A large number of major Islamic Republic of Iran ‘media’ and hundreds of other websites have published an article about me entitled: ‘Get to know this anti-Islam woman’ in what seems like a coordinated effort.
It lists my various organisational affiliations and says that I am ‘noticeable’ for my ‘enmity’ and ‘widespread activities against Islam and the Islamic Republic and in areas such as the defence of women’s rights and refugee rights’, and that I am ‘in charge’ of those ‘who are effectively apostates’. It adds that I have shamefully opposed Islamic totalitarianism during the Danish cartoons fiasco and quotes someone asking how ‘ugly and deformed [nude] bodies [can] be seen as a form of protest’. It goes on to say that my actions are so appalling that even some ‘ex-Christian Muslim’ writing on an Islamic website has come to understand how ‘those who used to be Muslim can be used to do anything to destroy Islam’…
Of course there is much that can be said about the ‘article’ but this is neither time nor place.
Suffice it to say that you vile lot are – sooner or later – on your way out and that nothing could make me prouder than being part of an immense human movement that will bring you to your knees.
Below are some more links to the absurd piece:
Asre Emrooz
Bardasht News
Sabze Nabavi
Ruzegar e No
Zane Farda
Jahan News
Neda Online
Nedaye Enghelab
“… quotes someone asking how ‘ugly and deformed [nude] bodies [can] be seen as a form of protest’.”
Ugly? Deformed?
I had to see this for myself.
Let me see here… all 10 fingers and toes, no serious scars or even large birthmarks… good symmetry…
Nope. You’re not ugly and deformed. You’re utterly normal.
Oh wait, I get it. He thinks that only people who are utterly free of *any* defects have any right getting naked, even to shower.
That asshole.
Anti-semitism and islamophobia are inoperant useless words that are used by ancient patriarchal self-appointed masculine megalomaniacs who think that faked texts from 1500 AD to 2000 BC have set the ultimate standard of behavior forever and ever.
Today, “anti-semitism” means you oppose the European colony of Israel, islamophobia means you believe in the right of stupid old men to impose slavery on women. It is as simple as that.
Marayam you are the most wonderful and courageous person I know of. Courage is such a rare thing in humans, but it is the most outstanding quality that a person can have. Unfortunately it is also very rare as we are surrounded by cowards on a daily basis. The way you ended this page was brilliant and it says it all. We are an immense human movement building towards the end of religious tyranny all over the planet and we are in every country in the world.We went through this with christianity (that religion was just as controlling, dominating and murdering of ‘apostates’as Islam is now though perhaps not as cruel to women in many ways). We educated them and we can do it again.Those that infuriate me the most though are the leftist apologists.They are defending totally unleft principles, but seem unable or unwilling to see or admit it. Also as one of the above comments shows, they are nearly ALWAYS greatly anti semitic but seem to be unable to see the irony in it as reflective of virilent racism, blatant hatred,and ignorance. They are very useful tools for Islamists and cant see that either. I feel that it is really this pathological hatred of jews that drives their motives to ‘side’ with Islam as they feel they have found a like minded group to help destroy judaism.Its sickening. The people who adhere to judaism have NEVER tried to dominate the laws and the way of life of the countries they live in. Nor do they resort to violence in their adopted countries to cause murder and great distress. We can be blown up sitting in a bus in a completely non muslim country by a rabid muslim with a diseased mind. Has any jew ever done this? Religion breeds diseased minds. We will win this fight, never doubt it, take care
Maryam, I’m in full support of you and send my wishes for your continued strength. I’m a strong believer in the Neither-Washington-nor-Tehran school of thought, a strong opponent of any war on or invasion of Iran, a supporter of justice for Palestinians and against Israeli expansionism and human rights abuses.
I personally don’t believe there are any gods or ever have been, apart from those we humans create out of some existential need to fill the god-shaped vaccuum that can accompany our sense of cosmic loneliness.
A man or a woman believes what they believe and have a right to do so but no-one has any right to force beliefs on others, and no authority has a right to inflict a punishment on any person who simply no longer believes what they used to believe.
Any religion is a system of ideas about how the world works and how people ought to behave within it, and as such any religion can and must be subjected to critiques just as any other set of ideas or system of beliefs.
Oh, and while I’m at it, let me add a favourite hobby horse. I think there are two words in the English language that have been so abused, misused and elasticated as to have become not merely meaningless, but so seriously dangerous that they should be retired from public discourse and the international conversation. Those words are ‘antisemitism’ and ‘islamophobia’.
Renewed best wishes Maryam to you and yours
and — Strength!!
Brian
People are entitled to their beliefs but their charatcter and integrity is often defined by their manner of speech. If Maryam Nemazie chooses to be anti-Muslim and anti-Islam then if she were a woman of integrity she would keep those feelings private and not demonize Islam and Muslims with her objectionable writings. Those who defend her views have also lost their integrity. While it is acceptable to denounce violence or wrongdoing of individuals it is patently wrong to denounce the members of an entire nation or its faith. If Iran or any other country has a certain standard of living that differs from ours, whether moral, ethical, or otherwise, then who gave Maryam Nemazie and others the right to denounce their culture and way of life? Live and let live still still applies, no? I despise zionism and its adherents and I despise those in the governments of the world who wage wars against others and create murder and mayhem against the innocent victims but I do not despise the general populace of those countries if they opposed those wars. Control you ego, Maryam. This shall be myu only visit here. Good-bye.
Typical apologist for Islam – mixing up everything together to make it seem that opposing Islamism or even Islam is anti-Muslim. It’s not – It’s not and it’s not. But you won’t get to think for a second since this is your only visit here.
It’s scary though. Scary but…a great compliment!
Keep telling it like it is, you brave, courageous woman.
It is clear that you are getting to them, and maybe, just maybe, your humanity and morality will break through those barriers of religious insanity and start to reach some of them at a deep level. Some of them will start to see how cruel, unjust, and plain wrong their–and other–religions are. There will be a ground swell of humanity and shared morality that will rise and that tide will break the shackles of religious ideology that enslave every Muslim. And they will be free.
We came into the world naked- so whats the big deal? If you believe in God -that is the way he or she made us. So all this cover yourself from head-to-toe business seems to me like a big insult to the creator. These ‘religious’ people should spend more time on love and tolerance of their brothers and sisters; and less time judging them. That,in my eyes, would be what their God wants.
Agreed. The most natural state for a human being is complete nudity.
These people are indeed vile, and you are the very much the opposite.
Best wishes, Maryam.
Good luck. These scrofulous bastards certainly have a taste for murder. I hope you stay safe, and you can count on my support if necessary.
I’d love to have posted something on these sites to support you, but sadly I don’t speak the language and can’t locate an English translation option.
Stay safe.
They say “anti-Islam” likes that’s a bad thing.
Hang in there, Maryam. You know that you’re doing the right thing when people like them start to get agitated by you.
Well done!
I don’t know what you’ve done, but if that lot don’t like it, it can’t be bad.
Sad, but telling how the rhetoric of Iran (“anti-Islam” as a pejorative) matches the rhetoric of leftist defenders of Islam. I can understand the rationale of why true believer religionists find opposition to their faith objectionable. What I find ever perverse is that a large segment of the non-theist left finds being “anti-Islam” so terribly objectionable.
Rebekah, who are you talking about? I don’t know a single left-wing atheist defender of Islam. Can you name one? Perhaps you confuse defending Islam with ideas like these:
1) Muslims should be able to build a mosque anywhere Christians are allowed to build churches.
2) Muslims should not be subject to hate crimes such as vandalism or assault.
3) Muslims should not be fired for their faith.
I’m perfectly happy to criticize objectionable ideas and actions of Muslims, but I’m not cool with discrimination or stereotyping. I’m in the USA and I find it disgusting how people are making a big fuss about mosques in NYC and Tennessee. At the same time, I will continue to participate in “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” as a protest against religious censorship.
It is a fine line to tread though. Sometimes people end up defending the rights of those who would seek to take their rights away.
“I don’t know a single left-wing atheist defender of Islam.”
Well, Erik, you must never read The Guardian, Huffington Post, The New Statesman, CounterPunch, Salon, or any host of far left blogs. Leftist defences of Islam lie in every:
1. False accusation of ‘Islamophobia’.
2. The constant misuse of ‘racism’ to attack critics of a religion.
3. Various forms of suppressing free expression.
4. Every false equivalency (e.g. atheist like you are just as bad as fundamentalists).
5, Every attempt to change the subject (usually to Christianity or American foreign policy ) when a human rights abuse rooted in islam is being discussed.
6. Every simplistic defence of misogynistic elements of Islam as a ‘choice’.
7. Open hostility to the concept of immigrant assimilation.
8. Apologetics for the use of Sharia law in Western courts.
9. Dismissal of the voices of ex-Muslims to the point of hostility (e.g. Salman Rushdie, Hirsi Ali).
10. Casual acceptance of anti-Semitic and homophobic views from prominent Muslims (see Livingstone, Ken).
I could continue…
Rebekah, you could go on, but you have only named a single atheist “defender of Islam” and you didn’t even give a specific example. I’m not in the UK, so I don’t know much about Livingstone, but apparently he invited a Muslim cleric to a conference. The horror! Politicians meet with people they disagree with all the time.
All you are doing is stereotyping left-wing atheists. You haven’t presented a single specific instance of a left-wing atheist defending Islam. Can you at least provide a link to these supposed “left-wing atheist defenders of Islam”?
You used the expression “atheist like you”. How am I a defender of Islam? Do you disagree with the three things in my list?
“You used the expression “atheist like you”. How am I a defender of Islam? ”
See you own words:
“apparently he invited a Muslim cleric to a conference. The horror! ”
You take all of the legitimate concerns about al-Qaradawi’s violent homophobia, misogyny and anti-Semitism and casually dismiss them as mere fears of a “Muslim cleric”. Such unconcern about right-wing bigotry would be unthinkable were that a Christian cleric with the exact same views.
Of course apologists do not defend Islam in a direct theological sense. Instead they do precisely what you just did: delegitimise criticism of Islam by various deflections, ad hominems and distortions, i.e. the issues I laid out in my response to you.
As for your demand for specific examples of leftists defending Islam, do you even read Maryam’s blog or did you just show up to take issue with my comment? Do you never read Butterflies and Wheels? Or Taslima Nasrin blog? This issue of the left and Islam gets addressed on a routine basis around here and I find your know-nothing stance completely disingenuous.
Rebekah, it is the job of politicians to talk to people that they disagree with. If you say the cleric was a violent, homophobic, anti-Semitic misogynist, then I believe you (I am in the US, so I don’t know anything about this guy). Politicians talk to awful people like Putin, Kim Jong Il, and Jerry Falwell (a Christian version of your cleric) all the time. That’s their job. If they implement policies that favor the ideas of these people, then that’s an entirely different matter.
You still have not given me a specific example of a left-wing atheist defender of Islam. I am not one. Criticize Islam all you want, and I am very likely to agree with you. All I’ve said is that we should talk to Muslims and that we should not deny them their rights (property rights, voting rights, etc.). Do you disagree with me? All you’ve talked about is vague declarations and listed one politician who talked to an evil cleric.
Please give me a single link to some writing by a left-wing atheist defender of Islam. I assure you I am not being disingenuous.
Erik there are tons of them. I am on the Left as well but that does not mean that we must not see the truth. There is a post-modernist left out there that is not only silent on Islamism but vehemently defends it. I talk about them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N0Njm2vJ8EY. We are preparing a report on them which I will make available as soon as it is ready. Again this is not to say that racism doesn’t exist – it does – and we must oppose the far-Right as unequivocally as the Islamists as they are both far-right movements but we must also challenge the left to do what is must – which is defend people against all forms of fascism including the Islamic version.
Thanks, Maryam, I look forward to reading your report.
Thanks Eric. I’m also from US, and couldn’t agree more with your well reasoned comments. Keep up the good work.
Funnily enough, they seem to be a lot of the things I admire you for and consider heroic. I wouldnt be suprised if it turns out to be good publicity for you and your message.
Hats off from me too.
You are very brave. My hat’s off to you.