Prepared by: Kais Al‐Momani Nour Dados Marion Maddox Amanda Wise C
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IS THERE SUCH A THING AS MUSLIM POLITICS?The literature concurs that ‘Muslim’ is, to some degree, a misleading category for analysing political participation. Its emergence as an identity category in Australia, as in many other western nations, is a product only of the last twenty years, with a particular increase after 2001. In Australia, it entered political discourse in the late 1990s debates over asylum‐seekers (Maddox 2005: 167). Düvell (2005) points out that ‘Muslim’ first emerged in Britain as an identity category, distinct from race or ethnicity, after the Satanic Verses controversy in 1988‐1989 (see also Chaudhury 2007: 6‐9). Two decades after the publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel, Düvell still finds a consensus in the literature on British Muslim civic engagement that: In daily life, there is no such thing as one Muslim community, instead there are many. Only from time to time, these become united around issues of common anger over, for example the Satanic Verses or the war on Iraq. Otherwise, the many territorial organisations (e.g. mosques), local organisations and even the large number of Muslim umbrella organisations rather reflect the diversity of Muslim political life in the UK. And each strand ... has its own local, territorial and national expression. (Düvell 2005: 38‐9) In other words, religion as such has only a minor influence on political participation, since Muslims do not act with a single voice (any more than do Christians, Jews or the members of any other religious group). Such commonalities as emerge are likely to be precipitated by factors which are only secondarily religious, and which have more to do with shared experiences of discrimination or of solidarity with Muslim communities overseas, whose troubles are, however, more about territory than about religion per se (such as the Israel‐ Palestine conflict). Complicating matters further, identification with a religious category (such as Muslim) does not necessarily go with religious practice. According to research with young London‐based Turks and Kurds, a majority of those who fast and pray regularly do not describe themselves using a religious identity‐marker; while a quarter of those who do not fast nevertheless use a religious identity. Sixty‐eight per cent of those interviewed do not identify themselves in religious terms (Choudhury 2007: 7‐9). A considerable body of literature on Muslim politics in the west is motivated by the fear of radicalisation. However, qualitative studies in several countries have found that Muslims in western societies, including those adopting what are sometimes seen as extreme practices (such as wearing of the niqab or burqa) overwhelmingly express their political aspirations and self‐understanding in terms of liberal individualism (eg Klausen 2005; Liogier 2006; Morsi & Little 2009) MUSLIMS IN AUSTRALIALiterature on Muslims in Australia long concentrated on demographics, with a richer literature exploring the contours and variations of Australian Muslim communities emerging only recently (eg Deen 2008; Yusuf 2009; Ata 2009; Imtoual 2006). A further body of literature (eg Manning 2005; Aly 2007, Saeed 2005; Maddox 2005: ch 7; Gani et al 2007) considers the public standing and representation of Muslims in Australian political culture. A number of government documents (eg HREOC 2004, DFAT 2001; Boyle and Sheen 1997) have examined Australian Muslims’ experience from the point of view of religious freedom. Little Australian research directly addresses the specific area of Muslim political participation (Saeed 2005 is an exception), while many studies (eg Deen 2008, Imtoual 2006, Manning 2005, HREOC 2004, DFAT 2001) indicate areas of overt discrimination, ‘hidden exclusion’ and marginalisation which act as likely deterrents to Muslim political participation and which therefore need to be addressed in the process of developing an outcomes‐ focused intervention to enhance Muslim political participation in Australia. INITIATIVES FOR MUSLIM POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN AUSTRALIA AND THE UKThe literature and web review has uncovered a number of initiatives in Australia and abroad aimed at encouraging more active political participation within Muslim communities. In Australia, while some programs are funded independently, much funding has come out of the federal government’s National Action Plan to Build on Social Cohesion, Harmony and Security in cooperation with community based organisations or peak community bodies. Broadly speaking, the initiatives in Australia fall within the following three themes: Leadership, Voice and Policing programs, with the focus being either gender‐specific, on youth (markedly school‐aged children), on community leaders and representatives or on the community in general. While the demographic focus varies, the programs share the purpose of improving social inclusion for Muslim communities through encouraging participation in the social, economic, cultural and political life of Australia – the objective that has underpinned the National Action Plan since 2005. Initiatives such as the Islamic Awareness Workshops and the Liaison with Muslim Communities, both convened by the Australian Federal Police, aim to improve intercultural relationships between Muslim communities and the broader Australian community and providing Muslim citizens with a voice within previously inaccessible spheres such as the institutions of the Legal Justice System. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission implemented seven projects as part of their Community Partnerships for Human Rights – Working with Muslim Communities project which was undertaken as part of the National Action Plan. These projects focused on several areas including, research, education, community participation and resource development with the primary focus being to increase social inclusion and to counter discrimination and intolerance towards Australia’s Muslim communities. Federally funded programs have a notable focus on leadership and interfaith dialogue, such as the Self‐esteem, Identity, Leadership and Community for Women workshops, funded by DIAC and implemented by the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria, and Leadership Training for Young Muslims, funded by the Australian Government and implemented by La Trobe University. Such initiatives aim to empower Muslim men, women and youth by developing the skills necessary to engage actively in the broad spectrum of Australian public life. This is achieved through leadership training as well as personal and professional development. The Youth Leadership Program, implemented by the Islamic College of South Australia and funded by DIAC, promotes interfaith and intercultural dialogue between mainstream and minority communities. The schools involved in the project were the Islamic College of South Australia, Nazareth Catholic College and Adelaide Secondary School. A number of studies have questioned the success of interfaith dialogue as a technique for enhancing religious minorities’ social inclusion and civic engagement. One reservation hinges on the fact that, by emphasising faith (understood as the doctrinal dimension of a religious tradition—see Smart 1996), dialogue activities exclude a tradition’s more nominal or cultural adherents, who may have little interest in doctrinal rapprochement but yet experience discrimination on the basis of their religious identification. The more devout members of a tradition may range from the conservative to the liberal, and dialogue participants tend to self‐select for the more liberal end of their respective traditions. This is because the more conservative members, at least of the three main monotheist traditions, are more likely to see their own as the only path to truth and therefore to see little point in dialogue with those whom they believe to be mistaken. Finally, in a secular society such as Australia, where fewer than one in ten of the population claims to attend church weekly, a dialogue between faith positions can be limited to a conversation amongst minorities, excluding the mainstream, secular culture with which most Australians identify. The most successful interventions emphasise building rapport and a sense of shared purpose among members of different faiths through collaborative action, rather than exclusively concentrating on discussion (Smock 2002). Directory: sites -> default -> files -> documents -> 01 2014 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> The south australian government gazette documents -> All public acts appearing in this gazette are to be considered official, and obeyed as such documents -> Union interparlementaire inter-parliamentary union 01 2014 -> Voices Shaping the 01 2014 -> Muslim Voices – Hopes and aspirations of Muslim Australians Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies 01 2014 -> Editors: Kerry Download 16.24 Mb. Share with your friends:
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