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janspar · 5 years ago

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The Sacred Sands of Naabeth

Extract from Fertas's Travels on the Narcine Sea

Lying in a sheltered harbour on the southern shores of the Narcinia, is Naabeth, a city of some two hundred thousand souls. This city is a major centre of trade and travel, but it is known primarily not for its produce, nor its piety, nor its palaces, but for yet another reason. Naabeth has elevated the art of combat to its highest form.

Where other cities have fighting-pits, theatres dedicated to mutilation and bloodletting, Naabeth's Sacred Sands ensure death is rare for gladiators, and allow fighters to accumulate wisdom and experience over many years in the arena. Unlike most other lands, the gladiators of Naabeth are not enslaved. It is legally required that any who fight in Naabeth's arenas must be free, and graduation from one of the city’s gladiatorial academies grants citizenship of the city to the student. It is not uncommon for enslaved fighters, victorious in other cities, to escape to Naabeth, seek a sponsor for their manumission, and fight to a life as a free citizen.

Naabeth is ruled by an Assembly of diverse voices – holders of traditional offices both ceremonial and practical, the heads of aristocratic families, and elected representatives of the free people of the various districts of the city. The city holds dominion over a large area of lesser cities, villages, and several nomadic bands, none of whom have direct voices on the Assembly, but are nonetheless considered to have some influence through those of their kin resident in the city's districts.

Unique to Naabethi gladiatorial culture are the Sacred Sands – blessed earth scattered upon the field of combat and imbued with life-preserving magic. Only the most grievous of blows will truly fell a combatant in a Naabethi bout, though particularly bitter opponents may agree to fight without this facility and chance the death of their rival – or themselves. The most famed gladiators fight in great arenas, of which there are three in Naabeth. The premier of these is on the grounds of an ancient temple, the cult of which is long forgotten, but it is here that the earth for the Sacred Sands must be gathered, and from here that they draw their power. This arena, known to Naabethi as the Temple of the Sands, is where the final combat in the annual Games takes place. While in other cities, a single style of combat may be favoured – wrestling, or spear fighting, or duelling with daggers and whips – in Naabeth, combatants of all disciplines can be found in the ring.

The gladiators are figures of public fame and renown among the Naabethi, often far more than their own politicians and elders. Indeed, the politicians and the gladiators may often form alliances – political factions seek the support of popular athletes and stables of successful gladiators in exchange for sponsorship. The current Grand Champion however, Gsuta, is known for her relative indifference to politics.

Visitors to Naabeth are advised to attend a gladiatorial bout, if not at the Temple of the Sands or the other two great theatres, then the lesser combats that may take place in marketplaces, temple yards, or other diverse locations. Some fans of blood sports in other cities are known to express that the reduced chance of death in Naabeth's arenas makes for a less skillful bout or less exciting spectacle. It is wise to keep such opinions unexpressed among the Naabethi.

Behind the Scenes

Naabeth is a city I created for an idea I had for an RPG campaign. It's currently setting-neutral, and could be adapted for any world or used in any game system.

My idea was to run a campaign where the players play as gladiators – but rather than slaves, as is typical in most such stories, the PCs would be professional athletes. As well as fighting in the arena, they would have to seek sponsorship, manage their careers, and probably get involved in intrigue. I was taking inspiration from the history of gladiators in the Roman world, from real-life combat sports and, more importantly, films and stories based on boxing, wrestling, or MMA.

I've outlined some details and facts about Naabeth below.

Naabeth

Population: ~200,000 people (primarily human, small numbers of other races)

Government: Assembly, led by Cyl Tsem.

The Assembly is made up of sixteen Speakers (publicly elected from each of the city's districts, representing the common people), twelve Houses (appointed representatives of the city's noble families, usually the head of the house or the heir), and twenty Officers (holders of titles and offices, including the High Priest of the Sun Temple, the commander of the Army, and the heads of trade groups).

There are three main political factions in the city.

The Wheel Party are seen to represent the common people, particularly the merchant classes and tradesmen. Their most radical members want to grant positions in the Assembly to the other towns and bands under Naabethi dominion.

The Tower Party are the party of aristocratic power and tradition. They finance large works to improve the lives of citizens, sponsor many of the largest games, and encourage naval trade.

The Cup party are the faction of labourers, and are supported by many of the ethnic factions in Naabeth. They seek to ensure work for the people of Naabeth and are opposed to punitive taxes.

The city government is not limited to these forty-eight people. The individual districts may have their own small councils, Assembly members have their staff, and there is a large bureaucracy within the Assembly Halls that carries out the day-to-day running of the city.

There is no official religion in Naabeth. Though most citizens nominally venerate the Sun, many religious enthusiasms as well as periods of relative apathy have overtaken the city. Most regional religions have a presence here.

Characters

The current Leader of the Assembly, Cyl Tsem, was a successful general in Naabeth's army before being elected as Speaker for the East Gate district. He represents the Tower Party.

Gsuta came to Naabeth at a young age to become a gladiator. She has reigned as the Grand Champion for several years now, and though she no longer competes regularly she has yet to be defeated in the annual Games.

Albec is the Speaker of the East Market district, allied to the Wheel party. He was narrowly elected after the death of the previous speaker, a staunch Tower man. His next election is coming in the next year and he is not certain to win.

Baniar represents House Temon in the Assembly. She took over from her uncle as he grew old and focused more on his own affairs of House and business, and Baniar is expected to assume these responsibilities to on his death. She's a member of the Tower faction but allied closely with many members of the Cups.

Tred Lam runs the most famous gladiatorial school in Naabeth. Near the city's docks and its western gate, it's often the first school newcomers to the city encounter. Lam charges a high price for enrollment, but is known to sponsor promising prospects if they impress him.

Locations

The Temple of the Sands is an ancient temple, dating to before the city of Naabeth was founded, and outside the original limits of the city. The blessed energies here are what give the Sacred Sands their life-preserving power. It's located in the north east of the city.

The High Field is located in the north of the city, overlooking much of Naabeth. It alone of all the Great Arenas stages fights between gladiators and wild beasts, and the owners are always on the lookout for new exotic creatures to use.

The Speaker' Arena is located in the south west of the city, It was built a century ago, after a campaign of public finance led by Speakers who would go on to be the basis of the modern Tower faction.

The East Market holds regular combats, some of the most popular lesser bouts in the city.

The Assembly Hall is on a square in the south of the city, not far from the docks. Several temples and aristocratic villas can be found in the neighbourhood.

Rumours and Hooks

Gossip in the west end of the city is saying that a great fighter, a champion among the nomads and the outlying forts, is preparing to make a move to the city and start a career in earnest.

A noble family is holding a feast tomorrow night, and their scheduled entertainment got badly injured.

A new cult recently arrived in the city is opposed to blood sports and is forbidding its members to attend the fights.

A Speaker and an army officer somewhere in the Old districts got in a brawl over the outcome of a fight. Some are saying the Speaker had gambling debts, some are saying the match was fixed.

Strong Turu offered Dergan a fight on favourable terms, but Dergan's stable wouldn't accept it. No one knows why, but Dergan hasn't fought in months now.

#Naabeth #Artifexian #podcast #worldbuilding #gladiator #setting neutral #rpg

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desertshake9-blog · 6 years ago

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The Fix: “Integrity Idol”

A few months ago, Philadelphia’s Chief Integrity Officer and Inspector General awarded the Joan Markham Award for Integrity to Ralph DiPietro, deputy commissioner for Licenses and Inspections, to celebrate his “strong commitment to integrity, diligence and transparency on behalf of the City of Philadelphia.” DiPietro, L&I’s integrity officer, got $1,000, a certificate, a photo on a wall, and a press release announcing his victory.

Perhaps you’ve heard of him? I thought not.

Maybe that’s because the magnitude of DiPietro’s accomplishment was relatively small. Inspector General Amy Kurkland said DiPietro has helped to shift the culture of the scandal-plagued L&I, from one of rampant corruption to one in which cases of bad actors are few and far between. But Kurkland was thin on specifics, and the city didn’t exactly trumpet DiPietro’s accomplishments from the ramparts.

“The number one cause of instability is corruption,” Glencorse says. “Unless you can form a solid relationship between officials and citizens, you won’t get anywhere. And it has to be a ground-up approach. Top-down hasn’t worked.”

Still, if DiPietro is truly a model of integrity, he should be a local hero. If he happened to live in Nepal or six other developing countries, he could be a national hero, recognized on the street the way we recognize disgraced elected officials like Chaka Fattah, and Seth Williams, and Kathleen Kane, the kind of celebrity we most need in the world. He could be an Integrity Idol.

A project of Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Accountability Lab, Integrity Idol is an annual contest to find and celebrate the best, most honest, most helpful public servants in countries that are often rife with corruption. It operates on a simple premise that could be powerful enough to change the world: What if instead of just putting corrupt officials behind bars, we put honest officials on TV?

“We are holding up role models for others to believe in and imitate,” says Accountability Lab founder and Executive Director Blair Glencorse. “That’s very powerful.”

The idea for Integrity Idol came to Glencorse in 2014, when he was with his team in Nepal watching that country’s version of American Idol and talking about how to create a popular movement around the notion of reform. Someone suggested, half-jokingly, Integrity Idol. “In the beginning, it was kind of a stunt—funny, but with a serious goal,” Glencorse says.

That first year, Accountability Lab got 300 nominations, which a well-respected panel whittled down to five finalists, who they filmed and interviewed to air on TV and radio all over the country. Those interviews reached around 4 million people, nearly 10 percent of the population. Through an SMS voting system, tens of thousands of Nepali picked the winner: Gyan Mani, a Chief District Officer in a poor region of the country, who routed out corruption in (among other places) the local schools.

In 2017, more than 90,000 Nepali cast votes for the three finalists—an agriculture officer, a forestry official and a math teacher. And six other countries now have their own Integrity Idol: Liberia, South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan, Mali and Sri Lanka, where it is run by Transparency International. “It has led to a fantastic conversation about integrity, and who we want in government,” Glencorse says. “There is implicit criticism, by saying this is how we should all be, but it is through positive examples.”

And something else has happened: The Idols have become celebrities who people want to meet and emulate. (In a 2015 TEDx Talk, Glencorse shows an image of Nepal Idol Mani, followed by dozens of young Nepali, chanting “He is the people’s winner!”) Accountability Lab is working with winners and runners-up in each of the countries to form coalitions to advocate and educate around issues, like health care reform and education.

In some countries, Glencorse says Idols are now working with civil service training programs to develop curricula and mentor new public servants on doing their jobs with integrity. They have launched a Meet the Idols campaign, sending winners and nominees into schools and universities to spread the idea of ethical behavior in all professions. And, they have begun hosting Integrity Summits in each country, bringing together winners and nominees to work together on projects. The most recent one in Nepal had 200 attendees.

Glencorse, who was raised in England and moved to D.C. for college, started Accountability Lab after stints at both the World Bank, and a D.C.-based think tank run by Ashraf Ghani, now Afghanistan’s president. Several years ago, Glencorse traveled to southern Nepal, to ask young people about the challenges in their lives. He expected them to talk about education, health care, running water—basics that the poor region lacks. But that wasn’t, to them, the most important thing.

“They said, ‘We want accountability, and justice, and the people in power to stop being corrupt,’” recalls Glencorse. “They realized that corruption was what was holding them back. That’s what people care about.”

It was a revelation. As Glencorse later learned, corruption around the world costs around $1 trillion a year, and causes around 3.6 million deaths. He started Accountability Lab to combat those horrifying statistics. In addition to Integrity Idol, Accountability Lab runs a year-long social impact incubator in Liberia, Mali, Nepal and Pakistan, helping young citizens—called “accountapreneurs”—to build “sustainable, effective tools for accountability, participation and social impact in their societies.”

Integrity Idol operates on a simple premise that could be powerful enough to change the world: What if instead of just putting corrupt officials behind bars, we put honest officials on TV?

In 2014, it launched the Honesty Oscars, to “celebrate the stars who are working for transparency and accountability around the world.” And it runs Citizens HelpDesks in Nepal, Mali and Liberia that send young people out to collect data about the needs of local communities and where those needs are being thwarted by corrupt officials. They then pass the information to reformers and other power-holders who can help to solve the problems.

“The number one cause of instability is corruption,” he says. “Unless you can form a solid relationship between officials and citizens, you won’t get anywhere. And it has to be a ground-up approach. Top-down hasn’t worked.”

So far, there is no Integrity Idol here, or in any developed country, in part because the culture of corruption is more diffuse—most people are not expected to pay bribes at regular junctures in their lives—and in part because the media market is so big and expensive. But Glencorse says he is now starting to think about how to launch it in the United States, starting with one city at a time. Perhaps we could suggest Philadelphia—the birthplace of America—as the first city to bring bring back integrity

We certainly need it. Without it, we risk more of what we’ve seen: An apathy bred from the sinking feeling that the people we entrust with our public good are not trustworthy, are out to serve their own and special interest needs, are skirting the line between corrupt and the usual (but legal) way of doing business. We watch, every few months, as another elected official is hauled off in handcuffs, eventually convicted of penny ante fraud or fundraising malfeasance. We see the same old usual suspects wielding all the power—and doling out favors to those who got them there.

And apathy is the death knell of democracy. It is low voter turnout even in elections that really matter. A shrug when school buildings are falling down around our children. A silence when City Council makes decisions, before a virtually empty chamber, that affect us all. A tacit approval, via reelection, when an official admits to hardly working, as in the case of City Commissioner Anthony Clark. A sense of hopelessness that anything will change, because no one cares to change it. Which leads, again, to the appalling lack of participation in our public life.

The City’s Award for Integrity is a start—at least, it’s an acknowledgement that those among us who strive to be good actors are worth celebrating. But we need to do more to make the DiPietros among us into the civic heroes that they are, to create what Glencorse calls a “virtuous circle of reform”—until everyone is like DiPietro.

We’ll start: Do you know any public officials who deserve to be idolized for their integrity? Let us know and we’ll spread the word.

The Fix is made possible through a grant from the Thomas Skelton Harrison Foundation. The Harrison Foundation does not exercise editorial control or approval over the content of any material published by The Philadelphia Citizen.

Photo: Accountability Lab

Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/the-fix-integrity-idol/

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obscuraxrp · 8 years ago

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The smoke settles to reveal CHA HAKYEON, also known as N, a 100 year old vampire of Sunseong. He is a contemporary art gallery owner and curator who appears to be adept in memory manipulation and hand to hand combat — but like most things in Sunseong, there must be more to him than meets the eye.

BIOGRAPHY:

Hakyeon was never meant for greatness – he was barely useful as a son if you were to ask his father, face worn and lined by days in the fields. Born into an annexed Korea, living in poverty on a Japanese holder’s lands. All bird bones and delicate limbs, he wasn’t the farmer’s son, but his soft-spoken mother who sang him songs to lull him and his brothers to sleep at night. He burst with children sing song as his mother looked on with joy at his sharp, bird trill voice. Yet, there was no room for artistry when you had to keep the lights on. He was always dirty and darkened by the sun, aches in bones of a child too young and forced into work.

Growing in hand me down clothes and worn shoes, Hakyeon was never lucky enough to be educated in a school setting. He rose with the dawn with older siblings, hunched over in fields in rain or shine. Yet, in the cold lamp light at night, his mother took him aside to read to him and taught as much as her rudimentary knowledge was passed along. He flourished – he loved the art of words and voice. He picked at words in banned books hidden in old chests by his mother. She would have been an intellectual if born in another time, but she passed the love of art into her son. He missed that the most when they were forced off their land to find work in the growing industrial city.

It didn’t stop Hakyeon from dreaming, from writing and sketching on unused scraps of paper and thinking about being anything but himself. He worked, but there was no joy in factory fronts. Space was limited and food was limited, but as his older brothers grew older and left – Hakyeon stayed, the filial son, who cared too much until he was ‘conscripted’ by Japanese forces for civilian labor. He was forced from his home for hard labor, breaking reed-like limbs and wearing thin fingers down to nothing. He could only taste ash and dirt on his tongue in dirty water and meager portions of rice.

It all stopped with a sharp-eyed man with a coy smile, too well dressed to be walking through a labor camp at night. Beneath the dirt, he saw beauty in Hakyeon’s thin wrists and delicate smile as he made the young man laugh. He returned the next night and sunk his teeth deep into his jugular vein. Hakyeon doesn’t remember much after that until the clout bloodlust held over him faded with the taste of the sharp-eyed man’s lips against his – still tasting like blood and magic.

He never learned his name, he was just Master and Hakyeon was his favorite. They traveled to avoid the war – all the way to America to indulge in the nightlife of New York and Chicago. They welcomed home soldiers by sinking their fangs into their necks. His Master was old, lonely, and had awoken from a torpor in hopes of invigorating his undeath. Hakyeon became his worldly liaison with new technology and changing cultures. The world opened up to Hakyeon with joy, flourishing under the hand of his Master. He felt it was love. Love that he read in books and poetry that he would be able to mirror.

The joy didn’t last with his Master’s apathy in the years that passed in traveling through the changing times and rebuilding world. Hakyeon found joy and wonder in Paris, watching painters explore art in ways he never had a chance to do. Getting to read authors in the post-Great War era who had ways of spinning poetry and art that he envied. Yet, nothing could crack the apathy as years continued for his Master. No matter how much Hakyeon bent over and let him use his body how he wanted, the joy and light didn’t seem to reach his Master any longer.

The year he remembers most clearly is 1969, as he slept in their blackout room on a hot summer’s day. His Master folded his clothes, laid out everything with instructions, and walked out into the sunlight. He awoke to the night and the charred remains of his only companion.

Hakyeon admits he does not remember much of the next decade. A shell of a man who built himself around pleasing another was left with nothing.

Bloodroot made him forget. Bloodroot made him feel less hollow.

Drawing himself back up was not an easy task. It was almost impossible except when a hunter nearly ending him if it wasn’t for another vampire in the area. He remembers the words spoken after the hunter was driven off and the vampire looked down on him.

“I should’ve just let him finish it.”

It wasn’t immediate. It was a struggle that continues, dragging himself up by his fingernails to coherence. Spending nights digging his fingertips into his own arms as he shook, unable to swallow down the panic. He couldn’t let himself do this any longer. While he wondered if he would continue to go on after the misery and the hollowness that still lingered inside him, he found solace in his old comforts before bloodroot and blood were all he thought about. Hakyeon was surprised to feel the happiness of art, music, and poetry was still there. Something that made him think the world wasn’t empty. As if he could atone for destruction he caused by sanding down all his remaining sharp edges.

Hakyeon traveled back to South Korea after the settling of the Sixth Republic. In his heart, Korea was still home after all these decades, finding himself using the fortune amassed by his Master to buy real estate for his own gallery. Behind the storage laid Hakyeon’s small ‘home,’ surrounding himself in young artists and their work. Finally, he feels some peace in the gallery halls he fills.

CHARACTERIZATION:

- For a vampire, Hakyeon is (mostly) up to date on technology. There’s many things he doesn’t quite see the use for when there’s something already existing, such as he has no use for a cell phone when the gallery has a landline. The only very recent piece of technology he personally owns is an iPad.

- His actual favorite thing about technology is putting emojis in his e-mails to his staff. He is a simple man. - He is, and will always be, an addict. He’s currently a recovered addict, but the urge is very much always there. He still gets notable tremors and anxiety, but he’s 15+ years sober as of right now. It doesn’t always mean he wishes to stay that way.

- Hakyeon doesn’t hold many prejudices against other supernaturals, only because he wasn’t exposed to many of them prior coming home. He mostly hires other supernaturals because of this, but also takes time to hire those he knows their blood is bad to get rid of some of the temptation.

- Hakyeon is notoriously lackadaisical about finances. He purposely hired an accountant so he doesn’t have to deal with any of the numbers.His fortune is amassed by his Master and he couldn’t really tell you how much he has, because he rarely uses it other than gallery things. He’s gone through over ten accountants, mainly because he’s frustrating to deal with. It’s not like he needs a 401k.

- Hakyeon’s noted for supporting artists that he is fond of the most. This is where his accountants go a bit crazy, because he’s willing to fully support them if it means they’ll make more art.

- Hakyeon picked up focusing on memory manipulation as he went sober, prior that he was trained in general mind control and manipulation by his Master. He strives for less death and making sure he isn’t really remembered after.

- There is very few pieces of him that are still the Hakyeon as a human. He still struggles with being his own person and not an extension of someone else. One of his last pieces of sentimentality is he searched out his family’s descendants. He doesn’t approach, but he does keep tabs on them.

- He still wears his Master’s signet ring on his left hand. It is sterling silver with an onyx inlaid. At one time it appeared to have been warded, but the magic is essentially dead.

SPECIALTIES:

Memory Manipulation – Rank III (80 pts) Hakyeon has use of the vampiric ability of compulsion and mental manipulation, however his focus over the years has been on the manipulation of memories rather than control. He has to have eye contact with the person for the affect to take place. As he continues holding eye contact, Hakyeon can only modify, view, or suppress his victim’s memories. Viewing memories allows Hakyeon, with eye contact, to skim the most recent memories within three days past. With modification, Hakyeon could change pieces of memories of events, replacing one person with another. With modification, he could never change the entire memory, it would be more like changing the pieces of the puzzle rather than replacing the puzzle with a brand new one. Suppression, however, is his strongest suit. Suppression requires full concentration to essentially push a memory away into the very back of their mind. However, Hakyeon’s ability is limited and not infallible with suppression of memories. If someone was to jog enough of their memory, the memories could be unlocked. He can only affect those he maintained a long eye contact with and requires his full concentration when he is attempting this. He cannot erase memories, only suppress and he cannot implant any brand new, fake memories.

Hand to Hand Combat – Rank I (20pts) In years after becoming a vampire, Hakyeon was gently pushed towards being able to defend himself. Martial combat is his usual best means to defend himself with natural weapons in his fangs and claws as well as his enhanced durability. He has basic defense lessons, but is very little knowledge beyond what would be close to feral-like street brawling.

Innate Abilities (Rank 0):

- Basic Magical Knowledge

- Enhanced Condition

- Enhanced Senses

- Natural Weaponry

- Regenerative Healing Factor

#obs: follow #*cha hakyeon #*n #*vixx #psychological manipulation tw #psychological abuse tw #drugs tw #drug addiction tw #suicide tw #self hatred tw #forced labor cw

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itsfinancethings · 5 years ago

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In December’s U.K. election, British Muslims represent a swing vote that few are paying attention to. The 2 million eligible Muslim voters in the U.K. have the ability to swing the result, one way or the other. As an imam, I’m encouraging my congregation to get out and vote, and not let Muslims be excluded from the British political conversation any longer.

In previous elections, the Muslim turnout has been relatively low. A parliamentary report last month found that voter registration amongst BAME communities was only half that of the general population. It may be even lower amongst some Muslim communities.

Yet if Muslims do get out to vote, their impact could be transformative in many parts of the U.K. Research just released by the Muslim Council of Britain, a non-partisan umbrella body, shows that both the major parties – the ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labour party – as well as niche parties like the pro-Scottish independence SNP could lose or gain seats through the Muslim vote.

There are 31 marginal seats where the Muslim electorate outnumbers the sitting member of parliament’s (MP’s) majority. In Conservative-held Hendon, for example, the ruling party’s majority is just 1,072. This is in a constituency with an estimated 8,395 eligible Muslim voters. On the other side of the political divide, Labour holds Glasgow North East by just 242 votes. If just a quarter of the 1010 eligible Muslim voters were to swing to the SNP, the Scottish Nationalists would have another seat in Westminster.

But this depends on Muslims registering to vote, something that is not a given in all communities. On Nov.22, organisations like the Muslim Council of Britain are staging the U.K.’s first ever National Muslim Voter Registration Day to encourage members of our community to exercise their democratic rights.

Many Muslims still feel excluded from the political process, which is hardly a surprise as the major parties have all but ignored the Muslim vote at the national level. This is systemic, but most notable with regards to the Conservative Party and its ongoing Islamophobia scandal. The Tories are accused of turning a blind eye to anti-Muslim hatred within the party’s ranks, and are refusing to hold an independent enquiry into it.

This mirrors how the Jewish community feels anti-Semitism isn’t being taken seriously by the Labour Party, leading to similar alienation. Both parties have been proven to have members, candidates and even office holders who have made allegedly Islamophobic or anti-Semitic comments online and in print. In the Conservative Party, this even includes Prime Minister Boris Johnson who has, for example, compared veiled Muslim women to letterboxes – a statement that is deeply hurtful to many Muslim women who want their choice of modest dress to be understood by their fellow Brits.

It’s true that in some Muslim communities voting is seen as clan politics, driven by familial loyalties rather than personal choice. A number of Muslim communities come from rural parts of Pakistan and Kashmir where extended families act as cohesive units and take collective decisions about many things, including voting.

Yet this trend has been exacerbated by lazy campaigning by political parties. Second and third generation British Muslims are typically far more independent of the “clan” than many political strategists think, posing a challenge for political parties, who all too often indulged these clan politics, and ultimately harmed our democracy.

This new generation of Muslims is different. Unlike the first-generation immigrants, 50% of young Muslims are graduates, with their own political priorities. Far from being seduced by the politics of apathy or pointless protest, they know that the stakes are simply too high – for them and for the country – to not engage. They know it’s their civic duty as Brits, and their religious duty as believers, to vote.

Crucially for Westminster, the Muslim swing vote could be in either direction. Rather than being ideologically committed to one party, many Muslims are value voters – looking at all parties and candidates and asking themselves who represents them most closely. For many Muslims, this isn’t just a “Brexit election” — particularly because they have mixed feelings about the Leave campaign. Whilst incidents of xenophobia are clearly concerning, many Muslims have family in the Commonwealth and are open to Britain pivoting away from Europe and perhaps towards their countries of heritage.

Beyond Brexit, issues like family values are a big part of Muslim culture. Many Muslims grow up in extended families in one neighbourhood or even under one roof. This doesn’t mean, however, that the state doesn’t have a role to play and differing cultural attitudes mean that elderly Muslims sometimes do not access the same care as others.

Other issues like social justice are hardwired into Islam at the theological level. Whilst working on my translation of the Quran, I was amazed at how regularly social justice is mentioned, coming up 31 times. Many Muslims want to live in a society where working class and vulnerable people are protected. It is no coincidence that Muslims are typically the most philanthropic faith community, who give generously to everything from disaster relief to food banks.

Many Muslims are also business owners. In my congregation there are self-employed Uber drivers, takeaway chefs and directors of multi-million pound companies. At the same time as being committed to social justice, they want a strong economy and a tax system that gives incentives for hard work.

Muslim values include democracy, justice, fairness, and tolerance; not only are they the same as our British values, but they are a mix of centre-left and centre-right ideals. With such a wide-ranging political heritage, Muslims can vote for whoever they feel best represents them. In the Dec. 12 election, it is imperative that they do so — to make their voices heard, and move beyond the tribal clan politics that have silenced some in our community in the past.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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paoulkaye-blog · 6 years ago

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The Boomers Bust.

Whatever happened to the dreams of the greatest generation? Those brave men who went to war across an ocean in places like France, Britain, and Germany? Men who time and again have it said of them that they had a job to do and they did it? A generation that gave rise to our nation’s very self-image of the protective leader of the free world?

The men (and women that were allowed to) who fought in World War II were the last of a breed that was unaware it was dying. Before getting into the war spurned the American economy to new heights, we were going through the Great Depression. This was after the Roaring Twenties, so it wasn’t like they were all born raised in the hard times, but when the time came for them to stand with our allies across the sea, they did so. They kicked Hitler and his entire gang out of France and drove hard to meet with the Russians in Berlin. They fought against the fanatical Japanese and drove them back to their homeland, and fought until the world’s most powerful weapon could be dropped to cow the enemy into submission.

Of course, they did so with a healthy (unhealthy?) dose of self-aggrandizing propaganda. Superman and Captain America both helped our boys in print. Even Donald Duck got in on the action. I’m serious. And when the war was over and they came home triumphant, they changed the face of America for the next five generations and counting.

Out of this massive and well-deserved celebration came the Baby Boomers. Our parents and grandparents. We love them, of course. But lately, I’ve been feeling… let’s say apprehensive toward this particular generation. The Baby Boomers represent a non-trivial slice of the American populace, they are predominately white, and they were hitting their stride and getting families of their own just about the time that Ronald Reagan stepped into the political limelight.

Reagan was what he was: A cultural cheerleader. He etched in stone what the American Dream should look like. Wife, kids, a house, white picket fence. The Nuclear Family. Supported by a man who goes to work every day and comes home to his adoring children as their mother cooks food and helps them little ones with their homework, it was an idea so prevalent that popular culture of the time went with this family dynamic as the norm, brooking no deviations. Even the Addams Family, arguably the most subversive of these examples, still adhered to the basic structure of the nuclear family.

Reagan’s legacy would have a lasting impact on the politics, attitudes, and economics of every day Americans, and not always for the better. In fact, rarely so in the long run. And it is that for a simple reason: The Baby Boomers are (and I love them dearly, don’t forget) still here.

How many medications do you see advertised on cable TV? More than you can count? Usually aimed at older people? Even on kids’ networks, you say? Baby Boomers. Republican politics today? The ones that appeal to an America 40 years ago? The policies that are so lovingly crafted to take us back to the ‘good old days’? Boomers again. Both for them and by them. Look at C-Span some time, or even just a CNN picture of the House of Representatives. White skin, whiter hair. The average age of a member of Congress 57. A Senator? 61.

Boil that down: The same age group being pandered to by televised ads for drugs with side effect lists that are almost laughably long are also the people who are nominally running the government of America. By sheer dint of probable statistics, half of our Congressmen and women and Senators probably both take and suffer the side effects of at least half of those medication you see on TV, right? Here’s a fun game: When you see an older congressional house member or Senator on TV, try to guess what medication they’re on. God knows they’ve got to be on something, it’s not like they have to pay for it.

Digressions aside, the fact remains blatantly obvious that in the absence of term limits and the entrenchment of ideological differences and the polarization of our national conversation, the same damn people have been in power for longer than any previous office holders in history. Hell, Mitch just celebrated the milestone of being the longest serving head honcho in the Senate.

And I know a lot of this owes to the apathy that was basically bred into both my generation and the one that came after. Mommy and Daddy will take care of it, right? Or Grandma and Grandpa, depending. But here’s the thing, they aren’t. Not nearly well enough at any rate. The Boomers have held the rudder of our country for too. Damn. Long. Long enough that the idea of public service is almost distasteful to my generation and the next because we’ve seen what ugly monsters it seems to turn people into.

So, term limits. Let’s have ‘em. And a set retirement age. 90 year old Senators? Come on, this is ridiculous. I have issues with the Supreme Court being lifetime appointments as well, but one wildly overaged branch of government at a time, hm?

And it isn’t ageism, really. I don’t dislike people based on their age. I dislike them based on the fact that spending as long as they have in politics has made them defensive, self-interested, close-minded, money grubbing assholes who see public service as an avenue to keep everything exactly how they like it, voice of the people be damned. And that goes for both parties with a few very rare exceptions.

And thanks to all of those endlessly advertised medications we mentioned before, they’ve been able to live this long, and are dangerously close to living even longer. This crap has to stop, because every senate hearing and congressional floor vote is looking less like bodies of the people and by the people and for the people and more like the landed gentry desperately trying to hold back Time itself for forcing change and progress upon my country.

I have a distaste for religions that espouse the virtues of times before us. That want us to adhere to old ways and view new ideas as heretical. That same definition applies to the current version of the people’s branch of government, and I know enough people to know that view is not one shared by the majority of America, moral or not. 2018 is here. The midterms are coming. Let’s forcibly inject some fresh blood into the process before the old blood steals our future for itself. AGAIN.

Thanks for reading.

#politics #midterms

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goodnewsjamaica · 7 years ago

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NCU Top Communication Student Aims To Raise The Bar In Media

New Post has been published on https://goodnewsjamaica.com/culture/ncu-top-communication-student-aims-to-raise-the-bar-in-media/

NCU Top Communication Student Aims To Raise The Bar In Media

Vivene Bedward presents the trophy for Best Mini Documentary to Andrew Forsythe for his documentary on Autism.

When Andrew Forsythe heard his name announced as top male communication studies student at the Seventh-day Adventist-owned Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in 2016, he was stunned.

“I said, ‘What? No!’ because I knew my history,” he said.

But that first award was only the beginning of a string of achievements.

The final-year NCU student recalled that he scored predominantly Cs and Ds from primary through to high school.

“My mother taught at my high school, and not even that could get me to do an assignment. I just wasn’t interested,” he said.

His mother, Acynthia Forsythe, felt his apathy was connected to issues with self-worth due to a condition he was born with, cleft palate – openings or splits in the upper lip, the roof of the mouth (palate) or both. It results from the facial structures that are developing in an unborn baby not being closed completely.

Forsythe, on the other hand, said he became interested in pursuing orthodontics because of all the visits he made to the doctor while wearing braces. Although not earning stellar grades, he pursued the sciences.

Meanwhile, a hobby of his was earning him recognition. He started online video streaming of the services at his church, the Seaforth Seventh-day Adventist Church. He became known in church circles for his media work, but he didn’t consider it a career.

In 2009, he graduated from high school and started working. After four years, he applied to study orthodontics but could not start the programme because of the expensive fees.

While Forsythe was dead set on studying orthodontics, many persons who knew him felt he was destined for media work.

Destined For Media

Lawrie Henry (right) presents the plaque for ‘Most Influential Student’ to Andrew Forsythe.

“My former pastor, Windel Montaque, told me that he believed media was my calling. After that conversation, I asked God to give me a sign so I could be sure. I knew orthodontics would pay well, but media was just something I did for fun.”

He tried to raise the tuition for orthodontics, but nothing worked, and he deferred for a year. During that year, he got a phone call from NCU that changed his direction. He had applied there some years before, but it hadn’t worked out. Now NCU was asking if he was still interested in enrolling. After consulting with his parents, he said yes.

“I figured if I’m going to do media, it had to be NCU. Nowhere else could match what I was hearing being offered there. I don’t regret that choice,” he shared.

Forsythe enrolled in the NCU Department of Communication Studies (DCS) in 2014. His older brothers, Mical and Richard, who preceded him at NCU, gave him financial and moral support. Soon, he found a student job as an NCU FM engineer to help pay his fees.

“I would leave classes to go to work. At times, I would just be getting home at 4:00 am, and I had assignments. Sometimes after doing assignments, I only had time to bathe and get going again,” said

He was determined not to fail any courses, but he did not realise he was excelling until that first achievement in 2016.

“At the time, GPA wasn’t something I paid attention to. But after the affirmation service, I was motivated to put out even more effort,” he said.

Did Not Forget Promise

The five awards that were presented to Andrew Forsythe at the recently held DCS Affirmation Service on April 1.

In 2017, Forsythe was recognised for being the top male DCS student overall, top male junior, top male for the College of Humanities, Behavioural and Social Sciences, and a DCS holder student ambassador.

He is on track to graduate in August 2018, but not without stacking up more accolades first. His achievements this year include five awards at the DCS Week of Excellence Affirmation Service on April 11, including top DCS male student overall and Today’s Student Leader for the NCU main campus, and six awards, including Best Overall Film, for his film submissions in the recently held DCS Lignum Vitae Film Festival.

All these achievements have not caused Forsythe to forget a promise he made.

“Media, for me, started in the church, in ministry. Even if I’m not in ministry full time, I still intend to do it because that was one of my promises to God,” he said.

His father, Lascelles Forsythe, couldn’t be prouder.

“We support him in ministry because he grew up in a mission-focused home,” said the beaming father.

Wherever media takes him, young Forsythe is determined to set the bar high.

“I want to ensure that when you hear the name ‘Forsythe’ in the media industry, nobody has to doubt whether or not they are going to get quality. I have to maintain that,” declared.

By: Lawrie Henry

Original Article Found Here

#Andrew Forsythe #excellence #media #Northern Caribbean University

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ds4design · 8 years ago

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The Warriors are officially moving to San Francisco. Hopefully it doesn't ruin everything.

These are wild times to be a Golden State Warriors fan. These are also — for entirely different reasons — wild times to be a Bay Area resident.

Both stories — Golden State's surge to success and stardom after decades as an NBA doormat, and the Bay Area's rapidly shifting economic landscape amid a tech boom — intersected Tuesday. The Warriors announced Jan. 17 as the official ground-breaking date for a brand new arena in San Francisco, following 40-plus years of being based across the bay in Oakland.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, for a worst-case scenario that doubles as nightmare fuel, the Warriors and their fans needn't look far.

Even while their beloved team spent years and years and years sucking, Warriors fans gained a special reputation around the NBA as exceptionally passionate, knowledgable, loyal and diverse. As the team begin to improve over the past five years, Oracle Arena, the building in hardscrabble East Oakland where the team plays its games, gained an affectionate nickname: Roaracle.

In 2015, as the Warriors were en route to winning their first championship in 40 years, a lifelong season ticket holder named Leslie Sosnick told the website Grantland what she feared would happen if the team moved from the East Bay to more moneyed San Francisco.

"The people who make that place 'Roaracle' — the really true fans — they’re going to lose them," Sosnick said. "People will still go to games, but it will be more corporate. So many of the best fans are going to be priced out, and I might be one of them."

Sosnick's fear is one shared by many: Raucous crowds of everyday people, to borrow a phrase from a famous Bay Area band, will be replaced. They'll be replaced by the uber-rich and supremely connected in San Francisco, the increasingly unaffordable center of the latest tech boom and a town that to many Bay Area locals feels increasingly like a walled garden for only the most privileged.

Many fans felt sold-out, like glitter and greed had usurped tradition and accessibility.

Just a few years ago, another iconic Bay Area sports team up and moved at the height of its popularity. The NFL's 49ers moved from their longtime home in the Hunter's Point section of San Francisco an hour down the peninsula to Santa Clara, a city of office parks and tract homes located in the heart of Silicon Valley. Many fans felt sold-out, like glitter and greed had usurped tradition and accessibility.

Today, the 49ers — who were among the NFL's best teams when they moved — are pitiful on the field. Meanwhile, apathy reigns supreme among even the most diehard fans.

There are many reasons to argue the Warriors won't suffer a similar fate — at least not in the scores and standings. Golden State owner Joe Lacob, for example, appears lightyears ahead of hapless 49ers CEO Jed York when it comes to shrewdness and savvy. It's hard not to imagine, though, a major shift in the culture of the team's fan base at games.

But even if they don't become sucky, the Warriors could yet become something arguably worse: Symbolic. This would be especially true if the team continues to reach the NBA Finals and produce NBA All Stars after moving to San Francisco's Chase Center. (This is the new arena's name, you see, after a sponsorship deal believed to exceed $200 million was struck by the team and the bank last year. It's expected to open for the 2019-20 NBA season.)

Indeed, should the Warriors continue winning in San Francisco after scorning Oakland, they could become the ultimate symbols of a Bay Area moment in which more and more gets funneled to the wealthy few at the expense of the many fans. (And, just to prove yet again the universal rule that everything is relative, we do recognize that even Oakland is far from a paragon of affordability and accessibility these days.)

"This is a franchise at the end of a transition from spunky underdog to shiny favorite, and they're moving to the land of shiny favorites," SBNation's Grant Brisbee wrote in May 2015, as Warriors-to-SF talk was picking up steam.

To be fair, many Warriors fans have already found themselves priced out of Oracle since the Warriors became a national sensation, thanks to rising ticket prices. Those fans don't need a San Francisco move to feel a bit out in the cold. The vibe at Oracle is already more staid than it was just a few years ago. But a San Francisco move could well amplify the downer dynamic.

We're not saying it will happen. We're hoping it won't happen.

But it's hard to fight the feeling that the feel-good Warriors story of the past few years just took a corporate turn for the worse with Tuesday's news of a Jan. 17 groundbreaking in San Francisco.

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