Quarterly – Issue 11 November 2011 EUR 4, USD 5.5, GBP 3.5 AED 20, MYR 20, ZAR 44
MAGAZINE
Culture
Why Shakespeare?
Central America Fair Trade Takes Root in Guatemala
Gold Dinar Growing currency of the Muslims
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- Issue 11 - November 2011
Contents 4
Editorial
6
Cover Story
Kelantan – The Islamic Gold Dinar
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Interview
15
Economy & Finance
18
Europe
20 25 32 CONCEPT & EDITORIAL
Chief Editor – Abu Bakr Rieger
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Cloning Terror The Role of Gold in Pakistan ‘Ottomania’ in Turkey Seeking a New Elite in Prussia The Adab of Urban Planning EMU Gathering in Vienna
Middle East
The Changing Middle East Sharing the Libyan War Booty
CHIEF EDITOR Abu Bakr Rieger
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PUBLISHER IZ Medien GmbH Beilsteinerstr. 121 12681 Berlin Germany
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Asia
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Africa
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Central America
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Lifestyle
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Culture
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Sulaiman Wilms DISTRIBUTION IZ Medien GmbH GLOBALIA Magazine reserves the right to shorten letters. Readers’ letters, guest articles and quotations do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Editors, nor do articles by named authors. Phone: +49 (0)30 240 48974 Mobile: +49 (0)179 967 8018 Fax:
+49 (0)30 240 48975
E-mail: info@globaliamagazine.com
A View into the India of Today Sudan & South Sudan resolve oil Issues Fair Trade takes Root – Guatemala Diabetes – A Modern Epidemic? Why Shakespeare?
Website: www.globaliamagazine.com Cover Image: Islamic Gold Dinar
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Malaysian MalaysianLaw LawFirm Firm With WithGlobal GlobalOutlook Outlook and andConnection Connection
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Areas Areasofofservice service AATradition TraditionofofExcellence Excellenceand andResult Result Azmi Azmi&&Associates Associatesis isa afullfullservice servicecorporate corporatelaw lawfirm firm with with itsits main main office office based based in in the the heart heart ofof Kuala Kuala Lumpur’s Lumpur’s Golden Golden Triangle. Triangle.The Thefirm firmoperates operatesononthe thebasis basisthat thatthe thefirm firmwould would succeed succeed only only byby delivering delivering prompt, prompt, high-quality high-quality and and cost cost effeceffective tive service service toto the the clientele. clientele. Our Our emphasis emphasis onon client client service service and and our ourproactive proactivecommitment commitmenttotoexcellence excellencehave haveenabled enabledusustoto build build and and maintain maintain long-term long-term relationships relationships with with local, local, regional regional and andinternational internationalbusinesses, businesses,institutions institutionsand andindividuals individualsthat that depend dependupon uponour ourinnovative innovativeand andpractical practicalsolutions solutionsforforboth both everyday everyday and and complex complex matters. matters. The The firm firm has has approximately approximately 6060 lawyers lawyers comprising comprising ofof eight eight (8)(8) partners, partners, thirty-seven thirty-seven (37) (37) lawyers, lawyers, twelve twelve (12) (12) trainee trainee solicitors solicitors together together with with fifty fifty (50) (50) support support staffs. staffs. Azmi Azmi && Associates’ Associates’ global global reach reach is extended is extended byby itsits network network ofof law law firms. firms.Azmi Azmi& &Associates Associatesis isananactive activemember memberofofthe theTerraLex TerraLex network network ofof 16,000 16,000 lawyers lawyers across across more more than than 100 100 jurisdictions. jurisdictions. The The firm’s firm’s Chinadesk Chinadesk strategic strategic partner partner forfor the the Chinese-speaking Chinese-speaking markets, markets, Zhong Zhong YinYin Law Law Firm, Firm, is one is one ofof the the top top tier tier firms firms in in China. China. AsAs leading leading practitioners practitioners in in our our respective respective fields, fields, and and asas partners partners totoour ourclients, clients,weweleverage leveragetechnical, technical,industry industryand andlegal legal knowledge knowledgeand andhands-on hands-onexperience experiencetotoserve servea adiverse diverseclient client base, base, from from Global Global MNCs MNCs toto emerging emerging growth growth entities, entities, spanning spanning aa broad broad range range ofof industries. industries. The The innovative innovative work work and and responsive responsive service service ofof our our commercially commercially savvy savvylawyers lawyersin indomestic domesticand andcross-border cross-bordertransactions transactionshave have garnered garnered accolades accolades and and gained gained global global recognition recognition onon international international law law directory directory listings listings and and publications, publications, such such asas The The Legal Legal 500, 500, Asian Asian Legal Legal Business, Business, Chambers Chambers Global Global and and IFLR IFLR 1000. 1000.
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Website: Website:
www.azmilaw.com www.azmilaw.com/ /chinadesk.azmilaw.com chinadesk.azmilaw.com
EDITORIAL
Editorial
by Abu Bakr Rieger: Chief Editor, Globalia Magazine
Dear Readers, “Nihilism,” said the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once, “is when you no longer have any aims.” It is as a human condition that it is now expressed among people as a growing disinterest in political processes and the tacit conviction that “There Is No Alternative”. If there really is no alternative to unfettered capitalism, a capitalism which attacks the very fabric of creation, then the road is paved toward a new totalitarianism. One should not forget that systems that consider themselves without alternative are by that virtue alone totalitarian. The next stage of this development would see an authoritarian capitalism, void of alternatives, as the actual modern social order. Elections would then be absolutely meaningless. Of course there is already worldwide resistance to the dictatorship of the financial markets, with many young people protesting at the loci of the world’s networked banks, from Wall Street to the City of London. The peoples of the West are presently contemplating with horror the end of the old concept of political sovereignty. In Europe, more and more people want to abandon the euro and are fighting against a loss of national rights. America’s Wall Street has come to symbolise an invisible rule beyond parliaments and senates. Globalisation is advancing unstoppably across the world’s power centres, aided by a globally networked financial technique. No nation has the power to command or even reform these global networks. The industrialised production of paper money long ago destroyed our old notions of trading with things of value. In the last edition of GLOBALIA, we analysed the
orthodoxy of the belief system surrounding the US dollar. The American dream of freedom, however, is not yet dead. American society is now discussing alternatives with a passion; more than a dozen American states want to introduce gold and silver currencies as official means of payment and to decentralise the economic order.
Essentially, Islam allows private property, creates social solidarity, and discourages the amassing of capital. From the Muslim point of view, a global economy can only be based upon the real economy and real means of payment. The symbol of this order is on the front of this magazine: it is the money, which we Muslims want to use for our daily transactions.
The Occupy movement throws down a challenge to the invisible economic rulers of the land of infinite possibility, by using the age-old political tactic of mobilising on the streets.
Following the disaster of Muslim terrorism that elicited such a devastating campaign against Islam, we must now turn to different and more creative themes. Muslims have set upon discovering Islamic contracts, our own currencies and the Islamic market, which for many centuries connected continents peacefully.
The young movement however has considerable difficulty formulating clear objectives with which to overcome the financial crisis. That is why it remains more of an expression of mood than a potent alternative which the financial powers might fear. Without new objectives and real content to fill them – without the inlking of a new nomos – no political grouping can mobilise properly. Faced with the biggest financial crisis in the history of mankind, global politics will converge, sooner of later, to one, all-consuming question as to whether a modern economy can exist without banking: Can we present people with a way of living that works without banking, without the perpetual illusion that you can create money out of nothing? GLOBALIA has been reporting on the world’s trouble spots over several editions, and its viewpoint is truly a global one, uncovering major new trends in cities like Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Astana. We have described new Muslim elites across the world, who are coming to grips with the economic order of Islam. This natural order is by contrast a complete alternative to dead-end, old ideologies.
Coerced by the financial crisis, a new intelligentsia in Europe has also begun to recognise that this fascinating aspect of Islam contains solutions and not problems. The social, cultural and economic lifepractice of the Muslims will be the hottest political issue of the coming century. In terms of the recent happenings in the Arab world, outcomes will depend on whether the Muslims there comprehend that the call for justice and the establishment of Zakat are one and the same thing. Without a new economic order, which honours the wealth and resources of the Arab world fairly, there will be no real peace. Without the Islamic laws on finance, those countries risk relapse into a merely modernised dictatorship. The deeper meanings of the Qur’anic injunction – forbidding the taking of interest and permitting free trade – are unfolding around the world. GLOBALIA will continue to follow the role the Muslims play in one of human history’s greatest crises and mediate the discussion between the elites of this world.
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COVER STORY
Kelantan Islamic Gold Dinar of various denominations
The Islamic Gold Dinar
Golden Light and Mercy for All by Zack Abdullah, Halal Media
Either as Zakat payment, wedding Mahar or simply for safekeeping, Gold Dinar and Silver Dirhams are gaining popularity as a viable currency for Muslims to use in religious practices. But is it truly viable? Mercy In Light of Zakat Zakat – by which we refer to the Zakat on wealth, not Zakat Fitr paid before Eid – is not a charity, nor an Islamic government tax, but rather a religious obligation. It is a small individual sacrifice out of love, giving away part of what we own to save the needy and, inadvertently, the economy. Zakat’s importance is on par with Salat, both part of five Islamic pillars and both mentioned side by side in the Quran. All
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the different elements of the Deen (distinguished by Islam, Iman and Ihsan) are the elemental features of Islamic community or nation, whose day on day event is the spiritual and intellectual journey of becoming one in multiplicity through practice, trust and love. Each pillar of the Deen serves a specific task, and Zakat being one of the pillars, impacts the quality of the socio-economy of the community above. Without Zakat as a ritual obligation, the community or
nation will lose economic strength, with the good relations (or love) between its people dying, resulting in the emergence of evil, including oppression, corruption, discrimination, poverty, robbery, bankrupt cy, inflation, riot, coups, and the list goes on. Muslim leaders who wish to experience peace and harmony within their nation should put Zakat into practice, strictly and transparently. Where it really makes a difference is in terms of the socio-economy where relations among citizens can and will improve. The poor will then have more buying power, which will increase the local demand and supply and improve liquidity, and defend the nation against bankruptcy and inflation.
COVER STORY
Furthermore, the national economy will grow at a steadier pace instead of accelerating rapidly leaving the weak behind, since Zakat prevents citizens from falling into consumerism, or in other words, over-spending, over-consuming and overweight. In short, the wisdom of Zakat is in its power to stabilise a given society and its economy.
Mechanics of Zakat While many Muslim nations have their own Zakat system, the concern of some Muslim intellects today is the actual material used in paying the Zakat. In many Hadith Sahih, The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) stated that Zakat must be paid in gold and silver. This would mean that excess gold and silver within a community or a nation would be in the hands of the poor. Since the gold dinar and silver dirham were abolished, we are left today with paper money which was once ostensibly backed by a certain intrinsic value of gold or silver. Unfortunately however, paper money (along with the entire global economy) must forcibly be valued against the US Dollar and its war business. One of the effects of this is the resulting surplus of food. Yet ironically, people are dying of hunger around the world at the same time. This is not because there is not enough food to go around, but because people do not have the means to buy the food, since their money has little or no value compared with the US Dollar. Out of fear of widespread global hunger and poverty such as the above, the advocates of the gold dinar are calling vehemently for the immediate use of gold currency, to engage in a war against the seemingly invincible behemoth of capitalism along with its orthodox currency system, i.e. paper money (which shall not be discussed here – leaving the learned to that struggle, their efforts nonetheless much appreciated). Allah knows best. For us laymen however, ordinary men and women, what we should focus on is the
Islamic Silver Dirham from between 700-900 AD
creation of a socio-economic defence mechanism from inflation, crime and chaos. This can be done through Zakat, and by using gold and silver in our muamalat, business transactions .
The Light of Gold & Silver Imagine a scenario where a person wants to pay Zakat in gold but the collector is not willing to accept it, owing to the fact that the Dinar Wakala service – the operating system that exchanges paper money into gold and silver coins and vice versa – is uncommon, especially in rural areas. Various reasons can be made and argued, but let’s assume for a moment that the Zakat collector is right in prevaricating and saying that the Dinar Wakala is still uncommon. At present, the only dominant global minting authority for gold dinar and silver dirham is the World Islamic Mint (WIM). This is surprising, looking at how, through the initiative of governments and sultanates, Islamic finance authorities and halal standards regulations have multiplied in the past few years; one would expect a similar scenario in the Islamic minting industry – that there should be more of this service today. The WIM has indeed made noble efforts to help local communities and governments
set up Dinar Wakalas in certain areas, but as of today, the number is nowhere near the number of halal certification bodies. Muslims, unfortunately, will still have to wait for this industry to grow. And for those without internet, which would enable the buying of gold and silver coins online, they will just have to wait a little while longer for a Dinar Wakala to be set up within their locality. If waiting is not an option, one can even start ones own local Dinar Wakala. Application to set up a Dinar Wakala operation can be made to the WIM or one of its appointed minters (more information at www.islamicmint.com). In Indonesia for example, the Islamic Mint Nusantara (IMN) and Wakala Induk Nunsantara (WIN) have given birth to many other smaller Dinar Wakala operators. If one has sufficient capital, the Dinar Wakala can be operated alone. Establishing it under a community as a cooperative enterprise (a Co-op) is however better, either within a minority Muslim community or even within a village or a common residential area. Unlike the corporation business model where the shareholder’s aim is to maximise profit at all cost, the co-op is a communityoriented business model where its
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COVER STORY
members are the actual shareholders who create and use its products and services humanely. They will finance, strategise and operate the business or service for their own mutual benefit. By working together, they may reach an objective that would simply be unattainable if they were to act alone. Due to its nature of business, a Dinar Wakala Co-op does not need a lot of space to operate. If allowed by the local municipal law, and since start-up capital is limited, the local mosque or even private residential premises may be used as temporary Dinar Wakala Co-op operation centres. A Dinar Wakala Co-op, if not the best, is practical for a small community to start distributing and using gold and silver, at the very least, for Zakat payments.
Light Upon Light In expanding the function of the Dinar Wakala, besides Zakat, we can apply the usage of gold and silver to other Islamic practices such as the Muamalat or financial transactions, which deal with Islamic business and trade. In assisting gold and silver usage within Muamalat, the Dinar Wakala provides safekeeping services for its members and customers. The safekeeping account may be divided into two categories – the User Account and the Receiver Account. The User Account is for people who use the gold and silver as payment, while the Receiver Account is for entities receiving the payment. For the purposes of Muamalat, Receiver Accounts are to be offered not only to Zakat collectors, but also to commercial industry, be it food, retail or automobile. Banks could also be included if local regulations allow. It would be better however if the law allowed banks to operate as Dinar Wakala, to cater to the urban populations. For small Muslim communities
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Simple card scanning devices can facilitate electronic gold / silver payements
in rural areas around the world (where banks are rare), the Co-op is a practical enough solution.
Dinar Wakala Co-op, thus enabling it to have in its possession solid gold and silver assets, multiplying on a daily basis.
A Dinar Wakala Co-op, with the aid of WIM and e-Dinar, may offer debit cards for User Account holders, and distribute Dinar Card Swipe machines to Receiver Account holders (whether a religious body or commercial industry), thus easing out the transaction process for the mass usage of gold and silver currency in the commercial sector.
With the use of a Dinar Debit Card, a situation could develop over time where unhealthy competition might develop between Dinar Wakalas hunting for commercial accounts. WIM therefore, as a global Islamic minting authority, in partnership with local Muslim authorities, should devise a strict law to avoid this possible scenario in the future.
The system would operate as such: Tesco, for example, maintains a Receiver Account. When a Muslim consumer shops at Tesco, he will use his Dinar Debit Card, which is then swiped on a Dinar Card Swipe machine at the checkout counter. The actual gold and silver are then transferred into Tesco’s Receiver Account at a nearby
The safekeeping account model can be improvised when the need arises to include other industries (e.g. pharmaceuticals, logistic, agriculture, oil and gas, etc) to practice Muamalat properly and transparently amongst themselves. This service should also be offered to nonMuslims as well since it is suitable and
COVER STORY
This market stall holder in Indonesia also serves as a Dinar Wakala
beneficial for all, as a defence against economic crisis.
currencies and the global economy along with it.
With the mass usage of gold and silver currency in practice within Muamalat, commercial companies such as Tesco, Walmart, or even Citibank will have solid non-depletive savings in gold and silver, stored in their Dinar Wakala Co-op accounts, multiplying on a daily basis.
Clearly, the choice between good and evil is in the hand of our leaders.
Along with this new economic culture, gold and silver currencies will be soon seen as ordinary, just as a way of good life in another socio-economic model, where companies large or small, can stay afloat even during the worse of economic crises. They will no longer be a victim of the depleting value of the US Dollar, which will eventually bring down all the world’s
The Problem with Consumerism With regards to the consumption culture of modern society, the problem with food today is that it is produced quickly and in large quantities, using very cheap and low quality raw materials. Nature is forced to grow faster through an inhumane application of science as the public demand more and more food, and the increasing use of chemicals (preservatives, artificial colourings, stabilizers and flavouring etc.) is certainly not for the sake of satisfying hunger nor for the sake of their health.
If humans were to consume less (demand less), farmers would have more time to produce a higher quality product at lower prices (steady demand at steady pace – no rush), which would encourage manufacturers to produce higher quality products at more affordable prices. A sound farm-to-fork economy can be created through Zakat, along with an intelligent consumer culture that encourages a moderate consumption of whatever the Creator has supplied to us (natural resources, products, even monthly income). With the extra saved, the excess can then be shared with the poor, giving them an opportunity to taste and savour what had been endowed by The Almighty. This is, in its truest sense, love.
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INTERVIEW
Cloning Terror Interview with W. J. T. Mitchell
W.J.T. Mitchell is an art historian and professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago. He is one of the leading international image theorists. In his latest book, “Cloning Terror – the War of Images” Mitchell explores the politics of language and image after 9 / 11. Globalia spoke with Mitchell about the power of pictures and life in the age of terrorism In your new book ‘Cloning Terror’ you think about the relation between Cloning and Terror. What kind of relation can these two different matters have? W.J.T. Mitchell: First, the historical coincidence of the Age of Terrorism and the Age of Cloning is what I call biocybernetics. Cloning is the emergent technology of reproduction in our time, just
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as mechanical reproduction was in Walter Benjamin’s time. Terrorism is the new face of war in our time. It is decentralised, anonymous, without a front or back, or a nation-state sponsor. And the Western reaction to it – the so-called “War on Terror” – is the great novelty in military affairs in out time. Terrorism is a very old tactic, but the idea of a global war on terror is something quite new. So my book attempts
to explore the coincidence between these new developments in techno-science on the one hand and war on the other. What is the similarity between the figure of the terrorist and the clone? Mitchell: Both, the terrorist and the clone are images of dread and of the endless duplication of identical life forms. Both are figures of anonymity and facelessness, as suggested by their common portrayal as masked, hooded figures. The clone army of Star Wars represents the new mass assembly of identical storm-troopers, all willing to sacrifice themselves in suicide missions. Both the clone and the terrorist signify the reduction of the warrior to bare, instrumental life, without individuality,
INTERVIEW
heroism, or value. These are views from outside, of course: terrorists see themselves as heroes and martyrs, and narratives of human clones portray them as individuals with souls just like everyone else. It’s a question of point of view. You also say that there is a certain transfer of figurative language between the discourse on cloning and terrorism. Mitchell: Yes, that is especially evident in the language of biotechnology. Terrorism is almost invariably described in the terms of infectious diseases and auto-immune disorders, as a virus, cancer, or plague, complete with “sleeper cells.” It is often described as a “headless” phenomenon, proliferating without central command or authority around. The phrase “cloning terror”, the title of my book, has become a vernacular expression to describe the way that the war on terror has had the effect of spawning more terrorists, as if the “cure” had the effect of accelerating the progress of the disease. You also analyse in your book the emergence of new technologies of image production and circulation that accompany the war on terror. You call it a ‘bio-digital picture’? Can you explain this phenomenon? And what is the result of this technology? Mitchell: Cloning has become the mastermetaphor for image reproduction in our time. We even have a “clone tool” in Photoshop, allowsing the exact duplication of any area of an image. The digital image is similar to the clone in the sense that both are “deep copies” that replicate, not only the surface appearance, but also the underlying code that determine the image. Like the DNA instructions that permit the copying of an organism, the digital photograph carries metadata with it – sets of instructions for its duplication. Image reproduction and transmission is thus rendered incredibly rapid. It is possible now for an image to “go viral” and circulate internationally with remarkable speed.
W.J.T. Mitchell’s book alngside the iconic image of the hooded man from Abu Ghraib
Cloning is thus a metaphor for contemporary image making; but it is also a literal reality, the realisation of the ancient dream of making, not just a copy, but a living copy, of a living thing. Why bother with a photograph of your dead mother if you can have her cloned? This is the terrifying spectre of the new, emergent mode of reproduction that haunts our era. Everybody knows the famous pictures from Abu Ghraib. Why did these pictures get so popular? Why do the media continue to reproduce them? Mitchell: I would not call the pictures “popular.” Great efforts were made to suppress them, and most people found them disgusting and disturbing. But they did have a major impact in their revelation of what was actually going on under the label of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in secret U.S. prisons. The central image from Abu Ghraib, that became symbolic of the whole scandal, was the Hooded Man
on the Box. This picture “went viral” and became a global icon for protests against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the War on Terror more generally. I devote a lot of attention to explaining the power of this image in my book, noting its formal, symmetrical character, its instant recognizability (like a corporate logo), and its uncanny echoes of the Christian passion. Factors which all converge to make the picture unforgettable. What kind of impact have 9/11 and the War on Terror had on visual culture? Mitchell: 9/11 was of course a major event in the history of visual culture. It was a highly cinematic event that was transmitted globally and made an enormous impact on perhaps the largest tele-visual audience in the history of media. The War on Terror, from the standpoint of spectacle, has been a rather dismal affair. There were numerous attempts to produce a monumental image of victory – the pulling down of Saddam
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INTERVIEW
The symbolic end of Saddam Hussein’s reign, a show for the masses
Hussein’s statues, or the “Mission Accomplished” photo of George W. Bush in a flight suit – but they have had little impact, except to provoke ridicule. The War on Terror has been notably short on spectacular, visually compelling images of success. That is because it is an abject failure, a colossal mistake. One can see this immediately by reflecting on the metaphoric character of the phrase, “war on terror.” How can you win a war against an emotion? Would it make sense to wage war on nervousness? I think it is symptomatic that the image of “final victory” in this war, namely, the image of the dead Osama bin Laden, has been suppressed. The great “victory” in this endless war remains invisible. All the striking images are of defeat – of flagdraped caskets of U.S. servicemen, of dead villagers killed in U.S. drone attacks, of mutilated bodies and decapitations of hostages. The war on terror has, in this
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sense, been a triumph of collective blindness and invisible culture – the refusal to look, the attempt to hide what we have done in the name of this monstrous metaphor. In an interview you told a story of a young Taliban student and the Buddha statues of Bamiyan. He said that they not been destroyed because they hated them, “But because you love it so much. Give us 5 million dollars to feed our children and we keep the statues.” Does this story illustrate the beliefs about images? Mitchell: It tells us a great deal about images, and the beliefs that cluster around them. Idolatry, the worship of images, always seems to be something we attribute to our enemies. The Taliban were well aware that the Bamiyan Buddhas were not being used as idols by Buddhists. But they regarded them as idols of a different sort
– idols of “Western” values, elevating stone statues above living children. From their point of view it made a kind of sense, though I think they would have been better advised to negotiate for the money as a ransom for the statues. They weren’t asking that much. The story also illustrates the futility of the whole iconoclastic enterprise, and the kind of irrational violence it involves. We destroyed the statues of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in order to produce spectacular icons of “victory.” The destruction had no real effect, and in one case, the hooding of a statue with an American flag produced a very inconvenient revelation of the American mission as one of conquest and colonisation. Better to leave images alone, in my view. The attempt to destroy them often has the effect of making them stronger. Mr. Mitchell, thank you for your time.
WORLD ISLAMIC MINT
Kelantan Islamic Gold Dinar
Ensuring the Quality of a Global Service WIM verifies compliance with legal standards in accordance with Islamic law during the manufacture of coins and medallions. Correctly manufactured products receive a corresponding licence from the WIM. We continually monitor the minting activity of all Islamic Mint Offices that mint the coins on a local basis. The dies of all the Islamic Mints maintain a certain standard incorporating key characteristics that allow people to recognise the coins. WIM supports scientific research of the monetary system in general and the manufacturing process of coins and medallions according to Islamic law. WIM examines the legal requirements and standards for the distribution of coins in the whole world. In addition we support the activities of lawyers regarding the introduction of these products as legal tender.
WIM
For more information visit us at:
www.islamicmint.com
Kelantan Islamic Silver Dirham
ECONOMY & FINANCE
Gold: its daily and economic role in Pakistan by Amna Nasir Jamal Gold prices have hit 14 new peaks during last two and a half months on the back of surging global prices. The rise of gold beyond $1,784 an ounce recently in the international market and passing 50,952 rupees per 10 grams in local market prices has generated fresh interest in the yellow metal.
of investment until a planned commodity exchange is in operation. Gold traders say that long-term investors, who traditionally invest in the metal, also find it difficult to go for gold because it is not the right time for buying — the prices are just too high.
of investment – ‘a saving for a rainy day’. It is the most credible means of investment, offering better returns than fixed deposits. The popular opinion is not unjustified as there has been a tremendous increase in the price of gold over the years.
According to All Sindh Sarafa Association’s Chairman, Haji Haroon Chand, people do invest in both jewellery and gold bullion, but are currently backing off due to high prices.
But investment experts believe that people may not return to this traditional safe haven
“Whenever gold prices go high — investors as well as end users will not take the risk.
The increase was observed as the price of gold on international markets continued to mount while by contrast the Pakistani rupee continued to deteriorate. From time immemorial, gold has been respected as the best used precious metal, not only through its use in jewellery and ornament but also as a widespread means
ECONOMY & FINANCE
They wait to put their money in the precious metal when prices stabilize,” he says. “For long term purposes, gold is still considered the best investment option, which is evident from the increase in its prices over the years,” he adds. Substantial increase in the cost of living and the subsequent decline in purchasing power have affected sales. While the ratio of visits by buyers to jewellers’ shops has not declined, they have latterly prefered purchasing lighter jewellery. Since January this year, domestic gold prices have gone up by about Rs10,000 to more than Rs17,600 per 10 grams, mirroring the rise in prices on the world markets. There is a class of long-term investor still taking interest in gold. People who bought gold at Rs 24 to 28,000 per tola four years previously, now have a reason to rejoice as its price has jumped to Rs 58,900 per tola today. Pakistan produces the finest gold jewellery, particularly plain and generally studded, and many of its hand made designs are second to none in the world. It is also gifted with vast deposits of world-class precious and semi-precious stones including rubies from the Hunza Valley, pink emeralds from Swat and peridots from Kohistan.
Typical bridal gold jewelry in Pakistan
No wedding ceremony in Pakistan is complete without gold jewellery, which traditionally was the most expensive item on the dowry list for parents of brides or for prospective grooms.
in the population. According to Ikhlaque, a local jeweller, ‘sales are ‘OK’ despite the substantial increase in the price of gold.’ Qurat, however, while shopping for her wedding scheduled for late in the year, said that owing to the high price of gold, they will buy an artificial set for her marriage day and a small necklace or locket set of gold for her dowry.
Women of every age want to wear jewellery and bangles to look more attractive. Following the trend, the shops are full of bangles and artificial jewellery of different colours. In Pakistan, like many other countries in the region, gold jewellery is more than just a thing of beauty.
Talking about major problems detrimental to the sale of gold and consumption in Pakistan, Yousuf, a jeweller, said that the problems are multi-dimensional and include a lack of qualified designers and schools, as well as the absence of mass production or diversification.
Sales of gold, particularly jewellery, have increased over the years due to an increase
Lacking design schools and highly qualified designers, with one or two exceptions, the
government should realize that if this particular issue is not tackled there will be further declines in the gold trade. As gold hits record highs, some couples are being forced to postpone or even cancel their weddings because their families cannot piece together a suitable dowry. In places like the northwestern Swat Valley, a place where tradition encompasses all; no gold means no wedding. For years, the dowry tradition has been criticised by both politicians and the Pakistani media alike, which describe it as an unnecessary extravagance that leaves families in debt and misery. Some local mullahs have sought to discourage people from overspending on gold, saying that Islam’s prophet never supported the
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A shop window decorated with bridal gold jewelry in Pakistan
concept of the dowry. If the politicians’ and mullahs’ lectures were unsuccessful in ending the gold dowry culture, it seems that high prices could yet force Pakistanis to break with the tradition. Gold is a status symbol in Pakistan, where no bridal ensemble is complete without ample if not excessive solid gold accessories, from rings and earrings to elaborate bracelets and necklaces. Shortly before a wedding, the proud parents will customarily display the wedding jewellery to guests. After the wedding, the bride enters her new husband’s home adorned with the gold, which is not provided for decorative purposes only. It is also seen as an investment in the family’s future. With the enormous rise in gold prices, artificial jewellery markets are witnessing
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a boom as customers resort to alternatives to make up for their needs for ornamentation at weddings. This accounts for the significant drop in the sales that has been observed for the past few years. Artificial jewellery is becoming more attractive and inexpensive for women who find that they can also get a variety of designs and colours in it. Market people and local shopkeepers say people have started buying artificial sets even for wedding purposes with heavy bridal sets being very much in demand. Aside from a traditional 18-carat gold set, a normal artificial set can be made of silver, brass or copper with a 2-percent silver content, semi-precious and artificial
stones. One heavy bridal set usually costs Rs. 30 – 45,000 ($320 to $510) on average, said another gold dealer at the Liberty Market. The increasing gold price has moved jewellery in a new fashion direction; in 2011the focus in not on the metal but rather the gems. Semi precious gems, pearls and beads have always been a jewellery fashion theme, symbolising feminine beauty, but the innovation comes from colours in which the pearls are dyed these days, with their ability to compliment any sort of outfit. Overpriced gold will not stop the wearing of such significant ornamentation. Pearls have once again taken centre stage, but the lure of gold will not go away.
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Painting depicting Selim III receiving dignitaries during an audience at the Gate of Felicity, Topkapı Palace.
“Ottomania” in Turkey by Menekse Tokyay
“Ottomania”, a mass interest in everything Ottoman, has become a new trend in Turkey over the past couple of years, a phenomenon not only on account of the popularity of television series like “The Magnificent Century”, depicting the life of Suleyman the Magnificent and his harem. It reflects in the increased sales of Ottoman history books, Ottoman-style jewelry, museum exhibitions, the restoration of Ottoman buildings and calligraphy. While the craze has a certain commercial dimension to it, Turkey’s Ottoman legacy may also provide a reference point for its proactive regional diplomacy, the expansion of markets and the overcoming of internal divisions within society. According to Zeynep Ertug, who teaches Ottoman cultural history at Istanbul University, there are two main sources for this increased interest. “The first is the
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search for an identity by a society which is highly embedded in European culture, while the second one is a belated bourgeoisie becoming increasingly richer and curious about the aristocratic way of life.” However, experts do not see this trend as a move away from Kemalist state ideology that sought to disassociate itself from its Ottoman past in the early Republican era, but rather a reflection of changes in how people see Ottoman culture. Until recently, Turks had been taught that
the Ottoman Empire was merely a state organisation. Professor Emre Alkin of Kemerburgaz University elaborates, “However, despite all forced omissions and reluctant remembering, it became evident that Ottoman is in fact a culture of living, covering a wide range of areas from clothes to lifestyle, from cookery to jewelry and decoration,” he tells SETimes. The trend has led to an increase in those who have become much more proud of their Ottoman past. “In fact, for a long time people were uncomfortable hearing that their past was discredited. But now, they are so glad to know that their past was not so bad; on the contrary, it was magnificent,” says Ertug. However, the Ottoman era cannot be taken as a monolithic issue, but rather it is
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composed of different stages, some of them glorious, others marked by defeat. As a result, people tend to be proud of specific periods of their Ottoman past, with some sense of nostalgia. “In the long run, it can lead to frustration when someone asks you such a question: Then, why did such a glorious period end?” asks historian Ahmet Kuyas of Galatasaray University. While some experts like Kuyas consider this trend as the maturation of an interest over three or four decades, others see a superficial dimension to it. “In fact the interest in the Ottoman Empire has never been interrupted, and the current interest is rather superficial when one compares it to the novels of the past discussing Ottoman as a political heritage,” says Selim Kuru, associate professor of Turkish and Ottoman Studies at the University of Washington. For Kuru, the interest manifested in the TV series, the design of goods in shopping malls, and illustrated publications; all ways of reviving Turkey’s domestic and international market. “This recent interest in all that is Ottoman can be explained by the fact that the subject matter has gained meta-value within the market economy,” he explains. According to Kuru, such a profit-based interest comes at the expense of historical works over the past century by prominent academicians, researchers and artists. Nevertheless, the Ottoman legacy, as mentioned, may provide Turkey a reference point for conducting its foreign policy and overcoming problems of identity. AKP Kayseri deputy Pelin Gundes Bakir says that the Ottoman Empire was a melting pot of different identities and religions in the Balkans and the Middle East. “The Ottoman Empire was a centre of tolerance, peace and political stability during its five centuries of existence in the Middle East and Balkans. In this respect, it is logical that the Ottoman model provides a reference for Turkey’s policies in the Middle East and Balkans,” she says.
Bosnian President Izzetbegovic, Ahmet Davutoglu and the Chief Mufti of Bosnia, Dr. Mustafa Ceric
“History shows us clearly that Turkey has the potential to play a great role in the upcoming decade for ensuring peace, stability and economic prosperity, not only in Balkans but also in the Middle East,” Bakir says. However, the renewed interest in the Ottoman legacy is not an atavistic imperial drive, often dubbed neo-Ottomanism. Rather, it comes as a logical consequence of geopolitical change and economic needs in the post-Cold War era. According to Kuyas, the wrongly dubbed neo-Ottomanism is in fact Turkey’s research for new markets in the immediate geographical vicinity. “It is not so much a matter of cultural extension, but rather a wish to extend its economic Lebensraum.” Neither does Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish political commentator, see it as a neoimperialist attempt, “On the contrary, if conceived in a reasonable way, it can provide a promising vision to the policymakers.” However for Akyol, “there
is always the risk of over-idealisation, if it is not applied in a reasonable way,” remembering the Ottoman’s historical links with the Balkans and Middle East, While some have interpreted Turkey’s proactive policy in the Middle East as a shift away from the West, Akyol doesn’t see the increased interest in Turkey’s Ottoman legacy as a rejection of Europe. “The alliances the Ottoman Empire established with European powers like France and England expressed a significant role in European politics. With such an Ottoman past, Turkey cannot exclude Europe, even though the EU membership path Turkey is pursuing is not so promising nowadays,” explains Akyol. Maybe, and most importantly for domestic stability, the renewed interest in the Ottoman legacy can be a positive step towards rediscovering the pluralism within Turkish society. “In other terms, the Ottoman past can provide the society with a strong reference for identifying its different components, such as Kurdish people or non-Muslims,” he says.
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Seeking a New Elite
The Prussians have a thing or two to teach us about living with Muslims by Abu Bakr Rieger 20
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“Islam is part of Prussia” – the title of an article by Iwan D‘Aprile that appeared in a magazine published by the Berlin-based Prussian Castles Foundation. A thoroughly readable homage to Frederick the Great’s respectful dealings with his minorities, it is also an unusual accompaniment to the public debate around the millions of Muslims living in Germany. The contentious issue of whether Islam belongs to the German body politic is forcing a complete rethink of the German republic’s historical and religious identity. Federal President Christian Wulff and Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich have made some very public attempts to sound out the role of Islam in Europe’s past and future. The new Interior Minister in particular, CSU politician Friedrich, has taken pains to support Islam’s presence in German society, although it must be said that his solution – “Muslims yes, Islam no” – has not exactly made believing Muslims feel more at home in Germany. A new generation of Muslims – all of them born here – certainly consider Germany a role model and a homeland, but could never imagine living without Islam. It is these young people whom the debate is really about. Politics has no genuine vision for the future of these new Germans. What is the European tradition that populists like the Dutchman Geert Wilders refer to as they attempt to deny citizenship to young men coming from the fourth generation of immigrant families? Such absurdity certainly does not derive from Germany’s historical immigrant experience. Foreigners have been integrated again
Ahmet Effendi, Ottoman ambassador to court in Berlin
and again into the German-speaking world, over many centuries. It is worth taking note of the traditional Prussian attitude towards Islam. The self-assured elites of that period, especially the German aristocracy, had no fear whatsoever of contact with Muslims. While we may admire Prussian equanimity in their encounters with this other religion, simplistic comparisons ought to be avoided. The historical situation of eighteenth century Prussia with its first tenuous forms of immigration cannot really be compared to our age of mass Muslim influx. There was large-scale immigration in Prussia, but primarily through the absorption of neighbouring peoples. Yet the Prussian encounter with Islam is still an interesting one, especially since, on both sides, the mood and contemplation of the other was characteristically intelligent. Today, Europe needs new elites for a constructive dialogue with Islam. History teaches us that only if opinion-leaders, on both sides, are able to get along, each knowing who the other is and leading by
example, can the possibility of genuine dialogue or even strategic partnership ever emerge in their respective societies. Prussia certainly did not suffer from problems of leadership when dealing with Islam; the famous statements of Frederick the Great are proof enough of this. As the ruler of a multi-ethnic state and a country of immigration, adept dealings with minorities were part of the great man’s repertoire. Frederick had no difficulty in pronouncing that “all religions are equally good” and that “immigrating Turks should be provided with mosques,” which was a sincerely meant instruction. The Prussian king’s most famous saying, which was that everyone in Prussia “should be happy according to his own façon,” summarises well the respectful tone the Prussian leader adopted towards every confession. Given this basic attitude, it is no surprise that Frederick the Great considered an alliance with Muslims, of which there was something of a tradition in Prussia. Back in 1739, the Prussian king Friedrich
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Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great
Wilhelm I hosted a number of Turkish lange Kerls, his battalion of Potsdam Giants, foreign soldiers who were immediately given a small, improvised mosque in the city. Not only that, but the king declared his protection of “the Islamic religion and its practice.” As an integrated part of the Prussian army, Muslims were hardly going to be depicted as absolute enemies; indeed the European aristocracy never adopted today’s simplistic friendenemy attitude in their dealings with the Muslims. A treaty of friendship and trade was concluded with the Osmanli in 1761 as a practical consequence of these initial links. A little while later, in 1763, Frederick II invited an Osmanli ambassador to Brandenburg, thus founding what was to become a long tradition of tactful relations between Turks and Germans. Today you can still see the graves of the deceased members of such Turkish delegations in Berlin’s Muslim graveyard next to one of the city’s most beautiful mosques. As a symbol of courteous
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relations between two religions, this cemetery stands as part of Germany’s cultural inheritance. Frederick the Great even considered the controlled immigration of Muslims a good idea; he planned mosques and instructed his subordinates not to be upset if the Muslims praised Allah. In a famous letter dated 13 August 1775, he revealed to his astonished friend Voltaire plans to settle around 1,000 Muslims families in his country. This Prussian vision of drawing together a wide range of peoples into one great nation was certainly an honourable one. The Prussians were obviously capable of handling their minorities, giving them a genuine feeling of being valued and needed. Unlike today there was no lack of bold vision in that respect; which of today’s politicians have ever thought to settle Muslims in eastern Germany to counter that region’s rural exodus and demographic decline? But Muslims encountering Prussians were also ready to admire and respect the achievements of their hosts. An interesting
anthology entitled Turks in Berlin shows just how much impression Prussian traditions made on Turkish intellectuals. The famous travel journals of the jurist Celal Nuri bear typical witness to their times. The lawyer travelled to Berlin in the summer of 1913. Acutely aware of the demise of Ottoman greatness, he described how he witnessed “the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at first hand”. Functional Germany, its cleanliness and the efficiency of its facilities immediately captivated him, “How terrible it is to be stumbling around, an incapable, awkward bumpkin in this capital of progress,” he writes in his travel journal. When he arrived in Potsdam, Nuri commented especially on Frederick the Great’s ubiquitous creative legacy, “The monarchy is given form in Potsdam. All of its magnificent halls, domes, gardens, parks, collections, works of art and countless statues demonstrate the splendour and greatness of the state, the magnificence and dignity of the government and therefore of the monarchy.”
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It is without a doubt the period under Kaiser Wilhelm II which reveals most clearly to the German mind Prussia’s close relations with Islam, especially when Wilhelm visited Istanbul himself. The friendship between Wilhelm and the Turkish sultan Abdulhamid II was a high point in relations between leading Muslim and Christian figures of the time. Prince von Bülow dedicated a whole chapter to his incisive memoirs of his service at the court of the Kaiser on their oriental visit in 1898, which took the German Kaiser not only to Istanbul but to Damascus and Jerusalem as well. Worried that other European powers would misunderstand such cordial relations, the diplomat von Bülow strove to formulate the Kaiser’s enthusiasm about Islam and Turkey in as sober a tone as possible. He himself was interested mainly in the economic possibilities for German industry remaining more sceptical about political alliances, but the Kaiser kept on having him write down missives to the Sultan with von Bülow recalling with consternation the varied eulogies he had to employ so that “the Kaiser would not be seen to be repeating himself.” So what actually remains of the Prussian tradition of rapprochement with Islam, its potential and its possibilities? What we can certainly say is that the basic principles adopted by the Prussians in their dealings with minorities have today become more needed than ever. Volker Tschapke, president of the Prussian Society, delivered a lecture in 2006 entitled “Prussia and Islam” in which he defended – in distinctive Prussian style – Muslims and their beliefs against the abyss of an ever-narrowing debate in Germany. While pointing out that he knows and loves his Bible, Tschapke was perplexed that suddenly “togetherness must be replaced by opposition”, and wondered why we are bothered by the rituals, why we disseminate abusive cartoons, and why we see a bad omen in headscarves. The Prussia expert then summed up, “How weak must our
Kaiser Wilhelm II
spiritual, religious and cultural position has become if what we have always tolerated is now declared a threat?” Some critics may object, saying that it is quite simply the terrorism of the 21st century that separates Prussia’s respect for Islam and today’s situation. This criticism, however, reveals a certain lack of education. The study of Islam’s relationship to violence, the inner and outer teachings of its nomos, demands not only time but a willingness to learn. Sadly our political elites are often hopelessly out of their depth when it comes to the content
and requirements of an intelligent dialogue. Can our current elite actually formulate a vision of how Islam may genuinely belong to Germany, one which goes beyond mere tolerance? Many Muslims wish to see a new impetus from the new elites, not to exclude the European aristocracy. Europe has always had a tradition of a deeper relationship to Islam. The great European, J.W. Goethe no less, in his Maxims demanded more than just tolerance: “Tolerance can in fact only be a temporary disposition; it must lead to recognition. To tolerate means to insult.”
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The Adab of Urban Design by Yusuf Adams
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A vital aspect to the question of the transformative and beneficial role of Muslims in Europe is undoubtedly the programme of each mosque and its relationship with each specific environment. To focus on the meaning of the Mosque is to address its role within the wider urban fabric in which it is enmeshed. As a designer and researcher working in the UK, I am engaged with this question whilst working on the proposed design for a mosque complex, addressing the issue both academically and practically. I am discovering that the social-political terrain – of which designing and building are a part – in the UK is indicative of the wider European situation. The problems and possibilities are the same. At the time of writing – August 2011 – the UK has witnessed an urban breakdown: the cracks of social inequality and cultural nihilism are appearing; children as young as 11, boys and girls, have been arrested following days of group rampages through areas of London, Nottingham, Birmingham, and smaller city centres, setting fire to buildings and cars and looting shops for trainers and mobile phones. All this occurs against the globally shared backdrop of prolonged war efforts and an ongoing worldwide financial crisis. Not for an instant can we say that the these chaotic scenes are, for those involved, consciously connected to the tumult across the Arab world nor the protests in Greece and Spain, nor the largely unreported political coup in Iceland, however symptomatically linked they may be. During these so called ‘riots’ it has been the actions of some residents in affected areas – in Birmingham in particular – that have shone above the wilful destruction and petty desires of the looters on one hand, and the inability to address root causes by the political class. Muslims in particular have been out in force protecting their homes and businesses, and those of their surrounding community. Three young men died in doing so. Their noble actions and those of their mourning families have shown a side of the Muslim community that some perhaps have never seen. Unprecedented numbers – approximately 30,000 – attended the men’s open-air funeral. The Pew Forum Report of 2010 states that the British Muslim community is 2.87 million, the third largest minority in absolute terms, after Germany and France. The rate of population growth for Muslims is estimated to be ten times faster than the rest of society. (1) This statistic is of interest to some, and a source of great concern for others. The issue has been veiled by devastating world events and an ever-increasingly polarised society. The manifestation of this Muslim thread of life, woven into a largely secular framework, displays both the divisions between disparate groups and the possibilities of a shared future.
Minaret of the Suleymaniye Mosque
Despite recent reports in the national and international media supporting the bravery of individual actions in the country’s unrest, the usual reportage for the last decade has been dominated by a climate of fear and distrust. The recent ban on minaret construction in Switzerland reflects the political potency of architecture, where the minaret has become associated with conquest – reduced to symbol – falling short of its common function as a tower to call Muslims to pray at the prescribed time. Layla Dawson, writing in the Architectural Review in 2010, states that if we, “substitute ‘Islam’ for ‘minarets’, we ‘have the real subject of this referendum. It has little to do with architecture, except as a cultural baseball bat, and has bound such disparate groups as feminists (who see minarets as phallic) and Neo-Nazis (who see them as something else) into an unholy alliance.” (2) The ‘clash of civilisations’ fallacy fails to accurately grasp either an east or a west, and of course misunderstands Islam as a way of life, which in the words of the Scottish Shaykh, Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi, is ‘not a culture,’ but ‘a filter for culture.’ As a lived and experienced reality, Islam swept outwards from the Middle East from its beginning, and in its path encountered myriad forms of cultures which have been embraced, preserved, transformed, and revivified. The United Kingdom and the rest of Europe are no exception to this process – if we can look beyond the frame of assimilation – and must be separated from any confrontations of culture or ethnic identity, as Islam is limited by neither. Muslim communities must also free themselves from this confusion. Once understood, questions need to be asked. Can Muslim communities living within a secular system draw fully from their practice to transform beneficially, in British PM, David Cameron’s phrasing, ‘The Big Society,’ from within a failing social nexus, a postindustrial wilderness?
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I. The Courtyard – The stark elemental simplicity of the courtyard strips away all formal typologies later acquired by the multicultural embrace of empire and by technical innovation. The House of the Prophet is a walled courtyard, approximately 56 by 53 meters, largely open to sky. Within the perimeter of this wall, all who needed it could find shelter. Before all else then we can say that the first mosque was a home for the destitute, where the guest was welcomed, to sleep and eat, and the ground was no less sacred for it. II. Shelter – Between earth and sky the community built a shelter in the form of a hypostyle from palm leaves supported by palm trunks. In this oblong hall the congregation met, prayed, and studied and addressed all matters life. Perpendicular to the dappled shaded area, along the eastern outer flank of the courtyard, were the small dwellings of the Prophet and his family; domestic life distinct but not detached from public life. The mosque was essentially public in nature, and intimately connected with being in the company of the Prophet and his family. The very root of insan – man – is ins: to be sociable, on intimate terms, accustomed, habituated, to recognise. Entrance at Selimiye Mosque
The Source A return to the source is needed to see the role of the mosque clearly. So we must clear the ground, returning to the desert and sky, as Cambridge Professor and Imam Abdalhakim Murad Winters states, ‘Islam appeared in a time and place where there was no civilisation. (3) To return to the source is to travel back to Madina, where the first Muslim community in which the entire lived situation or praxis manifested as a dynamic transmission of knowledge, with the completion of Quranic revelation twinned with the life pattern of its Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The archetypal Mosque of Madina, built in 622 AD by the Prophet and his companions, had a most unusual siting; the Prophet’s camel walked freely and come to a rest. Once she had knelt down Muhammad said, ‘This, if Allah wills, is the dwelling. (4) So, first of all we can say that the mosque is a dwelling place for the people. The phenomenologist and architect Christian NorbergSchultz states that, ‘A place is a centre of action and intention, it is a focus where we experience the meaningful events of our existence. (5) If we list the elements of the first mosque we see the transformative role of its program, the praxis which parallels aspects of amal: knowledge put into action as an entire way of life. The aesthetic considerations of architectural vocabulary: geometry, proportion and materiality, are not relevant, until this role has been fully grasped. Gadamer reminds us in Truth and Method that ‘a building is never only a work of art. (6) Architectural beauty unfolds from purpose.
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III. The Minbar – Here the first public Juma were held and the Prophet would give the khutba (or sermon) from the minbar: a three stepped stool. It is here that all Imams – standing on the lower steps in honour of their role as inheritors of the Prophet’s example and message – address the matters of the time with verses from the Quran that point to their reality. This clarifying filter can shed light on the events and context of each persons life and be the sociable axis of the Muslims’ seven day cycle. All aspects of leadership: the assessment and collection of Zakat, the announcement of the two Eids, the rights of the funeral prayer and so on, flow from the informative role of the Imams and the informed actions of an appointed Amir. IV. The Qibla – The qibla wall, denoting the direction of prayer towards Mecca, was unadorned in the lifetime of Muhammad. Architectural historians have agreed that, ‘In it’s simplest terms, a mosque is a building erected around a single horizontal axis, the qibla, which passes invisibly down the middle of the floor and, issuing from the far wall, terminates eventually in Mecca.’ The mihrab ubiquitous in mosque architecture worldwide – was an addition by Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik, eighty years after the death of the Prophet.
Transformational Space Like the mihrab, a small dome above the place of the Imam and four slender and inaccessible minarets were all additions by Al-Walid. These later elements have become the main focus and priority when communities seek to build a new mosque, however incongruous to a specific site context. Yet it is the multifaceted
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Dar ash-Shifa or ‘House of Health’ Mosque complex garden, Edirne
functionality of the space as the nodal centre of each community that is the vital key to the transformative reality of the mosque. All else is adornment. The many renovations of the Prophet’s Mosque are the architectural story of the spread of Islam. Yet the key vocabulary – the qibla wall, a covered hall, a minbar for juma’, and a courtyard, are the only original elements. The original Prophet’s Mosque has been seen as a ‘remarkably modern building, which could be expanded and contracted according to the needs of the community.‘ The mosque can be extended in any direction without upsetting the necessary spatial order, with the collective focus of the congregation continuing beyond the confines of the building. The author of Cosmology and Architecture in Premodern Islam, Samer Akkach, describes the ambience of this archetypal place as having a sense of ‘neutrality, non-procession, repose, and equilibrium... allowing every point in the space to be of equal significance.’
Lessons from Istanbul Very few mosque spaces convey a sense of equilibrium and unity better than the centrally domed mosques by the C16th Ottoman Master, Mimar Sinan. On a recent research trip, I studied the vast range of Sinan’s mosque complexes, whose magnificent silhouettes punctuate the rolling hills of Istanbul’s skyline. Many communities to this day want an Osmanli silhouette when designing a mosque, regardless of the time and place they live in, nostalgically hoping to transplant such immense beauty and majesty. It is less
well known to what great extent each of Sinan’s buildings constituted the “nerve centres” of the city, in closed, self-contained entities; (7) the discovery of which must be experienced on foot via the various paths and gateways to each mosque complex. A greater understanding of Sinan’s choreography of space will show how he was working with the layers and limits of an existing cityscape, the largest in the world at that time. (8) Lessons for our adab of urban design lie in the spatial organisation of smaller neighbourhood mosque complexes, known today as kulliye – from the Arabic kull, meaning ‘whole’ – which fit tightly into the dense urban fabric, often largely unseen from the now traffic-filled streets. A microcosm within the city, which traditionally contained not only the space for prayer but places of education, trade, and charitable service. Today’s authority on Sinan, Gulru Necipoglu, states that the term kulliye is modern, and uses instead the word imaret, as did Sinan and the C16th Ottoman court. It’s meaning, for novice Arabic students like myself, is enlightening: Imaret in Turkish, from the Arabic ‘imara, semantically represents improvement by cultivating, building, inhabiting, populating and civilising. From the same Arabic trilateral root, the term ‘umran denotes inhabitedness, populousness, prosperity, the very concept of civilisation. (9) We are returning to the Prophet’s siting of a dwelling place, ‘imara. There is a striking resonance with Heidegger’s notions of dwelling – the locus of dasein – where ‘building is really dwelling,’ and ‘dwelling is the manner in which we mortals are on the earth.’ (10)
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Köln Mosque under construction, 2011
Heidegger connects the ontology of Ich bin, of ‘I am,’ to the topology of bauen, to ‘building,’ stating that bauen means at the same time to cherish and protect, to preserve and care for, specifically to till the soil, to cultivate the vine. (11) In the words of the Sufis, this is no less than to plant the shariah, the law, from which grows the haqqiqa, the reality, echoing the words of Muhammad s.a.w.s. that ‘actions are but by intentions’ (12) The role of the mosque, with correct knowledge, intention and action, is the subject of all human dwelling. In Ottoman society, those who were able competed with one another in this cultivation and developed the practice of the establishment of waqfs – from the example of the Prophet – into a series of complexes that are, to quote the late architect Dogun Koban, ‘the focus of social life and the backbone of the city pattern.’ Historian Professor Mehmet Maksudoglu states that a waqf is any ‘property or amount of wealth etc., dedicated to the benefit of the created to please the Creator, (13) and that ‘during the Osmanli era, people established awqaf... for every need and case that could be imagined or thought of.’ Some historians state that ‘two thirds of the city of Istanbul was waqf property. (14) Our task is not to see such a beneficial reality relegated to a past golden age of Islam, or left in some distant land. Regardless of just or corrupt governance, geology, or varying cultural identities, waqf property has been created and remnants survive across the globe. All scales of waqf property must be embraced, by the Mosque of Sultan Ayyub, where the waqf of Mihirishah Valide Sultan still serves people today, one can see a waqf for the feeding of birds, complete with low fountain and a ‘birds only’ fenced off area. No act of service must be deemed too small.
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Simple & Profound Design Currently, British Trust Law cannot establish property in perpetuity; yet we must work within this system to achieve socio-economic change. Waiting for the British legal system to recognise the key fact of permanence in Islamic Law, alongside the market forces of exponential growth and debt, is not an option. Where it is possible to establish property as a trust, we move in the right direction. We can then avoid the crime of inheritance tax on property, by making descendants the mutawallis, the caretakers of the waqf. From the generosity of one person to the care-taking of one family to the activities of each jamaat, the reality of the Deen grows from the ground up. The design of each mosque complex must unfold from this reality of service. As Sinan introduced markets into the integral design and function of the mosque complex, we can create mosque market gardens, to beautify the area as a whole, and offer a free trading space within which independent produce and means of trade can be established. Massive car parks must be sacrificed, so let us offer this green solution, when sending in our planning applications! People will know their local mosque by walking to it, and nonMuslims can be engaged with in the most natural of ways, trade. Such an action has profound implications for the nature of each neighbourhood in which an imaret is sited. The mosque becomes the unconditional and authentic bridge between people that is so lacking in our privately commodified urban environment. Professional nurseries, dental and alternative health practices, all businesses that bring benefit must be considered. To this end the imaret can also contain training workshop guilds where needed things are made, and people in need of skills are trained. The
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Open ablution area – Bayazit Mosque, Istanbul
education system alone seems barely able to teach or train: the Mayor of London stated recently that one in four 11-year-old children in London are functionally illiterate. (15) These brief suggestions are simple instances, manifestations of mu’amalat, the transactions along with ibada, worship, which constitute the amal or praxis of Islam. Islamic scholar Hashim Ismail Dockrat highlights these integrated socio-economic elements as follows: I. Open markets – The physical arena where trading takes place. II. Guilds – The organising bodies of traders, craftsmen and artisans. III. The imaret system – A complex that fulfils the spiritual, social and economic needs of a community within towns and cities, most common during the Ottoman period. IV. Islamic currency – The bimetal currency consisting of gold and silver. V. Islamic business contracts – The types of permitted business and partnership contracts. VI. Caravans – The networking of distance trading and international trade. VII. Muslim personal law. VIII. Awqaf – The charitable real estate foundations common to Muslim societies. IX. Zawiyas – The homes of the Sufi orders to which all the guilds belong. X. Architecture – The importance of architecture and urbanism in Islamic development.
This is a most succinct summary of the organic nexus that a mosque complex is the unifying centre of, if it can programmatically ‘know it’s place’. (16)
Places of Light One final note on our pre-occupation with minarets. Change to the original mosque was actually strongly objected to by the people of Madina – the descendants of the Prophet and of his companions – the minarets were additions after the demolition and expansion by Al-Walid. (17) Naturally they became the means of identifying the greatly expanded mosque from a distance. The key to understanding lies in the name of thing. The most common term manara or manar – travelling via Turkey to the English language as minaret – means a place for fire or light, like the image of the mihrab containing a lamp to the word nur, ‘light.’ Ribats (fortresses) along the North African coast have rounded minarets – manara – which are lighthouses. (18) The term not only connects to nur but also to the words for a watchtower, boundary stones, a sign post and an oil lamp. (19) These meanings correlate with the minaret as having a ‘connection with light’ which ‘has been used as the basis for a symbolic interpretation of the minaret as an emanation of divine light or as an image of spiritual illumination. (20) With this image in mind, let us – clients and architects, communities and charitable bodies – create places of light, of attraction, that draw people to them, quiet poetic buildings fitting to place and purpose, that welcome people when they enter, from the handshake of the door handle to the depth of the threshold and the natural light within, and that serve people by what they need, with beneficial
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only people doing or experiencing something but also (those) things that contribute to the fulfillment of human life. (22) No matter how modest, each mosque forms this locus, drawing as it were from the clear source of its existence – nothing less than the amal of Madina al-Munawarra, ‘The City of Light.’ Yusuf Adams is currently a Jameel Scholar at the Cardiff School of Architecture in association with The Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK (CSIUK) working on a PhD thesis entitled, Beyond the Minaret: A Space for the Spirit – A Place for the People; which incorporates an ongoing imaret building project in the Midlands. He also tutors architectural design at various universities in the UK. References & Notes:
Seated wudhu for worshipers at the Suleymaniye Mosque
functions that are needed by all. We must seek no less than the illumination of each locus by the transformative daily rhythms that make up the way of life that is Islam. We must poetically orchestrate these spaces and their materiality, and connect these dwelling places to the well being of the city. To look at the lived situation of a community and see its pattern language is to address Christopher Alexander’s reflection that, ‘Those of us who are concerned with building tend to forget too easily that all the life and soul of a space, all of our experiences there, depend not simply on the physical environment, but on the pattern of events which we experience there. (21) The praxis of the community in question is a clear mirror to the urban condition and notions of dwelling within it, because the practice or ‘amal of Islam pertains to all aspects of human activity. It can therefore be envisaged holistically. Our Muslim communities themselves may be surprised in the ways in which this has a transformative effect on a wider secular society. The writer, teacher and architect Dalibor Veseley, who questions the way in which architecture is used as an instrument or commodity, arguing that what the book is to literacy, architecture is to culture as a whole. He considers the potential of praxis, when an authentic place for people is realized, and asks, ‘What is praxis?’ Generally speaking, it is living and acting in accordance with ethical principles. More specifically, it is best to see praxis as a situation that includes not
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1 The Times – January 2009 2 The Architectural Review – January 2010 3 Winters, Timothy Abdal Hakim – Essay: The Sunna as Primordiality – April 1999 – article from www.masud.co.uk 4 Akkach, Samer – Cosmology and Architecture in Premodern Islam – p.194 5 Norberg-Schultz, Christian – Existence, Space & Architecture – 1979 6 Gadamer, Nicholas – Truth & Method – p.149 7 Dogan, Kuban – Essay: Suleymaniye & C16th Istanbul – from Environmental Design: Mimar Sinan, The Urban Vision – Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre – Ed. Attilio Petruccioli – p.68 8 ibid – p.13 9 Necipoglu, Gulru – The Age of Sinan – Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire – p.71 10 Heidegger, Martin – Building, Dwelling, Thinking. from Basic Writings – Ed. Krell, D.F. – p.350 11 ibid – p.147 12 First Hadith in the 40 Hadith of Imam Nawwawi – Trans. Abdassamad Clarke 13 Maksudoglu, Prof. Mehmet – Essay: Waqf – from Sultaniyya – As-Sufi, Shaykh Abdalqadir – p.52 14 ibid – p.57 15 Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, speaking on Channel Four News, 15/08/11 16 Dockrat, Hashim Ismail – Islam, Muslim Society, and Environmental Concerns: A Development Model Based on Islam’s Organic Society – In Islam & Ecology, A Bestowed Trust – ed. Foltz, C. Richard – p.346 – 347 17 Hillenbrand, Robert – Islamic Architecture – p.73 18 ibid – p.132 19 ibid – p.134 20 ibid – p.132 21 Alexander, Christopher – A Pattern Language – p.62 22 Veseley, Dalibor – Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation – p.368
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The Wien Mosque, beside the Danube in Vienna
Highlights of the EMU Gathering in Vienna by Abdulhasib Castiñeira Since 1979, the skyline of the Austrian capital has boasted a new landmark. What was then a remote peripheral area is now a central location in the city. A green dome and a characteristic Ottoman minaret by the Danube riverside have become once more, an accepted image of Vienna, as much as the Burgtheater or St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The Austrian Muslim community is a dynamic example of a well-integrated and well-respected Muslim community in a European country. Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the city in 1529, almost five hundred years ago, but failed to conquer it. The freedom and relative harmony in which Muslims live and practice Islam in Austria has become a benchmark
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of respect towards the Muslim faith; their harmonious coexistence with the rest of the society would probably amaze the great Ottoman ruler if he visited Vienna today. Truly times have changed in Europe: the silent invasion of immigrants landing on the shores of the former colonial countries,
coupled with the discovery and full acceptance of Islam by a growing number of indigenous Europeans, have rendered the Muslim communities an integral part of European society. The annual gathering of the European Muslim Union in Vienna, held during the weekend of 9th to 11th September 2011, focused on one aspect of that changing reality: The Muslims of Europe and their cities. The theme of the conference was: “The Muslim contribution to civic life in the cities of Europe” , a contribution that is not only historic but an actual and living one, as was well illustrated by the numerous examples given by the participants in the
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Representatives from 19 countries at the annual gathering of the European Muslim Union in Vienna
gathering; representatives of Muslim communities from 19 European countries. The capable discourse by the Minister of the Republic of Turkey for European Community Affairs, Egemen Bagis, set the tone and the standard for the conference and was one of the high-points of the entire gathering. The Minister’s public recognition that the European Muslim Union has assumed the key role of being the voice of the Muslims in Europe came both as an encouragement and a challenge, in the context of the rising unfairness towards Islam and Muslims on the continent. Austria, admitted Mr. Bagis, constitutes a valid example of how European governments can address, by means of dialogue and cooperation, the inescapable reality of the Muslim presence in their societies. Since 1912, Austria has recognised Islam as an official religion of the nation; one century ago next year. This legal provision is a first step, like in the case
of Spain, where Islam was legally declared as a religion of rooted tradition in 1989, and is a sign of common sense and good judgement, favouring ways of peaceful coexistence between different faiths. The centuries long European prejudice against Islam and Muslims, the Muslim and the Moor seen as the quintessential “other’, can turn, in times of crises, into hatred, something which has been happening on the political fringes of European societies in recent years. “A Eurocentric historical view has promoted an understanding of the ‘Muslim other’ for centuries. Particularly in times of crises, prejudices turn to an irrational hatred. And those who are not seen as a part of ‘European culture’ are demonised as the source of all ills”, said the Minister. The rhetoric against Islam and Muslims is used to gain votes, with populist political leaders in many European countries adopting a dangerous anti-Islamic line of argumentation, applauded by far right
sections. The alarming fact is that the marginal views of the far right are spreading in mainstream European politics to the extent of gaining seats in parliaments. “The fact that these political movements use the case of Turkey’s membership as an instrument in their domestic politics is actually an indicator of their insufficiency in fulfilling the real needs of their citizens. Rather than proposing concrete solutions to the problems of their public, they are trying to save the day. In fact, the problems EU member states face today have nothing to do with Islam and Muslims. These problems have social and economic roots that should not be dealt with in their own context”, observed Mr. Bagis. To be fair, it must be said that the European Union, mainly through bureaucratic bodies within the Council of Europe, is actively involved in fighting Islamophobia, intent on promoting the safeguard of the social, economic and religious rights of the Muslims within the EU. The European
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Participants of the Vienna meeting during one of the sessions
monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) and the Council of Europe Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) are initiatives aiming at combating, among other phenomena, the rising discrimination against Muslims.
finance. Fairness in the market place is what is missing and the millions of protesters occupying the streets and squares of the world to denounce the corrupt banking system await the news of Islam.
The call of Abu Bakr Rieger, the President of the EMU Foundation, for the Muslims of Europe to work in a united, cooperative and active way in society, reflected the spirit of the three-day gathering in which the strong bonds of respect, affection and mutual counsel, already a tradition of the EMU conferences, were again the dominant feature.
The presentations of cities and countries in which Muslims are making a positive impact started with one on Istanbul.
The Muslims, Rieger iterated, now have an important opportunity to offer answers to the crisis, the consequences of which we all, Muslims and non-Muslims, are suffering, and to promote alternatives to restore sanity and equity in money transactions. Islam is the only remaining religion that upholds the condemnation of usury with a detailed and clear definition of the limits of fairness in trade and
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The Honorary President of the EMU Foundation, Prof. Dr. Nevcat Yalcintas, spoke about the truly exemplary achievements of the Ottomans in the great metropolis. A source of inspiration in many regards, both historically and in recent times. Another referent for the Muslims of Europe is the city of Granada, home to a dynamic, well-respected Muslim community. The Jami’ah Mosque of Granada, inaugurated in July 2003, during the heights of hysteria against Islam, idiotically labelled ‘War against Terror’, remains a beacon of clarity in troubled times.
The Muslim community of Granada made history when it first minted Islamic gold dinars and silver dirhams in 1992. It has also set an example in the way in which it has overcome nationalist fantasies to establish harmony between Muslims of Spanish, North African and Middle Eastern origin, and in its resolute intention to offer the guidance of Islam to the society at large. The struggle to attain dignity by a Muslim people that live under a hostile government was brilliantly illustrated by the case of Novi Pazar, the capital of Sanjak, the small Muslim enclave in the Serbian Republic. The decades of struggle of the Muslims of Bulgaria was another moving presentation that indicated the steadfastness and spiritual resilience of a European Muslim people, firstly under communism and now a democratic system that still does not fulfil their basic rights. The many decades of Muslim presence in Berlin; the report about Prizen in Kosovo and most relevantly, the testimony from
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Egemen Bagis, Turkey’s minister for the EU membership, delivering an address during the opening ceremony
Birmingham, the second city of Britain, and the events following the brutal killing of three young Muslims during the riots that erupted in August, that enlightened the whole world, provided a benchmark of sanity, wisdom and manliness, so much needed in the present time. The presentation of the young English architect, Yusuf Adams, about the project of an Imaret – which in Ottoman terminology refers to an urban complex of social welfare built around a Mosque, and the careful balance sought in attending equally to the needs of the local Muslim community and the demands of the local environment – in this case, in a small town of the British Midlands was another highlight of the gathering. The young architect acknowledged the responsibility of Muslims in western societies to regenerate the social fabric. Excellence in design, implementation and functionality are crucial characteristics that have made Muslim cities jewels of civilisation and prosperity. Particularly
significant in this case is the fact that this is the earnest endeavour of a team of young British Muslims, from diverse backgrounds – both south Asian and indigenous British, as Yusuf Adams is himself. Alongside the superficial turbulence of the populist agitation of hatred and hostility against Muslims, there are deeper currents of great strength with much more durable consequences. Yusuf Adams himself represented one of them; namely, the growing numbers of young Europeans that discover and accept Islam wholeheartedly. Another being the second and third generations of Muslims, born in Europe from families that once arrived as immigrants but who now are clear as to their own Muslim identity as much as they are sure of belonging to European culture. Another reality lies in the growing numbers of Muslim scholars of high caliber, themselves indigenous Europeans, who
are capable guides and leaders of their particular communities. The vitality and dynamism of the Muslims are decisive factors in the regeneration of the decaying European societies, but conditional on their acknowledging, as Muslims, such a high mission and the rejection of the false idols of nationalism, tribalism and the destructive divisions brought in from other countries or instigated by Islam’s enemies. The motto of the EMU Foundation, “Islam belongs to Europe”, reflects an indisputable historic reality, but also indicates the need for unity and submission to the Real, which implies striving to obey and to fulfil the contract with the Creator in all dimensions of life – in all transactions – and not only in the acts of worship. The gathering of the EMU in Vienna, the old capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was one in which the potential for this awakening and unity, explicit in the aims of the Foundation, was fully realised during the three day meeting in September.
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The Changing Middle East by Hasbullah Shafiy’i
Governments, historians and political analysts are not unaware that coup d’état is an art; and every art has its technique. The art of capturing the state and seizing control of its functions and operations have passed through two stages, with a much more complex and subtle technique implicit after the full utilisation of technological advances at the turn of the new millennium. The first chapter was military. The second was to seize technical and/or parliamentary control. Today, it is through the technological and technical control of populations (the youth especially) and public opinion that overthrows a government. This has become very clear over the last decade.
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Sulla, Cromwell, Hannibal, Caesar and the Plutarchian military generals of the first stage would unlikely succeed today. Neither could Napoleon (who marked the beginning of the second stage), Trotsky, Mussolini, Hitler, Piłsudski, Kapp or Fidel Castro succeed today in attempting a coup d’état with their brand of parliamentary and technical capture of the state, for the simple reason of the presence of technological and financial conditions that now, more than ever before, have an influence over political-economic rule and vice versa. In political history, revolution – from the French word revolvere, to revolve – is the radical takeover of power by the governed. But every revolution of the past was led by distinguished political players: Robespierre, Danton, Marat in the French Revolution; Lenin and Trotsky in the Russian Revolution; Mussolini in the Italian Revolution; Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution, and the list goes on. However, who the principal players of the current Arab revolutions are is unknown. If it is generally described as the
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people, leading one to ask what power the people have without, at the very least, a leading voice? If so, who is that leading voice? Nothing is known. All that is known through the media is the displeasure of the masses for a dictatorship that has been forcibly tyrannising populations of the Arab world, from a couple of decades to almost half a century. Though the dictatorships and tyranny are true and the revolutions bring good news of the fall of tyrants who had little concern for their own people, it must also be acknowledged that mere displeasure, or protests on account of economic dissatisfaction are unlikely to overthrow a government that has been ruling for many years. No intelligent mind that has studied the historical development of political power and sovereignty would credit this. Hidden hands have been pulling the strings. Tunisia, Egypt and the rest of the Arab people undergoing political unrest distinctly echo the colour Revolutions that introduced into history the third stage of the technique of the coup d’état: Serbia (Bulldozer Revolution), Ukraine (Orange Revolution), Georgia (Rose Revolution), Lebanon (Cedar Revolution), Kyrgyzstan (Tulip Revolution) and Kuwait (Blue Revolution) were the successful ones amongst the many others. Iran’s Green Revolution by contrast failed. The technique and art must be indentified and the goal located. Then alone can one attempt to analyse the prevalent chaos and anarchy in the Arab world as well as the destiny of the peoples in what the Pentagon, as early as 2001, proposed to change into a Greater Middle East. In the Greater Middle East project, the Bush administration with Richard Perle and Douglas Feith called for a campaign to have a US-Middle East, free-trade area stretching from Morocco to Afghanistan. Now, with clear US interest to intervene in Pakistani political affairs and her nuclear capacity, it may be perceived that the Greater Middle East stretches further, past Pakistan, with implications for China and Russia as well. Part of the plan includes an economic relationship between the US and this Greater Middle East as well as an economic transformation “similar in magnitude to that undertaken by the formerly communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe,” as was mentioned in the G8-Greater Middle East Summit paper released by Washington in June 2004. It also includes issuing massive micro-financing loans to millions of individuals along with the privatisation of large sectors of the Middle East economy. In short, Washington has been engaging in a more than a decadelong plan to take full economic and political control of the Middle East stretching from Morocco to Pakistan. Through this they will be able to heavily restrict China in her titanic technological and investment projects and keep her in check, eliminate a nuclear threat from Pakistan, take control over the long stretch of land across the Eurasian continent and by so doing, bar Russia from accessing the warm waters. The hidden hands that have been working on the revolutions are quite clearly seen, especially in Egypt. The Rand Corporation’s involvement in Egypt and Egypt’s
Kefaya movement, that has long called for democracy, as well as US-congress financed NED (National Endowment for Democracy) are the cats that have come out of the bag, exposing the hidden hands behind the Arab revolutions. Michel Foucault described in his lectures at the College de France, that from the 18th century, when man came to be defined as a species, history witnessed the transition of power from control over territory to control over populations. This he defined as biopower. With the French Revolution and the resulting years of Terror, police power and the guillotining of kings, queens and aristocrats, this transition became evident. Following on from there, the Bretton Woods Accord and President Nixon’s abandoning of it assumed a strong concentration of financial colour, that is, financial power over populations, not only by governments but by private economic hands as well. Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi had financial control of populations not unlike the financial elite of most democratic states. The political irony is that the operations of a dictatorship and a democracy are the same in that they all have a constitution, a central bank and a national debt, and finally a currency. No state in the world today can refute that.
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thinker than Aldous Huxley. Entitled Self Transcendence, Huxley points out the political significance of the term ‘crowd delirium’. That is, he writes, “The final symptom of herd-intoxication is maniacal violence ... a savage violence, of which, in their normal state, they would be completely incapable. The revolutionary encourages his followers to manifest this last and worst symptom of herd-intoxication and then proceeds to direct their frenzy against his enemies, the holders of political economic and religious power...” Huxley goes on to explain that the radio, television, newspapers, free and compulsory education etc., are amongst the technical and technological devices that excite and instigate mobs towards political, economic and religious goals. If Huxley was alive today, he would certainly have declared the same of mobile phone networking services, social networking websites and other such Information and Communications Technology (ICT). He writes, “Being in a crowd is the best known antidote for independent thought. Hence the dictators’ rooted objection to “mere psychology” and a private life. ‘Intellectuals of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your brains.’”
The difference is that in a dictatorship, the oppressor – one who has financial control over the masses – is identified as a single man with obedient ilk surrounding him, protecting him, assisting him and carrying out his orders, whereas in a democracy, the major player that grants financial control to unknown private individuals (the financial elite) is a political party that does all the same but in a subtle manner over a short period – for the period it stays in power, after which another elected party replaces it only to perpetuate the former conditions. The modus operandi of all republics is the same, though in terms of policies, which are not as significant, they may differ. The impudent Arab dictators without exception follow the same model of state from that of the first French Republic and found today in almost all nation-states of the world. But without that subtlety of financial control prevailing in democratic states, dictators have always been exposed to open-fire, hence today, the ‘people’ (or rather the crowd) can explicitly point out that so-and-so is responsible for unemployment, taxation, inflation, uneven distribution of national revenue and the string of terms attached to so-called inefficient and corrupt management of the economy. This is not to mollify their corruption but to point out the greater significance of the system per se that should be more accountable than any individual in power. Political philosophy and the historical development of the technique of revolution is the key to understand the catastrophic anarchy that we witness today. It is of great importance at this point to turn to an essay of equal pertinence to the subject penned by no less a giant writer and
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The crowd delirium that has been caused by modern ICT, such as those that deliver effortless accessibility to communicate with large groups of people without the usual constraints of time and space, has churned the Arab populations today to revolutionary frenzy in exactly the same way that it churned the Central Asian and Eastern European populations of the last decade. It is those who control the Information and Communications Technology who are the same people who had control over the revolution in Tunisia and Egypt. Their plot in Libya failed with the resulting stage, of course, war. The entry of foreign military troops of the UN, USA or otherwise indicates clearly that these forces had a hidden agenda in Libya. It is not by chance that Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa, which had till today been under the full control of Gaddafi. It is also not by chance that Libya is one of the two countries in the world whose central bank (the monetary authority) is not private (the other is Iran). The rebels had already begun preparations to establish a free and private Central Bank while the war was still in process. The same happened with the central bank when Hitler was removed in Germany. These economic concerns expose the secret, something Gaddafi recognised immediately, that the focus of those who initially attempted the coup d’état was not about liberating the people from the iron fist of a dictator but was about taking over the economic and financial control.. The geopolitical and economic shifts that are currently taking place in the Arab world, which the people – overcome by crowd delirium – fail to see happening, is re-shaping her destiny. Israel, which is not surprisingly silent, plays a key role since the Sinai desert serves as a buffer zone between herself and Egypt; the river Nile
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Israeli boarder patrol along the Syrian boarder, Golan Heights
to the river Euphrates, Syria in the north and Jordan in the southwest form Biblical Israel. The political tension prevalent in this region at this point in history is advantageous to Israel’s political as well as financial control of the region. Very soon, Israel could quite easily seek to expand her territory militarily into the Sinai and the Iraqi desert, as well as onto Golan Heights or to encompass Jordan. That they want the 1967 borders, has been Israel’s declared expansionist ambitions on many public political occasions and cannot be overlooked in these times of turmoil in the region. In short, the revolutions and regime-changes could very well make it easier for Israel to expand her territorial power militarily, politically and economically. If Israel’s borders do not expand to cover the Biblical region of the Holy Land, then at least in Michel Foucault’s description of biopower, Israel may quite easily extend financial and political control over her neighbouring populations. If one cannot see this coming, then one has been unaware of the historical growth of the political, economic and military power of Israel and her Zionist aspirations – apparently secular but ironically religious – since 1948. Washington, together with her historical alliance with France and Britain, is undoubtedly supporting Israel through the Greater Middle East military and economic project. The more immediate results of the revolutions in the coming months will be a massive privatisation of resources in the Arab world and the devaluing of the currencies of the countries undergoing regime-change. Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, all have relatively strong currencies. Once the
resources have been privatised by foreign companies, especially with the oil-exporting countries, then their export power will decrease, impinging directly on their currencies. Revenue from exports will be channeled out of the countries through the foreign production of these commodities. When the Balance of Trade (BOT) arrives at imbalance then the currencies will be devalued. Could democracy today therefore be equal to capitalism in terms of international trade, especially in light of Milton Freedman’s call for “No government intervention into the economy?” Could democracy today mean privatisation of the nation’s resources? Is this the price the Arab’s have to pay for democracy? Was it not the price that South Africa paid (with all its gold and diamonds) to be free from Apartheid? Then, very soon, economic concerns like unemployment and inflation, the very reason for the calls for democracy, will find no fulfilment. The economic conditions may resurface with greater intensity after some years. This is because of the fact that with capitalism and privatisation comes more debt, and with more debt comes more taxation and with more taxation comes inflation and then finally unemployment and crime. Crowddelirium blinds people from seeing this. As a final note, it may be worth mentioning here that, unlike Libya, if Syria and Pakistan choose to join the Russian alliance, military intervention into these two states, also going through anarchy, will not be possible, as it could result in Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and some other Central Asian countries directly plunging into the scene.
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Oil and gas continue to flow at the Wafa oil field and refinery
Sharing the Libyan War Booty by Abdullah Seymour
The prey is dead and the vultures are moving in. Prior to the UN/NATO-led invasion, Libya had no debts. In fact, quite the opposite, it was a creditor nation investing in neighbouring African countries. Whatever one’s views regarding Muammar Gaddafi, the post-colonial Libyan government played a key role in eliminating poverty and developing the country’s health and educational infrastructure. Libya was considered to be the Switzerland of the African continent and boasted the highest literacy and educational enrolment rates in North Africa. The Libyan government was substantially increasing the development budget for
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health services, and with an average daily per capita calorie intake of 3,144 calories, the incidence of malnutrition stood at less than 5 %. Libya provided its citizens what is denied to many Americans – free public health care and free education. Now, everything has changed. Against the backdrop of war propaganda, Libya’s economic and social achievements over the last thirty years have been brutally reversed. With the help of the mainstream media and the slogan of ‘civilian protection’,
the Americans and Europeans have hand picked their new man to take over as head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), Mahmoud Jibril. Having succeeded through the UN in imposing a no-fly zone and carte blanche to bomb at will, a relentless media disinformation campaign and rapid recognition of the NTC as the legitimate rulers of the country, were the primary strategies used to achieve the regime change so urgently required by the debt ridden NATO allies and their creditors. Mahmoud Jibril is known for his privatization and liberalization policies. He is the man entrusted with selling off the Libyan assets and subjecting the Libyan people to a
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lifetime of debt and economic enslavement, the latest, and perhaps greatest so far, of the ‘Arab Spring’ nations to be fed through the production line of regime change and privatization. Libya was perhaps the jewel in the crown of the Arab nations, with Tunisia and Egypt dry runs before the main event. Libya was subjected to approximately nine thousand bombing sorties – tens of thousands of strikes on civilian targets including residential areas, government buildings, water supply and electricity generation facilities. An entire nation was bombed with the most advanced ordnance, including uranium coated ammunition. NATO and international financial institutions operate in close coordination. What was destroyed by NATO will be rebuilt by American and European contractors, financed by Libya’s external creditors and its own ‘frozen’ assets released under the direction of the Washington Consensus: “Specifically, the World Bank has been asked to examine the need for repair and restoration of services in the water, energy and transport sectors [bombed by NATO] and, in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, to support budget preparation [government borrowing] and help the banking sector back on to its feet.” The Libyan Central bank was one of the first government buildings to be bombed. Now it’s time for the great ‘fire sale’. The objective of the NATO bombings from the outset was to destroy the country’s standard of living and its civil infrastructure, to be followed by a reconstruction ‘bonanza’. Like the recent riots in Britain, the looters have moved in. But instead of wide-screen TVs and Nike Air trainers, this time the booty consists of the exclusive exploitation of the country’s most lucrative opportunities; banking and energy to name just two.
Bombed civilian areas are contaminated with depleted uranium
1. Banking Putting paid to the widely rumoured plans that Gaddafi had been preparing to launch the Gold Dinar as a pan-African currency that would have rendered Africa independent of the international banking system, and its natural resources out of reach of fiat currencies, is one of the more instantaneous results of the Libyan invasion. After having confiscated Libya’s overseas financial assets and captured its oil wealth, the NATO nations pledged to lend the (stolen) money back, to finance Libya’s post-war reconstruction. Libya is now lined up to join the ranks of indebted countries of the global south that have been driven into poverty by the IMF and the World Bank since the onslaught of the debt crisis in the early 1980s. The IMF promised a further $35 billion in loans to countries affected by Arab Spring
uprisings and formally recognized Libya’s ruling interim council as a legitimate power, opening up access to a myriad of international lenders. Getting IMF recognition is significant for Libya’s new leaders since it means international development banks and donors such as the World Bank can now offer financing.
2. Energy As former colonial masters, Italy has had clear intentions on Libyan energy for a good while. The Italian Energy group ENI was in almost daily direct contact with the NTC since April. ENI has been present in Libya since the 1950s and was the country’s biggest foreign energy operator before the conflict broke out, employing 2,000 people in plants, producing around 15 per cent of the company’s total output.
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MIDDLE EAST
The ENI Oil Bouri DP4 in the Bouri Field – one of the largest oil platforms in the Mediterranean
However, ENI has been quick to dismiss rumours that the energy war-booty would be spread around other nations, in particular France (Total) after its leading role in the military campaign. The head of the Italian oil group, Paolo Scaroni, said, “Thanks to our historic presence in the country, I do not think France will want to replace us.” Scaroni is to visit Libya in the next few weeks to sign a contract to supply gas for vehicles and natural gas to make electricity. The now NTC-controlled Arabian Gulf Oil Company, Libya’s largest oil producer, was quick to point out who they will be trading with: “We don’t have a problem with
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Western countries like the Italians, French and UK companies. But we may have some political issues with Russia, China and Brazil.” It is no coincidence that the latter three countries weren’t involved in the NATO mission in Libya, while the first three were. France is already ahead of Italy in the race for oil deals. France has spent €160 million on this war but has already secured contracts with the NTC for $28 billion, whereas Italy has contracts for only $1.5 billion. BP (UK) has announced plans to spend upwards of £540m to fund a joint venture
with the Libyans to search for gas and oil that would see it take about 19% of any future production revenues. BP’s rival Shell, which was exploring for gas in the Libyan desert before the conflict, says it has also been in touch with the NTC. With the European financial systems crumbling, the previously closed Libyan economy was too good an opportunity to miss, and may offer the Europeans the prospect of a temporary respite from the threatening attentions of the ratings agencies and the nervousness of the money markets.
ASIA
The busy streets of modern day Mumbai
A View into the India of Today by Parvez Asad Sheikh
Today we are given a picture of a severely unstable Pakistan that for the last decade has been embroiled in the Af-Pak war and the epicentre of the Terror Dialectic. Seemingly diametrically opposed to the negative press afforded to Pakistan is the recent trumpeting of the rise of India as a future international power and the largest democracy in the world. While the United States has flooded Pakistan with the violence that has spilt over its western borders, it treats India as the good brother, fostering a positive
Mumbai, lies an extremely complex and vulnerable nation state that is in constant danger of imploding on itself.
relationship that ignores the reality of the country, which it hopes will be able to check the rise of China. In order to see past this simplistic double standard, we must peel away the veneer that has been lavished upon India, so that we understand that behind the glamour of a handful of newly-rich and the unfortunate romanticising of the brutal streets of
India is a massive land of 1.3 billion people and by the very nature in which it reinvented itself, under so-called ‘Hindu Nationalism’ after the fall of the Mughal Dawlet and the era of the British Raj, it is home to a people of separation. The caste system, formalised and institutionalised by the British, means that many are socially paralysed from birth. Democracy or not, a woman born as a Dalit
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ASIA
Delhi – a young homeless street child, his home is the roadside
or Untouchable has nearly no chance to live any other reality except that of cleaning faeces from the street and being separated from the rest of society by a strangely pervasive complacency. And while there have been attempts at a more politically correct approach to such Backward Castes, as they are known, affirmative action and quotas still hit a wall of social constraints with parties like the BSP of Mayawati Kumari, a Dalit, becoming pawns in the political ploys between the two major parties, Congress and the BJP. As do the other hundred or so caste and clan based parties in the country. Those people outside of the caste system, the Muslims and the tribal peoples of northeastern India, face a collective rejection by the Hindus, united only by their need for separation from, what they see in
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the myth of Hindu Nationalism as the other. Poverty follows closely with the inherent separations in Indian society: One third of India’s people live below the poverty line, the vast majority of the remainder hover not too far away from it and only around 30 percent of the population has any benefit from a recent economic boom that is based on the same economic school that has bankrupted Europe and America. In a land of more than a billion human beings, this means millions of people living on different sides of a myriad of divides. There are several major areas of instability within the country where the pressure of social antagonism has been exacerbated by economic disparities resulting in armed conflict with the central government.
These regions are Jammu and Kashmir, the northeastern states that were isolated by the creation of East Pakistan and the significant swathe of central India where Maoist forces, known as Naxalites, have been fighting a protracted guerilla war with the Indian government since the 1960’s. And while the occupation of Jammu and Kashmir and the military nature of the government’s hold on its northeastern regions are causes that fit easily into the idea of a so-called Hindu, State fighting to hold the land of the ‘other’, the Naxalite movement, which we hear very little about, is a conflict at the very core of the Indian’s national psyche. It is a conflict that pits the modern idea of Indian against fellow Indian and is a microcosmic battle across the great divide between the haves and the have-nots.
ASIA
A reporter interviews Government armed forces deployed to contain Naxals in Chattisgarh
The Naxalite movement was born in the tiny quasi-town of Naxalabri in West Bengal on the 25th of May 1967 when a landlord’s violent coercion of a small farmer ignited an equally violent reaction by Maoist groups led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal. The reaction ignited a wave of uprisings across India, from the eastern states to Punjab and Maharashtra in the west and this first wave was violently quelled by the government forces of Indira Ghandi. After a second wave of Naxalite insurrection was violently quelled in the 1980’s, the movement established what it terms its Guerrilla Base in the forested regions of Central India, with its epicentre in the State of Chattisgarh. Here the ideology of Maoist revolution mixed with an increasingly wellcoordinated cadre of the poor, the idealistic
and the indigenous tribes who are attempting to change the very nature of the Indian state. The Indian government, faced with a bolder and better trained guerilla force to fight in the ancient forests of India took to the typically clumsy tactics of counter-insurgency and asymmetrical warfare. By arming local militias known as Salwa Judum and importing militia from the ancient headhunting Naga tribes of the northeast, they created a civil war within the heart of their country that carries on to this day, somehow ignored by most. This battle at the heart of India spreads right across the country with support for the armed movement in all levels of Indian society, from middle class intellectuals to the workers who man the fronts used to produce rudimentary arms.
According to recent estimates, the Naxalites hold sway in 170 districts and 14 states, amounting to almost one third of the country. From here we can see that India is far from the solid state as it has been portrayed in recent times, in particular as an example for Pakistan to follow. Its make up on a molecular level is suffused with an explosive energy that is manifesting itself in an ever-greater manner under a defunct and idealistic ideology. And the Maoists will continue to capture the hearts and minds of the hundreds of millions within the country who are in what some Indian intellectuals have termed ‘outer India’.
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AFRICA
Sudan and South Sudan will Resolve Oil Issues by Saaleha Bamjee, IPS According to Dr. Ali Yousif Ahmed Alsharif, Sudan’s ambassador to South Africa, the governments of Sudan and South Sudan will eventually agree on a reasonable oil-sharing agreement between the two nations as there has been political will from both sides to find a resolution. His comment comes as South Sudanese President Salva Kiir made his first official state visit to Sudan on Oct. 8. Alsharif said that Kiir’s visit is proof that there is now political will from both sides towards reaching an agreement, “and this is an important development.”
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“Ultimately they will agree on a reasonable outcome. Co-operation between the two countries is very important; it is a matter of viability for the two countries. They have to be viable to live together. The south is landlocked and they need the ports of Sudan,” Alsharif told IPS. “During the visit they agreed to never resort to war to solve problems and that dialogue would be the basis of a resolution,” Alsharif said. Alsharif was attending the Pan-African Parliament, which wrapped up its Fifth Ordinary Session of the Second Parliament in Midrand, South Africa on the 14th Oct.
AFRICA
IPS spoke to Alsharif about the difficulties facing both Sudan and South Sudan after secession in July and the tensions in the Abyei region. Abeyi remains part of Sudan and could join South Sudan if ethnic groups in the region vote in a referendum to do so. Alsharif explained that the oil-rich Abyei region is populated by the Dinka Ngok tribe, the biggest ethnic group in South Sudan, along with the Missiriya, a northern nomadic tribe. Q: What challenges do Sudan and South Sudan face after the secession? A: The “divorce” has not been an easy one. In accordance with the comprehensive peace agreement, it was agreed that the Abyei region was to have a referendum to determine the future of the area and whether its residents want to stay in Sudan or if they want to be part of South Sudan. This referendum would involve both the ‘South Sudanese’ and ‘Sudanese’ in the area voting. The problem was caused by the refusal of the south to allow the Missiriya tribe to vote. The south said only the Dinka Ngok could vote. The north said otherwise. The tensions remain and the referendum is pending. It has resulted in the Sudanese army occupying the area because of attacks from the army of the south. Now there is an agreement for Ethiopian troops, under a United Nations mandate, to replace the Sudanese Army with a joint administration being formed between Sudan and South Sudan for negotiations to continue. Q: What of the oil-sharing issue between Sudan and South Sudan? A: The oil sharing (agreement) is pending. About 75 percent of the discovered oil is in the south (with the rest in the north). The entire oil infrastructure, however, is based in the north. We are now discussing dividing the oil wealth and there is no problem with the share; 75 to 25 percent. The issue is with the pricing. According to international practice, you usually split the resources 50 to 50 percent for 10 or 15 years after the split because initially (the previously combined nation) contributed to the set-up costs etc. That is why the north wants to charge more for transport, to replace the loss of income. Q: Some political analysts are saying that China, due to its large oil investments in Sudan, is in a position to play a greater diplomatic role in reducing conflict between South Sudan and Sudan. What are your thoughts on this?
A: I was the Sudanese ambassador to China in 1993 to 1998 and this was when we started co-operation with them in Sudan. The government in South Sudan of course inherited the agreements that were signed by the government of Sudan at that time. So China is in the south and China is also in the north, and it is in the interests of all three parties to co-operate in a constructive way. In our experience, China has been a very good partner in development and we think they will be a very good element of stability and development between the north and the south. The presence of China in Africa raises the envy and concerns of the West, because they see that China is a stable economy when the economies of Europe and America are in shambles. Q: How would you react to the claim that the conflict affecting the communities along the border states will result in genocide? A: The main reason for the conflict in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan is that there are many individuals who fought with the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and its army (Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)). When the south signed the peace agreement, it had to be decided how they were going to move forward, and how the regions were to be ruled within a united north Sudan. We started to have problems, caused by elements from the SPLA. In Southern Kordofan, we had general elections during 2009 but the SPLM disagreed with the census, despite it being declared fair by the international community. Based on a second census, they held elections and the northernaffiliated National Congress Party (NCP) candidate won and the NCP obtained more seats than the SPLM. The SPLM then said the elections were rigged and started the fighting. In the Blue Nile, it was a similar problem with the SPLM faction in the north. So there is no genocide, but it seems that when rebel forces attack and kill it is tolerated, while when government forces act in order to protect, it is seen (differently). During Kiir’s visit to Khartoum he was requested to refrain from supporting the rebels fighting in the north, whatever their previous relations might have been. South Sudan is now a sovereign state and has no right to interfere in the affairs of the north.
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CENTRAL AMERICA
Fair Trade Taking Root by Danilo Valladares (Guatemala City)
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CENTRAL AMERICA
“We started out with 10 organisations and we now have 22 cooperatives with more than 19,000 members who grow and export crops with an environmental, social and economic focus,” says an enthusiastic Marvin López, with the Guatemalan network of small-scale fair trade farmers (CGCJ). Thousands of members of cooperatives in Central America have turned to fair trade production, based on the principles of environmental conservation, gender equality, sustainable production, respect for human rights, the eradication of child labour, safe and healthy working conditions and the payment of fair prices that ensure farmers a living wage. The CGCJ produces some 290,000 quintals (one quintal = 100 pounds weight) of coffee and 830 tons of sugar a year, which are mainly exported to the United States and Europe. The income offers an opportunity for better living standards to more than 100,000 people in this impoverished Central American country of 14 million people. “Our aim is to provide organisations of small farmers with opportunities to earn higher incomes by gaining access to a special niche market with a social as well as economic focus,” López told Globalia. But it hasn’t been easy. Lack of financing, limited access to technology and infrastructure for production and a lack of knowledge about marketing are just a few items on a long list of limiting factors that have made it difficult for small-scale fair trade farmers in the region to compete in the world of global trade. “We have to be competitive and work hard on these aspects to ensure good production
Newly hand-picked coffee berries
levels and supplies for our customers,” added López, a coffee grower from northern Guatemala. The seven countries of Central America – Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – have a combined population of 43 million people, 40 percent of whom live in poverty. “Fair trade benefits small farmers because it guarantees you a minimum price for your product and gives you a small incentive,” Nelson Guerra, the Honduran coordinator of small-scale fair trade farmers (CHPP), told Globalia. The cooperative member pointed out that in 2000, during the world coffee crisis, the price of a quintal plunged to 43 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But at the same time, fair trade certified
cooperatives were selling their coffee at 135 dollars per quintal. “What fair trade represents for small-scale producers is the insurance that their product will always be sold at a price higher than production cost and that it will generate enough earnings to support their families for the rest of the year,” Guerra said. That is the reason for the growth in fair trade production in Honduras, from 5,000 quintals of certified fair trade coffee in 2002 to 200,000 quintals today, the small-scale businessman said. Nevertheless, fair trade production still represents only a tiny share of the coffee produced in the region. Guerra said that of the more than five million quintals of coffee produced annually in Honduras, just five percent is produced
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CENTRAL AMERICA
Local Guatemalan farmers harvesting coffee
under fair trade conditions – a proportion similar to that of other countries in the region. “This is basically because of two things. First, 80 percent of coffee production in Honduras is in the hands of small-scale producers, and it is difficult for them to organise. Of the 105,000 coffee growers, only 10,000 are organised in cooperatives,” he said. At the same time, “there is a lack of access to financing because agricultural production worldwide depends on credit, but in Honduras, a farming country, a single private bank finances 80 percent of the coffee production,” he said. Producers in Costa Rica face similar challenges, “In relation to the country’s overall trade, fair trade represents a very small share of exports, but little by little our sales abroad are increasing, as are the number of markets our products are being
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sent to,” Sonia Murillo, Costa Rica’s national fair trade coordinator, told IPS. Some members of cooperatives estimate that fair trade production in Costa Rica, which is mainly coffee, sugar, fresh fruit, cacao and bananas, accounts for less than one percent of total output. However, “Fair trade has brought together many small-scale producers organised in cooperatives and associations that have improved their situation and conditions in their communities,” said Murillo. “Factors like climate change, global trade and the lack of specific government policies make it hard for small companies, which inevitably see fair trade as a life saver since it offers them better treatment and access to a niche market”, she added. But according to economists, there is one key aspect that would enable fair trade to expand: namely, the elimination of farm
subsidies by the world’s big economies. “The world’s major food exporters, like the United States and the European Union, shell out agricultural subsidies, which make it impossible for us to compete in those markets,” Pablo Urrutia, at the Association for Social Research and Studies (ASIES), an independent research centre and think tank in Guatemala, told IPS. He also called for more intermediaries, admittedly reduced to a minimum in the fair trade process because, “There are many people who have no access to markets as they have no middlemen – a mechanism that facilitates trade,” he said. Urrutia also underlined the importance of other factors, like competitiveness, an improved customs system, and the strengthening of free trade treaties, because “fair trade has immense possibilities here”.
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LIFESTYLE
A Modern Epidemic? by Sulaiman Wilms From Saudi-Arabia to Shanghai, diabetes is spreading the world over like few other diseases. The global convergence of lifestyle habits and the adoption of a Western diet are having fatal consequences. Experts warn that the disease will continue to spread. For some, diabetes is just as dangerous as AIDS: “Someone in the world dies of causes related to diabetes every ten seconds … in the same ten seconds, another two people contract the illness.” (K. Siegel & V. Narayan, 2008) As an author one is not normally affected by the chosen subject – unless you happen to be a travel writer. This time it was different. While writing, my wife was injecting the first of a total of eight doses of insulin which she has to administer as a sufferer of gestational diabetes, a special form of the disease.
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A metabolic illness Diabetes is paradoxical. The metabolism is flooded with glucose (a form of sugar and a source of energy for the body), but the illness prevents this glucose from getting into the cells where it is urgently needed. For many cells of the body, insulin
provides the signal to absorb this source of energy. Aside from an acute deficit of sugar, which in some cases can be lifethreatening, diabetes can cause other lasting damage. “Diabetes is divided into two basic types: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an illness in which the insulinproducing cells in the pancreas are destroyed for reasons yet unknown. Type 2, which occurs in more than 90 percent of all diabetes sufferers, is when the insulin loses its effect,” explained Professor Thomas Haak of the Bad Mergentheim Diabetes Clinic, Germany, in interview. A congenital resistance to insulin once had a biological purpose. High insulin release levels enable the reliable metabolisation of
LIFESTYLE
every ingested calorie, which used to ensure survival in times of hunger. People with an innate resistance are good “food converters” and, if food is in ample supply, tend to be overweight even during childhood. That is why you find a disproportionate amount of people with insulin resistance in the Third World. But because the standard of living has been rising there too, there have been explosions of type 2 diabetes, particularly in India. “With type 1 diabetes, it is the essential insulin which is lacking, and which has to be injected in every case. With type 2 diabetes, mellitus, there may also be an insulin deficit after some years, which can mean insulin is also required for this type of diabetes,” says the German diabetologist. Type 2 diabetes mellitus requires a particular heredity disposition, one that is widespread throughout the world, although more common among some peoples than others. In Europe, immigrants from the Middle East, Turkey and the Indian subcontinent suffer the disease more commonly than the indigenous population. If one parent has type 2 diabetes, then there is a 25 – 50 percent likelihood of the child contracting it, and if both parents have it then this likelihood is even higher. The practice of marrying within the same ethnic group combined with unhealthy dietary habits among immigrants has made this one of the most common non-infectious diseases among immigrant communities. Type 2 diabetes carries a particular risk of long-term secondary diseases if not recognised. “If diabetes exists for several years, then it can cause illnesses in the body’s small and large blood vessels and nerves. The most common secondary diseases in the small blood vessels are damage to the eyes and the kidneys. Diseases of the large blood vessels include heart attack, stroke, and circulatory problems in the legs,” explains Haak.
Self-testing blood kit to determine sugar levels
The problem is the way we live “Diabetes mellitus is of considerable import to healthcare policy and society in general, because of the frequency of the disease, high mortality rates, and diabetes-related secondary illness which can bring with them the danger of blindness, dialysis, and the amputation of limbs,” reports Berlin’s famous Robert Koch Institute in one of its publications on diabetes, adding that lack of movement and excess weight are the causes of this form of diabetes mellitus. In Germany, no less than 800 people contract the illness daily. In his essay on the globalisation of diabetes, Dr. Frank B. Hu describes – alongside genetic factors – two main causes for the emergence and spread of diabetes: unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. This, he says, begins in the womb. For instance, untreated gestational diabetes (up to 20 percent in Germany) can damage the unborn foetus. Add to that malnourishment (excessive sugar consumption especially) and a lack of exercise, and the risk becomes greater still. Excess weight is one of the main causes of type 2 diabetes. Aside from a congenital insensitivity to insulin, excess weight
causes additional resistance in those cells that would otherwise respond to insulin. “One of the main problems in type 2 diabetes is that the insulin cannot take effect properly in the organs where it is supposed to – the skeletal muscles, fatty tissue, and the liver. This is known as insulin resistance,” writes Dr. Günter Limberg in an article. “The interaction between Western diets and lifestyles on the one hand and a particular genetic background on the other are accelerating the spread of the diabetes epidemic,” writes Dr. Hu. A sedentary lifestyle increases the risk of diabetes considerably, with television emerging as one of the biggest risk factors. For example, light exercise for an hour a day reduces the risk of diabetes by up to 34 percent.
You have to change your life The poet Rainer Maria Rilke famously ended his poem Archaic Torso of Apollo with the words: “You have to change your life.” Nothing could describe type 2 diabetes more fittingly. “Clinical tests proof that changing your diet and lifestyle is a highly effective way of preventing type 2 diabetes among different ethnic groups … Emphasis should be placed on the early acquisition
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LIFESTYLE
of healthy habits among young population groups, since this is then easier to maintain during later life,” recommends Dr. Hu. If a patient loses excess weight then his blood sugar level drops. Around half of newly diagnosed diabetics go into remission after losing ten kilograms. These findings reinforce the need for a comprehensive change of lifestyle. The health risks at the onset of the illness, however, are but theoretical, which is why it is difficult for many people to stem the disease at an early stage by changing the way they live. You lose weight by using up more energy than you take in. This means that energy absorbed in the form of food must be reduced, and its consumption increased by increasing the basal metabolism and exercise. Professor Haak agrees with this and summarises prevention and therapy, without insulin, as follows: “You can’t protect yourself against type 1, but then again it is not so important. The most widespread type 2 diabetes can be prevented effectively by losing weight, staying slim and doing exercise. Cardiovascular sports are ideal in this respect, although it is important to build up muscle too, especially when older. You should exercise for around three hours a week. If you do that and keep your weight normal, then diabetes is less likely to emerge even if you are genetically predisposed to it.” Long-term weight loss cannot be achieved by radical dieting or going hungry, since this leads to a loss of muscular mass and therefore a reduction in the basal metabolism, leading in turn to what is known as the yo-yo effect. A good healthy diet, long-term, is required to lose weight permanently.
Focus on Asia: a global epidemic If you drive along the coast road in Kuwait by the shores of the Persian Gulf, you will notice the ultra-modern Dasman Diabetes Institute alongside countless high-rise
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A growing number of children in China have severe weight and health problems
buildings. This is no plaything of rich Arab investors; it is there to deal with real problems. In this region, as in the rest of Asia, genetic disposition and a globalised lifestyle collide. Extreme obesity is no longer a rarity among the locals. Diabetes used to be considered an illness of the well-to-do, but now it is impacting more and more on developing countries. On a global scale it affects 5.9 percent of all adults, but up to a third of adults suffer from it in many Asian and Pacific nations. “Nowadays, 80 percent of all cases are in developing nations and emerging economies, since malnutrition and underdevelopment in childhood often lead to the emergence of diabetes later on,” write Karen Siegel and Venkat Narayan in their 2008 article entitled ‘Globalization and Health’. Not only the giants China and India, but also threshold nations such as Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand, presently contribute to the spread of the metabolic illness. “China and India will probably remain the biggest sufferers of this illness up until around 2025,” claims South Korean specialist Zoon, author of a study of
diabetes. Similarly, the famous magazine Lancet warned a few years ago: “Unlike Western industrialised nations where it is mostly older people who suffer from the illness, diabetes is also threatening young people in most Asian countries … That is why many child diabetes sufferers are dying in poor countries.” Diabetes occurs more frequently in the poorer classes than it does in the middle and upper classes, undoubtedly connected to their standard of living and the fact that they tend to be unaware of the consequences of diet and lifestyle. What makes things more difficult is that many poor people live in countries where a lack of healthcare means no screening. As a consequence, many people, particularly those of normal weight, do not notice that they are ill at all. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has described Diabetes as the “epidemic of the 21st century”. Figures are on the up worldwide with estimates constantly being proven too low. In 2000, according to the World Health Organization, at least 171 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, that is; 2.8 per cent of the
LIFESTYLE
population. Its incidence is increasing rapidly, with the estimate that, by 2030, this number will almost double. Dr. Hu believes that type 2 diabetes is “a global health crisis which is damaging the economies concerned – especially those of developing countries.” Rapid urbanisation, changes in dietary habits and an increasingly sedentary way of life have enlarged the epidemic in conjunction with global obesity. Asia, on account of its economic growth and growing population, is the epicenter, according to Hu, with 60 percent of all diabetics living there today. In the year 2008, almost ten percent of all Chinese adults suffered from the illness, while a further 148 million were in its preliminary stage. According to Dr. Hu, almost 20 percent of southern India urban dwellers are diabetics. While many countries have much lower rates of obesity than the USA, they have similar or higher rates of diabetes. According to Siegel and Narayan, the rise of diabetes has been caused by factors unrelated to healthcare itself, with globalisation the driving factor as it has brought with it the spread of three risk factors, namely bad diet, lack of exercise and tobacco. These three alone cause four patterns of disease – cardiovascular disease, some kinds of cancer, chronic respiratory complaints and diabetes – which are responsible for more than 50 percent of deaths worldwide. Many places have seen a radical change in diet over recent decades. Particular kinds of grain and bread, dairy products and butter, as well as red meat, and industrial foodstuffs such as the notorious fast foods and sweets, are now available to many people on account of rising prosperity. Successful advertising, a lack of awareness along with the “prestige” factor have made Western fast food chains the norm on the Arabian Peninsula and in the affluent areas of China. It is easily forgotten that growing wealth is eaten up by the concurrent growth in diabetes treatment costs. Another often-overlooked
factor is the selling pressure exerted by big agricultural exporter countries. The USA, Australia and France – to name a few – apply unfair subsidies to ensure that their agricultural and food industry exports penetrate all other markets. In the USA the high fructose corn syrup extracted from maize and present in almost all soft drinks represents a potentially harmful source of sugar. Researchers fear that this sugar can cause obesity to a much greater extent than industrially produced granulated sugar.
According to JP Morgan (quoted by Siegel and Narayan), the global price for a single calorie of energy has fallen dramatically in recent years [these figures were from before the global run on the food markets]. Furthermore the price of fats and oils has almost halved over the last 50 years. The cost of vegetables, on the other hand, has increased approximately threefold. Traditional dietary customs in Asia are being abandoned in favour of the eating habits of urbanised zones. These changes have led to overfeeding and a positive energy balance, meaning that many people take in more energy than they use. In India and other southern Asian countries the traditional use of clarified fats such as ghee compound the situation because they contain an enormous proportion of polysaturated fatty acids, and are said to contribute to the development of insulin resistance and chronic inflammation.
Another aspect of this is that husked rice (which is the staple food in many parts of Asia) has a massive impact on blood sugar levels. British health studies have shown that the predominant consumption of white rice (as opposed to unhusked rice) increases the risk of diabetes. This never used to be a problem since higher blood sugar levels were offset by traditional outdoor work. The more people leave agriculture, the more this physical compensation disappears. In Thailand the authorities have been trying for some years to educate their population about the health risks of these changes. Chaisri Supornsilaphachai, director of the Thai Health Ministry’s department for noninfectious diseases, explains: “We are trying to explain to people that this new illness with which people are paying for their Westernised lifestyle cannot be cured in hospitals. Bangkok especially, with its confectionary stores and international fastfood chains, has seen a takeover of new eating habits. Thais used to eat vegetables, fish and fruit, whereas today they order fried chicken and other fatty meals.” “Diabetes is serious because it adds social, economic and health burdens to the societies it affects. It incurs direct and indirect costs. It affects patients, societies and governments. Direct burdens include treatment costs, while indirect burdens include loss of productivity, the provision of everything needed to treat the disease, and a reduced standard of living for patients and their relatives,” state Siegel and Narayan assessing the economic consequences. Because treatment and medication are expensive, many sufferers are not in a position to do anything proper about their condition. Siegel and Narayan quote the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate, “that China, the Russian Federation and India will have to spend 558, 303 and 237 billion US dollars of their national wealth respectively over the coming decade to treat diabetes, strokes and heart disease.”
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C U LT U R E
Why Shakespeare? ‘The Power Template’ – Shakespeare’s Political Plays by Robert Luongo
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P E R S OC NU A LT L I TUI R EE S
Robert Luongo
I lecture at Dallas College in Cape Town, a college that focuses on the educating of men The Power Template: Shakespeare’s Political Plays is a study of who will be future leaders amongst the Shakespeare’s History and Roman Plays which identifies references to key political issues of the Elizabethan that Shakespeare couldthe not core Muslims. Apart fromagelanguages, have addressed straight-on without falling foul of the Privy Council. The author also ventures make thought provoking comparisons curriculum is tobased squarely on political with present day governance which call into question the conduct of studies. These the modern political class. Beninclude Jonson wrotecontemporary that Shakespeare ‘was not of an age, but for all time!’ These plays, and the light they cast geopolitics, philosophies, Roman on the nature of power,political continue to have an exigent and immediate bearing on the business of governance in our time. history and, pivotal to all, the study of Islamic Robert Luongo was born in 1949 and is a knowledge that explicitly pertains to matters native of New England. However, he has of governance and the spent close to 25 of the last 40 years living in protection of the England, Spain and Scotland. He presently socio-economic for trade and resides in South Africa where he isparameters currently teaching Shakespeare & Rhetoric at the commerce that are a safeguard against Dallas College in Cape Town. His first major work of non-fiction was The and Gold the exploitation of the usury, monopolies Thread: Ezra Pound’s Principles of Good Government and Sound members of Money a society.
THE POWER TEMPLATE Shakespeare’s Political Plays
The Power Template
(Strangers Press, 1995).
Robert Luongo
The subject I teach, and the theme of my new book, The Power Template, is that of William Shakespeare’s political plays. Therefore, on the first day of class faced with a new group of 1st year students, I ask them: Why Shakespeare? The next question I ask is why we are going to specifically study and explore his history and Roman plays. Dallas College Press
Dallas There are two fundamental reasons for any study of Shakespeare; College a general one that applies to his entire opus and the other Press one more apropos of and specific to the theme not only of my recent book but most especially to the Dallas College syllabus.
Not withstanding that Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English, the language used from about 1500 to the midseventeenth century when modern English began its ascent, on through the eighteenth century and the standardising of both spelling and grammar, right up until today when new words continue to enter the language, we are, nevertheless, exposed through Shakespeare’s works to the very pinnacle of the English language. The range of vocabulary used by Shakespeare, estimated at 25,000 words; his own contribution of nearly 3,000 new words (often derived from Latin or Greek, Norse, Saxon or Old French); innumerable phrases we unwittingly use without realising they are directly from Shakespeare; together with his masterful employment of the use of metaphors and similes as a way of obtaining a deeper and more profound understanding of the meanings of both events and those who initiate them; his surgical precision – le mot juste – in making a point; matched by an irrepressible wit, humour and delightful deployment of double entendres and puns, you will not find anyone who surpasses him in his use of the English language.
The Dallas College Lectures Now for the second reason and the one that not only directly relates to the theme of The Power Template: Shakespeare’s Political Plays, but also to the very focus of Dallas College. What we discover in the history plays, after Shakespeare’s first tetralogy that explores the reign of Henry VI up to the demise of Richard III, referred to as the period of The Wars of the Roses (England’s devastating civil conflict) and followed by his second tetralogy that covered an earlier period of history that began with Richard II and ended with Henry V, is the archetypal model for nearly all the power struggles that have brought countries to war, whether with competing foreign powers or internecine conflict, together erupting upon the contemporary world stage. These plays not only remain topical but of great importance for acquiring an insight and understanding of current affairs. When we get to the Roman plays: Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra and ending with Shakespeare’s political masterpiece, Coriolanus, we are brought into a profound meditation on the nature of the republican model of government, whose origins are derived from the ancient Greeks, and which remain the primary model for all present day political democracies.
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The Roman Senate (that ruled by a majority caucus) versus personal rule lies at the core of these plays. Of Caesar it was said that he was a de facto king, a king in all but name, although he was legally one of the triumvirs who ruled Rome and its vast territories. It was believed that he would (given the circumstances) become a dictator and undermine the doctrines and ideals of the Roman Republic. One example that was brought forward by those opposed to his increasing power and popularity amongst the people was the instance when he made a unilateral decision, failing to present it before the Senate for a vote, which was to expunge all interest on loans made to the plebeian class from the patricians, many of whom where notable Senators, and further, to grant additional debt relief to those men who were war veterans just returned from extended campaigns. He was, according to the Senate, clearly manifesting the signs of acting the tyrant. Senators enjoyed the privileges of franchises for certain goods and raw materials imported into Rome as well as other lucrative benefits that came with their position. Might not Caesar possibly rescind those concessions and contracts if he were to become sole ruler? Nevertheless, an assault on his life would appear as murder unless an ideological justification supported it. The conspirators needed a man of impeccable credentials who should be the very embodiment of
Robert Luongo, teaching at Dallas College
the ideals of the Republic, someone who could be the moral face of the assassination of Caesar. Who better than the “honourable” Brutus to expound the virtues of the liberty, freedom and rights of all Romans to validate a regime change? It was decided that the best course of action was a pre-emptive strike before events “Which, hatch’d, would as his kind grow mischievous, / And kill him in the shell.” All too familiar within the current political milieu. Future leaders amongst the Muslims must have a sound understanding of the inner dynamics of these matters, with access to the necessary tools of language through which they can be articulated. Why Shakespeare? Well I hope that it is clearer to readers why in a college for the 21st century, with a paideia directed towards our future Muslim leaders, we have included the study of Shakespeare. “The play’s the thing, Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.” Robert Luongo www.thepowertemplate.com
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