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, Contributed by: DRL Anniversary ConferenceAbstract:
Synopsis generated from the paper: In this conference address, Ben Kies argues that the Non-European Unity Movement must take the Ten-Point Programme as its real basis of unity, not as a distant ideal or a paper pledge. He reviews how the programme was adopted through the 1943–44 unity conferences, and how it already marked a break with the South African Indian Congress leadership. He answers four misunderstandings: that accepting the programme ends one’s duty; that it licenses immediate adventurism; that it is only a long-term goal needing a separate short-term “bread-and-butter” policy of compromise; and that theory does not matter compared with action. Against these, he insists the programme is both means and end: day-to-day struggles must demand its points as a minimum, and reforms come as by-products of that militant demand. The preamble, he stresses, teaches that Non-European oppression is deliberate ruling-class design, not Christian misunderstanding; that full equal citizenship is the only solution; that segregation must be fought inside Non-European ranks as well as outside; that the movement is anti-segregation, not anti-European, and must keep the door open to white workers as eventual allies; and that the lack of political rights is the root of landlessness, labour colour bars, poor education, and related disabilities, so the political fight for full democratic rights must be central. The ten points themselves are the shared minimum demands of African, Coloured, and Indian oppressed. Accepting the programme in letter and implication is the test of genuine unity and the main way to break racial barriers among Non-Europeans.
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Added by: Björn Freter & Marc GwodogAbstract:
From the writing of her first book, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society in 1975, Mernissi has sought to reclaim the ideological discourse on women and sexuality from the stranglehold of patriarchy. She critically examines the classical corpus of religious-juristic texts, including the Hadith, and reinterprets them from a feminist perspective. In her view, the Muslim ideal of the silent, passive, obedient woman has nothing to do with the authentic message of Islam. Rather, it is a construction of the 'ulama', the male jurists-theologians who manipulated and distorted the religious texts in order to preserve the patriarchal system. Mernissi's work explores the relationship between sexual ideology, gender identity, sociopolitical organization, and the status of women in Islam; her special focus, however, is Moroccan society and culture. As a feminist, her work represents an attempt to undermine the ideological and political systems that silence and oppress Muslim women.Comment (from this Blueprint): Fatima Mernissi’s works provide an insight into the debate on the place of women in Muslim societies. This book is interesting in that it shows how the male-female dynamic was built on a particular interpretation of the Qur'an and how this ideology organized and regulated social roles according to gender. It also provides an understanding of how male-female interactions are affected by the processes of modernization in Muslim societies.