Religious Extremism in Leila Alami's Hope and other Dangerous Pursuits

  Fatine’s religiosity in Alami’s Hope and other Dangerous Pursuits does pose questions on the sources of religious extremism. Taking into account her disadvantaged social background as she hails from a very poor family, Fatine finds herself agentless. Class oppression deprived her of agency. Thus, in search for a meaningful existence which would reflect her self-worth, Fatine found a safe haven in religion. Her choice of embracing religion insofar as that she became a fanatic is a reaction against social hypocrisy and an attempt to voice her vengeance and not a choice which was based on conviction. This moots a heated debate as to what extent religious people are sincere in their religiosity and not escapists from harsh realities. In other words, religion becomes a refuge from one’s frustrations in life and not a sign of piety.

   Islamic countries are swamped with illiteracy, corruption, poverty, terrorism and other social ills, which may push foreigners to associate Islam with backwardness and retardance. Many uneducated observers point their fingers to Islam as the cause of such social problems. To be objective, one cannot lump all these troubles in the basket of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and integrity. This might seem paradoxical. I believe that muslims are partially the ones to blame for creating contradictions in their practice of the religion. I agree that factors such as ignorance, conspiracy of international powers, autocracy and the political manipulation of the religious discourse all interplay to produce the current situation, but muslims themselves assume also a responsibility of smearing islam into a religion of fanaticism and backwardness. That is to say, they cling on to religion only to make up for things they could not bear on the ground or had failed to address. These things may range from emotional void, psychological vicissitudes to financial hardships. Islam provides for its followers a comfort zone in such hard times. It gives them a space of hope and commiseration that this worldly life is not permanent and that a better life in the hereafter is awaiting those who were patient and stoic. There is nothing wrong with this comfort zone except when it is turned into a freezer of one’s life passively waiting for miracles to intercept their misery. Hurling one’s troubles in that comfort zone in order to just enjoy inner peace or relieve the pain is weakness, selfishness and hypocrisy yielding a feeble, hazy and fragile faith which will be easily sacrificed when life’s temptations knock he door. That’s why we may find someone who prays but steals, who performed pilgrimage but deceives and who veils her face but gossips, because their religious rituals are devoid of the spirit of Islam, their piousness is fake as their refuge to religion had not been on conviction but just to escape the agonizing experiences. Religion, then, becomes opium to one’s hardships, a peg to hang one’s misery on.

   In conclusion, the comfort zone that Islam provides allures feeble believers to take advantage of to the detriment of the virtuous core. Islam is abused when its followers observe it only to seek security or treatment.

Modernism & Islamic Feminism

By Assem ALMOUSSAOUI (Student in Gender Studies MA program)  

  

   It often hits my mind the idea of a possible co-existence between modernism and religion. Feminism, as a modernist movement, seeks to rebel against sexist, rotten and traditional patriarchal society. Take the Arab world, for instance, where religion is in most cases the ascendant. Westerners and modernist easterners alike attack Islam for oppressing muslim women in various aspects of life. Polygyny, veiling and inheritance, to name a few, are considered as legalized forms of persecution perpetrated against muslim women under the disguise of religious sanctity. Nevertheless, we find some women who unabashedly adhere to the feminist movement and struggle for equality within the religious Islamic framework. The problem which arises here is that of congruency between Islam and feminism, as modernism in its core is based on rejecting metaphysical beliefs which cannot be scientifically proven and on embracing a new lifestyle which should cope with new demands of the industrialization phase. Thus, should Islam and feminism be looked at as antithetical?

   The incompatibility looms large once gender roles are brought to the fore. Gender roles in Islam are mandated to be complementary as a ship with two different captains is doomed to sink. In that complementarity relationship, man is seen as the one who is more liable to lead and be the bread-winner of the family while the woman is branded with being sensitive, physically weak and emotional. Thus, equality between men and women, which feminists regurgitate all day-long, is absent in the Islamic teachings. By no stretch of the imagination would feminists capitulate to such principle as it is seen patriarchal and does not take into account the modern economic changes which require women to be workers, leaders and nation builders, and not imprisoned into constricted jobs. What man can do woman also can do. That’s the motto of feminism above all. Negating, or even just limiting, her agency is a negation of her existence. Here, Islamic feminism comes to be caught in a double-bind situation. Should women’s struggle to bettering women’s lives under the umbrella of Islam be necessarily painted as feminist? Or should these women activists throw away that umbrella and claim themselves as modernist feminists but under the torrential rain of scolding from religious scholars and leaders? Is there a way out from such existential dilemma?

   The challenge for muslim women either to be modernist or remain traditionalist is a false and displaced debate. The frame within which the debate is tackled reflects the westerner’s imperialist hegemony. As in the 1840s India, the British imperialism enacted the abolishing of the sati practice describing it as savage and inhuman. Apologists for the British colonization of India boasted of the civilizing mission the colonizer burdened itself with and which was embodied in the fact of annulling the sati. Spivack, however, contends that abolishing was imposed on religious Indian women who wanted to observe their Hinduism and who considered self-immolation to be martyrdom and a duty not a suicide or death penalty. The colonizer meddled in religious affairs and imposed its perspective about that religious practice without getting down to earth so as to try to fathom the cultural sensibilities of Hindus. It is an act of silencing the subalterns. By the same token, Islamic feminists are victims of the West meddling into the affairs of the East. By imposing the western model of women’s emancipation, that is feminism, ‘Islamic feminists’ allowed the west to trample over our own belief system and to silence the majority. A majority who believes in absolute divine-justice as far as gender roles are concerned.

   To conclude, it is true that muslim women are afflicted by the misunderstanding of certain religious texts and the overlapping of traditions and customs with the religion, but such injustices can, indeed, be corrected under the umbrella of Islam. An umbrella which can be opened only on complementarity between men and women and not on rivalry. Seen from such outlook, adding Islamic to feminism is a subtle confession that Islam is oppressive to women. It is time to celebrate our own capacity to solve our problems  and unfetter ourselves from the complex of inferiority to the west.

Social Media: Politics 2.0- The Power of the Citizen

Written by Assim AL MOUSSAOUI in partial fulfillment of the Media Studies Course Requirements. Fez, Morocco.

Introduction :
As the title suggests, the video revolves around social media and its influence in the politics arena. The best way to define social media is to break it down. Media is an instrument from which people can get information or entertainment, like a newspaper or a TV. Therefore, social media would be a social instrument of communication. Succinctly said, social media are media for social interaction. Unlike traditional media, social media, which is one facet of the new media, allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content. Traditional media is a one-way communication where you can read a newspaper or listen to a news report on television, but you have very limited ability to give your thoughts on the matter. With the advent of digital technology and the internet, it became a lot easier for people to create their own content and interact with their friends or colleagues. Hence, Social media is a two-way communication that gives you, as a reader or a receiver, the ability to communicate and have a say in what you’re interested in. Social media have five characteristics: participation, conversation, community and connectedness. For participation, people can participate in discussions about different social and economic issues either by podcasting, posting a written comment or by video-taping their responses. Social media allows a two-way conversation. Creating communities of like-minded people in almost a blink of an eye is a landmark of social media. Facebook and Twitter are cases in point of social networks. Connectedness simply means the ability to be connected to your friends via these social networks. It is about the availability of such connection.

Description of the Video:
The video discusses the role of social media in the political change in an interactive and eye-catching format. The producers of this video capitalized on the latest technology with high quality images to convey the gist of the issue. In addition to interviewing specialists, the voice-over technique was perfectly utilized to summarize the ideas being presented. This technique is powerful when it juxtaposes with and superimposes onto relevant information or pictures, which was the case in this video. The two techniques being resorted to in this video help put the viewers into context of the subject matter. They’re very effective in purveying messages.

Though the video is three minutes long, it is so rich in terms of the content and the ideas being presented. The video tackles the issue of social media and its seminal role in the political field by interviewing people of authority on the subject matter. Belonging to different backgrounds like marketing and social activism, the interviewees help provide a full and clear picture of the issue at hand. The video is comprised of four basic interviews with different specialists and experts in the field of the new media. The first interviewee is called Don Tapscott, who is the chairman of nGenera Insight, an organization that analyzes and assesses social networks websites for the benefit of advertising companies. He states that people now can participate in the economy or in social debates in ways were unthinkable of before. He concludes that social media is an excellent platform for active citizenship. The second speaker is Craing Heintzman, a development associate in World Wide Web Foundation. The latter is a non-profit association which seeks to help and empower web users. He touches upon the idea that social networkers can create their own content and spread it across the world; as being one source of information and news. The fourth interviewee is Christopher Berry, Marketing Science director. Berry sketches out the unlimited advantages of social media in enhancing democracy and individual participation in the political process. Finally, Megan Warby, a senior consultant in Argyle Comm. company. She elucidates the power of social media in shaping the political change by giving the example of a group of Ontarions, in Canada, forming a coalition on Facebook to nullify the government’s licensing regulations.
Analysis:
The video stimulates a very thorny issue concerning the role of social media in changing the status quo. Social media has opened a dialogue between those who are in the saddle and commoners. Its value is apparent to those in political office, whose work and very professional survival hinges on the needs and perceptions of their constituents. As the video suggests, government officials can use social media to get citizens involved. The social web is ripe with opportunities for candidates and office holders alike to connect with voters, foster transparency, and even spar with opponents in the same ways they have been in the traditional media for hundreds of years. The video illustrates the case of president Barack Obama as being the most successful example in capitalizing on social media to create a unique relationship with his supporters. The question we need to ask here is why do politicians resort to social media in their political campaigns? The answer is straightforward: As more people live more of their lives in the social web, it becomes an important space for them to share their views and interpret what is going on in the world around them. Politicians rely on these views to construct successful campaigns which would appeal to people and ensure their engagement as well as their loyalty.
Another reason for politicians’ growing interest in social media is the public’s ability to coordinate a massive and rapid response towards current issues. The video hinted at the Ontarions’ demonstrations as a result of a facebook call to protest against the government’s new licensing regulations. I deem it also essential to bring to the fore the role social media is playing in the revolutions across the Arab world. Toppling Mubarak and Ben Ali has marked the utility of social media in forcing out dictators.
The video also raises the issue of creating the news. Social media has revolutionized the way news is communicated. A blogger might get a scoop on an issue ahead world renowned TV stations. As is the case with the Arab revolutions, Al jazeera and CNN resort to videos and pictures of citizen journalists, not from their own professional staff. The ubiquity of social media in our lives is empowering people. Events akin to protests against a political regime can not find its way to the state owned TV stations. Thus, social media is providing a margin of freedom and news reporting.
Social media has numerous advantages for active citizenship. First, It easily helps laymen broadcast their opinions and have their say in what happens around them. Second, it helps mobilize people for the common good by canvassing issues from different perspectives. Third, social media makes it easier to donate for NGOs that struggle to improve people’s life conditions. Last but not least, it increases political engagement of the commoners.

Evaluation:
As far as the evaluation section is concerned, it is very seminal to mention that the essay is going to evaluate the content of the video in terms of ideas and organization. First of all, the video communicates successfully the idea that social media shapes and changes attitudes, ideas, values, and lifestyles of people through the use of easy means such as blogs and social networks. Another important point mentioned in the video is the one which addresses the role of social media. Social Media plays an active role by giving information that helps people to be responsible citizens in a democratic manner. The notion of citizen journalism is a very striking point in the video in the sense that it is directed to those people who create Blogs, Spaces, Facebook, etc in order to produce information that challenge the mainstream media such as newspapers and TV channels. The importance of the new media is that it acts as a political refuge of oppressed people who find a vast room for freedom of expression. In other words, any ideas that can not have a place in mainstream media resort to new media which allow a considerable space for freedom. Freedom is a privilege in new media, but the issue is that people should be responsible for what they say because there is no censorship. People should contribute positively and say what they think is right and logical.


The video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrczoLm7Es

Sample of a National Exam 2008

Peace Be Upon You,
Click on the link below to download a sample of national exam 2008.
http://ifile.it/vx5msl2/exam3.doc

Outward Qualitites of Cell Phones and Their Functions

Some people call it a mobile phone. Some use the name "wireless phone." Some say "cell phone." Some just say "cell." No matter what you call it, it is a marvel. Having changed from being a bulky machine for just receiving and sending calls, todays' cell phones are proving to be far more intricate devices that are gradually becoming central to a normal human life. Modern cell phones differ in their outward qualitites and their functions.

In term of size, cell phones have become smaller and in eye-catching designs. They're lighter than a bar of soap. Some are less than 10 cm long. As for their weight, some mobiles phones weigh as little as 113 grams! these little gadgets can do millions of things a second. Nowadays, the latest generation of cell phones has got many high-tech outward qualities similar to camera (both photo and video camera), infrared, headset, USB cable to connect the phone to a computer. There is also a screen which can show telephone numbers and messages. It may show pictures as well. In addition, there often is a keypad, or small keyboard. This lets you type numbers, messages and so on. Some mobile phones have buttons for special tasks. One button may turn the phone on and off. Other buttons may start or end a call. Lately, some 'smart' phones have got a touch screen.
As for the functions cell phones offer, we can mention that bluetooth enables a wireless connection between two cell phones having this feature. Thanks to this type of connection, people can exchange numberless files, pictures, contacts...on the spot (instantly). Wi-Fi makes cell phones even more exciting by having the World Wide Web at your fingertips. You can watch online videos, read articles you like, search whatever thing you need to know about. Last but not least, some mobiles phones incorporate state-of-art technology akin to GPS. It stands for Global Positioning System. This is a group of space satellites that send out special radio signals. A cell phone with a simple GPS uses these signals to tell its location. People can also capitalize on this feature to get to unknown addresses or directions.

In brief, modern cell phones has revolutionized human life to a greater extent. From the president to a normal layman, no one can can get rid of mobile phones.

Go On...Obamanian Sweeping the Nation -.-

The Presidential Candidate Mr.Barack Obama in Wisconsin-Madison

It's Time for Zaki to Coach our National Team !

Cross Cultural Relationships

It is something of truism that humankind seek to broaden their scope of social relationships, yet they can be either a factor of fortification of peace and stability in the world, or a generator of tension and cultural misunderstandings. This is after all due to cross cultural interaction between peoples buttressed presently by globalization. First, crosscultural relationships when smoothly interacting may eventuate in co-existense which basically rests on mutual reverence for the differences in the other's cultural values, language, complexion, religion, race ...etc. ; in this rsepect, the white European should respect the African not out of pity but since he's unadulterated human being who has his own culture and language. By doing so, the world will witness the promotion of peace and dialogue between the diffrent civilizations, religions and nations, and therefore, extrimists and racists will be deterred. Amid this smooth interaction, cultural diversity will bolster and uphold tolerance in people whichever walks of life they are from: black or white, European or African, an Arab or a westener... all of them will be contained in a world replete of homogeneity and plurality. In a word, cross cultural relationships bring people from sandry cultures together living in peace and diversity in a contact zone immunized against racism, stereotypes and subjugation. Sadly, this is how cross cultural relationships ought to be or supposed to happen on the ground. The recurrent wars and conflicts in the world of today, not to mention the past, rebut conclusively this myth of cross cultural relationships. The white man from a retrospective point of view has never desisted from pondering what is non-white as a property or slave rising a fanatical religious rationale that he's destined to "civilize" the "other" non-white, arrogating to himself the right to purge the "pagans" and to colonize and appropriate their land. Due to this doctrine, the world throughout History and up to now has witnessed myriad chronic bloody showdowns and conflicts perpetrated under the cover of modernizing and democratizing the "not me", or more often fighting against terrorism which is the case in Iraq & Afghanistan. The "I", that is the westener, has been always subordinating and excluding the culture of the feeble black claming himself as the paragon of modernity and democracy in this world by means of hegemony, which is inextricably intertwined with the denial of cultural diversity in the white's man ideology.

( I wrote this essay once I finished reading Roberson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe )


Further Insight :
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/el+ejido/video/x2a9bw_el-ejido-13_business

Study in Dhar El mehraz University ?

Salam, today I'd like to bring to the fore the matter of studies periods which is really funny and peculiar to our university in Fes. In my article (below) written on Tuesday-3 weeks ago-I said that most of the presenters who used data show still need computer skills to deliver their talks coherently.I also said that the week after would be my turn to present my talk about Rupert's Murdoch News Corporation. Now you can imagine that since then I've not presented my talk yet !! not because of an official holiday, no. Not because, God forbids, of an earthquake or some other sorts of 'Nature fury' and it is surely not because of teachers' absence. The reason why I haven't yet said STH about Rupert Myrdoch in my class is really complicated. May be the fact that am studying at S.M.B.A.U could already help understand the reason behind this delay. The university is notorious for being the pioneer in Morocco to hold violent protests, bringing about complete standstill in studies, against 'reforms' in the Moroccan higher educational system especially the last one which has been executed nearly 5 yrs ago!. Add to this, the weekly skirmishes and violence taking place b/w 2 major students factions in extreme and a wayout opposition to each other : the so called progressives and conservatives. No matter how pertinent dictions I may use to describe the tensity of brawls and its by-products b/w these 2 factions, I really can't crystalize the amount of horror and violence taking place at the university once one side or the other instigate the showdown. Thanks God I've never witnessed or happened to be present in such bloody showdons, but I did see images the 2 factions display later to smear each other's reputation ! swords, knives, stones...are arms used to cripple sometimes innocent students. One thing I will never forget is the severe wounds in sensitive spots these images document from both factions casualties. What I want to say from all this is that we the independent students are the victims of protests and bloody confrontations between the 'progressives' & the 'conservatives'; that is more days off and less lessons taught and this semester is par excellence a case in point for the latter. May be neither factions are completely responsible for what is happening; May be there are some other people orchestrating this behind the curtain, but surely there is only one side losing : it's we the non partisan students who represent the majority, the future of Morocco.
I forget to say that university next week will be off for Monday & Tuesday. This time it is an official holiday-the new year. So you can now see that other students and me should wait a whole month just to deliver our talks in the media class !!! To sum up, it is said that 1 Japanese visited Morocco and stated : " Studies in Morocco is intermissions preceeded and followed by holidays." !


God Bless You ):

Happy Eid

I just want to say Happy Eid to you all muslims worldwide...may Allah bless you.

My Opinion

Hi friends ! I just want to make a remark that most of students now or at least an emerging and promising segment of students start to use technology in their presentation-which can only be a positive initiative. Today's presentations in Media course documented how we still need a CLP (Computer Literacy Program) so that we can deliver a coherent presentation. What is stunning is that frightning huge gulf between the presenter's talk and the projected work ! each seems to be in a planet. Starting from my self to today's talk presenters I think we really need at least 1 training session before the day of the exposé under the supervision of teachers who are really versed in this sort of technology instead of losing 30mins not following a single thread of what was said. I personally was criticized by 1 teacher once we finished our presentation most of which was projected by data show, and it was the 1st time for me to use technology. His remark really touches on the problem we all face : 1stly not everything can be projected ! so then what's your role better leave and let the audience watch 'without ur buzz'. 2ndly, I had the prob of time management; meaning that the projected work can still be truncated and encompassed to revolve around only one major idea explained patently and meticulously at least doing so will help students get the thread. Having said this, am really facing a real challenge next week presentation in Media. I only hope I can convey my message clearly to the audience by making use of data show. So your questions are really very welcomed from now...my topic will revolve around News Corp. what I realy like more in presentations is that time dedicated for discussion !