What?! Please read and comment.
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/07/photos-evangelical-curricula-louisiana-tax-dollars
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/07/photos-evangelical-curricula-louisiana-tax-dollars
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Starting the school year right
"The single story creates stereotypes,
and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue,
but that they are incomplete.
and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue,
but that they are incomplete.
They make one story become the only story.”
Though I have not had much full-time teaching experience, after community-building activities, one of the best and most
powerful ways I have started off the semester included showing this < 20
minute TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie, on “The Danger of a Single Story.”
In light of our discussion with
the wonderful panelists about immigrants and refugees, and “Youth Perspectives on Peace & Revolution,” I thought about this
TED Talk I showed my students and how it set the tone for the rest of the
semester. Jamal advocated for educators to not present any individual or group
as “static,” unchanging, or one-dimensional. As a daughter of first-generation immigrants
from India, I have faced and been asked about numerous stereotypes given to
Indians. We as educators also have to be careful and think critically about how we incorporate students’
experiences into the classroom, avoiding the situation where a student is
called on to discuss “Indian culture, heritage and religion” merely because she is the
only Indian in the classroom.
I provided my students with four
reflection and discussion questions to go through during and after the talk:
1.
Who is Chimamanda Adichie and what is her message?
2.
What is the danger of a single story?
3.
Can you give an example of an instance when you bought into the single story of
a group of individuals? At what point did you realize that this story was
incomplete?
4.
Are you aware of a “single story” about an aspect of your identity? What is it
and how does it make you feel?
Students were so willing to talk
about stereotypes and labels that have been put on them and were able to
empathize with the speaker. This set the philosophy and tone of our future
class sessions and it helped them understand how I wanted them to examine the world and its people.
Good Morning All...Since I have been told I have a flair for the obvious, I'll not disappoint and state I am so impressed with the passion and dedication of all members involved with the institute. It has been such a pleasure to be with you all.
Still perplexed about student names and the discussion about same. I might just be honest and ask what they prefer and go from there and do what is best for them. Names begin to define us so essentially I would work to pronounce their name.
Still perplexed about student names and the discussion about same. I might just be honest and ask what they prefer and go from there and do what is best for them. Names begin to define us so essentially I would work to pronounce their name.
Teaching Nonviolence
Nonviolent
Campaigns: Who, What, Where, When, How and Why
So
you’ve seen Gene Sharp's list of 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action in our binders, and you've heard a lot about the powers and successes of nonviolent action but are
ready to move beyond teaching about Gandhi and Dr. King. Thanks to a project
lead by George Lakey at Swarthmore College, there is now a Global
Nonviolent Action Database that provides free access to the
hundreds of cases of nonviolent campaigns around the world! The intention of
this database is, “to assist researchers and activists to better understand the special
features of nonviolent struggle that make it different from both violent and institutional
politics.”
Lakey,
the Director of Training for Change and 2010 Peace Educator of the Year, explains
that “nonviolent action” is also commonly known as:
- People Power
- Civil Resistance
- Satyagraha
- Nonviolent Resistance
- Direct Action
- Pacifica Militancia
- Positive Action
The
database includes cases that are identified as “campaigns”, not “movements” because they consider
movements to typically consist of a number of campaigns aimed at achieving
large goals. Also, the campaigns researched are ones that have reached their
point of completion. Each “case” is presented as a database file and narrative
that describes the issues behind the campaign.
The
database can be searched by country, issue, or method used. The campaigns are
grouped by the following categories: democracy, economic justice, environment,
human rights (religious and women’s rights), national/ethnic identity (and
anti-colonial struggles), and peace. You can learn about nonviolent action that
took place everywhere from Afghanistan to Norway to Zimbabwe. You can even find
campaigns that occurred as early as Before A.D. in Italy to present-day in
Egypt. If you are interested in learning about the larger movements, you can
search under “Waves of Campaigns” to find information about:
- African Democracy Campaigns
- Arab Awakening
- Asian Democracy Campaigns
- Colour Revolutions
- Soviet Bloc Independence Campaigns
- U.S. Civil Rights Movement
Here
is an example: "Egyptians
campaign to oust President Mubarak, 2011"
On
this page you will find the time period, the description of the location, the
goals, methods and classification of the case. You can also find information
about the campaign’s influences, leaders, partners, allies and opponents, order
of social groups and the success outcome. Lastly, everyone also has access to
the sources used to compile the information to learn even more about the study!
This
resource: 1) Explores Approaches to
Peace; 2) Re-frames History; and 3) Transforms Conflict Nonviolently.
Students can learn how people around the world aim to achieve peace.
Furthermore, they can look at history through the lens of nonviolent actions –
narratives that are often left out in schools’ historical texts. Lastly, the
database acknowledges that conflicts do
exist, and it provides examples of a variety of methods that people use to
approach conflict alternatively—nonviolently.
With regard to the uses of the
database, the team included this wonderful message: “Strategists, activist organizers, scholars, and teachers
will find many uses for the database, as well as citizens wanting to expand
their horizons. Even before release to the public, for example, a teacher who
knew the database team was using our cases to assist middle school pupils to
develop plays. Any school that teaches about the environment, civil rights, or
other issues may find the curriculum enlivened by sending students to the
database. History students might enjoy doing the detective work of finding the
hidden stories in their local area that could be developed into cases. The
database also offers an invitation to geographical learning.”
I
would recommend this database to be used by students starting in middle school.
Though I believe that educators can incorporate this across the curriculum, it
may be most welcome in a Social Studies course. The information provided
can truly open students’ eyes and deepen their understanding of nonviolence,
people power, and the struggle for justice, peace, democracy or human rights
around the world. It may also help students to better grasp the tactics and
motivations of the ongoing “Occupy” movements across the nation. The database can
be utilized in formal or community education settings. It can also be
beneficial for organizers of future movements to scan through this database to
examine the advantages or limitations of strategies of previous campaigns.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Tuesday Post
God Is Not Great
One of our afternoon panelists commented that sometimes people tend to posit a simplistic victim-oppressor analysis. We examine the past and determine who has been victimized and who is oppressed. Some educators perform this exercise in the case of Egypt, and the Middle East generally: i.e., Mubarak, bad, what he is replaced with, good. This analysis suggests that if the Muslim Brotherhood replaces Mubarak this could be a good thing. But as I consider covering the Caliphate in my World History classes I am reminded of what is stated in, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens.
Hitchens states that the Koran is a rehash of Jewish and Christian myths. Islam, with no Reformation, and no internal self-critical tradition, is the least adjusted world religion to the obvious contradictions of living in the modern world with a pre-modern mindset. Any historical example to critically examine the claims of Islam has resulted in repression (p. 125). The accounts of Muhammad (d. 632) "are hopelessly corrupted into incoherence by self-interest, rumor, and illiteracy" (p. 127). "The first full account of his life was set down a full hundred and twenty years later by Ibn Ishaq, whose original was lost and can only be consulted through its reworked form, authored by Ibn Hisham, who died in 834" (p. 129). In addition, there is no way of determining how the competing accounts and traditions were collated and edited to form the text of the Koran. We are left with conjecture and hearsay as to the actual message of Muhammad.
The chaotic manner in which the Koran was assembled gave rise to the more pressing issue of succession, a controversy characterizing Islam and one in which Muslims have never solved. Continuously Islam has strenuously opposed critical examination of the Koranic text. The apparent unity of Islam masks a great insecurity and anxiety about the text not shared by other religious traditions (p. 126). "But Islam when examined is not much more a rather obvious and ill-arranged set of of plagiarisms, helping itself from earlier books and traditions as occasion appeared to require" (p. 129). With its lack of originality Islam nonetheless demands obeisance from non-believers yet "there is nothing--absolutely nothing--in its teachings that can begin to justify such arrogance and presumption" (p. 129).
The primary issue of a critical and scholarly account of Islam based on the Koran requires a similar willingness, as Jews and Christians have allowed and benefited from, to examine the Scriptural claims to objective, scholarly examination. The consensus of religious obscurantism though has precluded "free inquiry and the emancipating consequences that it might bring" (p. 137).
Meanwhile, rogues, terrorists, mullahs, and misguided Islamists predominate and prey unmolested upon unwary victims.
As a result, the question of authority looms large since there is no program to critically examine the Koran, religion poisons everything, but an institution could politically unify Islamists.
The Caliphate
It is important to understand what the caliphate is, its place in Muslim majority countries, and its significance.
The cornerstone of Islamic theology, the caliphate, or khilafah, is the central, authoritarian government that was implemented after the death of Muhammad by his disciples in 632 AD. It derives its authority from and governs by Shariah law, and is presided over by a “caliph,“ or ”successor” who holds both legislative and spiritual power.
Per the tenets of Islam, this “state” is not limited to encompassing only Muslims across Muslim lands, rather, the goal is to ultimately establish a global caliphate that would mandate people of all walks to embrace Islam or to at least to submit to being governed by Islamic law. The khilafah is also the form of government endorsed by the Muslim Brotherhood.
In March 1924, reformer and president of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, constitutionally destroyed the “Khilafah State.” Today, an organization dedicated to the reestablishment of a global caliphate, Khilafah.com, stated that Ataturk’s move marked the end of “an illustrious era of Islamic rule” and that, since then, “the dark shadow of the West has engulfed the world.”
Prince Orhan Aal Othman, the Grandson of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, blames Theodore Herzl, the Jewish Zionist, as the cause of the Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate
MEMRITV - The Middle East Media Research Institute
#3250 - Prince Orhan Aal Othman, Grandson of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II: Herzl Was the Cause of the Fall of the Ottoman Empire
Transcript
http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/3250.htm
To illustrate what Islamists believe regarding Islam and the caliphate, consider the following passage from one of their sources:
"We assert, without compromise, that it is only by the establishment of the Khilafah State, that the practical solutions of Islam can once again provide a real alternative for the entire world. The ‘Clash of Civilisations’ first discussed by Samuel Huntington is real and inevitable. We endorse the notion that there is a civilisational difference between Islam and the West and that the problem for the West is Islam and the problem for Islam is the West. By arguing this, we also maintain Islam, as a universal ideology, came for all of humankind, Muslim and Non-Muslims, and as such it is only Islam that serves as a Rahma (mercy) for all mankind."
Khilafah.com goes on to assert that “the only challenge” to encroaching Western dominance “must come from Islam.” Thus, to Islamists, the caliphate is vitally important in their fight against Western democracy and to ensure the adoption of Islam and the implementation of Shariah law across the world.
For example, Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum, of the Jordanian Tahrir Party, states that jihad will spread Islam, and non-Muslims will be second-class citizens in the coming Caliphate
Those who closely follow the words and deeds of terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda will recall that establishing a global caliphate founded upon Islamic law has been among the militants’ most fervently declared goals.
Hamas MP and Cleric Yunis Al-Astal: The Jews Were Brought to Palestine for the 'Great Massacre' through which Allah Will 'Relieve Humanity of Their Evil'
A leading Muslim cleric proclaims Rome will soon be conquered by Islam.
Yunis al-Astal, the cleric in question, told his listeners that “Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad. Today, Rome is the capital of the Catholics, or the Crusader capital, which has declared its hostility to Islam…”
Al-Astal preached in June of 2010 that it was the duty of Palestinian women to martyr themselves by becoming homicide bombers.
"When jihad becomes an individual duty, it applies to women too, because women do not differ from men when it comes to individual duties," he said in a June 23, 2007 interview. Al-Astal also called Jews "the brothers of apes and pigs" who should "taste the bitterness of death” in the interview.
The parliamentarian returned to this slur recently, saying that Rome “has planted the brothers of apes and pigs in Palestine in order to prevent the reawakening of Islam.”
Writing for the New York Sun in 2005, Daniel Pipes noted that the Islamists who assassinated former Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat in 1981 adorned their holding cages with banners that read: “caliphate or death.” He continued:
Bin Laden spoke of ensuring that “the pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan.” His chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also dreamed of re-establishing the caliphate, for then, he wrote, “history would make a new turn, God willing, in the opposite direction against the empire of the United States and the world’s Jewish government.” Another Al-Qaeda leader, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, publishes a magazine that has declared “Due to the blessings of jihad, America’s countdown has begun. It will declare defeat soon,” to be followed by the creation of a caliphate.
While some might argue that there is a difference between the Muslim Brotherhood and state-recognized terrorist organizations, consider that the Brotherhood is no innocent lamb. Founded by an Adolf Hitler admirer, the Islamic militant group is the predecessor of Hamas, Hezbollah and even al Qaeda, and is often cited as a parent to each of the terrorist groups.
One of the reasons some believe the Muslim Brotherhood is a moderate group is via its seemingly extensive community service work. It operates under the veneer of a socially-conscious organization focused on youth-outreach, school and mosque development, and even the coordination of sporting events for the “good” of the community.
Once examined under a more discerning lens, however, the true colors of the Muslim Brotherhood emerge. Of the militant Islamist group’s dual identity, scholar Martin Kramer stated: “On one level, they operated openly, as a membership organization of social and political awakening. Banna preached moral revival, and the Muslim Brethren engaged in good works. On another level, however, the Muslim Brethren created a ‘secret apparatus’ that acquired weapons and trained adepts in their use. Some of its guns were deployed against the Zionists in Palestine in 1948, but the Muslim Brethren also resorted to violence in Egypt.
Kramer goes on to explain that the Brotherhood enforced their own moral teachings “by intimidation, and they initiated attacks against Egypt’s Jews.”
My final installment as a review of this issue will be posted tomorrow; it will review contemporary analysts who comment on the revival of a Caliphate.
Finally, however, for my in-class final version I will need Islamist examples akin to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa to present examples of peaceful leaders within the Islamist tradition.
Dr. G. Mick Smith
I enjoyed today's discussion. My take-away is that so many of the topics we approach are personally-defined. Do we insist that people learn and pronounce our name precisely? Do we reach out to people to recognize that pronunciation and inflection may be challenging to some given their ability to hear (physical disability)... to aborb details... to pronounce accurately? For what it's worth, I think that if we want to move people to a different place, as opposed to just asserting our own needs to others, we need to listen more... figure out where someone is at the moment... and adapt our philosophy to what is most meaningful to them. It is fairly easy to go on about what we think about a given issue. If we just want a soapbox to hear ourselves, fine. But if we want change, we need to be more patient, listen more and preach less, and be willing to do what it takes to meet each person where he or she is rather than where we are. I'm not good at that. It's hard. But it is my take-away from today.
I too am thinking about names. This afternoon I drove to an assisted living community (25 miles away but took me an hour and a half to get there given traffic leaving Philly, ugh) to visit friends of mine who are now 91 and 94 years old. Rennie and I taught together for 9 years at the beginning of my career and the end of hers. She was my closest colleague friend for those years. I shared with them the overall theme of the institute and this afternoon's panel discussion. When he was a young boy Si's family had fled from Poland to Germany and then managed to get out of Germany to the US even though the US was not taking Jewish refugees. (His family had a US government contact who owed them a favor,) Si then went back to Germany in the US army and was with the army group that liberated Buchenwald. He was telling me that actually his birth name was NOT Si but rather a very Jewish/Polish sounding name. When he arrived in Germany one reason he was constantly bullied and beaten was because his name "marked" him. He changed it to Si and never went back to his original name.
One of the reasons I like this overall topic is because I don't think there are clear answers on this. I'm always more interested in dilemmas that aren't absolute. If someone immigrating to the US wants to change her name to one that sounds more "American" it might be for ease of not always having to tell people how to pronounce her name, it might be to assimilate... Part of what I want to understand is whether she is trying to "deny" her birth/childhood culture or "embrace" a new culture. Are those different? Are they contradictory? I'm wondering what it takes to understand if this choice is "voluntary." And if we're teachers with children who are or aren't changing their names what's our role in responding to this, particularly in whether we're actively encouraging them to keep their birth names.
One of the reasons I like this overall topic is because I don't think there are clear answers on this. I'm always more interested in dilemmas that aren't absolute. If someone immigrating to the US wants to change her name to one that sounds more "American" it might be for ease of not always having to tell people how to pronounce her name, it might be to assimilate... Part of what I want to understand is whether she is trying to "deny" her birth/childhood culture or "embrace" a new culture. Are those different? Are they contradictory? I'm wondering what it takes to understand if this choice is "voluntary." And if we're teachers with children who are or aren't changing their names what's our role in responding to this, particularly in whether we're actively encouraging them to keep their birth names.
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