Forum hosts ‘first-ever’ solidarity youth conference

Among the topics discussed at the conference were Social Struggle and Media, and Entrepreneurship; Solidarity Excellence awards were given for social work

Falah Faisal

Bengaluru: With numerous issues facing Muslims in the state and country, Solidarity Youth Movement held the first state-level solidarity conference in order to promote hope, resilience, and dignity in the community.

There were exhibits that displayed the achievements of Islamic society and scholars throughout the ages to inform people about the breakthroughs made in math, science, and astronomy that get washed over by the mainstream narrative.

There was also a book stall with books in three languages – Kannada, Urdu, and English – covering a range of topics that included economics, women’s place in Islam, and the life of the prophet. The conference was inaugurated by Taha Mateen and Muhammed Kunhi of Jamat Islami Hind and Nahas Mala, the President of Solidarity Kerala.

Speaking at the ceremony, Taha Mateen said, “We must never get angry, vengeful or reactive no matter what comes our way. We should never endanger the security of the country or violate decency and morality even in the face of violence. This is what Islam teaches us and we shall live this path of freedom.”

This was followed by a session on Entrepreneurship, Politics and Service in which Suhail KK of the Quill Foundation addressed the audience about how to combat Islamophobia. He said, “Islamophobia is a political project that doesn’t have an instant solution but here are four steps we can follow that will help us.

They are defining what Islamophobia is ie anti-Muslim racism, documenting Islamophobia as creating evidence will help in affirmative action later, deconstructing Islamophobic narrative and reconstructing a positive image around Islam.” Suhail also hosted the next session, Social Struggle in Media, and was joined on stage by BM Hanif of Prajavani, Aditya Menon from the Quint, and Prashant Tandon, an independent journalist with over three decades of experience.

They discussed how fake news and hate speech could be combatted and what mechanisms were there to stop them from spreading. Prashant Tandon said, “Without a healthy media, democracy can’t exist. Media is like the kidney that purifies blood in our system and right now our democracy is on dialysis.”

Hanif pointed out the lack of coordination between the Muslim intelligentsia as one of the problems and said that there was a need to participate in the legislation in order to bring about change since Muslim representation had been failing in recent times with no Muslim leaders speaking out against the violence against the community that was on the rise in the state.

Finally, Solidarity Excellence Awards were presented to members of the community who had done social work during the pandemic and excelled in the fields of Art and Science. The awardees included Dr Ashwini KP (Social Activism), Tabassum (Humanitarian Services), Mahantesh (Journalism), Tanveer Ahmed (Social Service), Mansoor Ghous (Environment), AMP (Empowerment), Suheb Baig (Education), Mohammed Idrees (Art and Culture), M Azmathulla (Sports) and Abdul Rehman (Inspiration). The event ended with an open press conference with leaders of the community