EXHAUSTED!!!

We are so TIRED! We’re absolutely knackered! This group is so good, they have amazing responses, their ideas on Celebrity Role Models were really interesting. They were discussing whether Katie Price should be hailed as a great Role Model because she puts her kids first and and is a great mother, or if she isn’t such a good role model because of her apparent ‘need for publicity’. They also talked about Angelina Jolie, Amir Kahn, Barack Obama and Naomi Campbell to name a few. But keeping them focused was SO HARD!!!! They are so easily distracted and won’t shut up! We love the group, they are really good but keeping them focused is difficult. Ah well, two weeks and we will have our fabulous news report and a wonderful trip! YAY!

The new sessions…

So, we’ve been back for four weeks and so far we have found out that this new group is rather chatty but WONDERFUL! We’ve introduced them to Peacemaker, introduced the concept of ‘Community’ and today we had the most epic time with the coolest religious dudes EVERRR!!! We had Shamim Miah from the Islamic faith  and one of our own Peer Educators, Laxmi Vekria on the Hindu faith. They were fabulous and compelling and the young people asked amazing questions like ‘What are your views on Evolution?’ and ‘How does following your religion benefit you as a person?’. There was an interesting topic on the occurence of numbers in faiths such as the number 5 in in Islam. We were so proud of them =) And then we had cake and it was delicious nomnomnom.

NEW YEAR!!!

IT’S A NEW YEAR!!! New courses, new structure and new young people! The wonderful Lucy, the amazing Rucksana and the fabulous Ryan are back for this year!

Our group is sparkling and brilliant and vibrant and lots and lots of wonderful things like that! From now until December is ‘Your Oldham’ which is all about Oldham for the young people. We will learn about the religions in Oldham, what is community, influences and role models and the role of the media.

The young people are all really talkative and anxious to get there opinions out there which is fantastic, they’re all really enjoying it and even asked to stay longer! I can’t wait for next session (half term next week, so we’re off) when we start on Community!

See you then people =D

Is Fear of Terrorism Making Us Give Up Our Freedoms?

Kerris (15): I feel like terrorism is something i think about, especially when someone who looks a bit frightening gets on the bus or the train, you never know what could happen! Although i feel safer with these precautions in place, it makes me question them when people are arrested and they haven’t even done anything.

Katherine (17): I don’t feel threatened at all by terrorism; the risk posed is not as great as the media makes out sometimes.  There have only been two major incidents (7/7 and 9/11) and a few other attempts, so if you look at the actual number of attacks compared to the amount of hysteria there is, it does seem pretty overblown.  I think that Stop and Search powers are abused, as the police are hypersensitive to the perceived  risk.  I suppose it is better to be safe than sorry, but I think a step back and reevaluation of the actual threat is needed, before our civil liberties are compromised any further, although I do acknowledge that Britain is an extremely liberal society compared to other places in the world.

Equality and Human Rights-Simple? I don’t think so

After spending a year learning about Human Rights and Equality it can seem a straightforward issue that you back 100%. However, sometimes in practice rights and equality rights can seem to clash. It can be complicated task to decide which right or issues wins over another so in today’s session we put some difficult questions to the group. Here are a couple of our case studies and one response from someone on the course. What do you think? Why not leave a comment?

You be the Judge

Sceanario 1:A women took 9 months maternity leave last year. The next tax year her male colleagues were given a raise. She wasn’t given one and she was told that she hadn’t progressed as much as a worker as she had missed ¾ of the year. She said that it was discrimination against her as a woman and against her decision to have children. Agree?

Lois (14): I think that it isn’t fair that she doesn’t get the same amount of pay, even though she could be just as much of a hard-worker as any of the other employers. It was her choice whether to have a baby or not, but i don’t think that she should be penalized for being a woman and having to take the time off. I think that possibly, for a solution, she could have half the pay rise that the other employees do, as she has only done half the work.

Scenario 2:A school finds out that one its teachers is a member of the BNP (an extreme right-wing party that has been branded racist and fascist). They call an emergency meeting with the teacher and discuss his future at the school. They are considering sacking him as racism goes against the values of the school. He says it is within his rights to hold his own political opinions and that it would be discrimination to sack him. He says there are teachers who are religious at the school, even though its non-religious. Why are his views any different? Agree?

Jamil (14): So if a teacher is part of the BNP then I will agree to sack the teacher incase she/he teaches the children differently and have a favouritee  student and then they will have less students in the school than they hoped all because of their teacher.

Scenario 3: The Catholic Adoption Agency are a partly government funded organization. They will not allow gay couples to adopt children from their agency, even if the couple are Catholic. They say it is the beliefs of their religion and they should be allowed to follow their religion. Gay couples opposing the ban on Gay adoption say it is discrimination against them for being Gay, which is against the law. Agree?

Jess (29): I think I would side with the Gay couple, especially if they themselves were Catholic. Whilst I respect peoples religious beliefs I do think that beliefs and religious practices can be much influenced by the time and place in which the followers live. And by the individuals within the Church/Mosque/Synagogue/Temple. Because of this I think that religious practice should adapt and respond to increased understanding and tolerance for certain issues, for example sexuality or women’s rights and look to the history or their religion and where the outlawing of certain practices stemmed from.

Islamic Extremism

Hannah (15):  Today at peacemakers we learnt about islamic extremism its upseting that people let religion get between them , we are all humans right? so why cant we just get along! people should never have to resort to violence to get there way.. i personally am not religious but cant understand how people can get so emotional that they kill other innocent people about something as stupid as the fact you dont follow the same beliefs! i think we should all just get along .. no god worth worshipping would want us to fight about this.

Rema (15) Islamic extremism is such a fascinating topic as i have learnt so much and also Islam is my religion, so learning about this made me realise that not everything and everyone is good. Islam doesn’t condone violence so i don’t see why these stupid TALIBANZ are putting a bad name to muslim. ITS JUST NOT FAIR|!  =[

Ankita (17): Islamic extremism is a rather controversial subject as every single person interprets it many different ways. However, if people examined it closely, they would find that it has a negative impact on our society and can affect so many lives. Violence is not the way to achieve what people want and by carrying out such acts can result in a negative portrayal of this religion. Everyone should respect each other’s views and opinions as well as their beliefs as God made us all.

Different Kinds of Extremism

There are different ways people can be Extreme and many different types of extremism. We have listed afew examples below. If you can think of others, why not post a comment?

Ethno-national Extremism: It is important to point out that Nationalism in itself is not extreme- it’s just a focus on the nation or national identity (think flags, anthems, the World Cup). Ethno-national extremists, however, have a particular idea of what they want the nation to be like. Their vision for the nation often means just one identity (which doesn’t include different cultures, colours, religions or ideas to them). This kind of extremism is often linked to Fascism and can be labelled right-wing extremism. It includes groups in the UK such as the BNP, English Defence League.

The English defence League in action

Another English Defence League March

Religious Extremism: every religion has extremists factions and these groups operate outside of normal religious practices. For example, Islam has Al Q’aeda, Christianity has the Klu Klux Klan, Judaism has Terror against Terror and Hinduism has Jagaran Manch. Many people who practice religions may not consider the views of extremist factions to have any relation to the religion that they themselves follow. Religious extremists often use religion to make strong demands on people, for example asking them to give up their lives in the name of God. They do not allow for compromise in their religion and see religion in black and white.

Ultimately any idea or belief can become extreme, think Political Extremism, Environmental Extremism or Animal Rights Extremism. These views may pose a threat to certain groups in society and may, or may not, become violent.

Saima (15): i think it waz gr8 2day and i enjoyed the FOOD! 😀 and erm, it waz gr8 doin the team work and workin wiv difernt ppl (:

Rema (14): i really enjoyed 2dey. i learned alot from the activites and group work we did. i think its important to learn about extremism and terrorism coz you hear it on the streets but you dont know the facts.

Reshma(17):Today everyone learned about the different types of extremism and overall the session went well and we also found out that people didn’t know that different type of extremism exists. Different types of extremism is an issue which i think needs to raised  as most young people thought there was one type of extremism e.g.Islam which isn’t true as other group carry out extremist activities such as kkk which is the Ku Klux Klan.

So what exactly is a Radical, Extremist or Terrorist?

First off, what is Right Wing, Left Wing and Centre? Sometimes when people talk about extremism and terrorism they assume that you understand what they mean by the political terms Right-Wing and Left-Wing. So…Here’s a quick recap.

If you imagine a long line, stretched horizontally infront of you, on your right you’d have the Extreme Right Wing. It is on the fringes of our normal society (the Centre) and can be a good way to describe views and actions. Right Wing can be defined with Fascism and Authoritarianism. Fascists believe in in a strong central authority without opposition (no voting, only one party). They believe that violence should be used to support authority. They also believe that there is one identity for a country- either you support and mirror that identity or you are not a part of the country. Fascists in Britain, for example, would have one version of what it means to be BRITISH. They wouldn’t support multi-culturalism or celebrate the diversity that exist in the UK. They wouldn’t support, for example, that different identities in Scotland, Wales, N Ireland and England make Britain’s identity diverse. They would want everyone to be focused on their ONE idea of what it means to be British. The BNP are often targeted by anti-fascist campaigners.

The Left Wing can be described with Communism and perhaps Socialism. Communist philosophy believes no one person should control the resources and production of a country. Instead of one person owning a forest and timber yard, paying workers wages and making profit everyone would control everything together. Communism is about a version of equality where one person will not own more than another and where everyone makes decisions together. However in practice many Communist states saw one Party having power and control over the population and everyone did NOT have an equal say in decisions.

There are different types of extremism, for example religious extremism or national extremism, and sometimes it is necessary to understand what right-wing/left-wing means. We will be looking a right-wing extremism later in the Blog.

OK, so what are the meanings of Radical, Extremist and Terrorist? There are some basic definitions below:

RADICAL: being radical in itself isn’t a bad thing. It may mean you want to see big changes to society and may think there are things wrong with how things are now. Being radical can mean positive changes, like the women’s liberation movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s but can also sometimes be the beginning of behaviour that leans towards extremism and terrorism.

EXTREMISM: term for groups and individuals who hold ideas that fall outside of normal society. Extremist groups can be violent towards mainstream society and cut themselves off from mainstream life. Extremism often refers to a threat against mainstream society and may suggest views which would cause problems for certain groups and communities. All countries and religions can have extremist groups.

TERRORIST: There is no set definition for terrorism, which can make laws and methods for dealing with it problematic. It is commonly understood as violence from groups with political, religious or ideological aims. Terrorism tries to bring about political change with violence. Peacemaker understands terrorism to be violent against the government and government policy. Violent Extremism involves violence against other groups in society.

What do you think? Why not leave a comment below…..

Emily (15): We never really learn about politics in school. PSHE lessons tell you the basics but today we really learnt the differences between parties and about extremism and terrorism. I think that in modern society it is so important to learn about politics and now that we have learnt more about terrorism and extremism it is easier to see why these are so flawed. There is still so much racism and discrimination in modern society and I think that the more young people are taught about terrorism the less there will be, as young people will better understand why things should be solved rationally and why people shouldn’t need to use violence to express their views.

Lucy (15): Peacemaker made it so straight forward. I am normally so confused by politics and terrorism and all that sort of thing but today i learned about it all and it was easy. I now know what they are and I wasnt confused. We saw pictures and listened to info about them and it stuck!

Lucy (17) I found the session easier to deliver and the group seemed to enjoy it more and all learnt something, i feel i learnt more about politics aswell.

Diversity and Myths in Oldham and beyond…

Today we began our module on Prejudice and Equality by thinking about diversity in the UK. Diversity refers to the differences in lifestyles and backgrounds within society. It can refer to difference in age, genders, religions, ethnicity, sexual preferneces or political beliefs.

Often it is used to talk about cultural diversity in the UK and we tried to unpick some stereotypes about this during the session. Firstly, we did a myth busting quiz which revealed just how diverse and multi-cultural the UK has been for some time. For example did you know that….

…Fish and chips were bought to the UK by a Jewish refugee in the mid 19th Century?

….The British Royal family are German descendants and that from 1714 until the 1900’s every British monarch took a German spouse. They only changed their German last name (Saxe-Couburg-Gotha) after WW1, when anti-German feeling grew- so they changed it to a more English sounding Windsor?

…The first Muslims arrived in the UK around 300 years ago? Many were sailors recruited to the East India Company

…..Migrant workers from all over the world helped build the NHS? From as early as 1940 the NHS dealt with sever staff shortages by importing nurses and doctors from abroad

…..India alone provided 1.3 million soldiers who fought for the UK in WW2. They were fighting for their ‘motherland’ and were told and they were considered as British subjects?

…..Britain recruited for labourers from abroad to try and rebuild Britain after World War 2?

We also did some work on number crunching and looked at figures from nationalstatistics.gov to uncover just how diverse the UK is. Did you know that…

92.1% of the UK population are white British, meaning that only 8% belong to other ethnic groups. Only 4% of the population are Asian British and only 2% are Black British. It was also interesting to see the difference in diversity from place to place. The Highlands of Scotland, for example, are not only not very populated but are not very diverse. The most exciting place in terms of diversity is London, with the West Midlands and North West falling in behind.

Yet only 12 out of about 600 MPs are not white British, meaning that people with a different heritage are severely under represented in our government. Maybe its time for some of our young people to begin their campaigns?

Finally we did a gameshow and tried to guess the number of British citizens living abroad. Have a go….How many live in…

Mexico……………………2500

Brazil…………………….11000            Sri Lanka…………..4,400

S Africa…………………..212,000       Israel…………………44,000

Saudi Arabia……………55,000          India………………..32,000

Australia………………..1.3 million     Spain……………761,000

Ryan Peer Educator (17): IT’S A NEW MODULE! Which means a new peer educator is coming to join me, Laxmi and Rucksana! It’s a sad goodbye to Halima, but only for now, and it’s a big hello to Corinne! Unfortunately she couldn’t make the first session because she was stuck in Austria (oh, how unlucky) but we’re excited for her joining us soon. So, the new module is all about equality and refugees and immigration which is a very intensive subject but I’m expecting great thing from the kids. We looked at the stereotypes to introduce the kids to the module and got them to make a summary of themselves involving likes/dislikes/family/background/dreams and then stereotyped them so they could realise that just because someone looks the way they do or likes the things they do doesn’t mean to say that they are anything like other people who look or like the same things. We then moved onto ethnicity, we explained to them the unclear definition that it is their heritage but it can get confusing. Following that, the kids estimated the percentage of different ethnicities there were within the UK and were shocked to find that so little of the population was made up from different ethnicities (7.9%!). I was impressed at how well the kids handled a subject that can get very tricky and they acted maturely when addressing stereotypes.

Deven (13): In todays session, we learned about diversity, equality and ethnicity in oldham and the UK. We did different activities and i learned a lot about the history of how ethnic minorities came to the UK. I and the other people in the session learned about the percentages of different ethnic minorities compared to the percentage of white british. I had already heard of the percentages of ethnic minorities in the UK, but i had forgot. I found this session really interesting and very knowledgeable

Jamil (13):  Today i found out that there was less than i thought there was in asian culture in britain all together there is indian culture only;1.8 pakistan only;1.3 bangladesh only;0.5 and any other asians only 0.4 when i only thought there were all over 10.0 so there’s only in 1.8 the highest and 0.3 the lowest!

Peacemaker, Belgium and the EU Parliament

Peacemaker has just returned from a trip to Brussels, where we met Oldham’s representative in the EU Parliament, Chris Davies MEP. A group of board members, Peacemaker staff and Peer Educators took a coach over to Brussels to expore the city and learn some more about how the main legislative power for Europe functions.

Key facts about the Europe and the EU Parliament:

1. There are currently 27 countries in the EU
2. EU Parliament has 736 MEPs
3. Is the 2nd largest democratic electorate in theWorld (India is number 1)
4. It has 375 million eligible voters
5. There are 23 official language and the parliament provides interpreters for all 23

Can you spot Chris Davies MEP?

But what does it do?

The EU Parliament, along with the Council of Europe, draws up laws for all member states, which means that laws decided in Europe affect us in Britain.

Ofcourse Belgium also means chocolate and we spent alot of time in various chocolatiers. I for one came back heavier than I left. We also visited the beautiful Bruge, ambling along the river into the picturesque town centre. Peacemaker can now add Brussels to  its list of places we’ve been with young people on educational visits -New York, Venezuela, Cuba and Belfast. I for one would like to see this list get longer and longer.