BY MUNEEB NASIR
Palestine, Bosnia, Kosova, 9/11, Sharia courts, 7/11, Toronto 18, Gaza ……
Every time there is a major incident or crisis that affects Canadian Muslims there is a flurry of ad-hoc meetings hastily called by mosques, organizations, leaders, and activists to discuss the issue and to develop a strategy for the community.
These meetings usually result in well-intentioned coalitions, coordinating councils and umbrella organizations being formed.
Such initiatives are driven by the urgency of the issue and the desire to ‘speak with one voice’.
All of these efforts start with a number of assumptions: that we know who we are, what we are facing and what we want.
Time is then spent on strategy and operational matters.
The success of these initiatives has been limited and the survival rate of coalitions has been abysmal.
This approach focuses on strategies before attempting to get an understanding of the diversity of the Muslim ‘communities’, the issues we are facing and on the vision we have for the community.
No doubt, all of these efforts across the country are being done sincerely because, I think, we are all looking for that quick fix to change the predicament we may find ourselves in.
It is time we rethink this approach.
Strategy is about means.
Strategy is concerned with how you will achieve your vision, not with what the vision and aims are or ought to be, or how they are established.
What may be more useful now is for Muslim activists to step back and re-think our approach.
Community building is hard work …. It is about engaging, mobilizing and organizing; and more importantly, for such a diverse Muslim community, it requires us to move away from the stifling top-down approach to an empowering bottom-up approach.
My proposal to fellow activists and proactive organizations is for the establishment of a task force that will conduct a series of round table and town hall sessions across country with organizations, leaders and community members.
The mandate of the task force would be to get an understanding of our community, the issues we are facing and elicit a vision for the Canadian Muslim community.
The round table for organizations could address the questions: What is your vision for Canadian Muslims? What are the most important values that Muslims can offer to enrich Canadian society? What are the five most important priorities for Canadian Muslims?
For community town hall sessions, the questions could be: What does it mean to be a Canadian Muslim? What can Muslims offer Canada? What do you think are the most important issues facing Canadian Muslims?
In addition, the task force’s scope would include conducting a study of the makeup of the Muslim 'communities' and how they understand and practice their religion.
It goes without saying that this work will need to be initiated and mandated as an intra-community initiative (by a network of organizations) as this cannot be done by just one group.
It is only when such grassroots work is done that more enduring councils and bodies will result that can speak with a more coherent voice for the Muslim community.
It is time to re-think our approach by changing the way we think and act.
(Muneeb Nasir is President of the Olive Tree Foundation (www.olivetreefoundation.ca), a public endowment foundation. He also serves as a coordinator of the activist network, Muslim Presence/Presence Musulmane (www.muslimpresence.com).
A very well written article which states simple steps to be taken at the grassroots level by Canadian Muslims. It was high time that we needed a game plan to move forward. Lets all unite as CANADIAN MUSLIMS and make a difference Inshallah.
Posted by: Adnan Ansari | February 05, 2009 at 01:34 AM
Masha'allah, very well written and puts forth some issues long known. the other question of course, is : Who is a Canadian Muslim ?
Each coalition/group is based on "like minded" people e.g. "moderates/progressives", Sunni's, Sunni+Jaffaris, jaffaris, Ahmadis etc.. Each of whom has different priorities and definition of "community".
Posted by: naeem Siddiqi | January 26, 2009 at 07:34 PM