Government Task force meeting, summary

Material for AA Gov Comm Meeting (Oct 18)


The Al Andalus Governance Committee will meet for the last time today at 10 a.m. (SLT) on the second floor of the Convivencia Institute in Al Andalus. The following is the material that will be covered (other material may be covered at the meeting that is brought to it by participants). Everything is open to discussion; new ideas welcome!

Background:
The Al-Andalus Caliphate Project is a Second Life attempt to reconstruct 13th Century Moor Alhambra and build around this virtual space a community of individuals willing to explore the modalities of interaction between different languages, nationalities, religions and cultures shaped by authentic Islamic principles. Those principles include political participation, separation of powers, justice and the rule of law.

Membership in the community is open to all, regardless of sim land ownership, SL premium status, species of avatar, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or other traditionally separatist classification, either real or apparent. The plan is to create a system of political and legal governance, based on notions of community self-governance, active citizen participation, equality, dignity, social justice, democracy and human rights.

Some comments by committee meber Ali Zerbino:
"AA is a unique place where Islam and Islamic symbols are presented in positive manner. It shows our art, architecture and culture in wonderfully creative and beautiful manner. We must recognize that it was an idea of few creative non-Muslims, who conceived it, built it and have been running it. The underlying mission is to show the world that cultures, religions can co-exist and thrive in harmony. . . ."
"Therefore we must endeavor that the proposed governance has Islamic idiom. The names of positions are Islamic, such Caliph, Vezir etc. We want remove the pejorative labels put on us. For example; Jihad is being equated as irrational and unjust war, Sharia’h as stone age justice, oppression of women is symbolized by Burka and Caliphate a despotic rule. . . ."
"We must also be mindful of diversity. In my home country Canada ‘diversity’ is the mantra of the nation. From politicians to common man, everyone is speaking about and acting on how to accommodate people different than us. For example a high school in Toronto has children of 40 different nationalities. In the similar manner we can also practice diversity in the brave new world (SL & AA). This means the laws have to be a mixture of Shariah and Common Law, a new form of democracy and a new type of Caliphate. We need to invent them as presently they do 0not exist."

Governance Model proposed by MuhammedYussif Wikinger:
"The Owner gives away the capacity of ruling to a Sultan who is Muslim and appointed by the Owner, and the Sultan rules with a group of two Muslims, two Christians and two Jews. These are elected in a democratic way from their respective religious group. People who are not religious have to choose to join one of the religious groups and respect the rules of that group. The Sultan reports back to he owner of what is going on and have responsibility of the economical, juridical and social status. If she or he don't use that position to the satisfaction to the owner the owner "ends the game" and we must discuss another form of government."
See slide entitled "Wikinger Model"

Governance Model proposed by Micael Khandr:
"Basically, I propose the same model as MuhammedYussif, but I remove the requirement for a Muslim Sultan and representatives who are members of(or subscribe to) the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities. Instead, the Al Andalus community would seek to build on the idea of diverse people living in community, using the historical Al Andalus as a metaphor for something that goes beyond protecting the diversity to creatively integrating he diversity so that all individuals and group grow in understanding of themselves and other."
See slide entitled "Khandr Model"

Summary:
1. Choice between two models: one run by Muslims, Christians, and Jews; one run by diverse groups (beyond religious identifications).
2. Choice of how disputes are handled: e.g., through Metaverse Republic?