Day One

I learned so much from listening to all of you today and am quite excited about bringing this experience back to my school in September. The idea of “revolution” is one I am pondering.

For the past sixteen years, I have been dedicated to practicing nonviolence as much as possible. Yesterday, for me, was the end of a 20-day silent retreat in Shelburne Falls, MA. Each year, hundreds of thousands of individuals sign up for Vipassana Meditation courses to purify the mind from the seemingly bottomless bucket of negativities: frustration, irritation, annoyance, anger, ill-will, etc.

When someone made the comment today that there is no “nonviolence” I believe it was said because of the violence taken towards those using nonviolence as a tool for social and political change. The acts of violence are strong reactions to not wanting change. Change, however, is inevitable, just now always how we want it. My experience is that nonviolence is a choice, a life-style that is a very strong “tool” and inspires others. How others respond to nonviolence is their choice or reaction.

The “Lost Boys of Sudan” inspired me with their choice not to fight and not to die. Losing everything and everyone dear to them, they walked away from the violence; 27,000 of them.

I think this course is an inspiration to help bridge all cultures and people into a caring world by understanding how change can be positive, even if it’s one person at a time.

Deb Coy
3rd Grade, Meredith School

resources

In our session this morning we mentioned many resources. I'm posting some of them here before I lose track.

The National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) has its international conference this year in Philadelphia November 28-December 1, 2012.  http://nameorg.org/name-2012-conference/

teachingtolerance.org  tons of excellent materials available free to teachers

Planning to Change the World  lesson plan book for teachers available from both Rethinking Schools and Syracuse Cultural Workers

Rethinkingschools.org. Has an excellent journal, publishes many books

Syracuse Cultural Workers  http://syracuseculturalworkers.com/ Wonderful books, calendars, posters, bumper stickers

"What are these people for? To the degree that they're for anything, it's left-wing nuttiness."

I felt our discussion today was a bit unfair towards Occupy Wall Street. For all of its flaws, OWS did affect the public conversation: before last summer, the 1% - 99% breakdown was not as widely understood or discussed as it is today, while the phrase occupy has turned out to be resonant in the culture at large (even being co-opted by good ol' "bootstrap" individualism, as in occupy your life). 

We have not really seen the effects of last summer's protests - the friendships and alliances forged, the new ideas generated, the connections made. For example, episode 4 of this excellent Frontline report focuses on a group of financial analysts who joined the protests (more on them here).

Nor is it finished, as a visit to two OWS websites will demonstrate (here and here). Even more interesting is the website of Adbusters, the group that triggered the protests to begin with.

Finally, the "human microphone" was not an uncritical repitition of someone else's ideas but a clever adaptive response to New York City's prohibition on amplification in public spaces (new cell-phone aps may make it unnecessary in the future).

Chris

Monday Post

Islamist flag often seen in various locations during the Arab Spring, "No god but God."

Armstrong and Desrosiers posit seven characteristics of revolutions for students of World History to study. They are:

1. The economic crisis immediately preceding the revolution
2. The elite and other classes
3. Spread of revolutionary ideas among the intelligentsia
4. Goals of the revolution and major revolutionaries
5. Establishment of dictatorship
6. National mobilization in response to foreign hostility
7. Main legacy of the revolution

In the concluding paragraph they state:

"Were the events of the Arab Spring the beginnings of true social revolutions in the Middle East? In America, many speak of the 1% vs. the 99%: some wonder if Marx is being validated in contemporary society? Are members of the Occupy Wall Street movement the vanguard of some new revolutionary movement?" (pp. 45-46, Armstrong and Desrosiers)

However, the authors do not attempt to apply the seven characteristics of revolution to either the Arab Spring or the Occupy movement. The application of their ideas is suggestive at best, if not argued. Nonetheless, if you do attempt to apply their ideas to the respective movements, they do not apply at all. It is possible to argue that there was a financial crisis in the U.S. in 2008, thus, point #1 may apply here; however, no one seriously contends that an economic crisis tipped off the Arab Spring; it may safely be stated that political unrest reached a bubbling over point which erupted.

In Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, an economic downturn may exacerbate a contentious internal situation but there was no "economic crisis immediately preceding the revolution."

In Tunisia on December 17, 2011, a street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi protested the harassment he had suffered at the hands of police by committing suicide by setting himself ablaze. Since then, the governments of Tunisia and Egypt have been overthrown. A civil war has broken out in Libya. The king of Jordan has dismissed his cabinet and protests have taken place in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran.

What happened?

A revolutionary crisis seems to have gripped most of the Middle East so we may responsibly inquire into its motivating factors. The "Khilafah Conference (USA) 2011 - Revolution in the Muslim World: From Tyranny to Triumph" more accurately identifies the motivating factors, and they are religious sensibilities, a characteristic that can be evasive when analyzing contemporary political movements.

If not a revolution in the definition of the authors, clearly there is a considerable movement afoot, one which I have identified as profoundly religious. In the Khilafah Conference video the Islamist revolution unites the Ummah. Ummah is an Arabic term denoting a grouping of individuals constituting a larger community with a single identity. The term is often translated as "community" or "people". For the community the revolution is assured with Aqeedah which refers to those matters which are believed in, with certainty and conviction, in one’s heart and soul. Opposition is to be found in non-Muslims or the Mushrikun which means polytheists, pagans, idolaters, and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah.

A video promoting the Islamic caliphate in Europe during 2011 asserts the same point.

The Arab Spring then is a religious revolution, not based in financial or economic difficulties although clearly chaotic conditions may be exacerbated by these issues.

Any number of recent debates in Egypt have taken up the points outlined above:

Debates in Egypt center around whether Egyptians should eliminate the Jews with the Caliphate, or remain content in their own territory, Egypt.

EGYPTIAN TV PANEL DEBATES CLERIC’S CLAIM THAT JERUSALEM WILL BE CAPITAL OF THE CALIPHATE, Safwat Higazi

Tareq Sweidan of the Muslim Brotherhood states that first there will be the "oppressive Kingship," the Egyptian army in control, but thereafter, will be "Khilafah upon the Prophetic method." The hadith Sweidan discusses prophesies the Khilafah Rashida ("rightly guided" Cf. www.alislam.org/library/books/Khilafat-e-Rashida.pdf). Sweidan proposes an active promotion of the Khilafah Rashida.

His presentation on SlideShare.com illustrating four steps to the restoration of the caliphate.

The Egyptian Cleric Safwat Higazi claims that the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate will make Jerusalem ‘THE CAPITAL OF THE CALIPHATE’

A translation of a book by the Muslim Brotherood’s leader sheds light on just how Egypt’s Brotherhood views itself and its mission. Jihad is the Way is the last of a five-volume work, The Laws of Da’wa by Mustafa Mashhur.

Hassan al-Banna, the movement’s founder, “felt the grave danger overshadowing the Muslims and the urgent need and obligation which Islam places on every Muslim, man and woman, to act in order to restore the Islamic Caliphate and to reestablish the Islamic state on strong foundations.”

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Qaradawi advocates establishing a "United Muslim Nations" as a contemporary form of the caliphate.

The Voice of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

References on revolution

Cf. http://www.librarything.com/catalog/gmicksmith&collection=-1&deepsearch=Revolution

Monday Post, Dr. G. Mick Smith

Peace and Revolution

Before today, I would've never used the words 'peace and revolution' in the same sentence.  When I used to hear the word 'revolution' before, I used to think about war or violence.  Seeing that I like to play with words  a lot, I would look at the root word 'revolt', which means a rebellious action. then I would think about when someone is being rebellious, that person is fighting their way out of something.  That was my take on the word rebellious before.

Today's seminar gave me a new insight about what the word revolution means.  I especially learned a lot about 'peace and revolution' from watching the movie about the Lost Boys.  Before this class, I had never heard about this story and I found it to be so amazing that even through all of their hardships and adversities, the boys remained so peaceful.  I liked the movie so much that I finished watching the rest of it in my room.  One of my favorite scenes was when the boys were watching a movie with santa and one of them said 'what does this santa claus have to do with Christmas...the birth of Jesus?  He continued to say, 'Jesus is in our heart.'  That last phrase pretty much summed it all up for me, because all throughout the movie I was wondering how these boys remained so calm, so peaceful throughout all of what they faced in their country, even when they came to the US.  As a Christian woman myself, I've read the story of Jesus and how he faced so many adversities but he too remained calm and peaceful.  I guess what I take from all of this is that your faith can really play a role on how you handle yourself during difficult times.  In this case, the boys knew that Jesus was in their heart and because He is a part of them, their actions demonstrated His presence. 
I am so looking forward to tomorrow's seminar...thank you and goodnight:)

So exciting!

I am more than pleased with the first session's topics and activities.  More than anything I'm excited to be part of a group of educators that share a passion for discourse and the general well-being of society.  Having attended professional developments with cynical, unenthusiastic, and dispassionate participants in the past, I'd begun feeling disillusioned with the kind of people that are attracted to the teaching profession.  Today's session has reestablished my faith in the existence of invested and interested teachers.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we get to meet one of "lost boys" of Sudan.  Despite hearing the accounts of some in, "God Grew Tired of Us," I'm looking forward to hearing about it firsthand.

See everyone tomorrow!

Is it possible to attach a file? I have a powerpoint of quotations on revolution that I can share, if there is a mechanism for sharing files.
Janet Martin