As the next US election approaches, does it matter if Romney or Obama wins?

There is a clear gap between the 2008 presidential candidate Obama and President Obama in areas ranging from domestic civil liberties to foreign policy with his message of “hope and change” deteriorating into a reality of “disappointment and more of the same”. This has resulted in the disillusionment of a vast section of the American populace, and was a key factor in the creation of the Tea Party movement on the right of the political spectrum, and Occupy Wall Street on the left. The reality however, is that we should not be surprised, nor should we as British citizens advising our American friends, be rooting for the other guy.

Every President, although perhaps more with Democrat Presidents, will “triangulate” and try and make himself (no woman President yet!) more palatable to the hallowed “middle ground”. Following Clinton’s “third way” makes Obama appear as neither the President of a blue state, nor a red state, but the United States of America. And the appearance of a less partisan President generally polls well amongst the independents, whose vote is key to win an election.

But what does this mean for the issues that matter to minority groups who identify with Obama (and more generally the Democrats), as they feel they are the “little guys” whose issues are constantly overlooked? The unfortunate reality is that a Democrat President, whatever they say on their campaigns, will inevitably disappoint unless you are realistic in your expectations.

If a Democrat wants to avoid being attacked for being a “socialist”, he cannot enact his reforms in the way he wants and is likely to compromise. If a Democrat wants to avoid attack for being “soft” (a common attack by the right wing on Democrats), he must act “strong” on foreign policy – we have seen this with Obama’s surge in Afghanistan. If a Democrat wants to win the next election, being fair to immigrants and leading on immigration reform without bipartisan support will lose significant support amongst the independents.

So why bother? Why vote for Obama this November when your enthusiasm will be taken for granted, your hopes will be dashed and your passions ignored? There are three strong reasons why it is not only important for you to support Obama’s re-election campaign, but also to encourage others to also.

Firstly, the key negative reason: what is the alternative? You are not just voting FOR Obama, you are voting AGAINST the return of the hated Bush era (if not worse). That by itself is very powerful. We see the dangers of voting en masse against your interests in the Indian sub-continent, where the Muslim vote moved from Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This followed years of being undervalued, years of disappointment and years of being exploited. Nevertheless this vote for the BJP resulted in a right-wing government that has been linked to the ‘state-sanctioned’ massacre of thousands of Muslims in Gujurat. I’m not saying Republicans are the same as the BJP, but sometimes we underestimate what we would lose. So of course, it is important to campaign against the excesses of the Obama administration, such as the ongoing drone strikes on Pakistani territory, and the sanctioning of extra-judicial murders of suspects without due process, but we have to be realistic about the alternative.

Secondly, the positives that Obama has done are underreported and undervalued. He may not have worked miracles with the economy but his economic stimulus has proven to be the way forward, with austerity measures considered a failed policy in Europe. He may not have passed the Dream Act (a key issue for many Hispanics), but he has helped the poor through tax reliefs, expanding Medicaid and partial healthcare reform. He may not have revolutionised US foreign policy (impossible given US interests) but he has at least cut down in Iraq, restricted the use of Guantanamo, and made Netenyahu look crazier than he already did before. That is without listing his domestic policy achievements such as the expansion of Pell grants for students, his protection of women’s and minority rights, and the increased transparency of his government.

Finally, we all forget the importance of hope and symbolism. The man leading the superpower of the world is an intellectual, an African American, and a superb orator. These are symbolic, but just watch him speak – his speech on racism, his thoughts in Cairo early in his Presidency, and his State of the Union addresses. He does not patronise the audience but speaks to them as intellectual human beings. The symbol of Obama as leader, compared to Bush, is something that resonates across the political spectrum – just ask the Italians how proud they felt with Berlusconi in power.

If your disappointed heart wants Obama to lose this November, hold back a moment, and listen to your brain – the dangers of Obama losing and returning to the Bush era of hand-outs to the rich, torture, and devastating neo-liberal foreign policy, will bring you back to the Democrat side.

Part 3/5

Domestic Media

All social, political and economic policies and debates are communicated through our media. Therefore, the breadth of our democratic experience is largely defined by the structure of the media and its content. This may not be an immediate cause for panic in itself, but consider this alongside the centralisation of corporate media ownership and the picture becomes a lot more worrying. If a handful of companies control the vast majority of what we constantly see, hear, and read about 24hrs a day, then the breadth of our information and democratic experience can become considerably concentrated and narrowed.

News does not come down to us raw and unadulterated. Rather, it is ‘processed’ and structured in terms of what topics are selected, how information is filtered, what is emphasized, what is ignored, how an issue is framed and how a debate is structured. Such tailoring gives Western news a specific ‘character’ to which we have all become accustomed.

As author of The Press and Foreign Policy (1993), Bernard Cohen, points out, it’s not so much that the media tells you what to think, it’s that they tell you what to think about. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, for example, holds in excess of 130 Newspapers worldwide, including the most widely circulated English newspaper in the world, The Sun. As companies such as News Corporation are in competition with the likes of AOL Time Warner, Murdoch’s company will decide to turn many of these newspapers into profitable sensationalist journalism, focusing on the three themes of sex, crime, and sport (Herman and McChesney 1997).

Criteria for much news in general is about what can shock and rouse our emotions as opposed to what is actually informative and useful to society. Crime; sex/money scandals; bizarre/extremist opinions or behaviour; and anything to do with celebrities, occupy a large space within our mass media. Such attention-grabbing topics are also framed in ways that restrict our thinking even further. Violent crime reports, for example, take the form of concise horror stories, creating endless villains and victims out of our citizens rather than discussing the social problems that lead to such incidents. It is as if unemployment, inequality, poor education, and lack of moral sensitivity in society have nothing to do with such crimes. Our universities are, of course, filled with experts in such social sciences, but media professionals are largely uninterested in using their knowledge to create an intellectual platform to suggest ways in which we can minimise such offences in the future. Instead, politicians give simple solutions to appease the masses, while disregarding the opinions of experts. Moreover, there have been many studies which show that certain social problems, such as terror, violence and sexual crimes, have been heavily exaggerated. While other studies show that more serious issues – many regarding the environment – are not emphasised enough or are completely ignored. Unsurprisingly, research shows that people who engage with the mass media most are more frightened of the outside world and have less trust for other people.

International Politics

Media also has a strong influence on people’s political opinions due to the majority of sources coming from government and other official establishments. Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky argue extensively in their book Manufacturing Consent (2002) that the modes of handling material by the mass media serve political ends and maintain existing political and corporate power structures. War is a typical concern for such authors. Political scientist Michael Parenti, for example, points out that “whenever the White House proposes an increase in military spending, press discussion is limited to how much more spending is needed… are we doing enough or need we do still more? No media exposure is given to those who hotly contest the already gargantuan arms budget in its totality”. Typically, two choices are presented to the public but a third option that challenges the status quo is not.

There have been many studies that have analysed the political biases in the mass media, which are relevant to today’s political climate. IResearch-based publication, Bad News from Israel (2004) by Greg Philo and Mike Berry, showed that the reporting of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was biased towards Israel, which had a significant effect on the attitudes and beliefs of Western audiences. The study showed, for example, that Israelis were interviewed or reported on more than twice as much as Palestinians, and Israeli casualties were strongly emphasised relative to Palestinians despite Palestinian casualties being greater in number. Even the language of news reports was used in such a way that favoured Israel. Words like ‘hit-back’ and ‘retaliate’ were used to describe Israeli action, while words like ‘murder’ and ‘cold blood’ was used for Palestinian action. There was also a lack of coverage on the context of the situation. That is, the forced mass evacuation of Palestinians from their homes, and a history of ethnic occupation, which, when not mentioned, makes the Palestinians appear to be initiating attacks for no reason.

Contextual details are typically neglected in such reports because essential root causes are seen to be far less interesting than more shocking superficial symptoms. French sociologist and philosopher Pierre Bourdieu captures this point well when he describes news as “a series of apparently absurd stories that all end up looking the same, endless parades of poverty-stricken countries, sequences of events that, having appeared with no explanation, will disappear with no solution – Zaire today, Bosnia yesterday, the Congo tomorrow.” Needless to say, such social and political simplification or manipulation works contrary to the democratic goal of educating people.

Biased narratives in the film industry are far less subtle. In his book and documentary Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2004), Jack Shaheen shows that Hollywood has vilified and portrayed Arabs as sub-human, militant, and barbaric to the masses since the beginning of film. In his research of over 1000 films that involved Arab characters or references, he found that around 90% were negative, 1% were positive, and the rest were neutral. For Shaheen, such ‘stereotyping has become so wide-spread that it has become invisible.’ Similarly, Social Psychologist Sam Keen, creator of Faces of the Enemy claims, “you can hit an Arab free; they are free enemies, free villains – where you couldn’t do it to a Jew or you can’t do it to a black anymore.” Such social scientists never fail to mention the clear political manipulation, which, throughout history, has been used by a variety of political regimes to construct vile, sub-human representations of their enemies to justify invasion, occupation, killing, torture, and social exclusion. The phenomenon of Islamophobia is a current case in point.

We may not be physically forced to comply with state interests as is the case in a dictatorship, though the result is not dissimilar. The corporate race for mass media consumption is a phenomenon that we, as citizens, pay the price for, both financially and psychologically, producing news that is generally negative, superficial, and punchy; as opposed to constructive, beneficial, or thought provoking. Of course, not every item within the media is necessarily shaped by such interests and sound, honest journalism does exist. But the relentless prevalence of social and political misrepresentation on our TVs, newspapers, on-line, and on the big screen, is certainly enough for us to question the integrity of our cognitive freedom and the soundness of our democratic experience.

Read Part 1 Here
Read Part 2 Here

A combination of mediocre characters and an unconvincing plot renders The Avengers not quite worthy of the praise it has garnered

WARNING: Contains Spoilers

The Avengers brings together some of Marvel’s most popular heroes and, in light of that, should prove quite the cinematic experience. And clearly for many it has delivered. The blockbuster movie has been released to gushing reviews. Rotten Tomatoes awarded the movie an astonishing 93% fresh rating, while average viewer rating was a remarkable 4.7/5. Consistently hitting the #1 spot at the box office, the film has now been declared to have raked in $1 billion worldwide.

All the ingredients for a brilliantly entertaining night out, yet following over two hours of resolute viewing (approximately 63% of which was spent wondering when the plot would actually develop) I was left thinking, “thank God for the concluding scenes or this would have been a complete waste of time.”

The plot, while presenting the standard apocalyptic world-almost-but-not-quite-coming-to-an-end sequence featuring the all important creatures from outer space, did have some real potential. But the film found itself hindered by a combination of clichéd characters, jarring plot complications and general predictability. And did anyone else notice how they copied the “tesseract” concept from A Wrinkle in Time?

The plot complications in particular – the conflicts between the heroes, their internal psychological turmoils, etc – often seemed a tad forced and unconvincing, failing to work their way smoothly into the overall tale and even left insufficiently resolved. The heroes are reflected as both perfect in their powers yet imperfect in their humanity, a factor which subsequently impacts the heroism they display. Yet this potential point of verity is jarred by the inadequacy with which it is portrayed, leading it to appear more a contrivance than the ingredient for emotionally engaging realism it could have been. Stark is shown to develop well-placed misgivings, also shared by Banner. Fury exposes the reality of these concerns, yet the complication remains inadequately addressed and unresolved, leaving a gap in the overall tale.

The script was another factor that frequently lodged uncomfortably at the back of my throat; hyperbolic and clichéd, it was too often predictable and almost eye-rollingly annoying. We will give particular credit to Thor for almost, although unfortunately not quite, monopolising on this aspect. The herculean demi-god-plus-hammer was an almost constant source of cheesy platitudes, from the heroic to the sentimental.

In close contest and indeed threatening to outstrip Thor, however, was Captain America whose combination of star-spangled uniform cut out of a fresh US flag and goody-two-shoes one-liners left little to desire when taken in the spirit of satire. My first and last thought remained, “how can one take a man in that get-up seriously?” I daresay the answer to this is, only the devoted Captain America comic readers, rendered immune to the costume and those entirely ignorant of US foreign policy (apologies for bringing politics into this, but it’s inevitable).

Meanwhile, comic heroes aside, villains were not spared cause for critique either. The villain Loki too closely matched the ignoble Grima Wormtongue of the epic Lord of the Rings films (a comparison to which would be too unkind), and left one feeling that there was a stark shortage in imagination. A villain he did convincingly resemble, but not an original one. The greasy, pale, psychotic template has been far too overused.

To the films credit, Iron Man proved as entertaining as ever. Robert Downey Jr seems to have a knack for the arrogant, womanising, ditsy and humorous protagonist. In fact his Sherlock Holmes is almost a Tony Stark in period costume. I begin to wonder whether he is actually like that in real life (and will probably choose to believe it for my own amusement). Really, I should be disliking such a character, but his rough and arrogant exterior does case a heart of high voltage energy, which is rather endearing.

We will also credit the Hulk for providing what is undoubtedly the best moment of the film. His remarkable villain-as-rattle impression was quite the winner and provoked much side-splitting. Not to mention proving very satisfactory for the villain-haters in the audience, who broke out in spontaneous applause. “God” indeed, Loki.

But to The Avenger’s greatest tribute, I must commend the epic concluding battle. As potentially predictable a scene as ever there was, here the filmmakers succeeded in producing a battle sequence that played with as many emotions as, well, a far better movie would. While much of the first half of the movie (and some of the second) was spent in what felt like a scattered confusion in need of a strong-willed director, the climaxing combat scene was undoubtedly impressive and well-constructed, both visually and in its development. A show of classy and quirky conflict between heroes and appropriately imaginative and repellent villains, leading to a moment of teetering utter loss and despair, finally to conclude in an epic and heroic climax. While one feels compelled to point out that the climatic conclusion did rather closely resemble Independence Day of yore, this battle scene did nonetheless almost make up for the entire first half of the movie. Almost.

The concluding battle of The Avengers, scattered with the creditable portrayals by some of the characters, rendered this a tolerable film. Yet hardly worthy of the rave reviews so many seem want to lend it. As a previous writer commented with regards to music, perhaps the film industry too is suffering from the throes of mediocrity, such that even the mildly average movie attains cult status. At this rate, one fears another Lord of the Rings may never happen. It is quite a mournful thought.

The case of the Rochdale grooming ring is first and foremost a case of sexual exploitation and abuse of defenceless young girls, let down by a system and society that should have protected them

Last week saw the conviction of nine men on charges of running an appalling child sexual exploitation ring. The disgraceful crimes have sent shockwaves across Britain. The nine men from Rochdale, ranging between the ages of 24 to 59, were convicted of grooming and sexually abusing girls as young as 13. Many of those charged came from ostensibly respectable backgrounds, being married with families of their own. The nine have been jailed for a total of 77 years for their crimes.

With the men all being of Asian origin and their victims white, the British National Party and numerous predictable media outlets have, somewhat irresponsibly and shamefully, racially profiled these crimes. They have suggested the actions of these men reflect a propensity by some communities, such as Pakistanis, to target young white girls due to a lack of respect for them over girls from their own ethnic community. The damaging reality of this brand of shallow and irresponsible analysis is something that should not be underestimated.

The Police have stated that the grooming was not racially, but sexually motivated, and many have condemned the suggestion that the girls were targeted merely for being white and therefore considered fair game. The Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable, Steve Heywood, commented,
“It is not a racial issue. This is about adults preying on vulnerable young children. It just happens that in this particular area and time the demographics were that these were Asian men…The street grooming issue is about vulnerability and who has access to that vulnerability.”

Meanwhile, Martin Narey, Chief Executive of Children’s charity, Barnardos, stated, “This is not just about Pakistani men, and not just about Asian men. And it is happening all over the country.”

Worryingly, the racialised analyses divert from the more legitimate and pressing concerns the case highlights. Pointedly, the degeneration in moral and ethical values that permits men to commit such heinous crimes without apparent concern or remorse, and the remarkable failure of the responsible agencies in protecting children most at risk.

That grown married men see fit to groom and abuse young and vulnerable teenage girls should cast a sharp and unforgiving spotlight on the state of a society that gives rise to the creation of such remorseless monsters.

Questions also arise regarding the hyper-sexualisation of society, through advertising, fashion, entertainment and a booming pornography industry that has proven to contribute to this brand of predatory crimes and sexual paedophilia. With children’s fashion and sensibilities also remaining unprotected from this barrage, the almost reckless carelessness many of the responsible industries show towards the most innocent and vulnerable of society is deeply disconcerting.

More significantly, many of those targeted came from troubled backgrounds, including turbulent council estates and care homes. These children are perhaps some of the most vulnerable in our society, and those that require the most protection. Many of these girls visited the takeaways that formed centres of the exploitation ring in search of free food, drink, drugs and companionship. The very nature of their cravings is an illustration of the plight of their circumstances – circumstances that the gang members deftly exploited to ensnare their victims. Victims spoke of how they were given gifts and alcohol, made to feel beautiful and then forced to give “something back” for the favours.

Furthermore, one victim recounted how she sought help but was denied this by the Crown Prosecution Services. And the mother of a victim suggested that the authorities were aware of the crimes as far back as 2002. An official report on kidnap and rape was passed on by a sexual health adviser to social workers and police in 2005. Nonetheless, authorities failed to act and it took a decade for the case to come to court and the perpetrators to face the penalty for their crimes. It is a shocking demonstration of the failure of the state in protecting some of its most needy and desperate citizens. Yet, with the shrill debate surrounding the races of perpetrators and victims, a shadow of disregard is in danger of being cast over this glaring reality.

It would not be balanced to brush aside the possibility that an element of abhorrent racism may have existed amongst these men. Yet, it would be fallacious to say they exploited these girls merely for their race; the targeting was centrally fuelled by perverted sexual motivations and against victims of convenient vulnerability. Racism, if it did feature, would be no more than an opportune excuse. To suggest that these particular men would not target an Asian girl given the chance would be a step-back from reality. Sexual abuse and exploitation is no stranger in South Asia and the victims there are not white.

Furthermore, there is little evidence to suggest that the racial makeup of these crimes is anything more than a reflection of the demography of the region: areas of Rochdale have a well-known high concentration of Asian residents. Indeed a study on such offences committed in the past year illustrated that 80% of the perpetrators were in fact white, clearly laying waste to such erroneous generalisation.

The image of a lascivious coloured “other” sexually exploiting the pure innocent white girl is one as old as racism itself. “An old black ram is tupping your white ewe” Brabantio is gratuitously told of his daughter’s marriage to the coloured Othello in Shakespeare’s renowned play. Indeed commentators have remarked on the historic propensity to racialise crime, in particular sexual crimes, in this country. It is a highly evocative image and one designed to titillate racist sentiments; ideal fodder for BNP and far-right exploitation.

Unsurprisingly, far-right protests and vandalism were sparked by these events. The take-away described as being at the centre of the grooming ring, and which has since come under new management, was attacked by some 100 youths. Meanwhile, BNP leader, Nick Griffin, clearly seeking to make good of the volatile situation, visited Heywood, the Rochdale area of the crimes, in a bid to recruit members.

Earlier this week Imam Irfan Chishti of the Rochdale Council of Mosques said he “abhorred” and was “sickened” by the case, and “glad to see that all segments of the Rochdale community have spoken out about it.” Meanwhile the Muslim Council of Britain also strongly condemned the “despicable and wicked” crimes.

That race or culture could in any way have been a major motivating factor for these crimes is a ludicrous suggestion. In addition to the perverted and promiscuous behaviour these men practiced – at breathtaking odds with their religious and cultural backgrounds – that they plied their victims with cigarettes, alcohol and even drugs, is quite a telling example of just how in line with their traditions and faith they really were. Their actions were diametrically opposed to the very ethos of both Islamic laws and Asian Muslim cultures.

While debates around the race of the perpetrators rage, the real troubling questions raised by the Rochdale grooming ring become dangerously buried in the dust of opportunistic conjecture. The case of the Rochdale grooming ring is first and foremost a case of despicable sexual exploitation and abuse of defenceless young girls, let down by a system and society that should have protected them. And it is this reality that must be at the forefront of the discourse.

As the debate over Japan’s reliance on nuclear power continues, some striking conclusions can be drawn from the country’s artistic tradition

Following the Fukushima incident, Japan recently closed down all its nuclear power generators for maintenance. The state now has to make a case for slowly reactivating them, with much opposition from the Japanese public. Conceptions of nuclear power have gradually evolved since its inception as a method for causing horrific atrocities and destruction, to its use as a supposedly “clean” source of energy.

It seems strange that nuclear energy, which was the subject of much controversy and campaigning only a few decades ago, is now held up as the perfect source of energy with no supposed side effects, and being more than capable of meeting our growing demand for energy.

But what’s missing from public debate on the issue is the question: What are these growing energy demands? Instead the debate centres around the costs and efficiency of nuclear power, as well as the potential risks and benefits which accompany it. However, there is an issue with the premise that we will continually need more energy forever, which intuitively seems like an impossible demand to meet.

Energy growth is not driven by the actual needs of people but by a capitalist system which does not regard the use of finite resources and the potential risks involved in extracting them, as anything other than costs towards production. After Fukushima, European countries were put under pressure to reduce their reliance on nuclear energy, and were met by threats from nuclear energy companies when they acquiesced to public demand. Furthermore, pursuing nuclear energy will not solve any of the social issues that accompany the “productisation” of energy, with the poor being priced out of the energy market and denied access to basic needs.

The insistence that our governments place on nuclear energy as the only viable “green” option is more about the inevitable exhaustion of oil supplies and the dependence on energy which is outside the state’s control. It is not an earnest call to take care of the environment, rather it represents the desire to control energy resources, with the potential risks to the environment still heavily debated and unverified.

Japan has suffered numerous disasters in recent history, man made and natural. In the past two years it has seen an ongoing recession, a tsunami and nuclear meltdown. The opposition to reactivation of the nuclear sites is more than well founded for a country which continuously experiences earthquakes and assaults from the sea. Yet this unease with nuclear power among the Japanese may have deeper historical and ideological roots. Recently, the British Museum held an exhibition and published a book on Hokusai’s Great Wave (featured image).

From the image we can see a world in flux. While the wave moves to the right of the image, smaller waves can be seen veering towards the left. The wave is shown towering over mount Fuji, which is considered sacred in the strands of Buddhism and Shinto which have developed in Japan. It threatens humanity, while at the same time, it is at one with the divine as the tentacles of the wave reach out and mingle with the snow-capped mountain. It is not unlike another painting by Hokusai which has the grasps of the waves merge into birds as seen below in his “Fuji from the Sea”:

Hokusai was profoundly affected by the spiritual cult of Fuji and the mountain frequently features in his works. The theme of unity juxtaposed with chaos is evident in so much of his art.

The analogy of Hokusai’s Great Wave with regards to present day nuclear ambitions could not be more pertinent. Today nuclear energy is not just about producing energy, it is also about which country is powerful and which is in control. Nuclear power can never fully be isolated and distinguished as a means of energy production, rather than the potential for development of destructive weapons.

Those who have it rise to a new rank of super power. This, conceptually, is one reason why much hostility is involved when Iran pursues nuclear development to the distaste of the United States, despite any evidence that it is on course to develop weapons. The USA, worthy of the divine status as that of Fuji, can see no engulfing wave. Man and nature are not one, nature only exists for its resources and it may be used and wasted in the name of “growth” and capitalism.

Like the scene of the wave, our world is in a state of constant flux and uncertainty. The sociologist Charles Perrow, in his book Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies states: “Nuclear reactors are such inherently complex, tightly coupled systems that, in rare, emergency situations, cascading interactions will unfold very rapidly in such a way that human operators will be unable to predict and master them.” Thus, the risks will never really be overcome given that our understanding of the science as well as our environment is in a state of constant change.

At the moment nuclear power seems to be a convenient way to carry on living as we are, rather than a meaningful method of living with our environment. A “Hokusaist” however, would realise the need to understand our world with all its uncertainties and see ourselves, the environment and the “divine”, as one.

Research shows that the public perception of ethnicity with regards to sexual exploitation does not add up in reality

Few will have escaped the recent media focus on what has become known as the ‘Asian grooming’ phenomenon. It follows a series of highly publicised prosecutions and rhetoric regarding ‘organised’ sexual exploitation of under-aged or young white females by Asian males.

Without seeking to undermine the seriousness of these offences that have come to light, it should be understood that there is nevertheless a need to place these incidents in some broader context within the ethnicity and crime debate. Criminologists would be correct in identifying the Asian grooming issue as an example of a modern moral panic. A moral panic has some base in reality but represents a distorted view about the socially constructed phenomena. Scholars of race and ethnicity are very familiar with the characteristics of typical moral panics. They begin with publicity from the media or government agencies, which is disproportionate to the statistical evidence of a crime or behaviour. This is usually followed by significant moral outrage, distancing, condemnation and politicised rhetoric, some of which resonates with campaigners and when politicians wade into the arena occasionally it leads to changes in the law and amends practices in the criminal justice system.

When examining the Asian grooming issue in the UK, there are a number of factors we should all reflect upon. First, much has been made of the offenders being representatives of the South Asian (Pakistani, Bangladeshi), and indeed of the Muslim community. This is the first issue that causes problems as it goes to the heart of a debate about the dangers of judging large diverse populations by the actions of a few. Second, the tendency to link any sort of criminal phenomenon to ethnicity or race or religion is fraught with various problems owing to a complex range of factors that determine the classification and processing of offenders throughout the system. When examining crimes recorded by ethnicity, only more serious (indictable) offences are recorded this way and many rely upon the ethnic category as observed by the police officer(s) at an early stage of the process. Third, any attempt to discuss crime being tied to or more prevalent within a particular ethnic group usually seeks only to criminalise that group whilst deflecting concentration upon the fundamental causes for the offending in the first place.

It is worth noting that, according to the Ministry of Justice, amongst White, Black and Asian defendants tried for sexual offences at the Crown Court during 2010, Asians account for 8%, Black people account for 9% and White people account for 71% of the total of the 7.4 thousand sexual offences processed for the period examined. Whilst Asians do not represent the largest proportion of offenders here, their offending rates are double in relation to their population density in the broader UK population. In other words, Asians only represent around 4% of the total population of the UK, but double that rate for people tried in Crown courts last year for sexual offences. Such statistics are only useful if we examine the complete social interaction which went into compiling them starting with, for example, the nature of the offence; decisions to report; and police action before we get into the finer detail about whether a case ends up in court or not. What we can conclude about the criminal statistics is that they only form a partial picture and in fact the total incidents of particular crimes are most certainly greater than what has been formally reported or detected. Extra-judicial factors are equally important to legal and procedural issues in determining whether particular sections or groups of society end up as formally prosecuted for certain offences.

It is worth noting that certain sections of society are more likely to come to the attention of the police, either via proactive policing in urban areas or targeted stop and search practices. In 2008/9 police stop and searches under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 for South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, where some of the recently publicised ‘grooming’ incidents have emerged, show significantly higher proportional rates of stops and searches for Asians as compared to their white counterparts. Variations in offending rates by ethnicity become virtually insignificant when criminologists supplement official crime data with self-report studies. In other words, official criminal statistics may give the impression that a particular crime is more prevalent in one or two ethnic groups whereas self-report studies indicate that it is more likely to be across all ethnic groups.

Finally, another perspective on this debate is to abandon the statistical analysis or even the disproportionate media coverage and view the crimes as part of a broader debate about how some men treat vulnerable girls and women and how as a society we can protect such persons from harm. The ethnicity or religion of the perpetrators or victims may be completely irrelevant to the criminal motivation or mens rea but the same culture or faith may provide an arena for the challenging  of sex offending and the prevention of such crimes rather than seeking to deny their occurrence or the extent of their magnitude. There has to be an inclusive middle way whereby those wishing to engage with South Asian communities about sexual offending as a whole can do so without accusations of racism as well as avoiding the debate from becoming propaganda fodder for the far right. If you are reading this, then perhaps you can contribute to setting this process in motion.

The Rochdale grooming case is despicable, but racialising the crime is not the answer

The news that nine men have been found guilty of child sex abuse in Rochdale has created widespread revulsion. The disclosure in Liverpool Crown Court that the men plied their victims with drink and drugs so they could ‘pass them around’ and use them for sex was vile. One of the girls ‘groomed’ was as young as 13.

The case involved Asian perpetrators – and white victims. The far-right British National Party (BNP) is gloating that Nick Griffin, its leader, is now ‘vindicated’ on his past comments about ‘Muslim paedophile gangs’. Meanwhile, the head of the Rochdale-based Ramadhan Foundation, Mohammed Shafiq, has accused Pakistani community leaders of ‘burying their heads in the sand’ on the issue of street grooming. However (and confusingly for the outside observer) the police insist the grooming was not ‘racially motivated’.

Let us be clear: sex with underage minors is a crime. A crime is a crime, whether it is committed by a white, black or Asian person. It remains a crime if done by a Muslim or Christian, a Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or atheist. To every right-thinking member of society, street grooming of under-age vulnerable girls is despicable. There is no justification for it whatsoever, nor should shame from any one sector of a community be used as a cloak to allow this sort of behaviour to continue.

We must expose abuse and make sure the authorities react. But pointing fingers to certain communities without comprehensive concrete research could be a distraction. Scapegoating may even deflect the society from the main issue (sexual abuse) and send us into an over-focus on only one small part of an overall problem – leading to further social division. ‘Racialising’ crime over claims about Muslim men grooming white girls could hide legitimate worries about a system that fails victims of abuse. An entire community should not be blamed for the crimes of its individuals; in 2009, eight white men were found guilty in Scotland of a catalogue of charges relating to child abuse. We must address the issue firmly and objectively. Community and civil society groups, youth centres, religious institutions along with relevant statutory agencies, including the police, children’s services and the third sector must come on board to tackle this in a holistic way.

‘At the moment, our nationwide figures on on-street grooming are still patchy and incomplete’, according to the authors of Comment is Free (CiF) in the Guardian on 8 May 2012. They believe that white offenders make up the majority of lone street groomers; but when it comes to group on-street groomers Asian youth of Pakistani origin are disproportionately high. ‘Nonetheless, it is crucial to remember that these cases do not paint a full picture of this crime…We need a better, more efficient system of data collection and collation. What’s more, these data need to be comparable and consistent across the country and across different agencies involved’, they suggest.

Expressions like ‘conspiracy of silence’, ‘political correctness’ and ‘fear of appearing racist’ are not helpful. Some communities may have a disproportionate presence in certain crimes, but that does not necessarily give the full picture surrounding those crimes. Nor should this allow politicians and media to vilify those communities; the result could be handing over ammunitions to hate groups like the BNP and the English Defence League (EDL), who in their very black-and-white discourse blame Muslims for many awful things in our country.

Islam is the religion of some of the criminals recently convicted. However, even extra-marital sex is totally unacceptable in our faith. A story at the time of Islam’s Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is highly relevant to understanding Islam’s position on the recent grooming saga:

A man came to the Prophet and asked his permission to have sex (outside marriage) with other women.

The Prophet asked: “Would you like it if other men commit such acts with your mother, sister, wife or daughter?”

The man said: “No”

The Prophet then said: “Well, then why do you want to commit such vile acts which you hate for your own womenfolk?”

The Prophet then prayed for the protection of this man’s soul from such evil.

These men convicted in Rochdale may have been nominally Muslim, but they were clearly not practising the true essence of their faith. Many so-called ‘Muslim criminals’ (as identified by the media) are in fact people who might drink, take drugs or engage in other practices we consider ‘haram’ (forbidden). Individuals who commit abuse are abusers, full stop.

It is vital all of us – including those in the community (any community) where group-level abuse has taken place – take the matter seriously. Community members must wake up to why this is happening in their midst. And they must find ways to eradicate it, through better awareness (education), religious sermons, improved neighbourhood watch, youth work, parenting courses and so on. At the same time, it is also vital that wider society and the state itself employ all in their armoury to prevent problems arising and bring offenders to justice. We need strong deterrent in the form of punishment in order to deter future sex offenders.

Children, whether young or teenage, are our treasure and trust. Our life centres around our children: they are our future. We need to safeguard them from social ills and protect them from harm. We must not hide from our duty as parents, and as a society, to our youngest and most vulnerable people.

An Islamic view on parenting and the challenge of keeping children motivated

One of the most challenging issues with young people is to ensure their consistent motivation. We often hear from infant to adolescent, ‘I’m bored’, ‘I’m tired’, ‘What’s the point of doing this?’ and so on. This happens with almost all children at some point during their upbringing. The issue becomes more challenging when children enter into their adolescence with an array of teenage matters taking centre stage, from boy-girl relationships to the ever-changing fashions of the day. This can create commotion in most families, especially within those that suffer from instability, weak parental relationships and poor parenting. It takes strong moral authority and persuasive power from parents and adults to keep children interested, motivated and inspired.

Motivation and theory is very important in academic research and organisational performance. What motivates some to altruistically serve others with time, energy and hard-earned money? What is it that motivates people in their actions; is it an urge for personal fulfilment, a desire for fame or just benevolence to others? Does this urge come from one’s human instinct, sympathy for others, patriotic fervour, ideological commitment, religious zeal or spiritual solace? Why do some people have this ‘fire’ in them, while most others do not even bother beyond their own sphere?

Motivation is very complex. It is what causes us to act or ‘get going’. It is defined as ‘the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal oriented behaviours.’ Motivation is the inner urge that involves biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate our behaviour. Various triggers, inner or external, work to bring motivation in us. Material reward and sanction are important for some, but others are motivated regardless.

The issue of faith and religion become pertinent at this point. For believers it is the reward of God’s mercy and penalty of His justice that acts as a motivater. In the Muslim faith, Islam, meaning ‘peace’ through ‘wilful surrender to God’, motivates Muslims to behave righteously, serve people and sacrifice for the truth. In his phenomenal book Islam Between East and West, the great Bosnian philosopher and politician, Alija Ali Izetbegović, rightly proclaimed ‘Islam, thy name is surrender.’

However, for people of a higher level of religious spirituality it is the Divine Love, or love of God demanding a total surrender to Him, that motivates them. In Islamic history Rabia Basri in the 8th century and Jalaluddin Rumi in the 13th century spread the love of God that reverberates in the Muslim world. Rabia Basri used to pray; ‘O God! If I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship You in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship You for Your Own sake, grudge me not Your everlasting Beauty.’

Love of the Divine thus creates deeply rooted motivation. But how do we motivate ourselves and our children in our mundane life, day in day out? Here are a few ideas;

Create a deeper and loving relationship with your children

There is no alternative to a loving relationship with your children in motivating them. Men and women have unique personalities designed to complement each other for the benefit of the family and the children. Parenting is a joint responsibility and parents should know how and when to harmonise each other while dealing with their children and addressing any concerns with their behaviour.

Build a positive home and community environment

A positive home environment, where love, respect, sharing and caring are abundant, is the source of motivation for a growing child. Home is the basic human organisation and a positive home culture, like positive culture in an organisation, motivates its members.

Be role models to your children

Parents genuinely expect their children to grow as motivated individuals; it is vital they themselves become motivated role models. All children want to see their parents practice what they preach. In the days where celebrity role models are beamed in through the media, parents should remain living role models, and present in their everyday lives. As children grow, the mother and father should be the practical role models to their daughters and sons.

Look for positive features in your children and praise them

Every one of us has distinctive strengths and weaknesses naturally. Parents should be able to cultivate the positive features in their children and use them to motivate. This is how a child’s self-esteem will grow and how their confidence will rise. We should not undermine our children’s worth for their occasional misdemeanours.

Give full attention to your children

Children are born out of our love and every child deserves our special attention. Children should know that they are exceptionally dear to their parents; they should get full attention for whatever demand they come up with so that they feel worthy.

Link them with your family and ethnic roots

One important responsibility, especially when dealing with teenage children, is to link them with their roots. This gives them confidence in their identity and a sense of continuity. “To remain ignorant of things that happened before you were born is to remain a child”, observed Cicero. This is a powerful and telling statement. A people neglectful of their history is like a person suffering from dementia; without a sense of belonging or roots they find it difficult to have a direction in life. This is why all developed nations ensure history is one of the most important curricula in their school education system. Religious texts, such as the Qur’an, have given special attention to history and the knowledge that can be drawn from it.

Motivating children is a great test of parenting. In our daily lives of trials and tribulations, from unsatisfactory jobs to difficult family situations, we may feel exhausted and frustrated. We need resilience in the face of these hardships; we need pride to lift our confidence. If we know the simple techniques to regularly motivate ourselves, we can create a sense of purpose within us. With that and the necessary techniques, we can actively and consistently motivate our children too.

Leytonstone’s Stone Space gallery recently hosted ’Defiance’, a striking exhibition of work by five Palestinian artists from Gaza, in conjunction with Arts Canteen

Curator:  Aser El Saqqa

Survival is in fact about the connection between things… reality cannot be deprived of the “other echoes that inhabit the garden” (Edward Said)

This exhibition celebrates the determined agency of five artists to overcome the environment in which they work while simultaneously being inspired and challenged by it. The very contemplation of creating a work of art in Gaza is an act of defiance. The fact that it is exhibited here in London is an act of defiance, as is the mode in which London audiences may interpret it.

All five artists are emerging talents in the Middle East.  Each artist – Majed Shala, Shareef Sarhan, Nidal Abu Oun, Raed Issa and Mohamed Abusal –  tells their own story:  the conscious choice to use vivid colours, the hopeful form of a pregnant woman, the playful and detailed depiction of symbols such as the cactus, symbolic of endurance, or the use of shapes identified with traditional calligraphy, but which are never resolved into meaningful text.

The artists’ power is evident as they transform ugliness and despair into beauty and light as the mundane forms of concrete, satellite dishes, asbestos roofs and washing lines are presented to us.

Exhibition took place 19 April – 6 May 2012 at The Stone Space, 6 Church Lane, Leytonstone E11 1HG. Items of art work are on sale. Please contact info@artscanteen.com for more information.  

Photo Gallery

Britain’s brainiest family has something to teach the rest of us

With the advent of the Anders Breivik trial in Norway, the discussion around multiculturalism has once more arisen. Breivik, who pleaded not guilty, maintained his virulent attack against multiculturalism, going so far as to state to the presiding judge, “I do not recognise the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism.”

His words are symbolic of a rising far-right presence in Europe and Britain, which shares in his sentiments, and at times even targets particular minority communities. This was illustrated recently by Tommy Robinson, the leader of the English Defence League, whose hashtag campaign, #creepingsharia, humorously backfired as the twitter community mocked his anti-Muslim sentiments. Additionally, this year’s French presidential elections saw record support given to extreme-right candidate, Marie Le Pen. Le Pen, whose predecessor and father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was convicted for describing the Holocaust as a detail in history, achieved almost 20% of the vote in the first round of elections.

In such a context, it is perhaps appropriate to highlight a more positive multicultural presence in Britain, one that such far-right individuals often conveniently overlook.

Paula and Peter are siblings at secondary school and members of what has been termed “Britain’s First Family of Education.” The 11 year old twins from Waltham Forest London began secondary school at the tender age of nine – two years earlier than most children in Britain. They both passed A/AS level Maths papars at the age of seven, setting a new world record, and passed the University of Cambridge’s Advanced Mathematics Paper [FAM] at the age of eight, the youngest people to ever pass the rigorous paper. Asked about their future aims, Peter intends to become Prime Minister, while Paula plans on becoming a Maths teacher.

The twins are not the first in the family to achieve so highly either. Their elder sister, Anna-Marie became the youngest Briton to graduate with a Masters degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford, at the age of just 19. At age 11, another sister, Christina, was the youngest Briton to get accepted into an undergraduate programme at a British University, while yet another sister, Samantha, passed rigorous secondary school examinations in Mathematics and Statistics at the astonishing age of 6.

The family of child prodigies makes for inspirational reading, indeed. But perhaps one factor should particularly feature: Britain’s most intelligent family are black immigrants originating from Nigeria. The father of the family, Chris Imafidon, who maintains that all children are geniuses and his are no exception, migrated to London from Nigeria 30 years ago.

In a climate of heightening tensions surrounding immigration, and a rise in the far-right across Europe, the Imafidon family is a reminder of the benefit and even distinction that can be achieved through a willingness to be welcoming as new individuals join Britain and call it home.

Mr Imafidon, an ophthalmology researcher, is proving inspirational to parents. In his own words, “Every child is a genius. Once you identify the talent of a child and put them in the environment that will nurture that talent then the sky is the limit. Look at Tiger Woods, or the Williams sisters – they were nurtured.”

Imafoden is an honourary board member of the Excellence in Education programme, a privately funded programme targeting inner-city children in which Peter and Paula both take part. At a conference on academic achievement hosted at the London School of Economics, the patriarch of the family with the world’s highest number of prodigies suggested that, “the appropriate use of innovative computer tools and techniques is a bigger factor than parent’s genes, postcode, gender, or any other factor in student academic achievement.” He has called upon society to recognise the genius present in every child and to nurture this talent, regardless of the child’s background.

Perhaps it is also time to recognise the potential contribution present in every individual, regardless of their ethnic, religious or social backgrounds, and appreciate as well as celebrate the social richness that embracing diversity nurtures. That the #creepingsharia hashtag spectacularly backfired is a remarkable and positive example of communities uniting against bigotry and standing up for diversity and multiculturalism in Britain, something we should indeed be proud of. In fact, the sarcastically amusing responses could not have been more British. Meanwhile, the alarming rise of the far right in Europe stand as a warning to the complacent, with the Breivik trials a stark reminder of the fatal dangers that an absence of respect and appreciation can wreak.

Image from: www.enduringamerica.com

Can Shakespeare’s plays give a “local habitation” to the “airy nothing” of globalisation?

Shakespeare is proclaimed, once again, the bearer of universal currency and Britain’s national poet as the London Olympics draw nearer. Much more ambitious than the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2006 “Complete Works” Festival, the World Shakespeare Festival in summer 2012 will bring theatre companies from different parts of the world to perform Shakespeare in their own languages. Shakespeare has been transformed from Britain’s export to import industry, but the meaning of this “return” is ambiguous.

But a story of cultural globalisation already unfolded last year at the 2011 Edinburgh International Festival which featured Asian performing arts ranging from theatre to ballet. The renowned South Korean stage director and playwright Oh Tae-suk mounted his version of The Tempest to critical acclaim in Edinburgh. Master Oh’s adaptation brought the play born at the “dawning moment of British colonialism” and inspired by “the wreck of a ship bound for Virginia” to the shore of traditional Korea, and back to the UK. A work that has routinely been politicised by artists in nations that were formerly colonised, The Tempest was transformed by Oh into a play infused with a sense of lightness and Oh’s wit. Like Prospero, the Daoist magician King Zilzi rules the island and orchestrates the shipwreck out of revenge. But he brings the men to his island partly because it is high time his fifteen-year-old daughter “met somebody.” The Korean Miranda later reminds her suitor that the question about her purity is ridiculous, after all she has grown up on “a desert island.” The European premiere of Oh’s Tempest demonstrates that while works that criticise global inequalities receive more attention from Western critics, the genre of productions critical of resource inequities or the geo-political status quo, represent but one perspective. Oh’s version is not exactly a rollicking comedy, but extrapolates something extraordinary from both the Elizabethan genre of romance and the Korean tradition of hybrid theatrical genres.