call for promoting collective otherness above nationalism
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Call for promoting collective otherness above nationalism

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Call for promoting collective otherness above nationalism

Jamal Mahjoub during the Emirates Airline Festival Of
DUBAI - Arab Today

Creative writers and artists have been urged to help foster balanced and harmonious societies that allow collective otherness to thrive above narrow-minded nationalism.

The call came during a session on ‘Migrating Views: Identity and Nationalism in a World on the Move’ at Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai on Friday.

Jamal Mahjoub, a British-Sudanese author whose books frequently explore the relationships between Europe and Africa, opined that “the resurgence of a sense of nationalism in European countries at the moment and also what has been happening in the US now … is an assertion of certain kind of image of what American or Dutch or French is. But in reality it is not what they [the nationalists] portray.”

He said the need of the hour is “to embrace collective otherness which is about understanding that together we can also be one nation. And it is not going to be dominated by one for the sacrifice of another”.

“This requires a degree of imagination and precisely it is the job of creative writers and artists and so on to be able to create and produce an image, model or template that people can actually say that it does actually work and it does exist.

“A society that is interrogating itself, raising questions over what it is and where it comes from is a society which has a much bigger chance of being a healthy and balanced society than a society that is, as these nationalists would like, reverting to some image of what Britain or France or the Netherlands is, which is quite unrealistic and depends heavily on a kind of false image,” said Mahjoub, who is currently writing a non-fiction book about Sudan’s troubled history.

The recent attacks against Indian-origin Americans in the US was raised with concern by Kanishk Tharoor, an Indian author based in New York who has written extensively about migration, indigenous rights, cultural destruction and nationalism. “This seems to be a growing trend in the era of Trump,” he said, calling for cultural pluralism and tolerance in countries with influx of migrant residents.

Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor from Canada advocating for peace, tolerance and communication, said communities need to smash barriers and focus on the commonalities to overcome differences.

“It is important to see people as humans not [as] ‘these documents’,” he said, referring to the prejudice people face based on the passports they hold.

He cited Canada as a good example of inclusive and diverse society that can be a role model in how people treat each other with respect.

Another panelist, Afra Atiq, the first Emirati female spoken word artist and slam poet, later told Gulf News: “The UAE is actually a model that shows that you can live harmoniously with all these people of different nationalities and religions and backgrounds.

“We have to have tolerance with not just different kinds of people, we need to have tolerance with their ideas as well. Open dialogues and festivals like these are the things that push us forward,” she said

source : gulfnews

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

call for promoting collective otherness above nationalism call for promoting collective otherness above nationalism

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

call for promoting collective otherness above nationalism call for promoting collective otherness above nationalism

 



GMT 10:10 2017 Thursday ,09 February

3 Important Elements You Have to Consider

GMT 04:03 2017 Monday ,24 April

Bella Hadid ‘dying’ to visit Palestine

GMT 19:25 2016 Wednesday ,25 May

The Brooklyn Desk by Oeuf NYC

GMT 07:49 2018 Friday ,05 January

2 Russian servicemen killed

GMT 07:58 2018 Monday ,01 January

Italy orders N. Korea's envoy to leave

GMT 08:45 2017 Wednesday ,20 December

US military imagines war without GPS

GMT 17:26 2017 Sunday ,17 December

Putin thanks Trump for help in foiling attack plot

GMT 22:19 2017 Monday ,16 October

Cairo-hosted Fatwa conf. new contribution

GMT 02:27 2016 Friday ,10 June

Video hints Japan abetting illegal ivory trade

GMT 07:04 2017 Wednesday ,19 April

1,883 Bahrainis found jobs in March

GMT 14:24 2016 Tuesday ,22 November

Citi and JPMorgan top list of ‘globally banks’

GMT 21:43 2017 Friday ,01 September

People question Nazaruddin`s repatriation expenses

GMT 09:41 2017 Wednesday ,19 April

OIC concerned over violence in Mali

GMT 01:30 2017 Friday ,27 October

May22/Jun21

GMT 05:38 2016 Friday ,30 December

Dubai Airports divert 13 flights due to heavy fog

GMT 11:38 2017 Saturday ,14 January

Mexico names new ambassador to US

GMT 12:03 2017 Wednesday ,22 March

Kuwait to mark World Water Day

GMT 15:00 2017 Wednesday ,27 September

HM King receives invitation from Egyptian President

GMT 02:45 2017 Tuesday ,05 December

President Bashir arrives in Chad

GMT 02:45 2017 Wednesday ,16 August

Turkmen President Visits Pakistan
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday