Category: News
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All day blogathon to mark Day of Agreement
I will be blogging every hour on the hour from 9.00am tomorrow morning until 6.00pm in opposition to blasphemy laws, censorship and the crushing of dissent. Join me on the Day of Agreement tomorrow by adding your voice to the innumerable fighting for the right to dissent from, criticise and renounce Islam…
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Day of Agreement
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All are calling on everyone to join the Day of Agreement. It’s quite easy to do. On 10 October, upload the day’s logo as your avatar on social media, Tweet #dayofagreement or try it with your colleagues, family and friends. You can also join our five…
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Women are always expendable
Did you hear that Ikea had airbrushed all women out of their Saudi Arabian catalogue? Ikea released a statement expressing regret over the issue: “We should have reacted and realised that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the Ikea Group values.” Starbucks it seems also removed the…
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They will believe anything
Did you hear the one about Fars News Agency (a state-affiliated media outlet of the Islamic regime of Iran) publishing a satirical piece from The Onion as fact? And that’s not even the funny bit. The piece they published practically verbatim was about a Gallup Poll finding that rural white Americans prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama: “Gallup…
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October 2012: our naked body is our challenge
October 2012 is here. The photo for this month’s Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar is that of topless activist of the FEMEN movement, Alena Magelat. By the way, here is her censored photo for Facebook since it doesn’t allow nudity… The calendar is the idea of campaigner Maryam Namazie to support Aliaa Magda Elmahdy and join her ‘screams…
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So much for human values
Ahmadinejad gave his speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday and has conducted a number of interviews. He didn’t say anything new really – basically his usual same old same old on everything from the nuclear issue, Israel and of course homosexuality. ‘Homosexuality is very ugly behaviour’ and ‘this kind of support of homosexuality is only…
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This is about politics not religion
Below is my speech at the 22 September National Secular Society conference in London: Sometimes I really don’t know what more to say. What else can be said about Sharia law that– at least in your gut – you don’t already know? It is based on the Koran, the Hadith and Islamic jurisprudence. Its criminal…
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NSS London Conference on Secularism
On Saturday 22 September 2012, I will be speaking at the sold-out National Secular Society One Day Conference on Secularism in London along with other speakers, including the fantastic Richard Dawkins and Peter Tatchell. For more information on the conference, click here. Here are two articles on it: London: Challenging religious privilege, Examiner, 16 August 2012 [external…
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Bravo Charlie Hebdo
In a climate where Islamist murder, violence and intimidation is cowering many into silence and submission, Charlie Hebdo’s insistence on poking fun at Islam on par with all religions and its refusal to back down despite calls for censorship is one that will be remembered when Islamism is in the dustbins of history. French professor…
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This is annoying
I did refugee rights work for 18 years until I had a melt-down from the very depressing state of affairs for asylum seekers. Until then I always had access to resources and support. In the US, where I lived before I moved to the UK, NYANA – the New York Association for New Americans –…
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Cover your damn eyes
Did you hear the report about the mullah who told a girl to cover herself properly whilst on his way to the mosque in a VILLAGE(!) in Iran? Veiling is compulsory there and ‘bad-hejabi’ a form of dissent and resistance. The girl told him to cover his eyes, insulted him and beat him so bad…
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Atheism Plus revisted
I did say I would write more on Atheism Plus and feel I should given the various comments I have received. This will be my last post on this for now. I registered my support for Atheism Plus after reading the FAQs on its official website. I won’t be calling myself an Atheist Plus but I…