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M. Moniruzzaman
This study analyses the group formation process followed by Brac and Proshika in Bangladesh. Based upon field observation and interviews, it is apparent that the process of Brac and Proshika’s group formation suffers from internal contradiction in setting group objectives. The NGOs expect the groups to remain principally focused on social and political change, but the group members’ objective is to access credit from NGOs and gain economic benefit. The NGO workers remain almost detached from the process and remain unaware of the real group objectives. This produces a gap between the expectations of the NGOs and the offstage negotiated objectives of the groups. Despite this contradiction, the group approach clearly demonstrates the achievement of some desired empowering effects but not through the desired ways of the NGOs. Paying closer attention to the group formation process will help NGOs achieve their desired objectives better.
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Muna Hamzeh, London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2001. 166 pages.
Refugees in our Own Land narrates the author’s life between October and December 2000, when she was married and living in the West Bank’s Dheisheh refugee camp. The book creates a new respect for the refugees among whom she lived and gives the reader a glimpse of the incredible difficulties of their everyday lives.
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Nigel Biggar, ed., Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2001. 312 pages.
How should societies that have transitioned from authoritarian to democratic rule deal with the atrocities and gross human rights violations of their immediate past? Should those implicated in the crimes of past regimes be prosecuted? This sophisticated volume attempts to address such questions. About one-third of the book is comprised of well-reasoned theoretical chapters that answer the above questions by creating a space in liberal justice for forgiveness. The remainder consists of empirical contributions that describe the ways in which international institutions and five countries (Chile, Guatemala, South Africa, Rwanda, and Northern Ireland) have responded to such crimes. Unlike the theoretical section, most contributions here argue that while memory and forgiveness (the truth commissions) are important, they are not enough to meet the victims’ psychological needs and do not guarantee non-repetition. The introduction rightly acknowledges that some of the chapters argue in different directions.
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John K. Cooley, Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2000. 299 pages.
Reading this book is a lot like trying to eat undercooked meat – there is protein in there, but it is flavorless and tedious. You can chew and chew, but you just cannot bring yourself to swallow it. The author presents his case with an authoritative tone, stuffing each paragraph with names, dates, and historical data, but a closer look reveals the use of manipulative language that strings together half-truths and repeated insinuations with conclusions that do not directly relate to the given evidence. The “Acknowledgements” mention that the author has important friends in media and politics, yet his credentials (e.g., for whom he is working, or what his political motivations are) are not given. This is a serious weakness.
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Asma Barlas
In the wake of 9/11, the Islamic concept of jihad has been described as both “holy war” and “terrorism.” In this paper, I unpack this twofold conflation within the context of a broader discussion of the problem of some Muslims’ interpretive extremism and the West’s long-standing and willful politics of misrecognition of Islam.2 This politics confuses Islam with Muslims; disregards the role of political, economic, cultural, and historical factors in shaping Muslims’ attitudes, actions, and readings of Islam; and denies western complicity in creating conducive conditions for extremism. In critiquing both Muslims and non-Muslims, the idea is to alert them to what may equally be at stake for them in the egalitarian readings of Islam.
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Ahrar Ahmad
This paper challenges the popular perception that Islam and democracy are incompatible, and argues that the lack of democracy in some Muslim countries is not because of Islam but in spite of it. This argument will be developed in two stages. First, it will consider the legal–ethical order embedded in Islam’s text (the Qur’an) and tradition (prophetic example) to consider the democratic implications inherent in that construction. Second, it will explore three “high periods” of Islamic rule to consider their progressive, inclusive, and democratic tendencies. It will suggest that the current problems of democracy experienced by many Muslim countries are not necessarily caused by factors intrinsic to Islam, but by forces external to those areas.
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Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad and Alejandro J. Beutel
Recently Michael Scheuer, a former twenty-two-year CIA analyst and head of the agency’s Bin Laden Unit, gave an interview with John Barry of Newsweek. Scheuer observes that a new generation of middle-class, well-educated Muslims are taking up arms to fight for al-Qaeda. Furthermore, he points out that the main reason why bin Laden remains at large is because Washington refuses to acknowledge – and tell Americans – that its longstanding policies toward the Muslim world are the root of the problem. The main quote is:
Our leaders say he [bin Laden] and his followers hate us because of who
we are, because we have early primaries in Iowa every four years and
allow women in the workplace. That’s nonsense. I don’t think he would
have those things in his country. But that’s not why he opposes us. I read
bin Laden’s writings and I take him at his word. He and his followers hate
us because of specific aspects of U.S. foreign policy. Bin Laden lays them
out for anyone to read. Six elements: our unqualified support for Israel;
our presence on the Arabian peninsula, which is land they deem holy; our
military presence in other Islamic countries; our support of foreign states
that oppress Muslims, especially Russia, China and India; our long-term
policy of keeping oil prices artificially low to the benefit of Western consumers
but the detriment of the Arab people; and our support for Arab
tyrannies who will do that.1 (emphasis added)
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Homa Katouzian and Hossein Shahidi, eds. London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2008. 300 pages.
This multidisciplinary study addresses a host of issues facing Iran. Through a comprehensive study of political, economic, cultural, social, and security related questions, seventeen Iranian researchers tried to create a book that is, as Katouzian states in her preface, “likely to become a standard text for the relevant academic courses.”
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