Well, I must say I'm really impressed with your diaries, your English and also the reflections that you make on your experience! I'm sorry that Elvira's experience was not so happy as the rest of yours, but don't worry Elvira, I'm sure it will get better and you too can try to steer the discussion to issues that you are interested in. Some of you had break-off discussions with just one group member, or may do so this week, I'm keen to learn how that goes, do you feel it helps you get to know group members better?
Last week you discussed identity and several of you also the role of religion in people's lives, I enjoyed following Marta and Ranà's discussion! The role of the media was also prominent in discussions and I think what Silvia said was very interesting about how the media here in Italy instil so much fear in people about 'others' that Soliya is providing her with an experience to have contact with the world of Islam, because though there are indeed many Muslims here in Padova contact is limited because of this fear! The importance of looking at different media was highlighted by most of you. This week there are plenty of opportunities for you to look at how the Italian and the international press, but also online sources cover Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to America.
Some of you were frustrated that not enough time was spent on discussing the articles. Of course we can discuss them on this blog and when we next meet!!
This week you will be discussing topics your groups have chosen so you will be writing about different things - tell us all the topics your groups discussed, the diversity of views, new information you have learnt. Are you having any problems understanding, or getting your views across to others? Are there any language issues?
Enjoy your discussions, remember to ask questions and don’t be afraid to express your opinions!
Iscriviti a:
Commenti sul post (Atom)
Hello everybody,
RispondiEliminathis time the discussion session was so intense that I feel the need to write some impressions immediately after it.. Today we did the famous game I had been reading about in your posts: "among these 5 aspects (religion, family, friends, activities/hobbies and nationality) select those which best describe your identity and write them in a list according to their relevance". My list was the following: 1. family; 2. friends; 3. activities; 4. nationality; 5. religion. Step by step, we were then asked to get rid of three items which are not essential to us, and to tell the group which remaining aspects are most essential to define ourselves. The tricky thing is that everybody in the end said that the two most relevant values are family and religion - no matter what their order in the first list was! Personally, I had put religion at the very bottom of the list because, if I were asked what really defines me, I would never say "I'm Catholic and religion best defines me". This game, however, showed me smt I had not thought of before: religion is, consciously or not, part of my education: since family is for me the most important value, religion does play a role in all this. In the end I can't deny I do come from a Catholic family which gave me important values I do agree with (even though I still believe that I'd never introduce myself to other people as 'Catholic').This "illuminating" process happened to many of us in the group, and we were all quite impressed by the fact that everybody shared the same values - despite differences in religion, culture, homeland etc!
We were then asked to further develop the role of values in Western and Muslim societies in small groups, and I had the chance to talk with a Maroccan boy before joining the main group again for the final discussion. Talking with Maroine was nice, maybe at the beginning I felt a bit shy (I'd have preferred to talk with a girl since it's usually much easier to find some commonground and shared interests with girls, no matter what their background is). Anyway, Maroine was extremely nice and kind, and the conversation was a good opportunity to compare and share our experiences. What emerged from the meeting was that, in the end, you can't identify real "monolithic" differences in the values of the Western and Eastern worlds. Both worlds share common values (like, for instance, respect, or giving money to poorest people); differences emerge in terms on how these values are considered - from which perspective - and put into action in everyday life. I personally think (and many in the group agreed on it), that values are somehow general, shared by any individual who has a little sensitivity. We may call them "human values" generally speaking, and they stretch beyond national or cultural borders. What differs is the way we see them..the question (to be discussed further next week) is where all conflicts arise from: if we have the same values, what/who causes conflicts then?
Hello everybody,
RispondiEliminathis session was extremely positive! First of all this time there was almost all of us (she missed only one girl) so this was the first time that I could talk in practice with all the guys; moreover this time we were fortunately, because nobody had serious technical problems.
First of all we’ve started the session talking about something funny (for example “listen music in other languages” or “what kind of sport we like”) then we’ve discussed about the rules we would like to apply in our conversations & we’ve decided a specific set of rules (“talking in a specific order”, “respecting other opinion”, “repeating the phrase if the other guys didn’t understand it” or “repeating slowly” or “using similar words”, etc…)
After this “organizational phase” we’ve done a “pair activity”: facilitators have chosen a specific partner for all of us & the activity consisted to discuss with it (in a private room) for 35 minutes about a topic chosen by us; my partner was Muhammad and we’ve talked about women’s rights, their situation in West (expecially Europe)& East (expecially Arabian Peninsula), and we began to discuss about women’s rights both in the past & present and the binomial “women&job”. This was very interesting because we had different positions: for example I told that for me there are no differences if a woman choose “to work or to be a mother”, while Muhammad pointed out the different level of responsibility in his culture between man & woman within the family & the importance of the role of the women as a “mother”. Discussing about this different opinions was so interesting but unfortunately the time is flown & Amanda recalled us in the main chatroom, but we didn’t worry, because we will talk again about this argument on the 7th week.
When we returned in the main chatroom we’ve explained the topic about we’ve discussed and we’ve shown what we will do in the next session of this activity (for example “deepening the main theme about women’s rights talking about other fields like political, economic”, etc…)
At the end of the session Nihal from the tech support presented the movie program that we will use for the video project and then Amanda & Amany presented us the topic of the next week & they’ve chosen three volunteers to ask questions about the topic at the start of the next session.
Finally, we said goodbye to each other in our own language!
This session was very important for me because I could talk directly in a private room with another guys without assistance and it was very funny; moreover it was extremely interesting for me to know different opinion about an important and very delicate issue like the “women’s rights”. I had a great fun!
See you next week,
Emanuele
Hello everybody!
RispondiEliminaFirst of all I’ve to say that during my latest Soliya session we were 7 guys and two co-facilitators: we made progress!!! People in my group showed to be very interested in our discussion. For this reason, my third Soliya session was really great as we had a very interesting discussion about terrorism.
We started with a short introduction (fortunately this held over few minutes) as a new girl from Kentucky had joined us: she’s named Caitlin and she’s studying religion. After having met this girl and having received some information about our video project, our co-facilitators explained us how to do our week activities about terrorism. They paired and sent us in a break out room where we had talked about terrorism following questions that co-facilitators gave us. These questions were concerning our personal definition about terrorism, the way we worked out our definition, the diffusion of our personal definition in our countries (this meant to say how much common is our definitions in our countries) and, at last, they asked us to try finding a common definition.
Unfortunately I was with a guy coming from Indonesia and who spoke very little English. So I tried to help him and during I was talking I was writing down my opinions and for this reason we didn’t talk about every questions that we had to discuss. But when we returned to the Main Room we talked as well about that topic.
Co-facilitators asked us to express our opinion about terrorism and when they asked me to talk about it, I preferred to talk about different kind of terrorism that we had seen during the Seventies in Italy: I talked about Brigate Rosse to make everybody known about the recent Italian History. I did it for a specific reason: I meant to explain, in my opinion, that kind of terrorism as today’s international terrorism are both characterized by a strong linkage between the power of the state and these paramilitary groups. So I talked about strong linkage between Bush’s family and Bin Laden’s family before 9/11 and about money that U.S.A. have sent to Afghanistan since 1979. During my speech the two American girls thought me to have said that Bush is a terrorist and my first reaction was provocative as I said: “I’ve never said that Bush is a terrorist, maybe I can suppose it!”. Then I remembered her about international politics that Bush’s administrations have adopted and most of girls in my session were agreeing with me. Only the two American girls said that international politics that Bush’s administrations have adopted wasn’t bad and the only bad thing that Bush’s administrations have done is a bad Political Economics. This assertion shocked me as this showed how individualists are these two American girls: they don’t care about the rest of the world!!! I think and I hope that not every American people are of this opinion.
Then we also talked about E.T.A. and I.R.A. as two form of terrorism that we can understand but we can’t justify. Chama (the girl from Morocco) also talked about Palestinian terrorism as a kind of terrorism that we can justify as Palestinian people have no choice to make their reasons heard (and I’ve to say that I agree with her).
These are the reasons why I think that this session was really great: I had got the chance to express my opinion!
See you next week!
Elvira.
Hi Elvira
RispondiEliminaI'm really pleased that you finally had a good session and it sounds like you managed to get quite deeply into the topic. I also like the fact that you talked about the Red Brigade and recent Italian history because I'm sure not many of the group members knew much about this and it's good to share knowledge!
See you on Tuesday,
Francesca
Hi everybody,
RispondiEliminaThis Soliya session was quite different from the first two: indeed we were divided into small groups and sent to a break out room to discuss the topics chosen before the beginning of the discussion. We had also to choose some ground rules to make the discussion run better,so we decided that respect is the most important element that helps us all to get along with each others: respecting other points of view even if it's different from ours helps us create a better dialogue and makes us closer one to another. even if we disagree! Then "disagreeing" mixed with "understanding" makes the discussion more exciting ,without any fighting! So everyone expressed his main idea about the topic to discuss and based on that, we were sent to that private room for about 45 minutes than turned back to the main group to share with the others how it felt for us to discuss that topic and what we learnt from each other that is valuable. The first group discussed leaving parents home or stay until we grow up explaining that people in the west tend to leave home at 18 but not in the east were the families tend to be more united.
Welmoed and abdallah spoke about secularism and capitalism: abdalla's opinion was that countries with a majority muslim population should be muslim!and that made Welmoed disagree but felt it was respectful, and learned a lot about his opinion!Unfortunately they did not have time to finish the topic... Martje spoke about peace and collaboration and how the east and the west could understand each other better. She liked talking about social differences that makes it a good way to understand each other
That's my turn!! Alec and I spoked about the situation between US and israel and the recent situation after the annouce of the Israelian Prime minister to build new houses in the arab part of Jerusalem...It was very lovely,especially that we expressed the same point of view about this issue. We both agreed that Israel is acting against the peace process and that this decision would create much more complications and conflicts in the region!
Let's say that it went really well and that when we get along with the other person the conversation could be very lovely: indeed, we were laughing after that and Alec asked me more about Lebanon and what it is like there.I was very mooved by his experience in the palestinian refugee camp and about what he told me on the humanitarian conditions of the palestinians! And that was just another Israelian crime against innocent people unable to get medical help,food or water just because some security wall was built to keep their freedom in jail! Then we had to choose the topic that will help us investigate pressing global challenges, with a particular focus issues that cause tension in the relationship between "Western Societies" and "Predominantly Muslim Societies"
like Extremisim, Foreign Policy, Economic issues, The Veil, Media, Immigration,Racism.
So for the next time,we'll have to discuss 4 of these important issues and discuss our readings.
I'll be then telling you about it!!
See you next week!
Rana'
Simply great session this week!!!!
RispondiEliminaFor the first time in my Soliya experience I had no technical problems so the discussion was really exciting and enjoyable even if other members of the group had difficulties with their connection or came late.
The facilitators paired the group in teams of two or three so we were able to explore our own topic more deeply and personally.
First of all I would like to emphasize the many advantages of working in pairs.
I felt very good with a partner because we could speak freely, choose our favourite topics, develop a discussion without the need of an external intervention of the facilitators.
Sahad and I chose the hottest possible topic: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict... and we had a great discussion on this subject that I hope to continue in the next coming weeks.
Maybe we had some moments of uncertainty, but I think the best way to know and understand a person is spending lot of time together and probably the major gap of Soliya is that: we don't have time enough to extend the knowledge of topics and mates.
Ways to solve this problem so could be to talk about the issues within our own community, read and share articles about them with each other, blog on the Soliya website, chat further in the social rooms, use Facebook to stay in touch with each other... but we have lots of different activities, interests and lives that I think is already a big step forward to spend time together weekly with Soliya.
At the beginning I asked my partner to show me her personal point of view on the Conflict, triyng to make her understand that even if this war is interesting for each nation of the world, my european vision can't be so deep as her one. My personal knowledge of the Middle East is really limited and if her studies focused on the region where she lives it' s the same for me, so I could speak perfectly only of European history.
She gave me lots of inputs, we had a multilevel dialogue about the conflict.
Firstly, we tried to think to everyday lives of people living in Israel: they have to fight for their own homes...and this is simply impossible today in our side of the world.
Secondly, we thought there are differences between high-educated people and poor and low-educated people in the approach to the conflict.
Thirdly, I tried to explain why in Europe we live in peace today, what's the european integration, why I think it's important an external intervention to resolve the conflict and why the USA are not the right partner for the promotion of a successful diplomatic action.
Maybe the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not have an end or, as my partner said, the end of this conflict could mean the end of the world, but the only way to promote peace is the dialogue, first of all between the west and the middle east.
The discussion went on and on until the facilitators asked us to came back in the main meeting room for the end of the session.
I really appreciated these two hours of my life...thanks to Soliya, my group, my partner Sahad.
Silvia
My third session of soliya was very very interesting! This time we started without technical problems and there were all the seven of the group. I think we are all the group, we are five girls (Kellye, Sumyia, Irma, Hadeel and Rawya) and two boys (me and Al Hussein) and the two co-facilitators (Jason and Aline). To break the ice we spoke a little bit about the weather in our country, and then we started the discussion. I have to say that I like very much my “friends” because they like to speak and to explain theirs opinions. They also like to take part in the discussion in a strong way, I mean if they disagree with someone they underline why they haven’t the same opinion giving examples.
RispondiEliminaSumyia give us a topic of discussion, it is a text on the conflict between west and muslim world compared with US and Russian conflict. Then we spoke about the recent situation on Palestine. The problem for the people to be represented by the leaders. The relationship between democracy, free elections and the main role of the leaders: they sometimes do not politic for the people, and its role is very important to do the peace in this area. We all thought about the role of the religion in the election and the use of religion done by the politic leaders: religion could be an instrument to get the power but also a problem that can divide population.
After the first hour of discussion, the facilitators proposed us an activity. It is a pair activity that has two parts, one during this session and the other part in the seventh week. So they gave me my “discussion-mate” that is the other boy, Al Hussein. I was very happy and curious to discuss in pair with him because he seems like the typical Arabic man, with a long long beard, and he is very religious, so immediately I thought I could receive lots of information on religious topics by him. So we went in a “private room” and we started to discuss. Thanks to some technical problems with the microphone we decided to write on the chat our discussion. I started with some questions on his religion and the relationship between “Arabic” and “muslim” cultures. He explained me some things I didn’t know at all and some curiosity; for example he said me what the word “islam” means: submission to the will of god. This part of the session was very interesting for me, I could know much things about religion and Arabic culture, and also of his point of view. Finally I said him my opinion on the religion and why I am not religious at all. It was interesting. I am sure the next time of this pair activity will be interesting.
Finally we came back in the main room to say goodbye to the others. It was a very useful session for my religion knowledge!
Giacomo
My third session of soliya was very very interesting! This time we started without technical problems and there were all the seven of the group. I think we are all the group, we are five girls (Kellye, Sumyia, Irma, Hadeel and Rawya) and two boys (me and Al Hussein) and the two co-facilitators (Jason and Aline). To break the ice we spoke a little bit about the weather in our country, and then we started the discussion. I have to say that I like very much my “friends” because they like to speak and to explain theirs opinions. They also like to take part in the discussion in a strong way, I mean if they disagree with someone they underline why they haven’t the same opinion giving examples.
RispondiEliminaSumyia give us a topic of discussion, it is a text on the conflict between west and muslim world compared with US and Russian conflict. Then we spoke about the recent situation on Palestine. The problem for the people to be represented by the leaders. The relationship between democracy, free elections and the main role of the leaders: they sometimes do not politic for the people, and its role is very important to do the peace in this area. We all thought about the role of the religion in the election and the use of religion done by the politic leaders: religion could be an instrument to get the power but also a problem that can divide population.
After the first hour of discussion, the facilitators proposed us an activity. It is a pair activity that has two parts, one during this session and the other part in the seventh week. So they gave me my “discussion-mate” that is the other boy, Al Hussein. I was very happy and curious to discuss in pair with him because he seems like the typical Arabic man, with a long long beard, and he is very religious, so immediately I thought I could receive lots of information on religious topics by him. So we went in a “private room” and we started to discuss. Thanks to some technical problems with the microphone we decided to write on the chat our discussion. I started with some questions on his religion and the relationship between “Arabic” and “muslim” cultures. He explained me some things I didn’t know at all and some curiosity; for example he said me what the word “islam” means: submission to the will of god. This part of the session was very interesting for me, I could know much things about religion and Arabic culture, and also of his point of view. Finally I said him my opinion on the religion and why I am not religious at all. It was interesting. I am sure the next time of this pair activity will be interesting.
Finally we came back in the main room to say goodbye to the others. It was a very useful session for my religion knowledge!
giacomo