Tomorrow is 14 March – International Day to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates.
To mark the day, Anne Marie Waters and I will be speaking on ‘Sharia Law and Human Rights’ at Queen Mary.
Sounds familiar?
Yup; this is a repeat of the meeting that was cancelled by organisers in January after Islamist threats.
Well we’re going back there as there is no way in hell we will be silenced.
If you can join us, please do.
Because of security reasons, if you are not a student or staff at the university, you will need to register here beforehand to be admitted.
The event begins at 7pm in the Skeel Lecture Theatre in Francis Bancroft Building at Queen Mary, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS.
The meeting has been organised by the Queen Mary Atheist Society. For a map, click here.
Hope to see you there.
Any chance that a transcript will be made available here?
I have just got back from attending your talk.
Very well done indeed, Anne Marie and Maryam. You were clear, articulate and informative.
I second that!
Felt so much better by the evening that I not only went to the event but also to the pub afterwards. I had a great evening and met some great people.
I’m not going to talk about it in any detail since I expect Maryam will do that herself but I was pleased to hear from the organisers that the attendance was far above that at the original event. That was one of the reasons I was determined to go, in order to show that such intimidation will only encourage greater interest.
I have to admit that I was a little nervous beforehand and my husband was worried about me going (he didn’t ask me not to but did ask repeatedly if I wanted him to come with me just in case there was trouble). I was relieved that there was no trouble although I others I spoke to afterwards had hoped some Islamists would turn up to debate.
I read about this story yesterday (sort of OT but still about islamic laws/ crazy Islamic fundies).
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/11/world/meast/iraq-emo-killings/index.html
And
http://www.buzzfeed.com/provincialelitist/teens-in-iraq-stoned-to-death-for-emo-style
I’m surprised this hasn’t been written about on any of the FTB blog.
Good to see you are going back. It shows they can’t bully you voicing your opinion because they do not like what they hear.
I’m hoping to be there but I’ve got a cold. Will see how I feel this afternoon.
Bravo pour votre initiative…
J’apporte mon soutien à de telles rencontres sur ces sujets trop exclus des grands médias : l’athéisme est pourtant une grande réalité, qui se répand dans le monde.
Sharia and catholic laws out !
Bernard.
Keep the bigots out this time…I hope you know what those guys look like and can keep them out.
Thanks for getting the word out about this issue.
I hope it goes well this time!
I’ve been seeing a lot of comments today from people saying they didn’t know about all this (Islamism v women’s rights, basically) until you told them. You are needed.