As we mentioned earlier, this weekend 94 year old marathoner Fauja Singh decided to try his hand at some shorter distances, namely the 100m, 200m, 300m, 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 3,000m and 5,000m. How’d he do?
In the senior category, he not only set a new 200m title, but halved it from 76.8 seconds to a mere 49.28 seconds. He has also set the UK record for the 400 meters, 800m, 1 mile, and 3000m.“He is an inspiration because he has set five UK records. He has achieved more in one day than an athlete normally does in a lifetime,” said Bridget Cushen, Secretary, British Masters Athletic Federation. If that wasn’t enough, he attempted all the records in under 94 minutes. [cite]
Unfortunately, it looks like Haraguchi’s new 100m record will stand for another day. It’s a bit much to take a distance runner and expect him to set a world record in all the shorter distances over night.
Lest you think that Fauja Singh isn’t mutinous enough, the races had an explicitly political purpose. They were called the “Turban Records,” they aimed to raise the profile of Sikhs and wearing turbans and incidentally to stick it to the French:
Fauja has … [been] chosen as the Olympic torchbearer through London …. However, Sikhs in England warn that if Paris wins the 2012 Olympic bid, stories like Fauja’s may never be told.
“France has decided to enforce their form of secularism which denies the individual their religious identity. They are denying Sikhs the turban, the
Muslims their hijab and other people of faith their symbols,” said Harmander Singh, Fauja’s trainer. “To us the turban is very important, and Fauja Singh wears a turban. He’s set world records and other things wearing a turban. Imagine what will happen if the IOC decides to give Paris the Olympic bid,” he said.“Will people like Fauja be able to participate? We think it’s an unnecessary pressure on people of faith,” he added.
People are now hoping that the ‘Turban records’, named in protest against France’s ban on religious headgear, will go that extra mile to tip the Olympic bid in London’s favour. [cite]
While this is an overly simplicitic interpretation of laïcité, I too am still steamed at the French decision to kick keshdari Sikh boys out of public schools. I’m proud to see Fauja Singh remind the general public of this ridiculous behavior by the French.
Lastly, apparently there are some skeptics who think that Fauja Singh is too good for a man his age. His coach has a challenge to them:
Fauja has done so well that some cynics doubt he is 94 at all. Harmander [his coach] adds: “People always cast aspersions and say he really can’t be that old. I have suggested to some of the doubters – let’s say he is 30 years younger, would you like to race against him? He would still be pretty good for a 64-year-old.” [cite]
Fauja’s an OG. Don’t mess.
this guy is incredible..forrest gump, watch out 🙂
HARIPA!! The French would get mopped up with a chapatti if OG F-Singh threw the smack down on them.
A few months ago, Q-News (a UK Muslim mag) interviewed Gilles Kepel, one of the guys responsible for the French ruling:
“When the Stasi commission first convened, most of us were against the legislation which as we thought would create unnecessary problems. However, we listened to a number of testimonies that worried us. Islamist groups were forcing young girls to wear the veil, causing clashes within the classroom. The classroom should be a place for young people to learn and be imbued with a strong sense of citizenship. An explicit divide was developing between the veiled girls, Christians, Jews and atheists. Everytime a salafist imam seized power in a mosque, we found problems developing at schools. Muslim kids started refusing to sit at the same table as ‘the kuffarÂ’.
We had to break this trend. This completely contradicts the purpose of schooling. Not because of the veil itself, of course, but because of the process at work behind it. The classroom is not for the development of religious identity.”
What do you guys think of this reasoning? I hadn’t heard that viewpoint in ANY of the mainstream media. Back home in the U.S., I know schools cite uniforms as improving behavior and removing class distinctions in areas with a big divide between rich and poor. Why not the same for banning religious wear that serves to incite and divide peers?
Obviously Muslim extremists aren’t the same as Sikhs, marathoners or otherwise, but how SHOULD the French have dealt with the problem?
Off topic, but responding to the previous entry.
First off, remember that France is ruled by a conservative government right now, especially in the realm of immigration and multiculturalism. The 2002 elections basically ended up a choice between right and extreme-right, and the incumbent, Jacques Chirac, won out over his far-right National Front adversary, Jean-Marie Le Pen.
The fact that Le Pen was even one of the top two candidates tells you something about the French political atmosphere. The goal of the National Front party is to “strengthen the French family” by literally “reversing the flow of immigration” – basically, if you are not white, Catholic and have a big nose, then you get to go back to where you came from. Never mind that your family has been in France for three or four generations and you’re actually a citizen; you’re not “Français de souche” and therefore it’s on a boat to Algeria/Senegal/Vietnam with you.
Seventeen percent of the French populace voted for this man in the first round of the election, and eighteen percent in the final round.
I spoke with a French woman living in the United States a few months ago, and we were having a great conversation about things French: cheese, wine, music, literature… then we turned to politics and the conversation went sour. “Islam is a religion of lies,” she spat. “The Muslim clerics make women wear the headscarf, and banning the veil in the schools will save them from the fundamentalism they learn at the mosque. We must do this, because we have more and more Muslims living in France every day, and if we are not careful, we could end up living under Sharia law.”
There’s your context.
The current mindset of French society is such that no one complains about the “conspicuous religious symbol” ban as long as a somewhat decent explanation is given – “we are liberating teenage girls from the conservative views of their parents and church leaders!” gets a lot of credibility, ironically enough. And they really couldn’t get away with banning the foulard without including the Sikh turban, the yarmulke, etc. (And note that you never hear one word about nuns’ habits in the debate.) The fact of the matter is that the people in power are NOT fans of multiculturalism in the least, and “assimilation” means divesting yourself of the manners and religion of your former country and fitting in to the mainstream catholic-to-atheist crowd in the new one. So I can’t really give a good answer to “what SHOULD the French government have done in this case?” because they did, logically, exactly what they were expected to.
Here’s another quote from Q magazine to think about : If this ban comes into effect, France would be driving determined Muslim students who wear headscarves into the hands of religiously sponsored institutions, where notions of mutual tolerance are unlikely to be a central focus. In effect, as FranceÂ’s blunt Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, argued,the law would only intensify the problems it is trying to resolve.
Honestly, does it make any sense for a government to ban religious expression, and then expect not to have religious people lash out against that? Anyone remember the huge to-do here in the US last Christmas when the religious right perceived that they were being persecuted when they weren’t allowed to have Nativity scenes at City Hall? Now imagine that times fifty years of being told “your religion is irrelevant now that you are in this country, and if you choose to practice it you are not really welcome here.” Such places are where resistances are born, and the same treatment over and over again leads to desperation, which leads to violence. Not a pretty situation.
For a closer look at life in the French banlieue, I recommend Mathieu Kassovitz’s film La Haine. You should be able to find it at independent video stores.
At 5’11”, he’s only 114 lbs!
Sikhs in the City? This guy is hard-kaur!
as a runner, i look up to this man. he has such courage and conviction to continue running, break records, and make big $$ deals with adidas and other stores. amazing.
i hope to be him when i grow up…just the female version.
“People are now hoping that the ‘Turban recordsÂ’, named in protest against FranceÂ’s ban on religious headgear, will go that extra mile to tip the Olympic bid in LondonÂ’s favour.”
It would be so awesome if Fauja Singh keeps going strong and gets the chance to run into the Olymic stadium as the torch bearer in London 2012!!!