Many Muslim parents are authoritarian, which leaves young men and women with limited spaces to express themselves. Self-expression and autonomy are regarded as symptoms of 'Westernisation.'

Deeyah Khan

Categorized in : Parents Men Women Men And Women

Our society constantly promotes role models for masculinity, from superheroes to politicians, where the concept of being a 'man' is based in their ability to be tough, dominant - and even violent when required.

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Living through the intersections of cultural diversity has given me an intimate understanding of the dynamics of living between the dimensions of East and West, traditional and modern, and political and spiritual.

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Freedom of speech is a human right and the foundation upon which democracy is built. Any restriction of freedom of speech is a restriction upon democracy.

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Our media provides a continuing message that for men, heroism is defined through association with control, independence, and the ability to commit violence, from superheroes to crime dramas.

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Censorship in all its forms must be challenged.

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Self-expression should not be a challenge that demands extraordinary talent but should be a right accessible to all.

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Some Muslim children, both male and female, have little choice in who to marry, what to study, what their careers will be, and who they can socialise with. Their lives are constrained under the expectations of family 'honour.'

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We need more courageous individuals who will defy the structures of power, whether political, economic, or intimate, but we also need it to be safe for people to feel their power and to be able to express their ideas and imagine without fear.

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We need to be able to guarantee the safety of all artists and activists for human rights so that it no longer takes extraordinary courage to call for a better world - so that every person with the ability to imagine peace, equality, progress, and justice can express their dreams and hopes without fear.

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For many young men, joining in a radical movement is a way of feeling powerful, which is particularly intoxicating for men who feel their masculinity has been called into question, whether through victimisation or a failure to achieve the status that they feel they are entitled to.

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If we value human rights, they should be at the core of the project against violent extremism, and women a key part of our imagined future.

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Speech, not violence, is how we will bridge the divides between us.

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I'm just trying to stretch the public space wider and make it more open so that a wider variety of people and faces and stories and perspectives and also expertise can come through. So everything that I do rests on that, trying to support on other voices.

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Making people fear the expression of their own power is a very effective way of disempowering them. It is not just those who feel the frustration of being silenced: it also encompasses every person who has no idea of their own power to realise their visions because they have not seen this in action in their communities.

feel power fear people

The Trump phenomenon shows us how much fear of Muslims there is out there and how easily it can be exploited.

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Muslim women can save the world from ISIS.

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There is no psychiatric pattern which can predict who becomes an extremist - but they are all frustrated with their reality.

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Within a life that seems uncomfortably scripted by family and community pressures, hyper-religiosity can provide a way to break with parental expectations and flee from parental control.

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The thing is, what most people don't understand is that there are so many of us growing up in Europe who are not free to be ourselves. We're not allowed to be who we are. We are not free to marry or to be in relationships with people that we choose. We can't even pick our own career. This is the norm in the Muslim heartlands of Europe.

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'Honour'-based violence is a form of domestic violence. Domestic violence is a broad category.

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