Tag: free expression
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Celebrating Dissent Oslo, A Landmark Event
Celebrating Dissent Oslo, held during 31 August – 1 September 2024, was a resounding success. The event organised by Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) and Dømmekraft focused on blasphemous women and paid homage to Shabana Rehman, the late Norwegian ex-Muslim of Pakistani descent, who was a taboo-breaking comedian and activist. In his tribute, which…
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Free expression and safe spaces
Here is a video of the frank panel discussion on free expression and safe spaces that took place at Centre for Inquiry’s Women in Secularism 4 conference in September 2016 with myself, Sarah Haidar, Melanie Brewster, and Diane Burkholder and moderated by Ashley F. Miller. Enjoy!
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With rigour, against Islamism
A statement defending freedom of expression and the right to criticise Islam was published in today’s LIBERATION. Below is the English translation. A corner-stone of our democracy – the freedom of expression and its corollary, the freedom to criticise – is seriously challenged on behalf of a falsified vision of the fight against racism, which equates…
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Is this a joke Facebook? Banned again?
I got an email from someone asking why they couldn’t reach me on Facebook. I tried signing in and got the following message: Have you noticed how I always get banned right after debating an Islamist or criticising Facebook for its censorship of ex-Muslim/atheist pages? What a coincidence that this ban happened right after my…
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Maryam Namazie and Peter Tatchell honoured for defence of free speech on campuses
On 19 March, the National Secular Society held its annual Secularist of the Year award ceremony. The winner this year was Educate Together which promotes secular education. At the ceremony, two previous winners of the NSS Secularist of the Year award, Maryam Namazie and Peter Tatchell, were honoured for their recent campaigning to defend free…
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Confronting Islamism with Secularism, Free Expression and Citizenship Rights
The below is my speech prepared for European Parliament meeting on 23 February 2016. Today, I would like to focus on the importance of defending secularism, universalism, free expression, and citizenship rights in confronting Islamism. To begin with, let me clarify the distinctions between Islam (an idea), Muslims (people) and Islamism (the religious-Right). The three…
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Free Speech: It’s not free unless it’s free for everyone
The below is Maryam Namazie’s opening remarks at Spiked Conference: The New Intolerance on Campus on “No Platform: should hate speech be free speech?” Freedom of speech in British universities is under heavier assault than ever before in large part due to the proclaimed desire by the National Union of Students (NUS) to maintain student…
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Apostasy, Blasphemy and Free Expression in the Age of ISIS
Below is my speech “Apostasy, Blasphemy and Free Expression in the Age of ISIS,” which I gave at Warwick University on 28 October 2015. I had been initially barred by the Student Union but the talk went ahead after protests. I gave a similar speech a week earlier at Trinity College Dublin, after my talk…
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Warwick Student Union and the Islamist Narrative
Warwick Student Union (SU) has officially responded to the uproar surrounding their decision to refuse the Warwick Atheists, Secularists and Humanists’ Society (WASH) request to have me as a speaker in October. They deceptively imply that the uproar over their denial is premature as a “final” decision has not been made. And so the white…
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Like Mukto-muna, we are united in our grief and remain undefeated
SIGN BELOW STATEMENT HERE. We are outraged by the senseless and brutal hacking to death of well known scientist, atheist and writer Avijit Roy and the serious attack on his wife and blogger, Rafida Ahmed Bonya, by Islamists in Bangladesh. Avijit had received numerous threats over the years for publishing articles critical of Islam, and promoting…
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On Paris and Copenhagen: Islam and the “culture of offence”: missing the point
After the terrorist attacks in Paris and Copenhagen, dissent and criticism of religion is a life and death necessity. It has been–and remains–key for human progress. See the full article here. Dissent and criticism of religion has always been a crucial aspect of free expression. Historically, it has been intrinsically linked with anti-clericalism and the…
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Islam and the “culture of offence”: missing the point
First published in Open Democracy on 12 February 2015 In the age of ISIS, dissent and criticism of religion is a life and death necessity. It has been – and remains – key for human progress. Dissent and criticism of religion has always been a crucial aspect of free expression. Historically, it has been intrinsically linked…