Peace One Day: Jeremy Gilley

A lot of what we talked about during the whole Mosaic experience was the need to take initiative and not giving up no matter what the odds. And to not be cynics.

One man, Jeremy Gilley, a British actor and filmmaker started his struggle in 1999 to establish one day of Peace. September 21. He had infectious enthusiasm, but everywhere he went, he faced cynics. People who thought it was impossible: what he demanded was ceasefire. One day to mark peace throughout the world. In September 2001, when they were officially going to mark September 21 as the World Peace Day, the WTC towers were attacked. The day's activities were postponed.

He faced many setbacks, he was worried about accepting help from Coco Cola to support this day, but he often had to adapt to new changes.

"The more violence I saw, the more frustrated I felt about not being able to do anything about it. But I wanted to try... I'm dyslexic, my only qualification is a D in pottery, but that wasn't gonna stop me. You see if I failed, the film could make a profound statement about the world unwilling to change. If I succeeded, well that was almost inconceivable."

Watch his journey here. It is an inspiring piece of work. He has documented his failures, his setbacks and then shows the world that perseverance will eventually pay off.

The Day After Peace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egqJctPZunw

To watch his message, go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FmEIP46B-E

Copenhagen 2009: Help Seal The Deal

Visit:

http://www.sealthedeal2009.org/

Sign the petition and help Seal the Deal.

Watch Ban Ki Moon's Message to the World: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI0g5p9pCVQ

Baroness Kishwer Falkner

Baroness Falkner's talk was one of the most powerful lectures. She raised a number of points, ranging from the need for democracy to the need for the oil-rich Muslim nations to invest in the developing Muslim world.

Key highlights:

Free economies will improve lives through trade and employment. Democracies give people freedom. There needs to be institutional and judicial independence, a value system of inclusiveness, freedom of individuals.

With democracy comes in good governance and accountability.

Consensus Oriented: What everyone agrees with, will be accepted.

Participatory: Everyone has their say.

Follow the Rule of Law: Respect law above all else.

Effective and Efficient: The government has to be effective and efficient and also make the right decisions.

Accountable: Checks and balances need to be in place to keep the government on track.

Transparent: The government's dealings should be transparent (MP scandal? hmmm... better late than never.)

Responsive: Listen to what the people really want. (When we say we want investment in education, listen and adhere.)

Equitable and Inclusive: No prejudice on the basis of race, gender, personal biases and everyone should have the chance to succeed.

A true democracy always allows for dissent. Obama's recent example is worthy when Rep Joe Wilson called Obama a liar, he did not summon an army of klashinkov yielding men for revenge. He said "Not true" and moved on with his speech.

The good thing with a democracy is: if you don't like them, after five years you can throw them out.

She pointed out some reasons why Muslim nations lag: Women's participation. Arab world, 280 million people, 60 million illiterate, and the majority are women.

75% of Muslim women are economically inactive.

If the oil-rich Muslim countries invest in the developing world, so much can be accomplished: Freedom from hunger, freedom from poverty, freedom for the human spirit.

Yasser: Arab James Bond?

So, here's the thing: When you look at Yasser, from Saudi Arabia, you do not expect James Bond. But that's what he is in some ways. At least when he starts talking about how he ended up getting married. How he fought with his father to let him marry the girl of his dreams. His stories of high speed car chases with his father and fighting for love...they don't match with the image of Saudi Arabia we hold in our minds.

And I guess it just reinforces one thing: that humans have an astounding tendency to defy labels. It's only once you share and accept people as they are that those masks of survival fall away, and you realize that under the difference of clothes, lies as fresh as ever, the human spirit. Under that skin, lies another human, with the same fears, same worries, same hopes. That's what the Mosaic Summer School accomplished for 83 delegates and many others from the Muslim world this year.

To defy labels a little further: Yasser, dressed in traditional garb of bisht and keffiyeh, happens to fly gaming champions around the world for a living.

More about the Mosaic International School: http://www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/international/international_summer_school/

On the train home

Sheikh Babikr said a wonderful thing the day he came to give his second talk at Queen Mary, London.

That sometimes, the questions that you really wanted to ask come to you when you're on the train home.

I hope this place can give future Mosaic delegates a feel of what to expect from this program and think about some of the issues they may want to talk about.

Crossing the Divide: Allegra Mostyn-Owen

Every week I attend a madrasa in an east London mosque. I'm not Muslim, I go as a teacher. All the other tutors teach the Qura'an, but I teach art and design and indirectly, English language and general knowledge. When I describe this activity, I am greeted with incredulity from my own community where madrasa is a dirty word, friendly mosque is an oxymoron, and teaching belongs to proper teachers.

I did not set out to teach at a mosque because it was a religious environment but because it was the most direct channel to a closed community...It was my friend Riaz who set me on this path. He was a refugee from Kabul. I might not have felt sympathetic except that Riaz is an impressive man and I was ashamed of Britain's war policy. In time, Riaz suggested I offer free classes in the Pakistani community. "I'm British, I'm not Pathan now and all those women and children need modernising", he said. "They need to come out of the darkness to appreciate the life here, they need to break the barrier where they're living. It's not Islam: it's all culture and people's emotions."

I've never regularly attended church, yet I have been to this mosque, my mosque, more times than I can remember. It's a place where I sometimes feel spiritually transported. As I busy myself on the carpet sorting colours and papers after what is always an exhausting class, I am soothed by the azan of evening prayers, the haunting and sometimes pained invocations to the Almighty. I feel my humility, and then realize this is my act of worship, my submission, my Islam. Forget the fact that only men take part in communal prayers, I am a token Christian discreetly trafficking through the men's space with my bags of materials, pretending I'm not really there. I am there, I am accepted, and this is all that matters.

Quoted from: Crossing the Divide by Allegra Mostyn-Owen, Reader's Digest June 2009.

"She is not a Muslim, but has been an important part of our attempts to deradicalise our young people. Allegra provides a positive message that something is being done for our community."
-- Minhaj-Ul-Quran Mosque President Istiyaq Ahmed.

More about Allegra Mostyn-Owen.

Her work with the madrasa students.

Unlocking Potential

That was one of the key points that I have taken away from Mosaic. That this network can connect you to the right people at the right time and help you realize what you are capable of accomplishing if only shown the right way.

In lieu of this, I'm currently working on an Alumni Lecture Series at my department. Mosaic's mentoring program was the basic inspiration for this. Before going to Mosaic, it was hard to see what was the use of mentors. It's a much abused term that didn't make sense. I did not have mentors either. Now I do.

It was strangely enough at the FCO dinner on Thursday night that it made sense. I was lucky to sit with Rokhsana Fiaz of The Change Institute and she said something very meaningful.

"Be a leader."

Small words, but they made sense when she said it. She had decided to bring about change in her community and she had taken initiative to go for it. The Change Institute works with the government and local communities to bring about 'change', to root out evils like racism and prejudices from our communities.

If we can find such people to look up to instead of corrupt models of 'success', I feel that our youth would be headed on the right track.