19th Oct 2009 Flash POD on Political Participation at Birmingham University

FlashPOD Talk Topic: Political participation of Muslim students

Location (Place, City): University of Birmingham

Name of Blogger: Jonathan

Names of participants: Yasar, Afzal, Asim, Maskeen

The Emotional Barometer [1 (very calm) to 10 (very heated)]: 3

The Quality of the Discussion [1 (poor) to 10 (excellent)]: 8

Key issues/questions about the topic:

1. Common good vs. Muslim issues
2. Not enough Muslim students involved in politics
3. Does Muslim political action on campus make a difference to stereotypes about Muslims in the broader society?

What were the initial opinions of the talkers?

Maskeen: I am not sure if Muslim students being politically involved will actually make a difference in the broader society.

Yasar: Political participation is needed to create awareness about political issues affecting Muslim students so they will have motivation to get more involved and make a change in society. A good strategy is to talk about the need to be prepared for issues that can affect the Muslim community in 10 years, and that we need to be involved now in order to be prepared to deal with these issues.

Afzal: There is an under-representation of Muslim students in political issues on campus. We need to be involved to make a change on Muslim issues on campus. This involvement can also help Muslims to work for the common good in society.

Asim: Students need to get involved politically in order to change the negative perceptions in the media about Muslims. 

How did opinions change during the FlashPOD Talk?

Yasar: Passion and motivation are important to get involved.

Asim: My involvement started with a few events in secondary school. That encouraged me to get more politically active.

Maskeen: What about peoples’ agenda? Does that keep us from working for the common good, or achieving a common goal?

Afzal: The common goal at the beginning is Muslim issues. A student should first have an initial interest in the subject, then he or she has potential to get more engaged with the right “shepherding”. We need to utilize all of our members.

There is a process of getting students politically active that seems to work for us in the ISOC:

• Step 1: What? Muslim issues on campus are a good entry point to exposing students to the political process on campus and needs to get involved.
• Step 2: Why? Support our community, then broaden to supporting the common good of society
• Step 3: How? Shepherd students through the process until they lead out in their own action.

What positive actions will our FlashPOD take based on our discussion?

Not discussed.

Blogger Comments: The discussion didn’t have time to make it to positive actions, but I’m sure we can all think of actions based on this informative discussion.