Canadian Muslims: The Highlight of A Mosaic

2013/11/01 Leave a comment

Imam Delic provides a good demographic overview of Muslim Canadians, as well as some general thoughts on what it means to be a Muslim in Canada. A bit overly general as, like with all religions, the challenge arises when one’s beliefs are in conflict with society:

To be a Canadian Muslim is to act according to the teachings of Islam within the adopted society.

By exploring core Islamic sources regarding the notion of Muslim identity and at the same time considering the texture and Canadian lifestyle, we can see that there is no contradiction for Muslims in taking up full citizenship and embracing Canada as their own country.

This is what is meant by the path of constructive integration of Muslims, as compared to the less constructive choices of assimilation and exclusion.

This is the path that will take Canadian Muslims towards new horizons of opportunities and help them express their beliefs openly while enjoying Canada’s democratic standards.  Only as such they will be able to claim the Qur’anic title of honour — UmmatanWasata (A community of enlightened moderation).

Being part of Canadian society means facing reality, with all its challenges, head on. It means reforming themselves individually and collectively within the positive contexts of their adopted liberal democratic pluralist culture, while remaining faithful to the basic religious principles that define their core religious identity as Muslims.

Thus, when they settle suitably and reconcile effectively, they can productively live in harmony amid new environments and contribute to the well-being of all. This is a responsibility of both — Canadian Muslims as well as policy makers in Canada.

Canadian Muslims: The Highlight of A Mosaic – Americas – Politics – OnIslam.net.

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Lila Abu-Lughod: Do Muslim Women Need Saving?

2013/11/01 1 Comment

A good reminder of the risks of stereotypes and the complexity of women’s lives, context and choices:

There is no doubt that Western notions of human rights can be credited for the hope for a better world for all women. But I suspect that the deep moral conviction people feel about the rightness of saving the women of that timeless homogeneous mythical place called Islamland is fed by something else that cannot be separated from our current geopolitical relations. Blinded to the diversity of Muslim women’s lives, we tend to see our own situation too comfortably. Representing Muslim women as abused makes us forget the violence and oppression in our own midst. Our stereotyping of Muslim women also distracts us from the thornier problem that our own policies and actions in the world help create the sometimes harsh conditions in which distant others live. Ultimately, saving Muslim women allows us to ignore the complex entanglements in which we are all implicated and creates a polarization that places feminism only on the side of the West.

Lila Abu-Lughod: Do Muslim Women Need Saving? | TIME.com.

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Crimes d’honneur: Québec s’engage à agir

2013/10/31 Leave a comment

A more productive and focussed approach than the proposed Charter of Quebec Values, focussing on  youth protection and police training. The official figures of only 17 cases since 1991 may be understated, and there may be more cases of intimidation and control that fall short of  “honour crimes”. Given how much of this happens within families, like other family disputes, improving awareness is likely one way to reduce the risk.

Crimes d’honneur: Québec s’engage à agir | Jocelyne Richer | Politique québécoise.

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1921 census provides a glimpse into Toronto’s multicultural past

2013/10/31 Leave a comment

A reminder that Canada’s diversity has a long history. And the value of a consistent national census.

1921 census provides a glimpse into Toronto’s multicultural past | Toronto Star.

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We Must Tackle The “Cultural Divide” Now Or Polarization And Racism Will Continue To Haunt Us | Link Newspaper

2013/10/30 Leave a comment

Ken Herar, of the South Asian community, on the need to break down the barriers between the South Asian and other communities in the lower BC mainland:

The main reason why the “cultural divide” in Canada has continued to grow is because we have allowed it to, and our elected officials have paid very little  attention to the matter. In the next 20 years, if Canadians do not tackle or change the course of action, the cultural polarization will continue to spread. We’re at a crucial turning point where we can build bridges and strengthen partnerships within our communities or face the consequences of growing isolation.

We Must Tackle The “Cultural Divide” Now Or Polarization And Racism Will Continue To Haunt Us | Link Newspaper.

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Jackson Doughart: Canada’s scary intolerance obsession

2013/10/30 Leave a comment

A good discussion on freedom of speech and intolerance by Jackson Doughart. While I would not go quite as far as he does in his arguments, excessive political correctness is  harmful to society. So enjoy your Halloween.

Doughart comes up with his own variation of Godwin’s Law:

Perhaps we need a construction of our own to fight back against the commonplace manifestation of the intolerance obsession. The industry of manufactured offense, after all, has produced a replete share of inanities, including the recent campaign to remove the imagery of Hallowe’en in schools because of its purported intolerance. This is a silly non-issue, but one which shows how the tolerance doctrine has become the universal solvent into which all public arguments are dipped. And as the case of Professor Somerville shows, the use of the bigotry label as a means of censoring disagreement is far from unimportant or ineffectual.

Enter what we might call Doughart’s Law, or the “reductio ad bigotrum”, which declares any person who accuses her political opponent of bigotry or intolerance as the loser of a debate. Once a person has been caught, the argument is over. Just imagine how much more congenial and effective public discourse would be if empty accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and so on, were off limits.

Jackson Doughart: Canada’s scary intolerance obsession | National Post.

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Quebec premier nixes election call in 2013

2013/10/28 Leave a comment

Looks like the electoral strategy has changed, with the Charter no longer kicking off the campaign.

Quebec premier nixes election call in 2013 – Canada – CBC News.

Pas d’élections générales cet automne, dit Marois

Filed under Charte des valeurs québécoise, Interculturalisme, Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Slaves of the Internet, Unite!

2013/10/28 Leave a comment

A funny yet pointed piece by Tim Kreider on today’s world of unpaid work, and how writing commentary is deemed to have no or little monetary value. Having been part of this “economy” (in a very small way), I can only sympathize with the author. Favourite quotes:

I will freely admit that writing beats baling hay or going door-to-door for a living, but it’s still shockingly unenjoyable work. I spent 20 years and wrote thousands of pages learning the trivial craft of putting sentences together. My parents blew tens of thousands of 1980s dollars on tuition at a prestigious institution to train me for this job. They also put my sister the pulmonologist through medical school, and as far as I know nobody ever asks her to perform a quick lobectomy — doesn’t have to be anything fancy, maybe just in her spare time, whatever she can do would be great — because it’ll help get her name out there.

And should someone ask for free writing etc:

Thanks very much for your compliments on my [writing/illustration/whatever thing you do]. I’m flattered by your invitation to [do whatever it is they want you to do for nothing]. But [thing you do] is work, it takes time, it’s how I make my living, and in this economy I can’t afford to do it for free. I’m sorry to decline, but thanks again, sincerely, for your kind words about my work.

Slaves of the Internet, Unite! – NYTimes.com.

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If you want to be an author, the worst thing you can do is get published

2013/10/28 Leave a comment

While certainly not my problem (would be so lucky), telling the amount of time authors have to spend on marketing and promotion. With my own Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias, I spend at least as much time on marketing as I did on writing. The following description of what an agenda of a successful writer can look like is revealing:

Thus, at a time I desperately need to get my next first draft off the ground, check out my commitments for the next couple of months or so: multiple-hour interviews with Dutch and Belgian periodicals, along with the dreaded photo shoots. Literary festival appearances in London’s Soho, Charleston, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Newcastle, Folkestone, Cambridge, Wapping, and Bali (yeah, yeah, tell us another sob story—but Southeast Asia involves a 17-hour plane trip and a discombobulating seven-hour time difference; I still have to work on more than my tan). A reading of one of my short stories at the Arts Club in London. Dinners with my publisher and editor to discuss a new imprint. Copious radio interviews. A ceremony for the National Short Story Award, for which I’m short-listed—and prizes are a particularly destructive time and emotion suck, since in most cases you don’t win. The delivery of a “sermon” in Manchester, which for an atheist will be a big ask. A formal lecture in Amsterdam, replete with mini author’s tour for the Dutch translation of my last novel. A panel on “storytelling” for Mumsnet. A presentation to prospective supporters of Standpoint magazine, for which I write a monthly column. An “in-conversation” for a medical conference. What already awaits in 2014? A reading at the Royal Academy, a two-week promotional tour of Australia, a six-week teaching residency in Falmouth, events in Muncie, Indiana, and Bath, and invitations, as yet mercifully unaccepted, to festivals in Alberta, Vancouver, Estonia, and Singapore.

If you want to be an author, the worst thing you can do is get published.

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Oh, Canada! Ethnic marketing giving way to “post-multiculturalism”

2013/10/26 Leave a comment

Another illustration of how multiculturalism and diversity is part of the mainstream:

“You see marketers who want to portray the Canadian mosaic in their advertising, which is important. But people don’t even see it as a mosaic anymore; it’s just the way it is,” Evans said. “We’re becoming less sensitive to those things because they’re part of the norm.”

Oh, Canada! Ethnic marketing giving way to “post-multiculturalism”.

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