caucasus, there are no deterioration trends but we do remain ready for action." Melikov went on to say that, the region had gone through crucial changes. "We cannot help but witness the changes that have taken place in the Caucasus. Numerous counterterrorism activities, aimed at eliminating clandestine armed groups, have been conducted in Dagestan, which was viewed as ground zero for terrorist activities over the past years," the National Guard deputy chief noted. Chechnya and its capital of Grozny have become a tourist destination. "If you come to Mineralnye Vody’s airport, you will meet travel agents who will offer you tours to the Chechen Republic, even to the mountainous areas where it was impossible to travel in the past," he emphasized. In other media | null | http://tass.com/defense/1053948 | 2019-04-16 13:33:21+00:00 | 1,555,436,001 | 1,567,542,803 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
576,989 | theamericanconservative--2019-09-25--How Much More Christian Blood Must Our Interventions Spill | 2019-09-25T00:00:00 | theamericanconservative | How Much More Christian Blood Must Our Interventions Spill? | Back in June, Islamic militants in Burkina Faso entered a village, forced everyone to lie face down on the ground, found four people wearing crucifixes, and summarily executed them. It was the second time in as many months that Islamists had singled out and murdered people wearing Christian imagery. At least 20 Christians in Burkina Faso have been killed in 2019 across five attacks that have targeted Christian communities. “The trouble began three years ago,” reports The Washington Post, when Islamic militants began trickling in from neighboring Mali. Many of them carried weapons stolen after the 2011 collapse of Libya, which, we should remember, was caused by a U.S.-led NATO intervention. As we never seem to learn, American foreign adventurism has been terrible for the global Christian population. The president of the Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger, Bishop Laurent Dabiré, warned in June that local Christians were in danger of “elimination” because of continued attacks by Islamic militants. “Their main target appears to be the Christians and I believe they are trying to trigger an interreligious conflict,” Dabiré noted. Christians are only 20 percent of Burkina Faso’s population, and the threat to African Christians by Muslim extremists connected to instability farther north is not unique to there. It has been observed in Mali, the Central African Republic, Niger, and Nigeria. It has included kidnappings, rapes, executions, and the beheading of a 77-year-old Spanish nun in CAR. “Africa is a continent where violence against Christians is exploding,” Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga told the German media outlet Deutsche Welle. So…Libya. Eight years after the NATO intervention, the country is still a chaotic mess of competing violent militias. Millions of Libyan refugees now reside in other countries. Thousands of Libyan civilians, soldiers, and mercenaries from neighboring countries have been killed. Nor can we forget Benghazi, where Islamic militants dragged the body of a U.S. ambassador through the streets. Now we can add to that list the violence and persecution of Christians 1,500 miles away. Imagine the war in Ukraine causing tremors of violence in London. We remain a nation with one of the most vocal Christian political communities in the West—still one third of America’s citizens deem her a Christian nation. One would think we would steer clear of conflicts that disproportionately harm Christians of other lands, especially where they are already vulnerable minorities. Yet we still invaded Iraq in 2003, and it’s proven disastrous for the ancient, venerable Christian community there. Before the invasion, approximately 1.4 million Christians lived in Iraq. Today, there are fewer than 250,000, an 80 percent drop. Though the Islamic State, the greatest existential threat to the survival of Iraqi Christianity, has largely been neutralized (for now), new threats from Muslim ethnic militias remain. Power vacuums, it would seem, cause distress for minority groups. The Islamic State—whose creation can be traced back to instability set off by the invasion—have persecuted, abused, and murdered plenty of Christians in neighboring Syria. The Christian population of Syria, similar to that of Iraq, dropped from 1.7 million in 2011 to below 450,000 today. ISIS’s influence is still felt there. We could also add to the list the state of Israel, to whom the United States gives billions of dollars every year. Estimates made by the British during their colonial rule in 1922 put the Christian population of Palestine near 10 percent, and near 8 percent in 1946. Yet huge numbers of Arab Christians fled or were expelled from Jewish-controlled areas of Mandatory Palestine during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Elias Michael Chacour, a former archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth, and All Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, recounts in his book Blood Brothers how Yishuv forces expelled Christians from his village in Palestine. They then executed many of the village’s Christian men. Also relevant is Vietnam. The United States encouraged hundreds of thousands of Catholic Vietnamese to flee communist North Vietnam in the 1950s for safety in South Vietnam. The South became a haven for religious liberty, and the Catholic population there flourished, until Washington endorsed the execution of Christian South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963. After South Vietnam’s 1975 surrender to the communists—precipitated by America’s withdrawal of military and financial support—the persecution of Christians increased multifold. For example, then-archbishop of Saigon Nguyen Van Thuan was arrested and imprisoned—he would spend 13 years in prison, nine of which were in solitary confinement. Yet while the United States’ record on protecting vulnerable Christian minority communities around the world is a disgrace, we are reticent to learn the relevant lessons. Senior members of the administration have been eager to pursue new military interventions. If it’s not conservative hawks demanding that we crush America’s enemies, it’s self-righteous liberal do-gooders like Samantha Power, who never see an international crisis that doesn’t merit U.S. involvement. Power, we should also remember, supported the Saudi intervention in Yemen—now among the worst humanitarian disasters of this century—during her time in the White House. Whatever the character, and whatever the political party or ideology, the same thing always happens. Military adventurism inevitably causes instability, which immediately puts vulnerable communities—be they Christian, Yazidi, or Muslim—at greater risk. Thanks to a long, seemingly unlikely series of events, Christians in Burkina Faso now die because eight years ago we decided to bomb Moammar Gaddafi’s totalitarian regime out of existence. In the ensuing chaos, guns and militants flowed out of Libya across the African continent. How many more times must we do this before we learn our lesson? Casey Chalk is pursuing a graduate degree in theology from Christendom College and is senior writer for Crisis Magazine. He covers religion and other issues for The American Conservative. | Casey Chalk | https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-much-more-christian-blood-must-our-interventions-spill/ | 2019-09-25 04:01:41+00:00 | 1,569,398,501 | 1,570,222,210 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
596,306 | thedailyblog--2019-03-07--Insurgents In Jammu And Kashmir Are Not Liberators They Kill Muslim And Hindu Alike | 2019-03-07T00:00:00 | thedailyblog | Insurgents In Jammu And Kashmir Are Not Liberators – They Kill Muslim And Hindu Alike | So earlier this evening, a terrorist attack took place in Jammu; hospitalizing at least 28, of which I’m told, some have already died. This attack was carried out in a similar manner to other such outrages over the past ten months – with a hurled grenade. Yet while other instances have more directly targeted Indian police (one, nominally against a local police station … which nevertheless managed to hit a bus-station in front of it, instead; and another, along the same stretch of road as the current one, which *did* actually succeed in injuring two policemen along with at least one civilian); this one just went straight for the mass-casualty civilian-target option instead. I say this, because it is important. Every time I have one of my pieces on the ongoing Kashmir confrontation, or other matters relating to Indian politics published, there are people who turn up in the comments-sections of the articles to angrily decry and vitriolically denounce what they see as Indian outrages, Indian excesses. Indian efforts to kill “innocent Muslims”, “innocent Kashmiris”, etc. Now, I am not going to dispute that yes, civilian casualties *have* been inflicted by Indian forces. Of course they have. Yet the explicit metanarrative being pushed by these commenters, and which I rather strongly suspect to have a far broader salience out here in the Anglosphere than many would like to admit, is that the terrorists – the Pakistani-backed, based, and bolstered insurgency in J&K and elsewhere further afield – are somehow “the good guys”. That what they are doing, in these conflict-zones, is “fighting the good fight”. Working together, with huddled, oppressed masses, to cast off the shackles of some “Evil Empire” that’s occupying the place {never mind that said Evil Empire left just over seventy years ago; tearing out stents in a wedge as it went, almost as a parting “favour” to its local vanquishers). Funny, come to think of it, that’s pretty much *exactly* the same treatment that was given to *another* set of ISI created and Saudi funded Sunni extremists “fighting an ‘Evil Empire'”, who’ve turned out to be the villains – the Taliban in Afghanistan, throughout the 1980s. “The moral equivalent of America’s Founding Fathers”, said President Reagan (and I do not necessarily disagree – but that is another story, for another time). But while official figures on this sort of thing have not yet been released, I would be inordinately surprised if the twenty eight casualties of this latest atrocity did *not* contain a rather large number of Muslims. The demography of the area supports it. So what does this mean? Well, you put it together with the various other outrages of these ‘insurgency’ groups – the JeM and their ilk – and it quite rapidly becomes abundantly clear that while some organizations (media, certain-governmental, and otherwise) would very much like you to believe that the situation around these incidences is one of “Muslim vs Hindu” … … that is not, as it happens, at all the case. Even if we leave aside the manifest series of facts that these ISI-incepted Sunni extremist groups seem to have a rather nasty habit of attacking Pakistani citizens who just so happen to be Shi’ite or Sufi; or, as we saw just a day before the February 14th attack, daring to take on the might of Iran for their Saudi paymasters … … it has become abundantly clear, time and time again, that the would-be “liberators” of Kashmir, have no compunctions whatsoever about killing their fellow Muslims (*whatever* their sect-ional persuasion) in order to strike at the generalized concept of India. (An India which, it must be remembered, for all its problems, has never been anything like Pakistan or Saudi Arabia in terms of its treatment nor relegation of religious minorities. Why, even the RSS has a Muslim wing) [Gosh, no wonder at least one Pakistani state was not so long ago talking about the possibility of coming back to India] So what am I saying? You are being asked to believe, by all sorts of voices around the mediasphere and elsewhere, that this is some sort of conflict – perhaps even an ‘existential’ one – between Hindu and Muslim. Some Muslim extremists are, themselves, very, *very* keen upon this idea. And for obvious reasons. They want all the tools they can have access to to try and bolster their flagging cause. But that is not what it is. Not in reality. On one level, sure, it is Pakistan versus India. I do not seek to deny that. I do not seek to dispute that. In fact, on the contrary – highlighting the *direct* and *deliberate* role which Pakistan and its occasionally ‘possibly’ “rogue” intelligence service have played in these and other similar flame-fanned flashpoints, as active inceptors, is a big part of what I write. Yet it is not “Hindu versus Muslim”. As the ongoing callous disregard for their co-religionists’ lives more than amply demonstrates … what it *actually* is, is a conflict of “the abominable” (and their occasionally ignorant, occasionally deliberate prospective supporters), versus pretty much everybody else. These terrorists hurling grenades at bus-stations or police stations … they do not care how many Muslims they kill in the process. In fact, according to some approaches of political-warfare, a higher number is probably a *better* number, from their deranged perspective. Much more likely to contribute to general feelings of unease, unrest, and “India can’t protect us. They only really care that they are killing, wounding, or maiming, some Indians – of whatever religion – in the process. Because while it is easier for the world at large to turn its eyes away from the facts and realities of the situation, if it is thought that this is just some ‘religious conflict’ [an almost stultifyingly reductionist perspective upon the issues in J&K, and yet an unedifyingly common one outside of the Subcontinent] … When considered in its true light, it becomes utterly inarguable that the world at large , who profess to abhor atrocity and iniquity, terrorism and torment, *must* stand on India’s side against these ongoing outrages. And that means *also* lending voice to the clarion calling out of those who facilitate them, issue their perpetrators’ orders, and otherwise work fiendishly overtime to endeavour to bring them about. You know, without me having to say it, which states , and their ‘softer’ backers and wilful (or, perhaps, at best ‘wilfully blind’) partners, I am indicating here. It is said, by some, that these insurgents are come across the border from Pakistan as “liberators” of Kashmiris. And yet, it is a curious thing – the only “liberation” that they ever seem to bring, is Death. Well, in that case, “charity starts at home”, as the ancient maxim states. “Full Freedom” to them, then. | Curwen Ares Rolinson | https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/03/08/insurgents-in-jammu-and-kashmir-are-not-liberators-they-kill-muslim-and-hindu-alike/ | 2019-03-07 18:17:40+00:00 | 1,552,000,660 | 1,567,546,836 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
695,551 | theguardianuk--2019-04-02--School music report reveals cuts inequality and demoralised teachers | 2019-04-02T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | School music report reveals cuts, inequality and demoralised teachers | When the children at Barlby primary in west London got up to perform at the Royal Albert Hall last month it was, according to their headteacher, an overwhelming and aspirational event. The school, which is part of the local community around Grenfell Tower, is among the most diverse and disadvantaged in the country, with more than 25 languages spoken and high levels of pupil premium entitlement. Its pupils are still talking about the opportunity they had to perform a specially written composition commissioned by three London councils, the historic venue and the Royal College of Music. Even though their school is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea many of the children may not even have known the venue existed, says Anthony Mannix, their headteacher. “They all came back and asked if they could sing in school assembly. It was such a prestigious venue; a huge undertaking and they were in awe of the live instruments. They are still talking about it.” But, according to research published today, the experience of Barlby’s pupils may be increasingly rare. Authors of The State of Play, a report by the Musicians’ Union and supported by UK Music and the Music Industries Association, describe music education as being in “a perilous state”. Eight years after ministers published a national plan for music with the aim of ensuring every child had the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, and the establishment of government-funded music hubs – partnerships between schools and arts organisations in their areas – confidence in the government’s handling of music education appears to have collapsed in many places. A poll of more than 1,000 heads, teachers, music service managers and instrumental teachers suggests that while music education has improved in some areas, there is patchy provision nationwide. Some 97% of classroom music teachers lacked confidence in the government’s handling of it. The report paints a picture of creeping cuts to music education, a demoralised workforce with poor employment conditions and huge inequality in instrumental provision, with children from families earning under £28,000 a year half as likely to learn a musical instrument as those with a family income above £48,000. And 89% of parents are making a financial contribution towards instrumental lessons. Curriculum changes and freedoms introduced through widespread academisation, aligned to new accountability measures such as the Ebacc suite of subjects (which do not include music) and an increase in GCSE courses starting in year 9, mean that music is being squeezed out of the curriculum, while the number of postgraduate students choosing to train as music teachers has shrunk by over two-thirds in the past decade. Of those surveyed, 60% said the Ebacc introduction had directly affected music provision in their schools, which confirms recent findings from the Education Policy Institute that arts entries at GCSE were declining, with a marked north-south and gender divide. Jonathan Savage, one of the report’s authors and a reader in education at Manchester Metropolitan University, acknowledges that many schools have fantastic music provision. “But for every one that is fantastic, you will find another school in which next to nothing is going on,” he says. “One of the reasons is that autonomy has taken priority over so much else and headteacher decisions about a subject that is part of the national curriculum are not being challenged robustly enough by the government.” The report includes examples from practitioners around the country about the pressure they are under from accountability measures, funding and school leaders’ commitment to music education. One respondent quoted a letter written by a head to parents, which stated: “Music is a hobby, it is not a career. It will not be supported by the school. I will not allow children to leave school to take graded exams. We are only supporting children’s learning.” Savage, who is also chair of a music hub in the north-west of England, says the hubs can do exceptional work – in some areas developing a local primary music curriculum, for example – but believes without a refocus on music as an entitlement for all children at school, they may only benefit a minority of children. Stuart Whatmore helped to organise the Royal Albert Hall event and leads the Tri-Borough Music Hub comprised of the three London boroughs of Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea. He agrees that headteacher buy-in is critical. “Each year we work with around 90% of our schools in some capacity. That work, advocating and demonstrating how we can support schools, heads and governors in the delivery of their own music curriculum, is at the heart of what we do,” he says. We also offer a wide range of musical learning opportunities that are open to all children who live or go to school in the boroughs, and we intend to continue to evolve to ensure that we are delivering inclusive, life-enhancing and progressive opportunities for all. But schools need to have the vision and understanding. If a school doesn’t want to be involved there is nothing we can do about it.” Mannix admits that heads are under a lot of competing pressures. “I do have sympathy with heads in other areas. The national context is difficult. Schools have to resist temptations to narrow the curriculum because of the inevitable focus on data and Sats results, which don’t demonstrate the full breadth of what children have enjoyed. But we believe that music has an impact on other subjects, supports learning and builds confidence. We need to think about sending our pupils to secondary with broader knowledge and understanding behind them as well as high academic standards. And we are very well supported by the work of the local music hub in developing staff, sharing knowledge and expertise,” he adds. The report argues that the government needs to provide an urgent and coherent response to rectify the impact of what it describes as chaotic education policies. It makes more than 30 recommendations, including strengthening music hubs, developing music in teacher training and professional development and, above all, holding schools to account more rigorously for the delivery of music as a universal entitlement during the school day as part of the national curriculum. Savage says: “The idea of comprehensive music education being replaced by giving pupils the chance to play an instrument for a short time, maybe a term, is not the model of music education that many of us feel is right for a national curriculum subject in school.” “It needs to be taken much more seriously, be properly resourced with investment in staff and supported by heads, otherwise the experience of each child will depend on where they are educated and the competence of staff. Our recommendations are built around music being a core subject and the best way to reach every child is through the provision of each school,” Savage adds. The Department for Education is devising a model music curriculum. A spokesperson said: “We want all pupils to have the opportunity to study music – that’s why it is compulsory in the national curriculum from the age of 5 to 14. Analysis from last year shows that through our music hubs programme, more than 700,000 children learnt to play instruments in class together in 2016/17. We are putting more money into arts education programmes than any subject other than PE.” | Fiona Millar | https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/apr/02/school-music-cuts-inequality-demoralised-teachers | 2019-04-02 07:15:11+00:00 | 1,554,203,711 | 1,567,544,374 | education | teaching and learning |
771,028 | theindependent--2019-09-10--UK teachers are younger and paid less than in any other developed country report finds | 2019-09-10T00:00:00 | theindependent | UK teachers are younger and paid less than in any other developed country, report finds | The UK has more than twice the proportion of teachers aged under 30 than other developed countries, and pay is below the international average at all comparable levels of education, according to a new study. The average age of the teaching workforce in Britain has fallen since 2005 and nearly one in three primary school teachers (31 per cent) are aged 30 or under, the report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) finds. This is compared with 13 per cent on average in other OECD countries and economies analysed. The report also found that statutory salaries for teachers in England and Scotland – with 15 years of experience and the most common qualification – have not recovered to “pre-Great Recession highs”. In 2018, salaries in England were 10 per cent lower than in 2005. In Scotland, the equivalent deficiency was 3 per cent. It also found that the UK is one of the few countries that have seen class sizes rise since 2005. Speaking at the launch of the report, Andreas Schleicher, director for education and skills at the OECD, said: “There have been clear cuts and when you make cuts you have to make choices. You cut your teacher salaries, you increase your class sizes.” He added: “Teachers have moved backwards on pay and on class size so the UK is in the risk quadrant where class sizes have become bigger and teachers are paid less.” On the UK having the youngest teaching force in primary schools, Mr Schleicher said: “You can look at that as a positive sign in the sense of lots of people who want to move, who are motivated and who are freshly educated with the latest technology. “But it also signals that a lot of people leave the profession. That’s the downside of it. That actually there is a lot of churn and turnover in this which I think puts the population at risk.” Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the average age of teachers is low because the nation is “losing far too many teachers from the profession”. He said: “One of the reasons for this high rate of churn is because the real value of teachers’ pay has declined since 2011 as a result of government-imposed pay austerity.” The report also revealed that England has the second highest university tuition fees in the developed world – and yet the OECD found the salary premium for UK graduates has declined. The share of recent graduates who studied engineering, manufacturing and construction has also fallen compared to previous generations. Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Schleicher said: “I rather think that the expansion of higher education has come at the expense of quality at the margins. “There’s a lot of variability in the quality of degrees that employers pick up in the wage signals. That’s something to be careful about.” He questioned whether universities in the UK are not being “incentivised to tell people the truth”. “It’s much more convenient to provide a humanities or social sciences course. You make a lot of money with actually very little work [compared to] engineering and construction,” he added. A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want the brightest and the best young talent to be drawn to the teaching profession, and the quality of entrants remains at an all-time high, with 19 per cent of the 2018-19 cohort holding a first-class degree, the highest in any of the last five years. “These young teachers bring vibrancy, new ideas and energy to the classroom, creating an inspiring learning environment for young people.” They added that this school year, teachers and school leaders are due to get an above-inflation pay rise, with a 2.75 per cent increase to the top and bottom of all pay ranges. The government has also announced plans to raise teacher starting salaries in England to £30,000 by 2022. | Eleanor Busby | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/oecd-study-uk-teachers-britain-youngest-pay-salaries-countries-a9099216.html | 2019-09-10 12:58:00+00:00 | 1,568,134,680 | 1,569,330,545 | education | teaching and learning |
783,891 | theirishtimes--2019-01-30--Stricter entry demands for primary teaching course delayed for a year | 2019-01-30T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | Stricter entry demands for primary teaching course delayed for a year | Stricter entry requirements for applicants to a postgraduate course in primary teaching have been delayed for a year. Minister for Education Joe McHugh said higher requirements in relation to Leaving Certificate grades in Irish, English and Maths, which were due to apply for entry in 2019, would now be introduced in 2020 for the Professional Master of Education (PME) programme. There are 200 places available on the primary PME across four primary teacher training colleges - Dublin City University, Maynooth University, Marino Institute of Education and Mary Immaculate College. Mr McHugh said the the original timing of introduction of the requirements may have caused difficulties for some students planning for a PME as a way of entering the primary teaching profession. The Master’s programme is designed for students who have already studied an undergraduate degree other than a Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree - the traditional route into the profession. Mr McHugh said the higher entry requirements would apply from September 2019 for students entering the BEd programme. “Having relatively high minimum entry requirements in core subject areas of Irish, English and Mathematics is key to ensuring quality teaching and learning in primary schools,”the Minister said. “We are giving those students time and clarity on the new requirements. It is the right thing to do. The deferral means we are allowing students the opportunity to make arrangements to ensure they have the necessary entry requirements.” he said. | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/stricter-entry-demands-for-primary-teaching-course-delayed-for-a-year-1.3776588 | 2019-01-30 21:50:52+00:00 | 1,548,903,052 | 1,567,550,262 | education | teaching and learning |
787,057 | theirishtimes--2019-05-21--Funding awarded for online Irish adult teaching course | 2019-05-21T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | Funding awarded for online Irish adult teaching course | The Centre for Irish Language Research, Teaching and Testing (Lárionad na Gaeilge) at Maynooth University has been awarded funding to develop an online course which will qualify graduates to teach Irish to adults. Minister of State for the Irish Language Seán Kyne announced a grant of €270,000 which will fund the delivery of the course during a visit to the campus on Tuesday afternoon. The online course, which is an iteration of the existing level 7 Diploma in Teaching Irish to Adult Learners run by Lárionad na Gaeilge since 2012, is being funded until 2021 and it will provide students with a foundation in teaching Irish to adult learners. The year-long, part-time course is structured across three academic semesters and it is expected to have its first intake of students in 2020. The course, which is the first of its kind in Ireland, was developed with the intention of reaching students who could not travel to participate in the programme. A number of workshops were held around the country to assess interest and it was determined that an online model should be developed. The programme was inspired by a course offered at the University of Texas in Austin which features short videos focusing on grammar and other core skills related to foreign-language learning. “The benefit of this is that those who are studying the teaching of Irish in America and elsewhere abroad can easily access the course material,” said Anna Ní Ghallachair, head of the school of Celtic studies at Maynooth University. “It is similar to Tefl but there is nothing similar available for the Irish language,” she said. Announcing the grant, Mr Kyne said the course would benefit the teachers of Irish and adult learners in Ireland. He said it will also provide support the Irish diaspora and those teaching Irish abroad. “This will provide more flexibility to those who do not have the opportunity to attend courses on a regular basis and it will also provide training and qualification online in the teaching of Irish to people worldwide who are teaching Irish to adult learners,” Mr Kyne said. “Here at home, increased access to broadband and the establishment of the Gteiceanna [digital hubs] in the Gaeltacht will mean that access to courses like this is no longer limited to towns and cities,” he added. The teaching of Irish abroad has become increasingly popular in recent years. “This year, we have 65 people learning Irish in the Irish College in Paris,” said Ní Ghallachair. “More than half are not Irish. Some wish to learn Irish as a fourth or fifth language as they apply for roles with European institutions.” Referring to Teastas Eorpach na Gaeilge, a proficiency qualification for adult learners of Irish, Ms Ní Ghallachair said examinations will be held in Los Angeles this year for the first time. “This is in addition to Paris, Prague, Ottawa, New York and Washington,” she added. | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/funding-awarded-for-online-irish-adult-teaching-course-1.3899864 | 2019-05-21 17:17:00+00:00 | 1,558,473,420 | 1,567,540,312 | education | teaching and learning |
787,520 | theirishtimes--2019-06-19--Parents settle action over lack of access to July teaching scheme | 2019-06-19T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | Parents settle action over lack of access to July teaching scheme | Separate legal actions over the Minister for Education’s refusal to allow two young children with complex educational needs attend school during the summer holidays have been settled. The High Court actions were taken on behalf of two primary school children with various educational and social needs. As a result of an agreement between the parties, the children will receive additional schooling under a special scheme operated by the Minister known as the July Provision Scheme (JPS). The children have been attending mainstream schools and, to ensure they did not regress over the summer holidays, their families attempted to enrol them in the JPS. The Minister provides funding for children accepted into the scheme for tuition during July, delivered either at their homes or at certain recognised schools. The children’s applications were refused on grounds neither had a specific diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder or a severe or profound general learning disability. According to the scheme’s guidelines, only children with those diagnoses are eligible for inclusion in the scheme. The families claimed the decisions not to include the children was irrational, unreasonable and breached the children’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. They also claimed the refusals, given the children’s needs, were contrary to the 1998 Education Act. At the High Court on Wednesday, Nuala Butler SC, instructed by the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), for the parents, said both cases had been settled with an agreed order for costs. Counsel said the department had agreed to make payment equivalent to the sum paid to families who qualify for home-based July Provision under the current scheme. Funds could be used for home tuition or to access some other suitable scheme and the families would receive the payment before July of each year until the children reached the age of 18, she said. Payment, she added, would continue as long as the JPS does. If that scheme was abolished, the families would have the right to apply under any new scheme. Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, who previously granted permission to bring the challenges, said he was delighted there was a settlement as it would have been difficult for the case to have been dealt with before July. He told the parents involved it would have been a shame if the children had lost out on another year of the course. Their lawyers had done a very good job for them and the Minister had also, in fairness, met the case very well in terms of the settlement, the judge added. | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/parents-settle-action-over-lack-of-access-to-july-teaching-scheme-1.3931202 | 2019-06-19 19:13:32+00:00 | 1,560,986,012 | 1,567,538,746 | education | teaching and learning |
789,248 | theirishtimes--2019-09-16--Im drawn to teaching but some say its not lucrative Can you offer any advice | 2019-09-16T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | I’m drawn to teaching, but some say it’s not lucrative. Can you offer any advice? | I’m a sixth-year student and thinking of becoming a second-level teacher. Some of my friends and family believe other career options are more financially lucrative, but I still feel drawn to teaching. Can you offer any advice? In my final weeks of a 43-year teaching career, I can state categorically that this profession has deeply enriched my life. It has challenged me and, hopefully, brought out the best in me. If the idea of making a difference in the lives of others and help them become the best they can be appeals to you, then a career in teaching may well be for you. Think of the times when you really enjoyed a class in school: how did that feel? Imagine being the teacher that creates that experience throughout your working life. If you are one of the thousands of students who will be attending Higher Options in the RDS later this week, be sure to go to the ‘Pathways to Teaching’ stand. Love of learning and of sharing learning are essential elements to a healthy and sustainable career in teaching. At post-primary level, where Ireland will have the greatest demand for teachers over the next few years, this includes a love of specific subjects taught in our schools. Choosing a CAO course in specific subjects for post-primary teaching is a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, you should familiarise yourself with the subjects most in demand as identified by the Department of Education in its Teacher Supply Action Plan. These include home economics, Irish, Stem subjects and European languages. On the other hand, as with all course choices at third-level, you must be interested in what you choose to study. And in teaching, you must love what you study – because you will be teaching it and learning about it for the rest of your teaching life. There is little point in choosing a subject solely because it is in demand if you do not like it. Try the advanced search facility on Qualifax (qualifax.ie) to identify all of the teaching-degree programmes on offer by third-level colleges. Select the ones which offer subjects you are interested in. At Higher Options, seek out the colleges offering these programmes and ask any questions which you may have. Those courses which really interest you should be on your college “open day” list. The Teaching Council will also have a stand where any questions relating to the profession in general can be answered. As for salaries in teaching, research by the Higher Education Authority indicates that education graduates are well-paid in the years following college, though graduates from many other sectors tend to do better in the long-run. We have been fortunate in this country to have attracted some of the most creative and brightest minds into teaching for decades. We will always need good teachers to help us shape and create our best version of ourselves as a community and society. | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/i-m-drawn-to-teaching-but-some-say-it-s-not-lucrative-can-you-offer-any-advice-1.4012553 | 2019-09-16 23:00:00+00:00 | 1,568,689,200 | 1,569,330,218 | education | teaching and learning |
925,689 | thesun--2019-01-11--Young Brits say they feel pushed to go to university by parents and teachers | 2019-01-11T00:00:00 | thesun | Young Brits say they feel pushed to go to university by parents and teachers | YOUNG Brits feel they are being pushed down the route of going to university, according to research. A survey of 1,500 recent school leavers found two thirds were urged to go into higher education by teachers, while almost six out of ten said their parents wanted them to pick that option. For the most part however, teens said their parents were supportive of whichever path they decided to follow. But one in five did say their parents pushed 'too hard' to pick further education. The study, carried out ahead of the deadline for UCAS applications on Tuesday 15 January, also found seven in 10 kids asked their parents for advice on what to do with their lives. But only around one in eight followed the advice given to them by mum and dad when deciding on the next step. Thirty per cent said they asked their friends for advice, 24 per cent asked their favourite teacher, and 22 per cent asked a careers advisor. Rob Alder, head of business development for AAT, who commissioned the research, said: “For many school leavers university remains entirely the correct option. “However, it’s not the only one available and many may not realise that there are alternatives available, including high-quality apprenticeships and trainee schemes which can unlock the door to a long and successful career. “In the accounting industry, for example, we see thousands of people each year who left school at 18, got a job and qualified a year earlier without the student debt that graduates built up. “In addition, it did not harm their long term career prospects.” Of the school leavers who took part, 51 per cent went to university after finishing further education, and 11 per cent took part in an apprentice or trainee scheme. Fifteen per cent went straight into the world of work without doing any further training. When asked to consider what they thought was most important to them when deciding what to do after secondary school, 42 per cent said they wanted to pursue a route which they were passionate about. One in four prioritised making money above all else, and 21 per cent wanted to do their best to follow a path which would provide them with a stable future. One in five wished their parents had given them more in-depth advice and guidance about what to do after secondary school, but 10 per cent wish they had let them make up their own mind more. The study also surveyed 500 parents of school leavers to uncover how they assessed their own involvement in their child’s decision. Ryehan Amir left full time education in 2016, having completed his first year in sixth form college studying A-Levels. Instead, he took up an apprenticeship in the finance team at water treatment firm ESC Global Ltd, based in Doncaster, Yorkshire, studying AAT Accountancy Qualifications. He gets time off to study and his course fees are fully funded by his employer. “Taking the AAT route meant that I could gain valuable experience from professional people in accountancy,” said Ryehan, now 20. “The apprenticeship offered me a debt-free way to get qualified, as well as earning a salary whilst learning. “At the end of my studies I will have a highly respected qualification behind me, teaching me all the qualities needed to be a successful accountant.” While Ryehan, who lives in Scunthorpe, was at sixth form he was on the lookout for an apprenticeship position, but found that not everyone was so keen. “My college weren’t able to offer me much support when it came to me searching and applying for an apprenticeship. “I felt that, in some quarters, there was a belief that to succeed, you need to go to university.” Tyler Bowers, 22, travels into London each day from his Essex home to Moore Stephens’ office near Barbican (soon to merge with fellow accountancy firm BDO), where he works as a trainee accountant in their outsourcing department. “I always liked the idea of learning and earning,” says Tyler, who is studying AAT’s Advanced and Professional Diplomas in Accounting as part of his apprenticeship programme. “When I was 14 years old, I attended a careers fair, and an advisor there suggested accountancy. I knew I wanted to avoid the possibility of getting into debt by going into University, and realised I could instead train while being employed by a finance firm.” “I enjoy the studying and the accessibility of my tutors, who are available whenever I need them,” Tyler adds. “As an apprentice, I like the opportunity to work in different departments, and I feel like a valuable asset as I can apply my studies directly into my work.” Sixty two per cent of parents said their kids had come to them for advice on what they should do when they leave school. Fifty six per cent of parents recommended that their kids continue on to university, and one in seven thought they would benefit from taking part in an apprenticeship. And one in eight parents thought their child would be served best by entering directly into the world of work. Seven per cent of parents had a firm view on what they thought their child should do next after leaving school, while six per cent took a backseat and let their kids make up their own minds. And 58 per cent thought university might cost more than it was worth to their child, and one in four didn’t think a university degree would ultimately help them to get into the career they wanted to. Seventy two per cent of parents believe apprenticeship schemes and further training courses have become a more viable choice for school leavers in recent years, according to the survey conducted by OnePoll. One in 10 parents wish they had given their child better guidance with regards to their future, though seven in 10 are happy with their level of involvement in the decision. Forty per cent said their main priority when advising their child on their future was that they did something which made them happy, and 29 per cent said it was that their child followed their passion. Rob Alder added: “Many young people are about to submit their UCAS forms to apply for university; and that route will get a lot of attention. “Even with rising university fees adding a pressure on household finances, there is still only a minority of parents who are suggesting university alternatives to their children. “It’s essential that each young person is given the right advice for their individual strengths, to give them the best chance of having a successful career, even if that means advising them that university might not be the best option for them. “There are other options to explore, including apprenticeships and traineeships, advertised by sources such as the National Apprenticeship Service and Get My First Job.” David Allison, CEO and Founder of GetMyFirstJob.co.uk said: “In recent years we’ve seen more and more young people and parents question the value they get from a traditional degree. “The fees and associated debt quickly rack up with a full time degree, and owing £50,000 before you get your first job should really encourage all young people to look at the options open to them. “The good news is that there are now more alternatives than ever before to the ‘traditional’ university route with Accountancy and Professional Services leading the way. “We managed over 25,000 applications for accountancy and finance related apprenticeship roles last year, many of them with very attractive starting salaries. These young people will end up with a great qualification, no debt and relevant experience – the one thing that money really can’t buy.” We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. | ecambridge | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8170944/young-brits-say-they-feel-pushed-to-go-to-university-by-parents-and-teachers/ | 2019-01-11 15:17:07+00:00 | 1,547,237,827 | 1,567,552,944 | education | teaching and learning |
934,234 | thesun--2019-02-02--School minister urges teachers to ban mobile phones in classrooms | 2019-02-02T00:00:00 | thesun | School minister urges teachers to ban mobile phones in classrooms | KIDS should be banned from having mobile phones in school to help them concentrate on learning, the schools minister said last night. Nick Gibb also warned that too many young students are wearing themselves out by using the gadgets late at night. The Tory MP said the government will bring in lessons for children to learn how to limit their screen time. Mr Gibb told The Times: “Schools obviously are free to set their own behaviour policies but my own view is that schools should ban mobile telephones and smartphones inside school, and particularly inside classrooms.” He added: “Every hour spent online and on a smartphone is an hour less talking to family, and it’s an hour less exercise and it’s an hour less sleep. “And of course it is a lack of sleep that research is showing can have a damaging effect on a child’s mental health.” Lessons to curb mobile phone use will become compulsory from September 2020, though schools will be encouraged to adopt them from this autumn. The classes will warn primary school kids that some people adopt false identities online. Secondary school pupils will be told about the dangers of pornography and of sharing compromising photos or information. Some schools already ban phones, while others restrict their use in lessons and during playtime. A recent London School of Economics study found that banning them resulted in exams scores rising by more than 6 per cent. | Sun Internet 2 | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8335811/school-minister-urges-teachers-to-ban-mobile-phones-in-classrooms/ | 2019-02-02 00:49:29+00:00 | 1,549,086,569 | 1,567,549,850 | education | teaching and learning |
56,403 | birminghammail--2019-02-09--Birmingham schools see teacher numbers drop as pupils class sizes skyrocket | 2019-02-09T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Birmingham schools see teacher numbers drop as pupils class sizes skyrocket | A third of schools in Birmingham have seen teacher numbers drop as ratios of pupils to staff rise. Analysis of the school workforce census since 2010 shows there are 130 schools in Birmingham where the number of teachers have dropped. These schools - which make up 34% of the 379 schools in the area - are also seeing the ratio of pupils to teachers increase. This suggests falling teacher headcounts are leading to bigger class sizes. There are 49 schools in Birmingham where the teacher headcount is at its lowest levels since records began (for most schools in 2010), while the pupil/teacher ratio is at its highest. Overall, three in 10 schools in Birmingham (31%) saw their highest or joint highest pupil/teacher ratio in 2017. Prince Albert Junior and Infant School has seen the number of teachers, both classroom and leadership group, shrink from 50 in November 2010 to 30 in November 2017. Over the same period, the pupil/teacher ratio has risen from 15.3 pupils per teacher to 25.7 per teacher. King Edward VI Five Ways School has seen the teacher headcount drop from 77 in 2010 to 65 in 2017, while the pupil/teacher ratio has increased from 17.4 to 20.2, while Heartlands Academy has seen teacher numbers drop from 85 to 66, while pupil/teacher ratios rose from 8.9 to 13.6. Schools across Birmingham have seen per pupil funding shrink in real terms in recent years. The planned average spend per pupil for this school year is £5,017 in Birmingham, according to the latest Department for Education figures. That’s already a smaller per-pupil spend than in 2011/12, when the average was £5,205 - and that’s not even adjusting for inflation. In today’s money, the 2011/12 budget would be worth £5,910, meaning schools in the area are actually missing out on an average of £893 per pupil. The figures come after governors at a Derbyshire secondary school wrote to parents to warn that falling funding and rising costs had led to fewer teachers and larger classes. Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary, National Education Union, said: “It is shocking that in one of the richest countries in the world we have many headteachers who cannot afford to recruit the teachers and support staff needed for their school. “ A chronic shortage of funding is also leading to bigger class sizes, parents regularly being asked for money, subjects being dropped from the curriculum, books and resources not being replaced and school trips cancelled. “This unacceptable running down of our education system has to stop. Government must ensure our school have the funding and resources to ensure every child has the education they deserve.” Across England, 24% of schools have seen the number of teachers fall, as pupil/teacher ratios rise - a total of 4,891 schools. There were also 2,639 schools where teacher numbers are at their lowest on record, and pupil/teacher ratios are at their highest - the equivalent of one in eight schools (13% ). Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said: “The Tories have slashed school budgets for the first time in a generation and their policies have seen teachers’ pay cut by thousands of pounds, and now a generation of children are paying the price for Tory failure in our schools. “The fact that so many schools are seeing teacher numbers fall is a direct result of the failure of this government to give our schools and teachers the resources and support they need. “Labour will end Tory cuts to schools, increase per pupil funding in real terms, and provide ring-fenced funding to give teachers the pay rise they deserve.” The Department for Education was approached for a comment, but did not respond. | James Rodger | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-schools-see-teacher-numbers-15797998 | 2019-02-09 05:30:00+00:00 | 1,549,708,200 | 1,567,549,067 | education | teaching and learning |
65,383 | birminghammail--2019-08-03--The written off dyslexic pupil who went on to become inspirational teacher | 2019-08-03T00:00:00 | birminghammail | The 'written off' dyslexic pupil who went on to become inspirational teacher | David C. Hall was diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of just three. And throughout his time at primary and secondary school he was told by teachers that he would never amount to anything. Yet determined David proved the doubters wrong by eventually thriving in the classroom - passing 11 GCSEs. Incredibly, he went on to become a teacher himself before opening a private tutoring business in his home city of Birmingham - helping other struggling pupils, like his younger self. Potential Unlocked Tuition Centre, based in Aberdeen Street, was launched in 2017 offering individual teaching, coaching and support to students aged up to 18. It was the kind of specialised educational service that was sadly missing from David's own childhood. He had attended Chandos Primary School in Highgate, where he initially struggled. He said: “When I was three I was diagnosed with being dyslexic, I had a speech therapist and was statemented. "My peers were a lot more advanced compared to how I was. "I was spelling three letter words because I found literacy, reading, writing, and math really challenging. "I did my SATS. I got a level 2B, which means that I was two years behind my peers. "In secondary school they told my parents that I was hard working but I wouldn't amount to anything, because of my prior attainments. His mum Vivienne Hall, 64, did not take too kindly to the teacher's remarks about her son. “When we went to the parent’s evening and they told us that your son will not get very far I thought to myself, 'who are you to tell me that?" "As we were coming out there was this picture of children doing well. I looked to David and told him one day you will be up there as well." Recalling the incident David said: "The display board was full of over-achievers. "My mom believed in me. I could do it." And it was David's sheer self-determination and hard work that saw him turn his education and life around. "I just thought if I put the work in now I can turn it around," he said. "I had a very regimented routine. I would go to the library once a week. I would do my homework from 7pm to 10pm every day from Sunday to Thursday. Same routine. "When I was preparing for my exams I would revise from 7am to midday. I was very motivated to succeed. "My mom and dad taught me to believe in myself and the importance of education." After years of pushing himself, David began seeing changes in his attainment in Years Eight and Year Nine. At Year 11 he managed to achieve 11 GCSE’s. He said: “From somebody who got a level 2B in their SATS I should [have] been getting around an F or E at GCSE. To get 11... that’s good progress. “Looking back, I didn't know how to learn. I didn't know how to revise. Then I did my A-Levels." David didn't get the grades that he had hoped for to become a phramacist. Yet he was determined to eventually become a qualified teacher after taking an access course and then a chemistry degree. He eventually became a qualified chemistry teacher at various schools in north Birmingham, teaching Chemistry at A-Level and science up to GCSE. Yet he still felt he could give back more. “I wanted to have more of a hands-on approach to maximise my potential," David said. He progressed from teaching into tuition with the launch of Potential Unlocked. The centre offers individual private tuition - a service positively impacting the lives of many children across Birmingham. One parent who has seen their child benefit is Sajad Hamin, whose daughter Jasmine has global developmental delay (GDD), dyslexia and epilepsy. “She is two years behind her age, it's much harder for her to pick up things in education," said Sajad, 35. "Since she has been at Potential Unlocked, she has really pushed along. "When she first started she was really like fussy. She wasn’t sitting down in one place and didn't really want to be educated. Now that she’s been here [the first] thing she says is tuition, she looks forward to coming.” “She’s enjoying her education, she's always got a pen in her hand. At home, she is always writing and drawing like a normal child would do. "Hopefully, going forward, she will be more educated.” Wesley Matmatma, 11, has being going to Potential Unlocked for seven years - often accompanying his older brother. "He started coming here when he was little," says mother Furthermore Matmatma, 36. "To be honest before coming here, he was not that good. Coming here it changes them. Even the way they think to the way they spell. "Here you don't only get academics but behaviour. Changing who you are. They are taught how to behave, to be humble, to listen. "They come here to be mentored as well. How to communicate with others [and] how to behave." Bryanna Hesson, 15, is another schoolchild at the tuition centre. “I was talking to a friend when I saw something on Facebook and inboxed David straight away," said her mum Faye. “I don't think her school was catering for her needs. She is a child who likes to ask a lot of questions. "I believe she needed an extra push. She comes here two days a week on a Tuesday and a Saturday. "Her progression has been fantastic. "She is getting higher marks. Teachers [are saying] all of a sudden she has improved." "Since starting at Potential Unlocked [I am] doing better at school and getting on with work better at school and making some very positive decisions," says Bryanna. And David's biggest fan is his wife Natalie Hall, who had also struggled academically as a child. "I am very, very, proud," says Natalie, 39. "I struggled at school but I thought this is why he was so determined. "Out of the pain there was purpose. "Now he is helping others. He is doing something about it instead of dwelling on the past." "I know what it is like to under-achieve. I know how it feels to turn it around," David recalled. "I have had a lot of setbacks in my life. But I have always understood about how to work to turn it around. "I say to the children. 'if you dare to believe then you will achieve.'" | [email protected] (Rakeem Hyatt) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/written-off-dyslexic-pupil-who-16663388 | 2019-08-03 04:30:00+00:00 | 1,564,821,000 | 1,567,534,923 | education | teaching and learning |
215,748 | france24--2019-06-01--Ghanaian becomes social media star by teaching pupils through dance | 2019-06-01T00:00:00 | france24 | Ghanaian becomes social media star by teaching pupils through dance | Sackey Percy, a creative arts teacher in Ghana, has risen to social media fame after posting videos of himself dancing with his pupils -- a teaching method he says makes learning easier and helps tackle truancy. He says that this is an innovative technique that makes learning easier and more fun for his pupils: “Dance builds up great companionship between the teachers and the kids, and helps to build up their self-confidence. It makes [school] attractive to the kids as well – so that they won’t miss school." Sackey teaches in a farming community, and found that family members would often take children out of class to go and work in the fields. To encourage children to stay in school, he says that pupils must feel welcome and entertained. Click on the video player above to watch FRANCE 24's report. | NEWS WIRES | https://www.france24.com/en/20190601-ghana-social-media-teaching-dance | 2019-06-01 09:26:05+00:00 | 1,559,395,565 | 1,567,539,488 | education | teaching and learning |
176,894 | eveningstandard--2019-06-18--EdTechX The role of AI and deep learning in the classrooms of the future | 2019-06-18T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | EdTechX: The role of AI and deep learning in the classrooms of the future | Students in the future will be able to personalise their learning while teachers can monitor their engagement and behaviour, according to ed-tech experts. Opening the EdTechX conference in London today, Benjamin Vedrenne-Cloquet said the future of education lies with artificial intelligence and deep learning, citing the movement towards data and "deep tech" in new ed-tech companies, away from the "lighter tech" of digitisation of content seen at the beginning of the decade. He said this would be "significant in building smart learning plans" in schools. In a panel discussion on AI's role in education, Conor O'Sullivan from Adaptemy, which uses technology to help educational publishers, pushed the case for more explainable AI in the classroom as he expressed concern that "AI now suggests something for your class and you don't know why," and added: "We are not going to risk the education of children on something untested." It comes as the Department for International Development announced the creation of the EdTech Hub today, which will benefit from £20 million of UK aid. Joining with universities and education experts from around the world, it aims to create the largest ever education and technology research and innovation project. Richard Clark, Director General at DFID, made the announcement at EdTechX this morning, emphasising the role of ed-tech in "mitigating the global learning crisis,” through “evidence based, data driven policy making.” Today, figures indicate that more than 380 million children worldwide will finish primary schools without being able to read or do basic maths. And whilst education technology in parts of Africa and Asia has previously focussed on hardware such as laptops and tablets, there are still not many opportunities for teachers to learn how to use the technology to support children’s learning, or ways of maintaining it. By partnering with the World Bank, DFID will commission research that looks at how education technology is being used, and how it can be improved. | Sian Bayley | https://www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/skills/edtechx-schools-artificial-intelligence-department-for-international-development-education-a4170076.html | 2019-06-18 12:14:00+00:00 | 1,560,874,440 | 1,567,538,849 | education | teaching and learning |
289,452 | liberaldemocratvoice--2019-09-27--The speeches that got away Investing in further education and learning throughout life | 2019-09-27T00:00:00 | liberaldemocratvoice | The speeches that got away: Investing in further education and learning throughout life | The Education motion at conference stated “The UK faces a serious skills deficit”. That is an understatement. Take for example what happens when young people fail GCSE Maths and English and move on to sixth form or college. When I taught at a general FE College, I remember a group of 17year old girls, who aspired to be nurses. I had to spend time, for example, teaching them quadratic equations when they really needed much more time improving their understanding and application of decimals, percentages, and ratio relevant to their career. Force-feeding young people to resit GCSE Maths and English which they have just failed and hated is bad education. Statistically, results show it does not work. On average 25% pass; in Maths this year only 20% passed and can we claim that even these have sufficiently improved, with a pass mark around 20 out of 100, so was it relevant to their career? This approach can even be dangerous; on more than one occasion in my lifetime a baby has died because the decimal point in a drug prescription was in the wrong place. Our party motion makes clear that young people need to develop their Maths and English in a free course that is suited to their needs. Functional skills qualifications have this year been improved, so there is no excuse. Colleges at the moment are constrained by strict funding rules. We will give colleges the freedom and resources to judge the best way to improve basic skills for everyone at age 16+. In this country skills and ‘vocational’ learning have not been given the attention they need for decades. Note these points. First, the department for Education Skills Index, shows since 2012 the contribution of skills to the nation’s productivity declined by 27%. Second, we have now the lowest on record of adults pursuing any form of education. Third, the new T-level courses due to start in September 2020 look like being under-resourced. Fourth, the new apprenticeships while welcome are failing at the lower levels; companies who pay the levy have reduced their other training provision. So, with all these recent failures to deal with the skills deficit, what does Boris Johnson do ? He removes the post of Skills Minister. This follows a period when Michael Gove distorted the whole Education curriculum by his obsession with academic learning and theoretical testing. Under the veneer of improved exam results, many feel the harmful consequences of that and those at the lower end are not catching up. So we have yet another reason for booting out Boris and Michael. This government has little understanding of the FE and Skills sector and even when it tries (like Sajid Javid has done) to entice people with a temporary hand-out for 16-19 yr olds, it has given absolutely nothing for Adult Education and Life-Long Learning. Our policy provides for each of these three. The Personal Education and Skills Accounts (PESAs) not only provide financial help for people aged 25 to 55, but does it in the right way; it puts the person who needs the learning at the centre. That’s a typical Liberal Democrat approach. * Nigel Jones is Chair of Newcastle-under-Lyme Lib Dems, Chair of Liberal Democrat Education Association, Boro' Councillor (2002 to '15) and Parliamentary Candidate (Newcastle under Lyme '10 & '17, Walsall North'15). | Nigel Jones | https://www.libdemvoice.org/the-speeches-that-got-away-investing-in-further-education-and-learning-throughout-life-62201.html | 2019-09-27 10:55:54+00:00 | 1,569,596,154 | 1,570,222,064 | education | teaching and learning |
648,925 | thedailyrecord--2019-05-21--The Scottish Learning Disability Awards 2019 - meet the talented winners who are inspiring others | 2019-05-21T00:00:00 | thedailyrecord | The Scottish Learning Disability Awards 2019 - meet the talented winners who are inspiring others | It was a night to remember, filled with tears and laughter. The audience rose to their feet to cheer the inspiring finalists and winners at this year’s Scottish Learning Disability Awards, with many moved to tears by their stories. The awards shine a spotlight on the rarely celebrated achievements of people with learning disabilities and those who work with and for them. Minister for Mental Health Clare Haughey attended the glittering ceremony, organised by the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability (SCLD) and held at the Sheraton Grand, Edinburgh, as part of Scotland’s Learning Disability Week. She told the finalists: “You are role models and have the capacity to lead others to achieve, too. “Your efforts inspire others to aspire, to dream and strive to reach their full potential. “You make our communities better places in which to live. That’s a wonderful achievement.” The awards were in eight categories: Sport Achievement, Creative Communities, Support in Work, Community Enterprise, Skills and Learning, Family Carer, Volunteering in your Community, and Community Champion. SCLD chief executive Charlie McMillan said: “Our finalists highlight the contribution that people with learning disabilities can make to their community when they are given the right opportunities and support to realise their hopes and ambitions.” We spoke to each of the winners, discovering how the Scottish Learning Disability Awards have helped to celebrate the talent and dedication of people with learning disabilities across the country. Sport transformed Lewis McDermid’s life after he had been bullied at school when he was younger. Through the encouragement of a teacher at primary school, he became involved in athletics and has gone on to great success, with 24 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze medals in disciplines ranging from the Javelin to the 100 metres. He is his school’s Ambassador for Additional Support Needs. “Sport has really helped my confidence,” said Lewis, 17. His mum, Tracey McDermid, said: “I’m so proud of him – he’s fantastic. “He’s come on leaps and bounds. He used to never speak to anyone but last year he ran for head boy and spoke in front of the whole school.” ShowDowns! Drama Group has 20 young people and adults with Down’s syndrome who work alongside volunteers to develop performances they share with audiences. The group started in 2011 and their creative ambition has grown along with their confidence as they work together in a safe environment where everyone’s contribution is valued and appreciated. They are currently working towards their most ambitious project, Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Artistic Director Clare Hume said: “I’m so proud of them all. “They’ve been absolutely amazing. They have their own interpretations of the plays and parts and I’m continually amazed and delighted with what they come up with. “They are all friends and the drama group is very sociable. They are devoted to each other and so excited to have their achievements recognised this way.” Leeann Jenkinson has hugely improved the lives and prospects of young people with learning disabilities, helping them into jobs in her role as adviser at West College Scotland. She also makes a positive difference to their lives by helping them become more confident and outgoing. Highly esteemed by the people she supports, Leeann is an exceptional job coach who is also appreciated by employers for the support and advice she provides. She said: “I was overwhelmed to be nominated and shell-shocked to have won. I love my job.” She accepted the award with one of the young people she has helped, Sean Devlin, 24, who is now a facilities management apprentice at Inverkip Community Hub, after being taken on as an intern. “People with learning disabilities make wonderful employees as they have great commitment, time keeping and work ethics,” said Leeann. The Sunshine Kitchen, based in Cupar, Fife, is a project for adults with additional support needs. They make delicious food from locally sourced produce in a supportive work environment. The Sunshine Kitchen sells food products at local farmers’ markets and also has a catering service. Director Brenda Steffens said: “We are very excited and extremely pleased to have won this award, and I’m so proud of the team who have worked so hard. “It’s lovely to see them get the chance to shine.” Chloe Hutchison, 19, said: “I’m so happy, I'm crying with happiness.” And Julia Stednit, 22, said: “I like getting together with my friends to cook.” David Mitchell was recognised for the care he gives his son, also called David, who has complex needs. He has cared for his son for all his 22 years, providing intense, round-the-clock care, while remaining a positive and enthusiastic person. “My son has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other conditions that mean he is in a wheelchair and can’t look after himself,” said David, 53, from Ladybank, Fife, who has been a single parent for the last five years and has another son, Scott, 17. “I was gobsmacked to win the award and so pleased. I’m not doing anything that any other parent wouldn’t do – he’s my bairn and you just have to get on with it as there’s no option. Dean Stewart, 31, is a volunteer making a huge difference to the lives of young people with special needs through his work at Special Needs Action Project (SNAP) in Inverness. Jenni Campbell, of SNAP, said: “Dean overcame his own challenges to become a regular volunteer, making connections with young people and helping to create a fun and positive atmosphere. “Dean is a mentor for new volunteers and a great role model for young people. “I couldn’t be more proud of him. He lights up everyone’s day.” Dean said: “I’m really pleased to have won the award. “I enjoy working and I like to share my sense of humour.” Greg Brands, 26, makes a difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities in Aberdeen through his support, enthusiasm, friendship and hard work. He volunteers at Create Aberdeen, setting up rooms and equipment for arts and performance activities, and is a DJ. Alex Constantinides, of Create Aberdeen, said: “Greg has repeatedly shown an instinct for when people need additional attention and support.” His mum, Corinne Brands, 56, said: “I’m so proud of him – I couldn't ask for a better son.” Greg said: “I’m pleased and excited to have won this award. “I love volunteering and helping other people through my music.” Kyle Garden, 32, has shown remarkable growth since he moved from his family home in the village of Buckie to his new home in the town of Elgin. Kyle cycles to his day services and travels independently around his local area. He does all his own washing and ironing, is learning to cook and takes on duties in his shared accommodation, such as making sure the house is secure. Gemma Taylor, of Cornerstone, who support Kyle, said: “We are so proud of him – he’s so much more confident and independent now. “He’s shown that having a learning disability doesn’t stop you doing what you want to do in life.” Kyle said: “I’m pleased and proud to win this award.” For more information on the Scottish Learning Disability Awards 2019, and the Scottish Commission for Learning Disability, visit scld.org.uk or follow @SCLDNews on Twitter. | Maggie Mallon | https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/scottish-learning-disability-awards-2019-16178087 | 2019-05-21 23:05:00+00:00 | 1,558,494,300 | 1,567,540,307 | education | teaching and learning |
664,025 | thedenverpost--2019-07-30--A helicopter a Porsche and a cafe boost students real-world learning on the new Cherry Creek Innov | 2019-07-30T00:00:00 | thedenverpost | A helicopter, a Porsche and a cafe boost students’ real-world learning on the new Cherry Creek Innovation Campus | Most high schools don’t have an airplane hangar. But Cherry Creek Innovation Campus is anything but an ordinary school. The helicopter and single-engine airplanes inside one of the campus’ large classrooms are part of the aircraft maintenance track, one of seven tracks that give students experience in different trades. Student orientation began Monday, and things will really get going when school starts on Aug. 12. “It’s a dream to be able to offer this to our students,” Principal Mark Morgan said. “It is a good day to be in the Cherry Creek School District.” The programs are grouped into seven “pathways,” and include hospitality and tourism, transportation, manufacturing, occupational therapy and health and wellness. Each program will provide students a taste of what a specific career field involves and allows them to work toward an industry certification. Students will be enrolled in their previous high schools but will split time between campuses during the week. The pathways are designed so that students can enter an industry right after graduation or go on to college. The innovation campus was designed in response to the rising costs of college and the student debt crisis, Morgan said. Students who repeatedly change majors or who start college and realize it isn’t for them rack up debt they don’t need. Morgan hopes the programs will help students figure out what they want to do after high school. Originally, administrators were expecting 800 students for the first year, but the district accepted 1,100 students, who applied for the first year. During Monday’s orientation, students congregated excitedly at their pathways. At the automotive program, students ran an engine test on a Porsche, donated by an industry partner, and debated the merits of foreign versus domestic cars. Jawad Ahmad, a junior at Grandview High School, has loved cars since he was a kid. He applied for the automotive program and wants to study engineering at the Colorado School of Mines after high school. He hopes the program will give him the skills to work on his car and while providing a leg up in the college admissions process. Students in the hospitality and tourism pathway gathered around a table in white chef coats in the school kitchen. Victoria Lujan, 17, chose the pathway because she wants to go to culinary school and open a pastry shop. The students will be in charge of cooking and creating a menu for the school’s cafe. They hope to eventually cater outside events. Money they earn will go back into programs for students. Jocelyn Nguyen-Reed is the teacher for the school’s IT and STEAM pathway. A graduate of Overland High School in Aurora, Nguyen-Reed said that getting create a new school is an exciting experience. “Not many teachers get an opportunity to help build a school from the ground up,” she said. The idea for the innovation campus began in spring 2015, and the campus, which cost around $43 million, was built after voters approved a 2016 bond measure. For a long time, high schools have been focused on getting students ready for a four-year degree, Morgan said. Schools need to expand so they are not just preparing students for a degree but for a career. “The world is changing, and as a school district we need to change,” Morgan said. | Carina Julig | https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/30/cherry-creek-innovation-campus-opens/ | 2019-07-30 22:38:31+00:00 | 1,564,540,711 | 1,567,535,299 | education | teaching and learning |
759,840 | theindependent--2019-05-14--Virtual Reality has the potential to transform teaching and improve learning | 2019-05-14T00:00:00 | theindependent | Virtual Reality has the potential to transform teaching and improve learning | You’ve probably heard how Virtual Reality (VR) is going to change everything: the way we work, the way we live, the way we play. Still, for every truly transformative technology, there are landfills of hoverboards, 3D televisions, Segways, and MiniDiscs – the technological scrap it turns out we didn’t need. It’s reasonable to approach VR with a degree of scepticism, but allow me to explain three ways in which VR can transform the way we learn, and why we, as psychologists, are so excited about it. VR has great potential as a classroom aid. We know learning is more effective when learners are actively engaged. Practical lessons that encourage interaction are more successful than those where content is passively absorbed. However, certain topics are difficult to ground in meaningful tasks that learners relate to. From the enormity of the universe to the cellular complexity of living organisms, our egocentric senses haven’t evolved to comprehend anything beyond the scale of ourselves. Through stereoscopic trickery and motion tracking, VR grounds counter-factual worlds in the plausible. For the first time, learners can step inside these environments and explore for themselves. Researchers are currently developing Virtual Plant Cell, the first interactive VR experience that’s designed for use in the classroom. Learners explore the alien landscape of – well – a plant cell. Wading through swampy cytosol, ducking and weaving around cytoskeletal fibres, and uncovering the secrets of the plant’s subcellular treasures: emerald green chloroplasts, where photosynthesis takes place, curious blobs of mitochondria, or a glimpse of DNA through a psychedelic nuclear pore. The inner workings of the cell are grounded, allowing students to actively engage with the lesson’s content through meaningful tasks. They may work in pairs to give each other tours, or create a photosynthetic production line. Using intuitive gestures, students grab carbon dioxide and water molecules from around the cell, feeding them to chloroplasts to produce glucose and oxygen. With all the ingredients for active learning, the Virtual Plant Cell should be a particularly effective teaching aid. Indeed, preliminary data suggests it may improve learning over traditional methods by 30%. VR for everyone and everything It’s not just the learning of “what” something is that VR can assist with, but also the learning of “how” to do something. In psychology, we make the distinction between declarative (what) and procedural (how) knowledge, precisely because the latter is formed by doing and can be applied directly to a given task. Put simply: the best way to learn a skill is by doing it. Every learner’s goal is to cultivate a large enough range of experience that individual elements can be drawn upon to meet the demands of novel problems. To this end, a great deal has been invested into training simulators for high-risk skills such as flying and surgery. But there are many lower-risk skills which would benefit from simulation, there’s just been little reason to justify investment. That is, until now. Advancements in mobile technology have led to high-definition VR sets for the price of a mid-range TV. Without the financial barrier, consumer-grade VR opens the door to improve skills training in settings where the real thing isn’t readily available. One such example would be the Virtual Landscapes programme we’ve developed at the University of Leeds. A vital part of any geologist’s training is to learn how to conduct geological surveys. Armed with a compass, GPS and a map, geologists must navigate unfamiliar terrain to make observations, ensuring they make the most of their time. VR simulation can provide this in real time, with all the tools they’d expect to have out in the field. The advantages are twofold. Student absences from field trips become less of a hindrance with access to an accurate simulation. The challenges of surveying a mountainous region differ from those in a tropical rainforest. It may be easier to see where you’re going, but your choice of path will be more constrained. VR can present these different biomes without students having to visit all corners of the Earth. The learner’s experience is expanded, and they’re better equipped to tackle novel problems in the field. VR may also hold the key to driving positive behavioural changes. One way we know we can achieve this is by eliciting empathy. VR uniquely allows people to experience alternative perspectives, even being dubbed the ultimate “empathy machine”. It’s a lofty claim, but early applications have shown promise. A recent Stanford study showed that participants who experienced becoming homeless in VR displayed more positive behaviour towards homeless people – in this case, through signing a petition demanding solutions to the housing crisis – than those who engaged with the same materials on a traditional desktop computer. This effect persisted long after the study ended. Perhaps by experiencing firsthand the challenges faced by vulnerable groups, we can share a common understanding. The power of VR to elicit empathy might be used to tackle an even wider range of social issues. We’ve been running VR outreach projects in schools to improve awareness around climate change. Through VR, young people have witnessed the melting of the icecaps, swam in the Great Barrier Reef to see the effects of receding coral on the ecosystem and rubbed shoulders with great primates whose habitats are being cleared by deforestation. Using VR, we hope to cultivate environmentally responsible behaviour before attitudes and habits become more fixed. So there you have it. By bringing previously inaccessible experiences into the classroom, VR may accelerate the learning of abstract concepts, augment the acquisition of skills, and perhaps even be a force for social change. For now, the technological scrap heap can wait. John Pickavance is a PhD researcher in cognitive science at the University of Leeds | John Pickavance | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/virtual-reality-transforming-teaching-improving-learning-a8913591.html | 2019-05-14 13:44:00+00:00 | 1,557,855,840 | 1,567,540,700 | education | teaching and learning |
790,663 | theirishtimes--2019-11-26--How simple classroom design changes can boost children’s learning | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | theirishtimes | How simple classroom design changes can boost children’s learning | Parents and students alike are often very vocal about the impact of individual teachers on children’s learning – for better or for worse. But do we ever consider the impact of classroom design and, more specifically, school chairs and desks have on our children’s ability to learn and participate in class? “Well-designed classrooms can boost learning progress in reading, writing and maths by up to 16 per cent in a single year,” says Prof Peter Barrett, emeritus professor of management in property and construction at Salford University. Prof Barrett spoke about his research into the aspects of the physical school environment that impact on the learning progress of primary school children at a conference in NUI Galway last month . “We looked at the impact of school infrastructure on learning with the assumption that major issues such as water, heating, sanitation and things like damp have already been addressed,” he explains. The subsequent study of more than 150 classrooms with over 3,750 students in primary schools across the United Kingdom found seven main factors in classrooms which impacted on student learning. Light (such as glare from south-facing windows), temperature (18-21 degrees Celsius is the ideal), air quality (significantly poor after pupils are in the same classroom for 30 minutes) were found to contribute almost 50 per cent to the impact on learning. But there were other less obvious influences on pupils’ learning. Prof Barrett’s research found that if children felt ownership of the classroom (such as names on coat hooks/lockers, their work on the walls) and had a variety of clustered/rows of desks and break-out spaces (depending on the subject being taught), they learned better. Even overly-strong colours on the walls and too many posters and project work displayed in the classroom had a negative impact on their learning. “We didn’t find any overall effect of the school itself because the classroom is the children’s world, so our advice now is to start with good classrooms and then create a good school rather that the other way round,” says Prof Barrett. He adds that he doesn’t believe in “open and flexible” as a design concept for classrooms. “If a space is too flexible and open and everyone owns everywhere, then no one owns anywhere,” he says. Michelle Bergin, occupational therapist with Community Healthcare West who organised the conference – entitled 21st Century Schools: Inclusive, Flexible & Dynamic Learning Environments – says it’s important to look at the whole school and classroom rather than just focus on the needs of individual children. “The model at the moment is that I see a child with specific needs and recommend changes for that child in the classroom but if we put in universal design guidelines – and looked at things like movement breaks or exposure to fresh air and the natural environment throughout the day, all the students will benefit,” she says. The negative impact of school chairs and desks – particularly if the chair is too big or too small for a particular student – is also a key issue. Bergin says that children move dynamically when they are sitting down. “We stop them doing that in class. And many children aren’t sitting in chairs that are the right height for them,” says Bergin. Simon Dennehy, furniture designer and researcher into school furniture, says children as young as eight are experiencing pain in their backs and their legs from poor posture from sitting at ill-fitting desks and chairs. “When children are working on a flat table, they pull their heads down towards the desk and their whole body slouches forwards,” says Dennehy. “The biggest problem is the angle of interface on the table and the chair sloping backwards. School chairs are designed for lumber support but we think pelvis support is better.” Observing primary school children in class, Dennehy says he felt “children were fighting with the furniture quite a lot of the time”. He says that the vast majority of chairs in Irish schools follow a 1983 Department of Education design brief which no longer meets current EU standards. The EU design standard specifically states that school furniture should be designed to encourage good posture. Galway-based Alexander Technique teacher Richard Brenna says school chairs are doing much more damage to children than heavy school bags. “The child bends his/her spine instead of the hip joint on a typical school chair and it’s the backward sloping chairs that are causing harm,” he says. “Even adding a wedge-shaped cushion to the chair and a writing slope to the desk are effective measures to enhance breathing and avoid bending of the spine,” says Brennan. A small study in which wedge-shaped cushions were introduced to 4th class students at Claddagh National School in Galway City found that the pupils improved their posture. The class teacher also said that the students were more settled and able to focus. But what do pupils think? Ailish O’Halloran, a pupil at Claddagh National School, says she loved the forward-slanted seat. “It was really comfortable and it stopped us leaning back on our chairs,” she said. Brandon Brown, a pupil at the same school, says that he would like more movement breaks during the school day. At Scoil Cholmáin Tuairíní, they have put hollowed-out tennis balls on the feet of school chairs to make their classroom quieter. “We’d like rounded tables in our classrooms and carpet on the floor to make it quieter,” says pupil Stephanie Walsh. “The chairs are really hard and when students swing on them and are fidgety, it makes it hard to concentrate,” adds Clodagh O’Donnell. Gwen Cantwell, occupational therapist with West Galway Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, says studies have shown that mismatched chairs and desks are causing poor posture and even pain for some children. “About 80 per cent of children are sitting at the wrong size of chair and table and they are spending 90 per cent of their time in school sitting. “And 10-36 per cent of these children have pain from using a mismatched chair size,” says Cantwell. “Schools are making decisions about classroom chairs on the basis of cost but we know flexible chairs and desks will improve posture and comfort and reduce pain. We tell children to sit straight, sit down, sit up and sit still but we have to ask is it time to change our instructions.” See cleverclassroomsdesign.co.uk for the top 10 ways to improve the primary school classroom 1. Poor air quality: Studies have found that the indoor air is of a poor quality after pupils have been in a classroom for 30 minutes. Some classrooms have windows that can’t be opened when blinds are down which make it impossible to improve the air quality and reduce temperature. 2. Over-cluttered walls and windows: While it can be great for children to see their work displayed, research has found leaving 20-50 per cent of wall space clear works best. 3. Wrong school chairs and desks: Most children sit at tables and chairs which are mismatched to children’s size and height.Recent research points to how forward-slanting seats (even those with a wedge cushion) and a forward-slanting writing slope on desks improve children’s posture while working. 4. Overuse of primary colours: Their use on walls, floors and furniture can result in an over-stimulating learning environment, especially for younger children. Latest official universal design guidelines for early learning and care settings (aim.gov.ie) recommend neutral and calm colours for walls and floors with brighter colours confined to displays – and use of natural light as much as possible. | null | https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/how-simple-classroom-design-changes-can-boost-children-s-learning-1.4082744 | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 | 1,574,744,400 | 1,574,727,950 | education | teaching and learning |
804,991 | themanchestereveningnews--2019-10-01--The school learning sign language in every class to help a deaf pupil feel included | 2019-10-01T00:00:00 | themanchestereveningnews | The school learning sign language in every class to help a deaf pupil feel included | A primary school is hoping sign language will become 'second nature' to pupils after introducing it in every classroom. Lyndhurst Primary School in Oldham celebrated International Deaf Week by signing songs in assembly last week. But it's the steps they are taking every day - introducing British sign language (BSL) into general school life - that is making such a huge difference to the lives of deaf pupil Mohammed Daud and two other children with hearing impairments. Five-year-old Daud has two cochlear implants and needs BSL and sign supported English (SSE) to access education. Staff at the school, including educational communicator Amy Scoltock and deputy head Rob Hollingsworth, want him to have just as many opportunities as the other pupils. "As a school we feel very strongly about equality," said Amy. "Our school has three hard of hearing children and we work very hard to make sure that all children are included. "We are teaching the children in school about effective communication and how to overcome barriers and become more successful communicators to one another. "Sign language is a tool that can be used for all children to support their education. As it's a visual aid it can work alongside speech as another resource." The school is now be teaching BSL weekly and using its website to encourage 'parents to get involved with the growth of deaf awareness'. Amy, who has signed for 10 years working with hearing impaired children, said it's already making a huge difference at the school. "Since introducing sign to the whole school I have seen children involve and accept Daud more as they can now communicate with him," she said. "I have seen children sign to each other 'good morning' and 'good afternoon'. We want to ensure that just like speech, in our school sign language is second nature to us all. "My passion is to ensure all the hearing impaired children are involved and can access everything in a school environment. Rob is an amazing deputy head and allows us to explore our passion and pass our knowledge and experience on freely in the school." | [email protected] (Emma Gill) | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/school-learning-sign-language-every-17012259 | 2019-10-01 16:43:22+00:00 | 1,569,962,602 | 1,570,221,851 | education | teaching and learning |
1,018,895 | thetelegraph--2019-11-06--Learning outside for just one lesson a week boosts learning and behaviour, say researchers | 2019-11-06T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Learning outside for just one lesson a week boosts learning and behaviour, say researchers | Learning outdoors for just one lesson a week boosts learning and behaviour in primary school children, researchers have said. The study, commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts and carried out by the Institute of Education at UCL, is one of the largest into the effects of outdoor activities on children’s wellbeing and views about nature. The research found that children’s wellbeing increased after they had spent time connecting with nature and that they gained educational benefits as well as wider personal and social benefits. As a result, the Wildlife Trusts are calling on the Government to ensure that at least one hour per school day is spent outdoors learning and playing in wild places. Researchers at UCL said children have "lost touch" with nature and that the benefits on the group of 450 primary school children from 12 areas in the UK were plain to see. 81 per cent of children reported having better relationships with their teachers after learning outside, 79 per cent said they had better relationships with their classmates and 79 per cent said the experience helped with their school work. Additionally, teachers and Wildlife Trust educators were also observed by the UCL research team and interviewed about their experiences. The outdoor activities involved children learning about nature, such as identifying plants and trees, reflecting on their important role in human lives and considering the needs of wildlife habitats. Professor Michael Reiss, Institute of Education, UCL, said: “Each generation seems to have less contact with the outdoors than the preceding one. We owe it to all young people to reverse this trend – for their sakes, for our sakes and for nature’s sake.” Nigel Doar, The Wildlife Trusts’ director of strategy added: “This research shows that children experience profound and diverse benefits through regular contact with nature. Contact with the wild improves children’s wellbeing, motivation and confidence. The data also highlights how children’s experiences in and around the natural world led to better relationships with their teachers and class-mates. “The Wildlife Trusts believe everyone should have the opportunity to experience the joy of wildlife in daily life and we’re calling on government to recognise the multiple benefits of nature for children – and ensure that at least one hour per school day is spent outdoors learning and playing in wild places.” | Helena Horton | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/06/learning-outside-just-one-lesson-week-boosts-learning-behaviour/ | Wed, 06 Nov 2019 23:59:00 GMT | 1,573,102,740 | 1,573,133,497 | education | teaching and learning |
1,043,765 | thinkprogress--2019-01-24--Natural disasters impact childrens longterm learning abilities new study suggests | 2019-01-24T00:00:00 | thinkprogress | Natural disasters impact children’s longterm learning abilities, new study suggests | As climate change intensifies natural disasters, researchers want to understand how the tumult impacts children’s mental health and learning abilities. That’s the subject of a new study published in the journal Child Development on Thursday, which found that natural disasters may increase the chance that a child’s learning abilities will be reduced — even years after the event. Researchers from the University of Melbourne reached that conclusion after examining the academic scores of more than 24,600 primary school children in Victoria, Australia two and four years after major bushfires fueled by a record-breaking heat wave in 2009. That year, temperatures hit 117°F in rural Victoria on February 7. Temperature records had been breaking across southern Australia for the past month amid an ongoing heat wave, and that day, as winds gusted at over 60 miles per hour, multiple bush fires broke out — among the worst in the country’s history. Over the next few weeks, 1.1 million acres burned, destroying two townships and killing 173 people, including 35 children and young people. Sixteen children were orphaned, and many others were left injured and traumatized. Three schools and at least three pre-schools were destroyed, leaving many staff and students living in temporary housing for up to two years. The situation in Victoria is similar to what recently played out in Butte County, California last November. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed more than 13,000 homes, and the entire town of Paradise was wiped out — it was the worst fire in California’s history. The Australian researchers found that reading and numeracy skills did not progress as they should have for the students attending school in areas highly affected by the 2009 fires. Test scores in these areas were lower than the scores for children in areas more highly impacted by the bush fires. In other words, a reduction in learning levels corresponded with higher levels of bushfire impact. According to Lisa Gibbs, one of the study’s authors from the University of Melbourne, a child’s learning abilities will typically progress each year. But that wasn’t the case for the children in the most affected areas of Victoria. “What we found was that actually, for these kids… they didn’t progress as you would’ve expected,” she told ThinkProgress. Most studies examining the impact of natural disasters on children’s learning abilities look at a short-term window, up to three years after the event. Thursday’s study is one of the few to study a longer time period, explained Gibbs. “I think it’s probably self-evident that people will experience distress and that will affect their ability to function — that’s just a normal response to a very abnormal experience,” she said. “What I was interested in was: How does that play out over time?” Taking a longer-term look is important, the study notes, because some symptoms might not show up immediately. There’s also the potential for these early impacts on children to “affect perceptions of capability, aspirations, and long-term educational and employment pathways.” According to the study’s researchers, one of the reasons why students’ numeracy and reading abilities were highly affected was likely because these skills require higher levels of concentration. Another reason could be that the underlying cognitive skills required for these subjects are known to be impacted by early trauma experiences. But there are also outside factors that may attribute to reduced learning. It may be the result of reading at home decreasing due to parents also experiencing mental health impacts from the fires. Or it could be that a significant amount of the educational infrastructure in the area was damaged. “I think all too often, historically people have had these thoughts that oh, kids are resilient and oh, we can bounce back… And while many kids are able to cope and adapt effectively following disasters, following trauma, a very sizable portion of youth exhibit a range of consequences, ones that affect their mental health, their social and emotional well-being,” said Ryan Kilmer, a professor of psychology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Kilmer studied mental health in children after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. This new study’s general findings, Kilmer told ThinkProgress, appear to be in line with other academic literature that has found disasters — and trauma more generally — impacts “scholastic functioning.” Trauma can manifest in a variety of ways in children, whether that’s anxiety, sadness, acting out, headaches, stomach aches, or difficulty sleeping. “When we start looking at these different effects, particularly in combination,” said Kilmer, “[they] can contribute to attention and concentration and therefore learning.” But, as the study’s researchers noted, there’s the chance that the negative impacts of trauma can be mitigated by schools taking a proactive approach to their post-disaster response. For instance, schools in Australia following the bushfires did initiate support programs, such as government-sponsored training programs for teachers, principals, and support staff to address mental health and learning abilities among students. “What we’re trying to understand is: Can we make a difference here?” said Gibbs. And as climate change continues to make storms and wildfires more intense, it raises questions about how these type of resilience-building efforts can help children better cope, Gibbs said. Kilmer agreed. “People really see schools as such a source of continuity, of structure — a way we can reclaim normalcy in the context of what may be a new normal,” he said. In the years since Hurricane Katrina hit, there have been more evidence-based post-disaster interventions that Kilmer believes can help address social, emotional, and mental health concerns in children. And, more broadly than responding to natural disasters, there’s been a growing acknowledgement of the need for “trauma-informed schools,” he said. It’s not just about the children, but also about parents and teachers, he emphasized — both in helping them cope with their own trauma and helping them understand the best ways they can help children cope. After this December’s winter break, more than 2,500 students in Paradise, California returned to school after the deadliest fire in the state’s history. To help, the Butte County Office of Education made addressing childhood trauma a top priority. It established a new position — coordinator of trauma response and recovery — and more than 200 volunteer mental health professionals came to the region to work with staff and students. Longer-term plans, however, are still being developed. “We’ve pretty much been in crisis mode up until this point,” Scott Lindstrom, the trauma and response coordinator, told EdSource. “We’re just now starting to think about creating a larger vision.” In post-disaster contexts, responses and decisions often happen quickly. But “we need to recognize when were are responding in the immediate aftermath that there are going to be these longer-term implications,” Kilmer said. After Hurricane Katrina, for instance, families were still displaced two years later. And they were still struggling, he said, including needing academic support for their children. These issues are “really salient” in the initial days and months after a disaster, Kilmer said. But the impacts last longer than that — which means, according to Kilmer, “we need to take the long view in our short-term responses.” | Kyla Mandel | https://thinkprogress.org/study-suggests-natural-disasters-impact-childrens-longterm-learning-926e2f65c0de/ | 2019-01-24 14:26:08+00:00 | 1,548,357,968 | 1,567,551,076 | education | teaching and learning |
656,200 | thedcclothesline--2019-03-11--The Strange Death of Europe Muslims Never Integrate Into a Host Country | 2019-03-11T00:00:00 | thedcclothesline | The Strange Death of Europe: Muslims Never Integrate Into a Host Country | Part 7. “Immigrants devoted to their own cultures and religions are not influenced by the secular politically correct façade that dominates academia, news-media, entertainment, education, religious and political thinking today,” said James Walsh, former Associate General Counsel of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. “They claim the right not to assimilate, and the day is coming when the question will be how can the United States regulate the defiantly unassimilated cultures, religions and mores of foreign lands? Such immigrants say their traditions trump the U.S. legal system. Balkanization of the United States has begun.” In March 2019, the two new Muslim women in the U.S. House of Representatives, one from the stacked Muslim immigrant crowd from Detroit, and the other in “Somaliland” Minneapolis, Minnesota, move fast to enact five Muslim holidays into Federal Law. Ihan Omar of Somalia, voted into the House, and her sidekick, Rashida Tlaib, who wrapped herself into a Palestinian flag when she won a House seat, have pressed for eradication of ICE and DHS. Soon, they will submit bills to increase Muslim immigration and chain-migration numbers. With their increased numbers, they will introduce bills to enact Sharia Laws in America. Already in Great Britain, 150 Sharia Law courts operate along with 50 Sharia Law city councils. We’re already seeing it in cities in Texas. Additionally, we see 30 Sharia Law cop cars now patrolling the streets of Muslim-dominated areas on New York City. Former Muslim Amil Imani wrote, “In model, Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, for instance, women do not dare complain about their Allah-decreed chattel status. If they protest in the least, they are beaten by their husbands. And if they dare to demonstrate in public for equal family rights with men, they get severe beatings by the police and are hauled to jails for additional indignities and violence.” Note that the United Nations reported a minimum of 20,000 ‘honor killings’ of women in Islamic-dominated countries, annually. They can be killed for any reason, such as a husband wants a third wife, but cannot afford her, so, he kills one of his wives, to make space for another wife. Muslims can kill their wives if they feel she has dishonored him. Muslim women fear for their lives every day of their lives. And talk about sexual mistreatment! In his book, The Strange Death of Europe, Douglas Murray wrote, “Another story related events at an asylum center the day before. On the evening of September 27, 2017, a migrant called police from a Berlin center to say that he had seen another migrant abusing a child in the bushes. Three policemen arrived to find a 27-year-old Pakistani still in the bushes raping a six-year-old Iraqi girl.” Imani wrote, “In Islamic societies, freedom of expression, worship, and assembly are taken away. Women are indeed treated as chattel. Young girls are subjected to barbaric genital mutilation to make them sex slaves and birth channels. Minors are executed, adulterers are stoned to death, thieves have their limbs amputated, and much, much more. Isn’t that everyone’s idea of paradise?” I can share with you this: reading this book gives you an uneasy understanding and foreboding reality check as to what’s coming into America. Any fool can see that we commit our own suicide as a culture, language and way of life. You’ve heard the saying, “The American People”, but today we fail to meet that statement because we are becoming every other country’s people. Murray wrote, “In Holland, Denmark and other countries across Europe, politicians who oppose mass immigration, exist in a state of permanent police protection, change their sleeping arrangements most nights and sometimes live on army bases. “The politicians that remain politically correct ensure that Europe is the only place in the world that belongs to the world, not to Europeans. By the middle of this century, China will still look like China and India will look like India as well as Russia like Russia, but not Europe ever again.” The London think tank asked 10,000 people across ten European countries whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement, ‘All further Muslim immigration should be stopped.’ The vast majority agreed with that statement. Unfortunately, it’s too late with 50 million plus Muslims already embedded in Europe. Immigrants maintain that they own their new countries. One said, “We refugees do not want to live in the same country with you. You can, and I think you should, leave Germany. Germany does not fit you anymore. Why do you live here? Look for a new home.” As you read the quote at the beginning of this column, you must ask yourself what America will do with, how will we cope with, and what kind of a future will be in store for our kids with the projected 100 million legal immigrants added by 2050? What do I see? From my own international experiences in such overpopulated, over-multiculturalized, over-diversified and completely fragmented societies—two outcomes: one would be a slow boil into becoming a third world country with illiteracy, entrenched poverty, racial strife, ethnic tribalism, enclaves of similar immigrants separating from American society, conflicting languages and tremendous confusion and loss of identity. Example: India. And, with more and more illiterate third world people, welfare rolls that break all our systems down. Additionally, our standard of living and quality of life degrade into the sewer. Second scenario: I see tremendous racial and religious conflict. As we add another 100 million third world immigrants with ZERO compatibility with Americans, as well as NO cultural ability to function in a first world country, I see our Republic degrading into whites against Muslims, blacks against Hispanics. And all three ethnic groups against themselves. I see horrific Sharia Law enclaves that degrade democracy into a standing joke. Women’s rights? Gone! I see total breakdown of American identity. You already hear it: “I am a Muslim-American” or “Pakistani-American”, which is an oxymoron because Muslim cannot and do not possess any affinity to U.S. Constitutional Law. Why? Because the Quran is a political-religious-economic system totally counter to U.S. capitalism, separation of church and state, and the rule of Constitutional law. In an Islamic country, Muslims can legally kill anyone who chooses another religion other than Islam. I see our entire environment and quality of life degraded beyond recognition from what we enjoy today. Our cities will be gridlocked and air-polluted beyond solving. Our water shortages will become acute, irreversible and unsolvable. When oil exhausts itself, food shortages will drag us under. We face horrific consequences as to energy and resource depletion. Over 100 to 500 different languages from all these immigrants will create 100 to 500 different world views that cannot and will not EVER share the same page as to ethos of America. In other words, we face an unmanageable future with unmanageable ethnic groups and languages bent on having their cultures mandated and ours dissolved. At some point, we will face a Mt. Everest of problems that cannot be solved. What can we do to stop this dismal future in America? Solution: stop all immigration into America for the next 20 years. Help them in their own countries. Frosty Wooldridge, math-science teacher, Golden, Colorado, has bicycled across six continents in the past 40 years to see world conditions and countries up close and personal. He speaks at civic groups, political clubs and colleges around the United States on immigration-population-quality of life issues facing America. He may be reached at www. HowToLiveALifeOfAdventure.com | Frosty Wooldridge | https://www.dcclothesline.com/2019/03/11/the-strange-death-of-europe-muslims-never-integrate-into-a-host-country/ | 2019-03-11 16:05:15+00:00 | 1,552,334,715 | 1,567,546,773 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
719,663 | thehill--2019-01-01--Conservative Supreme Court could reverse decades of First Amendment law | 2019-01-01T00:00:00 | thehill | Conservative Supreme Court could reverse decades of First Amendment law | The American Legion and its supporters recently filed initial briefs in The American Legion v. American Humanist Association, a Supreme Court case to be argued in February concerning the constitutionality of a four-foot, 90-year-old memorial cross displayed and maintained by a state agency in Bladensburg, Maryland. Depending on how the court rules, however, much more is at stake. Now that the court has turned decidedly to the right with the confirmation of President Trump Donald John TrumpWhite House: Pelosi's plan to reopen the government 'a non-starter' Warren pledges to donate salary during shutdown Trump campaign manager hits back at Romney over op-ed slamming president's character MORE’s nominees, Justices Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael KavanaughTweets, confirmations and rallies: Trump's year in numbers Conservative Supreme Court could reverse decades of First Amendment law The Top Ten Democrats for 2020 MORE and Neil Gorsuch, the American Legion’s lawyers and supporters are arguing that the court should upend numerous court decisions and rule that government can legally take action to promote or endorse a specific religion. This would effectively turn those who do not believe in that religion into second-class citizens. Specifically, even though the formal questions presented in the case relate narrowly to whether the Bladensburg cross violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, the first legal argument in the American Legion’s brief proclaims broadly that “coercion, not endorsement, is the proper standard” to judge Establishment Clause claims. Former Reagan Justice Department lawyer Michael Carvin and the conservative First Liberty Institute urge in the brief that the court should “clarify” that “coercive state activity” is required to violate the First Amendment. This should be “compulsion by law” to “coerce belief in, observance of, or financial support for religion” by government, they claim. It is perfectly legal for government to promote or endorse a religion, they assert, regardless of whether it results in “feelings of offense and exclusion,” since government is free to promote other non-religious messages even if some disagree. Friend-of-the-court briefs by groups such as Liberty Counsel, the Becket Fund, and the American Association of Christian Schools make similar arguments. The best answers to these claims were provided by Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices years ago in response to efforts by Justice Antonin Scalia and others to adopt the coercion standard. In Lee v. Weisman (1992), Justice David Souter carefully demonstrated that the First Amendment’s history shows the Founders “extended their prohibition” to include government action that endorsed or promoted religion, not just coercion. Otherwise, he explained, the Establishment Clause would have been duplicative of the Free Exercise Clause, which clearly prohibits government action that coerces religious belief or practice. Government can promote other views in foreign or domestic policy, Souter explained, because there is no constitutional prohibition on such endorsement as the Establishment Clause, which makes religious beliefs “irrelevant to every citizen’s standing in the political community.” Justice Sandra Day O’Connor explained further in her influential opinion in Lynch v. Donnelly (1984): the Establishment Clause prohibits government action that has “the effect of communicating a message of government endorsement or disparagement of religion,” since such action sends a clear “message to non-adherents that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community.” In his opinion in Lee v. Weisman, Justice Harry Blackmun traced the court’s precedents against government endorsement back to the first case in which the court made clear that the Establishment Clause applies to the states, Everson v. Board of Education in 1947, and pointedly reminded us that government “cannot be premised on the belief that all persons are created equal when it asserts that God prefers some.” In fact, precisely such consequences could flow if the court abandons precedent and adopts the coercion standard. Such a ruling would do far more than uphold historic memorial crosses as in Maryland. It would also sanction erection of new public crosses tomorrow on top of public schools, near state courthouses, and next to houses of Congress. Public school teacher-led Protestant prayer would be permitted, so long as students could stand out in the hall if they objected, directly contradicting 50-year-old court decisions. In some communities, some might push for official Catholic, Islamic or Jewish prayer instead, leading to the “anguish, hardship and bitter strife” predicted by the court in Engel v. Vitale when religious groups struggle for the government’s “stamp of approval.” Official banners proclaiming that “America is a Christian nation” could be posted at the White House and some state capitols, while public government banners in other states could proclaim that “We Believe Americans Should be Secular, Not Religious.” Without the government as a truly neutral party, religious conflict in America can only grow worse. Of course, none of this needs to, or should, happen as a result of this Bladensburg case. Even the American Legion’s brief acknowledges that the court can uphold the presence of the memorial cross without changing Establishment Clause jurisprudence, and hopefully at least one of the court’s five conservative members, such as Chief Justice Roberts, will see no need to go as far as far-right advocates are pushing. But if the five Trump- and Bush-appointed justices adopt the coercion test being pushed by the American Legion and its allies, all Americans will suffer the consequences. Such a decision would be only among the first in which the current 5-4 majority overrules precedent and harms our rights and liberties. Elliot Mincberg is a senior fellow at People For the American Way and a former chief oversight counsel for the House Judiciary Committee. | Elliot Mincberg, opinion contributor | https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/423129-conservative-supreme-court-could-reverse-decades-of-first-amendment-law | 2019-01-01 19:00:07+00:00 | 1,546,387,207 | 1,567,554,309 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
745,023 | theindependent--2019-02-03--Nissanaposs Sunderland snub over Brexit is further proof of the Toriesapos failure to lead the c | 2019-02-03T00:00:00 | theindependent | Nissan's Sunderland snub over Brexit is further proof of the Tories' failure to lead the country | Almost two thirds of Sunderland’s electorate voted to leave the EU, despite a warning by Nissan of the advantages of remaining within the EU. Now Nissan is pulling investment on the future X-Trail SUV. The pro-Brexit lobby will claim that this has nothing to do with Brexit, but a survey of more than 1,200 companies, published on 1 February from the Institute of Directors, shows that nearly a third of companies are either moving or actively considering doing so in connection with Brexit. This is why Brexiteers are terrified of allowing the people to now have an informed say on whether they wish to accept the consequences of the lies, fantasies and wishful thinking spewed out at the referendum. Governments are supposed to lead, and to lead in the interests of the nation. Focusing on placating dogmatists and fanatics is not leadership. Cowering behind “the will of the people” – a narrow decision based on fantasies and falsehoods, underpinned by obscure funding which has attracted serious questions – is not leadership. For this government to then manoeuvre to drive the nation down what is now evidently a disastrous course is simply irresponsible. The Conservative party does not lead. It has shown itself entirely derelict in its duty to the nation. Sean O’Grady’s article, “Nissan’s U-turn is the beginning of the end for Britain’s revived car industry” (3 February) paints a bleak but realistic picture. But he proudly voted for Brexit. Is this the primary problem with our Brexit dichotomy? One seriously wonders how crazy and serious things have to get before the political classes wake up to this crisis. The latest blow is from Nissan and the almost certain decision not to build the X-trail model in Sunderland. We are already only too aware of other car manufacturers cutting back; only a fool would ignore such corporate manoeuvrings. But what have we heard from the Labour party in the last few days? The old chestnut of fighting for a general election. They must get a grip, the next general election will be 2022 and by that time tens of thousands of Labour voters’ jobs will have evaporated. And if they do manage to gain power at that point, I predict some crazy scheme of nationalising the remnants of the car industry. Anyone over 50 should be able to remember British Leyland. For goodness’ sake, are we to have a rerun of the shambles of that era? A moribund economy, crippled NHS, high unemployment, anger, crazy populist parties, and an endless campaign to rejoin the EU. This is what we have to look forward to. It's not so much riots as a result of no deal that authorities need to be concerned with, but civil unrest if there's no Brexit, a seriously delayed Brexit or a losers' vote. Over the last few weeks, I've heard less sense from MPs on important issues that affect us all than from David Attenborough, Jamie Oliver, Martin Lewis, Chris Packham and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall combined. The letter from Amanda Spielman, head of Ofsted, to Damian Hinds (reported 1 February) about Steiner schools raises serious and concerning questions. It discloses that Spielman lumps all Steiner schools together and questions Steiner pedagogy itself. Steiner schools may share a common approach to education, but they are not an homogenous group. Our school (Steiner Academy Bristol) is entirely free-standing as are all the other state-funded Steiner academies and we should be assessed on our own merits. We contend that this did not happen with our own inspection in November which we assert was flawed from beginning to end. It is for this reason we are applying for the inspection to be judicially reviewed. The key feature of Steiner pedagogy is that it is age-appropriate and takes a holistic approach to child development. Around the world, and in countries that top the world league tables, state-funded Steiner schools are held up as beacons of effective education. Much academic research now endorses the Steiner approach. Does Ofsted understand this at all? Or do they have a standardised, one-size-fits-all view of education? Are we seeing a campaign against a different way of educating our children? If so, that is deeply worrying and arguably discriminatory. Najah al-Otaibi has misrepresented history by claiming that Pope Francis's visit to the UAE will be the first of its kind to the Islamic world. Pope Francis has visited Turkey, Jordan and the Palestinian territories. In Turkey, his holiness prayed at the blue mosque, and in the holy land, he visited the Jordan river where Jesus Christ was baptised by John. In Palestine, he visited the church of the nativity, the birthplace of Jesus and prayed for peaceful coexistence, universal harmony and healing in our time. We face formidable challenges from sectarian strife, ignorance, distrust, inter-religious conflicts to poverty and unemployment. Let us hope that his holiness's visit will bridge relations between the Christian and Muslim world, and create an invincible defence against those who sow division and discord. The Independent has launched its #FinalSay campaign to demand that voters are given a voice on the final Brexit deal. Sign our petition here | Letters | http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/nissan-brexit-sunderland-car-no-deal-x-trail-japan-a8761016.html | 2019-02-03 14:54:00+00:00 | 1,549,223,640 | 1,567,549,758 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
1,065,334 | unian--2019-10-18--Rada to probe Russian influence on TV, info warfare operations | 2019-10-18T00:00:00 | unian | Rada to probe Russian influence on TV, info warfare operations | The investigation will work on repelling Russia's information aggression and target the deals on the acquisition of TV channels. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has set up an interim investigation commission to probe "compliance with the requirements of the law in the process of information television channels changing their owners and ensuring counteraction to the information influence of the Russian Federation." The corresponding resolution notes that the Commission's goal is to prevent monopolization in the information and TV broadcasting market, to limit the influence of the Russian Federation on the information space, and to counter threats to national security in the information space. Among the main tasks is conducting a comprehensive check of the circumstances of the acquisition, sources of payment and receipt of funds during the change of ownership at NewsOne, 112 Ukraine, and ZIK TV channels; a study to identify persons who directly or indirectly participated in the process of changing the owners of these channels, who are their ultimate beneficiaries, and who affect their editorial policy; verification of information on the systematic dissemination by certain Ukrainian television channels of narratives and messages that could threaten national security, defense and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It is also planned to conduct an investigation into special info warfare operations carried out by TV channels aimed at undermining defense, demoralizing Ukrainian military, provoking extremism, feeding panic, aggravating and destabilizing the socio-political and socio-economic situation, inciting ethnic and religious conflicts in Ukraine and other manifestations of threats to information security of Ukraine. The decision notes that if sufficient grounds are established, the issue of bringing the perpetrators to justice shall be initiated. The Commission will operate for six months. As UNIAN reported earlier, ZIK TV was acquired by Taras Kozak, who is considered an ally of Viktor Medvedchuk, Vladimir Putin's major political operative in Ukraine. Thus, Kozak's media assets now include three TV channels: 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, and ZIK TV. | null | https://www.unian.info/society/10723374-rada-to-probe-russian-influence-on-tv-info-warfare-operations.html | Fri, 18 Oct 2019 10:40:00 +0300 | 1,571,409,600 | 1,571,417,926 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
1,091,106 | vox--2019-07-20--Trump met a lot of refugees and seemed to learn about their crises for the very first time | 2019-07-20T00:00:00 | vox | Trump met a lot of refugees and seemed to learn about their crises for the very first time | In a meeting with victims of religious persecution on Wednesday, President Donald Trump repeatedly appeared to be unaware of many of the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises. Trump met with more than two dozen survivors of religious conflict, a few of whom told their stories — and made impassioned entreaties for aid — directly to the president. As he asked questions of his guests, the president seemed to reveal a stark lack of familiarity with the fundamental details of problems faced by Rohingya in Myanmar, Uighurs in China, and Yazidis in Iraq — groups in crisis that his own administration has established positions and policies on. On multiple occasions, Trump asked refugees among the group where the conflicts they were fleeing were taking place. Mohib Ullah, a Rohingya man who had escaped violence in Myanmar, explained that he was staying in a refugee camp in neighboring Bangladesh and asked the president what his plans are to help his beleaguered people. Trump replied by asking, “And where is that, exactly? Where?” It was unclear if Trump was referring to the country that Ullah had fled or was staying in, but Ullah repeated that he was staying in Bangladesh, and Sam Brownback, the US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, attempted to intervene by explaining that Bangladesh is “next to Burma [an older term for Myanmar]” and that “the Rohingya have been run out.” The president replied, “Thank you, appreciate it,” and moved on without ever answering Ullah’s question. The Trump administration’s official position is that Myanmar has engaged in “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya, a long-persecuted Muslim minority group, and it has imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on its military leaders for their human rights abuses. In fact, just one day before Trump’s meeting, the administration announced new sanctions barring military leaders from Myanmar from entering the US because of their extrajudicial killings of Rohingya. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the new sanctions were being levied because he and the rest of the administration “remain concerned that the Burmese government has taken no actions to hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations and abuses, and there are continued reports of the Burmese military committing human rights violations and abuses throughout the country.” Trump, however, did not mention these sanctions to Ullah, and based on his questions, did not appear to be overly familiar with the conflict between the Rohingya and the government and military of Myanmar in the first place. Trump also seemed almost entirely unacquainted with the oppression of Uighurs, China’s predominantly Muslim minority. When Jewher Ilham, a Uighur woman, said that millions of her people have been locked up in “concentration camps” and that she hadn’t seen her detained father since 2013, Trump again replied as if he was hearing about the crisis for the first time. “Where is that? Where is that in China?” he asked. After Ilham explained that Uighurs live in western China in the Xinjiang province, Trump proceeded to ask her how long her father had been gone, even though Ilham had told him in her introduction. After a brief back-and-forth about how often Ilham communicated with her father, Trump declared, “That’s tough stuff,” and moved on. China treats its entire Uighur population as a national security threat and has established one of the most high-tech and invasive surveillance regimes in the world to regulate it. The Pentagon has described the mass detainment of Uighurs as “concentration camps,” and they have been a major point of tension between the US and China as they navigate trade talks; Chinese President Xi Jinping has reportedly asked the US to remain silent on the camps should the Trump administration like its trade talks with China to be successful. The president also had an awkward exchange with Nadia Murad, a Yazidi refugee from Iraq who escaped captivity by ISIS. Trump again did not appear to pay close attention to her testimony, asking Murad where her family members were right after she’d told the president they had been killed. Trump tried to steer the conversation toward the topic of ISIS no longer being in Sinjar, a town that has long been the home to the Yazidi ethnic and religious minority, but Murad explained that ISIS wasn’t the issue. Instead, she explained Yazidi refugees are afraid to return because of security and political concerns. “Now there is no ISIS, but we cannot go back because Kurdish government and the Iraqi government, they are fighting each other who will control my area,” she said. “And we cannot go back, if we cannot protect our dignity, our family.” “But now ISIS is gone. Now it’s Kurdish and who?” Trump asked. Murad again explained that security forces are of concern to her people. There have been reports of skirmishes in the Yazidi homeland as the Iraqi government works to retake control from militias and the remnants of US-backed Kurdish forces. After Murad elaborated on safety concerns, Trump pivoted, asking her about the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in 2018 — Murad was given the prize for her advocacy for the Yazidis. The group was attacked by ISIS in 2014; several thousand were killed, and more than 3,000 others were taken as slaves, including sex slaves. The activist told the president she was given the prize for speaking out about her time as a slave and her escape from bondage, as well as her work on behalf of the thousands of Yazidi women raped by ISIS troops. “Let me look; we’re going to look,” Trump responded. Ultimately, the timing of the meeting, intended to project an image of the Trump administration’s dedication to protecting refugees persecuted for their religions, was rather ironic. Immediately afterward, the president attended a rally and whipped up xenophobic anger at perhaps the most prominent refugee in American politics, herself a US religious minority. And the next day, Politico reported that security officials in the Trump administration are considering cutting refugee admissions “to nearly zero” next year. | Zeeshan Aleem | https://www.vox.com/2019/7/20/20701802/donald-trump-nadia-murad-yazidi-uighur-rohingya-refugees-iraq-china-myanmar | 2019-07-20 15:44:00+00:00 | 1,563,651,840 | 1,567,536,359 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
1,107,056 | windowoneurasiablog--2019-01-07--Moscow Patriarchate Churches in Western Ukraine Shifting to OCU But Those in East Arent | 2019-01-07T00:00:00 | windowoneurasiablog | Moscow Patriarchate Churches in Western Ukraine Shifting to OCU But Those in East Aren’t | Staunton, January 6 – More than 40 parishes which had been subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate’s church in Ukraine have chosen to change their affiliation to the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, but so far all of those have been in the west or central regions of the country rather than in the historically ethnically Russian regions in the east, Radio Liberty reports. Four Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate congregations have made the change in affiliation in Lviv, four in Khelmnitsky, three in Chernovitsy, two in Ternopol, and two in Volhynia, all in the west. Twenty in Vinnnitsa oblast have done so as well ( In addition, four communities in central Ukraine have made the shift: two in Cherkassk, one in Kyiv, and one in Dneprpetrovsk. But in the eastern portion of Ukraine, RFE/RL reports, “not a single community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has declared its desire to shift to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. This pattern is not unexpected: parishioners in the western and central portions of Ukraine are more likely to be nationalistically inclined and thus respond to the autocephaly declaration by making a change, while those in the east are less nationalist historically and thus less likely to take the lead in this regard. In the short term, that may exacerbate ethnic tensions and make the two churches more “nationalist” than would otherwise be the case, something that both the religious and secular authorities will have to watch out for lest the Russian side exploit this division to trigger ethno-religious conflicts as many in Moscow have threatened to do. | paul goble ([email protected]) | http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/01/moscow-patriarchate-churches-in-western.html | 2019-01-07 00:06:00.001000+00:00 | 1,546,837,560 | 1,567,553,605 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
1,108,568 | windowoneurasiablog--2019-09-10--Where Everyone is a Newcomer Islamic Identities in the Russian North | 2019-09-10T00:00:00 | windowoneurasiablog | ‘Where Everyone is a Newcomer’ – Islamic Identities in the Russian North | Staunt on, September 6 – Many of the most serious ethnic and religious conflicts in the Russian Federation occur when a new group enters a territory whose longtime residents consider the region their own and view any new arrivals as an alien threat. But where this division is absent because everyone is a relative newcomer, such tensions are reduced if not eliminated. In a new study, Marlene Laruelle and Sophie Hohmann suggest that relations between Russians and Muslims are different in Russia’s Arctic cities because the Muslims there believe that “everyone is an immigrant” ( f Arctic cities have described themselves as living n an island separated fr ntinent’ (materik) – and this tradition continues … Am ng Muslim communities” in these cities, “there prevails an even str That has c ns between ethnic Russians and Muslims as communities and f r the way in which the Muslim community there has taken shape. The Muslims as migrants “largely h r the pioneering atmosphere f Russia’s Arctic cities, insisting n the fact that ‘everyb They behave differently and s d the Russians am m they live; and as a result, Laruelle and H wer than in the c lises,” although such c t entirely absent. But the sense that everyone is part At the same time, the Muslim community, which consists , f cuses less n the l gical divisi ns than d Muslims elsewhere. At the “ fficial” level,” f r example the 59 registered m sques in the N rth welc me b th Sunnis and Shiia and all f ur legal sch ls f Sunni Islam. Laruelle and H hmann d n t say, but this lack f divisi n is als f und in many ther places in the Russian Federati n largely because S viet anti-religi us eff rts left the Muslim p pulati n with ut a sophisticated understanding f these differences and thus paved the way f r a m re “ecumenical” approach than in places where religious knowledge is greater. rth are “supra-ethnic.” That is, they accept “every Muslim n n. In the majority of cases, imams and funders may be Tatar, Bashkir, or Azerbaijani, but everyday followers are mostly North Caucasians, Uzbeks, or Tajiks.” And they p int ut that “preaching takes place in Russian, the only language shared by all these communities.” What their findings suggest is that except f th sides, the Russian and Muslim communities in the Russian N ther than is the case in m uth and that the Muslim community itself is bec trends are mutually reinforcing, but there is a risk that the further integrati ne especially as the Muslim communities there continue t At the very least, this development c | paul goble ([email protected]) | http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2019/09/where-everyone-is-newcomer-islamic.html | 2019-09-10 10:33:00.001000+00:00 | 1,568,125,980 | 1,569,330,567 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
286 | 21stcenturywire--2019-04-25--Sri Lanka Supposed ISIS Attack Targets Another Ally of China | 2019-04-25T00:00:00 | 21stcenturywire | Sri Lanka: Supposed ‘ISIS’ Attack Targets Another Ally of China | Heavy security as military deployed to churches in Sri lanka following a string of attacks on Easter Sunday (Image Source: Tamil Guardian) The recent, tragic Easter attack in the South Asian state of Sri Lanka – killing and injuring hundreds – follows a now unfortunately all too familiar formula. The New York Times has reported in its article, “What We Know and Don’t Know About the Sri Lanka Attacks,” that: It is also reported that these extremists received assistance for the large-scale attack from foreign sponsors. The attack has put Sri Lanka on the map for many in the general public for the first time – but for all the wrong reasons. Sri Lanka has recently and decisively pivoted toward Beijing as a major partner of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. This is despite Washington’s best efforts to prevent it from doing so. Consequently, extremists fuelled by Washington’s “clash of civilizations” have helped set the stage for growing violence between Sir Lanka’s majority Buddhists and its minority Muslim communities. The resulting violence serves as a medium for US coercion, destabilization, and intervention aimed at undermining Sri Lanka’s unity as a nation, and thus its viability as a partner for China. A nearly identical ploy has been used in nearby Myanmar where US-backed Buddhist extremists battle against US-Saudi-Qatari backed extremism rising from the ranks of the nation’s Muslim Rohingya minority. The resulting violence and growing humanitarian crisis – without coincidence – is unfolding in Myanmar’s Rakhine state – precisely where China is attempting to build another leg of its region-spanning OBOR initiative. Sri Lanka has signed on to OBOR in a big way, with major rail, port, airport, and highway projects all moving forward with Beijing’s support. Sri Lanka is also considered by Western policymakers as one of several among China’s strategic “String of Pearls,” strong points where China can secure maritime routes through waters traditionally dominated by the United States. These projects are derided across the Western media with headlines like the New York Times’ article, “How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port” and France24’s article, “In Sri Lanka, the new Chinese Silk Road is a disappointment” – characterizing Washington’s growing opposition to China’s expanding influence across Asia – a region Washington has long presumed primacy over. Washington’s ability to compete with China regarding regional development is nonexistent. Instead, the US has tried to tempt nations like Sri Lanka with military aid. AFP in an article titled, “US gives Sri Lankan military US$39 million, countering China’s investments in strategic island,” would claim: This “free, open, and rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region,” is how the US regularly refers to US primacy in Asia throughout policy papers, diplomatic statements, and even political speeches. It is obvious that “military aid” can in no way compete with massive investments by China aimed at spurring national development through tangible infrastructure projects. America’s inability to compete openly and on equal economic footing has given way to political interference and even the use of violence. In Myanmar, the US is documented to have supported ethnic violence for years. The US all but installed current “State Counsellor” Aung San Suu Kyi into power along with her political party – the National League for Democracy (NLD) lined top to bottom with US State Department-funded “activists.“ Despite the liberal facade constructed by the Western media around Suu Kyi, her political party, and factions supporting both – rampant bigotry and racism pervades all three. Simultaneously, US-funded fronts posing as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have worked to co-opt and wield Rohingya communities as an equal but opposing political weapon while US-allies Saudi Arabia and Qatar have begun radicalizing and arming factions within Rohingya communities to carry out armed violence across Rakhine state. The resulting conflagration affords the US and its partners a pretext to intervene on an ever-expanding scale – giving Washington access to and leverage over Myanmar to counter Beijing’s growing influence. And in precisely the same way the US has inserted itself into the heart of Myanmar’s political affairs – it is attempting to do so again in other Asian nations – including now Sri Lanka. Articles from across the Western media including the UK Independent’s 2018 article titled, “Violent Buddhist extremists are targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka,” even establish direct links between Myanmar’s and Sri Lanka’s growing conflicts. The article would admit (emphasis added): Currently, Sri Lanka’s most active Buddhist extremist group is Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist power force, or BBS). BBS entered politics in 2012 with a Buddhist-nationalist ideology and agenda, its leaders claiming that Sri Lankans had become immoral and turned away from Buddhism. And whom does it blame? Sri Lankan Muslims. BBS’s rhetoric takes its cue from other populist anti-Muslim movements around the globe, claiming that Muslims are “taking over” the country thanks to a high birth rate. It also accuses Muslim organisations of funding international terrorism with money from Halal-certified food industries. These aren’t just empty words; in 2014, one of their anti-Muslim protest rallies in the southern town of Aluthgama ended with the death of four Muslims. BBS also has links to Myanmar’s extremist 969 movement. Led by nationalist monk Ashin Wirathu, who calls himself the “Burmese Bin Laden”, it is notorious for its hardline rhetoric against the Rohingya Muslim community. The West’s use of “Islamophobia” to sell its serial wars of aggression and to divide nations around the globe is a classic example of “divide and conquer. While the West no longer possesses any real means to “conquer” the nations it is now targeting – it does possess the capacity to use resulting divisions to destroy them. If the US cannot hold primacy over Asia – no one will. It is a “War on Peace” waged under the guise of a “War on Terrorism.” Sri Lanka appears to be but the latest victim of Washington’s now trademark “slash and burn” foreign policy – where it is fueling conflict to consume political orders that oppose its interests, and building upon the ashes ones that do serve them instead. In the coming days, weeks, and months – not only will more information emerge linking the recent attacks in Sri Lanka to Washington, Riyadh, and Doha’s global network of terrorism – but additional pressure will also be mounted upon Sri Lanka to divest from Beijing and pivot back toward the West. In reality – Sri Lanka’s violence is an artificial construct carried out by a tiny minority of extremists on either side of an equally artificial ethno-religious divide. The nation and the region must unite in purpose – as peace and stability benefit them all – while chaos benefits only a handful of waning interests from afar. *** Author Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer and special contributor to 21st Century Wire, and whose work can be found at a number of popular news and analysis outlets the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. | 21wire | https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/04/25/sri-lanka-supposed-isis-attack-targets-another-ally-of-china/ | 2019-04-25 23:15:46+00:00 | 1,556,248,546 | 1,567,541,844 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
429 | 21stcenturywire--2019-06-29--Istanbul Election Re-Run The Culmination of an AKP Policy of Sunnification | 2019-06-29T00:00:00 | 21stcenturywire | İstanbul Election Re-Run: The Culmination of an AKP Policy of ‘Sunnification’ | The Justice and Development Party (or AKP, represented by the colour yellow) has been ruling Turkey throughout most of the 21st century, a fact that might have led some to forget that other political parties do exist as well in today’s Turkey: even Atatürk’s Republican People’s Party (or CHP, represented by the colour red), the main opposition, but also the National Movement Party (or MHP, represented by the colour blue), the AKP’s recent Islamofascist friend and ally. These three parties, in conjunction with the Kurds, represented by the proscribed terror group PKK (or Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê meaning Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the political party HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party, represented by the colour purple), dominate the country’s political discourse. On 31 March 2019, Turkey held nationwide local elections . . . elections that once again saw the ruling AKP carry the day – with two notable exceptions, however: the metropolitan municipalities of Ankara and İstanbul were won by candidates running for the opposition CHP. And particularly, the loss of the latter was a severe blow for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the AKP’s party leader and the nation’s first popularly elected Absolute President (or Prez). As a result, though quite momentous, it did not come as a surprise that the İstanbul outcome was eventually challenged and a re-run ordered. In spite of this tried and tested AKP strategy, on 23 June, the CHP candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu once again emerged victorious, even gathering a grand total of 54.21% of the vote, leaving his AKP rival Binali Yıldırm trailing with a mere 44.99%. During the original election run on 31 March, nationwide, more than 57 million Turks (or Turkish citizens) were registered to vote, and, on the day itself, voter turnout stood at just under 85%. And subsequently, Turkey’s electoral map looks overwhelmingly yellow (with a few blue allied dots) and a number of red and purple spots in the fringes. The Prez and his henchmen tried hard to portray these local elections as a kind of referendum on whether or not the Turkish public-at-large was still in favour of rigid AKP rule and its surreptitious slide into a what I have termed a “post-Kemalist reality” in 2016. And, by and large, the outcome seemed to all but vindicate Tayyip Erdoğan’s drive towards re-imagining the Republic of Turkey as a pseudo-Ottoman Sunni superpower in the region and beyond. Were it not that two major exceptions bucked the trend – Ankara and İstanbul. And particularly the latter defeat was hard to swallow for the Prez – after all, that’s where he made his own debut on Turkey’s political stage in 1994, and the city’s patronage network is an important source of monetary income for his many hangers-on, whether individual or institutional (in the shape of pious and less pious foundations or vakıfs and the like). This loss of İstanbul (and to a minor extent, Ankara) led the political scientist Dr Burcu Değirmen-Dysart to argue somewhat hyperbolically that “Turkey’s March 31 local elections revealed that more and more people grew discontent with Erdogan’s and his party’s tightening authoritarian grip,” commenting about a month later (30 April 2019). And two weeks following the AKP’s lackluster performance in İstanbul, the news agency Reuters matter-of-factly reported that the outcome “was annulled last week [6 May 2019] in Istanbul and will be re-run on June 23.” Pundits and other know-it-alls (myself included) immediately began pontificating that this re-run could only mean that the Prez had a plan and that the AKP contender Binali Yıldırım (whom I have christened Hapless during his tenure as Turkey’s final PM, 24 May 2016-16 April 2017) was sure to assume residency in Saraçhane (where the offices of the İBB or İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality are housed) at the end of this month. The Persistence of Memory: İstanbul as a City of Faith Though in the immediate aftermath of the İstanbul elections, nobody really knew much about the CHP candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, other than the fact that he had led the İstanbul municipality of Beylikdüzü (2014-19) or even beyond that he originally hailed from the Black Sea region’s city of Trabzon. In the intervening period (6 May-23 June), he made sure that there’d be no one left in Turkey (or abroad, for that matter) who didn’t know the name İmamoğlu. His re-election campaign adopted the slogan #HerŞeyÇokGüzelOlacak (or ‘Everything will be very beautiful’ (or good), and in the days before the re-run, his innumerable trips all over the place, his speeches and television appearances turned the softly-spoken man into a veritable anti-AKP icon, appealing not just to Erdoğan’s traditional enemy base but also to Turks whom one might normally assume to be AKP supporters, if not Erdoğan voters. İmamoğlu and his team used 47 days to craft a skillful operation that knew a couple of highlights sure to make a wider audience enamoured with the CHP candidate, and not just in İstanbul. The campaign period coincided with the month of Ramazan (the month-long period of fast observed by pious Muslims throughout the world, 5 May-3 June 2019) – which is normally a time in Turkey when hungry taxi drivers become irate and nothing much happens otherwise, but AKP supporters (or obviously ‘pious’ fasting Turks) become highly visible at night, strolling through specially erected Ramazan markets, as the one on the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet, as well as on Turkey’s national television channels hosting requisite pious fasting programmes for the duration. But not this year, this year a lively and colourful election campaign was fought, with İmamoğlu as a pious man from a solidly conservative background (in the period 1984-87, his father was a member of Turgut Özal [1927-93]’s ANAP [or Motherland Part], a right-wing political party that enacted many pro-Islamic policies and was nebulously linked to the Naqshbandi brotherhood), able to charm people all around while abstaining from food or drink from sunrise to sunset. In my opinion, a well-played stratagem of İmamoğlu’s was his appearance on CNN Türk, effectively just another AKP propaganda channel (20 May 2019). The well-known journalist Ahmet Hakan conducted the interview, which he conspicuously cut short right before the CHP candidate was about to talk about his plans for İstanbul and his determination to root out waste and corruption in the city’s municipal offices. İmamoğlu’s team had clearly given a number of advertising clips to the channel beforehand, clips which were aired during the intervals. One of these clips told the backstory of İmamoğlu’s by-now famous slogan #HerŞeyÇokGüzelOlacak. The footage shown appeared to consist of recordings made by İmamoğlu’s team during the ongoing campaign. One clip focused on a boy who kept chasing İmamoğlu’s convoy and at one stage, the candidate talks directly to the boy who addresses the candidate with the colloquial phrase Abi, reserved for men advanced of one’s own age. The boy literally said, ‘Ekrem Abi, everything will be very beautiful’ (or, “her şey çok güzel olacak”). CNN Türk aired this clip (and many others) during the intermissions in the broadcast, and its effect on the viewers must have been far from insignificant. But, in spite of the generally positive mood engendered, at one stage during the interview, İmamoğlu countered claims that, were he to become Mayor of İstanbul, alcoholic beverages would be served in social facilities pertaining to the Metropolitan Municipality (Belediye Sosyal Tesisleri). In response, he related how he had established six social facilities in Beylikdüzü, and that alcohol is definitely not being served there. Though this was but a passing segment in the interview, this affirmation that as Mayor of İstanbul, İmamoğlu would all but continue Erdoğan’s strict restriction policy on the free distribution of alcoholic beverages surely shocked some viewers, albeit many shrugged it off. Still, as I explained as long as ago as 2011, a “strict interpretation of Islam explicitly prohibits the drinking of intoxicants in this world.” But not in Kemalist Turkey, which was very different from its Muslim neighbours in this respect, as “Turkey’s Muslim citizens have had legal access to alcohol since 1926.” This free availability of alcoholic beverages has become problematic in AKP-led Turkey. In 2016, the Prez famously praised the Turkish yoghurt beverage of Ayran as the country’s “national drink” in favour of the aniseed liquor Rakı, normally cited in this context. But apart from this brief episode, Hakan and İmamoğlu successfully skirted dealing with the issue of Islam during the interview, arguably taking it as a given that, in AKP-led Turkey, adherence to the Prophet’s tenets is universal and not to be questioned. Still many secularist opponents of the AKP regime must have felt somewhat disappointed by the CHP candidate’s assurances. Another well-played strategem came at the end of the fast, in Turkey marked by a three-day public holiday (traditionally known as Şeker Bayramı, but now as Ramazan Bayramı, under AKP directives) when joyful celebrations occasion family and other visits (known in Turkish as Bayramlaşma). İmamoğlu flew home to the Black Sea region (his home turf which is known in Turkish as his memleket, 5 June 2019). İmamoğlu planned to alight in the cities of Trabzon, Giresun and Ordu, using social media accounts to promulgate the news. His get-together with the people of Trabzon morphed into a giant meeting, exceeding all expectations and surprising everyone. The rally counted many hundreds, many thousands of participants and İmamoğlu addressed the crowd in a most persuasive way: “I would like to remind you, as your brother who knows he will be chosen anew during the [upcoming] elections for the Metropolitan Municipality of İstanbul, that I will also engage in [this] fight for democracy. For that reason I am in need of the support of all of my fellow-occupants [of my memleket] who are here. Pray for me and it is therefore absolutely necessary that you talk to your relatives in İstanbul.” In this cunning way, the CHP candidate employed his visit to his memleket to boost his national visibility, while simultaneously placating İstanbul voters with a Black Sea background to cast their ballots in his favuor rather than for his AKP rival, which would have been their natural course given that the Prez’s own memleket is adjacent home city of Rize. Moreover, the Black Sea area’s inhabitants are notoriously pious as well as “ingenious, witty, and kind,” if we are to believe the İstanbul-based journalist Jennifer Hattam. And the CHP candidate’s words really seem to contain hints of possible long-term strategies to be pursued in years to come, as İmamoğlu rather emphatically stressed that he will “fight for democracy.” Whereas the opposition capitalised on the themes of hope and faith, the AKP camp opted to rehash its well-worn themes of fear and unrest, falling short of doing a complete re-run of the 2015 narrative. At the very outset of June, with 22 days to go, for instance, the Prez himself addressed a crowd of believers, admonishing them with the words, “[t]his is İstanbul, otherwise known as İslambol [meaning replete or adorned with Islam]. This is not Constantinople, but there are those who would like to see [the city] as such.” Harking back to an Ottoman tradition, clearly attested in the reigns of Ahmed III (1703-30) and his son Abdülhamid I (1774-89) (but according to some, even present in Mehmed II (1451-81)’s day, though the latter seems dubious at best), Tayyip Erdoğan attempted to frighten his Muslim audience that a CHP victory would usher in a return of repressive anti-Islamic policies commonly associated with the figure of Atatürk and his party in the minds of Turkey’s pious Islamists. Arguably, Erdoğan based his allegations on a spurious article that appeared in the Greek press following İmamoğlu’s 31 March victory, an article that received a lot of coverage in Turkey’s AKP-dominated media landscape. The piece carries the provocative headline “Ekrem Imamoglu: The ‘Greek’ who ‘conquered’ Istanbul’.” This slanderous sample of printed libel declares summarily that “Ekrem Imamoglu is according to some reports of Pontian origin and a Greek-speaker.” Going back to Ottoman days, the north-eastern corner of the Black Sea littoral was home to a sizeable Greek-speaking population group, usually referred to as ‘Pontian Greeks.’ This Orthodox population group was ethnically cleansed in the period running up to the establishment of the Turkish Republic (1923). But with four days to go before election day, the Prez played the Kurdish card. In 2015, he had used that card to awaken fears of renewed war and conflict with the Kurdish terror group PKK, to coax citizens into voting for the AKP in the then-electoral re-run (1 November 2015). But now the AKP decided to use another hand. The propaganda rag Daily Sabah put it like this: “Abdullah Öcalan [popularly known as Apo], the jailed leader of the PKK terrorist group, called on pro-PKK People’s Democratic Party (HDP) not to side with any other party in the Istanbul mayoral election rerun on Sunday. Öcalan made the statement in a letter that was shared with members of the press Thursday [, 20 June 2019] by academic Ali Kemal Özcan.” In other words, Apo all but tacitly supported the Prez asking Kurds not to vote rather than vote for the CHP candidate. An intervention that, in the aftermath of İmamoğlu’s unexpectedly large 23 June victory, led Ahmet Hakan to proclaim that “[t]his election’s biggest loser is Abdullah Öcalan,” a statement that must have left many baffled and flabbergasted. If anything though, this weird episode, which even saw Apo’s brother Osman Öcalan appear on the state-run television channel TRT Kurdî, all but discloses the apparently close and even organic links between Öcalan and Erdoğan, between the PKK and the AKP. With regard to the actual İstanbul re-run, though, appearing before a crowd of businessmen a week prior to the vote, the Prez appeared sanguine (even somewhat resigned or even reconciled), saying that this “election only aims to appoint a mayor,” even calling the whole thing but a “simple change in the shopfront.” Explaining himself somewhat, Erdoğan added that the AKP holds 25 out of a total 39 municipalities in the metropolitan area of İstanbul (16 June 2019). And, following his massive victory, İmamoğlu again descends upon his offices in Saraçhane, only to find that “his powers and those of fellow mayors across the country are being whittled down, [as] part of a broader strategy to hobble opposition-run municipalities’ ability to govern effectively,” as expressed by the always well-informed journalist Amberin Zaman. Mustafa Kemal’s Party Embraces Islam: The Culmination of the AKP Policy of Sunnification In spite of this seeming entente between an erstwhile Marxist-Leninist outfit-now-espousing Libertarian Municipalism (PKK) and a political party grounded in political Islam and arguably embracing Pan-Islamism (AKP), the reality on the ground appears very different. The reality on the ground in the New Turkey (as coined by the AKP) is such that its policy of Sunnification (my coinage) has led to a near-universal acceptance that Turkey’s future lies within bounds established in the 7th century CE, albeit employing the full technological and scientific benefits of the 21st century (in a Turkish version of what the left-liberal Pakistani journalist Nadeem Paracha has termed ‘Maududi-ism’). And the vast majority of Turks have now voluntarily adopted a lifestyle supposedly more in line with the Prophet’s example. Still, the press seems happy to report every now and then that younger generations are turning away from religion and that even İman-Hatip (secondary education institution intended to train government employed imams or prayer leaders) graduates are turning towards deism in favour theism (meaning that they seem to be all but abandoning Allah). These arguably diversionary if not downright ‘fake’ reports notwithstanding, the concept of Islam has well and truly taken its place at the heart of Turkish society again, in rural as well as urban settings. The world of politics has also been deeply affected by this trend. The CHP, as the party founded by Mustafa Kemal-who-became-Atatürk, has quite naturally also been subject to this encroachment. In the course of the year 2008, the then-party leader Deniz Baykal initiated accepting headscarfed women into the ranks of the Republican People’s Party. In February 2009, Baykal was quoted as saying that he can see “signs [that] a new political wind has started blowing swiftly” throughout Turkey. In a similar ceremony held in the same year’s November, he made the following programmatic announcement: “[w]e are all on our way, together with [women wearing] headscarfs, [women wearing] turbans [which in today’s Turkey refers to more elaborate forms of head-covering], bare-headed [women], young, old, women, men.” In Kemalist Turkey, the “thorny headscarf issue” signified opposition to a greater visibility of Islam in Turkey’s public and political life. The Quran seems quite adamant that women should dress modestly, particularly avoiding gratuitous displays of cleavage, which should be covered or veiled (‘hijab’, Quran 24:31). But the usage of the term “hijab” has led to the universal assumption that women should cover their hair as well as their cleavage. For that reason, in Kemalist Turkey, headscarfed women were a focal point in the debate surrounding Islam and fundamentalism (irtica). Baykal’s move to accept headscarfed women into the CHP ranks thus denoted a sharp reversal in attitude and appreciation on the part of the party leadership. As leader of the CHP, Baykal (1992-2010) was at the time fighting the PM Tayyip Erdoğan, and in that capacity he oftentimes attacked his opponent using the most vitriolic of words. In his long political career though he never really tasted any tangible success or victory. And the same is true for his successor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu who took up his job on 22 May 2010. Prior to taking over Baykal’s job, when he was the Vice Chairman of the CHP faction, Kılıçdaroğlu declared publicy that “[w]e need to open our arms to” headscarfed ladies, indicating that this “overture” would not lead to losses but instead to “profitable” outcomes in the long run. A strategy that led the rather prominent CHP member Canan Kaftancıoğlu to admit during a live television broadcast on 11 May 2017 that her party is committing “taqiyya in order to gain votes from the right,” adding that she was “concerned” about that. The concept of ‘Taqiyya’ is an Islamic concept usually associated with the Shi’a faction but really an “integral part of Islam,” as can be read on a dedicated webpage provided by the Non Profit Organisation, the Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project (DILP). The same source defines the concept as a “precautionary dissimulation or denial of religious [or ideological] belief and practice in the face of persecution.” As a result, Kaftancıoğlu all but admitted that her party had been sliding towards accepting the new Islamic status quo in Turkey, albeit that she personally interprets this development as a conscious tactic or ruse rather than a straightforward political development – a political development that sees the nominally social-democratic Republican People’s Party adopting right-wing and/or outright Islamic or Islamist attitudes and policies. But whether merely taqiyya or not, it is only now that the openly pious and devout Ekrem İmamoğlu has twice won the mayor’s seat of metropolitan İstanbul, that Kılıçdaroğlu’s party been successful, even allowing the latter to climb on top of an election bus to give a ‘balcony speech’ – something that has been turned into a political tradition by Tayyip Erdoğan in this century. Despite the fact that the actual winner of the contest was İmamoğlu, Kılıçdaroğlu gave his speech as the “architect of the 31 March victory.” For the party leader had appointed the candidate who was to win the city of İstanbul in a landslide – a choice reminiscent of his pick of Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu to compete for the presidency in 2014. Back then, Tayyip Erdoğan easily defeated his rivals in the first round with a handsome landslide. Kılıçdaroğlu’s pick was greeted with shock and amazement at the time, as the CHP candidate was the “former head of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC),” and ideologically very much in line with Erdoğan and his AKP as a self-professed academic with Islamist leanings. In the same way, this year’s victorious pick also seems at odds with the self-described ‘secularist’ CHP. In the aftermath of the 31 March elections, the academic theologian and writer Prof. Dr Hilmi Demir tweeted the insightful query: “[t]he elections were not won by the CHP but by İmamoğlu and Mansur [the now-mayor of Ankara]. Why did they win, because they are not [really] part of the CHP.” In a crafty manner, Dr Demir utilised the 140 characters at his disposal to pierce any kind of delusional bubble that might have engulfed CHP voters in İstanbul, Ankara and beyond. The successful Ankara contender Mansur Yavaş is a politician hailing from the Islamofascist tradition of the MHP who had in 2009 tried to become mayor of Turkey’s capital running on an MHP ticket. When he was not put forward as an MHP candidate in 2013, Yavaş joined the CHP instead, finally reaching his goal this year. As for Kılıçdaroğlu’s İstanbul pick, beyond the right-wing atmosphere in his family and personal life, his character as a pious Muslim led many to assume that İmamoğlu would join the AKP to become another henchman. A little book that appeared in April 2016, carrying the unlikely title Ekrem İmamoğlu Benim Sevgili Başkanım (or, ‘Ekrem İmamoğlu My Beloved Leader’), written by the journalist Şirin Mine Kılıç, paints a sympathetic portrait of the man and his vision. Kılıç describes the politician as an individual endowed with a strong sense of “responsibility” from a young age, starting in his primary school days, also inserting the adjectives “honest” and “sincere” into the descriptive assessment of her ‘Beloved Leader’. Kılıç writes that “his political preference became clear from 2000 onward. He became a convinced CHP voter.” The reason was his personal discovery of the figure of Atatürk and his role in the foundation of the country, Mine Kılıç argues. İmamoğlu joined the CHP in 2008, and was elected as the head of the party’s youth wing the following year. The local CHP chapter in the Istanbul district of Beylikdüzü selected him as its president on 16 September 2009 – being re-elected on 8 March 2012, only to resign on 15 July 2013 to run for mayor of Beylikdüzü. On 30 March 2014 he was elected as mayor, easily defeating the AKP incumbent Yusuf Uzun. Proving his pious credentials as mayor, İmamoğlu marked the 77th anniversary of Atatürk’s death by organising a reading of the Mevlid in the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque in Beylikdüzü on 10 November 2015. The construction of this huge mosque, able to accommodate up to 4,000 worshippers, begun in the 1990s, and was but completed in the first decade of this century. And İmamoğlu also had the building and its adjacent area refurbished in the same year (2015), even incorporating a dedicated compound for the celebration of weddings (known as Nikah Salonu, in Turkish). Combining his dedication ot the Prophet and his love for Atatürk, İmamoğlu employed the mosque for a public recital of a poem (Mathnawi, or Mesnevi in Tiurkish) celebrating the birth of Muhammad on 12 Rabi’ul-Awwal. In the Ottoman tradition, the Mathnawi Vesîletü’n-necât, written by Süleyman Çelebi in the year 1409/812, stands out as the prime example in this context. The first documented public recitation of the Mevlid occurred in the reign of Sultan Murad III (1574-95), in the year 1588/996. In fact, it is all but customary in pious (or Islamist) circles in Turkey to have the Mevlid recited on important occasions, such as university graduations and funerals, or the anniversary of Atatürk’s death in this case. What I have termed the AKP policy of Sunnification has now come full circle in Turkey, I would argue. The reins of government are still firmly held by the Prez and his AKP henchmen. Beyond purely party political contests and rivalries, however, it seems beyond doubt that the state founded by Mustafa Kemal in 1923 no longer exists. Instead, the New Turkey is a place rejoicing in manifold manfestations of pseudo-Ottoman kitsch and an increasing encroachment of Muslim mores into public and private life. Even the CHP, a one-time bastion of so-called ‘Turkish Secularism,’ has now completely succumbed to the seductive lure of Quranic and other pious recitations, as evidenced in the recent reversals in Ankara and İstanbul. Already in early March, the academic and political commentator Erol Mütercimler, whom the journalist and HaberTürk columnist Oray Eğin has somewhat flippantly called “[t]he man who knows everything,” predicted that the CHP candidate would be victorious in İstanbul, if able to capture “at least 9% of those who [normally] vote AKP,” as well as 4% of MHP voters. In the same breath, he also remarked that İmamoğlu hails from “rightwing, conservative roots.” And now, the previously little know mayor of Beylikdüzü district of Istanbul has stepped on the national (as well as international) stage with a bang, with a big bang even. In Trabzon, he told a quasi-hysterical crowd that his intention is to “fight for democracy,” and, if anything, I would argue that İmamoğlu is positioning himself for a future confrontation with none other than Tayyip Erdoğan himself. The local press and population seem to support such a development, and on an international level, it looks as if the now-newly installed Mayor of Metropolitan of İstanbul is being appropriated wholesale in order to be groomed for a future role. In the wake of election day, the New York Times carried the headline “A New Dawn in Turkey After Erdogan Loses Istanbul” (24 June 2019). İmamoğlu appeared on CNN International via video-link from Taksim to chat with Christiane Amapour (26 June 2019). Speaking in Turkish, Ekrem İmamoğlu told Amanpour and the rest of the world that his victory on “June 23rd showed us that no one, no individual or power, can stand in the way of the will of the people, no politician has the luxury to ignore that fact.” Arguably, he was talking about the Prez or, at the very least, that is how Amapour took his words, presumably in conjunction with the majority of her global audience. In today’s polarised world, the figure of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become somewhat of a universal bogeyman – oftentimes appearing in a phrase also including Trump and Putin, as if constituting a veritable ‘unholy trinity of evil-doers.’ As a result, there are those who are now thinking that, come 2023, a CHP President could very well be taking up residency in the Beştepe Palace, Erdoğan’s White (or Ak, as in his preferred moniker for his party, the Ak Parti rather than AKP) Palace. In fact, there appear to be some striking parallels between İmamoğlu and Erdoğan. Hinting at the distinct possibility that the first is being groomed to be Turkey’s new saviour, there is the fact that the latter’s rise to power was at the very least approved (if not, encouraged or even engineered) by Washington. Following the AKP’s victory in 2002, Tayyip Erdoğan became the country’s Prime Minister on 14 March 2003. But his ties to America stretch back to his days as Mayor of Istanbul (1994-98): “Erdogan had been in the U.S. on 17-25 April 1995; on 17-22 November 1996; on 20-23 December 1996; on 26 March 1998; on 26 July 2000; and on 4 July 2001 . . . and one last time, in February 2002,” as I wrote in 2014. In the same piece, I next posed the following query: “Did the Clinton White House try to influence the course of Turkish politics by means of entertaining the self-professed proponent of the Sharia and was the Bush White House merely following the precedent set by its predecessor in grooming its champion of moderate Islam?” Given the fact that Turkey’s current Absolute President no longer enjoys the West’s support as a member of the ‘unholy trinity of evil-doers,’ one could argue that İmamoğlu’s sudden arrival on the scene is all but fortuitous. Though the latter makes a big show of his love for Atatürk, his personal life and habits more than indicate that he could very easily function as a new champion of moderate Islam to replace the old but no longer ‘useful’ or even desired champion. And for that reason, the Prez’s words that “whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey” might prove very true in the long run. His initial stint as mayor of the city ushered in a 25-year period of AKP rule in Turkey’s biggest and most important city. The news agency Reuters‘ Orhan Çoşkun now even reports that some of Erdoğan’s stalwart allies have started abandoning ship: “Former allies of Turkey’s Erdogan plan rival party after Istanbul defeat.” But for now, people are happy and opponents of the AKP regime rejoice, and nobody really knows what will happen next. Is this now really the beginning of the end or will the Prez bounce back and once again resume his place in the hearts and minds of the Turkish population?!?? Or, will İmamoğlu ever so gently replace him as the new face of an Islamic Turkey where the figure of Atatürk is once again revered, albeit re-reinterpreted?!?? As the first popularly elected President of the Republic, Tayyip Erdoğan set out to complete Mustafa Kemal’s accomplishments “by means of reviving the Turks’ ties to their Muslim creed and uniting all the ethnic groups and sub-groups living on Anatolian soil under the banner of Islam.” As illustrated at the outset, already as mayor of Beylikdüzü, İmamoğlu has undertaken steps to integrate the figure of Atatürk into the Turkish version of Islam. Perhaps this new approach to Republican history will lead the way to the future, as a time when a smiling and sympathetic yet pious and devout political leader that is no one else but Ekrem İmamoğlu will reintegrate Turkey into the world, as an indispensable part and parcel of the West and gateway to the East. *** 21WIRE special contributor Dr. Can Erimtan is an independent historian and geo-political analyst who used to live in Istanbul. At present, he is in self-imposed exile from Turkey. He has a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans, the greater Middle East, and the world beyond. He attended the VUB in Brussels and did his graduate work at the universities of Essex and Oxford. In Oxford, Erimtan was a member of Lady Margaret Hall and he obtained his doctorate in Modern History in 2002. His publications include the revisionist monograph “Ottomans Looking West?” as well as numerous scholarly articles. In Istanbul, Erimtan started publishing in Today’s Zaman and in Hürriyet Daily News. In the next instance, he became the Turkey Editor of the İstanbul Gazette. Subsequently, he commenced writing for RT Op-Edge, NEO, and finally, the 21st Century Wire. You can find him on Twitter at @theerimtanangle | 21wire | https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/06/29/istanbul-election-re-run-the-culmination-of-an-akp-policy-of-sunnification/ | 2019-06-29 09:22:22+00:00 | 1,561,814,542 | 1,567,537,545 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
702 | 21stcenturywire--2019-11-20--Turks, Kurds, Armenians & Americans: Genocide Denial as the Turkish Republic’s Raison d’être | 2019-11-20T00:00:00 | 21stcenturywire | Turks, Kurds, Armenians & Americans: Genocide Denial as the Turkish Republic’s Raison d’être | The present Republic of Turkey was built by the followers of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), known as Kemalists, who for the most part had been members of the Committee for Union and Progress (hence Unionists), the political movement that led the Ottoman state to its demise in the Great War. In this 21st century then, an Islamist political movement, with its roots in the Naqshibandiyyah brotherhood, has brought about the end of Atatürk’s example and an officially-approved Ottoman revival (as a shorthand for an Islamic réveil). In spite of their differences, these two permutations of the Turkish state – Kemalist and Islamist – possess an eerily similar relationship with a specific aspect of the Turkish past, a particular episode that took place in the early years of the previous century: the Armenian Genocide. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina is one of the most mercurial of political operators in American politics. Starting out as a vocal supporter of Turkey, then recently becoming one of the the main Kurdophilia proponents in the U.S. Congress, he’s now once again become Turkey’s saviour, blocking a “Senate resolution recognising the Armenian genocide.” This issue of the ‘Armenian genocide,’ which now seems to have come to greater public and popular attention as a result of Kim Kardashian’s ‘passionate’ and ‘eloquent’ advocacy, constitutes a major controversy in the Republic of Turkey as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia (and western Thrace). In fact, some would argue that the ‘New Turkey‘ constructed and ruled by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (or the Prez) and his Justice and Development Party (or AKP) has now placed itself in the direct line of succession with its Islamic forebears in the area – not just the Ottomans (1299-1922), but also the Seljuks (1075-1308). And every year, this legacy comes under a great deal of global scrutiny on the 24th of April. Known as ‘Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day,’ it is the day that Ankara watches Washington closely. This year, President Trump did not disappoint, as his public statement included the Armenian expression “Meds Yeghern“ (literally ‘Great Crime’), and deftly managed to avoid the dreaded G-word. The Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin (1900-59) coined the term ‘genocide’ in 1944, which was subsequently adopted by the United Nations on 9 December 1948, coming into force on 12 January 1951, “in accordance with article XIII.” And Turkey is all but paranoid about being tarred with the term. Quite recently, the U.S. House of Representatives did the unthinkable and went ahead and recognised the Armenian Genocide: the “US House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly in favour of recognising the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One as a genocide,” reported the BBC on 30 October. In years past, American lawmakers have always managed to pragmatically dodge this Armenian bullet, but now the much-publicised but as yet unrealised genocidal extermination of the “Kurds” of northern Syria (popularly known as Rojava) in the framewok of #OperationPeaceSpring has made these lawmakers brave, braver than usual and quite willing to antagonise the Turks, even if only to spite President Trump. And many will say, at long last. Adding insult to injury, the U.S. Congress took the momentous vote on 29 October, Republic Day of Turkey (Cumhuriyet Bayramı, in Turkish) commemorating the foundation of the Turkish state in 1923. On that same day this year, House Resolution 296 was introduced by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and reads as follows in summary: “This resolution states that it is U.S. policy to (1) commemorate the Armenian Genocide, the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923; (2) reject efforts to associate the U.S. government with efforts to deny the existence of the Armenian Genocide or any genocide; and (3) encourage education and public understanding about the Armenian Genocide.” And the full text of the bill goes a lot further, stipulating that “the United States has a proud history of recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide, the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, and providing relief to the survivors of the campaign of genocide against Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians.” Furthermore, the bill even adds that “Raphael Lemkin [himself] . . . invoked the Armenian case as a definitive example of genocide in the 20th century.” In this way, the U.S. Congress has seemingly managed to link the now much-maligned Tayyip Erdoğan with the despicable figure of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) – the South-Sudanese UN official Francis Deng has after all called “Nazi Germany’s attempt to exterminate the Jews in the country and elsewhere in Europe . . . the most extreme case of genocide.” But about a fortnight later, the Senator from South Carolina saved the day, and now Turks can sleep easy again, knowing that, come 24 April 2020, the Americans will not have the temerity of connecting the new post-Kemalist Republic with the dreaded G-word. By sheer coincidence, the Prez was recently visiting his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, and then he also met with several Republican senators at the White House, including the Carolinian (13 November 2019). In the White House, Erdoğan even whipped out his smartphone and proceeded to show the gathered men a specially prepared clip showing perfidious acts carried out by the PKK/YPG (Kurdish Workers’ Party/People’s Protection Units) and particularly pointing out that the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) General Commander Mazloum Abdi Kobani, whom Trump has actually been tweeting with, is none other than the PKK operative Ferhat Abdi Şahin. Graham then apparently grew a bit of a spine, reportedly asking the Turkish President, “[d]o you want me to get the Kurds to play a video about what your forces have done?” Still, soon after meeting with his boss and the Prez, the South Carolinian Senator blocked a similar resolution in the Senate to HR 296, afterwards telling the world that his object was not “to sugarcoat history or try to rewrite it, but to deal with the present.” The Politics of Denial and Reconciliation Still, about a fortnight previously, the Prez did not waste any time coming up with a suitable response, speaking to the nation on television he talked about the congressional vote as “worthless and [added that] we do not recognise it.” The AKP FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, for his part, called the vote “null and void,” and even made the link with Operation Peace Spring, tweeting that “[t]hose whose projects were frustrated turn to antiquated resolutions. Circles believing that they will take revenge this way are mistaken. This shameful decision of those exploiting history in politics is null and void for our government and people” (10:24 pm, 29 Oct 2019). On the other side of Turkey’s political spectrum, the opposition MP Garo Paylan, a Turkish citizen of Armenian extraction, tweeted that the “US Congress has recognized the Armenian Genocide. Because my own country [i.e. Turkey] has been denying this for 105 years, our tragedy is discussed in other world parliaments. The real healing for Armenians will come when we can talk about the Armenian Genocide in Turkey’s own parliament” (3:31 pm, 30 Oct 2019). Horrific scenes in the ruined Armenian village of Sheyxalan in 1915 (Image Source: Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute/AFP) The Armenian MP Paylan is a vocal and visible member of the HDP or the Peoples’ Democratic Party, which the West likes to call a ‘pro-Kurdish’ party, but should nevertheless really be seen as a political vehicle employed by the nation’s Kurds and its supporters, largely beholden to the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan (popularly known as Apo). The opposition party purports to represent all the different ethnic and religious groups and sub-groups living in Anatolia, hence the inclusion of the Armenian Paylan as its MP. With regard to the issue of the Armenian Genocide, the HDP has conveniently already come clean: on 2 October 2015 the party released its elections platform which included a section that stipulated that “the [Turkish] state should issue state-level apologies for genocides and massacres committed against different groups over the years.” The mere existence of this political grouping is testament to the fact that the nation state that is Turkey is far from being solely inhabited by ethnic Turks. This fact, which might puzzle most people, is rooted in late-Ottoman Unionist precedent and early-Republican Kemalist history: “Anatolia has always been home to a wide variety of ethnic and religious groups and sub-groups, and today, the makeup [of] Turkey’s population is the result of Ottoman government policies carried out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These policies were aimed at transforming Anatolia (the heartland of the Ottoman Empire) into a Muslim homeland where refugees from the Russian Empire and the Balkans were settled. In the early 20th century, Anatolia was thus home to ethnically heterogeneous Muslim groups: in addition to a large majority of Turkish Muslims, there were Kurds, Arabs, Lazes, Muslim Georgians, Greek-speaking Muslims, Albanians, Macedonian Muslims, Pomaks, Serbian Muslims, Bosnian Muslims, Tatars, Circassians, Abkhazians and Dagestanis among others. Prior to the formulation of Turkish nationalism as an ideological binding-force, the diverse ethnic groups in Anatolia were united by their common identity as Muslims and their allegiance to the Ottoman Caliphate, abolished in 1924,” as I have explained elsewhere. These population policies came to an official culmination in the 1923 with the League of Nations-sanctioned population exchange between Greece and Turkey, when Greek- as well as Turkish-speaking Orthodox believers in Anatolia were replaced by Turkish-speaking Muslims hailing from areas previously held by the Kingdom of Greece (1832-1924). A state-sponsored “policy of Turkification carried out in the first decades of the republican existence has meant that these various [Muslim] ethnic subgroups have in time merged with the Turkish mainstream,” after having largely replaced various native Christian population groups previously inhabiting Anatolia’s fertile plains and lands, a historical process I explained in a now more than ten-year old in-depth academic piece. And the issue of the Armenian Genocide has to be seen within the context of this grand scheme of ethno-religious demographic engineering on the part of the late-Ottoman Unionist government partly continued by the pre-Republican state in the early 1920s – after all, “the Kemalists continued with the ethnic [and religious] purification policies of the Unionists,” as expressed by the historian Dr Doğan Gürpınar. The Unionists tried to solve the Armenian issue, which had been a thorn in the Ottoman side ever since the days of Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876-1908) and the Treaty of Berlin (13 July 1878), and particularly the latter’s Article 61, which made the “Armenian Problem . . . an international problem.” The political scientist and historian Dr Fuat Dündar matter-of-factly posits that the Unionists “implemented population policies according to the [principle] of Islamization . . . All non-Muslims, especially the Armenians along with Rums (Ottoman Greeks) and Eastern Christians . . . were subjected to expulsion and resettlement in order to create a new Anatolia with more homogenous and loyal communities.” The aim was the creation of a Muslim homeland in the Ottoman heartland, where Muslim Ottomans could live and thrive, united in their Ottoman citizenship and allegiance to the Sultan-Caliph residing in Istanbul. The Balkans War (1912-13) had earlier decisively proven that Christian Ottomans were not to be trusted, as they obviously preferred political independence over loyalty to the Ottoman state. In this context, my usage of the noun Muslim does not necessarily denote personal piety or particular devotion (though on an individual level these traits should not be discounted), rather, I would suggest, the Unionist leadership wielded the religion of Islam as providing a common identity and goal, superseding ethnic and/or linguistic solidarity and togetherness. Though many historians and commentators regard the Unionist position as Turkist and hence nationalist avant-la-lettre, I would like to contend that the Committee for Union and Progress was primarily Ottomanist in its outlook, meaning that they strove to uphold Ottoman citizenship as defined in the first Ottoman Constitution (1876), and as a result, following the Balkan Wars, the Unionists attempted to forge a novel form of Ottomanism, a common citizenship beholden to Islam and the Sutlan-Caliph. Returning to the Armenian issue, the Paris-based political scientist Prof. Dr. Hamit Bozarslan unequivocally states that, not quite 37 years after the Berlin Treaty, the “extermination of the Armenians started in the wake of the Deportation Act (Tehcir Kanunu) adopted on April 24, 1915, and was LARGELY finished before the end of the same year.” At the time, the New York Times carried numerous pieces dealing with the Armenian atrocities (according to the foreign correspondent John Kifner, ‘145 articles in 1915 alone’). On 7 October 1915, for instance, the paper reported that James Bryce (1838-1922), erstwhile Regius Professor of Civil Law (1870-93) and British Ambassador to the United States of America (1907-13), had testified before the House of Lords that “the figure of 800,000 Armenians destroyed was quite a possible number.” In the run up to the proclamation of the Republic in 1923, the Kemalist Ankara government pursued its own policy of ethnic cleansing with regard to the so-called Pontus Greeks living on the Black Sea littoral, a topic I have dealt with in 2008. These Unionist population policies created the breeding ground for the nation state Turkey, largely based on Anatolia with a small foothold on Europe’s eastern flank. Originally these territories functioned as a Muslim Ottoman homeland, which was subsequently re-defined as a Turkish homeland. The above-mentioned Kemalist authorities’ “policy of Turkification” effectively provided the various ethnic groups and sub-groups living within the nation state’s borders with a new identity, from being Ottoman Muslims beholden to the Sultan-Caliph residing in İstanbul, they became Turks (or Turkish citizens, as stipulated in the 88th article of the Republic’s Consitution, accepted on 20 April 1340/1924) tied to the figure of Mustafa Kemal (to be surnamed Atatürk in 1934, 1881-1938), the first and ‘eternal’ President of the Republic of Turkey and to the nation state he founded (Following his untimely death, Atatürk was proclaimed the nation’s ‘Eternal Chief’ or Ebedi Şef on 26 December 1938). Back to the Future: The Past is in the Present As an homegrown Turkish Islamist political movement, the AKP originally took part in pious Turkish Muslims’ hatred and dislike of the figure of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. But in time, the Prez and his henchmen have co-opted this figure, as a foil for their personal goals and ambitions. Such a development has led towards to the figure of Recep Tayyip replacing that of Mustafa Kemal: “Erdoğan [has now] become another Atatürk for the Turkish nation. Whereas the first President (1923-38) ushered his fellow-Turks into the modern world, arguably shedding any excessive traits of their Islamic persuasion in the process . . . starting [in] 2014 [, Erdoğan has by now largely] complete[d] this task [of creating a new homeland] by means of reviving the Turks’ ties to their Muslim creed and uniting all the ethnic groups and sub-groups living on Anatolian soil under the banner of Islam,” as I have argued in the summer of 2014. And in that context, the issue of Armenian massacres perpetrated in the course of the Great War (1914-18), that have become known as the Armenian Genocide in the aftermath of World War II, originally fulfilled an important role in Tayyip Erdoğan’s plan to connect the New Turkey with the “first assembly of what was to become Turkey’s parliament on 23 April, 1920.” This pre-republican Grand National Assembly (Büyük Millet Meclisi or BMM), which effectively constituted the Ankara government that led the War-of-Independence (1919-22), “consisted [solely] of representatives of Anatolia’s Muslim population.” In 2014, then still-PM Tayyip Erdoğan took the unprecedented step of offering his condolences to the Armenian people in nine different languages, including Armenian, on the prime-ministerial website: “Millions of people of all religions and ethnicities lost their lives in the first world war . . . Having experienced events which had inhumane consequences – such as relocation – during the first world war should not prevent Turks and Armenians from establishing compassion and mutually humane attitudes towards one another. It is our hope and belief that the peoples of an ancient and unique geography, who share similar customs and manners, will be able to talk to each other about the past with maturity and to remember together their losses in a decent manner. And it is with this hope and belief that we wish that the Armenians who lost their lives in the context of the early 20th century rest in peace, and we convey our condolences to their grandchildren,” as can now be read the Guardian website as the original prime-ministerial webpage no longer seems to exist. At the time, I conjectured that this gesture on the 99th anniversary of the 1915 events could usher in an AKP-led drive to downplay the ideological glue that is nationalism and instead stress a common spiritual heritage of the Muslim and non-Muslim inhabitants of Anatolia (“an ancient and unique geography”) – a common spiritual heritage expressed in either Islam or Christianity. The 2014 prime-ministerial message fell short of acknowledging the Armenian Genocide, but could be seen as a first move towards a more realistic form of coming to terms with the past or Vergangenheitsbewältigung, to use the arguably somewhat unwieldy German term. Alas, this proved but a futile hope, as the following year (2015), the Turkish government once again pushed its denialist narrative in response to global centenary commemorations of the implementation of the Deportation Act (Tehcir Kanunu), leading to wholesale genocidal consequences in weeks and months to come. In fact, as the issue of symbolic dates and their meaning is a hot topic in Turkey, that year, Ankara moved the culmination of the Gallipoli commemorations to the 24th instead of the 25th of April (known as Anzac Day by Australians and New Zealanders). Ohannes Kılıçdağı, a writer for Agos, an Armenian weekly published in Turkey, at the time declared that “[e]verybody knows that the two memorials around Gallipoli have been held on 18 March and 25 April every year.” Traditionally, the 1915 Ottoman victory at Gallipoli was celebrated as a major milestone in Mustafa Kemal’s career path which was to reach its climax in the 1923 foundation of the Republic. But today, in AKP-led post-Kemalist Turkey, the military success at Gallipoli is taken as proving that Ottoman Muslim conscripts saved the day by defeating Christian invaders intent on partitioning the Ottoman lands. In fact, both commemorations seem to stress the primacy of Islam in Anatolia: the military victory momentarily saved the Muslim Ottoman state which was to become the Turkish nation state, and the Deportation Act (Tehcir Kanunu) initiated the final expulsion of non-Muslims from the Anatolian mainland by means of a ruthless and effective form of ethnic cleansing. The Turkish Republic’s Raison d’être: The invented tradition of Turkish denialism In time, the AKP adoption of the traditional Turkish denialist discourse has gotten stronger and more determined, particularly in the aftermath of the 2016 Coup-that-was-no-Coup, which ultimately led to an informal alliance between the Islamist AKP and the Islamo-fascistoid MHP (or Party of the Nationalist Movement). Since February 2018, this informal pact became an electoral alliance carrying the name ‘People’s Alliance’ or Cumhur İttifakı, in Turkish. But five years ago, Tayyip Erdoğan was all but on the verge of reconciling with the infamous G-word, yet now he has performed a total U-turn allowing him to seek a connection with the infamous ‘invented tradition’ of Turkish denialism (to use the 1983 Hobsbawmian coinage). For, as Dr Doğan Gürpınar reminds us, in Turkey “the year 1915 was a non-issue before the assassinations of Turkish diplomats as revenge by the ‘Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia’ (ASALA) in the 1970s.” Gürpınar explains that “institutionalized Turkish denialist discourse was formulated and developed only in the 1970s and even the 1980s as a response to the rise of the Armenian genocide agenda as an organized cause by the late 1960s and became an issue of public attention in Turkey after decades of oblivion.” After all, in 1919, the British Empire pressurised the defeated Ottoman government of Istanbul to set up a Courts-Martial to try individual Unionists, government officials, and military leaders, as well as other functionaries, with charges of committing crimes against the Armenians and subverting the Ottoman constitution (1876/1908) by leading the Empire into the Great War (1919-22). This was done in response to a joint declaration by Britain, France and Russia issued on 24 May 1915 to “hold personally responsible . . . all members of the Ottoman government and those of their agents who are implicated in such massacres.” In 1922, the “Court Martial pronounced, in accordance with said stipulations of the Law the death penalty against Talaat, Enver, Cemal [Pashas], and Dr. Nazim,” having found them guilty of “massacre, plunder of goods, appropriation and hoarding of riches.” Two of the three guilty Pashas had fled the Ottoman lands and were later assassinated by Armenian terrorists in the course of the so-called Operation Nemesis. In this way, the Armenian massacres which were to be named erroneously the ‘First Genocide of 20th Century,’ received their legal and judicial resolution right before the Kemalist victory and the subsequent foundation of the Republic of Turkey. As I explained in 2014, “many commentators and even historians refer to the Armenian issue as the 20th century’s first genocide, [though] in reality the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888-1918) had already constituted a precedent previously.” As expressed by the Dutch Professor of African History “Jan-Bart Gewald ‘[b]etween 1904 and 1908 Imperial German troops committed genocide in German South West Africa (GSWA), present-day Namibia.’ Germany’s late and short (‘about thirty-five years,’ as expressed by the sociologist Gurminder K. Bhambra) entry into Europe’s colonial game overseas led to extreme measures. In South West Africa, German settlers employed the Herero-German war to ‘rightfully’ occupy territory belonging to the Herero tribes. This land-grab was preceded by ‘the planned and officially sanctioned attempted extermination of the Herero people.’ As the Ottomans had enjoyed good relations with the German Empire ever since the early years of Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876-1909), it would stand to reason to assume that the Unionists were eager to apply the German experiences in South West Africa to their own territorial designs for Anatolia.” In this way, the Unionist government implemented a strict policy of ethnic cleansing to clear occupied territories in order to populate them with new arrivals – Muslim refugees fleeing war and persecution in the Balkans and the Russian Empire. These population policies created the ground for the territorial expression of Turkish nationalism as understood by the Kemalist leadership, first developed in 1922 (as I have conclusively illustrated in 2008). And today, the post-Kemalist New Turkey as the temporal successor of the nation state founded by Atatürk and self-proclaimed heir to to the Ottoman Empire finds itself forced to continue the habits and rituals of the infamous ‘invented tradition’ of Turkish denialism At the White House (13 November 2019), the New Turkey’s Prez reaffirmed his commitment to the tenets of denialism: “Historians not politicians should make a decision concerning an issue that was experienced 104 years ago during [the prosecution of] a war. Turkey is on the side of dialogue and free discussion. Our proposal to the Armenian side of setting up a joint historical commission is still valid. In the archives of our armed forces more than one million documents are available.” In the same breath, he went on to suggest that H. Res. 296 was introduced by U.S. lawmakers sympathetic to the PKK/YPG/PYD (the latter being the Democratic Union Party) nexus, an entity more commonly known as the “Kurds,” and, in response, the U.S. President actually came out with the statement that Tayyip Erdoğan has “a great relationship with the Kurds. Many Kurds are living currently in Turkey and they’re happy, and taken care of, including healthcare and education,” and adding “[t]his has been thousands of years in the process between borders, between these countries and other countries that we’re involved with 7,000 miles away.” This statement is a prime example that really shows that Donald Trump has no idea what he is talking about most of the time. In fact, the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s remark that the President is “an imposter . . . [that] knows full well that he’s in that office way over his head,” does spring to mind. Admittedly, Pelosi’s words were spoken in the context of the ongoing impeachment hearings, but appear strangely apposite here. The situation of the Kurds in the Middle East is a complex matter that cannot be contained in soundbites and catchy phrases. As I wrote last January, “Turkish and Kurdish populations have been sharing space in the same locality for centuries – for ‘four hundred years of more,’ as verbalised by Dr Christopher Houston.” Dr. Janet Klein, an expert in late-Ottoman Kurdistan, for her part, simply said that “[t]he idea that Turks and Kurds have been engaged in conflict for centuries is very ahistorical.” Still, in the West, the perception is that Turks and Kurds are continuously at each others’ throats. In reality though, the current enmity between the Turkish state and the Kurds, or rather the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party or Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê), goes back to the 1980’s: “The PKK has been waging a bloody war against the Turkish state for more than 30 years now. At first, this struggle aimed at the creation of an independent Kurdistan in the south-eastern Anatolia, but in time, these separatist demands have become calls for local autonomy and cultural recognition. The AKP was the first political organization in Turkey to officially acknowledge the existence of a Kurdish issue, and the first one to attempt to tackle the deadlock by means of a negotiation process, known as the ‘Kurdish overture’ launched in 2009. But following the inconclusive June 2015 elections and Turkey’s subsequent November Surprise [as I have termed the surprisingly unsurprising AKP electoral victory on 1 November 2015] that saw the AKP receive a veritable mandate for the construction of a post-Kemalist century, Ankara has once again started beating the war drums,” as I have written in 2016. And these war drums have now led the Turkish Army and its Jihadi FSA allies into northwestern Syria. The Prez announced his designs on 24 September at the United Nations General Assembly in New York: “Our intention is to establish the possibility for 2 million Syrians to settle down in a safe zone we plan to set up.” The Canadian journalist and writer Nick Ashdown recently put it like this: “Erdogan has long seemed comfortable using demographic engineering as a political tool. Indeed, he has threatened to use Middle Eastern refugees as a weapon against Europe, repeatedly warning he could ‘open the gates’ and flood Europe with the Syrians currently living in Turkey. He also seems quite comfortable opining on which groups belong where in Syria. ‘Arabs are most suitable for this area,’ he told journalists during an interview on Oct. 24.” The Prez namely spelled out his intentions there and then: “Those areas aren’t appropriate for Kurds’ lifestyles, because they’re desert.” For, as should be quite common knowledge by now, the Kurds have ‘no friends but the mountains.’ Ashdown rightly points out the “worrisome historical resonances of Erdogan’s proposed policy” namely “[s]tate-facilitated or state-enforced population transfers have a long history in the former Ottoman Empire and have left an indelible imprint on northern Syria in particular. Known as sürgün (‘deportation’ or ‘exile’) during Ottoman times, they were often used as a form of politically motivated demographic engineering.” After all, the Prez and his AKP henchmen just love to operate in accordance with good Otttoman precedent. The notorious 1915 Tehcir Kanunu, for instance, aimed at deporting Ottoman Armenians to Deir Ezzor in the Syrian desert: “Armenians were killed, the majority of them through death marches periodically interrupted by mass killings. Concentration camps in Syria’s Deir Ezzor were some of the final destinations for those who survived the marches,” as explained by Ashdown. Though the Prez is keen on good Ottoman precedents, his view of historical reality does not necessarily square with the facts on the ground. Following his White House visit, he went to the Washington Diyanet Center, a purpose-built architectural propaganda vehicle for the AKP-led New Turkey in the new world, where he said the following absurdity, which is really beyond any need to receive a form of correction: “They [Armenians] used to travel in different places as nomads. The forced deportation took place while they were living the same way as nomads in Turkey.” It seems that over the past years, Tayyip Erdoğan has made a most amazing intellectual journey, a journey which has taken him from a point of near-reconciliation – to his current location where he seems to follow his U.S. counterpart’s example closely and does not shy away from making-up alternative facts to suit his agenda. And this means that the issue of the Armenian Genocide will continue to fester and simultaneously, the invented tradition of Turkish denialism will, in turn, continue to thrive in the post-Kemalist and pseudo-Ottoman era ushered in by the Islamist political movement set up none other than Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Whether nationalist or Islamist, the invented tradition of Turkish denialism seems set to persist, and persist for as long as there is a Turkish Republic. *** 21WIRE special contributor Dr. Can Erimtan is an independent historian and geo-political analyst who used to live in Istanbul. At present, he is in self-imposed exile from Turkey. He has a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans, the greater Middle East, and the world beyond. He attended the VUB in Brussels and did his graduate work at the universities of Essex and Oxford. In Oxford, Erimtan was a member of Lady Margaret Hall and he obtained his doctorate in Modern History in 2002. His publications include the revisionist monograph “Ottomans Looking West?” as well as numerous scholarly articles. In Istanbul, Erimtan started publishing in Today’s Zaman and in Hürriyet Daily News. In the next instance, he became the Turkey Editor of the İstanbul Gazette. Subsequently, he commenced writing for RT Op-Edge, NEO, and finally, the 21st Century Wire. You can find him on Twitter at @theerimtanangle | 21wire | https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/11/20/turks-kurds-armenians-americans-genocide-denial-as-the-turkish-republics-raison-detre/ | Wed, 20 Nov 2019 13:44:19 +0000 | 1,574,275,459 | 1,574,294,673 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
2,320 | abcnews--2019-11-15--UN extends peacekeepers in Central African Republic | 2019-11-15T00:00:00 | abcnews | UN extends peacekeepers in Central African Republic | The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to extend the U.N. peacekeeping force in Central African Republic for a year, with a mandate to protect civilians, support peace efforts, and assist in preparing for elections starting in 2020. The French-drafted resolution welcomed the Feb. 6 peace agreement signed by the government and 14 armed groups and reiterated the council’s support for President Faustin-Archange Touadera and his government in their efforts to promote lasting peace. It urged all signatories to implement the agreement without delay and condemned “in the strongest terms” violations and violence perpetrated by some armed groups and militias throughout the country. It demanded that armed groups cease all violence. The resolution also condemned “incitement to ethnic and religious hatred and violence, violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations and abuses, including those committed against children and those involving sexual and gender-based violence in conflict.” Central African Republic has seen deadly interreligious and intercommunal fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital and mainly Christian anti-Balaka militias fought back, resulting in thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced. A period of relative peace followed in late 2015 and 2016, but violence spread and intensified after that. The peace agreement signed on Feb. 6 is the eighth since fighting began in 2013 and the first where armed groups, who control most of the impoverished country, held direct talks with the government. France’s U.N. Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere told the council after the vote: “This agreement represents indeed the only path toward lasting peace in Central African Republic, and while progress has already been made, significant challenges remain.” The Security Council warned in the resolution that individuals or entities that undermine peace and stability in Central African Republic, also known by its initials CAR, can face sanctions. It called on neighboring countries, regional organizations and international partners to support the peace process. The council urged government authorities “to urgently implement a genuine and inclusive process to support reconciliation.” This should be done by addressing the root causes of the conflict, including the marginalization of civilians from specific communities, issues of national identity, economic development and local grievances, it said. The resolution urged CAR authorities and all “national stakeholders” to prepare inclusive, free, fair and transparent presidential, legislative and local elections in 2020 and 2021. The Security Council extended the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MINUSA until Nov. 15, keeping its personnel at 11,650 military — including 480 military observers and staff officers — and 2,080 police personnel. It said MINUSCA’s “strategic objective is to support the creation of the political, security and institutional conditions” to reduce the presence and threat of armed groups. The council set out a number of priority tasks for MINUSCA — protecting civilians, supporting the peace process including by helping implement the peace agreement and assisting with elections, national reconciliation, “social cohesion and transitional justice,” and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid. It also authorized other tasks for MINUSCA including supporting CAR authorities to extend their authority throughout the country, in reforming the security sector, promoting human rights, and in disarming and demobilizing armed groups and repatriating foreign fighters. | null | https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/extends-peacekeepers-central-african-republic-67046921 | Fri, 15 Nov 2019 19:48:25 -0500 | 1,573,865,305 | 1,573,905,969 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
508 | 21stcenturywire--2019-08-06--US-backed Opposition in Thailand Exposed After Recent Bombings | 2019-08-06T00:00:00 | 21stcenturywire | US-backed Opposition in Thailand Exposed After Recent Bombings | Several small bombs detonated across Bangkok on Friday, August 2, amid a meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) the US, China, and Russia. There were several injuries reported, but no deaths. Despite a Western media deliberately feigning confusion over motives and possible suspects while attempting to depict the capital as “in chaos” and the current Thai government “humiliated” – its image “tarnished” – US-backed opposition groups are the prime suspects, their motives including growing desperation. Also absent from Western media coverage was any genuine context surrounding Thailand’s ongoing political crisis as foreign-backed opposition groups attempt to reverse the nation’s growing ties with China, Russia, and developing nations across Eurasia. The US-backed opposition consists of former prime minister, billionaire fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra, his Pheu Thai Party (PTP), his violent street front – the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) better known as “red shirts,” and a number of new parties Thaksin created to hedge his bets in elections earlier this year. The most prominent among these parties is Future Forward headed by billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit. Thanathorn faces multiple criminal charges including election law violations. His political future is nonexistent – a miniature Thaksin Shinawatra minus the initial success and popularity Thaksin once enjoyed when first coming to power in 2001. Thaksin’s various proxies parties faired poorly in the last election, with Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) winning the popular vote and forming a larger coalition. PPRP is headed by military figures responsible for ousting Thaksin in 2006 – and his sister Yingluck Shinawatra from power in 2014. Having lost elections and lacking public support – with expensive and violent protests a now exhausted option – few options are left besides violence. Many hardcore Thaksin supporters are fond of repeating the quote, “those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” While they are by no means interested in any sort of principled revolution, they are most certainly fond of pursing violence. Thaksin – since his ouster in 2006 – has resorted to large scale violence in a bid to seize back power. This is in addition to his poor human rights record during his time in power which saw over 2,000 people extrajudicially executed during a 90 day “drug war.” Should evidence tie Thaksin to the recent blasts – it wouldn’t be the first time he and his political allies would have targeted an important ASEAN summit hosted by Thailand. The Guardian in its article, “Protesters storm Asian leaders’ summit in Thailand,” would admit that in 2009 during another large ASEAN meeting, Thaksin’s red shirts would storm the convention center forcing ASEAN representatives to flee by helicopter. During related protests, Thaksin’s red shirts would kill two shopkeepers while trying to loot their businesses. In 2010, Thaksin would deploy between 300-500 heavily armed militants who – even according to Human Rights Watch – murdered soldiers, police, and civilians. Despite HRW admitting this, it and the Western media still depicts the violence as a “government crackdown” to this day. Leading up to the protests, Thaksin’s militants threatened judges deciding on a court case over the seizure of $1.4 billion of his assets. This included grenade attacks on court buildings. There were also other senseless grenade and bomb attacks carried out throughout Bangkok as a crude attempt to coerce the government to meet Thaksin’s demands in 2010. In 2014 when protesters took to the street to oppose Thaksin Shinawatra’s sister – Yingluck Shinawtra – his militants would once again return, carrying out gun and grenade attacks leaving up to 20 dead including women and children. Violence continued until the military intervened, ousting Yingluck, and taking over as an interim government. In fact, only Thaksin Shinawatra and his political supporters have a verified record of carrying out violence and terrorism in and around Bangkok – and for over a decade. Three of Thailand’s southern-most provinces have faced a low-intensity insurgency since Thaksin took power in 2001 and violated a 20-year peace deal. Claims that separatists in Thailand’s deep south might have been responsible for the recent blasts are dubious at best. Separatists have never attacked Bangkok. Additionally, as revealed by Thailand’s HRW representative Sunai Phasuk in a Wikileaks cable – Thaksin maintains, “strong organization and funding” for activities in the deep south and could organize violence in Bangkok meant to scapegoat separatists. This would fit Washington’s agenda as well – as separatists also happen to be ethnic Malay and Muslim. Washington has worked diligently in other nations throughout Southeast Asia to fuel inter-religious tensions and divisions – most notably in Myanmar where violence flaring up in Rakhaine state between Buddhists and Muslims just so happens to be threatening Chinese investments and infrastructure there – which helps provide insight into possible motivations behind the recent blasts in Bangkok. On a petty domestic political level, Thaksin and his supporters have run out of options and have repeatedly ridiculed PPRP’s campaign promise to maintain peace and stability after winning elections. Of course, the only way the current PPRP-led government can fail to carry out its promise is if its opponents carry out violence and attempt to destabilize the country. On a geopolitical level – Thaksin and his political forces are the preferred proxies of Washington, London, and Brussels. Thaksin faithfully served their interests between 2001-2006 for everything form privatizing Thailand’s natural resources to sending Thai troops to fight Washington’s wars. By destabilizing the current government, Washington hopes – as it does in all other nations it is fostering destabilization and even violence in – to create the conditions within which regime change may become possible – or at the very least creation conditions suitable for coercing Bangkok into making concessions. Among these concessions would be demands for Bangkok to distance itself from Beijing, Moscow and other US rivals whom Bangkok has been building steady ties with. China alone has helped Thailand update its aging US military equipment, including main battle tanks, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and even a submarine. Thailand has also bought several Russia military transport helicopters as well as hardware from Europe. Bangkok is already building major infrastructure projects with China including a high-speed rail network that will connect Thai cities together, and Thailand to Laos and China. This growing relationship significantly blunts US influence in both Thailand and the wider region. Nothing “Absurd” About Implicating the US and its Proxies The Western media and the US Embassy in Bangkok itself – after being suspected in the past of being behind terrorism in Thailand – attempt to portray the notion of the US carrying out or approving of deadly violence to achieve its political goals around the globe as “absurd.” Yet it was the US who used extreme violence in 2003 to invade and topple the government in Iraq – predicated on a deliberate lie and leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis along with thousands of America’s own soldiers. To claim somehow the US is capable of that, but “above” using lesser violence to coerce other nations around the globe is in fact incredibly absurd. The US destroys entire nations around the globe. It is not above sponsoring relatively minor terrorism to coerce a nation. Investigations will begin, but Bangkok is unlikely to directly implicate Thaksin or his proxies, no less his sponsors. The goal of the string of bombings is to heighten tensions and deepen divisions between the Thai public and what remains of Thaksin’s support base. Time is on Bangkok’s side. As it rises alongside China and the rest of Eurasia, US influence wanes. While the US is still an incredibly dangerous and destructive force around the globe – its ability to influence the path of global development has atrophied. As public awareness grows of Washington’s true intentions and methods – and more specifically its abuses and crimes, further violence carried out by it or its proxies will only accelerate global backlash against it and its “international order,” in favor of a multipolar world where cooperation and national sovereignty hold primacy over coercion and regime change. *** Author Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher, writer and special contributor to 21st Century Wire. Over the last decade, his work has been published on a number of popular news and analysis websites, and also on the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. | 21wire | https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/08/06/us-backed-opposition-in-thailand-exposed-after-recent-bombings/ | 2019-08-06 22:36:47+00:00 | 1,565,145,407 | 1,567,534,711 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
13,753 | aljazeera--2019-06-24--The Palestinian refugees and the monologue of the century | 2019-06-24T00:00:00 | aljazeera | The Palestinian refugees and the 'monologue of the century' | In 1948, about 450 Palestinian villages were razed to the ground by Israeli forces and about 770,000 people - including about 20,000 Jews expelled by Arab militias from Hebron, Jerusalem, Jenin, and Gaza - were evicted in a matter of few days and then forcibly denied the return. Some of them fled out of fear, often after witnessing the tragic fate of their relatives and friends. A case in point is the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lydda and Ramle in July 1948, which accounted for one-tenth of the overall Arab-Palestinian exodus. Most among the 50,000-70,000 Palestinians that were expelled from the two cities did so following an official expulsion order signed by the then commander of the Harel Brigade, Yitzhak Rabin: "The inhabitants of Lydda", Rabin clarified, "must be expelled quickly without attention to age". Several hundreds of them died during the exodus from exhaustion and dehydration. Over 70 years later, it is becoming increasingly common to come across analogies between Palestinian refugees such as the ones from Lydda and Ramle, and the "simultaneous uprooting" of Jews living in Arab countries. Israel's Deputy Minister of Finance Yitzhak Cohen, for example, has said that: "The uprooted Jews' problem is equal to, if not greater than, the Palestinian refugees' problem." The analogy, which aims primarily to remove the issue of the Palestinian refugees from any future peace negotiations, is usually presented in the following terms: Due to "the Arab rejection" of the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947, a conflict erupted and 770,000 Palestinians "fled" what is today Israel"; at the same time some 800,000 Jews living in Arab countries faced "mass displacement"; hence, there was a "population exchange" between "Arab and Jewish refugees". Palestinians should then accept this "reciprocity" and renounce to their demands for return and/or compensation. But this attempted moral equivalence is a misleading one. Palestinians and Jews fled their homes in different contexts and the former cannot be blamed for the fate of the latter. The complex history of the Palestinian refugees should not be reduced to a simple analogy with no evidentiary basis. A plethora of observers and scholars have linked the beginning of the Palestinian refugee problem, and more generally the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian conflict, to "the Arab rejection" of the 1947's UN partition for Palestine. While on the surface this claim may appear to make sense, the reality of who rejected what in the 1940s is more complicated than that. Indeed, as the late Israeli journalist and activist Uri Avnery has noted, if Palestinians "had been asked, they would probably have rejected partition, since - in their view - it gave a large part of their historical homeland to foreigners". The more so, he noted, "since the Jews, who at the time constituted a third of the population, were allotted 55% of the territory - and even there the Arabs constituted 40% of the population". But from the perspective of the Arab Palestinians, who at the turn of the century constituted about 90 percent of the population, 1947-48 did not mark the beginning of the struggle, but coincided instead with the final chapter of a war which started with some Zionist leaders adopting policies and strategies of rejectionism in the early 20th century. The beginning of the conflict can be traced back to 1907, when the Eighth Zionist Congress created a "Palestine Office" in Jaffa, under the direction of Zionist leader Arthur Ruppin, whose main objective was - in his own words - "the creation of a Jewish milieu and of a closed Jewish economy, in which producers, consumers and middlemen shall all be Jewish". Indeed, "rejectionism" featured very prominently in Ruppin's mindset. The goal of a "closed Jewish economy" was partially implemented from 1904 on by the leaders of the second and third aliyot (waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine) through policies like the kibbush ha'avoda (conquest of work) and the practice of avodah ivrit (Jewish work, or the idea that only Jewish workers must work Jewish lands). While both were dictated by the need to offer greater job opportunities to the new immigrants, they resulted in the creation of a system of exclusion that blocked at its inception, primarily on an ideological level, any potential integration with the local Arab population. Some researchers have emphasised that the Arab population likewise tended to avoid hiring Jewish settlers. This, however, takes no account of the fact that Arabs had only a marginal interest in employing a minority of new immigrants who had much more limited agricultural experience and did not speak the language used by the rest of the local inhabitants. Their avoidance of Jewish workers was not part of an organised political campaign. It should also be noted that the "system of exclusion" and the two parallel social and economic structures that it triggered affected other crucial issues such as those of the land and its resources. For instance, the Jewish National Fund (KKL) was established with the task of buying land in Palestine (it succeeded in buying 9/10 of the land bought in Palestine by Zionist buyers) while banning the alienation of this newly acquired area to non-Jews. KKL's areas were managed in a discriminatory way in relation to the Arab population. KKL farmers who were found employing non-Jewish workers were subject to fines and/or expulsions. Such policies were indeed alarming, especially considering their intended purpose, which the future first President of the State of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, outlined in a letter sent to his wife in 1907: "If our Jewish capitalists, say even only the Zionist capitalists, were to invest their capital in Palestine, if only in part, there is no doubt that the lifeline of Palestine - all the coastal strip - would be in Jewish hands within twenty-five years […] The Arab retains his primitive attachment to the land, the soil-instinct is strong in him, and by being continuously employed on it there is a danger that he might feel himself indispensable to it, with a moral right to it." All this further confirms that the tendency to link "Arab rejectionism" to the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem ignores too much history and cannot but foster a limited understanding of a far more complex issue. Rejectionist policies had an immensely disruptive effect on intercommunal relations in Palestine. A plethora of primary sources produced by local actors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries confirm that before the implementation of these policies relations between different communities were much less confrontational than has been claimed recently. An unsigned editorial published on the daily Arab-Palestinian journal Filastin on 29 April 1914 contended, for instance, "Until ten years ago the Jews constituted a native fraternal Ottoman element. They lived and mixed freely in harmony with other elements and entered into working relationships, lived in the same neighbourhoods and sent their children to the same schools." These words, despite their apologetic tones, were not far from the truth. The attitudes shown by several prominent figures and religious groups in the region, and the pressure exerted by the Porte so that local Jews could become full Ottoman citizens, give credit - at least as a general tendency - to such a consideration. Speaking at a public square in Beirut in the spring of 1909, Jewish lawyer Shlomo Yellin stated that "it is not lawful to divide according to race; the Turkish, Arab, Armenian, and Jewish elements have mixed one with other, and all of them are connected together". Scholar and author Yaacov Yehoshua wrote in his memoir, Yaldut be-Yerushalayim ha-yashena (Childhood in Old Jerusalem) published in 1965, that in Jerusalem "there were joint compounds of Jews and Muslims. We were like one family […] Our children played with their [Muslim] children in the yard, and if children from the neighborhood hurt us the Muslim children who lived in our compound protected us. They were our allies." In the same period, in a religious city par excellence such as Jerusalem, almost 80 percent of the inhabitants lived in mixed neighbourhoods and quarters. All this should not suggest that interreligious and/or confessional conflicts were unknown. Cleavages and clashes of this type can be documented as early as the Middle Ages. Yet, their nature and scope are hardly comparable to those of more recent times. More importantly, they do not reflect the actual history of most of the region's past. If the Palestinian refugees' question has little to do with "Arab rejectionism", the same can be said regarding the attempt to link Palestinian refugees to the victimisation and expulsion of Jewish communities. Indeed, thousands of Jews in Arab countries suffered discrimination, oppression, threats and various forms of violence. The most well-known example is the Farhud - a 1941 pogrom against Jews in which over 180 Jews were brutally killed in Baghdad. According to Hayyim J Cohen, it "was the only [such event] known to the Jews of Iraq, at least during their last hundred years of life there". Regardless of whether we agree or disagree with Cohen's words, it is still undeniable that Palestinians were not responsible for what happened in Baghdad or elsewhere in the Middle East. They may be Arab, but they were and are not the same people as Iraqis. Jews who suffered discrimination and brutality in certain Arab countries have legitimate claims; all forms of violence are equally unacceptable and must be acknowledged and condemned. At the same time, it must be noted that, contrary to Palestinian refugees, many of whom were expelled or fled in fear, a large percentage of Jews left out of a desire to join their "Eretz Yisrael" (Land of Israel). One figure that is often used to justify the alleged moral responsibility of Palestinians for the conditions of Jews in Arab countries is Hajj Amin al-Ḥusayni, the "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem". Al-Husayni was a supporter of Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani in Iraq who sought to establish stronger ties with Nazi Germany and Italy. It was in the aftermath of the collapse of al-Gaylani's governments that the riots in Baghdad erupted which led to the Farhud. In 1941, al-Husayni made his way first to Italy and then to Germany. Two years later, he participated in the formation of the Handschar, a Nazi division created in collaboration with SS commander Heinrich Himmler, which fought the communist partisans in Yugoslavia and committed various crimes against the local population, including many Jews. Given his alleged Islamic credentials, he was tasked with recruiting Bosnian and Serbian Muslims who, along with some Catholic Croatian volunteers, formed the core of the unit. There were no Palestinians enlisted in the Handschar; by contrast, about 12,000 Arab Palestinians joined the British army to fight Axis powers in 1939. Due to his collusion with the Nazi regime, al-Ḥusayni is often used as an example of why the Palestinian people were supposedly responsible for their own tragic destiny. Yet, as recent studies have shown, he was not a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, as he was very much imposed on them by the British authorities. The analogy between Palestinian refugees and Jews from Arab countries is misplaced on a number of other grounds. One of the most obvious ones is the issue of how and why Palestinian refugees and Jews expelled or emigrating from Arab countries have (or have not) been "absorbed". During and after the 1948 war, many Palestinians were forced to flee to neighbouring Arab countries. Until the recent past, many of them were prohibited from getting citizenship and practising certain professions. The suffering of the Palestinian refugees has been - and in some cases still is - exploited by the leadership of those countries for political gain. Yet, a comparison between Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon or Syria, and the ma'abarot, the immigrant absorption camps in Israel in the 1950s, would be misleading. The reason why the last ma'abara was closed in 1963 partially has to do with the establishment of a number of development towns in Israel where displaced Jews were provided with homes. Many new immigrants had to go through a painful and violent process of being settled into emptied Palestinian houses. Any person who has visited Ein Hod, Musrara, Qira and a few hundreds of other former Palestinian villages, quarters or cities, is familiar with the thousands of houses that are still perfectly intact. Most (if not all) of them are today inhabited by families of former immigrants. It should, therefore, not be surprising that many Israeli officials have rejected the term "refugee". As Knesset speaker Yisrael Yeshayahu noted in 1975, "We are not refugees. [Some of us] came to this country before the state was born. We had messianic aspirations." Former Knesset member Ran Cohen went a step further by saying: "I have this to say: I am not a refugee […] I came at the behest of Zionism, due to the pull that this land exerts, and due to the idea of redemption. Nobody is going to define me as a refugee." By contrast, a large part of the Palestinian population is now second, third or fourth-generation refugees still living in camps. In fact, they are the only refugees who do not fall under the UNHCR and instead have their own agency (UNRWA). The reason for this is rooted in the full recognition of the heavy price paid by Palestinians for the decisions - fully legitimate in the eyes of some, completely or partially unlawful according to others - taken by the international community in the late 1940s. In other words, 70 years ago, UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly as a humanitarian agency to support those very same refugees that lost their homes in 1948, a few months after the UN partition plan of Palestine in November 1947. Still today, UNRWA mirrors the international community's obligation to provide a just and durable solution for them. "People [adapt] their memories to suit their sufferings," wrote Athenian historian Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War. Today, this statement seems especially relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A certain degree of mutual acceptance of the other's narratives and traumas, through reconciliation and empathy, is the key to any sustainable peace. Yet, when visible and invisible scars are exploited for political or ideologically-driven purposes, they cannot but pave the way for what Austrian-born Jewish philosopher Martin Buber called "monologue disguised as dialogue", i.e. the dialogue "in which two or more men, meeting in space, speak each with himself in strangely tortuous and circuitous ways and yet imagine they have escaped the torment of being thrown back on their own resources". The so-called "deal of the century", the details of which are to be released during the Bahrain Economic Workshop on June 25, is yet another example of a long list of monologues disguised as dialogues. All signs suggest that those behind the "deal" will try to remove the Palestinian refugee issue from any future peace negotiation. It is the past presented as the future. This is why it is doomed to fail. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance. | null | https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/palestinian-refugees-monologue-century-190623212501227.html | 2019-06-24 18:27:47+00:00 | 1,561,415,267 | 1,567,538,322 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
30,549 | bbc--2019-09-05--The priest who survived the siege of Marawi | 2019-09-05T00:00:00 | bbc | The priest who survived the siege of Marawi | For five months in 2017, Islamist militants took over the city of Marawi in the south of the Philippines. One of their prisoners was a Catholic priest, Father Chito, who was forced to make bombs under threat of torture. The experience shook him deeply, but he continues to hope Christians and Muslims will be able to live in peace. It was dinner time at the Bato Mosque, and 20 people were gathered around the long table in the basement, ready to eat. On one side of the table, 15 jihadists. On the other, Father Chito, a Catholic priest, and and handful of other Christians. Suddenly, the sound of gunfire startled them and they jumped into action. Father Chito reached for the AK47 at his feet and threw it across the table to one of the jihadists, who caught it and crouched at the entrance of the mosque, ready. After a few minutes, the gunfire passed into the distance and they settled back around the table. It had become a familiar routine. Father Chito had been held hostage for more than two months. He couldn't say he liked his captors, but he had developed what he describes as a "human closeness" with them. They were a little community, eating together, working together. And when he heard that one of the jihadists had died fighting the Philippine Army, he would grieve. Father Chito was taken hostage on 23 May 2017, the day the city of Marawi was besieged by militants affiliated to Islamic State. Before this, Marawi was a beautiful city, with tall, densely packed houses and ornate mosques. Located on the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao, it is a majority-Muslim city in an overwhelmingly Catholic country. Islam first arrived in the south of the Philippines in the 13th Century via traders from the Middle East and the Malay and Indonesian archipelagos. Missionaries and mosques followed and those who converted became known as the Moro people. When the Spanish colonised the Philippines in the 16th Century, bringing with them Catholicism, they failed to conquer the Moro in the south of the country. Since then, many Muslims in the south have felt marginalised. The region is among the poorest in the country and there have been calls for autonomy from what is widely seen as the Catholic powerbase of Manila. Listen to The Story of the Philippines' Lost City on Crossing Continents, on BBC Radio 4 at 11:00 on 5 September Or catch up later on BBC Sounds When Father Chito was sent to Marawi 23 years ago, with the aim of building an inter-religious dialogue between Christians and Muslims, the vast majority of people in the city welcomed him and his colleagues. But in the months before the siege, he started to feel increasingly uneasy. In early 2016, two brothers from the Maute tribe returned from studying in the Middle East to their hometown, Butig, south of Marawi. They started preaching a militant version of Islam and assembled a group of around 200 followers, who began attacking government forces in the area. In 2017, the attacks drew closer and closer to Marawi. Fighters from Indonesia and Malaysia had already swelled the militants' ranks when, in late May, another IS-allied group, Abu Sayyaf, or "bearer of the sword", was spotted in the city. The stage was set for the siege of Marawi. In the middle of the day, Father Chito was woken up from a nap by the sound of gunfire. Then his tablet, computer and mobile phone all started beeping, as he was bombarded with messages from Muslim and Catholic friends, all saying same thing: "Get out of Marawi!" Instead, he prayed. "I told myself, 'I trust everything to God's hands so I will not get out,'" he says. At 5.30pm, the city fell silent, the streets emptied, windows were closed and lights turned off. The militants raised the black flag of Islamic State over the hospital. On the horizon the police station burned. And then the jihadists arrived at the gate of the cathedral. As Father Chito approached the gate, two men raised their guns. Behind them, he saw over a 100 more armed fighters. Along with five of his colleagues, he was forced into the back of a van and held inside all night, as the militants preached their version of Islam. "During the whole evening, they are indoctrinating us: 'We are here because we would like to clean Marawi. This is called an Islamic city but there are drugs here, there is corruption here, there is wine and music here. We are here to establish the caliphate.'" But there were thousands of civilians trapped in the city, who didn't want to be governed by allies of Islamic State. In the first days of the siege, there was chaos. People were stranded in their houses, desperate to escape but terrified of being caught in the crossfire. Tong Pasacum was working in the town hall at the time, his job was to respond to floods and natural disasters. So when the conflict began, his phone began to ring. "When we got the first call for the rescue operation, I was thinking twice about going out the gate because I know if I go out I'm not sure if I'll be making it back," he says. "But then you get overwhelmed with the situation, so you're left with no other option than to go, even if it means risking your life." Tong brought together a team of volunteers from Marawi's Muslim community and together they went on death-defying rescue missions into the conflict zone. Their vehicles were shot at as they wound their way through piles of rubble and burning buildings. Tong decided that they needed a way to identify themselves as neutral. He remembered a pile of white construction helmets in his office, and he cut up a white table cloth to make arm bands. The team was soon branded the "Suicide Squad" by the local media. But Father Chito and 100 other hostages, were far beyond the reach of the Suicide Squad. They were being kept in the basement of Bato Mosque, the militants' command centre. They were told they would face "disciplinary action" if they didn't co-operate. Father Chita knew this meant torture, and feared it would cause him to lose his mind. So he worked for the militants, cooking and cleaning, and even - with a heavy heart - making bombs. Urban guerrilla tactics - including punching holes through walls to create "rat runs" between buildings - helped the fighters evade capture. But aided by US and Australian intelligence the Philippine army carried out relentless aerial bombing. The pattern of the airstrikes grew familiar to Father Chito. There were always two planes, each carrying four bombs, each explosion closer than the last. He experienced more than 100 airstrikes in his four months in captivity, both wanting and not wanting to be hit. "I prayed and asked God for the next bomb to hit me," he says. But then he'd quickly change his mind. "No Lord, don't hit me. I don't want to be hit." "There are moments when I didn't know how to pray," he says. "I complained to the Lord, 'If I sinned and you are punishing me, this is too much, this is not commensurate.' My faith in God was really challenged, to the point of blaming God." On 16 September the Philippine army was so close to the mosque that Father Chito could hear their commands. Once darkness fell, he and one of the other hostages decided that this was their chance: they sneaked out the back of the mosque and ran. Two streets away they were greeted by a group of men brandishing guns - and whisked away to safety. A month later, the Philippine defence secretary declared the country's longest siege over. The Maute brothers, Omar and Abdullah, and Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon had been killed, and their remaining fighters routed. Over 1,000 people lost their lives in the five-month siege. Nearly two years on, the city remains in ruins. The reconstruction has been painfully slow, with 100,000 people still displaced, living in camps or with relatives. A square mile of streets in the centre of the city is now referred to as Ground Zero or the Most Affected Area. The scale of the devastation is akin to Raqqa, Aleppo or Mosul. Every single building has been damaged; many are leaning at awkward-looking angles or entirely reduced to rubble. We drive into the area with Father Chito, towards the cathedral that he was taken from. As we pull up he excitedly points out the window. "That's our church!" he shouts. But as we enter, the mood changes. The cathedral has been reduced to a ruin. Bullet holes cover the walls, the tiles on the floor crack under foot and the roof has been blown apart leaving only the metal structure, which creeks eerily in the wind. The church is scheduled to be demolished and so this may be the last time he sees it. Approaching the altar, my attention is grabbed by a statue of Jesus. There's a bullet hole in his stomach, his hands have been cut off and a crown of feathers is perched on his head. Father Chito leaves us for a moment to pray, he stands silently with his hand on a crumbling figure of the Virgin Mary, picking the plaster off it and crying. Tong is one of those who lost his house during the siege and he has now been given a portable building. But instead of living in it, he stays with relatives and uses it as a base for a new organisation he's set up, called the Early Response Network. Its aim is to stop radical Islam gaining a foothold in the community. A man hunches over a radio in the corner, doing the daily roll call to the network's 40 volunteers around the region. They report early signs of radicalisation and pass information to authorities, in the hope of preventing anything like the siege happening again. Marawi is a clan-based society, and family feuds are common here. Tong says that in the years before the siege, extremist groups exploited grudges between families to recruit. Now, he and his colleagues try to mediate quarrels between households before they escalate. In the immediate aftermath of the siege, all was quiet. The command structure of the militant groups had been decimated and the war had caused so much destruction that there was an overwhelming desire for peace and reconciliation. But in the last few months, they have started picking up on some worrying incidents: sightings of armed militants, reports of young women attending radical training camps and recruiters targeting families bereaved during the siege. "There's a small group trying to regroup," says Tong. "The root cause of this is what happened to Marawi. People's lives have been damaged. If the rehabilitation takes longer, more people will definitely be attracted to join." Father Chito doesn't live in Marawi any more, he says it's too dangerous. But he sometimes visits to lead mass at the university, in a makeshift church set up in the gymnasium. He says that this is the only place in the city where Catholics can gather in large numbers and feel safe. He's a local celebrity now and after the service, students queue up to take selfies with him. He is upbeat and excitable and recounts even the most distressing experiences with irony. It's a coping mechanism, he tells me. "The sense of humour is an instrument that can make life lighter, that can balance so that you do not go to the extreme trauma, extreme stress. It can neutralise the worry and the painful experiences." "I already lost my psychiatric balance, I was devastated. So although I'm happy I survived physically, my feeling of happiness is not on its full blast. Time heals and so we wait for the time." But he is optimistic about the prospects for inter-religious peace in Marawi. "After the war, people learned a lot of lessons. Because Muslim people and Christian people, they know that through violence, no-one will be victorious, everybody is a loser." In January 2018, Greek pilot Vasileios Vasileiou checked into a luxury hilltop hotel in Kabul. The Intercontinental was popular with foreign visitors - which is why, on 20 January, Taliban gunmen stormed it, killing at least 40 people. Vasileios explains how he survived. The bed that saved me from the Taliban | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-49584150 | 2019-09-05 00:28:43+00:00 | 1,567,657,723 | 1,569,331,244 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
76,046 | breitbart--2019-11-20--Exclusive: Philippine Monsignor: Christian Survivors of Jihad Carry a Faith 'Tested by Fire' | 2019-11-20T00:00:00 | breitbart | Exclusive: Philippine Monsignor: Christian Survivors of Jihad Carry a Faith 'Tested by Fire' | The tiny Christian minority in Jolo, Philippines – a majority-Muslim area in an overwhelmingly Catholic nation – has seen renewed energy in its churches now that its faith has been “tested by fire,” Monsignor Romeo S. Saniel, vicar administrator of the Vicariate of Jolo, told Breitbart News in an interview on Tuesday. Jolo’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral was partially destroyed on January 27, when jihadists, later identified as a couple from Indonesia, detonated suicide bombs minutes apart inside, killing 22 people and wounding 111. It was the latest in years of violent attacks Saniel had witnessed or experienced while caring for the Christians of Jolo – including a failed assassination attempt he survived because the gun touching his head jammed when the assailant pulled the trigger. Saniel told Breitbart News he is now endeavoring to help rebuild the cathedral and bring spiritual and economic support to the survivors of the attack. The Catholic Church is also working to help improve educational and economic opportunities for all residents of Jolo, holding on to the belief that economic desperation can attract young Muslims to jihadist ideology. Saniel spoke with Breitbart News in anticipation of several events to bring awareness to the dangers facing Philippine Christians in Muslims territories, and other Christians who live as minorities, in the United States this week. The first, “Listening to Survivors of Religious Persecution: The Call for Religious Freedom,” will take place Wednesday at the United Nations, hosted by Aid to the Church in Need, a papal charity of the Catholic Church that supports persecuted Christians globally. Aid to the Church in Need will also host a Night of Witness event – to pray, reflect, and listen to the victims of Christian persecution – at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, on Saturday. Saniel highlighted the resilience of the Christian faith in Jolo – located in an autonomous Muslim region where, he says, Catholics amount to about three percent of the population – even in the face of bombs going off during Mass. “The bombing and the persecution sometimes … can create a lot of blessings in disguise in our lives,” he said. “The number one blessing is, we have been persecuted in this community but really remained steadfast in our faith. I believe the faith of our minority Christians has been tested by fire and we have a deeper commitment to the life of the church and the life of following Jesus today.” “Some are exposed to so much danger, but they don’t walk away and they still witness the Christian faith that they have,” he added. Young Christians, he noted, have particularly experienced renewed enthusiasm in their faith. “There are so many young people now who are in the Church in spite of the fact that they are victims of the bombing, but they are back in the Church and they make it so alive, and I really appreciate the energy of the young people,” he said. Saniel noted that those who attacked the cathedral were foreigners and that, for decades, the vast majority of Philippine Muslims accepted the existence of Christians among them. Most of the southern island of Mindanao, where Jolo is located, is predominantly Christian; nationally, Catholics make up 86 percent of the population. But the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao is an exception, a nation-within-a-nation in which the rules of living as a Christian in the Philippines elsewhere do not apply. “In Jolo … we are only four percent, three percent Christians, 97 percent are Muslims in our area, so we are a small minority and we feel that we have been persecuted because of our faith,” Saniel told Breitbart News. “But the majority of the Muslims in our area are friendly and very open to dialogue and witnessing of our religion, except a small minority now we call the Wahhabists or the violent extremists. They are threatening us and attacking us and our churches.” Wahhabism is a fundamentalist strain of Sunni Islam originating in Saudi Arabia and disseminated widely through radical clerics and terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The Islamic State’s affiliate in the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, took responsibility for the January cathedral bombing. Abu Sayyaf’s largest temporary victory was the siege of Marawi, the largest Muslim city in the country, in May 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte announced the death of the head of Abu Sayyaf, Isnilon Hapilon, in Marawi in September, effectively ending the siege. “We have the influence of the foreign Wahhabists when they attacked Marawi city … of the remnants now are in Jolo,” Saniel noted. “According to intelligence, some of them are Westerners … the suicide bombers who attacked our cathedral were identified as Indonesians.” Mindanao has for decades struggled against higher poverty levels than the wealthier islands to the north and hosted a Muslim insurgency for decades, organized by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MILF, who prioritized self-governance, joined with Duterte to fight Abu Sayyaf and foreign jihadis, its leaders warning of a coming wave of jihadists from the collapsing Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in 2018. While MILF fighters may have come to peace under Duterte, years of conflict between Muslim separatists and the government has made much of Mindanao dangerous to Christians for decades. Saniel noted that, as a newly assigned priest in the region, he survived an assassination attempt by sheer luck – or the grace of God. “When I was distributing Holy Communion to the Christians of Jolo, two young boys were walking behind me and I felt the .45 caliber muzzle in the back of my head, and I heard ‘click,’ but the gun jammed, so I was saved,” he said. “I think the Lord is the reason why I was saved from the attempt. Since then, I have been working for interreligious dialogue, establishing good relations with our Muslim brothers and sisters, and giving a platform to also prevent the recruitment of these violent extremists in our area.” Saniel said that, since the bombing, many Muslims living around the cathedral “are more compassionate and merciful to us, and they are extending help, they are expressing their desire to help us in whatever way they can.” He also credited President Duterte with helping the Christian minority there and offering extensive security to prevent another bombing. Duterte has received criticism from international aid groups for feuding with the nation’s Catholic leadership, who have in turn condemned his violent anti-drug policies in the country. Duterte has countered with police evidence that drug trafficking has enriched and empowered jihadis to attack Christian communities. He has, more often, dismissed Catholic leaders and encouraged people to kill them. Saniel’s experience offers an alternative to the international headlines on the bombastic Duterte. “Since the bombing of the cathedral, our president has been very friendly to us,” Saniel said. “He has visited the church many times. He has given us assistance through the military. Also, he has visited the place many times.” “I feel he treats us differently from the people of Manila because we are minority Christians and we are victimized and so our president has a softer heart and [is helping] rebuild our churches and the lives of Christians and making sure we are also secure through the military,” Saniel added. Duterte is the first president in Philippine history from Mindanao. For Saniel, the priority in the aftermath of the bombing is the security of his Christian congregation. He says that, among the policies the Church will use to promote peace will be the development of “social economic projects” and closer ties with local Muslims, to better empower them to reject foreign jihadis. The programs include as their goals “helping the Muslims become better Muslims, establishing schools, cooperatives, livelihood programs, and we also take care of our small minority Christians. so we have a strong bond with the majority of Muslims who are moderate and most of them are in government and in governance and they are graduates of our Catholic schools,” he said. | Frances Martel | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/3JPkqZCubtw/ | Wed, 20 Nov 2019 00:17:50 +0000 | 1,574,227,070 | 1,574,251,679 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
112,106 | cnsnews--2019-04-23--Global Islamic Terrorists Suspected to be Behind Sri Lanka Easter Bombings | 2019-04-23T00:00:00 | cnsnews | Global Islamic Terrorists Suspected to be Behind Sri Lanka Easter Bombings | (CNSNews.com) – Sri Lanka’s government has blamed a little-known local Islamist group for the Easter Sunday bombings, but officials and security experts suspect global jihadists were connected to the deadly attack. “There must be a wider international network behind it,” cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told reporters of the coordinated suicide bombings on churches and hotels in which 290 people were killed and at least 500 more injured. The group being blamed for the attacks, named as National Thowheeth Jama’ath, was previously linked to the defacing of Buddhist statues, but not to terrorist attacks. “We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country,” said Senaratne. “There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.” A leading regional expert on terrorism said that, given the nature and scale of the bombings, the likeliest source was ISIS, or perhaps al-Qaeda. Neither terror network has formally claimed responsibility. “The targets, the sophistication of the coordinated attacks, and the use of suicide bombers suggest this is likely to be the case,” said Ajai Sahni, executive director of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management (ICM) and its South Asia Terrorism Portal. “There is also significant likelihood that the attacks have been planned, provisioned and mounted from abroad,” he said. Sahni argued that, if the plot had been developed entirely in Sri Lanka, the scale of the conspiracy and the “extended logistics chain” it would have required would not have remained entirely hidden from the Sri Lankan intelligence services. He also pointed out that the nature of the attack did not fit into the “domestic conflict dynamic” in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist-majority Indian Ocean island nation emerged a decade ago from a bloody 26-year civil war between ethnic Sinhalese Buddhist governments and the mostly Hindu Tamil minority. Where the Christian minority (about seven percent of the population) faces harassment or violence, the perpetrators have tended to be radical Buddhists, not Muslims (who account for less than ten percent of the population). Converts to Christianity from Buddhist or Hindu backgrounds have faced most persecution, according to Sri Lankan and international religious freedom monitors. Muslims have also been targeted. Sahni said some commentators have sought to link a climate of interreligious tensions to Sunday’s bombings, but from what is presently known that looks unlikely. “If anything, an Islamist reaction to Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism would have targeted Buddhist or nationalist symbols, not Christian and purported ‘foreign’ targets (such as luxury hotels),” he said. Sahni dismissed as “nonsense” the notion that the know-how to build the type of bombs used in the attack was “easily available on the Internet.” “While very occasional successes are on record, most attempts to build bombs off information downloaded from the Internet end up in failure, or in people blowing themselves up during the process,” he said. “Assembling a significant number of bombs, with the success rate witnessed in the April 21 attacks and the levels of lethality demonstrated, would require significant and specialized training, as well as access to the necessary materials. This implies the involvement of an experienced and well-coordinated network.” There was no prior evidence that an Islamist terrorist network of that nature existed in Sri Lanka, he said. The South Asia Terrorism Portal has on its records a conservative Islamist group in Sri Lanka called Thawheed Jamaath. Sahni said it “adheres to an exclusionary Islamist ideology, but has no known linkages to terrorism.” He noted that the group has been involved in desecrating Buddhist sites and hate speech against other faiths. But, he added, “I would be surprised if it had abruptly acquired the capacities and capabilities to execute such a series of attacks without setting off alarm bells across the intelligence and enforcement apparatus, both within the country and in the international [counter-terrorism] community.” The U.S.-based SITE intelligence group noted that ISIS established its global network by recruiting from existing groups in target regions – such as al-Shabaab in Somalia, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Boko Haram in West Africa. Amid signs of a serious intelligence failure after authorities were warned by about a plot to bomb churches but failed to act or liaise across agencies, Sri Lankan officials were on Monday blaming each other, highlighting pre-existing tensions between the prime minister and president. Hemasiri Fernando, the secretary of the ministry of defense, said that FBI officials have arrived to help investigators. Interpol is also deploying a team. Of the 290 people killed, government officials say at least 39 were foreigners. They included four U.S. citizens or dual citizens, according to the State Department. The department lifted its advisory for travel to Sri Lanka to level two (“exercise increased caution”), and warned that terror groups “continue plotting possible attacks” in the country. It said terrorists could attack “with little or no warning,” and target locations including places of worship, hotels and restaurants, transportation hubs, and shopping areas. Sri Lanka was previously at level one (“exercise normal precautions”) of the four levels used in department advisories. Level three is “reconsider travel,” and level four is “do not travel.” The U.S. Embassy in Colombo will remain closed on Tuesday. | Patrick Goodenough | https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/global-islamic-terrorists-suspected-be-behind-sri-lanka-easter | 2019-04-23 00:29:27+00:00 | 1,555,993,767 | 1,567,541,999 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
199,747 | fortruss--2019-10-07--‘Great Middle East’ plan – Russia’s Orthodoxy, Sufism and Shi’ism against Globalization | 2019-10-07T00:00:00 | fortruss | ‘Great Middle East’ plan – Russia’s Orthodoxy, Sufism and Shi’ism against Globalization | PENTAPOSTAGMA – A clash of two superpowers (Russia-US) for control of the Middle East and North Africa was published in the Turkish press and illuminates “aspects of an” unknown merciless war “that begins in the Black Sea and the Middle East and ends in North Africa.” So according to the Russian plan for the Middle East-North Africa region, “Israel’s fate will be determined by its role in the US-led Western coalition.” The corresponding American plan, called BOP, which was canceled in practice, was prepared in the interests of Tel Aviv. However, the balance of power in the region has changed and now is the opportunity for Israel to abandon the Atlantic camp and cling to the Eurasian camp. Throughout this plan, Moscow is proclaiming itself as the geopolitical guarantor of the Israeli people’s security, securing an international status for Jerusalem as a global inter-religious city. All eyes on the world community are now focused on the emerging Russia-Shiite-Sufi alliance, which addresses not only the future of the Middle East and the Maghreb countries, but also the fate of the whole new multipolar world (three superpowers of China, USA, Russia). In fact, Russia’s expansion to traditional Islam / Sufism is not new. Although all these plans make no mention, links can be made between some of the methods used during the 1st and 2nd Chechen Wars in Russia in the turbulent period of the 1990s. At that time, we initially had a “civil strife” in Chechnya that was “nurtured” by Russian services, between Hamaism and traditional Islam, which led some of the Chechen forces to overthrow and others to cling to to the Russian side (like Kadyrov). For example, Hoca Ahmed Nuhayev, one of the leading Chechnya leaders who was injured in the conflict in Chechnya’s first war, was subsequently transferred to Moscow for secret talks, despite being sought for crimes against Russia. Nuhayev was seen as a new “ally” of anti-Wahhabism, a theory completely contrary to the traditional Islamic concept of the Chechens. In the Second Chechen War, Moscow managed to attract Kadyrov to its side, even though he had initially fought against Russia. In this way, Chechen “enemy forces” were split into two, while the radical Wahhabi sector was isolated and Russian power was quickly restored in Chechnya. In fact, we see that a similar approach is desirable for Russians in the Middle East and North Africa. According to the report, such an alliance should not be based on rational win-win or other ways of “exploiting” states, but on centuries-old traditional values, following an anti-globalized ideology that will show respect for the religion of the “other”. Moscow, Ankara and Tehran will return to their traditional roots and become the center of the three spiritual cultures (Orthodox, Sunni and Shiite) and united in their resistance to the West. In addition to Iran, the reported geopolitical cover by Russia also concerns Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain and Afghanistan. The Shiites live today fragmented as a result of centuries-old Western colonial policy. Iran, in the midst of all this, has devised an institutionalized strategy that turns the country into its sacred origin, but ready to revolt against the modern world, the Russian plan says. The Russian plan also draws attention to the important role that the Moscow-Ankara-Tehran triangle can play. Sufism, not only in Turkey, the Middle East and the Maghreb, but in almost all countries, even if there is a proportion of “Wahhabism, Salafism and Takfirism” among them, is considered to be the dominant form of Islam. The Russian report states that in other Islamic countries (Egypt, Jordan, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.), except for the areas of Shiites and Wahhabism (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar), and the tradition of mysticism as an ingredient of Islam. Another center of Sufism is Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons. Pakistan is said to be “stuck” after the US-British war on Afghanistan, and it is projected that the new Eurasian order will be able to resolve the Afghan conflict, according to the Moscow-Islamabad strategic axis. Ankara and Moscow-Tehran which will be completed soon. The authors of the project believe that the revival of Sufi philosophy can create a common denominator between Sunni (Arab and non-Arab) communities in the Middle East and this may be the key to solving a number of complex problems in the wider region, such as that of achieving mutual understanding between Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians. These problems should include both the Kurdish and the Palestinian problem, the article concludes. The only question in all this is which plan will eventually prevail and whether the people of the region have been asked what they want, or are they simply executing two projects in parallel and which prevails? | Paul Antonopoulos | https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/10/great-middle-east-plan-russias-orthodoxy-sufism-and-shiism-against-globalization/ | Mon, 07 Oct 2019 12:30:14 +0000 | 1,570,465,814 | 1,570,542,018 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
214,316 | france24--2019-02-03--Central African Republic reaches peace deal with armed groups | 2019-02-03T00:00:00 | france24 | Central African Republic reaches peace deal with armed groups | FLORENT VERGNES/AFP | A man shows shell casings of bullets fired by the UN peacekeeping force MINUSCA and Central African troops, in PK5 district, in Bangui, on April 9, 2018. A peace deal has been reached between the Central African Republic government and 14 armed groups in their first-ever direct dialogue, potentially ending years of conflict in the country, the United Nations and African Union announced Saturday. The impoverished, landlocked nation has been rocked by violence since 2013 when mainly Muslim Selaka rebels ousted then president Francois Bozizé, prompting reprisals from mostly Christian militias and interreligious, intercommunal fighting. UN peacekeepers were deployed in 2014. Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in a conflict that has sent two people to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The deal, the seventh since 2012, was announced on Twitter by the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadera just a day after African Union (AU) and UN-sponsored talks in Khartoum were suspended amid disagreements over amnesty. "A peace agreement has been reached," said the tweet. "This agreement should be initialled tomorrow (Sunday) and its signing will take place in Bangui in a few days". "I am determined to work with the president and his government to address the concerns of our brothers who took up arms," said Central African Republic's Cabinet Director Firmin Ngrebada, according to the UN. On Sunday, the parties will sign a draft of the agreement, which focuses on power-sharing and transitional justice, Sudan's state media reported, citing Sudan's chief negotiator Atta al-Manan. The final deal is expected to be signed on Wednesday. Talks began January 24 in Khartoum. "This is a great day for Central African Republic and all its people," said the AU commissioner for peace and security, Smail Chergui. The fighting has carried the high risk of genocide, the UN has warned. The conflict began in 2013 when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the capital, Bangui. Largely Christian anti-Balaka militias fought back. Scores of mosques were burned. Priests and other religious leaders were killed. Many Muslims fled the country after mobs decapitated and dismembered some in the streets. The conflict has also uprooted more than one million people, the UN said, and had until now shown little sign of abating. The vicious fighting in a country known more for coups than interreligious violence was so alarming that Pope Francis made a bold visit in 2015, removing his shoes and bowing his head at the Central Mosque in the last remaining Muslim neighbourhood of the capital, Bangui. "Together we say 'no' to hatred," the pope said. The violence has never disappeared, intensifying and spreading last year after a period of relative peace as armed groups battled over lands rich in gold, diamonds and uranium. After more than 40 people were killed in a rebel attack on a displaced persons camp in November, both the leader of the 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission and the country's prime minister both acknowledged shortcomings in the response. "I knew that we did not have all the necessary means to protect our people," the prime minister said. In a grim report last year marking five years of the conflict, the UN children's agency said fighters often target civilians rather than each other, attacking health facilities and schools, mosques and churches and camps for displaced people. At least half of the more than 640,000 people displaced are children, it said, and thousands are thought to have joined the armed groups, often under pressure. Last month the chief of Central African Republic's soccer federation appeared at the ICC for the first time since he was arrested last year in France on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona is accused of leading the anti-Balaka for at least a year early in the fighting. In November 2018 another Central African Republic militia leader and lawmaker, Alfred Yekatom, made his first ICC appearance, accused of crimes including murder, torture and using child soldiers. He allegedly commanded some 3,000 fighters in a predominantly Christian militia in and around the capital early in the fighting. He was arrested last year after firing gunshots in parliament. So far no Seleka fighters have been publicly targeted by the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. As the peace talks began last month, the Norwegian Refugee Council warned of "catastrophe" if no agreement was reached, saying repeated cycles of violence in one of the world's poorest nations had "pushed people’s resistance to breaking point." A majority of Central African Republic's 2.9 million people urgently need humanitarian support, the group said. On Thursday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend an arms embargo on Central African Republic for a year but raised the possibility that it could be lifted. | FRANCE 24 | https://www.france24.com/en/20190203-car-central-african-republic-reaches-7th-peace-deal-armed-groups-balaka-seleka-touadera | 2019-02-03 10:05:39+00:00 | 1,549,206,339 | 1,567,549,797 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
223,946 | freedombunker--2019-12-12--Trump’s Order Aimed at Fighting Anti-Semitism Is Constitutionally Problematic, but It’s Not Anti-Sem | 2019-12-12T00:00:00 | freedombunker | Trump’s Order Aimed at Fighting Anti-Semitism Is Constitutionally Problematic, but It’s Not Anti-Semitic | When it comes to refuting dubious allegations of anti-Semitism, Donald Trump cannot win, a point dramatically illustrated by the reaction to the executive order he signed yesterday. The order, which is aimed at fighting "anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on university and college campuses," raises serious First Amendment concerns, which I'll get to in a minute. But much of the initial backlash against the order focused on its purported anti-Semitism. That's right: An order targeting anti-Jewish prejudice somehow became yet another example of Trump's anti-Jewish prejudice. On Twitter, the president's reflexive critics described his order as reminiscent of Nazi racial ideology, "fascist," and "as antisemetic [sic] as it gets." Those comments were based on a New York Times story that erroneously claimed the order "will declare that Judaism may be considered a national origin." That phrase has since been stricken from the article, without any indication of a correction. But the story still says "the order will effectively interpret Judaism as a race or nationality, not just a religion," which is not accurate either. Here is what the order actually says: As George Mason University law professor David Bernstein noted yesterday in a Volokh Conspiracy post, that understanding of Title VI is consistent with the policies of the last two administrations. The Justice Department during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations took the position that Title VI "provides protection to Jews, Arab Muslims, Sikhs, and/or members of other religious groups" when "discrimination is based on the group's actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, rather than its members' religious practice." The Trump administration's take on Title VI is not new, and it does not reflect a belief that Jewishness resides in one's blood or DNA. "The executive order does not mean that the Trump administration is declaring that Jews are, objectively speaking, a nation or a race," Bernstein writes. "Rather, it's that Jews are protected as a nationality or race if discrimination against them is motivated by the perception that they are a nationality or race. Consider Hispanics. Hispanics are not a 'race,' and indeed can be from any racial group. But no one would raise an eyebrow to discover that Hispanics are protected from discrimination based on race or national origin if subject to discrimination by someone who hates Hispanics as a group." A Times editorial avoids the mischaracterization of Trump's order presented in the paper's news coverage, saying the administration is trying to "combat anti-Semitism on college campuses by using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to withhold federal money from schools that fail to counter discrimination against Jews." The Times generously concedes that "Mr. Trump's action might seem like a gesture of real concern" but complains that "it does little to target the larger source of violent anti-Semitism." In other words, Trump is targeting left-wing anti-Semites when he should be targeting right-wing anti-Semites. The Times compounds its churlishness by averring that "the president himself has trafficked in anti-Semitic stereotypes, frequently endorsing crude, negative caricatures about Jews." To back up that claim, the editorial cites a speech that Trump delivered on Saturday at the Israeli American National Council Summit in Hollywood, Florida. After bragging about his efforts to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem at a reasonable cost, Trump said this: So we [were] going to spend 2 billion, and one of the [proposed expenditures] was going to buy a lousy location. A lot of you are in the real estate business, because I know you very well. You're brutal killers. (Laughter.) Not nice people at all. But you have to vote for me; you have no choice. You're not going to vote for Pocahontas [i.e., Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren], I can tell you that. (Laughter and applause.) You're not going to vote for the wealth tax. "Yeah, let's take 100 percent of your wealth away." No, no. Even if you don't like me; some of you don't. Some of you I don't like at all, actually. (Laughter.) And you're going to be my biggest supporters because you'll be out of business in about 15 minutes, if they get it. So I don't have to spend a lot of time on that. In case you doubt that the audience actually greeted Trump's remarks with laughter and applause, you can watch the video here. Although the Jews who listened to Trump's speech evidently were not offended by what he said, the Times is offended on their behalf. But that reaction hinges on an uncharitable interpretation of Trump's comments, colored by the presumption that he "traffick[s] in anti-Semitic stereotypes, frequently endorsing crude, negative caricatures about Jews." Trump may or may not be right that the rich developers who heard his speech will vote their pocketbooks next November (regardless of how they feel about him), but that suggestion is hardly proof of anti-Jewish bias. The real problem with Trump's executive order is not that it incorporates a Nazi-esque definition of Jewishness, or that the president's sincerity is questionable in light of things he has said that the New York Times editorial board considers anti-Semitic. The real problem (one the Times also notes) is the order's potential impact on freedom of speech. The order says federal agencies enforcing Title VI should "consider…the non-legally binding working definition of anti-Semitism" adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). That definition, which is also used by the State Department, cites "contemporary examples of anti-Semitism" that include "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis," "blaming Israel for all inter-religious or political tensions," "applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation," "focusing on Israel only for peace or human rights investigations," and "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination" or "denying Israel the right to exist." These positions strike many Jews (including me) as grossly unfair, but they are not necessarily motivated by anti-Semitism, let alone synonymous with it. They raise important questions about the justice of Israeli policies, the sources of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, collective vs. individual rights, and the legitimacy of nation-states. A college campus is precisely the sort of place where issues like these should be hashed out. But if allowing students, faculty members, and outside speakers to express vehemently anti-Israel views can be construed as a Title VI violation, and therefore a threat to federal funding, universities may be inclined to err on the side of censorship. That possibility is not far-fetched, since discrimination can include a "hostile environment" that interferes with a student's education, and a hostile environment can be created by things other people say. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which is committed to defending freedom of speech for people across the political spectrum, notes that the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism "may apply to core political speech protected by the First Amendment." FIRE rightly worries that the executive order's "ambiguous directive and fundamental reliance on the IHRA definition and its examples will cause institutions to investigate and censor protected speech on their campuses." There are legitimate reasons to be concerned about Trump's executive order, but they have nothing to do with his purported anti-Semitism or any other special characteristic of this particular president, his party, or his administration. To the contrary, the order reflects a bipartisan tendency to battle bigotry by suppressing controversial speech. | Ed Krayewski | http://freedombunker.com/2019/12/12/trumps-order-aimed-at-fighting-anti-semitism-is-constitutionally-problematic-but-its-not-anti-semitic/ | Thu, 12 Dec 2019 20:05:33 +0000 | 1,576,199,133 | 1,576,197,354 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
229,179 | globalresearch--2019-05-01--Tolerance and Spirituality Debunking the Islamophobic View of an Intolerant Islam | 2019-05-01T00:00:00 | globalresearch | Tolerance and Spirituality: Debunking the Islamophobic View of an “Intolerant Islam” | This incisive article by Professor Henry Espiritu was first published by Global Research in November 2017 “And thou wilt find the nearest in friendship to the believers to be those who say, ‘We are Christians’. That is because there are priests and monks among them and because they are not proud.” (Al-Qur-an, Surah Maidah: 82) The current expansion in mass media and communications reveal more evidently that our world contains variety of cultures, races, religions, and ideologies. Despite globalization and its attendant efforts towards homogeneity, ours is still a pluralist world. As such, tolerance is a foundational notion and a very relevant conceptual and practical prerequisite in establishing a pluralistic society. In pluralism’s point of view, people living in a society with varied religious, cultural, and ideological commitments should enjoy equal rights and should not sacrifice their beliefs at the mercy of the hegemonic ideology of a particular State or of the dominant religion of the majority community. In our highly globalized world, tolerance and amity are all the more needed for the survival, cohesion, and progress of its citizens. The contemporary mass media portray Islamic societies to be intolerant of other’s religious and ideological persuasions. The purpose of this paper is not to examine whether the contemporary media is right or wrong in perceiving Islamic societies as intolerant. My aim in this essay is to show that authentic Islam—as contained in the pristine revelation of the Qur-an—promotes tolerance, harmony, and goodwill of all peoples despite their differences. In this paper, I want to reflect straight from the original source of Islamic tenets (i.e., the Qur-an) the tolerant attitude of Islam vis-à-vis religious, cultural, and ideological diversities found in human societies. Likewise, I will endeavor to show various thematic perspectives found in selected passages of the Qur-an that encourage tolerance and societal concord. Side by side with my exposition of authentic Islam’s framework of tolerance, I will likewise provide several historical instantiations of this “spirituality of tolerance” in the lives of selected Muslim savants and revered Islamic personalities of various epochs in their encounter with Christians. I sincerely hope that by showing the tolerant and pluralistic pronouncements of the Qur-an, and the historical instantiations of tolerance manifested in the exemplary lives of these prominent Muslims as they relate with Christians, I will be able to encourage Muslims to fully practice and live-out the Islamic mandates of amity and inter-religious understanding in their daily lives. Moreover, I further hope that in this essay, I will be able to inform non-Muslims that genuine Islam—as contained in the Qur-anic revelation, in the model conduct of the Prophet, and in the exemplary lives of pious Muslim personages—is a very tolerant religion that acknowledges and respects the divergent beliefs and ideological views of others. The Dynamics of Tolerance: Philosophical, Metaphysical, and Mystical Presuppositions Firstly, let me briefly explicate my own conceptual framework and philosophical presuppositions in understanding tolerance. Tolerance presupposes plurality and diversity of identities. Pluralism further presupposes alterity or otherness, since diversity entails variety of identities and plurality of existing values. The opposite of pluralism is hegemony where one particular value is imposed and where there is an enforced totalization of expressions of life to make human values comply to a uniformed worldview and a set praxis. Now, tolerance can only exist in a pluralistic framework since pluralism celebrates in the difference of the “other”. Tolerance is a very important ethical value in the face of the alterity of the “other”. Tolerance therefore presupposes an “other” since without an “other”, there is nothing to tolerate at all. In hegemony, however, the “other” is swallowed and annihilated by the sheer imposition of uniformity and forcible totalization. Thus with the absence of the “other” in a hegemony, tolerance will also be non-existent—this is why all totalitarian and hegemonic societies are most intolerant of differences and dissenting views. Secondly, I consider tolerance as spirituality. A person who can tolerate the “other” is able to see the unitive Source Who permits and wills these various differences and diversities as found in the world. This unitive Bond that permeates all diverse phenomena of creation and transcends multiplicities—the mystics termed, “the One God”. In the words of the Holy Qur-an: Therefore—for the Qur-an—God is both the Ultimate Source of these diversities and the Essential End of all varied cosmic entities. Spirituality or mysticism acknowledges God as the unifying Connectivity that deeply binds the whole of creation to Himself despite their apparent differences and multiplicities. Muslim and Christian mystics are well able to tolerate religious differences because in their inner beings, these mystics see the vision of the One, and this unitive vision enabled them to go beyond creedal and dogmatic differences. It is by this divine grace of an all-inclusive vision of the One that enables saints and mystics to tolerate the “otherness” of the other (See Frithjof Schuon, Understanding Islam. London: Mandala Books, 1964; pp. 13-18.). Tolerance in dealing with others, particularly the religious “other” is spirituality because by tolerating differences, one acknowledges the divine Wisdom of God who wills that these differences be made manifest. By reflecting on this ineffable theological tension regarding the plurality or diversity of God’s creation and the essential oneness of creation in the Being of God, mystics of all religious traditions appreciate the mystery and spirituality of tolerance; an unfathomable and sympathetic understanding that is holistically related to a consciousness of divine unity manifesting in and through diversity. Tolerance permits us to experience the sympathetic feeling of divine inter-connectedness among diverse creatures in the divine immanence of the Creator who permits these differences. My own prayerful reflections evidently reveal to me that authentic Islam, i.e., the Islam as expressed in the pristine pages of the Qur-an and in the exemplary conduct set forth by Prophet Muhammad—in contrast with the rigid and hegemonic “Islam” as interpreted by “extremist” exegeses or “fundamentalist” hermeneutics—clearly advocates pluralism and encourages tolerance in its relationship with the religious “other”. In the next subsections, we will examine how the Qur-anic understanding of pluralism is intimately connected to the spirituality of tolerance. We will also see how the Qur-anic discourse of tolerance is practically exemplified in the lives of selected Muslim saints in their encounter and dialogue with Christians. The Qur-anic View of Pluralism and Its Relevance to an Islamic Understanding of Tolerance The Qur-an is fully conscious of the pluralistic nature of human societies. Many Qur-anic passages describe the diverse expressions of life as found in human communities. Pluralism is therefore a fact, which the Qur-an accepts as the basic reality of our human existence. The Qur-an says: “For every one of you We appointed a law and a way. And if Allah had pleased, He would have made you a single people, but that He might try you in what He gave you. So vie with one another in virtuous deeds. To Allah will all return, so He will inform you of that wherein you differed.” (Surah Maida:48; The Holy Qur-an: Maulana Muhammad Ali Translation) The above passage is a very decisive proclamation supporting tolerance. The verse fully points out the pluralistic condition of humankind. The passage admits to the existence of societal and religious diversity characterizing human communities when it declares; “for everyone of you, We appointed a law and a way”. Notice that this verse says that our pluralistic situation is willed and permitted by God so as to test human communities so that each community will vie with each other in doing good deeds. It further says: “And if Allah had pleased, He would have made you a single people, but that He might try you in what He gave you. So vie with one another in virtuous deeds”. Surah Maida:48 is likewise a very relevant verse in understanding the nature of the Islamic understanding of tolerance. If God willed that this world contains socio-cultural and religious diversities (when He could have made the world a “single people”), and if God himself has a divine reason for allowing these diversities (so that each society will “vie with one another in virtuous deeds”); then humankind should strive to accept, tolerate, and appreciate the fact of our pluralistic world. Good Will, Courtesy, and Mutual Respect: The Basic Ethical Pillars of Qur-anic Tolerance Maulana Muhammad Ali Lahori (circa 1879-1951), was an eminent Pakistani scholar of Qur-anic and Hadith exegesis. He authored exhaustive and authoritative books of Qur-anicexegesis, collectively known in Urdu as Bayan-e Qur-an (Qur-anic Lectures) and a comprehensive commentary of the Prophetic Traditions, entitled The Manual of Hadith. Maulana Muhammad Ali Lahori strove to present Islam as a rational, tolerant, and forward-looking religion during the era of the British rule of then undivided India. In this period of the British Raj, various Christian missionary groups representing different denominations compete for the conversion of Indians to Christianity. Seeing the zeal of these missionaries, Maulana Muhammad Ali began to reflect on the state of the Muslims in India. He re-evaluated the Indian appropriation of Islamic tenets and found out that the Muslims in India were enveloped with customs which were thought to be Islamic, but in reality, were products of obscurantism, and therefore devoid of Islamic significance. Maulana Muhammad Ali likewise engaged the Christian missionaries in friendly dialogues to clarify common misconceptions of Islam. His scholarly book, The Religion of Islam, which was the result of these dialogic exchanges, show a very rational explication of Islam; at the same time fully cognizant of the Christian missionaries’ objections against Islam by responding to these objections using the Qur-an and Sunnah as bases of clarification. In all his writings, one can admire the profound respect that Maulana Muhammad Ali accorded to his interlocutors, both Christians and Muslims. I will quote from his Urdu commentary of the Holy Qur-an on the necessity of courtesy (adab), good will (ahsan), and respect or honor (izzat) in dialoguing with others. Commenting on the Qur-anicayah (verse): “Call to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with them in the best manner” (Surah Nahl:125), Maulana Muhammad Ali had this to say: Maulana Muhammad Ali, in his encounters with Christian missionaries, was able to articulate and apply the ethical principles of dialogue and tolerance, which were already laid down by the Holy Qur-an (namely in Surah Nahl:125 and in Surah Ankabut:46). Maulana Muhammad Ali understood tolerance as something inherent in our being persons of good will; and that this divine awareness of good intention leads us to respect the viewpoint of the other person even if we do not subscribe to his creedal tenets. The verse in Surah Nahl:125 encourages Muslims to dialogue with the religious “other” in the spirit of sincere courtesy, profound sensitivity, and deep respect for each other’s differences, by granting a concordant presumption that the other’s intention in striving to convert another person is due to good will (i.e., for the “other’s” spiritual salvation). Maulana Muhammad Ali asserts that Surah Maida:48 is an explicit endorsement of pluralism and its attendant duty of tolerating the various diversities of humankind. I quote from Maulana Muhammad Ali’s exhaustive Qur-anic commentary to this particular passage: As commented by Maulana Muhammad Ali, Surah Maida:48 explicitly declares that Almighty God sent his messengers to diverse groups of people and gave these communities their respective commandments in keeping with the different circumstances of each community. The laws prescribed by God to the different communities ensure the holistic development of their respective people. The verse continues, “And if Allah had pleased, He would have made you a single people, but that He might try you in what He gave you. So vie with one another in virtuous deeds”. This verse clearly pointed out that if God so willed it, He can create a single community out of varied groups of people. Nevertheless, God planned that humankind be varied in its communitarian expressions. God’s endowment of a pluralistic world is His grace to humanity. Our differences provide venues for existential celebration of life and of living: variety and diversity being the potent antidote to our humdrum existence. Each community has its own unique way of life, its own customs and traditions, its own laws. Nevertheless, no matter how diverse these ways of life are, it should be understood in the light of the Almighty’s life-affirming purpose in allowing such diversities, i.e., human flourishing. It is therefore clear from Surah Maidah:48 that although God can produce a uniformed world of totalities by imposing a single law for all communities, yet He prefers to create pluralistic communities so that humankind will learn the values of tolerance, amity, harmony, and fraternity. Another aim of God in creating varied communities is to test human beings in the conduct of virtuous deeds. He tests the various societies if they can live amicably and cordially with each other despite their differences. The divergence in each society’s ways of life should not be a cause of disharmony and differences; instead, societal divergences should prod each community to vie with one another in the performance of virtuous conduct (Cf., Reza Shah Kazemi, The Metaphysics of Interreligious Dialogue. London: Institute of Isma’ili Studies, 2001; pp.5-7.). The Qur-an insists that the best way of putting an end to religious, cultural, and ideological conflicts is to tolerate differences with openness and good faith. Each religious community should do righteous deeds according to their tenets; leaving to God the judgment as to which community is the best. The final section of the passage states: The verse is very precise in stating that it should be left to God (and to God alone) in deciding the truth of the matters that peoples dispute. It is not for humans to pontificate which view is true and which is wrong. Vain and fruitless arguments as to which religious, ethical, and ideological point of view is right or wrong will only lead to communal fracas and infringement of societal concord. Likewise, the verse firmly admonishes human beings to contend with one another in good deeds by utilizing their own respective laws as bases of their righteous conduct. God as the Ultimate Source of Divine Revelation: A Central Tenet in the Qur-anic Understanding of Tolerance The prologue of Surah Maida:48 states, “And We have revealed to thee the Book [i.e., the Qur-an] with the truth verifying that which is before it [i.e., the previous scriptures]…and a guardian over it”. This verse is a strong proclamation in favor of tolerance and pluralism. The Qur-an is referred to as “guardian” of the truths revealed by earlier scriptures. Likewise, one of the roles of the Qur-an is “a verifier” of previous scriptures. According to Ustaz Abu Ya’qub Sijistani, a Fatimid theologian and philosopher of the tenth century AD, this verse implies that the scriptures of various religions may be different, but the Ultimate Source of all revealed scriptures is the One and Only God. Thus, scriptures of different faiths are based on Divine revelation. The tolerant nature of Islam as a religion can be seen in this verse in that, the Qur-an takes it upon itself to be the confirmer, verifier, and guardian of truths revealed in earlier scriptures (Paul Walker, Abu Ya’qub al-Sijistani: Intellectual Missionary. London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 1996; pp. 26-32, 58.). Before elaborating further on Ustaz Abu Ya’qub al-Sijistani’s view of the Qur-an as the guardian and verifier of previous divinely revealed books and the implications of this Qur-anic guardianship to an Islamic framework of tolerance, a brief historical background of Ustaz Sijistani’s life is in order. Ustaz Abu Ya’qub Sijistani—although himself an Isma’ili Shi’a—maintained amicable relations with the orthodox Sunni majority during the period of the Fatimid Caliphate (i.e., 10th-11th century A.D.). To the dismay of the rabid Shi’as, Ustaz Sijistani forbade his disciples to curse the first three Caliphs of Islam (Khulafa-ar-Rashidin); warning them, that Prophet Muhammad lavished praise on these three Caliphs, and therefore, it is never right and against Islamic prudence to curse whom the Prophet had abundantly praised. His endeavor to establish Sunni-Shi’a rapprochement was also matched by his spiritual and intellectual relationship with the Coptic Christians of Egypt, the Arab Orthodox Christians of Iraq, the Byzantine Christians of Anatolia, and the Jews. He studied the Torah in Hebrew and the New Testament in the Syro-Aramaic text. He often consulted Jewish rabbis and Orthodox Christian hermits and enquired from them regarding their interpretation of some obscure passages of the Bible. His encounters with Christianity and Judaism were indeed intellectually stimulating since Ustaz Sijistani wrote six (6) religio-philosophical treatises reflecting on his relations with Christianity and Judaism, not to mention the orthodox Sunni Islam. Sijistani’s main books, The Wellspring of Wisdom (Yanbu-al-Hikmat) and Proofs of Prophecy (Ithbat-un-Nubuwwat) were written to show that God is the ultimate Source of Revelation and that this divine Revelation is progressive, i.e., it is sent according to the measure of the spiritual preparedness of humankind to receive divine guidance. Ustaz Sijistani was therefore a perfect example of an “ecumenical Muslim”—if I may be permitted to coin such a term. Let us now explicate on Sijistani’s understanding of progressive revelation and its implication to an Islamic perspective of tolerance. As per Ustaz Sijistani, the inclusive nature of the Islamic faith can be clearly observed in the Qur-an’s numerous narrations regarding the ministries of Jewish, Christians, and other pre-Islamic prophets. The Qur-an’s inclusion of the prophets of other religions preceding Islam is meant to illustrate the pluralistic and tolerant dimension of the Qur-anic Revelation. The list of prophets as found in the Qur-an was never meant to be exhaustive; it was meant to illustrate the extent of the universal chain of prophethood. Thus, we can safely assume that other religious communities that were not mentioned in the Qur-an are likewise included in the all-inclusive Qur-anic guardianship (Walker, Ibid, pp. 45-58, 110-112.). Furthermore, Sijistani opined that the Qur-an fully acknowledges the different expressions of worship undertaken by different religions, while at the same time firmly holding to the Islamic expressions of worship (i.e., the five-times-a-day liturgical prayers, prescribed pilgrimage, Ramadhan fasting, etc.). In Surah Baqara:148 it is stated: “And everyone has a goal to which he turns (himself), so vie with one another in good works”. Abu Ya’qub al-Sijistani, interpreted the phrase, “everyone has a goal to which he turns” to signify the diverse spiritual communities and their different approaches of worship (Ibid, pp. 49-51.). Ustaz Sijistani, also pointed out that Surah Baqara:148 is very much related to the phrase in Surah Maida:48, viz; “For everyone of you We appointed a law and a way”. The Qur-an on the Oneness of Humankind and Diverse Expressions of Human Cultures The Qur-an, in many numerous passages explicitly proclaims the oneness of humankind. Humanity was “created from a single being” (Surah Nisah:1). All humans came from a single ancestry and living in the same homeland, earth (Surah Hujurat:13). Furthermore, Surah Baqara:213 says that the whole of humankind is essentially one in origin—from God, humankind’s Creator. God sent various messengers with their respective scriptures to guide the peoples of the world to righteous living. These prophets were sent to different places of the world and their revelations were suited to the varying milieus, mentalities, contextualities, situations, and circumstances of the peoples and societies in which they were being sent. However, instead of respecting other societies’ contextualities, people began to be divided and incessantly fight against each other. Surah Baqara:213 further states that God in giving His revelation to different communities did not intend that they fight each other; but that each communities respect each other’s differences. The Qur-an balances its affirmation of the ontological oneness of humankind by equally highlighting on the divergent racial, linguistic, ideological, religious, and national identities of each society. God wills these identities; as the Qur-an plainly states, “And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your tongues and colors. Surely, there are signs in these for the learned” (Surah Rum:2). This passage acknowledges cultural differences as “signs” of God and must be duly appreciated as these “signs” serve as venues for each society’s expression of identity. Cultural differences are essential for establishing a community’s identity and these divergences should prompt peoples to celebrate each other’s cultural and national identities (See, Maulana Muhammad Ali’s commentary of Surah Baqara:213, Hujurat:13 and Maida:48; op.cit.). Therefore, the Qur-an undoubtedly recognizes cultural, religious, and societal diversities as being willed by Divine Providence; even as it equally affirms the essential unity and oneness of humankind. Tolerance and the Diverse Liturgical Expressions of Worship Found in Other Faiths As of this juncture, it is noteworthy to quote some Qur-anic passages that illustrate the practical dimensions of Islamic tolerance with respect to the different worship expressions of other faith-traditions. The Qur-an says: The great master of Islamic mysticism, Hazrat Shaykh-al-Akbar Muhaiyuddin Ibn Arabi (circa 1164-1240 AD), in his Sufi treatise, Bezels of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hikam) provided a very universal and inclusive interpretation of the above passage, showing the tolerant nature of Islamic Sufism that Ibn Arabi espoused. Before discussing Ibn Arabi’s explanation of the above-mentioned passage, I feel that it is beneficial for our understanding to describe briefly his historical contextuality. Ibn Arabi’s tolerant and pluralistic approach to Islamic spirituality can best be gleaned in his oft-quoted pronouncement: Now let us come to Ibn Arabi’s inclusivist exegesis of Surah Baqara:177 and how this exegesis conduces to an Islamic spirituality of tolerance. Commenting on the above-mentioned verse, Ibn Arabi says: Ibn Arabi admits that although in Islam, there exists a specific direction and prescribed liturgical postures by which a Muslim faces when praying, yet for him, the Qur-an equally acknowledges with respect the various directions and gestures of prayer adopted by other religions in their worship. More importantly, for Ibn Arabi, Surah Baqara:177 encourages religious pluralism and tolerance by going beyond (i.e., transcending) the ritual demands of different ceremonial expressions of worship and focusing instead on the importance of humane character, viz, compassion towards others and persevering faith in the midst of trials and difficulties (See, Henry Bayman, The Station of No Station: Open Secrets of the Sufis. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2001; pp. 166, 206.). Ibn Arabi explained that the divine purpose of the various prescribed acts of worship is for the spiritual education of humankind, aside from the avowed aim of glorifying God. For him, more than the outward manifestations of piety, the crucial intention of the Qur-an is for the Islamic Ummah(community) to produce proper human beings who are sensitive to the needs of others. The Qur-an endeavors to create compassionate and “humane” persons who act with benevolence and equanimity to everybody with no regard whatsoever to racial, cultural, religious, or ideological differences (Ibid, pp. 97-98, 103.). Instantiations of Tolerance from the Life of the Prophet of Islam and His Companions The Qur-an clearly reveals that, “all the children of Adam are equally honored” by God (See, Surah Bani-Israil:70). The Qur-an also takes an all-inclusive humanistic view in its understanding of justice and equality among all peoples. When it comes to judging actions that either benefit or harm humanity, the Qur-an does not distinguish between Muslims and non-Muslims. As pointed out in Surah Nisah:123-124, The Qur-an further affirms; “so he who does an atom’s weight of good will see it. And he who does an atom’s weight of evil will see it” (Surah Zilzal:7-8.). According to the Qur-an, God does not consider a person’s dogmatic or creedal commitment when rendering judgment of an action. Everyone will be given their just recompense based on one’s deeds and not because of one’s religious adherence. Furthermore, the Qur-an exhorts Muslims to respect places of worship of other faith-traditions and to ensure that these will be protected and safe from acts of vandalism and destruction. Surah al-Hajj:40 says; “And if Allah did not repel some people by others, cloisters, and churches, and synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much remembered would have been pulled down” (Maulana Muhammad Ali Translation.). The abovementioned verse is very explicit in enjoining Muslims to sacrifice even their very own lives to defend the sanctity of churches and synagogues, and not just mosques. Interestingly, this particular passage avers that whether in church, synagogue or mosque, God’s name is “commemorated in abundant measure” in all these places of worship (Cf., Muhammad Hamidullah, Islam: An Introduction. Lahore: Kitab Islami Wakf, 1979; pp.34-35. See also Kazemi, op.cit., p.12.). Here, we can find that the Qur-an did not make any distinction between shrines of worship—it acknowledges the sacredness of places of worship where God’s name is celebrated with reverence; no matter what faith-tradition these shrines belong. The Qur-an solemnly affirms, “there is no compulsion in religion” (Surah Baqara:256). The Qur-an is very keen in preserving freedom of conscience and freedom of belief—two crucial elements which are at the heart of tolerance. In this connection, a narration of two episodes in the life of the Prophet Muhammad is very pertinent in order to show that Islam fully respects the freedom of peoples to practice their own faith. When the people of Medina accepted the Prophet as their lawmaker and chief governmental executive, the Prophet himself immediately asked his scribes to write a declaration assuring the freedom of Jews and Christian residents of Medina and Najran to practice their faith. Likewise, when Christian monks and priests from Abyssinia came to Medina to see the Prophet, they inquired where they can hold their Eucharistic service (since they were still in Medina on a Sunday), the Prophet Muhammad gladly offered half of the space of his masjid (i.e., the first masjid built by the Prophet’s own hands) to the Christian priests for their liturgy. The priests tearfully thanked the Prophet for his hospitality, munificence, and cordial act of tolerance by offering and allowing them to hold their Divine Liturgy in his masjid (See, Maulana Muhammad Ali, The Religion of Islam. Columbus, Ohio: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam Lahore, 1990; pp.281-291. For numerous instances showing the Prophet Muhammad’s tolerance and concordant treatment to non-Muslims particularly Christians and Jews, see also, Mumtaz Ahmad Faruqui, Anecdotes from the Life of Prophet Muhammad. Columbus Ohio: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam Lahore, 1997; pp.18-19, 35-37, 40-43.). In keeping with the example of the Prophet Muhammad, the second Caliph of Islam, Hazrat Umar al-Farooq, assured the delegation of Coptic and Orthodox Christians that their churches, convents, and monasteries were to be protected and to be held inviolable by the Islamic State. The same Caliph Umar climbed by foot to Mount Sinai, Egypt to sign a treaty guaranteeing the safety of the monks and nuns of St. Catherine’s monastery. During this visit, the Caliph gave five thousand dirhams for the repair of the monks’ convent and chapel. The trustworthy Arab historian, At-Tabari narrated that the call for the noon prayer once overtook Caliph Umar while he was having consultations with the Orthodox Christian patriarch of Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The kind patriarch offered Caliph Umar to pray inside the church premises. The Caliph gently declined the patriarch’s offer saying that he was afraid that future Muslims might claim the church for themselves on account of the fact that the second Caliph of Islam prayed his noon prayer inside it. Caliph Umar then went out of the church and prayed at a vacant yard nearby (Cf., Hafsah Dawud Zikri, The Exemplary Precedents of our Righteous Sunni Ancestors. Pakpattan, Pakistan: Daawat-e Irshad, 1963; pp.68-85.). These historical instances and many others show the extent of amity, tolerance, and concordance that the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad afford to Christians. The continued existence of Arab, Coptic, Armenian, Greek, and Kurdish Christian communities in the Middle East and the marked presence of churches and convents in these Islamic realms give witness to the tolerant attitude of authentic Islam to the religious “other”. Epilogue: Acceptance of “the Other” as Foundational Basis of an Islamic Spirituality of Tolerance The Qur-an is very explicit in its pronouncement that non-Muslims should be given the right to worship based on the prescriptions of their own scriptures. As already mentioned in this paper, non-Muslims were given their civil, political, and religious rights during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. After the Prophet’s demise, the Holy Companions and the immediate Caliphs of the Prophet made numerous provisions so that the rights of Jews and Christians will be acknowledged and respected. Tolerance towards non-Muslims were also implemented by various Islamic monarchs like the pious Umayyad Caliph, Umar ibn Abdul Aziz; the Abbasid Caliph, Harun-al-Rashid; the just Sultan of Palestine, Saladdin Ayyubi; the Mughal Sultan Akbar; the Ottoman emperors, Fatih Mehmet and Kanooni Suleyman; and the emirs of the Moorish courts of Cordova and Grenada. These Islamic monarchs not only tolerated non-Muslims, much more, they employed Jews, Christians, and even Hindus in their administration, supported their respective places of worship, clergies, and educational institutions. These non-Muslims were accepted with dignity and treated with respect and at par with the Muslim citizens. Authentic Islam based on the Qur-an and as practiced by the Prophet and his companions are not against the promotion of a pluralist egalitarian society that guarantees tolerance and respect to all religious communities within the society. The Qur-an recognizes religious diversity not only as a basic reality of human existence but also as a venue for humanity’s spiritual development (Cf., Surah Maida:48.). It is indeed very regrettable that in our contemporary times, most of the so-called Muslim nations are perceived as lagging behind in fulfilling the spirit of tolerance as plainly expressed in the Qur-an and the Tradition (Sunnah) of the Prophet. It is equally lamentable that political and religious extremism failed to see the pluralistic, concordant, and tolerant dimension of Islam as found in the Qur-anictexts and in the conduct of the Prophet. As amply shown in history, it cannot be denied that there were many instances of bloody conflicts between Christians and Muslims and that atrocities and violence can be equally attributed to both sides. The era of the Crusades during the Middle Ages and the more recent phenomenon of Western colonization of Muslim lands painted a different picture of Christianity in the perceptions of Muslims—a grim and greedy “Christianity” which is far from the peace-loving Christianity of Christ and of the Gospels. Similarly, basing their perceptions on the Western media’s skewed descriptions of Muslims and the intolerance of some Islamic movements, Christians perceived a rigid and inflexible Islam—an “Islam” very different from the tolerant and inclusive Islam of the Holy Qur-an. It is high-time now for both Muslims and Christians to move past these historical contingencies—contingencies that were political, economic, and pragmatic in nature; which had little or even nothing to do with the essential spiritual and religious contents of both faiths as expressed in their respective Scriptures (Jean Rene Milot, Muslims and Christians: Enemies or Brothers? New York: Alba House, 1997; pp. 31.). Indeed, it is high time now for both Muslims and Christians to go back to their respective Scriptures and be nourished by the precepts of tolerance, understanding, and amity enjoined by both the Bible and the Qur-an. In so doing, both the largest and the second largest religions of the world will be able to contribute actively towards achieving world peace. It is likewise imperative for academicians engaged in Muslim-Christian dialogue and researchers of Islamic political philosophy to work out theoretic and praxis in pursuance to the Qur-anic vision of tolerance and amity, by taking into consideration present realities of our pluralistic world. There is no contradiction in accepting the truth of ones’ own religious and ideological perspective and in tolerating or respecting the beliefs of others. Similarly, the Qur-anic belief in the ontological oneness of humanity does not contradict the pragmatic reality that humankind’s expressions of culture, spirituality, and political ideology are varied and diverse. Authentic Islam as found in the Qur-an respects the freedom of conscience of every individual; which includes the right to practice one’s own religious, cultural, ethnic, and ideological commitments. By paying careful and prayerful reflection to what the Qur-an says regarding tolerance, coupled with the faithful adherence to the Qur-anic values of amity and harmony amidst differences, Muslims and non-Muslims will be able to live a tranquil, serene, and secure life—a life of dignity and justice by accepting with openness and good faith each other’s differences. May this hope become a Reality for all Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Insha-Allah (God willing)! Bayman, Henry. The Station of No Station: Open Secrets of the Sufis. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 2001. Maliki, Shahabuddin. Light from the Sayings of Shaykh Ibn Arabi. Decca, Bangladesh: Markaz Towheedi, 1977. Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu is Associate Professor-VI of Philosophy and Asian Studies at the University of the Philippines (UP), Cebu City. He was former Academic Coordinator of the Political Science Program at UP Cebu from 2011-2014. He was also the former Coordinator of Gender and Development (GAD) Office at UP Cebu. His research interests include Islamic Studies particularly Sunni jurisprudence, Islamic feminist discourses, Islam in interfaith dialogue initiatives, Islamic environmentalism, Classical Sunni Islamic pedagogy, the writings of Imam Al-Ghazali on pluralism and tolerance, Turkish Sufism, Muslim-Christian dialogue, Middle Eastern affairs, Peace Studies and Public Theology. | Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu | https://www.globalresearch.ca/tolerance-and-spirituality-debunking-the-islamophobic-view-of-an-intolerant-islam/5616728 | 2019-05-01 07:00:47+00:00 | 1,556,708,447 | 1,567,541,479 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
477,986 | russiainsider--2019-03-17--Christian Morals and Values Shaping the Future of the Russian World | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | russiainsider | Christian Morals and Values Shaping the Future of the Russian World | While much of American and Western media dismiss him as an authoritarian and reactionary, a throwback, Putin may be seeing the future with more clarity than Americans still caught up in a Cold War paradigm This article from our archives was first published on RI in March 2015 This article originally appeared at The Carnegie Council Nicolai N. Petro is professor of politics at the University of Rhode Island. This paper was presented at the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR) seminar on Russia in Koenigswinter, Germany, February 15-18, 2015. CIOR is one of the "independent" advisory bodies to the Military Committee of NATO. For many analysts the term Russky mir, or Russian World, epitomizes an expansionist and messianic Russian foreign policy, the perverse intersection of the interests of the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church. Little noted is that the term actually means something quite different for each party. For the state it is a tool for expanding Russia's cultural and political influence, while for the Russian Orthodox Church it is a spiritual concept, a reminder that through the baptism of Rus, God consecrated these people to the task of building a Holy Rus. The close symphonic relationship between the Orthodox Church and state in Russia thus provides Russian foreign policy with a definable moral framework, one that, given its popularity, is likely to continue to shape the country's policies well into the future. Foreign policy is about interests and values. But while Russia's interests are widely debated, her values are often overlooked, or treated simplistically as the antithesis of Western values. But, as Professor Andrei Tsygankov points out in his book Russia and the West from Alexander to Putin, Russia's relations with the West go through cycles that reflect its notion of honor. By honor he means the basic moral principles that are popularly cited within a culture as the reason for its existence, and that inform its purpose when interacting with other nations. Over the past two centuries, in pursuit of its honor, Russia has cooperated with its European neighbors, when they have acknowledged it as part of the West; responded defensively, when they have excluded Russia; and assertively, when they have been overtly hostile to Russia's sense of honor. Sometimes a nation's sense of its honor overlaps with present-day interests; but it cannot be reduced to the national interest alone, because political leaders must respond to existential ideals and aspirations that are culturally embedded. A nation's sense of honor, therefore, serves as a baseline for what might be called the long-term national interest. According to Tsygankov, in Russia's case the long-term national interest revolves around three constants: First, sovereignty or "spiritual freedom;" second, a strong and socially protective state that is capable of defending that sovereignty; and third, cultural loyalty to those who share Russia's sense of honor, wherever they may be. All three of these involve, to a greater or lesser extent, the defense of Orthodox Christianity, of the Russian Orthodox Church, and of Orthodox Christians around the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin succinctly encapsulated Russia's sense of honor during his state visit to Mount Athos in 2005, when he referred to Russia as a pravoslavnaya derzhava, or simply, an Orthodox power. Putin on the Moral Crisis of the West Little noted at the time, in retrospect, the phrase seems to presage the turn toward Russian foreign policy assertiveness that Western analysts first noticed in his February 2007 remarks at the Munich Security Conference. Since then, Putin has often returned to the dangers posed by American unilateralism, and even challenged the cherished notion of American exceptionalism. But, until his speech at the 2013 Valdai Club meeting, he did not explicitly say what values Russia stood for, what its sense of honor demanded. It was at this meeting that Putin first laid out his vision of Russia's mission as an Orthodox power in the 21st century. Putin began his speech by noting that the world has become a place where decency is in increasingly short supply. Countries must therefore do everything in their power to preserve their own identities and values, for "without spiritual, cultural and national self-definition . . . . one cannot succeed globally." Without a doubt, he said, the most important component of a country's success is the intellectual, spiritual, and moral quality of its people. Economic growth and geopolitical influence depend increasingly on whether a country's citizens feel they are one people sharing a common history, common values, and common traditions. All of these, said Putin, contribute to a nation's self-image, to its national ideal. Russia needs to cultivate the best examples from the past and filter them through its rich diversity of cultural, spiritual, and political perspectives. Diversity of perspectives is crucial for Russia because it was born a multinational and multiconfessional state, and remains so today. Indeed, pluriculturalism is potentially one of Russia's main contributions to global development. "We have amassed a unique experience of interacting with, mutually enriching, and mutually respecting diverse cultures," he told his audience. "Polyculturalism and polyethnicity are in our consciousness, our spirit, our historical DNA." Polyculturalism is also one of the driving factors behind the Eurasian Union, a project initiated by the president of Kazakstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, that Putin has wholeheartedly embraced. Designed to move Eurasia from the periphery of global development to its center, it can only be successful, Putin says, if each nation retains its historical identity and develops it alongside the identity of the Eurasian region as a whole. Creating a culture of unity in diversity within this region, says Putin, would contribute greatly to both pluralism and stability in world affairs. But, in a jab at the West, Putin notes that some aspects of pluriculturalism are no longer well received in the West. The values of traditional Christianity that once formed the very basis of Western civilization have come under fire there, and in their place Western leaders are promoting a unipolar and monolithic worldview. This, he says, is "a rejection . . . of the natural diversity of the world granted by God. . . . Without the values of Christianity and other world religions, without the norms of morality and ethics formed over the course of thousands of years, people inevitably lose their human dignity." The abandonment of traditional Christian values has led to a moral crisis in the West. Russia, Putin says, intends to counter this trend by defending Christian moral principles both at home and abroad. Putin's call for greater respect for traditional cultural and religious identities was either missed or ignored in the West. One reason, I suspect, is that it was couched in a language that Western elites no longer use. For most of the 20th century, Western social science has insisted that modernization would render traditional cultural and religious values irrelevant. The modern alternative, which pioneer political scientists Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba labelled "civic culture," gravitates toward cultural homogeneity and secularism. These qualities lead to political stability and economic progress. The pattern is exemplified by Anglo-American societies which, they conclude, form the optimal model for a modern society. Half a century later, with the rise of China and the collapse of the Soviet Union, it no longer seems so obvious that secularism and homogeneity are the only paths to national success. Scholars increasingly speak of multiple paths to modernity, and even a resurgence of religion. Another reason why Putin's message was overlooked is that he is calling upon the West to re-connect with its Byzantine heritage, a heritage that it has often dismissed as non-Western. In Putin's mind, reincorporating Eastern Christianity into Western civilization reveals Russia as a vital part of Western civilization, and requires that Russia be part of any discussion of Western values. Putin's speech in 2013 was an assertive and optimistic statement of Russian values, and the cultural and spiritual reasons why he felt that Russian influence in the world was bound to grow. By 2014, however, the world had changed. A major reason is the conflict within Ukraine, which many in the West define as a conflict over world order stemming from a profound values gap between Russia and the West. Russia, by contrast, sees itself as defending not only vital strategic interests in Ukraine, but also its core values of honor, such as spiritual freedom, cultural loyalty, and pluralism. It may seem strange to many in the West, but Russia's attitude on the Ukrainian crisis is inflexible precisely because it sees itself as occupying the moral high ground in this dispute. A key reason why Western moral criticisms of Russian actions have so little traction among Russians is that the Russia Orthodox Church has regained its traditional pre-eminence as the institution that defines the nation's moral vision and sense of honor. Looking beyond Russia's borders, that vision has come to be known as the Russky mir or Russian World. Russian World or the Communities of Historical Rus? It is important to distinguish how this term is used by the Russian state from how it is used by the Russian Orthodox Church. The use of this term as a "community of Orthodox Christians living in unity of faith, traditions and customs," goes back to at least the beginning of the 19th century, but it was re-purposed as a political concept in the early 1990s by Pyotr Shedrovitsky, an influential political consultant interested in the role that cultural symbols could play in politics. He believed that creating a network of mutually reinforcing social structures in the former Soviet states among people who continue to think and speak in Russian—the "Russky mir"—could be politically advantageous to Russia. Its practical foreign policy appeal stemmed from the fact that, by claiming to speak on behalf of nearly 300 million Russian speakers, a weakened Russia would instantly become a key regional player, as well as an influential political force within the countries of the former Soviet Union. This notion resonated within the Yeltsin administration which, in the mid-1990s was already searching for a "Russian Idea" around which to consolidate the nation and promote a new democratic consensus. Members of the Institute of Philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences were tasked to research this concept, but although it influenced sections of Russia's first foreign policy doctrine in 1996, it ultimately ran out of steam. As those involved in this project later explained to me, there were simply too many disparate "Russian Ideas" to choose from, and no consensus within the presidential administration or the Institute of Philosophy on which version to support. More than a decade would pass before the term was used by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. This occurred in 2009 at the Third Assembly of the Russian World, when Patriarch Kirill spoke of how the Russky mir, or Holy Rus as he also called it, should respond to the challenges of globalization. The Church, he said, emphasizes the importance of spiritual bonds over the divisions of national borders. It therefore uses the term russky not as a geographical, or ethnic concept, but as a spiritual identity that refers to the cradle civilization of the Eastern Slavs—Kievan Rus. This common identity was forged when Kievan Rus adopted Christianity from Constantinople in 988. At that moment the Eastern Slavs were consecrated into a single civilization and given the task of constructing Holy Rus. That mission persisted through the Muscovite and Imperial eras. It survived the persecutions of the Soviet era, and continues today in democratic Russia. The core of this community today resides in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (at other times, Kirill has added Moldova and Kazakhstan), but can refer to anyone who shares the Orthodox faith, a reliance on Russian language, a common historical memory, and a common view of social development. In June 2007, President Putin established the Russky mir Fund, tasked with support of the Russian language and cultural inheritance throughout the world. Much of this effort was clearly aimed at preserving the use of the Russian language in the former Soviet Union, and with it the popularization of Russia's image. But while there is clearly a great deal of overlap between the religious and political uses of this term, let me highlight several important differences. As used by the state, Russky mir is typically a political or a cultural concept. In both senses it is used by groups working for the Russian government to strengthen the country's domestic stability, restore Russia's status as a world power, and increase her influence in neighboring states. From the state's perspective, the Russian Orthodox Church can be a useful tool for these purposes. As used by the Church, Russky mir is a religious concept. It is essential for reversing the secularization of society throughout the former Soviet Union, a task Patriarch Kirill has termed the "second Christianization" of Rus. The Russian Orthodox Church sees the Russian government, or for that matter, any government within its canonical territory, as tools for this purpose. Reaction to the patriarch's use of the phrase Russky mir, which was familiar mainly in its Yeltsin-era political context, was mixed, both inside and outside of Russia. It aroused considerable controversy in Ukraine, where the Greek-Catholic church and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kievan Patriarchate dismissed it outright. On the other hand, the autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which serves approximately half of all Christians in Ukraine, has been cautiously receptive. In light of this controversy, Kirill returned to the topic in 2010, to clarify his views of what the Russky mir meant specifically for Ukraine. He reiterated that the baptism of Kievan Rus was an instance of Divine Providence. The Russian Orthodox Church has defended the religious and cultural bonds established by this miraculous event for more than a thousand years, and will always continue to do so. Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine are all equal successors to the inheritance of Kievan Rus, therefore all three should be coordinating centers in the development of the Russian World. To this end, Patriarch Kirill introduced the idea of "synodal capitals"—historical centers of Russian Orthodoxy which would regularly host meetings of the Holy Synod, the Church's chief decision-making body. One of these capitals is Kiev. It is interesting to note that archpriest Evgeny (Maksimenko), a cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, has called upon the patriarch to take the next logical step and move the seat of the Patriarchate of Rus from Moscow back to Kiev. Christianity, says the patriarch, does not seeks to destroy that which is unique in each nation, but rather to motivate local cultures toward greater appreciation of Christianity's transcendent meaning. Long ago, the ideal Orthodox society was the Byzantine Empire. Today, in the context of national sovereignty, however, Orthodoxy proposes itself as a spiritual complement to national sovereignty, and a harmonizing resource in a globalizing world. Kirill has said that this same principle can be found in the European Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States. But while the Church respects state sovereignty, it takes no position on its merits. Nation-states are neither good nor bad, but merely the current framework within which God intends the Church to accomplish the restoration of Holy Rus. It is therefore the Church's duty to make each nation, at least in part, "a carrier of Orthodox civilization." Over the course of the past decade, the purely pragmatic, secular version of the Russky mir has slowly yielded to the growing influence of the Church in Russia's political life. Among the many examples, let me highlight just one—President Putin's address in Kiev on the occasion of the 1025th baptism of Rus in 2013. This was also Putin's most recent visit to Ukraine. His remarks at the time reflected every one of the motifs of the Russky mir in its religious context, including: the decisive spiritual and cultural significance of the baptism of Rus; the uniqueness of Orthodox values in the modern world; deference to Kiev's historical significance (before the revolution, he says, it was known as "the second cultural and intellectual capital after St. Petersburg," even ahead of Moscow[!]); and public recognition of Ukraine's right to make any political choice it wishes which, however, "in no way erases our common historical past." Having drawn a distinction between the objectives of the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church in promoting the Russky mir, it is important to stress that these two institutions are not in conflict, at least not in the near future. The classical formulation for Church-State relations in Eastern Orthodox Christianity was and remains symphonia, or harmony between Church and State, not the Protestant Western ideal of separation. The establishment of broadly harmonious and mutually supportive relations between Church and State in Russia, for the first time in more than a century, therefore has significant implications for Russian politics. The first is that Vladimir Putin's high popularity ratings are neither transient nor personal. They reflect the popularity of his social and political agenda, which are popular precisely because they have the blessing of the Russian Orthodox Church. A few years ago, then president Medvedev referred to the Church as "the largest and most authoritative social institution in contemporary Russia," an assessment reinforced by more recent surveys showing that Patriarch Kirill is more often identified as the "spiritual leader [and] moral mentor" of the entire Russian nation, than he is as the head of a single religious confession. The success of the Putin Plan, the Putin Model, or Putinism, is thus simple to explain. This Russian government understands that it derives enormous social capital from its public embrace of the Russian Orthodox Church. So long as Russia remains a broadly representative (not to be confused with liberal) democracy, there is little reason to expect this to change. Some analysts, however, suggest that this embrace may lead to conflict between the state and other confessions. The potential for such conflict is widely recognized, especially by religious leaders, and led to the creation in 1998 of the Interreligious Council of Russia. Its purpose is two-fold: First, to defuse conflicts among the various religious communities. Second, to present a united religious agenda to politicians. It has been quite successful on both fronts, and its activities now cover not just Russia, but the entire CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). If my assessment of the importance of the religious underpinnings for the current regime's popularity is correct, then it follows that attempts to undermine the unity of the Russky mir will be widely viewed as an attack on core values, not just in Russia but throughout the Russian World. Economic, political, cultural, and other sanctions will intensify this effect and sharply undermine intellectual and emotional sympathies for the West within this community. While this may not be permanent, I suspect that few in the current generation of Russian leaders retain much hope for the possibility of building a lasting partnership with the West. Moreover, the Russian Orthodox Church will continue to shape Russia's foreign policy agenda in several ways. First, it will use the influence of the state to advocate for the concerns of Orthodox Christians throughout the world, even if they are not Russian citizens. This is in keeping with the transnational character of the Russian Orthodox Church. Second, it will promote Christian moral and social values in international fora, either by itself or in conjunction with other religions. Indeed, close ties on these issues have been forged with the Roman Catholic Church, and with Islamic clerics in Egypt and Iran. Where it does not have direct access to these, it will turn to the Russian media, and to popular international outlets like RT and Sputnik to promote this agenda. Third, wherever Russian state and civic organizations promote Russian culture and language abroad, the Church will also seek to tack on its religious agenda. While the state promotes the national interests of the Russian Federation, the Russian Orthodox Church will promote the larger cultural identity it sees itself as having inherited from Kievan Rus. For example, the Church sees the conflict in Ukraine as a civil war within the Russian World. From this perspective, it cannot be resolved by splitting up this community, thereby isolating Ukraine from Russia and destroying the unity of the Russky mir, or by permitting the forcible Ukrainianization of the predominantly Orthodox and Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine, which would result in the destruction of the Russky mir within Ukraine. The only permanent solution is for the Ukrainian government to admit the pluricultural nature of Ukrainian society and, in effect, recognize Ukraine as part of the Russky mir. From the Church's perspective, this is the only way to achieve reconciliation among the Ukrainian people and harmony within the Russky mir. Oddly enough, many moderate Ukrainian nationalists also ascribe to the notion that some sort of symbiotic cultural connection exists between Russia and Ukraine. The typical pro-Maidan Ukrainian intellectual believes that Putin is out to undermine Ukrainian democracy first and foremost because he fears it spreading to Russia. But they predict the inevitable resumption of fraternal ties with Russia, after the freedom-loving, pro-European values of the Maidan succeed in overturning Putin's authoritarian regime in Russia. It is hard not to see the similarity between their aspirations for close ties with Russia and those of Patriarch Kirill, only under a completely different set of cultural assumptions. In conclusion, what impact will the rise of the Russky mir have on Russia's relations with other nations? I anticipate three responses. In countries where the concept of Holy Rus has no historical context, there will be a tendency to fall back on the Cold War context they are most familiar with, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did when she warned of efforts to "re-Sovietize the region." "It's going to be called customs union, it will be called Eurasian Union and all of that," she said, "but let's make no mistake about it. We know what the goal is and we are trying to figure out effective ways to slow down or prevent it." Among Russia's immediate neighbors, the response will be mixed. While there are still many who view the Soviet era with nostalgia, and regard the breakup of the USSR as more harmful than beneficial (by 2:1 margins in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Russia), it is not at all clear that the Orthodox Church's conservative social vision has a similarly broad appeal. In Ukraine the term Russky mir has become a rallying cry for both sides during this civil war, and is now so hopelessly politicized that its religious and spiritual content have all but disappeared. The unhappy result, as Nicholas E. Denysenko puts it, is "a religious narrative becoming altered against the will of its authors." Even further from Russia, the popularity of the Russky mir will likely depend on whether Russia emerges as a global defender of traditional Christian and conservative values. The values gap that some in the West cite as justification for punishing and containing Russia does exist, but it is not the whole picture. The same values gap exists within the West itself. Only recently Russia has realized that, while its conservative agenda distances itself from some Europeans, it brings it closer to others. The list of Putinversteher probably now contains more politicians and opinion leaders on the right end of the European political spectrum, than it does on the left. In the United States, Evangelical Christian social activists, and even a few noted political commentators, have begun to take note of these shared values. Two years ago, former Nixon aide and Republican presidential candidate, Patrick Buchanan, told fellow political conservatives that there is much in Putin's rhetoric that makes him "one of us." "While much of American and Western media dismiss him as an authoritarian and reactionary, a throwback, Putin may be seeing the future with more clarity than Americans still caught up in a Cold War paradigm. As the decisive struggle in the second half of the 20th century was vertical, East vs. West, the 21st century struggle may be horizontal, with conservatives and traditionalists in every country arrayed against the militant secularism of a multicultural and transnational elite." The role of the Russian Orthodox Church in this struggle is crucial, because it calls for the creation of a common framework of Christian European values, in effect a new, pan-European civil religion. The Russian state, meanwhile, is only too happy to support these calls because it is only within the context of a common cultural and religious identity ("shared values") that Russia can become a full-fledged political part of the West. Intentionally or not, therefore, the Russian Orthodox Church and its Russky mir have emerged as the missing spiritual and intellectual component of Russia's soft power. Someday it may even become like U.S. human rights policy, an awkward, but nevertheless defining aspect of national identity, that the government will apply selectively, but never be able to get rid of entirely. | Nicolai Petro | https://russia-insider.com/en/history/christian-morals-and-values-shaping-future-russian-world/ri5051 | 2019-03-17 12:03:40+00:00 | 1,552,838,620 | 1,567,545,872 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
498,933 | sottnet--2019-03-21--Ethnicity politics land religion and deadly clashes in Jos Nigeria | 2019-03-21T00:00:00 | sottnet | Ethnicity, politics, land, religion and deadly clashes in Jos, Nigeria | While these interreligious engagements are relevant for promoting peaceful coexistence, they have often bypassed the root causes of the conflicts. As can be seen, these conflicts are resource-based and mainly between ethnic groups. However, pundits and religious bodies have given them a religious interpretation even when the undercurrents have nothing to do with religion. Over the last two decades, Nigeria has experienced at least 2,500 violent events in the form of riots, protests, terrorist attacks, and other expressions of collective brutality. In addition to the insurgency led by the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad [People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad], also known as Boko Haram, in the north east, the country's ethnically diverse landscape is marked by frequent indigene-settler conflicts and farmer-herder clashes in the central belt, separatist agitations in the south east and militancy in the Niger Delta. Over 40, 000 people have been killed. 1 While most parts of the country have witnessed one form of violence or the other, incidents of large-scale violence are disproportionately concentrated in the central region also known as the "Middle Belt".The media often describe these conflicts as "religious crises" and reconciliatory measures have focused on engaging Christian and Muslim leaders to broker peace.As episodes of riots in the city of Jos suggest, collective violence in the region is a culmination of several factors. In the towns and cities, violent riots stem from contestations between indigenes and settlers over rights, distributable resources and political power whereas struggles between farmers and pastoralists over land are at the heart of mass killings in the rural areas.In addition to building links across religious divides, an effective peacebuilding strategy should address the long-running contestations over indigeneity, resource-based competition, power tussles and struggles related to land ownership and use.The conflict that takes place in the area of Jos demonstrates how struggles over indigenous rights, distributable resources and political power precipitate violence. Conflict over indigeneity is common in Nigeria. Apart from being a citizen, every citizen is supposed to register as a certified member of a specific patrilocal community. Indigeneousness certificates are issued by local government authorities to differentiate between the natives and settlers or migrants. Although the practice originated from colonial rule, it has assumed more importance in the postcolonial period. Now a criterion for accessing certain socio-economic rights and privileges, the indigeneousness certificate let individuals gain access to scholarships, school admissions, employment quotas and tenured positions as heads of government ministries. Individuals and groups resident in a state other than their states of indigeneousness are considered settlers, thereby lacking such rights and privileges and are often being subjected to other informal forms of discrimination. 2 The local government council is responsible for deciding who qualifies for an indigeneous certificate and who does not. The two groups compete fiercely to gain control of this decision-making institution. Periods of council elections and local appointments are particularly volatile and have resulted in mass violence in 1994, 2001 and 2008. To demonstrate the role of indigeneousness, resource-based competition and political tussles, it is important to zoom in on these incidents.The first large-scale violence to occur in modern-day Jos was in 2001, following the appointment of a Hausa man as coordinator of a poverty alleviation programme in Jos North.About 1,000 people were killed in the pandemonium. Another round of violence almost engulfed the city in May 2002, but calm was restored within a few days and it did not spread to other parts of the city. It started with skirmishes between rival party loyalists at an electoral registration centre and ended in mobs rampaging around Angwan Rukuba, Eto Baba, Nasarawa Gwong and Dogon Dutse areas. In the end, about 50 people were killed and up to 100 vehicles burnt. Yet, this was minimal compared to what happened in 2001 or what was to come in 2008. That horrendous violence was directly linked to the local government area elections held on 27 November 2008. Once again, armed mobs killed, maimed and vandalised.As demonstrated through the case of Jos, the Middle Belt has long presented the most precarious security setting in Nigeria. The region's penchant for intergroup fighting may partly be traced to the paternalistic manner in which the British colonial administration managed ethnic diversity. For administrative purposes, the colonial administration let the various small groups of native peoples from the region be subsumed under the political dominance of the Hausa-Fulani. The colonialists, in their indirect rule, stayed impervious to their subjects' cultural differences and territorial integrity. Struggles by the natives to 'liberate' themselves from an overbearing Hausa-Fulani oligarchy started in the 1930s, but became more determined after independence in 1960. The very label 'Middle Belt', adopted by native politicians of the region, represents the struggle to differentiate the area geographically and, more consequently, culturally and politically from the Hausa-Fulani dominated north. 3 Yet, reconciliatory efforts have neither acknowledged nor addressed this historical antecedent. 4 These attacks happen mainly in rural areas and are not to be conflated with the native-settler conflicts in urban settings. Population growth and desertification have increased the strain on land in northern Nigeria and pushed Fulani pastoralists southwards. The north-south movements of cattle used to be seasonal but nowadays they are forced to stay longer in the Middle Belt due to the scarcity of grazing land in the north. This has pitched them against the predominantly agrarian local populations. Moreover, demographic changes as well as land grabbing have encroached into and reduced the volume of officially designated grazing routes. 5 The scale and frequency of the killings have sparked national outrage.For example, high expectations for peaceful coexistence accompanied the inauguration in September 1999 of the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), a voluntary association made up of 50 members - 25 Christians and 25 Muslims. The association was established by the Nigerian government and members were selected from the leaderships of the country's major religious bodies. Though the intention behind it is plausible, the association has yet to present practical solutions to the pockets of conflicts in different parts of the country.For example, reacting to a recent incident in which two Catholic priests and seventeen parishioners were murdered by assailants that have come to be known as "armed herdsmen" in the media, Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) called for the resignation of President Muhammed Buhari blaming his administration's inability to protect the lives of Nigerians.The growing discontent toward Buhari's security antecedents resonates particularly with members of the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) but is also gaining popularity among Nigerian Christians.Religious identity transcends tribal and linguistic differences and helps to unify smaller groups into larger and more formidable political forces. For example, the Berom, Afizere and Anaguta of Jos are ethnolinguistically distinct groups and do in fact have their squabbles, but these differences are subsumed within a broader group narrative when they mobilize under an overarching Christian identity against a Muslim Hausa rival. Similarly, the Hausa in Jos represents a social category that includes also the Fulani, Nupe, Beriberi, Kanuri and other groups who have adopted the Hausa language and practice Islam as religion. On both sides, religious animosity serves the parochial interests of politicians. Extremists have also taken advantage of the religious rhetoric to push their cause. For example,Tackling conflicts and mass killings in Nigeria requires a sophisticated approach that disaggregates underlying causes from popular narratives of mobilization.Addressing this issue would resolve some of the resource-based contestations and political tussles that have translated into mass violence in the Middle Belt. In relation to mass killings in the villages, urgent military action is required. There is need for a taskforce that can tighten security at Nigeria's porous borders.Besides these measures, however, addressing the underlying struggles over land would require revisiting the idea of open grazing and extensive transhumance routes. The population of Nigeria was slightly over fifty million when these routes were gazetted in 1965. Today, the population stands at over 180 million. This demographic shift alone renders this practice infeasible. An alternative may be to create grazing reserves and promote intensive husbandry but even this too is not foolproof and does need to be thought through critically before being implemented. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/409528-Ethnicity-politics-land-religion-and-deadly-clashes-in-Jos-Nigeria | 2019-03-21 07:18:01+00:00 | 1,553,167,081 | 1,567,545,440 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
563,268 | tass--2019-03-24--West failed to learn lessons of Yugoslavia tragedy Russias NATO mission says | 2019-03-24T00:00:00 | tass | West failed to learn lessons of Yugoslavia tragedy, Russia’s NATO mission says | BRUSSELS, March 24. /TASS/. Western states did not learn the lessons of the Yugoslavia tragedy 20 years ago when the country was targeted by NATO bombings, Russia’s permanent mission to NATO told reporters on Sunday. "March 24 is certainly a tragic date in Europe’s modern history. This day exactly 20 years ago a temptation prevailed to solve challenging and very sensitive inter-ethnic and inter-religious problems in Yugoslavia not by meticulous diplomatic efforts, but by simple and quick methods of ‘military surgery’ bypassing international law and without the permission of the United Nations’ Security Council," the permanent mission said. "Then as a result of bombings and missile attacks critical civilian infrastructure facilities were destroyed and civilians became ‘collateral damage’ for NATO. An attack on the Chinese embassy cannot be explained either," it said. Russia’s NATO mission emphasized that today "conflict potential in the region remains along with the problem with international recognition of Kosovo." "Unfortunately, the steps in Iraq and Libya showed that the lessons of those dramatic events in the Balkans were not taken into account either," it stated. March 24, 2019 marks 20 years since NATO started its military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The bombings started without the permission of the UN Security Council. Top NATO officials said the primary cause of Operation Allied Force was to prevent the alleged genocide of the Albanian population in Kosovo. According to the NATO website, during the operation, which lasted 78 days, the alliance’s warplanes made 38,000 sorties, more than 10,000 of them for conducting bombing raids. According to Western data published by Human Rights Watch, the bombings killed nearly 500 civilians and some 1,000 military. Serbian data said some 2,000 civilians died in the bombings and several hundred people went missing, while the death toll among the military is estimated at 1,000. Serbia’s military and industrial infrastructure was almost fully destroyed, and more than 1,500 settlements, 60 bridges, 30% schools and 100 monuments were ruined. Material damage amounted to between $30bln and $100bln, and some facilities have not been reconstructed by now. | null | http://tass.com/politics/1050225 | 2019-03-24 10:03:18+00:00 | 1,553,436,198 | 1,567,544,998 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
25,774 | bbc--2019-04-13--The couples on the run for love in India | 2019-04-13T00:00:00 | bbc | The couples on the run for love in India | Most Indian families still prefer marriages arranged within their religion and caste. Marriages outside these rigid boundaries have often led to violent consequences, including "honour" killings. But some young Indians are still willing to defy their families and communities for love, reports the BBC's Divya Arya. Ravindra Parmar knew that pursuing a relationship with an upper-caste woman would be dangerous. He is a Dalit (formerly known as "untouchable"), a caste that sits at the lowest rung of India's social ladder. The woman he fell in love with, Shilpaba Upendrasinh Vala, is a Rajput - a Hindu warrior caste near the apex of the system. The yawning gap between his position and hers is something rarely bridged in Indian society. "We are not even allowed to walk past their area and I had dared to marry into their family," he says. "Those who marry inter-caste are seen as aliens. The perception is that they are terrorists who revolt in society." Ravindra and Shilpaba were born and brought up in two villages separated by more than 100km (62 miles) in the western state of Gujarat. They met on Facebook and would spend hours taking digs at each other. But all that friendly banter had a deep impact on Shilpaba. "I was like any other village girl limited to home and college, but he broadened my horizon, made me realise that my life has more meaning," she says. Social media has opened a space that did not exist a few decades ago. Rigid caste and religious divides meant that the possibility of meeting, interacting and striking friendships in public places was neither possible nor encouraged. The caste system is hereditary, and the practice of marrying within the caste ensures that the hierarchy is perpetuated. Caste divisions have deep roots in history and Dalit men who have married women from upper castes have been killed. Marriages across caste or religion in India are uncommon. According to the India Human Development Survey, only about 5% of Indian marriages are inter-caste. The onus of upholding tradition, culture and "purity" falls on the woman and if she marries outside traditional boundaries, she is seen as besmirching the honour of the community and her family. The anger and backlash can lead to violent attacks and killings. Shilpaba had to flee from her village to marry Ravindra. But the threat of violence has continued to hang over them: they have moved between houses and cities a dozen times in the past three years. Ravindra is a trained engineer but had to leave his job and has had to do daily-wage labour wherever they have lived to make ends meet. Shilpaba says the stress became unbearable. They started blaming each other for their situation and she even contemplated taking her own life. "Ravindra convinced me out of it, as that was no solution," she says. "Now we are both studying law with a vision to take up human rights cases and make our parents proud through our work. "Maybe then they will see that we didn't take this decision to just have fun and they will accept us." The latest data available from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that 77 murder cases in 2016 were reported with "honour killing" as the motive. Such violence is highly under-reported and these numbers do not accurately reflect social attitudes that may be growing more conservative. A 2016 survey, Social Attitudes Research for India (Sari), conducted across Delhi, Mumbai, and the states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan found the majority of respondents opposed to inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. In fact they were in favour of a law banning such marriages. "It is quite shocking that despite rising levels of literacy and education, prejudicial beliefs do not reduce. In fact, they are worryingly high," says Professor Amit Thorat of Jawaharlal Nehru University, who worked on the Sari survey. "Religious and traditional values around hierarchies, around the notion of purity and pollution seem to be more sacrosanct and valuable than human rights, the right to live or the right to marry by choice." Bibi Ayisha and Aditya Verma were 17 years old when they fell in love. They too found each other on Facebook. That they were born into different religions - she is Muslim, he is Hindu - did not matter to them. But their families fiercely opposed the relationship. Aditya was born and grew up in Delhi. After finishing school, he enrolled in a college in the southern Indian city of Bangalore only because Ayisha lived there. But that sign of his dedication couldn't win her parents over: he was still a Hindu. Madly in love, and after waiting for two years, Ayisha ran away with Aditya. They moved to Delhi but, like Ravindra and Shilpaba, they still did not feel safe. "We were so scared that for five months we stayed in a room. Neither of us was working at that time. I thought if I stepped out, I would be killed, because I was Muslim and he was Hindu," says Ayisha. In February 2018, 23-year old Ankit Saxena was murdered in broad daylight in the capital Delhi for having a relationship with a Muslim woman. The woman's parents and two others were arrested and the trial is ongoing. Ayisha says that after that incident, the fear of a possible honour killing started feeling very real. "Even if we went out briefly, I was constantly looking around and if I saw anyone with a beard, I thought that they were members of my family coming to kill me." Her fears have been set against the backdrop of an India where religious polarisation is increasing. A Hindu nationalist government has been in power since 2014 and is accused of normalising anti-Muslim sentiment. "I think the present environment is such that rather than bringing people and religions together, it is trying to fan the fires of division," says Prof Thorat. He is quick to point to the violent partition of India to underscore that such beliefs have existed for more than half a century, but believes that efforts to bridge divides are lacking. Ayisha's parents like Aditya but are not ready to accept him into their family unless he converts to Islam. Aditya's parents are equally unwilling for the marriage unless Ayisha adopts Hinduism. Both of them are opposed to adopting the other's religion - and losing their own. "When we fell in love, I knew she was a Muslim and she knew I was Hindu. We don't want that any of us should lose our identity," Aditya says. India passed a law in 1872 that enables legal registration of a marriage between a man and woman of different religions or caste without any conversion. Aditya found out about the Special Marriage Act through Asif Iqbal and Ranu Kulshreshtha, a couple who married inter-faith back in 2000. Soon after their marriage - in the aftermath of the anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002 - they witnessed targeting of couples like themselves and a lack of any support mechanisms. They set up an organisation called Dhanak, which spreads legal awareness and provides counselling as well as safe houses to couples who want to marry inter-faith or inter-caste. But awareness about the Special Marriage Act is very low. It also has a rule that requires a notice about the intended marriage to be displayed at a public place for a month, giving opportunity to anyone to place an objection. "This provision is often misused by fanatic Hindu groups like Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Muslim organisations like Nizam-e-Mustafa, who would approach the families and pressure them to stop their daughters as daughters are easy targets," explains Asif Iqbal. According to him, the local police also do not encourage such marriages and instead play an active role in stopping them, especially in smaller towns. Rekha Sharma, chairperson of the government's advisory body, the National Commission for Women, agrees. "The government needs to do more in sensitising the police and legal officers about this, as the law helps in stopping conversion yet still enabling inter-faith marriage," she says. But she adds that lasting change cannot come only by enforcing laws, but by changing social mindsets. Acceptance is key for the survival of such couples as they deal with severe social and economic isolation. The Dhanak network has helped Ayisha feel safe. She has now met many couples like her and Aditya, and it gives her immense hope. "If you trust your partner and love them very much, then nothing else should matter. You should not waste time worrying about family and society. They will come around eventually," she says. After their marriage, Ravindra and Shilpaba decided to change their surname to Bharatiya, which means Indian. They decided to drop their original surname since it revealed their respective castes. Ravindra is an idealist - he believes that more inter-caste marriages will lead to a future in India where caste divisions will cease to be an issue. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-47823588 | 2019-04-13 23:59:26+00:00 | 1,555,214,366 | 1,567,543,029 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
26,240 | bbc--2019-04-22--St Anthonys - Church of miracles | 2019-04-22T00:00:00 | bbc | St Anthony's - 'Church of miracles' | St Anthony's Church, the site of one of the deadliest Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, is renowned as a place of worship open to all faiths, but the attacks have shut its doors for now. For the first time in its 175-year history, people are being turned away. The road to the shrine in Colombo's Kochchikade district is a familiar one to many, who - regardless of their religion - would regularly come here to seek blessings. Despite being a predominantly Roman Catholic church, its patron has acquired a reputation for being a "miracle worker". No request, no matter how large, small or strangely specific, is left unanswered by St Anthony, people say. On Monday, however, a day after the bomb blast ripped through its entrance, things are very different. The attack here was one of eight across the country which killed 310 people and injured many more. Police are fanned out near the turn-off to the church, marked by its distinctive large statue of St Anthony, mounted on a pedestal. The perimeter of the church itself has been cordoned off with yellow tape and is being guarded by armed security officers. Despite this, a sizeable crowd is still gathered outside, veering as close to the perimeter as they dare, most just staring at the large white building. From a distance it looks untouched, but look harder and hints of the carnage that took place inside become more visible. Near its entrance, half hidden by a wall, you can see bits of rubble and shards of glass. The clock on its left tower is frozen at 8.45 - the time the blast took place. There were so many casualties here because such a large crowd had gathered. Even on a normal day, the church is filled with worshippers. For Easter Mass, the chief priest thought well over 1,000 people were in the congregation. Scores are thought to have been killed at St Anthony's - it's not clear yet how many lost their lives. Among those gathered outside the church is Prabath Buddhika. Although Mr Buddhika is Buddhist by religion, like many others, he is a strong believer in the power of St Anthony. "My house is right here," he said, adding that he'd been attending the church since he was a child and gone along with his family many times. Like many others, Mr Buddhika ran to the church after hearing the explosions. The carnage he saw there could not be described, he says, but people fearlessly came forward from around the area in order to help. Among them was Peter Michael Fernando, a Catholic who lives close to the church. He was asleep when the blast occurred, he says, waking up after his "bed shook" with the force of the explosion. He ran towards the church after seeing plumes of smoke rising into the sky. "There were bodies and parts of bodies everywhere. I saw there were two people who were still alive so I helped them to an ambulance. I was weeping." Mr Fernando says what stayed with him was the number of children he saw among the dead and injured. "They were screaming, they were bleeding. We tried to help as many as we could. I carried a little girl into one of the vans - she had lost a leg," he said, breaking down again. A little distance away stands Anuja Subasinghe, a nurse. She has been staring at the church for a long time. "This church is for those who carry unbearable sadness - it gives them solace," she says with tears in her eyes. "Who would do something like this? Why would they do this?" She couldn't come for Sunday's Easter Mass because she had to report for duty, but on Monday morning she felt she needed to be there for the church. "My husband died 12 years ago and the only thing that got me through that terrible tragedy was this church," she says. "I didn't need any other man. St Anthony was enough for me." Like Mr Buddhika, Ms Subasinghe was born a Buddhist, but converted to Christianity after discovering the church. So what is it about this church and St Anthony in particular that has captured the imagination of so many people? According to Father Leo Perera, a parish priest who serves nearby, part of it is to do with the fact St Anthony's Church has always been associated with miracles. In fact, its very origin has been attributed to one. According to local legend and the written history of the archdiocesan archives, St Anthony's Church was built by a priest from Cochin in southern India, named Father Antonio. He secretly practised Catholicism during the Dutch rule of Colombo in the 18th Century, although it had been named a proscribed religion. He was able to build the church, the legend says, after performing a miracle. The locals had come to him in panic after seeing the sea rising and asked him to pray for it to recede. He did, and the sea not only receded, but a sand bank suddenly emerged from the waters. So he planted a cross there and built a small mud church, in which he remained until his death. The other reason, Father Leo says, is the fact that many people have testified that the church has answered prayers and restored faith. "Everyone who goes there comes away with the happy feeling that their prayers have been heard," he said, adding that on special celebratory feast days, the church was always full of grateful people who had come to give offerings as thanks for having their prayers heard. But what next, I ask him? Will the attacks erode people's faith in the power of this church? "Absolutely not," he says with emotion. "You cannot keep people away from here just because of something like this. They will keep coming back because this is the time they want the presence of God in their life. There is no way this will affect the power of this church and the faith of its believers." This sentiment is echoed by Mr Buddhika. "This is no ordinary church. Whoever did this didn't know what they were messing with - they cannot simply get away with something like this. "They will pay for this over generations." And this is because St Anthony's is so much more than just a place of worship. It is a symbol of Sri Lanka's plurality and tolerance. A reminder that in a country, still bruised by the memories of a brutal civil war and inter-religious violence, its diverse communities have traditionally lived together peacefully and embraced each other's beliefs and differences. That perhaps explains why so many of them still came together to stand in front of the church, to express sadness and horror at what took place within. In its darkest hour, the church continues to be a symbol of hope - with many Sri Lankans choosing to stand together despite the hatred that has unfolded among them. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48011886 | 2019-04-22 13:49:39+00:00 | 1,555,955,379 | 1,567,542,143 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
34,133 | bbc--2019-12-18--Reinhard Bonnke: The man who changed the face of Christianity in Africa | 2019-12-18T00:00:00 | bbc | Reinhard Bonnke: The man who changed the face of Christianity in Africa | German-born evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, who attracted massive crowds in Africa during decades of preaching, is being mourned by millions of Christians across the continent following his death aged 79. Kenyan writer Jesse Masai looks back at his influence. With comparisons ranging from British "Prince of Preachers" Charles Spurgeon to American televangelist Billy Graham, Bonnke's status as the father of modern-day crusade preaching and healing in Africa is not in dispute. Across the continent, huge week-long church rallies are now commonplace, characterised by mass mobilisation, big tents, colourful podiums, sophisticated public address systems, local language translators and, in some instances, evangelists who mimic Bonnke's oratory and stage antics, including how he firmly gripped microphones. At the end of some of his sermons, he would ask who in the crowds was hearing God's call to take the microphone from his hands. His message of redemptive hope became important, particularly in African nations affected by drought, civil strife and other tragedies. • Founded Christ For All Nations (CFAN) mission organisation in 1974 • CFAN claims Bonnke oversaw more than 79 million conversions to Christianity Some, like 83 year-old Kenyan pentecostal preacher Wilson Mamboleo - who helped organise Bonnke's forays into East Africa - consider Africa's best-known names on the African Christian scene such as Nigeria's TB Joshua and Kenya's Teresia Wairimu, a direct consequence of Bonnke's early influence. Bonnke joined Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta during the dedication of Wairimu's Faith Evangelistic Ministry Family Church in Nairobi, the country's capital, in August 2016. "His pioneering, militant approach of open-air crusades was informed by our context. Like the Biblical St Paul, he was aware that he was confronting strong evil forces," says Mr Mamboleo. His Christ For All Nations (CFAN) organisation, known for its work throughout Africa, claims Bonnke oversaw more than 79 million conversions to Christianity. You may also be interested in: • Why Africa is the future for the Catholic Church • Why some African governments are clamping down on churches • Meeting the pastor who says he can walk on air At huge rallies - including one in Nigeria's main city, Lagos, in 2000 that was said to have drawn 1.6 million people - Bonnke claimed to heal people using the powers of God. He also told followers he had witnessed people rising from the dead, although such "miracles" were dismissed by his critics. Stephen Mutua, who between 1986 and 2009 served as an international director under him, remembers riots in mainly Muslim Kano in northern Nigeria in 1990. The Muslim population had been angered that Bonnke had secured permission to hold a crusade. "In the ensuing chaos, I found myself in an armoured car for the first time in my life, before the Nigerian military airlifted us to Lagos," Dr Mutua recalls. "Bonnke, who understood Nigeria's religious dynamics, condoled with the nation in a personal message to the federal government and vowed to return." Officially at least eight people were killed but unconfirmed reports said hundreds lost their lives. "After the incident we had our visa applications denied and we didn't return to Nigeria for 10 years." Dr Mutua, who now heads the African Evangelists Network in Nairobi, said things changed when President Olusegun Obasanjo came into power in 1999. He notes that Nigeria, the most populous state in Africa, would thereafter regularly welcome Bonnke, more than any other African nation. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim northerner, paid tribute to the evangelist, saying his death was a "great loss to Nigeria, Africa and [the] entire world". Dr Mutua avers that while Bonnke may have inspired other teachers, pastors, apostles and prophets in Africa and beyond, the evangelist's work remains unfinished. And while the Associated Press news agency reported in 2014 that Bonnke was living in a $3m (£2.3m) apartment near Palm Beach, Florida, Dr Mutua argues the evangelist was committed to transparency. "We need to continue in his commitment to scripture and a life of personal integrity for lasting impact," he says. Dr Mutua's rosy view of Bonnke is shared by Dr Emily Onyango, a lecturer in Kenya's St Paul's University's department of Theology and Development studies, who believes Bonnke's focus on evangelism has inspired millions of Christians in Africa to have a personal relationship with Christ. "Although he addressed crusades which had thousands of people, his approach had an individual touch and most people felt that he was personally addressing their needs," she says. However, Prof Esther Mombo from the university's Center for Christian-Muslim Relations in Eastleigh (CCMRE), says that Bonnke's impact on Africa is complex and may take researchers some time to properly evaluate. Established in 2010, the CCMRE has been at the heart of several attempts to build inter-religious relationships between Muslims and Christians in the African context. Prof Mombo argues that Bonnke's preaching did not always foster peaceful co-existence, but rather rivalry and hatred. "The people who suffered through such utterances were the ordinary people. There are also those who were exploited," she says. "His healing ministries appeared to be strange, and to an extent a circus. Yet I am sure that through his ministry, some people met Christ and grew in faith." Bonnke held a farewell gospel campaign in 2017 in Nigeria, after which he stepped down as the organisation's leader because of poor health. His influence, however, can still be felt in many streets in Africa where self-styled preachers, microphone tightly gripped in one hand, brandishing a Bible in the other, urge passers-by to embrace the Christian message. | null | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-50781193 | Wed, 18 Dec 2019 01:42:37 GMT | 1,576,651,357 | 1,576,670,814 | religion and belief | religious conflict |
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