The power of sports and life skills

 Sport is a unique and efficient tool to build resilience and enhance social inclusion of the economically, socially, and politically marginalised youth in today’s age.

Youth in crisis

15% of the world’s population – some 1.2 billion people and counting – are aged between 15 to 29. The COVID-19 lockdown has disproportionately affected people’s lives, especially millions of young people worldwide, with public health restrictions and socio-economic disruptions having a devastating impact on their education, mental health, career prospects, safety, and personal development. The pandemic has further highlighted and exacerbated the existing inequalities in our societies, with respect to access to resources, information, and power dynamics.

This has also exacerbated existing fractures in society that has led to the frightening rise in extremism, isolation, and fear. Added to this is an unprecedented 70.8 million people around the world who have been forcibly displaced from their home. Among them are nearly 25.9 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. COVID-19 is quickly pushing us to a situation where we are losing our commitment to welcome the stranger, provide for the most vulnerable and cross lines of difference to solve shared problems.

As the world’s largest and oldest humanitarian network that is also a member of the world’s six largest youth organisations (the Big 6), collectively reaching 250 million people every year, the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) and its 7.5 miilion youth volunteers and young changemakers are aware of the burning desire for young people to be heard, seen, and engaged in finding solutions to the world's biggest challenges. 

Using sport for development approaches to harness the talent of youth

Young people across the globe have ideas on how to solve the world’s most entrenched problems, but they are too often dismissed as victims or “the future.” Too few youths have access to the tools, mentors, and resources to turn their insights into reality. There are few safe spaces that really enable them to get engaged and co-create their engagement.

Youth engagement and participation is needed in promoting peace and preventing violent extremism. The UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on ‘Youth, Peace and Security’ recognises the important role that young people play in the prevention and resolution of conflict. The resolution creates a framework for the engagement of young people in tackling violent extremism and working for peace through participation, protection, and prevention.

Sport programs are often used as tools of crime prevention or to build social bridges. Consequently, sport programs can be seen as vital to prevent violent extremism or build peace, as it can with nurturing core life skills in young at-risk people – such as confidence, self-esteem, self-discipline and self-control, teamwork, breaking down cultural stereotypes – which are transferable to other contexts such as conflict avoidance, but are more effective when associated with other activities, such as education, training, employment, volunteering, etc. Much more work needs to be done though in this area.

The last two decades have seen a rapid increase in the use of sport for development and peace (SDP). Yet the closure of the UN Office for Sports for Development and Peace in 2017 has created a global vacuum of a reference point that provides thought leadership, raise awareness and developing tools for the use of sports and physical activity in the advancement of peace and development objectives. 

IFRC’s contribution to youth development through S4D

The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has long recognised the potential of sport for development and peace – for example in 2011, the IFRC and the IOC proposed a pledge signed by 57 National Societies endorsing the potential of sport for value-based education seeing sports as a key tool for the innovative promotion of values education.

A scoping study done in 2013 by the IFRC has emphasised on the role of sports in bringing values to life and making them accessible for many human beings in a very authentic, and sustainable way whilst offering chances for intergenerational discussions. In addition, IFRC and the Asian Football Federation have signed an MOU to advance work on social development causes whilst the IFRC and Special Olympics have been working together for the last 6 years.  Many National Societies and the ICRC have used sport for different purposes, mostly in a social inclusion context, and some (e.g. Danish Red Cross, supporting Bangladesh RC) in a humanitarian context, again often linked with psycho-social support.

In addressing the current challenges to do with youth isolation, exclusion, and violence prevention, the IFRC is spearheading a new project in partnership with The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy of Qatar 2022 (SC) – Generation Amazing (GA). The project is a unique hybrid of football for development skills (F4D) and Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change (YABC).

F4D is GA’s flagship program that empowers and educates future generations around the globe to address three priority issues-vulnerability, health and wellbeing, and environmental sustainability. YABC is the IFRC’s flagship initiative on the promotion of a culture of non-violence and peace (CNV+P), that empowers young people to take up an ethical leadership role in inspiring a positive transformation of mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors, both within themselves and their communities. It is built on three pillars – empowerment, operating from inner peace, and reaching out to the community.

The new YABC/F4D project – uniting through the power of football – consists of a hybrid curriculum that has been developed to combine the (Y)ABC methodology and F4D approaches to use football as a driver for social change. It focuses on developing youth leadership and a social entrepreneurship spirit to mobilize vulnerable young people and communities in out-of-school activities can help prevent the occurrence of violence, improve their access to education and employment, ensure better social inclusion and build resilience in excluded at-risk communities, leading to healthy lifestyles, greater engagement, fewer problems with peers, and increased pro-social behaviour.

Through the project, young people will not only experience personal transformation, but create an external ripple of change. As they navigate their leadership journey, they will learn powerful skills around discipline, healthy living, teamwork, and engage with their local networks in meaningful ways. By doing so, they will create change in their schools, neighbourhoods and the broader world by implementing solutions to some of the most challenging problems of our time from a community-based lens and with the initiator of this being the F4D methodology, combined with YABC approach and additional basic educational processes. The project will involve thousands of young people in this process and will in turn create thousands of solutions directly implemented by young people.

The project is currently being trialed with Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies in Argentina, Uganda, Myanmar and Iraq, testing outcomes identified in the multi-country project design to assess the effectiveness and impact of combining the IFRC’s (Youth as) Agents of Behavioural Change and GA’s Football for Development (F4D) initiatives. 

With the onset of COVID-19 lockdowns, much of the hybrid curriculum has had to be adopted for the online space with IFRC YABC trainers. As the project unfolds, it expects to have an impact on the improvement in the social inclusion of marginalized and excluded youth, particularly those living in at-risk communities, refugees, and internally displaced young people, as well as in host communities, by recruiting disadvantaged youth to participate in football driven leadership development programmes.

The programme puts forward a community-based model of resilience using team sports to address issues of identity and cultural isolation. It aims to prove that with the provision of life and leadership development skills, as well as learning opportunities to vulnerable and excluded community-based young people through an integrated F4D and (Y)ABC skills training programme, enhancement of local capabilities will help young people drive social change on the ground and take responsibility for those actions. This will ultimately lead to an enhanced well-being and personal resilience of vulnerable youth.

Paving the path to youth leadership

IFRC and GA believe that young people represent the single greatest untapped resource for good across the globe. They are ready to change the world. Through this project, both partners want to show that sport and life skills will equip this generation of young people with the necessary skills and mindset to change the world for the better –not someday in the future –right now. They are hungry to lead and imagine innovative approaches to make their communities healthier, safer, and more inclusive, while writing new narratives of who they are and what they are capable of.  

this originally appeared here on Sport and Dev

Reimagining Sacrifice — how do we approach the lessons of the Hajj?

 The 20th of July 2021, for most Muslims will be the celebration of the Feast (or Eid ul Adha) symbolizing the culmination of the pilgrimage by Muslims to Mecca (the Hajj is one of the five fundamental pillars of Islam). These few days of light and love characterise prayer, reflection, symbolize meditation, a return to the Creator and prayers for peace, for happiness, for justice.

The Hajj serves as a symbol of unity in diversity as Malcolm X wrote

“…we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood…. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colours together, irrespective of their colour”.

It was on the day before the hajj, that the Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him — PBUH) gave his final sermon with an anti racist message:

“All humans are descended from Adam and Eve. There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, or of a non-Arab over an Arab, and no superiority of a white person over a black person or of a black person over a white person, except on the basis of personal piety and righteousness.”

It is this message which creates a moral and ethical mandate for Muslims to support anti racism and it is the impetus of this day that symbolizes the sacrifice and struggle that is needed to act on that mandate.

Thus the global Muslim community will join in solidarity with the select few who have had the privilege of actually performing the Hajj, the most spiritual of journeys, answering the invitation from God to visit His sacred house, in response to the prayers of Prophet Abraham and his son Prophet Ishmael (Peace Be Upon them Both), who built the Ka’abah (the House of God) and subsequently prayed to Him that His most beloved of followers (and believers) would come. In the Qur’an, God orders Abraham (Peace Be Upon Him — PBUH) “…proclaim the pilgrimage to humankind, they will respond, coming to the sacred house on foot, riding every possible conveyance coming from every distant path.” (22:27). Those who come for the pilgrimage proclaim ‘Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik — here I am at your service O Lord, here I am’.

Invitation from God

This is singularly one of the direct relationships between God and Human. You come purely for the purpose that you are invited by God and respond to the prayer of Prophet Abraham (PBUH). In this journey you enact an inter religious experience that was initiated by Prophet Abraham (PBUH) and his family. The hajj allows us to follow in the footsteps of his family, from the running of our mother Hajar (between the mounts of Safa and Marwa) — a reminder of a noble, lone, tired, exhausted black woman living as a single mother in the desert, without family, without support, without money, without water; to the recommended act of worship of performing a sacrifice of a sheep in remembrance of the proposed sacrifice of Abraham’s son.

As the main inspiration and father of the lines of Prophets that brought the three world religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Eid ul Adha is not only significant for Muslims but is symbolic for Christians and Jews as well. The common grounds and the commonalities of the stories of ‘the leader of all mankind’ as God describes him in the Qur’an (2:124). Abraham (PBUH) was not only a ‘nation’ (16:120) by his own right, with his descendants including Isaac, Moses and Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Them All), he was also the ‘friend’ of God (4:125) due to his qualities of sacrifice, extraordinary faith, an uncompromising commitment to upholding the oneness of God and righteousness. This is in essence the core of the three Abrahamic religions that derive their ethics and qualities from these attributes that not only lays the foundation for inter-faith dialogue but for multi-faith action as the Qur’an says “Who could be of better faith than the one who surrenders utterly to God and is a doer of good and follows that faith of Abraham, the upright one?…” (4:125)

Abraham (PBUH) teaches us belief in the Divine, the one God, and urges the leading of an upright life. He fought against the idols of the day, the symbols that sought to destroy society and its natural inclination to God and Justice and when the time came was willing to sacrifice his son (who in the Islamic teachings consented after being consulted by his father) in a joint act of submission to God. The spirit of the sacrifice is what is discussed here and not the form. Whilst there is a dispute in the different Abrahamic teachings about the identity of the son who was supposed to be sacrificed (and how things actually transpired), there is a more fundamental lesson for us to learn and that is in the willingness to give up that which is dearest and closest to us; it is whether we have the resolve and willpower necessary to achieve the higher spiritual goals deemed of us, to make that sacrifice for something greater, to understand our journey back to the beginning, to understand the common and ancient origin of our human roots which is about the worship of the One Creator and the same reality of what this life means, what we have to do and where we will end up.

Equally the story of Hajjar should not be forgotten, of the single mother, cast aside or seeking to sacrifice familial ties for the sake of the protection of her baby, running here and there, searching to provide for her baby and having trust in God. This is a story to reflect on and ponder in the current age and speaks well to the lived experiences of many today and a reminder for us all to celebrate and contemplate.

How does it relate today?

In today’s context these lessons are even more poignant. Faced with the need to physically distance with COVID-19, we have learnt to ‘sacrifice’ those things that are close to us to survive. In many sad cases, we have had to sacrifice people for others. COVID-19 really has brought to reality the importance of the delicate balance that is necessary in human relationships to ensure respect, understanding and acceptance. The Abrahamic story of Sacrifice reminds us of this delicate balance and responsibility. It also reminds us of the need for mutual respect and sharing the burden of others, something that the pandemic has forced us to understand. We have been forced to re-evaluate what is important and who is important in our lives.

The story of the Sacrifice is about understanding that to achieve justice there is a price to pay. It tells us that through showing the ultimate sacrifice of a parent’s closest and beloved possession for the sake of the One to whom you will eventually return, we are taught that whatever we own and are close to, pales in comparison to the ultimate possession that we have: Our relationship with The One Most High. This is the lesson from the pandemic as well. This sacrifice coming at the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca is the very essence of the celebration. There is no gain without some pain, a poignant message in these times of easy satisfaction in 280 characters.

We are and need to be reminded to not only be thankful for all the blessings that we have, but to be content with them. We are asked to keep in check our greed as whatever excess; we share with those who deserve special attention — the poor and needy people, as well as the orphans. This is the true meaning of the sacrifice that we make so that those in need will benefit.

Thus, the Hajj represents a humbling spiritual journey; answering the invitation from God; that asks for God’s forgiveness, as the human being is stripped to its core representing the destruction of the inner demons and an equalization with one’s peers. It is a journey that represents the chance to be ‘reborn’, cleansed of the challenges of life, re-energized. It is a journey that takes one back to the essence of what creation and consequently life is about. It is about understanding the purpose of life’s journey and reorienting one’s compass.

Go; travel the world, look for the truth and the secret of life

The ultimate and most difficult lesson to learn on this journey is to understand our destination. For those of you who have read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, the understanding of this destination is very simple: ‘Go; travel the world, look for the truth and the secret of life — every road will lead you to this sense of initiation: the secret is hidden in the place from which you set out’.

This is the apparent paradox of spiritual experience whereby the constant effort that we make to purify, to control and liberate our hearts is in the end, reconciliation with the deepest level of our being and the spark that the Creator breathed into our heart which is the spark (the fitra) of humility, the awareness of fragility, the consciousness of limitation, the shoulder of responsibility. The responsibility to live justly and fairly. It is a responsibility that connects to the ‘other’ as God reminds us that he ‘has made us into tribes and nations so that we may know each other’ (qur’an 49:13)

The hajj, and its symbolic teachings, should help us to identify with others in different ways which is important in our role of living in society. It should help us remember that we are much more than a label, that our plurality and diversity are not divisive elements but are a cause for celebration but within that celebration is an understanding of common humanity and universal principles. This is the call for unity of the Muslim community and wider society that is made during this blessed journey.

The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) said “You shall not enter Paradise until you have faith, and you cannot have faith until you love one another. Have compassion on those you can see, and He Whom you cannot see will have compassion on you”. This is the Prophetic vision, fed down from Abraham (PBUH) which demonstrates how we must work, together, with others, with our neighbours. So, a world which makes sense, is a world in which we connect with other people, beyond our immediate communities and experience, and show them compassion and love.

Through Abraham’s progeny we are united by familial ties and the deep connection of our kinship. This shared human experience gives us the opportunity to remember our original spiritual substance and to realign our moral compass. We can either fight about our differences or remember that we are united in the singular conviction that Abraham (PBUH) held.

This is the shared message we share with our brothers and sisters of Abraham’s progeny and that is the message of the Hajj through the principle of the sacrifice: ‘to serve humanity, those in need; those without… To awaken your conscience in the proximity of the wounds and the injustices people face…To move away from your heart, your bad thoughts…To distance yourself from the darkest dimensions of your being, your violence, your jealousies, your superficialities’

Yet We have forgotten what the sacrifice is supposed to symbolize. The story and lesson of Prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, and Hajjar (Peace Be Upon Them) deserves to be shared, remembered, and celebrated. The conversation between father and son and of the single mother on this most hardest of scenarios bears serious contemplation. In the height of challenging circumstance, the consultation of a parent with his child and the firm but soft acceptance of a parent’s wish by a child highlights a dying relationship in the world today

In an age of commercialism, these lessons of the Hajj are lost amongst Muslims who settle more for the rituals and practices. Custom has transformed into duty and practice descend into commercialization and waste: waste of money; waste of meat; waste of food. A symbolic and recommended act of worship in remembrance of the Prophet Ibrahim’s (Peace be upon him) sacrifice becomes a literal obligation of animal sacrifice, so that the blood flows deep and the distribution of meat becomes the anchor for the duty. Yes, the poor, vulnerable and needy do not have meat, but no one stops to ask whether giving them meat for a day would help improve their lives or doing something else is needed. In today’s circumstances of poverty and need, and climate change, these questions of need and fit for purpose become ever more important In the essence of rushing to seek that instant satisfaction of redemption, we trivialize the essence of the need on the ground. Therein lies the problem. The closure of the space for reasoning, debate and rational thinking about faith, spirituality, and practice. By not allowing space for discussion to examine these ideas and principles, we negate the very concept of our heritage and teachings.

At the heart of our consumer society, where materialism and individualism drive our daily lives, the question of the sacrifice reinforces our personal effort and commitment and invites us towards the deep horizons of introspection and meaning. This in effect is the current analogy of what Abraham (PBUH) and Hajjar (PBUH) faced in terms of their fights. We have a fight against modern and post modern consumerism and narcissism that does not take into account the beauty of human nature or the crushing debt and poverty faced by millions around the world and we must be prepared to sacrifice all that is dear to us in order to fight it. The lessons of the covid-19 lockdown has reinforced that sense of going back to understanding what is really important for us.

The blessed feast of Eid ul Adha thus should not become a feast of food as it is now commonly practised but a feast of the faith of fraternal atmosphere that is shared with all brothers and sisters in faith and humanity. It should as we follow in the footsteps of Abraham (PBUH) become a rallying point to bring all members of his progeny together. Unfortunately, over the last decades, the concept of a fraternal atmosphere has been denigrated to a single notion within the mindset of the Muslim community, who have gradually entrenched themselves into an ideological box. This ideological comfort zone is an intellectual arrogance leading to an isolationist mentality and cultural ghetto, which world over, Muslim communities; especially those that live under minority situations, place themselves in. This isolationist mentality imbibes an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ attitude and has meant that the Muslim community has always been worried about ‘us’ rather than taking an all encompassing ‘we’. This assumption of singularity is the weapon of sectarian activists who want people to ignore all affiliation and loyalties in support of one specific identity. This is deeply delusive, divisive and is one that leads to social tension and violence for there is a sense of injustice and intolerance that is created from potential misunderstandings and misperceptions.

Thus there is a need to reimagine this concept and understanding of the sacrifice. To really understand that meaning of profound spirituality requires humans to acquire a force of being and doing, rather than to undergo despotic relentlessness of a life reduced to mere instinct. The concept of understanding sacrifice is to marry the purpose of our existence with the purpose of our subsistence.

That purpose is to follow Abraham’s footsteps and serve humanity, those in need; those without! That purpose is to awaken our conscience in the proximity of the wounds and the injustices people face! That purpose is to move away from selfishness / greed and waste; to distance ourselves from the darkest dimensions of our being, our violence, our jealousies, our superficialities. That purpose is to face our responsibilities with confidence and assurance.

To truly bask in the legacy of Abraham (PBUH), it is imperative not to lose our way by being driven blindly by traditional practices or by commercialization, and to come back to the very essence of the message of the respective faiths: respect and love of human beings (especially those who are vulnerable and have been unjustly treated) is a manifestation of the love for the Almighty..

So, let us come back to the essential. Let us remember that this celebration and feast, more than anything is a feast of fraternal atmosphere that is shared by all and thus in reaching out to address the true objective of spirituality through prayers and good deeds, let us remember the right that the poor have on us. Let us avoid the waste and more importantly the wasted sacrifices. Let us remember how to reach out to the ‘other’ from our shared heritage.

May the Almighty, who loves you, guide and protect you. May there be peace and respite for all those who are suffering. May you spend time with your loved ones in an atmosphere of happiness;

Eid Mubarak!!

this was originally published here

Decolonising the Humanitarian and Development Sector needs a reckoning.

 

Over the last one year, as a result of the horrific murder of George Floyd and the subsequent global Black Lives Matter protests, the humanitarian and development sector has also paused to reflect on the ugly truth that there is still not a level playing field in the world we live in, and that power and privilege has as much to do with wealth and nationality as it has to do with the colour of one’s skin.  

Yet whilst there have been attempts by the sector to address this from the more tokenistic to more deep rooted organizational cultural change perspectives, there has been one topic which seems to be not high on the agenda and that is a change in the whole system in place that the sector subscribes to, live in and work with, which  are oppressive to people who are Black, Indigenous or a Person of Colour (BIPOC) and from what is called the Global South, itself a disputed term. Anecdotes recorded from the humanitarian and development sector point out that there are overt experiences of racial discrimination, everyday micro-aggressions and unsafe workplace cultures.  There are stories about how the dominant policies, practices and cultures have marginalised people of colour and minorities.  

Whilst there has been much made of the ‘localisation’ agenda, pushing for  more agency from local actors, to become primary implementers and decision makers, there has been little open discussion of the ways, the power system and the heritage of the humanitarian aid, development and peacebuilding sector that impact the modern-day approach to projects and local actors.  Thus much is focused on reforming the process to get support to local partners within the existing framework without interrogating whether the system itself needs a significant rehaul from its conceptual basis.  

To focus on the existing system is to disregard the the lingering remnants of colonialism visible in aid flows, through humanitarian systems shaped exclusively by Western / Christian values, seeking to change the social, political and economic structures of countries in the Global South with little input from affected communities.  For many multilateral and international organisations, it has been convenient to focus on discussions of racism and discriminations as opposed to looking at the deeper systemic problem of asymmetric power that comes for a pedagogy that the brown and black subjects are not ready to take control of their destiny. To focus on tinkering within the existing system is to forget that the global aid industry is the grandchild of the colonial missionaries and is a result of the hangover of colonialism.  This colonial legacy has been reformed in the systems and structures that ‘civilising missions’ and humanitarian agencies from the colonial powers still perpetuate.  Much of contemporary laws, policies and actions instituted in and by humanitarian and development organisations often re-enforce the colonial power dynamics of people and institutions from the global North systemically oppressing and exercising domination over those from the global South.  It is these legacies influencing humanitarian assistance and development activities that affected people often feel that the services provided for them are not programmed with them, with their input and according to their needs.  It is these legacies that influence how affected people are treated and described essentialising a level of dependency and a lack of agency to them: ‘vulnerable’, ‘powerless’, ‘helpless’, ‘disempowered’, or ‘victim’.  

Thus we have to change the paradigm of the conversation.  We have to start from the decolonial perspective.  However,r to start with that, it is important to note that the co-option of racism, diversity and inclusion, social justice and social good, does not equate with a conversation on decolonization.  We need to understand the narrative of decolonisation, colonial, localisation and the intersection with diversity, equality, and inclusion.  Yet they are not the same!  Decolonisation debates did not start in 2020 but started when people in the global south began organising to counter the ideologies of the oppressors who sought to enforce power and seize land.  It is about coming up a with a new ‘paradigm’ of thinking and approach that interrogates the localisation agenda, provides agency to the ‘local’, that has a pedagogy of liberation and freedom that works in partnership with the affected community.   It is about disrupting the system and upending the structure according to and with local voices, cultures and traditions.  It is about taking the risk and having the right actors at the table, to hear their voices.  This is where the thinking and  discussion on decolonisation within the humanitarian and development sector  has to start and be explored.

Crucial to this conversation within the humanitarian sector is the need to decolonise Eurocentric knowledge systems and their role in challenging the enduring effects of colonialism and power (and racism).   Breaking the ‘white gaze’ in international development and humanitarian action involves questioning whose expertise we value, who we listen to, who holds the levers of power and who gets a vote. It also requires dismantling the ways we construct the communities we work in as “other”, i.e. places overseas with problems and needs, rather than places where solutions are generated and capabilities are in place. Most importantly, it involves transforming power structures so that those holding a seat of power start to look more like the communities where the work is taking place. We need to decolonize humanitarian and development aid by active engagement and leadership of people most affected by racism and colonialist attitudes in the debate towards future vision of humanitarianism.  We need to democratize humanitarianism by creating the fora and tools that allow the widest engagement of all humanitarian workers, mainly national staff in the project areas, in informing and guiding decisions.  We also need to realise the inherent complexities and contradictions of humanitarianism which also has at its centre showing solidarity with the other.  So a challenge remains in how we balance the two.

 

This is where there are opportunities provided by the coronavirus pandemic, where the lockdowns and restrictions of movement have exposed the fallacies of the current system and the unsustainability of the aid relationship.  It has provided a blueprint for true local, decolonised action where locals have agency and power to act according to their local challenges.  What is needed is the financial resources to back that up.  In providing that blueprint, a space can be provided for an

equity-based understanding of humanitarian action which advocates for ‘adapting humanitarian work to each individual’s needs and background [to ensure] those affected are being treated equitably’.   This means understanding that manifestations of oppression, such as racism, are rooted in power hierarchies that often do not operate alone. They intersect with gender, religion, socio-economic status, geography, sexual orientation, and numerous other social markers, creating layers of oppression that are inextricably intertwined. Thus, addressing one facet of inequity is not enough. Effective action requires an intersectional, operationally rooted approach to humanitarian action.

This is ultimately at the heart of a decolonized approach to disrupting the system of humanitarian and development aid.  We need to do better; we need to be better, not because it is the good thing to do, but the right thing to do, to treat people with dignity, respect and humanity.  This is our moral responsibility.

this originally appeared here on The Equal Group Website

Sri Lanka at 73: Reflecting on Scape Goats and Caste Issues

 Isabel Wilkerson in her seminal book ‘Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent’ writes about how “the lower caste performed the unwitting role of diverting society’s attention from its structural ills and taking the blame for collective misfortune”. The lower caste, being identified as those who were historically stigmatised (in the case of Wilkerson largely referring to the African American in the USA), as scapegoats would help unify the favoured castes to be free of blemish as long as there is a visible disfavoured group to absorb their sins.

  

The concept of the word scapegoat is quite interesting. First coined in the 16th century, it was used to describe the ritual animals that the Jewish community placed their sins onto in preparation for Yom Kippur. A key part of Yom Kippur, as described in the Torah, is the ritual slaughter of two goats; one for the Lord, and the other is designated “for Azazel”. Jewish tradition takes “Azazel” as the name of a rocky headland off which one goat, having the sins and faults of the community symbolically placed upon it, would be banished to the wilderness, to suffer the sins of others, thus freeing the community to flourish in peace. The other goat, the one for the Lord, would be slaughtered as part of the general Yom Kippur rituals. This slaughter would bring atonement to the community. Over the years, the concept of the scapegoat has mutated from being the bearer of misfortune to being blamed for bringing misfortune, thereby relieving the scapegoaters of their own responsibilities. In this sense, scapegoating means finding the ones who can be identified with evil or wrongdoing, blamed for it and cast out of the community as a sense of atonement of the remaining members, those from the dominant class or majority community.

So why is this important for the topic at hand which is a reflection on the state of affairs for Sri Lanka at 73 years? In a normal trajectory of human life, once you reach the seventies timeframe as I have been continuously reminded by those who have reached that age, you know that you have some limitations of time as you are ‘retired’ and just wiling away time. You are unable to actively contribute towards society as you may have done previously. All you can do is provide the benefit of your knowledge, wisdom and experience. You try to look forward and reflect on what you have achieved. You try to see if you can atone for your mistakes but at the same time, try to enjoy the remainder of life.

73 years of a nation’s history should also accord us the same reflection. As Wilkerson (2020) alludes “looking beneath the history of one’s country is like learning that alcoholism or depression runs in one’s family. You don't ball up in a corner with guilt or shame. You don’t if you are wise forbid any mention of them. You do the opposite. You educate yourself. You learn the consequences and obstacles and then you take precautions to protect yourself and work to ensure that these things don't happen again”. So in that spirit, we reflect on the past 73 years on whether we became ‘independent’ from a colonial power just to become ‘dependent’ on our closed patriarchal and monolithic thinking. In that reflection we also ponder more widely on how the country has evolved. As we celebrate the nation’s independence which in effect meant freedom from the rule of an outside force allowing all people the ability to take part in the decision making of their country, we must reflect whether this has been achieved and what should be achieved?

Whilst the formal system of caste is not something that Sri Lanka practices as strongly as its neighbour India, the concept of caste as an artificial construct of a ranking of human value that sets the presumed supremacy of one group against the presumed inferiority of other groups, very much exists. In this construct, the presumed inferiority is based on ancestry and other immutable traits that are ascribed life and death meaning in a hierarchy favouring the dominant caste (majority community) whose forebears designed it (Wilkerson 2020). In a similar guise, the concept of scapegoating has been present since independence. From the disenfranchisement and the stripping away of the citizenship of Indian Tamils; to the disillusionment of youth from the south in the seventies; to the marginalisation and harassment of Tamils initially based on language but later on historical mythology, ultimately leading to a bloody conflict and a violent conclusion; to the increasing harassment, hate speech and incitement to violence against the Muslim community over the last 12 years including a disregard of the basic funeral rites for COVID-19 victims, all of these in one way or another have become a scapegoat for the State’s failure, since Independence, to correct structural ills and the inequities associated with these ills. In particular the forced cremation issue over the last one year has displayed a disregard for the community and are a sign, in the words of the UN Special Rapporteurs, of “discrimination, aggressive nationalism and ethno centrism amounting to persecution of Muslim and other minorities in the country.”

So in this failure, there is a constituency full of an anticipation of their entitlement simply because of which community they come from, and with a sense of precarity for the loss based on the incompetence of the State to provide for them, becoming complicit in advancing this narrative that scape goats and punishes the minorities as being disproportionately privileged or undeservedly benefitting. A tragic irony given that the very machinery upon which the majority have been afforded the chance to build their lives and assets is often forbidden or made difficult to access for the minorities. 

After 73 years, Sri Lanka is facing its biggest international challenge in this regard with the recent UNHRC report that has berated the Government for an accelerated deterioration in civic, political, minority, religious and other democratic rights in recent times, “a deteriorating human rights situation and a significantly heightened risk of future violations”. And whilst there will be a push from the State as in recent times to go an offensive, deny and confront these ‘external’ influences, the fact of the matter is that unless it confronts the failure to fix the structural failures and to deal with the minorities (or lower castes using the terminology of Isabel Wilkerson) in a way that acknowledges, respects, understands, accepts and includes them, this is a problem that will not go away.

Sri Lanka is not a homogeneous monolithic structure but one where cosmopolitans come together to provide agency and expression to the multiples identities that every person has and performs on a daily basis. Your single identity of faith or ethnicity or gender or age or social standing cannot and should not be a limiting factor to your agency of full expression of being Sri Lankan. 

So in the reflections for independence, the responsibility for all of us, but starting with the majority community, the dominant caste, who have the agency, the power and the privilege, has to reflect on accepting the diversity amongst your fellow countrymen: that the ‘privilege’ that you can have is based on your abilities and achievements not because you were born into wealth or a certain ethnic group or family or in a certain city.

Being ‘Sri Lankan’ is not just coalescing around the national team or flying the flag at Independence or as an option for the majority community to selectively choose and appropriate different cultural foods to articulate their preference or for the minority community to show that they are ‘true patriots’. It is not in the rhetoric or the clothes one wears. When people are oppressed due to their ethnicity or their faith; when they make ‘Russian roulette’ decisions based on their economic circumstances; when they know their gender might limit their agency; when those in power steal, cheat and lie; then this is a pain that all of us should feel. When one Sri Lankan is hurting, all of us should be hurting.

Reflecting on Sri Lanka and being Sri Lankan is to challenge those who say and do wrong even if they are from our own faith and ethnic grouping simply because this is the right and just thing to do.

So 73 years on, there has to be a recognition that to be Sri Lankan is to accept that the country belongs to all. Some of us may not have been in control of what happened in the past, but a majority of us have control of what can happen in the future. There is no political vision for nation building and nothing that respective governments have given us that give us confidence that this will be addressed. perhaps the failure is not with them, but is a collective responsibility as we ourselves in our own daily lives perhaps do not respect the very foundations of a nation. After all, how many of us are guilty of the selfishness of looking first to our own communities, to abusing the environment and also not necessarily understanding the hardships of the most vulnerable and marginalised?

Finally to be Sri Lankan is to accept that the above though seeming idealistic can be achievable if we can work together. Though we may not all get there in the end and that there will be many mountains to climb, we will persevere on this journey because we are Sri Lankans - who love this island, its different tastes, smells and colours - and this is the right and just thing to do.

--

This originally appeared here on Global Order

Keeping the Dream Alive

 Last year, I wrote about needing to dare to dream in remembrance of Martin Luther King (MLK) in the midst of isolationism and racism. Reading back on that piece, I am struck that this was written pre pandemic lockdown, pre George Floyd, pre Washington DC attacks. So one year on, standing as we do on an annual basis to remember and rededicate our struggle for justice, equality and equity, what would MLK make of today’s environment.

We have seen the best and worst of humanity over the last year. We have seen the inequities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, whether it is those who are on the front line who have been disproportionately affected and died as a result; or being impacted on a secondary basis (socio-economic / inter personal violence). The inequities and injustices that have been faced by the most marginalized, most vulnerable are there to be seen. Secondly we have seen how communities have started to help each other out and really be there as a support in the local context. With the rise of right wing nationalism, the issues of racism and xenophobia have become more widespread. The attacks in Washington DC on the 6th of January, illustrate that racism has not only become mainstreamed but that this is a clear and present danger.

So in this light, a question to ask is how would MLK be viewing this particular fragile time in global history. In the light of his ‘I have a Dream’ speech, what would he be saying now faced with the past year?

My thoughts are that he perhaps would not be saying anything different. The tragedy is that despite being made all those years ago, the ‘I have a Dream’ speech is as relevant now as it was then. The incidents of the 6th of January as a culmination of the last 4 years, highlights that the USA still has much to follow to live up to that dream. Beyond that though, there is much to reflect whether we on the whole have truly learnt from that time of history. In the wake of the numerous social injustices and inequities of the past year, there is much to reflect on and be accountable for doing or not doing. What would MLK have said and more importantly what would he have done?

My feeling is that MLK, despite the challenges to his popularity or his Instagram image, would have stood up and spoken against the injustices of racism, the disproportionate amount of minorities suffering and dying from the pandemic and the rise of right wing nationalism. He would have challenged the system to correct the faults even though he faced the risk of being condemned to an obscurity that he didn’t deserve, such as what happened during the Vietnam war or even the Poor People’s Campaign.

the globalisation of fragility

The current globalization of fragility as a result of the pandemic requires a need for a new paradigm. MLK’s invocation offers hope for a manifesto to combat injustice that calls out for a spiritual response using non violence. In the wake of economic, psychosocial stressors, there is a need to come back to non violent resistance an act of moral resistance that brings to the front the fight against poverty, humiliation and underdevelopment.

Successful non violence efforts requires great strength of character, perseverance and discipline. It is a means of awakening a sense of injustice and moral shame in the supporters of a power structure, showing them that they have more to gain by ending injustice and oppression than by maintaining them. It is about exposing the unjust means of a power structure, the isolation of actions, changing the narrative that can be used for justification.

Ultimately non violence is about communicating a moral priority. None communicated this more than MLK who despite losing his supporter base would shift attention from the civil rights movement to economic injustice and the Vietnam war in 1965, which unfortunately have been erased from the cultural narrative of his life and legacy.

MLK used this as a invoking of a sense of moral shame that would damage or diminish its prestige. In his 1963 letter from Birmingham jail in particular, MLK drew inspiration from the gospel and biblical teachings in order to justify his fight against injustice. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. He mentions just and unjust law and offers insight into how not only the church but other faith leaders and communities should act in the face of injustice. — to be a thermostat that transformed the mores of society and when he mentions ‘ if the church of today doesn’t recapture the sacrificial spirit of the past, it will lose its authenticity. It will forfeit the loyalty of millions and will be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning’.

This is the dream that needs to be kept alive especially during these bleak times of the lockdown. Injustice in the home (through interpersonal violence), or in the community (through socio economic burdens) is on the increase. There has to be a way to fight against this to ensure that the marginalized and vulnerable are not forgotten.

As we face the pandemic and lockdown it is easy to get disillusioned. It is easy to lose confidence and focus. We have to keep our spirits up and the need to keep on dreaming. Confidence needs to be maintained

This is the challenge that MLK sets for us today, people of faith and no faith to see where we stand during times of challenge and controversy, rising above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. This is why we need to keep the dream alive to ensure the MLK’s vision is not confined to the annals of a whitewashed history.

This originally appeared on medium

Reflections of 2020

 So there it is, we come to the end of 2020. To say that it has been a memorable year is perhaps an understatement. It is certainly one for the history books and once in a life time, where the globalisation of fragility was completely experienced and understood. For the first time in a long time, we globally collectively felt that connection, with some one else in the other part of the world. That connection of not being able to move out freely and having to physically distance. We truly felt that connection, when we heard stories of people dealing with loved ones who were sick or having zoom calls interrupted. We connected in ways that perhaps was not thought of before and we got personal insights into people’s homes; the pictures they hung on the walls, their sofas or kitchens, the books they read or even an insight into their personalities through the virtual backgrounds they used.

Yet in as much as the COVID-19 pandemic connected us, it also divided us and exposed those divisions in society for all to see. It showed us the horrible divisions between those who have, who could afford a separate space in their homes, and those who had to share with others. It showed us those who were digitally accessible and excluded those who did not have access to sustainable connection. It showed the real plight of the vulnerable and excluded in our societies, those hidden away and out of sight, who have carried the burden of this pandemic. Whether it is being on the front lines of service providers as bus drivers or cleaners or medical staff or living in under privileged housing, not being able to physically distance, not understanding the communication being shared about the pandemic, many of those who have been disproportionately been affected by the pandemic have been the faith and ethnic minorities. In some cases, the intersectionality with age, gender and disability means that those who are elderly, female, disabled and from a minority are worst affected. In many cases, ethnic and religious minorities, have been unfairly blamed for the cause and spread of the disease.

In all of that we were left with the need to change and adopt. Adopt to a new way of working; adopt to a new way of engaging with our families; adopt to a new way of worship; change how we looked at the concept of time and space. As faith leaders, we have had to embrace new ways of reaching out to our congregations as the hierarchy for religious dialogue has become flattened with a zoom call. We have had to think how we create virtually the same spirit that existed in person. We have also learnt to the things we could not change.

For many of us as managers and leaders, we have had to take on additional responsibilities on top of being coaches, guides, managers, leaders and mentors. We have had to take on the added responsibility of being the carers, the inspirers, the listeners and the motivators. We have had to be patient, we have had to be more compassionate, we have had to be more flexible, we have had to be more human. As we faced challenges for screen time, and face to face time with family, as we dealt with the tragedy of being away from loved ones, we have learnt to empathise with our team members who do this on a daily basis often without help. We learned that it is ok not to be ok, and it is ok to say that and express that. We have become patient with the phrase ‘sorry I have to deal with the kids now’ or ‘I can not put on the camera as I am working out of the kitchen’

Despite all these changes and challenges, the uncertainties, the sadness of the loss of life and the restrictions on movement, 2020 remains a year of learning and growth. For me this has meant:

Patience

Learning patience. Understanding the Serenity prayer when you pray for serenity and courage to be aware of what can be changed. If anything 2020 has taught me that resilience comes from patience. In the Qur’an we are reminded consistently around the need to build patience. In fact in Chapter 103, we are reminded that Man is at loss except those who amongst other things enjoin on each other the mutual teachings of patience. We are so used to things working at the click of the button that we have lost that ability to be in the moment and enjoy that space. We have forgotten to enjoy the journey and be content in acknowledging that we do not know what we do not know. We have to learn to be patient, with each other, with the process, with ourselves. We do not need to continuously achieve and do everything. Sometimes, we just need to stop. We need to listen to the wind, to the birds and to the people. We need to talk and hear their voices. We need to be inclusive and accessible and meet people where they are and not where we want them to be.

Spiritual Reset

Getting a Spiritual Reset. This year we have had to worship differently and discover new ways of keeping in touch with our spirituality. For many faith leaders, they are now on duty and on line consistently more than ever. There is hardly time for them to switch off or reset. Who motivates the motivators is a key concern of mine. So there is a need to find a safe space for dialogue, reflection, learning and sharing from an inter and intra faith perspective. Likewise for many of us in our own individual spiritual journeys, we need those spaces and those inspirations to help us. This year more than ever, I feel blessed not to have learnt and engaged in my spiritual traditions but also in talking to people from other faiths, learnt and appreciated some of their spiritual traditions that inspire them. In talking to them of their faith and their understanding of God, I have come to appreciate my own individual spiritual journey. How can I sustain my spiritual upliftment? you have to learn to get it from all sources whilst keeping true to your principles. seeking knowledge means you are open to different tools to help you with your journey

Company

Relishing the Company. Because of the physical distancing, we have come to appreciate those relationships that we had and couldn’t meet this year. In our busy lives, it is those that we share our lives with on a daily basis that we take for granted and we segment time for them. The pandemic has given a new appreciation of your partner, in terms of their likes and dislikes and your kids. There is a realisation that out beyond the technologies there is a field where your kids and partner just want to play, to imagine, to draw, to read, to have a movie night, to cook together, to shop together, to laugh, to have spontaneous fun. This is worth more than the scheduled holidays or the organised events. It is those 10 mins in a day that add some energy to you and lets those who you love know you are there for them. You will discover characteristics and traits that you didn’t see and you will appreciate the flaws and strengths of your loved ones. This pandemic has also meant more frequent calls with loved ones in other countries, which has been great to understand that a monthly conversation is worth it despite the fact that you don’t particularly like that cousin. For me, it has meant having those daily or once in two days conversations with my parents even if it is for 10 mins. I haven’t seen them in close to 2 years and since they live in a different country to me, I know it will be a while since we meet. So even if we talk about the weather, it is this need for them to know that I am there and for me to hear their voices.

The journey

Enjoying the journey. We have gotten so used to thinking about what next, the next job, the next country to holiday in, the next gig. We haven’t really got time to enjoy the journey. We don’t see the wood from the trees. Picture a train ride in the picturesque swiss country side. Instead of looking at the window at the lovely lac leman, we are focussed on what is happening in the other part of the world. We watch tv but read the latest face book updates. We are never really present. COVID taught us to be present, to slow down, to relax and take in the moment. We were not able to go any where, we were not able to do much, we were not able to plan for the future, so we took in the moment.

Gratitude

Being Grateful. I learnt that though we were suffering from the lockdown, I was in a better position than others. I had a steady job, in comparative safety, able to work and contribute, bring in the monthly pay check, put food on the table and ensure life continues as much as normal. This is something to be so grateful for given others have not been so lucky. So be grateful for what we have right now. In that gratitude is the opportunity to help others in whatever small way, by giving in charity, helping and mentoring others, listening to people, talking to them and being there for them emotionally. To cherish the gratitude has meant also giving back, and learning new skills. Using this opportunity not to feel down but to see how you can learn and improve.

Now I appreciate that one can be cynical about this and say that I speak from a position of privilege which I totally accept. However this is the current reality in which I am in and these are the lessons and reflections that I want to share with you. I hope they are useful.

For 2021, I hope we learn and keep these reflections in the back of our mind as we move forward to be better humans, to be better with our families, with each other and with the environment. The pandemic has taught us the human life is vulnerable and no one is indispensable, so no one should think of themselves as superior because of their age, gender, faith, ethnicity, colour, social status. So as we get back to a new post covid normalcy, let us shed our arrogance of ego, our quest for competition and destruction and come back to a new compassionate perspective.

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This originally appeared on Medium

To bury or not to bury… that is the question

 I had a conversation with a friend from Sri Lanka recently. Both of us being from the Muslim minority community we were reflecting on the current state of things with regards the cremation of COVID-19 burials enforced by the Sri Lankan government despite no substantiated technical or scientific evidence, going against all of international guidance from the World Health Organisation and the International Committee of the Red Cross. He told me of the heartbreaking discussion he had with his family just in case of his untimely death. In the event if there was any suspicion that he had died from COVID-19, he had requested his family not to pursue with the burial, dispute the cause of death or even claim his body from the hospital, putting the burden on them to cremate. Instead he requested his family to allow the authorities to cremate his body as they have been doing with other unclaimed bodies of covid victims. Instead he had asked his family to say a prayer for him and plant a tree in his memory. This was a difficult conversation for me to have for two reasons.

The first being the mental anguish that people are going through in Sri Lanka around being accused of having covid, but that in many cases, people who have died of other causes are being labelled as having died of covid-19. Either through sheer incompetence or malicious intent (given that many of those who have died have been from minority communities), there is a culture of fear pervading people in Sri Lanka around COVID-19.

The second difficulty for me was the state of my friend’s mind in asking his family not to claim his body and to allow the authorities to cremate the body. Such is the state of anguish and mental pressure affecting Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka, that this is a real concern for their final rites. I could only imagine the courage that it takes for one person to have that conversation with your family members.

Like other cultures, the Muslim community have their own set of rituals, worship and traditions to help ease the pain. Within Islam, the management of dead bodies is the object of specific rules that are aimed at ensuring the dignity and respect of the dead as well as for their surviving relatives. In this sense, for Muslims, cremation is not only prohibited but it is viewed as a desecration of the deceased. This is based on the metaphysical belief of a connection between the body and soul even in death, and thus it is unthinkable for that type of treatment to be inflicted on the body in death.

In enforcing cremations, without any recourse to appeal, the Government stands accused of disregarding and being insensitive to the needs of the minority Muslim and Christian and marginalizing them. When I tried to discuss this with another friend of mine, who comes from the majority Sri Lanka ethnicity, it was explained away as saying “the trust with the Muslim community was lost after the Easter Sunday attacks and so this is the reason”. This is flabbergasting and really is a sign of the state of thinking especially amongst the majority.

It is this thinking that is plaguing people like my friend, causing unnecessary mental stress and anguish on top of the disruptions caused by the covid-19 lockdown. It is this exclusivist thinking that will push people to the extremes, thinking that they are not welcome and have no place.

To paraphrase a famous bard: To bury, or not to bury, that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them.

How do we oppose them?

this originally appeared on medium