Manifesting Religion or Belief: A Human Rights Perspective
Tuesday, 17th November 2015 | 9:00 AM
European Parliament and Centre Espaces – Brussels, Belgium
MORNING SESSION
09.00 – 12:00
At the European Parliament (Altieri Spinelli Building)
Room A5E2, Main Entrance, Place de Luxembourg, 1047 Brussels, Belgium.
AFTERNOON SESSION
13:00 – 17:00
At Centre Espaces, 40, Avenue de la Renaissance, B-1000 Brussels.
SPEAKERS:
The seminar will include presentations and workshops delivered by legal experts from member-states, academics, policy-makers as well as representatives from R&B organizations and networks at grass-roots levels.
The Cordoba Foundation and the Public Interest Investigations launch a new report:
The Henry Jackson Society and the Degeneration of British Neoconservatism: Liberal Interventionism, Islamophobia and the ‘War On Terror’.
The reports examines the history, activities and politics of the Henry Jackson Society, a leading exponent of neoconservatism in the UK that is grounded in a transatlantic tradition deeply influenced by Islamophobia and an open embrace of the ‘War on Terror’.
British Muslims, Public Policy and Securitisation: A Seminar
ORGANIZED BY: The East London Mosque and London Muslim Centre with The Centre for the Study of Religion, Conflict and Cooperation (London Metropolitan University).
A seminar examining recent policies and developments concerning British Muslims, the modalities of Muslim representation and the impact of policy decisions on extremism and securitisation, education, identity and Islamophobia. The seminar will also explore calling for a public discourse and policy approach towards British Muslims that is fair and just.
Featuring the release of Dr Shamim Miah’s new book, Muslims, Schooling and the Question of Self-Segregation.
Friday, 2nd October 2015 from 18:30 to 20:30 (BST)
The Seminar Room, London Muslim Centre, 46 Whitechapel Road, London, E11JQ
The height of the Arab Spring saw Hosni Mubarak deposed in Egypt, and for the first time, the country and its people looked forward to the implementation of the democratic process.
Free and fair elections took place, and Muhammad Morsi of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood was elected into office. That should have been the beginning of a transitional time for Egypt, a new leader had been put into place which a recognised democratic mandate from the people. However, the situation soon deteriorated and Morsi was then overthrown in what can only be considered as a coup d’état.
During protests at the time and since, both sides have made allegations seeking to consolidate their position at the cost of the other. However, it is clear that the momentum and indeed much of the international support is behind that of the regime of el-Sisi.
The reality however is that the criticism and scaremongering of the Morsi administration and therefore the Muslim Brotherhood is nothing more than propaganda; aimed at trying to grain credibility for an illegitimate regime. Much is made of Morsi’s Islamists credentials, and the fact that he brought a brand of ‘Political Islam’ to Egypt. This is a fact seized upon by the media and political classes alike.
The Middle East seize upon such factors in an effort to de-legitimise what is seen as the most powerful opposition to their well established autocratic and intolerant regimes. The West seizes upon the issue so as to continue to foster the suspicion and mistrust which greets many Muslims.
We as a society however need to look deeper, go beyond the rhetoric and see the situation for what it is in reality
It is deeply regrettable that the euphoria that surrounded the end of the Mubarak reign was short lived. Egypt today has reverted to an autocracy back by an all-pervasive military, and any dissent or challenge to that ruling military administration will seemingly be quickly silenced. Democratic rule must return to Egypt. A process of justice, accountability and reconciliation must find a place in Egypt’s next chapter whether it be in Alexandria, Cairo or ultimately The Hague.
The immediate recent history of the Middle-East, North Africa and Gulf region right through to present day, has seen a period of extreme instability, the rise and fall of groups, of political parties, and the establishment of entities that are a cause for significant concern within those host nations, and within the international community at large.
This period of instability, highlighted by the Arab Spring, has been inappropriately characterised by many western media outlets, as being as a result of Islam and its followers, thus fostering a deep mistrust and suspicion of any of those individuals or groups who identify themselves as Muslim or following an Islamic or Islamist ideology.
The word ‘Muslim’ is no longer simply synonymous with a religion of the Middle East, as Christianity and Judaism is in the West; it has become synonymous with the emergence of radical and extremist groups that espouse a wholly warped and unrecognisable interpretation of Islam.
It appears that any action can be justified if announced that it is under the auspices of the ‘War on Terror’. Actions such as the removal of the most basic of human rights and fundamental freedoms such as a fair trial. Actions that many of us take for granted such as the freedom of speech and the freedom to protest have effectively been removed all under the anti-terror rhetoric. Rhetoric that in reality is nothing other than the thinnest of veils over a nationwide power grab; rhetoric solely designed to attempt to lend credibility to a regimes anti-civil society, anti-human rights, and ultimately anti-democratic policies.
‘Integration’ or the supposed lack of it by British Muslims has been a ubiquitous feature in political, media and policy discourses over the past decades, often with little or no evidence base. This book is particularly timely as it draws on empirical research amongst both Muslim school students and parents to examine the question of ‘self-segregation’ in the light of key policy developments around ‘race’, faith and citizenship. It aims to contribute towards a national debate on segregation, schooling and Muslims in Britain through deconstructing the received wisdom of ‘Muslim separateness’
The Cordoba Foundation and the Public Interest Investigations launch a new report:
The Henry Jackson Society and the Degeneration of British Neoconservatism: Liberal Interventionism, Islamophobia and the ‘War On Terror’.
The reports examines the history, activities and politics of the Henry Jackson Society, a leading exponent of neoconservatism in the UK that is grounded in a transatlantic tradition deeply influenced by Islamophobia and an open embrace of the ‘War on Terror’.
Launch event will be hold on:
Thursday 11th June 2015
10.30am – 11.45 am
Room CB2.6
Chancelors’ Building
University of Bath, Claverton Down BA2 7AY
As part of the International Conference on Understanding Conflict at the University of Bath.
