Minority groups combat ‘uncivil’ governance
Summary:At a three-day conference, which challenged the ‘dark side of globalization,’ scholars stood up for minority groups who often become the victims of globalized discrimination
By Heather MacDonald
GV Contributor
While much of the world is making progress on creating societies of equality amongst their women, migrants or religious groups, many countries are still struggling with what Canadians would consider to be the basics.
At a recent Globalization Studies Network (GSN) conference - hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ontario - the need for minority groups to gain equal rights was repeated throughout the three-day conference.
During the session entitled ‘Peoples' Movements, Popular Culture, and Populism: Can Civil Society Civilize Globalization', two women in particular questioned the inferiority of women to men in today's society.
Grazielle Furtado Alves da Costa, a faculty member at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, posed the idea of a positive contradiction. If "war is a masculine issue" then the solution for women would be to soften the act of battling.
Using different art forms as a non-violent form of aggression towards male-dominated governments, one group of women in Columbia created "an act of solidarity among women who were affected by war."
Furtado presented Mujeres DeNegro (Women in Black) a book of photos showing women dressed in black, representing the "strong civil society fight against such issues [like] drug trafficking, crime and terrorism in Columbia."
Like many other aspects of the women's movement, the book is "an act of solidarity among women who were affected by war," she explained, "because women from Columbia really care."
Sarah Raymundo, associate sociology professor at the University of the Philippines, said such portrayals of women in the media are needed. Star Cinema in the Philippines shows the exploitation of women in their films by "introducing women as modern slaves," she explained.
Raymundo went on to say that these productions were merely a way to "feminize migrant labour through Star Cinema."
In a world where the media reveals and sometimes encourages discrimination of minority groups and, as Reverend Ram Rattan Sharma put it, "the United States has power around the world," religious affiliation can also lead to discrimination.
Throughout one of the most intense sessions of the conference, ‘Terrorism in the Context of Contemporary forms of Transnational Violence' , panellists and members of the audience spoke on behalf of Muslims as a minority group in the United States.
Rekha Chowdhary, professor at the University of Jammu in India, believes that America's negative view towards the Muslim World is because of terrorist groups, allowing them to gain a more globalized power. Moreover, this view has spread to other Western nations.
"In the way [terrorism] has come to be defined, it has become a means to justify intervention of internal affairs of other countries. Terrorism, it is argued by many, is a convenient tool for the US to label any situation as an act of terrorism. By using the label ‘terrorist,' it has sought to justify its proactive interventions," he explained.
Fellow panellist and associate professor at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, Zhang Jiadong agreed that "in the 19 th Century, terrorism was political... [but] globalization has made terrorism more religious [in recent years]."
M.J. Akbar, a keynote speaker at the conference and Editor-in-Chief of Covert Magazine, told panellists that there is actually a disconnect between Islamic communities and terrorism.
"We think of the Kashmir problem as a Muslim problem, it comes naturally to the terminology, sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously. This is another lie." Akbar figures that, "if there are 5 million Muslims in Kashmir, there are 175 million Muslims elsewhere in India who have no relationship and do not support this movement, who do not participate in it."
Akbar went on to compare Muslim grouping with Hinduism. "In South Asia there are Hindu populations in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. There are Hindus who are involved in terrorist movements in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal [but] nobody identifies that terrorism with Hinduism and it should not be... the terrorism that emerges out of Muslim populations is not Muslim or Islamic."
In order to make changes to a society where minority groups are often victims of discrimination, there are many governance angles to consider before coming to a solution. Akbar feels that "if you're talking about uncivil society, you have to also talk about uncivil governance."
Heather MacDonald is the International Editor ofThe Cord Weekly, the official student newspaper of Wilfrid Laurier University
GV Contributor
While much of the world is making progress on creating societies of equality amongst their women, migrants or religious groups, many countries are still struggling with what Canadians would consider to be the basics.
At a recent Globalization Studies Network (GSN) conference - hosted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ontario - the need for minority groups to gain equal rights was repeated throughout the three-day conference.
During the session entitled ‘Peoples' Movements, Popular Culture, and Populism: Can Civil Society Civilize Globalization', two women in particular questioned the inferiority of women to men in today's society.
Grazielle Furtado Alves da Costa, a faculty member at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, posed the idea of a positive contradiction. If "war is a masculine issue" then the solution for women would be to soften the act of battling.
Using different art forms as a non-violent form of aggression towards male-dominated governments, one group of women in Columbia created "an act of solidarity among women who were affected by war."
Furtado presented Mujeres DeNegro (Women in Black) a book of photos showing women dressed in black, representing the "strong civil society fight against such issues [like] drug trafficking, crime and terrorism in Columbia."
Like many other aspects of the women's movement, the book is "an act of solidarity among women who were affected by war," she explained, "because women from Columbia really care."
Sarah Raymundo, associate sociology professor at the University of the Philippines, said such portrayals of women in the media are needed. Star Cinema in the Philippines shows the exploitation of women in their films by "introducing women as modern slaves," she explained.
Raymundo went on to say that these productions were merely a way to "feminize migrant labour through Star Cinema."
In a world where the media reveals and sometimes encourages discrimination of minority groups and, as Reverend Ram Rattan Sharma put it, "the United States has power around the world," religious affiliation can also lead to discrimination.
Throughout one of the most intense sessions of the conference, ‘Terrorism in the Context of Contemporary forms of Transnational Violence' , panellists and members of the audience spoke on behalf of Muslims as a minority group in the United States.
Rekha Chowdhary, professor at the University of Jammu in India, believes that America's negative view towards the Muslim World is because of terrorist groups, allowing them to gain a more globalized power. Moreover, this view has spread to other Western nations.
"In the way [terrorism] has come to be defined, it has become a means to justify intervention of internal affairs of other countries. Terrorism, it is argued by many, is a convenient tool for the US to label any situation as an act of terrorism. By using the label ‘terrorist,' it has sought to justify its proactive interventions," he explained.
Fellow panellist and associate professor at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, Zhang Jiadong agreed that "in the 19 th Century, terrorism was political... [but] globalization has made terrorism more religious [in recent years]."
M.J. Akbar, a keynote speaker at the conference and Editor-in-Chief of Covert Magazine, told panellists that there is actually a disconnect between Islamic communities and terrorism.
"We think of the Kashmir problem as a Muslim problem, it comes naturally to the terminology, sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously. This is another lie." Akbar figures that, "if there are 5 million Muslims in Kashmir, there are 175 million Muslims elsewhere in India who have no relationship and do not support this movement, who do not participate in it."
Akbar went on to compare Muslim grouping with Hinduism. "In South Asia there are Hindu populations in Sri Lanka, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. There are Hindus who are involved in terrorist movements in Sri Lanka, India and Nepal [but] nobody identifies that terrorism with Hinduism and it should not be... the terrorism that emerges out of Muslim populations is not Muslim or Islamic."
In order to make changes to a society where minority groups are often victims of discrimination, there are many governance angles to consider before coming to a solution. Akbar feels that "if you're talking about uncivil society, you have to also talk about uncivil governance."
Heather MacDonald is the International Editor ofThe Cord Weekly, the official student newspaper of Wilfrid Laurier University
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