A new musical, The Band’s Visit, studded with gifted thespians of commanding stagecraft left a remarkable recollection on the 2019 participants of the East West Centre’s Senior Journalists Seminar.
The award-winning drama, showcasing a group of Egyptian musicians who mistakenly end up in a remote Israeli town, leads an array of bubbling theatergoers who crammed the Cadillac Palace Theatre into the rich literary culture of Chicago in a night robed in humour and laughter
The SJS’s participants from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, United Kingdom, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Australia, United States, and Philippines, were particularly thrilled as the spectacle exuded by the stage musical peaked the seminar’s engaging sessions which took off in Washington DC, United States.
The EWC described the seminar as an immersive dialogue, study and travel programme designed to elevate public debate regarding identity and religion’s role in and resulting impact on the public sphere, particularly concerning US relations with Muslim majority regions.
EWC’s Seminars Programme Coordinator, Ms Liz Dorn, alongside her formidable partner and Project Consultant, Ms Liza Gill, doggedly pursued the goals of the seminar launched in 2003, as they travelled with the journalists from the United States of America, Bangladesh to Turkey.
In Washington, the journalists held groundbreaking sessions with diverse experts on several topics which included American federalism, separation of power and congressional influencers, US constitutional First Amendment rights and limits, religious freedom and tolerance at the US Department of State, counterterrorism strategy and assessment and American religious typology and US Muslims.
At the US State Department, the Strategic Initiatives Unit Chief, Office of the International Religious Freedom, US State Department, Douglas Padgett, who responded to a question from this writer on what the US government was doing to assist Nigeria in tackling the Boko Haram menace, said the US government was committed to dealing with the problem.
Boko Haram is a terror group that continues to wreak havoc in the nothern part of the country. Padgett spoke while during the session on, Religious Freedom and Tolerance.
He also said the US government would continue to support efforts to check the menace of the insurgents.
Beyond the informative sessions, participants visited Muslim and Christian communities to explore the variations in worships and also relished museum excursions to America’s Islamic Heritage Museum, National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Newseum including the US Holocaust Memorial Museum based on each journalist’s preference.
There was also a colloquium for the journalists grouped based on continental affiliations to allow individual presentation on religious diversity in participants’ countries. The Washington activities spilled treasured memories when the EWC 2019 journalists together with the Pacific Island journalists and the centre’s alumni met to discuss varied stories in a networking format over drinks. It was a night to remember as the meeting marked the final day of the participants’ in Washington.
A wet night in Chicago soothed the day for the journalists led into Chicago’s demographic and cultural context by Adam Green, an associate professor of American History at the University of Chicago. Other dialogues included Islamic schooling in the US at the MCC Academy, resettlement and integration in America, communities beyond hate and religious discrimination in the workplace.
A baseball match between Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates watched by an array of devoted fans at the Wrigley Field further enhanced the amazing activities in Chicago as Bangladesh beckoned on the group.
Bangladesh of many colours
A cumulative 30-hour trip from Chicago to Turkey and from Turkey to Bangladesh enroute Cox’s Bazar led the participants to the Rohingya camp; specifically the Kutupalong refugee camp.
The Rohingya camp now seen as world’s largest refugee settlement is currently occupied mostly by Rohingya Muslims who fled from persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.
There, journalists interviewed Head of Operations, Cox’s Bazar Sub-Office, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Marin Kajdomcaj, who gave insights into the situation at the camp and the agency’s efforts to ensure everything was in order. Some of the dwellers expressed hope of a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
At Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, sessions were also held at the University of Dhaka on Bangladesh’s government structure and politics.
Journalists also met with Cardinal Patrick D’rozario, Metropolitan Archbishop of Dhaka at St. Mary’s Cathedral, who spoke on the minority faith experience in a Muslim majority.
Other sessions included counterterrorism and transnational crime with the additional commissioner, CTTC, Dhaka, Metropolitan Police, religious identity, freedoms and constraints in Bangladesh by Nurul Kabir, editor, New Age, Development challenges and solutions for inclusive, resilient cities at BRAC Center and a luncheon discussion on The Next Generation’s Perspective at the University of Dhaka, involving students and lecturers were and robust networking took place.
The last session in Bangladesh was on Islamic schooling: Government Madrasah-E-Alia at the school where lecturers, including the Principal, Prof Alamgir Rahman, dwelt largely on the mandrasa islamic education in Bangladesh.
Beyond the grand sessions in Bangladesh, participants had unforgettable experiences exploring the historical and religious sites in the country. Some of the places toured included Lalbagh Fort, Dhakeswari Temple, Star Mosque, Armenian Church, Sadarghat (River front), Ahsan Manzil (Pink Palace), Shankharia Bazar (Hindu Street) where journalists attended Hindu temples to observe the religious services.
Turkey, the beloved
A whole new experience emerged in Istanbul, Turkey, as journalists embarked on a cultural excursion to The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, now known as The Blue Mosque, where they richly relished the historical heritage of the ancient edifice. Here, religious diversity met as tourists from different countries converged to appreciate the architectural masterpiece.
The day was fun-filled as there were also visits to the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Topkapi Palace Museum Harem Apartments, Hagia Sophia Museum and the Topkapi Palace Museum. The sites led the visitors majestically into the past and connected them with the present to have a fuller grasp of the astonishing Turkiye history.
The sessions in President Tayyip Erdogan’s country dwelt on secularism and freedom of religion in Turkey, The Jewish experience in Turkey, women’s rights in Turkey: Leading the way or lagging behind. Others included hate speech and discriminatory discourse in Turkey, protection and integration of Turkey’s Syrian refugees, Turkey’s security challenges and CT/CVE strategies including civil-military relations and the July 2016 coup attempt.
The sessions in Turkey ended with insights into the roles of the country’s opposition political party; Republican People’s Party by its Parliamentary Group Leader, Ozgur Ozel.
There was also an evening of profoundly sacred worship by the Sufi order tagged ‘Whirling Dervishes’ which solemnly took audience among whom were the EWC 2019 journalists into a journey of spiritual reflections.
Seminar dialogue, final debrief, conclusions and evaluations were held to appraise the takeaways from the immersive three-country tour. Journalists were divided into groups to interrogate the diverse layers and religious dimensions in each of the countries visited. The highpoint of the activities in Turkey was the presentation of certificates and induction as fellows of the EWC.
The Bosphorus cruise; a 90-minute sail for the journalists to feast on interesting sites along the 32km long river, separating Europe from Asia and connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, left terrific experience as participants warmed to the smoothness and coolness of the water bodies.
Even the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Istanbul in the Sea of Marmara on the eve of the journalists’ departure to their countries couldn’t blight the impressive mark the transcontinental country left on the visitors.
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