tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/pluralism-34915/articlespluralism – The Conversation2024-01-26T13:20:10Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207252024-01-26T13:20:10Z2024-01-26T13:20:10ZFrance’s biggest Muslim school went from accolades to defunding – showing a key paradox in how the country treats Islam<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569761/original/file-20240117-21-kh948e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1022%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students attend a class at the Averroès school in Lille, France, in September 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-attend-a-class-at-the-averroes-high-school-in-news-photo/1801185507?adppopup=true">Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>France is famously strict on enforcing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13310-7_6">what it calls “laïcité</a>”: keeping religion out of the public sphere. Yet more than <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/rapport/289657-lenseignement-prive-sous-contrat">7,500 private schools</a> receive government funding, and most are Catholic. In a country where about 1 in 10 people are Muslim, just three Muslim high schools receive state support – or did.</p>
<p>In December 2023, local authorities of the French Ministry of the Interior confirmed a decision to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/frances-largest-muslim-school-threatened-closure-amid-scrutiny/story?id=105542824">revoke state funding from Lycée Averroès</a>, France’s largest and most acclaimed private Muslim high school. Authorities cited “<a href="https://www.la-croix.com/dissensions-autour-du-lycee-musulman-averroes-prive-de-subventions-publiques-20231211">serious breaches of the fundamental principles of the Republic</a>,” <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2023/11/27/lycee-prive-musulman-averroes-avis-consultatif-favorable-a-la-resiliation-du-contrat-avec-l-etat_6202633_3224.html">raised concerns over certain texts in religious education classes</a>, and accused administrators of opaque financial management, among various alleged infractions. </p>
<p>None of these claims are supported by previous inspection reports, and <a href="https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/hauts-de-france/nord-0/lille/lycee-musulman-averroes-syndicats-politiques-directeur-de-grande-ecole-tour-d-horizon-des-soutiens-affiches-2884994.html">many French scholars and activists have denounced the decision as politically motivated</a>, setting off a political firestorm.</p>
<p>Lycée Averroès, located in the suburbs of Lille, opened in 2003 and was granted state funding in 2008. In 2013, it was named the best high school in France, <a href="https://www.la-croix.com/Urbi-et-Orbi/Actualite/France/Le-lycee-musulman-Averroes-de-Lille-meilleur-lycee-de-France-2013-03-28-926203">according to the Parisien newspaper’s rankings</a>, and has consistently <a href="https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1309270/article/2023-03-29/lille-averroes-et-faidherbe-dans-le-top-3-des-lycees-de-la-region">ranked among the region’s best</a> in recent years. Teachers and administrators <a href="https://www.lycee-averroes.com/">pride themselves</a> on being dedicated to both French Republican and Islamic values. As <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2017.1303768">our research</a> has shown, the school often goes above and beyond to teach civic values such as equality and laïcité.</p>
<p>In many French Muslim communities, the school is seen as a beacon – an example of a Muslim institution that succeeded <a href="https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/religious-discrimination-against-muslims-in-france#:">despite discrimination</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/islam-and-the-governing-of-muslims-in-france-9781350214538/">political tensions around Islam</a>, and the French Republic’s <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/122/article/843095">strict secularism</a>.</p>
<p>The defunding decision represents a common paradox in contemporary France: Many of the steps its government takes to supposedly protect “<a href="https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/french-brief-reinforcing-principles-republic-french-paradox">French Republican values</a>,” better “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12942">integrate” Muslim minorities</a> or prevent radicalization have the potential <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/france-terrorism-muslims-confusion/2020/11/13/e40332be-2042-11eb-ad53-4c1fda49907d_story.html">to do the opposite</a>.</p>
<h2>High scores, high scrutiny</h2>
<p>Private schools in France <a href="https://books.openedition.org/pur/109889?lang=en">can receive state funding</a> for up to <a href="https://www.cafepedagogique.net/2023/06/02/enseignement-prive-8-milliards-de-fonds-publics-et-pas-de-controles/">about three-quarters of their operating budgets</a> if they agree to certain stipulations. Teachers can provide optional religious education, but otherwise must follow the national curriculum and admit students of any religious background, based on merit alone. </p>
<p>The first Muslim schools opened in 2001, and <a href="https://www.theses.fr/2021UPSLP080">dozens more have been established</a> since. But <a href="https://books.openedition.org/pur/109988?lang=en">as the first one to be granted state funding</a>, Averroès has been under <a href="https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/973367/article/2021-04-01/suspension-des-subventions-du-lycee-averroes-le-tribunal-administratif-rappelle">particularly close scrutiny</a> since its inception. The school has previously faced controversies related to <a href="https://www.leparisien.fr/societe/lycee-musulman-averroes-a-lille-la-region-sommee-de-verser-500-000-euros-a-letablissement-12-10-2022-LMTHICKKVNCR7PXBLWSUY4D6JQ.php">funding it received from an organization in Qatar</a>, and a former teacher’s claims, made a decade ago, that Averroès was <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20150206-teacher-quits-french-muslim-school-over-insidious-islamism">teaching “Islamism</a>.”</p>
<p>According to an <a href="https://static.blast-info.fr/attachments/stories/2023/gS9HjS-QQnumCrLXl7NLOw/attachment-kaCAkdjcQz2hkp2n1H3ixA.pdf">official 2020 report</a>, from 2015 through 2020 Averroès was inspected 13 times, making it “the most inspected school” in the region. Notably, it stated that “nothing in the observations … allows (us) to think teaching practices don’t respect republican values.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A statue of a seated man in robes on a pedestal, in front of a brightly lit stone wall at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570988/original/file-20240123-29-tsqi0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue of the medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes in Cordoba, Spain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/wall-and-averroes-memorial-royalty-free-image/500351883?phrase=averroes&adppopup=true">Domingo Leiva/Moment Open via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several public figures have argued that the decision to defund Averroès is representative of “<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2023/12/16/la-decision-de-deconventionner-le-lycee-averroes-a-lille-est-inequitable-et-disproportionnee_6206186_3232.html">inequitable and disproportionate” treatment</a> that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105022">French Muslims often face</a> compared to their non-Muslim peers. As our research has shown, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2022.2131735">many Muslim schools undergo more</a> surveillance and criticism <a href="https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/090223/homophobie-au-lycee-stanislas-six-mois-de-silence-du-ministre-qui-confinent-la-lachete">compared to their Catholic</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199359479.001.0001">Jewish</a> counterparts. </p>
<p>These double standards largely stem from a political environment rife with <a href="https://www.senat.fr/rap/r19-595-1/r19-595-12.html">fears over Islamic extremism</a> after <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/france/20210905-how-the-november-2015-attacks-marked-a-turning-point-in-french-terror-laws">numerous high-profile attacks on French soil</a>. </p>
<p>However, policies intended to <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2020/11/18/le-projet-de-loi-contre-l-islam-radical-et-les-separatismes-finalise-et-transmis-aux-deputes-et-senateurs_6060131_823448.html">save French Muslim youth from radicalization</a> can have an adverse effect, making young Muslims feel that they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3917/scpo.broua.2005.01">not seen as fully French</a>, and further alienating them. </p>
<p>For some, this sense of unequal treatment manifests in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-paris-radicalism-secularism-france-951fe2ff0b42e8954193f6f9293b0803">frequent protests</a> and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2018.1440197">demands for justice</a>. But it has sometimes fueled riots, vandalism and <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/01/17/les-emeutes-de-juillet-2023-dernier-episode-d-une-crise-politique-sans-fin_6211398_3224.html">social unrest</a>.</p>
<h2>Security and separatism</h2>
<p>Other policies that affect education and were made in the name of French secularism have also drawn controversy for potentially discriminating against Islam.</p>
<p>For example, a broad 2021 measure often referred to as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/15/frances-controversial-separatism-bill-explained#:%7E:text=Under%20a%20so%2Dcalled%20%E2%80%9Cseparatism,be%20banned%20from%20French%20territory.">the “separatism law</a>” aimed <a href="https://www.vie-publique.fr/en-bref/283224-loi-separatisme-entree-en-vigueur-des-premieres-dispositions">to combat perceived nonallegiance to French values</a>. Among many requirements, the law made independent schools harder to open and easier for the state to close. </p>
<p>Although the text of the <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/rdr/1749">law does not explicitly mention Muslims</a>, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3917/migra.183.0003">political discourse surrounding the law</a> clearly targeted Islam. In an October 2020 speech defending the legislation, President Emmanuel Macron stated, “What we must tackle is Islamist separatism,” which he accused of “<a href="https://www.elysee.fr/en/emmanuel-macron/2020/10/02/fight-against-separatism-the-republic-in-action-speech-by-emmanuel-macron-president-of-the-republic-on-the-fight-against-separatism">repeated deviations from the Republic’s values</a>.” </p>
<p>Yet there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/separatisme-et-si-la-politique-antiterroriste-faisait-fausse-route-149078?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=bylinetwitterbutton">little evidence of such alleged “separatism</a>.” Rather, studies have <a href="https://www.ined.fr/en/publications/editions/document-travail/trajectories-and-origines-survey-on-population-diversity-in-france-initial-findings-en/">consistently shown</a> that Muslim support for French institutions mirrors that of the larger population.</p>
<p>Other examples of policies that purport to rein in radicalization, but may further fuel Muslims’ isolation, include the 2023 <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2023/09/05/france-s-century-long-crusade-against-religious-symbols-at-school-from-the-crucifix-to-the-abaya_6124828_7.html">ban on abayas in public schools</a> and the <a href="https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/livre-la_politisation_du_voile_en_france_en_europe_et_dans_le_monde_arabe-9782747578875-18971.html">2004 “headscarf” law</a> that banned “ostentatious” <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691147987/the-politics-of-the-veil">religious symbols from public schools</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="About half a dozen women in headscarves look frustrated as they hold signs on the street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570989/original/file-20240123-17-fcypz4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Veiled or not veiled, we want equality’: Parents and supporters protest in 2019 against a proposal to ban mothers who wear headscarves from school trips.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/parents-and-members-of-le-collectif-66-des-mamans-en-colere-news-photo/1146681939?adppopup=true">Raymond Roig/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One study argues the 2004 ban <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000106">harmed Muslim girls’ graduation rates</a>, subsequently affecting their employment opportunities. Similarly, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/french-schools-ban-on-abayas-and-headscarves-is-supposedly-about-secularism-but-it-sends-a-powerful-message-about-who-belongs-in-french-culture-213543">abaya ban</a> has been <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/27/how-do-you-distinguish-between-an-abaya-and-a-maxi-dress">criticized by human rights activists</a>, <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230830-un-criticises-france-for-banning-abaya-in-schools/">the United Nations</a> and the <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-concerned-frances-expanding-interpretation-ban-religious">U.S. Commission for Religious Freedom</a> for unduly restricting freedom of religious expression and potentially fueling discrimination. </p>
<h2>The future of pluralism</h2>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/muslim-and-catholic-experiences-of-national-belonging-in-france-9781350380448/">our fieldwork</a>, we believe France’s Muslim schools <a href="https://theconversation.com/muslim-schools-are-allies-in-frances-fight-against-radicalization-not-the-cause-149802">may help reduce radicalization</a> and one of its causes: young people’s sense that being both fully French and fully Muslim <a href="https://www.europe1.fr/societe/selon-un-sondage-ifop-pour-le-journal-du-dimanche-78-des-francais-jugent-la-laicite-menacee-3927717">is incompatible</a>.</p>
<p>As one young French Muslim told us, “I’ve always been made to feel as though I’m not ‘une vraie française’ (a real French person).” Such “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2017.1323199">everyday exclusion</a>” can fuel <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-migrations-societe-2023-4-page-3.htm">alienation</a>, <a href="https://arcade.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/article_pdfs/Occasion_v09_hargreaves_final.pdf">resentment</a> or even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09639489.2022.2147913">emmigration</a>.</p>
<p>Institutions like Averroès, however, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2017.1303768">offer a haven</a> from the <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253218346/muslim-girls-and-the-other-france/">discrimination students may experience in public schools</a>, and create a space for pupils who want to wear a headscarf or abaya. In addition, they actively <a href="https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/bouches-du-rhone/marseille/rentree-marseille-eleves-musulmans-catholiques-se-rassemblent-hommage-samuel-paty-1890562.html">denounce terrorism</a> and <a href="https://www.20minutes.fr/lille/1512739-20150108-lille-hommage-charlie-hebdo-lycee-musulman-averroes">radicalization</a>.</p>
<p>But recent actions suggest that the French government may have <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-closes-mosques-with-powers-that-some-critics-say-use-secretive-evidence-2022-04-05/">lost confidence in Muslim institutions</a> as a way to foster French values. France shut down <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/france/#:%7E:text=The%20government%20dissolved%20by%20decree,21%20mosques%20since%20November%202020.">672 Muslim establishments between 2018 and 2021</a>, including mosques and <a href="https://www.newarab.com/news/france-has-shut-down-dozens-mosques-islamic-schools">independent Muslim schools</a>.</p>
<p>Most immediately, the decision to defund Averroès will impact its students and staff. The school offers scholarships to <a href="https://static.blast-info.fr/attachments/stories/2023/gS9HjS-QQnumCrLXl7NLOw/attachment-kaCAkdjcQz2hkp2n1H3ixA.pdf">approximately 62% of its student body</a>, including its nonstate-funded middle school – a number which will likely prove untenable without funding.</p>
<p>More broadly, such steps may intensify challenges to French Muslims’ sense of value and belonging, obstructing the path toward peaceful pluralism and paradoxically <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/opinion/france-terrorism-muslims.html">increasing the risk of radicalization and separatism</a>.</p>
<p>Yet we believe there is a third risk, as well. The French Republic considers secular neutrality and equality <a href="https://editionsdelaube.fr/catalogue_de_livres/etre-francais/">core pillars of French identity</a>, but many critics view its policies on Islam as prime examples of inequality and bias. Such discord may <a href="https://www.ldh-france.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/HL195-Idees-en-debat-Loi-sur-le-separatisme-la-liberte-de-culte-entravee.pdf">undermine these values’ legitimacy</a>, if not their very essence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent Geisser is affiliated with organization
President of the Center for Information and Studies on International Migration (CIEMI, Paris)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carol Ferrara and Françoise Lorcerie do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some of the measures the French government has taken to fight radicalization can do the opposite, three social scientists argue.Carol Ferrara, Anthropologist & Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing Communication, Emerson CollegeFrançoise Lorcerie, Professeure, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)Vincent Geisser, Sociologue, Aix-Marseille Université (AMU)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2094722023-07-25T12:23:14Z2023-07-25T12:23:14ZWomen can now undertake Islamic pilgrimages without a male guardian in Saudi Arabia, but that doesn’t mean they’re traveling alone – communities are an important part of the religious experience<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538621/original/file-20230720-33531-ec3kdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C6%2C1013%2C760&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">American Muslim women on pilgrimage at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina in 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iqbal Akhtar</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Saudi Arabia has changed its decadeslong rule that <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-hajj-umrah-women-no-male-guardian-required">mandated single women be accompanied by a male relative</a> when performing an Islamic pilgrimage, facilitating the participation of thousands of single Muslim women in the Hajj in 2023.</p>
<p>The new rules don’t apply just during the Hajj. Women can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2021.1930878">perform the Umrah</a>, known as the “lesser pilgrimage,” or other <a href="https://spaceandculture.in/index.php/spaceandculture/article/download/1102/448">routine pilgrimages such as ziyarat</a> that can be undertaken any time of the year to Islamic holy sites, without a “mahram,” or male guardian. </p>
<p>The fact that women can now travel unaccompanied is part of a campaign by the political leadership of Saudi Arabia to improve the rights of women in the kingdom, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10646170701490849">Western societies view</a> <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/apjur5&div=6&id=&page=">as oppressive</a>. </p>
<p>My research looks at issues of identity and “<a href="https://templetonreligiontrust.org/covenantal-pluralism/#:%7E:text=The%20philosophy%20of%20covenantal%20pluralism,as%20equally%20true%20or%20right">covenantal pluralism</a>,” which refers to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2020.1835029">mutual obligations that different faith communities have toward one another</a> to support the pursuit of each one’s spiritual truth. I focus on the geographical area that encompasses the Indian Ocean, and I argue that these changes need to be viewed within a larger historical context and as they relate to Muslim women’s engagement with the sacred sites of Islam. </p>
<h2>Saudi Arabia and the West</h2>
<p>There is no Quranic injunction against women’s traveling alone. Nevertheless, in some patriarchal societies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2017.1293920">where sexual harassment is common</a>, restrictions are put on women irrespective of religious affiliation.
Currently, Islamic medieval-era injunctions are applied in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. </p>
<p>However, Saudi Arabia is an exception. Conservative Sunni Muslim countries often see the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, <a href="https://www.sciencegate.app/document/10.4018/978-1-4666-4749-7.ch014">as the bulwark against</a> Western secularization. <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191835278.001.0001/acref-9780191835278-e-91">Medieval Islamic laws</a>, such as capital punishment for apostasy, are used to give an appearance of authoritative piety in present times.</p>
<p>Indeed, the cities of Mecca and Medina are visible manifestations of piety. To enter the holy cities is to be transported into a ritual space of sacred time based on the Muslim call to prayer, in which pilgrims from around the world unite in the idealized Prophetic vision of a nation of faith. It is not a world of punctual appointments set by a work schedule. Rather, worshippers serve God through devotion in prayer in accordance with the ancient Islamic prayer timings set by the rhythm of the Sun and Moon. </p>
<p>Colonization created a dichotomy within the world where Islam was often seen to be the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/islam-and-the-west-9780195090611?cc=us&lang=en&">opposite of the values of the West</a>. Keeping women segregated from male worshippers, and viewing that separation as an expression of piety, is part of the rejection of Western norms while legitimizing the Islamic credentials of the Saudis both domestically and internationally. </p>
<h2>Insider perspectives</h2>
<p>Generally in mosques around the world, women and men worship separately. To some it may appear to violate the norms of Western egalitarianism, but it’s an ancient practice meant to encourage a spiritual intimacy and fellowship. </p>
<p>Until now, single women who did not have a male relative to escort them to the Two Holy Mosques – Al Masjid Al Haram in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina – would join an organized tour group of women. Their accommodations, meals, sermons and prayers would be organized together. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the holiest site in Islam – the mosque in Mecca – is circular, and historically men and women have worshipped openly together with few, if any, barriers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People walk around a black cubic structure along circular rows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538576/original/file-20230720-25-k8khvj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pilgrims walk around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SaudiHajj/9af9be3fcf7140e4bbda5c893e1d44c5/photo?Query=hajj%20circular&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1167&currentItemNo=7&vs=true">Saudi Ministry of Media via AP, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These barriers, erected for women in Saudi Arabia in the 20th century, are being removed in accordance with the older <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Feminism_and_Islam/PygUCgAAQBAJ?hl">prophetic tradition of women’s independence</a>. For example, the first wife of the Prophet, Khatija, was an independent businesswoman who initially hired the Prophet as an employee for her trading caravans.</p>
<p>What is also important to consider is that whereas the Hajj is the preeminent Muslim pilgrimage, additional sacred sites exist for Shiite pilgrimage in countries such as Iran, Iraq and Syria. In these countries there is no mahram rule, though the threat of violence in Iraq and Syria means that both male and female pilgrims who visit from abroad come in groups.</p>
<h2>Community and camaraderie</h2>
<p>Islamic pilgrimages are global gatherings of Muslims organized into groups, communities and families in which the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2021.1953046">individual’s identity</a> is a dynamic one. The ultimate truth in Islam is the unity of God, and a Muslim pilgrimage is a manifestation of that unity through integration and service to the community. In this integration, the individual ego is subsumed through a <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mystical_Dimensions_of_Islam/EMLYeqhKEokC?hl">communal religious experience</a>, which can be ecstatic. </p>
<p>Additionally, Islam is a <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Heart_of_Islam/oAbB52U0icgC?hl">religion of right action</a> in which individuals find realization by integrating into the community. The communal model of pilgrimage helps them go through a physically demanding schedule of ritual observance and creates camaraderie, that continues beyond the pilgrimage. </p>
<p>The changes to the mahram rule allowed single Muslim women to join the Hajj pilgrimage in 2023. Over <a href="http://www.hajjreporters.com/hajj-2023-over-4000-indian-women-to-perform-hajj-without-male-guardian/">4,000 women from India</a> performed the Hajj without a male guardian. Nonetheless, community participation remains important, and most women do not actually travel alone. A majority of women join groups that share the same language, rituals and cuisine to facilitate navigation of the foreign world of Muslim religious tourism. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44364151">reshaping, reinterpretation and reconstruction</a> of Islamic pilgrimages has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/technology-remains-at-the-heart-of-the-hajj-206267">going on for centuries</a>; this time, women are leading it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209472/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iqbal Akhtar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A religion scholar argues that the communal nature of Islamic pilgrimage helps worshippers go through a physically demanding schedule and creates camaraderie that continues beyond the pilgrimage.Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065672023-06-30T12:37:59Z2023-06-30T12:37:59Z3 myths about immigration in America<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533017/original/file-20230620-16-augfut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1168%2C307%2C3950%2C2713&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A family of Syrian refugees arrive at their new home in Bloomfield, Mich., in 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-haji-khalif-family-arrives-at-their-new-home-on-july-24-news-photo/632671648?adppopup=true">Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. is – and long has been – <a href="https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2021/09/01/america-cultural-pluralism-horace-kallen-alain-locke/ideas/essay/">a pluralistic society</a> that contains large immigrant communities. </p>
<p>Yet migration is an actively debated but poorly understood topic, and much of the conventional thinking and political rhetoric about migration <a href="https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/spring-2011/ten-myths-about-immigration">are based on myths</a>, <a href="https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/articles/se_8206348.pdf">rather than facts</a>.</p>
<p>For these reasons, migration policies and strategies for easing <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/psychology/biological-psychology/acculturation-personal-journey-across-cultures?format=PB&isbn=9781108731096">acculturation</a> – which refers to the psychological process of assimilating to a new culture – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019330">usually end up being ineffective</a>.</p>
<p>I often work with immigrant populations <a href="https://thecouplesclinic.com/our-staff/april-ilkmen/">in my job</a> as a family therapist and as an acculturation scholar. </p>
<p>Here are a few of the most common misconceptions I come across in my work.</p>
<h2>1. Immigrants don’t want to learn English</h2>
<p>The U.S. is home to more international migrants than any other country, and more than the next four countries – Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Kingdom – combined, <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2020_international_migration_highlights.pdf">according to 2020 data</a> from the U.N. Population Division. While the U.S. population represents about 5% of the total world population, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states">close to 20% of all global migrants</a> reside there.</p>
<p>An overwhelming number of these immigrants are learning English, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210315579547">despite public perception to the contrary</a>.</p>
<p>Immigrants and their children learn English today <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00217">at the same rate</a> as Italians, Germans and Eastern Europeans who emigrated in the early 19th century.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2022/acs/acs-50.pdf">According to U.S. Census data</a>, immigrant adults report having better English skills <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024609320391">the longer they’ve lived in the U.S.</a> And from 2009 to 2019, the percentage who could speak English “very well” <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/05/23/u-s-undocumented-immigrants-are-more-proficient-in-english-more-educated-than-a-decade-ago/">increased from 57% to 62%</a> among first-generation immigrants. </p>
<h2>2. Immigrants are uneducated</h2>
<p>Contrary to popular belief that immigrants moving to the U.S. <a href="https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/immigration/study-destroys-myth-of-uneducated-immigrants/">have minimal education</a>, many of them are well educated. </p>
<p>Over the past five years, 48% of arriving immigrants have been classified as highly skilled – that is, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/sites/default/files/publications/mpi-brain-waste-analysis-june2021-final.pdf">they have a bachelor’s degree or graduate degree</a>. By comparison, only 33% of those born in the U.S. <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/educational-attainment.html">hold a bachelor’s degree or higher</a>. </p>
<p>Moreover, the pursuit of higher education is valued and encouraged in immigrant communities, particularly those that arrived from collectivist societies, which are commonplace in the countries of South Asia. Immigrants from these places tend to prioritize <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2017.00056">the virtue of the learning process</a> and the joy that comes from attaining an educational milestone. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean highly educated immigrants can easily slide into high-paying jobs. Many of them find themselves working in menial jobs that don’t require a degree, <a href="https://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2823&context=capstone">and underemployment among highly educated immigrants</a> remains a key issue in the U.S. today. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People waving U.S. flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533015/original/file-20230620-21-8lo1cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533015/original/file-20230620-21-8lo1cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533015/original/file-20230620-21-8lo1cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533015/original/file-20230620-21-8lo1cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533015/original/file-20230620-21-8lo1cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533015/original/file-20230620-21-8lo1cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533015/original/file-20230620-21-8lo1cd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A crowd celebrates after being sworn in as U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony in 2007 in California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/immigrants-wave-flags-after-being-sworn-in-as-u-s-citizens-news-photo/75710241?adppopup=true">David McNew/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>3. The best way to adapt is to embrace US culture</h2>
<p>For decades, acculturation studies have highlighted the importance of immigrants’ embracing American culture. Policymakers, therapists and educators who offered services to immigrants adhered to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.1.49">a narrow understanding of acculturation</a>, which encouraged immigrants to adapt to their host country by severing themselves from the culture of their homelands. </p>
<p>Then, in 1987, psychologist John Berry proposed <a href="https://doi.org/10.22329/csw.v9i1.5762">an acculturation model</a> outlining new strategies. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.07.013">According to Berry</a>, immigrants should strive to retain elements of their original cultural identity while also adopting a new cultural identity that folds in American culture and values.</p>
<p>Today, Berry’s model is the most commonly used to understand acculturation. </p>
<p>However, although the model acknowledges that acculturation strategies may evolve over time, it doesn’t take into account the emerging forms of <a href="https://www.studysmarter.us/explanations/human-geography/population-geography/transnational-migration/">transnational immigration</a>, which refers to immigrants who live in another country but also maintain strong ties to their home country. </p>
<p>Technological advances have made it far <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2022.04.004">easier for immigrants to maintain ties with their original culture</a>. There are also U.S. cities, neighborhoods and towns where immigrant communities <a href="https://backgroundchecks.org/cities-largest-immigrant-population.html">are the demographic majority</a> – places like Hialeah, Florida, where Cubans and Cuban Americans <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/hialeah-fl-population">make up 73% of the population</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144214563509">parts of the Detroit metro area</a>, which has growing numbers of Indian immigrants. </p>
<p>For immigrants living in these “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0096144214563509">immigrant islands</a>,” there’s less of an obligation to undergo a transformative process of acculturation, whether it’s by <a href="https://theconversation.com/jewish-americans-changed-their-names-but-not-at-ellis-island-96152">Americanizing foreign names</a> or not teaching children their home country’s language.</p>
<p>Still, many immigrants nonetheless feel pressured to downplay their backgrounds. While conducting interviews with members of the Turkish community in Chicago, I spoke with many people who admitted that they weren’t comfortable flaunting their Turkish culture. This didn’t surprise me. Immigrants are often exposed to new sets of prejudices and biases, and they fear not being able to access services such as medical care and education.</p>
<p>This fear reinforces the urge to assimilate into the dominant culture’s values – which, in America, <a href="https://www.up.edu/iss/advising-services/american-values.html">includes individualist principles</a> like independence – and suppress their own cultural values, such as being family-oriented. It’s essentially <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332649214561306">a strategy of self-protection</a>.</p>
<p>In my work, I found that immigrants who engaged in what’s called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017393">cultural innocuousness</a>” – behaving in ways that may soften their ethnic and cultural expression – had the hardest time adapting to their new home.</p>
<p>For those reasons, it is crucial for social workers, therapists, teachers and policymakers who work with immigrant families to focus on the tensions among acculturation, ethnic identity and well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>April Nisan Ilkmen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US is home to more international migrants than any other country. But even though immigration is an actively debated topic, immigrants are poorly understood.April Nisan Ilkmen, PhD Candidate in Couple and Family Therapy, Adler UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2035802023-04-16T07:18:52Z2023-04-16T07:18:52ZFrom advertising blackmail to physical threats, Kenya’s journalists are under attack – but they must also regain public trust<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/520468/original/file-20230412-16-78wq4n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Journalists take cover during March 2023 protests in Kenya. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boniface Muthoni/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In recent months, Kenyan journalists have been <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/editorials/stop-this-unwarranted-affront-to-media-freedom-4167720">harassed</a>, <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/blogs-opinion/editorials/denounce-this-blatant-attempt-to-muzzle-media-4170448">intimidated</a> and <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/journalists-attacked-as-anti-government-protests-continue-in-kenya-/7030753.html">attacked</a> by government officials, politicians and members of the public. George Ogola, a professor of media industries, explains the impact of these attacks on media freedom in Kenya.</em> </p>
<h2>What are the major emerging threats against media freedom in Kenya?</h2>
<p>Kenya’s media face threats from both state and non-state actors as <a href="https://theconversation.com/moi-and-the-media-how-kenyan-journalism-suffered-under-his-iron-heel-131681">repressive practices of the past</a> reemerge. Government and opposition politicians are actively undermining media freedom in the country. This isn’t entirely new. But the threats have taken a new dimension as they are publicly defended – even boldly justified – by some of the perpetrators. These threats are economic, political and physical.</p>
<p><strong>Economic squeeze.</strong> In what it claimed was a measure of austerity to curb government spending – but which was interpreted as a deliberate attempt to muzzle media criticism – the previous government established a media buying agency, the <a href="https://ict.go.ke/directorate-of-government-advertising-agency-gaa/">Government Advertising Agency</a>. All government advertising is now channelled through this agency. </p>
<p>Critical media were and are now regularly “punished” through the <a href="https://rsf.org/en/government-orders-state-sector-withdraw-advertising-standard-group-media">withdrawal of government advertising</a>. In the run-up to the August 2022 elections, one of President William Ruto’s senior policy men <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidNdii/status/1552249429406744576?s=20">warned the media</a> that they were best advised to look for advertising elsewhere as it would not be business as usual with state advertising.</p>
<p><strong>Political threats.</strong> The <a href="https://theconversation.com/william-ruto-vs-kenyas-media-democracy-is-at-stake-190780">emerging systematic media repression</a> has also taken the form of brazen political threats from within the senior ranks of government. In what seemed like a well-calibrated attack by the ruling coalition, several politicians accused the media of being a “<a href="https://twitter.com/Aaroncheruiyot/status/1632672857040846850?s=20">cartel</a>” which needed to be “crushed”. These alarming sentiments were <a href="https://twitter.com/KIMANIICHUNGWAH/status/1633125734473674752?s=20">shared by the ruling party’s majority leader</a> in parliament. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/william-ruto-vs-kenyas-media-democracy-is-at-stake-190780">William Ruto vs Kenya's media: democracy is at stake</a>
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<p>More draconian threats have included alleged plans to shut down media houses and the internet. Against the background of <a href="https://theconversation.com/mass-protests-in-kenya-have-a-long-and-rich-history-but-have-been-hijacked-by-the-elites-202979">opposition protests</a> in the country in March 2023, the Kenya Media Sector Working Group claimed the government had intended to <a href="https://nation.africa/kenya/news/journalists-call-out-govt-over-alleged-plan-to-shut-internet-media-over-azimio-protests-4182216">shut down the broadcast media and the internet</a> ahead of a planned demonstration. The president <a href="https://ntvkenya.co.ke/news/ruto-on-plan-to-shut-down-mainstream-media-internet/">denied such plans</a>.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Raila Odinga called on his supporters to <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-03-21-uproar-over-railas-call-for-boycott-of-the-star/">boycott the Star newspaper</a>, a local daily, accusing it of bias. Even though he later withdrew the order, the disregard for the principles of media freedom was apparent.</p>
<p><strong>Physical assaults.</strong> In what seemed like a return to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/daniel-arap-moi-the-making-of-a-kenyan-big-man-127177">repressive 1980s</a> during Kenya’s struggle for political pluralism, journalists were physically assaulted by the police and demonstrators in recent mass protests. Incredibly, the inspector general of police described the risk of assault as part of journalism’s “<a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-04-04-it-wasnt-deliberate-koome-tells-media-over-attacks-during-demos/">occupational hazards</a>”. </p>
<h2>What does the law say about media freedom?</h2>
<p>Kenya has a relatively strong legal framework that supports media freedom. This is in addition to instruments like charters, treaties and declarations. </p>
<p>The freedom and independence of all types of media are guaranteed by <a href="https://klrc.go.ke/index.php/constitution-of-kenya/112-chapter-four-the-bill-of-rights/part-2-rights-and-fundamental-freedoms/200-34-freedom-of-the-media">Article 34 of the constitution</a>. <a href="https://klrc.go.ke/index.php/constitution-of-kenya/112-chapter-four-the-bill-of-rights/part-2-rights-and-fundamental-freedoms/199-33-freedom-of-expression">Articles 33</a> and <a href="https://klrc.go.ke/index.php/constitution-of-kenya/112-chapter-four-the-bill-of-rights/part-2-rights-and-fundamental-freedoms/201-35-access-to-information">35</a> further guarantee freedom of expression and access to information, respectively. </p>
<p>Additional legislation includes the <a href="https://mediacouncil.or.ke/sites/default/files/downloads/media-act-2013.pdf">Media Council of Kenya Act (2013)</a>, which established the Media Council of Kenya. The council promotes and protects the freedom and independence of the media. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/AmendmentActs/2013/KenyaInformationandCommunications_Amendment_Act2013.pdf">Kenya Information and Communication (Amendment) Act (2013)</a> established the Communications Authority of Kenya. It licences and regulates postal, information and communications services. The act gives the authority “independence from government, political or commercial interests”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.eala.org/uploads/The_Treaty_for_the_Establishment_of_the_East_Africa_Community_2006_1999.pdf">East African Community treaty (1999)</a>, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights#:%7E:text=Article%2019,media%20and%20regardless%20of%20frontiers">Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a> and the African Union’s <a href="http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/achpr/expressionfreedomdec.html">Declaration of Principles on Human Rights in Africa (2002)</a>, all ratified by Kenya, advocate for media freedom. </p>
<p>Other key advocates for media freedom include the Kenya Union of Journalists, the Kenya Editors Guild and the Media Owners Association. </p>
<h2>Are media outlets free of blame?</h2>
<p>There is a growing public wariness about the performance of the media, which are increasingly being accused of partisanship and poor journalism. </p>
<p>The Kenyan media have always been embedded within the broader contests for political power forced upon them by <a href="https://internews.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/resources/Internews_FactuallyTrue_Legally_Untrue-MediaOwnership_Kenya2013-01.pdf">media ownership structures</a>. Journalists are also wedded to Kenya’s polarising, ethnically inflected politics. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-kenyatta-has-gone-about-stifling-the-free-press-in-kenya-91335">How Kenyatta has gone about stifling the free press in Kenya</a>
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<p>A study of the structural conditions of journalism in Kenya describes the media culture as one that “<a href="http://www.mecodem.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Lohner-Banjac-Neverla-2016_Mapping-structural-conditions-of-journalism-in-Kenya.pdf#page=5">fluctuates from critical to concordant, clientelist reporting</a>”. Coverage can reflect the ethnic loyalties of the writers or media houses. This has eroded public trust in sections of the media. </p>
<p>Further, the media licensing regime has traditionally been transactional. Political support is rewarded with licences and access to state advertising. </p>
<p>Importantly, too, as economic challenges become existential threats to many media organisations, they have been forced to reduce their workforce, weakening gate-keeping processes. </p>
<p>These organisations also have to contend with the speed of social media as competitors. As the focus shifts to speed, quality is undermined. </p>
<p>The professional precarity of journalists afraid to lose their jobs has also made them susceptible to self-censorship and bribery. </p>
<h2>What are the options for the media?</h2>
<p>Continued exposure to advertising blackmail from the government weakens the media’s ability to operate independently. It is, therefore, critical that Kenya’s media find ways of diversifying their revenue streams. </p>
<p>Media organisations must continue to raise awareness about the importance of media freedom. They must push back against attempts to undermine their independence and encroach on their freedoms. </p>
<p>There are also enduring legal threats, such as the misapplication of laws like the <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/Acts/ComputerMisuseandCybercrimesActNo5of2018.pdf">Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act</a>, which criminalises the publication of false information. Such laws are routinely abused and must, therefore, be fought. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/social-media-is-being-misused-in-kenyas-political-arena-why-its-hard-to-stop-it-177586">Social media is being misused in Kenya's political arena. Why it's hard to stop it</a>
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<p>Lastly, the media must continue investing in training and capacity building for journalists. The allure of speed in an attempt to compete with social media may be tempting, but it risks undermining ethical reporting, fact-checking and quality journalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Ogola does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is a growing public wariness about the performance of the media, which are increasingly accused of being partisan.George Ogola, Professor of Media Industries, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1889672022-11-07T13:34:06Z2022-11-07T13:34:06ZWhy some people think fascism is the greatest expression of democracy ever invented<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492858/original/file-20221101-24-gxmzky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=74%2C0%2C8256%2C5475&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donald Trump is one of many political leaders through history who has claimed he embodies the voice of 'the people' – but which people he means matters quite a lot.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/former-u-s-president-donald-trump-speaks-at-a-save-america-news-photo/1435729108">Brandon Bell/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Warnings that leaders like Donald Trump hold <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/01/joe-biden-donald-trump-january-6">a dagger at the throat of democracy</a> have evoked a sense of befuddlement among moderates. How can so many Republicans – voters, once reasonable-sounding officeholders and the new breed of activists who claim to be <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/08/18/1117171029/how-the-hard-right-turn-in-the-arizona-gop-is-an-anti-democracy-experiment">superpatriots committed to democracy</a> – be acting like willing enablers of democracy’s destruction?</p>
<p>As a political philosopher, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=xruNAnYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I</a> spend a lot of time <a href="http://www.thecritique.com/articles/trumpandliberalism/">studying</a> those who believe in authoritarian, totalitarian and other repressive forms of government, on both the right and the left. Some of these figures don’t technically identify themselves as fascists, but they share important similarities in their ways of thinking.</p>
<p>One of the most articulate thinkers in this group was the early-20th-century philosopher <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315125954/origins-doctrine-fascism-giovanni-gentile-james-gregor">Giovanni Gentile</a>, whom Italian dictator Benito Mussolini called “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Giovanni-Gentile-Philosopher-of-Fascism/Gregor/p/book/9780765805935">the philosopher of fascism</a>.” And many fascists, like Gentile, claim they are not opposed to democracy. On the contrary, they think of themselves as advocating a more pure version of it.</p>
<h2>Unity of leader, nation-state and people</h2>
<p>The idea that forms the bedrock of fascism is that there is a unity between <a href="https://sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/2B-HUM/Readings/The-Doctrine-of-Fascism.pdf">the leader, the nation-state and the people</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, Mussolini famously claimed that “<a href="http://www.historyguide.org/europe/duce.html">everything is in the state</a>, and nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the state.” But this is not an end to be achieved. It is the point from which things begin. </p>
<p>This is how Trump, according to those around him, can believe “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/us/politics/trump-fbi-classified-documents.html">I am the state</a>” and equate what is good for him is by definition also good for the country. For while this view may seem inconsistent with democracy, this is true only if society is viewed as a collection of individuals with conflicting attitudes, preferences and desires.</p>
<p>But fascists have a different view. For example, <a href="https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/19015/6919293.PDF?sequence=1">Othmar Spann</a>, whose thought was highly influential during the rise of fascism in Austria in the 1920s and 1930s, argued that society is not “<a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203806944">the summation of independent individuals</a>,” for this would make society a community only in a “mechanical” and therefore trivial sense. </p>
<p>On the contrary, for Spann and others, society is a group whose members share the same attitudes, beliefs, desires, view of history, religion, language and so on. It is not a collective; it is more like what Spann describes as a “super-individual.” And ordinary individuals are more like cells in a single large biological organism, not competing independent organisms important in themselves.</p>
<p>This sort of society could indeed be democratic. Democracy is intended to give effect to the will of the people, but it doesn’t require that society be diverse and pluralistic. It does not tell us who “the people” are.</p>
<h2>Who are the people?</h2>
<p>According to fascists, only those who share the correct attributes can be part of “the people” and therefore true members of society. Others are outsiders, perhaps tolerated as guests if they respect their place and society feels generous. But outsiders have no right to be part of the democratic order: Their votes should not count.</p>
<p>This helps explain why Tucker Carlson claims “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-democracy-functioning">our democracy is no longer functioning</a>,” because so many <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/the-demographic-shift-isnt-driving-white-people-to-the-right">nonwhites</a> have the vote. It also helps explain why Carlson and others so vigorously <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/17/republicans-have-invoked-the-great-replacement-theory-over-and-over-and-over">promote</a> the “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/us/replacement-theory-shooting-tucker-carlson.html">great replacement theory</a>,” the idea that liberals are encouraging immigrants to come to the U.S. with the specific purpose of diluting the political power of “true” Americans. </p>
<p>The importance of seeing the people as an exclusive, privileged group, one that actually includes rather than is represented by the leader, is also at work when Trump <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/rino-just-means-disloyal-to-trump-now.html">denigrates Republicans who defy him</a>, even in the smallest ways, as “Republicans in Name Only.” The same is also true when other Republicans call for these “in-house” critics to be cast out of the party, for to them any disloyalty is equivalent to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/16/david-ball-toomey-pennsylvania-gop/">defying the will of the people</a>.</p>
<h2>How representative democracy is undemocratic</h2>
<p>Ironically, it is all the checks and balances and the endless intermediate levels of representative government that fascists view as undemocratic. For all these do is interfere with the ability of the leader to give direct effect to the will of the people as they see it.</p>
<p>Here is Libyan dictator and Arab nationalist Moammar Gadhafi on this issue in 1975:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf">Parliament is a misrepresentation of the people</a>, and parliamentary systems are a false solution to the problem of democracy. … A parliament is … in itself … undemocratic as democracy means the authority of the people and not an authority acting on their behalf.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In other words, to be democratic, a state does not need a legislature. All it needs is a leader.</p>
<h2>How is the leader identified?</h2>
<p>For the fascist, the leader is certainly not identified through elections. Elections are simply spectacles meant to announce the leader’s embodiment of the will of the people to the world.</p>
<p>But the leader is supposed to be an extraordinary figure, larger than life. Such a person cannot be selected through something as pedestrian as an election. Instead, the leader’s identity must be gradually and naturally “revealed,” like the unveiling of religious miracle, says Nazi theorist <a href="https://theconversation.com/carl-schmitt-nazi-era-philosopher-who-wrote-blueprint-for-new-authoritarianism-59835">Carl Schmitt</a>.</p>
<p>For Schmitt and others like him, then, these are the <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262192446/political-theology/">true hallmarks of a leader</a>, one who embodies the will of the people: intense feeling expressed by supporters, large rallies, loyal followers, the consistent ability to demonstrate freedom from the norms that govern ordinary people, and decisiveness.</p>
<p>So when Trump claims “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/trump-rnc-speech-alone-fix-it/492557/">I am your voice</a>” to howls of adoration, as happened at the 2016 Republican National Convention, this is supposed to be a sign that he is exceptional, part of the unity of nation-state and leader, and that he alone meets the above criteria for leadership. The same was true when Trump announced in 2020 that the nation is broken, saying “<a href="https://www.politico.com/video/2020/08/20/trump-at-2016-rnc-i-alone-can-fix-it-085403">I alone can fix it</a>.” To some, this even suggests he is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/25/rick-perry-donald-trump-chosen-one">sent by God</a>.</p>
<p>If people accept the above criteria for what identifies a true leader, they can also understand why Trump claims he attracted bigger crowds than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/us/politics/donald-trump-npr-interview.html">President Joe Biden</a> when explaining why he could not have lost the 2020 presidential election. For, as Spann wrote a century earlier, “<a href="https://worldcat.org/title/1292075168">one should not count votes</a>, but weigh them such that the best, not the majority prevails.” </p>
<p>Besides, why should the mild preference of 51% prevail over the intense preference of the rest? Is not the latter more representative of the will of the people? These questions certainly sound like something Trump might ask, even though they are actually taken from <a href="http://openanthropology.org/libya/gaddafi-green-book.pdf">Gadhafi</a> again. </p>
<h2>The duty of the individual</h2>
<p>In a true fascist democracy, then, everyone is of one mind about everything of importance. Accordingly, everyone intuitively knows what the leader wants them to do. </p>
<p>It is therefore each person’s responsibility, citizen or official, to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777300000382">work towards the leader</a>” without needing specific orders. Those who make mistakes will soon learn of it. But those who get it right will be rewarded many times over. </p>
<p>So argued Nazi politician <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960777300000382">Werner Willikens</a>. And so, it appears, thought Trump when he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/us/politics/donald-trump-subpoenas.html">demanded</a> absolute <a href="https://www.yalelawjournal.org/forum/the-unitary-executive-and-the-scope-of-executive-power">loyalty and obedience</a> from his administration officials. </p>
<p>But most importantly, <a href="https://nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/capitao-rioters.html">according to their own words</a>, so thought many of the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/president-trump-dozen-capitol-rioters-trumps-guidance/story?id=75757601">insurrectionists</a> on Jan. 6, 2021, when they tried to prevent the confirmation of Biden’s election. And so Trump signaled when he subsequently <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/trump-jan-6-rioters-pardon/">promised to pardon</a> the rioters.</p>
<p>With that, the harmonization of democracy and fascism is complete.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark R. Reiff is a registered Democrat. He does not work for, consult, own shares in, or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no other relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some fascists claim that democracy and fascism have the same goal – to give effect to the will of the people. But who the people are is where the ideologies divide.Mark R. Reiff, Research Affiliate in Legal and Political Philosophy, University of California, DavisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1693322021-11-04T12:26:27Z2021-11-04T12:26:27ZWhat American schools can learn from other countries about civic disagreement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429185/original/file-20211028-17-1wkw2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C5587%2C3744&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Learning how to discuss divisive issues and disagree with respect is good for democracy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CriticalRaceTheoryTeachers/10b751925f124e948ff076adf7795a7b/photo?Query=critical%20race%20theory&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=31&currentItemNo=15">Mary Altaffer/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few areas of American life have experienced more conflict of late than public education. The conflict has <a href="https://www.axios.com/school-board-recalls-soar-critical-race-theory-86823daf-a7e1-4a55-965c-32f79b64954f.html">largely revolved</a> around how public schools should deal with the difficult subjects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752">race and racism</a>. The situation has become so inflamed that a national school board group asked the federal government to step in and protect school officials and educators from what they said were a <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/NSBA/File/nsba-letter-to-president-biden-concerning-threats-to-public-schools-and-school-board-members-92921.pdf">growing number of attacks</a> from angry citizens. </p>
<p>As a historian who specializes in <a href="https://education.jhu.edu/directory/ashley-rogers-berner-phd/">education policy</a>, I believe it is worth asking: Is the United States the only place where debates rage about what should and shouldn’t be taught in public schools? </p>
<p>My experience <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mi_mVqEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">studying school systems throughout the world</a> tells me that the U.S. can learn a lot from how other countries handle divisive issues. </p>
<p>Put simply, other countries don’t necessarily view studying different ideas as the same as being forced to believe in them. That is to say, they don’t conflate exposure with indoctrination.</p>
<h2>Exposure vs. indoctrination</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/indoctrination-education-and-god-the-struggle-for-the-mind/oclc/836346256&referer=brief_results">Indoctrination happens</a> when one set of claims about the world is presented to the exclusion of others. An example would be presenting the Marxist take on a historical event as if it were the only perspective, without naming it as a Marxist view and providing alternative understandings.</p>
<p>It is easy for Americans to associate indoctrination with <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5972812.html">religious fundamentalist schools</a> in the U.S., but indoctrination can also be <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2673273">secular and tacit</a>. A school that avoids discussing religious beliefs across human history, or engaging with thorny topics of bioethics, for instance, is teaching young people something, too: that such questions are either unimportant or too divisive to discuss. </p>
<p>Exposure, by contrast, happens when students encounter competing ideas about the world and have a chance to discuss them together. Exposure works against indoctrination, by opening up new concepts and experiences for consideration. It also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-008-9063-z">builds students’ civic capacities</a> and their participation in what University of Virginia education professor E.D. Hirsch calls a democratic “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-educate-a-citizen-e-d-hirsch">speech community</a>” – a community in which a common body of knowledge is widely shared. </p>
<p>Students have to learn to make and respond to reasoned arguments. This ability doesn’t come naturally. Yet the habit of disagreeing with respect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73963-2">supports participation in democratic life</a> in adulthood – a finding that has <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/04/10/in-a-polarized-america-what-can-we-do-about-civil-disagreement/">held steady for 40 years</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People attend a rally in Virginia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5341%2C3272&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents are divided on how schools should teach about dark themes in U.S. history, including slavery and systemic racism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-talk-before-the-start-of-a-rally-against-critical-news-photo/1233450533">Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>How other countries handle divisive issues</h2>
<p>Some high-performing school systems, such as those in the Netherlands, Singapore and Alberta, Canada, promote exposure through mandatory curricular frameworks. They require a content-rich curriculum that all students must learn, regardless of the type of school they attend. This means that they separate the ethos of the schools – which vary considerably – from the curricular framework that all schools must teach. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Education-Britain-1750-1914-History-Perspective/dp/0312216246/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9780312216245&linkCode=qs&qid=1634928441&qsid=141-9636377-1719543&s=books&sr=1-1&sres=0312216246&srpt=ABIS_BOOK">England has funded</a> religious schools since 1834 and secular schools since 1870. But all students in all English schools must learn about diverse religions and philosophies. </p>
<p>To put it bluntly, an English mother might enroll her child in a secular school, but that child still needs to understand the tenets and practices of Islam and Judaism. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/teaching-religion-terence-copley/1130296797">legal requirements</a> for “religious education,” as it is known, have not diminished despite the growing secularism of the English population. Learning what people deeply believe, and why, is seen as fundamental to exercising responsible democratic citizenship. </p>
<p>Most countries in the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/">Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development</a> – an international association that supports economic growth – follow suit and have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Law-Religious-Freedoms-and-Education-in-Europe/Hunter-Henin/p/book/9781138261389">increased requirements</a> around learning about different religions and philosophies in the past two decades. </p>
<p>Here’s a more pointed example. </p>
<p>The Netherlands’ ministry of education funds 36 different kinds of schools, including creationist schools. Yet students in creationist schools must still <a href="https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/the-origins-of-creationism-in-the-netherlands-the-evolution-debat">demonstrate understanding of evolutionary theory</a> on national exams. They cannot be forced to believe that evolution is true, of course, but they have to master what evolutionary theory posits about the natural world. Other examples abound.</p>
<h2>Limits to exposure</h2>
<p>This widely used approach to curriculum and assessments can <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/218184376?accountid=11752&forcedol=true&forcedol=true">work well for students’ academic and civic success</a>. But it raises questions: How much exposure? At what age? </p>
<p>While the precise limits of exposure will need to rest on national and local contexts, a few broad principles might help clarify the “what” and the “when.” </p>
<p>First, there should be limits to exposure according to children’s age and developmental concerns. For instance, very young children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0305569940200105">may not be emotionally prepared</a> to manage details about the Holocaust or see graphic images of the 14th-century <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death">Black Death</a> that wiped out a third of Europe. </p>
<p>Second, teachers should not entertain debates about what the University of Wisconsin’s Diana Hess calls “<a href="https://kappanonline.org/richardson-using-controversy-as-a-teaching-tool-an-interview-with-diana-hess/">settled issues</a>.” Whether human enslavement and racial discrimination are ever warranted, whether the Holocaust actually occurred, or <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/12/16/459673575/politics-in-the-classroom-how-much-is-too-much">whether climate change is happening</a> should not be brought to the classroom table. </p>
<p>Rather, debate should center on why particular events happened or are happening. For example, what factors contributed to Hitler’s rise to power? What, if anything, should governments do to remedy social and economic inequality? What are the economic trade-offs of different policy responses to climate change? </p>
<h2>Learning to disagree</h2>
<p>Beyond these guardrails, school and board policies matter a great deal in setting the expectation that students will encounter ideas with which they and their parents disagree – even profoundly. The <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/fl/sbmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BK6KN84FFC3B">Miami-Dade school board</a> puts it this way: </p>
<p>“Students are encouraged to participate in discussions, speeches, and other expressions in which many points of view, including those that are controversial, are freely explored. A controversial issue is a topic on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion or likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community.”</p>
<p>The Miami-Dade policy goes on to specify that the controversial conversations must serve an instructional purpose, and that teachers may not promote personal views in the classroom. </p>
<p>Another example comes from an independent school in Baltimore, McDonogh School. Its <a href="https://www.mcdonogh.org/about/academicfreedom">Freedom of Expression and Civil Discourse</a> policy acknowledges a clear democratic rationale for viewpoint diversity, even when it leads to discomfort: </p>
<p>“[Preparation for democratic participation] … requires the hard work of analysis, perspective-taking, debate, reflection, and application. Through such methods, we honor the diversity of thought in a pluralist culture as we work towards sound, evidence-based positions and conclusions. Members of our community may find certain ideas that emerge when wrestling with sensitive topics untenable – even offensive – from time to time; in such moments of friction, however, we can help our students learn to resolve conflict, to reason well, and to communicate their own positions.” </p>
<p>Both of these policies ask a lot of teachers, students and parents – patience, among them. But they simultaneously protect teachers’ efforts to teach young people to reasonably disagree. They also signal to parents that their children will be exposed to many opinions – and that that’s a good thing for the next generation. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Berner is director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy.</span></em></p>The controversy over critical race theory is an opportunity for Americans to examine how other democracies deal with diverse viewpoints in public schools, an education policy expert argues.Ashley Berner, Associate Professor of Education, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1405162020-07-19T11:29:36Z2020-07-19T11:29:36ZCancer and loneliness: How inclusion could save lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348139/original/file-20200717-17-reu709.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=99%2C741%2C4181%2C2958&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Loneliness affects one in three people in the industrialized world, with racialized groups disproportionately bearing the burden.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/EricW)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 has ignited a worldwide <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-coronavirus-cerb-unemployment-1.5610404">conversation about inequality</a>. The question is whether we just want to talk about inequity or make the changes to produce more fair outcomes. </p>
<p>Focusing our efforts on one critical change would reduce disparities in some of the most pressing health issues of our time. That change is pluralism, the active process of inclusion: recognizing, valuing and respecting differences. </p>
<p>We can recognize ethnic variability in cancer treatments by diversifying clinical trial recruitment and improve deadly loneliness by including patients in treatment design.</p>
<p>Patients do better when differences are embraced rather than avoided.
Health and research organizations must not be tourists, but participate actively in the full richness of their communities.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343639/original/file-20200624-132376-h5vg6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343639/original/file-20200624-132376-h5vg6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343639/original/file-20200624-132376-h5vg6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343639/original/file-20200624-132376-h5vg6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343639/original/file-20200624-132376-h5vg6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343639/original/file-20200624-132376-h5vg6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343639/original/file-20200624-132376-h5vg6j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Racialized groups disproportionately bear the burden of loneliness, including the most severe category: desolate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a physician and director in our medical school’s Office of Indigenous, Local and Global Health, I see in my patients the <a href="https://www.pluralism.ca/press-release/citizens-as-doctors-public-health-as-an-act-of-inclusive-citizenship/">health consequences of exclusionary policies and practices</a>. Pluralism could improve their lives and reduce illness from two very different conditions: cancer and loneliness.</p>
<h2>Cancer</h2>
<p>“Pharmacoethnicity” describes ethnic diversity in drug response or toxicity. Two people of different ethnicities might respond differently to the same cancer treatment dose, based on their environment and genetics. </p>
<p>People of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/538161a">European ancestry account for 81 per cent of registered genomes</a> according to a paper in <em>Nature</em>. Drug makers use genomes to look for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/475163a">unique disease variations</a>. So many of the <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/disparities">groups with worse cancer outcomes, including Black, Indigenous and people of colour</a> (BIPOC), may have unique disease variations but are excluded from the process of drug development. And once drugs are in testing, clinical trials for cancer medications continue to be characterized by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1200/edbk_100021">an overrepresentation of white and male</a> participants, at 80 per cent and 59.8 per cent, respectively.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343638/original/file-20200624-132423-19lmphs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343638/original/file-20200624-132423-19lmphs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343638/original/file-20200624-132423-19lmphs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343638/original/file-20200624-132423-19lmphs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343638/original/file-20200624-132423-19lmphs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343638/original/file-20200624-132423-19lmphs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343638/original/file-20200624-132423-19lmphs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black and Hispanic patients are as willing to participate in clinical trials as white patients.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the United States, of the thousands of patients in cancer clinical trials that led to 17 new drug approvals in 2018, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/120253/download">only four per cent were Black or African American and four per cent were Hispanic</a>, despite national populations of 13 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18507276/">Indigenous Peoples are also underrepresented</a> in clinical trials.</p>
<p>This under-representation is not for lack of interest; it is due to shortcomings in the recruitment process. In fact, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1200/edbk_100021">Black and Hispanic patients are as willing to participate</a> in biomedical research as white patients.</p>
<p>We cannot pretend that patients of all backgrounds respond the same to drug therapies when their environment and genetics are different. There are known examples among <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/00001813-200311000-00005">East Asians</a> who experience high levels of toxicity when being treated for head and neck cancers. These patients can be treated effectively at a lower dose. In a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1158%2F1078-0432.CCR-09-0344">lung cancer study that had a mix of Asian and white patients</a>, a high side-effect rate in Asians led to a mid-trial dose reduction in Asian patients. But despite the dose reduction, Asians experienced a more impressive tumour response than whites. Ethnicity in clinical trials matters.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343643/original/file-20200624-56932-19sts4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343643/original/file-20200624-56932-19sts4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343643/original/file-20200624-56932-19sts4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343643/original/file-20200624-56932-19sts4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343643/original/file-20200624-56932-19sts4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343643/original/file-20200624-56932-19sts4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343643/original/file-20200624-56932-19sts4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A nurse prepares a patient’s chemotherapy medication. Pharmacoethnicity describes ethnic diversity in drug response or toxicity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We can increase diversity of enrolment in clinical trials through policies and practices of inclusion. <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.amepre.2015.07.036">Enrolment of Black patients rose by 62 per cent</a> over two years after the introduction of a new program that emphasized presence in community and cultural competence. This approach embedded cancer prevention and research activities in the community. Simply being present and culturally aware dramatically improved recruitment, moving beyond mere statements about inclusion towards actionable value of diversity.</p>
<p>Similarly, in the U.S., <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18507276/">Indigenous populations</a> state a need for culturally competent partnerships with Indigenous communities. In order to improve health outcomes, scientists and scientific organizations need to be present in BIPOC communities and learn to understand and communicate across cultures; BIPOC communities are willing.</p>
<h2>Loneliness</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343442/original/file-20200623-188886-1lrh4lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/343442/original/file-20200623-188886-1lrh4lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343442/original/file-20200623-188886-1lrh4lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343442/original/file-20200623-188886-1lrh4lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1068&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343442/original/file-20200623-188886-1lrh4lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1342&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343442/original/file-20200623-188886-1lrh4lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/343442/original/file-20200623-188886-1lrh4lq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1342&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Loneliness is associated with a 26 per cent increased risk of premature death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also ignore lonely and isolated people — and they are dying from this exclusion. Sounds dramatic, but this is borne out by evidence. Loneliness is associated with a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0140-6736(18)30142-9">26 per cent increased risk of premature death</a>, and a greater risk of <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1089%2Fars.2017.7312">heart disease and stroke</a>. And loneliness is incredibly widespread: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0140-6736(18)30142-9">it affects one-third of people in the industrialized world</a>. Again, racialized groups disproportionately bear the burden of loneliness. <a href="http://angusreid.org/social-isolation-loneliness-canada/">Racialized and Indigenous Canadians</a> are also more likely to fall into the most severe category of loneliness: desolate. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-012-9161-6">Elder minorities in Great Britain</a> experience loneliness levels up to five times higher than the general population.</p>
<p>Loneliness can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0164027504268574">diagnosed quickly</a> using an easy three-question survey, but there is no prescription, medical device or surgical treatment. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.12367">Successful treatment programs</a> are customized to the patient and engage the intended participants in the design. These interventions are successful because they acquire nuanced understanding of the characteristics, cultures and perspectives of patients and communities.</p>
<h2>Pluralism</h2>
<p>Inclusion is not a checkbox. Pluralism requires us to change organizational structures to participate in communities.</p>
<p>Cancer treatment and research programmes must ensure BIPOC communities are consulted and included in trials to ensure equitable access to appropriate care. However, as with loneliness, inclusive treatment design does not only benefit BIPOC communities but any lonely patient, each with their own rich personal history.</p>
<p>Academic and health leaders must hold themselves and their organizations accountable by enshrining policies that recognize, value and respect difference. As private citizens, we must hold our elected officials, educators, clinicians and scientific institutions to account. </p>
<p>It is time to move beyond checkbox-inclusion and towards building and sustaining nuanced relationships with communities.</p>
<p>COVID-19 has changed our ways of living. <a href="https://www.pluralism.ca/press-release/citizens-as-doctors-public-health-as-an-act-of-inclusive-citizenship/">We have been forced to adapt to a new virus</a>. Let’s keep changing, and replace exclusive old traditions with a new era of inclusive medicine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140516/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aleem Bharwani receives funding from Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p>Pluralism — the active process of inclusion — could reduce disparities in some of the most pressing health issues of our time.Aleem Bharwani, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, and Director Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Cumming School of Medicine, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/910242018-02-05T14:21:30Z2018-02-05T14:21:30ZExplainer: how Facebook has become the world’s largest echo chamber<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204616/original/file-20180202-162082-1nk3qoi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is there an echo here?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Benoit Tessier</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I began my research career in the last century with an analysis of how news organisations were adapting to this strange new thing called “the Internet”. Five years later I signed up for Twitter and, a year after that, for Facebook. </p>
<p>Now, as it celebrates its 14th birthday, Facebook is becoming ubiquitous, and its usage and impact <a href="https://herts.academia.edu/MeganKnight">is central</a> to my (and many others’) research. </p>
<p>In 2017 the social network had <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/241552/share-of-global-population-using-facebook-by-region">2 billion members</a>, by its own count. Facebook’s relationship with news content is an important part of this ubiquity. Since 2008 the company has courted news organisations with features like “Connect”, “Share” and “Instant Articles”. As of 2017, 48% of Americans <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/">rely primarily</a> on Facebook for news and current affairs information. </p>
<p>Social networks present news content in a way that’s integrated into the flow of personal and other communication. Media scholar <a href="http://alfredhermida.com/research/projects/">Alfred Hermida</a> calls this “<a href="http://alfredhermida.com/2010/05/03/ambient-journalism-paper-published/">ambient news</a>”. It’s a trend that has been considered promising for the development of civil society. Social media – like the Internet before it – has being hailed as the new “public sphere”: a place for civic discourse and political engagement among the citizenry. </p>
<p>But, unlike the Internet, Facebook is not a public space in which all content is equal. It is a private company. It controls what content you see, according to algorithms and commercial interests. The new public sphere is, in fact, privately owned, and this has far-reaching implications for civic society worldwide. </p>
<p>When a single company is acting as the broker for news and current affairs content for a majority of the population, the possibility for abuse is rife. Facebook is not seen as a “news organisation”, so it falls outside of whatever regulations countries apply to “the news”. And its content is provided by myriad third parties, often with little oversight and tracking by countries’ authorities. So civic society’s ability to address concerns about Facebook’s content becomes even more constrained.</p>
<h2>Getting to know all about you</h2>
<p>Facebook’s primary goal is to sell advertising. It does so by knowing as much as possible about its users, then selling that information to advertisers. The provision of content to entice consumers to look at advertising is not new: it’s the entire basis of the commercial media. </p>
<p>But where newspapers can only target broad demographic groups based on language, location and, to an extent, education level and income, Facebook can narrow its target market down to individual level. How? Based on demographics – and everything your “likes”, posts and comments have told it.</p>
<p>This ability to fine tune content to subsets of the audience is not limited to advertising. Everything on your Facebook feed is curated and presented to you by an algorithm seeking to maximise your engagement by only showing you things that it thinks you will like and respond to. The more you engage and respond, the better the algorithm gets at predicting what you will like.</p>
<p>When it comes to news content and discussion of the news, this means you will increasingly only see material that’s in line with your stated interests. More and more, too, news items, advertisements and posts by friends are blurred in the interface. This all merges into a single stream of information. </p>
<p>And because of the way your network is structured, the nature of that information becomes ever more narrow. It is inherent in the ideals of democracy that people be exposed to a <a href="http://www.expo98.msu.edu/innerindex.html?ideas">plurality of ideas</a>; that the public sphere should be open to all. The loss of this plurality creates a society made up of extremes, with little hope for consensus or bridging of ideas. </p>
<h2>An echo chamber</h2>
<p>Most people’s “friends” on Facebook tend to be people with whom they have some real-life connection – actual friends, classmates, neighbours and family members. Functionally, this means that most of your network will consist largely of people who share your broad demographic profile: education level, income, location, ethnic and cultural background and age. </p>
<p>The algorithm knows who in this network you are most likely to engage with, which further narrows the field to people whose worldview aligns with your own. You may be Facebook friends with your Uncle Fred, whose political outbursts threaten the tranquillity of every family get-together. But if you ignore his conspiracy-themed posts and don’t engage, they will start to disappear from your feed. </p>
<p>Over time this means that your feed gets narrower and narrower. It shows less and less content that you might disagree with or find distasteful.</p>
<p>These two responses, engaging and ignoring are both driven by the invisible hand of the algorithm. And they have created an echo chamber. This isn’t dissimilar to what news organisations have been trying to do for some time: <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/107769906704400301">gatekeeping</a> is the expression of the journalists’ idea of what the audience wants to read. </p>
<p>Traditional journalists had to rely on their instinct for what people would be interested in. Technology now makes it possible to know exactly what people read, responded to, or shared. </p>
<p>For Facebook, this process is now run by a computer; an algorithm which reacts instantly to provide the content it thinks you want. But this fine tuned and carefully managed algorithm is open to manipulation, especially by political and social interests.</p>
<h2>Extreme views confirmed</h2>
<p>In the last few years Facebook users have unwittingly become part of a massive social experiment – one which may have contributed to the equally surprising <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/26/cambridge-analytica-used-data-from-facebook-and-politico-to-help-trump">election of Donald Trump</a> as president of the US and the UK <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit-robbery-hijacked-democracy">electing to leave</a> the European Union. We can’t be sure of this, since Facebook’s content algorithm is secret and most of the content is shown only to specific users. </p>
<p>It’s physically impossible for a researcher to see all of the content distributed on Facebook; the company explicitly prevents that kind of access. Researchers and journalists need to construct model accounts (fake ones, violating Facebook’s terms of use) and attempt to trick the algorithm into showing what the social network’s most extreme political users see.</p>
<p>What they’ve <a href="https://medium.com/@richgor/why-every-american-should-look-at-blue-feed-red-feed-and-why-the-nation-needs-someone-to-build-f455ef17a0f2">found</a> is that the <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.00189.pdf">more extreme the views</a> the user has already agreed with, the more extreme the content they saw was. People who liked or expressed support for leaving the EU were shown content that reflected this desire, but in a more extreme way. </p>
<p>If they liked that they’d be shown even more content, and so on, the group getting smaller and smaller and more and more insular. This is similar to how extremist groups would identify and court potential members, enticing them with more and more radical ideas and watching their reaction. That sort of personal interaction was a slow process. Facebook’s algorithm now works at lightning speed and the pace of radicalisation is exponentially increased.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91024/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Megan Knight does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More and more, news items, adverts and posts by friends are blurred in Facebook’s interface. This all merges into a single stream of information.Megan Knight, Associate Dean, University of HertfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/651312017-01-16T07:51:40Z2017-01-16T07:51:40ZEurope must open up to new ideas about the secular state<p>Religion is one of the <a href="http://accept-pluralism.eu/Research/ProjectReports/NationalDiscourses.aspx">toughest challenges</a> facing modern secular societies in their search for identity, equality and cohesion. It’s increasingly a stronger source of identity than nationality or ethnicity for minorities and migrants while majorities appear to grow more and more <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/11/17/the-american-western-european-values-gap/">religiously indifferent</a>. </p>
<p>The paradigms of republicanism, as practised in France, or multiculturalism as implemented in a number of Western democracies, such as the UK and the US, or indeed employment-based integration models of <a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-on-the-challenge-of-getting-refugees-into-the-job-market-in-sweden-67869">Sweden</a> or Germany, are all in crisis. </p>
<p>This can be seen in the <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/08/economist-explains-19">banning</a> of Islamic clothing, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/13/pork-school-dinners-france-secularism-children-religious-intolerance">kosher or halal meals</a> and “burkinis” in France; the <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/nando-sigona/can-fabric-of-diverse-society-be-undone-diary-of-eu-citizen-in-uk">backlash against migrants</a> following the UK’s decision to leave the EU; and the rejection of Angela Merkel’s pro-migration policy by a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/04/mecklenburg-vorpommern-german-anti-immigrant-party-strong-regional-election-exit-polls-merkel">portion of the German population</a>.</p>
<p>Europe has not yet found a middle way between secularism and state religion that combines national and religious identity, and where ethnic and religious minority groups can co-exist within a state’s institutions. But other countries’ experiences can perhaps shine a light.</p>
<h2>Accommodating difference</h2>
<p>First, some key questions: in accommodating religious diversity should we encourage more religion in public life, for both majorities and minorities, or move towards a more radical secularism? If the former is the way to go, what are the obstacles that a more egalitarian religious pluralism would face in liberal Western societies? </p>
<p>All sorts of problems could arise from minority groups making special requests for accommodation, including powerful majority churches finding it difficult to <a href="http://accept-pluralism.eu/Research/ProjectReports/NewKnowledge.aspx">accept pluralism</a>, feeling that their historically privileged position is threatened. </p>
<p>What about those who oppose the presence of religion in public life, let alone an increase of it? Will all minority religious groups be equally easy or difficult to accommodate? <a href="http://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/intolerance-western-europe.html">Recent rises in Islamophobia in Europe</a> would suggest such moves would face significant opposition. </p>
<p>While most governments turn inwards to look at what went wrong in their own version of secular republicanism or multiculturalism, perhaps <a href="http://globalgovernanceprogramme.eui.eu/the-governance-of-religious-diversity-more-or-less-secularism/">the answer is to be found in more radical views, beyond secularism</a>, such as those in the large multi-religious and multi-ethnic democracies of Asia. </p>
<h2>Looking for alternatives</h2>
<p>India is a relevant case in point. The country faced a tough challenge at its creation in 1947. Divided at first along religious lines, the communal riots that followed its partition into India and East and West Pakistan signalled the trust deficit that existed between its majority Hindu and the Muslim communities. </p>
<p>Bringing people together under these circumstances required something more than the promise of state neutrality. The nation’s diverse communities, the victims of communal violence and the Muslims who stayed on in India needed to be assured that they would be equal partners in the emerging democracy and that they would be treated in a fair and just manner.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152704/original/image-20170113-11828-10vcxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152704/original/image-20170113-11828-10vcxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152704/original/image-20170113-11828-10vcxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152704/original/image-20170113-11828-10vcxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152704/original/image-20170113-11828-10vcxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152704/original/image-20170113-11828-10vcxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152704/original/image-20170113-11828-10vcxi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jawaharlal Nehru signs the Indian Constitution in 1950.</span>
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<p>A commitment to secularism – namely, that the state would not be aligned with any one religion – was an important first step. But it was not enough. In a society where religion was, and remains, an important <a href="https://theconversation.com/breathing-without-living-the-plight-of-christians-in-pakistan-70892">anchor of personal identity</a>, deeply valued by individuals and closely tied to notions of self-worth and dignity, the state had to make space for plurality of religious observances and cultural practices. </p>
<p>For members of different communities to have a sense of equality, the state needed to create a public culture that was hospitable to religious differences – one that allowed individuals to enter and participate in public life despite their religious beliefs. </p>
<p>Indifference towards matters of religion by the state, or complete neutrality and promise of non-intervention, were simply not the right answer.</p>
<h2>Beyond secularism</h2>
<p>To create a comfortable and non-alienating public culture, the <a href="http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html">Indian constitution</a> gave each individual the right to observe their religious practices, and gave minorities the right to set up their own religious and educational institutions. </p>
<p>Minority educational institutions could receive funds from the state, if they so desired. Although no firm obligation was placed on the state, this allowed subsequent governments to support minority schools. </p>
<p>The government put together a list of <a href="http://www.officeholidays.com/countries/india/">public holidays</a> that gave due consideration to different religious communities. At least one holiday was given for a major festival or event of religious importance, for each community. And it made an effort to design national symbols (such as the flag, and the national anthem) in a way that included different communities. </p>
<p>The colours of the flag and the symbols on it were carefully chosen. Orange was chosen because <a href="http://cs.mcgill.ca/%7Erwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/f/Flag_of_India.htm">saffron was associated with the Hindu community</a>, green was included for its <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/06/islamic_greenwashing.html">significance for the Muslim community</a>. White was added to represent all other communities. </p>
<p>When it came to the national anthem, <em>Jana Gana Mana</em> was preferred to <em>Vande Mataram</em>. Although the latter had been used at different moments in the struggle for independence, it invoked spiritual symbolism from the Hindu religion, and this was to be avoided.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AWr9GARBeH8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>As India was embarking on its journey as a democracy, it had the opportunity to deliberately opt for inclusive symbols. But of course, this option is not available to most countries of Europe today. So what is there to be learned from the Indian state?</p>
<p>The lesson is the importance of creating a diverse public sphere that is inclusive and welcoming to all. And, most of all, one where cultural choices – in dress codes, food habits, and modes of address in social interaction – are not shaped entirely by the culture of the majority. This is the opposite to what we see in modern-day France, for instance. </p>
<h2>No easy solutions</h2>
<p>India’s founding framework went far beyond the idea of liberal secularism; it made a deliberate effort to give minorities the space to continue with their distinct religious and cultural practices and to pass them on. Culture and religion-related anxieties can be exploited to nurture resentment, and this had to be avoided.</p>
<p>Visible differences that marked the bodies of citizens in different ways were not seen as threatening. One could get past them, or at least see them as markers of identity instead of prejudging them as liberal or anti-liberal.</p>
<p>This was an important starting point but it had to be supplemented by government policies that ensured equal opportunity and security for all. Governments at the political centre and in different states failed to perform these tasks. Repeated incidents of inter-community violence, such as the 2013 <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-24172537">Muzaffarnagar</a> and 2002 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/06/world/asia/modi-gujarat-riots-timeline.html?_r=0">Gujarat</a> riots, and the failure to punish the perpetrators of such violence have pushed vulnerable minorities into the arms of their community for solace and legitimised the hold of religious leadership. </p>
<p>These could have been avoided. The state could have given a stern message that such forms of violence and community targeting would not be tolerated. But in case after case, governments let their citizens down. Political parties were divided, choosing to stand with different communities at different times but always with an eye on electoral gains. </p>
<p>In an effort to curb such communitarian politics, the Supreme Court has <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38487409">recently prohibited</a> appeals to religion and caste during elections. This is being seen as a landmark judgment by some, but even though it aims to force parties to think of all citizens, and not merely one community, it does not address all concerns. </p>
<p>It has not, for example, forbidden reference to <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8560.html"><em>Hindutva</em></a> – the founding principle of Hindu nationalism. The courts claim it <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/SC-declines-to-go-into-Hindutva-verdict/article16081556.ece">denotes a way of life</a> rather than a religious doctrine used as part of a campaign for cultural homogenisation.</p>
<h2>Space for dissent</h2>
<p>The point is that, in a democracy, it is not religion per se but efforts to stigmatise and intimidate people or groups that is a matter of concern. This is what India has yet to tackle effectively. When political parties can reach out to religious communities, take up their concerns and show that they give representation to candidates from different religions, they give a voice to minorities. This stems the sense of alienation and neglect that radicalisation so often taps into. </p>
<p>The most serious challenge today is to make space for individual dissent and autonomy and protect a person from those who wish to enforce the diktats of the community or the nation. India has focused so heavily on equality between groups that it has neglected to protect individual liberty – something that is pursued more effectively in Europe. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152709/original/image-20170113-11837-110n0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152709/original/image-20170113-11837-110n0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152709/original/image-20170113-11837-110n0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152709/original/image-20170113-11837-110n0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152709/original/image-20170113-11837-110n0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152709/original/image-20170113-11837-110n0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152709/original/image-20170113-11837-110n0ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">European countries foster a stronger sense of personal liberty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sylke_ibach/16319003371/in/photolist-qS4aa6-4QQLrt-nxp4tp-7gCN4T-nGGpfW-cxDG5A-gV9nLB-qtSyPo-bVhK2S-dyyU1g-4SkxRX-tjMCTQ-tZdYHs-u3qoT-4QQReD-tZeBq3-ugQu9k-dGQ8eZ-bzGAwV-86Bq9H-7kDtGB-6FzSzF-NLWvw-cNsWnE-NMorP-ndB9TA-9AauTr-oqM2eg-4QV2SU-NMorn-7i7423-9Tgseo-p5Wpu-3MhKnT-4UcLKD-2MdLaZ-JZwtT-pHc4Sv-8zzbYo-irubR-7RMJE2-ekF9U9-4vXgH3-4QQMMi-4QQTNi-a38Q49-5urUCg-4QQX18-6JZDpF-918twJ">Sykle Ibach</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>India has much to learn on this subject from Western Europe. But its own journey shows that the presence of religion or its markers are not, and should not be, seen as the most important threat. It is not a case of more religion or less of it. </p>
<p>Anxieties about religion and the lack of respect for it can be tapped to create a rigid and more closed identity along with a politics of resentment. The focus must therefore be on creating a stake in democratic politics, involving different communities at different levels of institution functioning and extending avenues for equal opportunity.</p>
<h2>The pluralised public sphere</h2>
<p>It should go without saying that no state’s approach to religion is perfect, and India faces its own significant problems with diversity and integration, from religious violence to the persistence of the caste system. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing for Europe to learn.</p>
<p>Put simply, integrating religious differences is easier when religious freedom goes hand-in-hand with an understanding of the nature of religious commitments, and the creation of a pluralised public sphere. </p>
<p>Neutrality is insufficient when communities already see religion as an important part of their personal identity, one they want to hold on to along with their civic identity. It should be possible to have both. </p>
<p>Current political debates in the West need to open up to solutions that go beyond secularism, from places like India and from elsewhere. They need to embrace differences with policies for integrating minorities into education, the labour market and overall public life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Europe is at a crossroads in how it integrates religious minorities. But there are lessons to be learned beyond liberal secularism.Anna Triandafyllidou, Chair professor, European University InstituteGurpreet Mahajan, Professor of Political Science, Jawaharlal Nehru University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.