Eid Mubarak

It is Eid al Fitr – the end of Ramadan. To stay in the neighborhood of my last blog entry – that is physical neighborhood I wanted to share what I experienced this morning. It made me think about so many things at once.

I woke at 6:45 AM and as always (weather permitting) I opened all the windows in the house to let some fresh morning air in. On Frederick Douglass Boulevard a lone male voice was calling for prayer. Allah Akbar! The strong voice sang in a surprisingly strong and carrying voice. Normally very adverse to any kind of unduly noise I had to smile. It’s only once a year that the local mosque up the block calls to prayer on the streets; onEid al Fitr and I did not mind and was imagining the excited children with their Eid presents and parents (I imagine) relieved that the fasting was over and they could properly hydrate during the hot summer days.

Suddenly I heard a voice from a window: “Hey, stop it, stop it, stop the noise!” This I thought very curious – we are subject to HOURS of pounding car stereos (the kind that makes your chair skip with the ‘thump’, ‘thump’ of the base), young women in yelling matches and cat fights, people holding entire conversations yelling down the block and I have NEVER heard anybody lean out the window complain. Was it the early morning hour that woke one of our ‘out of work’ neighbors that prompted the complaint? Someone who had been partying all night on the block? Of course the Muezzin carried on – I’m not sure if he even heard the complaint.

I was thinking what an upside down world; where no one leans out the window to tell a nuisance noise to stop but the Muezzin who calls out once a year gets reprimanded. I’m thinking next time I’m up all night because of a car stereo, rather than calling 311 and waiting for naught until the police comes by to stop the noise I’ll just get up early in the morning and do a bit of yelling myself.

Culture Identity

As a transplant from Switzerland to the US I have spent half of my life on each continent. When I moved to the US in 1989, I would never have considered myself European: I was Swiss. I had not learned to grow my identity beyond my horizons, which were squarely in Switzerland. When the first person in New York asked me if I was European I actually said ‘no’ as a first impulse. I had to learn to see myself as European… and as white, and so on. It was a transforming and liberating experience.

Not only does learning a new culture give you insight into more ‘truths’ you also learn so much about yourself. About how you see yourself and how the outside world sees you. Most importantly I think you learn to not take yourself for granted – or: you learn not to take yourself too seriously. It’s a great exercise in humility.

New York Times Columnist, Nicholas Kristof: My Apology to Muslims

What a powerful article by journalist, writer and activist Nicholas Kristof. Also check out his book: Half the Sky.

This my comment:

Dear Nicholas: thank you! Thank you for doing what so many of us should have done weeks (months and years ago) - speak up! And thank you for doing it so eloquently and succinctly and I want to join you in your apology to Muslims in America and Muslims around the world.

I wish I could have put my thoughts into words like yours, but I hope I put them well enough into images with a film called 'Abraham's Children' - www.abrahamschildrendoc.com - about Muslim children in the New York school system, where every 10th child is Muslim.

Muslim children in America (and NYC particularly I think) are robbed of a 'normal' childhood and find themselves having to defend their religion at an age where they should be busy figuring out 'teenage stuff'. They are - often unwilling - experts on their religion when they might not have the inclination, maturity and oratory finesse to be pulled into such a difficult and private discussion about one’s own faith. I certainly - even today - would not want to have to explain my believe system to strangers.

May we all have the strength to keep educating those in need of learning about bigotry, racism, hatred and just plain dumb generalizations - and on the latter I'll start with myself.

Imam Ibrahim Negm

The Islamic Center of Long Island held, as every year for the past seven, an interfaith Iftar during the month of Ramadan.

The house was packed and Isma Chaudhry (one of the mom's in my film) did an extraordinary job in hosting the evening. Her smarts, wit and kindness kept the evening moving along with many inspiring and lovely moments as local leaders from so many different congregations took to the podium to either talk about their faith or expand on fasting - each from their point of view.

I was fascinated and a bit intimidated as Isma had asked me to say a few words about the film. But it was a wonderful opportunity to have a captive audience that actually cared about the topic of the film - and, inshallah, we are a small step closer to getting this film into all schools in America! Sukran.

MC Isma Chaudhry

More thoughts on respectful co-resistance

I watched a film last night called “Encounter Point” by Ronit Avni and the About Just Vision organization. http://www.encounterpoint.com/who/index.php. I think the film picks up on the idea I put forward in an earlier post about co-resistance rather than co-existence. Some commenters to this earlier post had asked me if I had personal experience. And the answer to that is: yes. But not as you might imagine in a political sense or even in a public setting.

If I think of having an example of an experience with a co-existence situation that really runs emotionally deep I think we ALL answer yes to this question. Just think of ongoing discussions on a variety of topics you might have with a spouse, sibling or parent. I have a parent with whom I do not agree on many political, environmental and lifestyle issues. Do I love him any less? Of course not; I think the world of him and I know it’s mutual; we both come from a safe place. So, we engage in a respectful co-existence although we will never agree on many issues we both feel very strongly about.
When it comes to experience of respectful co-resistance it’s a bit harder and I think it’s a very fine line to walk between resistance and existence. I think where the difference is to be made (and this is only my very personal observation) is on the ‘love’ factor. Respecting someone does not mean loving them, co-resistance doesn’t mean agreeing with someone on principal, but agreeing mutually on the fact that you are not going to agree on one or several or any topics, BUT that you are respectfully disagreeing. Now you have ONE COMMON GROUND – one seed planted. Each relationship will take it from there to a different place, but it’s a beginning. Baby steps, no?

Respectful Co-RESISTANCE vs. Co-EXISTENCE

Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy, http://www.fidweb.org/ is an not-for profit organization that promotes an understanding between different religious views, or any believe system really, through respectful recognition of the fact that we don't have to AGREE with one another, but that we can learn to trust each other and come from a place of respect and integrity and agree to DISAGREE, hence co-resistance rather than co-existence. Interesting concept and one worth a ton of thought.  

Think of someone in your immediate world you have come to learn to disagree with on a topic important to you, but you still love them and trust them you just have become accustomed to the fact, that there is this topic you can only agree to disagree on....   now expand that to conflicts around the world that seem irreparable.  If the Israel-Palestine conflict could never be solved, but a truce could be reached by agreeing to totally disagree...

Minarets in Switzerland

I haven't taken advantage of my privilege to vote via mail in Switzerland for a few years as for most votes I have too little information (or to little time to get the right information) to vote properly. But 10 days ago the Swiss citizens voted to accept a Plebiscite which would forbid the building of Minarets in Switzerland (not Mosques however). Note, that Switzerland has four minarets currently and two are planned to be built.

Embarrassingly enough the vote was accepted, with the result that the Swiss constitution now states that Minarets are not allowed to be built. That's our system; if an initiative garners more than 100,000 signatures it has to be brought to the people. A good system when it works. I did vote, but apparently not enough like minded Swiss did.

Augmentations I've heard, are along the lines that Christians are not allowed to build Churches in Muslim countries either. Since when did the Swiss give a rats derriere about what was going on in other countries? And how does that argument figure in?

Once more the Swiss government has failed to manage a 'situation' properly. How about LEARNING about Islam and Muslims before passing judgement. And to my long winded point: watch "Abraham's Children"; it's a good start.

Introducing "Abraham's Children"

I just realize: if i put this out into the world i should introduce my film "Abraham's Children". Here goes from my offical distribution document the synopis and some background:

***
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and in America. Indeed every tenth child in the New York school system is Muslim. Abraham’s Children tells the stories of some of these children through their own voices; exploring their daily routines and experiences and challenging stereotypes of race and religion.

Abraham’s Children is not a politically-driven expose. Rather the film presents real stories of Muslim children in America. The producer and director of Abraham’s Children, Nina Froriep, believes in the power of storytelling to change minds and preconceived notions and to deepen an understanding of the world around us.

The topic of Islam and Muslims in America is fraught with emotions, many of which are fueled by the post 9/11 media frenzy and the negative stereotyping of Muslims, not only in the news, but in entertainment in general. Nina wanted to tell the story of the lives of ordinary Muslim Americans through children’s eyes to help the audience see beyond their “fear of the other” and expose the essence of Muslims as neighbors, colleagues and friends and as future leaders in America.

Thanks to our amazing crew, Abraham’s Children is beautiful to watch and sounds terrific. Particularly our Director of Photography, Claudia Raschke-Robinson (“My Architect” and “Mad Hot Ballroom”), performed amazing feats with her hand-held camera. Terry Katz’ editing is seamless and sets a great pace and Salman Ahmad’s music melds it all together, not to mention that he has millions of fans in the Muslim world.

Abraham’s Children is finished and currently awaiting admission to the Sundance, Berlin, South by South West and Tribeca film festivals. A DVD screener is available and the trailer is on our website at: www.abrahamschildrendoc.com.