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Wow! Work has exploded this week. Everyone in London seems to be back at their desks, full of zest and ideas from their summer break – and writing me emails.
But last night I squeezed in a rendez-vous with Angela and Nina from Switzerland, who are over in London for few days and who put together the conference on multi-cultural Europe recently. We got together with a couple of other Londoners who had attended the CEJI training to combat religious discrimination in Brussels last year.
Minaret at Brick Lane Jamme Musjid. Photo from www.tiredoflondontiredoflife.com
We couldn’t resist taking our Swiss friends to see the *new* minaret in Brick Lane, which has been built next to the mosque – once a synagogue and before that a Huguenot chapel.
I now have a couple of leads on linking grassroots religious and multifaith groups across Europe – just to exchange experiences and ideas and to learn from each other. If you’re interested in how other European countries are getting on and would like to know more, just leave a comment.
This week I’m working with WCEN on a conference on Hinduism and mental wellbeing, with a particular focus on the Tamil community in London and the impact of the Sri Lankan conflict. I’m liaising with wonderful people and it will be great to bring community folk together with mental health professionals. The keynote speaker is an expert in collective trauma – whereas much of our mental health support in London is geared to individuals. We hope it will be an ideal opportunity for everyone to share experiences and explore different ways of supporting a community which has had a lot to deal with.
My son and I took part in the Shree Ghanapathy Temple’s Ther chariot festival recently – although he took part rather more actively than I did, helping to smash 1008 coconuts against the rocks at the start of the procession. Geetha Maheshwaran, Coordinator of the Temple (which is where the conference is taking place), contributes to the Pause for Thought slot in the middle of the night on Radio 2, and kindly mentioned him in her latest piece. It was totally unexpected – a gift, really, which he accepted very graciously.
Not a great turnout for SIOE in Harrow
Brrrr – cold in Harrow this afternoon. I spotted the new mosque (scaffolding still around the minaret) at about the same time as I noticed huge numbers of police in hi-visibility jackets, others on horseback and about 30 police vans surrounding the bleak carpark on the opposite side of the road.
It was harder to spot the demonstrators. I counted about 13 of them, just enough to hold up a long banner STOP ISLAMISATION OF EUROPE. They were surrounded by police and one man seemed to be speaking to them via a megaphone.
Happily I bumped into a few friends from Three Faiths Forum and the London Jewish Forum amongst the 200+ counter-demonstrators. I heard Harrow Central Mosque say that SIOE had been invited to the Mosque to discuss their concerns, but that they had declined. Canon Giles Fraser (Church of England) had earlier joined people from other faith traditions, the British Humanist Association and local political leaders to emphasise the importance of protecting freedom of worship.
Harrow Central Mosque
SOIE had encouraged Belgians, Serbs, Papua New Guineans and others to display their flags. I saw none of these (SIOE was banned from demonstrating in Brussels on the 9/11 anniversary this year).
Demonstrators were also urged to refrain from ‘racist chants’ and ‘nazi salutes’ – ‘remarks such as “deport all Muslims” will NOT be permitted’. These guidelines rather give the game away as to what SIOE is all about. They appear to be trying to form a Europe-wide network.
Just as well that those who value freedom of expression and worship and who promote an equitable way of living in Europe are also pretty good at networking.
How we live well together, in spite of our differences, is bound to be the topic of a public conversation for some time. We need to find ways of approaching it in ways that reduce anxiety and enrich our understanding.
