Monthly Archives: December 2011

The Souls of The Lost: American Photojournalist Explores London

American writer and photojournalist, Brian Leli, has spent the past four months photographing his exploration of London, presenting a unique cross-section of the capital city.

In a year that has seen youth unemployment reach a record high, growing discontent about the rising disparity between rich and poor, an attack on the financial system in the form of the St Paul’s occupation and the worst riots since the 1980’s – Leli’s photography appears to capture the day to day mood of ordinary Londoners in 2011.

By August 2012, Leli hopes to have finished London and a Year, a book comprised of still images and writings, presenting the author’s experiences over the course of his stay.

Noticeably, recent events seem to have shaped Leli’s work – and the Chicago born photographer says thatLondonoften “feels somewhat cold and sad”. Much of Leli’s photography reflects this and echoes William Yeates description of the London people: “I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air.”

However, his work does not only portray a tale of doom and gloom. Shots of the Notting Hill Carnival depict a more colourful and optimistic picture. Leli says his intention is to portray reality “without artifice”. The result of this is not, therefore, an extension of an inherited view, but instead depicts the experiences of an outsider’s standpoint.

“I’ve photographed and spoken with a barber shop owner whose shop was destroyed in the riots, which happened right before I moved here. I was there at the beginning of the Occupy London protests. And I’ll be here when the Olympics kick-off. So I think those juxtapositions in themselves will be very telling.”

Leli first moved to London from Chicago in August to study a Masters in International Journalism, desperate for a change in scenery. He likens his interest in journalism to his interest in photography, he says his course has “taken the romance out of the idea of being an international journalist and made it more real”.

Despite London being one of the most popular destinations in the world, Leli says: “I honestly haven’t fallen in love with the city” adding: “I’m sure a lot of that is just me and my nature, I’m sure that as the days go by and I keep working at it, I will crack the surface and find something special.”

You can see more of Brian Leli’s work in London here

by Omar Shahid and John Houghton-Brown

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A Letter to Humanity – Wake up, 2012 is near

Dear Humanity,

We will soon be entering 2012 – the beginning of the end. I am not a conspiracy theorist, and I do not think the world is going to end next year, but I believe we are going to witness a nexus of events that will change the world forever.

2011 was one of the most historic and memorable years in living history: from the Arab awakening; to the killing of bin Laden; the continuos downturn of the world economies as well as the Japan earthquake; we have seen events unfold that will shape the course of 2012.

There is no rescuing the euro crisis: nobody actually knows what is going to happen to the economies across Europe. America, too, is in an unimaginable amount of debt and there are little signs of improvement. Many political analysts are predicting that the US will attack Iran next year and this — as analysts suggest — could lead to World War III. You can read more about that here

If you haven’t realised by now, our countries are controlled by big corporations who care about profits over people. I was just in the U.S. – a country where the media, big food corporations and the pharmaceutical industry are all ‘in it together’. The media repeats adverts of junk food over and over again until it is indelibly printed within our subconscious; we are then given man-made drugs when we become ill, which, at best, suppresses our sickness. Never will the corporations and pharmaceutical industry recommend natural remedies – which are far more effective and better for us – simply because it will detract from their profits. Unlike here in Britain, the health care system in the U.S. is private – money is therefore made when people become ill. Get it?

Food, however, is just one of the means used to keep us in our sullen and stuporous state of somnolent sleep. The music industry and the major record labels will keep churning out the likes of Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Justin Beiber to keep us entertained and divert our attention away from what’s important in life.

We saw people demonstrating against the wealthy ’1%’ across the world this year – people’s consciousness is slowly changing and, because of the state of the world economy, people are unwilling to put up with corporate greed and capitalism.

Gil Scot-Heron’s famous line The Revolution Will Not Be Televised has been banded around a lot this year. One meaning of the phrase could be: true revolution occurs in the mind first before manifesting outwardly. And it’s true, little progress will be made in our society until we change our inward states. We have to first free ourselves from the shackles of our avaricious desires before we can change ourselves and, ultimately, implement freedom and change in society.

My intuition – whatever that may be – tells me that we need to prepare ourselves for whatever occurs next year. Things are changing and changing fast. We have been sleeping for far too long, it’s time to wake up. Unfortunately, what we don’t realise is if we worked together –  and stop killing and betraying one another – we would achieve far more together than we could ever do individually. Our short-sightedness and untamed inner self doesn’t always allow us to see it that way, however.

Truly, we are one human family but we often forget this. The Arabic word for human, Insaan, comes from the root word to forget. Our natural state is therefore inclined towards forgetfulness and headlessness. But these states manifest in people who are diverted away from Reality through mindless entertainment. People who are awake have a piercing insight into Reality. So let’s prepare ourselves and awaken to a new year which is in our hands, not theirs.

Your brother in humanity,

Omar Shahid

Book List For 2012

These are the books I would like to read in 2012:

The Secret History of the World – Jonathon Black

Killing Hope – William Blum

The Alchemy of Happiness – Al Ghazali

Al-Ghazali on the Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife: Book XL of the Revival of the Religious Sciences

Al Ghazali’s Path to Sufism

Islam, religion of life – Abdul Hakim Murad

The Time of the Bedouin – Ian Dallas

Sea Without Shore A Manual of the Sufi Path – Nuh Ha Mim Keller

Coming Back: Science of Reincarnation - A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Bhagavad Gita as It Is

1984 – George orwell

The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman – Malidoma Some

Prophet – Kahlil Gibran

The Awakening of Intelligence - J. Krishnamurti

The Great War for Civilisation – Robert Fisk (a quarter of the way through already)

The Brothers Karamazov -Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Shock Doctrine – Naomi Klein

The Essence of Buddhism: An introduction to its philosophy & practise – Traleg Kyabgon (a quarter of the way through already)

Will We See World War III In 2012?

For the past decade, the public has heard vociferous rhetoric from the White House and the Israeli government about Iran and their nuclear capabilities. In November 2002, the then Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said “the day after” the Iraq war ends, full attention should be given to Iran.

The Iraq invasion officially ended this month, so we must now ask: what now? According to Gerald Celente, who has accurately forecasted major political events for 30 years and is the founder of The Trends Research Institute, not only are we going to see “economic martial law” in 2012, because we cannot “salvage” the “collapsing financial system” but we could see “World War III”. Celente believes with the “Israeli issue heating up”, the problems in Syria continuing (Syria, of course, being best friends with Iran) and the West wanting the fall of both of these regimes, we are seeing it “all come together”.

The Guardian asserted in November: “Britain’s armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran.” And, with the US presidential elections nearing, President Barack Obama’s main hope will be to reverse the state of his country’s economy. If he fails to do this, he will look for ways to divert people’s attention and thus bolster his chances for re-election. According to political analyst Edward Spannaus, the Obama Administration’s strategy for re-election is to start wars, but if the US were to “attack Iran,” it would “end up in a World War III.”

The investigative journalist John Pilger said in this New Statesman article: “The Pentagon has no plans to occupy all of Iran, it has in its sights a strip of land that runs along the border with Iraq. This is Khuzestan, home to 90 percent of Iran’s oil.” Celente, however, believes the reason for a potential attack on Iran would be because of economic reasons. He said: “The entire financial system is collapsing…and when all else fails, they take you to war. And they [the west] are going to do it again.”

According to this Al Jazeera article by M.J. Rosenberg, Robert Baer — a former CIA officer who was primarily assigned to the Middle East – forecasted in 2011 that Israel would attack Iran and drag the US into another major war.  Baer, however, predicted that Israel would attack Iran before September 2011 and turned out to be wrong – but, according to Rosenberg, Baer has named Israeli security figures that have said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are hell-bent on going to war. If this is the case, perhaps it is only a matter of time before Israel initiates an attack.

Former Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, said earlier this year that a strike on Iran’s nuclear instillations would be “stupid” and could lead to “a war”. He added: “It is the kind of thing where we know how it starts, but not how it will end.”

What would happen if Iran was attacked? ”We would make them regret such a mistake and would severely punish them [Israel and the US],” said Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces.

Bruce Reidel, formerly special assistant to Obama and former CIA analyst, said: “The Iranians have the capacity to retaliate against America not only in the Middle East and the Persian gulf – but in Afghanistan where we have 90,000 troops and where the Iranians have well-established links to the Taliban.”

Afghanistan and Pakistan have both suffered since 9/11 and the relationship between the US and Pakistan has deteriorated so much that, according to Mirza Aslam Baig, former Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, the two countries could go to war in the near future.

Pakistan is the only Islamic country in the world to possess nuclear weapons and with its weakening infrastructure, increasing instability and swelling relations with the US – Iran is not the only country the Obama administration could face problems with – Pakistan is too.

2011 has been one of the most historic and turbulent years in living memory. From the Japan earthquake; to the Arab revolutions, leading to demise of vicious dictators; and the killing of Osama Bin Laden – we have seen a paradigm shift across the world. The ramifications of the shift in geo-politics are still unclear and what 2012 will produce is anyone’s guess. What is blindingly obvious though, is 2012 will be inexorably determined by the action or inaction, of the Obama administration. Whenever the US interfere around the world, it normally ends in disaster. Let’s hope if they do again, it doesn’t end in the biggest disaster of all.

Album Review: Logic & Last Resort True Talk

In an age where hip-hop has become synonymous with thoughtless lyrics and violence – the antipode of its origins – Logic, a London-based MC, has set out on a mission to shatter that stereotype with his alliterative first major release True Talk. The album has a clear summer vibe running through it and returns to the raw essence of hip-hop.

Logic is the co-founder, along with fellow MC, Lowkey, of People’s Army – a movement of like-minded people who advocate “positive change”.

While not completely politically motivated, the nucleus of the record is overwhelmingly conscious: the standout track We’ll Never Know, featuring Akala and Maverick Sabre, covers a nexus of socio-political issues. However, the occasional mentions of Freemasons and bloodlines in the album will alert the new wave of conspirators who have emerged within the last few years.

The record, assembled by up-and-coming producer LastResort – who produced Lowkey’s Obama Nation part 2 –  has successfully suffused a sense of 90s hip- hop into the album. Listeners would be blameless if, momentarily, they forgot which decade they were in when listening to this throw-back record: Dead Prez is an obvious influence but some of the beats are reminiscent of the immortal sounds of Dr Dre’s Chronic and Ice Cube’s Predator.

While an album should naturally be diverse, Logic has oddly coalesced serious tracks with more facetious ones. He amorously explains his bedroom dealings with his girlfriend in Morphene while, in his most witty track, Animal, says, “I stamp on the beat I’m an Elephant/ I’m an animal/ still I’m a gentleman”.

Naturally, there’ll be comparisons with Lowkey’s album Soundtrack To The Struggle — released six weeks earlier. Unlike Lowkey’s record, Logic’s has one too many forgettable tracks. What’s not forgettable, though, is his incessant call for change and for people to “wake up” as illustrated in his heartfelt track 4 Revolution. In this track Logic says: “So revolution is the next step/ tell them the people are the soldiers they’ll never get.” The biggest criticism, perhaps, is the timing of the record’s release: True Talk has one too many tracks that would be perfect for summer time.

The album is worth the buy, not just because it’s a good record, but because unique artists like Logic deserve the support.

Rating: 4/5

You can buy the album from here

Twitter: omar_shahid

Why Everyone Should Perform Jihad

They say ‘knowledge is power’ but power often corrupts the human psyche. Power often leads to arrogance and arrogance infects the heart like no other disease. To prevent hubris from penetrating the heart, when we accumulate knowledge, it should be done with sincerity. If we acquire knowledge to, say, impress others, arrogance will end up infusing our hearts.

The concept of Jihad, is in many ways, a subjective one. The word Jihad, means to struggle against something. The highest form of Jihad is to struggle against, suppress and master our evil inclinations. This in Arabic is called: Jihad-an-naffs (Jihad against oneself). But Jihad has many permutations: we can perform Jihad against a tyrant, against those that fight against us, or against any evil in our society. Jihad is therefore a universal concept.

“Many people think about changing the world, but few think of changing themselves” as the saying goes. And it’s true: if we’re more concerned about improving society and not ourselves, we will never achieve anything. Peace is something that starts from within and then manifests to the wider community.

We willl never be a peaceful society until we are at peace with ourselves.

Salaam Alaykum, may peace be with you.

Twitter: omar_shahid

An interview with the Headmaster of Trinity Catholic High School, Dr Paul Doherty

Dr Paul Doherty commands respect: he has that reverential aura that when he enters the room, even the most raucous people shut up. Dr Doherty, an award winning author and historian, has published 80 novels and is known under the pseudonyms Paul Harding, C.L. Grace and Vanessa Alexander. Most importantly, though, he has been the headmaster of Trinity Catholic High School in Woodford Green, Essex, for 30 years.

His secretary calls me into his office and, upon entering the room, I am met with a pair of analyzing eyes and a half-smile. He greets me in his husky voice: “Hello Omar”.

 Woodford Green — a fairly affluent and calm suburb in North East London — has witnessed two shootings in recent weeks. What does he make of it all?

 “The area is definitely changing. I haven’t got stats, but aren’t guns becoming more common? Much of violence in London is gang related – well that’s the message we’re getting from police. I think much of the gang culture is related to drugs.” He backtracks: “I’m not too sure about drugs [hard drugs], actually. From what I can gather, the real drug is alcohol.”

Having authored a myriad of books while simultaneously running a school, he must have a secret. “I was given a very firm grounding in history. I trained in Medieval History, Theology, Greek and Roman History. I was a voracious reader. I was a massive depository of ideas.”

What sort of ideas? “I’ll give you an example. I studied Alexander the Great. We, in the west, think he is marvelous. In Persia they think he is awful – they spit at his name. The more I researched, I found out he destroyed their sacred books and fire. I found out he was a killer!

“Then I found out he died a rather mysterious death in Babylon. His body didn’t actually decompose straight away.Then I thought: was he poisoned or did he take too much arsenic? One of the effects of arsenic is your body doesn’t decompose. So I wrote a book about it all.”

Having attended Trinity myself during sixth form, I remember a few inconspicuous students telling me how much they despise Mass (a Eucharistic assembly). It’s “bloody boring” one student said. I remember another student at the school saying “oh for f*** sake” when he found out they had Mass on that day.  

I gulp and bravely ask: Isn’t it time the school, perhaps, jazzed it up a bit? Dr Doherty is silent for a few seconds and then responds: “If they find it onerous or boring all I can say is that’s true of many things in life. I find it boring. I don’t like going to Mass sometimes.”

“You can jazz it up, but what can we do? We are competing with the bite size culture: the Internet, Facebook, Twitter. I think we are losing – on a superficial level we have lost.“

Dr Doherty trained as a priest for three years and anyone who knows him describes him as a ‘man of God.’ Does he think the children in his school have become less religious over the years? “No. I would say slightly more religious – particularly among younger ones. We still have problem with people leaving their faith when they reach 14-15. The debate in society [does God exist] doesn’t help. People see religion as trouble so it’s best to have nothing to do with it.”

He then somehow seamlessly moves on to the topic of religious fundamentalism. “It’s very easy to pick up a sword in the name of Christianity, Islam or Hindi.” Hindi? It’s Hinduism! But I dare not interrupt well he’s in full flow. “Lets say all religions disappeared. We would still find some other cause to have a go at each other.” There, however, I can’t argue.