Religion, Environment, and Anthropocene (original) (raw)
2020
This course engages recent critical scholarly approaches in the social sciences to examine issues of global concern. The focus will be primarily of the 21st century, however, we take a historically deep interrogation of what constitutes “the global” as well as the category of “the contemporary.” While this ten-week dive is not exhaustive (and is not meant to be exhausting) the span of the required readings provides a selection of an exemplary range of theoretical interventions that are clear about their very bodily consequences. From the physical infrastructure to the digital, from intersectional environmentalism to the revisited grounds of what constitutes “nature” and “culture", from migrations that are both actual and figurative, and from economic forensics to faster forms of violence, the stakes in the works that we read demonstrate the power of ideas to shape action(s).
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) (called the Organization of the Islamic Conference until 2011), has played a significant role in helping to maintain contact and mediate between the Government of the Philippines and Muslim (Moro) rebel groups in the southern Philippines for more than four decades now. In 1977, the main insurgent group, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was admitted to the OIC as an 'observer organization', a unique status that gave it de-facto diplomatic clout and recognition as the premier international representative of the 'Bangsamoro' community. In 2003, the Philippines government began exploring how it could gain similar status within the IOC, an aim it has pursued every year since. However, the MNLF has successfully lobbied against Philippines accession. Since this time, the Philippines Government has entered into a comprehensive peace process with the MNLF-breakaway Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), again brokered by the OIC, in cooperation with Malaysia. By some accounts, only a few OIC member states now oppose admitting the Philippines, although such a move continues to draw opposition from both the MNLF and the MILF. The Government of the Republic of the Philippines continues to pursue observer membership as a matter of diplomatic priority. This paper considers the following questions: Who and what motivates the Philippine government to apply for the observer status at the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in other words, what do we want?; Why has the OIC rejected the Philippine government application several times? What are the challenges to this application? And, What opportunities and benefits would the Philippines expect to gain by observer membership of the OIC?
World as Global Sin_Sabahudin Hadzialic_2018.pdf
Review by Nizar Sartawi, Jordan Hadzialic’s World As Global Sin: A Torch Amidst The Darkness The last three centuries, which constitute the late modern history, witnessed two major revolutions that have changed our world dramatically: the industrial revolution and the knowledge revolution. The former, which began around the middle of the 17th century, marked a transition to manufacturing processes that broke away from the dominance of agriculture. The latter, probably still at its beginning, is characterized by a fast-paced technological advance that started in the last decade of the 20th century with the advent of the cyber-technology. Entering into our life softly, yet powerfully, this new comer has turned the world into a village. In theory, such advancement would lead to the improvement of people’s life by making it easier. However, contrary to expectations, it has been exploited by big enterprise owners and advocates of capitalism, who form only a very small percentage of the population of the earth. This has resulted in widening the gap between them and the rest of the world. In response to this and other concerns and threats, Dr. Sabahudin Hadzialic has embarked on writing a series of scientific essays discussing issues that affect the lives of billions of people throughout the globe. Hadzialic’s book, World As Global Sin, is a collection of 21 essays that have been published in the Eurasia Review, “an independent Journal and Think Tank that provides a venue for analysts and experts to disseminate content on a wide-range of subjects.” Hadzialic tackles these issues directly, with the robustness of a serious thinker and the experience of a prolific writer who has penned over 20 books of poetry and prose and a large number of essays that have earned international acclaim. Hadzialic’s carefully selected title tellingly indicates the panoramic nature of the book: It takes a 360-degree view, addressing the world at large. Hadzialic believes that our globe, manipulated by a few selfish, powerful politicians and corporate entities who are only concerned about protecting and advancing their interests, is at great risk. Unless the current state of affairs is changed by planning and implementing rigorous and effective solutions, our world will continue marching to its doom, as he suggests in his essay, “Fading Of Civilization(s).” In his discussion of our global maladies, Hadzialic maintains that nowadays many of the salient concepts that have acquired a universal publicity worldwide are being distorted. Expressions, such as democracy, freedom, religion, ethics, globalization, populism, terrorism, as well as many others, are becoming buzz words that are often misused, misinterpreted, or misdirected. They are deliberately employed by superpowers over and over again to serve hidden agendas. For Hadzialic, however, they are complicated, multi-faceted idioms that need to be redefined. One noteworthy example is democracy, a key word that occurs frequently throughout the book, and a concept that is linked with almost every subject that the author undertakes. According to Hadzialic, practicing democracy entails the prevalence of law. Law, however, cannot be enacted effectively unless there is equality among all people. For “nobody is free,” Hadzialic affirms, “if somebody’s democracy is violated.” Therefore, in a government where certain people are exempted from the law, democracy is meaningless; in a place where democracy is practiced on the basis of populism or under the aegis of “neo-liberalism” democracy is fake; in “an ethnically divided country,” democracy does not work; in a state where an elected ruler thinks he is free to act as he pleases, simply because he has been elected “democratically,” democracy is not much different from dictatorship; in a country that insists on imposing democracy on other nations across the globe by using military force, democracy is not acceptable. Hadzialic, however, does not just criticize such practices, or rather malpractices. as a scientist, he proceeds methodologically, defining the problem, identifying the causes, explaining the consequences, and then proposing well-thought-out solutions. This is the approach he consistently uses in every single essay in this book. For example, in his essay about terrorism, Hadzialic begins the first step, defining the problem. He rejects the allegation that terrorism is linked with religion, describing it as “non-intellectual and degrading.” Then he identifies the causes, contending that terrorism has emerged, among other reasons, as a result of creating “ghettos” and exporting both inadequate “democracy” and neo-liberalism to the states that are claimed to breed terrorism. Finally, he proposes a solution consisting of several steps whose purpose is to analyze and understand terrorism as it really is, and then suggests forming a “global organization that will fight against terrorism not on a basis of individual events in individual states, but on the basis of global events within all states.” Hadzialic is distinguished from many other writers who treat similar subjects in more ways than one. First, he uses an analytical approach that moves logically from premises to conclusions. Secondly, his writing is characterized by an unusual clarity of vision. Thus, he communicates his ideas in a simple, step-by-step manner, leading his readers toward a common purpose. Moreover, he demonstrates both patience and persistence. Although each of his essays tackles a single topic, they all are directed towards a common goal, namely, effecting reform in our social, political and economic systems. It is worth noting that enduring values necessary to achieve this goal, such as freedom, democracy, ethics, and many more, keep recurring in his essays in various contexts. Similarly, his aversion to corruption, manipulation, cruelty, fundamentalism, chauvinism, and so on, is repeatedly voiced in his works. More significantly, these qualities are fortified with a genuine humanitarian conviction. For Hadzialic’s writing springs from a deep concern for humanity, and an equally deep sense of ethical responsibility. Thus, in his essay “Media Ethics Essence Of Professional Journalism,” he emphasizes that ethics is neither “just a matter of codes of conduct” nor “a matter of rules to be followed,” but rather a matter of “principles concerning the rights and wrongs of human conduct, principles that ... can be applied objectively and impartially.” In this context, he lists six criteria that undserlie “any kind of ethical system,” namely, “freedom, democracy, truth, objectivity, honesty and privacy.” Hadzialic deserves to have a chair among contemporary European social reformers. His World As Global Sin comes to assert this statement. The topics treated in the book have one thing in common; they are universal issues that we all need to come to grips with if we are truly concerned about our life, our environmemnt, our health, our economy, our freedom, our present and future, and the present and future of our children and grandchildren. As we read the book, we should take a look at our current life and ask ourselves whether it is the kind of life we aspire to have? If not, what should be done? And then we will know that the author has gifted us with a torch that can help us see things around us more clearly amidst the darkness prevaling in our world, and perhaps we will also realize that the time the author has invested in writing it and the time we invest in reading it has not been wasted.