Category: Uncategorized

Venue: Barber Institute, on the campus of Birmingham University.

A room full of people; about 50 in all. Out for an unusual cultural experience. So good to be surrouneed by such people. 

 

Two poets, both female. The third poet, male, could not get a visa.

 

First poet on stage, with the translator, from the organisation that arranged the event; the Poetry Translation Centre. The poet could not see in the poor light so decided to stay in the corner. The translator stood in the middle of the stage. For some reason it was decided that the English translation would be read first. So the translator would read from her position, centre stage, and then the poet would read in her own language from the sidelines. Surely it should be the other way round!

 

Thankfully, the second poet read her poetry first and then the translator read the English. This worked. You could see who the main act was and who the translator.

 

Both the poets were wearing quite Western clothes. I wondered whether it would have worked if they had just come from Iran or Afghanistan with their heads covered or in full burqa!

 

The first translator/organiser made two references to Afghanistan; both negative. First she referred to it as the worst country in the world. I thought to myself; how would I feel if I came from there. We have quite a few in our city who do. But then this evening was not for them as the audience or the poets amongst them. She then said, when about to translate a love poem, “this is quite surprising given what has gone on in that country”. Does this mean people in Afghanistan don’t or can’t write poetry? Is poetry only written in nice peaceful places like in the west? Don’t we have the War Poets? What gives her the right to stand here and damn a whole country. I am sure awful things are going on there. I am equally sure that there is beauty, poetry and birdsong; something they tried to ban many years ago. I wrote about it at the time.

 

Then we came to ask questions. I had no plans to say anything. A few comments and questions later, I put my hand up to suggest that in future they should always have the poet ‘centre stage’ and the translator on the side. I am afraid this did not go down well. The organising lady/first translator said she didn’t like being criticised and would have preferred it if I had had a quiet word with her on her own. 

 I felt bad about making her feel uncomfortable. 

 

The evening ended. One person came to me and said she had agreed with what I had said. She could see the organiser had been defensive and didn’t really want to hear any critical feedback.  We also had an interesting conversation about the need for white Brits to learn minority languages especially Urdu in places like Birmingham; local education as she had worked in Birmingham schools teaching English as a second language; her visit to Pakistan /Kashmir …. We exchanged cards so might be getting together for a coffee given we live near each other.

 

How about an evening of Urdu poetry and literature from Birmingham Pakistani community! But the audience would have to change their expectations as the local Pakistanis are just that; local! Equal citizens instead of exotic outsiders.

 

I had better get back to reading some more of Orientalism or should it be Everyday Racism. Maybe I should read something safer!

Venue: Barber Institute, on the campus of Birmingham University.

 

A room full of people; about 50 in all. Out for a bit of exotica? Maybe I shouldn’t judge or prejudge.

 

 

 

Two poets, both female. The third poet, male, could not get a visa.

 

 

 

First poet on stage, with the translator, a white woman. I think she is someone big in the organisation that arranged the event; the Poetry Translation Centre. The poet could not see in the poor light so decided to stay in the corner. The translator stood in the middle of the stage. For some reason it was decided that the English translation would be read first. So the translator would read from her position, centre stage, and then the poet would read in her own language from the sidelines. Surely it should be the other way round!

 

 

 

Thankfully, the second poet read her poetry first and then the translator read the English. This worked. You could see who the main act was and who the translator.

 

 

 

Both the poets were wearing quite Western clothes. I wondered whether it would have worked if they had just come from Iran or Afghanistan with their heads covered or in full burqa!

 

 

 

The first translator/organiser made two references to Afghanistan; both equally appalling. First she referred to it as the worst country in the world. I thought to myself; how would I feel if I came from there. We have quite a few in our city who do. But then this evening was not for them as the audience or the poets amongst them. She then said, when about to translate a love poem, “this is quite surprising given what has gone on in that country”. Does this mean people in Afghanistan don’t or can’t write poetry? Is poetry only written in nice peaceful places like in the west? Don’t we have the War Poets? What gives her the right to stand here and damn a whole country. I am sure awful things are going on there. I am equally sure that there is beauty, poetry and birdsong; something they tried to ban many years ago. I wrote about it at the time.

 

 

 

Then we came to ask questions. I had no plans to say anything. A few comments and questions later, I put my hand up to suggest that in future they should always have the poet ‘centre stage’ and the translator on the side. I am afraid this did not go down well. The organising lady/first translator said she didn’t like being criticised and would have preferred it if I had had a quiet word with her on her own.

 

 

 

The trouble was that in the environment that had been created it was I who felt the bad guy.

It was a privilege to be able to use my mother tongue- Pahari- , Urdu as well as English to facilitate a group of Muslim leaders in Dudley. I used to wonder what the point of me improving my non-English languages was. Now I understand. It was for times such as these that I have been reading my weekly Urdu paper and other material.

 

Surely, there must be more groups from within communities such as the Pakistanis whose preferred language of communication is their mother tongue(s). Presumably, they stay away from situations which are English-speaking.

 

I wonder whether we will ever move to the same level of provision for minority language communication and interpreting as that for groups who are dependent on British Sign Language.

 

The purpose of the event was to share information on safeguarding of children in religious organisations as well as to receive feedback from the people who work in such situations. Here are the notes from the Muslim group I facilitated:

1.      Religion is very important to the Muslims of Dudley. They want their children to have proper understanding of Islam and be able to read the Quran. They also value their children being taught Urdu so they can communicate with the older generation and appreciate their cultural heritage.

2.      It is important that the teachers teaching the above are properly qualified and are able to provide authentic education. The community is very keen for Urdu to be taught in mainstream schools but when it comes to Islamic teaching they would like that job to be done in mosques.

3.      It is often the case that mainstream approaches are imposed on minority communities. When subjects such as safeguarding are considered it is important to take proper account of minority perspectives and context instead of expecting minorities to simply fit.

 4.      Language can be a barrier so it is important to have bilingual staff generally and especially in sensitive service areas such as safeguarding

 5.      The group raised the issue of safeguarding in the wider environment. Muslim children often have to put with abuse and taunts on the way to and from the mosques. The Council needs to take appropriate preventative action. Schools also have an educational role.

 6.      Lack of resources is a major problem for the Muslim community. They have to rely on the collections from their members who often come from a community which is disadvantaged. Lack of resources could give rise to safeguarding problems

 7.      It is important not to exaggerate the problems. The Muslim community is fully committed to safeguarding. They need help to develop the infrastructure.  

 

What can we learn from the emerging science of Positive Psychology, of how human beings thrive and how should this understanding of human well being influence our schools? We are experiencing seismic changes in the educational landscape but how many educationalists are asking the question about what education is really for in a global, technological and competitive world?  

In this world, what is the job of a teacher and how is it changing? How do we co-create a curriculum with our students that is relevant and engaging? What does pedagogy look like in this generation and how can we develop ‘contracting’ relationships between students and teachers? As leaders, how do we take courageous steps to lead our schools in a direction we intuitively know is good but may go against received wisdom?

Improving from Within is a model for school improvement that has developed from 20 years of working with schools and noting what really works as well as observing the impact on the teaching profession of increasing negative extrinsic drivers. It is time to re-address the balance. Improving from Within is our response.

If you would like to be involved contact us: sue@1078051064.test.prositehosting.co.uk

 

A few years ago as a part of my voluntary community work, I was involved on the management committee of a Birmingham community advice centre. One day I bumped into a fellow Pakistani. When I told him about my involvement, he said “are there other ‘apne log’ (our people) involved there?” When Asians use this Urdu phrase, they almost always refer to not just people of their own ethnicity but also to those who come from the same clan, ethnic community and district.

 The advice centre concerned was run under the auspices of a Church of England church, with a White vicar who had a real heart for the inner city and its people. Much of the congregation of this fairly ordinary church was made up of White or African Caribbean worshippers. Most of the staff of the advice centre were of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslim background as were its clients who chose the advice centre in preference to their own community’s services because they saw it as more impartial and professional.

The question certainly made me think about who ‘our people’ were in such a situation. For example, for a Pakistani or Bangladeshi in need of advice, was it people from her own ethnic group, clan or fellow Muslims. Or was it the African Caribbean worshippers who donated their hard earned income so that she could access free advice; or perhaps it was the White vicar or the multi-racial management committee whose member I was. It made me wonder whether people emphasise too much their race and ethnicity and should go beyond this and focus on our humanity. We may then realise that we have much more in common than that which divides us.

That brings me to diversity. My involvement in it goes back to the 70s except it was called ‘equality’ in those days. It wasn’t until the 90s when ‘diversity’ was coined as a phrase. I believe it was with the publication of the book, in 1992, ‘From Equality to Diversity’ by Rachel Ross and Robin Schneider.  This definition of diversity from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development best sums it up: “Managing diversity involves valuing people as individuals, as employees, customers and clients- everyone is different.”

The BIG QUESTION for me is: why focus on our differences when we have so much in common?

 We share spaces; we often use exactly the same products and services in exactly the same way. By recognising and ‘celebrating’ diversity, are we in the danger of perpetuating the differences? Perhaps, instead we should focus on our commonalities?

There are many situations where there is a duplication of services. We have neighbourhoods where a service is provided for one ethnic group and down the road an identical service is offered for another ethnic group; both are funded from the same public purse. Surely, our communities have lived together for long enough and are mature enough to use a service alongside others from a different ethnic group. Wouldn’t it be far better to encourage us to go beyond the few differences we may have and focus on what we have in common?

 So where does this leave Diversity?

Some of the orthodoxies have begun be challenged, albeit slowly. Munira Mirza from the Institute of Ideas, talking about diversity training, points out: “On one hand, trainers claim to eliminate stereotypes in the workplace, yet in talking about ‘different cultural perspectives’, they end up generating new and more insidious ones in their stead”. She points out that the “diversity machine is highly expensive, but more worryingly, it can be highly corrosive. It creates divisions within the workforce and generates an unhealthy preoccupation with racial tension in the workplace”. Ms Mirza goes on to offer diversity practitioners and others a challenge: “what has been lost is any sense of universal or common values. Contemporary society finds it difficult to claim that there are values and needs that are shared by everyone, regardless of their particular cultural upbringing, skin colour or ethnic background. Today, there is an absence of vision that can unite different groups.”

Later Ms Mirza makes a similar point in another article: “In our society we attribute much more positive significance to cultural differences, but increasingly lack confidence in people’s ability to transcend them.” She goes onto point out that we assume “that individuals born into a particular ethnicity or culture find it difficult to identify with people different from themselves”

Trevor Phillips, the recently appointed chair of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights, has pointed out: “My concern is that policies have got to the point where we recognise differences even if it is at the cost of equality,” he said. “Diversity is not damaging to society; what is damaging to society is the recognition of diversity without the recognition of commonality”. Of course, it was not long ago that the Commission for Racal Equality, which Mr Phillips currently heads up, was talking about ‘All Different, All Equal’; don’t times change!

And finally, the words of Shakespeare help to remind us of what we have in common:

If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh…Remember we all feel hurt, we all feel pain

Merchant of Venice

 Note: this blog was previously published a few years ago 

 

I had the privilege of meeting a group of young people and starting the next ‘Writers of the Future’ group. How fortunate I am; being able to work with such engaging people, surrounded by books (we were in the school library). I so love what I do. I feel a bit of an imposter calling it ‘work’ though. My world today is so far removed from that of my elders. That was WORK. For example, my father used to walk for days with his donkey to different parts of Pakistan, transporting goods for businesses and, later, doing back-breaking shifts in Birmingham factories.

I explained to the students my purpose in being there and then asked them what writers did. Of course they all said: “write”. This was my cue to point out that before writing comes reading. So please would they read, read and read some more. Most of them were used to using their local library.

We talked about how easy it was to write once you get started; how to get inspiration (“from life”, said one) and how to get published using the internet (“make sure you are responsible in what you publish”, I said).

I asked them to do some writing. “Perhaps, you could write about meeting me”, I said.  I told them a little about myself and permission to make up the rest. They were off:

• Mr Iqbal told us that he wanted to be a writer ever since he was young…
• The slow and thought out manner in which he spoke showed that … He told us about meeting the man who started Urdu journalism
• I can tell Mr Iqbal has a passion for writing and loves reading. …He is the first person I have met who has his own blog!
• He believes that if he wants to achieve his dream of writing, he can do and do it (publish) for himself.

Rather than stare at them while they were absorbed in their activity, I decided to jot down some notes for my blog entry.

I had promised to share with them, each week, some of my favourite books. So, I read an extract of a speech Mr Jinnah had made (from Stanley Wolpert’s ‘Jinnah’):

Organise yourselves, establish your solidarity and complete unity. Equip yourselves as trained and disciplined soldiers. Create the feeling of an esprit de corps (we discussed what this meant with the help of a student who had done French!) and of comradeship amongst yourselves. Work loyally, honestly, and for the cause of your people and your country. No individual or people can achieve anything without industry, suffering and sacrifice

In the process, there was a history lesson- when Pakistan was founded, who ruled the area before, when Bangladesh came about.   

We had time to kill so we talked about bilingualism- one student is doing Urdu GCSE, one spoke Bengali. We then had a group-read of a colleague’s ‘blog’ and learnt about ‘doing foreigners’. I had to explain that this was nothing suspicious but ‘working on the side’. We also talked about ‘eating’ tea. Don’t the English have some strange practices, I thought!

Their homework: to read; to write, if they feel inspired; to look at my blog and, of course, Tim Dowling’s, whose writing gave us the title for my current work.

     

“Hi, how are”?, I said.

“Oh fine”, he replied.

“Good Christmas?” I said.

“Great thanks. I spent it in Bruges.”

“What”, I said.

“Bruges. I went to Bruges”, he said, emphasising where he had been for Christmas.

“How interesting”, I said.

He explained he likes to go there so he can practice his French and Portuguese.

“You must be very clever”, I said.” You must have a big brain”.

“I do agree with you on that”. His response surprised me. He said it in such a matter-of-fact way. I don’t think he was being big-headed.

He went on to explain. “As well as learning languages, you learn about the people”

Me:“So, you must know a great deal about many different people.”

Him: “I guess I do”

“And, in different places”, I said.

“Yes, in different places; across two continents”.

He then told me he was learning a fourth language. “It’s called Amarik”. I had never heard of it. “I am learning it so when I go over to do voluntary work I can communicate properly with the community over there”

Just then, he saw he saw the Gym manager coming so he indicated to me that our little interaction was at an end.

The next time I went to the gym, I saw him from a distance. He looked very different. He wasn’t in his uniform- that funny plastic hat they have to wear- but in dark trousers, long coat and an old fashioned brief case. He looked such a business man.

 

እንኳን ደህና መጡ! Welcome!