Muslims in the United States

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Muslims in the United States MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES Edited by Philippa Strum Danielle Tarantolo Division of United States Studies MUSLIMS IN THE UNITED STATES Demography, Beliefs, Institutions Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Division of United States Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars June 18, 2003 This conference was supported in part by a grant from PaL-Tech Planning Committee Zahid Bukhari Charles Butterworth Yvonne Haddad Omar Kader Ibrahim Kalin Philip Mattar Aminah McCloud Seyyed Hossein Nasr Sulayman Nyang Philippa Strum Danielle Tarantolo Amina Wadud ©2003 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. www.wilsoncenter.org Cover image courtesy of the United States Postal Service. According to the Postal Service, the stamp, which was first released September 1, 2001, “commemorates the two most important festivals—or eids— in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. On these days, Muslims wish each other ‘Eid mubarak,’ the phrase featured in Islamic calligraphy on the stamp. ‘Eid mubarak’ translates literally as ‘blessed [feast],’ and can be paraphrased as ‘May your religious holiday be blessed.’” WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS LEE H. HAMILTON, DIRECTOR BOARD OF TRUSTEES Joseph B. Gildenhorn, Chair; David A. Metzner, Vice Chair. Public Members: James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress; John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States; Bruce Cole, Chair, National Endowment for the Humanities; Roderick R. Paige, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education; Colin L. Powell, Secretary, U.S. Department of State; Lawrence M. Small, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution; Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Private Citizen Members: Joseph A. Cari, Jr., Carol Cartwright, Donald E. Garcia, Bruce S. Gelb, Daniel L. Lamaute, Tamala L. Longaberger, Thomas R. Reedy WILSON COUNCIL Bruce S. Gelb, President. Diane Aboulafia-D'Jaen, Elias F. Aburdene, Charles S. Ackerman, B.B. Andersen, Cyrus A. Ansary, Lawrence E. Bathgate II, John Beinecke, Joseph C. Bell, Steven Alan Bennett, Rudy Boschwitz, A. Oakley Brooks, Melva Bucksbaum, Charles W. Burson, Conrad Cafritz, Nicola L. Caiola, Raoul L. Carroll, Scott Carter, Albert V. Casey, Mark Chandler, Peter B. Clark, Melvin Cohen, William T. Coleman, Jr., Michael D. DiGiacomo, Sheldon Drobny, F. Samuel Eberts III, J. David Eller, Mark Epstein, Melvyn J. Estrin, Sim Farar, Susan Farber, Joseph H. Flom, John H. Foster, Charles Fox, Barbara Hackman Franklin, Norman Freidkin, Morton Funger, Gregory M. Gallo, Chris G. Gardiner, Steven J. Gilbert, Alma Gildenhorn, David F. Girard-diCarlo, Michael B. Goldberg, Gretchen M. Gorog, William E. Grayson, Ronald Greenberg, Raymond A. Guenter, Edward L. Hardin, Jr., Jean L. Hennessey, Eric Hotung, John L. Howard, Darrell E. Issa, Jerry Jasinowski, Brenda LaGrange Johnson, Shelly Kamins, Edward W. Kelley, Jr., Anastasia D. Kelly, Christopher J. Kennan, Michael V. Kostiw, Steven Kotler, William H. Kremer, Raymond Learsy, Abbe Lane Leff, Perry Leff, Dennis LeVett, Francine Levinson, Harold O. Levy, David Link, Frederic V. Malek, David S. Mandel, John P. Manning, Jeffrey A. Marcus, Jay Mazur, Robert McCarthy, Linda McCausland, Stephen G. McConahey, Donald F. McLellan, J. Kenneth Menges, Jr., Philip Merrill, Kathryn Mosbacher, Jeremiah L. Murphy, Martha T. Muse, Della Newman, John E. Osborn, Paul Hae Park, Gerald L. Parsky, Michael J. Polenske, Donald Robert Quartel, Jr., J. John L. Richardson, Margaret Milner Richardson, Larry D. Richman, Carlyn Ring, Edwin Robbins, Robert G. Rogers, Otto Ruesch, B. Francis Saul, III, Alan Schwartz, Timothy R. Scully, J. Michael Shepherd, George P. Shultz, Raja W. Sidawi, Debbie Siebert, Thomas L. Siebert, Kenneth Siegel, Ron Silver, William A. Slaughter, James H. Small, Thomas F. Stephenson, Norma Kline Tiefel, Mark C. Treanor, Anthony G. Viscogliosi, Christine M. Warnke, Ruth Westheimer, Pete Wilson, Deborah Wince-Smith, Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., Paul Martin Wolff, Joseph Zappala, Nancy M. Zirkin, Richard S. Ziman ABOUT THE CENTER The Center is the living memorial of the United States of America to the nation’s twenty-eighth president, Woodrow Wilson. Congress established the Woodrow Wilson Center in 1968 as an international institute for advanced study, “symbolizing and strengthening the fruitful relation- ship between the world of learning and the world of public affairs.” The Center opened in 1970 under its own board of trustees. In all its activities the Woodrow Wilson Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, sup- ported financially by annual appropriations from Congress, and by the contributions of founda- tions, corporations, and individuals. Conclusions or opinions expressed in Center publications and programs are those of the authors and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center staff, fellows, trustees, advisory groups, or any individuals or organizations that pro- vide financial support to the Center. | iv | TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 Philippa Strum PART ONE:DEMOGRAPHY,IDENTITY,POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION Demography, Identity, Space: Defining American 7 Muslims Zahid H. Bukhari Black Orientalism: Its Genesis, Aims and Significance 21 for American Islam Sherman A. Jackson Muslim-American Politics: Developments, Debates 39 and Directions Agha Saeed Social and Political Institutions of American Muslims: 45 Liberty and Civic Responsibility Mohamed Nimer Open House: Visibility, Knowledge and Integration 63 of Muslims in the United States Kathleen M. Moore A Challenging Intellectual Heritage: A Look at the 79 Social and Political Space of African-American Muslims Aminah Beverly McCloud Islamic Schools in the United States: Perspectives 95 of Identity, Relevance and Governance Zakiyyah Muhammad | v | Imams and Mosque Organization in the United States: 113 A Study of Mosque Leadership and Organizational Structure in American Mosques Ihsan A. Bagby PART TWO:MUSLIM AMERICANS IN THE WORLD American Islamic Intellectual Activity and the 137 Islamic World Seyyed Hossein Nasr The Intellectual Impact of American Muslim Scholars 151 on the Muslim World, with Special Reference to Southeast Asia Osman Bakar The Role of Women in the American-Muslim 171 Community and Their Impact on Perceptions of Muslim Women Worldwide Amina Wadud American Public Opinion about Muslims in the 185 U.S. and Abroad Scott Keeter and Andrew Kohut GLOSSARY 203 PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES 205 | vi | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY* PHILIPPA STRUM n June 18, 2003, leading scholars of the American Muslim communities spoke to a Washington audience of 175 drawn O from the executive and legislative branches of the federal gov- ernment, the media, Muslim-American organizations, secular civil socie- ty organizations, universities, and the general public. The conference, “Muslims in the United States: Demography, Beliefs, Institutions,” spon- sored by the Division of United States Studies of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, began a discussion that is continued in these pages. A short summary of the proceedings appears below. The papers writ- ten for the conference, which follow, suggest that that Muslim communi- ties in the United States are in a state of transition, developing from a people seeking tolerance to a body of citizens boldly and proactively defining their own place in the nation. They nonetheless continue to face serious problems of group identity and integration. Among the specific points made by conference participants: • Demography: While no definitive count exists, an estimated six million Muslims live in the United States. Roughly 68 percent of them were born outside the United States, in over 80 countries. The largest number (over 30 percent of the total) are South Asians; approximately 17 percent are African Americans. American Muslim communities as a whole are younger, better educated, and more well-off financially than the general public in the United States. The * Susan Nugent, Program Assistant, Division of U.S. Studies, was central to the organization of the conference. She and U.S. Studies Program Associate Ann Chernicoff provided invaluable editorial assistance as we prepared this publica- tion. We are grateful as well to U.S. Studies intern Nicole McKimmie for her help in tracking down elusive footnotes and to Derek Lawlor of the Center’s Outreach and Communications Department for publication design. | 1 | Philippa Strum percentage of Muslims who have graduated from college (58%) is more than double the national rate, and half of American Muslim families have an annual income of over $50,000. • September 11: Many members of the Muslim-American commu- nities reacted to September 11, 2001 by reaching out to non-Muslim Americans and to law enforcement agencies. Their efforts have had a mixed result. Non-Muslim Americans are fairly tolerant of American Muslims but skeptical about what they see as Islamic anti- Americanism around the world. While younger, better educated non-Muslim Americans are more accepting, the non-Muslim popu- lation as a whole is inclined to be wary of Muslims as potential polit- ical leaders in the United States and of what it perceives as the Islamic encouragement of violence. • Civil Society and Political Involvement: American Muslims have created a wide variety of civic organizations devoted to local and international charitable efforts, but have been less active in social advocacy. While an overwhelming majority of Muslim Americans favors involvement in politics, an interest
Recommended publications
  • Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias Edited by Peter Ludlow
    Ludlow cover 7/7/01 2:08 PM Page 1 Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias Crypto Anarchy, Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias edited by Peter Ludlow In Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias, Peter Ludlow extends the approach he used so successfully in High Noon on the Electronic Frontier, offering a collection of writings that reflect the eclectic nature of the online world, as well as its tremendous energy and creativity. This time the subject is the emergence of governance structures within online communities and the visions of political sovereignty shaping some of those communities. Ludlow views virtual communities as laboratories for conducting experiments in the Peter Ludlow construction of new societies and governance structures. While many online experiments will fail, Ludlow argues that given the synergy of the online world, new and superior governance structures may emerge. Indeed, utopian visions are not out of place, provided that we understand the new utopias to edited by be fleeting localized “islands in the Net” and not permanent institutions. The book is organized in five sections. The first section considers the sovereignty of the Internet. The second section asks how widespread access to resources such as Pretty Good Privacy and anonymous remailers allows the possibility of “Crypto Anarchy”—essentially carving out space for activities that lie outside the purview of nation-states and other traditional powers. The Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, third section shows how the growth of e-commerce is raising questions of legal jurisdiction and taxation for which the geographic boundaries of nation- states are obsolete. The fourth section looks at specific experimental governance and Pirate Utopias structures evolved by online communities.
    [Show full text]
  • SOCIAL ANARCHISM OR LIFESTYLE ANARCHISM Murray 'Bookchin
    SOCIAL ANARCHISM OR LIFESTYLE ANARCHISM AN UNB.RIDGEABLE CHASM Murray 'Bookchin AK PRESS © Copyright: 1995 Murray Bookchin Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bookchin,Murray, 1921- Social anarchism or lifestyle anarchism : the unbridgeable chasm / byMurray Bookchin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 1-873176-83-X (pbk.) 1. Anarchism. 2. Social problems. 3. Individualism. 4. Personalism. HX833.B635 1995 320.5'7-dc20 95-41903 CIP British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this title is available fromthe British Library . First published in 1995 by AK Press AK Press 22 Lutton Place P.O. Box 40682 Edinburgh, Scotland San Francisco, CA EH8 9PE 94140-0682 The publication of this volume was in part made possible by the generosity of Stefan Andreas Store, Chris Atton, Andy Hibbs, Stephen JohnAd ams, and the Friends of AK Press. Typeset and design donated by Freddie Baer. CONTENTS A Short Note to the Reader .......................................................... 1 Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism ................................. 4 The Left That Was: A Personal Reflection................................... ............................... 66 A NOTE TO THE READER This short work was written to deal with the fact that anarchism stands at a turning point in its long and turbulent history. At a time when popular distrust of the state has reached extraordinary proportions in many countries; when thedivision of society among a handful of opulently wealthy individuals and corporations contrasts sharply with the growing impover­ ishment of millions of people on a scale unprecedentedsince the Great Depression decade; when the intensity of exploitation has forced people in growing numbers to accept a work week of a length typical of the last century - anarchists have formed neither a coherent program nor a revolutionary organizationto provide a direction for the mass discontent that contemporary society is creating.
    [Show full text]
  • Anarchist Gatherings 1986-2017
    Anarchist Gatherings 1986-2017 Lesley Wood York University [email protected] Abstract Anarchists gather as well as protest, form organizations, projects and networks. These events build strategy, create shared identities, and create new and stronger networks between activists working on different issues in different places. In the 1980s, continent-wide anarchist gatherings emerged as spaces of counterculture and prefiguration when anarchist movements were weak. As the movement grew and the political landscape changed, the form, content and function of gatherings switched to a focus on strategy and organizing, and later to networking and exchange. Analyzing the programs and documents of anarchist gatherings in the US and Canada since 1986, this paper maps two main shifts. First, gatherings changed from being single, continent-wide events that shifted from city to city, to being multiple, local and (often) annual. Second, they moved from an emphasis on identity caucusing and skill building to one of networking and exchange. Influenced by the relational sociology of Pierre Bourdieu and Charles Tilly, the paper ties these changes to the social and political context, interactions in the social movement field (including waves of protest) and dynamics within anarchist movements. The paper concludes by arguing that such events offer insight into changing social movements, and activist strategy, and identity. Keywords Anarchism; prefiguration; events; social movements; abeyance; protest Introduction Birds of a feather, anarchists gather together. But they do so in different ways and for different reasons. Like other activists, anarchists gather in protest, and hold meetings to decide on strategy, policy and tactics. They do so at Congresses, conferences, federations, private and public meetings.
    [Show full text]
  • Ryley, Peter. "Preface." Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism and Ecology in Late 19Th and Early 20Th Century Britain
    Ryley, Peter. "Preface." Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism and Ecology in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Britain. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. xvi– xxviii. Contemporary Anarchist Studies. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 2 Oct. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501306754.0005>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 2 October 2021, 00:52 UTC. Copyright © Peter Ryley 2013. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. PREFACE New politics in a time of crisis It was back in 1996 that Brian Morris wrote: ‘I think that Socialist Anarchism is the only viable political tradition that complements ecology, and offers a genuine response to the social and ecological crisis that we now face.’35 In the same year, the Zapatista rebels of the Chiapas region in Mexico, who had first emerged two years previously, held the International Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism. As economies boomed and the brash confidence of market fundamentalists laid claim to the future, these two disparate movements bore witness to the fact that all was not well. The one reminded us of the natural limits of the capacity of the planet to sustain human activity; the other that famine was the constant companion of feast. More surprisingly, both elevated anarchist ideas from a fringe enthusiasm to play a central role in developing a new political strategy to combat both environmental degradation and global poverty. Today in 2012, the confidence of the boom years has evaporated.
    [Show full text]
  • The Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade Archive
    The Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade Archive J. Christian Greer University of Amsterdam Introduction Bill Weinberg knew that someone would eventually come asking about the cassette tapes deteriorating in the back of his closet. At least, that was the impression I had when, after a careful vetting process conducted through a mutual acquaintance, we first met in his Lower Manhattan apartment. I will spare the reader a full account of my hunt for recordings of The Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade (henceforth MORC), a radio program that aired live every other Monday night, from 1am to 2am, on New York City’s non-commercial, listener-sponsored public radio station, WBAI. Though it was broadcast for thirty-six years (1987-2011), at no point did the station archive its episodes. After a few years of following dead-leads, I had concluded that MORC was lost in the radiophonic ether of live broadcasting. Then I met Bill (fig.1). Having co-hosted the show for the last nineteen years of its run, Bill appreciated my fascination with MORC. Like him, I recognized this radio program as a landmark in the “rebel culture” (to use Bill’s words) indigenous to New York City. Indeed, on that damp June night when I first surveyed his archive, I felt as though the Akashic records lay before me. Like this archive of mystical lore, which fascinated turn-of-the-century Theosophists before reappearing in the Doctor Strange comics of the 1960s and 70s, the towering stacks of decaying cassettes my host produced from his bedroom closet offered to disclose a lost world of esoteric knowledge.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Hakim Bey Hakim Bey Is the Pseudonym of Peter Lamborn
    J. C. Greer, “Bey, Hakim” Forthcoming in: E. Asprem (ed.), Dictionary of Contemporary Esotericism Preprint manuscript of: J. C. Greer, “Bey, Hakim”, Dictionary of Contemporary Esotericism (ed. E. Asprem), Leiden: Brill. Archived at ContERN Repository for Self-Archiving (CRESARCH) https://contern.org/cresarch/cresarch-repository/ Feb. 5, 2019. Hakim Bey Hakim Bey is the pseudonym of Peter Lamborn Wilson (b.1945), a spiritual anarchist whose work emerged at the fore of the cultural underground that fermented in the US in the last decades of the twentieth century. Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Wilson dropped out of Columbia University in order to dedicate himself to the Moorish OrthodoX Church of America, a fellowship of psychedelic hipsters whose heterodox interpretation of àSufism is perhaps best likened to “Beat Islam”. Branching off from the larger Moorish Science movement, the first Islamic sect founded in the U.S., Wilson’s troupe of “goofy Sufis” published its own newsletter (The Moorish Science Monitor), broadcast radio programs (The Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade), and circulated through New York City’s bohemian enclaves distributing cubes of LSD, which they regarded as a sacrament. Their reputation as evangelists led to an informal alliance with the psychedelic churches that had taken up residence at the palatial Millbrook estate. Here, they fraternized with the co-called “Army of the Hudson Valley,” led by Dr. Timothy Leary’s League of Spiritual Discovery, Arthur Kleps’ Neo American Church, and the Sri Ram Ashram of Swami William Haines. In 1968, Wilson expatriated to the East in search of authentic sources of Sufism. After years of sojourning through Turkey, India, Indonesia, and Afghanistan, he took a position at the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy, the world center for àTraditionalism, where he was initiated into Frithjof Schuon’s Maryami Order.
    [Show full text]
  • Occult Origins of Hakim Bey's Ontological Post-Anarchism
    Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies ISSN: 1923-5615 2013.2: Ontological Anarché: Beyond Materialism and Idealism Occult Origins Hakim Bey’s Ontological Post-Anarchism Joseph Christian Greer ABSTRACT Convention concerning the beginning of Post-anarchist discourse locates its origin in Hakim Bey’s work in the 1980s; however, no commentator has sufficiently analyzed the thoroughly spiritualized anarchism upon which it is based, termed “Ontological Anarchism,” nor the group that promoted it, the Association of Ontological Anarchism. This article draws attention to the ways in which the interface between a starkly postmodern form of esotericism called Chaos Magick and the anarchist tradition produced Ontological Anarchism, and, further, to the implica- tions of this hybridity on the historiography of Post-anarchism. KEYWORDS post-anarchism, chaos magick, Hakim Bey, zines, discordianism INTRODUCTION Peter Lamborn Wilson once lightheartedly lamented, “Hakim Bey is more popular than I am” (Knight, 2012: 74). What makes this comment humorous is that Hakim Bey is a nom de plume for Wil- son. What makes this comment noteworthy is that Wilson used Downloaded from http://www.anarchist-developments.org/ on Thursday, February 13, 2014 this nom de plume to initiate one of the most innovative develop- ments in the history of twentieth century anarchism. This devel- opment, which he termed Post-Anarchism Anarchy (now called Post-anarchism), arose from the confluence of esotericism and anarchism in the 1980s zine network.1 Thus, in order to under- 1 The category of esotericism should be understood not as a cluster of historically linked occult or hermetic phenomena but rather as an instru- ment for historians to better understand marginalized spiritual currents OCCULT ORIGINS | 167 stand the origins of Post-anarchism we must locate it in the con- text of Bey’s work and the specific audience for which he was writing.
    [Show full text]
  • Temporary Autonomous Zones
    Colin Ward Temporary Autonomous Zones I’ve a big agenda of books I would like to read or write and for ordinary reasons, like a low income,I stay at home but get lured abroad when somebody else pays the fares. This explains why anarchists from several countries, like France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, have asked me for my opinion on the views of Hakim Bey.1 It is always an embarrassment since for a long time I had no idea about who this person and his opinions were or are. Plenty of us, including myself, are hesitant about revealing the vast scope of our own ignorance.Two sources have explained to me what these questioners were talking about. One, of course, is Freedom’s invaluable feature ‘Food for Thought . and Action!’ and the other is Murray Bookchin’s recent book Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm2. Bookchin and I have opposite ways of coping with people whose ideas have some kind of connection with our own but with whom we disagree. His is to pulverise them with criticism so that they won’t emerge again. Mine is to follow the policy of Paul Goodman, who had been a subject of the Bookchin scorn. Goodman enjoyed telling a fable: ’Tom says to Jerry: ‘Do you want to fight ? Cross that line!’ and Jerry does. ‘Now’, cries Tom, ‘you’re on my side!’ We draw the line in their conditions ; we proceed on our own conditions.” As a propagandist I usually find it more useful to claim as comrades the people whose ideas are something like mine, and to stress the common ground, rather than to wither them up in a deluge of scorn.
    [Show full text]
  • Ryley, Peter. "Introduction." Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism and Ecology in Late 19Th and Early 20Th Century Britain
    Ryley, Peter. "Introduction." Making Another World Possible: Anarchism, Anti-Capitalism and Ecology in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Britain. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. viii–xv. Contemporary Anarchist Studies. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 25 Sep. 2021. <http:// dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501306754.0004>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 25 September 2021, 14:20 UTC. Copyright © Peter Ryley 2013. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. INTRODUCTION Much of this book has been written in Greece. My house is in the southwest of the Pelion peninsula, a crooked finger of land enclosing the Pagasitic Gulf. It is an area of breathtaking natural beauty associated in mythology with the Centaurs and Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece. In 1839 David Urquhart wrote of his visit to the region: This district exhibits what the soil can produce, and what happiness man can attain to when relieved from the intrusion of laws.1 What could be a more appropriate location to write about anarchism? And today, it could be hardly more relevant. The book has had two manifestations. The first was a PhD thesis, completed in 2006. Then Greece was booming and it would have been easy to shrug off the dysfunctional bureaucracy of the Greek state and roman- ticize local idiosyncrasies in the light of Urquhart’s observation. By the time the opportunity arose to update and significantly rewrite the manuscript for publication, things had changed dramatically.
    [Show full text]
  • Islam and Anarchy a Paradox to Know
    The Anarchist Library (Mirror) Anti-Copyright Islam and anarchy A paradox to know Federico Battistutta Federico Battistutta Islam and anarchy A paradox to know June 2011 Retrieved on 6th March 2021 from tahriricn.wordpress.com Published in Rivista Anarchica anno 41 n. 363. Translated by Enrico Massetti. usa.anarchistlibraries.net June 2011 Contents Henri-Gustave Jossot ................... 5 Leda Rafanelli ....................... 8 Hakim Bey .......................... 11 3 as a winning bet in the game change. But this research, program- matically without its limitations, appears instead as a substitute for the fullness of life and the search for a human community worthy of the name? Perhaps the TAZ does not undergo a defeat, even be- fore being abandoned by their inhabitants, when the transgression is proposed as a trump card? The transgression is the other side of the rule, as planners are well aware of all sorts, and the global mar- ket is smart enough to include in transgressive job. More than one model on the principle of the infringement of the law, the more it is reinforced through its unlawful conduct, creeping surreptitiously. In the derivation proposed by Hakim Bey (including religious fla- vor) so you have the feeling that lacks the depth of a fuga mundi conjugated in the present, able to consistently pursue this direction, i.e. the exodus, secession, displacement, otherness as an alternative to the binomial law / transgression13. 13 Some of his actions raised many criticisms in those areas of the libertarian milieu to which it addresses. Murray Bookchin, in Social anarchism or lifestyle anarchism, Oakland (CA), AK Press, 1995, denounced the tendency to mysticism and irrationalism by Hakim Bey.
    [Show full text]
  • Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume III
    From Benign Anarchy to Divine Anarchy: A Critical Review of “Spiritual Anarchism” Anthony Fiscella Independent Scholar, Sweden Rather than assuming that such a thing as “spiritual anarchism” exists (a union of two highly contested terms), this chapter criti- cally examines whom the label has applied to, whom it could refer to, and how we might conceive its story. Beginning with a critique of subtle but significant legacies of colonialism inherent within contemporary terms such as “religion” and “politics” as well as “anarchism” and “spirituality,” this chapter moves from an overview of literature on “spiritual anarchism” (Sri Aurobindo, Peter Lamborn Wilson, etc.) to discussion of forgotten stories (Krishnamurti, Womanism, MOVE, etc.) and concludes with an eye toward future studies of “spiritual anarchist” praxis (Auroville, Alcoholics Anonymous, etc.). I. Introduction Despite more than a century of usage and an apparent increase 1 in people who espouse some sort of blend between presumably “spiri- tual” and “anarchist” perspectives, the term “spiritual anarchism” 1 In my search for discussions (rather than mere mentions) of “spiritual anarchism,” I found more examples in the last ten years than in the last 100 years combined (see Charts 1–3). However, through a casual online Ngram search of phrase frequency in English literature, I noticed that the early 1930s seemed to have ten times as much frequency of the phrase as today (perhaps due in part to the founding of the Catholic Worker movement or Sri Aurobindo’s publications). How to cite this book chapter: Fiscella, A. 2020. From Benign Anarchy to Divine Anarchy: A Critical Review of “Spiritual Anarchism”.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with Peter Lamborn Wilson
    Interview with Peter Lamborn Wilson Affinity Project 2009 Contents Part 1 of 2: On Islam ............................. 3 Part 2 of 2: The Economics of Autonomous Zones . 14 Ego and Invisibility .......................... 14 The Untouchables: Thoughts on Failure . 16 Recuperating the Rhizome ...................... 19 Zapatismo ............................... 24 Resources/ Economic Collapse .................... 26 Image and Myth ............................ 28 Unions, Movements, Revolutions ................... 30 2 Part 1 of 2: On Islam Affinity Project: Would you define yourself as a Muslim, and if so, whatkindof Islam would you say you practice amongst the multiplicity of different forms? Peter Lamborn Wilson: Well, I’ve been many things in my life and I don’t re- nounce any of them. But I don’t necessarily practice any of them on a daily basis either. I never renounced Christianity or if I did, I take it back. I’ve been involved in Tantric things that I guess you could call Hinduism, although that’s a very vague term. I practice Shia Islam. I still consider myself all those things but, obviously that’s a difficult position to take vis-a-vis the orthodox practitioners of thesedif- ferent faiths. So, if I had to define my position now in terms that would be his- torically meaningful in an Islamic context, I would refer to Hazrat Inayat Khan and his idea of universalism, that all religions are true. And if this involves con- tradiction, as Emerson said, OK. We’ll just deal with it on a different level. And the inspiration for this in his case was Indian synchrotism, between Hinduism and Islam especially, although other religions were involved too such as Christianity, Judaism and others.
    [Show full text]