Muslim Activist, Sameera Munshi, Gives Powerful Speech Against Forced LGBTQ Curriculum: ‘Our People Are Not Backward’
New Age Islam
News Bureau
29 June 20123
• Muslim Activist, Sameera Munshi, Gives
Powerful Speech Against Forced LGBTQ Curriculum: ‘Our People Are Not Backward’
• 'Women In Pakistan Feel Like They Are
Being Watched'
• Have Iran’s hard-liners lost the
battle over women’s headscarves?
• Hudson Valley Mosque Looks To Increase
Female Representation
• Award Winning Environmentalist
Empowers Women Cotton Pickers In Pakistan
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-activist-sameera-lgbtq/d/130103
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Muslim Activist, Sameera Munshi, Gives
Powerful Speech Against Forced LGBTQ Curriculum: ‘Our People Are Not Backward’
Muslim
activist Sameera Munshi of the Coalition of Virtues speaks out at a Montgomery
County Public Schools board of education meeting, June 27, 2023. (Fox News
Digital)
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June 28, 2023
Muslim parents delivered passionate
speeches against elementary schoolchildren in Maryland’s Montgomery County
Public Schools being forced to learn LGBTQ sexuality curriculum against
parents’ wishes at a Tuesday school board meeting.
Parents, students and activists have
taken issue over the past few weeks with the school district removing an
opt-out option for LGBTQ sexuality curriculum.
“We [as Muslims] reject the implication
that acting on our faith’s principles is a wilful means of harming others. In
fact, we see it as a point of bigotry that some only care for our community and
will only protect our rights when we assimilate to their way of life and ways
of thinking,” Sameera Munshi of the Coalition of Virtue said.
“Our faith is not partisan and our
people are not backwards,” she continued. “Part of the American dream of our
people is that they pass on their values to their children. But members of this
school board have mocked our values and have said we cannot be allowed to opt
our children out precisely because they want to end that dream.”
She added that Muslim parents have a
constitutional First Amendment right to instill their values into their children.
“[W]e ask that we at least have a choice for our children not to be forced to
participate in celebrating or normalizing views that contradict our religion,”
she said.
Munshi argued students will learn about
transgender individuals at an appropriate time as deemed by their parents.
“And the conversations that they will
have with these members of our community will serve as education on these
matters later in their lives. But we’re asking that our children not be
strong-armed at such a young age into believing certain ideas about gender and
sexuality, or that the school system insist on turning our children against the
religious values that we hold.”
Other speakers against the opt-out
option being removed included a child named Sa’ad, a middle school student in
MCPS.
“I’m here to talk about my rights. My
religion teaches to respect all religions and all human beings and their
rights. So does my country’s law. And I want my right back to have an opt-out
option,” he said at a previous meeting.
Another child, who was a 2023 graduate
from MCPS, Ibrahim Raziuddin, said, “I am here to testify on behalf of my
elementary-age cousins. Although the introduction of texts and discussions
related to transgenderism and LGBTQ+ may support MCPS’ mission to be all-inclusive…
I don’t believe my first-grade and third-grade cousins are prepared to read and
discuss such issues.”
Another Muslim child, Yasmeen
Elkoshairi, also a recent graduate, said, “Freedom of religion is a fundamental
human right that protects the conscience of all people. It allows us to think,
express and act upon what we deeply believe. But around the world and in the
United States, this freedom is eroding.”
Following the children speaking out at
the June 6 meeting, a Montgomery County council member, Kristin Mink, accused
them of being on the “side of White supremacists.”
“This issue has, unfortunately, does
put… some Muslim families on the same side of an issue as White supremacists
and outright bigots,” the Democrat representing County Council for District 5
said. “I would not put you in the same category as those folks, although, you
know, it’s complicated because they’re falling on the same side of this
particular issue.”
Jahangir Baig, a father in the district,
invoked Attorney General Merrick Garland’s memo that led to parents speaking
out at school board meetings being investigated by the FBI. He noted the FBI
has a particularly troubled history with the Muslim community, but said he
would speak out anyway to protect his child.
“Y’all don’t talk to us. You only talk
to your own people. And look, I know, you know, nowadays, even in Ohio, they
talk about calling the FBI. You know what happens with us [Muslims]? It’s not a
secret. They got special places for Muslims,” he said. “So call them, tell them…
Baig is waiting at his house for the FBI. Whoever you want to call. I’m not
worried about it. I’ll be in it for my kid. This is my kid.”
The Montgomery County Board of Education
did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
Source: nypost.com
https://nypost.com/2023/06/28/muslim-activist-gives-powerful-speech-against-forced-lgbtq-curriculum-our-people-are-not-backward/
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'Women In Pakistan Feel Like They Are
Being Watched'
IMAGE: Ramesha Nawal as Mariam In Flames.
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June 26, 2023
Pakistani cinema has had a slow start since
the industry was almost obliterated under the dictatorship of Zia-ul Haq. But
slowly, the industry is re-emerging with commercial as well as independent
films.
In the last two years, two Pakistani
films have played at the Cannes Film Festival reflecting the works of bright
new talents.
This year, Zarrar Kahn, 32, brought his
first feature In Flames to the Directors' Fortnight section that plays a
diverse programming parallel to the main festival.
It has been 43 years since a Pakistani
film (Jamil Dehlavi's The Blood of Hussain) has played in the section.
In Flames is the story of two woman -- a
mother Fariha (Bakhtawar Mazhar) and her daughter Mariam (RameshaNawal) -- who
face daily humiliation in an overwhelming patriarchal society.
The death of the senior male member of
the family makes things even worse for them.
Kahn adds a twist to the film, where the
desperate struggles of the women are presented as a ghost story.
Kahn is an alumnus of the TIFF Talent
Lab, Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Open Doors Locarno, Asian Film Academy and
Director's Lab programme at the Canadian Film Centre. His short films have been
screened and awarded in several festivals, including TIFF, Locarno and BFI
London.
Now mostly based in Karachi, Kahn also
spends time in his second home in Mississauga, Canada.
"Karachi is a city of so many
contradictions. We have legislation that are very robust in terms of women's
rights and property rights, but then we have a society that actively tries to
suppress those rights. I wanted those complexities and contradictions to be
highlighted," Kahn tells Rediff.com long time Contributor Aseem Chhabra
after the Cannes Film Festival.
Zarrar, the film really moved me, the
way it unfolds. How do you interpret this hellish world the mother and daughter
are living in where they have ghosts watching them?
If you speak to women in Pakistan, and
Karachi in particular, they always feel like they are being watched.
There's this presence, a sense of
patrolling and surveillance. And it's not coming from a place of safety.
It's coming from a place of 'You don't
belong here.'
It's a malevolent force, the society at
large is observing them.
The women in my life have told me
stories about these horrific acts and incidents they had lived through.
As an artist, I am inspired by genre
film-makers primarily because that's what keeps cinema exciting.
I was also cognisant that I come from a
part of the world where there are a lot of stories about the trauma that
characters live through.
I didn't want to add to that canon of
cinema. Rather, I wanted to create cinema where my characters defeat and
conquer their demons.
At the beginning of the film, Mariam
gets into the car. She's wearing a headscarf. I know Pakistan is not Saudi
Arabia, and things have changed in Saudi Arabia as well. But my first reaction
was, 'Wow, she's driving a car,' given how conservative she looks.
ell me about this healthy and unhealthy
balance because a brick hits the car, and later, a guy says, 'Hamariauraten to
baharnikaltinahinhain.'
Karachi is a city of so many
contradictions. We have legislation that are very robust in terms of women's
rights and property rights but then we have a society that actively tries to
suppress those rights.
I wanted those complexities and
contradictions to be highlighted.
The women I know in Karachi are doctors
who are on the front lines of providing COVID relief, driving themselves to
work while wearing hijabs, while also being in arranged marriages they don't
feel comfortable about.
All these contradictions work in tandem.
For me, that's where a good story and
good characters come from.
We meet Mariam who wants independence
and to live life on her own terms. But she's aware of the society she's
operating in.
That's the character who has the highest
level of awareness of how she has to navigate that society, where she can and
can't push.
Source: rediff.com
https://www.rediff.com/movies/report/zarrar-kahn-women-in-pakistan-feel-like-they-are-being-watched/20230626.htm
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Have Iran’s hard-liners lost the battle over women’s headscarves?
June 28, 2023
The veteran schoolteacher will never
forget the first time she broke Iranian law by venturing into public without
her head covered, and felt the wind in her hair.
Widespread protests had been raging for
three months, led by women and girls in an unprecedented wave of discontent
that swept through scores of Iranian cities.
The catalyst was the mid-September death
in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by Iran’s
so-called morality police, allegedly for showing too much hair.
In response, Iranian women burned their
headscarves in public and let their hair down. And – as the protests widened,
with women and men together at the barricades facing a crackdown that
reportedly left more than 500 dead and 20,000 detained – they demanded the
toppling of the Islamist regime.
“I went to a mall [with] tears in my
eyes,” says the primary school teacher, who gives the name Neda, recalling her
first moments of breaking Iran’s strict hijab rules. “I can’t describe the feeling
of air going through my hair.”
These days the 40-something professional
routinely goes out with hair flowing: to the cafe, in the streets, and
“everywhere.” “Now in my country it’s like feeling free, and brave,” Neda says.
“A year ago, we even did not think it could happen at all.”
While the “Woman, Life, Freedom” street
protests were largely snuffed out months ago, and stricter hijab rules have
been enacted, legions of Iranian women like Neda are still refusing to wear
hijab in public. That has left Iranian hard-liners scrambling to find ways to
stanch and reverse this enduring defiance, which they deem an existential
threat to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Debate over enforcement
A new law now before Iran’s Majlis, or
parliament, would impose heavier fines and add punishments like restricting
access to bank accounts and confiscating vehicles, as well as up to three years
in prison for breaking hijab rules. But the law, scheduled to be debated in
July, also prohibits physical coercion on the street, something that has caused
an uproar among hard-liners. They reject it as too lenient, though the law was
drafted by the office of President Ebrahim Raisi and the judiciary, both of
which are controlled by hard-liners.
The angry debate in the hard-line camp illustrates
the depth of the challenge that the defiance poses to the Islamic Republic.
First, by women’s widespread repudiation of what hard-liners see as the core
revolutionary ideal of hijab. Then, more broadly, by rejection of intrusive
social control over all aspects of life that the regime has exercised for 44
years.
“The impact of these laws remains to be
seen,” says Tara Sepehri-Far, a Washington-based Iran researcher for Human
Rights Watch.
“There seems to be a debate within the
establishment about how to enforce them in a way that doesn’t cause a lot of
friction with the general public, the way that resulted in the death in custody
of Mahsa Amini and the whole protest – but also keeps this [hijab]
stranglehold, because this is very much a core issue for hard-liners,” says Ms.
Sepehri-Far.
While the authors of the new “chastity
and hijab” law aim to strike a balance that avoids igniting more protests,
others demand more “robust” deterrence that would include physically painful
forms such as lashing.
Hard-line lawmaker Alireza Abbasi, for
example, called June 10 for the hijab law to be written so “no one would dare
to remove their headscarves.”
Indeed, in mid-June uniformed and
plainclothes security forces again raided coffee shops in several cities and
beat customers over hijab rules. And the police chief of a northern resort
province was filmed telling a subordinate, “Break the neck of anyone who breaks
the [hijab] norms ... and I will take responsibility.”
One argument put forward by hard-liners
is that the defiance plays into the hands of Iran’s external enemies who, in
the words of one influential ayatollah, want “to rob us of the rule of
religion.”
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
set the tone in early April, when he declared that rejecting hijab was
religiously and politically “forbidden.” The “majority” of women who removed
their headscarves, he said, were simple-minded and unaware that foreign spy
agencies are operating “behind the scenes.”
“Those [anti-hijab] campaigns seek to
preoccupy the minds of our youths with sensual urges,” warned Mr. Abbasi, “so
that they will have no room to pursue missiles, the nuclear program, and
knowledge-based technology.”
Still, protesting Iranian women from the
start have rejected such claims of foreign meddling, just as they say any new
law is incapable of reversing the achievements of their push for greater
freedoms.
“This is a losing battle”
The scale of hijab rejection varies from
neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city. But support for compulsory hijab
has been dropping at least since 2018, when the Center for Strategic Studies,
under then-President Hassan Rouhani, a relatively moderate cleric, surveyed
women and men about their views.
Officials and hard-liners with access to
data “are likely more aware than us about how much of a losing battle this
[hijab] has been,” says Ms. Sepehri-Far. “This is a downward trend; this is a
losing battle.”
And for women who continue to refuse to
wear the hijab in public – up to 70% in some districts of Tehran, according to
anecdotal accounts – their reasons range from displaying discontent toward the
regime to reclaiming agency over the dress code.
“It is much more nuanced and
multilayered than just refusing to wear hijab. ... [It’s] against a patriarchal
society as well as a very abusive state,” says Ms. Sepehri-Far. “What has
changed and transformed is a very precious gain and understanding that I very
much doubt can be reversed through these laws.”
Stepping into the debate was the
reformist former president, Mohammad Khatami, who sought to lessen hijab as an
all-or-nothing revolutionary issue.
“Hijab differs from chastity,” Mr.
Khatami told reformist women in Tehran. “We do endorse a chastity-oriented
society, but that does not mean that we should equate chastity with hijab, and
impose the latter.”
Those words sparked the ire of Hossein
Shariatmadari, editor of the hard-line Kayhan newspaper, who is appointed by
the supreme leader and who lambasted Mr. Khatami as an “ignorant, hateful, and
populist cleric.”
“Not wearing the hijab is equal to
nudity, as it cannot end in removing the headscarf alone,” wrote Mr.
Shariatmadari.
“Change ... takes time”
Such framing could not be further from
the experience of women like Neda, who remains in awe of the scale of change
she has witnessed. In a single week this month, the teacher has received three
official warnings by text message to cover up, owing to traffic cameras that
now flag license plate numbers with long-haired vehicle occupants.
“I can see these teen girls from the
school near our house; they take off their hijab when they come out of school,”
says Neda. “Some families don’t want to change and force their daughters to
wear hijab. ... [But] you cannot find a place where all women have hijab or
don’t have it. They have just learned to be in the same place with each other.”
And she adds, “I believe the younger
generation is brave enough to change things, but it takes time.”
That generation includes Nazanin, a
30-something architect who admits it is “really getting harder” to not wear a
headscarf, “because it has become a symbol of civil disobedience, and you are
not safe. All the time I feel like someone will come from behind my back and
catch me.”
She ticks off the risks for women, which
include fines or arrest, being banned from leaving the country, and deprivation
of the rights of citizenship, such as a license. Cars are threatened with
confiscation. And Nazanin was recently refused a ride by a taxi driver, who
said he would be fined if she rode without covering her hair.
But she also takes heart in the profound
experience of the protests – and the hijab disobedience they solidified.
“Those days are not something that I can
ever forget, a combination of sadness and fear, at the same time with a sense
of hope, courage, and love for people,” says Nazanin. The strangest thing, she
says, was a first-ever feeling that the regime was “defeatable” and that
“people can still be influential.”
“The most enjoyable part is that,
despite all these brutalities, I see and experience so much courage,” says
Nazanin. Still, the problems are not solved, “so there’s no reason for protests
to end,” she says.
“People who become aware will not go
back. ... The one who has experienced freedom cannot go back,” she says. “If
there was no hope for change, so many people would not have risked their lives
for it.
Source: csmonitor.com
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2023/0628/Have-Iran-s-hard-liners-lost-the-battle-over-women-s-headscarves
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Hudson Valley mosque looks to increase
female representation
JUN. 28, 2023
Seven of 10 American Muslims say
religion is a “very important” part of their life, according to a report by the
Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. One New York mosque is breaking
cultural barriers to create community for one specific group or worshipers.
For the first time ever, the Al-Noor
mosque elected its first female representative to serve on its board. Sahar
Elsamra says it’s a milestone for her and the community. She’s been with the
mosque for more than 20 years in various unofficial roles. Her first event is a
wellness workshop for Muslim girls.
“Muslim women don’t show their true
colors; you know what, they’re always labeled, like they’re strict, they’re
religious, they’re wearing hijab, they don’t do this, they don’t do that,” said
Elsamra, a women’s representative at the Mid-Hudson Islamic Association. “But
when we come together, and we start talking, we start feeling safe and
comfortable with each other, we show our true colors, you can find out that there
is no complication; there is no restriction.”
The mosque now serves as more than just
a sacred house of prayer. It’s a change from what was traditionally done. On
this day, one room is a yoga studio.
Elsamra’s goal is simple: “Get the
people to the masjid; it’s very nice, it’s very warm to have people from
different cultures, from different backgrounds, to come together and do any
kind of activities.”
DunniaEljamal has never done a yoga
class before. The 22-year-old Palestinian is a worshiper of 10 years at the
mosque. She’s grateful for an opportunity like this.
“It’s hard to find a Muslim community in
upstate New York, and this masjid specifically allows us to connect with women,
Muslim women, our age,” Eljamal said. “To do different activities, we get to
bond, talk about Islam, talk about our beliefs, but also incorporate that with
our daily lives, and what we like to do.”
As a young adult, she seeks out ways to
be closer to Islam. However, she doesn’t want to be defined or put into a box
based on her religion alone.
“Us women, we are in control, we decide
when we wanna wear hijab, if we wanna wear hijab; if we want to mingle and mix
with other women, and talk about these certain ideas,” Eljamal said. “We aren’t
as different as non-Muslim women.”
The mosque is planning more activities
for women, including painting, cooking classes, baking, gardening, a book club
and hiking.
Source: spectrumlocalnews.com
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/hudson-valley/religion/2023/06/28/hudson-valley-mosque-female-representation
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Award winning environmentalist empowers
women cotton pickers in Pakistan
28 June 2023
Pakistan is the 5th largest cotton
producer in the world and the two provinces of Punjab and Sindh account for 99
percent of Pakistan’s cotton production. Over half a million women work as
cotton pickers in the Sindh province of Pakistan alone. However, as a result of
limited literacy and numeracy skills, women frequently face exploitation and
are particularly underpaid by cotton farmers.
Javed Hussain, an environmentalist from
Pakistan, achieved an outstanding feat in November 2022 when he received the
prestigious ‘Gender Just Climate Solution Award’ at the Climate Conference
COP27 in Egypt for his project titled ‘Advancing the labor rights of women
cotton pickers in Pakistan.’ As a Project Lead at the non-profit Sindh
Community Foundation (SCF), Hussain has been working tirelessly for years to
secure the rights of women cotton pickers, who face the dual challenges of
extreme weather events and rising temperatures.
Global Voices interviewed Javed Hussain
via email about his work to improve the literacy skills and rights of women
cotton pickers in Pakistan. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Global Voices (GV): You are the first
Pakistani environmentalist to win the ‘Gender Just Climate Solution Award’.
Tell us about your journey to global recognition.
Javed Husain (JH): The award was given
in recognition of strengthening climate adaptation measures. This included
establishing a training programme for women agricultural workers on climate
awareness, climate justice and labor rights protection. Out of 259
organizations representing 119 countries, including Pakistan, that submitted
their applications for the awards, only three were selected for recognition by
The Women and Gender Constituency, UNCTCN, and Women Engage for a Common
Future.
GV: Tell us about your projects with
women cotton pickers in Pakistan.
JH: The Sindh Community Foundation (SCF)
is dedicated to protecting and improving the working conditions of women cotton
workers in the Matiari District, a significant cotton-producing region in the
Sindh province of Pakistan. The project is aimed at improving literacy skills,
raise awareness of rights, and foster networking opportunities for women
engaged in cotton picking, enabling them to secure fairer wages and safer
working conditions. Supported by international development charity Feed the
Minds, the project is being executed in ten villages located within the
district.
GV: How does SCF work towards achieving
climate justice for women agriculture workers?
JH: Approximately 1.5 million
smallholder farmers rely on cotton cultivation as their primary source of
livelihood. Cotton, which covers 15 percent of the country's cultivated land,
is the most extensively grown crop. The burden of the cotton industry largely
falls on women, with over half a million women engaging in cotton picking in
Sindh and 50,000, specifically in Matiari. Despite their contributions, they
remain poor and exploited. Their health also suffers from the hazardous working
environment that involves excessive use of poisonous pesticides. Furthermore,
the adverse effects of rising temperatures, reaching up to 49 degrees Celsius,
have severely impacted their health, labor productivity, and overall
livelihoods. Occupational health and safety are poor for these workers.
The recent floods had an adverse impact
on the population of Sindh, affecting approximately 12 million people. These
people had limited adaptation skills and climate literacy to effectively tackle
the climate crisis. To address these issues, the Sindh Community Foundation
(SCF) has taken proactive measures in creating climate change awareness skills
in five villages within the Matiari district. Through these efforts, SCF has
directly and indirectly reached out to 359 women cotton workers residing in
these villages. After the training, SCF found that the women cotton workers had
increased confidence, adaptation skills, safer working conditions and
participation in climate change adaptation processes.
GV: Could you please shed some light on
how SCF uses a feminist participatory action research approach in its project
implementation?
JH: The Sindh Community Foundation (SCF)
uses a Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) approach to support the
demands of women agriculture workers — particularly cotton pickers — to
advocate for improved working conditions and health services in response to
rising temperatures. Located in the Matiari District of Pakistan, the
Foundation developed an innovative advocacy strategy linking social and climate
justice, aiming to enhance climate adaptation measures. A key objective is to
establish a training programme for 100 women agricultural workers, equipping
them with knowledge on climate awareness, climate justice, and labor rights
protection. Ultimately, SCF strives to influence policymakers to implement the
Sindh Agriculture Women’s Protection Act of 2020.
SCF conducted training sessions to
empower women leaders with the feminist participatory action research approach.
These sessions included engaging in focus group discussions with women cotton
pickers. At the advocacy level, we had interacted with policy makers to promote
climate safety and improve working conditions, occupational health and safety
protection and health protection and insurance for workers. As a result, the
Sindh Government passed a law called Sindh Women Agriculture Workers Protect
Act 2020. Despite some delays in the implementation of this act, with a
collective voice, we could achieve a change in a policy.
GV: What are your future plans in terms
of strengthening climate adaptation measures in Pakistan?
JH: We are devoted to improving the
climate resilience of female cotton workers and boosting their knowledge and
adaptation skills in Sindh.
Our initiative aims to empower a
significant number of women, approximately 30,000 individuals benefiting from
literacy skills through the establishment of 600 literacy centers. Besides
basic literacy, these centers will improve climate literacy, awareness of
occupational health and safety, and promote decent work environment and
off-season poverty reduction programmes. Similarly, our focus also remains in
initiating women led climate justice campaign, gender transformation, climate
justice and resilience and labor rights protection of women cotton workers. The
other important part is advocacy for implementation of laws and policy
commitments and social safety nets and aligning with the Nationally Determined
Contributions (NDCs).
Source: globalvoices.org
https://globalvoices.org/2023/06/28/award-winning-environmentalist-empowers-women-cotton-pickers-in-pakistan/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-activist-sameera-lgbtq/d/130103