Workshop/Seminar on "Women, Youth and Children in Muslim Countries: Between Democracy and War".

This article highlights the workshop "Women, Youth and Children in Muslim Countries: Between Democracy and War," which was jointly organized by the Academy of Social Sciences and Women's Development Research Center, held at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, on December 23, 2002. The title of the workshop cum seminar captures the dilemma faced by Muslims in a campaign against terror. The exercise of pointing to the shortcomings of Western models of development and shifting from Eurocentric views were the prominent themes of the papers presented in the workshop. Local traditions acquire prominence in the exercise of exposing alternative perspectives. The civilizing role of religion becomes the basis of a dialogue between civilizations. A high priority is given to education as a means to introduce the alternative ways of doing and understanding life and the world. Education, through school and university curricula, becomes interconnected in a project to create a more tolerant society and world. The desire to break away from Eurocentricism and Western knowledge systems is a struggle in many parts of the developing world as the contradictions of capitalist modernity are made obvious.