Catégorie : World People

Veer Munshi is a visual artist in exile from Kashmir valley who lives in New Delhi. He is one of the few painters in India who is able to express his anguish about his homeland through the paintbrush. At the just running Worls Social Forumin Karachi he has done a series of paintings as a reaction to human rights violations, and the turmoil that is borne of separation from his heritage.

Veer Munshi – Indian Kashmir

He talks to TerraViva, the website of the WSF 2006 in Karachi:

Q: How have the past 16 years of conflict affected the artist fraternity in Kashmir? – A: The cultural space is increasingly getting narrow and we are desperately trying to decrease that by trying to keep the cultural fibre intact.

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Linked with our presentation of an open letter from Irshad Manji.

Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Canadian author, journalist, and activist. Manji is also a Shi’a Muslim from the Twelvers (ithna asheri) sect. She is an outspoken feminist, and critic of Islamic fundamentalism and literalist interpretations of the Qur’an. She calls herself as a rebel and a self-proclaimed Muslim Refusenik.

She was once described by The New York Times as « Osama bin Laden’s worst nightmare ». Manji was born in Uganda in 1968, but her family moved to Canada when she was four, as a result of Idi Amin exiling all South Asians from Uganda. (Read more on wikipedia).

Irshad Manji – Canada & Uganda

She writes: Friends, by now you know about the Manifesto of 12 – ‘Together Facing a New Totalitarianism’. I signed it, as did Salman Rushdie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Taslima Nasrin and several others.

On March 11, we received a serious death threat from a chat thread on ummah.com, an Islamic website in Britain. (See more on her personal blog on March 15, 2006, and on My comment to a new fatwa.

Her book ‘The Trouble with Islam Today ‘. In it Manji describes her turbulent youth, including an incident when her father chased her around the house holding a knife. Manji holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of British Columbia, and became the first humanities student to win the Governor-General’s Gold Medal for the top graduates.

In this controversial and ground-breaking book, she exposes the disturbing cornerstones of Islam as it is widely practised today: tribal insularity, repression of women, and an uncritical acceptance of the Quran. But The Trouble with Islam Today goes deeper, offering a practical vision of an Islamic reformation that empowers women, promotes respect for religious minorities, and fosters a competition of ideas. Manji’s vision revives « ijtihad, » Islam’s lost tradition of independent thinking. In that spirit, Irshad Manji travels throughout the world with her challenge for both Muslims and non-Muslims: Dare to ask questions – out loud.

Contents: Foreword by Professor Khaleel Mohammed The Letter How I Became a Muslim Refusenik Seventy Virgins? When Did We Stop Thinking? Gates and Girdles Who’s Betraying Whom? The Hidden Underbelly of Islam Operation Ijtihad In Praise of Honesty Thank God for the West Afterword Recommended Readings Acknowledgements. (ISBN 8188861022).

On this link, this book can be downloaded for free in the Arabic, Urdu, and Persian editions!

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She wants the liberal reformation of Islam through the « Project Ijtihad »:

What’s Ijtihad?

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Roger Willemsen, geboren 1955, beendete sein Studium mit einer Promotion über die Ästhetik Robert Musils. Nach Tätigkeiten als Übersetzer und Korrespondent hatte er 1991 seine erste eigene Fernsehsendung bei Premiere, der sich « Willemsens Woche », « Nachtkultur mit Willemsen » und « Willemsens Musikszene » anschlossen. Außerdem veröffentlichte er mehrere Bücher, drehte und produzierte zahlreiche Filme und zeichnete verantwortlich für das « Expo »-Projekt « Welcome home. Künstler sehen Deutschland ». (Mehr bei Perlentaucher.de).

Roger Willemsen – Germany

Als Nachfolger von Daniel Cohn-Bendit und Elke Heidenreich moderiert Roger Willemsen seit dem 3.2.2004 den „Schweizer Literaturclub“. Die renommierte und älteste Literatursendung im deutschsprachigen Fernsehen wird vom Schweizer Fernsehen am ersten Dienstag des Monats um 22 Uhr 15 ausgestrahlt und von 3sat am Sonntagmorgen wiederholt. Der Moderator Willemsen ist zugleich Gastgeber und Kritiker und wird, wie jeder andere Teilnehmer, pro Sendung eine Neuerscheinung besprechen und einen Literaturtipp abgeben.

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First: here the image results for Art Spiegelman; and also here: Lambiek.net.

Born in Stockholm in 1948, Spiegelman rejected his parents’ aspirations for him to become a dentist, and began to study cartooning in high school and drawing professionally at age 16. He went on to study art and philosophy at Harpur College before joining the underground comics movement. As creative consultant for Topps Candy from 1965-1987, Spiegelman designed Wacky Packages, Garbage Pail Kids and other novelty items, and taught history and aesthetics of comics at the School for Visual Arts in New York from 1979-1986. In 1980, Spiegelman founded RAW, the acclaimed avant-garde comics magazine, with his wife, Francoise Mouly. His work has since been published in many periodicals, including The New Yorker, where he was a staff artist and writer from 1993-2003. He has since published a children’s book entitled Open Me… I’m A Dog, as well as the illustration accompaniment to the 1928 book The Wild Party, by Joseph Moncure March. (Read more on Pantheon Graphic Novels).

Art Spiegelman – USA & Sweden

He said: « Maus grew out of a comic strip I did in 1971 for an underground comic book: a three-page strip that was based on stories of my father’s and mother’s that I recalled being told in childhood… In 1977 I decided to do [a] longer work, [and] I set up an arrangement to see my father more often and talk to him about his experiences… Although I set about… to do a history of sorts, I’m all too aware that ultimately what I’m creating is a realistic fiction.

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Linked with our german presentation Der Euro bringt Deutschland Vorteile.

Beatrice Weder di Mauro is a Professor of economics at the University of Mainz, a member of the German Council of Economic Experts and a research affiliate at the Center for Economic Policy Research, (CEPR) London. Previously she worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund and at the World Bank, Washington and served on the Council of Economic Advisors of Switzerland and as a consultant for various international organizations including the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, the IMF, the United Nations University and the OECD Development Center. She had visiting positions at Harvard University and at the United Nations University. She holds a PhD from the University of Basel.

Beatrice Weder di Mauro – Germany

Bio: born August 3, 1965, Education and Awards: University of Basel, Department of Economics, Lizentiat 1989, Ph.D., 1993, Habilitation 1999. Science Prize for Outstanding Research, University and City Council of Basel 1999.

Professional Career:

1993 – 1994: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, University of Basel, Switzerland; 1994 – 1996: Economist International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C. ; 1996 – 1997: Economist, The World Bank, Washington D.C; 1997 – 2000: Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Basel; 2000 – 2001: Associate Professor of Economics, University of Basel; since April 2001: Professor of Economics, University of Mainz; since August 2004: Member of the German Council of Economic Experts.

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(Ferit) Orhan Pamuk is the author of six novels and the recipient of major Turkish and international literary awards. He is one of Europe’s most prominent novelists, and his work has been translated into more than twenty languages. He lives in Istanbul (see randomhouse.com).

(Ferit) Orhan Pamuk – Turkey

As one of Eurasia’s most prominent novelists, his work has been translated into more than forty languages. He is the recipient of major Turkish and international literary awards.

In 2005, lawyers of two Turkish professional associations brought criminal charges against Pamuk [1] after the author made a statement regarding the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1917 and the massacre of 30,000 Kurds in Anatolia. The charges were dropped on 22 January 2006. (Read more on wikipedia).

Bio: Orhan Pamuk’s Biography: He was born in Istanbul on June 7, 1952. He spent all his life in Istanbul, except three years in New York. After attending the architecture program in Istanbul Technical University for three years, he finished the Institute of Journalism at the Istanbul University. He started writing regularly in 1974.

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Sobhi Hadidi, a prominent Syrian intellectual, he writes mainly in Arab and in French, but is sometimes translated in english, by Bahjat Suleiman in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Sobhi Hadid – Syria & France

On April, 2005 appears one of this articles in english in Alternative Online.org, but found also on June 19, 2005 on SyriaComment.com: (with this comment: Sobhi Hadidi’s article published in the Lebanese As-safir newspaper in mid-2003 is one example where he was the first to warn of a demographic earthquake in Lebanon, should Syria withdraw its forces).

What kind of change from within does, Washington want in Syria? Any person who has been following the history of the relations between the White House and the governing regime in Damascus during the past three decades since the late Syrian president Hafez Assad launched the reformist movement at end-1970 will not be surprised by the statement released by Adam Ereli, deputy spokesman of the US State Department.

Ereli was commenting on the meeting that gathered top US state officials (Elizabeth Cheney and John Hanna) with American civil society activists of Syrian origin. He made clear that the aim of the meeting was not to study alternatives to the Bashar Assad regime but to support the Syrian people’s desire for reform, freedom, and opportunity…from within the currently prevailing system!

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Linked with our presentations How to go on with radical Islam, and What Is the Difference Between Islam and Islamism?, and Democracy or Islamocracy.

Mehdi Mozaffari, Professor of Islamic Studies from Iranian origin and exiled in Denmark, Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark.

He is the author of several articles and books on Islam and Islamism. (See on this blog).

Fatwa: Violence & Discourtesy, by Mehdi Mozaffari – Iran & Denmark, Aarhus University Press, 1998, 213 pp., pbk. ISBN 87 7288 776 1

The author reveals some mysteries about Ayatollah Khomeini, the man who personally led the Islamic revolution in Iran and was consequently responsible for certain cardinal events that have dramatically influenced the entire world. Therefore, it is by no means an exaggeration to argue that the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 is one of the most important political events in the second half of the twentieth century … , … the fatwa delivered by Ayatollah Khomeini on 15 February 1989, thereby sentencing Salman Rushdie to death, is the central point of the book, but it is also used by the author to explain the motives for carrying out the Islamic Revolution and the nature of the Islamic Republic. Mozaffari gives an explanation of fatwa as a specific instrument for regulation of life in Islamic societies and researches its historical origins and development. (Read the rest of this article on Aarhus University Press).

He said: « Despotism in its various forms (tribal, military, religious, and kingship) is the general and invariable trend of the Middle East. Faced with this hopless and dangerous situation, a liberal external intervention seems to be right and just. It is in this perspective that President George W. Bush’s initiative to the democratization of the greater Middle East must be situated ».

Amazon Books: Globalization and Civilizations; Authority in Islam: From Muhammad to Khomeini; Fatwa: Violence and Discourtesy; Security Politics in the Commonwealth of Independent States: Southern Belt; and others, also in different languages.

links:

Rushdie, et al.’s Manifesto … ;

No religion now;

Labour Net Austria;

Ayman Zawahiri, Not bin Laden … ;

a Danish link:

Dr.scient.pol. Mehdi Mozaffari … ;

Linked with our german presentations of Der Euro bringt Deutschland Vorteile, and of Aufholjagd im Rückwärtsgang, and also of Euromemorandum 2005.

John Grahl has taught international economics and European integration at London Metropolitan University since 1998. Prior to that he was Reader in European Integration at Queen Mary and Westfield College. His research is centred on the political economy of advanced capitalism and takes the EU as its empirical base. Current research interests are financial change in EU countries and the financial dimension of globalisation. (See on ISET Institute for the study of European transformations).

John Grahl – England

Professor John Grahl is a distinguished academic and professor of Human Resources Management at Middlesex University. He is a member of European Economists for an Alternative Economic Policy in Europe and author of ‘European Monetary Union: Problems of Legitimacy, Development and Stability’ (Kogan Page, London, 2001), and more famously ‘After Maastricht: a Guide to European Monetary Union’ (Lawrence and Wishart, London, 1997). He has published numerous articles on economics, including in the established left wing journal ‘New Left Review’ and in the French monthly publication ‘Le Monde Diplomatique’. Previously John has been a lecturer at Queen Mary and Westfield College, and London Metropolitan University. (Read more about him on wikipedia).

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Linked to our presentations of Corporate America’s New Golden Rules.

Linked also to our presentation of Alternative Globalizations.

Patrick Brantlinger – USA

Patrick Brantlinger received his B.A. from Antioch College in 1963 and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in 1965 and 1968. He joined the English Department at IUB in 1968, and was asked to serve as Book Review Editor of the Victorian Studies journal, which he did for several years. He became Editor of Victorian Studies and Director of the Victorian Studies Graduate Program in 1980, posts he held for a decade.

From 1990 to 1994, he served as Chair of the English Department. He was a co-founder and is an adjunct faculty member of the Cultural Studies Graduate Program. He has also served as President of the Midwest Victorian Studies Association; as an elected member of the Modern Language Association Victorian Committee; as an NEH Evaluator for the Actor’s Theater of Louisville; and on the editorial boards of several journals besides VS. And he has received Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, and NEH fellowships.

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