INTER FAITH WEEK 2012, DAY 3: HIGHCROSS EXHIBITION

Second day of our week-long exhibition in Highcross for Inter Faith Week.

Last time we were in this spot, our ten banners were arranged “circle the wagons” style. That seemed good enough for a while, but palled after a bit – the arrangement appeared somewhat unstable, somewhat shabby, especially when viewed from above. This time I’ve partly followed the style we adopted last year, of putting the banners back-to-back, though this time they’re laid out in a straight line. The display is bookended by the “generic” banners for Leicester Council of Faiths itself, with Leicester University’s "Mapping Faith and Place in Leicester" and "Leicester Faith Trail" behind them.

As regards the individual banners for our faith community members, they're set back to back so that the visitor, approaching from one direction, sees the four Abrahamic religions of Middle Eastern origin in historical order (Jews, Christians, Muslims, Bahá'ís).

Approaching from the other direction, the visitor sees the four Dharmic religions, of Indian origin in historical order (Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs).

First on this morning, John Catt (Leicester Secular Society) and Kartar Singh (Near Neighbours project). They're in the photo at the top of this post. They were joined by Scott MacDonald (Leicester Bahá'ís) shortly after I'd left.

I arrive on the stall just before 1400 to do a couple of hours myself. Dr Ruth Young (Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Director of Distance Learning Strategy at the University of Leicester School of Archaeology and Ancient History) is photographed above, handing over to Sheila Markham (Leicester Hebrew Congregation). Sheila also took part in the philosophy panel at St Paul's yesterday, so I get a bit more info about how that went.

In the middle of the afternoon we receive a visit from Paresh Solanki of the Inter Faith Network of the UK. I'm hoping for better coverage of our Inter Faith Week activities in the national report than we received in last year's. Paresh and Sheila are pictured below.

Shortly after 1600 I leave the exhibition in the evidently capable hands of Billy Dedat and Ravinder Kaur. This is the first time that either of them have taken part in this event, the first time that I've met either of them - and the first time they've met each other. Their involvement together here today is serendipitous. Billy is Chair of the Leicestershire branch of the Association of Muslim Police and is a member of Leicestershire Police's Prevent Engagement Team, while Ravinder works for Leicestershire County Council's project LWA: Living Without Abuse. They're quickly talking about ways in which they can work together after this event. They're shown together in the photo below (Billy on the left, Ravinder on the right).

My immediate task now is to get a couple of banners and some of our free literature out to Leicestershire Police HQ in Enderby, where our Faith in Family seminar is taking place this evening. What with phone batteries running out, parking in the wrong street etc it's not quite as smooth a procedure as I'd have hoped. Eventually, Fayyaz Suleman (Vice Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths) swings by Pilgrim House to pick up the stuff and get ti to the venue on time.

I'm not attending the seminar myself. We've had no one come forward to fill the Tuesday evening slot and we can't leave the exhibition unattended during opening hours at Highcross, so I'm on duty here for a couple of quiet hours.

After Highcross closes, I head back to Pilgrim House and wait for Sughra Ahmed to drop off the banners and literature, since I'll need to use them very early tomorrow. She brings them back at 2145 - with some nice munchies left over from the seminar.

Here are some of the things that visitors and volunteers have written on the labels and hung on our little white tree today:

The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens

Hate creates hate, love creates love. May love concure [sic] over hate

It's only when we believe we can't make a difference ... will humanity end!

Multiculturality - more of it please!

For all those who are not going to get better

It's your actions that define who you are and not what labels you give yourself

I wish my grandad gets healing from spirits! Love, Tara, Sarita, Simren, Bobby xxx

God bless everyone at Christmas

I wish the peace everywhere around the world

Mutual respect and appreciation

The unexamined life is not worth living

I'd bought a set of mixed coloured Sharpies for people to use when writing on these labels. I left them in the OMG mug on the table at our display overnight. Sometime between the end of last night and the start today, someone nicked them. I can only hope that some underprivileged person will be getting a nice set of Sharpies for Christmas.

INTER FAITH WEEK 2012, DAY 2: HIGHCROSS EXHIBITION

Today is the first day of our week-long exhibition in Highcross for Inter Faith Week. First volunteers are Barbara Butler (of Christians Aware) and Allan Hayes (from Leicester Secular Society). There they are in the photo above, either side of me. For the first time, we have literature from both Christians Aware and Leicester Secular Society on display.

The photo was taken by John Coster of Citizens' Eye. He and Tina Barton (of Somewhere_To) are early visitors. I should have tucked my shirt in - but I'd just finished putting the exhibition together and was a wee bit more dishevelled than I would have liked.

Our very first visitors, though, are a couple who want to know why Pagans aren't represented in the exhibition. I give them a flier and ask them to put their query in writing so that the Council of Faiths can respond properly.

This is the fourth year running that we’ve been asked to put on this display in Highcross. After we’d been bumped up to First Class last year in terms of location and space, we’re pretty much back where we were in 2009 and 2010. That’s fine though – if it felt a bit more special last year, that's because it was our 25th anniversary. We couldn’t have that space this year anyway because it's being used for a special promotion:  let’s face it, nothing says “Christmas” like a Mini Cooper dressed up as Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Anne Fishenden (member of Leicester Quakers and Chair of Leicester SACRE - Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education) and Narendra Waghela (from BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir) volunteer on the display in the early afternoon.

I have to stand in for a couple of unscheduled hours in the afternoon when both volunteers for one slot cancel on account of illness. I should be at St Paul's Catholic School in Evington for their Sixth Form Philosophy Panel, but they'll have enough participants to go round. I phone the school with my apologies of course.

During these two hours I have interesting chats with a Christian couple who had seen a couple of lines about it being Inter Faith Week in the parish notes at church yesterday and had set out today to find evidence of it and with a pair of Iraqi fellows who recommended some adjustments to Highcross's Faith Room.

Deirdre O'Sullivan, Stephen Foster and Clare Carr (photo below) help out on the display, late afternoon and early evening. Deirdre is Lecturer in Archaeology the University of Leicester School's of Archaeology and Ancient History, which produced the Mapping Faith and Place in Leicester and the Leicester Faith Trail, the banners and booklets for which we have here this week; Stephen is Co-ordinating Chaplain at the University of Leicester Chaplaincy; Clare was of great help to the Council of Faiths for years when she was Schools Worker with Global Education Leicester-Shire.

One innovation on the exhibition this year is our little white tree, on which visitors and volunteers are invited to hang their hopes, dreams, prayers and wishes for themselves, for friends and family, for Leicester or for the wider world. Clare has spent several hours making labels with ribbon and I've put out a nice multi-coloured collection of Sharpies. Here's a selection of what some people write on the labels and hung on the tree:

Things can only get better! *lol*

Living in Leicester is a global experience! I am part of the world family of Faiths ... it's a good thing!

Love Leicester: United Nations in Leicester

In loving memory of Paul. Friend and husband of Denise. Sleep well xxx

I hope all religions have a good relation and peace

"Beyond our ideas of right and wrong, being is a field - I will meet you there" - Rumi

A hope and a prayer - that the children of the world will be healthy, happy and loved

I pray that one day soon there will be peace amongst all nations and faiths

PROTEST AGAINST ISRAELI DANCERS HELD OUTSIDE CURVE LEICESTER

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Protest against Israeli dancers held outside Curve Leicester

Five people were moved on by police when 100 protesters demonstrated outside Curve theatre against a dance company's show.

A group called Don't Dance with Israeli Apartheid organised the gathering outside Curve to protest against the one-night appearance by the Batsheva dance company from Israel.

The protestors, many carrying banners and placards, met outside the Rutland Street theatre at 6pm on Friday.

Police used metal barriers to keep the demonstrators away from members of the audience as they arrived for the evening's show.

Officers said no arrests were made, but that five people had been ejected from the protest and asked to leave the area.

Some audience members were visibly shaken at the sight and sound of the noisy protest outside the theatre.

Veena Shaunak, 40, of Great Glen, said: "I did not expect this sort of thing.

"I have to say I find it quite intimidating. I have come here tonight with my young daughter to enjoy a dance show."

Judith Weston, from Knighton, said she was appalled by the protest.She said: "Art should be allowed to transcend politics."

Lucinda Woodward, who has friends in Leicester, had travelled down from York to see the show.

The 20-year-old said: "People do have the freedom of speech but this is too much. They are intimidating people. We have the freedom to watch a dance show if we want to."

Protestors defended their right to demonstrate against the show.Ismail Patel, of the Friends of Al-Asqa – a Palestine solidarity group, said: "We are here to make our voice heard."

Mr Patel, of Oadby, said: "Our concern with Batsheva is not the nationality of the performers – it is the fact they receive Israeli government funding and are seen as cultural ambassadors for the state of Israel."

Curve chief executive Fiona Allan said: "Batsheva are a world-renowned company and we jumped at the chance to get them to appear in Leicester.

"We knew the protest was coming and did all we could to warn our audience in advance. Many of them said we were right to let the show go on."

Jeffrey Kaufman, former president of the Leicester Progressive Jewish Congregation and an Oadby and Wigston councillor, said he was disappointed to hear of the protest.

He said: "I don't know if Batsheva are funded by the Israeli government but it would be no different to the British government funding some arts group and them appearing abroad."

A police spokesman said: "The protest was very vocal but peaceful. Five people were ejected from the protest."

It was the latest in a series of protests against Batsheva, with demonstrations against performances in Brighton, Birmingham and Edinburgh.

INTER FAITH WEEK 2012, DAY 1: BBC RADIO LEICESTER

I'm on BBC Radio Leicester this morning from 0740, speaking for ten minutes about Inter Faith Week with Lucy Collins (photo above), who is sitting in for Monica Winfield.

While waiting to go on air, I meet Ali and Muhammad from Masjid Al Husayn, on Duxbury Road. They're going on the show immediately after me, to talk about the local Shi'ah community's public commemoration of Ashura in Humberstone Gate this Saturday. We agree to stick around and chat immediately after we've done our respective stints on air, to discuss ways we might support each other in the events of the coming week. In my eagerness to impress - aggravated by only having had four hours sleep - I mistakenly mix up Ashura with Muharram. All credit to Ali and Muhammad for being gentlemanly and not correcting my error.

I'm glad to see that Lucy has done her homework and knows all about our exhibition in Highcross as well as the other events we're involved in throughout Inter Faith Week. I get the chance to promote all of them and tell listeners how to access information via the events section of the Council of Faiths website and the special page on my blog.

I thought I'd done my homework too and have tried to anticipate some of the questions Lucy might ask me live on air. But she throws a me a curve ball when she asks me what I think of Clarissa Dickson Wright's recently publicised comments about her experience in Leicester. At least I don't have to respond to that hoary old chestnut about whether we're doing no more than preaching to the converted during this week. - although I'd prepared a pretty good response to that one!

FATHER AND SON HONOURED

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Father and son honoured

A father and son have been recognised for their work in the community.

Abdulla Moti, 77, and his 52-year-old son Abdulaziz were presented with honoured citizen awards by Lord Mayor, Abdul Osman, this week.

Abdulla was responsible for setting up Cutchi Sunni Muslim Association in Leicester in 2002, based on a similar organisation he had founded in Nairobi, Kenya.

He said: "At the start, we were concerned with bringing the different parts of the community together – there were a lot of people from Kenya in Leicester."

Originally chairman of the association – a post now held by his son – Abdulla is currently its chief adviser, assistant treasurer and social activities organiser.

He is well known for helping to take elderly members of the association on trips around the country.

Abdulaziz has been involved with a charity raising money for Kosovan and Albanian war victims, providing mosques, education and clinics.

He has helped organise numerous fund-raising events, ranging from football tournaments to fashion shows.

For the past five years, he has been trustee of the madrasa (school) at the Loughborough Road mosque.

This provides Islamic education evening classes for boys and girls, held from 5pm to 7pm, Monday to Friday.

There are currently 380 students registered to take part

Abdulaziz said: "We have segregated classes in the mosque – one upstairs, the other downstairs.

"It helps children understand their heritage and keeps them off the streets."

Aside from his community and charity work, he runs a property business in Leicester and lives off Melton Road.

He and his father maintain a close contact with Kenya, from where Mr Moti senior moved to the UK in 1987.

They are responsible for building a mosque, a hospital, an orphanage and an Islamic studies centre at Mitito Andei, between Nairobi and Mombasa.

The two received their honoured citizen certificates from the Lord Mayor at a ceremony at Leicester Town Hall.

Abdulaziz said: "For me and my dad, receiving this honour is a great achievement.

"The award shows that what we have done for charity and the community is appreciated by those we are working to help."

Coun Osman said: "It was a privilege to speak to these two men and hand over their certificates to them.

"They have done so much for so many people in Kenya, Kosovo and Leicester.

"It shows that there are individuals, often hidden away in the background, who are responsible for quite notable achievements."

TV STAR WOULD RETURN TO "FRIGHTENING" CITY

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

TV star would return to "frightening" city

Clarissa Dickson Wright has refused to apologise for "hurtful" comments about the city's Muslim community – but says she would return to the city.

In her new book, the celebrity cook described a visit to Leicester "as one of the most frightening experiences of my life".

The 65-year-old wrote that she came off the ring road to escape a traffic jam and found herself lost in a part of the city she described as a "ghetto" where she felt like a "complete outcast and pariah".

Ms Dickson Wright was invited to defend her views by BBC Radio Leicester yesterday and said: "I'm not going to apologise. I'm not saying it's entirely accurate for the whole of Leicester, but I am describing an experience that I went through.

"I know other people who have had a similar experience, not necessarily in Leicester."

In her book, Clarissa's England: A Gamely Gallop Through the English Counties, the cook dedicated a chapter to Leicestershire's culinary and cultural merits.

"I found myself in an area where all the men were wearing Islamic clothing and all the women were wearing burkas and walking slightly behind them," she wrote.

She said none of the men would talk to her when she tried to find out where she was and how to get out of there, because she was an English women and they "would not talk to women they did not know".

"Here I was, in the heart of a city in the middle of my own country, a complete outcast and pariah," she wrote.

Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, described her comments as hurtful.

Speaking on BBC Radio Leicester, he invited Ms Dickson Wright to come back to the city and have dinner with his family.

"I would be delighted to host her at my home and take her to meet real Leicester people," he said.

Deputy city mayor Rory Palmer also invited her to return – and apologise for her comments.

He said: "I read the comments she made in her book in the Mercury and I was lost for words – and I am rarely lost for words.

"They are unwarranted and not the Leicester I know.

"Perhaps she ought to stick to what she knows – making pies and souffles.

"I think, given the reaction to her comments, that she ought to be prepared to make an apology.

"I'm not going to be rushing off to write her a letter of invitation, but if the opportunity presents itself in the future, I am sure we will all show her the real city."

Speaking on the radio, Ms Dickson Wright said: "They want me to come back? Yeah, of course I would accept."

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (2,016)

Regular update on the number of pageviews received from different parts of the world in the week just ending.

1. United States 770
2. United Kingdom 634
3. Russia 337
4. Ukraine 101
5. France 83
6. India 48
7. Poland 42
8. Germany 41
9. Spain 40
10. Singapore 20

This week's total: 2,016 (last week: 1,659). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's analytics doesn't show the numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country and they don’t show the cumulative total including those additional countries, which is undoubtedly larger than the number shown above.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time". They're updated each time I look at them.

FURY AT TV CHEF CLARISSA DICKSON WRIGHT'S COMMENTS ABOUT MUSLIMS IN LEICESTER

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Fury at TV chef Clarissa Dickson Wright's comments about Muslims in Leicester

A celebrity chef has come under fire after making "hurtful" comments about the city's Muslim community.

In her new book, Clarissa Dickson Wright describes a visit to Leicester "as one of the most frightening experiences of my life".

The 65-year-old dedicates a chapter of Clarissa's England: A Gamely Gallop Through the English Counties to each county in England, discussing their culinary, cultural and historical merits. On Leicestershire, she writes of the city's "ghetto".

She describes coming off the ring road to escape a traffic jam and becoming lost.

"I found myself in an area where all the men were wearing Islamic clothing and all the women were wearing burkas and walking slightly behind them," she wrote.

She said the men would not talk to her "because I was an English female and they don't talk to females they don't know".

She said: "Here I was, in the heart of a city in the middle of my own country, a complete outcast and pariah.

"If multiculturalism works, which I have always been rather dubious of, surely it must be multicultural and not monocultural.

"I can only hope that in generations to come there will be a merging of the cultures and not the exclusion zone that is the ghetto."

Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, and a city imam, said: "How is she judging an entire community on her one-off rare time of getting lost in Leicester?

"I find it very hurtful to read because everybody is working so hard to create a peaceful and happy Leicester.

"It showed a complete lack of appreciation of the fact we are almost two million in this country, doing our bit for our country.

"When she says that she was in the centre of a city in the centre of her own country, I take objection. This is also my country and this is also my city.

"I would like to call on Leicester people to be even more welcoming and hospitable than we've been so far."

Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "That is the sort of thing that makes me very angry – when someone breezes in from outside and paints a picture of Leicester that does not have any foundation in reality."It may help sell books but it is cheap."

Councillor Manjula Sood, chairman of Leicester Council of Faiths, urged readers to ignore her comments.

"I don't believe a meeting with one person on one street should mean you can label a whole city," she said.

Both Coun Sood and Mr Mogra invited Ms Dickson Wright back to the city for an opportunity to change her opinions.

When contacted by the Mercury, the chef, who lives in Edinburgh, said: "I'm surprised any of the people who might object could read what I wrote as it is written in English.

"When you get to 65, you will think back on this conversation and I think you might find yourself in my frame of mind."

She said she had a lot of Muslim friends but her experience of Leicester was "unpleasant".

"It scared me and I am not scared easy," she said.

Asked why, she said: "Because it was part of my country that I was born in and there are a lot of radical Muslim preachers in this country.

"I was in London when the July 7 (2005 bomb attacks) happened and this to me was proof for those people who have been saying we're getting ghettoisation of Muslim areas.

"I have never believed that political correctness was a reason not to say what I have experienced."

She said she had "done a lot" for Leicestershire, campaigning for the protected geographical status of Melton pork pies and Stilton.

In her book, Ms Dickson Wright praised Melton's food festival, saying "it was just everything that a good food festival should be".

She also wrote about "charming" Market Harborough, and "pleasant" Oakham.

She is signing copies of her book at Northfield Farm Christmas Fair, in Cold Overton, on Saturday.

---

ON THE COUNTY

In her book, Ms Dickson Wright wrote:

Melton: I first came across it at the original Melton Mowbray Food Festival, which, in the first two years, was held in the cattle market in Melton Mowbray and was to my mind without doubt the best food festival in the country.

(It had) produce from the Asian communities, in particular in Leicester, and the West Indian community, and it was just everything that a good food festival should be.

Market Harborough: A charming old town.

Rutland: Rutland is a triumph and a lesson to us all.

Oakham: A pleasant town with all the right sort of shops and bookshops and I am always happy to visit it.

ON LEICESTER

I had one of the most frightening experiences of my life there.

Leicester has a very high Asian Muslim population and I found myself in an area where all the men were wearing Islamic clothing and all the women were wearing burkas and walking slightly behind them.

None of the men would talk to me when I tried to find out where I was and how to get out of there because I was an English female and they don’t talk to females they don’t know, while if the women could speak English they weren’t about to show it by having a word with me.

(She bought a map at a newsagents.) Somebody, very reluctantly, pointed to where I was and then I had to work out the rest myself.

I have many good acquaintances and even some friends among the Muslim community, yet here I was, in the heart of a city in the middle of my own country, a complete outcast and pariah.

If multiculturalism works, which I have always been rather dubious of, surely it must be multicultural and not monocultural.

However, everything has an upside and one of the results of this is that Leicester has a very good selection of Asian restaurants.

I can only hope that in generations to come there will be a merging of the cultures and not the exclusion zone that is the ghetto.

MISSION TO MELTON

A quick pop out and back again to Brooksby Melton College (Melton Campus) this afternoon, with some material and moral support for the events that the college will be holding during Inter Faith Week.

We're loaning the college the set of pictures we had produced for our Favourite Faiths Photo exhibition last year. They're not being used anywhere else during Inter Faith Week and it would be a pity for them to be left under wraps when they could be put to good use here. Well, not just "here": the collection will be split between the Melton and Brooksby campuses. These pictures were originally planned to be 16 in number - two for each of the member communities on Leicester Council of Faiths, one large, one small. I mentioned elsewhere on this blog (23 November 2011) that when these photos were digitally printed (direct onto thick mounting board) several of them were made too large to fit into the display spaces at Leicester People's Photographic Gallery. So the printer (John E. Wright) offered replacement copies at no extra cost and we were able to hold on to the originals too. We had no plans to use the pictures this year, so when Nicola Welbourne (photo above) of the college's Learner Services, asked if we had any visual material that could help beautify the room where their Interfaith Events Day is to be held next Wednesday (21 November) I jumped at the chance to offer these photos.

I'll be here for that day, with a display which will be "dual-badged" for Leicester Council of Faiths and Faith Awareness (the inter-faith programme of Christians Aware). It'll be a busy day for me: putting up the Council of Faiths table in the second Choice Unlimited at Leicester Tigers between 0630 and 0800; dashing out to the Melton campus for their Interfaith Events Day from 0930 till 1415; back to the Tigers, to front the display there till it closes at 1800; and keeping a watchful eye on the Highcross exhibition. I'm looking forward to it!

Even though the college is concentrating its Inter Faith Events Day into less than four hours on Wednesday, Nicola and her colleague Humera are already generating interest and enthusiasm around the college. They've prevailed upon staff in the Forestry and Arboriculture Department to provide an Interfaith Tree at both campuses on which students and staff are invited to hang heart-shaped labels bearing a wish, a prayer, a remembrance or something of that type. These will be collected for a blessing at the end of Inter Faith Week. You can see the Interfaith Tree to the right in the photo above. It's a big branch, spray-painted silver, stuck in an Oor Wullie style silver bucket; I'm going to see if we can get something like it for our exhibition in Highcross. And from Monday, prayers from different faiths will be circulated around the college, related to study, students or the theme of inter-faith dialogue and relations. I think they're doing a terrific job here.

OUR DIVERSE CITY SHOWN IN PICTURES

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Our diverse city shown in pictures

A photography exhibition exploring Leicester's diversity is taking place at an unusual venue – shop windows across the city.

Dozens of pictures will be on display at 20 shops in Belgrave, Highfields and Spinney Hills as part of the From Here and There exhibition until December 16.

Artworks are also on show in the street and at community spaces in the city.

The display looks at Leicester's cultural diversity, our notions of Britishness and also commemorates the 40th anniversary of thousands of Asians moving to Leicester after being expelled from Uganda.

It also marks this year's Olympic Games.

It is a collaboration between Leicester artist Ashok Mistry and award-winning Indian photographer Pablo Bartholomew.

Ashok said: "The exhibition is about celebration and the communities we have in Leicester, the way they co-operate and flourish."

He said it was also about looking at plurality, as Leicester is expected to be one of Britain's first plural cities, where there is no clear ethnic majority group.

Ashok said the pictures were being displayed in shop windows and on the street as the display was aimed at people not normally catered for in galleries.

Pablo, who is based in New Delhi, said the idea of the exhibition was "to bring out something on the streets".

He said that spreading the posters throughout Leicester was a "great way to communicate with different types of audience" and also "different areas of Leicester.

One of the shops which is displaying photographs as part of the exhibition is Milan's, in Belgrave Road.

Manager Kishor Chauhan said the shop took part in the exhibition "because it sounded very interesting".

A celebration event to mark the exhibition will take place tonight from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Chennai Dosa, in Belgrave Road, Leicester.

For the full art trail and more details about the exhibition, visit the website: http://fromhereandthere.info