A partnership project between the Office of Ethnic Affairs and the Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand

Overview

This booklet provides a broad overview of the Building Bridges project. It outlines its

principles, objectives and initial outcomes. It also provides insights into the future

directions of this ongoing project.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the topic of Islam and its compatibility

with Western society’s values and mores has arisen as a key public policy debate in many

countries with Muslim minorities. In recent years, Samuel Huntington’s theory (Huntington,

Samuel P. 1993) of a ‘clash of civilisations’ between the West and the Muslim world has

received wide publicity.

A range of issues lies at the heart of this debate. These issues include concerns about

security, whether Muslims can adapt and contribute effectively to the societies they live in,

and the compatibility of Islam with human rights. Recent world events such as the London

bombings (2005), the Paris riots (2005), the Prophet Mohammed cartoon controversy (2006)

and the events at Cronulla Beach (2005) in Australia have intensified such concerns. Debate

following these incidents has led to grave concerns about Muslim people being stigmatised,

stereotyped, and marginalised throughout the world.

Although these incidents have created tensions within communities, they have also created

opportunities for constructive discussion about the place of Islam in contemporary Western

societies. It is becoming recognised that Muslim communities must be actively engaged in

identifying both the problems and the solutions. The issues are complex and encompass

such topics as identity, discrimination, the place of religion in secular societies and the

conditions that lead to marginalisation of young people.

The Government’s commitment to finding constructive solutions is reflected in its hosting

of the Asia Pacific Regional Interfaith Forum and the first regional symposium in response

to the high-level United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) Report, both in 2007. The

AoC Symposium held in Auckland, in particular, aimed to test the relevance of the AoC

Report recommendations to the Asia Pacific region, recommendations designed to improve

connections between the Muslim world and the West (see Appendix I: Alliance

of Civilizations).

The symposium rejected the notion of a ‘clash of civilisations’ and developed a strategy

for dealing with the challenges described above. Those attending the symposium identified

those recommendations in the report that are relevant to the region covering the four

AoC focus areas – education, youth, media and migration. (United Nations, Alliance of

Civilizations (AoC), November 2006). These four areas were endorsed again in the AoC

Forum held in Madrid in 2008.

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The first step towards considering these focus areas in New Zealand was to establish

a constructive framework for collaboration between the Government and the New Zealand

Muslim community. The Office of Ethnic Affairs, Ministry of Social Development Family

and Community Services, Ministry of Youth Development, New Zealand Police, Auckland

Regional Migrant Services (ARMS), RMS Refugee Resettlement, Auckland District Health

Board, among other agencies, had been working in partnership with the Muslim community

for some years identifying ways to tackle these complex issues. In 2005 the Office of Ethnic

Affairs, in partnership with New Zealand’s umbrella Muslim civil society organisation, the

Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ), created a project called ‘Building

Bridges’ to respond to these concerns.

The project represents a strategic approach to working with the New Zealand Muslim

community on issues related to public awareness, constructive inter and intra-community

dialogue, and building strong relationships with other faith and ethnic communities, the

Government and mainstream agencies. This project is now also well positioned to respond

to the focus areas identified in the AoC initiative.

“BUT WHICH IS THE STONE THAT SUPPORTS THE BRIDGE?” ~ Kublai Khan

The growing concerns outlined in the overview, about the integration of Muslims in Western

countries and perceptions about the incompatibility of Islam and the West, have shown up

in New Zealand as elsewhere. Islamophobia is an irrational fear of Islam & Muslims (Forum

against Islamophobia & Racism (FAIR)). It has begun to emerge here over the past few

years. A number of incidents have been reported where Muslims, who were identifiable

as such by their appearance, were the targets of abuse or violence. These incidents

involved harassment and exclusion of New Zealand Muslims in a range of situations,

especially in the year after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States

of America. The most publicised incident was in 2005, when there were simultaneous

attacks of vandalism on Auckland mosques following the London bombings.

The hostile actions of a few cannot be taken as representing the feelings of all

New Zealanders. Nevertheless, it is important to recognise the symptoms of potential fear

and prejudice that may be occurring within New Zealand following incidents overseas.

Misperceptions and misunderstandings can be reduced through raised public awareness,

education and dialogue between communities.

Although challenging, the incidents mentioned above have also stimulated healthy debate

about mainstream perceptions of Islam and highlighted the need for dialogue between

communities. They have also motivated Muslim communities to build solidarity and to

empower themselves to respond proactively to rising concerns.

Islamophobia and New Zealand

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In seeking to understand the impact of the issues outlined above, it is essential to be

aware of the history and socio-demographic composition of Muslims in New Zealand.

The first Muslims recorded in a New Zealand Government Census were Chinese gold

diggers, in 1874. The first Muslim organisation was established in 1950, when there were

estimated to be only 150 Muslims in New Zealand. Muslim migrants included agricultural

workers from the Gujarat region of India in the 1920s and 1930s, European refugees in the

1950s, Asian students in the 1960s and Indo-Fijians in the 1970s.

In the 2006 Census, nearly 36,000 people indicated a religious affiliation to Islam, an increase

from just over 23,000 in the 2001 Census. This represents a significant increase (52.6%) in

the size of the Muslim population in New Zealand.

Although Muslims are not an ethnic group as such, most Muslims in New Zealand also

identify with an ethnic group that marks them out from the majority. For Muslim people,

their ethnic and cultural identity is often interwoven with their religious identity. Muslims

in New Zealand belong to over 41 ethnic groups. This figure is based on 2001 Census data

on the ethnicities of the Muslim population, that are considered by government definition

to be part of the ‘ethnic’ sector, for which the Office of Ethnic Affairs is responsible.

While New Zealand Muslims are ethnically diverse, they share a common faith identity.

The Statistics New Zealand definition of ethnicity/ethnic group, is as follows:

‘Ethnicity is the ethnic group or groups that people identify with or feel they belong to.

Ethnicity is a measure of cultural affiliation, as opposed to race, ancestry, nationality or

citizenship. Ethnicity is self-perceived, and people can belong to more than one ethnic

group. An ethnic group is made up of people who have some or all of the following

characteristics: a common proper name, one or more elements of common culture that

need not be specified, but may include religion, customs, or language, unique community

of interests, feelings and actions, a shared sense of common origins or ancestry, and a

common geographic origin.’ (Statistics New Zealand, 2006)

The government uses the term ‘ethnic’ to refer to those people whose ethnic heritage

distinguishes them from the majority of other people in New Zealand, including Mäori and

Pacific people. The sector includes people of Asian, continental European, Middle Eastern,

Latin American and African descent. Census 2001 statistics show that Muslim individuals

in New Zealand identified with over 60 ethnic groups, 41 of which are seen to constitute

the ethnic sector.

Muslim communities in New Zealand

5

A significant number of New Zealand Muslims are Indians from Fiji. In the last ten years

the Muslim community in New Zealand has grown rapidly, boosted by migrants and

refugees from many source countries. Our Muslim community now comprises many

different ethnic groups, including Arabs, Somali, Iraqis, Iranians, Malaysians, Indonesians

and people from the Balkans. Some authors have referred to the religious unity between

these groups as a ‘pan-ethnic Islamic identity’. (Lewelling, Maj T. 2005)

This pan-ethnic Islamic identity is helpful in understanding the connections between Muslim

communities and also the diversity within them. It also helps debunk the misperception that

there is a threat arising from a single, homogenous Muslim community. Indeed, focusing

on the religious dimension of these communities only obscures the great diversity that

exists between the different ethnic groups within the Muslim population of New Zealand.

This diversity naturally leads to many interpretations of how Muslims should adapt to new

circumstances or evolving conditions. Khaled Abou El Fadl (Qantara.de. 2005) for example,

notes that Islamic theology and jurisprudence shows a great deal of flexibility about how

Muslims should live in a country as a minority.

Opportunities for constructive dialogue on the issues facing Muslims in New Zealand

are needed both within the community and also between Muslims and the wider society.

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The Building Bridges project

In 2005, the Office of Ethnic Affairs took a proactive step towards dealing with some

of the core concerns about and within Muslim communities in relation to Islamophobia.

New Zealand has unique advantages in dealing with the complex issues involved in this

endeavour. There is our history of reconciliation as reflected in the government’s Treaty

of Waitangi settlement process to remedy Mäori grievances about confiscated land.

Another example of reconciliation is the government apology to the Chinese community

for the discriminatory effects of the poll tax imposed by the Chinese Immigration Act of

1881. There is also our human rights record. New Zealand was the first country in the world

to give women the right to vote in 1893. In 1971, this was the first country in the world to

introduce legislation that protected the human rights of individuals and groups against

discrimination on the basis of race, colour, ethnicity or national origin. The relatively small

size of our population provides a platform from which to build bridges of understanding

between people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs has a strong and unique relationship of trust with Muslim

communities which has positioned it well to develop a sustainable, partnership

based project with the New Zealand Muslim community to address the issues they

are experiencing.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs’ key focus was to establish a strategy for constructive

engagement with the Muslim community to explore methods for tackling the challenges

faced by Muslims in New Zealand today. The strategy was also aimed at preventing the

types of issues and recent critical incidents relating to Muslim communities that have been

experienced overseas from arising in New Zealand. It was essential to build on the robust

activities already initiated by Muslims in New Zealand and for the Office of Ethnic Affairs to

provide increased support for these endeavours, such as Islam Awareness Week and youth

leadership training.

After discussions with community leaders and consultation with the community, the Office

of Ethnic Affairs hosted an introductory Building Bridges Project workshop in Auckland in

December 2005. In order to empower the community, the workshop was structured in a way

that enabled the participants to discuss and consider the many challenges they faced as a

group, and then identify possible ways of dealing with them. This was an important step in

engaging the community in a constructive process.

Further consultations with the Muslim community in 2006 led to a strong community

endorsement of the project and its aims. The project was called ‘Building Bridges’ to convey

its fundamental purpose and vision – the building of strong and sustainable relationships of

trust and respect between New Zealand Muslims and a diverse range of ethnic and faith

communities in New Zealand.

We needed to establish three distinct aspects of the project as a framework of reference:

1. The principles that would underpin the project.

2. The objectives, priority themes for the initial stages.

3. Corresponding initiatives.

These three aspects are outlined further within this booklet.

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The principles of Building Bridges

The building of any bridge usually requires an understanding of the gap to be bridged,

as well as careful planning and attention to detail. Our project sought to identify the key

elements that were required to build bridges between communities.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs and the Muslim community established the following operating

principles as part of a framework for future collaboration:

Respect

Given the great diversity within the Muslim community, it is important that all parties

respect the range of viewpoints and ideas that are likely to emerge throughout

this initiative.

Inclusion

It is essential that the Muslim community develops a genuine sense of belonging to

New Zealand and of inclusion in the country’s growth and development.

Empowerment

Muslim people will empower themselves to generate discussion and debate within

their own communities and with other communities about contemporary critical issues

including the challenges outlined above.

Participation

The Muslim community aims to participate fully in civic society and to continue making

valuable contributions to our country.

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The objectives of Building Bridges

As outlined above, the broad outcome sought from this project is to generate ways to

build bridges across communities in order to promote respect, understanding and inclusion

of Muslims in all spheres of New Zealand life. These bridges, once built, would then

create ongoing opportunities for debunking stereotypes, developing friendships across

communities and enabling Muslims to participate more actively as valued citizens of

New Zealand. All parties accepted that this would call for sustained, phased efforts from

a range of stakeholders over a period of time.

Having established the key principles of the Building Bridges project, the next step was

to crystallise them into the three objectives. The objectives developed are interconnected

and mutually reinforcing. They are:

Building awareness

To combat potential Islamophobia in New Zealand and the marginalisation it can cause,

New Zealand Muslims must be empowered to project accurate information about

themselves. This can help generate new information that prevents misconceptions

taking root.

This step is also important because it can help the Muslim community begin to focus

outwards and recognise opportunities for positive engagement with wider New Zealand

society. Strong relationships of trust and respect between communities in New Zealand

will help them remain cohesive in the face of adversity or challenging events.

Building capacity

Like any other faith community, the Muslim community contains a great diversity of

perspectives. This is healthy and desirable. Nevertheless, solidarity is equally important

when dealing with common challenges. The Office of Ethnic Affairs recognises that

any bridge building with the wider host community can only be successful if the Muslim

community has a measure of cohesiveness, as well as a shared understanding of how

to go about building these bridges. A strong Muslim community will be much better

positioned to engage constructively with other cultural and faith communities, including

the host community.

Because the Muslim community is diverse and has a wide range of needs, capacity

building is vital to building solidarity. Moreover, capacity building on common issues or

challenges can help develop a sense of connection between people and so strengthen

networks within a community.

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As well as developing solidarity, the Muslim community also needs improved access

to information and services so that it can develop its own voice and participate more

actively in New Zealand’s civic affairs. The project therefore aims to create tightly

focused capacity building initiatives that would help New Zealand Muslims to participate

as effectively as possible.

Developing an identity

One of the underlying issues that has arisen in the many debates about the compatibility

of Islam with the West is the need to establish Muslim identity in Western contexts. This

has been a particularly prominent theme in relation to young Muslims, who sometimes

face uncertainty about their identity and sense of belonging in Western countries.

The Building Bridges project aims to encourage the Muslim community to explore ways

of establishing a unique New Zealand Muslim identity in our country, particularly for

Muslim youth. There is likely to be an ongoing diversity of perspectives on this topic.

However, a healthy dialogue across communities will be helpful in locating the broad

areas of consensus about what Muslim identity means and how it can be expressed

in a Western context.

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Priority themes and initiatives for Building Bridges

The objectives listed above are necessarily broad and could lead to a wide range of

interventions aimed at achieving them. The Office of Ethnic Affairs and the Federation of

Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ) recognised the need to address these objectives

incrementally, particularly given the relative newness of the project. So it was important

to identify and give priority to the themes and interventions that would address the most

pressing concerns first.

Five interlinked themes were explored: strategic leadership, positive visibility, media,

youth and women. Each theme contributes to strengthening the Muslim community

and to achieving the project objectives identified.

After reaching agreement on the priority themes that would need to be addressed to

achieve the project’s objectives, the next stage involved taking steps to implement various

initiatives or mini-projects in collaboration with the community.

The five themes are detailed below, along with information on various initiatives put in place

to address each theme.

Strategic leadership

Developing leadership within the Muslim community is vital to the wellbeing of the

community. Like other communities, the Muslim community has many leaders within

it. Although this is desirable, a unified voice and vision is also important, particularly

in relation to the issues and challenges outlined earlier. This theme is about extending

current leadership or developing new leadership to represent diverse Muslim groups in

New Zealand on a range of issues.

The forums that the Office of Ethnic Affairs has held with Muslim community leaders

as part of the Building Bridges project have provided important opportunities to extend

and strengthen relationships in a non-crisis environment. The same applies to relationships

within Muslim communities. Building relationships requires patience and trust from

all parties.

Building trust and developing leadership

Building Bridges meetings were designed to bring leaders from various Muslim sects

and ethnic backgrounds together to explore the challenges they face as a group. During

these forums, participants were encouraged to raise issues and this was facilitated by the

creation of a safe environment in which to do so. Openness and the safety to be open are

necessary to build intra-community trust and leadership.

A number of sensitive and complex issues such as leadership and diversity within the

Muslim community were raised. This created opportunities for different perspectives

on various topics to be brought to the fore as planned.

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The ongoing engagement between the different groups within the Muslim community is not

aimed at identifying specific people as leaders. Rather, the purpose is to identify common

issues or priorities, and particular ways of pursuing them that Muslim leaders can agree on.

To date, broad consensus has been developed among community leaders on the key issues.

Many of these issues are included in this booklet. Sustained efforts will be required to

maintain the ground that has been gained in this area.

Dialogue on critical issues

Community leadership requires the ability to tackle complex challenges. A range of critical

issues have been discussed through the Building Bridges approach to stimulate leaders

to take constructive action to deal with them.

These critical issues include the role of the media; the need for public education on Islam

and Muslims; participation in policy development processes on issues affecting Muslims;

collaboration with a broad range of government agencies; Muslim youth identity; and the

role of women in Islam.

The issue of border control also featured strongly in discussions. The Muslim community is

keen to work collaboratively with New Zealand border control agencies to protect the safety

of New Zealand’s borders while making sure that Muslims are treated fairly throughout

various control processes.

The Muslim community, with the Office of Ethnic Affairs’ help, sought and found ways to

develop a conversation with border control agencies such as the New Zealand Immigration

Service, the New Zealand Customs Service and the New Zealand Police about border

control in relation to Muslims in New Zealand. Border control and airport processes, and

the impact of immigration processes on the Muslim community, continue to be explored.

A platform for constructive engagement has now been established between these agencies

and the Muslim community. There is evidence of growing leadership within the community.

Such leadership will be able to strategically identify areas for future focus which can then

be systematically addressed by the Muslim community in collaboration with other people

or agencies.

Imams Conference

Imams play an important role in the spiritual and social development of their communities.

Internationally, there have been a number of initiatives focused on working closely with

Imams or Muslim religious leaders. The Office of Ethnic Affairs sponsored the inaugural

conference of New Zealand Muslim Imams and organised by the Federation of Islamic

Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) in Auckland. The Conference was opened by the

Prime Minister of New Zealand. The Minister for Ethnic Affairs joined the 35 Imams and

Islamic scholars who attended. The main aims of the conference were to facilitate

dialogue between Imams and key government agencies, promote a better awareness

of relevant government policies, services and to identify opportunities for working more

closely together.

Positive visibility

Many ethnic minority communities are barely visible to the wider community. Their

culture, values and contributions may not be picked up by the media or other established

channels of information. This creates room for misunderstanding and apprehension.

Lack of interaction across communities can contribute to these problems.

Creating opportunities for the wider New Zealand community to interact with the Muslim

community is an important part of challenging assumptions about and stereotypes of

Muslims and improving their community’s public profile.

The Building Bridges project has identified avenues for promoting a positive profile of

New Zealand Muslims. They include the initiatives outlined below.

Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ) school awareness project

The Office of Ethnic Affairs and the Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ)

have piloted a project with schools to raise young people’s positive awareness of Muslims.

The Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ) school awareness project

included open discussions with students about what Islam means to Muslims, followed

by question and answer sessions.

Islam Awareness Week

Islam Awareness Week has grown significantly since its inception several years ago.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs has worked with the organisers to support this initiative,

developing positive visibility raising initiatives and increasing participation of host

communities and other faith and ethnic groups. Islam Awareness Week now includes

media publicity and open mosque days, indicating a more outward focus from the

Muslim community.

Interfaith dinner

As part of Islam Awareness Week 2006, the Office of Ethnic Affairs and the Federation

of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ) hosted an interfaith dinner. The purpose

of the evening was to give people from many different faiths an opportunity to socialise,

network and discuss ways to promote interfaith understanding and relationships. The

dinner was attended by about 90 people, who heard three guest speakers from different

faiths. Participants reported that they valued the opportunity to meet and connect with

others in this way.

Visibility initiatives

The Office of Ethnic Affairs is developing an educational resource aimed at stimulating

discussion about the benefits and challenges of ethnic diversity in New Zealand. The

resource, ‘Keeping it real’ vignettes, will help raise public awareness about a range of

communities in New Zealand, including the New Zealand Muslim community. It includes

material on the stereotyping of Muslims.

Media

We all know that the media can play a significant role in moulding public opinion. Muslim

communities around the world have expressed their concern about negative or biased

media publicity that they believe they are subject to. A common theme is the gap between

the way Muslims are portrayed by the media and the reality experienced by people within

that community. (The 5th Framework Research Program, 2003)

While respecting the right to freedom of expression, the Muslim community wants to see

fairer representations of Muslims progressively established in mainstream media. Rather

than feeling disenfranchised, they can help this happen by engaging more robustly with

mainstream media.

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“EDUCATION IS ALL A MATTER OF BUILDING BRIDGES” ~ Ralph Ellison

15

This theme seeks to identify how the Muslim community can use established media

channels to provide new information or their side of a story to the media in a constructive

way. The key focus in this area has been targeted training to build the community’s capacity

to respond to media.

As part of this project the Office of Ethnic Affairs provided targeted training at intermediate

level to Muslim community leaders and representatives about the role and functions of

the media. Prominent journalists and media people talked about how to approach the

media, what makes news, and how to prepare an informative but succinct media release.

The participants reported that they learned from and felt empowered by the training.

“IN TRUTH, IN OUR HEARTS AND SOULS – IN WHAT WE FEAR, IN WHAT WE SEEK, IN WHAT WE NEED AND WHAT WE LOVE – THERE IS A FUNDAMENTAL, COMMON HUMANITY THAT TOWERS ABOVE OUR DIFFERENCES.” ~ H.M. Queen Noor Alliance of Civilisations Annual Forum 15 January 2008, Madrid Spain.

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Recent media coverage on matters involving the Muslim community has included informed

perspectives from the Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ), reflecting

increasing community effectiveness in this regard. This area will continue to be a core

focus of the Building Bridges project.

Youth

Many Muslim youth in Western countries lack a sense of belonging and feel some identity

confusion. (Ajrouch, K. 2000) Young people are the future leaders and are vital to the

development of the Muslim community. At an early stage of the project we recognised

that it is vital to listen to and involve Muslim youth. Increased support for the development

of young New Zealand Muslims is a priority. To this end, the Building Bridges project

identified two key opportunities for Muslim youth development, as detailed below.

Youth and critical dialogue

The Office of Ethnic Affairs developed the Positive Dialogue for Young People initiative

to help senior secondary school students learn about the experiences of Muslims in

New Zealand. The objectives were to explore young people’s perceptions of Muslims,

and to create a positive atmosphere for dialogue on issues raised by young people.

The project was successfully piloted in schools in the Auckland region. The resources

developed will be used in future critical dialogue forums with young people.

Muslim youth leadership

The Office of Ethnic Affairs in conjunction with the Federation of Islamic Associations

New Zealand (FIANZ) held leadership training to develop leadership potential within Muslim

youth. The training programme included four sessions covering identity and self-esteem,

intergenerational conflict, civic participation, and connecting with the New Zealand

environment. Students planted trees in the Waitakere ranges as a symbol of their

commitment as New Zealanders to the country’s ‘clean and green’ development.

Women

In recent years, there has been growing debate about the role of women within Islam.

A key focus of discussions has been on gender equality, human rights and the compatibility

of Islam and the West. These issues are both complex and sensitive.

Understanding how New Zealand Muslim women are affected is an important facet of

the Office of Ethnic Affairs Building Bridges project. The project aims to promote a better

understanding of the status of Muslim women and to support their positive development

through various initiatives.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs has been working with women and key Muslim women’s

organisations to identify the main issues and opportunities, provide relevant information,

scope potential projects and build capacity of these groups. The Office of Ethnic Affairs

has also played a central role in facilitating dialogue on some of the critical issues relating

to women in Islam in a New Zealand context. 17

What next?

This booklet outlines only the key activities put in place under the Building Bridges project.

It does not purport to be a comprehensive analysis of all the activities that the Muslim

community is actively engaged in, such as local and regional interfaith dialogue and

discussions about security in New Zealand, or the international connections that

the community is pursuing to achieve its objectives.

However, the New Zealand Muslim community’s present focus on dealing with its

challenges and its corresponding initiatives to address them are evidence of increasing

empowerment and civic participation. These are core objectives of the Building

Bridges project.

An evaluation of outcomes will assess the effectiveness of this project in due course.

To date, the results are promising. A feedback forum held in November 2007 was an

opportunity for the Office of Ethnic Affairs and the Federation of Islamic Associations

New Zealand (FIANZ) to report back to the community on the work done. The initiatives

described were well received, and the forum established a good platform for future

Building Bridges work.

The Building Bridges project will continue to provide a core focus for collaboration between

the Office of Ethnic Affairs and the Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ)

into the future. The project has been a deeply enriching process for all parties involved. Like

any good community-based project, the empowerment created within communities leads to

new ideas being germinated and brought to fruition by communities themselves.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs is currently considering how the approach used in the Building

Bridges project can be adapted for other communities. The work that the Muslim community

has put into this project may now provide a template, and so the fruits of their labour will

benefit other communities in New Zealand.

Perhaps this represents the true spirit which lies within any effort to build bridges between

different people or communities.

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“WE HAVE IT IN OUR POWER TO BEGIN THE WORLD OVER AGAIN.”

~ Thomas Paine

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Appendix I: Alliance of Civilizations

In 2006, the High-Level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations (AoC), released a report

claiming that the key reasons for the growing divide between, for example, Muslim and

Western societies, are not religious but political, power or economic imbalances. AoC is

an initiative launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and co-sponsored

by the prime ministers of Spain and Turkey.

The Alliance of Civilizations aims to forge a collective political will to establish a paradigm

of mutual respect between civilisations and cultures. The Alliance aims to instigate a

movement of the vast majority of peoples who do not identify themselves with extremism

in various societies, in order to:

• strengthenmutualunderstandingandrespectinpracticalways

• countertheinfluenceofthosewhofeedonexclusionandclaimsoleownershipof

the truth

• counter,throughsuchmeasures,thethreattoworldpeaceandstabilitythatemanates

from the trend toward extremism in societies

• promoteawarenessthatsecurityisindivisibleandavitalneedforall,andthatglobal

cooperation is an indispensable prerequisite for both security and stability, as well

as development

• promotecommonvaluesamongdifferentpeoples,culturesandcivilisations.

Source: ‘Concept Paper for Alliance of Civilizations’, www.unaoc.org/repository/supporting_documents.htm

REFERENCES

Articles

Ajrouch, K. (2000). Place, age, and culture: community living and ethnic identity among Lebanese American adolescents. Small Group Research, 31, 447–469.

Huntington, Samual P. (1993). The clash of civilizations?, Foreign Affairs, 72(3):22–49. Retrieved December 18, 2007 from, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19930601faessay5188/samuel-p-huntington/the-clash-of-civilizations.html

Lewelling, Maj T. (2005). Exploring Muslim diaspora communities in Europe through a social movement lens: some initial thoughts. Strategic Insights, 4. Retrieved 17 January, 2008, from http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/2005/May/lewelingMay05.pdf

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Reports

Forum Against Islamophobia & Racism (FAIR). (n.d.). Racism and Islamophobia. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from http://www.fairuk.org/docs/Islamophobia%20&%20Racism.pdf

The 5th Framework Research Program of the “Improving the Human Research Potential and the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base” Program of the European Commission, Directorate-General Research (2003, August 31). Islam, citizenship and the dynamics of European integration. [ Reported by Jocelyne Cesari]. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from the Euro-Islam.info site: http://euro-islam.info/PDFs/ICDEI_final_report2.pdf.

Qantara.de. (2005). Khaled Abou El Fadl: God does not have an equal partner. [Reported by Monika Jung-Mounib]. Retrieved December 18, 2007 from, http://www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-575/_nr-7/_p-1/i.html.

Statistics New Zealand. (2006). 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings: definitions and questionnaires, Page 3. Retrieved January 17, 2008 from http://www.stats.govt.nz/ NR/rdonlyres/312c0a67-47a8-4406-A8a3- 3d2a13ec892b/0/2006censusdefinitions questionnaires.pdf

United Nations, Alliance of Civilizations (AoC). (2006, November 16). Alliance of Civiliations: Report of the High-level Group. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from http://www.unaoc.org/repository/HLG_Report.pdf

Further Reading

Huntington, Samual P. (1996). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Berry, J. (1997). Immigration, acculturation and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An international Review, 46, 5–68.

Elkholy, A. (1966). The Arab Moslems in the United States: Religion and assimilation. M. Hattar-Pollara, et al. (1995b). Western Journal of Nursing Research, 17(5), 521–539.

Erickson, C. D., et al. (2001). Providing mental health services to Arab Americans: recommendations and considerations. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 7(4), 308–327.

Hattar-Pollara, M., et al. (1995a). Parenting their adolescents: the experiences of Jordanian immigrant women in California. Health Care for Women International, 16, 195–211.

Nagel, C. (2002). Constructing difference and sameness: the politics of assimilation in London’s Arab communities. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 25 (2), 258–287.

Phinney J., S., et al. (2001). The role of language, parents, and peers in ethnic identity among adolescents in immigrant families. Journal of Youth and Adolescents, 30 (2), 135.

Phinney, J. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity development in minority group adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 9, 34–49.

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