rabble podcast: Niqabs in the courtroom: Why the case of N.S. v. R. is central to the conversation of access to justice for sexual assault survivors.
muslim issues
Getting the Muslim youth vote out in Ontario
Concerns have been raised about the lack of political engagement of Canadian youth. During the federal election, voting flash mobs at Canadian universities were seen as a way to get young voters excited and eager to vote.
Unfortunately, most efforts to engage youth have been initiated by groups and organizations that I feel do not reflect the ethno-cultural diversity of Canada's major cities. As an activist in Ottawa's Muslim communities who is passionate about civic engagement, I wanted to take a lead in addressing what I've seen as a lack of engagement among young Muslims of voting age.
Let's make September 11 a day without war
The ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States should serve as a moment to reflect on tolerance. It should be a day of peace. Yet the rising anti-Muslim fervour here, together with the continuing U.S. military occupation of Iraq and the escalating war in Afghanistan (and Pakistan), all fuel the belief that the U.S. really is at war with Islam.
September 11, 2001, united the world against terrorism. Everyone, it seemed, was with the United States, standing in solidarity with the victims, with the families who lost loved ones. The day will be remembered for generations to come, for the notorious act of coordinated mass murder. But that was not the first Sept. 11 to be associated with terror:
Meeting a seven-year-old terror suspect
I met Abdullah, the seven-year-old terror suspect, at a dinner near Toronto on Canada Day. He came last year from Gaza with his dad, Izzeldin Abuelaish, who's here teaching global health at the med school, and five surviving siblings. His three oldest sisters were killed in their home in Gaza by Israeli shelling during the 2008 invasion. His mother died shortly before, of cancer. You can read about it in Dr. Abuelaish's remarkable book, I Shall Not Hate. Abdullah has a sweet, mischievous look. Fireworks went off nearby and he asked his dad, Is it the Israelis? His dad reassured him.
Who is the next terrorist? Your neighbour next door!
The recent arrest of four young men in Ottawa has been portrayed by the media and by some security analysts as a brand new threat: the radicalization of youth. The typical terrorist is no longer a sombre looking foreigner or an immigrant with a heavy accent immersed in martial arts -- instead he is a middle-class family man, funny, "well integrated," and well educated that you can never detect or almost never...
Election 2011: Harper's attack on the Canadian Arab and Muslim community
During the Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006 -- and in the five years since -- Stephen Harper has strongly defended Israel's policies even when other allies like the United States and Britain have made the occasional criticism of Israeli policy or called for compromise between the Israelis and Palestinians. This virtually unqualified support from the Harper government for Israel runs contrary to the view held by the vast majority of the world community.
Concerned student library worker wants to be sensitive to students in his workplace who may be Muslim
Story_publish_date:
March 21, 2009
summary:
How can I be sensitive to addressing inquiries of students, who may be Muslim, about "quiet spaces"?
I'm a student and I work part-time in a section of the library of my university reserved for assisting and supporting students with academic problems/issues. I'm a white guy, and for quite a while I've been working hard to understand the power I hold and how it affects others who I interact with.
A few months ago a student came into the space while I was working and asked for "a quiet place" where he could be for a while. He had a prayer mat rolled up under his arm and he was brown skinned. I took a guess and asked him if he needed a place to pray. He said yes. I showed him an office that he could use. Fast forward to a few days ago, when another student came in (also brown) who asked the same question. He didn't have a prayer mat, and didn't have any other "visual cues" that would indicate he's Muslim. I told him that this wasn't a general study space and sent him away.
My question is, should I have asked him if he needed a place to pray?
In pursuit of American pop culture in the Muslim world
Apr 20 2009 - 7:00pm
Location
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen St West
Toronto, ON Canada
43° 38' 33.2376" N, 79° 25' 36.6384" W
See map: Google Maps
North America transmits its pop culture to the world on a near continuous basis. What do Muslim countries make of the signals that they receive? Pop-culture commentator, filmmaker and author Richard Poplak went to Egypt to observe the debut of Al Shamshoon, an Arabized version of The Simpsons,, and, quickly discovered an almost parallel universe.
