Silma Ihram

Hold of terrorism is weakening

2011-11-30T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Muslim community has been subjected to a combination of debilitating mind games for most of the last century. Still struggling from the after-effects of colonialism, they have been oppressed by dictators installed by the retreating colonialists, and disempowered by their sweet talk of nationalism. Conspiracy theories have added to their impotency, leading to a mindless, hopeless and mutually destructive tendency to violent revenge. With their scholars imprisoned and replaced by Western educated bureaucrats, their religious schools filled with the least capable of learners and funded by bedouin theology, the ignorant have become leaders, contributing through unaccountable underground networks and the harsh yelling of Friday sermons to a combined sense of emasculation. Hence the easy recourse to terrorism.
But the hold of terrorism is weakening.
There has been no benefit to any group from the mindless terror of suicide bombs, market bombs and the eradication of alternative views. Over the past few decades millions of families - mostly Muslim - have suffered devastating injury, crippling fear, and the irreparable loss of loved ones. Poor communities are left in shambles from the damage of wanton destruction. For no benefit.
Today I received an email from a peace activist in Pakistan. I would like to reprint it here. I pray that his words are spread, recounted, celebrated and begin a new movement across the Muslim world. To bring the purveyors of terrorism to account and to stop their activities once and for all.

An Open Letter to the Taliban

Do you know what degree of shame, abomination, misery and wretchedness is being heaped on the innocent and peace-following Muslims all over the world because of this so-called and self styled Jihad of yours?

Do you know how many innocent, unsullied people are being daily butchered as result of this professed Jihad of yours? How many children are being orphaned and women being widowed precisely for the same reason.

And do you know, killing one faultless human being is like killing the entire humanity. You must definitely be knowing that you will surely be held accountable for this all bloodshed. Will you, then, be able to face your God? I challenge, no!

Then, why have you become agents of some hidden hands. Why are you taking the responsibility of the murder of entire humanity to yourselves on their behest. Why are you dragging the Muslims down? Why are you demeaning Islam by presenting it as a terrorist religion? Acting like this, which religion are you rendering a great service to? Are you raising the standard of Islam high or you (if you reflect on it) are causing the heads of the followers of the path of the righteous to bow down with shame in-front of the entire humanity.

Today most of the Muslims believe that you are not true Muslims but planted by the enemies to destroy the image of Islam.

For God's sake, take recourse to sense, and announce a CEASEFIRE at-once so the inhabitants of the world may be introduced to that divine aspect of the Muslims at whose hands no soul suffer, whose words and actions bear no tinge of dichotomy, whose speech when uttered, conveys to others the message of love and protection, whose thoughts, when thought, are devoted to the well being of others. Herein lies the true success, and herein lies the victory of the true religion of Allah.
S.A.Rehman
(Peace Activist)
PAKISTAN

Arab Spring neutralises conspiracy theories

2011-11-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

There is a lighter, higher step as my Muslim companion enters the mosque. He used to look over his should as he walked in, concerned that he was being watched..unfairly. There is a greater confidence in the way the sisters walk in the streets - their heads are held higher, multicoloured hijabs twisting in creative displays on their heads. They smile more. The Arab Spring is like disinfectant to a persistent sore.
For more years than I can count, every major event in the world was triggered with murmurs of a conspiracy. Nothing was as it seemed. Pessimism always greeted my attempts to begin something, change something, stand up for something. A profound lack of faith stuck at the foundation of any great effort for community change. 'The authorities' would not allow it, or 'they' would undermine it. I was always faced with great scepticism that any project or cause that I espoused would be permitted or capable of success.
Dumbfounded I wondered how such people who believed in an Almighty God, and an immutable Book of Revelation that they could read and understand far better than myself, could have such a defeatist point of view. I would pursue them with questions - 'Who exactly was against this? and why?' There were never any specifics, only a knowing look at my naivety. It was the Jews, the Mormans, or the Christians, ASIO, MOSSAD... there was always one bogey that could not be pinned down, that instilled a deep and often unreasonable fear into my companions minds.
This is the fear that I now see lifting. I hear far less of hopeless scenarios, where the only alternative is the mindless violence of the suicide bomber - a complete act of hopeless social destruction. I have not heard of a conspiracy theory or a defeatist response to a cause for weeks now. We have the flotilla to Gaza, the Freedom bus ride, the thousands of brave souls bracing for a new onslaught of oppressor violence - and each of these show courage and faith.
The Arab spring is infectious, like a new dawn stealing rays of light and hope into every community - we do not need to be afraid. We can stand strong, control our mindless anger, have courage and walk strong with dreams in our minds again - has faith at long last begun to return?

Easter Sunday - A Time to Take Stock

2011-04-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

The weather could not be more beautiful - not too hot, occasionally sunny, occasionally cloudy, ready to water the garden for me for free. I am sitting in my favorite cafe (Flower Power in Enfield) listening to the steady but seductively inspiring strumming of Jack Johnson.
Flowers, birds and tall palm trees dominate the space in front of me. It's time to take stock once again of where we are in the real world of life as it is lived not imagined or stressed about.
Ideally I'd be in a holiday house, on the verandah, watching my children play with their grandchildren on the beach, walking meditatively amongst the luxuriant bush untouched by recent fire or flood, or driving through the country with a non-urgent mission of discovery. Life cannot be more privileged for those of us who live free from poliical or community fear, or from the effect of a disaster. As I sip my coffee - affordable even though I am almost penniless - millions struggle to find shelter, grieve for lost opportunities and nurse heart aches for tragic separation from loved ones. But for me, despite the long hours I currently put in to establishing a business, learning new skills, keeping a house and family fed and educated, I can still dream as I close my fifth decade of life. I can still dream, plan, pursue goals - certainly with more confidence that my fellow humans in much of the world. I still have a house, a business, and I have opportunity.
That is not to say that I have not had challenges which have at times robbed me of things I loved whether personal plans, family, wealth or health. But that's okay, because life is all about challenges.
The Pope was asked over Easter by a 7 year old Japanese girl, still traumatized by the earthquake and tsunami "Why do children have to suffer such sadness?" He did not have an answer.
But I have an answer, because as a child, for reasons that were inexplicable to me but not to those around me, I woke each day to fear of failure and unfathomable heartache. Sleep beckoned only with a black eternity, spinning away into infinity. Relationships begun in hope were tainted by fears of rejection and although outwardly happy, inwardly I lurched from desperation to self-loathing. But I'm not sorry for it, even though I wish I could reach out to that child that was me and reassure her that such tough times would pass, that she would discover hope and belief and personal success.
This is life - and you'd better not forget it before it's all over. It's easy to be seduced by these delicious luxuries - the warm poppyseed friand covered in syrup and cream that I am deliciously rolling around my mouth. These are privileges - the ups. But life is not lived without the downs, classically sketched by the simple poetic image of a field of beautiful waving grass, inevitably replaced with dead stalks ready to be dug into the earth for a new crop.(Quran 87:4,5)
Loss and suffering are the root of life's challenges (We have certainly created man into hardship Quran 90:4) - how do you measure up, who do you care for, who are your real friends, what unknown resources do you find - the source of poetry, art, real love and real appreciation.
I feel sorry for the leader of the church who cannot adequately explain these matters which are the heart of the 'why?' in man's search for meaning, and so happy that I can turn to the words of the Creator for a deep and satisfying understanding of the choppy waves of my existence.
Yep, the hard work over the past six months means I can thank God for the exquisiteness of sitting detached in this comfortable, luxurious, busy environment. And return refreshed to the challenges that have been set for me in the remaining days of my life.

The Propaganda Battleground

2011-01-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

Looking at the SBS coverage of the Coptic celebration of Christmas tonight, I am struck by the clever way in which they have handled the media. Very effectively they focus on presenting a peaceful, compassionate image, through engaging in those public rituals that resonate with the Australian public – releasing doves,
holding pictures of those killed, speaking about each victim individually, releasing balloons and so on. They include a quick explanation of some of their religion, showing how similar it is to mainstream Christianity. I am thinking, surely there are ways that we can learn from this example and incorporate similar strategies in our own public grieving of disaster and untimely or unjust death.
For example, although releasing balloons is environmentally a disastrous thing to do, and doves that are released are probably killed by the local birdlife, could we not rent a hall, invite local dignatories, read out the names of those killed, call on the government for justice, and maybe pledge funds for a well or other charitable cause in the name of each person lost? I am sure there are many more ideas that could be collected and enacted if we actually think and organise for such an event.
Regrettably however, we tend to react as out of control victims. When there is a catastrophe, there is first the grief, then the conspiracy theory, then the anger which leads to street protests and placards. At each of these events we tend to have a small group of totally out of control “Akbar heads” as I’d like to call them – the young men who get fired up, like Massai tribesmen, jumping up and down yelling “Allahu Akbar! La illaha illah!” pushing people out of the way, rudely shoving others aside, and drowning out intelligent talks and supporters from Muslim and non-Muslim sources. Even though I recognize some of these angry young me - and they scare me - I have on occasion stood in their way as they advance steadily through the crowd. Because I’m one of those ‘untouchable’ women, they have to work their way around me because they won’t talk to me, and they won’t dare get so close as to touch me. Its a very handy way to use my feminism to stop them taking over a sensible meeting, just by continually stepping in the way. Once they got so frustrated that they brought the loud speaker to just a few centimeters from my face, angrily – almost violently – shouting their slogans and telling me to get out of the way. Unfortunately, I’m just as stubborn and stare them right back, despite the spit, red faces and deafening, virulent anger.
Even as I watch SBS now I see a documentary on the Second World War, and listen to readings of surviving Polish Jews as they describe how their Polish community was gradually walled into ghettoes, brick by brick, and the progressive, personal, humiliation. I can only think though about what is being done to the Palestinians in exactly the same fashion today. It reminds me of a child who witnesses the brutality of a violent father, only to turn on his own wife and child in similar fashion – is this what has happened to the now powerful Jewish community? Are they recreating their own violent past? Do they only understand such brutality as being part of being in power? And yet, despite the self-evident and clear oppression that is happening in Palestine, our Muslim community is incapable of seizing on it, or acting on it in any way to our own advantage.
Today I had my carpets cleaned. The steam cleaning guy walked in, and in a friendly manner pointed to my ipad and told me “the government keeps track of you with things like that. Your iphone too!” Before even beginning to look at my carpets, here I was engaged in a feisty discussion about conspiracy theories regarding the Masons, the Jewish community and of course, the media. It wasn’t until half way through this discussion that I discovered that he was a Lebanese Christian! I told him – they can track me all they want, but I have nothing to hide. (I forgot to mention that all phones can be very easily tracked these days!)
Today is a propaganda battleground. The tools of war are image, fact, spin and above all, seizing every opportunity to invest money in quick, timely responses. It is through propaganda that business (the real force behind most of the wars today) can be brought on side and that populations can be encouraged to support policy for or against a nation and its peoples. The skills of this type of battle require enormous confidence, quick thinking, and a keen understanding of the mental strategies of the players. It is like playing chess – predicting responses, attitudes and the next move of the media, or these days, the vast web of social networks. Conspiracy theories on the other hand sap strength and confidence. They make victims instead of conquerors; encourage fatalistic attitudes of “they’re all against us anyway” thereby justifying futile anger, stupid comments and ultimately stupid actions.
Here in Australia and across the Western world, we have highly educated and intelligent Muslim women, men and youth. I feel that they are steadily preparing to cross the squares of the propaganda chess board, developing their skills to graduate from mere pawns to powerful castles and noble knights. The one chess piece however which should be leading this development, but which sadly is sacrificing the chess pieces in front of it, is the Muslim equivalent of the bishop – our Imams. Terribly out of touch, and unable to lead at all, they surrender their pawns and more skilled pieces beside them while they crouch in fear on the back line, unable to move and stymieing every successful move on their side. Perhaps we need a revolution on our own backline, one that roots out the backward influence of our narrow minded Imams, replacing them with the spiritual leadership, ethics and foresight shown by the greatest of our Muslim leaders in this subtle, but equally dangerous battleground. Eventually, the Copts may look to us for inspiration.

Pass me a Shoe Please!

2010-10-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

Forget about brickbats and bouquets at the ABC, it's shoes and shmaltz!
Last night I was privileged to witness evidence of Australia's famed freedom of speech and truly egalitarian nature. The live episode of Q & A gave me renewed pride in being a resident of this wonderful country. I watched as John Howard, former Prime Minister, was challenged by David Hicks
- a man he had accused of terrorism, and questioned by ordinary people on many of his controversial decisions. His answers invariably confirmed to his detractors just how bigoted and arrogant those decisions were and are, as he avowedly still supported every one of them. In comparison his nemesis - Kevin Rudd - appeared morally whiter than white and certainly more humble.
While Howard was able to dodge the flying shoes of an angry audience member as deftly as his hero George Bush, the assailant was not brutally beaten or locked up, but left the set in a controlled and orderly fashion. Howard continued to happily justify each of his decisions to the numerous questioners - from the invasion of Iraq, the locking up of David Hicks (without even considering a response to David's question as to whether such treatment was humane), the invasion of Afghanistan, children overboard, Tampa, to the refusal to utter the word "I'm Sorry" for the generation of indigenous children stolen from their mothers. In fact, he even went so far as to say that for a section of these children it was actually good for them.
The tweets running across the screen seemed fairly even divided, just as the audience was, between Howard's diehard supporters who missed his uncompromising leadership, and those who hoped time had taught him just how disgusted and ashamed they were of the direction of his leadership.
There are many lessons to be learnt from this amazing display of free speech. The first thing that struck me was the restrained passion of the participants. Apart from the shoe throwing, followed by a civilised walkout of the shoeless assailant, each side ventured its passion through clapping support at the appropriate occasion. Having not long returned from Europe and a short visit to Morocco, such civility is truly awesome. There I was more accustomed to angry shouting and spectator crowds over issues as minor as the changing of a bus seat, or unwillingess to pay the bus fare. Even Jenny Brockie, who has bravely sailed into such dangerous waters by inviting our less civilised community members to debate sensitive issues, struggles to allow audience members even to be heard in the melee of shouting that has regularly erupted in recent shows.
There is in fact a growing demand from within the Australian born members of the community - and here I am referring specifically to my own Muslim community - to shed the first generation's tendency to frequent outbursts of anger and defensive argument when challenged on matters of ethics or justice. It has been a hard lesson to learn, with some of our most inspiring leaders working with the best of intentions, but avoiding the type of scrutiny dished up on Q & A. As a result, working without that regular accountability, the ends have sometimes justified the means, and now some of these highly regarded leaders are serving time behind bars to the wholesale shock of their followers.
Some of our best intentions can be misguided, and let's face it, power has nearly always successfully corrupted. Both John Howard and Kevin Rudd as Prime Ministers considered themselves to be working for the greater good, and both did not bow to populist sentiment. They made tough decisions on occasions that were not always well received. Both suffered the consequences - Howard losing his seat and the election, Rudd being rolled in his first term of office. Although I believe Rudd has a far greater moral status, both distanced themselves too far from their voters.
The ABC's Q & A has managed to deliver arguably one of the highest levels of accountability of its leaders, of any country in the world, while generally maintaining an atmosphere of passionate but controlled civility. This is the kind of moral value that Australians can rightfully claim as their own - the kind of moral value that we should all aspire to. Historically it used to exist throughout the Muslim community - before kings, sultans and dictators stepped in. Here in Australia we Muslims can learn to reclaim this moral virtue.
In fact, I can already imagine in front of me a panel of community leaders who have lorded over our organisations for the past generation or two - with little or no accountability. I will restrain myself to clapping during the appropriate questions, and hopefully not ask "Pass me a shoe please!!"

The Ethics of Public School Ethics classes

2010-05-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched the Insight program on whether there is still a place for God in the classroom. It centred on the introduction of ‘Ethics’ classes for those students who do not attend Scripture – the one hour a week slotted religious instruction by community religious representatives for those students whose parents permit them to study their nominated religion. The audience -
which included many young children who had little ability to understand the complexities of the topic and were excruciating in their detailed reports of basic classroom activities – raised more confusion about the teaching of morals in society than it answered. Interestingly, in our ensuing family discussion, ethical issues were played out in how to handle disagreement!
Of course, I am a strong advocate for the message of Prophet Muhammad – and consequently for the messages of Jesus, Moses and the prophets before them. I have also attended an intensive live-in four day ethics course with St James Ethics Centre. (St. James??? I thought ethics was not related to religion?!) St James Ethics Centre designed the course now being rolled out on a trial basis through public schools in NSW. Although I benefitted from the analytical tools and philosophy that were presented through the course, I came away strongly feeling that some of their own methods of presentation were in fact unethical. Why? They put a lot of unnecessary and harsh pressure on participants as part of role plays, and refused to accept comments or criticism on their own biases and shortcomings. Would they have accepted that their behavior was unethical? Probably not – the definition of ethics is hard to pin down. This was clearly demonstrated in our family discussion last night. Is ethics related to the discovery of right and wrong? Yes. Is ethics related to morals? Yes. On what basis does it decide on what is right and wrong, or what are suitable morals? Here is the dilemma – while espousing that ethics assists in discovering right and wrong, and assists in moral decision making, it has no basis other than philosophy which is free of morals. Take for example one of the most pressing social needs of our time – care of elderly parents. In the teachings of all the Judeo, Christian and Islamic religions, respect and care of the elderly – as well as the poor, the infirm and the disabled – is a social responsibility that is born collectively. That means that if no-one in the family takes on the care of the parents in old age, all are found to be morally irresponsible. There is a moral duty to respect and to care for elders in the community as well as the family. The ethics in this situation however are more complicated. Family members may be busy, may have their own problems to sort out, their own finances to secure, and caring for an elderly family member may put undue pressure on husbands, wives or children. Their priority then is their immediate family’s needs as well as their own personal priorities. As a result, in today’s Australian society nursing homes are full of sad, old people who are maintained by state taxes and forgotten by their children. The social norms of society also don’t recognize this - generally religiously based - moral duty. As a result, Government funds for family carers of the disabled, the elderly, and the mentally ill are limited or non-existent.
Personally I have huge respect for those members of my former teaching staff who left their comfortable lives in Australia, and returned with their families to lower wages and a less certain existence, in order to care for their elderly parents. This obligation was not just an ‘ethical’ one, it was a moral responsibility for them laid down in their beliefs and their religious Scriptures. I have little confidence though, that these new ethics classes in our public schools would deliver such an outcome for the next generation in comparison to Scripture classes - depending of course on the quality of the Scripture classes. As far as I am concerned, religion wins out on a moral basis every time, because it looks not just at the immediate benefit to individuals, but the long term social benefits to a society – many of which may not be immediately apparent.
In the end we managed to resolve most of our ethical dilemmas during our discussion last night. I am sure I could and should have behaved better, but I become agitated and irritated at what I perceive as inappropriate or unethical behavior , even during - and perhaps because it was – a discussion of ethics. We worked through the issues and agreed to disagree on various points, but returned to the harmony of a family following Muslim norms of care and respect for each other.
Looking at the confusion on the faces of these kids, I am convinced that it is unethical to teach morality without a religious framework in which to discover morality. And once again, I am confirmed in celebrating the wisdom passed down to us by religious scholars, the revelations of the Prophets and the enduring depth and beauty of the Qur’an. Alhamdu lillahi rabbil ‘alamin – All praise be to the God of all of Creation.

Banning the Burqa - Here we Go Again

2010-05-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Today Channel 9 gave me the opportunity to respond to Senator Cory Bernadi's comments on Burqa wearing crime. Of course, of my seven great 6 second grabs, they took just two - and neither contained much information. Newstainment. Here is the fuller version of what I wanted to say.
The common Australian attitude is – why would anyone want to wear a burkha?
Muslim women are only wearing it because they must have been forced, as no one in their right mind would voluntarily wear such a thing. Combined with a general fear of the unknown, and the exotic, fearful, terrifying aspect of Islam, Australian politicians see it as their duty to remove such an affront to personal dignity by following the European example and banning the burkha.

The burqa is confronting. Facing a female who deliberately hides almost all aspects of their personality, their features and their identity can be quite threatening. As social beings, we have so many subtle ways of communicating with each other – the clenched jaw, the relaxed smile, the awkward pose. So much of our character is displayed and our message is communicated unwittingly through tell-tale traces on our face and in the positioning of our body. The burqa conceals all of this, which makes it very difficult to respond – it’s a one way conversation. Defenders of the burka liken it to talking to someone on the telephone. In reality though, you are talking TO the telephone – an inanimate object, without the benefit of focussing all one’s attention on the nuances of a voice. Instead, talking to a burqa dressed woman is like talking to a large telephone with a distant slightly muffled sound.

I remember once at a festival where a friend of mine was greeting a burqa clad woman, who turned to me and said my name. I had no idea who she was – and peered a little confused at her eyes trying to find anything that would help me recall this person. After introducing herself, I realised that she was an old friend, a former student that I had known from the time she was a little girl. It made me wonder how children coming out of school could know who their mothers were in places where the burqa was common. Did they tune in to the voice, or did they size up the overall shape and run hopefully in that direction?

It is generally assumed that most women who wear the burqa are either extremist, or under the oppressive command of extremist interpretations of Islam. Enlightened study of the Quran and Hadith does not provide any evidence that the burqa was ever a religious requirement, unlike the hijab or head cover which is generally worn in a similar fashion to early Christian teaching. It is interesting to note that the SBS interviews tonight, of women wearing the burqa, clearly indicated that it was mostly worn by Muslim converts. Although they wear it by choice, many of them are extremely vulnerable – forming a type of 'ethnic' minority within a minority religion and culture. They are often distant from their Australian families and former friends, and are frequently given limited information about Islam by their husbands who exercise considerable control over them. Banning the burqa would almost certainly result in their husbands further limiting their access to moving outside of the house, and deny them any opportunity to discover the limited support services that are available.

Australian politicians are talented at falling straight into extremist traps. When short of publicity and out of the limelight – making a comment on either the hijab, migrants or – better still – asylum seekers – is sure to gain an immediate audience! As soon as they open their mouths about the burkha, they colour themselves in Islamophobia, thereby legitimising extremist claims that Australia is an Islamophobic society. Fortunately there is no impending election and politicians from all sectors clearly disagreed with Senator Bernadi’s poor attempt at publicity today.

I must agree with him thoguh, that the issue of covering the face when entering a post office or bank is an issue. Helmets and balaclavas are forbidden, but the burqa is still allowed. This is obviously not consistent. Although it is not the only area where the law seems to be duplicitous, it would be beneficial to discuss this disparity in a more constructive and less aggressive environment than simply forcing different clothing on adult citizens.

In my opinion, Australian Muslim women fall into a number of different categories. Those who arrived here earliest still carry their comfortable cultural habits from home. Like the old Italian ladies of yesteryear, they wander the streets of Lakemba and Auburn with floral scarves tied under their chins, clutching their shopping bags. There is no rhyme or reason in changing their fashion sense – it will die out with this passing generation, just as the old ladies with blue and purple rinsed hair no longer walk the streets as they did in my youth. The second and more particularly the third generation of Australian Muslim women have looser ties to their homeland, are far more educated and definitely more opinionated than their elders. They tend to dominate their menfolk more than vice versa which is why so many men try and find their wives from overseas. No one tells these Aussie Muslim girls what to wear. They usually wear the hijab as both a statement of their personal beliefs as well as a strong fashion statement. If they choose to wear the burqa, it is out of sincere religious conviction and no one should stand in their way and tell them not to - any more than Goths and Emos should be prohibited (even if they do frighten children).

My final comment on this topic is this – if Aussie men do not want Muslim women to be oppressed and have their husbands tell them what to wear – why are they doing exactly the same thing?? Leave us alone and let Muslim women wear their fabrics as they creatively desire.

Comment - 'Accountability' - what a beautiful but impossible word

2010-03-30T23:25:00.000-07:00

I love the word ‘accountability’! It is heard everywhere in the 21st century - whether in economics, politics or social relations. Is it really though, a modern concept? In reality was yesterday’s autocrat, dictator or rich noble less accountable than today’s politician, senior bureaucrat or billionaire? We are certainly
told so. Our systems of ‘democracy’ which underpin the ‘free world’ give us the belief that the unaccountable rulers of the past are forever gone. Through this little word, we are led to believe that the small person, living alone in a tiny flat, is not just a victim of authority’s decisions but a warrior with a weapon to fight back - the weapon of ‘government accountablity’. But is this belief an illusion? In reality, how practical is this concept of accountability?

This word is beautiful because it has practical connotations - bringing to mind the bent back, thick glasses and pencil smudged hand of the clerk, entering endless columns of figures, punching them into his little machine. In today’s world it would be the computer with a single click, the same number appearing magically in spreadsheets and reports. Each figure though has to be accurate - one single digit can make the whole process a repetitive nightmare where the columns do not balance and the cash or the deposits are out! Many a night I have spent in the past, poring over bank statements and receipts, trying to find the single entry that was twisted backwards, or the decimal point wrongly placed. How significant was that little error - even though every other entry was correct.

To be ‘accountable’ then, you must have all of your initial figures correct. A single mistake, misunderstanding or missing number can bring the whole process to a grinding halt, or turn a profit into a loss. The same concept applies in social relations - whether from the desire of a cheated wife to get justice from her philandering husband or a wronged people holding their oppressors to account. It was this concept of accountability that was behind the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, the International Court of Justice and the indigenous ‘Sorry Day’ marches that were held annually until Kevin Rudd’s famous apology on taking office. Inevitably though, most of these ‘accountability’ sessions did not achieve the magic zero error rate. Whether due to their motives, facts or depth of understanding, there was a missing element, a twisted entry, a wrongly placed decimal point. Ask most Aborigines, and their initial euphoria over Kevin Rudd’s apology, somehow seems vacuous. They are still unemployed, their houses are still in shambles and they have limited opportunity. Soweto is returning to demonstrations - their suffering under apartheid continuing despite majority black government. And in today’s news, Bosnian Muslims who sought justice in the International court for the wholesale slaughter of their men folk, have been told that the United Nations is immune from such accountability. Is accountability then an impossible task to achieve? How does a tortured prisoner manage to list every item of pain, every specific humiliation and all associated memories, to account for every suffering in seeking justice for their confinement? What kind of payment could ever balance their awful pain? How can the loss of a loved one ever be fully realised by the foolish drunk driver? Is accountability ever possible in such cases?

Economically it would seem that our whizbang computer programs, army of tax personnel and endless reams of forms and paperwork ensure that Australian citizens and Australian business are accountable. But the black market still thrives, and although corruption appears far less than many of our international neighbours, developers and police still appear too often in court on such charges. Only last year whole governments teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, as internationally the financial world suffered a near fatal collapse because of a lack of ‘accountability’ - double book-keeping, the selling of debts as assets and speculative greed leading to inflated figures. For economic accountability systems to work it still requires the honesty of that little man in the office, resisting all pressure to punch in an incorrect number. Alternatively, that his inaccuracy - deliberate or otherwise - can be quickly uncovered and rectified.

Justice is built on the principle of ‘accountability’. The decision of a judge is reliant however, on the facts that are presented, the context that it is presented in and frequently the politics that surround the case. Two recent examples of missing entries in justice were again in the paper today. In the first, China successfully prosecuted a case of ‘bribery’ and ‘breaching state security’ against an Australian national - Mr. Hu. China though is renowned for keeping its books, it’s ‘accounting systems’ in policy and policing, secret. Were all the facts presented in his secret trial? Hu was effectively dealing with the State, not just a Chinese company. So how much political pressure would have been felt by the presiding judge? The implications are that there were elements of political payback included in Hu’s case - an opportunity to make Australia count the cost of unsuccessful negotiations with BHP in a multimillion dollar mining deal.

While Australia protests the opaqueness of this case, it has been equally guilty in ‘terrorism’ cases. For my Muslim community - along with ‘liberal’ voters - there is an earnest desire for more transparency in arrests and prosecutions of alleged ‘terrorists’. However, on the flip side, the Muslim community’s willingness to provide important information has been minimal, fearing that such figures or accounts may ultimately be used against them. Many Australians have limited confidence that proceedings under the new Terror Laws will be accountable. It appears that too many important and relevant facts and contexts are dismissed, too much suspicion is heard and accepted. In the social context, these are the incorrect or inflated figures that skew the resulting calculations.

The second news item today tragically presents the results of Russia’s flawed accountability. Recently Putin had assured his Russian populace that the Chechen war was under control, that it was being managed effectively. Although it had virtually disappeared from regular news, Putin had not counted on the Chechen people entering their own figures. By encouraging two women to blow themselves up on a train, the age old system of ‘a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye’ was once again enacted. In reality, Chechens continue to struggle as third class citizens under oppressive rule. Their needs and grievances have still not been included in Putin’s planning - they do not count in his plans for Russian success. The two female suicide bombers were almost certainly widows or women who had lost close family and felt that the Russian government would not accept accountability for their suffering. By bombing a train, they were making someone accountable. They were in a macabre manner - evening the score, balancing the figures.

Of course the most important and most ideal of all aspects of this wonderful word is the spiritual. While non-believers try to hold God accountable for the deaths, the suffering and the terrible dilemmas of human life, God Himself holds accountable every person for what they have been given. However, sitting in my comfortable backyard I see the impossibility of ever being truly accountable. From the breath I take, to the thousands of tiny green blades of grass, or the petals of flowers in my tiny garden, to the contents of my drawers and kitchen, I could not possibly count everything for which I should be thankful. Every centimetre of my plumbing and my electricity works, every molecule of my body miraculously allows me to enjoy the myriad blessings of beauty, health, joy and love experienced daily. Put me in a darkened prison cell and I would rejoice over a single purple petal, a tiny fresh slice of fruit or solitary ray of sunshine - yet I have these in abundance every day. It is impossible to imagine, but the nature of God is that He is accountable. He knows and has always known every complicated aspect of this creation of His in every millisecond slice of each day.

As I return to balancing my cheque book I realise how important, but how futile our desire is to approach ‘accountability’ - which is in truth in the realm of the Divine. I avoid the thought of all the omissions and their terrible consequences for which I should truly be accountable. Although in this complex world accountability is a critical but impossible practice to accomplish, I celebrate the achievements of those humans who at least try.

Fiction: "Sandy's Clinic - Part 1"

2010-03-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

It was terribly hot and Sandy tried to sleep. She could hear the whispering in the room next door. Two of her kids were asleep, the third was with Joe - tending to the beans and feeding the guinea pigs. At least it was shady out there - in here it was as hot as a sauna.

The whispering became more energetic and Sandy had an uneasy feeling that the whispers were intended not just to avoid disturbing her and the two little ones, but to conceal something afoot.

The nurses had been acting strangely lately, looking away when she walked up, talking evasively. Naively she continued to trust them, believing that they shared the same passions that she did, and were equally selfless in their intentions.

Sandy believed passionately in natural childbirth and the importance of having support for new mothers. Her work with disturbed children had convinced her that adequate support in those first early years were critical for a healthy start. For the past two years she had poured all of her energies into developing a small clinic, where women could access important pre-natal and post-natal services. In this country town such services did not exist - the closest being many hours away in the larger metropolitan city. Perhaps foolishly she had also poured in a substantial inheritance from her aunt. There were no guarantees that it would be returned - unwisely perhaps, she trusted that she would continue to influence the clinic’s direction, and her entrusted funds would eventually be returned.

Having the three children at the same time and being so heavily involved in the clinic was not easy. But being a community centre, children were welcome and easily accommodated. Most of the other volunteers worked for one or two days a week, complaining that they needed time to cook, clean and look after the house. Sandy somehow managed to fit it all in - although her house was never spotless, it was still tidy and relatively clean. From early morning till she dropped into bed at night, she organised the family meals, supervised the clinic, championed the cause politically and kept the kids occupied with activities.

Joe had initially been very supportive. But he was easily influenced. He worked in the city, and most days had coffee in the same café with the doctor’s association. Joe listened - initially protesting against their continual complaints. Soon he became silent, confused. Recognising an opportunity, the doctor’s began shouting Joe coffee, gave him tickets to the soccer and turned his head by praising him in public. He found it harder to actively defend Sandy against their angry tirades. He began to be more confused as to what she was really trying to do.

In reality the city doctor’s association were convinced that Sandy was depriving them of their social importance. The clinic‘s nurses were solving problems that previously had been dealt with by doctors alone. The number of patients making the long journey into the nearby country town had dropped, and this was affecting the doctor’s income. For the first time, local nurses were questioning the automatic requirement for all pregnant women to travel hundreds of miles to the closest city hospital, the high rate of ceasarian births at the convenience of the doctor and the lack of pre and post-natal assistance.

The provision of exercise classes and support groups at Sandy‘s clinic, along with midwifery classes and better dietary advice had increased the number of natural births. The post-natal support at the clinic also ensured that parents were given adequate support in the difficult days immediately after birth - there was less stress in these young families and consequently less illness.

The town’s doctors though were full of self-importance. They were used to being consulted, revered and never questioned - on community issues as well as politics. Elected as leaders of most of the local associations they did not realise how arrogant they had become. They certainly did not appreciate a nurse with limited education challenging their right to dictate the kind of birth their patients should have.

Sandy was unhappy that so many women - healthy and with no apparent complications - had been sent far away to the city hospital. They were absent for weeks sometimes, their other children struggled without them and the fathers had no choice but to leave them in the care of older children at times in order not to lose their jobs. It was also an unnecessarily expensive way to give birth.

Sandy had never been someone to sit on the sidelines. Her parents always told her that she was reckless. Her parents had ’normal’ jobs, jobs that did not follow them home - with all the associated stress of a community project. Her parents had never championed a cause and had little understanding of the commitment that it demanded. “Leave this type of work to someone else” they would tell her. But Sandy did not know any one else who was prepared for this type of work. It needed someone who was passionate, an entrepreneur, willing to sacrifice a lot of time and effort - and maybe a little crazy as well.

One of the children stirred and she quickly went to him and tied him into the baby pouch. She felt the afternoon breeze finally stirring and opened the window, gently moving the lace shading her son’s cot. He sighed and she paused, watching him for a few more moments.

The crowd outside was growing. Sandy had no idea what was going on. She pushed through, excusing herself as she went. Outside the clinic - a small rented brick building, gaily decorated with signs and pretty flowers, was one of the city doctors, addressing the crowd of neighbours, media and some locals gathered in front of him. He was standing on the low wall at the entrance eyeing and working on all members of the crowd.

"I’m not a gynocologist” he was saying, “but I can assure you that this clinic is not safe. It should not be run by nurses - they do not have the training, they are risking the lives of the mothers and risking the lives of the children who come in here….”he said, raising his voice and jabbing the air each time he mentioned ‘risk’.

Sandy felt panic rising in her throat. She ran back to the house and found the clinic’s committee members - who had been whispering outside of her room - looking dejected and slightly guilty. Her son was now awake, rubbing his eyes as he held on to her skirt.

“Do you know about this?” demanded Sandy of the nurses.

There was an uneasy silence. The committee looked from one to the other - Susie tried to explain, but fell silent again. There was the sound of cheering outside.
“It’s hopeless..” volunteered Jane. “You can’t win - haven’t you seen the papers today?”

She held out the newspaper from this morning. In bold print across the top of the page was sprawled - “Clinic a health risk”, citing quotes from the Doctor’s association.

“Why are they doing this?!” exclaimed Sandy looking from one to the other. “You know the clinic is not a threat. You know that this clinic will make life so much easier for the women here….” her voice trailed as she realised that they were shuffling their feet. Something else was going on here.
Joe came in through the back .

“What’s going on next door? When did those doctors arrive in town? They’ve decided to support you at last have they? As if…” he smiled sardonically.

There was a knock at the door, and the Chairman of the clinic - a small, squinty man who smiled a little too much, a little too falsely, appeared behind the screen. His open-necked shirt was crisp despite the humidity.

“Pardon me” he said - without really seeking permission, With a confident air he pushed open the door and came inside.

He cleared his throat. Outside thunder began to rumble, and drops began falling on the dispersing crowd.

“We - that is the new committee of the clinic - have decided that the clinic should be overseen by our notable doctors who will work in a full and professional manner for the benefit of the mothers in this town.” He paused, drew a deep breath as the sunlight faded and the room dimmed in the growing storm, raised his voice over the thunder and announced “Your services will no longer be needed. You have been outvoted. The previous committee met last night, and after much discussion, they resigned. A new committee of doctors has now been voted in. These good nurses will now be employed by the Doctor’s Association at appropriate salaries.“

He paused, smiled and nodded briefly towards the nurses huddled in the living room. “We have now taken possession of the building”.

Sandy was aghast. She now understood that the volunteer nurses had been offered good wages - something hard to turn down. They did not realise that the clinic as it was would no longer exist, that the services she had struggled to provide would most certainly be scrapped, and the clinic itself would become a small medical referral centre - with no input from the patients, and serving the doctor’s rather than the local women. Almost certainly there would be a few poorly trained overseas doctors brought in to run minimal services.

She sank heavily on the back steps. Rain was running under the verandah, and pouring from the gutters. Through her mind ran the thought that it would be much easier to simply accept the inevitable and give up. There seemed little opportunity to fight such a co-ordinated attack. If she walked away now, she could spend more time playing with the kids, cooking their favourite foods and the house could finally be spotlessly clean. She could rest and have more time to read, grow herbs and definitely her stress levels would drop.

It now seemed unlikely that she would ever recover her the inheritance from her aunt. It had been entrusted at a time of goodwill as an unsecured loan, when the clinic was still a great ideal, and such funds could not be found elsewhere. Her family would never understand that the clinic would never have begun without it, that it was necessary and was loaned in a genuine spirit of generosity. How naïve she had been!

Alternatively, she could fight for her clinic - mobilise the women to reject the doctor’s takeover, and publicise some of the clinic’s success stories through more supportive media. Maybe with the help of a lawyer she might be able to fight it. Only last week a benefactor had offered to raise money for the centre - perhaps she could make a counter offer to the nurses. There were certainly plenty of other volunteers keen to assist the centre, and its loss would be keenly felt by the women and their families. She was torn in two - what should she do?

Are parents too protective today?

2010-03-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

I love listening to James Valentine. Every day he seems to hit on some relatively insignificant aspect of our lives and extend it, develop it and tease it out. It’s my intention, as often as possible to try and continue his discussions, musings and wonderings on my blog. Please feel free to criticise, discuss, pull apart or even AGREE (remarkably) with my contribution.

Today he was talking generally - I came in a little late - about the protectiveness we have of our kids, comparing ‘the way it was when we grew up’ with ‘today’, relatively speaking. Immediately I thought of all the little barriers I am putting up around my home for my grandchildren.
There’s one for the top of the stairs, one for the bottom. Soon I intend to replace the sticky tape holding the doors of my lower cupboards shut, with the more professional looking plastic loops and button gadgets, the ones that my grandchildren have surprisingly still not managed to penetrate in their own homes.

In their own homes my children have installed barriers between the kitchen and living areas, keeping my grandchildren in the safer living rooms with their toys and entertainment. They have sensibly locked off various areas of the house. I remember the last time I tried that was when I had the budgies to fly around in the safety of the spare room. I had carefully shut the door, keeping them away from my arrogantly voracious hunter of a cat, until my daughter (in her late teens) walked in to retrieve some washing. We found a small pile of feathers under the bed.

We never had such protection in the 70’s and 80’s when my kids were little. We were living on a shoestring most of the time so could not afford such luxuries. Perhaps they were not that commonly used then (were they even available???) and besides, with four little kids running around, it would have been impossible to keep up with all of the opening and shutting that would be required.

An image of the three boys - all born within 5 years, taking turns in flying down the steep driveway on their little tricycles, with their feet (and sometimes their hands) in the air hovers in front of me. Like the dropped object about to hit the floor, I would wait ready to cringe as their flight was halted by the back wall or door of the garage. Surprisingly, only the garage wall ended up with a hole in it.

They also ate snails (occasionally spitting out the shell), dropped bricks on their toes, ran into fences and one had a particular knack for walking with the family and suddenly chewing on retrieved chewing gum. They were boys and I never really knew where they would be next, where they would be hiding and what latest challenge they had engineered - but they had a fabulous time. They would appear most often when ointment and bandages were required, or I needed to adjudicate in a dispute that was more complicated or long running. I learnt to tell the different kinds of yells - that one was anger, this one was frustration, that was just mucking around - “oh,oh, got a go - someone’s hurt.” My daughters also joined in, but were generally shielded and more discreet from the excesses of the boys’ ingenuity.

Looking at my grandchildren now I am wondering - was I little too reckless, a little too trusting in the relative safety of our huge backyard and my ability to retrieve them before major harm occurred? Or are children and their parents today so caught up with safety and protection that children don’t have quite so much opportunity to discover and enjoy life and the great outdoors - the dirt and snail shells, the endless opportunities for invention, and discovery of the creatures great and small that live under the sunshine and rain?

To be frank, the most serious crises were not the bloody toenail, the odd bruise, or even the bee sting, but a niggling awareness that something was seriously wrong. Recognising such signals and those cries is crucial when taking full responsibility as a mother, and questioning - even rejecting - a doctor’s diagnosis. With one of my sons, he had fallen - but it was not from a serious height. Then he had vomited - not a lot, but it was unexplained. He was too little to tell me what was wrong. Then he would not put weight on his leg and limped when he walked. He ran a temperature for a few hours. Each of these symptoms alone would be par for the course. But together, they were unexplained. As a mother, I don’t like the unexplained - it’s suspicious. And then there was the cry - it was a whinge, but much more than that. And consistent. My alarm bells went off and I did not care how many doctors sent me home and told me not to worry. Eventually, a clever young doctor in the Children’s hospital detected heat in his leg and ordered more tests. Three weeks of heavy doses of intravenous antibiotics saved his leg from the bone infection that had somehow appeared there, the pimple in his bone that triggered unexplained pain, fever, and abnormal behaviour. Now, no plastic gate or lock on the door would have prevented that one!

Cordoba mosque revisited

2009-10-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

My second day in Cordoba was less dismal – the first day being so sad at the loss of so much history and beauty with the Cordoba mosque. Walking first across the bridge to the Tower I was able to listen to an English commentary of the historical displays relating the history and more importantly the philosophy involved in the development of Cordoba and some of its scholars. It was also fascinating to learn that Al Mesquita was itself built on an existing Visigothic church, as apparently Abdur Rahman I settled in Cordoba when it was controlled by the Visigoths who agreed to lease part of their church – including Roman ruins – to him.
As his flock grew, he bought out the remainder of the church to begin establishing the beautiful Mesquita. The fact that it was now again in the hands of Christians did not seem quite so disastrous and I was able to recognise the various stages of the building’s development as I followed the maps and stories I had purchased.

There were many small groups of toured guides explaining both the Muslim and Christian history of this site. Joining in with some of them I was able to enter chapels richly decorated with Renaissance paintings, glass casings housing historic and fabulous gold sculptures and religious icons – including giant Crucifixes carried in earlier generations through the church that were studded with crystal, rubies and emeralds amongst others. A huge case held an intricate gold creation standing at least 2 metres tall, festooned with saints, cherubs, and various other fantastic decorations. At one point all of the rafters were covered in paintings of flying cherubs. The huge Cathedral itself housed a huge organ, ancient choir stalls and enormous decorative paintings. In each of these areas, the simple Arabesque and been replaced with elaborate floral paintings and carvings, richly colourful representations of saints, former kings and queens as well as religious stories. Returning to the remaining Muslim areas, although somewhat reduced, the beauty of the original decorations and inscriptions were evident in the decorations surrounding the mihrab, the magnificent arching columns – even the fine decorative painting of the ceiling area leading up to the mihrab.

Trawling through the various markets and stalls, it was clear that the Cordobans had continued their excellent heritage in the crafting of silver, leather and precious stones. Everywhere the narrow cobbled alleys gave alluring glimpses of small courtyards, colourfully tiled, shaded but still open to the fresh sunlight. Each was a small oasis of colourful potted plants – adorning the floors and the walls, green and cool reflecting the ochre walls and bright coloured mosaics.
Although most shops and businesses are not open until 10 am, lunch time goes quiet here with shops shut and streets deserted. The few stalls open alongside Al Mesquita bake in the heat, especially as each has bright lights showing off silver jewellery, decorated pottery and various artifacts which gradually heat up their display cases. The town comes to life again after 5 pm and as I sit in the square in front of my hotel I can see crowds of shoppers, families and children joining with revellers enjoying the evening although it has been dark for more than 3 hours. Restaurants and shops are still open and crowded and will probably cease at 10 when the good folk of Cordoba finally head off to sleep.

Medinat Al Zahra

2009-10-28T05:47:00.000-07:00

Today I visited Medinat al Zahra – the excavated city built in the tenth century and later buried only to be discovered in the early 1900’s. This was the most well organised and pleasant tour so far with a very friendly guide who alternated effectively between English and Spanish for his customers. A large air conditioned bus took us from Cordoba city to the large parking area at the base of the excavated city. Comprising over 100 hectares of which only one tenth has been excavated, the excavating team has constructed a museum some distance from the recovered site in order to allow for continued excavation over the years. An excellent video presents an animated explanation of the history of Medinat al Zahra, with interactive displays visually highlighting the existing topography alongside
the historical progression of the city. Unfortunately there was simply not enough time to adequately see all that was on display in this thoroughly high tech and modern display, busses waiting to take groups to visit the actual site.
The walk was long but well worth the effort even though the weather continued to be unseasonably hot. Entering first from the mountainside – the servant’s entrance with its militarily significant zigzag road – it was immediately apparent just how appropriate this site was for a city. With its back to the mountains, only a short distance from the existing city of Cordoba, and looking to the south over fertile fields, the city was adequately supplied by water, limestone deposits for building and minerals for mining. The city was built in an exceedingly short time despite the extensive carving and architectural decorations discovered all over the site. It was apparently built to support the claim to Caliphate of one of the last dynastic inheritors of the Umayyad rule, a rule that had been successfully challenged in other parts of the empire. Standing on the ruins of this beautiful city, overlooking the gardens and the carefully laid out quarters of the Caliph – from his throne room, administrative areas and private areas – it is hard to believe that it could have been built so quickly and destroyed again so quickly. Within 70 years rebellions throughout the caliphate and ‘fitnah’ and discord had caused the Caliphate to crumble, the whole site being pillaged for its building parts by other conquerors. Gradually landslides, natural erosion and earthquakes buried this beautiful city – with its magnificent arches, careful planning and ideal location, remaining hidden for nearly a thousand years.
Returning full of thought and wonder for the rise and fall of civilisations, power and wealth, I then trekked to the Caliphate’s baths – only a short distance from Al Mesquita. Fortified by a small tortilla (potatoey omelette with red pepper garnish) and fresh bread lavishly covered with light whipped butter, I was ready for more hours of walking. The Caliph’s baths – like so many parts of Andalusia – did not represent one epoch only, but stages of history. The first baths were established as part of the Caliph’s personal cleanliness routine, with up to 500 eventually being located throughout Cordoba for public use. As the Muslims were conquered, so their Christian successors built their own baths – using some of the former baths – as the Muslims had previously by including Roman designs. Cool and shadowy, filled again with the classic palm type column and arch found in Al Mesquita, they were vaulted over with natural light streaming through star shaped holes in the arched roofs. With lavatories, disrobing areas, cool room, warm rooms and abundant flowing water, these baths once again represented an advanced civilisation which nevertheless was lost in time.
From there I wandered to the Alcazar – the huge palace built by Spanish conquerors over the former fantastic Alcazar belonging to the Muslims. According to the displays, each conqueror wanted no rival from the past, so the former Alcazar had to be completely buried in order for the new Christian conqueror to built an even bigger and more elaborate palace – one which would have no existing rival. Indeed Alcazar today is replete with beautiful gardens, orange groves and citadels of power, but it is also stained with the terrible history of the inquisition. The horrific torture and deprivation of justice and humanity was palpable as I walked the corridors and climbed the stairs of towers and vaults. No such history of brutal repression, ghastly repression of thought and climate of fear and intrigue has been associated with Muslim rule. Rather the rule of Muslims is acknowledged by all parties as a time of flourishing art and culture, wisdom and respect for different faiths, and development of science and literature. Even the history of military conquests have not discoloured the acknowledged greatness of Islamic history in these parts, something I am immensely proud of.

Travelling to Spain

2009-10-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

The trip to Madrid was quite long – definitely plane travel would have been quicker for some parts and less expensive. However it was certainly quite an experience. (Woah! Unbelievably my 3 dongle on this fast train is picking up a roaming network and allowing me to connect to the internet.) The trip from London to Paris was amazingly quick and brought me into the heart of Paris. Paris I have to say was quite a disappointment. The place looked tired, not just old but decaying, and uncared for. I had to catch the metro to another station across town – my fellow
passengers mostly looking so dispirited. Apparently the cost of living here is enormous, as I found out, and workers in Paris can barely afford to eat out let alone go to the cinema. Rents here are huge and the economic crisis has hit hard. The subway looked very drab, with cables running everywhere just overhead the entrance and exits and walls. The streets also were less than attractive, a fact not helped by the rain and the cold. Taking a walk around across the Seine to the Gare de Lyons (a very large train station) I found side streets with small shops and stalls, putting their boxes of rubbish piled high in the street. The faint smell of decay reminded me of parts of Indonesia. Even the great monuments, museums I walked past and tourist attractions needed attention, or had sections cordoned off due for repair. Walking back across the Seine I noticed at least 6 large boats tied at the side, obviously used for accommodation with rusting hulls and adorned with small and tatty sunshade areas protecting bleached patio table and chairs, and decorated with tiny pots of plants. I wondered if this was perhaps an alternative and cheaper form of accommodation for those desperate to work in Paris. After failing to understand the menus of the restaurants I passed I found a reasonable looking family type restaurant with English and French menu. Ordering a simple salad, with hot chocolate followed by mineral water I was shocked to discover the total bill over 20 Euros! Especially as the salad was mostly tinned corn and beetroot, accompanied by four tiny pieces of bread with melted camembert. No wonder Parisians cannot afford to eat out!
Close to the Paris Austerlitz station where I would start my next journey I was told there was a mosque – only 10 minutes walking distance. Twice I tried to get there, dragging my small suitcase and backpack along a narrow street past hotels with locked doors and dim boutique type businesses, until I eventually saw what was clearly a huge mosque type establishment standing out from the tall narrow buildings around. Eagerly I approached the first entrance only to discover that it was a busy restaurant, with Hamaam signs still hanging above the festive customers. I continued around the building and found a different entrance, through a huge wooden door studded with ancient iron rounded nails requiring entrances to step through into a small entry with a courtyard visible just beyond. I had seen someone enter and so decided to look around. The courtyard was small, with a central garden, overgrown rose bush, weeds and mud but little staircases led off from various doors. Most were locked so I tried the closed door where I could hear voices. The door opened and the distinguished teacher addressing his long narrow class politely paused while I apologised and asked in broken French/English/Arabic if there was a mosque nearby. Following his directions further up the building I stepped over the lip of even larger studded doors, and found myself looking at a beautifully tiled large entrance, with green fountains full of beautiful small trees. The mosque was very large with many doors running from the wide patios surrounding the fountain area. Tiling and decorations were ancient and very beautiful and obviously very old. Winding my way through archways I was directed down steep circular steps to the toilets which were, unsurprisingly but still disappointingly mostly broken and flooded. Considering that Muslims brought washing and cleanliness to so many parts of the world, it being half of their religion according to the Prophet, it always disappoints me that Muslims today are so incapable of keeping even their mosque toilets in good repair. By the blessing of Allah I was able to quickly pray the Dhuhur and Asr qasr prayers just as the Azaan was sounding, and then quickly perform the Maghrib and Isha prayers as only Allah knew just how hard it would have been to perform them earlier and later. Rushing from the mosque in the middle of their Jamaat, I dashed down the long alleyways in time to grab some food and jump on the overnight express.
The train was definitely an experience – four of us ladies squashed into a tiny room, with four small beds, a shared toilet (with men) at the end of the carriage, and a tiny wash bowl I discovered some time later. It would have been impossible to find space to pray as all space was communal, the beds not being put down until later when I was so exhausted I simply crawled in and crashed. One of my fellow companions was a Spanish teacher from France on her way to visit her parents. Her English was pretty good and she was very chatty – happy to translate, give advice and keep up a steady stream of conversation. I would not recommend travel by train from Paris again as the facilities are just too limited for the cost, and it certainly takes a long time – from 8 pm till 9 am the following morning. Although the company was great – the Spanish teacher and I caught a taxi across town to the next connecting train in Madrid - I would have preferred catching a plane and will do so for my next trip. Madrid is definitely warmer, cleaner and more alive than Paris. The town has an open feel, with wide clean streets surrounded by beautiful gardens. Culture is also evident as I saw a whole street of book stalls setting up early on Sunday morning, each with fiction, non-fiction and collector’s books by the hundred. The Atocha train station was magnificent – a massive forest of palms and lush Tropicana talking up the bulk of the space under an arched glass roof, split by marble paved walkways. Small sparrows flitted throughout the station and the lush foliage while little turtles sunned themselves in the lilied pool closest to the cafes and food stalls.

Castles and Hills

2009-09-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Wales has been an absolute treat! I’m staying in a 17^th century house – which was split into two accommodations after a fight between the wives of two brothers who lived there many years ago – surrounded by farmland, walking tours, and old castles. I’m just minutes away from Abergavenny (prounounced Aber-ga-vEnni) – a small town with great coffee and cake shops, all the necessities of life and loads of history.
My bedroom is tiny – just enough room to put my small bag and walk beside the bed, a TV attached to the wall at the end of the bed, a tiny window high on the wall that a sweet bird cheeps through all morning,
and a cute little ensuite at the other end looking up at grazing sheep on the hill behind. I arrived in after dark, as I had missed my train – it being only two carriages so that I did not see it as I waited in a room on the platform. The next train arrived an hour later, and once again, I was comfortably seated at a table with lots of room. Everything here is written in Celtic (Welsh) and English, although the language itself is seldom heard.

I was warned that the Welsh do not have a great liking for the English – possibly stemming from their ongoing rebellions over the centuries against the ruling British. This is particularly the case these days as the British are continually moving to the picturesque countryside to benefit from the peaceful lifestyle. My two hosts are English, as well as the taxi driver, and most of the shop owners and employers in town. Of course the British can’t see what the fuss is all about, arguing somewhat correctly, that the waves of immigrants from Europe that have entered Britain over the centuries have continually diluted the ‘Celtic’ culture so that it really has little authenticity as a separate culture. It appears that the Celts in fact came to Britain from Europe – after the last Ice Age, displacing a mystical people who were apparently short, stocky and dark with curly hair. The Celts who arrived were part of a larger culture that also existed in France, Spain and other parts of Europe, drifting across the borders as successive kingdoms rose and fell. I find it almost amusing that such deep rooted hostility could still exist after generations – not too different from the long lasting feud between Prophet Abraham’s sons!

Yesterday I spent discussing the history of Wales and elements of environmental philosophy with my good host, then hitching a ride into town. Busses come only once every two hours, and are situated a good half hour walk away anyway, so its best to get a car when you come sight seeing in Wales – not to mention the difficulty in locating castles in the first place. I then set about finding some lunch and a decent coffee – something not had till late in the afternoon. My first castle visit was virtually in the town itself, Abergavenny being built on the foundations of another Roman garrison (just as the Tower of London was) which was abandoned temporarily to concentrate forces against Queen Boadicea. Within 30 years they were back and had subdued the unruly Celts. Again, castles were built as much to protect the new ruler from his populace as to prevent invaders arriving – in fact, they were built to protect the new invader! These castles were much smaller and again showed how ruthless they were, with descriptions of how the Norman Lord decided to end opposition in 1175 by inviting the Welsh leader and his men to a massive feast – and then slaughtering them all! Revenge was enacted by the later Earl of Pembroke – a London educated man who was so angry at losing a dispute over land in the courts there (he was also a lawyer) that he attacked the castle and destroyed most of it 50 years later. Much of it was rebuilt and added to in stages, and it continued to be a massive presence in the area until recent history (that being about the time Australia was discovered I guess!).

I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the most beautiful garden at the edge of the town. After enjoying a delicious dinner at the Greyhound Vault (not sure why it was called that and probably don’t want to know either..) it was dark and time to head back to the country house. The difficulty was that outside of the town there were no street lights, so after a few unsuccessful attempts I managed to locate the guest house hidden up a long dark drive, and stumbled in the dark towards the dim lights of the old house.

The next morning after another hearty breakfast of mushrooms, tomato, egg and crunchy toast with an excellent round of coffee (5 stars for both) I was encouraged to take a walk in the hills. The day was cooler which assisted with my huffing and puffing up the hills. The views were magnificent and I went a little crazy with disappearing roads, old stone walls and the beautiful hedgerows coloured with a range of berries and beautiful gnarled old trees. There were heaps of blackberries which I munched on continuously - much better than old bottled water! From the top of the steep hill behind the country house the heath begins, stretching for many miles along the border between Wales and England. The views were just beautiful and I hope that I have given them justice in the shots that I took. Truly a beautiful country.
The afternoon was spent back in town, blogging, eating cake (what else!) and driving through the countryside to find the elusive next castle. I eventually found it close, well after both it and its adjoining information centre were closed. Tomorrow begs even more fun with horse riding over these magnificent hills, and hoping that this beautiful weather doesn’t suddenly turn to pouring rain!

Trafalgar Square, Soho and Piccadilly

2009-09-24T03:42:00.000-07:00

Currently I’m sitting on a speeding train heading towards Cardiff Central in Wales after a fascinating, fun filled, well fed and hectic few days – all detailed below. The weather has turned cooler but the train is comfortable. I am at the end of the carriage and have
plenty of room in front of me, a working table with power point for my laptop (there are about 6 of these in my economy carriage), good views and a comfortable seat. Better still, as I am now over 55 I got a return ticket for 30 pounds instead of the usual 68 pounds for economy. Of course I could have gone first class, but the cost would have been much higher and the difference in what I have now is miniscule – a bit more comfort in the chair I think. I have just finished a very nice Costa coffee with orange and lemon muffin – both excellent flavour and quality for just a few pounds.
Today’s blog will be divided between three different areas – food of course (lots of it) and generally the sights with another more detailed historical account of what I have been seeing. The last few days have been extremely hectic but full of interest, and I would certainly recommend anyone reading this blog to see the sights of London and do the tours with some possible amendments.
It is still Eid time effectively and I’m struggling to find the good coffee and cakes that have beckoned me from so many shop windows during Ramadan. Imagination is often more tantalising than reality – especially heightened with a month of fasting! Started the day back at Brunswick shopping centre with a coffee (Milan) and an almond honey cake. This was where I first bought the most delicious and fresh (later ones I bought elsewhere were a bit dry and stale) giant chocolate meringues. The coffee was good but still a little bitter (maybe I ordered the wrong one – there were two types) and the cake a little dry but with lashings of honey flavoured fresh whipped cream. This was the day that I wanted to do the tour of London on one of those great looking open topped busses which drive right around London city with commentary. Passengers can hop and off at will. I had tried to book one online, but unfortunately there was a 72 hour notice period to book online and therefore I received a late email saying to apply for a later booking. Deciding to take a punt, I headed off to Russell Square to see if I could simply pick up a ticket where the busses waited. This was a good guess and I grabbed a ticket to catch the next bus tour – the bus being almost empty at the time. I was still on my coffee crawl, so decided to hop off at the National Art Gallery to check out the views more closely.
The National Art Gallery is located at Trafalgar Square and has a huge forecourt with massive fountain, stature of ...and plenty of space for community activities. A crowd was gathered at on edge of the fountain looking up at a high scaffold nearby where speakers beat out a thunderous beat and a young DJ leapt and danced to the amuzement of the crowd, holding up a white board with messages that he regularly changed. Initially I thought it was some kind of protest, but realised an equally jubilant and jumpy woman was leaping around in the middle of the crowd with another white board sending return messages of public love.
After walking around Trafalgar Square and having a great time snapping photos and then looking in at all the cafes I settled for the Haagen-Dazs. This quality ice-cream place has a wonderful range of beautiful ice creams and sorbets which could be combined with biscuits, waffles or crepes, or made into fabulous looking ice frappes drinks with a mix and match selection of chocolate, biscuits, nuts etc and presented in tall fluted glasses. Very impressive. Still I settled for the Strawberry Cream ice cream with waffle and maple syrup, and a latte. The ice cream was great, waffle a little bready but crusted with sugar, and the coffee good with a rounded, soft flavour albeit a little weak.
I realised it was getting late and needed to pray so hopped on the tube to go to Regent’s Park, it appearing to be the closest and easiest to get to – Google and other listings not providing anything closer. Regent’s Park however is a particularly large park, and having a station called Regent’s park as well as a mosque with the same name does not actually mean that they are close together. Although the mosque was only four stops from Chaucer Square (?) I did not arrive until nearly an hour later, just as they were performing the Asr prayer. Alhamdu lillah the mosque was lively but not chaotic as it had previously been during Ramadan, and the prayer was wonderful.
Jumping back on the tube I had to wait a while for the next of the sight seeing buses. I was using The Big Bus Company while another company – the Original Tour had at least five busses come and go while I waited. Perhaps it was just bad luck but the other company looked better organised and more popular. Then it was on to the Thames and down a big river boat – the on and off bus along with the Thames river cruise all available for 24 hours and just 25 pounds. By now it was late in the afternoon and not the best time to be seeing the view. The trip was quite short and ran between the London eye, finishing up in front of London bridge – interesting but not nearly sufficient for all the sights to be seen. I finished up at the Tower of London, now later in the afternoon. Just about everything had shut though so I decided to return the next day. Almost hidden under the ground was a series of shops and a comfortable large cafe restaurant – the Tower Hill diner (a name I could not understand from the waitress despite her repeating it twice) - with excellent fish and chips for 5 pounds. Just as I was deciding to turn in and head home I a call from a family friend who was now residing in London. She invited me to join her with friends at a restaurant in Bayswater – Al Khans. The food was scrumptious, with a huge range of delicious dishes (some predictably very hot!) and the company awesome. Sharing a great range of dishes we supped and discussed foreign affaris, technology, China, Kashmir, Pakistan, journalism , teaching – aaah, London, cosmopolitan, intellectual and enlightening!
The next day I headed back out again to pick up where I had left off at the London eye. As I stepped out of the tube a Big Bus appeared and I jumped on – perfect timing. I had barely settled when I heard the announcement that those wanting to see the changing of the guard needed to get off at the next stop otherwise they would miss it. Grabbing camera, bags, coats and all the maps I had just unfurled I quickly got down and asked for directions. Just go across the other side I was told and catch the bus going the other way. Great I thought – no problem! The difficulty with being a traveller in a new city is that what seems logical can suddenly become more complicated when the information is not complete. Crossing the road to wait for a bus coming from the opposite direction, I realised that this was a huge one way street crossing the bridge – so I could not possibly catch a bus from the other side. Did he mean the other side of the bridge??
Struggling across the other side of the bridge I walked for some time trying to position myself where I could see a bus stop for the tour bus which was located close to the Houses of the Parliament and Westminster Abbey according to the large maps we had been given. These were both huge buildings and enormously impressive – they were also quite large to try and walk around. As with the previous day the rival bus company - Original Tour came past numerous times while I waited patiently (my 24 hour clock ticking furiously) for my own bus. Finally it arrived and I resumed my tour to Buckingham Palace. I arrived just in time to join the thousands who were squashed up against the impressive ramparts of the Palace forecourt. The bands were playing and I could just squeeze my camera between the people and then the bars to be able to snap the backs of the palace guards with my long range camera. The best spot to catch it would have been from the parks and gardens side of the forecourt, as most of the guards were facing that direction. The majority of the activity seemed to be various guards marching fashionably towards individually or in small groups towards another stationed or waiting guard, effectively picking them up with lots of stamping and appropriate calling out from their posts, doorways of the palace and the assembled parade ground, then dropping them off and picking up someone else at a different position. At the same time, two more senior members of the contingent marched as if they were doing laps in a pool in a more leisurely but still military pace, (I think I noticed them quietly chatting as they approached right next to our section of railing) then quickly doing an about face and continuing to criss cross the parade ground. One of these two had a particularly impressive collection of swords, medals and various adornments indicating presumably his seniority along with the extraordinary height of his (fake) bear fur headpiece.
Abruptly it all came to a completion, the huge gates creaked open and the bands marched out while young police officers tried valiantly to keep the snapping tourists off the road and on the pavement. It reminded me a little of school. The crowds disengaged themselves and began streaming slowly from the vantage points on the huge statues and fountain opposite, the railings and the fences of the palace forecourt. The surrounding gardens were magnificent, peaceful and full of speckled light from the towering trees that dotted hectares of grass. Massive gold and black crests adorned two huge entrance gates that locked off the peaceful green park extending into the distance, from the palace fountain, surrounded by traffic and bordered by huge decorative flower gardens with their milling palace crowds. The police could now relax, and catching a group of Indian Muslim girls smiling with three of the ‘bobbies’ I gave them Eid greetings and asked if I could get a snap with them in this Muslim/London picture. They politely acquiesced although seemed a little taken aback and bemused – along with the London bobbies! It certainly will be much easier doing these kinds of posing photos with various locals when I am not a single odd-looking, Anglo Muslim grandma. I also found one of the palace guides, in her black and red uniform, sporting a black hijab – demonstrating that even at the highest levels there has been an acceptance of Muslims despite the vitriolic press.
By this time I was truly hungry and headed back to the Big Bus stop where the two guides from rival tour companies were keeping themselves amused. Our bus company had an American guide – she was typically loud (you could hear her in the palace entrance) with a raucous and irreverent sense of humour and accosted all of her customers with helpful advice. Being bored and the busses (again!) being late, she teased her fellow rival guide – a London born African girl – taking her phone and calling her boyfriend a ‘sugar daddy’ and encouraging him to appreciate what a gorgeous girl he had. In the ensuing conversation we discussed the pros and cons of such a job – standing at the side of the road for up to 9 hours in summer, 8 hours in winter, with up to 20 kilos of walkie talkies, wireless ticketing machines, and change, rain, snow or shine. Both of the girls were cold and getting tired, and kept themselves distracted by teasing each other, complaining about how lonely the job could be when there were few customers in bad weather or winter. My over helpful guide assured me that the best place for coffee and treats was in Soho – back near Trafalgar Square, and then proceeded to give me a reduced price ticket for the London Tower.
This was good advice and after alighting near one of the oldest Toy stores in London (Hamley’s – 6 storeys of games, soft toys and technology) I slipped down a lane into the winding alleyways of Soho. Despite asking numerous cafe owners I could not seem to locate the recommended coffee shops and eventually decided to stop in a delightful little white store with attractive looking cakes called Mrs. Marengo’s. It was vegetarian, with very cottage style posh presentations of cakes and meringues, so I decided to be healthy and chose a leek and blue cheese quiche. The mango, avocado and radish salad looked interesting but I decided to try one new dish at a time. The quiche was absolutely delicious and I could see why I was lucky to get the very last piece. The leek gave a gentle flavour to the soft cheesy quiche with a hint of onion and a touch of the tartness of the blue cheese. For the first time also I really enjoyed the coffee which had a full flavour, was smooth, rich and really nice. Five stars for both.

A wonderful day for Eid

2009-09-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Today, fully replenished from another wonderful dinner the night before with new London friends, I set off bright and early for the advertised Kingsbury Park One Eid celebration in the park.
This organisation aims to encourage Muslims into following the Sunnah of the Prophet – praying the Eid prayer in the park, rather than in the mosque. It was only two bus rides away, but jumping on the first bus that came, I found myself next to a friendly, elderly (probably not much more so than me that is) South Asian sister who greeted me with Eid salaams – something that would happen many times today from total strangers, even non-Muslims! She explained tearily how excited she was to have finally been able to fulfil a lifelong wish of doing i’tikaf in the mosque due to the marriage of her son and the help provided to her by her new daughter in law. The difficulty with i’tikaf is that once you are in retreat, you cannot leave the mosque and therefore rely on family and friends for food, clean clothing and other essentials of life for the ten days that you are there. Fortunately for her, despite a little baby, her kind daughter in law and offered to provide for all of her needs, and she had only returned from the mosque the evening before.
As we said the takbir together, she told me that she wanted to go the local mosque, and encouraged me to come with her. I was a little hesitant, but looking at the clouds outside and the possibility of being lost trying to walk from bus to park, thought that an Eid salat in the hand was worth two in the park – figuratively speaking. I was even more concerned when she alighted from the bus and led me to the closest mosque which I had previously assumed to be Shia. There is a reason for this I thought, as she continually beckoned with a smile and almost pulled me into the ladies entrance. The salat was about to begun and a quick appraisal showed a broad multicultural congregation including Malays and Africans – not usually Shia followers. The salat was as usual a huge relief – the spiritual celebration of a month of sacrifice for Allah s.w.t. as waves of satisfaction and joy sweep through the believer who has managed to fast, and can now thank Allah and celebrate with fellow Muslims. Meeting and greeting after the prayers I quizzed a tall Dutch convert who was quite surprised that I had thought it was Shia.
My next priority was to head for the closest coffee! After peeking into the first five located at Cricklewood, I chose ‘Sandwich Plus’, none of the five having the tasty pastries that I was looking forward to. After the usual greeting of ‘Eid Mubarak’ the friendly shop owner explained that the TV screen I was watching was from Algeria, and that this was an Algerian coffee shop. Seeing my bemused expression at the huge framed photograph of an old steam engine protruding from historic buildings after seemingly crashing nose first into the pavement – he enthusiastically told me that he had the full history of this occasion, and that the steam engine was now housed permanently in a museum. I realised that the shop – as were others on the street – was full of celebrating Muslim men, but no females. The coffee was reasonable, a little bitter and the milk not sufficiently creamy. Two stars.
As the trains were out at my local train station I spent most of the day talking to my children via Skype, or trying futilely to get to the city and its alluring pasty and coffee shops. In the end, the traffic was so slow that I alighted from the replacement bus and headed for an Italian restaurant in Kilburn for lunch. The melted goats cheese over tomato on traditional Italian bread was good, the decor was great (dark, traditional Italian and rustic), but the coffee was flat and weak. I had an apple pie with custard but could hardly finish it – it seemed to be a supermarket reheat. Two stars again.
For dinner I was lucky to discover a fantastic quality Indian restaurant only metres from my front door. With newspaper reviews giving it a four star rating glued beside the entrance, I bought the huge London Times and settled down for a long Indian dinner. Palak chicken – (spinach and coconut milk) was good, although a little gritty – something I always struggle with when cooking spinach, Pilau rice, mango lassi – a yogurt drink and absolutely delicious, followed by Karahi Kulfi’s mango – a rich and creamy ice cream. Four stars and the service was excellent including a delightful hot towel after the main course for a total of 16 pounds. To top the evening off for Eid was a new season of Doc Martin. Thank you Allah!

Crazy humans, their companions and the end of Ramadan prayers

2009-09-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

Today began with mistaken public transport and an old lady, holding up the traffic in her wheel chair, waving her arms at the impatient banked up cars.
I had intended to go straight to the agency and start studying the national curriculum, collecting a bank of appropriate teaching ideas, quick activities to fill the gaps and a better preparation for facing an unknown bunch of kids. Instead I found myself heading off to the city on the wrong bus! No harm done, there was some great shopping at a place called Primark – much cheaper than the city shops, good quality, and so popular that by the time I got to the register I was at the end of a line more than 30 people long.
I then headed for the bus, carrying these huge heavy paper carriers with my new warm coat and foot warmers when I heard horns blaring and people staring. In the middle of the busy main road was an old grey haired lady, struggling to get her wheel chair across the road and waving her arms angrily at the impatient queues of cars itching to accelerate while the lights were green. Amazed I waded through the immobile bank of mostly men watching her, and with bags bouncing off the wheel chair I quickly wheeled her off the road – while she roared to the crowd “what kind of men are you??!” amongst other less controlled comments. Wishing her well I then caught another wrong bus and had to walk back to where I had started!
Pets, as in Australia are a very big part of a Londoner’s life. The free London Paper – which unfortunately printed its last issue today due to the financial crisis – had been running a favourite pet picture in each of its issues. Amazed at the response it had from readers it ran a centrefold page of guinea pigs in knitted hats, cute cats, pigs and various other human companions. They were all beaten by the amazing pup which trotted across my path – a type of black and white miniature boxer breed but with huge stand-up butterfly ears! Perhaps even more unusual was the lead story today - of a 12 year old boy who turned up to school as a girl, prompting the head of the school to make an announcement in Assembly explaining the child's choice of future gender. Surely an adolescent's nightmare!!
Tonight was the last night of Ramadan and I was almost moved to tears thinking about how it would be probably another year before I stood comfortably in a mosque praying sunnah and hearing the Quran roll melodiously around me. I stopped to pick up some fattoush from one of the many take away joints still open on my road home (not to mention the 5 or so 24 hour small grocery and fruit stalls in less than a kilometre). As usual the staff were friendly and gave salaams. I noticed that they were watching on a large screen an Arabic station where Omar Sharif – the ever so famous actor, was being interviewed. He was sitting on a chair in a classic Bedouin tent, with the desert wind coolly lifting the tasselled sides. I checked with the shop owner, who happily confirmed that Omar had left his many Hollywood years behind and returned to Cairo, the land of his birth. “Is he Muslim then?” I asked amazed, thinking of how much my mother and grandmother had adored him, and how horrified my grandmother would have been to think that he was Muslim.

Travelling the tube reflections, new mosque in Brent

2009-09-17T05:04:00.000-07:00

Today as I headed once again into the bowels of lower London it occurred to me that in terms of evolution, humankind has progressed remarkably towards our fellow insects – the ant.
Organised in long lines that generally head in a distinct direction – with little groups forming to check and then resume – we have become experts at tunnelling underground. Just like our fellow ants we have lines that move at different speeds, individual humans who rest and share information in a tete a tete with their fellow ant/human, and move through complicated intersecting tunnels according to our different destinations. Aah, evolution! Isn’t it wonderful. I wonder if some ants have devised a better escalator system?
Two particular ants cum humans caught my attention this afternoon. One appeared to be Swiss, according to the embossed handle on her expensive travelling gear. She wore the most beautiful sandals, cleverly crossed and studded – appearing both comfortable and extremely classy. Next to her sat a dour businessman, complete in his suit with his head adorned by a metal pyramid structure. He sat calmly with the square side of his simple wire structure pulled firmly over his forehead, like the outline of an invisible hat. As with all correctly behaving tube passengers, no one looked surprised, commented or even bothered to care.
In the evening I finally managed to attend the new – and still unfinished - Central Mosque of Brent, an imposing mosque which is still attracting parishioners as it was less than a quarter full when I attended. In the rear of the expansive ladies section upstairs I was surprised to see sheet structures – like large changing areas in a ladies salon. I realised that the community here was enacting the practice of the Prophet for I’tikaf – or virtually camping in the mosque for the last ten days of Ramadan. There must have been at least 12 of these sheet partitions running down on each side of the still uncarpeted and unfinished upstairs section.
After the Isha prayer there was a long speech by the Urdu Imam which many of the sisters had no hope of understanding. Like them I struck up a quiet conversation with the Somali sister sitting next to me. She had arrived in London over 8 years ago as a refugee from the Somali war and was a careworker, trained practically but still struggling with written English. She described how her father and her mother with the surviving twelve siblings (four of her mother’s sixteen children had passed away!) had moved to London. Finding the social environment less supportive of parental authority, her parents with eight of the still unmarried children were now living and studying in Cairo where she sent her meagre savings to assist them. Amazingly, her mother had been injured during the war and only had use of her right arm – still managing to raise another 4 babies after her injury! In this close community apparently there were always sufficient relatives to ensure that minimal work was done by her mother, who focussed on the care of the babies while others cleaned and washed around her. My own contribution to the next generation immediately paled into insignificance!

Parks and Mosques (and more good food)

2009-09-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Today - Saturday, I walked the back streets of my new area trying to locate what appeared on Google maps to be a crowded cemetery beside a large park. The cemetery entrance indicated
it was private and Jewish, open and green although later from the park side the cemetery was an ordered mass of leaning headstones, glinting in the afternoon light. That space sure will be crowded come Yaumul Qiyaamat! The park itself was quite beautiful, full of flowers, tall rustling trees and children playing. A hill rose in the centre providing a vantage point overlooking the neighbouring suburb. The low sun beamed soft yellow light beautifully through the trees behind the sprawling grand houses below.

Black and white couples are a common sight here if not the norm. Not sure if this is still a new phenomenon as I’m sure one or two generations back it would have been problematic. As I waited for the bus (which I discovered later had been held for nearly an hour up by a Manchester United football game) three African girls played nearby. Their hair was neatly parted in radiating lines around their head, the hair plaited into thin parallel lines close to the skull, with the plaited ends forming into anemone type arrangements, sprouting from different places and bouncing as they played. I wondered how long it would take for these kids to sit still and get their hair done!
I was determined to enjoy the beautiful city cuisine tonight after eating a local Turkish restaurant the night before. The menu showed a range of pides and other delectables, but on ordering I discovered most were not available. The lamb I ordered was crispy, tasty and tender. After finishing a full plate however, I felt the heavy weight of greasy lamb fat settling into the pit of my stomach. The coffee I had ordered to follow was weak, and tasted old and flat – but maybe that was because I was gradually getting over my coffee addiction.
Heading into the city for Iftar, I jumped off the bus at Highbury Islington and strolled down the main road passed numerous busy restaurants, checking menus and the amount of alcohol on display. Many mouth watering dishes tempted until, low and barely visible, Arabic letters caught my eye. It was a Persian restaurant, almost hidden from the main road through a low door accessed by a recess in the shop front. Here no alcohol was visible, the restaurant was well lit and the walls covered in runners of red and black tribal geometric tapestry.
I ventured in further to discover soft thick Persian carpets, about a metre across, hanging on the walls. They were very beautiful, for sale and about 500 pounds. The restaurant was Persian and I ordered a delicate rice dish, aromatic and full of citrus peel with finely cut and braised nuts. Hidden within the mound of rice was tender chicken. This was much better than heavy lamb fat!
A cake shop was still open opposite, full of strange looking dishes for a light dinner and platters full of delectable cakes. I chose a vanilla cupcake and bought 4 of the huge meringues – this time swirled on top with light raspberry sauce, and another variety dusted all over with finely cut hazelnuts. These would be my thank you gift for the next Iftar.
I then had to get home. It was now late and busses seemed to be the most direct option. However they were continually delayed. As I began to relax having finally caught the last bus on the way home, there was a loud crunching sound. The bus swayed to a halt, and then slowly pulled over. Passengers leaned out the windows to see what had happened and we all looked around at each other for clues. After another ten minutes the majority decided that another bus would be a better option so there was a mass exodus. I waited at the back of the top deck to see if another bus would come, and saw the bus driver exchanging details with the driver he had collided with and noticed him being pressed with money which he valiantly refused. I briefly thought that I should be a witness to this attempted bribery, but the thought of weeks waiting for a long court case chased that firmly out of my mind. Just as another bus appeared, the bus driver hopped back in so there was a mad rush to get back onto the bus before it left. The driver called out loudly over the mike, asking for witnesses to stand by his assertion that the car had been at fault, eliciting loud discussion between passengers as to who had seen what, while the two busses virtually raced each other all the way back home.
Today I decided to see the local mosques in the area. I realised that I have been walking between 2 and 3 hours a day, locating different bus sites, alternative routes for travel and exploring back streets and main streets. First I located Yusuf Islam's school - Brondesbury Boys High School which was already closed for the day, and found it had changed little from the outside in the past few years. The first two mosques I visited in Brondesbury Park seemed – as with most of them unfortunately – very closed. There was no real sign that any door was open and little indication that visitors were welcome. As I tried unobtrusively to take pictures, I was becoming worried that I might be considered to be spying for some agency, especially considering the recent tension and protests outside mosques that had been covered in the news.
I then visited another two mosques – one of which had an open gate and a laneway down the side. I decided to give it a go! Bravely walking down the side of the mosque I was followed by a number of fellow Muslims who looked at me slightly suspiciously. I enquired innocently – ‘where do the women pray’ – and was gruffly directed further down the alley to another entrance labelled ‘Women’s Prayer Area’. Thanking them I peeked inside but decided against going past the initial vestibule. I chatted briefly with a stall holder outside, trying to assess what background this mosque might have. There was a table full of CD’s with young, black bearded men and small turbans – a type I had not seen before. They appeared to be Pakistani or Bangladeshi rather than Iranian, and although the turbans were reminiscent of Shia mullahs, they were smaller and of a slightly different fashion. Suddenly I heard the azaan as more young men rushed to the salat. I quizzed the stall holder – what salat is this? It was already well after 5.30 pm and my salat times indicated that Asr prayer had begun more than an hour earlier. He explained that this was Asr time for the locals, and then rushed to join the prayers. As I returned down the alleyway I was passed by another attendee who frowned, saying ‘Laa hawla wa laa quwata illa bi illah’ (there is no help or strength save in Allah) – so I guess I really did stand out from their expectations! Of all the local mosques (and apparently there are 8 within two kilometres of where I live), the Central Mosque of Brent was the most welcoming and friendly.
Tonight was another wonderful Iftar with fellow British ‘immigrants’ – friends of my children, who kindly invited me into their homes. It is certainly one of the wonderful aspects of being a Muslim and travelling in Ramadan – even complete strangers feel compelled to offer you their hospitality and fine food, there being so much hassanat in sharing food with others in this holy month, and even more so providing food for travellers. Last night, as I had travelled so far for the Iftar, I was invited to stay the night and dropped back at the station early in the morning so that I could get back in time for work. Sharing the Iftar and then the suhur with this family, their hospitality in providing spare clothes for sleeping and a wonderful bed, along with all of the many tales and discussions that we shared at both of the dinners will be a great memory of Ramadan in Britain.

Studio Flat discovered

2009-09-12T02:40:00.000-07:00

Have finally found a wonderful little place in Willesden Green. It is a small studio, with a dug up private back yard under huge, huge trees filtering speckled shafts of light.
It has a double bed, sofa, tiny kitchen space, little bathroom and a cute table and chairs set at the end of the double bed looking onto the backyard. I couldn’t wait to move in. After being dropped off at the station after the viewing I doubled back and walked down the main street to where the flat was, only to discover that the place I had rented was very close to an Islamic College!

It appeared to be a former church and I decided to inquire inside, as it did not seem possible for it to hold more than a few evening classes. A narrow entryway led on a small welcoming room with a large reception counter. I noticed the expensive graphics and the authorisation from Middlesex University. This was clearly more than a little operation. The sister at reception was kind enough to show me around, down winding hallways with more and more classrooms, a tiny outdoor area to play table tennis, and a small musallah. A library full of volumes loomed briefly through a doorway with a firmly set Anglo woman in traditional and austere hijab. She smiled briefly before returning to her records. Apparently they have up to 200 students studying for their ‘A’ grades – a category I am not yet familiar with, as well as Bachelor’s and Masters of Arts in Islamic Studies. Some of the terminology however was unfamiliar – what was a Hawza? – and the style of hijab gave an indication that this was a Shia institution – confirmed in its subject offerings. The College also offers Arabic short term courses in the evenings – certainly going 'next door' would present little concerns regarding travel!
I also discovered the following safety features of my new residence – a doctor’s surgery two door away, a police station directly opposite, and a small supermarket (amongst numerous little 24 hour fruit/supermarkets) further down called Noor al Houda! A Muslim never ceases to be amazed at the ‘coincidences’ that Allah s.w.t. throws up in their lives, and certainly I’m thankful – Alhamdu lillah!
My taxi driver the next day who helped me get my bundle of large bags to the new house was a Bangladeshi who chatted at length about the state of the Muslim world. He also espoused speakers he admired – particularly a prominent Hindu convert – who run their own Sky (?)TV program avidly watched by British Muslims. Apparently many of the Hindus who watch this program convert to Islam.
As I waited for the agent to arrive and organise the lease, a line marking truck pulled up in front of me. The two lane street was already crowded with buses, overtaking cars and bicycling people, until this truck appeared taking up another half of a lane for the traffic to weave around. I waited with bated breath for an accident.

Two brave men eventually hopped out and proceeded to walk down the road two abreast without any form of traffic diversion while the traffic continued to weave around them. Ultimately the traffic simply could not get around them and the parked cars and was completely stalled until they stood aside temporarily. Is there any form of Occupational Health and Safety here?? I’ll have to learn to turn down my internal alarms systems, especially as the papers today record that up to 80% of public schools are being forced to use totally unqualified ‘supervisors’ to run classes in schools, sometimes for weeks at a time! Well, if I was worried about coming up to scratch in this new system, I should at least be better than the reported ‘supervisors’ such as retired bus drivers! Then again....
Finally, another interesting new system. I was handed a small USB type key and told that this would need to be regularly ‘loaded’ in order to keep the power running. I was shown how to push it into the power meter, read the amount that was still available, and the local shop that ‘uploads’ money onto the key. Certainly an interesting way of monitoring expenditure on power, which apparently can be as much as 4 pounds a day – even for a little flat!

Encounter with a Squirrel

2009-09-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning headed back to Russell Square to Skype my daughter while sitting in the park. No one seemed particularly surprised at a middle aged lady with headphones talking and laughing to her laptop -
at least until it crashed, there being no available power points located at a park bench.
I caught my friendly little squirrel there, scurrying among the leaves and stopping occasionally to check me out. The park is lovely although the Caribbean gentleman who joined me on the bench and spoke at length, loudly, on his mobile phone slightly spoiled it. The squirrel didn't think much of it either and disappeared.
I had already picked up pastries and snacks for breaking fast, but discovered a range of stalls selling Algerian, Asian, Italian and various other authentic delicious foods located in tents all the way down the comfortable street mall around the corner. I added to that a huge white with swirled chocolate meringue that was so light and slightly chewy, it reminded me of my Nanna's meringues from childhood.
Dashing across the crossing as I dragged my little suitcase to rush back for Iftar a slightly paunchy businessman (minus the coat) with a slightly wonky helmet was peddling furiously what looked like a kids bike with vertical handbars. I wondered how he could possibly overtake buses in it. I also wondered how the ladies were managing to keep their skirts (often loose and above the knees) from flying up as they weaved between taxis and huge red busses.

Almost back at the LSE I took an interesting back street - under an arch that supported a continuation of dwellings, to discover a cobbled street with an Inn - the Blue Lion, established 1627 carved above it. If only there was a timelapse camera from that time - how much change it would have caught over 4 centuries! Rather than excite the casual drinkers outside the pub I took a picture of the comfortable dwellings farther down the cobbled lane.

Tuesday 8 Sept

2009-09-09T02:16:00.001-07:00

The bank I was directed to for opening an account seems to run completely differently. There were no tellers that I could see and – wait – no queues! I found my way to a friendly African staffer behind a centrally located desk,
who took my name with a helpful smile and politely asked me to take a seat in bright red chairs. Music played overhead, including my favourite Coldplay album. Within minutes a polite lady appeared, smiled and apologised for the wait, taking me to her booth from an indepth explanation of my new account. Well, I thought, this is service!
After spending the morning surfing the net and trying to locate anything that was short-let and reasonably priced in the exclusive suburb of Islington that I liked (well, my dad was born here I think, and they did say the schools were great!) – I accepted the futility of the exercise in realising that exclusive suburbs don’t have cheap or easy rent! The next best offer seemed to be a number of places – dubiously without photographs other than ‘sample ones’ – in the area of Willesden Green. So I now decided to see how long it would take to get there and whether I would be stranded in the snow on a deserted and lonely station platform in the freezing dark. Three stations and one hour later I emerged in leafy Willesden Green. As usual coming out a high point of the village with little shops falling away on either side of the station bridge, I immediately saw a sign pointing down the road to a mosque. Well, I thought, this looks good. My imagined small door to a tiny musallah in fact turns out to be the huge Brent St mosque still under refurbishment. Peering in the door a worried South Asian gentleman carrying his masbahah tried to shoo me away to a different entry. I persevered and through our different accents managed to eventually get approval to pray and browse around. The mosque is huge, airy and comfortable. Yep, I like the area.
Walking back up to the train station I decided to try for cafes and busses. The cafes were limited, but the busses were plentiful and one went directly back to my destination! Muslims and halal restaurants were everywhere, with a much busier small village life than the place I had visited earlier. Catching a double decker bus I sat up the top to watch the view. These tall narrow busses seem to surf down the narrow rivulets of village streets, banked steeply on each side by quaint and sometimes crumbling shop fronts. The tall sashed windows that rise up on each side seem to lean in as the buses lurch between grated crossings and down grand residential streets with towering trees almost obscuring the sky.
People are more relaxed I notice, but tense in a worried sort of way. You see less of a cool restrained type of dude – the one my son is so adept at – than open features that display the full range of emotions. I imagine him cringing if I behaved in the manner of those around me who seem oblivious to social expectations, speaking loudly on mobile phones and above and over each other as though there was not ten people standing between them.
I break fast this time in a tiny restaurant off Oxford St with rich tomato and basil soup, light salad with fried salmon fillets on top and crusty bread. Delicious, but the owner is a little bemused by my insistence that I have to wait before I can break fast. This causes me to miss a coffee I have been dying for from the Costa coffee shop which closes across the street while I am dashing towards it. Closer to home I find the street mall which had such wonderful little cafes during the day, not spread out with rustic tables and tablecloths for Italian, Greek and Asian restaurants joyously celebrating the night. I ask for a coffee and am told I have to have desert as well (now that’ll be hard). I choose a light sorbet – so light it slips dreamily from my spoon like heavy beaten egg white – and the coffee is warm, not too strong and very smooth.
I watch as behind the tables on the mall, speed past ladies on bikes. I had seen many of these in the city also – usually no helmets, weaving comfortably between the double decker busses, little black taxis and other cars. From high heels and dressed up, to middle aged and casual, there were an abundance of fit women peddling their way around. Certainly everyone seems fitter than me, and there is little obesity. Suddenly a troop of Greek musicians start up at the tables, as a black taxi trundles through the tiny space of the mall behind them. I love this place!

Monday 7 Sept 09

2009-09-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

Today was taken up with being ‘sorted out’ by the Protocol Education agents. Located in Chancery Lane they run a very efficient practice with a friendly staff checking all details, filling out forms, explaining a raft of procedures from pay to National Security ID’s to police checks. Once identifying
what and where I might want to teach, two ladies from the different areas dropped in and excitedly spoke at the type of schools in their domains. Outside of this office with its helpful troop of organised personnel sat newly arrived teachers from Canada and seasoned teachers manning computer terminals beside bookshelves of teacher resources and curriculum. They were locating places to stay – one of the first and most difficult parts of the settling in process. It’s the beginning of the school year and work is still slow – most teachers arriving back at school healthy and fit from their long summer holiday. This is good for new supply teachers as bank accounts have to be opened, longer term stay organised and the curriculum mastered. It seems living in Islington is good as they have excellent schools there with limited supply teachers. So, I think I’m in the right place..I’m pumped and ready to roll!
That night I attempted to find my way around using the Tube. After organising an Oyster card – which allows you simply to swipe whatever transport you’re using – whether bus, tube, train etc and simply top up every now and again, I entered the maze of vertical escalators - where fit Londoners skip down – or hold tete a tete’s as though they’re in a comfortable cafe, repositioning themselves quickly on each new downward journey. The Tube map fortunately has some straight lines – its bad enough with the maze that’s spread before me! I need to change at least two times it seems as someone is under a train in the direction that I could most easily go. Finally I emerge to look at accommodation which seemed to be pretty close on the map, but took one hour to get to. We walk for fifteen minutes, passing another closer train station which winds back towards the city from the direction of the person under the train. The houses continue to be unbroken by any side passage or front garden – quaint, cheek by jowl with a village atmosphere that is borders dull after the buzz of inner city. Unfortunately there are no good cafes here, there are four flights of stairs to get the bedroom and it’s a shared house, albeit with fairly responsible teachers from Protocol. My legs have had it, and my knee is saying ‘enough’!
The return journey takes half an hour of waiting for a train – perhaps someone is still underneath the train? It’s deadingly quiet out here and I try not to listen to the platform’s sole other commuter explain loudly on her mobile about the personal problems of her parishioner whose Bible is somehow an issue. I’m determined to get to London Central City Mosque so break fast in tiny Bangladeshi restaurant. It’s clear it belongs to a comfortable semi retired person – old fashioned lights on the walls, fading but loved multicoloured Persian carpet, with straight backed chairs toned with dark blue to match the fading light blue walls and tablecloths. The old man in charge shuffles quietly and resolutely in serving me with a reserved air of long habit. The food is simple and nourishing, the price reasonable.
Getting to the mosque which directions indicated was not far required walking a mile, then catching one bus, then walking, then catching another bus and finally walking another few blocks. The streets were dimly lit and although fellow Muslim bus passengers who walked some of the way with me gave helpful directions, it was a journey I decided not to repeat. I decided to get a taxi for the return home – despite the certain extra cost. The mosque itself was chaotic – with few lights and a confused mass of fairly noisy mixed races and children running around a forecourt. I found my way to the ladies wudu section which was crowded with small groups of ladies sitting on the ground or in small groups noisily talking to each other with the detritus of their recent break fast piled around them. Rubber mats usually placed on the tiled floor in front of wudu areas were located everywhere – with some groups of chatters set up at tables next to the taps or on the floor in adjacent tiled areas. After cleaning up somewhat I headed upstairs to the ladies section – where scores of women were quietly engaged in Quran reading or praying. Finally we rose to prayer and the a wave of peace washed through me as I heard the first ‘Amen’ deeply sung by a united and uniform congregation.

Travel Reflections on England

2009-09-09T02:05:00.000-07:00

First Impressions of London
After being unfortunately booted from business class (where I left my complimentary toiletries, ear plugs, classy socks etc) into economy, I arrived a little more rumpled but ready and excited. Heathrow is under repair and we emerged into a Hajj type gathering, 10 abreast under low temporary ceilings, drooping flouros and makeshift walls. Slightly oppressive. Forty minutes later
we had shuffled through to the luggage, which was also delayed (four large aircraft arriving simultaneously apparently – yes, this is not Libya, this is London!). After previous warnings, decided not to respond to the urgent entreaties of a taxi touter, but stood in line – confident that I’d get a fair English deal. One slight problem – I was relying on my credit card till the accommodation, as I figured airport rates would more expensive than local exchange, but the taxi informed me at the end of the ride, that he doesn’t take credit cards on Sunday. He complained at length about how many days he has to wait to get paid from the airport, and how hard it is to get his money – cash only. So another 15 pounds and four ‘not working’ cash dispensers later (they don’t take cards on Sunday either it seems) I got my cash and paid the driver.
The accommodation is student type and frugal, with a breakfast room, outdoor garden/eating area, computing room and tiny narrow corridors. With suitcases dumped in the luggage room until check in time, I managed to find a free bathroom and cleaned up. I think I counted 8 pipes above the narrow shower area – like showering under a city plumbing station! Still, it was good to be clean.

Next headed out to begin exploring. First stop, the corner shop for a paper around the corner. Next to it, a small and comfortable little street mall with cafes, cheap but nutritious pastries, cakes and a range of cheap but nutritious dinner foods – 4 pounds for dinner – and excellent coffee! Hey, I’m in the right place! Touring the streets it reminded me about how old London is, the children’s refuge with the founder’s statue outside – 1685 – 1750, still running, still caring for kids. Trees in the parks are huge, with thousands of rustling leaves as you walk underneath, and nearly every building has festoons of coloured plants dripping from planters on the street walk, and planters even on fourth storey window sills. As I focussed my camera on a huge old hotel, a passing tourist alerted me to a skinny little squirrel sitting on the ground watching me, then dashing off into the park’s bushes before I could catch his photo.
I’m now eating in Brunswick – an up-market, comfortable piazza style shopping area with a fabulous range of gourmet foods, although I’ve opted for scrambled eggs and grainy toast. The coffee around the corner is still the best so far.

What direction are Muslim Schools heading?

2009-08-18T18:58:00.000-07:00

Education has a host of meanings for those involved in the schooling of the next generation – but none should include dividing them into self-possessed winners or disaffected losers. But this is exactly what is happening as one school system in the Muslim community
drives students to compete in an artificial environment which generally does not consider their real aspirations, instead creating an Ivy league – or more appropriately perhaps – a Castle League of graduates. They are the ‘winners’ in the community’s eyes as opposed to their competitors in the public system and those that never made the final race – denied permission to continue in these schools earlier on.
This begs the question – what is the ultimate aim of schooling? The answer to this question depends on who is being asked. Students of all backgrounds look forward to the long years of school ending with enough of a qualification to get them to further study or a job. Many Muslim students struggle to survive the bullying, class disruptions, peer pressures and teacher misunderstandings – in order to survive a childhood as a marginalised identity. But in many Muslim schools there is an added pressure – to stay in the school by competitively achieving high marks in the subjects allocated. Time and again I have heard from young graduates of these schools that although they were interested in the Arts, or Humanities subjects, they were given no choice - having to study the Sciences and higher Maths subjects in order to achieve a mark far higher than they needed to enter the University subjects of their choice. In other words, these schools do not exist for the welfare of their students, but for the high marks and associated prestige that such students supply for the school’s reputation. Maintaining such a high standard is costly – in terms of student wastage and pressure on the students who manage to continue in the school. The immediate benefits are an enviable reputation within the Muslim community that clamours to put their children in such high status schools.
There are huge repercussions for such an agenda however. What is seldom considered is the price for both the students who succeed and those who do not. Invariably the students who survive such a system are hot housed – often being forced to study long hours in after hours tutoring schools, sacrificing most of their social life, as well as their own aspirations to study alternative subjects including the creative arts or Information Technology, as well as the Humanities of History and Geography amongst many others. Whereas they may have comfortably graduated with sufficient marks to enter University while enjoying the many other highlights of life as a teenager – sport, community activities, family life and so on, they are required to study long hours in order to achieve high marks in subjects that they may not enjoy. At the same time they are told that they are the ‘winners’ – the clever ones, with their marks paraded and celebrated throughout the community – ultimately breeding a league of often arrogant graduates from the closed off Castle of their existence, a 'Castle League' alongside the wealthy ivy covered GPS schools who graduate an Ivy League.
Many of these students are then encouraged by their status seeking families to choose the prestigious courses of Medicine, Dentistry, and sometimes Law, struggling at University with subjects that, once again, they may not really be interested in, and without the ‘spoon feeding’ that occurred in their schooling. Many of these students fail in their first year at University, exhausted due to the strain of continual study from their school years and the distractions of being able to develop their social lives - for many for the first time.
But for the ‘losers’ the cost is much higher. Not able to gain entry to such demanding schools, or being part of the annual wastage of students who did not achieve the high marks necessary to continue, or not having the funds to pay the fees – still small in comparison with their Ivy League competitors – they can be defiant in demonstrating their worth. Schools receiving these ‘reject’ students often struggle with the psychological results of students carrying such labels, and their resulting behavioural, social and academic consequences. Successful students from public schools in contrast can be dominant and almost aggressive in restoring self-dignity, often behaving loudly or rudely in compensation for their lack of school status, while those students who did not succeed work hard to demonstrate just how little they care. These latter are potentially the most concerning for all of society – marginalised both within their community and externally as Muslims or immigrant Arabs and South Asians, these students often show little sign of social civility, the behavioural norms of respect and patience that are the hallmarks of a civilised community. Instead they have a chip on their shoulder, respond quickly to conspiracy theories, and react angrily and defiantly to any perceived injustice. These are the members of a growing number of ‘Muslim’ bikie gangs and the young semi-professionals who flock to the speeches of equally angry young Imams and defiant organisations such as Hizb Tahrir.
It is unfortunate that the purveyors of this type of education are not in the minority. This drive for ‘high marks’ at all costs originates in the national body politically representing all Muslims in Australia – the Federation of Islamic Councils. Having acquired the largest assets of any institution in the Muslim community - through halal meat, overseas donations and business - they have managed to build at least one school in 4 States of Australia, and currently have the largest combined student population of any of the Muslim independent schools. Their financial and ‘educational’ success has encouraged smaller schools to move directly under their influence, while competing Muslim schools are forced to adopt similar drastic policies in order to compete in both keeping their academically capable students (who are regularly petitioned to join these Castle League schools) and achieve results that will ensure parental support and therefore financially necessary enrolments.
It is almost impossible financially for a comprehensive school to survive in such a climate, or a school that offers a wide range of activities and choice in subjects and extra curricular activities, elements of learning that are the hallmark of the modern education system. Historically education in the Muslim community was not seen as the means to an elevated social status, but worthy for its own sake, for developing the skills and academic discourse of the whole community. Life saving skills of literacy and numeracy as well as running, horse-riding, swimming and archery were encouraged. During the Golden Era of Islam scholars were feted by the wealthy who collected vast libraries from earlier literary works and international sources to be translated and further interpreted by the scholars employed by them.
However, the young people in our Muslim schools today are not encouraged into creative new thinking or interpreting and solving the problems facing their world, their society. Instead, the contribution and the worth of these young people throughout their schooling ultimately comes down to a single annual mark and its resulting effect on their admission to these inwardly focussed, self-serving Castle League schools.
It’s time we wake up to the potential consequences of this status seeking education - it's time for a change in direction.

Pride, Power and Privilege in Palestine

2009-01-09T19:52:00.000-08:00

Since the Israeli New Year invasion of the overcrowded concentration camp which once represented the beautiful Mediterranean beach of Gaza the international public has been sickened by the hypocrisy and tragedy of the saga unfolding on its screens nightly. It has also been confusing with claim and counter claim in a war for the minds of the international community carried out in the media as much as in the streets and homes of the victims. For once we have a brief respite from the media’s never ending reference to the Jewish holocaust - perhaps because (for once) it does not suit to remind Western audiences and have them conflate the Jewish trauma with the modern Palestinian trauma. The history from each perspective of rightful possession of Palestine however has been explained along with the history of peace efforts and much of the political background to the recent crisis which has been pored over in every detail. Yet it is the emotional factors that have as much a part to play in the recent crisis as the historical and political detail – the emotions relating to Israeli and Arab pride, the emotional drive for power at all cost, the emotional effect of the unjust distribution of privilege and finally the complete absence of human or spiritual compassion accompanying these emotions that really needs to be addressed.

Let me first begin with pride and its accompanying vice – hypocrisy. Pride breeds arrogance and can begin – as it has historically done with the Jewish/Arab family saga –with an insult that is never forgiven. When Abraham (Ibrahim a.s.) took his second wife Haaja – by some accounts for political reasons and to ensure the safety of his existing wife – he began the epic family tragedy which continues today. Abraham’s first wife was barren, and the insult of taking a second wife was compounded by Haaja (Abraham’s second wife) delivering a son to the patriarch. The conflict was so great that Haaja had to be removed far away – in fact to begin a new nation, and with her son to build the Kaabah which is still revered by Muslims until today as the central unifying structure of Islam - at the centre of every formal prayer and pilgrimage. This same pride and self-centred belief in who has a greater right to God’s message and authority is at the heart of much of tragedy of Palestine. Israeli’s believe that as the rightful heirs of Abraham they have a God-given access to the land of Palestine – a claim apparently rejected by many of their own rabbis. They forcefully substantiate their claim in modern history as part of a just retribution for the Jewish holocaust – but hypocritically inflict a slower and more insidious holocaust on the usurped Palestinians. Islamist militants – rightfully angry at the misappropriation of their land and resources – steadfastly reject the right of Israel to exist, regardless of the size of its modern existence, and hypocritically claim their God-given superiority over the misguided People of the Book despite historical and theological evidence in Islam that Jews could and should be dealt with in a respectful and peaceful manner.

The same pride and hypocrisy is clearly evident in the defiant unleashing of rockets into Israel from within civilian areas – in defence of the Palestinian children who minutes later die of return fire from Israel. The humiliated Palestinian population – particularly the unemployed, frequently detained and tortured, impotent Arab males - see the restoration of their pride in defiance at all costs, even at the cost of the horrific injury and morbid blood letting of their families. The Israeli leadership hypocritically continues to state that it is not targeting civilians and has no evil intent against the Palestinian people – yet its actions are clearly contrary and hypocritical to its statements. Targeting UN Aid convoys, informing women and children to shelter in schools and homes that are then deliberately bombed – not to mention the decades of deliberate and continuous humiliation and deliberate eradication of any hope or aspiration other than martyrdom of their Arab cousins. Yet again hypocritically the Israeli Zionist leaders claim to be God’s chosen people – what kind of a Satanic, unjust and cruel god are they then claiming to represent? Certainly not the God of the Old, New and Quranic testaments who was and is a God of Compassion, bringing judgement on the arrogant (often transgressing Jewish people), a God of justice who freed the children of Nabi Yusuf from Egypt, and a God who delivered through His Messengers - including Moses, Jesus (a.s.) and Muhammad s.a.w. – a just and comprehensive law. All this explains why today, both sides have refused to lay down their arms and consider peace – the pride of the men on both sides is at stake.

However, pride cannot act alone as the central contributor to such a ghastly fiasco. Power and privilege are also at stake. In this crucible of religious, political and racial controversy, the control of one people by another and the privileges that are metered out by those in control is a critical element that must be addressed immediately for any solution. The situation here becomes far more complex than simply the power exercised over the Palestinian people in terms of checkpoints, home demolition, the detention of hundreds of thousands of young men as ‘political prisoners’, theft of water resources, theft of land, and domination of every corner of what was once the beautiful land of Palestine by settlements on every hilltop to intimidate the surviving Palestinian rural population. In fact, as so often in the known history of mankind, Palestine is at the centre of a more global fight over the hearts and minds of humanity. Why is that Iran is supporting Hamas? Iran – representing the virulent version of a hardline Islamist view of the world is using a surrogate army – Hamas to face off against the hegemonic power of ‘the West’ represented by the surrogate government of Israel. The corrupt and Western backed Arab leaders are vacillating in the face of an Islamist presence throughout the Muslim world, while their disenfranchised and suffering population are backing the Hamas/Hizbullah challengers – albeit that they represent a militant and harsh future not too distant from the uncompromising Taliban. This ideological, political and economic fight then may be based in Palestine, but in fact stretches into every continent of the world as Muslims of the global Ummah redefine their changing role in the 21^st century.

In the Quranic story of the creation of man, Iblis or Satan refused to bow as ordered to the first man – Adam a.s. He knew – as did the angels – that this creature would be capable of destroying God’s beautiful creation – wreaking death and destruction in Paradise. But Iblis’s greatest crime, and one that he was determined to encourage all men to also commit, was arrogance. Iblis felt that he knew more than to follow the instructions of God and as a result he was condemned for ever. Right now, in Palestine, this sin of arrogance, of pride in interpreting the instructions of God – is being staged catastrophically in the universal media. It is time to return to the true underlying message of all of the Scriptures – humility, compassion, and the rejection of arrogance. The Israeli’s according to their Rabbis are not willing to accept the exile imposed on them by God – but they must. The Arabs are not willing to let go of their land and accept the humiliation imposed on them by the Israeli’s – but they will have to swallow their pride once again for peace. The Israeli’s are not willing to justly share the resources they have illegally accessed – and neither in truth are the Islamists. But they must both learn to live together. And ultimately, those who claim to represent Jewish, Christian and Muslim governments must be brought to account by their people and forced to accept the laws of their respective religion in relation to justice and compassion as dictated by God. Only then will we build a future for our children without fear.(picture of Gaza under attack - compliments of SBS website)

Fighting Fear

2008-11-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

It is sad that I must begin my blog with condolences, shame and sadness. Condolences to those who lost their lives or endured fear, injury or trauma during the Mumbai attacks, and for all of their families. Once again, for myself as a person who follows a religion called Peace – because this is one of the meanings of Islam – I am enormously distressed by violent men who use the word Islam for their monstrous deeds. The Muslim community globally continues to reel from those who dominate our screens with images of hate and bloodshed.
I am sure that all Muslims in every community are, like me, condemning these latest acts of terrorism. Like them, I do not have any solutions to the injustices that lie beneath the rage that we see in these satanic young men. But I strongly believe that we must continue to honestly delve into the roots of their anger in order to dry up the emotions that are played on by their evil masters. It is true that there is injustice occurring all over the world. It is true that the wealthy continue to profit and exploit the poor. It is true that lies and deceit dominate much of the history of global politics and the marginalised communities are frustrated to the point of desperation in meeting their legitimate demands. However, this alone does not explain and can never excuse the awful crimes of terror that have been committed and associated with the name of Islam.
The other aspect to these atrocities lies in the teaching and justification that permits them. Globally and internationally the lack of education that exists in so many Muslim countries permits the ill-informed to be presented with a view on life that is totally out of touch with reality. We know that there are teachers who play on the frustrations and anger that injustice develops, and these teachers present lies as truth about what historically has occurred in Islam and what is permitted. The only way to combat such teaching is a mass education drive to spread an alternative teaching throughout the Muslim world – confidently presenting the teachings of Islam that offer hope, political solutions, and an ethical path of determined and rightful resistance that does not target innocent children, the elderly, women or the vulnerable. Such an ethical path can never be called terrorism – and terrorism has never been the practice or teaching of Islam.
There must be a concerted effort on both fronts – working to provide solutions and hope to marginalised and frustrated communities – through our writing, speaking and active entry through global political and aid organisations, and simultaneously an active campaign to expose the falsehood of teachings of hate and of recruitment of the gullible and hurt. It is time for our leaders to step up to the plate and begin this important work – not as we see now, armchair leaders who are silent in the face of atrocity and defensive when confronted.

Ethical leaders of courage – where are you?

Capitalism's Grief vs Islam's Ethics

2008-10-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to commentators for the past two weeks. I've been thinking about materialism and genuine religion. I say genuine religion in opposition to political movements and strategic sermonising - the ethical basis that is at the heart of each Prophet's message. A deeply felt awareness of God is present in all their messages, an accountability for action is also there, but there is no Prophet whose message has been more for today than Muhammad - the Final Messenger (peace be upon him). All Prophets have criticised greed and required care of the poor, but the jargon and the insistence of the recent decades of materialism have overtaken every religion - except the teachings of Islam and especially its ethical economic teachings.

While I am not an economist, it is apparent that understanding the true value of an asset has different interpretations - and this has ethical aspects. According to many reports this week, and cited again today on the ABC's Insider's Business Report - the amount of 'leverage' applied by banks in recent times on an asset has been up to 20 times it's actual value! In other words, against your $10 deposit, the banks have borrowed $200. Another example is share investment. For example, Woolworths have allowed those with cash to buy a slice of their company - thereby increasing it's asset base and sharing it's profit (or loss if that was what happened). But shares today have little regard for that profit or loss return as can be seen right now in the resources sector. Mining companies which dig giant holes in parts of Australia amongst other long suffering countries are still exporting mega-tonnes to China and other developing nations. But 'fear' that China's growth will now be slowed has meant that the price of mineral shares has dropped significantly. Rumour, fear and greed have been the reason d'etre of share prices for many years now.

The Prophet of Islam though, told his followers to exchange like with like - sell your slice of a gold company for a slice of Woolworths - not a speculative guess at what returns might be gained or lost in the next few months or years. Sell your dates at their current value for wheat at its current value. He instituted very strict market regulations aimed at curbing dishonesty and misrepresentation in the marketplace, and of course the Quran legislated against the whole concept of interest or 'riba' and it's consequent injustice to the poor.

The Prophet also legislated against speculation - for example, that you could not sell your crop of wheat until it had been harvested. You could not estimate it's value and speculate on its worth - it had to be harvested, packed and ready. Only then could a buyer know exactly what he or she was getting for their money. Such a regulation would have eliminated the 'short selling' - where investors sell something they don't even own!

For many years I have engaged in a debate with members of my family about interest - as have many Muslims living in the 'modern world'. Interest - demanding an increase on the return of borrowed money regardless of whether the money generated profit or loss - is seen as an inherent and inescapable part of normal society. But interest is the cause of much of the capitalistic problems of today:

* it encourages people to borrow and consume above their means in the hope they can repay

* it allows those with capital to benefit from the desperate hopes of others without any accountability
* it builds an unrealistic inflation into the economy (commentators this week have been saying that business cannot access credit resulting in the immediate slowdown of growth in business which is dependent on credit for even their daily transactions)

* it effectively means the wealthy parasitically live off the earnings and assets of the poor - the root cause of suffering throughout most of the world today (http://www.thestoryofstuff.com/)

The awful reality of capitalist greed was reflected in the news that just HALF of the current bailout of Wall St could eliminate poverty in the developing world as outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. For the 1.4 billion or so in the world who struggle to survive on less than US$1.25 per day (that's one in four of us), and the vast majority of the world who struggle to put shelter over the heads over the children, this bailout of greedy capitalists is an unbelievable slap in the face to justice and equity.

Ethics has only recently entered the economic debate - with the likes of Kamran Mofid a Christian economics professor who has toured the world speaking about ethical economics and in 2005 called on the First World Islamic Economic Forum to be part of a "Spiritual Revolution" to bring justice against the "false religion of materialism". It is time that Muslims educated themselves about the fundamentals of their ethical religion, rejected the 'false religion' of materialism and began to campaign for an end to capitalism. There is another way - but we have to study it, and to live it, before we can help others with it. But before all that, Muslims in particular have to restore their integrity and their ethics, given that Muslim countries are amongst the biggest investors in speculative markets and corrupt social systems. We have to reconnect with the ethical and socially just message of the last and most relevant Messenger from God - the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him.)

Election Musings

2008-09-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well - the best (or should I say worst) made plans do not always succeed - and often for very good reasons. I had intended to run for the local elections, but missed out on registering by the barest of timelines. 2008 would have been an excellent time to run for local elections due to the impending ICAC investigations into the sale of land for Auburn Central, and the Labour party being 'on the nose' anyway due to the shenanigans of the State Party whose public appearance changes like the shuffling of a pack of cards. But the elections were heavily contested, with a number of Muslim names standing - two of whom were good friends and represented the Greens. I also had a thesis to complete, and a series of conference papers to present amongst other pressing and time consuming issues. So, hopefully, I'll not be too old to consider running at some stage in the future.
The elections though, highlighted once again the parlous state of the Muslim community in comparison to some other communities, and its inability to unite for common purpose. Although the Greens were fielding two Muslim candidates, there was little effective policy presentation that demonstrated a thorough awareness of local Muslim issues, and a struggle to man the booths despite the high profile of both members. Muslim Independents stood in opposition and campaigned actively in much the same electoral territory as the two Greens members, while both Liberal and Labor ran Muslim candidates. It seems like a classic case of divide and rule! None of the parties really appeared to consider issues that are at the heart of the Muslim community - in fact, the Muslim community itself is not that sure what the key issues are!
From my own research I see that our Muslim community (often misperceived as a single entity) can be divided into more representative groupings. Firstly, there are generally two age related divisions - if you can imagine lateral lines - according to the place of birth and education in Australia. This would initially divide up the Muslim community into those born and educated here - and that is mostly those under the age of 25-30, and those who've had partial or no education here and who are tied in various ways to their overseas origins. The under 25's who are born and bred Australians are generally in a class of their own, and as Sheik Fehmi Naji el-Imam recently stated they are part of today's global youth - interacting through Facebook and Youtube, and in many ways they are less affected by their parent's ethnicity. The only subdivision here should be according to education, as those youth who have not succeeded at school, often stay close to their ethnic roots, marry within the same community (not infrequently their cousin) and do not share in the cosmopolitanisation of their better educated peers.
The rest of the Muslim community - the older than 25-30's and not born in Australia, should be divided vertically by ethnicity and sect (Shia, Sunni, Habashi, Alawi etc) and subdivided again by socio-economic state. This would provide, I believe, a more effective division of the community according to matters of concern and needs in regard to electoral polling, provision of services and general identity.
For example, a Lebanese girl who dropped out of school at Year 10, married at 18 and lives with her mother or mother-in-law, and whose husband is most likely to be a blue collar worker or independent trader, would have a very different electoral dynamic than her school friend who went on to Uni, is struggling to finish a law degree and find meaningful work with or without a hijab and is probably unable to find a suitable partner until her late 20's. By the time she has children she is probably more than 12 years senior to the first girl, will have less children, but will probably have purchased a house and be involved in a completely different social space related more to Uni friends and work friends than just family and the ethnicity of her community. The chances of her marrying someone from a different ethnicity, thereby widening the range of her families issues, is also considerable.

So, following on from Irfan's blog bringing up the issue of elections, I would like to suggest the following:
* funding to be provided by AFIC (which generally has plenty to throw around on legal cases when they want to) for electoral polling on what are the significant areas of concern for the Muslim community - categorised by ethnicity and age.
* a series of forums be convened in different areas that initially target local areas, and work by giving generalised introductions and then - according to the comfort area of the community targetted, further attract those attending according to the following groups
a) prominent local ethnicities (remembering that a lot of Muslims by now have married outside of their own ethnicity
b) young people
c) the more cosmopolitan educated and professional group
For example, if running the Forum in Auburn, the African groups could be brought together through their various associations and attendance at mosques, relying on the support of their various community leaders; the Turkish community could be attracted through the number of mosques and local Turkish newspapers, while the youth could be attracted to a separate forum though Facebook, local newspapers, and chat forums, as well as the mosques.
These forums would have to be carefully run so that they are not just 'talkfests' and are geared to ensuring that people's concerns on housing, health, economy, education, employment, work etc are allowed to be heard, recorded and there is the avenue for private followup (in case e.g. the wife actually has a different to the husband and is shy to present it).
* the information so gained be compiled to present a clearer idea of the dynamics and concerns of the community.
* the results to be presented to each of the various political parties, who are encouraged to demonstrated how they are willing to accommodate or respond, the responses being published in local newspapers and even interviewed on Muslim radio stations.

Ideally this is the kind of work that AFIC should be supporting. However, as a largely discredited and grassroot deficient organisation, it may be sufficient to begin in one or two areas with local political activists getting together along with some necessary funding, and then see if it can be 'carbon copied' for other areas.

Personally, I have almost (but not quite) despaired of obtaining the kind of unity within even one of our ethnic Muslim communities that was so apparent with the supporters of the Unity Party. I am also concerned that the many issues that affect the Muslim community will not be dealt with unless direct and planned action is taken. I am disgusted at the ignorance of the community which can keep putting Labor candidates back into power after all of the recent poor behaviour, corruption and lack of any real sensitivity to the community (and disgusted also at the Muslims who can stand for such a party). And I am also disappointed that locally Labor and Liberal will support Muslim candidates - but not at a State or Federal level, neither the Greens, Labor or Liberal will honestly look at policies that reflect our concerns on security, the hijab (visual religion) debate or foreign policy, and the Democrats (of which I am a retiring State Secretary) which had the potential to provide real solutions - is not showing signs of any reasonable recovery from its recent and disastrous decline.

Comments please!!!

Clean-Up Auburn Campaign

2008-08-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today I launched my Clean up Auburn campaign in Auburn Central. With today's pictures of rubbish in and around Auburn, I am hoping to get the support of locals in fixing some of the problems that exist around Auburn. I want to see a cleaner and more presentable Auburn. This may require more education programs, more fines being issues, more pressure placed on locals not to spit in the road or drop their rubbish. It can be done through our local schools, through rewards for the cleanest streets or areas and through fines being issued to those who don't comply. Above all we must have better developments as Auburn is a growing vibrant area - if developments are unsightly, dark and windy and without any attractive areas, it is more likely that residents will not feel any incentive to look after and respect the way the area looks.

Auburn Central investigation

2008-08-10T19:05:00.001-07:00

For the many months there have been reports about an investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption into Auburn Central. According to the Daily Telegraph on July 31st last year, "developers are taking short cuts" and "creating potential death traps in their race to build apartment blocks, failing to install the most basic fire safety measures," specifically referring to Auburn Central, which was also described as "a serious fire hazard" for its occupants. The Council apparently released a statement at the time saying that all fire safety measures would be fixed within a few days. From the Auburn Council business paper of July 16 this obviously has not yet been completed. Nevertheless, in the most recent Council meeting there was more discussion about who had leaked the confidential report about Auburn Central, than whether or not they were getting it fixed! Added to that is the news that relevant files are missing from Council - an obvious attempt to cover at least one guilty party.
Not only have rate payers lost millions of dollars in this development, without any real services added to the area (no extra community facilities, libraries, parks and gardens or other desperately needed services) but Auburn Central has become a dark and windy eyesore, with little protection from the rain and rubbish floating in the drafty corners on most days. Unsafe, inappropriate - significant questions arise as to who was involved in the approval of this development and whether or not it is being investigated by ICAC. ICAC itself continues to either confirm or deny that Auburn is being investigated, while the local government investigative report has still not yet been released. The Council's attempts to ensure compliance are still progressing with recent action in the L&E underway.
Is this a case of trying to keep the lid on another Wollongong scandal because elections are due shortly??? If not, we should be addressing the issues openly.

Standing for Auburn Council

2008-08-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Once again it is time for elections, and again I am standing - this time as an independent. Over the past few years I have become increasingly aware of the problems in the Auburn area and its enormous potential. The Auburn Council area is one of the most multicultural areas in Australia with one of the highest rates of growth in Western Sydney (16.4% in the last census). Most of the suburbs within Auburn have seen significant redevelopments - including Newington, Botanica, Auburn Central and Homebush Bay. Population increase is expected to continue with an increasing number of young people, due to the high birth rates and the settlement of refugees.
In 2004 Auburn Council was declared a Refugee Welcome zone to recognise the large number of refugees that have chosen to live in Auburn. The support for such refugees however, has not matched the rate of settlement with reports indicating that those in need have to wait up to 7 months for assistance from the local Migrant Resource Centre.
Auburn residents are hard-working with many of the local businesses having been established for between 10 and 30 years. Unfortunately, in the process of approving new developments, Council often appears not to consider their effect on these long established, hard working Auburn business people. Reduced parking availability, an increase in similar types of competitive business and loss of amenity for shoppers means that these long term Auburn proprietors are losing out.
Watch this space for more information about my campaign as get ready to run for AUBURN COUNCIL.

2008-04-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

More ridiculous claims against Dr Abdalla

If ‘secretive’, as claimed by The Australian, then the Tabligh Jamaat (TJ) group must be one of the worst kept secrets in the Muslim world. Established in India in the 1920s, TJ has a presence in over 80 countries around the world. The main activities of the apolitical movement are to encourage Muslims to be more religiously observant, particularly in terms of prayer, charity, and fasting, as well as to provide social support to Muslims who are isolated, sick, or disadvantaged. Muslims associated with the TJ spend considerable time in mosques and regularly make spiritual journeys to mosques in different towns, states, and countries.

In Australia, the TJ operates with the full knowledge and support of the mosques in which its members are present. Although many Muslims see TJ members as conservative in terms of their views and appearance, they are generally appreciated for their simplicity and reminders of traditional Islamic values, norms, and manners. While actual TJ members generally comprise only a small proportion of the congregation in most Australian mosques, it is not uncommon for large numbers of the congregation to join TJ study circles after prayers to listen to narrations of Prophetic traditions.

It is this traditional focus that attracted Dr Mohamad Abdalla to the movement in his younger days. While he is not a leader of the TJ, he maintains a close association with the group as he does with various other organisations within the Muslim community. As Acting Imam of the Kuraby Mosque for many years, Dr Abdalla was expected to develop positive relations with various Muslim groups and to build bridges of tolerance and understanding between the Muslim community and the wider Australian society. He is widely acknowledged for his success in both these regards.

Time and again Dr Abdalla has been a voice of forgiveness and restraint. In the aftermath of the burning down of the Kuraby Mosque in September 2001, it was Dr Abdalla who calmed the Muslim community and began working with various levels of government on engagement strategies. He has subsequently played this role at times of other major issues such as the Cronulla riots. Dr Abdalla should be judged on his work; false assumptions and innuendos are no bases for a fair assessment of this important Australian figure. It is unbecoming for The Australian as the national daily of this country to tolerate sensationalist, inflammatory, and biased journalism like that of Richard Kerbarj. Mr Kerbarj has previously been proven to have written misleading articles but has chosen to not correct these. A correction is expected this time.

Statement endorsed by:

Ikbal Patel
President, Australian Federation of Islamic Councils

Suliman Sabdia
President, Islamic Council of Queensland
(Representative body of 16 Islamic Societies of Queensland)

Shaykh Moez Nafti
Australian National Council of Imams

Imam Yusuf Peer
Chairman, Queensland Council of Imams

Dr Mohamad Hanief Khatree
President, Muslim Business Network

Mahmood Surtie
Kuraby Mosque

Naseem Abdul
Islamic Society of Gold Coast

Mustafa Ally
Crescents of Brisbane

Nora Amath
Managing Director, AMARAH inc.

I personally would also endorse the comments contained in this letter. I have seen the Tablighi Jamaat travelling to remote parts of Australia where isolated Muslim communities have benefited from their teaching, much as many years ago Anglican priests travelled the outback as part of the Bush Brotherhood ministering to the needs of isolated country Australians. My limited interaction with them has always confirmed their refusal to be involved in political Islam, preferring to focus on the spiritual development of the individual. To castigate a prominent and responsible academic such as Mohamad Abdulla for supposedly being a member of the TJ 'clergy' (not an appropriate term for Muslim academics as we do not have a 'church' institution)
is once again contributing to the tide of Islamphobia that directly discourages the excellent work many of our prominent Muslim Australians are struggling to perform.

The Danger of Misperceptions about Griffith Uni

2008-04-23T17:23:00.000-07:00

Published yesterday in the Australian was a second attack on Griffith University and in particular the Islamic Research Unit established by Dr. Mohamad Abdalla. Citing Judge Wall - who has suddenly become an expert both on Islamist influences in the West as well as Islamic extremist theology - the Oz claims that because a donation was made by Saudi Arabia to the centre, that it necessarily follows the centre must be akin to a Pakistani madrassah.
Not only is this an insult to the students who attend Griffith University, but it certainly shows that the Oz considers our universities to be entirely unaccountable when it comes to the content of their teaching. What an outrage to relate any Australian University – with their emphases on critical thinking, academic writing and sound research to madrassahs which are typically based on rote learning at a very elementary level.

Or is this deep insight based on Dr. Mohamad Abdalla’s beard, cap and gown? Is his centre being publicly rejected with the same small mindedness frequently accorded a woman wearing hijab?

Muslim Australians are being encouraged by their leaders and peers to enrol in higher education courses that allow them to expand their knowledge and critically analyse the more modern and extreme teachings that have become a common part of the discourse surrounding Islam. Centres such as the one at Griffith and Melbourne provide an excellent opportunity for such students to continue the long tradition of academic scholarship that existed for centuries prior to the European Renaissance, which established the University system that is universally accepted today, and on which modern Western education is based.

By denigrating such rigorously supervised Islamic centres, journalists and newspapers the likes of Richard Kerbaj and the Oz, run the risk of derailing this necessary step of bringing young Muslim minds into modern academic discourse. If they are denigrated along with their mainstream Australian institutions, they may very well be driven into studying in a Pakistani madrassah instead.

Irfan Yusuf has very capably delivered a very good read with his usual witty sense of humour – for a good read - Planet Irf

Peace Forum

2008-04-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

The Columban Centre for Peace, Ecology and Justice organised another of its frequent Peace Forums at which I once again pleased to contribute. The Peace Forums discuss the origins and solutions for peace that exist in each of our religions - in this case from two Christian speakers and two Muslim speaker.
The event was held in the Sydney CBD - in the Sydney Mechanics School of the Arts in Pitt St, and the turn out - as well as the organisation - was excellent. In my case I focussed on the element of compassion in Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem - In the Name of God the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful, which pious Muslims are required to say before they perform any act. Combined with this attitude of compassion are the rigorous guidelines of the Shariah - the comprehensive yet flexible parameters which have been debated and moulded over many centuries - a system which ensures security and justice while limiting the negative attractions of society - alcohol, gambling and adultery amongst others. There are also many initiatives being undertaken in all parts of the world, to bring about peace, a state of being that cannot exist without a concurrent feeling of justice.

Ethical Economics

2008-04-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate to be invited to attend a luncheon with an ethical economics advocate in the person of Dr. Kamran Mofid - shown here third from the left - who is a renowned international speaker, academic and writer who spoke to an assembled group of business and faith community leaders at the premises of GHK Ferrier Green Krejci at the invitation of the Edmund Rice Centre. Dr. Kamran (http://www.commongood.info/mofid.html) is passionate about the terrible ethical state of the world's population, the division between rich and poor, and is confident of the potential use of economics as a tool to bring about positive change. Of course, for most of us the economic drive is commonly seen as the ultimate cause of our consuming materialistic world, but Dr. Mofid is convinced that economics can equally be used as a tool to bring about meaningful change, if it is used in an ethical manner.
His talk was enlightening, well grounded in the reality of today's economic environment and challenging spiritually. Although a Christian and born in Iran, he has actively called to other faiths to work together in overcoming some of the greatest injustices to humanity that exist today. He is the co-convenor of the "Globalisation for the Common Good" conference in Melbourne and is due to speak along with Seyyid Mohammad Khatami. (http://www.gcgmelbourne2008.info/)

Wonderful Malaysia!

2008-03-30T03:49:00.000-07:00

Over the Easter weekend I was very privileged to be invited to speak at two main venues in Kuala Lumpur. The first was for the Muslim Professionals Forum which actively provides a number of services for the wider Malaysian community, although it is only a very young organisation, albeit run by a very educated and committed group of Muslims.
The second venue was a fundraising dinner for the Khilafah Institute Project School. The Khilafah Institute was established by a committed group of Muslims who had studied under the late Prof. Muhammad Al Mahdi. His specialty was in child psychology and also in Physics. During the past 10 years or so of his life, Prof al Mahdi had established a concept of khalifat responsibility that he desired all Muslims to adopt. Amongst his numerous teachings, he outlined three simple steps to follow -

1)To make ourselves good
2) To help others to become good
3) To keep the physical world safe, clean and beautiful

While there I was also privileged to meet with a number of private schools in Malaysia. It seems that the Islamic private educational sector has only been established in the past 15 years or so, and is still developing towards the senior years. Many of these schools have been established by individuals or by foundations, and are in the process of achieving long term plans for facilities and resources. Some of the challenges that these schools are facing include – a need to network with each other, share resources, ideas and lobby more effectively for resources; no government funding for school recurrent or capital funding; low fees and comparatively low wages paid to staff – which results in a high turnover as young graduates obtain experience in the private Islamic sector, and then move to the better paying government schools; minimal resources – libraries are often quite small, numbering less than 5,000 books per school; teacher training – while some training is done through the public or government sector, many of the teachers are only subject trained, but not trained in the specialties and techniques of teaching strategies, pastoral care, behaviour management etc; shortage of policies and accountability – there are many areas where regulation is missing from the government which would ensure that schools have high accountability standards in finances, Occupational Health and Safety, discipline, policies throughout the school in all areas, and so on. These are areas where the more established schools in South Africa, Australia, America, England and so on should step in, in order to support their colleagues and prevent the unnecessary ‘reinvention of the wheel’ – redoing and redesigning much of what is already available in most schools elsewhere.

Of course, one of the greatest challenges to Muslim schools today – in every part of the world – is the overall development of the Muslim child. With an increasing focus on competitive entry to Universities and other educational sectors, there is a tendency to focus on the immediate and apparent success of our schools through high academic achievement. Occasionally there is time to encourage a few of our graduates to master memorisation of large sections of the Quran, but the overall development of a pious, knowledge seeking Muslim who has the manners and attitude of the Prophet s.a.w. has largely escaped all of us. How schools and teachers can achieve such piety and practice of the Sunnah, while successfully avoiding ambitious consumerism and love of the world - is still the golden elixir that we compete to discover.

Faithways Walk

2008-03-15T05:29:00.001-07:00

March 15th – a summery bright day, saw approximately 100 Muslims and Christians gather for the first Faithways walk in Sydney and possibly in Australia. Starting at Auburn Gallipolli mosque, and supported by local politicians and community organisations, there was a wonderful feeling of expectation and friendliness between the participants. After viewing the beautiful interior of the mosque and pairing up with someone new from another faith, the spiritual neighbours walked about 3 kilometres to St. Joachim’s – a vast cathedral of a church for another spiritual tour followed by a traditional Aussie barbeque. The attitude of all involved – particularly Father David Vaughan with his volunteer helpers and the Affinity troupe along with FAIR (Forum for Australian Islamic Relations) representing the Muslim crew – was open, willing and helpful. Teaming up to cook the sausages, cut the bread and hand out the drinks, Muslims and Christians who had never talked to each before, discovered the commonality of their humanity. The only fly in the ointment was a slightly parochial attitude of the mosque and its lack of hospitality and compassion to their visitors. The mosque – as with most houses of worship – should be a trust held on behalf of the community, not property that is owned and which the community should feel privileged to access.

An ethical lecture and an ethical retirement

2008-03-15T00:02:00.000-07:00

Friday night witnessed the retirement dinner for Medinia Abdur Rahman, who has been serving as the Principal of Arkana for the past 18 years. As Principal of Arkana which is a small but effective school, Medinia has contributed substantially to the Muslim community through her work with Muslim Aid, MEFF and her numerous committee presences for the Association of Independent Schools. She has maintained an excellent relationship with her professional colleagues in the AIS who spoke strongly of her contribution to independent schooling and their personal respect for her. There are few Muslims who have been able to maintain such a professional status with their Australian peers, let alone the respect and admiration of the Muslim community she so admirably served for so many years. Arkana was the second Muslim school to be established in NSW after Al Noori, and the fourth to be opened in Australia. Insha Allah (God willing) the new breed of Principals who will be taking on the easier role of maintenance from their earlier pioneering forebears, will contribute as effectively and maintain a healthy respect for the work of those before them.
Kamran Homid
On Friday I was privileged to be invited to a business lunch with Dr. Kamran Mofid. An economics professor and long time lecturer, Dr. Kamran is passionate about the ethical responsibility of economists and the need for an ethical economy. His personal endeavour is to bring about a change of attitude in economists today, while recognising that the economy cannot be dismantled or substantially altered, his cry for a spiritual resurgence and a turning away from wealth and consumerism for its own sake found a surprisingly good response amongst the businessmen and lawyers who attended. Our society is struggling with growing poverty in the advanced as well as the developing world, high levels of depression, child abuse, wife battering, suicide, drug taking and overall unhappiness. Record numbers of adults let alone children are now being prescribed anti-depressants on a daily basis. For all of our wealth, our greed has not made us happy, and Dr. Kamran carried a vital message about the importance of balancing our love of this world with a spirituality that makes us less materialistic and more capable of finding happiness.

Dangerous Minds

2008-03-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Dangerous Minds:
The recent SBC program of Dangerous Minds was a dangerous escalation of rhetoric about minor problems that can be controlled with good leadership. Fadi Rahman – until recently the leader of a youth centre providing fitness and sport facilities for young Muslims in Lidcombe – has a history of talking up the problems of his youthful charges.
What is more imperative is that he gives them guidance on how to solve their problems, raise their self-esteem and earn the respect of their community. Unfortunately, while his intentions are genuine, he appears to be role modelling marginalisation in a vocal form, and does little to dispel perceptions of a sexist community. Heightening concerns about potential radical tendencies amongst marginalised youth may win more grants, but it does little to prevent and a lot to encourage the very radicalisation that he wishes to control.

Australian Democrats still alive and kicking

2008-03-15T00:00:00.001-07:00

Democrats
The Australian Democrats had its long awaited Annual General Meeting on Saturday 1st March. Despite a small attendance, a lack of recent accounts and a paucity of new nominees for leading positions in the party, the Australian Democrats is still alive. With the assistance of the Young Democrats and the promise that new leadership will begin to resuscitate the membership and the vision, the Australian Democrats has about 4 years to recover and become relevant once again to the wider political scene.

Brisbane Conference

2008-03-14T23:58:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the month I was fortunate to attend an excellent conference in Brisbane at Griffith University. Attendees included prominent Christian and Muslim academics and a variety of community workers from various fields. Prof Tariq Ramadan opened the conference with a strong appeal for active citizenship from the Muslim community living in the West. He urged all parties to remember and to celebrate their history – the Islamic contribution to the civilisation in the West, and the Christian contribution during Muslim rule in earlier centuries. He also stressed the need for Muslim specialists in various fields to help apply Islam to the many dilemmas of society today.
There were two presentations on the early history of the Aborigines and the excellent relations that they had with the Muslim community over the centuries through intermarriage and trade. Some elders in North Western Australian continue to have immediate family amongst the Muslim community in the nearby islands.
Waleed Aly as a closing speaker talked about the do-it-yourself terrorism that currently operates in our globalised community. He described the deculturalised and deterritorialised Muslim community that has the potential of reacting to marginalisation through radicalisation. He urged for a change of discourse within the community and active civic engagement.
I was impressed by the honesty of all of the participants, and their willingness to address these problems realistically. With the guidance of these academics and mentoring of a new generation, I believe it is possible for newer younger leaders to take the community into a different direction - a more constructive and compassionate one.

Global Bullying in Palestine and Holland

2008-03-07T23:30:00.000-08:00

As a school Principal for many years I was frustrated - along with all of my colleagues - at the difficulty of resolving schoolyard bullying. Vulnerable students who could least afford to suffer insults and direct provocation, would be targeted by students who often also had a history of bullying and personal self-esteem problems. The victim would respond by lashing out at the most inappropriate moments, out of sheer anger and frustration, hurt and pent up rage. Often I would not even be aware of the bullying until the bully appeared in my office righteously denouncing his victim for the outrageous actions that had just been perpetrated. Only after thorough investigation would I discover the history behind these actions. And even when discovered it was exceedingly difficult to prevent occurring again. The attitude of both staff and fellow students was often not compassionate, consigning the victim to an inferior status because of his or her low self-esteem or social problems, and turning a blind eye to the bully who was often very capable at ingratiating himself or herself with leading staff and the 'in' groups amongst students.
The world stage is no different. The protagonists in Israel (noting that there are many Israelis who do not approve of their government's actions) have ingratiated themselves on the world stage for decades. Their bullying tactics have resulted in the predictable reaction of the victim - to exact revenge for the atrocities and humiliation that is inflicted on a daily basis. In Holland, the bullying is in the form of media and public humiliation - prodding and teasing the most sensitive aspects of Muslim pride in the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
So how did I deal with the problem as a school Principal - in the playgrounds that are the precursor and the microcosm of adult society? First of all there had to be the public disclosure - the investigations that allowed both victim and bully to speak their mind. Witnesses to the events needed to be called and placed clearly on the record, so there was a sense of justice to all parties. This could not occur unless the school had policies that clearly laid out mutual respect for all parties - especially those racially, religiously or personally targetted because of social difficulties - and procedures ensuring that bullying would not be tolerated if reported. This sense of justice and the willingness to openly address it, education that ensured all knew their rights and the consequences of bullying, helped to ensure that bullying was stamped out if not eliminated.
Of course, justice still had to occur. The revenge attack of the victim had to be disciplined as much as the initial bullying, with both parties given education about how to deal with their issues.
But how does this translate to the world stage? First, there is no ethical, just Principal type leader who is in control - both the EU, and the US are turning a blind eye to bullies. There is no thorough investigation of what is happening to the victims - whether in Palestine or Holland, and certainly no consequences for the bullies other than the predictable and censurable reaction. There are also few education programs or leadership providing alternatives to both victims and bullies by any of the bystanders - prominent leaders of Arab countries or Allies of Israel.
It is left to the small voices to continue calling for responsible leadership and a just system, for restraint of both bully and victim and for those on the sidelines, to step in and stop the fight.
Certainly, like many others I have to condemn the incursions and suffering inflicted on the population of Gaza, and equally condemn the killing of students in Israel.
In the meantime, for those who believe in God, we will continue to pray for the changes that will lead to justice and responsible leadership.

Calling for an accountable AFIC

2008-01-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, established since the early 1970's, has long been regarded as the official representative of the Muslim community in Australia. While local organisations struggled to be established, and State Islamic Councils were generally representative bodies, this was a credible assumption during the initial years. AFIC was widely consulted and included in fund raising, the purchase of land and the initial development of new associations and entities. In recent times however, the burgeoning Muslim community has effectively established its own schools, mosques, economic and welfare institutions independent of the Federation. Most of these substantial enterprises are neither recognised nor accommodated by AFIC. AFIC's own questionable economic management, dubious political history and lack of any form of transparency has rendered it a body that has no real credibility in the Muslim community today. While it retains its role as the only National body, and maintains affiliation with many of the Islamic societies throughout Australia, it's lack of authority and inability to provide meaningful leadership are contentious for Australian Muslims. This is reflected in today's call by Muslim Women's National Network leader, Aziza Abdel Halem (Leaders want Islamic taskforce return) for an Islamic consultative body - similar to the ill fated Muslim Community Reference Group - to be re-established, at both national and state levels. While it's performance was disastrous, the Muslim Community Reference Group at least attempted to include the voice of a range of ethnic and professional groups, as well the important (and currently silenced voices in AFIC) of women and youth.
It will not be easy for the new Rudd government to pick it's way through the fractious political landscape of older early migrant associations and the young achievers amongst Australian born Muslims. It would be far easier for politicians, professionals and activists of all colours to deal with a single representative body that the AFIC once purported to be. It is time for the Federation to shed it's past, recognise and embrace the vast range of Australian Muslim expertise that has developed outside of its influence, and for once, become truly accountable to its community.

Don’t Fence Us In!

2008-01-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

It has been reported today in the Australian that Julia Gillard is offering $20 million for high-tech security measures to protect Jewish, Muslim and other schools that are ‘at risk’. With approximately 50 Jewish and Muslim schools around Australia, this represents potentially $400,000 per school for security measures.

The Muslim community is certainly appreciative of the offer of assistance, which marks a substantial change in focus from the previous aggressive and challenging stance of much of the Howard administration. At the same time however, Muslims are very busy building bridges with the rest of the community – not fencing themselves in.

Certainly in controversial times – such as the development of a proposed school in Camden, security would be an ongoing concern in the early years, and after the kind of appalling terrorist events that have occurred with sickening frequency in recent years. But even during these times, the number of incidents that affected Muslim schools were minor or even non-existent -the occasional hastily scrawled letter “Go back where you came from!”, or rotten piece of fruit even more randomly thrown at a bus full of Muslim kids. The burning of a bus and parts of a school building in Perth was the extreme exception.

Serious security is however required in many cases for the 90% of Muslim kids who try to survive in our public system, in which there are no fences to retreat behind in protection against bullying, harassment and ongoing prejudice when those allegedly of the same faith propagate mindless brutality overseas or members of the media go on a vendetta.

It is vitally important that the Muslim community keeps its fences down, learns how to quip a good rejoinder to stupid insults, gains a comprehensive and broad education in full understanding of the rest of the faith (or atheistic) neighbourhood and has an open-door policy to genuine enquiries. Numerous Jewish schools some years ago already opted for strong security, and entering their environmens is like getting into Fort Knox. It’s also unintentionally intimidating.

Yes, Muslim schools welcome the police and the support to protect its students when trouble occurs, but we would rather invest in a broader awareness of what the Muslim community can offer and better communication with our neighbours than be locked away behind high walls.

Recent Media

2008-01-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

Link to Today interview about the Camden Islamic School protest
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-au&brand=ninemsn&tab=m2397&from=39&vid=AB620D10-3AB6-4433-A519-7F089A4A28E3&playlist=videoByTag:mk:en-AU:vs:0:tag:AUnews_AUtoday:ns:MSNVideo_Top_Cat:ps:10:sd:-1:ind:1:ff:8A

Link to Muslim school articles in the Telegraph today -

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23025860-5007132,00.html

Please note important corrections: I did not say that:
a) I was the consultant for the Camden Islamic school - I consult generally on Islamic education
b) I did not say that 3 more schools are planned, only that there is a capacity for about another 3 Muslim schools

Isolated Muslim schools?

2008-01-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

A common cry from commentators is the isolation of the Muslim community and its unwillingness to ‘integrate’. Isolation occurs in many parts of Australian society far less than in the Muslim community. The good folks of Camden are determined to remain isolated from a multicultural community and to decide ‘who lives here’. They are deliberately choosing to remain isolated and to segregate themselves from the rest of Australian society. Muslim schools are incorrectly regarded as being isolated, despite the extensive amount of time that they spend in other schools debating, competing in sport, and engaging in a wide range of academic and social activities. Under the Howard government Muslim schools were subjected to intense scrutiny of their values, religious teachings and demonstrated interaction with wider society.
Other schools however, can choose to remain isolated whether they are in the public or the private system. There are many public schools located in wealthy northern or eastern parts of Sydney that have very limited exposure to other cultures, religions or ways of life, particularly the lives of the less well off. Students in these areas sometimes represent a monoculture holding a prejudicial attitude towards Aboriginies, Muslims, and migrants in general. Probably the greatest sense of isolation though exists between urban and rural schools - and communication between these would certainly be challenging.

Palestinians forgotten at Xmas, Eid and Hanukkah

2007-12-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

A Hanukkah of light vs. a Hanukkah of darkness

From Khalid Amayreh in Occupied East Jerusalem

4 December, 2007

Hanukkah is the Jewish holiday of light that recounts the Talmudic story of the Maccabees victory over the armies of King Antiochus IV. The story symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.

This year, the celebration of Hanukkah coincides with a slow-motion genocide the legions of Zionism are carrying out against nearly 1.5 million helpless human beings in the Gaza Strip.

According to human rights organizations, Gazans are dying in significant numbers as Israel continues to bar them from accessing food and work. Scores of patients have also succumbed to their illnesses thanks to Israel’s refusal to allow these unfortunate people to travel abroad or reach the West Bank to seek proper medical care.

This week, the Israeli Supreme Court, a mere rubber stamp in the hands of the occupation army, authorized further cuts of fuel supplies and electricity to Gaza.

This, coupled with the sinister policy of denying Gazans access to fresh food, vaccines, and clean water, is already having a disastrous impact on innocent people whose only crime is that 23 months ago, they elected a government that Israel didn’t like.

According to the Maan News Agency, hospitals in Gaza are already facing nightmarish conditions resulting from the fuel shortage.

Muawiya Hassanin, Director of Emergency Medical Services in Gaza, was quoted as saying that the continued cut-off of fuel supplies to Gaza would cause the destruction of crucial vaccines and other essential medication supplies. The fuel Shortage is also impacting intensive care units, dialysis units, operating rooms and neonatal incubators.

In addition to the callous blockade, the Israeli occupation army murders innocent Palestinian civilians on a daily basis. And to justify or at least extenuate these crimes, the Israeli army routinely concocts excuses, pretexts and lies which are readily parroted by a generally dishonest western media that refuses to call things by their real names.

As an occupying power, Israel is morally and legally obliged under international law to meet the needs of the people of Gaza. Israel claims to have ended its occupation of the Gaza Strip. But this is a brash lie since the Israeli occupation army continues to control Gaza’s borders, land, air and sea. Even impoverished Gaza fishermen seeking to obtain food for their starving kids from the sea are routinely hounded and often killed by Israeli gunboats.

In the West Bank, the same policy of murder and oppression reigns supreme despite all the artificial aura of hope and good will Israel and the West are trying to foster, particularly in the aftermath of the American-hosted conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

On Sunday, 2 December, trigger-happy Israeli soldiers shot and killed 31-year-old Firas Qasqas near Ramallah as he was walking with his brother outside the latter’s home. The father of three female children died a few hours later at Ramallah’s government hospital. As usual in such circumstances, the Israeli army issued a terse statement, saying the army was investigating the incident.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation troops continue, nearly every night, to storm Palestinian homes, usually in the quiet hours before dawn, terrorizing innocent men, women and children.

They beat and humiliate fathers in full view of their wives and children and vandalize property before dragging youngsters all the way to the notorious Ketziot detention camp in the Negev desert in southern Israel.

Israel already detains as many as 11,000 Palestinians, many without charge or trial. Indeed, numerous detainees have intimated to this journalist that they don’t really know why they are being incarcerated.

Furthering abusing its authority as an occupying power, Israel often keeps inmates in prison months and even years after the expiration of their respective prison terms, apparently to further torment them and break, as much as possible, their mental sanity.

And when a given prisoner is released, he is often rearrested three months later without any genuine reason, apart from the sick desire to disrupt his family life and keep him in a constant state of anxiety.

Why does Israel indulge in all these obscenities against a thoroughly tormented people whose only crime is its enduring desire to be free?

Do these sick minds really think that oppressing and humiliating helpless Palestinians give them a feeling of virility and manliness? Is manliness measured by the extent to which a solider humiliates and brutalizes another human being? If so, then the Gestapo, SS and the Wehrmacht must have been the most virile and manly of all men!!

Zionism not only has wreaked havoc and vengeance on a people that had nothing to do with the holocaust, but has also nearly completely destroyed the moral fabric of the Jewish people by morphing them from ordinary men and women with a special sensitivity to justice into jailers, oppressors, murderers, thieves, and liars.

Judaism taught thou shall not murder, but murder has always been and continues to be Zionism’s modus operandi. Judaism taught thou shall not steal, but Zionism and theft are effectively two sides of the same coin, and Israel is the greatest kleptomaniac in the history of mankind. Judaism taught thou shall not lie, but Zionism lies as often as it breathes.

Judaism says don’t mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. Treat them as you would a fellow Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves, but Zionism insists on viewing non-Jews as children of a lesser God.

In Numbers-15 (15-16), the Lord tells the children of Israel that for all time to come, the same rules are binding on you and the foreigners who live among you. You and they are alike in the Lord’s sight; therefore, the same laws and regulations apply to you and to them.

Don’t these rabbis who shout starve them, kill them, destroy them read and understand these exhortations? Or is their Hanukkah a Hanukkah of darkness?

It is sad and lamentable that the state of Israel, the illegitimate daughter of Zionism, continues to walk in the path of inequity and evil, all under the rubric of protecting Jews and safeguarding their vital interests. But in so doing, Zionism is striping Judaism and Jews of morality and justice. And a Judaism without morality and justice, is a heartless and soulless Judaism.

One ancient rabbi encapsulated Judaism in a few words. He said Do not do unto others what you wouldn’t want others to do unto you.

Now, compare this with what Israel is doing to the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank!

Check your chocolate!!

2007-11-30T21:52:00.001-08:00

We all love our chocolate, but are often not aware of what is entailed in getting it to us. A little thought at this time of year for the children who suffer in the process would be a great Xmas present for many little children.
For more information on the horrendous activities of chocolate farmers and the slave trade of small children, go to www.stopthetraffik.org, check the chocolate guide at http://www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolatecampaign/guide.aspx and buy only chocolate that is traffic free.
Enjoy your chocolate with a clear conscience!

Libs apologise for racist pamphlet

2007-11-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

Seeing the Liberal Party eat humble pie with the Muslim community is something I did not think would happen in my lifetime! Barry O'Farrell has apparently visited the Lakemba mosque to apologise for the actions of his political colleagues in their "Chaser-style prank" printing defamatory pamphlets on behalf of a fictitious Muslim organisation.
They should also begin a 'sorry' campaign to:
* refugees
* asylum seekers
* Villawood detainees
* Siev X relatives
* children overboard families
* Muslim schools (who were targetted for what 'values' they were teaching)
* hijabis
* the people of Iraq
* the people of Afghanistan
... I could be here for a while!

Saudi Shame

2007-11-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

The recent court ruling by the legal system in Saudi Arabia is a blight on the reasonable treatment of women and once again shows just how much the government and patriarchal system of Saudia Arabia is distant from the compassionate teachings of Islam and the example of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. It is to be hoped that Muslim governments and Human Rights Organisations that exist in Muslim and non-Muslim communities will apply pressure on the Saudi government to reverse this decision. Rape and particularly gang rape is crime AGAINST a woman, and should never be seen as a crime that implicitly involves women.

Kevin 07's Throwaway Laptops

2007-11-14T04:05:00.000-08:00

In this giveaway world where your mobile phone lasts for a few months if that and your PSP, ipod and PS2 all need to be upgraded within the year, why would a government - as Labor's Kevin Rudd proposed today - fund a computer for every student?
Where would all of these computers be housed? If they were not laptops, every school would be required to rebuild their classrooms just to accommodate them! If Labor was proposing laptops - a good proportion of students already own their own laptops! Does that mean they will now own two laptops? or will they get a refund for their former laptop? And how are they to carry textbooks and a laptop to school without getting robbed? The logistics of such a throwaway decision are incredible!
And of course the most important issue of all involves our teachers and administrators, many of whom still struggle to format a Powerpoint, have never entered information in a blog, or created a webpage. So - will the students teach the teachers first? or will the teachers pretend to instruct the students while their pupils play interactive gaming on a hidden window?
Unfortunately our two aspiring Presidents are apparently not in the Democrats business of democratic consultation or real planning before bribing the voters.
It's time to call the next government to account....

Hans Blix at Cabramatta High School

2007-11-12T04:47:00.000-08:00

Before the students let loose a number of white doves, Hans Blix officiated at the blessing of the Peace Garden at Cabramatta High School. The rain poured down and the wind was cold - but no one's spirits were dampened.

Dr. Hans Blix receives Sydney Peace Prize:

2007-11-08T20:22:00.000-08:00

On Thursday November 8^th in the Great Hall of Sydney University, Hans Blix was the 10^th recipient of the international Sydney Peace prize. Other recipients have included Hanan Ashrawi (possibly the most controversial peace prize winner), Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Yunus, Sir William Dean and Irene Khan amongst others. The Award was presented by Paul Keating to an enthusiastic packed audience of Sydney intelligentsia. A large contingent of Labour supporters thumped the floor when Paul Keating spoke, reflecting on past history including the Cold War, the role of the US and his own contribution to recent history.

The ceremony was chaired by Mary Kostakidis – missed by many of the audience from her former role at SBS. Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees - the driving force behind Sydney University’s Peace Foundation, spoke about the history of the Peace Prize which has developed into an internationally significant prize and is the only Australian international award for peace. Also in attendance was a former peace prize winner - Sir William Deane who is the only Australian to be awarded the prize. There appeared to be a notable absence of senior members of the Liberal and Greens party, although the Australian Democrats Dr. Arthur Chesterfield Evans and Silma Ihram were present.

It is vitally important that the initiative begun by Prof Stuart Rees is supported by our political parties. Its drive to keep the acquisition of peace on the agenda is imperative considering the threats to humanity from global movements of people due to the ongoing wars in Africa, the Middle East and the impending economic refugees that are expected from future climate change. The world is changing rapidly and conflict is an almost inevitable product of change unless there is adequate discussion and planning by our academics, community leaders and global entities directly targetted not at war - but peace.

Accept Diversity and Make It Work

2007-11-05T16:16:00.000-08:00

Democrats Candidate Silma Ihram has called on Pat Farmer – Federal Minister for Macarthur, to meet with her in order to address his constituents concerns about the proposed Islamic school in Camden.

In her letter to Pat Farmer Silma said “In reality, Muslim schools are now part of the private school fabric of Australian society and are actively engaged in the fight against extremism and ensuring a diverse and integrated society.” In response to a perception that the area does not have a significant Muslim community and that many students may be bussed in, local residents have complained that this will result in their town changing.

Silma has expressed concern about an apparent concerted campaign where leaflets are being distributed to local residents and sms sent in order to alert them to concerns about an increase of Muslim families into the area. One speaker at Monday’s Rally of a 1000 protesting residents alleged that terrified families were moving from Bankstown “which used to be a really nice town” into country areas. Another speaker warned that the community would be hoodwinked, and that Australia should “watch out!”

This kind of hysteria is reminiscent of the pre-Cronulla riots activities where locals banded together against a perceived threat from Muslim visitors. Neither Labour nor Liberal have taken a tough enough stand on the issue of our diverse community. The Australian Democrats have long held to policies that ensure our diverse society is well integrated – and specifically geared to ensuring that the individual needs of our diverse communities are respected and met.

“We need to accept that Muslim schools are part of the answer to an integrated and diverse society, not part of the problem. They have come under scrutiny from all levels of government and bureaucracy – it’s time they were recognized for the valuable work that they are doing. If there are any real concerns about traffic or about local amenities, there are laws and regulations in place to deal with it just as for any other development proposal.” Silma has requested the local community to talk to the various representatives of the Muslim community, and to meet with her and other representatives. She has urged them not to respond to any racist or inflammatory propaganda, but to work constructively to resolve any real issues of traffic or amenity in the area.

2007-10-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

Representing FAIR (Forum on Australian Islamic Relations) I was privileged to read a prayer at the Interfaith Remembering Burma Day. The ongoing crisis in Burma is a typical example of greedy dictatorial governments suppressing democratic rights and the ongoing oppression of a people aided and abetted by foreign powers who benefit from lucrative economic opportunities, while the rich treasures of their lands are sold to the benefit of the dictators and the loss of the people themselves. The humble patience of Burmese Buddhist monks and their strong quiet protest at recent injustices were truly inspiring, and we hope and pray for a just resolution to their ongoing crisis.
I read the Dua Qunut prayer that is said by many Muslims during the Witr prayer - the odd numbered prayer that is said after the evening prayer of Isha. This prayer highlights the authority and power of Allah, and requests He will bless what we have, and assist us with our difficulties. Islam does not condone any form of oppression, and encourages its people to stand against it and to reject those leaders who engage in it, through non-violent means initially, through challenging corrupt rulers, and ultimately to do as the Burmese monks did - to mobilise against such oppression.

Religion in the News

2007-10-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

While all of us were still celebrating the Eid, news began to surface of a new attack on Muslims - the banning of the hijab at the airport. I was due to be interviewed on the religion report that night and asked if they could find out about it. Sky News and other news channels had been reporting on it - but fortunately, the story did not 'get legs'. Without a strong media presence there would no point in continuing the ban, considering how complicated and difficult it might be to implement. I mean, would you then legislate against hats? How about beanies? Turbans? If the problem was the covering to the neck, then what about a tie? Would that be banned too ? And what about a combination hat and tie? Surely that would land the fashionista in trouble with Border Security!

The Religion Report went well, although I fear I had a very poor start by talking about the biological difficulties women would have in being available to lead the prayer in the local mosque. The issue became sidetracked into why women had these biological differences, and whether they should be taken into account at all Fortunately, the focus shifted to the current conflict between more liberal or feminist Christians, and those who relied on a more literal interpretation of the texts such as the 'Equal but Different' group. For once, Muslims were not the subject of ridicule and intrigue, although the issue of the role of women within the broader range of leadership and decision making of the Muslim community will continue to be a topic that is increasingly challenged and debated.

On the topic of religion and its application within society, a fascinating series of films have been associated with the role of leadership under the title of 'Why Democracy?' Information about this can be found at www.whydemocracy.net - check it out and watch the films as they are shown on SBS.

Metropolis 2007

2007-10-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

In early October 2007, the International Metropolis 2007 conference was held in Melbourne, and i was fortunate to be there. over 750 delegates discussed, questioned and listened to papers about Immigration, diversity and social cohesion. Delegates and speakers came from Europe, Canada, Britain and New Zealand, not to mention a considerable contingent of our own fine speakers from Australia. Academics, policy makers and community representatives participated in more than 60 workshops over 4 days, presenting a remarkable range of research about the movement of people across continents due to economic and political pressures, and the huge challenge that this is presenting to governments around the world.
The elephant in the room that was occasionally identified and sometimes highlighted, was as usual, the Muslim community, Islam and security. As with so many other conferences that I have attended in recent months, there continues to exist an almost total vacancy in representation from the Muslim community itself. Statements are made about the motives of the community, beliefs, actions, threats and solutions including virtually no direct engagement with the community being discussed.
For example, a speaker from Europe in the presentation on Faith and Social Cohesion, referred to the legislation taken by France and currently under consideration by Germany, on removing the oppression of Muslim women through the banning of the hijab. Firstly, from the audience I requested enlightenment on what oppression I was currently suffering from, and secondly I suggested that the choice of clothing and identification was a personal one, but that perhaps the males in the audience needed freedom from oppression as virtually all of them felt it necessary to wear a suit and tie - they seemed to have little choice in their own attire!
An aspect of the conference I found particularly troubling was the emphasis on economic grounds for the assessment of policy and consideration of matters that affect so many humans around the world. While economic management is essential to the effective running of any human situation, the welfare of humans should not be subject to it - surely economic management is there to benefit humanity, not vice versa. We have forgotten that wealth is not an end in itself, but what we as humans can create and develop as part of our contribution to the civilisation of humankind. It seems that so many of our leaders and policy makers see an over-riding concern in ensuring that wealth increases in order for us to consume ever more products regardless of their effect on our health, happiness or future.
It is vitally important that we return our focus to realistically meeting our needs, not our greed.

Post Elections and Hilali

2007-04-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, the elections are now over and unfortunately the task in reviving and envigorating the Democrats is even greater than before. Dr. Arthur Chesterfield Evans is no longer in the Upper House and there is therefore no political presence for the Democrats in the NSW Parliament. Although obtaining 10% of the votes in the booths in Auburn where myself and my close supporters stood, I was unable to dislodge Barbara Perry who is now sitting on the Front Bench to replace the disgraced Mr. Gibson.
Local issues in Auburn will continue to be a great interest to me. I have posted the picture of tree root damage which is affecting a local resident, cracking her house and reaching into her neighbour's house. The Local Council has apparently not addressed the issue, neither has Ms. Perry. I will be continuing to follow this issue as it is probably the tip of the iceberg in relation to trees, tree damage and responsible environmental care of Auburn.
At the moment our wonderful Sheikh Taj Al Hilaly is dominating the airwaves, and reactionary newsmedia once again, giving cartoonists plenty to draw, and Islamophobites plenty to froth at the mouth about. Unfortunately he should be stood down, but the community does not want to be 'told what to do' and so therefore will drag their feet in responding to his ridiculous and insensitive comments. I would LOVE to be at the forefront of responding to his comments and leading a series of positive reactionary comments to his outlandish statements, except that I am in the process of conducting research which is related to his issues and could railroad most of my interviews! (Good timing).
Still, behind the scenes there is much work to be done and there is a growing political will to make a change for the better - Insha Allah.

Courageous Tom's Zeal

2007-03-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Tom Zreika has written a report according to the latest Media, which has called on Muslim imams to become more involved in their local communities and for Muslims in general to 'mend their ways'. This is a very brave stand for a leader to make, but not a very diplomatic one. Tom has been at the forefront of efforts to try and stem the damage from the recent Sheikh Taj incidents, but has had limited effect, as Sheikh Taj has regularly ignored or deliberately done the complete opposite of Tom's requests.
Toufic (Tom) has an excellent understanding of the ways of the Australian people, but he is losing touch with his own it seems. When the honour and dignity of a Muslim Arab is threatened, then the only face-saving way to deal with an issue is to react aggressively. This has nothing to do with logic or sense, but is often an emotional reaction to a perceived injustice - even when wrong has been done by the Muslim himself. Younger generations are hopefully learning that emotional aggressive reactions - such as the threatening phone calls that Toufic is currently receiving - will not solve any problems and ultimately won't even make the aggressor feel any better. From my own experience, gentle recognition of the facts of the community are necessary in order to be accountable and honest. Then, negotiations and face saving leverage is generally needed in order to achieve good outcomes for the community. Public announcements damning what is obviously a problem, without practical solutions to fix the underlying causes, will almost certainly result in further alienation. In this case, Toufic (Tom) needs to find a face saving way that Sheikh Taj can be honoured for his community work, but kept from opening his mouth. Probably a few well placed minders to keep him from speaking publicly, meeting with community workers who speak Arabic and can explain the politics of how to give Islamic advice without being politically incorrect, and supporting the mass membership of Muslim University students (especially those in accounting and economics) can perhaps turn the tide for the ailing Lebanese Muslim Association.
Above all, the one thing that is needed is patience!
Good luck Tom..

Global Day of Protest

2007-03-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

The Democrats were a force to be reckoned with at the Global Day of Protest. Along with the Greens and the more radical Socialist Alliance, the Greens joined the Rally calling for Australian troops to be out of Iraq, and David Hicks to finally receive some justice and be brought home. I also attended, but unfortunately struggling on crutches slowed me down and I had to join the Rally after the march. Unfortunately, the Rally was poorly attended, and even more sadly, Muslims were noticably absent from the protest! The Muslim community must not give up hope that their opinions and attitudes can be reasonably presented and supported. It is vital that they continue to speak out about injustice in a reasonable and intelligent manner and never give up hope that their words are in vain. While listening to speeches, songs of protest and various other unintelligable loud sounds from the stage, I talked to a family of Australian Iraqi's and asked them about their family back home. They told me that one of their uncles had been murdered only 4 days ago in Northern Iraq. He had refused to be involved in an allegedly Al Qaeda based move to drive out or kill Shia Muslims from his area. They had beaten him badly a few weeks ago and he had refused to name them as they were known to him in his area. They came back and killed him in his home in front of his wife. Such brutality is becoming common in so many parts of the world. It is time for good people to step forward and not only condemn such behaviour, but begin to work on changing the conditions that lead to such barbarity. When men and women are brutalised, justice is denied, they are humiliated and driven from their work and their homes, such responses are to be expected. We cannot change the brutality that we see unless we stand against the injustices that occur around the globe.

Channel 9 - Democrat candidate interview

2007-03-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

Today I was on the Channel 9 The Catch Up show. It was a lot of fun -
here is the interview
http://ninemsn.video.msn.com/v/en-au/v.htm?g=de95c24c-a9e6-4be0-8a88-9a83daa5474a&f=39&fg=email
Unfortunately they edited out why I am a Demcrats candidate and why I support the Democrats. So here is the explanation:
Don Chipp set up the party to 'keep the bastards (sic) honest'. The Democrats have worked hard using their balance of power in the past to ensure that good policies are carried through and government is held accountable. The Democrats have excellent policies on health, the environment, support of the migrant community, ethical investments, reducing poverty and so on. In the Upper House, Arthur Chesterfield-Evans has valiantly continued to represent these policies against a factionalised Labor Party and a Liberal party beholden to the top end of town. Not only do I support their policies but to lose the Democrats from Parliament would be a tragedy. I hope to support the party by contributing my own ideas to their policies, and generate a return to this mainstream, comprehensive and highly ethical party.

Hypocrisy of Liberals and Labor

2007-03-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

It is with pride that I associate myself with the Australian Democratic party - 'keeping the bastards honest'. On the one hand we have the Liberal party which is giving preferences to the Christian Democrats - the party headed by Fred Nile who wants a racist moratorium on Muslim migration, and on the other hand, we have Morris Iemma damning the Greens for their drugs policy, and then giving them preferences!
From my point of view, I am not damning the Greens - I understand their point of view, but don't agree with their solution. While legalising drugs allows it to be better regulated it runs the risk of having drugs become as casual as alcohol and equally destructive to society.

Fred Nile and Sheikh Taj

2007-03-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

Media Release - sent out this week

Fred Nile’s call for a halt to immigration of Muslims directly contributes to the sense of isolation experienced by Muslim communities, Silma Ihram, Australia Democrats candidate for Auburn said today.

“It is a flagrant attempt to stir up the Muslim community and attract the One Nation vote. Such a call is designed to appeal to the worst elements of our society by appealing to the racist and bigoted members of the community. The divisiveness of singling out the adherents of one religion as being unsuitable for migration is even more extreme than the White Australia Policy.” She said.

Ms Ihram was responding to calls by Fred Nile made on Sunday calling for a moratorium on Muslim immigration and included in leaflets distributed by the Christian Democratic Party.

“Fred Nile alleges that Muslims reject Aussie values of tolerance, compassion and care. Yet these are the same values that Rev Nile himself refuses to demonstrate towards the Muslim community,” she said. “Sheikh Taj’s call for a Muslim party is likely to be almost as divisive. The spectacle of Rev Nile and Sheik Taj engaging in religious politicking within Parliament would be the average Australian’s nightmare.”

Ms Ihram pointed out that there are many instances of prominent Christians, Muslims and Jews who are willing to discuss their similarities, their differences and the way forward to a harmonious society. The Affinity event titled “Isolation or Integration” held in Parramatta last night, was just another example of practical, progressive activities which help to break down the barriers between us.

The Rev. Fred Nile was noticeably absent. Fred Nile’s call for banning Muslim migration can only lead to more angst and frustration for the tens of thousands of hard working, ethical Muslim migrants who are contributing substantially to Australia’s economy and lifestyle.

“Some good Christian values that are consistently demonstrated by other leaders of the church should be brought into Parliament by Rev Nile’s party, and Muslims should demonstrate their commitment to Australia by joining mainstream parties and working for the whole community not a narrow representative body such as a Muslim political party,” Ms Ihram said.

The Courageous Tom Zreika

2007-03-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

Tom Zrieka – President of the LMA – has shown enormous courage by instituting a ban on certain Muslim clerics talking to the media. He is to be congratulated for taking this stand which will surely have a negative reaction amongst many of the various clerics' supporters. It is to be seen whether any of them will show him the respect that is due, and for their own sake, keep out of the media.

Childcare Scandals

2007-03-10T18:45:00.000-08:00

The Australian on Thursday reported the appalling and overwhelming number of childcare protection instances that have been reported to the various State departments charged with handling the welfare of children. Unfortunately this is a ‘too little, too late’ solution to the huge crisis affecting child welfare in this country.

Leadership begins at the top, and while John Howard and his team require espouse their well publicized ‘9 Australian Values’ they do little to demonstrate it or actively follow it. Their hardline policies which support the big end of town, and religious pursuit of wealth and economic progress, will inevitably result in suffering for those who do not succeed.

Long term solutions where real ‘ care and compassion’ are exercised at all levels of government, with genuine support for the underprivileged and suffering will make a huge difference to the stress on struggling Australian families, and almost certainly reduce the number of children casualties. More funding for mental health programs in schools, reduction in the amount of gambling and alcohol related facilities will also assist. While the Liberal government along with their State counterparts reap a huge reward from the vast gambling industry in Australia, the amount of stress brought into families from gambling, along with the abuse of alcohol, contributes significantly to deteriorating family situations. When this is combined with a lack of support for mental illness, crumbling social structures which are needed to support families in crisis, is it any wonder that hundreds of thousands of families release their stress on the most vulnerable in this society – their own children.

A complete change of attitude is needed to begin reversing this horrendous situation before Australia reaps a reward of damaged children developing into angry, unhappy adults.

Homeless Children

2007-03-10T18:44:00.000-08:00

The recent report on homeless children and families by Brian Burdekin is an appalling blight on the Howard government’s reckless pursuit of material and economic wealth without any real consideration for the poor. Caring for the less fortunate in a society is a mark of the real progress of any nation, its ethics and values. While John Howard continues to call on schools (with a particular spotlight on Muslim schools) to teach about ‘Australian values’ he does little to practice or role model such values himself. He demonstrates little responsibility for the mentally ill, the disabled or infirm, or the poor. He requires that schools teach the value of a ‘Fair Go’ while his government enacts policies which essentially prohibit a fair go for the thousands of struggling Australians, and demonstrates the exact opposite of ‘Care and Compassion’ in his treatment of the refugees, asylum seekers, the homeless, the mentally ill, and carers of the disabled.

Shame on you, Mr. Howard.

Be Inspired!

2007-03-10T18:41:00.000-08:00

Be Inspired!

On Thursday I was delighted to be invited to present a short speech to the Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne for International Women’s Day at a dinner function. MLC has long been a school that I admired for its leading educational initatives, particularly in relation to Information Technology. It was one of the first laptop schools in Australia, has taught the International Baccalaureate for many years and is extremely active in community work, charity, fund-raising and mentoring of many different groups in other parts of the world, as well as the less fortunate in rural areas of Australia.

The topic was “Making A Difference”. The first speaker – Victoria Tauli-Corpuz is a community activist who has made incredible progress against the odds in fighting for the rights of her native Philippine people. Amongst other positions she is a member of the International Advisory Council of the Third World Network, and chairperson for the UN permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The next speaker, Dawn Robertson who was until recently, CEO of Myer, spoke about her determination and progression through the ranks of various companies and what she has managed to achieve in attracting customers and turning businesses around. There is still a problem for women in achieving equality in pay and conditions for capable professional women. Her example was certainly inspiring and will almost certainly ensure that many other young women follow in her determined footsteps.

My own efforts seem much less significant in comparison. As there were so many talented young girls in the audience I spoke about my own background and the factors – including unhappy childhood experiences and depression – which could have derailed my own progress. I emphasized the importance of having good support networks, faith in yourself, and learning to love yourself before you can adequately give to others. Women make a difference in so many ways, but most importantly through the love, care and inspiration that they provide to their own children. Having six children of my own, 4 of whom have now married and are now successfully pursuing their careers after University education, I rate my other initiatives as secondary to the importance of assisting with their development.

The best part of the night for me was sitting next to Marcia Hines. In the panel discussions she talked about her own difficulties struggling with the cold in winter and her asthma affliction. The time alone at home from school during the long, cold, winter months, gave her determination at the early age of 4 to be a singer. A very sensitive and warm person, I managed to score an autograph for my son before the night ended!

Many struggling parents whose children are educated in public schools would probably resent schools such as MLC. Certainly the divide between rich and poor, public and private schools is widening daily. The very talented and impressive Principal – Rosa Storelli – shared with me briefly my concerns about the difficulty in working with public schools, sharing knowledge and mentoring.

Public schools cannot compete or adequately develop in the current environment of under-funding. I continue to be appalled at the amount of money that is poured into wealthy private schools, without the consequent support given to the vast majority of students who attend public schools. Although a private school Principal myself, our fees, legal struggles and problems with Council effectively deprived us of the opportunity to develop as most other private schools have. In fact, Noor Al Houda as it was, certainly had less facilities and support than any other city public school. However, teachers and administrators should be able to work as colleagues whether they are in a public or a private school. It is my intention to work for substantially increased funding for public schools, and far greater co-operation between public and private schools in knowledge, administration techniques and overall professional support.

Many thanks to MLC for a wonderful night and congratulations on the beautiful students that I saw there.

Encourage Reading First Carmel Tebbut

2007-03-06T04:02:00.000-08:00

Morris Iemma’s initiative to introduce testing into Kindergarten discredits the very capable work already being done by Kindergarten teachers. Particularly in NSW the teaching profession has long been aware of the importance of progress in the first years. Extra funding for Reading Recovery teachers is a very expensive but certainly worthwhile program.

The biggest drawback to early development of children’s literature from my own experience, is the lack of interest in literacy due to the family situation. Families – especially those of hard-working and financially struggling or recent migrant groups, need ongoing support to assist them with improving the literacy and numeracy of their children. Parenting programs, videos, literature and free short-term childcare which demonstrate the importance of reading to children with substantial quantities of good children’s literature, may help to stimulate those critical years when young children’s brains develop. Of course whatever is done should not be decided upon just before elections, with little accountability, planning or discussion with those child-care providers and kindergarten teachers who are truly the experts.

My own children have been excellent readers, as I read to them from before they could talk or walk. The ongoing discussions about pictures, storylines and concepts encouraged language development. One of the first items that I am organizing prior to the birth of my first grandchild, is a selection of well-used favourite books in preparation for long hours of comfortable story telling in my lap.

Clean Up Australia in Auburn

2007-03-06T03:19:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to be an attendant at the Clean Up Australia in the area. There I met with Ghassan Al Assadi who told me that he has organized the local Clean Up for more than 12 years.
With a free barbeque and lots of children running around, such excellent work demonstrates the importance of volunteers and a good community attitude. Well done Ghassan and your fellow
volunteers.
The Auburn Lidcombe area has one of the highest rates of multicultural communities in Australia. Many of our residents are still working exceptionally hard to establish themselves. Migrant Resources provide for the Turkish, Chinese, Asian and Arabic communities, although there is a growing population of Afghans and Somalis.
It is essential that this vast array of communities are supported not only through the voluntary efforts of community members but through strong government funding and adequate facilities.
The attached picture shows Ghassan Al Assadi with his team of volunteers on the weekend.

2007-03-03T01:41:00.001-08:00

Education Makes A Difference

Adele Horin in today’s Herald discusses student success and failure concentrating on the ‘haves and have nots’. She misses the point. Despite poverty or wealth, students who are not given support at an early age, and inspired and mentored on the way through their education are unlikely to succeed. The nuturing of the next education is NOT a simple matter of postcodes or money in schools. Rather it is recognizing the needs of the child at the appropriate time.

Certainly families from low socio-economic backgrounds have more distractions and sometimes less ability in meeting the needs of their children. Adequate access to good facilities whether at home or at school also assists the development of our children. But it is the organizational care that ultimately delivers good results. Two parts – well structured organization, and compassionate care.

Currently I am in an unusual position of observing the rapid change of the school I pioneered 13 years ago. During most of those 13 years the school had very little money and struggled to provide even basic facilities for its students – but it had a lot of compassionate care and a strong vision. Students responded to this environment in a variety of ways. Many students felt that it was a second home. Troubled students who did not respond well to the discipline of public or private schools found solace in the individualized care that was generally on offer to the students in my school. Our students succeeded and despite their low socio-economic status, nearly every students gained entrance into tertiary studies.

One important ingredient was lacking however. A strong structural organization. This was due to many factors – particularly a lack of money and a consequent shortage of staff as well as the long fight by the administration for the school’s survival which took valuable time away from establishing a strong structure - vitally important areas.

Our school was rescued by a stronger, wealthier and more established structure from Melbourne. Daily I watch as their very tight structure is imposed on our more generous, less tightly controlled one. Layers of responsibility are instituted with strict accountability measures, and each section of the organization is monitored and given feedback. Students who miss even one class, are in the wrong place at the right time, and are struggling with any of their assessments are notified, monitored and given support. Well structured organization. Add to that the compassionate care that our staff have always given to the students - and academic success, high self esteem and long term benefit to the community are well on their way.

Also printed today in the SMH was an article about an achieving Aboriginal student Craig Ashby “A Getting of Wisdom” who chronicles how he struggled despite his academic talents, to read and write until he was fortunate enough to attend a wealthy private school. It was not the wealthy facilities that assisted him though - it was the constant monitoring, encouragement and support. A perfect demonstration of my point. Craig learnt to read because he was attended to, give the support, time and management by a caring community which helped him to overcome almost a decade of neglect.

Julie Bishop, John Howard and Kevin Rudd can talk about nationalizing the curriculum, but it will not really address the problem that the Craig Ashby’s face in the classroom. Their problems will not be addressed until schools are given the support they need to have well structured and accountable organizations along with compassionate care. And yes, of course this will cost money to provide the resources that allow teachers to stress less, care more and provide a better range of support.

Time to cough up – whoever makes it into government!

2007-03-03T01:22:00.000-08:00

To Be a Democrat
As a community activist and educator I have long considered the importance of politics. A a mentor to many young people I have tried to encourage talented and capable community members to enter politics. Politics unfortunately has a very low reputation - more the realm of those who have not succeeded in other professions, avoid the really critical questions put to them, and serve selected members of the community.
Having completed many years serving the community as an educational pioneer, perhaps it is time to see if it is possible to be a genuine servant of the community in the political arena and not succumb to its reputation for ego and self-aggrandisement.
The range of political options though is not encouraging. Of the two major parties Labour appears to be rift with factions and the Liberals treat Australian citizens like garbage (David Hicks). The two remaining substantial parties are the Greens - with excellent environmental credentials and the Democrats. Now I am a thinking person and like an intellectual challenge. I also remember Don Chipps founding statement that he established the Australian Democrat Party "to keep the bastards honest".
Well, here goes - please keep honestly critical and as a candidate for Auburn, Sydney, I will try and listen and do my best. My focus will be on the family, education, youth, health, welfare, the disadvantaged, and of course, the Muslim community.
Let's see what it is like to join the democratic system as a Democrat! (keep you posted!)