An Artsadmin project allowing young people to express their socio-political opinions through processes including performance, discussion and happenings. The project involved a group of 16-25 year olds who met weekly between February and April ’08 to discuss political issues that affect them and their communities. Participants worked with artist Richard DeDomenici and a selection of invited guest lecturers to see how they can actively bring awareness to the issues affecting the group.
Last week, I wrote a letter asking SC Johnson for donations for the Make it Smell Nice intervention. Theres a post around here somewhere on it. SC Johnson finally replied, and alas no such luck on their support. Below is their reply:
Dear Ms Amjad Thank you for your enquiry regarding donations from SC Johnson. While SC Johnson appreciates the worthy cause supported by your efforts, we must regretfully decline. We have enclosed our Guidelines, which explain our Giving Back policy, and illustrate that we cannot possibly be involved in all that we would like. Although we cannot help, we do wish you success and thank you for thinking of S C Johnson. Yours Sincerely Martin Wilkins Customer Service Supervisor SC Johnson
So I did a similar piece to Joanne, going off on inanimate objects.
Walking past a TV shop with my cousin I start shouting at the TV:
‘I am tired of you always asking for a break, you’ll be back in 5 minutes!?! No more breaks I want to talk! I just wish I could get over you. I go away and when I come back you have changed 434 this week 343 next week and I checked you listings, who the hell is Nollywood, that wasn’t there last week!
My cousin thought I was Bananas! She thought it was funny how I was playing on the ads and new channels etc. She didnt really get the concept but we had an interesting chat about Political Art after that.
Richard devised a series of questions that the group researched live on a selection of laptops.
Each group had 10 minutes to research the posed question and then presented their findings.
Question 1
This picture was taken yesterday in Athens.
Who is the man standing behind Liu Qi, president of the Beijing Olympics organising committee, what is he doing, and why?
RESPONSE
The man holding the flag is a reporter from the group Reporters without Borders. RWB campaign for freedom of speech amongst journalists. Each year RWB produce a report about press freedom figures include: In 2007:
86 journalists and 20 media assistants were killed 887 arrested 1,511 physically attacked or threatened 67 journalists kidnapped 528 media outlets censored
Online: 37 bloggers were arrested 21 physically attacked 2,676 websites shut down or suspended
In 2006 85 journalists and 32 media assistants were killed 871 arrested 1,472 physically attacked or threatened 56 journalists kidnapped 912 media outlets censored
Question 2
This is a branch of Starbucks in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Some say that China has a love-hate relationship with western capitalism.
But what is Communism and Capitalism anyway?
And do the ideologies of each diifer from their real-world application?
RESPONSE WOW this is a huge question! the group produced a bite sized answer but said that they could write a dissertation on this subject!
Put simply Communism in theory = equality amongst all, no state, no class system, no hierarchy.
Communism in Practice = the state owns everything, leaders exist and become power hungry. Examples of communist countries include China,Cuba and North Korea.
Capitalism = To support yourself and gain wealth within a free market, value is placed on progress and power.
Extreme Capitalism = an American Theory called Libertarianism which is a form of capitalism where the state doesn't exist.
Communism and Capitalism negate each other but without either what do we have? Chaos and Anarchy, perhaps!
Question 3
This is the emblem of the Olympic Movement.
What are the ideals of the Olympic Movement?
Are there any contradictions between these ideals and the forthcoming Beijing Olympics?
(answers to be uploaded shortly)
Question 4 - not answered in this session
On the right is Nancy Pelosi in India last week.
Who is she with, who are they both, why did they decide to meet, and what has been the response to their meeting?
Question 5 -
As it gears up to host the 2008 Olympic Games Beijing has been awarded an unwelcome new accolade: the air pollution capital of the world.
What has been the environment effect of China’s rapid economic growth?
And what can be done to improve the situation?
Question 6 -
This is Björk performing her song Declare Independence at a recent concert in Shanghai. At the end of the performance she shouted “Tibet! Tibet!”.
To what was she referring, and what was the response?
Question 7 -
Fear of a looming recession grows as the global credit crunch continues. Many say that China is “propping up” the US Economy.
What do they mean by this, and what are the potential implications if true?
Question 8
This is the 2012 Olympic Stadium. The current total cost for the Games and the regeneration of the East London area, is £9.345 billion.
What criticism has there been of the plans?
What is the government’s justification for the games?
Do you think the Olympics are good value for money, and how could costs be reduced in future?
THE GROUPS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS 3,5,7 AND 8 WILL BE UPLOADED TOMORROW
Whitechapel Gallery expansion complete Venue: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, E1
The Whitechapel Gallery is set to enter the construction phase of a £10m expansion programme in January 2007, incorporating the former library situated next to the gallery. The expansion aims to unite and preserve two landmark buildings, increasing gallery space by 78% and offering more learning opportunities by trebling training and education facilities. Construction is due to take 18 months, during which time the Whitechapel will present a programme of free film and video exhibitions, off-site artist commissions and late night openings with live music and poetry. When it reopens, the Gallery's 100-year old archive will be open to the public for the first time, alongside a new restaurant, expanded bookshop and full access for disabled visitors.
www.whitechapel.org Whitechapel Art Gallery; Rachel Mapplebeck: 020 7522 7880 rachelmapplebeck@whitechapel.org
August 2008
London bids to host Gay World Cup Venue: vtba, worldwide
London-based gay football team Leftfooters FC is fronting London's bid to host the International Gay & Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) World Championships in summer 2008. The annual tournament features separate competitions for men and women, and is set to take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2007, where the winning bidder for the 2008 tournament will also be announced. The Leftfooters are proposing a week-long tournament to take place in Regent's Park, which will also include a social and cultural celebration of London ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games. The bid already has the backing of the FA, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone and VisitLondon. The Leftfooters are currently looking for businesses willing to sponsor the event should the bid be successful, with a Sponsor Pack now available detailing packages costing £2k, £5k and £12k.
www.iglfa.org www.londonwc2008.co.uk Leftfooters FC; Richard Collumbell: press@londonwc2008.co.uk
Late 2008 London's biggest shopping centre planned Venue: Shepherd's Bush, London
Plans have been announced for a £1.6 billion shopping mall in London's Shepherd's Bush. The centre, scheduled to open in 2008, will house almost 300 stores and 40 restaurant's, cafes and bars, reflecting the capital's vibrant eating-out culture. The complex will be twice as big as Brent Cross and is being seen as a major rival to the West End. It will house flagship branches of Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, Waitrose and NEXT, as well as 265 smaller retail units. A 14-screen cinema is also planned for the site. As well as the new retail park, a £170m upgrade of local transport links is also in the offing. The centre will be developed by property company Westfield.
In reference to this afternoon's discussion, China did sign the Kyoto treaty, but because it is considered a developing country, it doesn't have to reduce it's emissions. Also, if you calculate emissions per capita, things become rather more complicated. The following is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol:
In 2004 the total greenhouse gas emissions from the People's Republic of China were about 54% of the USA emissions.[39] However, China is now building on average one coal-fired power plant every week, and plans to continue doing so for years.[40][41] Various predictions see China overtaking the US in total greenhouse emissions between late 2007 and 2010,[42][43][44] and according to many other estimates, this already occurred in 2006.[45][46][47]
The Chinese government insists that the gas emissions level of any given country is a multiplication of its per capita emission and its population. Because China has put into place population control measures while maintaining low emissions per capita, it claims it should therefore in both of the above aspects be considered a contributor to the world's environment. In addition, the country's energy intensity - measured as energy consumption per unit of GDP - was lowered by 47 per cent between 1991 and 2005; from 1950 to 2002, China’s carbon dioxide emissions from fossil sources accounted for only 9.33% of the global total in the same period, and in 2004, its per-capita emission of carbon dioxide from fossil sources was 3.65 tons, which is 87% of the world average and 33 per cent of that of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.[48]
In June of 2007, China unveiled a 62-page climate change plan and promised to put climate change at the heart of its energy policies but insisted that developed countries had an “unshirkable responsibility” to take the lead on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and that the "common but differentiated responsibility" principle, as agreed up in the UNFCCC should be applied.[49][50]
In response to critics of the nation's energy policy, China responded that those criticisms were unjust[51], while studies of carbon leakage suggest that nearly a quarter of China's emissions result from exports for consumption by developed countries[52].
Instead of starting with a political concern or issue and trying to turn it into a performance, Oyinda and I decided to start simple with an intervention that doesn't really have an impetus.
Who: Joanne What: Shouting at a signpost Where: Kensington Gardens, Brighton Why: Not too sure (W)How: Walk up your chosen object, address it as you would a human being, lecture it and walk away. Dress as you would normally When: 12pm, Brighton
The sound isn't very clear so here is the jist, that I remember:
"What are you doing? Why are you just standing there, above everyone else, telling them what to do, where to go? Just make a decision for yourself. And this baggage [re: the bin], just holds you back, you're so full of rubbish"
Success? Well, I don't know, few people really cared or paid attention to what I was doing, I was in Brighton however where anyting goes. I was ranting, I could have thought more about what I was saying, perhaps inadvertently spread awareness about an issue. By saying it to the signpost perhaps people would pay more attention? Or just thougt I was either mad, or doing a performance. I think thought into the context, audience, place is needed for this to work
For my project this week, I wanted to make a response to the vehement objection to the ID cards scheme made by NO2ID. I don't neccessarily support the idea of ID cards, I just feel that people ignore the possible benefits of the scheme too much; when people talk about ID cards they often talk as if everyone assumes that they're a bad idea. Call it a protest against people only seeing one side of the story. I should have called it "MAYBE2ID", but it didn't seem quite as effective.
I'm not entirely happy with it at the moment, I feel that my arguments are half hearted and unpolished, but it is a work in progress. If anyone wants to give me some advice or critisism, please do.
As we were discussing on Tuesday about mine and Vivian's little protest, I decided to make a start on my [rather bad] letter writing campaign, for the donation of Aerosol Sprays to Make it Smell Nice!
Below is a copied and pasted version of my email to SC Johnson, the producers of Glade and Oust and other such things.
I will now wait for the reply.
Dear SC Johnson,
As a family company, I'm sure the pleasant atmosphere of any family home, and of any family establishment would be of interest to you. I'm sending this email on behalf of the group TFL[To Freshen Our Loos] regarding a suggestion of the donation of some of your products for a greater cause.The TFL works to create a more pleasant environment for the public, and we believe that your products would be of great use to us.
As a non profit organisation, we have no financial means to purchase your products, so a donation of some of the Glade® Aerosols would be ideal, as this we could then distribute amongst local lavatories that have been expressed as smelling absolutely foul.
You can view more information about TFL's campaign, 'Make it Smell Nice' at http://makeitsmellnice.blogspot.com/
Looking forward to your reply.
Hopefully we can sort something out.
Cheers.
Maryam Amjad
[P.S. For the title choices, there are only Mr, Mrs, and Mrs again. But as an unmarried woman, I don't feel comfortable calling myself Mrs. Amjad. I highly doubt I'm in a matrimonial contract with my father. I hope this can be addressed too.]
Let's see if TFL get the resources to Make it Smell Nice!
How we individually read the interpretation of Escalated, how it felt to be part of Escalated.
Efficacy of performance and protest
Who is the target of the work: public, a target group, college peers?
Vivian and Maryam's performance (images on the blog) what would have been the effect of this performance if they took direct action?
Lisa's performance, (video on the blog) How would this change if it was performed in a public space? How would it's interpretation alter if what was written on the paper was different (a dollar sign? for example)
How the understanding of work can change when performed in different contexts.
We then split into smaller groups discussed ideas for actions that could be applied to two different locations/audiences. What issue's would we protest against? What are the themes we want to address? How location/ audience/ dress/ context will effect the interpretation of this performance.
This week's project brief:
To create a performance that can exist in two spaces, one of these spaces must be a 5 min walk from Toynbee Studios.
Remember to address:
WHO / WHAT / WHERE / WHY / (W)HOW / WHEN
Perform one performance/action/protest anywhere but this must happen before next Tuesday (MAKE SURE YOU DOCUMENT IT).
Perform again for ThinkTank group, in or around Toynbee Studios next Tuesday (25th March).
A poke at the selfishness, egotism and general self-indulgence that people possess.
Too many people have a "Other people do it, why shouldn't I?" attitude to too many things; environmental things like litter, not recycling, not saving energy and similar, or things that have a direct effect on other people like casual homophobic insults: "That's so stupid and gay" or commiting benefit fraud - something that fraudsters may claim only steals from the government, but actually backlashes on the people who have to haul themselves halfway across town just to prove to the authorities that, yes, they do have a broken leg and aren't just trying to get free money. People have to take the time to look at what bigger ripples their actions are creating, and to understand that things will only start to change for the better with the action of an individual.
Well, this title can look a litle bit strange. Let me explain:
My name is Josefa. I am a brasilian girl, and I am 22 years old. I am here to try some kind of "virtual exchange" by the other side of the ocean to Think Tank Project.
"Against Gravity" is not a manifestation, it's a test about the possibility of not-manifestation.
In my University, one of the most important of Brasil, we have started a discussion about the decision of the rector to forbid any kind of manifastation inside the univerty.
I decided accept it. But I started to have some problems, I don't know how to stop manifestations.
I still feeling hunger every day, I still feeling necessity to excrete urine from my body. Even trying hard my body manifest all the time. Sometimes I just have to laugh and it's impossible to stop, other times I just can't stop crying. Even the in a raining day, rain just keeps falling even telling it that's prohibited.
Than I just realized that I couldn't give up. Maybe we can find a way of stop things to manifest in the world. That's why I have decided to fight against all the things that insist to manifest and exist. As I am very tired of walking long distances every day, as I am tired of taking croud buses every day, as I am tired of hurt my kness when I fall over the ground, I imagined that would be wonderfull if gravity could stop to manifest over my body. If I could stop the manifastation of gravity I could try to fly, I would never fall, I would never have problems on my knees.
Some pictures of my first challenge: stops the manifestation of gravity over my body
I have recently discovered the "Armando Iannucci Shows"
Its a really surreal comedy, making comment on society and encourages awareness. Its very funny and poignant! I recommend, it gave me some ideas for interventions...
Its on dvd or could probably see snippets of it on youtube or something
Which reminds me of something else that he did called "Time Trumpet", which is a show set in the future looking back on 2005/2006 etc, you can watch it on aluc.org and youtube. Again poignant at making a comment on society with comedy!
As good old, or not so old as the case may be, Vivian explained, our little subtle performance was a mini protest against the smell that erupts from toilets, and in particular, male toilets. Rooting for fresher air, and making 'it' smell nice, the TFL [To Freshen our Loos] working for the The Royal Society of Urinary Refreshment.
We dumped our stuff with some colleagues, and donned XXXL t-shirts [because they're comfortable and cheap] with the TFL slogon, Smell the Breeze, not the Wees!, explaining quite clearly, I imagine, the purpose of our performance.
Donning our shirts, and grabbing the flyers I made while watching America's Next Top Model, which show a very happy urinal named Willy. And why is Willy so happy? Because he doesn't smell. And he wants to pass on this feeling, so Make it Smell Nice he says.
And here Vivian wears her version of our t-shirt. As you can see, she looks ecstatic to be passing on Willy's word.
Vivian was not too keen on the flyers, so she made up her own way of passing on Willy's word. Via Postits! Now postits are the most magical thing invented so far, and for a bright orange one to tell you to Don't Make Bad Smell! [Courtesy of Frank] is just icing on the cake. Other such magical phrases that these postits donned include the magical, Smell the Breeze, Not the Wees!, and Heart not Fart! and Kiss not Piss! and a Bloo not Poo!
And here we are, with token stuff carrier while I attempt to convert the people around me. They didn't seem to pleased. But some enjoyed me screaming at them to, Make it smell nice!
I attempt to convert some more people with Willy's word..... it's not working very well. So I decide to try harder. By stalking.
So here I am, stalking. They don't seem very pleased as they ignore me, and walk past. Although there were several nicer people who stopped to take a depiction of Willy. And some who stopped to ask for directions. To Tescos.
And finally, a job well done. The End!
All in all, it was quite fun and enjoyable, and if I wasn't so cold, it might have lasted longer. And the cause seems to have taken off! With it's own blogspot, and facebook group with actual people besides me and Vivian, the Make it Smell Nice campaign seems to be causing quite a minimal stir.
So our "project" was to do a discreet perfomance, and the performance Maryam and I decided on was a protes against smells in the toilets. (mainly male toilets, as Maryam was so "pumped up" on that idea). Our campany name was To Freshen our Loos, a.k.a T.F.L. and the main idea was that during our photography trip to galleries in London we would do our performance. However, due to our teachers embarassment, we had to do it sometime after the trip. But with Maryam's enthusiasm, we ended up doing it during our little Lunch break, which meant we walked around with big t-shirts with "Smell the Breeze, Not the Wees" painted on it.
Our journey started out at MacDonald's near the Photographers Gallery, where we decided to have our lunch at, we put our t-shirts on and started giving out flyers which said something along the lines of "Make It Smell Nice!" it also included our blogspot ( which does exist) http://www.makeitsmellnice.blogspot.com/, it also had a nice picture of a Urinal on it, (designed by our lovely Ms Maryam). As an extra we also wrote notes on postit notes and stuck them on people, places, and whatnot. We walked up and down the area passing the entrance of MacDonald's a few times and ended up outside a pub for a while giving out flyers. Although we got very, very, weird looks from the audience, if was quite an enjoyable event.
Right, so enough from me, enjoy some memorable photographs.
Joao was asking about the "Open Nights". These are talks, debates organised by Barby Asante and Rajni Shah (the last one a talk by Gabriela Salgado, Tate Modern Curator and La Pocha Nostra Member), the link to the Open Nights website is : www.myspace.com/opennights
However they do not advertise up and coming Open Nights on this website, so to find out more email on@thisisliveart.co.uk
Following "Escalated", our discreet anarcho-surrealist intervention on the Central Line. Your project this week is to try out an idea of your own discreet anarcho-surrealist intervention, document it and put it on the blog! You can document it in anyway you want, film it, photograph it or write about it!
I was at McDonald's today, trying to redeem my NUS card which entitles me to a McChicken and fries for £1.99. Now, I queued up like every other customer, I paid like every other customer, but I wasn't served like every other customer. I was glared at by the cashier, or whatever politically correct job title they have now, and glared at by other customers, and glared at by the manager, who's time I wasted, trying to convince, that in fact, I am allowed to pay less than the average person. I was spoken to like a second class citizen, and my food was thrown at me in contempt.
When did paying less become this socially unacceptable thingamajig? When did being a student, and trying to conserve the limited income be categorized the same as the drunkard trying to pay for a burger in pieces from a monopoly game and banana skins?
Now, when there was a limit to money and food, and supplies were rationed, it wasn't called being stingy, or being cheap, or being irritating when you queued up to buy something, and spend as little as possible. But doing that today, in a society where money means literally nothing sometimes, trying to save a quid or two on your lunch is looked down upon.
I'm just a student, trying to save as much as possible, and I don't see why a few minutes of a manager's time [when in fact, they should already be prepared for such an event when someone uses an NUS card, without me having to convince them, that something like this in fact does exist], and a few minutes of the people in the queue should mean that I am sneered at for trying to have enough money to eat the next day.
I don't see why I should be embarrassed for just acting like the student I am.
Yes. I am a student. And I will save a few quid when I can.
To protest about the recent law brought in to ban protesting within a mile of parliament without prior permission from the police, this group will be patrolling the area of the circle, district and jubilee lines that go inside this zone and informing likely subversives of there lack of rights and labeling them as dangerous. This happens to be going on at around the time of our group so watch out, since i don't think many of us are quite normal enough to slip past them.
I realised when walking out of the second session that although there were generally funny comments on what annoyed us during the week it was only issues of injustice that had been protested.
I realised that this is where most passion lie and when these lines are blurred it is much easier to let the issue lie. I wondered why the marches some went on, against the war in Iraq brought about little or no response to the outcry. My only responce is that there are many on the other side of the fence, believing that the war effort is justified!
I wondered if anyones toes would get stepped on, when we discussed issuess around anti-Israel and againts animal rights activists cause to be fair we dont all know each other. It made me realise that protest is a personal thing centred around a belief system, sometimes these are held by a majourity and other times not. They can offend, can be art and they can change history!
Most of my liberties are due to the protest of others, their sacrifice and pain! I look forward to learning more about protest and how powerful these can be in inducing change.
Members of the group said that some of the things they would protest about are: London Underground- prices, ticket machines and the difficulty of using them when left handed, the service UCAS - the system for choosing universities Pro Palestine Ownership of the media Free London papers Human Rights Anything they feel passionate about No to cars in London Water to be free
The behind the scenes London tours look great and they are always looking for volunteers!
Worldwrite are a charity helps create links between young people across the globe, encouraging them to learn from their peers, develop new skills, expand their horizons and champion the aspirations of newfound friends.
In my AS year, I chose Critical Thinking as an enrichment subject. In half of the classes we studied the art of argument and in the other half we studied the credibility of evidence. In all we were encouraged to debate. In one class we touched on the subject of the evil moral practice of prejudgism. Talking about the wrongs of condemning a religion, I asked "But isn't it okay in some circumstances, because a lot of religious ideas are really backwards." My remark was met with a hostile silence.
Some of the stupidest things I've heard a religious person come out with is anti-evolution Christians' argument against Darwin's theory. One Jehova's Witness who stopped at a bus stop in an attempt to convert me told me that we couldn't have evolved from apes, because where we've built computers and cities and things, they haven't. If I wasn't too busy fretting that she was going to make me miss my bus, I might have taken the time to explain to her that the word EVOLVE sort of implies that we would be more advanced than our ancestors. Another argument - which the anti-evolutionists claimed was PROOF that evolution was bullcrap - was that a banana was canned food from God. God had made a nutritious snack in packaging that was ergonomical - the perfect circumference to hold and those ridges provide excellent grip! - and easy to open. They're even yellow, making them easy to find. What these people failed to take into consideration was that the modern banana is domesticated. 40 wild banana species exist, most of them inedible, and often exist in brown, lumpy forms. Farmers have used selective breeding in order to produce the perfect banana that we know and love.
Of course, bafflingly stubborn refusal to accept evidence that challenges the word of a holy text is one thing, but it's when religion hurts people that is the problem. At my college this week, there are a lot of events on about Islam. Talks, discussions and similar. To promote it, at Monday lunchtime, some of the people organising it threw a cake sale and gave out literature. I picked up a few leaflets, including The Position of Women in Islam. Here are a couple of quotes:
"The natural difference between the sexes is acknowledged in Islam and the physically stronger sex is given a greater degree or responsibility concerning economic maintenance and protection, and overall leadership of the family. But certainly, this responsibility does not imply superiority over the women - this would go completely against the spirit of justice and equality in Islam. Allah explains: 'Men are the protectors and maintainers of women because Allah has given one more strength than the other and because they support them from their means...' (Qur'an 4:34)"
I'd like to make a couple of points here: Firstly, since when was physical strength a factor in economic maintenance and leadership? Maybe when we were cavemen, when economic maintenance consisted of being able to earn your daily successfully-hunted meat, but surely it's now intellegence that is the important requirement. Secondly, this is a large generalisation that suggests that because the average man is stronger than the average woman, every husband is physically stronger than his wife. Which is just not true in a good porton of married couples. Even if the Qur'an was going to insist that strength is the requirement for family leadership, rather than define the difference between genders, it'd be a lot easier to just say "the stronger of the two in the couple", rather than making all women seem like delicate little flowers.
"Professionalism, hard work, and loving commitment are the natural skills that a woman as a mother, imparts. However, Muslim women are free to persue employment if they are able to, and with the agreement of their husbands if married."
Right, so, is it me or does that basically say 'Oh, sure, women are free to so whatever they want! Of course, you're DESIGNED to be a baby-making machine, so if you do get a job you'll be going against what role God intended for you, and you can't get a job if your husband doesn't give you permission....... but it's TOTALLY your choice!' Also, I'm going to have to complain about this generalisation again. Is this suggesting that every single woman is born with these traits? Then what about the lazy women and the ones who can't commit to a relationship... or those that can't handle their child and abandon it? Some people might say that we should be grateful for this positive generalisation, but positive discrimination is still discrimination, and the truth about the nature of women makes the Islamic argument about a woman's role as mother and domestic head of the household irrelevant.
With all of the careful, tactful tip-toeing around any issues that might disillusion the reader about the equality of genders in Islam, with burqas* briefly mentioned on the last page as "the robe of modesty" it failed to address the big issues, such as women being stoned to death in Muslim countried for committing 'adultery' by being raped. The Qur'an does not actually say that adultery is punishable by stoning; this idea has come from the Hadith, which are oral traditions about the prophet Muhammad. However, the Qur'an does say in chapter 24 verse 2: "The woman and the man guilty of ZINA - flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment." Although a woman given 100 lashes would most probably die from this punishment, also. Either way, despite what is given in writing, in practice sangar - the stoning to death of women - was reinstituted under Shariah law in Iran in 1979, after a brief period of it being outlawed. The government said that it was a "religious principle" against women. Of course, views and practices this extreme are not excersised by a lot of Muslims, this is only practiced by some very strict Orthodox Muslims, but the opression of women within religion has been an issue for millenia, and it particularly annoyed me that this leaflet that I picked up tried to insist that Islam was different, promoting equality between genders, when the very Qur'an claims that women are weaker than men and made to be mothers, and in practice women are often just as sexually and socially oppressed as in any other religion.
If anyone wants to know, I am agnostic, not an atheist. I'm open to the idea of God, why not? In this crazy universe, anything could exist. But I strongly object to the idea of religion for two reasons: 1. A religion involves a level of worship and rules that people have to follow to please their God. If God created us so that we could spend a good deal of our time praising them and going on about how great they are, it strikes me as damn egotistical and I don't think I can respect - let alone love and worship - someone so arrogant. A religious person may say that I'm thinking of God in much too human terms, and that for the gift of existence the return of worship is just a small token of gratitude, like a Mother's Day gift. I don't usually do Mother's Day and my mum shows surprise and confusion on the few occasions that I make the effort. She has always assured me that I owe her nothing: I didn't ask to be born and she has no right to expect something back. You can't do someone a service without being asked and then whine when they don't pay you for it. 2. Religion is run by men. Why should I trust holy leaders when they say they are acting on God's behalf? Religious texts are totally unreliable. Firstly we have to get over the issue of whether or not the Bible, Torah, Qur'an etc were actually written by God or by humans wanting to get people under their control, as there is absolutely no proof that they are the word of God. Then there is the problem that even if they were originally from God, texts get re-written. This is especially true for Christianity and the Bible, which has been translated several times and practically re-written since the original text. In the King James Version of the Bible, God rewarded Abraham with slaves. In the Torah, which made up parts of the original Old Testament, Abraham was NOT rewarded with slaves. Somewhere along the lines, a mortal human has written an approval of the slavery of people into a religious text that millions take as the word of God. So what else have people slipped in there?
Once I was handed a Christian leaflet that told a story of an athiest who was trying to tell a group of people that God was a lie. A Christian woman approached him and asked him if he was happy with his life. When he became defensive, she told the crowd that he was not here to preach about happiness, and that if they wanted to be happy, they had to let God into their hearts. I appreciate that belief in God gives comfort to a lot of people, but I don't see why people have to rely on religious leaders bossing them around to believe in God. Some people may argue that religion and a fear of God's retribution makes people nicer, but hey, here's an idea: Why don't we stop being nice just so that we won't go to hell and instead be nice so that everyone's happy and we all live in a better world. I don't believe that there's an afterlife, but I believe to some extent the concept of karma. Not as a spiritual force that guarantees equal payback in your life of all the bad or good that you've ever done, but I believe in karma in the terms that if we were all good people, there'd be much less suffering for all of us. Religion, however, causes guilt, social segregation and wars just in itself.
Scientology is a religion that is viewed by most people with suspicion, mostly on the grounds that you have to pay to be a part of it and that the faith has split up many families and ruined people's lives. Oh, and the fact that it was started by a Science Fiction writer who was well documented to have said that he would like to see what would happen if he made up a religion. Scientologists are often deeply offended when their faith is referred to as a "cult". Here is a definition of the word "cult": 'a system of religious or spiritual beliefs, especially an informal and transient belief system regarded by others as misguided, unorthodox, extremist, or false, and directed by a charismatic, authoritarian leader' Surely this could be used to describe any religion?
What really bugs me is that if I complain about the concept of religion, I insult billions of people. And as individuals, at least millions of those billions are probably really nice people. Millions more are probably not really nice, but still fairly nice and haven't done anything wrong. But here it is: I think religion is just a way to brainwash, control and oppress people, and if people weren't religious, we'd all have a lot less problems.
I welcome any criticisms to this small blog, or any information that anyone would like to offer related to the topic.
*I'm not actually against burqas on the whole. The concept is that it liberises women because they can avoid being objectified, I know I often wish that I could cover myself with a sheet without people thinking I'm a weirdo, and Muslim women are not forced to wear them (although there may be a possibility that there is some level of guilt that encourages them to). However, the fact that women wear burqas and men do not is questionable. Can men not be objectified, also? Are women the only ones that can provide the sexual temptation to induce lust in others? Also it does annoy me somewhat that Muslim women can get past laws and rules to do with the obligation to show your face in certain public locations. At my college burquas are allowed, but anyone who is not a Muslim woman can't wear a hood. I don't really expect anyone who is religious enough to wear a burqua to do anything that would require their face to be caught on CCTV for them to be identified and removed from college for our safety, but one rule for some, another rule for others always bugs me.
Richard set the group the task to think about something that has annoyed them over the past week. These will be presented in Session 2. Taking Place on the 4th March at Toynbee Studios.
Arts Admin
86 journalists and 20 media assistants were killed
and jumping...
Vivian was not too keen on the flyers, so she made up her own way of passing on Willy's word. Via Postits! Now postits are the most magical thing invented so far, and for a bright orange one to tell you to Don't Make Bad Smell! [Courtesy of Frank] is just icing on the cake. Other such magical phrases that these postits donned include the magical, Smell the Breeze, Not the Wees!, and Heart not Fart! and Kiss not Piss! and a Bloo not Poo!
And finally, a job well done. The End!
Yes. I am a student. And I will save a few quid when I can.
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