just commentary april 2010

Vol 10, No.4 April 2010

STATEMENT

IRAQ: NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENTOR RETURN TO SECTARIANISM?

ARTICLES

THE WORLD IN 2020 (PART 2)

CONDEMN BOMB BLASTS IN RUSSIA!...........The International Movement for a Just World

condemns the series of bomb blasts in Russia in the

last three days which have killed more than 50

people................................................................p.2

By Catherine Rottenberg & Neve Gordon ......... page 4

WAR CRIME TRIBUNAL IN BANGLADESH: A

MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE

continued next page

By Juan Cole

By Michael T. Klare ....................................... page 7

THE BASIC MORAL VALUES OF THE KORAN

By ODT.org ................................................. page11

IS ETHICAL CAPITALISM POSSIBLE?By Kamran Mofid ...........................................page 5

Patrick Martin of the Toronto Globe

and Mail gets the diction right

when he says that Iyad Allawi’s list

won a thin plurality. The official results

of the March 7 Iraqi parliamentary

elections have been announced by the

Independent High Electoral Commission.

Of 325 seats, 91 went to the National Iraqi

List (“Iraqiya”) of former interim prime

minister Iyad Allawi. The State of Law

grouping of incumbent Nuri al-Maliki

came in at 89. The Shiite fundamentalist

coalition, the Iraqi National Alliance,

which includes the followers of clerics

Ammar al-Hakim and Muqtada al-Sadr,

garnered 70 seats. The Kurdistan Alliance

won only 43 seats.

That leaves 33 seats in the hands of

smaller parties, many of them wild cards.

Shortly before the results were

announced, two large bomb blasts in

Khalis, in Diyala Province northeast of

Baghdad, killed 53 persons. Diyala is still

the site of violent struggle between

Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

Most Sunni Arabs in Iraq have moved

on from the violence and fundamentalism

of groups such as the ‘Islamic State of

Iraq,’ and most voted for the Allawi list

as a way of reentering national politics.

Despite some breathless headlines, the

outcome of the elections is not very

different from previous elections. Allawi

put together a coalition of Sunni Arabs

and secular Shiites. In the December,

2005, parliamentary elections, those two

groups received about 80 seats, only 11

less than Allawi’s just list won. If the two

major Shiite religious lists (State of Law

and Iraqi National Alliance) had run on

the same ticket, they would have nearly

a majority, about what they won in

December, 2005. The Kurdistan Alliance

only has 43 seats, down from 54 in the

last parliamentary election, but the overall

number of Kurdish Members of

Parliament is not so different from that in

the last polls.

In spring-summer of 2006, Prime Minister

Nuri al-Maliki put together a government

of national unity, with the help of the US

ambassador. It included Sadrists and

Allawi’s Iraqiya. But it gradually fell apart.

This election is an opportunity for al-

Maliki to attempt to repeat that feat.

Indeed, a national unity government may

be the first preference of the Iraqi

National Alliance, which has, according

to al-Sharq al-Awsat, swung into action

to convince the other major lists that such

a path is the only right one for Iraq at this

juncture.

Although Allawi’s list won the most seats,

he is very unlikely to be the next prime

minister. Al-Maliki’s State of Law list is

anti-Baathist and hasn’t gotten on well

with Sunni Arabs, while ex-Baathists and

Sunnis are the backbone of Allawi’s

constituency. Likewise, the Shiite

religious party, made up of Sadrists and

members of the Islamic Supreme Council

of Iraq (ISCI), among others, are unlikely

to ally with secularist ex-Baathists. Allawi

says that he is dialoguing with the parties

led by Hakim and Sadr, as well as with the

Kurds. But Allawi rejects a role in politics

for Shiite clerics, which would make for

an uneasy alliance with lists headed by

clerics. Without the two big Shiite blocs,

Allawi could only become prime minister

by attracting the Kurdistan Alliance and

all of the smaller parties and

independents. Keeping such a disparate

coalition together would be difficult in

the extreme. Allawi is supported by Sunni

Arabs who have sharp differences with

the Kurds over the future of the mixed

province of Kirkuk, which the Kurds

covet. Allawi may therefore have a

EDUCATING CHILDREN IN CONFLICT ZONES

ARTICLES

By Dr S.Serajul Islam and Dr M.Saidul Islam ... page 3

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS OF THE

INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT ................ page 10

STATE OF THE VILLAGE REPORT

By Yoginder Sikand ....................................... page 9

I N T E R N A T I O N A L M O V E M E N T F O R A J U S T W O R L D

2

M A I N A R T I C L E

continued from page 1

plurality that is incapable of growing into

a majority.

It is also true that al-Maliki is deeply

disliked by Muqtada al-Sadr and the

Sadrists because he used the Iraqi Army

to crush their Mahdi Army militia in Basra

and East Baghdad in spring-summer of

2008. His party, however, the ‘State of

Law,’ groups Shiite religious parties such

as his own Islamic Mission Party (Da’wa),

and the natural ally of Da’wa is the

Sadrists and ISCI. Still, as Sadrist and

ISCI officials admitted on Wednesday,

their parties are natural allies with the

State of Law. The easiest way to form a

new government would be to dump al-

Maliki and choose another leader of

Da`wa as prime minister. The State of Law

and the Iraqi National Alliance can form

a coalition of 159 at a time when only 163

is needed for a majority. By picking up

just 4 independents, these two could form

a strong, stable government. Al-Maliki

has gathered a lot of power into his

hands, however, and unseating him may

prove difficult and time-consuming. In

the end, the Iraqi National Alliance may

decide that he is their best bet for

dominating Iraq in the near to medium

term.

Al-Maliki said Friday that he rejects the

announced outcome and demands a

manual recount of the ballots. He had

earlier warned of “violence” if the votes

were not recounted. The reason for his

adamant stance is that if he could nose

ahead of Allawi by even a single vote, he

seems to feel that he would have more of

a mandate to remain prime minister. The

Iraqi constitution stipulates that the

president ask the head of the largest

single party or coalition to attempt to form

the government. As it now stands, al-

Maliki will not be asked, while Allawi

could be.

One possibility is for his State of Law to

form a coalition with the Iraqi National

Alliance [Hakim and Sadr] while easing

al-Maliki out in favor of some candidate

more acceptable to both. Iraqi courts have

ruled that post-election coalitions will be

counted as legitimate for the purpose of

installing a government. The Shiites are

thus still in a position to remain dominant,

though if they remain divided then Allawi

could pick up the pieces. A Shiite electoral

alliance accompanied by the elegance of

the numbers would detract from the

quality of life.

It seems unlikely that anyone can become

prime minister without the Sadr Bloc, now

the majority component inside the Iraqi

National Alliance. Sadr may well demand

as a quid pro quo for joining any Iraqi

government that the new PM pledge to

accelerate the timetable for US troop

withdrawal from Iraq, and also promise

to end that troop presence altogether.

The difficult road ahead is indicated by

the recent denunciation of al-Maliki by

both Muqtada al-Sadr and Ammar al-

Hakim for his initial warning that

“violence” might break out if the ballots

are not recounted. Muqtada called the

implied threat of violence “political

terrorism,” thus ironically turning the

tables on al-Maliki, who had hunted

down Sadr-linked Mahdi Army

commanders on the grounds that they

were terrorists.

The big question now in Iraqi politics is

whether the new government will look

like the sectarian Shiite coalition with the

Kurds in 2005, or more like the national

unity government forged in summer,

2006. Each proved unstable in its own

way, it should be remembered, so neither

is a guarantor of a good outcome for these

elections. The other question is how

many concessions smaller parties can

wring from the majority in order to form a

government. It seems to me that if the

Sadrists demand with sufficient vigor,

they should be able to get a faster US

troop withdrawal. Their platform since

2003 has been the removal of the American

military from Iraq. They may finally be in

a position to effect via the ballot box what

they could not by their armed paramilitary,

the Mahdi Army.

29 March, 2010

Juan Cole is an American scholar, public

intellectual, and historian of the modern

Middle East and South Asia. As a commentator

on Middle Eastern affairs, he has appeared

in print and on television, and testified before

the United States Senate. His weblog can be

found at www. juancole.com

Source: http://www.countercurrents.org

The International Movement for a Just

World condemns the series of bomb

blasts in Russia in the last three days

which have killed more than 50 people.

The Russian authorities should conduct

a thorough investigation of both the

blasts in Moscow on 29 March 2010

and the Dagestan region on the 31st of

March, to determine the identities of

the culprits and their motives. The

culprits should be brought to book and

punished severely.

If the bombings are linked to the long-

standing conflict in the Chechen

region, the Chechen rebels should

know that such heinous methods of

fighting for their cause will not bring

them any closer to their objectives. On

the contrary, militant violence will only

increase the anger and antagonism of

the Russian people towards the

Chechens.

The Chechen rebels should eschew

senseless, mindless violence in their

campaign to compel the Russian

government to address some of their

grievances. The deliberate targeting of

civilians is an abominable crime for

which there is no justification,

whatever the circumstances.

JUST calls upon civil society groups

everywhere — especially Muslim

NGOs — to take a principled stand

against the bomb blasts in Russia. They

cannot remain silent in the face of such

starkly un-Islamic conduct.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar,

President,

International Movement for a Just

World (JUST).

1 April 2010.

CONDEMN BOMB BLASTS IN RUSSIA!

STATEMENTS

I N T E R N A T I O N A L M O V E M E N T F O R A J U S T W O R L D A R T I C L E S

3

continued next page

WAR CRIME TRIBUNAL IN BANGLADESH: A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE

While Bangladesh (formerly East

Pakistan) got its independence from

Pakistan in 1971 following a bloody war,

some issues of the past are still inflicting

the nation. Today, the ruling coalition led

by Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) has

formed a special war crime tribunal to try

the ‘war criminals’ not of Pakistani forces

but of its own people who opposed the

idea of an independent Bangladesh and

fought for a united Pakistan. The tribunal

will not however try ‘war crime’ rather

‘crime against humanity.’ This move of

the government is highly contested.

It is evident in history, however, that war

crimes, alongside grievous oppression of

civilians were committed in the 1971 war

by the Pakistani forces and some of their

local allies against Bengali civilians, and

by some Bengali freedom fighters against

Bihari Muslims. Following the

independence of Bangladesh, 195

Pakistani army officers were identified as

war criminals in the preliminary

investigation by the then Bangladesh

government. Following the Simla

Agreement signed on 2nd July 1972

between Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of

India and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, President

of Pakistan, a number of agreements were

signed between India and Pakistan

regarding repatriation of the POWs. On

9th April 1974, an Agreement was signed

between Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan

in New Delhi in which, among other

issues, the question of the trial of the 195

POWs was raised and finally it was

decided that they would be repatriated

to Pakistan along with the other prisoners

without trial (The Daily Tribune,

Wisconsin, 10 April 1974). For a better

understanding, paragraph 15 of the 1974

Agreement is quoted here:

‘In the light of the foregoing and,

in particular, having regard to the

appeal of the Prime Minister of

Pakistan to the people of

Bangladesh to forgive and forget

the mistakes of the past, the

Foreign Minister of Bangladesh

stated that the Government of

Bangladesh had decided not to

proceed with the trials as an act of

clemency. It was agreed that the

195 prisoners of war may be

repatriated to Pakistan along

with the other prisoners of war now

in process of repatriation under the

Delhi Agreement.’

On 24 January 1972, the government of

Bangladesh enacted another law,

Collaborators Act, 1972, to try those

who did not side with the liberation war,

or politically opposed the call of liberation

war, or willingly cooperated with the

Pakistan Army or committed criminal acts.

Among thousands arrested, 752 people

were found guilty and punished under

this law. Taking into account the overall

situation (of discontent) obtaining in the

country, in November 1973 the

Government of Bangladesh under the

leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,

the father of the current Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina, declared a general

amnesty. By virtue of the general

amnesty, those accused or convicted for

minor crimes under the Act were all set

free. But those accused of rape, murder,

arson or plunder were not pardoned. In

other words, the general amnesty kept

the scope of prosecution and trial of

those accused of such serious crimes

under the Act. On December 31, 1975, the

Collaborators Act was repealed by a

Presidential Order. After the amnesty, the

Act remained in force for a little over two

years. In that period, no case was filed

for the said four serious offences.

Perhaps that was the logic behind repeal

of the law in 1975.

While the issue was resolved before both

nationally and internationally, the attempt

of the Bangladesh government for trials

of war crimes after 39 years is, however,

according to many, a politically motivated

act. A list of 36 war criminals has already

been announced even before the trial has

started, the majority of whom are from

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam (BJI), the

mainstream liberal Islamic party in

Bangladesh that formed a coalition

government with the Bangladesh

Nationalist Party (BNP) during 2001-2006.

A few of them in the list were between 4-

8 years old during the war in 1971 (Daily

Amar Desh, 28 March 2010). It is claimed

that “while the issue of war crimes was

resolved internationally (through Simla

Agreement) and nationally (through

Collaboration Act), bringing it up again

shows that it is highly politically

motivated. Moreover, the Bangladesh

judiciary is now being subjugated by the

current regime and therefore a fair

judgment is absolutely unexpected from

this politically motivated trial” (Daily

Amar Desh, 16 February 2010).

Analysts and legal scholars apprehend

that the trial will simply be a miscarriage

of justice. First, the International Bar

Association (IBA) found over a dozen

loopholes in The Crimes (Tribunal) Act,

1973, by which the accused would be

tried (bdnews24.com, Dhaka, 14 March

2010). ‘Crimes against humanity’

described in section 3(2)(a) of the Act are

very easy to prove through producing

false witness-evidences in a domestic

perspective. It is easy to manipulate a

witness for ‘crime against humanity’ than

for ‘war crime’. Most importantly, the

Evidence Act [1872 (I of 1872)] and the

Criminal Procedure Code [1898 (V of

1898)] application have been excluded by

section 23 of the International Crimes

(Tribunal) Act, 1973. Therefore,

newspaper reports and hearsay evidence

will be accepted thus making the tribunal

a kangaroo court. Second, the tribunal

will neither try the actual war criminals,

the 195 Pakistani army officers, nor

Bengali freedom fighters who were

responsible for ethnic cleansing of

Biharis, but try only some ‘collaborators’

belonging to an opposition party who

supported a united Pakistan but do not

have any proven record of war crimes,

such as killing, rape, arson etc. Third, it

is not clear whether the judges of this

court are either trained or neutral for this

specialized kind of trials. According to

various reports, most of the appointed

judges and prosecutors are former party

men of, and therefore loyal to, the ruling

coalition. Finally, many feel that the legal

apparatus is being manipulated and

therefore expectation of a fair and free

trial is a mere dream. Even as it is, there

have been rampant violations of human

rights without any justice, such as the

154 extra-judicial killings in 2009 in the

hands of law enforcement authorities

(Odhikar 2009 Report).

More importantly, if the trial is not

conducted freely and fairly for all

criminals irrespective of any kind of

political affiliation, the nation may have

By S.Serajul Islam and M.Saidul Islam


4

A R T I C L E S

continued next page


to pay a severe price. In the first place,,

if it targets only the members of Islamic

parties, reconciliation with the Muslim

world will be very difficult. Since

Bangladesh needs to build strong

relations with the Muslim countries for

financial support and for supplying

manpower to those countries, this will

have a negative impact. Second, having

no alternative, the BJI which is openly

involved in the democratic process of

politics may go underground due to the

unjust trial. If that happens, it will be

dangerous for the nation. Third, the

unfair trial will divide the whole nation

as BJI has millions of supporters which

is evident from last few elections. Finally,

if the regime fails to conduct the trial, it

will also backfire upon the party in power.

The whole move of the government so far

seems to be interpreted by the

international community as nothing but

an extreme political vendetta intended to

subdue the opposition party/parties. This

‘victor’s justice’ is always a questionable

justice. The regime has already started a

nation-and-worldwide campaign for this

trial and obstructed the free movement

and overseas travel of the BJI leaders. If

this highly disputed trial is conducted

unfairly, Bangladesh will certainly enter

into another dark chapter of political

chaos, uncertainties, and most likely, a

civil war. If the trial is held, the

government must ensure a free and fair

trial beyond any doubt. The best way is

to form an international tribunal under

the auspices of the United Nations. It will

not only provide credibility to the current

regime, but also remain a reference for

trying other war crimes committed

elsewhere.

2 April 2010

Dr S. Serajul Islam and Dr M. Saidul

Islam are both University Professors and

columnists. They can be reached at

[email protected] and

[email protected] respectively.

Educating children in a conflict zone is

no simple matter. More often than not,

those responsible for the curricula

succumb to the masters of war and adopt

a pedagogical approach that exacerbates

rather than diffuses strife. Israel,

unfortunately, is no exception.

Consider the way Jewish and Palestinian

children are educated. Segregation in the

classroom is the rule so that Jewish and

Palestinian children only rarely mix. This

strict segregation exists despite the fact

that the Palestinians are citizens of Israel,

comprising 19.5 percent of Israel’s

population—around 1.37 million

people—and 25 percent of all school

children. Unlike the Palestinians in the

Occupied Territories, these Palestinians

vote and pay taxes like Jewish citizens.

Notwithstanding their incorporation into

the citizen body, Palestinian citizens do

not enjoy full equality. In comparison to

their Jewish counterparts, Arab schools

receive half the per capita budget. It is

therefore not very surprising that

Palestinian students have the highest

dropout rates and lowest achievement

levels in the country.

Equality in education is reserved to the

uniformity of the school curriculum,

particularly the texts dedicated to

teaching the history of the Israeli state.

The existing history textbooks adopt the

Zionist historical narrative, erasing all

trace of the Palestinian nakba (Arabic for

“catastrophe”, referring to the events of

1948, when approximately 750,000

Palestinians out of a population of

900,000 either fled or were expelled from

their homes). Furthermore, these

textbooks emphasise the significance of

the Land of Israel for Jews and attempt to

prove that the State of Israel could only

have been created in historical Palestine,

while simultaneously portraying the

connection between the Arabs and

Palestine as purely incidental. Along

similar lines, the study of literature in the

Arab schools is oriented toward Zionist

portrayals and is conspicuously lacking

in any patriotic or nationalistic Palestinian

sentiments.

It is, no doubt, a truism that public schools

in modern liberal democracies inculcate

their students with the dominant national

worldview. In the US, for example, children

still recite the pledge of allegiance and in

France children sing La Marseillaise. But

while the public schools in these

democracies are today more willing to

provide students with a multicultural

curriculum that includes the historical

narratives of those who have been

oppressed and marginalised over the

centuries, Israel is arguably becoming less

tolerant to any pedagogy that challenges

the dominant Zionist national narrative.

This increasing intolerance does not bode

well for the future of the Israeli-Palestinian

relationship. It has therefore become more

urgent than ever to consider alternative

educational models.

Since educating for tolerant thinking

within a conflict zone is no easy task, there

are very few such projects in Israel. The

bilingual Arab-Jewish Hagar School in

Beer-Sheba is the only one of its kind in

Israel’s southern region—a region that

is home to over half a million people, 25

percent of whom are Palestinian citizens.

While Hagar is a public school supported

by the Ministry of Education, it is also

the exception that proves the rule.

Hagar’s uniqueness stems from the fact

that it has created a venue in which Jewish

and Arab children not only mix (each

ethnic group makes up 50 percent of the

student body) but learn together in an

atmosphere of mutual respect. Currently

67 children, nursery through first grade,

attend this bi-lingual school, whose

commitment to equality informs every

aspect of its educational agenda.

To ensure that Hebrew and Arabic are

awarded equal status, for example, two

teachers, one Jewish and the other Arab,

are present in every classroom. By

creating a bilingual space that

encourages direct contact with the

heritage and customs of the different

cultures, Hagar promotes tolerance, while

being sensitive to nurture the personal

EDUCATING CHILDREN IN CONFLICT ZONESBy Catherine Rottenberg & Neve Gordon


5

A R T I C L E Scontinued from page 4

continued next page

identity of each child and each tradition.

Thus, by the time the children are old

enough to learn that there are two

conflicting national narratives, both of

which will be taught, they already have

the necessary emotional and intellectual

tools to deal with conflict through

dialogue.

Hagar is an educational island that is

expanding against all odds. Indeed, the

school’s achievements within the current

political context—especially following

the assault on Gaza and the sporadic

missile attacks on Beer-Sheba—are

astonishing. But ongoing local support

and international financial assistance are

necessary to guarantee the future

success of this educational space—a

We live in a time of transition, a time when

all is changing and being challenged –

weather systems, ecosystems, our

interaction with nature, our

understanding of other beings. We now

understand that we are all interconnected

and interdependent. Somewhere along

the line, our actions as human beings

have created enormous instability to the

planet and the millions of species who

reside here.

Much of which is familiar to us and

deemed the ‘norm’ is no longer working

and is being challenged. Sometimes

change brings with it destruction.

Sometimes destruction is beneficial. It

can alert us to practices that do not work.

With destruction also comes new birth,

and new avenues open wide to be

explored. There are many choices as to

which route to take; the issue is which

route is the one that will provide life for

all. The golden opportunity presented by

the current ongoing crises is to make the

right choices that will affect the long term

future for us, our descendants and our

planet.

There is no denying the fact that we are

in a serious state of crises, a crises of our

own making, all of us and not the bankers

alone. They responded to what we

wanted: cheap, available, unregulated

money and loads of it.

They in turn were responding to the neo-

liberal agenda of the so-called

Washington Consensus: Privatisation,

deregulation, market forces,

liberalisation, low taxation, free trade, and

one glove fits all policies and more. No

regards, no respect for different cultures,

civilisations, religions and history. What

is good for America and the West, then,

must also be good for everybody else,

regardless of all other factors, we were

told again and again.

The tragedy is that we have now

discovered that what we were pushing

on others, which we thought was good

for us - the so-called market-forces driven

Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism - was

nothing but a huge cancerous cell which

at the end brought the house of cards

down. The emperor has no clothes, so to

say.

What to Do Now?

The current global economic crisis is

deeply complex and perplexing. Many

world politicians, business people,

academics, activists, and civil society

representatives, as well as religious and

spiritual leaders, have called for a new

kind of “ethical capitalism” - a moral,

spiritual and virtuous economy. People

everywhere are calling for an international

framework of standards for an equitable

and sustainable global economy to

replace the current economic system of

unbridled growth and increasing

ecological degradation. While some look

for quick short-term solutions that would

perpetuate the current economic model,

others see the need for more fundamental

changes of the model itself. Our challenge

is great. In a time of continuing crisis and

polarizing viewpoints, can the world

agree on an ethical approach to the global

economy?

I propose a comprehensive examination

of the major attempts to integrate

economics with ethics and spirituality,

along with an exploration of the

theoretical underpinnings of these

activities. In considering the need for bold

economic initiatives, we must keep in

mind the deeper questions that rarely find

their way into political debate or public

discourse.

We should explore the emerging

economic issues as well matters that are

deeply ethical and spiritual:

* What is the source of true happiness

and well-being? What is the good life?

* What is the purpose of economic life?

What does it mean to be a human being

living on a spaceship with finite

resources?

* How can the global financial system

become more responsive and just?

* How can the world make the global

trade system more equitable and

sustainable?

* What paths can be recommended to

shift the current destructive global

political-economic order from one of

unrestrained economic growth, profit

maximisation and cost minimisation, to

one that embraces material wealth

creation, yet also preserves and

enhances social and ecological well-

being and increases human happiness

and contentment?

* How can society overcome poverty and

scarcity with limited natural resources?

* How should we deal with individual

and institutionalized greed?

* What are the requirements of a virtuous

economy?

* What religious or spiritual variables

should be considered in economic/

business ethics and economic

behaviour?

* How are these components to be

integrated with economic theories and

decisions?

IS ETHICAL CAPITALISM POSSIBLE?By Kamran Mofid

space that is actively translating a

pedagogy of mutual respect into practice

within a conflict zone.

16 October, 2009

Catherine Rottenberg is a founding member

of Hagar School and sits on its pedagogic

committee. Neve Gordon is the author of

Israel’s Occupation.

Source: Common Groung News Service

A R T I C L E SI N T E R N A T I O N A L M O V E M E N T F O R A J U S T W O R L D

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continued next page

* What role should universities play in

building an integrity-based model of

business education?

* What should be the role of the youth?

* How might the training of young

executives be directed with the intention

of supplying insights into the nature of

globalisation from its economic,

technological and spiritual perspectives,

to build supporting relationships among

the participants that will lead toward

action for the common good within their

chosen careers?

* Indeed, is ethical, profitable, efficient

and sustainable capitalism possible?

These questions and more need to be

reflected upon, debated, and ultimately,

answered and put into policy formation,

guiding us to a more humane

globalisation.

A concrete framework for understanding

what has gone wrong and possible

remedies, including both broad

perspectives on policies and specific

recommendations, must include not only

an economic perspective, but also a

spiritual, moral and ethical understanding.

Steps can be taken towards a sustainable

economy, to turn the current crisis of

casino capitalism into an opportunity for

a successful, sustainable and everlasting

change, where all people, wherever they

may be, can live fulfilling, healthy, and

yet more ecologically compatible lives.

Here are the steps I suggest:

1. Begin a Journey to Wisdom

Economics and business are all about

human well-being in society and cannot

be separated from moral, ethical and

spiritual considerations. The idea of an

economics which is value-free is totally

false. Nothing in life is morally neutral.

In the end, economics cannot be

separated from a vision of what it is to

be a human being in society.

In order to arrive at such understanding,

my first recommendation must surely be

for us to begin a journey to wisdom, by

embodying the core values of the Golden

Rule (Ethic of Reciprocity): “Do unto

others as you would have them to do to

you”. This in turn will prompt us on a

journey of discovery, giving life to what

many consider to be the most consistent

moral teaching throughout history.

It should be noted that the Golden Rule

can be found in many religions, ethical

systems, spiritual traditions, indigenous

cultures and secular philosophies.

Applying this universal principle can

provide an enabling mechanism for the

dialogue and development essential to

resolving the challenges we face

globally, nationally, and locally.

2. Now is the Time for a Revolution in

Economic Thought

“An economist who is only an economist

cannot be a good economist”. Therefore,

the focus of economics should be on the

benefit and bounty that the economy

produces, how to let this bounty

increase, and how to share the benefits

justly among the people for the common

good.

Moreover, economic investigation

should be accompanied by research into

subjects such as anthropology,

philosophy, politics and most

importantly, theology, to give insight into

our own human mystery, as no economic

theory or no economist can say who we

are, where have we come from or where

we are going to. Humankind must be

respected as the centre of creation and

not relegated to short-term economic

interests, as has been the case for the

past few centuries.

3. Don’t Repair the Economy, Change It

The current financial meltdown is the

result of under-regulated markets built

on an ideology of free market capitalism

and unlimited economic growth. The

fundamental problem is that the

underlying assumptions of this ideology

are not consistent with what we now

know about the real state of the world.

The financial world is, in essence, a set

of markers for goods, services, and risks

in the real world and when those markers

are allowed to deviate too far from reality,

“adjustments” must ultimately follow

and crisis and panic can ensue.

To solve this and future financial crises

requires that we reconnect the markers

with reality. What are our real assets and

how valuable are they? To undertake this

readjustment requires both a new vision

of what the economy is and what it is for,

proper and comprehensive accounting of

real assets, and new institutions that use

the market in its proper role as servant

rather than master. We have to first

remember that the goal of the economy

is to sustainably improve human well-

being and quality of life, not the

promotion of materialism, consumerism

and “shop till you drop” values -

especially when they are done with

borrowed money!

Ultimately we have to create a new model

of the economy and development that

acknowledges this holistic context and

vision. This new model of development

would be based clearly on the goal of

sustainable human well-being. It would

use measures of progress that clearly

acknowledge this goal. It would

acknowledge the importance of

ecological sustainability, social fairness

and real economic efficiency.

Ecological sustainability implies

recognising that natural and social capital

are not infinitely substitutable for built

and human capital, and that real

biophysical limits exist to the expansion

of the market economy.

Social fairness implies recognising that

the distribution of wealth is an important

determinant of social capital and quality

of life. The conventional model has

bought into the assumption that the best

way to improve welfare is through

growth in marketed consumption as

measured by GDP. This focus on growth

has not improved overall societal welfare,

which is why explicit attention to

distribution issues is sorely needed.

4. Recognise That the Economy Is Part

of the Biosphere

A comprehensive economic plan must be

based on the scientific fact that the global

A R T I C L E SI N T E R N A T I O N A L M O V E M E N T F O R A J U S T W O R L D

7


economy is a subsidiary of the natural

order. Economic policies should be

attuned to the limited capacity of Earth’s

biosphere to provide for humans and

other life and to assimilate their waste.

Photosynthesis and sunlight are as

essential to the framework for economic

budgets and expenditures as the laws of

supply and demand.

5. Acknowledge That We Need New

Institutions

An economic renewal tailored to the 21st

century would establish institutions

committed to fitting the human economy

to Earth’s limited life-support capacity.

We need something like the central

reserve banks which will look after shares

of the Earth’s ecological capacity, not just

interest rates and the money supply.

Money should be recognised as a social

licence for using part of Earth’s life-

support capacity. Some functions of

governance will have to operate at a

global level through a federation modelled

perhaps on the European Union, with

enforceable laws designed to assure that

individual nations don’t overrun Earth’s

limits. The rules for the developed

countries that are responsible for the

current ecological crisis should be

different from those of developing ones.

6. Fairness Matters

A “right” human-Earth relationship

would recognise humans as part of an

interdependent web of life on a finite

planet. The economy must recognise the

rights of the human poor and of millions

of other species to their place in the sun.

In a world awash in money, addressing

poverty only with growth reflects a tragic

lack of moral imagination. Indeed, in

pushing for more “free” trade as it is

currently understood, we would entrench

an ongoing addiction to consumption,

pursued in a manner that often ravages

the bio-productivity of developing

countries.

7. Expand the Discussion

The new knowledge that will forever

mark this period in human history is the

overwhelming scientific evidence that

we are over-consuming the planet and

accelerating toward ecological

catastrophe. The short-term approaches

of most ministers of finance and

professional economists don’t account

for how the planet works, or even that

the economy exists on a finite planet.

Scientists morally committed to

protecting the global commons and

researching ecological limits to the

global economy need more funding and

influence in policy-making.

8. Look beyond Neoliberal Education and

Short-Term Fixes

We must begin a serious debate on the

role of education and what education is

all about. We must greatly increase

investment in educational and civic

institutions that teach that we are not

“consumers,” but citizens of the Earth

and guardians of life’s prospects on a

small, beautiful and finite planet. In

today’s largely decadent, money-driven

world, the teaching of virtue and building

of character is no longer part of the

curriculum at many of our universities

around the world. The pursuit of virtue

has been replaced by moral neutrality -

the idea that anything goes. For centuries

it had been considered that universities

were responsible for the moral and social

development of students and for bringing

together diverse groups for the common

good.

Given the above, it is clear that we need a

new economic model, enabling us to deal

with new challenges, rather that rescuing

and bailing out a discredited and

bankrupt model, philosophy and theory.

The long-term solution to the financial

crisis is therefore to move beyond the

“growth at all costs” economic model to

a model that recognises the real costs and

benefits of growth. We can break our

addiction to fossil fuels, over-

consumption, and the current economic

model and create a more sustainable and

desirable future that focuses on quality

of life rather than merely quantity of

consumption.

It will not be easy; it will require a new

vision, new measures, and new

institutions. It will require a redesign of

our entire society. But it is not a sacrifice

of quality of life to break this addiction.

Quite the contrary, it is a sacrifice not to.

15 March 2010

This article is an abridged version of a

presentation delivered at the Biltmore Hotel,

Santa Clara/Silicon Valley, California, on 1st

December 2009.

Kamran Mofid is the Founder of the

Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative

(Oxford, 2002), Co- founder/Editor of Journal

of Globalisation for the Common Good and a

member of the International Coordinating

Committee of the World Public Forum,

Dialogue of Civilisations

Source: Share The World’s Resources

.

continued next page

The Rising South

The second decade of the century will

also witness the growing importance of

the global South: the formerly-colonized,

still-developing areas of Africa, Asia, and

Latin America. Once playing a relatively

marginal role in world affairs, they were

considered open territory, there to be

invaded, plundered, and dominated by

the major powers of Europe, North

America, and (for a time) Japan. To some

degree, the global South, a.k.a. the

“Third World,” still plays a marginal role,

but that is changing.

Once a member in good standing of the

global South, China is now an economic

superpower and India is well on its way

to earning this status. Second-tier states

of the South, including Brazil, Indonesia,

South Africa, and Turkey, are on the rise

economically, and even the smallest and

least well-off nations of the South have

begun to attract international attention

as providers of crucial raw materials or as

sites of intractable problems including

endemic terrorism and crime syndicates.

To some degree, this is a product of

numbers — growing populations and

growing wealth. In 2000, the population

of the global South stood at an estimated

THE WORLD IN 2020

Part 2

By Michael T. Klare


8

A R T I C L E S

continued next page

4.9 billion people; by 2020, that number

is expected to hit 6.4 billion. Many of

these new inhabitants of planet Earth will

be poor and disenfranchised, but most

will be workers (in either the formal or

informal economy), many will participate

in the political process in some way, and

some will be entrepreneurs, labor leaders,

teachers, criminals, or militants.

Whatever the case, they will make their

presence felt.

The nations of the South will also play a

growing economic role as sources of raw

materials in an era of increasing scarcity

and founts of entrepreneurial vitality. By

one estimate, the combined GDP of the

global South (excluding China) will jump

from $7.8 trillion in 2005 to $15.8 trillion in

2020, an increase of more than 100%. In

particular, many of the prime deposits of

oil, natural gas, and the key minerals

needed in the global North to keep the

industrial system going are facing

wholesale depletion after decades of

hyper-intensive extraction, leaving only

the deposits in the South to be exploited.

Take oil: In 1990, 43% of world daily oil

output was supplied by members of the

Organization of Petroleum Exporting

Countries (the major Persian Gulf

producers plus Algeria, Angola, Ecuador,

Libya, Nigeria, and Venezuela), other

African and Latin American producers,

and the Caspian Sea countries; by 2020,

their share will rise to 58%. A similar shift

in the center of gravity of world mineral

production will take place, with

unexpected countries like Afghanistan,

Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Niger (a major

uranium supplier), and the Democratic

Republic of Congo taking on potentially

crucial roles.

Inevitably, the global South will also play

a conspicuous role in a series of

potentially devastating developments.

Combine persistent deep poverty,

economic desperation, population

growth, and intensifying climate

degradation and you have a recipe for

political unrest, insurgency, religious

extremism, increased criminality, mass

migrations, and the spread of disease.

The global North will seek to immunize

itself from these disorders by building

fences of every sort, but through sheer

numbers alone, the inhabitants of the

South will make their presence felt, one

way or another.

The Planet Strikes Back

All of this might represent nothing more

than the normal changing of the imperial

guard on planet Earth, if that planet itself

weren’t undergoing far more profound

changes than any individual power or set

of powers, no matter how strong. The

ever more intrusive realities of global

warming, resource scarcity, and food

insufficiency will, by the end of this

century’s second decade, be undeniable

and, if not by 2020, then in the decades

to come, have the capacity to put normal

military and economic power, no matter

how impressive, in the shade.

“There is little doubt about the main

trends,” Professor Ole Danbolt Mjøs,

Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel

Committee, said in awarding the Peace

Prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore in

December 2007: “More and more

scientists have reached ever closer

agreement concerning the increasingly

dramatic consequences that will follow

from global warming.” Likewise, a

growing body of energy experts has

concluded that the global production of

conventional oil will soon reach a peak

(if it hasn’t already) and decline,

producing a worldwide energy shortage.

Meanwhile, fears of future food

emergencies, prompted in part by global

warming and high energy prices, are

becoming more widespread.

All of this was apparent when world

leaders met in Copenhagen and failed to

establish an effective international regime

for reducing the emission of climate-

altering greenhouse gases (GHGs). Even

though they did agree to keep talking and

comply with a non-binding, aspirational

scheme to cut back on GHGs, observers

believe that such efforts are unlikely to

lead to meaningful progress in controlling

global warming in the near future. What

few doubt is that the pace of climate

change will accelerate destructively in

the second decade of this century, that

conventional (liquid) petroleum and other

key resources will become scarcer and

more difficult to extract, and that food

supplies will diminish in many poor,

environmentally vulnerable areas.

Scientists do not agree on the precise

nature, timing, and geographical impact

of climate-change effects, but they do

generally agree that, as we move deeper

into the century, we will be seeing an

exponential increase in the density of the

heat-trapping greenhouse-gas layer in

the atmosphere as the consumption of

fossil fuels grows and past smokestack

emissions migrate to the outer

atmosphere. DoE data indicates, for

example, that between 1990 and 2005,

world carbon dioxide emissions grew by

32%, from 21.5 to 31.0 billion metric tons.

It can take as much as 50 years for GHGs

to reach the greenhouse layer, which

means that their effect will increase even

if — as appears unlikely — the nations

of the world soon begin to reduce their

future emissions.

In other words, the early manifestations

of global warming in the first decade of

this century — intensifying hurricanes

and typhoons, torrential rains followed

by severe flooding in some areas and

prolonged, even record-breaking

droughts in others, melting ice-caps and

glaciers, and rising sea levels — will all

become more pronounced in the second.

As suggested by the IPCC in its 2007

report, uninhabitable dust bowls are likely

to emerge in large areas of Central and

Northeast Asia, Mexico and the American

Southwest, and the Mediterranean basin.

Significant parts of Africa are likely to be

devastated by rising temperatures and

diminished rainfall. More cities are likely

to undergo the sort of flooding and

destruction experienced by New Orleans

after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And

blistering summers, as well as infrequent

or negligible rainfall, will limit crop

production in key food-producing

regions.

Progress will be evident in the

development of renewable energy

systems, such as wind, solar, and

biofuels. Despite the vast sums now

being devoted to their development,

however, they will still provide only a

relatively small share of world energy in



9

A R T I C L E S

continued next page


2020. According to DoE projections,

renewables will take care of only 10.5%

of world energy needs in 2020, while oil

and other petroleum liquids will still make

up 32.6% of global supplies; coal, 27.1%;

and natural gas, 23.8%. In other words,

greenhouse gas production will rage on

— and, ironically, should it not, thanks

to expected shortfalls in the supply of

oil, that in itself will likely prove another

kind of disaster, pushing up the prices of

all energy sources and endangering

economic stability. Most industry experts,

including those at the International

Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, believe

that it will be nearly impossible to

continue increasing the output of

conventional and unconventional

petroleum (including tough to harvest

Arctic oil, Canadian tar sands, and shale

oil) without increasingly implausible

fresh investments of trillions of dollars,

much of which would have to go into

war-torn, unstable areas like Iraq or

corrupt, unreliable states like Russia.

In the latest hit movie Avatar, the lush,

mineral-rich moon Pandora is under

assault by human intruders seeking to

extract a fabulously valuable mineral

called “unobtainium.” Opposing them

are not only a humanoid race called the

Na’vi, loosely modeled on Native

Americans and Amazonian jungle

dwellers, but also the semi-sentient flora

and fauna of Pandora itself. While our

own planet may not possess such

extraordinary capabilities, it is clear that

the environmental damage caused by

humans since the onset of the Industrial

Revolution is producing a natural

blowback effect which will become

increasingly visible in the coming decade.

These, then, are the four trends most likely

to dominate the second decade of this

century. Perhaps others will eventually

prove more significant, or some set of

catastrophic events will further alter the

global landscape, but for now expect the

dragon ascendant, the eagle descending,

the South rising, and the planet possibly

trumping all of these.

6 Janauary 2010

Michael T. Klare is a professor of peace and

world security studies at Hampshire College

A documentary film version of his book, Blood

and Oil, is available from the Media Education

Foundation at Bloodandoilmovie.com.

Source: http://www.countercurrents.org/

klare060110.htm

Chandra Muzaffar is one of Malaysia’s

best-known human rights activists and

public intellectuals. While being critical

of western global hegemony, he says

Muslims have to fundamentally re-

evaluate their understanding of Islam and

its traditions.

Author of numerous books, Muzaffar is

a prolific writer, having published widely

in Malaysia and abroad. One of his

principal concerns, in his writings and

activist involvement, is to promote an

Islamic ethic of inter-religious dialogue.

Such dialogue, he believes, is an Islamic

imperative, besides being indispensable

in today’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious

Malaysia.

But it is also crucial at the global level, he

stresses, particularly since many

conflicts across the globe, while rooted

in economic and political factors, are

sought to be projected and legitimised

as religious conflicts between Islam and

other faiths and ideologies.

Muslim, Dialogue and Terror is

Muzaffar’s principal work on Islam and

inter-faith dialogue, in which he seeks to

articulate an inter-faith ethic rooted in an

expansive understanding of Islam.

Like many other contemporary socially-

engaged Muslim scholars, Muzaffar

seeks to directly approach the Koran in

order to understand and interpret his

faith, largely by-passing the corpus of

traditional fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence),

and making only passing reference to

the corpus of Hadith. This is hardly

surprising since the latter two sources

contain numerous prescriptions that are

plainly inimical, to put it mildly, to

harmonious relations between Muslims

and others.

Stressing ethical values

Muzaffar describes the Koran as “in

essence, a Book whose fundamental aim

is to raise the spiritual and moral

consciousness of the human being.”

This understanding of the Koran leads

him to stress what he sees as the

underlying spirit or ethical values of the

text over its letter. Some of the

fundamental values that he discerns in

the Koran are freedom, accountability,

justice, kindness, mercy, love, equality,

honesty, compassion, fairness, and

devotion to the cause of the poor and

the oppressed. These values he regards

as universal, not limited in their

applicability to fellow Muslims alone.

In this way, Muzaffar is able to articulate

an Islamic ethic of inter-faith dialogue

that is Koranic, that prioritizes the spirit

over the letter of the text, that is based

on what he regards as the fundamental

and universal values of the text, and one

that is also contextually-relevant.

Muzaffar describes this way of relating

to the Koran as a “values-based

approach”. He contrasts this with the

traditional “fiqh-based approach”, which

prioritises the letter of the Koran over its

spirit, draws heavily on the cumulative fiqh

tradition, and stresses, to the point of

obsession, forms, externalities, symbols,

rituals, laws, regulations and narrowly-

construed understandings of Muslim

identity.

The former is universal, flexible, open, and

inclusive, while the latter is particularistic,

rigid, closed and exclusive. The former

stresses justice, freedom, love,

compassion and equality, the latter

authoritarianism, control, harshness and

hierarchy. The former is open to non-

Muslims, actively embraces them as fellow

human beings and appreciates the

common values that their religions share

with Islam. The latter is stridently hostile

to people of other faiths, or only

grudgingly tolerates them at best.

Historical necessity

Appealing for this fundamental

transformation in Islamic thought based

on the “values-based” approach to the

Koran, Muzaffar argues:

“It is only too apparent that a non-

dogmatic approach to Islam, which

recognises the primacy of eternal,

THE BASIC MORAL VALUES OF THE KORANBy Yoginder Sikand


10


universal spiritual and moral values while

acknowledging the importance of rituals,

symbols and practices, is the most sane

and sensible way of living the religion in

today’s world. The values approach to

Islam – the antithesis of the rituals and

symbols approach – is not only legitimate

from the perspective of the religion but

also necessary at this juncture in history.”

Making a broad survey of relations

between Muslims and others in various

countries, and at the global level as a

whole, Muzaffar argues that a host of

factors have contributed to increased

polarization between them in recent years,

particular after 9/11. Much of the

responsibility for this rests on the

Muslims themselves, he says, but he also

regards what he calls “the politics of

global hegemony emanating from

Washington’s imperial ambitions” as a

major factor.

This latter point leads him to argue, as he

does in many of his other books, that inter-

religious and inter-communal solidarity

for peace and justice must necessarily

also require a forceful challenging of the

structures of power at the global level,

most importantly Western, and, in

particular, American, political, economic

and cultural hegemony, because this is

one of the major causes for conflict

between Muslims and others.

Human beings as brothers and sisters

This task, Muzaffar insists, must go hand-

in-hand with a willingness on the part of

Muslims themselves to introspect, and

to cease blaming others for all their ills.

In turn, this requires a fundamental re-

evaluation of the way Muslims

understand their religion, identity and

tradition. In particular, it requires,

Muzaffar says, “breaking through the

hardened crust of exclusive, dogmatic

thinking”, and embracing “an inclusive,

universal approach”.

Seeking to pre-empt critics who would

regard this as compromising on Islamic

teachings, he insists that it is perfectly in

consonance with Islam, which “regards

all human beings as brothers and sisters,

imperilled by the same human condition.”

The pathetic state of most contemporary

Muslim societies and states, including

the increasingly strained relations

between Muslims and others, have much

to do, he says, with a dogmatic

understanding of Islam that negates the

fundamental Koranic values that he

distils from the text.

The basis of shared beliefs and values

For this new approach to Islam and

Islamic morality to emerge as a dominant

paradigm would require Muslims to “re-

orientate their thinking on Islam”,

focusing particularly on what Muzaffar

regards as the basic moral values of the

Koran. From this would emerge

understandings of Islamic theology and

jurisprudence that are rooted in these

values – values that are universal, not

limited just to Islam alone.

Aware of the growing influence of

conservative as well as radical groups

that are vehemently opposed to inter-faith

dialogue and interpret Islam accordingly

in a narrow, exclusivist fashion, Muzaffar

insists that Islam calls upon Muslims to

dialogue with others. He points out, for

instance, that the Koran exhorts Muslims,

Jews and Christians to come together on

the basis of certain shared beliefs and

values.

He also regards the Pact of Medina,

between the Muslims, led by the Prophet,

and the Jews and pagans of the town,

and the Pact of Najran between the

Prophet and Christians, as the Prophet’s

practical expression of the Koranic call

for inter-faith dialogue and solidarity and

the imperative of “coming to terms with

‘the other’.”

10 December 2009

Yoginder Sikand is a writer-academic and

the author of several books on Islam-

related issues in India. He is the editor

and primary writer of Qalandar, a monthly

electronic publication covering relations

between Muslims and followers of other

religions.

Source: http://www.qantara.de/webcom/

show_article.php/_c-478/_nr-978/i.html

TREASURER,

Mr K Haridas

PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT,

Dr Chandra Muzaffar Dr Abdullah Al-Ahsan

SECRETARY-GENERAL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY-GENERAL,

Mr Anas Zubedy Tengku Ahmad Hazri

At the International Movement for a Just World Triennial General Meeting held on

20 March 2010, the following were elected to the Executive Committee:-

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR A JUST WORLD 2010-2013

1. Dr Arujunan Narayanan

2. Dr Asma Abdullah

3. Dr Chin Yoong Kheong

4. Mr Gan Teik Chee

5. Mr Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos

6. Ms Evelyn Khoo Lyn Yin

7. Tengku Iskandar

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

8. Dr Michael Allan

9. Dr Muddathir Abdel-Rahim

10. Dr Nooraini Mohd Ismail


11

ODT's version of the "State of the Village Report" has been updated and revised to 2005 statistics and is the most current version

available. Research for the first twenty facts for the updated version was done by Donella H. Meadows' think tank: the Sustainability

Institute. The rest came from a variety of sources including David Smith's children's book: If the World Were a Village. The author of

some things "to ponder..." is unknown. This conclusion to the piece was also adapted and revised by ODT, with support from Bette

Abrams-Esche. ODT distributes their updated version with every copy of their Population Map. In the same spirit of Donella Meadows'

initial work, ODT has made the material available copyright-free, as long as the source is acknowledged in any reproductions. More info

at www.odt.org/pop.htm. It can be viewed as a Flash film at luccaco.com/miniatureearth. Donella Meadows' original "State of the

Village Report" may be found at: vn338villageed

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