We want to change the world

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

These three women spend every spare minute trying to change other people's
deepest beliefs. Why do they do it? And how does it affect their family and
friends? They tell their stories to Hannah Duguid

Monday June 30, 2003
The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,3604,987616,00.html

Amy Jowett, 25 Global Resistance
Amy Jowett is so eager to get her message across that her words tumble out
in a furious stream of consciousness. She is a senior member of Global
Resistance, an anti-capitalist group with 500 members.
"I believe that I am a small part of a growing movement that will change the
world. In 50 years' time we will have become a massive force, overthrown
capitalism and replaced it with something much nicer," she says.
Jowett works hard to achieve her dream. She has a full-time job teaching
English to asylum seekers and spends her spare time at meetings and
demonstrations, handing out leaflets and persuading anyone who will listen
to join the anti-capitalist movement.
"I have always been an angry young lady and had a strong sense of social
injustice. I believe there is something better than this. My dad's a social
worker and my parents support my beliefs but neither of them are political.
"During my gap year I spent time on a kibbutz in Israel. Seeing the
oppression of the Palestinian people at first-hand was a wake-up call for me
about the evils of American imperialism. I went on to study philosophy at
the University of North London and reading Marx made me realise how a
capitalist economic system exacerbates social injustice. I became a
committed socialist."
At university, Jowett went on her first demonstration against the
introduction of university fees. She then joined the Socialist Workers'
Party and when Global Resistance formed nearly four years ago, she became a
founding member.
London's first Carnival Against Capitalism in 1999 was the ideal,
non-violent way for Jowett to express her anti-capitalist sentiments. Since
then she has never stopped - even on holiday. A year ago, she took time off
work and went to Florence for three days of meetings with anti-globalisation
and anti-capitalist groups from all over Europe, followed by a
million-strong anti-war demonstration.
Since, she has demonstrated against war in Iraq, university top-up fees,
firefighters' pay and the Italian government for arresting two Italian
protesters. "I even argue with my six-year-old sister about why her dolls
are a repressive representation of femininity," she says.
She has a wide circle of friends but most of her socialising is based around
her political activity. Even when she is off duty, she can't help
campaigning. "When I meet people I try and bring them round to my beliefs by
having a healthy debate. I'm sure I've played a part in converting some
people to my way of thinking," she says.
Her boyfriend, John, 32, is also an active member of the anti-capitalist
movement. For their first date two years ago they protested at the Genoa G8
summit, where Jowett showed him how to soak his scarf in lemon juice to
lessen the effects of tear gas. "It brings us together. I couldn't be with
someone who would rather go shopping on a Saturday than go to a
demonstration."
She is so disturbed by capitalism that, at the moment, she doesn't want
children. "I wouldn't want to bring them into this world," she says. But,
she admits, if she did have them she'd make sure they shared her beliefs.
But what if they rebelled and joined the Conservative party? "I'd disown
them," she says firmly. "I'd disown anybody if they became a Tory or joined
the police."
Rubana Akhgar, 28 al-Muhajiroun
Rubana Akhgar's parents are traditional Pakistani Muslims but when she asked
her mum to make her a baggy shapeless dress that complied with the dress
code of the Koran, her mother refused. "She thought it was too extreme,"
says Akhgar.
Her interest in Islam developed at university and during her final year she
covered her hair. "At university everyone was having a wild time but no one
had a clue what they really wanted from life. During the summer holidays I
worked in Bootsat Marble Arch. I watched everyone shopping like mad and
thought: 'What's this all about? Why are we here?'
"Then I met an English guy at university who had converted to Islam. He told
me how it had changed his life. I decided to research Islam myself rather
than ask my parents.
"What I read made my mind dance. The more I studied, the more I thought,
'There is a God and what is written in the Koran is true'. My life began to
have meaning."
Then, aged 22, Akhgar joined al- Muhajiroun - an Islamic group, active in 35
UK towns, whose final aim is for Britain to become an Islamic state. She
married the leader, Anjem Choudray, 35, and they live in Ilford with their
two young children.
Akhgar is now head of the women in the group and spends her days organising
meetings, lectures, study groups and a market stall used to propagate Islam.
"It's hard work but I make sacrifices to achieve tranquillity in this life
and paradise in the afterlife. I believe that if everyone lived a truly
Islamic life the world would be a better place. There would be no poverty,
social or sexual problems such as rape and paedophilia. It would also bring
a fair system of justice."
If Akhgar buys a travelcard for the London underground she won't pass it on
to her sister because, according to Islam, she must honour her contract,
which means adhering to the terms and conditions on the back of the ticket.
"Everything I do is governed by Islam and all my relationships are defined
by it," she says.
Akhgar does not mix socially with men other than immediate family. She has
encouraged her parents and two of her three sisters to fully embrace Islam
but her father still finds it difficult that she won't mix with the male
cousins that she used to be close to.
"My dad's a real family man so he finds segregation difficult. It's seen as
old-fashioned. Recently I didn't go to a friend's wedding because men and
women would be socialising at the wedding. They were offended but it wasn't
meant personally," she says.
She has lost touch with non-Muslim friends. "It just didn't work. We no
longer had anything in common and I wasn't interested in talking about which
boys they were sleeping with. My relationship with any non-Muslim is one of
talking about Islam," she says.
Her daughter is educated at a private Islamic school in north London but
Akhgar is considering home schooling and is working on a syllabus. "I want
to protect my children from this society and bring them up in a strict
Islamic environment so that it becomes a complete way of life for them. I
don't think they will reject it but if they did I would be devastated
because they would end up in hellfire for the hereafter."
Natasha Bennet, 35 The Family
Thirteen years ago Natasha Bennet took off her money belt, slammed it down
on the table and declared to a gathering of Christian missionaries in Nepal:
"I forsake all. I want to follow Jesus." She was 21 years old.
As a teenager Bennet had suffered from depression. Her parents divorced when
she was 16. Aged 18, she spent a miserable year in London as a temp and
returned home to Kenya to think about her future. She went travelling and
ended up in a Nepalese ashram practising meditation and smoking copious
amounts of marijuana.
"The turning point for me was when a friend was stabbed and nearly died. I
was traumatised and disillusioned with meditation as I didn't feel I was
getting anywhere near enlightenment. I prayed to God: 'If you exist, please
give me a sign.'
"A few days later I met some missionaries from The Family. They were so nice
to me - and each other. They were kind and supportive. It only took me a few
days to realise that I wanted to join them. I felt as though, at last, I was
living."
Bennet joined The Family - a Christian group with controversial "new age"
values. They don't go to church, although they do study the Bible. The 100
UK members don't work but pool their wealth and raise money through
donations or selling The Family's merchandise. They live communally, believe
 in sex before marriage and extra-marital sex - as long as it is an act of
love, not lust.
Bennet believes the "End Time" is coming and she tries to "save" people by
bringing them to Jesus and the promise of eternal life in heaven.
She believes she has "saved" many people but her first attempt did not go
well. When she tried to tell a friend about Jesus, he shouted abuse then
threw a table at her and walked off. "I followed him and kept telling him
that Jesus loved him," she says, laughing.
Her mother's reaction was even worse. When Bennet gave birth to a son
fathered by another Family member, her mother was convinced that she had
been brainwashed and took her to court to gain custody of her grandson. It
took three years for Bennet to win custody of her son.
"I was very bitter but my love of Jesus helped me get over it and feel love
for my mother again," says Bennet.
In 1996 Bennet married another Family member, Simon, 37 - not the father of
her eldest son. They both had privileged upbringings and live with their
four young children in a large house in Luton bought with money from their
grandparents. They can afford not to work.
Until a few years ago they shared their house with at least one other
family. But Bennet found the pressure of communal living a strain so they
now only take people on a short-term basis. At the moment, a family of five
is living with them for a month.
"Being in The Family has made Simon and I very close. We have the same
goals, purpose and love of Jesus. In the right circumstances sex with
someone outside the marriage can be a positive loving act. It's not
something that we actively practise any more. But if a female member of The
Family needed love and Simon felt he could, in good faith, give her love
then I would allow him to sleep with her," says Bennet.
Their two daughters are educated at home but their sons go to a private
school nearby. They won't send them to state school because they worry their
children will fall in with bad company.
She says: "I wouldn't condemn my children if they rejected Jesus but I would
be sad because a life without Jesus brings such a depth of unhappiness and
feeling of loss."