poser activism

recently, a self sacrificing immigration attorney was taken out of action by the government... that's scary stuff... but here's what i find interesting, "The sixteen-year-old admits that previously, she did not want to be a lawyer because she hardly saw her mother, who was working all the time. Forgay has changed her mind. “Now, after seeing what happened to my mom, they may be able to stop her, but they can’t stop me from helping people who need it.”" at the ISNA convention a couple of years ago, there was a film being shown in the film festival that my brother was coordinating. it was about the Union Carbide gas plant disaster in Bhopal India that happened several years ago. well, the Indian government did very little for the people affected by that disaster. And now the mothers of kids who died of gas poisoning and don't want to see such a thing ever happen again or want to be justly compensated for their suffering have become some of the strongest activists for that cause. To me these are REAL activists. there is a real passion that you notice in their voices when they speak - or in their eyes when they look at the camera - or in their fist when they clinch it. Its a passion that i didn't have when i would organize something for Palestine, or Bosnia, or Kosova. don't get me wrong, its not that i felt nothing, but i didn't really care about the cause to say "by any means necessary". and that is what distinguishes a Real activist from the poser that i was/am. Over the past few years I've come to believe I have no business speaking about that which i don't know. And the things I know are islamic art and poser-activism. The responsibility to organize lies with those who are most directly affected. They have the passion that is required to see the mission accomplished. They will succeed or they will die trying. without that drive any activism is a waste of time. a diversion from responsibility that will no doubt make the pseudo-activist feel good, but in the end will do little to advance the cause. Last night I attended a fundraising event for an organization founded by a Pakistani pop singer, Shahzad Roy, it runs primary schools for poor rural pakistani kids and pays them to attend (in an effort to curb child labor and educate poor kids)... now how does this fit into my views of activism... well, there is a difference between issue oriented activism and institution building: both require organization and struggle; both require a means of support; both require people with a passion for the cause... activists may be involved in institution building but building an institution does not make you an activist. I admire that lawyer's daughter for what she wants to do. She has the ingredient that can make her more powerful then her mother. More powerful then all the lawyers working in CAIR or the ACLU combined. The effort to gain more civil rights is feuled by people like her. I admire activists. I support activists. My aunt in Pakistan is a women's rights activists. And if I'm affected by something that leads to a passion in me for a change, I hope that I can be the type of activist that the cause needs and not the type that gets in the way. peace and love.

Oh my God! i'm getting married

its starting to hit me now. for a long time the idea of me getting married was kind of abstract. even after i gave her the ring. maybe because there was no date, it still felt like an idea, not reality. so it didn't really affect me so much. but now... i'm feeling it. that "oh my god i'm getting married!" feeling. it hit me after a phone call from mahreen. its not bad or good, its just a feeling i havn't felt before. i'm kind of feeling helpless. my mind starts to go blank when i think about what i have to do now. even though my sister and my mamoo got married in karachi, i didn't do any of the planning. i've felt helpless before, back when i was having difficulties in architecture school. but that was a bad helplessness, it was mixed with a hopelessness about the future, this time i'm actually looking forward to the future. i can see it, touch it, taste it. i want it. i want her. but to get to be with her, i have to do something that i don't know. in a place that i don't know. and that makes me feel a little helpless. i ask myself "what do i do next?" and i have no answer. i thought i knew our traditions, but at the moment, i can't recall any procedures and protocals. images of past weddings flash in my mind. but they are completely out of sequence. this will be such an important event in our lives and here i am not able to comprehend how to do it. i can see why my mother was so nervous, and why she wanted her brother and mother to be with her. i'm feeling the same loss of my father that she's been feeling for the past few months. that feeling of loss comes and goes. i felt it last year when we were going through reforms in our company, and i feel it now. but when i think about the reception we would have here in miami. i feel good. i can imagine the happy faces of all of my fathers friends. they kind of see me as a son, i was one of the first of their kids to be born in miami. they are really looking forward to this. i imagine that miami event, and the nervousness kind of goes away. while most of what i need to do will be taken care of by my mother, it's time for me to call my cousins and get some advice on what my role should be.