Tag: Islamism
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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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The Guardian: Through Islamist Eyes
I emailed The Guardian on 2 October to ask for the right to reply to David Shariatmadari’s apologetics for Islamism. My article, Why I Speak against Islamism, was finally published on 13 October at 5pm after much delay and back and forth over “edits.” On 8 October, the Acting Editor for Comment is Free wrote…
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Promoting Secularism in the age of ISIS
See my speech at the INR5 Conference in Vancouver, Canada in June this year. Here is the text of the speech.
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Promoting Secularism in the Age of ISIS
This is my speech at the 5th Imagine No Religion conference in Vancouver, Canada during 5-7 June 2015. The global rise of Islamism in particular and the religious-Right in general has turned the demand for secularism into an urgent task and necessity. There are those in academia who theorise about a ‘post-secular’ world and insist…
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Human rights law or religion?
Watch today’s BBC Big Questions on whether human rights laws have achieved more than religion for humankind with Peter Tatchell, myself and others. Difficult question to answer given all the “wonderfulness” that is religion…
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We are all Farkhunda
The below is a shortened version of my speech at Marea Feminist Review and Consulta Torinese per la Laicita public events in Genoa and Turin, Italy during 27-30 March 2015. Today, we are all Farkhunda. You know her by now – a 27 year old woman accused by a mullah of being an “infidel” who…
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Defending Charlie and Opposing Terrorism is not enough; You need to stand up to Sharia Courts
This is a shortened version of my speech for a public meeting organised by the NE Humanists on 19 March 2015. Dissent and criticism of religion has always been a crucial aspect of free expression. Such criticism has been key for human progress and is needed more than ever in the age of ISIS. For…
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Trinity College Dublin: I was not born yesterday
I wrote a blog post earlier about my refusal to abide by conditions imposed by Trinity College Dublin for my speech on Apostasy and the Rise of Islamism which I am to give this Monday. Aoife, the chair of the society which had invited me is contesting my version of things so I find it…
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I will not accept Trinity College Dublin conditions on my talk
I am to speak at Trinity College Dublin on Monday 23 March 2015 on “Apostasy and the Rise of Islamism”. I’ve just been informed, however, that college security (why security?) has claimed that the event would show the college is “one-sided” and would be “antagonising” to “Muslim students”; they threatened to cancel my talk. After further consultation with college management, they…
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And still I rise
FARSI AND FRENCH BELOW Commemorating 8 March, International Women’s Day Maryam Namazie Islam, like all religions, despises women. Islamism and its Sharia laws are obsessed with controlling and restricting women. Under their rule, the “perfect” woman knows “her place”: veiled, segregated, erased from the public space. She is the “disappeared”. Bound and gagged. Not seen…
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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…