Warped Galaxies

IWA Poetry contest winners

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Ok, so moms are allowed to brag from time to time. My youngest daughter won the poetry contest at her school, and now one of my twins won the Islamic Writers Alliance youth poetry contest. Naturally, she wouldn't let me read the poem before she sent it off. (Ah the joys of raising teenage girls!) It's quite nicely done. You can read it at: http://www.islamicwritersalliance.net/projects/contestwinners/youth2009.html

I'm needless to say, very proud of her. From my experience with organizing and judging the poetry contest in years past, the competition is usually quite stiff. I don't know how many entries they had this year, but I imagine it was quite a few, given that the concurrent short story contest (which I administered) had a great response, including the youth groups.

Results for the short story contest should be posted soon.

Jimmy Carter on Male Readings of Sacred Text

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:48:00 +0000

My thoughts on the issue are up on On Faith. The title isn't a very good reflection of the piece, but it'll have to do.

It's terribly complex to talk about equality. I wish there had been space on the On Faith post to dissect what equality might look like. As far as I'm concerned, equality does not mean that the lives of men and women become identical (at least not necessarily) but rather than men and women have the same ability to make choices about how to live their lives. That includes seemingly small daily choices about what to wear (and though we might like to minimize it, the practical reality is that our choices in what to wear affect how people see us, from looking at us as hyper-religious and consertive, to thinking of us as business partners, to reacting to our sexulity, or judging us as hippies, yuppies, and everything in between). And it includes major choices that affect the course of our lives - choices about who and whether we will marry, about when and whether and how many children we want to bear and/or raise, about what career to pursue, or whether to devote several years to raising children.

This is the equality I seek. An equality of opportunity and agency within our own lives. No doubt, many women would make choices that I would not make, and that might be perceived by me as anti-feminist, but it should be THEIR choice to make, not mine, not their fathers or their brothers or their husbands or their governments. Obviously, in some places men also do not have such personal freedom. That too, is a goal to work for.

Time for Change

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:22:00 +0000

I've often written about how tired I am -- and many in the Muslim community are -- of feeling constantly on the defensive. We are tired of the continual calls to condemn acts of violence by Muslim militants, tired of having to explain the misogyny is not inherent to Islam, despite Iran, the Taliban and Saudi style oppression of women, of having to refute claims that Islam calls for the slaughter or conversion of all non-Muslims, that it is backward and hidebound, that our Prophet was either hedonistic or puritanical, bloodthirsty, malevolent, and an all around despicable character.

All too often we retreat into that defensiveness. We talk about Islamophobia (a real problem, as we can see by the recent murder of a hijab-wearing woman in a German courthouse, and a similar situation in the US where a Muslim woman and her child were threatened by a knife wielding man at her doctor's office.) We engage in interfaith activities to help others understand the beautiful aspects of Islam and the true character of our Prophet.

But we need to go a step further. We need to advocate for real change in the Muslim community, cause there are real problems in our community, both in America and globally. We need to return to the fundamental values of mercy and compassion that are so prevalent in the Qur'an, to turn away from extremism and militarism. We need to embrace the liberating and affirming aspects of the Qur'an that leave no place for racism, classism, misogyny, homophobia, and religous bigotry. This is one of the goals of MPV and other progressive Muslim organizations -- to pull the Muslim community in more humane directions.

I just hope more Muslims jump on the bandwagon and do the hard work of countering negative trends within our community. I hope more people work on changing our community for the better than on changing perceptions of our community for the better. By doing the former, the latter will naturally occur, and the world will be a better place. Doing the latter, only opinions, not facts on the ground, will change.

The Human Face of Gaza

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:07:00 +0000

We so rarely see the human side of overseas conflicts. We hear about "clashes" between "defense forces" and "militants" in Gaza. We hear about "operations" and "surgical strikes," about "extremists," "terrorists," "radicals," "troops," "collateral damage," "casualties" in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and other zones of conflict, and somewhere in all the jargon we lose mother, father, daughter, son, person.

http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2009/summer/rafiqui-portraits-survival/

presents the people of Gaza. It's well worth reading, and looking at the faces.

typing test

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:30:00 +0000

84 words

Typing Test

Ok, this is a bit of an odd test... the words are not in a sentence, they are just random words, which makes the test both easier and harder. Harder because your mind can't flow with the sentence, and I know I type common combos of words faster than I type individual words. But easier because we all also type common words with more typos than uncommon. Like I often type your in, instead of you, or then instead of than when I perfectly well know it was supposed to be "You type faster than I!"

Anyway, I always enjoy those sorts of tests.

Hope you do to! (err... too!)

Burqas, Bikinis and the Debasement of Women

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:56:00 +0000

Naturally the question of the week on On Faith deals with the burqa and Sarkozy's proposed ban of it in France. I have written here before about my personal dislike of the burqa, how it and the Hugh Heffner culture of the West are flip sides of the same coin -- exploitation and suppresssion of women's sexuality -- and my commitment to women's right's to freedom of religious expression as well as how they choose to dress, even though I don't like it.

Sarkozy's proposed ban is nothing more than a paternalistic denigration of women (the very thing he claims the burqa is!) because he is essentially telling women, the state knows better than you what is best for you to wear, we know better than you how you should express your religious beliefs, and worst, we know you need our protection to stand up against your coercive men. His arrogance in usurping women's agency is breathtaking, precisely because he positions it as a protection of women from denigration.

Anyway, the full article should be up today at On Faith.

Rest in Peace, Neda

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:32:00 +0000

May god bless you and your family, your friends and your society.
I do not know how terrible regimes can fall, except through the sacrifices of people who have so much to live for, but give up their lives so that others can experience freedom.
I don't know why people want to live under repressive, totalitarian theocracies, and yet, clearly, there are many who support Ahmedinejad, the Taliban, the Saudis.
I can only pray that god helps those who want freedom of thought, of expression, of moral agency, those who want political accountability and the rule of law, who want democratic processes, who see that religion is meant to be implemented by the individual, not the state.
I pray that Neda's death, and the deaths, the sacrifices of so many Iranian youth is not in vain.

More on Israeli Settlements

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:53:00 +0000

For a long while now, I've had a bleak view of the possibility of a two-state solution in Palestine/Israel ever materializing or even being workable. This op-ed from the NYTimes takes a similar view as I do.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/22/opinion/22judt.html

The author, Tony Judt of NY University, lays out the issue of settlements more clearly than anyone I've seen writing in the American Mass Media:

It is thus not by chance that the international press is encouraged to speak and write of Jewish “settlers” and “settlements” in the West Bank. But this image is profoundly misleading. The largest of these controversial communities in geographic terms is Maale Adumim. It has a population in excess of 35,000, demographically comparable to Montclair, N.J., or Winchester, England. What is most striking, however, about Maale Adumim is its territorial extent. This “settlement” comprises more than 30 square miles — making it one and a half times the size of Manhattan and nearly half as big as the borough and city of Manchester, England. Some “settlement.”

There are about 120 official Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of the West Bank. In addition, there are “unofficial” settlements whose number is estimated variously from 80 to 100. Under international law, there is no difference between these two categories; both are contraventions of Article 47 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which explicitly prohibits the annexation of land consequent to the use of force, a principle re-stated in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter.

Thus the distinction so often made in Israeli pronouncements between “authorized” and “unauthorized” settlements is specious — all are illegal, whether or not they have been officially approved and whether or not their expansion has been “frozen” or continues apace.

He continues later in the article (and please do click on the link to read the full piece, the whole thing is worth reading...and if nothing else, the author probably gets paid by the click...)

Despite all the diplomatic talk of disbanding the settlements as a condition for peace, no one seriously believes that these communities — with their half a million residents, their urban installations, their privileged access to fertile land and water — will ever be removed. The Israeli authorities, whether left, right or center, have no intention of removing them, and neither Palestinians nor informed Americans harbor illusions on this score.

To be sure, it suits almost everyone to pretend otherwise — to point to the 2003 “road map” and speak of a final accord based on the 1967 frontiers. But such feigned obliviousness is the small change of political hypocrisy, the lubricant of diplomatic exchange that facilitates communication and compromise.

There are occasions, however, when political hypocrisy is its own nemesis, and this is one of them. Because the settlements will never go, and yet almost everyone likes to pretend otherwise, we have resolutely ignored the implications of what Israelis have long been proud to call “the facts on the ground.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, knows this better than most. On June 14 he gave a much-anticipated speech in which he artfully blew smoke in the eyes of his American interlocutors. While offering to acknowledge the hypothetical existence of an eventual Palestinian state — on the explicit understanding that it exercise no control over its airspace and have no means of defending itself against aggression — he reiterated the only Israeli position that really matters: we won’t build illegal settlements but we reserve the right to expand “legal” ones according to their natural rate of growth.

He wonders how President Obama is going to move forward...

Thus President Obama faces a choice. He can play along with the Israelis, pretending to believe their promises of good intentions and the significance of the distinctions they offer him. Such a pretense would buy him time and favor with Congress. But the Israelis would be playing him for a fool, and he would be seen as one in the Mideast and beyond.

Alternatively, the president could break with two decades of American compliance, acknowledge publicly that the emperor is indeed naked, dismiss Mr. Netanyahu for the cynic he is and remind Israelis that all their settlements are hostage to American goodwill. He could also remind Israelis that the illegal communities have nothing to do with Israel’s defense, much less its founding ideals of agrarian self-sufficiency and Jewish autonomy. They are nothing but a colonial takeover that the United States has no business subsidizing.

But if I am right, and there is no realistic prospect of removing Israel’s settlements, then for the American government to agree that the mere nonexpansion of “authorized” settlements is a genuine step toward peace would be the worst possible outcome of the present diplomatic dance. No one else in the world believes this fairy tale; why should we? Israel’s political elite would breathe an unmerited sigh of relief, having once again pulled the wool over the eyes of its paymaster. The United States would be humiliated in the eyes of its friends, not to speak of its foes. If America cannot stand up for its own interests in the region, at least let it not be played yet again for a patsy.

I believe there are ways forward. That peace is possible. I believe that peace could be accomplished in a unified state, although such a state would not for long, if ever, continue with a Jewish majority population, thus ending the dream of a Jewish homeland, although not, perhaps the dream of a safe space for Jews. I believe that peace could be accomplished in a two-state solution, IF Palestine is truly an independent state, contiguous and with complete agency and authority like any other state in the world. This would require dismantling all the settlements in the West Bank or bringing them under Palestinian rule, an obviously contentious problem, but without either of those options, a Palestinian state becomes unworkable, spider-webbed, as it were, with the roads of a different nation running throughout it's heart. I also believe there are ways forward that we haven't yet imagined; that we have limited ourselves to two options, when there have to be more paths that will work.

As a member of the science fiction and fantasy community (writer, consumer, fan), I believe in the power of fiction to change the world. Here's my challenge to all my sff writer friends... lets imagine the way forward, lets put our creativity to the test and find a society, a politics that offers more than the two rather bleak and seemingly impossible options ahead of us. The Muslim community is fond of talking about the Radical Middle Way, sometimes referred to as a radical third way, let us imagine that radical middle way, that radical third way so maybe, at last the people of the Middle East can live in peace.

sparks

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:07:00 +0000

My heart is aching this morning for all the hurt in the world. Why can't we just be nice? Is political ambition really worth killing people? Is money worth trampling over the lives of others? Why can't we all look at the beauty of nature and stop for a moment to realize we aren't all that, that our needs and wants are just a tiny spark in the brilliant bonfire of the universe, and that the best way to keep our spark burning is to help others keep their sparks burning too?

I read a poem this morning that inspired this one (the idea is borrowed, as are the majority of the first two lines)

Keep me in your heart

Keep me not always in your eyes
For I might fall from you as a tear
Keep me not always on your tongue
For I might float away on your breath
Hold me not always in your palm
For I might slip between your fingers
Clasp me not always to your breast
For I might slide away beneath your arms
But hold me always in your heart
For there our every heartbeat
Will echo all our love.

(The original is making its rounds on the sms circuit, and doesn't ever seem to be credited to anyone: It reads: Don't place me in your eyes, I may fall as a tear. Keep me in your heart
So that every heart beat reminds you that someone is there for you always....)

Yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Yesterday

The last survivor of the Titanic died
And an abortion doctor,
228 souls on a airplane headed to France
A jazz pianist, a calypso musician, a theater historian
Irene Amkraut
And Brian Berk
And 25000 children who didn't have enough to eat
It's only a miracle
That it wasn't you or me

Sotomayor and the emotion card

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:12:00 +0000

Today Rueters wrote about Obama's Supreme Court nominee: "The battle over U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor began to take shape on Wednesday as liberal supporters praised her as an independent legal thinker and conservatives argued she likely would rule based on her emotions rather than established precedent."

Naturally. A woman can't possibly come to a different conclusion than a man, say Newt Gingrich or Rush Limbaugh, holds unless she is basing her opinion on emotion. As though Gingrich and Limbaugh don't invoke emotional responses to rile up their followers... Sometimes I feel like banging my head against the wall. Haven't we gotten beyond the women are emotional, men are rational fallacy? I expect to hear such things from the Taliban or Saudi MPs, not from American senators and pundits!

Senator Jeff Sessions went further saying, ""We should not confirm somebody to the Supreme Court that will allow political, personal or emotional issues to influence the decision making."

This is like saying we cannot allow ethics based on religion to color our voting. Patently ridiculous. Ethics are derived in many different ways. Freedom of conscience means we can't tell people where they have to, or cannot, derive their ethics from. One person, one vote means we can't tell people how they have to, or cannot, vote. We have the Constitution to protect religious, philosophical, racial, ethnic, etc minorities from majority tyranny.

So too, law can be interpreted in many different ways. If that weren't true, we wouldn't need a Supreme Court to begin with! Yes, interpretation is based upon the words of the legal code, but it is also based upon the judges understanding of the intention of that legal code. And one's understanding of how certain rulings will impact society, the effect they will have on the population, both majorities and minorities, effects how one rules -- whether one is conservative or liberal, rich or poor, from a majority community or a minority community. Expecting a judge to rule without reference to his or her politics, personal experience, or even her or his emotional response to an issue is like asking someone to vote without reference to their morality.

dual containment

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:12:00 +0000

I read just the first lines of an article today that was talking about the Iran-Iraq war and how it was a result of a policy of dual containment. Obviously, Iran and Iraq cannot be absolved for going along with any nudging from the US, but the callousness of a policy of dual containment -- of encouraging and supplying the arms for a war that claimed the lives of millions -- is breathtaking. And heartbreaking. There are days I cannot believe how horrible the human race can be.

The Whys of Piracy

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:56:00 +0000

This morning my inbox contained an article talking about why the Somali pirates are seizing ships. I had mentioned in my piece yesterday that these people are being essentialized into their crime. They have no names, no ages, no connection to family, and especially no rationale. They are merely "Pirates" as though that were enough to know about them and their deeds.

The article quotes a pirate, Sugule Ali, (from an interview with the NYTimes) as saying: “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”

The NYTimes article gives the following background: "The piracy industry started about 10 to 15 years ago, Somali officials said, as a response to illegal fishing. Somalia’s central government imploded in 1991, casting the country into chaos. With no patrols along the shoreline, Somalia’s tuna-rich waters were soon plundered by commercial fishing fleets from around the world. Somali fishermen armed themselves and turned into vigilantes by confronting illegal fishing boats and demanding that they pay a tax."

Johann Hari echoes this information another recent article:

"As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."

This is the context in which the "pirates" have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a "tax" on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence".

The Los Angeles Times backs this up by reporting that, "In 2005, more than 800 illegal vessels from Kenya, South Korea, China and other nations were exploiting Somalia's coastline."

Given that Somalia has no functional government to deal with these vessels, and the evident lasck of will on the parts of the governments worldwide to deal with the problem of poaching and dumping in Somali waters, it's hardly surprising that vigilante groups of fishermen began to take matters into their own hands. Right or wrong, that dynamic apparently continues till today. However, a second class of pirates also have grown up, riding on the moral claims of the fisherman to be protecting their own, and yet their actions belie their commitment to those moral claims.

Obviously, the first question is what are the pirates doing with the "taxes" they have collected from tankers, fishing vessels, and freighters off their shores. Have they invested in clean-up? Are they paying for medical care for those who have been sickened as a result of illegal dumping? Are they feeding farming villages that can no longer support themselves? Or are they using it to buy more weapons, more boats, and live a good life when they are not on the high seas?

Reports vary. Some are building fancy homes and buying fancy cars, both in Somali coastal areas and in neighboring Kenya. Others appear just to be trying to survive.

Again from the LA Times: Perhaps nowhere is piracy's grip on Somalia more apparent than in Hobyo, a village 300 miles north of Mogadishu with Italian-style architecture from colonial times. Hobyo once thrived from lobster and tuna fishing in the Indian Ocean.

Today, piracy has taken over the village. Women want to marry the pirates and small boys dream of growing up to become buccaneers. Of the town's 80 fishing boats, all but four have turned to hijacking, local fishermen said.

"I had 25 men working in my boats," said Sheik Nur Mohammed, who operates one of the four vessels still struggling to earn a living fishing. "They all left me and went to piracy."

He said he could hardly blame them. Exploitation and pollution caused by foreign fishing and dumping have devastated local waters. Foreigners have raided local fishermen's nets and used destructive techniques that have killed fish eggs and upset the environment, he said.

"Now we don't catch enough fish to survive," said Abdi Mudey, owner of another fishing boat. "We spend all day on the sea and return with barely enough to buy a dish of rice."

Pirates are now at the top of the town's social class, the only ones with money for Western-made cigarettes and fancy cellphones. Known by nicknames such as "Superman" or "Flying Squad," they spend their free time drunk or high on khat.

"Women here don't talk to you if you are not a pirate," said Suleiman Farey, 21, a recent high-school graduate. "I'm fed up with these guys."

But as he played in the water near a hijacked Greek chemical tanker, Hassan Ali, 11, said he couldn't wait to join a pirate gang so he could earn money to support his family.

His father was a casualty of fighting in Mogadishu; his mother sells tea.

"When I see the men sharing the money, I feel envy," the boy said. "I pray that piracy will not end before I become a man."

Others, however, seem to have far less noble goals.

The BBC reports, "They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day," says Abdi Farah Juha who lives in the regional capital, Garowe.

"They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns," he says.

"Piracy in many ways is socially acceptable. They have become fashionable."

Eypt's state newspaper, AlAhram, echoes this: “Pirate Jama Shino in the Somali town of Garowe, threw the most lavish wedding party for his second marriage and invited hundreds of people from the local authorities and among citizens.”

“The bride and the young women who attended the party, said: “Marrying a pirate is every Somali girl’s dream. He has power, money, immunity, the weapons to defend the tribe and funds to give to the militias in civil war.”

Interestingly, even for those who seem more concerned about lining their own pockets, it's not only about living lavish lifestyles, but weapons to defend the tribe, and money to pay off militias, a bit more of a complex view, but still a far cry from the saviors of the nation that they claim to be in the NYTimes and Hari articles.

Of course, the income does end up spread around, pirates do not really bury their treasure in hidden chests. And AP article examines the impact pirates have on towns in Somali:

These boomtown are all the more shocking in light of Somalia's violence and poverty: Radical Islamists control most of the country's south, meting out lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has been no effective central government in nearly 20 years, plunging this arid African country into chaos.

Life expectancy is just 46 years; a quarter of children die before they reach 5.

But in northern coastal towns like Haradhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving thanks to the money pouring in from pirate ransoms that have reached $30 million this year alone.

In Haradhere, residents came out in droves to celebrate as the looming oil ship came into focus this week off the country's lawless coast. Businessmen started gathering cigarettes, food and cold glass bottles of orange soda, setting up small kiosks for the pirates who come to shore to re-supply almost daily.

Dahir said she is so confident in the pirates, she instituted a layaway plan just for them.

"They always take things without paying and we put them into the book of debts," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Later, when they get the ransom money, they pay us a lot."

For Somalis, the simple fact that pirates offer jobs is enough to gain their esteem, even as hostages languish on ships for months. The population makes sure the pirates are well-stocked in qat, a popular narcotic leaf, and offer support from the ground even as the international community tries to quash them.

"Regardless of how the money is coming in, legally or illegally, I can say it has started a life in our town," said Shamso Moalim, a 36-year-old mother of five in Haradhere.

"Our children are not worrying about food now, and they go to Islamic schools in the morning and play soccer in the afternoon. They are happy."

Despite a beefed-up international presence, the pirates continue to seize ships, moving further out to sea and demanding ever-larger ransoms. The pirates operate mostly from the semiautonomous Puntland region, where local lawmakers have been accused of helping the pirates and taking a cut of the ransoms.

For the most part, however, the regional officials say they have no power to stop piracy.

Meanwhile, towns that once were eroded by years of poverty and chaos are now bustling with restaurants, Land Cruisers and Internet cafes. Residents also use their gains to buy generators - allowing full days of electricity, once an unimaginable luxury in Somalia.

The situation is complicated by the fact that militias, Islamists, and warlords are all struggling for power in Somali. The choas has long prevented aid agencies from providing the kind of assistance needed to help average Somali citizens gain the means to provide for themselves and their families.

Given the disorder of Somali, the international dimensions of the poaching and dumping problem, and the apparent lack of will to address that among the nations of the world, we are likely to more and more piracy, along with more military reaction.

Humanity as a whole needs to figure out how to deal with ourselves. The idea of nation states where people across the border from their neighbors are powerless to help right wrongs, to confront corrupt regimes, where they absolve themselves of responsibility for their neighbors sufferring and hunger, has got to change. We need to embrace a vision of humanity as a whole, and take the steps necessary so that piracy is not the only attractive option for whole communities.

We need to address root causes rather than deal with symptoms... confronting pirates in the act seems a no-brainer, but in order to stop piracy, root conditions are going to have to change.

The whole scenario reminds me of a book, The Maquisarde, by one of my favorite authors, Louise Marley. In it, the protagonists daughter and husband are killed on their sailing boat by futuristic pirate-terrorists. The governments of the developed world have long refused to have any communication or commerce with third world nations (over such issues as piracy). Imprisoned for protesting the stonewalling of the investigation by the despotic government, the protagonists is rescued by rebels. Naturally, she finds out that the citizens of the third world have a very different story to tell than the governments of the developed world. I sometimes feel like we are living in such a world, where all we see and hear is spun to fit the goals of our government and our industries; rarely do we get deep insights into the root causes of problems. Always we are putting bandaids on the symptoms, rather than addressing the underlying diseases that cause them.

On Guns, Murder and Terrorism

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Bob Herbert writing in the New York Times, makes a passionate appeal for more sensible laws about guns. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/opinion/14herbert.html)

He says:

"Since Sept. 11, 2001, when the country’s attention understandably turned to terrorism, nearly 120,000 Americans have been killed in nonterror homicides, most of them committed with guns. Think about it — 120,000 dead. That’s nearly 25 times the number of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

He goes on to ask why we lack the motivation to do anything about this epidemic of murder, calling for more stringent gun control laws. The article is great, but it doesn't go far enough.

The problem goes far deeper than merely the ready availability of guns. As much as I disagree with the NRA, there is a certain amount of truth to their slogan that guns don't kill, people do. Our popular culture, our news media, our entertainment glorifies guns, and posits violence as the solution to many, if not all problems.

Often times, the "good guys" in movies behave in ways that are identical to the "bad guys," they are just posited as being on the right side of the issue. With few exceptions, there are no ramifications to their actions, and no consideration of the impact upon innocent by-standers. When, for instance, has a movie hero even given a passing thought to the scores of injured -- or dead -- people left in the wake of the spectacular and incredibly destructive car chase he just undertook escaping or chasing down that bad guy? What consideration is there given to their pain and suffering, the months of rehab, the loss their families and friends suffer? When standers-by are merely props to the good guy's heroism and the bad guy's evil, slight wonder that we see an increasing tendency to use fellow citizens as props in personal narratives of dysfunction and pain.

The way the news media reports events only contributes to the problem. The hype and sensationalist reporting around mass killings, combined with the dehumanizing of people with whom we are in conflict (Hamas militants, or the Somali pirates, for instance, have no human face -- they are statistics, not people with families, friends, and reasons, no matter how wrong-headed, for their behavior.), serve to make violence all the more acceptable, or even alluring.

Until we cultivate a culture that rejects violence as a solution to our personal problems, gun control is not likely to be very effective.

Let me be clear -- I favor stringent gun laws. Guns are potent enablers. An alienated student who doesn't have access to an assault rifle may kill himself, but the likelihood of him being able to "take out" 33 of his classmates and professors in the process is pretty much nil.

But until we deal with the glorification of murder and mayhem in our popular culture, you can bet that these types of incidents will only continue.

Peace needed now!

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:47:00 +0000

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/gaza-human-shields-claim

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/gaza-war-crimes-medics

If nothing else, the war between Hamas and Israel demonstrates yet again the grim fact that in warfare international law bears little weight. Even if the leaders who commission or allow war crimes to go on unhampered are brought to trial, there seems to be we can do to deter deplorable behavior by armies all over the world. These two reports deal with Israeli crimes. We are all aware of Hamas's crimes -- suicide bombings in buses or pizza parlors, rocket attacks which hit towns, not military posts.

They say those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. And often this adage is quoted to show how people who do wrong things have not learned that crime does not pay. One fears, however, that both sides in this conflict have learned all to well. They have seen that the world is either impotent or does not have the will to prevent atrocities. Srebenica comes to mind. They have learned that terrorizing civilian populations is a potent weapon in any war. Again, Srebenica.

We rightly lay blame on Hzmas and the IDF for their disregard for civilian safety, but we must also take a hard look at our selves, and our leaders who treasure national autonomy over the great good of humankind at large.

You know you've done something right when...

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:14:00 +0000

...your kid's self-selected leisure reading material ranges from high fantasy to Keats and Chaucer.

Aasiya and an Islamic theology of equality

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:09:00 +0000

I have written a longish piece for newsweek/thewashingtonpost online about domestic violence and Islam.

Hopefully hard hitting and insightful about the Muslim community's response to Aasiya's murder. The response has been appropriate on many levels, but there is so much lacking on other levels.

Please click on the link to read it. That's how I get paid -- by the click.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/pamela_k_taylor/2009/02/aasiya_hassan_domestic_violenc.html

Probably will post it here in it's entirety next week some time.

Aasiya and the horrors of Domestic Violence

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:21:00 +0000

I have been putting off writing this column on Aasiya Hasan, who was brutally murdered by her husband, a prominent figure in the American Muslim community, founder of Bridges TV. The subject is painful in many ways. Domestic violence is a problem that continues to plague not only the Muslim community but American society as well. But the beheading of Aasiya is so disturbing, that it has been difficult to write about.

Extensive study from the Center for Disease Control has revealed that domestic violence is a leading cause of death for women ages 15-44. Over 1100 American women are murdered by their partner or a former partner each year. Nearly one-third of all American women report experiencing violence from a current or former spouse or boyfriend, according to the San Francisco-based Family Violence Prevention Fund. The numbers around the Muslim world vary widely.

According to Wikipedia:

In some Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia,^[26] reports indicate that domestic violence is quite widespread. One recent study, in Syria, found that 25% of the married women surveyed said that they had been beaten by their husbands.^[27] One study found that half of Palestinian women have been the victims of domestic violence.^[28] A WHO study in Babol [an Iranian city] found that within the previous year 15.0% of wives had been physically abused, 42.4% had been sexually abused and 81.5% had been psychologically abused (to various degrees) by their husbands, blaming low income, young age, unemployment and low education.^[29] A 1987 study conducted by the Women's Division and another study by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 1996 suggested that domestic violence takes place in approximately 80 percent of the households in the country.^[30]^[31]^[32] In Pakistan, domestic violence occurs in forms of beatings, sexual violence or torture, mutilation, acid attacks and burning the victim alive.^[33]

According to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in 2002, over 90% of married women surveyed in that country reported being kicked, slapped, beaten or sexually abused when husbands were dissatisfied by their cooking or cleaning, or when the women had ‘failed’ to bear a child or had given birth to a girl instead of a boy.^[34]

Clearly this is a problem that cuts across cultural, religious and national lines.

Unfortunately, the Muslim community has been sleeping on this issue. Depsite efforts to bring the problem to light, and to pressure imams to address the issue from the minbar (the Muslim equivalent of the pulpit), despite the work of some dedicated activists who have opened shelters specifically catering to the needs of Muslim women (such as Baitul Salam in Atlanta and Al-Nisaa center in California), or to provide legal assistance (such as the Muslim Womens Legal Defense Fund), most of the community has it's head stuck in the sand.

Or worse.

Many Muslim women who face violence at home are told to be patient with this trial. Or they may find themselves being asked to consider what they can do to avoid provoking their husband. Sometimes they are outright blamed for their husband's behavior. Or told that he is only doing his Islamic duty.

Fortunately, the shocking murder of Aasiya -- a crime committed by a man many in the community saw not only as a leader, but as a exemplar, standing up for Islam at a time when the community feels under seige -- the brutality of how she was killed, the betrayal of what we all thought we knew of this man and the values he stood for, has jolted the community awake.

Pretty much every Muslim organization has come out with a statement against domestic violence. For those of us who have been trying to get them to take this problem seriously for years, it is bittersweet that the lethargy has finally been broken. Let us hope that once the furor over the catalytic event has died down, the will to change our society does not.

A Glimpse into the Past

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Two men in Afghanistan face potential death sentences for the most "horrible" of crimes -- printing a translation of the Qur'an without the Arabic alongside. So much for trying to do good deeds! (The men in question thought that the translation would be a service since most Afghanis cannot understand Arabic.) It drives me completely nuts that Muslims can think this way, and that some of us seem to have a hyper-phobia of heresy. It's like looking through the wrong end of a telescope at the Inquisition.

And yet, what can one do but pray for a sense of balance, and of tolerance? There is no way for individuals here to change overzealous rigidity halfway across the globe. We can only stand by helplessly as people who want to convert to another religion, who ask questions about women's rights, who name teddy bears Muhammad according to the wishes of their second grade, Muslim students, all face sudden, and unexpected threats to their very life.

Signing petitions is good, but in the end I have to wonder if they really do any good. Unless scholars from other countries make an effort to educate these ulema, I doubt we will see change fast.

How long did the Inquisition last? It started in 1478, and wasn't officially ended until 1834. Over 350 years! Let us hope that sanity returns to those parts of the Muslim world that need it much sooner than that!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:03:00 +0000

We have enjoyed four snow days this week. Best news... may be another big snowstorm headed our direction!

Sometimes I wish I had a life of leisure, and the kids never had school so we could just enjoy each other's company forever.

Interfaith faux pas

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:07:00 +0000

My daughter today was telling me about a conversation she was having at school where one of her friends asked what the difference between Islam and Christianity was. One of the other students said it was that Muslims didn't believe Jesus died on the cross, to which my daughter said, "Yes, but the biggest difference is we don't believe in the Trinity." Thus ensued a discussion about theology and religion. My daughter told me she was being very careful, because she didn't want to offend someone, so when they asked her what Muslims thought of the Bible, she just said we get our guidance from the Qur'an instead. But when they asked, "Do Muslims think we are all going to Hell?" her tact got her in trouble. "I can't guarantee that," she replied quickly.

Fortunately every one burst out laughing, and she got a chance to explain that what she meant was that according to the Qur'an no one is guaranteed a place in Heaven, nor in Hell. Christians, Jews, people who believe and do good works all have hope for Divine approbation.

Why we need peace in the Middle East

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:19:00 +0000

The Middle East needs peace. And needs it now. These stories speak for themselves. While they all come from Gaza, there are equally heart-wrenching stories coming from the Israeli side. When will Israelis and Palestinians, and the rest of the world say "Enough!"?

FINAL TOLL OF GAZA WAR: 1,330 DEAD, 5,450 WOUNDED
Agence France Presse, 1/22/09

Israel's war on Gaza killed 1,330 people, at least half of them civilians, and wounded 5,450 others, Palestinian medics said on Thursday in a final toll of the offensive.

Among the dead were 437 children under 16, 110 women, 123 elderly men, 14 medics and four journalists, according to Muawiya Hassanein, the head of Gaza medical services.

Children Shot Point Blank
Quil Lawrence, The World, PRI, 1/21/09

Two weeks ago Khaled Abed Drabo was trapped inside his house several days into the Israeli ground offensive. Artillery shells hammered his neighborhood east of the Jabaliya refugee camp. Three tanks parked outside his front door, and loudspeakers announced that civilians should leave the area.

Khaled says that’s when his wife, mother and three daughters stepped outside the front door waving white flags. They stood on the front steps for five minutes waiting for instructions from the Israeli soldiers only 10 yards away. But instead, Khaled says, a soldier appeared on one of the tank turrets, raised his rifle and began shooting. All three of the girls fell.

Khaled’s mother was shot in the upper left arm and abdomen. Recovering at her brother’s house, she tells the same story. “The soldier shot us slowly aiming at each one.” The women fled back into the house dragging the bleeding little girls. Suad, 7 years old, died immediately from bullets to her chest. 2-year-old Amal survied a few moments longer. “She was asking her mother for candy and chips. Then her mother asked her: ‘Do you love me?’ She said: ‘Yes.’ Then she died.”

The entire story is on audio from Public Radio International: PRI

Another story from the mouths of children:
Murray Wardrop, Telegraph, 1/21/09

One nine-year-old boy said his father had been shot dead in front of him despite surrendering to Israeli soldiers with his hands in the air.

Another youngster described witnessing the deaths of his mother, three brothers and uncle after the house they were in was shelled.

He said his mother and one of his siblings had been killed instantly, while the others bled to death over a period of days.

A psychiatrist treating children in the village of Zeitoun on the outskirts of Gaza City, where the alleged incidents took place, described the deaths as a "massacre".

Rawya Borno, a Jordanian doctor, said civilians, including children, were rounded up and killed by Israeli troops. . .

A boy named Ahmed said he was trapped for days in the wreckage of the shelled Samouni family's house.

He said: "My mother was dead beside me, she was clutching my brother Nasser and they were dead. My brother Itzaq was bleeding for two days and then he died. My brother Izmael bled to death in one day. My uncle Talal was bleeding for two hours and he died. God bless them."

Dr Borno said: "It's a massacre. They collected them from their houses. They knew that they were civilians. They were children."

The story goes on to say that Israeli officials believe these children have been coached as a part of Hamas propaganda -- since Hamas has an interest in promoting atrocity stories -- but that an investigation is going on. I find it hard to believe that a newly orphaned child is capable of being coached into lies about how his father, mother, and siblings died.

This long interview with a Palestinian man living in America about the deaths of his two brothers is heartwrenching:

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/22/part_ii_palestinian_us_college_grad

Israeli Human Rights Group Decry War Crimes
Nathan Jeffay, Forward, 1/15/09

Tel Aviv — On January 14, Israeli human rights groups issued a detailed report alleging serious human rights violations by Israel’s military in its three-week campaign in Gaza against Hamas. But Israel rejected the allegations and continued to notch up its effort to lay the blame on Hamas for the harm suffered by civilians during its military effort.

The coalition of nine human rights organizations, which included Physicians for Human Rights, the Israeli section of Amnesty International and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, charged that Israel’s conduct “constitutes a blatant violation of the laws of warfare and raises the suspicion, which we ask be investigated, of the commission of war crimes.”

Petition against Domestic Violence in Muslim Countries

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:11:00 +0000

Muslims for Progressive Values has begun a campaign against domestic violence (defined broadly) in the Muslim world. The first step is an online petition which will be delivered to different governments. The petition affirms that Islam is antithetical to domestic violence, and then calls upon Muslim governments to:

enact laws prohibiting and criminalizing domestic violence, acid attacks, honor crimes, female genital mutilation and forced marriages
strengthen laws against domestic violence, acid attacks, honor killing, FGM and forced marriages with stiff punishments and/or fines
ensure that these laws are enforced and that perpetrators are brought to justice consistently and swiftly
provide resources for women who must flee dangerous familial situations, such as protection orders, safe houses and long-term shelters
engage in educational campaigns to foster a national culture of respect for women's human, civil, and Islamic rights
allocate resources and funding to eliminate violence against women and girls, and
provide leadership in condemning acts of violence against women and girls

You can sign the petition at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/mpv-dv

Refugees twice over

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:29:00 +0000

I saw a piece on al-Jazeera which showed a glittering cloud of notices being dropped into Rafah City. The notices looked like silver confetti shimmering down out of a blue sky. But far from being glad tidings, they were warnings, instructing the residents of Rafah to flee for their lives as Israel was planning attacks upon the town.

Of some 130,000 people living in Rafah, 65% are already refugees, having fled their homes in Ashkelon or Beersheba and other towns that are now part of Israel proper. One wonders how these people must feel -- they fled before, expecting to return, only to find they were barred from going back to their homes. If they flee now, will they be able to return? Or will the be shunted into some other refugee camp somewhere else, losing yet again their home. Or, equally bad, will they return only to find rubble.

Someone posted a comment on this blog a few days ago that they should just move. It wasn't really clear if the "they" meant Israelis or Palestinians. In the case of the Israelis, that is an option and I'm sure many have done so. In the case of the Palestinians... it isn't so easy. Unemployment is at record highs. And the average wage of Palestinian workers amounts to $2 a day. How then, are they supposed to move? Carrying their posessions on their back, and walking? They obviously can't afford an airplane ticket to, say, the US, even if the US would take them, which as often as not they won't. We certainly wouldn't take all 130,000 of Rafah's residents, or the 1.5 million who are living in Gaza. And no one else will either.

Unless Israel is prepared to wipe out 1.5 million Palestinians (and we can assume they are not), they need to buckle down and work with the Gazans to come to some sort of arrangement which makes life livable in the strip.

Israel and Palestine

noreply@blogger.com (Pamela K Taylor) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:56:00 +0000

A lot of people have asked me about my opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Well, this week's On Faith question brings the issue to the forefront. You'll be able to read my post on it later today or tomorrow at http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com.

My central thesis, is that peace can only be brokered by the Israelis and the Palestinians themselves. Like the old adage about horses and water, you can lead these two sides to the peace table as many times as you like, but you can't force them to eat. Until they are both ready for peace, progress is not going to be made. I am hopeful that, after 60 years of conflict, both sides are getting weary of war, but I am not holding my breath.

I also feel, it is not our place to enforce a one or two state solution. That is up to the parties involved. I don't see the two state solution as being particularly viable, but a one state solution has its issues as well. In the end, everyone is going to have to give up something, and the two sides will each have to decide what they are willing to give up.

The bottom line is, that everyone deserves to live in a place where they feel safe from the violence of other humans. We all need to have a home where we feel we can survive comfortably, where we can raise our families in security, where we can lead lives of dignity. Achieving that goal has proven illusive, not only in the Middle East, but around the world.