Muslim Youth Helpline - English

Hope other communities will take inspiration from this project. We need more of such culturally sensitive, religiously informed, and professionally trained services in our communities addressing issues of youth, women, and families.

Living Cell - Amazing Cell Animation

"In this clip Nuclei, proteins and lipids move with bug-like authority, slithering, gliding and twisting through 3D space. Each of the things in the animation are going on in every one of your cells in your body all the time. There are some surprising things. For instance, in the animation there's a motor protein that's sort of walking along a line, carrying this round sphere of lipids. It really does look like its out for a stroll, like a character in a science fiction film or animation. But based on all the data, it's pretty accurate rendering." (Text taken from the description of the above clip)

Following is a quote attributed to Imam Ali. Perhaps this clip may be considered as a material interpretation of this quote; the spiritual possibilities from within are said to be even greater and limitless.

"Your remedy is within you — but you do not sense it.
Your sickness is within you — but you do not perceive it.
You presume that you are a small entity –
whereas within you is concealed the vast world.
You are indeed that magnificent book –
by whose alphabet the hidden becomes evident.
Therefore you have no needs beyond yourself
Your essence and secrets are in you — if only you can reflect"

Norman Finkelstein on Gandhi and Non-Violence

The above is from Professor Norman Finkelstein's presentation at the University of Alberta on January 22, 2009.

(Some useful insight from Inside Sectarianism (Oct 30, 2009)) "...chanting 'peace, peace, non-violence, non-violence' ... sometimes ... [is] used to de-legitimize militant resistance (as 'irrational' and 'unjustifiably violent'). It takes attention away from the whole history of Israeli atrocities by focusing too much on - and even blaming at times - the victims for responding with violence in defense. (Same goes for the case of Lebanon.) The 'peace, peace' slogans at times neglect the fact that the international community has failed to deliver any positive results in the last sixty years."

"I think the resistance in Palestine as well as Lebanon would also prefer non-violence over violence. The difference really is on the question of 'efficacy' of violent vs. non-violent tactics. The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was largely non-violent. Even scholars of non-violent movements acknowledge that fact.

The distinction between principle and tactic is important here. We would be arguing on a very different level if some peace activist believes in non-violence as a principle - that militant resistance is always wrong. (Even Gandhi made exceptions to that principle!)

But if it is a matter of tactic with non-violence as the preferred method, then the implication is that if legit resistance-s choose militant tactics in Palestine or Lebanon, their actions should not be looked down upon by peace activists. Also since it is a matter of tactic (not principle), tomorrow the resistance-s may very well decide to become non-violent, if they feel that time has changed and the international community is more responsive to non-violent tactics and can actually do something to address their grievances."

Yah Bacha - By Ibn Insha - Urdu sub English

This presentation visualized in the context of Pakistan is based on a poem by Ibn Insha. I read somewhere that he wrote this poem after seeing an image of a starving child in Ethiopia in the 70s.



Violence comes in various forms - physical, symbolic, structural. This should imply that conscientious activists around the world cannot afford to focus on only one facet of injustice.

Poverty and hunger are forms of structural violence, largely resulting today from current international trade laws written by corporate greed.



Materialism is the underlying logic of the prevailing global injustice. Unfortunately, it seems that we - the non-corporate actors - are also implicated in this exploitation, with variable degrees however, knowingly or otherwise, because of self-absorbed excessive consumption, apathy, and lack of resistance against how our governments and corporations are exploiting people and resources around the world.



The above video addresses not only 'how' bad it is, but also 'why' is it that bad and what are some of the structural causes.

In the ultimate analysis, the root cause lies in materialism - a deep psychological force - that has become pervasive in our values, cultures, and institutions.

See a related post here: Miniature Earth.

10 minutes by Ahmed Imamovic - Short Film - English subtitles