IHRC is pleased to announce its 15th annual Genocide Memorial Day. The topic of this year’s event will be Gaza: A Case Study of Genocide. There is a dark irony in the fact that IHRC is addressing an unfolding genocide in the same place that was the focus of attention for the first-ever GMD.
Date: 21st January 2024
Time: 1 pm to 4 pm, GMT. Free lunch at 12 noon
Venue: P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton St, London NW1 1JD
Arzu Merali, member of the board of the Decolonial International Network Foundation (DIN) and a founding member of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has launched her website https://www.arzumerali.com/. Merali has been important contributions to the decolonial movement in the past decade. Her website reflects that. She is also the editor of The Long View, a quarterly journal of IHRC. You can her books, articles, documentaries and reports that she has produced.
Jibril Abdul-Rahman is a scholar and activist in Berkeley California who has been working on uniting organizations from different communities in the solidarity movement for a Free Palestine. He tells his story here.
The result of the work has been a brochure in three languages with statements from different organizations. The English version is here. The Spanish version is here. The Arabic version is here.
Two Islamic organizations in England (London and Birmingham) are organizing workshops on Decolonizing The Mind in the weekend of 20-21 of January. They describe the need for the workshops as follows:
The global struggle to free Palestine from the grip of Israel – a settler colonial society established and supported by imperialism and the old colonial masters has intensified globally.
We are now calling on all activists to join us for an exciting one day course to facilitate critical, thinking, self-awareness and a dismantling of colonial frameworks that condition our education, politics, and ideas.
It is time to detox our minds and our language from the western tropes of colonialism, capitalism and neoliberalism and start afresh with a new justice-centric paradigm.
Join us as in working to liberate our minds and communities from the repression of colonialism, racism, Islamophobia, inequality, and climate injustice, in solidarity with a global movement for justice and freedom for all humanity.
The workshop is led by scholar and writer, Sandew Hira.
Hira will guide us through the theory and history underpinning decolonisation and equip us with practical tools and tips to successfully challenge and deconstruct current narratives and injustices.
In his book Decolonizing The Mind – A Guide to Decolonial Theory and Practice, Sandew Hira, secretary of the Decolonial International Network, has laid down some guidelines on how to decolonize mathematics and the natural science. Regarding mathematics he outlines five dimensions of decolonizing mathematics.
A critique of the Western historiography of mathematics
A critique of the foundations of Euromathematics
A critique of the use of Euromathematics
The concept of reverse engineering in mathematics and technology
A new educational system for mathematics
Regarding the hard sciences he distinguishes four dimensions:
A critique of the Western historiography of hard sciences.
A critique of the Western concept of the relationship between humans and nature.
A critique of the Western concept of the role of ethics in hard sciences.
A critique of the limits of hard sciences.
A year ago Gustavo Paccosi started with organizing a group of mathematicians and scientist in Argentina who meet every two weeks to discuss critical issues in math and science. Gustavo is a doctor in science and technology and lecturer in mathematics at the Universidad Nacional De General Sarmiento (UNGS) in Buenos Aires. He works in the area of mathematics and applied mathematics, with specialization in bifurcation theory and synchronization.
In several meetings between Sandew and Gustavo the idea was born to join forces and set up an international network of scientists dedicated to decolonizing mathematics and the hard sciences.
Aims of the network
The network has the following aims:
To develop a research program in the different dimension of mathematics and the hard sciences.
To get students and researchers involved in participating in the research program.
To publish the results of the research program.
To organize workshop, seminars and conferences to further develop the research program and distribute and discuss the results of the program.
The network is an experiment in setting up an infrastructure of experts to reconstruct a discipline in science from a DTM point of view.
Get involved
If you want to actively participate in the network, please send an email to mathnetwork@din.today with your name, country of residence, your professional background and why you are interested in joining the network.
Since 2014, IHRC has organized an annual conference in Great Britain with Scotland Against Criminalizing Communities (SACC) to discuss key issues related to structural and institutionalized Islamophobia . The 10th annual conference in December is a combination of online and in-person events. Sandew Hira will be one of the speakers. For more information click here .
16 December Zoom Argentina – explaining the DTM framework
On December 16, 15.00 Amsterdam time, Sandew Hira will give an exposé to a group of Argentinian scientists (math and the hard sciences) on the theoretical framework of Decolonizing The Mind.
On Sunday October 29, 2023 at 12.00 AM CET Sandew Hira launched his YouTube channel Decolonizing The Mind – the final frontier of colonialism. Every day at 12.00 AM CET he will post a video podcast of 15-20 minutes in which he provides a daily analysis of current world affairs from a decolonial point of view. Here is the link to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DecolonizingTheMindwithSandewH
The first episode is titled: How will the war in Palestine end? In a free Palestine or World War III?
It deals with the question whether we are witnessing the birth a free Palestine of the beginning of World War III. It lists all the major factors that will determine the outcome of this war. The coming episodes will go deeper into these factors.
Please support this channel by clicking on the SUBSCRIBE button.
Over 300 prominent activists, politicians, academic and religious figures from all around the world have come together to call on the UN to bring an immediate end to the “bloodbath” in Gaza.
Spearheaded by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC), a fouding member of DIN, the letter accuses the UN of being “a bystander to war crimes as Israel continues its bombardment of the densely populated Palestinian territory.” To date well over 5,000 people have been killed, 70 per cent of them women and children. Child deaths alone are currently running in excess of 2,000.
The letter, addressed to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, is signed by former Labour minister Clare Short and renowned academics Professors Jeff Halper, Richard Falk, Ilan Pappe and Avi Shlaim, as well as MEMO Director Dr Daud Abdullah.
It charges Israel with carrying out a series of war crimes. These include cutting off electricity, water and food supplies and abandoning the principles of proportionality and distinction in warfare in bombing residential centres, hospitals, ambulances, churches, mosques, schools and shopping areas.
It calls on the UN to “rise to the need of the hour” to “rein in Israel” and establish an immediate ceasefire that will allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.
“The UN was formed in the wake of World War 2 with the express purpose of upholding a rules based world order and to prevent a repeat of that conflict. That being the case how much longer is the organisation going to stand by and watch as a genocide unfolds before our very eyes,” states the letter.
It adds: “According to the UN’s own workers and officials there are no safe places in Gaza. Gaza is under total siege and constant bombardment… It is abundantly clear that in abandoning the requirement to uphold the principles of proportionality and distinction between civilians and combatants, Israel is in gross violation of international law.”
Warning that “unless Israel is stopped and held accountable for the crimes it is currently committing in Gaza and the West Bank it will continue to kill and maim with impunity and to make a mockery of international law.”
From 7 – 8 October 2023, Dr Munyaradzi Mushonga, the Global Academic Director of DIN, was in the Kingdom of Lesotho to launch the DIN Lesotho Chapter. The host was the National University of Lesotho (NUL), the country’s premier institution and only public university (https://www.nul.ls/).
The Faculty of Humanities (https://www.nul.ls/humanities/), led by its Dean, Professor Paul Leshota and the faculty’s postgraduate co-ordinator Professor ’Mamoleba Kolobe, together with the Academic Forum for Development of Lesotho (AfdeL) led by its Secretary General Professor Tsepo Mokuku hosted the Global Academic Director of DIN.
The launch of the DIN Lesotho Chapter was preceded by a public lecture on Decolonizing Knowledge and a Workshop on Decolonizing The Mind, both conducted by Dr Munyaradzi Mushonga. The Global Academic Director of DIN kicked off the public lecture by paying respects to the Elders of the Basotho nation, past, present and emerging, and challenged those present to take pride in their ways of living, doing, knowing, thinking, praying, dancing, and singing as these were valid and legitimate forms of knowledge without which there would be no living. The lecture touched on a number of key aspects of decolonizing knowledge namely: what is, and what is not decoloniality; why decoloniality in the 21st century; how knowledge is colonized; how to decolonize knowledge; and the place of knowledge and decoloniality in development. Dr Mushonga concluded the lecture by calling on NUL and Lesotho to embark on the journey of unlearning in order to relearn what Western modernity taught them to despise.
In the workshop, Dr Mushonga took the NUL community on a journey of how to decolonize the mind. He offered Decolonizing the Mind (DTM) as a school of science that argues that scientific knowledge has been colonized and requires root and branch decolonization and reconstitution. Drawing from Sandew Hira’s tour de force, Decolonizing The Mind: A guide to decolonial theory and practice (2023) (https://shop.ihrc.org/products/decolonizing-the-mind-a-guide-to-decolonial-theory-and-practice-sandew-hira), Dr Munyaradzi Mushonga demonstrated how knowledge production has been deployed in the colonization of the mind. He also offered several pathways to the decolonization of the mind.
Lecture and Workshop Feedback/Evaluation
The evaluation/feedback on both the lecture and the workshop was framed around five questions developed by the co-ordinating team led by Professor Paul Leshota, Professor Tsepo Moku and Professor ’Mamoleba Kolobe:
What were your expectation(s) about the decoloniality seminar?
Mention a maximum of three important things that you learned from the workshop?
State three ways in which decoloniality may be relevant for NUL?
State three ways in which decoloniality may be relevant for Lesotho.
What is the most important thing about decoloniality for you?
Diverse responses were generated from these five questions. Because of want of space, only one response is picked from each question. Overall, the participates were not only satisfied with the knowledge they gained, but also the possible routes to exit the epistemic/existential prison. In response to question 1, one participant responded, “Decoloniality should [be] spread throughout the whole continent of Africa, in countries, villages and communities as well. It should be explored with all the media platforms, as well as in formal, informal and non-formal academia approach”. In response to question 2, one participant wrote, “Decoloniality occurs at different levels; personal, structural, systemic, and otherwise”. In response to question 3, one participant wrote, “Establishment of decolonial institute or centre; fortnightly presentations on decoloniality; and establishment of decoloniality journals to publish decolonial-driven research”. To question 4, one participant responded, “African spirituality will no longer be discriminated because of religion; Basotho will know that knowledge is not centred around Eurocentric ideas; Basotho do not have to depend on Western, European and Eastern countries”. To question 5, one participant stated, “It is slowly liberating my mind and has rekindled within me the thirst to know and research about Lesotho”. In short, the aggregate of the responses demonstrate that the lecture and the workshop were a great success, and the DIN Foundation needs to build on the momentum.
Participants at the NUL Decolonizing Knowledge Lecture & Decolonizing the Mind Workshop, 7-8 October 2023
The Decolonial International Network Lesotho Chapter Takes Root
The enthusiasm and the robust engagements that followed the public lecture and the workshop were enough to set in motion the constitution of the chapter, which the participants hastily named as DIN Lesotho Chapter. The formulation of the chapter revolved around the following three key questions in their English and Sesotho versions.
1) How might Decoloniality be defined in Sesotho? (Re ka hlalosa ‘decoloniality’ joang ka Sesotho?)
2) Suggest decoloniality themes that should guide the DIN Lesotho Chapter activities? (Ke lintlhakholo li fe tsa ‘decoloniality’ tse ka tataisang Mokhatlo oa DIN Lesotho ts’ebetsong ea ona?)
3) Suggest decolonial activities that the DIN Lesotho Chapter should carry out? (Ke lits’ebetso tsa mofuta o fe tsa ‘decoloniality’ tseo mokhatlo oa DIN Lesotho o ka li etsang?).
These questions were debated in three separate group discussions followed by group presentations. After the presentations, a strong 13-member DIN Lesotho Chapter Steering Committee was established. The committee is made up of representatives from NUL’s seven faculties and other stakeholders. As at 8 September, following made up the Committee: Education (Dr Mahao Mahao), Law (Dr Letadzo Kometsi), Humanities (Prof. ’Mamoleba Kolobe; Dr Raphael Thuube; Dr Sean Maliehe; Prof. Paul Leshota (Dean ex-Officio), Science & Technology (Dr Nthatamele Maliehe), Undergraduate Students (Mr Mphou Setha), Postgraduate Students (Ms Makabelo Kobisi), Non-Academic Staff (Mr John Mofomobe), AfdeL (Prof. Tsepo Mokuku), with the faculties of Agriculture, Health Sciences, and Social Science yet to submit names.
DIN Lesotho Chapter Steering Committee – from left to right: Dr. S. Maliehe, Dr. N. Maliehe, Prof. T. Mokuku, Prof. M. Kolobe, Prof. P. Leshota, Dr. R. Thuube, Ms M. Kobisi, Dr. M. Mahao
On Wednesday, 18 October 2023, the DIN Lesotho Chapter Decolonial Ad hoc. Committee met to discuss the way forward. It came up with several resolutions that it will take to the Steering Committee for deliberations and ratification. The Global Academic Director is happy to report that DIN Lesotho Chapter indicated its readiness to host its first Decolonial School in the not-too-distant future.
The Sun that went down with the arrival of a ‘Civilization of Death’ is rising again in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
