Nov 1, 2010 | External News
The UK launch of An African Answer will take place 8-12 November, in the presence of the film’s protagonists Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye, the director Dr Alan Channer and producer Dr Imad Karam.
The UK premiere will be at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), London at 6.30pm on Tuesday 9 November. The event will be chaired by
Sir Richard Jolly, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations.
The first screening for the general public will be at Friends House, Euston, at 7pm on Friday 12 November. Private screenings will also be held at St John’s College, Oxford University and Her Majesty’s Young Offenders Institution, Rochester – where Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye will facilitate a workshop with inmates on reducing re-offending.
An African Answer depicts a dramatic bid by Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa – former militia leaders turned peace-makers from Nigeria – to bring reconciliation in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province, following communal killings. It is filmed in the district of Kenya worst hit by the post-election violence of early 2008, when around 1000 people were killed and tens of thousands were displaced from their homes and farms.
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, describes it as ‘A very important film. We need to learn, indeed, from Imam Ashafa and Pastor James’ says Annan, ‘and multiply in a thousand places their experiences of healing and reconciliation.’
An African Answer is produced by For the Love of Tomorrow Films (FLTfilms), the film-making division of UK charity Initiatives of Change. It follows an earlier, award-winning film about the two men, The Imam and the Pastor, shot in Nigeria and narrated by Rageh Omaar. This depicted the astonishing reconciliation between the former enemies, showing that it is possible for perpetrators of inter-religious violence to become instigators of peace.
‘After the global impact of The Imam and the Pastor, we wanted to make a film that depicts the peace-building methodology of Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa,’ says director Dr Alan Channer. ‘We were ready to follow them to any conflict in the world where they were invited to mediate. Then the post-election violence erupted in Kenya. We went to Kenya, they were invited back, and we followed them again. We found ourselves witness to Africans from one country working to help those in another, in a highly effective way.’’
An African Answer had its Kenyan premiere in Nairobi in May 2010, in the same hotel in which Kofi Annan brokered the National Peace Accord. Chief Guest Francis Kimemia, Permanent Secretary for Internal Security, said ‘There are no permanent angels or permanent devils in any community. Peace needs to be deepened.This film is a resource of best practice…. It reflects the indomitable spirit of the Kenyan people.’
Looking back on the process, Imam Ashafa says: ‘This work is about helping people take charge of their own destiny. Solutions can come from the grass-roots. We touched a spirit of reconciliation that was there in the Kenyan people.’
Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye were awarded the inaugural Fondation Chirac Prize for Conflict Prevention in December 2009.
An African Answer (38m)
Narrator — Kathleen Openda-Mvati
Camera – Robinson Malemo & Tony Biwott
Producer – Imad Karam
Director – Alan Channer
An African Answer is available on DVD from FLTfilms, price £15.99 (inc p&p)
Tel – 020 7798 6020 www.fltfilms.org.uk
For more information about the public premiere, please click here.
For more information on The Imam and the Pastor, please click here
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye will be available for media interviews during the day on 9 November, and on the afternoon of 12 November, as will the film’s director, Dr Alan Channer, and producer, Dr Imad Karam. Please use the contacts below for further information. Photographs of Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye and stills from the film are also available.
About FLTfilms
FLTfilms is an autonomous division of Initiatives of Change in the UK. Over a period of almost 50 years, FLTfilms has established itself as a world-class documentary film unit specialising in films which foster reconciliation and peace-building. Its name derives from a documentary film on Franco-German reconciliation, For the Love of Tomorrow.
FLTfilms is co-directed by Dr Alan Channer and Dr Imad Karam
http://www.fltfilms.org.uk/
About Initiatives of Change
Initiatives of Change is a global network of people from many cultures and nationalities who are committed to building trust across the world’s divides, starting with change in their own lives.
We run programmes for social and economic justice which encourage participants to find their own path to building trust in their community and country. These initiatives are based on a commitment to absolute moral standards of honesty, purity of heart and motive, unselfishness in private and public life, love and forgiveness. We are open to those of all faiths and none.
http://www.uk.iofc.org/about
About the RSA
For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress. The RSA provides one of the biggest free events programmes in the UK, enabling leading thinkers and new voices to share ideas on key contemporary issues. The RSA’s work is supported by an international Fellowship of 27,000 people and is based at a historic London house designed by Robert Adam in the early 1770s.
http://www.thersa.org/about-us
Background to An African Answer
More than 1,000 people were killed following disputed elections in Kenya at the end of 2007. Suspicion over the validity of the poll and fears of a change in the balance of power between Kenya’s ethnic groups sparked widespread violence. On 1January 2008, near the town of Eldoret, a mob attacked and set fire to a church where hundreds of people had taken refuge. Some 40 people were burned to death.
For media enquiries please contact:
Michael Smith (07986 179776)
mike.smith@uk.iofc.org
Don de Silva (07904 122248)
dondes@uk.iofc.org
General enquiries
020 7798 6000
reception@london.iofc.org
Oct 30, 2010 | News & Press
he Cordoba Foundation along with Forward Thinking and Global Peace and Unity organised a one day conference entitled ‘Moving Beyond the Rhetoric: Increasing Trust between Faiths, Beliefs, Cultures and Communities’ which brought together academics, faith leaders, practitioners and activists to share their experiences, knowledge and expertise on building bridges between communities in the context of promoting understanding and dialogue.
The aim of the conference was to:
* highlight problems cause by fear and mistrust of different faiths, beliefs, cultures and communities
* encourage and highlight advantages of increasing trust, respect and understanding
* promote best practice between stakeholders
* provide a space for contentious issues to be discussed
Panel discussions were divided into the following geographical regions:
* UK
* USA and Europe
* Africa
* Asia
*The Middle East
Panellists included:
* Pastor Bob Roberts (USA)
* Mustapha bargouti (Palestine)
* Daniel Levy (USA / Israel)
* Dr Ram Puniyani (India)
* Shams Deen (NIgeria)
* Dr Salauddin Atbani (Sudan0
* Prof Tariq Ramadan (UK)
* Anas Altikriti (UK)
* Ebrahim Rasool (RSA)
* John Ging
The conclusions of the conference included sharing ideas of best practice and emphasising the need for local grassroots initiatives to be supported and encouraged in order to ensure trust between communities is built.
Oct 13, 2010 | External News
Venue: Park Campus, University of Northampton,
Northampton NN2 7AL, UK
This conference gathers academics, journalists, researchers, policy
makers, youth workers, civil society organisations and other members of the public to discuss issues around Muslims in Europe, identity, citizenship and belonging. It aims to address issues relating to Muslims’ engagement or disengagement with the mainstream European society; what challenges are there for their positive participation in the success of the multiculturalism model. It will also aim to map out Muslims’ use of the media and the extent to which that helps define who they are.
Conference themes:
This conference will cover (but not necessarily limited to) the following areas of enquiry:
– European or Muslim: What do Muslims in Europe believe to be
their identity?
– Multiculturalism and Integration: What does this actually mean?
– Active citizenship: What does this mean in Islamic terms?
– The relationship between British Muslims and the global Muslim
community – the Ummah.
– The rise of political Islam – Islamism
– Post 9/11 Radicalisation and terrorism
– New media and youth/women empowerment.
– Youth subcultures and new media, what is going on?
– What functions are the internet and satellite TV playing in
engaging/disengaging Muslim communities?
Call for submissions:
Abstracts of no more than 400 words, along with a short bio should be submitted by the 15th October 2010. Papers should reflect one or more of the conference themes mentioned above. Particularly welcome are papers based on empirical work and a clear research method (s).
Submission deadlines:
Submission of abstracts: 15th October 2010
Notification of acceptance: 3rd November 2010
Submission of full papers: 26th January 2011
Selected conference papers will be published in an edited volume.
Please send all submissions and enquiries to Dr Noureddine Miladi
(conference coordinator), E-mail: noureddine.miladi@northampton.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1604 892104
Oct 9, 2010 | News & Press
The Cordoba Foundation (TCF) sponsored and facilitated the World Muslim Leadership Forum co-hosted by Faith Regen Foundation and ASLI (Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute) and chaired by H.E Shaukat Aziz, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan.
The forum was designed to bring together key thinkers and practitioners around a table to share ideas on the following subject
1) Enhancing the relationship between the West and Muslims – Strengthening Ties and Promoting Dialogue
2) How to promote sustainable development in Muslim Societies
3) Islamic Finance
The CEO of TCF was also a panellist on the discussions regarding ‘Enhancing Relationships between the West and Muslims’
Giving the key note address, ‘Bridging the Muslim and Western World for Peace and Development’, HRH Raza Shah, Crown Prince of Perak said that ‘organised dialogue between the two sides will need to focus on what needs to be made right on both sides’.
The foreign minister of Malaysia also participated at the conference which was launched at the House of Lords.
Oct 1, 2010 | News & Press
Facilitated by The Cordoba Foundation, a roundtable discussion was held on the 1st of October exploring the role of religious institutions in peace building in conflict affected Sri Lanka.
Led by Dr S.H Hasbullah, a prominent academic from the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka, the discussion centred around the role of the Mosque Federation in Kathankudy, a town in Eastern Sri Lanka, which as a consequence of the conflict, had to take a leadership role at the local level to successfully address issues of survival of the community. In mapping the part played by the organisation, the discussion centered around the future relevance for roles played by such religious institutions in a post conflict Sri Lanka. The presentation by Dr Hasbullah built on a long period investigation on the aspect of religion and conflict in eastern Sri Lanka undertaken by the University of Edinbugh and SOAS which was presented at the Royal Geographic Society.
In attendance at the discussions were representatives from the Sri Lankan High Commission and the office of the President of Sri Lanka.
Aug 30, 2010 | News & Press
The Cordoba Foundation (TCF) rejects utterly libellous allegations made against it by co-director of the Quilliam Foundation Maajid Nawaz. On Sunday 8 August on the Sky News Sunday Live programme, Nawaz falsely claimed that “The Cordoba Foundation, they in Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall, hosted the Al Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki”.
This accusation is baseless, since TCF has at no time organised or hosted any event at the Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall. Nawaz is basing this accusation on a similar report issued by the Centre for Social Cohesion in 2009, which TCF refuted in a statement on 13 November 2009.
It is utterly absurd for Nawaz to state that TCF had hosted Al-Awlaki given that Al-Awlaki has attacked and declared un-Islamic (Haram or Kufr) a number of initiatives and projects which TCF either run or fully support that encourage wider engagement of young Muslims with British and European politics and the media.
This accusation by Nawaz is illustrative of the lack of professionalism, accuracy, sound academic research and even truth, demonstrated by him and the Quilliam Foundation.
Anas Altikriti, CEO of The Cordoba Foundation said “Nawaz’s baseless claim exposes the Quilliam Foundation’s amateurish and flawed working methods for what they are: cheap and simple, for the purposes of achieving mudslinging tabloid notoriety. It is surprising that any political party, organisation or individual should continue to accord such organisations credibility or respect.”
TCF demands Nawaz and the Quilliam Foundation retract the accusation forthwith. Failing to do so will compel TCF to seek legal council.
The Cordoba Foundation continues to pursue its aims and objectives through actual projects, real initiatives and true engagement with those who matter for the future of our country.
