[WSF-Discuss] PLEASE READ : A note for our seminar 'Looking Ahead to WSF 2011 in Dakar, Senegal : Perspectives and Challenges'

Wed Jun 3 18:15:29 UCT 2009

Dear friends,

I want to differ. "Fundamentalism" is obviously not a helpful term,  
although it does indeed say something important, originating in  
Christian theology it signifies reliance on the fundaments, i.e. the  
litteral ("original" godly...) meaning of holy texts or sorces, trying  
to abolish human interpretation (which is, of course, impossible).

But I think "political islam" is unhelpful, since, if it is accepted,  
monopolize the meaning of "poltitical" for the fundamentalist/litteral  
traditions of religious politics. We have also other political forms  
of islam, that in fact are part of the solution, like liberation  
theology of Islam, similar to liberation theology in Christianity or  
Hinduism, etc. And Euroislam is also a version of "political islam"  
which is incorporating some values of democracy, liberalism and human  
rights into Islam.

What we need is "political religion", I think. But then non- 
imperialist versions which is liberationist, humanist, feminist,  
socialist, etc.... A political religion that sides with those who are  
made poor and subjugated. A "non-political islam" sounds non-helpful  
when we face the realities of the contemporary neoliberal, militarist  
and apartheid world order.

Best,
Stellan

Dr Stellan Vinthagen, Senior Lecturer in Sociology; Peace and Conflict  
Studies; Peace and Development Studies,

Mobile: +46 704763789
Skype: stellan.vinthagen
Home: Krossekärr 706, SE 473 94 Henån, Sweden

Department of Social and Behavioural Studies, University West, www.hv.se

School of Global Studies, Gothenburg University, www.globalstudies.gu.se

Department of Global Political Studies, Malmö University, www.mah.se

The Resistance Studies Network: www.resistancestudies.org

Ship to Gaza: Resist the siege and give humanitarian assistance
www.shiptogaza.se

On 3 Jun 2009, at 13:55, Ana Margarida Esteves wrote:

> Dear Giuseppe,
>
> Thanks for the recall on "Political Islam"./ Obrigada por me lembrar  
> do uso do termo "Islao Politico".
>
> Warm regards/ Um Abraco,
>
> Ana Margarida Esteves
>
> 2009/6/3 Giuseppe Caruso <giu.caruso at gmail.com>
> Dear Ana and Jai,
>
> A quick note. First of all thank you Jai to put us all in the loop of
> this initiative, i wish i were in india and was able to attend.
>
> Ana very interesting thoughts indeed yours. Just one remark. The
> expression "fundamentalism" might not be the most appropriate to
> describe what you are talking about. In the Rabat IC for instance a
> very precise call was made to avoid the use of the term and use
> instead Political Islam.
>
> In a collection edited by Jai for the International Social Science
> Journal (issue no. 182) at least two authors make remarkable points on
> representations of muslims (even more of being a Muslim) in the WSF:
> Anila Daulatzai and Tran Khan whose pieces are worth checking out in
> the open space forum website.
>
> Jai, i look forward to read the reports of the session and i wonder if
> you were thinking of uploading the audio or even the video of the
> meeting...
>
> Best to all
> G
>
> 2009/6/3 Ana Margarida Esteves <anamargarida.esteves at gmail.com>:
> > Just a quick note that I hope will add to the debate:
> > One should encourage the dialogue between non-fundamentalist Islam  
> and Latin
> > America, North American and European movements inspired by Christian
> > Liberation Theology, as well as those inspired by post- 
> materialism, namely
> > Deep Ecology (remember the late Arne Naess) and Neo-pagan currents  
> that are
> > free from contamination from racism, ethnocentrism, the far right  
> and the
> > so-called "new right". An example is the Icelandic Asatru  
> Federation, the
> > Norwegian Bifrost, and the Danish/Norwegian/Swedish Forn Sidr.  
> Another
> > example is the current of Gardnerian Wicca.
> > In the case of Scandinavian Asatru, one could contact the organizing
> > committee of the International Asatru summer camping that is  
> taking place in
> > Denmark this Summer. They are very interested in questions of  
> international
> > social justice, ecology and solidarity. They are also making a  
> huge effort
> > to keep at bay racist and reactionary groups claiming this spiritual
> > current.
> > I think one should also encourage the dialogue with European
> > non-fundamentalism thinkers from the Islamic diaspora (i.e. Tarik  
> Ali).
> > The point now is: To which extent are non-fundamentalist Islamic  
> groups in
> > Africa interested in dialoguing with this religious/spiritual/ 
> ethical
> > currents?
> > Uma nota breve que espero contribua para o debate:
> > Deveriamos encorajar  dialogo entre o Islao nao-fundamentalista e  
> movimentos
> > da America do Norte e do Sul, assim como da Europa, inspirados na  
> Teologia
> > da Libertacao, assim como em correntes espirituais e eticas
> > pos-materialistas, tal como a Ecologia Profunda (nunca e demais  
> lembrar Arne
> > Naess), assim como em correntes Neo-pagas que estejam livres de
> > "contaminacao" por ideias racistas, etnocentricas, de extrema- 
> direita ou da
> > chamada "nova direita". Como exemplos pode-se citar a Federacao  
> Asatru da
> > Islandia, a Forn Sidr, presente em toda a Escandinavia, Bifrost,  
> da Noruega
> > e a Wicca Gardneriana.
> > No caso do Asatru Escandinavo, poderiamos contactar o comite  
> organizador do
> > Acampamento internacional de Asatru que tera lugar na Dinamarca  
> este Verao.
> > Eles estao muito ligados em questoes de justica e solidariedade
> > internacional, assim como de ecologia. Tambem estao a fazer um  
> esforco muito
> > grande para evitar a cooptacao por parte de grupos racistas e  
> reaccionarios
> > que se apresentam como promotores desta corrente espiritual.
> > Tambem deveriamos encorajar o dialogo entre Muculmanos Africanos e
> > Muculmanos Europeus nao-fundamentalistas (ex: Tarik Ali).
> > A questao e: Ate que ponto e que grupos Islamicos Africanos
> > nao-fundamentalistas estarao dispostos a dialogar com estas  
> correntes
> > religiosas, espirituais e eticas?
> > In Solidarity/Um abraco Solidario,
> > Ana Margarida Esteves
> >
> > 2009/6/2 Jai Sen <jai.sen at cacim.net>
> >>
> >> Looking Ahead to WSF 2011 in Dakar, Senegal :
> >>
> >> Perspectives and Challenges
> >>
> >>
> >> Tuesday, June 2, 2009
> >>
> >> Dear friends – Vijay (Pratap), Ashok (Choudhury), and Vinod  
> (Raina) –
> >> speakers along with Rabia Abdelkrim Chikh at the debate /  
> Multilogue that we
> >> at CACIM are organising this afternoon in Delhi on the above  
> theme, and
> >> friends in Delhi and elsewhere who are planning to come, and  
> others – and cc
> >> Rabia -
> >>
> >>             Once again, thanks very much for agreeing to come to  
> the
> >> debate this afternoon.  We at CACIM are very hopeful that the  
> discussions we
> >> will have today can be very useful – and indeed, I would say that  
> it is in
> >> fact our responsibility to make sure that we make maximum use of  
> this unique
> >> opportunity of having with us in Delhi one of the members of the  
> Africa
> >> Social Forum that is going to be organising the Dakar Forum in  
> January
> >> 2011.  Please : Let’s make sure we do this.
> >>
> >>
> >> Here is a short note prepared by our main speaker, Rabia  
> Abdelkrim Chikh,
> >> towards our discussions this afternoon, to help you prepare  
> yourselves.  We
> >> apologise for reaching it to you so late, but unfortunately Rabia  
> got
> >> offloaded from her flight from Dakar to here this last Thursday,  
> had a hell
> >> of a time finding a flight to get here, and was able to finally  
> to only give
> >> us this note yesterday afternoon – but where we were somewhere  
> where we were
> >> busy with something else and also didn’t have internet  
> connection !  So.
> >> But please do read through it.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> 2-3 things :  One, and from our side, we at CACIM would like to  
> take
> >> advantage of this note (and of our meeting this afternoon) to  
> push the
> >> boundaries a little further than Rabia has (in her note, at least  
> – Rabia,
> >> you are of course welcome to, in what you say today, go beyond  
> what you have
> >> said in this note !).  We would like to ask you to think about  
> and address
> >> the following further questions, at least :
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> 1.     What is, or can be, the strategic value – to social  
> movements
> >> struggling for change, and to all those working for peace and  
> justice – of
> >> organising the world meeting of the World Social Forum in West  
> Africa, and
> >> specifically in Senegal ?  And in 2011, not now ?  In terms of  
> the world as
> >> a whole (for, after all, this is going to be a world meeting of  
> the WSF
> >> process, not a local or regional one), and also for Africa and  
> for the West
> >> African region ?
> >>
> >> Let ‘s please try and be specific and concrete about this – as  
> specific as
> >> we can.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> 2.     What are the specific opportunities of organising the 2011  
> WSF in
> >> Senegal ?  In the above terms (world, regional, national) and /  
> but also for
> >> world, regional, and domestic struggles for social justice, for  
> peace, and
> >> for dignity ?
> >>
> >> Does, for instance, the fact that Senegal is a part of what  
> Boaventura de
> >> Sousa Santos calls “Africanised Islam… [one] that co-exists with  
> other
> >> religions and traditions in Africa, and [not] the [Islam] that is  
> more
> >> fundamentalist” offer any opportunities for building and broadening
> >> movements for social justice – and an understanding of social  
> justice (for
> >> an Islamic understanding might well be different from the  
> Christian theology
> >> liberationist and/or feminist understanding that underlies much  
> of the WSF
> >> as it exists today) ?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> 3.     And : Beyond this, what are the specific challenges of  
> organising
> >> the 2011 WSF in Senegal ?  Again, in the above terms (world,  
> regional,
> >> national) and / but also for world, regional, and domestic  
> struggles for
> >> social justice, for peace, and for dignity – but also in terms of  
> organising
> >> the meeting in Africa that is continues to reel under  
> neoliberalism and
> >> neocolonialism, and of other factors that are part of this legacy  
> and of its
> >> specific realities ?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> 4.     Finally, what are the roles that social and political  
> movements in
> >> and from India can play in such a process and such a scenario ?    
> And that
> >> they might want to play ?  Again, let’s be specific.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Two : Please do also try and take a look, before the meeting this
> >> afternoon, at an interview with Boaventura de Sousa Santos that  
> addresses
> >> some of this ground - titled ‘Looking Ahead : Taking the Larger  
> Picture’ –
> >> that we have now posted on our website :
> >> http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=799 
>  .
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> With warm greetings, looking forward to seeing as many of you as  
> possible
> >> this afternoon -
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Jai Sen
> >>
> >> For CACIM
> >>
> >>
> >> att
> >> Rabia - WSF 2011 IN SENEGAL - Note for debate in Delhi 020609  
> 310509 edtd
> >> js020609.doc
> >>
> >>
> >> ______________________________
> >> Jai Sen
> >> jai.sen at cacim.net
> >> CACIM, A-3 Defence Colony, New Delhi 110 024, India
> >> www.cacim.net
> >> Ph : +91-11-4155 1521, +91-98189 11325
> >>
> >> NEW :
> >> ‘On open space : Explorations towards a vocabulary of a more open
> >> politics’, @ http://cacim.net/twiki/tiki-index.php?page=Publications 
>  (May 20
> >> 2009)
> >>
> >> Check
> >> out both CACIM @ www.cacim.net and OpenSpaceForum @ www.openspaceforum.net
> >>
> >> Subscribe to WSFDiscuss, an open and unmoderated forum on the  
> World Social
> >> Forum and on related social and political movements and issues.  
> Simply send
> >> an empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe at openspaceforum.net
> >>
> >>
> >> P  Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
> >>
> >> Note : In case you are having problems opening any Word  
> attachments I have
> >> sent you, you could try one of the following : (a) Put your  
> cursor on the
> >> icon, do a right click, see ‘Open With’, and open with Word…; or  
> (b), try
> >> saving the document onto your desktop or hard disc, and then  
> opening it.
> >> With apologies in advance if this advice seems to question your
> >> technological literacy…
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> ** WSFDiscuss is an open and unmoderated forum for the exchange of
> >> information and views on the experience, practise, and theory of  
> the World
> >> Social Forum at any level (local, national, regional, and global)  
> and on
> >> related social and political movements and issues.  Join in !**
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> WSFDiscuss mailing list
> >> POST to LIST : Send email to WorldSocialForum-Discuss at openspaceforum.net
> >> SUBSCRIBE: Send empty email to
> >> worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe at openspaceforum.net
> >> UNSUBSCRIBE: Send empty email to
> >> worldsocialforum-discuss-unsubscribe at openspaceforum.net
> >> LIST ARCHIVES:
> >> http://openspaceforum.net/pipermail/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net/
> >> LIST INFORMATION:
> >> http://mail.openspaceforum.net/mailman/listinfo/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > ** WSFDiscuss is an open and unmoderated forum for the exchange of
> > information and views on the experience, practise, and theory of  
> the World
> > Social Forum at any level (local, national, regional, and global)  
> and on
> > related social and political movements and issues.  Join in !**
> > _______________________________________________
> > WSFDiscuss mailing list
> > POST to LIST : Send email to WorldSocialForum-Discuss at openspaceforum.net
> > SUBSCRIBE: Send empty email to
> > worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe at openspaceforum.net
> > UNSUBSCRIBE: Send empty email to
> > worldsocialforum-discuss-unsubscribe at openspaceforum.net
> > LIST ARCHIVES:
> > http://openspaceforum.net/pipermail/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net/
> > LIST INFORMATION:
> > http://mail.openspaceforum.net/mailman/listinfo/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> ** WSFDiscuss is an open and unmoderated forum for the exchange of  
> information and views on the experience, practise, and theory of the  
> World Social Forum at any level (local, national, regional, and  
> global) and on related social and political movements and issues.   
> Join in !**
> _______________________________________________
> WSFDiscuss mailing list
> POST to LIST : Send email to WorldSocialForum-Discuss at openspaceforum.net
> SUBSCRIBE: Send empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-subscribe at openspaceforum.net
> UNSUBSCRIBE: Send empty email to worldsocialforum-discuss-unsubscribe at openspaceforum.net
> LIST ARCHIVES: http://openspaceforum.net/pipermail/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net/
> LIST INFORMATION: http://mail.openspaceforum.net/mailman/listinfo/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.openspaceforum.net/pipermail/worldsocialforum-discuss_openspaceforum.net/attachments/20090603/9e3ac707/attachment-0001.html>