The change reflects Ukrainians’ dismay at the 22-month-old Russian invasion and their assertion of a national identity.
Ukrainians have celebrated Christmas on December 25 for the first time, as part of an ongoing effort to remove Russian influence from their country.
The change was enacted in a law signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in July, reflecting both the Ukrainians’ dismay with the 22-month-old Russian invasion and their assertion of a national identity.
Ukraine previously marked Christmas in January as the Russians do.
“It’s historical justice,” said Yevhen Konyk, a 44-year-old serviceman who, along with his family, participated in traditional celebrations at an open-air museum in Kyiv.
“We need to move forward not only with the world but also with the traditions of our country and overcome the imperial remnants we had.”
Ukraine is largely Orthodox Christian but the faith is divided between two churches, one of which has a long affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which does not recognise the authority of the Russian church and had been regarded as schismatic, was granted full recognition in 2019 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Orthodoxy’s top authority.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which had been a branch of the Russian church, announced in 2022 after the start of the Russia-Ukraine war that it was breaking ties with Moscow and becoming autonomous.
Its parishes, however, continue to follow the same liturgical calendar as the Russian church and will observe Christmas on January 7.
Many Ukrainians embraced the move to celebrate Christmas on the date aligned with the rest of Western Europe with enthusiasm.
Oksana Poviakel, the director of the Pyrohiv Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine, where Christmas celebrations took place, said celebrating on December 25 is “another important factor of self-identification”.
“We are separating ourselves from the neighbour who is currently trying to destroy our state, who is killing our people, destroying our homes, and burning our land,” she said.
Asia Landarenko, 63, said she prays every day for her son who is in the military.
“The state of war affects everything, including the mood. The real celebration of Christmas will be after the victory, but as the saviour was born, so will be our victory,” she said.
For the first time in a century, Ukraine will celebrate the holiday on December 25 rather than January 7.
Ukraine will formally mark Christmas Day on December 25 this year, in a symbolic shift away from Russia, which celebrates the holiday on January 7.
It will be the first time in more than a century that Ukraine observes the date in line with the Gregorian calendar, along with most of the world’s Christians.
Ukraine’s government passed legislation in July making the date change, in what was viewed as a snub to Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church, which follows the Roman-era Julian calendar for religious occasions.
The law signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainians wanted to “live their own life with their own traditions and holidays”.
It allows them to “abandon the Russian heritage of imposing Christmas celebrations on January 7”, it added.
Christianity is the largest religion in Ukraine, with the Russian Orthodox Church historically dominating religious life.
Battle over heritage
Ukraine’s date change is part of a series of moves since Russia’s invasion to dispel any traces of the Russian and Soviet empires, such as renaming streets and removing monuments.
A Christmas tree stands next to the grave of a Ukrainian soldier at Lychakiv cemetery, in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv [Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP]
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, a newly created independent church that held its first service in 2019, has also changed its Christmas date to December 25.
It formally broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The political rift has seen priests and even entire parishes swap from one church to another, with the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine growing fast and taking over several Russia-linked church buildings in moves supported by the government.
The historically Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church, meanwhile, is keeping the January 7 Christmas date. This church claims to have cut ties with Russia because of the war but many Ukrainians view this with scepticism.
The country’s third Orthodox denomination, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, will also hold Christmas services on December 25.
Ukraine had been under Moscow’s spiritual leadership since the 17th century at the latest.
Under the Soviet Union and its profession of atheism, Christmas traditions such as trees and gifts were shifted to New Year’s Eve, which became the main holiday and still is for many families.
Ukrainian Christmas traditions include a dinner on Christmas Eve with 12 meatless dishes, including a sweet grain pudding called kutya, and people decorate homes with elaborate sheaves of wheat called didukhy.
In some areas, children go from house to house singing carols called kolyadky and performing nativity scenes.
Children sing carols during a Christmas Eve performance in Lviv, Ukraine [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]
Fault Lines examines how state laws in the US can lead to child sexual abuse in religious communities going unpunished.
Over the past 20 years, religious organisations from the Catholic Church to Jehovah’s Witnesses have had a reckoning with cases of child sexual abuse. Many states have tried to tackle the abuse by making clergy mandatory reporters of abuse to officials, just like doctors, therapists and teachers are. However, more than 30 states in the United States do not require church officials to report knowledge or allegations of child abuse if the information is deemed privileged, specifically coming from confession or counselling. It means that abuse can all too often be hidden – and survivors are left without recourse or justice.
Fault Lines investigates how state laws in the US can lead to child sexual abuse in religious communities going unpunished.
Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi’s spiritual poems and perpetual wisdom have transcended time and cultures.
Seven hundred and fifty years after his death, the celebrated Persian thinker remains a best-selling poet in the West, revered as an Islamic dervish in the East, while his sagacious thoughts rule the internet.
When he died on December 17, 1273, aged 66, the streets of Konya, in present-day Turkey, were filled with mourners from multiple creeds and nations, reflective of the cosmopolitan society that lived in 13th century Anatolia – it was a time when the cross-cultural exchange of ideas and arts prospered.
At his funeral, his followers, who also included Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, each recited from their own scriptures.
This year too, on Sunday, the man posthumously known by his nisbah (a name indicating one’s origins) Rumi, will be honoured by his followers on Sheb-i Arus – meaning wedding night in both Persian and Turkish.
And it would be in the spirit of the Persian poet’s call: “Our death is our wedding with eternity.”
From the British capital, London, to California in the United States, to Konya, his murids or devotees, will gather in whirls of motion and emotion, remembering his own elegiac eulogy:
“When you see my corpse is being carried, Don’t cry for my leaving, I’m not leaving, I’m arriving at eternal love.” – Rumi (translated by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi)
Mevlana Rumi’s tomb in Konya is a point of pilgrimage for millions of devotees and tourists each year [Creative Commons]
Who is Rumi in the east?
Rumi is believed to have been born in the early thirteenth century in Balkh (now in Afghanistan), though some say his place of birth was in Central Asia.
At the time of his birth (1207), the Persianate Empire spanned from India in the east and as far west as Greece, with many staking a claim to the man who would become more popularly known as Rumi, reflecting the region where he would settle – the Sultanate of Rum, also known as Anatolia.
In the eastern world, Rumi’s name is often preceded by the honorific title Mevlana or Maulana (meaning our master), showing just how respected he is as an Islamic scholar and Sufi saint. To state his name without this title in some circles would receive tut-tutting and be considered disrespectful.
“Like any historical figure who spans cultures, he has taken on a life of his own,” explained Muhammad Ali Mojaradi, a Persian scholar based in Kuwait.
He said people tend to project their own understanding and bias when engaging with historical texts, including Rumi’s.
“I have heard that Rumi is a staunchly orthodox Sunni Muslim, others say he is a closeted Zoroastrian, or a deviant Sufi, or someone who is too enlightened to subscribe to a religion. Some consider him a Tajik, a Khurasani, others a Persian, or Iranian, some are adamant that he is Turkish. These are more indicative of our biases than the real Rumi.”
During his life, his identity was intrinsically linked to his faith.
“I am the servant of the Quran, for as long as I have a soul. I am the dust on the road of Muhammad, the Chosen One. If someone interprets my words in any other way, That person I deplore, and I deplore his words.”
– Rumi (translated by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi)
Rumi was an Islamic scholar, following in a long line, and taught Sharia or Islamic law. He would also practise Tasawwuf, more popularly known as Sufism in the West. It is a way of understanding and drawing closer to God through the purification of the inner self, reflecting and remembering God through meditative chants, songs and sometimes even dance.
Other thinkers and poets of his time included Ibn Arabi, the Andalusian philosopher and Fariddudin Attar, the Persian author of the Mantiq-ut-Tayr (Conference of the Birds).
Islam’s openness to discussion and debate at this time would allow the poetry and arts to thrive, influencing the works of other Persian poets like Hafez and Omar Khayyam.
Whirling dervishes perform outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, this year to mark the 750th anniversary of the death of Mevlana Rumi [Khalil Hamra/AP Photo]
What did Rumi become known for?
After completing his theological education in Syria’s Aleppo, Rumi went to Konya where he met a wandering dervish, named Shams-i-Tabriz, who left a lasting impact on the Islamic scholar.
Barka Blue, founder of a spiritual arts movement, the Rumi Centre, in California, said Tabriz would transform Rumi, and lead to his “spiritual awakening”.
Rumi penned his magnum opus, the Masnavi, a 50,000-line poem, written in rhyming couplets and quatrains about a lifelong yearning in search of God.
It would become the most famed of his works. Other notable works include Fihi Ma Fihi and Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi – a collection of poems written in honour of his spiritual mentor.
“It [Masnavi] was actually called the ‘Quran in Persian’, indicating that it is the pinnacle of expression in that language but also that it is an exposition of the Quran in the Persian tongue,” Blue, the acclaimed rapper and poet, told Al Jazeera.
As Rumi says in the introduction, “this is the root of the root of the root of the way [faith],” added Blue, author of The Art of Remembrance.
To fully understand and appreciate the depths of Rumi’s words, “a firm grasp of the Islamic tradition in general and Sufism in particular” is needed, Blue said. “His words are undoubtedly a beautiful entry point to this tradition [of Islam].”
Rumi himself would advise readers of the Masnavi to make ritual ablution and be in a state of cleanliness as one would upon reading the Quran or praying the five daily prayers. The intention when reading it was to connect with the Creator.
Who is Rumi in the West?
The first-known English translation of some of Rumi’s work was published in 1772 by a British judge and linguist William Jones in Calcutta — now Kolkata — then the base of the British East India Company. Persian was still the official language in courts and public offices in India, a legacy of Mughal rule.
Rumi’s mystical pull attracted other British translators, JW Redhouse in 1881, Reynold A Nicholson (1925) and AJ Arberry’s Mystical Poems of Rumi (1960-79).
But Rumi reached truly global popularity with the general public after older, more academic English translations of his work were retranslated, in particular in the 1990s by American writer Coleman Barks. More than seven centuries after Rumi’s death, he was a best-selling poet.
Yet that popular reach came at a cost, say some experts.
“The main issue for decades has been that the Rumi presented to Western readers, including Muslims, is that Rumi is a secular, universalist poet,” explained Zirrar Ali, a writer and photographer who has also authored several anthologies of Persian and Urdu poetry.
He told Al Jazeera that just as the works of German philosopher Immanuel Kant and English philosopher John Locke cannot be understood without understanding their belief systems, it should be the same with Rumi.
“What should be asked is why has Rumi been transformed so freely? It is partially laziness and partially intentional,” he added.
Removing Rumi’s orthodox Sunni beliefs has led to wrongful translations, he said, that cater to a pseudo-secular image of the man and his work.
Rumi is not only cast as a universalist, Ali said, “he is painted as a free-thinking liberal … a man who wants nothing but wine, free sex and joy”.
Omid Safi, a professor at the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University in North Carolina, also points to inaccurate translations.
“God” or “The Beloved”, is considered to be a human beloved, “rather than subtle references that encompass all earthly, celestial, and divine beloveds”, he explained.
“Another concrete example is the much-quoted line ‘Let the beauty we love be what we do, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground’. But Rumi’s original is specifically referring to Ruku’ and Sajda, which are postures of the [daily] Islamic prayer.”
Rendering of some of Rumi’s “most popular versions … water down the Islamic context”, Safi told Al Jazeera.
By 2015, half a million copies of Barks’s The Essential Rumi translations were sold, making Rumi the most widely read poet in the United States. From Coldplay singer Chris Martin to Madonna, pop icons have spoken of how they have been inspired by Rumi’s work. Martin has referred to the Barks translation. Al Jazeera reached out to Barks for a comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Perhaps without realising the deeper connections to Islam, a meme-obsessed internet then readily turned digestible one-liners into shareable quotes, that would be used by lovelorn romantics to try to capture the heart of their beloved, or to at least get a date.
Still, even critics of Rumi’s meme-ification acknowledge potential gains from translations that have made the poet more accessible to 21st-century audiences.
“Whether or not Barks’s work has merit or counts as a translation aside, if it leads people to read more about Rumi and discover more accurate renderings, or even learn to read Persian, that is a good thing,” Mojaradi, who founded the passion project Persian Poetics in 2018 to debunk the rise in fake Rumi quotes, told Al Jazeera.
That is just what happened to Baraka Blue. He was led to Rumi in his teenage years when he would soak up poetry with like-minded friends, beat poets, musicians and songwriters. Rumi’s words, he said, had a “profound impact”.
“It wasn’t that he was good with words, it was the state he was speaking from and the reality he was describing. That’s what drew me in,” Blue, an educator and poet, told Al Jazeera. So enraptured was Blue, he embraced Islam at age 20 and made a pilgrimage to Rumi’s tomb in Konya three months later.
His shrine has become a point of pilgrimage for millions of devotees and tourists, with the attached Mevlana Museum recording 3.5 million visitors in 2019, the year before COVID-19 hit. It is here too that the largest performance of the iconic sema dance is performed, especially during Sheb-i-Arus.
Whirling dervishes of the Mevlevi order perform during a Sheb-i Arus ceremony in Konya [Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo]
Is Rumi’s Sufi dance a panacea for modern lifestyle problems?
Though its origins are as mysterious as the movement itself, some say it was Tabriz who introduced Rumi to the sema.
It would only become ritualised and part of a ceremony a few years after Rumi died in 1273, Sultan Walad, the eldest of his four children, established the Mevlevi Order, sometimes also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervish in reference to the enchanting sema ceremony.
Although the dance was added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008, and Konya is expecting thousands to attend this year’s Sheb-i-Arus, in some places, where Sufism is less accepted, it is practised privately.
Al Jazeera attended a sema performance in London. There, heads jolted to the right, eyes cast to the earth, arms extended as if about to fly, seven people spun in tandem, their earthy off-white linen dresses started to gently open up like the petals of waterlilies. A left hand pointed to the ground, while the right up to the heavens. They spun. Silently. To the echoes of the gentle nye.
The rotation, explained one of the dervishes to Al Jazeera later, is in an anticlockwise motion, “just like the pilgrims around the Kaaba and the birds that fly above it”.
Every December, Konya hosts a series of events to commemorate the death of Jalaladdin Rumi, the 13th-century Islamic scholar, poet and Sufi mystic [Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo]
Claire*, a spectator at the sema dance ceremony, said she found her way to Rumi about 30 years ago.
“I was going through a particularly troublesome time in my life, and a friend suggested I join her at a gathering that may help. I was expecting some type of yoga class, but what it actually was this, the sema.”
“You don’t have to belong to a faith. Remember Mevlana tells us ‘come, come, whoever you are, wanderer, idolater, worshipper of fire; come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times’,” she added.
“Those lines tell us everything, his teachings were meant to transcend all religion.”
But Mojaradi said, these lines, perhaps the most popular lines attributed to Rumi, are not actually his words, but instead belong to Abu Said Abu al-Khayr, another Persian Sufi poet who lived 200 years before Rumi.
“The fact that even Rumi’s most dedicated followers are inundated with false or mistranslated quotes, shows how big of a problem we’re dealing with,” said Mojaradi, who launched Rumi Was a Muslim project in 2021 to counter this.
“I am happy if anyone reads Rumi at any level, but they are doing themselves a disservice if they do not dive deeper. Sure, anything that spreads his message on any level can be seen as a good thing,” he said.
What makes Rumi so universal?
Rumi’s message is “strikingly universal”, said Blue. “It’s evidenced by his popularity in translation all over the world.”
“One of Rumi’s great gifts is to communicate profound metaphysical truths in the language of simple metaphor from shared human experience. He will speak of a ruby and a stone, or a chickpea in the pot, or a donkey that was stolen, or really anything at all – but the whole time he is speaking about the One.”
And at its core, it is his message of love that ultimately makes him relatable – whether that is interpreted as divine love, romantic, or familial.
“Set fire to everything, except love.”
– Rumi (translated by Muhammad Ali Mojaradi)
Mojaradi added: “Rumi’s love is a fire, everyone is yearning for a spark to set their life on fire. Especially in this modern world where everything seems to be meaningless and fleeting.”
Harvard’s President Claudine Gay has received unanimous support from the university board to remain in her role. The board says it has full confidence she is the ‘right leader during this tumultuous time.’ Calls for her resignation and the resignation of 2 other US university presidents grew following responses about antisemitism on campus during a Congressional hearing.
The murder of history teacher Samuel Paty shocked France and fuelled contentious debates about freedom of expression.
A French court has convicted six teenagers in connection with the 2020 beheading of history teacher Samuel Paty, whose murder shocked the country.
In a decision on Friday, the court found five of the six defendants, aged 14 through 15 at the time of the attack, guilty of helping the attacker identify the teacher.
The sixth defendant was found guilty of lying about the content of a classroom debate that sparked anger at the teacher, who showed students caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a discussion about free expression. Most Muslims avoid depictions of prophets, considering them to be blasphemous.
Paty was killed and decapitated outside of a school in a Paris suburb on October 16, 2020, by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin named Abdoullakh Anzorov.
Five of the accused students were accused of staking out Paty as he left the school and pointing him out for Anzorov, who was shot and killed by police, in exchange for promises of 300-350 euros ($350-400).
In emotional testimony, the teenagers protested that they did not know that Paty would be killed. They face prison sentences of up to two and a half years.
The court found the sixth defendant guilty of false accusations and slanderous comments after it was established that she told her parents that Paty had asked Muslim students to exit the classroom before showing the cartoons. The court established that she was not in class on that day.
The trial, which has been held behind closed doors and with media outlets barred from sharing the identity of the teenagers due to French laws regarding minors, has underscored contention in French society over topics such as “extremism”, Islamophobia, and freedom of expression.
The ruling comes several weeks after a teacher was fatally stabbed in northern France in a school attack by a young man.
Muslims and migrants from the Arab world say they face widespread discrimination and racism in French society, and that French traditions of keeping religion out of public spaces have been wielded selectively to crack down on expressions of Muslim identity.
Politicians in France, especially on the right, have frequently leaned into rhetoric that portrays Muslims and Arabs as violent and uncivilised.
Press Briefing was held at Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of the XXI anniversary meeting of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on October 11, 2023. The agenda for the meeting includes an exchange of views on the outcomes of the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Discussions will also focus on the Concept of Development of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for 2023-2033. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan
Opinion by Katsuhiro Asagiri (astana, kazakhstan)
Inter Press Service
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Oct 11 (IPS) – In the heart of Central Asia, a nation renowned for its rich cultural diversity, multi-ethnic society, and spiritual traditions has emerged as a global beacon of interfaith harmony and understanding. Over the past two decades, Kazakhstan’s Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions (The Congress) has played an instrumental role in promoting dialogue, forging unity, and advocating for peace among diverse faiths worldwide. Rooted in Kazakhstan’s deep spiritual heritage and wisdom, this initiative has evolved into a symbol of international cooperation and tolerance. As we reflect on its remarkable journey and look ahead to its future under the leadership of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, it becomes evident that the Congress is poised to make even greater strides toward fostering global harmony and unity.
A History of Resilience and Tolerance
Kazakhstan’s history is a tapestry woven with threads of resilience, tolerance, and spiritual fortitude. A nation that transitioned from a nomadic civilization to a modern, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious society faced numerous trials and tribulations along the way. Yet, the Kazakh people maintained a steadfast connection to their spiritual roots, allowing them to thrive in a diverse and inclusive society.
The hardships endured by the Kazakh people throughout history have shaped their deep spirituality and wisdom. From Russian imperial expansion to the ravages of the USSR era, Kazakhstan faced tremendous challenges. Forced settlement policies, famine, and the suppression of cultural and religious identity were stark realities. However, these trials also ignited a collective spirit of survival and resilience, demonstrating the importance of cultural preservation and the celebration of diversity.
Press Briefing was held at Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of the XXI anniversary meeting of the Secretariat of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions on October 11, 2023. The agenda for the meeting includes an exchange of views on the outcomes of the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Discussions will also focus on the Concept of Development of the Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions for 2023-2033. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s journey to independence brought with it a commitment to religious freedom and tolerance. From 1949 to 89, the USSR conducted 456 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site in eastern Kazakhstan, an area roughly equivalent in size to Belgium. It is estimated that about 1.5 million people suffered health effects because of these tests. Despite this history of adversity, when the USSR dissolved, Kazakhstan, not only guaranteed equality for all ethnic groups and religious freedom but also successfully secured the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site and the complete abandonment of the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal. Since then, Kazakhstan has been one of the most active countries in advocating for a “nuclear-free world” based on the UN framework.
Despite Soviet policies aimed at eradicating nomadic culture and promoting settlement, Kazakhstan successfully preserved its rich cultural heritage. The nation not only maintained traditions passed down from ancestors but also enshrined in its constitution a policy that treats the traditions, cultures, and religions of non-Kazakh people as equal to Kazakh culture. This forward-thinking approach promotes social harmony and serves as a powerful lesson from the suppression of Kazakh culture during the USSR era.
The Congress: A Shining Beacon
The Congress stands as a beacon of interfaith harmony, powered by Kazakhstan’s deep commitment to religious tolerance. Serving as a distinctive forum, it unites leaders from myriad faiths to jointly foster global peace. Kazakhstan, with its mosaic of Islamic, Turkic, and nomadic influences, offers a melting pot for dialogues that intertwine East with West and bridge diverse religious doctrines. Upholding a neutral stance in global affairs, Kazakhstan ensures the Congress remains a sanctuary for unbiased, apolitical discussions. Addressing urgent issues like religious extremism, terrorism, and environmental threats, the Congress strives for collective solutions.
President Tokayev’s Vision for the Future
As the Congress is poised for further evolution. President Tokayev’s leadership brings a renewed focus on interfaith dialogue and cooperation in a world grappling with increasing complexity. While he believes diplomacy is essential in facilitating cooperation, he sees religious leaders (Approximately 85% of the world’s population identifies with a religion) as indispensable agents of change in building a new world system focused on peace. He emphasizes the shared principles of all religions, such as the sanctity of human life, mutual support, and the rejection of destructive rivalry and hostility, as the foundation for such a system.
President Tokayev outlines practical ways in which religious leaders can contribute to world peace, including healing societal wounds following conflicts, preventing negative trends that undermine tolerance, and addressing the impact of digital technology on society. He highlights the need to cultivate spiritual values and moral guidelines to navigate the challenges posed by rapid technological advancements.
A Future of Unity and Harmony
As the Congress continues to evolve, it serves as a beacon of hope in an increasingly divided world. Kazakhstan’s steadfast dedication to interfaith dialogue reminds us that spirituality and wisdom can pave the path to a more peaceful and harmonious global society.
Kazakhstan’s journey from its tumultuous past to a beacon of hope for interfaith dialogue is a testament to the deep spirituality and wisdom of its people. The Congress continues to illuminate the path to global harmony and unity, demonstrating the power of dialogue, mutual understanding, and the enduring human spirit.
PRESIDENT KASSYM-JOMART TOKAYEV: ‘In this atmosphere of tension and increasing geopolitical turbulences, it is vitally important to develop new approaches to strengthening inter-civilizational dialogue and trust.’ Credit: Office of the President
Opinion by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (new york)
Inter Press Service
NEW YORK, Oct 06 (IPS) – It is not a secret that the world is witnessing rising international tensions and erosion of the global order that has been in place since the establishment of the United Nations. Divisive blocs, which have not been seen since the Cold War, are making a swift return. As a result, our planet is facing severe threats, including a new global arms race, the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, and the proliferation of wars in all formats, including hot, hybrid, cyber, and trade.
In this atmosphere of tension and increasing geopolitical turbulences, it is vitally important to develop new approaches to strengthening inter-civilizational dialogue and trust.
Diplomacy is, undoubtedly, key to facilitating cooperation. Kazakhstan has always supported solving disputes exclusively at the negotiating table based on the UN Charter. Our country has consistently promoted principles aimed at achieving lasting peace, security, and sustainable progress across the world.
Despite best efforts, conflicts remain ubiquitous in many regions of the world.
To build a new system of international security, the world requires a new global movement for peace. I believe the role of religious leaders will be indispensable here. Approximately 85% of the world’s people identify with a religion, making it a significant factor in our lives.
Religious leaders therefore have a significant influence on global affairs. Moreover, the sacred value of human life, mutual support, and the rejection of destructive rivalry and hostility are a set of principles shared by all religions. As a result, I am convinced that these principles can form the basis of a new world system.
Pope Francis delivering his inaugural keynote speech at the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in the Kazakh capital on September 14. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri, INPS Japan President
How can religious leaders help push for world peace?
How can this work in practice?
Firstly, religious leaders can contribute to healing the wounds of hatred following an enduring conflict. Syria is a case in point. Kazakhstan welcomes the fact that hostilities have all but ended in that country. We are glad to have contributed to this through the Astana Process peace talks, which since 2017 facilitated negotiations between representatives of the Syrian government, the opposition, as well as Turkey, Iran, and Russia.
Yet while the hot phase of the conflict is over, the divisions within the country remain. Spiritual leaders can play an important role in healing Syrian society through the power of religion.
Secondly, human nature is contradictory. There will always be provocations and hatred. Recent actions to burn the holy Quran in a number of northern European countries are negative trends that undermine the culture of tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. In this regard, the targeted communication of religious leaders in preventing such situations and trends is crucial.
Thirdly, new technologies are radically changing all spheres of human life. These changes are mostly for the better, including improved healthcare, unlimited information online, and ease of communication and travel. At the same time, we observe how societies are being fragmented and polarized under the influence of digital technology.
In the new digital reality, it is also necessary to cultivate spiritual values and moral guidelines. Religion has a key role to play here, too, as all faiths are based on humanistic ideals, recognition of the supreme value of human life, and the aspiration for peace and creation.
These fundamental principles should be embodied not only in the spiritual sphere, but also in the socioeconomic development of countries and international politics.
Without reliance on humanistic ideals and ethics, the rapid scientific-technological revolution can lead humanity astray. We are already witnessing such debates with the advent of general artificial intelligence.
Ultimately, moral authority and the word of spiritual leaders is crucial today.
That is why I am proud that for 20 years, Kazakhstan has been hosting the triennial Congress of Religious Leaders. Established in 2003 in direct response to the rise in interfaith disagreements and extremism following the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States, the Congress has strengthened interfaith dialogue by bringing together religious leaders.
It has enabled meaningful dialogue on ways to combine efforts to promote better understanding between representatives of different cultures and religious communities.
Prior to becoming the president of Kazakhstan in 2019, I had the honor to serve as head of the Secretariat of the Congress.
I observed how the Congress promoted tolerance and mutual respect in contrast to hatred and extremism.
Last year, our country held the Seventh Congress of Religious Leaders. It was attended by delegations from 50 countries, including representatives of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Shintoism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and other religions. I was honored to welcome Pope Francis, the second visit by the head of the Catholic Church to Kazakhstan following the visit by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Over the past two decades, the Congress became a platform for inter-civilizational dialogue at the global level. I believe it made a significant contribution to Kazakhstan’s success in forging a stable and harmonious society from a population made up of more than 100 ethnic groups and 18 confessions that live in peace in our country today.
Through its commitment to religious tolerance and human rights, Kazakhstan sets an example for the world, showcasing the importance of interfaith dialogue in creating a more peaceful and harmonious global society.
As the world continues to be embroiled in political uncertainty, a bridge of rapprochement between cultures and civilizations is required more than ever. I am determined to ensure that Kazakhstan facilitates global dialogue between religions and nations, including through the work of the Congress of Religious Leaders, thus contributing to mutual understanding and respect in societies.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct 06 (IPS) – Some time ago I watched the Indian blockbuster RRR (Rise, Roar, Revolt). It received universal praise for direction, screenwriting, cast performances, soundtrack (which won an Oscar) and thrilling action sequences. RRR is filled with gore; bodies beaten, pierced and torn apart. An overblown combination of Quentin Tarantino and Bollywood, far away from Satyajit Ray’s emotionally moving films, as well as Bollywood’s romantic comedies and mythological dramas. RRR never pauses for breath. The two male protagonists are supermen, not exposing many recognizable human traits, even if they might occasionally sing and talk about love. Hard to understand, since the few women of the story are cut-out clichés.
This to date most expensive Indian movie is actually a jingoistic show of patriotic pomp. A quasi-historical tale hiding the fact that the Republic of India (Bh?rat Ganar?jya) is a multi-faceted conglomerate, including concepts like Bhakti, love and devotion and Ahimsa, non-violence applied towards all living beings. Instead it appears to be a tribute to “Modi-land”, a politically constructed ideal chimera, based on the concept of Hindutva (Hinduness),where Hindu identity is considered as the essence of Bharat (India).
India was on 20th April declared as being the world’s most populous nation with 1,428 million inhabitants, of which more than 80 percent define themselves as Hindus, making religion a useful tool for political campaigning. However, the Hindu faith has countless variants and the nation is a subcontinent with 20 official languages and a plethora of customs and cultures.
The RRR movie fits well into the current Prime Minster Narandra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP’s embrace of its interpretation of Hindu Pride, Hindutva, was strengthened and supported by a growing economy. Nevertheless, there are cracks in the political fresco depicting a harmonious India, not the least widespread anti-Muslim prejudice. From fear of Muslims and neighbouring Pakistan many people take their refuge in BJP. Almost 15 percent of the Indian population are Muslims, meaning that The Republic of India has the third largest Muslim population in the world.
Playing the religious card and claiming an unprecedented economic growth Narandra Modi is now probably the most popular leader in the world. In the 2014 general elections BJP became the first Indian political party since 1984 to win a majority and becoming able to govern without the support of other parties. The G20 summit coincided with Modi’s aims to raise New Delhi’s global clout following nearly a decade-long tenure in power in which he has positioned himself as a leader intent on shedding the country’s colonial past – emphasizing the need to “liberate ourselves from the slavery mind-set.”
A view apparent in RRR, which is rooted in a vision of a genocidal racism of British colonialists. The British Governor of the Princely State of Hyderabad (today’s Telangana) might be equalled to any murderous Nazi-SS officer and is together with his sadistic wife flaunting dehumanizing prejudices against indigenous people. Muslims act as treacherous collaborators with the British and their subjugated Deccan Mughal Prince is an enthusiastic supporter of the Britsh Raj. To liberate a girl kidnapped by the villainous Governor-wife, the Hindu hero Raju disguises himself as a loyal Muslim officer serving the British Raj and as such he does not hesitate to kill and torture fellow Hindus, while planning a Hindu revolt and liberating the confined girl.
All this fits well into BJP’s efforts to depict the Indian subcontinent’s 4 500 year long history as being developed within a Hindutva frame. This in spite of the historical presence of thousands of kingdoms, diverse peoples, different religions, being the birth place of at least three world religions, and with the powerful presence of Christianity, Parsism, and not the least Islam – blending into the creation of a unique and rich Indian culture.
A common trait among leading BJP politicians seems to be that their chauvinistic Hindutva vision has convinced them that everything that do not conform with their simplistic view of “Bh?rat culture” might be considered as intrusion/pollution of Hindu past and present. The splendours of the Mughal culture is exorcised from school books and Muslim rulers like Akbar are referenced as cruel invaders. The names of Muslim sounding towns are changed; Allahbad has become Praygray, Aurangabad is Chhatrapatri Sambhaji Nagar, and Osmanabad has become Dharashiv, while the official name of the Indian Republic now has been established as Bh?rat Ganar?jya.
Anything awkward in the history of this utopian Hindu Bh?rat is swept under the carpet, or whitewashed, like the legacy of untouchability and exclusion, misogyny and intolerance. There is also an apparent discomfort with BJP’s rather tarnished history. For example, Nathuram Godse who murdered Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 was an esteemed member of the Hindu supremacist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organisation, which still is the ideological fountainhead of the BJP. He killed Gandhi because the Mahatma’s insistence on a secular India, integrating members of all religions and castes (the entire caste system was declared to be illegal).
In spite of Modi’s popularity it is generally agreed that BJP is considered as a North Indian, Hindi-speaking and upper-caste party, even if BJP has declared that “the caste system is responsible for the lack of adherence to Hindu values and the only remedy is to reach out to the lower castes.” The major themes on the party’s agenda has been banning cow slaughter and abolishing the special status given to the Muslim majority state of Kashmir, as well as legislating a Uniform Civil Code in conformity with “Hindu values”. Most of the people living in Kashmir do not vote for BJP and neither do those of the Sikh dominated Punjab, while non-Hindi speaking people in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Kerala are reluctant to share BJP’s ideology and prone to consider the party as adhering to Ethnic democracy, meaning that it is supported by a prejudiced majority.
The RSS organisation was in 1925, founded on the claim that India was a Hindu nation and Hindus were thus entitled to reign over the Nation’s minorities. The RSS’s original base was higher-caste men, but in order to grow it had to widen its membership and lower-caste recruits were accepted, among them a young Narendra Modi, who soon became a pracharak—the group’s term for its young, chaste foot soldiers. He rose quickly in the ranks. RSS is by BJP often described as the party’s “scout branch”, but it is more than that – it is a uniformed paramilitary organisation in which young men obtain physical fitness through yoga, weapon- and martial arts exercises, taught Hindutva ideology, as well as partaking in activities encouraging civic awareness, social service, community living, and patriotism. Pracharaks are full-time functionaries, renouncing professional – and family lives while dedicating their lives to the cause of the RSS.
Modi rose in the RSS ranks and in 1987 he entered its political branch – BJP. When Modi joined the party it had only two seats in Parliament. It needed an issue to attract sympathizers and found one in an obscure religious dispute. In the city Ayodhya it was among local Hindus rumoured that a mosque had been built above an ancient temple dedicated to the god Ram, a Vishnu avatar. In 1990 a senior member of BJP called for the demolition of the mosque. Two years after, a crowd led by RSS partisans completely razed the mosque.
This happened when economic liberalization under the BJP’s regime was resulting in increased economic growth, urbanization, and consumerism. A new, affluent middle class developed, becoming the core electorate of the BJP. In a rapidly changing world persons were searching for an identity, several found one in Hindu nationalism, turning to gurus, and sectarian movements, participating in yoga classes and watching saffron-clad ideologists on TV. The Ayodhya incident and the following bloody clashes between militant RSS members and Muslims, triggered by press campaigns, and Pakistan supported terrorist attacks, enabled the BJP to capitalize on a growing Hindu nationalism. BJP membership soared, and already by 1996, it had become the largest party in Parliament.
Like his good friend Donald Trump, Narandra Modi has by his enemies been provided with several characteristics they consider to be dangerous. He is reluctant to give press conferences and in-depth personal interviews, but based on those and some knowledgeable acquaintances he has been described as a person having all traits of an authoritarian, narcissistic personality, and in addition he practices a puritanical rigidity, having a constricted emotional life, and an enormous ego, which apparently covers up an inner insecurity. Like Trump, Modi is also prone to reveal harmful conspiracy theories, like India being targeted by a global conspiracy, in which every local Muslim is likely to be complicit.
When Modi served as chief minister in the Gujarat state a train with pilgrims and RSS militants was returning from Ayodha. When it stopped at the station of Godhara quarrels erupted between the pilgrims and Muslim food vendors, resulting in a fire that burned 58 Hindus to death. Independent investigators deemed the tragedy to be a tragic accident, though RSS consider it to be a Muslim terrorist attack. Horrific lynchings of Muslim men and women followed, Narendra Modi was accused of condoning the violence that allegedly was supported by police and government officials accused of providing rioters with lists of Muslim property owners. Officially 1,044 persons were killed, while The Concerned Citizens Tribunal estimated that 1,926 persons had been lynched. Parallel to accusations of having been knowledgeable about politicians and administrators’ crucial role in the lynchings, Modi-collaborators were accused of corruption and even extra-judicial killings.
Apart from these unresolved incidents Modi’s reforms during his time as Gujarat minister have benefitted his political career. His regime supported the establishment of new industries, reformed the bureaucracy, and made huge investments in electricity and infrastructure. The state’s growth rate boomed as subsidies were provided to politically connected conglomerates and state-owned players.
The “Gujarat model” has been a prerequisite for Modi’s fame as India’s great modernizers. However, even if Modi after his election victory in 2014 pledged to add 100 million manufacturing jobs, India actually lost 24 million of those jobs between 2017 and 2021. COVID-19 was blamed for the failure, but 11 million jobs had already been lost before the pandemic hit. This might be compared with similar, but much smaller economies, like those of Bangladesh and Vietnam, which manufacture employment doubled between 2019 and 2020, while India’s share barely rose by two percent. Currently, Vietnam exports approximately the same value in manufactured goods with its 100 million people, as does India with its 1.4 billion. Modi’s huge investments in logistics and transport has so far not provided the expected results. Indian investors tend to offshore their profits and demonstrate a preference for financial assets. Private investment was in 2019-20 only 22 percent of GDP, down from 31 percent in 2010-11. One obstacle to investment is India’s profoundly unequal society. Modi’s economic strategy puts wealth before health. The Modi government is reluctant to prioritize investments in primary health care and education.
In 2019, the Modi government declared “war on pollution” but allocated a scanty USD 42 million. Female employment have been dropping for over three decades, with only 7 out of 100 urban women now employed. Modi’s tactics to blame minorities for economic shortcomings, social ills and other problems that could be amended by more effective policies may prove to be disastrous and lead to unmitigated violence. One example is his government’s crackdown on Sikh separatist movements and alleged extra-judicial killings of Sikh militants in Britain and Canada, which has reawaken and militarized Sikh opposition and soured diplomatic contacts with Canada. Likewise is the Government’s move to revoke the Constitution’s Article 370, which granted some autonomy for Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, likely to fuel Muslim anger and desperation and so is the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, making religion a criterion for obtaining Indian nationality. Only non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are eligible for citizenship. Added to this are new laws passed to make interreligious marriages more difficult.
The extreme Hindu pride violence depicted in RRR might be more of a source for worries than admiration for its stunning visual effects and joyous patriotism. It is doubtful if Indian unity can be realised through State homage to an idealized Hindu past, combined with an obvious marginalization of minorities. Instead of being impressed by Indian moon landings, prosperity for the wealthy and adoration of “great” leaders, it might probably be more constructive to look into and address pollution, waste, inequality, poverty, poor health, and education. History proves that harassing minorities cause general human misery. It might be much more beneficial to study history through a scientific/objective lens than as BJP and RRR adhere to invented traditions, i.e. cultural practices and ideas perceived as arising from people in a distant past, though they actually are quite recent and consciously invented by identifiable political actors.
72-year-old Kawthar Ajlouni stands alone in her yard in H2, Hebron, the occupied Palestinian territory. The backdrop reveals a fortified Israeli checkpoint. Amid 645 documented movement obstacles in the West Bank, 80 are here in H2 as of 2023. Isolated due to strict Israeli policies, she is one of 7,000 Palestinians enduring heavy restrictions, while many others have left. The Israeli-declared ‘principle of separation’ (between Palestinians and Israeli settlers) limits their life, generating a coercive environment that risks forcible transfers. Kawthar stays, fearing her home’s conversion into a military post. Credit: OCHA/2023
by Abigail Van Neely (united nations)
Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 21 (IPS) – Sundus Azza scans the news before she heads home, checking for signs that her 30-minute commute could turn into a four-hour-long slog. Any incident could make travel difficult.
Sometimes Azza waits for her father to call and tell her if the checkpoints around their home are open. After living in Hebron, a city in the West Bank, for the last 20 years, she is used to planning her day around unpredictability.
Obstacles to movement in the West Bank have increased in the last two years, preventing Palestinians from accessing hospitals, urban centers, and agricultural areas. Restrictions and delays are the new normal.
In a recent review, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports an 8 percent increase in the overall recorded number of physical barriers, from 593 in 2020 to 645 in 2023. They range in scale from elaborate checkpoints guarded by military towers to a pile of rocks in the middle of the road.
The number of barriers has fluctuated over the past years. However, OCHA finds a notable 35 percent increase, especially in the number of constantly staffed checkpoints in strategic areas. Zone C, the area still under Israeli administrative and police control, is home to most roads and most obstacles to movement. It covers 60% of the West Bank.
Under international law, Israel must facilitate the free movement of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Cities’ entry points and main roads are often shut down without warning for arbitrary “security reasons.”
“The objective of the occupying forces is to make sure that they can isolate entire areas if security requires to do so,” Andrea De Domenico, the deputy head of OCHA’s office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory in Jerusalem, explains. “It’s always a little bit of an unknown- when you get out, you don’t know when you will be able to come back.”
As a result, most activities require extensive coordination- whether it’s getting a firetruck past checkpoints in time, filtering passengers off and on a bus during an ID check or planning a trip to visit relatives.
Guarded Life in Hebron
The H2 area of Hebron is one of the most restricted in the West Bank. Facial recognition cameras, metal detectors, and detention and interrogation facilities fortify 77 checkpoints that separate the Israeli-controlled parts of the city.
To get to her house in the H2, Azza knows she must pass through at least two checkpoints. But planning is difficult. There aren’t specific times when the checkpoints will be open. If they are closed, there aren’t waiting areas. Azza says when that happens, she hopes there’s a nice guard – and that he speaks Arabic or English – and explains that she’s just trying to get home.
The checkpoint near Azza’s university was closed for three months following a stabbing incident in 2016. She remembers the streets being crowded with soldiers as she was walking one chilly winter. Azza put her hands in her jacket pockets to warm them, 100 meters away, a guard she recognized yelled at her to remove her hands. Now, Azza says she is cautious about even buying a kitchen knife she may get in trouble for carrying home.
There are other challenges to navigating the historic Palestinian city littered with checkpoints. De Domenico tells stories of an elderly woman who stopped going out to avoid being harassed by soldiers. “If settlers are in the streets, they can attack me anytime they want,” Azza says.
De Domenico says Palestinians often don’t report incidents to the Israeli police for fear of having their permits taken away in retaliation. Besides, just getting to a police station in an Israeli settlement is a challenge. Because their cars are not permitted to drive through, Palestinians must walk behind Israeli cars sent to escort them.
When soldiers ask for her ID, Azza says they want her ID number, not her name: “They consider us as a number.”
Permits as Power
Permits control life across the occupied Palestinian territories.
Musaab, a university student in Nablus, submitted six permit applications for travel to receive cancer treatment. All were denied. He was finally forced to travel to Jordan twice, without his father, for care.
“This is so inhumane. How can this happen in any place in the world? Why are they blocking me from accompanying my son? I just want to hold his hand when he goes for surgery,” Musaab’s father told WHO.
Stories like Musaab’s are common as patients across the West Bank and Gaza are kept from seeking healthcare by permit restrictions. According to OCHA, in 2022, 15 percent of patients’ applications to visit Israeli health facilities in East Jerusalem were not approved in time for their appointments. 93 percent of ambulances were delayed because patients were required to transfer to Israeli-licensed vehicles.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 160,000 physical restrictions in Zone C have led many communities to depend on mobile clinics funded by humanitarian aid. This year, OCHA’s humanitarian response plan was only 33% funded.
“ warns that humanitarian needs are deepening because of restrictions of movements of Palestinians inside the West Bank. This undermines their access to livelihoods and essential services such as healthcare and education,” Florencia Soto Nino, associate spokesperson of the Secretary-General, told reporters.
Putting up Walls
Walls aggravate these humanitarian issues.
A now 65 percent constructed barrier runs along the border of the West Bank and inside the territory, often carving out Israeli settlements, dividing communities, and sometimes even literally running through houses.
To enter East Jerusalem, women under 50 and men under 55 with West Bank IDs are required to show permits from Israeli authorities. Even then, they can only use three of the 13 checkpoints.
Palestinian farmers have also been separated from their land- and livelihoods.
According to OCHA, many private farms have been trapped inside areas Israeli military forces established as “firing zones.” As a result, they are sometimes only accessible twice a year. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization reports that the region’s agricultural yield has been reduced by almost 70% because Palestinians have had to abandon their land.
The size of a farmer’s plot determines when and for how long it can be tended. Farmers must coordinate times when soldiers will open the gates that allow them onto their land. Harvest days are especially tricky. In some cases, De Domenico says, an agricultural permit is only given to the owner of the land and none of their laborers.
Meanwhile, De Domenico describes Gaza, a territory separated from Israel by a 12-meter-high wall, as a “gigantic prison” for 2.3 million Palestinians. Here, less physical obstacles are required to limit movement.
“It is the only place on the planet where, when a war starts… people cannot flee,” De Domenico said.
Living with Tension
Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations, expressed disappointment at the “paralysis of the international community” when it came to protecting Palestinian people from discrimination during a meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of Palestinian People at the end of August.
At the same time, OCHA is working to facilitate “humanitarian corridors to ensure that basic services are delivered,” De Domenico says. For instance, the office has helped teachers reach communities where students would have had to walk for miles.
De Domenico adds that reports can facilitate important discussions. Israeli authorities, who have contested materials OCHA produced in the past, have been invited to ride along while UN agents map new barriers.
Still, “there is always the potential of tension flying in the air,” even for UN agents, De Domenico says. “You constantly live with this tension.”
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