Read the May 2012 Project Nur National Newsletter here.

“It’s not about religion,” Maliky said. “It’s people using religion to do what we’re doing to oppress people’s civil rights and oppress the right of the other people.”

Read more about the rally at Voice of America

“In 2006 AIC launched the ‘Dream Deferred’ contest precisely to encourage young people growing up under repression to share their repressed dreams,”  AIC’s Executive Director Zainab Al-Suwaij said. “The book’s contributors offer a moving call for greater freedom at a crucial moment in the Middle East.”

Arab Spring Dreams is published by Palgrave-Macmillan and co-edited by Nasser Weddady, AIC’s Civil Rights Outreach Director, and Iranian-American writer Sohrab Ahmari. The book offers a first-hand account of life under oppressive regimes and covers a range of hot-button issues, including sexuality, racism, and women’s equality.

“The real struggle in the Middle East is the struggle for individuality,” noted AIC’s Nasser Weddady. “Will young Middle Easterners be able to express themselves and lead their lives as they want? While that question remains unresolved, the writers in Arab Spring Dreams give voice to region’s diversity and underlying liberal spirit, which has been obscured for too long.”

The anthology has been hailed as “an essential portrait of a generation” by ABC News Correspondent Lara Setrakian, a “wonderful book” by Reading Lolita in Tehran author Azar Nafisi, and an “important testimony” by Lech Walesa for spotlighting “young courageous people who dare to dream of the things their parents never dreamt of.”

For review copies and interview requests, contact Aimée Chiu, Director of Media, Communications & Public Relations of AIC. Information on AIC’s annual Dream Deferred Essay Contest can be found at www.hamsaweb.org/essay.

The American Islamic Congress is a civil rights organization promoting tolerance and the exchange of ideas among Muslims and between all peoples. See http://www.aicongress.org to learn more.

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The C.R.I.M.E. Report is an e-newsletter published by the HAMSA initiative of the American Islamic Congress. As a briefing on alleged crimes, the newsletter spotlights the setbacks and successes of the region’s expanding civil rights movement.

Click here to read the April 2012 C.R.I.M.E. Report.

“We want to educate people on the fact that holidays like this exist so that it reaches the awareness of the public and they understand that there is more to interfaith than they previously thought, more out there than just conflict,” Project Nur Chapter President Hashaw Elkins said.

Read more about the event at the Daily Aztec.

“More than a year after mass protests forced Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak from power, the potential of Egypt’s revolution has yet to be realized. Both the direction of the country and its relations with the U.S. are uncertain.

Although parliamentary elections were held during the winter and presidential elections are scheduled for this summer, the country’s constitutional panel is marred by disagreements reflecting the divided state of the nation: a small group of liberals and minorities facing a strong majority composed of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties. Simultaneously, relations between Egypt’s military rulers and the U.S. are tense and Egypt’s economy continues to deteriorate – despite a renewed pledge of $1.5 billion in aid. BPC held a discussion on Egypt’s future and the implications for U.S. national security interests and foreign policy.

Participants at BPC’s event included  BPC Senior Fellow and former National Security Advisor General (ret.) James Jones; Egypt’s ambassador to the U.S.,Sameh Shukry; Washington Institute Executive Director Dr. Robert Satloff; Zainab Al-Suwaij, executive director of the American Islamic Congress; and BPC Foreign Policy Director Michael Makovsky. The Washington Post‘s Mary Beth Sheridan moderated the discussion.”

Bangladesh has the fourth largest Muslim population in the world and is among the major sources of global migrants along with Mexico, India, China and Russia. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Bandana Purkaysatha, professor of sociology and Asian-American studies at the University of Connecticut and the co-author of “Living Our Religions: Hindu and Muslim South Asian American Women Narrate Their Experiences.”

Two fascinating and thoroughly accomplished women comprised the panel. Dr. Elora Chowdhury is an assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of Massachusetts. Her recent book “Transnationalism Reversed” examines the state of women’s movement through a focus on acid attacks and organizing against acid violence in Bangladesh. Dr. Nazli Kibria is an associate professor of sociology at Boston University. She analyzed the effects of migration and the variety of migrant experiences in her book “Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity in the Bangladeshi Diaspora.”

The forum began with the panelists reading from their books and went on to illuminate some critical issues within the global Bangladeshi community.

Dr. Kibria shared her motivation to write a study of the Bangladeshi migrant experience. “I was deeply disturbed by the way in which Muslims were homogenized in scholarship and in public discourse,” she said. In reality, Muslim community within a single country is extremely diverse, and diasporic communities are even more complex. A migrant experience is different for a Bangladeshi moving to a Muslim-majority or a Muslim-minority country. Perceptions are also shaped by one’s gender and class. Islam’s role in migrants’ new lives differs as well, Kibria said.

Dr. Chowdhury discussed the problem of acid-throwing in Bangladesh and the issues in cooperation among local activists and international organizations. Acid-throwing must be seen as both gender violence and structural violence, Chowdhury emphasized. Two thirds of victims are women. However, rejection of sexual advances and romantic love motivate only 17% of attacks. While Bangladesh passed legislation specifically aimed towards criminalizing acid-throwing, enforcement of the law lags and perpetrators often go unpunished.

The event concluded with book signings and one-on-one interactions between the authors and attendees.

The event was covered by Religion News Service and the article appeared on the Huffington Post.

The event was attended by representatives of the business community, government agencies, Congressional offices and foreign embassies, among others.

A full event recap, along with materials and presentations, will be made available in the coming days.

]]> http://www.aicongress.org/2012/04/project-nur-april-2012-newsletter/feed/ 0 http://www.aicongress.org/2012/04/aic-approved-by-un-for-its-ngo-list/ http://www.aicongress.org/2012/04/aic-approved-by-un-for-its-ngo-list/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:40:22 +0000 aic http://www.aicongress.org/?p=3437 WASHINGTON, April 10, 2012 – Today the American Islamic Congress was notified that it has been approved by the United Nations for association with its Department of Public Information (DPI). AIC met stringent criteria in a selective approval process to become one of just 29 NGOs approved this spring for association with DPI.

“I am both proud and pleased that AIC has received this recognition from the United Nations,” Zainab Al-Suwaij, Executive Director of AIC, said. “I look forward to working with DPI and the other organizations to raise awareness about our common values and mission.”

The association with DPI demonstrates AIC’s commitment to disseminate information and raise public awareness about the purposes and activities of the UN and issues of global concern. AIC also will contribute its expertise and strengthen its partnerships within the NGO community to collaborate on achieving mutual goals and objectives.

DPI selects NGOs for association to enhance outreach to civil society advocates who play an active role in working with the United Nations in promoting peace, democracy, development and human rights. The newly associated NGOs cover a wide range of issues on the United Nations agenda including health, environment, sustainable development, women’s issues, education, microcredit and refugees.

AIC looks forward to being a productive partner, continuing to fulfill its commitment to human and civil rights, civil society building and social entrepreneurship.

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For media inquiries, please contact Aimée Chiu, Director of Media, Communications & Public Relations, aimee@aicongress.org, 202-595-3160.

What place then for theology/Islam or even philosophy? Here I argued that although cosmology is produced by science, humans still need to construct a “worldview”, which cannot violate or disagree with the scientific findings, but which interpretation can be open to fit one’s philosophy or theology; in particular, it can be theistic or materialistic. I gave examples of how contemporary thinkers have taken one route or another in this way.

Read Nidhal’s full remarks on Irtiqa.

Middle Eastern Students Unite and Project Nur, an American Islamic Congress movement promoting human rights, are hosting the show on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the Nebraska Union Ballroom on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.

Read the full article here.

Nasser Weddady

MORGANTOWN, W. VA., April 3, 2012 – AIC’s Nasser Weddady participated today in a lively panel discussion on Social Media and Free Speech in the Middle East. The event took place at West Virginia University’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism.

Said Nasser, “West Virginians have [poor internet connection] in common with most Arab states and villages and towns. But what we’re seeing is that there is an increasing jump to the mobile platform. So tell your telephone providers to get you high-speed internet on your phones.”

Other panelists included Andy Carvin, Issander El Amrani, Jigar Mehta, and Jillian York.

Read more about the event at West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WVUtoday, Wboy.com, and The Daily Antheaum and The Charleston Gazzette. 

Dalia’s energy and leadership will be missed by all at AIC, and we wish her the very best in her future educational and professional endeavors.

Students Rose Khouri, Danielle Ortero, Eric Lopez, and Lara Hovsepian will be presenting their plan at the annual meeting for the Clinton Global Initiative from March 31 to April 1, 2012. CGI selected their project because it met the ideals of a “creative commitment idea.” The creativity of this humanitarian initiative comes through the chapter’s efforts to engage various religious institutions in this project in order to create the foundation of an interfaith movement in their local community.

The American Islamic Congress is a civil-rights organization promoting tolerance and the exchange of ideas among Muslims and between other peoples. The 501(c)3 organization leads initiatives around the world and has offices in Washington, Boston, Egypt, Tunisia and Iraq. Visit http://www.aicongress.org for more additional information.

Project Nur is a student-led initiative of the American Islamic Congress. It includes students from various backgrounds, cultures and faiths to work together on human rights and civil rights initiatives. Visit http://www.projectnur.org for more additional  information.

Contact: Hassan Naveed, Project Nur
Phone: (202) 595-3160
Email: hassan@aicongress.org

The presentation outlined potential impact a new generation of Arab youth will have on the region and the world as they strive for freedom of expression and more open societies, empowered by new technologies and inspired by the Arab Spring of their own making. Nasser has been closely involved with this new generation for years as he had mentored and trained hundreds of young dissidents in the methods of cyber activism. He briefed the Council members on AIC’s ongoing work with the Middle Eastern youth.

“While Arab Spring was a surprise to almost everyone else, we knew it was coming because we had been keeping our fingers on the pulse of the region,” said Weddady to introduce the “Arab Spring Dreams” – an anthology of the essays written by young people of the Middle East in the run-up to the Arab Spring and offering a first-hand, raw and personal account of life under oppressive regimes. The collection is a culmination of AIC’s “Dream Deferred” essay contest launched in 2007 to provide a platform and means of expression to the generation whose voices had long been stifled. Covering a wide range of experiences, including pre-marital sex, the lack of educational opportunities, teenage marriage, homosexuality and the fight for political freedom, the book provides an invaluable insight into aspirations and motivations of the young Middle-Eastern generation.

AIC’s newly launched programs include a groundbreaking initiative “Tune in Tunisia,” which relies on the talents of young Tunisian social entrepreneurs who compete for micro-grants for their projects aiming to build civil society.

“The young generation that ignited the Arab Spring uprisings has not said its last word yet,” Weddady said.