KirstyStyles

Often when the media presents a story, it does so as a story-teller; the ‘facts’ can be selected to lure you into a certain way of thinking.

Like most ‘covered’ Muslim ladies, I believe Islam has liberated us. Here are just a few of the many myths about Islam that I would like to dispel:

1.       MYTH: The less of ‘us’ you see (i.e. our skin/hair/shape) the more oppressed we are.

TRUTH: Covering is a form of worship to our Lord; what He commands, we obey, and there is always Wisdom behind His commands.

We consider ourselves to be slaves in complete submission to the Creator rather than slaves to His creation (i.e. the society) and its pressure to look a certain way.

If a woman is free to dress HOWEVER she likes, surely she is free to wear as MUCH as she likes (e.g. covered)?

Modesty is the policy in Islam for both men and women. It is our identity and most of all: it is our choice to follow the Commandment of our Beloved Lord.

2.       MYTH: The man controls the woman in every single way.

TRUTH: This is one of the greatest misunderstandings a ‘non-Muslim’ may have.   In the Sight of Allah (God), every soul is equal to one another. However, equality doesn’t equate to being the same. Men and women were made distinctively different. With differences come different purposes, roles and responsibilities.

A narration of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) states that “Paradise lies at the feet of the mother”, displeasing your mother is enough to deny you entrance into Paradise, Paradise being our ultimate goal. This is just one example of the elevated status that women are endowed with in Islam.

3.       MYTH: Women in Islam are oppressed.

TRUTH: Islam is not guilty of oppressing women; Islam is for all of humanity.

As a religion comes into contact with non-native cultures, the two sometimes intertwine. Culture can play a positive role but can easily be detrimental, as much culture-influenced innovation is brought into the religion through ignorance and the contextual passage of time, which can lead to a fundamental changing of the Laws of God to suit the people. This is considered a major sin in Islam.

An example of this would be the Forced Marriage issue that is prevalent within some nations. Dissimilar to the cultural notions, Islamic scripture deems forced marriages as forbidden. If a man or woman is forced into a marriage, their marriage contract is invalid and the forced party can seek annulment immediately.

Despite the distorted image of Islam following 9/11, the conversion to Islam is at its peak in our lifetime. The majority of these converts are women and journalists like Yvonne Ridley and Lauren Booth tell their own conversion stories. They can speak marvellously in volumes, so I won’t go into it any further.

What I hope to have achieved with this, is to make you question the ideologies of groups and individuals – be they religiously affiliated or not, including the content of my entry.

Blindly listening to one person is NOT part of Islam, as Islam is the religion that invites you to think and explore the AUTHENTIC and LOGICAL sources to refine your understanding of the world and its inhabitants. And THAT is what I believe to be liberation, NOT oppression.

Moral of the story: don’t get it from the story-teller. Get it from those living it.

(read in the style of a BBC news presenter)

Welcome to the replacement BBC News.

Viewers will have seen unfamiliar faces on the sofa yesterday and today as BBC staff including members of the National Union of Journalists, and breakfast presenters staged a walk out over changes to pensions.

The two day strike had already been postponed and was initially going to happen during the Conservative Party Conference.

It’s been six months now since David Cameron narrowly lost the UK General Election and formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats

In the spending review, they saved winter fuel allowances, ‘ring-fenced’ overseas aid, education and health but have been criticised for reforms to GPs, cancelling the ‘schools for the future’ programme and the outcome of Lord Browne’s tuition fees report.

One new group looks set to gain their voice this week.

All prisoners across the UK will be able to vote in our elections under a new European ruling.

A report this week also said that 75 per cent of offenders went on to committ further crimes.

Tony Blair’s sister-in-law has converted to Islam while Sam Cam, Samantha Cameron, was denied the ‘Mum of the Year’ trophy in 2010. The wife of the prime minister gave birth to Florence during the election CAMpaign.

One of Britain’s high-street newspapers changed format and style this week. The new' I' has compacted content and a 20 pence price tag, representing another move away from the roots of the Independent.

In international news another person has thrown themself from the Foxconn building, which has already seen a number of deaths and been accused of poor working conditions. Nets have been added to the complex to try to prevent any more incidents.

On Monday, we welcomed in the month of Movember, so get your less fair loved ones and make sure they keep that facial fuzz for charidee. Come on, it might be a laugh in what has been a wet and dark start to the month here in the north of England.

Kirsty Styles, replacement BBC News, good night.

In looking at those who do not have an opinion, I am looking at those who do.

Albert Einstein wrote in a letter to Sigmund Freud in 1932: “The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb.

“This enables it to organise and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them.”

Today, the UK Government is making cuts that are going to affect the poor more than the rich, but people aren’t rioting.

Recently, on the unsettling show This Week, Michael Portillo, openly and unchallenged said: “All politicians are fairly out of touch.”

According to Giles Bolton, head of ethical trading at Tesco, the media is failing its responsibility to report on international aid and corruption in foreign countries.

Political and media leaders are often paid six-figure sums, while the media cover the unrest of those who earn less than them with distant wonderment, often considering how ‘the markets’ will react.

In a representative democracy, how are they so far removed?

Stephanie Flanders, economics editor at the BBC studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University. She was in a tutorial group with Yvette Cooper, our new shadow foreign secretary.

Both women then worked at the Financial Times, where both, according to the Daily Mail had a relationship with Ed Balls. Who also studied PPE at Oxford.

Ms Flanders is also said to have had a fling with Ed Milliband, who, you guessed it, went to Oxford to study PPE.

We have teaching in schools and universities across this country that is outstanding, according to various quangos, and although sharing it with the masses would improve the whole nation, who wants to share their ‘smarts’, and therefore wealth, with everyone?

It is in their interests to keep the majority of people uneducated enough so they won’t be a problem.

The MPs' expenses scandal, the banking crisis, and the lack of any real action, prove this.

Similarly, the relentless coverage of the Chilean miners was a tool of distraction- a happy ending, diverting attention from wars and disasters that persist every day.

Those stories don’t look hot on rolling camera and if you look at the people affected, they are disproportionately poor. 

The world appears to be dominated by rich, and therefore powerful people, often men, which leaves poorer people, and women in particular with their throats cut.

Today is national equal pay day, supported by the feminist Fawcett Society and the National Union of Journalists.

At the office, people try to draw me into discussion that would lead into my expressing an opinion.

Which I’m not allowed to do.

Unless there were any unintentional slip-ups, I manage the day, ordering cups of tea as diplomatically as possible.

I suppose what sticks out, is how often the opportunity to voice an opinion happens. I make choices and seem to be in charge of my own destiny.

Although we live in a 'globalised' world with 24 hour news, technology and money, this isn't the case for everyone.

I have written extensively for Oxfam on the subject, mums matter.

In the developing world, millennium development goals to eliminate extreme poverty were set by world leaders in the year 2000.

Goal five, to improve maternal health, stop women dying during pregnancy and childbirth, is the one that governments are making the least progress on.

In poor countries, women are more likely to do unskilled, badly paid jobs and despite the phenomenal emergence of Fair Trade, the reality is still that many men and women are not given a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.

Even in the UK, British woman are more likely to be paid less than men or overlooked for a promotion.

In all worlds, women do hours of unpaid care work.

National equal pay day goes without picket lines, rioting, or even a simple mention, in one of the richest nations in the world, in a democracy where 50 per cent of people are women, so it is easy to see why women’s voice are not heard in the poorest.

In some countries, there isn’t a stable political system where people have the right to vote in, and vote out, representatives which mean their opinions fall on deaf ears. 

Even with a stable system here, many people sacrifice their right to an opinion by not voting.

Is gender the main barrier to voicing your opinion, or is there something else?

“Trick question, feminists can't change anything.”

Any of the views expressed in this blog are arguments, supported with facts.

Welcome to day one of my poverty challenge 1/11/10.

Today a woman is standing trial for stabbing her MP. She said that she did it because he voted for the Iraq War.

Since 2003, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed, a war based on intelligence which has now proved to be untrue, votes of just 650 people, MPs, and the decisions of two world leaders who have since left office.

Several million people marched against the war, part of the War on Terror that blunders on in 2010.

The right to ‘freedom of speech’, to express ones’ opinion, was first recognized more than 2,000 years ago.

In many ways, it is hard to even conceive a life without it and this challenge has already presented me with some hurdles.

From making everyday choices, ‘Where would I like to go for tea?’ to expressing a preference at the ballot box, making decisions based on my opinion is in everything I do.

Today, in France, you will protest, in the United States, you will rally.

Even a simple joke can send a message.

How and why are some people deprived from expressing their opinion, making informed choices about their lives, having a voice?

Who and where does it happen and how does it differ around the globe?

And what happens when people’s voices aren’t heard?

What drives a woman to stab her MP?

In this blog I will seek to highlight examples, from the UK and around the world, of people’s lives when they do not get to have an opinion, trying to present only facts, as they speak for themselves.