Chaotic Global Politics: Muslims in the News: Collected Writings of a British Muslim Leader 2011-2017

By Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari

A digital four volume aeries of Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari’s most salient articles over the last decade. These volume explore what it means to be British and Muslim in the context of the 21st century War on Terror; progressing from Britain’s Muslim communities to the wider British society as well as regional and global politics. Expanding on conversations covering counter-extremism to spirituality and Muslim world politics to the rise of the far-right - these prolific articles shed light on contemporary issues of importance. 

In this volume, the author uses his insight into the issues of ethical leadership, or the lack of it, in particularly within the Muslim world. He gets to the heart of what he sees as the root causes of pessimism in global politics: crisis of political and religious leadership. He shares his quest for justice through effective governance for a better world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Dec 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781847741844

Dr. Muhammad Abdul Bari

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari is an educationalist, community activist, author, parenting consultant and commentator on social and political issues. He has written for various newspapers, blogs and journals including The Huffington Post and Al-Jazeera English, and is the author of a number of books on marriage, family, parenting, identity and community issues from contemporary British Muslim perspectives.

Book preview

Chaotic Global Politics: Muslims in the News – Collected Writings of a British Muslim Leader (2011 – 2017) by Muhammad Abdul Bari

PART THREE

CHAOTIC GLOBAL POLITICS

MUSLIMS IN THE NEWS

Collected Writings of a British Muslim Leader 2011-2017

MUHAMMAD ABDUL BARI

Chaotic Global Politics: Muslims in the News – collected Writings of a British Muslim Leader (2011 – 2017)

First published in England by

Kube Publishing Ltd

Markfield Conference Centre, Ratby Lane,

Markfield, Leicestershire, LE67 9SY,

United Kingdom Tel: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Website: www.kubepublishing.com

Copyright © Muhammad Abdul Bari 2021 All rights reserved.

The right of Muhammad Abdul Bari to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

CIP data for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-84774-184-4 Ebook

Cover Design by: Nasir Cadir

Typeset by: LiteBook Prepress Services

CONTENTS

Author’s Biography

Chapter 1: The Arab World

Egypt’s Political Rise and Fall . . . and Rise Again?

Israel’s scorched earth policy in Gaza could prove fatal

Egypt’s Chaotic Politics: What Lessons for Others?

Military Junta Puts the Final Nail in the Coffin of Egyptian Democracy

Ouster of Elected Egyptian President Is a Hammer Blow to Arab Democracy

Tunisia and Egypt: A Tale of Two Peoples

Syria’s Sham Election, Tin-Pot Dictators and Arab Destiny

Syrian Refugee Crisis in Europe Is Testing Its Humanitarian Nerve

Bloodletting in Syria Is a Blot on Humanity That Must End

Chapter 2: The Non-Arab Muslim World

The Cry of Srebrenica: Is Europe Listening?

Turkish Democracy in a Dishevelled Muslim World

Turkey elections: It’s time for reconciliation

Bangladesh Factory Deaths: Deep-Rooted Corruption Behind a Human Tragedy

Bangladesh Hanging of an Opposition Political Leader Can Lead the Once Moderate Country into Political Chaos

Is Bangladesh Turning into a Failed State?

Chapter 3: Politics in the Muslim World

Civil Society in Perilous Muslim Democracies

The Asphyxiated Politics of the Muslim World

Healing the Ills of the Muslim Public Life

AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari is a noted civic leader, educationalist, parenting consultant and author. He has served Britain’s diverse communities in various capacities for over three decades.

A former Bangladesh Air Force officer, trained at the Royal Air Force College in Lincolnshire (1978–79), Dr Bari worked as a physics researcher at the University of London in the 1980s, before moving into teaching in the early 1990s and completing his postgraduate certificate of education (PGCE). He worked as a specialist teacher for those with behavioural needs before taking an early retirement in 2011.

Throughout and alongside his professional career, Dr Bari has been deeply involved in civil society organisations. He was a founding member of The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO), which is now the national organisation known as Citizens UK. He was a member of the British government’s Inner Cities Religious Council (ICRC) in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain from 2006–2010, and Chairman of Britain’s largest Muslim community complex, the London Muslim Centre, from 2002–2013. He was also a non-executive board member of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) from 2006–2013. Today, he remains involved in a number of charities such as East London Mosque, London Catalyst and Islamic Foundation Leicester.

Since retiring, Dr Bari has been working with diverse communities to promote their fuller engagement in public life, as well as writing for various media outlets, including the Huffington Post and Al Jazeera English, on current affairs and his areas of expertise. In recent years he has worked with Muslim youth, including the three talented editors of this publication, to encourage their full participation in public life in the UK. He worked with Citizens UK and advised its Commission on ‘Islam, Participation and Public Life’ (IPPL), which was chaired by former Attorney General, Dominic Grieve. The Commission’s final report ‘The Missing Muslims: Unlocking British Muslim Potential for the Benefit of All’, was published in the summer of 2017.

He has authored a number of books on family, parenting and identity as well as one on the Rohingya Crisis. His memoir, A Long Jihad: My Quest for the Middle Way, offers an insider’s perspective on the Muslim experience in modern Britain, presenting his blueprint for the middle way of life.

In recognition for his services to the community, Dr Bari was conferred an MBE in 2003, as well as being made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2005, an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary University of London in 2008, an Honorary Doctor of Education by the University of East London in 2012, and Deputy Lieutenant of the Greater London Lieutenancy in 2016. He was also awarded the Community Cohesion Champion by the organisation Sikhs in England in 2006.

Dr Bari lives in London with his wife, four children and three grandchildren.

Part Three

Chaotic Global Politics

Dr Bari’s political commentary has always been a strong insight into his personal practice. As someone deeply concerned about ethical leadership, the lack of it in the modern world is a common theme in his writing. Within his own activism, his quest for social justice to become a shared global and human cause fuels many of his thoughts on the ever-changing landscape of world politics.

CHAPTER 1

THE ARAB WORLD

The 2010s saw significant socio-economic and political upheaval across the MENA region, with the spread of the Arab Spring and a civil war in Syria which spilled across borders and was still raging by the end of the decade, as well as historical on-going struggles