VOICES RISING
YEAR III - VOL 3. Nº147
July 28, 2005
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1.- ATTENTION!! BUCHAREST CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION IN PRISON
The President of the Governing Board of CERIS asks me to announce that the Conference "The dimensions of Education in Prison”, scheduled to take place in Bucharest from 21 to 25 September is cancelled, due to management problems.
The Conference will maybe be organised next November. More information will be sent in September.
CERIS extends its sincere apologies.
Marc De Maeyer
Scientific Coordinator
Senior Research Specialist
Unesco Institute for Education
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2.- WLUML statement on attacks on London
wluml@wluml.org
The network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) extends its deepest condolences to the families of those killed and to those who suffered terrible injuries in the appalling bomb attacks in London on 7 July 2005.
We extend our solidarity to all those in the
WLUML reiterates comments it made regarding the September 2001 attacks:
Our sorrow is particularly heartfelt because many of those linked through the WLUML network have directly experienced terror and the devastation that goes with it. We know that indiscriminate violence and terrorism by state and non-state actors are a global phenomenon. However we regard all of these as assaults on the principle of respect for civilian life&
WLUML continues to believe that ending terrorism requires addressing the roots of inequality: poverty and deprivation, injustice and exploitation both globally and within each country, as well as domestic and foreign policies that are and are perceived to be hypocritical.
Racism and Homogenisation
The London bombings took place in a city with a significant migrant population from Muslim contexts, including a third generation.
By emphasizing the Muslim community s responsibility to denounce the attacks and by highlighting statements from religious leaders, the media and government officials in effect accept the claim from extreme-right politico-religious groups that these acts were somehow related to religion. These are violent crimes, without justification. WLUML refuses to allow the hijacking of our diverse identities by forces which, while posing as representatives of Muslims , in fact pursue their own political agendas, including via terrorism.
Moreover, once again, WLUML witnesses the imposition of religious identity onto people simply of the basis of their birth place, ancestry or skin colour. This focus on supposed religious identity is also at the expense of secular thought.
That the perpetrators are British-born also raises the spectre of the enemy within . WLUML is concerned that this has led to a rise in racist attacks in the immediate instance and more deeply ingrained racism in the long term.
WLUML is also concerned that this indigenous connection does not seem to raise questions regarding the
The Impact on Human Rights Struggles and the Silencing of Secular Options
WLUML is equally concerned that such extreme right groups based in the British Muslim community will seek to turn a very real racism to their advantage.
Policy documents from governments and multinational corporations in Europe and North America increasingly recommend dialogue with moderate Muslims :
Preventing a 'clash of civilisations', BBC, 13 April 2004
http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd%5B157%5D=x-157-43675
Leaked No 10 dossier reveals Al-Qaeda s British recruits, The Sunday Times, 10 July 2005
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1688261,00.html
without ever questioning who gave them the authority to speak on our behalf or on behalf of Muslim communities. Such an approach fails to recognise that many thus labeled groups hold extremely regressive positions on women s human rights and the rights of other marginalised groups, such as gays and minorities such as Shias and Ahmadis/Qadanis. Meanwhile, parts of the global Left mistakenly see supposed moderates as allies in the struggle against capitalism and Washington s global domination.
WLUML fears that following the London bombings, certain politico-religious groups will seek to further this Unholy Alliance which will increasingly invisibilise progressive believers and secularists in all Muslim contexts (including in Europe and North America).
Also, playing upon liberal guilt at the racist backlash to the attacks, we fear these extreme right groups may increase pressure for the passage of legislation creating the offence of religious hatred already under consideration in the
Impact on Women
Women are likely to bear the brunt in several ways. In an overall context where all Muslims are constructed as potential terrorists, women also will be branded as part of extremist groups; at the same time, they will remain the target of fundamentalist forces within their own communities.
In the immediate aftermath of the bombings, the potential impact on women s rights within Muslim communities, especially migrant communities in the
This creation of a siege mentality, along with the silencing of alternative voices, will make it all the more difficult for women within Muslim communities to speak out against patriarchal and regressive practices. Indeed, such developments will also backlash violently on women in other Muslim contexts: discriminatory moves are likely to be justified in the name of protecting threatened Muslim values. Demands for separate family laws which are highly discriminatory towards women may increase under this guise. It is our experience that when politico-religious movements are legitimized in one context, this has a direct impact on the struggles for human rights in other contexts, crossing both boundaries of both geography and religion.
Finally, it is likely that civil liberties will be further curtailed in the
Ultimately, WLUML fears that the suppression of progressive opposition, the silencing of alternative voices and the enforced homogenization of Muslim communities both in Europe and elsewhere that are likely to result from the reaction to July 7 s terrible bombings will feed into the agenda of the extreme politico-religious right. This may contribute to making future such atrocities more likely.
--ends--
Also available on the website at: http://www.wluml.org/english/newsfulltxt.shtml?cmd[157]=x-157-262999
Women Living Under Muslim Laws international solidarity network
Email: wluml@wluml.org
Website: http://www.wluml.org
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3.-INVITATION: WSF/ASF CARACAS 06
Secretariado Consejo
consejo@forosocialamericas.org
Dear friends,
We remind you that this is the last week of the consultation for defining the main themes for the 6th Polycentric World Social Forum and 2nd Americas Social Forum, to take place in Caracas
on Jan 24-29 2006.
We repeat the invitation to send us your proposals by filling out the form below, which is very simple.
It is worth taking a few minutes to respond to the consultation, since with the participation of all of us we will be able to define a thematic framework that reflects the struggles, expectations and challenges for advancing towards Another America and Another
World.
Registration will be opening shortly for self-organized events, delegations and individual participants. We also invite you to register at the appropriate moment.
In solidarity,
Secretariat Americas Council WSF
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AMERICAS Chapter of the Polycentric 6th WORLD SOCIAL FORUM / 2nd AMERICAS SOCIAL FORUM
Caracas, January 2006
Consultation to develop central themes
In January 2006, Caracas will host the Americas Chapter of the Polycentric 6th WORLD SOCIAL FORUM and the 2nd AMERICAS SOCIAL FORUM, one more step in the process of opposition to neoliberalism and to the "TINA" theory (There Is No Alternative), and in the construction of alternatives, which began to take shape in 2001.
In the context of the new polycentric format, adopted for this event, that combines the hemispheric and global dimensions, we face the common challenge of defining the key themes that synthesize the visions and struggles related to the construction of Another America and Another World. These should express the shared political perspectives, which will let us group and order the vast number and diversity of initiatives that will be present in this meeting.
One of the main strong features of the World Social Forum is its plural and democratic character. The participatory development of its program contents is of crucial importance
in deepening this experience. We thus invite you to propose one or several central themes or specific themes that you believe must be considered in the next Forum’s program.
General central themes: ______________
Specific themes: ______________
Name of the organization: ______________
Country: ______________
Email: _______________
Phone: _______________
(SEE BELOW)
5th World Social Forum, Porto Alegre 2005
Central Themes:
1. Assuring and defending Earth and people’s common goods
2. Arts and creation: weaving and building people’s culture of resistance
3. Communication: counter-hegemonic practices, rights and alternatives
4. Defending diversity, plurality and identities
5. Human rights and dignity for a just and egalitarian world
6. Sovereign economies for and of people against neoliberal capitalism
7. Ethics, cosmovisions and spirituality resistance and challenges for a new world
8. Social struggles and democratic alternatives against neoliberal domination
9. Peace, demilitarization, and struggle against war, free trade and debt
10. Autonomous thought, reappropriation and socialization of knowledge and technologies
11. Towards construction of international democratic order and people’s integration
1st Americas Social Forum, Quito 2004
Central Themes:
1. The economic order: human and environmental impoverishment, debts, corruption, total market; the public space and economic rights; reproductive economy.
Resistance, views of the future and the construction of alternative models.
2. The violent face of the neoliberal project: imperial hegemony, militarism, strategic control over biodiversity, sexist violence. Resistance and the emergence of new subjects.
3. Power, democracy and the State: changes, continuity and views of the future.
4. Cultures and communication: resistance, memory, construction of identities; spaces and practice of creation; critical and alternative language; democratizing communication.
5. Indigenous peoples and African descendents: territories; autonomy; diversity and multiculturalism; knowledge and intellectual property.
Crosscutting themes: Gender and diversity
Please deliver your responses by June 30, 2005
Contact / address for delivery of responses in hard copy:
FSA Secretaría Operativa,
Baquerizo 166 y Tamayo,
Quito -
Send email responses to:
fsmcaracas@forosocialamericas.org ,
consejo@forosocialamericas.org
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The 3rd World Youth Congress is coming to
The main goals of the WYC series are to promote volunteering and global citizenship as well as sustainable lifestyles. Delegates will draw to the attention of government and aid agencies worldwide how much young people do and are doing to support the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals. This congress will bring together young development activists and government and UN development professionals to review best practice in youth led development and devise strategies to mobilise more young people to take part in them.
Who can apply?
All applicants must be 18-25 years old on 30th July 2005 and will fall under four categories:
1) Activists This conference is chiefly for young leaders in the youth-led development field. In order to qualify in this category you have to show your commitment to action by working on a pre-congress action project, that you can report on at the Congress. If you plan and implement a youth-led community improvement project between now and August 2005, we will welcome you to this Congress! All you have to do is pay your travel expenses - a limited number of scholarships may be available. It is, however, best to seek your own sponsorship. This is a conference where you will do more than sit around and draw up fine-sounding declarations: for at least 3 of the 10 days you will be out across
2) Performers/Artists If you have a performance group of dancers, singers, actors, comedians with material that relates to the Congress themes, send us a video with some reviews and photographs, and we will consider you for the cultural programme that will take place every evening of the Congress.
3) Young Journalists If you work for a newspaper, radio or TV station, ask your employer/line manager to send you to report on this important world event.
4) Participants If the above goals interest you and you would like to learn about these issues from your peers around the world, send in an application form.
fee: none
last date for registrations: January 2005
www.scotland2005.org
e-mail: jamie.wakefield@scotland.gsi.gov.uk