Annual General Meeting

Our Annual General Meeting this evening in the Council Chamber, Town Hall. I'm in here an hour beforehand, to set up our exhibition banners. Although we've had this for almost a year now, this evening will be the first time that many members of the Council of Faiths will have seen it up close.

The theme of our guest speakers this evening is "Faith Communities and Health". First up is Maqsood Ahmed, Director of Inclusion, East Midlands Strategic Health Authority. Maqsood began his presentation by reflecting on his experience of equality and inequality in his personal and professional life. He shared the benefits of his current experience of working with the NHS in the East Midlands. He commented on the central role of religion or belief in recent legislation establishing equality and the role of faith communities in relation to "Big Society". He identified as a major challenge for the NS the need to  engage the Voluntary and Community Sector on behalf of patients, partly with the purpose of holding the NHS to account. He said that Leicester is ahead of the game in terms of community engagement and can export good practice to other parts of the East Midlands (and further afield) as exemplified in the policies and practices of our Council of Faiths. He expressed concern about future development of the NHS in general and, in particular, the necessity of assuring diversity of representation on commissioning boards. He raised the topic of relations between faith communities and the forthcoming GP consortia and bodies like Healthwatch. He described how equality and diversity is not an issue about minorities, but about the majority of the community, no matter their race, religion or other characteristics.

I'm sure that each time Maqsood mentioned the Equality Act he prefaced it with the word "ghastly". This is the second time I've heard him address a meeting and I thought he did this last time too. I intended to ask him if I were hearing him correctly and what he meant by that, but he left before I was able to do so.

Deb Watson, NHS Leicesrter City Director of Public Health and Health Improvement, officially launched the "Faith Communities Health Champions" initiative, on which I've been doing some work since she and her deputy, Rod Moore spoke to a full meeting of the Council of Faiths earlier this year.

Deb (centre left) and Maqsood (centre right) are holding the form on which attendees were invited to come forward to be involved in the "Faith Communities Health Champions" initiative. To the left is Councillor Manjula Sood (Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths), to the right, Fayyaz Suleman (Secretary).

Leicester Speaks: Hindu / Jewish dialogue

Fourth and final meeting this morning presented by the Council of Faiths for Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week). This one is a Hindu / Jewish dialogue at Phoenix Square Film and Digital Media Centre, 1100-1200.

I arrive just at 1050 (ten minutes before kick-off), hot-foot from the final planning / first debriefing meeting of the Steering Group at the Adult  Education College in Wellington Street. When I get there only our two speakers, Ramesh Majithia and Tony Nelson, are in the Phoenix Café Bar, along with Marion Kennedy, who has kept a 100% attendance record at these dialogue meetings (and who also made a such a good contribution from the stage at our launch event in Humberstone Gate on Monday morning).

We’ve been given the use of the Screen Room this morning, the smallest of the actual screening rooms on the ground floor which can hold up to 30 people. Shortly after we move in there and start the meeting, our numbers increase. Minou Cortazzi arrives, then two guys from TouchRainbow Productions to record the event in video and stills, then Manjula Sood (our Chair) arrives to bring our number up to eight.

I must say that I've probably been looking forward to this session more than any of the others this week. That's partly because of the setting but also because I felt like I couldn't predict what direction the dialogue might take. I don't think I'd ever sat through a dialogue meeting between in all the years I've been involved in inter faith work. If you've been keeping up with these entries, faithful reader, you'll have seen that the could be said about every one of these meetings - that the topics covered and direction followed have been unpredictable, but I have felt something different and special about this one, ever since the notion came into my head to plan our contributions along these lines. I'm glad to say that the meeting itself doesn't disappoint.

A few days later, an eight-minute extract from this session is posted on YouTube. This is what I'd have to say is a turning point in this kind of activity for us - and, more the point, for me. The significance of the fact that a meeting can be held with hardly a handful of people present, but for it to be recorded and posted online so that any number of people can see it, at any time. I'm not expecting thousands to watch it, but it does have massive potential. This realisation is what I'd have to call a game-changer - much as I don't like the term, it certainly gets the meaning across. And it shows the benefit of partnership working as I'd never have had the kit or the skills or the daring to do this by myself.

For some reason the sound quality of the recording is poor, but I think it looks terrific. You can find it on the Council of Faiths YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/counciloffaiths#p/f/1/WTcysU3EvXM

PICNIC IN THE PARK

After our Buddhist/Muslim dialogue this afternoon (part of the Council of Faiths contribution to Leicester Speaks - AKA Local Democracy Week) I'm at the Pavilion in Victoria Park, to witness some of that social action we spoke about earlier today.

Some local Muslim friends have organised the latest flashmob meal here at 1800. Going under the title, "Picnic in the Park" this time, it follows on from the flashmob iftar, held here recently three times during Ramadan. Yasmin Surti, who gave the Muslim perspective in the dialogue this afternoon, is here too.

A young fellow from BBC Radio Leicester is doing some interviews for the Ben Jackson's show. He gets me to speak for a minute or so, giving an inter faith perspective on what's going on here this evening. If they use this recording, it will be the third time I've been on Ben's show this week!

LEICESTER SPEAKS 2010: BUDDHIST / MUSLIM DIALOGUE

This afternoon we have the third of four meetings presented by the Council of Faiths for Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week). This Buddhist / Muslim dialogue is being held in the Welcome Centre, 1400-1500. Susthama Marion Kim is speaking for the Buddhist point of view, Yasmin Surti for the Muslim. As was was the case in yesterday’s meeting, a theme of common interest emerges: this time it’s social action. The Amida trust, which is the brand of Buddhism to which Susthama belongs, has been running a drop-in project for vulnerable people on Mondays at Bishop Street Methodist Church, next door to Pilgrim House, in which the Welcome Centre is located. Yasmin has been involved in the flashmob iftar events, in which local Muslims broke the fast at the end of the day, each Thursday in Ramadan, with food that they shared with homeless people and destitute asylum seekers beside the Pavilion in Victoria Park. this has developed after the end of Ramadan into flashmob meals, sharing with the same groups, in the same place. In fact, they're having one there this evening.

LEICESTER SPEAKS 2010: BAHÁ'Í / CHRISTIAN DIALOGUE

Second of four meetings that Leicester Council of Faiths is presenting for Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week). It's a dialogue between representatives of the city's Bahá'ís and Christians on the topic, "What our Community Brings to Leicester" at the Welcome Centre, 1100-1200.

Today, Minou Cortazzi (member of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Leicester and former Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths) speaks first. Beverley Farrand (from Leicester Cathedral Education team) follows with the Christian viewpoint. Interesting differences here in that one of these two communities is the longest-standing and largest of the eight on Leicester Council of Faiths, the other is the most recent arrival in the city and the smallest. (Though it's little known that, after the Christians and Jews, Bahá'ís were the first faith community to have their own official meeting place in Leicester; there was a Bahá'í centre on New Walk from 1957 to 1963, when the couple who owned the property, John and Vera Long, moved to Oakham to establish the first Bahá'í community there.)

I keep my ear open for common themes emerging from the conversation. There's a very clear common thread about the two communities contributing to the education of young people - empowering them to exercise some degree of meaningful control and direction over their own lives and to help those younger than them do something similar. At the Cathedral, of course, this is done on a considerably greater scale: last year, more than 2,000 children and young people undertook educational visits there on official school trips. Many of these involved participation in the multi-media "Breathe" activity, which is usable for children and young people from a variety of backgrounds and traditions. But despite their comparatively meagre resources, the local Bahá'ís have made whole-hearted efforts in providing spiritual and moral education not only to their own children and young people, but also extending this to similar age groups in some of the deprived areas of the city.

A few days after this event, the Leicester Speaks website carried a blog entry from Kenton Hall, who attended this session in the Welcome Centre as part of the multimedia team who are making a record of the week-long event as a whole. I was really taken with what Kenton had to say about this dialogue session and asked his permission to reproduce his blog entry on this page. He said yes, so here it is below in its entirety.

Cards on the table time. I am not a man of faith. Okay, I occasionally veer towards the belief that a centuries-old being in a bow tie is whizzing round the universe in a police box righting wrongs, but that’s as near as I get these days. The vast majority of my truly religious experiences have resulted from my being chivalrous enough to spring for dinner and a movie. However, I was brought up to be very religious indeed and if there is one aspect of that which has never left me or, at very least, for which I have occasionally pined, it has been the sense of community that comes from shared belief: shared goals, shared ideals, a shared sense of the shape of the universe.

Nonetheless, it has been of increasing concern to me – as I’m sure it has been to many others – that when any group of people subscribe to a particular set of beliefs, there too often follows in their wake a sense of entitlement, a sense that if they are right then others must be definitively wrong. And it is this that has led to the violence and dissent we too often associate with organised religion.

So, when I was asked to cover one of a series of events in which members of various faiths were invited to speak, in dialogue, with the idea of exploring common ground, rather than differences, I was understandably dubious.

The Leicester Council of Faiths is an organisation which strives – by its very remit – to promote understanding and cooperation between the many faiths – Christian, Muslim, Jain, Hindu, Jewish, Ba’hai, Sikh – that make up Leicester’s spiritual life.

Today’s event was a discussion between representatives of the Christian Church and the Ba’hai Faith, outlining the positive aspects and programmes provided by each to the community at large.

In an age where even the word “religion” is too often a harbinger of violence, disorder and war, it was reassuring to see such a positive spin being put on proceedings.  And while I may, personally, not see or understand the need for an organised belief system, it is difficult to argue against the good work presented in evidence today. Impossible, in fact.

Nor can it be considered in any way a bad thing to see disparate groups, with different and occasionally contrary cultures and backgrounds, coming together in the quest for commonality and the promise of a brighter, less contentious future.

Whatever your feeling about religion in general, or any particular faith specifically, the point of today – as indeed of this entire week of Leicester Speaking – is to allow all those good, concerned people out there to hold up their hand and say “This is what we are doing for our city’s well-being. Care to join us?”

I remain unconvinced by the form, but I am utterly convinced by the ideals and the motivations of the people concerned. And when we accept people for who they are and what they do, rather than what they are or where they’ve come from, then we have a chance at putting our quarrels behind us and moving forward as a city, as a community, as a race.

And to that I intone a hearty – if secular – Amen.

Kenton Hall

"Thank you, 'One Leicester'. We belong to you."

This is the text of a letter in today's Leicester Mercury which deserves to be reproduced here, without need for any comment from me.

Muslims: We Belong!

The EDL induced anxieties and nervousness in the Muslim community in the city.

The last few weeks and days were not easy, pressure continued to mount and everyone in the community was concerned to find constructive and positive ways to face this challenge.

In this difficult time, we were not left on our own. From the Bishop of Leicester to leaders of all faiths and no faiths, from the community groups to all the agencies, politicians, MPs, councillors, council officers and police, people engaged with us on supportive terms. The local media, including the Mercury, acted in a most responsible way in dealing with many sensitive issues.

Last Friday evening the peace vigil and multi-faith prayers at the St Martin's further demonstrated solidarity of unprecedented nature. The Hope Not Hate event echoed a message of unity, togetherness and "One Leicester". We were not allowed to feel isolated.

What we have experienced in the last few days is a genuine spirit of "Oneness" in Leicester: the unprecedented nature of engagements, partnerships and co-operation, we never experienced before. History will record this event with pride.

Leicester has shown the way forward and set a shining example of harmony and peace. On behalf of my community, I thank everyone of you for your support.

The Muslim community and its leadership faced this challenge with full of dignity, hope and optimism. This was only possible due to morale-boosting support and assistance from all of you.

I want to congratulate my community and its committed leadership for showing restraint and courage.

Our young people, at time full of anger and frustration, showed the admirable restraint and followed unanimous decisions taken by us all. Well done, all of you.

If the EDL had come to Leicester to learn about us on peaceful terms we would have treated them as our guests and offered them a curry treat of this wonderful city. The opportunity is missed. "One Leicester" defeated them in dividing the communities. We have come out stronger than before in our resolve. Thank you, "One Leicester". We belong to you.

Abdulkarim Gheewala
President, Islamic Education Trust, Leicester

There's also a full page "Thank You" notice from the Federation of Muslim Organisations in today's paper.

LEICESTER SPEAKS 2010: JAIN / SIKH DIALOGUE

This is the first of four meetings that Leicester Council of Faiths is presenting for Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week). It's a dialogue between representatives of the city's Jains and Sikhs on the topic, "What our Community Brings to Leicester" at Leicester Adult Education College, 1400-1500.

All across the Leicester Speaks programme, we've given ourselves permission not to judge success or failure just by numbers attending meetings and events. The Council of Faiths meetings are pitched deliberately low key; being involved in Leicester Speaks has given us a platform that we'd have found it hard to obtain on our own - and we don't need to worry about carrying responsibility for success or failure on our own shoulders.

Today, Gursharan Thandi presents the Sikh perspective (that's Gursharan on the right in the photo above, with Marion Kennedy), while I am speaking for Leicester's Jains. The Jain community hasn't been able to put up a speaker, so for the second time in a week, I'm speaking on their behalf (I also did the Jain reading at the Vigil for Leicester in the Cathedral last Friday).

LEICESTER SPEAKS 2010 LAUNCH EVENT

Less than 48 hours ago, this part of the city centre was held to ransom by the visiting English Defence League (EDL). Less than 24 hours ago, Billy Bragg and friends played a free gig on this spot to a crowd variously estimated at anything between 2,000 and 10,000 as citizens gathered for the We Are One Leicester Festival. At 1100 on this chilly Monday morning, we launch Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week) in Humberstone Gate.

At the start of proceedings, John Coster (Editor of Citizens' Eye Community News Agency) and I, as Joint Chairs of Leicester Speaks, open the event on stage in front of the giant TV screen (which is, thankfully, inactive this morning). John delivers a typically fine opening spiel, hands me the microphone, tells me I'm doing a great job, slaps me on the back and steps off the stage.

I'm MC for the next hour, in which we encourage people to come up off the street, take the microphone and speak for 60 seconds on any subject of importance to them. We have a few ringers in the crowd, just in case we don't get enough people come up to fill the hour, but we needn't have worried about that. In the end, we have more than enough contributors. Some of these folk have probably never had the opportunity to speak in public like this before. Their contributions were recorded on video and posted online, so they're available to a huge potential audience. In the photo at the top of this blog post, I welcome Lord Mayor of Leicester Cllr Colin Hall on stage, to launch officially our week of activities across the city.

Cllr Manjula Sood, Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths, speaks on the stage this morning - while I do a not particularly good job of hiding behind a pole (photo above).

Leicester Speaks has its own blog, where you can read about today's event and watch a short video about it. Recordings of all contributions from the stage at our launch event in Humberstone Gate are available on the Leicester Speaks channel on YouTube. I'm sorry to say that my amusing improvised links from the stage haven't survived the editing process. I'm holding out for the extended version, with deleted scenes.

Leicester Speaks: on the air

At BBC Radio Leicester this morning, to be interviewed live on air by Ben Jackson about Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week). I go on at about 0840 for five minutes or so. A short prerecorded Vox Pop is played before I go on which (from an insider's point of view) misses the point entirely, in which a few local people say that there's no point in voting, all politicians are the same and so on - and one woman says that you can't say anything in Leicester these days are you get your wrist slapped by the politically correct brigade. Not one of them positive and not really what Leicester Speaks is about anyway. I do my best to correct that misrepresentation and give the week a right good puff up, especially for the launch event taking place in Humberstone Gate later this morning. At the end, Ben asks me to take off my Leicester Speaks hat and put on my Council of Faiths one, to say something about the events of the weekend gone by.

On the way out, I bump into Sheila Lock, Chief Executive of Leicester City Council, who's waiting to go on air next. She's still wearing such a big grin after how it all turned out, especially the "We Are One Leicester" celebration on Sunday.

Find out more about Leicester Speaks (AKA Local Democracy Week):
http://www.leicesterspeaks.org/

WE ARE ONE LEICESTER FESTIVAL

The day after the demonstration by the English Defence League and counter-demonstration by Unite Against Fascism, several thousand people gather in Humberstone Gate for the We Are One Leicester Festival. This major event in the life of our city has been organised by Leicester City Council and Hope Not Hate.

Undoubted highlight of today is a free gig by Billy Bragg, who includes a rousing rendition of "We Shall Overcome". Indie rockers Reverend and the Makers perform at the end of the day. In between these two sets, various entertainers and local worthies appear on stage to reinforce our pride in the city's diversity and our commitment to its unity. Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths, Cllr Manjula Sood, takes to the stage to speak on behalf of Leicester Council of Faiths:

Good afternoon One Leicester! It’s so beautiful to stand here and see all of you.

On behalf of Leicester Council of Faiths, I would like to say a big thank you to all of you. Yesterday we showed that we stood united and today is a remarkable day: Ten! Ten! Ten! Tenth of October 2010 when the whole city has come together.

On behalf of all the Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Jains, Bahá'ís and Buddhist communities and Jews, I would like to pass on their gratitude.

EDL is defeated yesterday, with a very strong message: you are not welcome here. There’s no room for them, even to stand there among us.

Our long and proud history of Leicester – of love respect, understanding, respect, our heritage; many cultures, beliefs, neighbourhoods –  have proved nobody can come and divide us. Our community cohesion cannot be challenged.

You can see her full speech (four minutes long) on YouTube along with a variety of other videos on a playlist there, offering extensive coverage of contributions from the stage and among the crowd.

Humberstone Gate is rammed this afternoon. There are many displays and activities put on by local community groups, local authorities and service providers from the city and county. Artists and performers are out in force too including some of my personal favourites, the stilt-walkers (photo above). There's a lovely touch of autumn sunshine and a palpable sense of relief that yesterday's events are behind us and togetherness about going forward.

Leicester Council of Faiths has space in the  marquee, where we set up one of our banners and hand out loads of leaflets. You can get a good look at it in a short video posted by pappukadri on YouTube (listen for Grace's distinctive shoot-out for her brother at 0:38). We have a good spot, near the front and next to the fellow blowing up the helium balloons - but the folk on our stall spend more time tying and tethering balloons than anything else!

I also get out and about with fliers for Leicester Speaks. We're kicking off that week of activities across the city with our launch event on this same spot tomorrow morning.

BBC Radio Leicester covered the event on its website. Links to several examples of media coverage of today can be found on the web page, Uniquely Leicester.

As far as our small contribution to this big event went today, thanks to Barbara, Celia, Lucy (and Harry and Gracie) for helping.