* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Barbieri, William A
Islamofascism wikipedia , lookup
LGBT in Islam wikipedia , lookup
Criticism of Islamism wikipedia , lookup
International reactions to Fitna wikipedia , lookup
Political aspects of Islam wikipedia , lookup
Islam and Sikhism wikipedia , lookup
Islam and violence wikipedia , lookup
Schools of Islamic theology wikipedia , lookup
Reception of Islam in Early Modern Europe wikipedia , lookup
Spread of Islam wikipedia , lookup
Faisal Kutty wikipedia , lookup
Islamic extremism in the 20th-century Egypt wikipedia , lookup
Islam in Romania wikipedia , lookup
Muslim world wikipedia , lookup
Islamic socialism wikipedia , lookup
Islam in the Netherlands wikipedia , lookup
War against Islam wikipedia , lookup
Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain wikipedia , lookup
Islam in Egypt wikipedia , lookup
Islam and secularism wikipedia , lookup
Islam and war wikipedia , lookup
Islam in South Africa wikipedia , lookup
Islamic culture wikipedia , lookup
Islamic schools and branches wikipedia , lookup
Islam and modernity wikipedia , lookup
Memory, Belonging and Identity: Crosssections of Muslim Canadian Existence after 9/11 Nergis Canefe, Ph.D Department of Political Science, York University (prepared for the Memory and Migration Workshop, September 14-16 2006, York University) Abstract: What is it like to be a Muslim living in the West in general, and in Canada in particular today? How different is the current Canadian experience in comparison with that of the Muslims who lived in Western countries one or two generations ago? Could we talk about a unified ‘Muslim experience’ in the West with reference to the 'war on terror' political rhetoric and practices, or, are there noteworthy differences among the Muslim communities that should be taken into account in judging their present predicament as a wide-spread religious minority? This paper attempts to answer some of these questions with reference to the life-stories, experiences and traumatic memories of refugee 1 scholars and public figures who arrived in Canada in their adulthood. It then re-contextualizes these experience within the larger framework of who Muslims are perceived and treated by the Canadian society at large, and how at odds the refugee experience can be with these generic perceptions of what a Muslim looks like, behaves like, and what Muslim Canadians can contribute to the society above and beyond their communal commitments. The paper acknowledges the fact that historically, this is not the first time that conflicts have arisen between Muslims in the West and the societies within which they came to constitute minorities. Neither are Muslims the only minorities, or indeed a diaspora in the making, that suffer from public scrutiny, legal discrimination, and societal pressure. However, the work presented here is indicative of the phenomenon that there are novel dimensions to the way that Muslims are treated across all Western democracies despite local variations and internal differences. This monochromic treatment, in turn, proves particularly costly for refugees with traumatic memories accrued in traditionally Muslim societies and who risked their lives to ensure change in their original homeland as well as a new understanding of minority membership in their adopted one. 2 Introduction This paper aims to explore aspects of transnational identity formation among Muslim refugees and migrants in Canada. I agree with the current interdisciplinary agreement that a process that can be dubbed as ‘transnational identity formation’ is indeed taking place in the diaspora. However, my work also contends that there are aspects of the local and the contextual settings, in particular the conditions regarding the reception of migrant communities, and, the legislation and protection of minority rights that directly affect the lives of Muslims in the West. As such, these are at least as important as the transnational dimension and should be addressed accordingly. The visibility of Muslims in the public eye, choices available for different communities and individuals in terms of their economical, political, social and cultural livelihood, and, what kinds of struggles they have to endure in order to be regarded as full and participants citizens are key aspects of identity formation, or perhaps better stated as reformulation, of Muslims in Canada. 3 In this work, the rethinking of this complex web of relations between homeland, diaspora and identity is rendered possible through an explicit focus on how memory guides political and social action as well as an individual’s sense of what it means to be an ethnoreligious and in come cases also a racial minority. Assumptions of a shared sense of ethnic consciousness, a sense of distinctiveness, common history, the belief in a common religious and a sustained perception of the homeland left behind do not always apply when the minority in question is defined across national, cultural, regional, linguistic, gender and class lines. In the following pages, I will also explore the concept of integration and the way it can function both as a source of privilege as well as a source of discrimination. Fear of Muslims, Islamophobia, is embedded in stereotypical assumptions and pronouncements regarding selected customs and, above all, the presumably uniform fanatical or violent tendencies of Muslim leaders and their followers. The most crucial point of Islamophobia is the claim that these supposed alien qualities and attributes will eventually come to be implanted in the Western body politic itself unless liberal democracies take urgent precautions. Meanwhile, those who suffer most directly from such prejudiced practices are not only 4 pious Muslims who entertain a strong communal vision. This antagonistic vision according to which Muslim minorities are depicted as intrinsically antithetical to the Western democratic ethos hits perhaps the hardest those who struggled for the establishment of democratic practices back in their home countries and arrived to Canada and elsewhere in the Western world as political refugees. Interestingly, in the development of a Muslim civic consciousness in Western liberal systems, this latter group is as vocal and dedicated as the clerics, community activists and leaders, albeit the fact that their numbers are substantially smaller. Far from revealing ambiguous loyalties or unbridgeable cultural chasms, those who carry the burden of a very painful memory of their homeland from which they were exiled tend to explore new forms of multiculturalism while working through complex networks of global human rights advocacy at the transnational level. As such, they pose a challenge both to the old-fashioned compartmentalized model of multiculturalism, and, to the new take on Muslim minorities as threats to liberal democracy. 5 Are Canadian Muslims a Diaspora? The concept of 'diaspora' indeed seems to provide a relevant framework for making sense of current formations of identity and political strategies in the context of contemporary flows of migration. However, a critical overview of the evolution of the concept reveals that religious minorities do not by their nature constitute diasporas. Instead, it is more accurate to argue that Muslim minorities in Western democracies today are reshaping their identities and gradually forming interwoven but multiple diasporas rather than always functioning as a unified and wellorganized one. The developments in interpretation of the religious sources (ijtihad) demonstrated by the dynamic conflict in the reinterpretations of the Quranic Revelation among Muslim minorities in the West is certainly an important aspect of this ongoing process. However, equally relevant is the adaptation as well as questioning of traditional modes of behaviour carried over from home countries as immigrants and refugees face new sets of social issues and individual dilemmas leading to the questioning of the possibility of a complete consistency between established belief and normative behaviour patterns. This latter kind of complexity finds its best expression in the creation of new forms of subjectivity through the development of collective 6 memories pertaining to one’s religious identity as well as one’s homeland. In this, members of Muslim 'communities' stumble against the acceptance of the legitimacy of internal as well as external/inter-group pluralism. This struggle is directly reflected in the tensions that arise during the controversies that take place amongst the secular or at least privately religious public intellectuals, and, movements and organizations whose leaderships strive for control of codes of meaning and symbolic boundaries that define migrants who primarily arrived from countries where the majority religion has historically been Islam. Diaspora, as a venerated concept, has a strong presence in our current political and intellectual discourses also because it refers to things we do not feel equipped to come to terms with yet. However, the deployment of diaspora as an analytical category in explaining aspects of the contemporary immigration experience does come with a multitude of problems. Focusing peculiarly on the ethnoreligious axis of homelands and abroad, theories of diaspora tend to overlook the necessary transgressions of the national. They can also easily lose sight of the new dynamics and topography of membership in recipient states and hybrid forms of membership. Perhaps a more productive perspective 7 can be achieved by focusing on specific practices that provide the content for current practices of citizenship and membership in Western democratic political communities. I suggest this in the light of the increasing decoupling of formal rights and identities, and, in recognition of the increased tendency towards particularistic claims in public spheres and their paradoxical legitimation through universalistic discourses of personhood as opposed to peoplehood. However, a further complication arises here due to the fact that diasporas are commonly assumed to have unmatched and historically immune political and mobilizational powers. Organisationally, diasporas are defined as those conglomerations that are characterised by a chaordic structure and by a shared sense of moral co-responsibility. Ultimately, the expectation is that one would fail to find a guiding hand, or indeed a command structure that organises the politics, the protests, the philanthropic drives, the commemoration ceremonies or the culture centers. My position in response to such a perception is that such a take on diasporas is at best a dangerous romanticization of the concept. This is not to negate the internal complexity of diasporas or the uneven patterns of their expansion at an international scale. However, it is to put things in a historically sensitive 8 and politically engaged context and to give due weight to political leadership and motivation that shapes what eventually may emerge as a Canadian Muslim diasporic identity. Life Histories to be Attended Tarek Fatah is a Muslim Canadian journalist, TV host, political activist, and was a founding member of the Muslim Canadian Congress. Fatah was a student who was active in radical politics in the 1960s and 1970s in Pakistan. He was imprisoned under military governments under the charge of sedition and suffered extended torture and inhumane treatment as a result. A biochemist by training, Fatah entered journalism as a reporter for the Karachi Sun in 1970 and went on to become an investigative journalist for Pakistani television. He was fired after the coup that brought Zia Ul-Haq to power and fled to Saudi Arabia where he lived for a decade. In 1987, he emigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. He became involved in the Ontario new Democratic Party. Fatah was an NDP candidate in the 1995 provincial election but was unsuccessful. In July 2006, he left the NDP to support Bob Rae's candidacy for the Liberal Party of Canada's leadership. In an opinion piece published in Toronto's Now Magazine, Fatah wrote that he decided to leave 9 the NDP because of the establishment of a "faith caucus" which he believes will open the way for religious fundamentalists to enter the party. Since 1996 he has hosted Muslim Chronicle, a Torontobased current affairs discussion show focusing on the Muslim community. Fatah has interviewed notables such as journalist Husain Haqqani and author Tariq Ali on his programme which airs on CITS-TV on Saturday nights at 10:00 PM. From September 2006, the Muslim Chronicle has been promoted to the prime time spot of 8:00 PM on CTS-TV. Fatah has also written opinion pieces for various newspapers including TIME Magazine, the Toronto Star, the National Post and the Globe and Mail. In 2003, Fatah engaged in a high-profile break with Irshad Manji in the pages of the Globe and Mail in which he repudiated the thanks she gave him in the acknowldgement section of her book The Trouble with Islam. Fatah wrote of Manji's book that it "is not addressed to Muslims; it is aimed at making Muslimhaters feel secure in their thinking." Fatah was a founding member of the Muslim Canadian Congress in 2001 and served as its communications director and spokesperson until 2006. In this capacity, he has spoken out against the introduction of Sharia law as an option for Muslims in civil law in Ontario, has 10 promoted separation of religion and state, social liberalism in the Muslim community, and endorsed same-sex marriage. He resigned from the MCC in August 2006 citing concerns that his high profile as a socially liberal Muslim had put him and his family at risk. In 2006, Fatah campaigned to bar the Islamic cleric Sheikh Abu Yusuf Riyadh Ul-Huq from entering Canada on a speaking tour. This campaign added to Fatah's unpopularity with conservative Muslims. On June 30, 2006, he was named by the Canadian Islamic Congress's official publication, Friday Magazine, as one of four leading anti-Islam figures. The article, penned by CIC leader Mohamed Elmasry, desribed Fatah as "well known in Canada for smearing Islam and bashing Muslims." Wahida Valiante, vice-chair and national vice-president of the Canadian Islamic Congress told the Globe and Mail that "Tarek Fatah's views are diametrically opposed to most Muslims. There is a tremendous amount of discussion in the community. His point of view contradicts the fundamentals of Islam." Fatah has written to the RCMP to complain about the CIC's article claiming that it "is as close as one can get to issuing a death threat as it places me as an apostate and blasphemer." Fatah has been regularly attacked for his views, verbally at an Islamic conference in 2003 where 11 dozens of young Muslim men mobbed him while a cleric shouted out that he had insulted the Prophet Mohammed's name and in 2006 when he was accosted on Yonge Street by a man who accused him of being an apostate. His car windows have also been smashed. On August 4, 2006, Fatah announced on CBC Radio that he is stepping out of the limelight as a spokesperson for Liberal Islam. The organization he played a key role in, the Muslim Canadian Congress was organized to provide a voice to Muslims who support a "progressive, liberal, pluralistic, democratic, and secular society where everyone has the freedom of religion." The organization claims to have 300 dues-paying members. It was formed in March 2002, in the wake of 9/11 by a group of Toronto area liberal Muslims. It is the only Muslim organization in Canada to ask for a "separation of religion and state in all matters of public policy." The group has gained prominence by opposing the implementation of Shariah Law in civil law in Ontario and supporting the country's same-sex marriage legislation. The group also promotes gender equality and was involved in organizing a Muslim prayer session in which the prayers were led by woman. It has also been critical of Islamic fundamentalism and has urged the government to ban 12 donations to Canadian religious institutions from abroad arguing that doing so will curb extremism. Farzana Hassan is the MCC's president since August 2006. The Congress suffered a serious split in the summer of 2006 when several of its members and leaders left to form the Canadian Muslim Union. According to reports, the split occured over questions of how the group engages with the broader Muslim community, particularly its position on the arrest of 17 Muslims in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case and objections to MCC leaders participating in demonstrations against the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War. Eight executive members who participated or supported the demonstrations resigned and formed the new CMU the next day whose philosophy of Liberal Islam is similar to the MCC's but with an intention to work "with and within the Muslim community". The MCC is associated with the Progressive Muslim Union of North America. The Progressive Muslim Union of North America is a liberal Islamic organization. The group officially launched on November 15, 2004 in Manhattan. The Progressive Muslim Union (PMU) states that its foundation was the result of almost two years of conversation and collaboration between a select group of North 13 American Muslims who are committed to representing and renewing our community in all its social, ideological and political diversity. PMU members range from deeply religious to totally secular, sharing in common a commitment to learning, political and social empowerment, a commitment to justice and freedom and a concern and love for the Muslim community. The group is led by its two co-chairs, Pamela Taylor and Ahmed Nassef. The PMU, however, remains as a controversial organization. PMU's definition of Muslim (including "based on social and cultural commitments" according to PMU's principles) differs radically from the usual Islamic definition, which is mainly based on faith. While some Muslims on the far left have accused it of cozying up to pro-Bush Administration personalities, conservative Muslims are uncomfortable with its liberal positions, which include a call to jettison those parts of traditional Islamic scholarship that are seen as wrong according to Western mores, as well as a call by some to "reform" Islam by ignoring those parts of the Qur'an that seem archaic. Other Muslims objected to the call by some PMUNA members to define atheists with cultural or social affinities to Muslims as "Muslims." 14 A number of the original Board members departed the Progressive Muslim Union in the summer of 2005 due to an inability to reach agreement on a number of controversial issues, most notably the degree to which Progressives should engage more conservative Muslim organizations and scholars. Former Board members Omid Safi and Laury Silvers continue to support Progressive interpretations of Islam outside of PMU but taking more tradition-oriented approach. These differences came to a head in March 2005, when PMU endorsed a mixed-gender prayer led by a woman imam, Professor Amina Wadud. The prayer was co-sponsored by the progressive Muslim online magazine Muslim WakeUp! and Asra Nomani's Muslim Women's Freedom Tour. The event, which was attended by about 150 congregants in New York City and heavily covered by international media, became a huge controversy, galvanizing both supporters and detractors around the world. Opponents, in particular M. A. Muqtedar Khan, argued that reform should be restricted to social matters, not matters of worship. Supporters, however, asserted that nothing in the Qur'an, the Muslim holy scripture, prevents a woman from leading mixedgender prayers, and that restrictions are based on outmoded cultural and patriarchal notions. PMU's 15 co-chair, Pamela Taylor, reinforced PMU's position when she joined hands with the Muslim Canadian Congress and the United Muslim Association to be the first woman to deliver the Friday sermon and lead the mixed-gender congregation in a mosque on July 1st, 2005. Irshad Manji Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Muslim Canadian author, journalist, and activist. She is a feminist and critic of Islamic fundamentalism and literalist interpretations of the Qur'an. She was once described by The New York Times as "Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare".[1] Irshad is an advocate for the use of critical thinking, known as ijtihad in Islamic tradition. Her bestselling book The Trouble with Islam (since renamed "The Trouble With Islam Today") has been translated in more than a dozen languages, including Arabic, Persian and Urdu. Manji's articles appear in major publications around the world and she makes frequent appearances on global media networks including the BBC, MSNBC, CSPAN, CNN, FOX News.[2] Manji was born in Uganda in 1968. Her family moved to Canada when she was four, as a result of 16 Idi Amin expelling all South Asians from Uganda. In her book, Manji describes her turbulent youth, which includes being expelled from her Madrasah for questioning whether or not the Prophet Muhammad commanded his army to kill a Jewish tribe, and an incident when her father chased her around the house holding a knife. Manji holds a Bachelor's degree in History from the University of British Columbia, and won the Governor-General's Medal as top graduate. She has worked as a legislative aide in the Canadian parliament, press secretary in the Ontario government, and a speechwriter for the leader of the New Democratic Party. She has been a national affairs editorialist for the Ottawa Citizen. She has hosted or produced several public-affairs programs on television, including Q Files (CityTV), In The Public Interest (Vision TV) and Big Ideas (TVOntario), is President of VERB, a Canadian channel aimed at young people and specializing in diversity. She is also a writer-in-residence at Hart House in the University of Toronto. Since May 2005 she has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. Manji was awarded Oprah Winfrey's first annual Chutzpah Award for "audacity, nerve, boldness and conviction". She is also a recipient of the Simon Wiesenthal Award of Valor.[3] Manji has spoken at a number of forums and is involved in the international public speaking circuit. 17 A lesbian, Manji has argued that condemnation of homosexuality by most strains of traditional Islam is at odds with Qur'anic doctrine that "Allah makes excellent everything which He creates." Her partner is Michelle Douglas. Manji is a friend of controversial writer Salman Rushdie and, like Rushdie, has received numerous death threats. Manji has been a regular critic of orthodox Islam, especially the treatment of women by some Muslims. She does not wear a headscarf or chador whereas many traditional Muslim women do observe the hijab. She has criticized the Palestinian leadership and the opinions of some Muslims about Israel. In March 2006 a letter she co-signed entitled MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism with eleven other individuals (most notably Salman Rushdie) was published in response to violent protests in the Islamic world surrounding the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. She continues to question the historical interpretations of the Qur'an and advocates the concept of ijtihad, "the Muslim tradition of independent thinking". Manji's views are also considered by some to be anti-Arab. She has often 18 decried Arab culture for what she believes to be its extremist interpretations of Islam. She insists Arab power has exercised far too much influence over a religion with such a culturally diverse following. Many critics question the basis for her critiques of Islam, considering her liberal, western lifestyle and personal value system, and contend that the attention she receives in the Western media is disproportionate to her qualifications. Her critics claim that Manji's popularity derives from saying what the Western media want to hear about Islam. Professor Haideh Moghissi Professor Sharjad Moujab 19 Community Link: The Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture The Centre aids survivors in overcoming the lasting effects of torture and war. In partnership with the community, the Centre supports survivors in the process of successful integration into Canadian society, works for their protection and integrity, and raises awareness of the continuing effects of torture and war on survivors and their families. The CCVT gives hope after the horror. The CCVT is a nonprofit, registered charitable organization, founded by several Toronto doctors, lawyers and social service professionals, many of whom were associated with Amnesty International. They had begun to see victims of torture in their practices as early as 1977. Many of the victims were in the process of claiming refugee status in Canada. The doctors saw the need for specialized counseling for the social and legal problems faced by this particular client group. Lawyers, social workers and community groups saw clients who were survivors of torture, often badly in need of treatment by doctors and other health professionals. The CCVT was incorporated in 1983 as the Canadian Centre for the Investigation and Prevention of Torture. The name was changed in 1988 to better reflect the Centre's mandate. The Centre was the second such facility in the world to be 20 established. The first was in Copenhagen in 1982. In 2003, CCVT was accredited to the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT). The CCVT has a 15 member volunteer board which sets policy and guidelines for the operation of the Centre. The board is elected from the membership of the Centre at the Annual General Meeting. Currently, board members include volunteers with the Centre, members of the Centre's health and legal networks, educators, former service users and community activists. There are currently 5 Standing Committees comprised of board members, health and legal network members, staff and volunteers. They are the health Committee, Legal Committee, Volunteer Advisory Committee and the Public Education Committee. In addition, ad hoc committees are created as needed. Decisions of the board are implemented by the executive committee of the board, the executive director and the staff of the CCVT. There are 18 full and part time staff members whose job descriptions correspond to the areas of service provided by the Centre. The Centre has assisted approximately 14,000 survivors from 136 different countries since its 21 inception. Survivors include people who have been subjected to severe torture or prolonged severe multiple experiences of victimization; children and adolescents subjected to torture or witnessing violence; sexually traumatized people, particularly women and children; seniors who have been subjected to various types of torture; people who have gone through traumatic exit, transit, and exile experiences. These traumatic experiences, compounded by their disorienting effects, produce severe physical and psychological damage. For those forced to leave their countries, the process of flight is usually frightening, dangerous, and extremely stressful. Conditions of flight are terrifying and for the refugee there is no guarantee that they will arrive to their destination safely. A typical process of flight for a refugee may involve sneaking through a secret passage through the countryside, often at night, while attempting to avoid discovery by the police or military, living in constant fear with little or inappropriate food, clothing or shelter. For refugees this is a continuous period of great stress, insecurity and fear. It is also common for many refugees to live in refugee camps in their efforts to find refuge. For refugees who have survived torture, the disruption of life and any pattern of normalcy can last for years and perpetuate periods of prolonged stress. 22 For those who remain in their countries, they may face on-going threats to their lives and to the lives of their families, the threat of losing their livelihood, repeated detentions, ostracism, physical abuse, and denial of access to public services such as health care and education, to name a few. Cases are often difficult and difficult to prove. Settlement staff cite the case of a woman from Central America who arrived in Canada after having been raped by smugglers in the country of exile. She requested medical assistance to attend to her injuries. One year later, after being accepted as a refugee, she disclosed that she had also been raped in her country of origin. She explained that she had been mistaken for her sister, whose husband was friendly with a death squad, yet who had refused to join them. As a way to humiliate him, the squad planned to rape her sister, but they raped her instead, in the belief that they had the wife of the "coward who did not want to join." 23 Select Bibliography (The totality of the paper including a full bibliography is in excess of 15,000 words; for those interested in all other sections, please let the author know and she will provide a full copy.) Bal, Ellen and Kathinka Sinha-Kerkhoff, 2005. Muslims in Surinam and the Netherlands, and the divided homeland. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 25 (2): 193-217. Barbieri, William A., 1999. Group Rights and the Muslim Diaspora. Human Rights Quarterly 21 (4): 907-926. El Hamel, Chouki, 2002. Muslim Diaspora in Western Europe: The Islamic Headscarf (Hijab), the Media and Muslims' Integration in France. Citizenship Studies 6 (3): 293-308. Schmidt, Garbu, 2004. Islamic identity formation among young Muslims: the case of Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 24 (1): 31-45. 24 Werbner, Pnina, 2000. Divided Loyalties, Empowered Citizenship? Muslims in Britain. Citizenship Studies 4 (3): 307-324. Werbner, Pnina, 2002. The place which is diaspora: citizenship, religion and gender in the making of chaordic transnationalism. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 28 (1): 119-133. Symposium on Space and Religion, 2002. islam in Diaspora: Between Reterritorialization and Extraterritoriality. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 26 (1): 138Soysal, Yasemin Nuhoglu Citizenship and identity: living in diasporas in post-war Europe? Ethnic and Racial Studies 23 (1): 1-15. 25