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We have more in common as people than with governments of Iran and USA February 21, 2012 at 10:37 pm  Maryam Namazie
Persepolis author, Marjane Satrapi, says:
They will never learn February 21, 2012 at 11:16 am Maryam Namazie Multi-culturalism – not as a positive lived experience – but as a social policy is a politics of division. I agree. It divides people into cultures and puts cultures (the most regressive aspects) before citizens. But in response, Minister Eric Pickles says a return of Christianity in Britain’s public life will bring about the community cohesion that is lacking under multiculturalism. No it won’t. Especially because not everyone in a ‘majority’ or ‘minority’ group think alike. In a plural society, with many beliefs and opinions, you need to keep beliefs out in order to bring about any sort of social cohesion. And as a first step, you need a concept of citizenship that goes beyond people’s beliefs and to some extent keeps their beliefs our of the state and public insititutions. And you need secularism, which is a minimum precondition, for basic rights and freedoms. But they will never learn… *** On a positive note, the fight back by those wanting a larger role for Christianity in the public space (as if having an established church and bishops in the house of lords is not enough) is because they are feeling the pressure of secularists. This is a very good thing. The other good thing is that all this talk of a return to Christian values will get secularists speaking out though they may have been silent when it was about Islam’s role in the public space due to bogus accusations of racism and Islamophobia… So bring it on. Prayers at council meeting is less messy than looking at sheep entrails February 21, 2012 at 10:41 am Maryam Namazie The excellent National Secular Society has won a legal challenge to prayers during local government council meetings. Nonetheless, the government is activating powers it says will allow councils to hold prayers. Well I suppose you can’t blame them for hoping that prayer will succeed where they have failed. But seriously, the NSS is not saying people aren’t allowed to pray. Pray all you like. No one cares least of all those of us who have better things to do with our time. Just don’t do it on tax payer’s time and in your role as a public official. As Nicholas writes in an email:
But that is just too much to ask… And your point is? February 21, 2012 at 10:08 am Maryam Namazie The Telegraph (which must give away a free bottle of water that costs more than the paper with every issue) has a piece on the ‘slave roots’ of Richard Dawkins. This ‘awkward revelation’ is yet another fine piece of journalism. I suppose since my grandfather led Friday prayers and was an ‘Islamic scholar’, I have an Islamist gene in me that will one day most likely reveal itself when I set up a Sharia court. And the Telegraph’s point is?
In case you don’t know the worth of women’s lives and men’s testicles February 20, 2012 at 1:49 pm Maryam Namazie Just in case you didn’t know how much you were worth under Islamic Diyeh or blood money (paid to the victim or victim’s family), here’s a reminder: Article 300: The blood money for first or second degree murder of a Muslim woman is 50 camels. Article 435: The blood money for a Muslim man losing his left testicle is 66 camels and his right testicle is 34 camels. Loss of both is 100 camels. Yup, you read right. Even a man’s testicles are worth more than a woman’s life. By the way, in case you don’t have camels, not to worry. The regime in Iran has calculated cash equivalents to assist you…
(Photo of laws via Bahman Abnekar on Facebook) In defence of militant secularisation February 19, 2012 at 10:58 pm Maryam Namazie In a recent speech the Tory Party Chairperson Lady Warsi said:
By the way, telling people they can’t carry conspicuous religious symbols or pray at their workplaces or discriminate against gay people because it’s part of their religious beliefs is the ‘militant secularisation’ Warsi is speaking of. She’s taking her message to the pope who has in the past argued against ‘aggressive forms of secularism’ likening it to the evils of Nazism. How absurd. ‘Militant secularisation’ is a direct response to religion’s encroachments and intolerance not the other way around. And there is nothing more totalitarian and intolerant than religion in political power. Just look back to the Spanish inquisition of centuries past or today’s Islamic inquisition. Richard Dawkins February 19, 2012 at 10:35 am Maryam Namazie Here’s Dawkins speech at the 11 February free expression rally. Best lines: A scholar usually needs to have read more than one book, people need to ‘stop being so damn respectful’ and that without freedom of speech, society would be a ‘scientific, technological, moral dark age’. By the way, here’s Richard Dawkins’ comment on the 11 February free expression rally and also the culturally relativist position of the police in dealing with honour-based violence and crimes. He met some people at the rally who had not be helped by the police since it is ‘part of their culture’: Books on atheism and Islam February 19, 2012 at 10:21 am Maryam Namazie I just received a request for a list of books on atheism and also atheism and Islam. Can anyone help with putting together a list, which I can send on? Thanks for any help on this. Here’s the email:
The Saudi government will be held accountable for Hamza Kashgari’s life and security February 19, 2012 at 9:53 am Maryam Namazie 
We demand immediate freedom for Hamza Kashgari! To Whom It May Concern: We are outraged to learn that 23 year old writer Hamza Kashgari is in prison after being deported to Saudi Arabia from Malaysia where he had fled in fear of his life. The deportation of a person with a well-founded fear of persecution is a violation of human and refugee rights. We demand that he be immediately released and his life safeguarded. Kashgari is not a criminal; as a poet and writer, he was merely Tweeting an imagined conversation with Mohammad, Islam’s prophet. This is his basic human right to free expression and would not be deemed a crime in many countries world-wide. It is because he is a Saudi national and due to Sharia law that the expressions of Kashgari and others, including many Muslims who question, criticise and challenge Islam, become matters of life and death. His persecution is within a context of on-going state repression, lack of social justice, and restrictions on rights and freedoms for all citizens via Sharia law and repression. We call on the Saudi government to immediately and unconditionally release Hamza Kashgari. It is not Hamza who must in condemned but the officials and clergymen calling for his death. His persecution is not justice but barbarity. Any harm or punishment meted out against Hamza will be met with world-wide public outrage. Countless groups and individuals have already come to the fore demanding his release. Here is one such petition in his defence supported by well known writers, campaigners and defenders of free expression. Needless to say, the Saudi government will be held accountable for Hamza Kashgari’s safety and life. We look forward to your earliest response on this urgent matter. Sincerely, *** Please sign the petition in support of Hamza Kashgari. Tell your friends, family and colleagues to sign it. The more we keep the spotlight on his case, the more difficult it will be for the Saudi government to harm him. Sign it nowwww! Please! (Photo via Free Hamza Kashgari Facebook Page, which you should join too.) We are here for Hamza Kashgari, Alex Aan and others like them February 18, 2012 at 10:33 pm Maryam Namazie Here is my speech at the 11 February free expression rally. We were there for the likes of Saudi writer Hamza Kashgari, Indonesian atheist Alex Aan and others whose lives are intertwined with ours, even if we do not realise it: Hoping that we return to the right path February 18, 2012 at 10:22 pm Maryam Namazie Here is one more of the many emails we get at the Council of Ex-Muslims for you to enjoy. It’s heartwarming, really, to see all the concern. Here Khalid Najib asks why we don’t all ‘return to the right path’. Err, Khalid, please don’t bother holding your breath. And thanks for asking but no thanks. Here’s Khalid’s letter in case any of you ex-Muslim atheists out there want his unsolicited ‘advice’. Please feel free to give him a piece of your mind in the comments section.
Join the screaaaammmm February 17, 2012 at 3:24 pm Maryam Namazie 
To mark 8 March 2012, International Women’s Day, a Nude Photo Revolutionary calendar is being published in homage to Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, who in November 2011 posted a nude photo (featured) of herself on her blog as ‘screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy’. At a time when women’s rights and bodies under attack via Islamism and the religious-right, nudity is an important form of resistance. Join the scream! There is still some time to submit an original photo. Here are some details: * The submission must include a short quote on why you are joining the ‘scream’. Once we receive your photo, we will ask you and the photographer to sign a release form if we decide to use it. The deadline for receiving photos is 1 March. For more information on the calendar, please contact Maryam Namazie at nudephotorevolutionaries@gmail.com. My nude photo February 16, 2012 at 12:08 am Maryam Namazie 
I just had my photo taken for the Nude Photo Revolutionaries Calendar today by the brilliant photographer Ben Hopper. It was more difficult than I ever imagined on so many different levels… More on this though when the calendar is launched. If you are interested in submitting a photo in homage to Egyptian atheist Aliaa Magda Elmahdy (featured photo), please do it asap as time is running out. Here are details. Do you encounter long delays on my blog? February 15, 2012 at 11:59 pm Maryam Namazie evilDoug has written to say that he often encounters long delays as my FTB pages load. He says:
Anyone else having this problem? 11 February 2012: An Important Stand for Free Expression February 14, 2012 at 11:43 pm Maryam Namazie 
One Law for All held a successful rally in defence of free expression on Saturday 11 February 2012 opposite the Houses of Parliament. Hundreds braved the cold weather to join the rally at Old Palace Yard. The rally followed several incidents in London recently where freedom of expression was curtailed in favour of fear of causing offence. In one incident, a talk on sharia law by One Law for All’s Anne Marie Waters was cancelled following threats of violence. Rhys Morgan was told by his school to remove a picture of Jesus and Mo from his Facebook page – a picture he had used in solidarity with the University College London Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society who had been asked by their student union to remove the same image. Both UCL and the London School of Economics have since passed draconian motions which will further restrict religious criticism or satire at their schools. Speakers at the rally included A C Grayling, Nick Cohen, Caroline Cox, Gita Sahgal, Keith Porteous Wood, and Rhys Morgan. The event was sponsored by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science UK and featured Richard Dawkins who told the crowd to ‘stop being so damn respectful’ and that without freedom of speech, society would be a ‘scientific, technological, moral dark age’. The Walrus and the Carpenter February 14, 2012 at 6:01 am Maryam Namazie Hassan Radwan just sent me a link to the video clip of the Saudi Sheikh Nasser Al Omar crying whilst relating the ‘offence’ that Hamza Kashgari has committed by tweeting about Mohammad, Islam’s prophet. As is expected, the Sheikh quickly gathers his emotions and calls for Hamza’s death. The sheikh’s crocodile tears remind me of the Islamic mourning ceremonies I have been to in Iran where the mullah cries during his sermon. He seems inconsolable but then quickly stops ‘crying’, and starts eating and gossiping as if nothing has happened. All in a day’s work. Or as Hassan puts it:
It would be funny if it wasn’t a matter of life of death… See the Sheikh’s fine acting qualities for yourself: By the way, don’t forget to support the campaign to free Hamza; please sign the petition. Join Free Hamza Facebook Page. There must be more people who want Hamza to live not die February 14, 2012 at 5:16 am Maryam Namazie The Facebook page الشعب السعودي يريد القصاص من حمزة كاشغري ‘The Saudi People Demand Ghisas [Retribution] for Hamza Kashgari’ has 22,500 members as of now. And the Free Hamza Kashgari page you ask? 2,500. Facebook sees no problem with the first Facebook page though complaints have been made. It’s ‘their culture’ after all. But a call for Ghisas under Sharia law is a call for ‘retribution’ and be assured that it doesn’t mean tweeting a poem offensive to Hamza… Now I know there are more people that want Hamza to live not die, many of them in Saudi Arabia. Well, let’s see it please. Join Free Hamza Kashgari Facebook page. Also, please sign the petition. Freedom for Saudi writer Hamza Kashgari February 13, 2012 at 5:40 pm Maryam Namazie 
On 12 February, Malaysian police deported 23 year old Saudi columnist Hamza Kashgari, who fled Saudi Arabia after making comments on Twitter claimed by some to be “insulting” to the prophet Muhammad. There have been widespread calls from Islamists for his execution; in Saudi Arabia, blasphemy is punishable by death. Theocratic regimes like Saudi Arabia will not tolerate the most basic freedom of thought and expression. We defend the right of everyone in the world to freely express their views, including to criticise religion. We condemn the Malaysian government for detaining Kashgari who had fled the country and handing him over to the Saudi authorities. We are also concerned to learn of reports that INTERPOL may have promulgated a Saudi government warrant for his arrest. The implications of this mean that no asylum seeker or refugee is free from persecution even after having fled. We demand that the Saudi authorities immediately and unconditionally release Kashgari. He has not committed any crime. To support the campaign, please sign the petition. Join Free Hamza Facebook Page. Initial Signatures: INTERPOL, you have done this before… February 13, 2012 at 1:15 pm Maryam Namazie INTERPOL has issued a statement saying it is not involved in the arrest or deportation of Saudi blogger, Hamza Kashgari:
If it says so – though I am skeptical especially since it has done this before. In 2009, a number of us wrote to its office complaining about Iranian opposition leaders being included on its wanted list at the request of the Islamic regime of Iran! In a response to Fariborz Pooya’s complaint this is what its Legal Affairs Office wrote:
Really? I am not sure how Kashgari would have had the time or information to challenge INTERPOL’s files had they promulgated an arrest warrant issued by a state [corrected]. INTERPOL needs to rethink warrants instigated via oppressive regimes. This may be the case that will ensure that it does. But a young man’s life is still at stake… Malaysia must pay for this and Saudi Arabia too: Hamza must live February 12, 2012 at 10:48 am Maryam Namazie Police have confirmed that Hamza Kashgari was sent back to Saudi Arabia on Sunday despite protests. A friend has emailed to say the Malysian authorities refused to allow a lawyer to talk to him. Malaysia’s home ministry has said that ‘The nature of the charges against the individual in this case are a matter for the Saudi Arabian authorities’. Which basically means that any asylum seeker or refugee must be returned as it is a case for the government in question!? Malaysia must be made to pay for this heinous act of returning someone to their possible death (something that Western governments also do all the time by deporting asylum seekers). And Saudi Arabia must feel such rage that it dare not touch a hair on Hamza’s head. Saudi Arabia be warned. We will not let you kill Hamza. Be warned. A campaign for Hamza will be announced shortly. (via Sigmund) |
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