Réforme 47

A Generation in the Process of Development.

Summary: Ehsan Naraqi, the advisor to the former UNESCO director-general Federico Mayor, believes that although Iran has ranked second among the Muslim nations in terms of publication, it has hit the bottom of the list in terms of international recognition. It has led to American universities have dropped Iranology from their curriculum despite the West’s […].

Ethics and Ethical Critiques.

Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. Q: Dr Soroush, you have been away from Iran for some time and we have been deprived. The fact of the matter is, when we look at your works over the past one or two years, we see a common denominator. Ethics of the Gods is a collection of your articles that was published in 2001. Articles such as “Civil Society, Ethical […].

Democracy and Rationality.

Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush. Q: Dr Soroush! I’d like us to discuss the question of rationality. Would you be so kind as to begin by pointing out the different interpretations that there are of rationality and also mentioning your own chosen interpretation, so that we can go on from there? A: Let me first say that I don’t know what you mean by reas […].

Tune into the “new conscience of Islam”.

Interview with Abdou Filali-Ansary. Interview by Sophie Boukhari, UNESCO Courier journalist. There is a reformist current in Islam, one that takes a critical approach to its origins. For Moroccan philosopher Abdou Filali-Ansary*, if Muslims had more room to freely debate issues, religion and politics might no longer be so closely entwined Since the 19th […].

The war for Muslim minds*

From Fallujah and Peshawar to Amsterdam and Paris, is radical, militant Islam winning or losing its political battle for the support of the world’s Muslims? Gilles Kepel, leading analyst of post–9/11 global fractures, talks to openDemocracy’s Rosemary Bechler. openDemocracy: The first section of your book The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West expl […].

Upbeat on democracy in Iran.

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, visited Indonesia last week. In her presentations she came across as a person who spoke out for what she believed in — the people’s fight for freedom, rooted in her conviction that this is the basic message of her religion, Islam. Ebadi’s conviction has brought her to odds with both authorities and acti […].

Setting the Record Straight.

Interview with Edward Said. by Harvey Blume *. Born in Jerusalem in 1935 to a prosperous Palestinian Christian family, educated at Princeton, and currently a University Professor of Literature at Columbia University, Edward Said is a writer whose work has had extraordinary range. Perhaps because he himself lives on the cusp of so many cultures, he has s […].