Hello
There are less than two months to go to our November 21 rally, which will be held from 1200-1400 at North Carriage Drive in London’s Hyde Park to mark Universal Children’s Day and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The rally aims to raise still further our opposition to Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and the world, including the imposition of Sharia this year in Somalia and Pakistan’s Swat region and of the ‘rape laws’ in Afghanistan. It also aims to show our solidarity with people standing up to political Islam everywhere, including in Iran, and our support for universal rights and secularism. The rally will also defend the right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia and calls for an end to racism and cultural relativism.
Please try to come if you can. It is important for decent people everywhere to stand up to the right-wing political Islamic movement and defend humanity. Doing so will also help push back the far right in its attempts at hijacking the issue of Sharia law to advance its anti-immigrant and racist agenda.
Tell others about the rally and encourage them to join. Also please sign our petition calling for a ban on Sharia law if you haven’t. Over 17,000 people have done so already and they represent only the tip of the iceberg of opposition.
Also don’t forget about our art competition, which is open to all artists. We have already received some exciting pieces and hope to show them at a gallery exhibition. The deadline for submitting any work exposing the discriminatory nature of religious – based tribunals and encouraging equal rights is November 1.
You can find out more about the rally, art competition, petition, our media coverage, speaking engagements and other activities on our new and improved website, thanks to Nick Djgrubson: http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/.
Please also sign up to the International Coalition for Women’s Rights if you haven’t already done so. This is particularly important given that women face the brunt of Sharia law. You can find out more here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150924001542/http://www.equalrightsnow-iran.com/discriminatory_laws.html
Another important initiative to support is Iran Solidarity. The suppression of a 1979 people’s revolution by the Islamic movement changed the face of the world; a revolution against the Islamic Republic of Iran will help to break the back of the political Islamic movement internationally and herald a new dawn. It is crucial for people everywhere to support the people of Iran in their battle ahead. You can find out more and sign up to it here: http://www.iransolidarity.org.uk/. If you are able to, please volunteer half an hour in the upcoming year to do an act of solidarity with people of Iran in Trafalgar Square from 1730-1800 hours. This has now been going on for nine weeks. You can see the various acts here: http://www.iransolidarity.blogspot.com/.
And do contact us if you would like to volunteer to help organise the rally, submit art for the competition, invite us to speak at an event you are organising or for more information. We also need help in supporting the right to asylum for those who have fled Sharia law. You might have heard of our success in securing the release from immigration detention of an ‘apostate’ ex-Muslim but he and others like him need more assistance to gain their right to asylum.
And finally, don’t forget to donate to One Law for All. We urgently need money to do all that still needs to be done to get rid of Sharia. Every bit helps so please do take the time to send us a cheque made payable to One Law for All or by donating via Paypal by visiting http://onelawforall.org.uk/donate/.
Thanks.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Warm wishes
Maryam
Maryam Namazie
Spokesperson
BM Box 2387
London WC1N 3XX, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 7719166731
onelawforall@gmail.com
PS Below is more information on the November 21 rally:
To mark Universal Children’s Day and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
SHOW YOUR OPPOSITION TO SHARIA LAW AND ALL RELIGIOUS-BASED TRIBUNALS IN BRITAIN, IRAN, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, SOMALIA AND ELSEWHERE
DEMAND AN END TO CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND RACISM
DEMAND ONE SECULAR LAW FOR ALL AND UNIVERSAL RIGHTS
DEFEND THE RIGHT TO ASYLUM FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FLED SHARIA
Date: November 21, 2009
Time: 1200hrs – 1400hrs
Place: North Carriage Drive, in-between Stanhope Place Gate and Albion Gate, Hyde Park (closest underground Marble Arch).
Confirmed speakers and performers include: Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Mina Ahadi, ‘AK47,’ Fari B, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Roy Brown, Nick Doody, AC Grayling, Goranka Gudelj, Rahila Gupta, Johann Hari, Marieme Helie-Lucas, Mehboob Khan, ‘Lilith,’ Houzan Mahmoud, Maryam Namazie, Taslima Nasrin, David Pollock, Fariborz Pooya, Terry Sanderson, Muriel Seltman, Issam Shukri, Selina aka ‘Jus1Jam,’ Sohaila Sharifi, Bahram Soroush, Hanne Stinson, Peter Tatchell and more…
"Whatever the case, they are exactly the WRONG type of people we want on board."
What kind of people do you want on board then? The kind of people who own an Internet discussion forum and refuse to do anything when a fifteen year old girl is vilified and subjected to sexual harassment on that ? If so, then you want people exactly like you.
BTW, show real evidence that is verifiable and not just echo second-hand anecdotal evidence about Nazi salutes.
I echo what Maryam has said. EDL's tactics so far have been to go in amongst ordinary Muslims and shout "Enger-land, Enger-land, Enger-Land" and shout "Terrorists off our streets" as ordinary Muslims push babies in prams or look out of their window. Indeed many of those ordinary Muslims are the sisters, brothers , daughters and mothers of the ex-Muslims that I am involved with. (Indeed one of our ex-Muslim members who lives in Birmingham witness the EDL demo there and saw some giving Nazi salutes.
The EDL have achieved nothing but antagonise ordinary people and attract ignorant thugs (on all sides of the political spectrum) to come and have a fight.
Whether the EDL admit it or not the only thing they are achieving is increasing extremism, sparking of violence and moving Britain closer to a race-war.
They are either unbelievably misguided – or they are hiding their true intentions.
Whatever the case, they are exactly the WRONG type of people we want on board.
Hassan.
It is hard to pin point why I am opposed to the EDL as they don't really have a mission statement on their website and have a disclaimer on their forum – looks like they don't really want to take responsibility for what they believe – but with the little I know I would never work with them. First off, their name makes the hair on my neck stand up. English Defence League – please. Sounds nationalist and exclusive – and definitely not coming from the rights focused perspective we are. They say they can't be blamed for those they attract – of course they can – send out right-wing messages of nationalism and England for the English and you will get the racists and fascists doing heil hitlers at your demos.
In my opinion opposition to Sharia has to be done within a framework of defending the rights of all – not just the 'English'.
I will write more on this later when I get a chance.
Thank you Bamiyan.
As a member of the EDL it is refreshing to see your comments about us. I came onto this board to give my support to a worthy cause and to compliment Maryam on her work. I may even turn up in person at Hyde Park most probably incognito. Unfortunatly not everyone has seen through the untruths written about us. Not racist, just protesting against radical islam and sharia law.
I wish you all well.
Maryam,
You are a brave and courageous lady to tackle this issue head on, particularly considering the forces ranged against you both from the State and the extremists. I hope your skin is thick enough to brush of the inevitable cries of 'Fascist' that will follow.
I will be there to offer my support and you have more of that than you can possibly know.
Stay safe.
Have you thought of contacting the EDL to see whether they might like to send contingents? Or if this would not be acceptable whether some of them might like to offer support as individuals.
They are aren't the right-wing, knuckledragging thugs as portrayed by the Guardian, as an examination of their forum will show… http://s1.zetaboards.com/EDL_The_Forum/index/