Publisher Martin Rynja thinks there must be open access to literary works; thugs don’t.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Reports of 3 More Women Killed in Balochistan
Sep 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThree women reportedly buried alive a few days after they protested against previous live burial.… Read the rest
Kandahar: Lt-Col Malalai Kakar Murdered
Sep 28th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHead of Kandahar’s department of crimes against women shot to death on her way to work.… Read the rest
It is about the thousands of women in Kandahar
Sep 28th, 2008 9:02 am | By Ophelia BensonRead more about Malalai Kakar, murdered by the brave pious merciful compassionate caring decent Taliban. (Thanks to mirax for the link.)
… Read the restMost mornings, before her children wake, she peeks out her front door to look for a “night letter”-a death threat from the Taliban pinned to her home that she doesn’t want her children to see. “The notes say things like ‘Quit the force, or else,'” she says, with a thin smile. “Of course, I won’t.”…Malalai points out that women’s participation in law enforcement is not just about them. It is about the thousands of women in Kandahar who have been denied police assistance time and again, because the Muslim community does not allow men to interact closely with
Scum
Sep 28th, 2008 8:01 am | By Ophelia BensonThis upsets me so much I can hardly see straight – the head of Kandahar’s department of crimes against women murdered on her way to work. Bastards, bastards, bastards.
Taleban rebels, who banned women from joining the police when they were in power, said they had carried out the shooting. “We killed Malalai Kakar,” a Taleban spokesman told AFP news agency. “She was our target, and we successfully eliminated our target.”
Well aren’t you clever. That’s a real accomplishment, isn’t it – you had guns, and so you were able to shoot someone to death. Guess what – anybody can do that. It’s easy, it’s cheap, it’s cowardly; anybody can do it. But it’s only low-life thuggish bullying chickenshit … Read the rest
Palin’s Embarrassing Interview
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt turns out ignorance is not a plus after all, even for conservatives.… Read the rest
Islington Arrests Linked to Jewel of Medina
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFire was at property of publisher Martin Rynja, whose company Gibson Square agreed to publish novel.… Read the rest
Fire Put Out; Three Men Arrested
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘It is thought that the men were suspected of attempting to set fire to a publishers in Islington.’… Read the rest
‘Faith’ Infiltrating All Aspects of Life
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonYou can’t escape ‘faith’ even at work.… Read the rest
Violence at Bosnia’s Gay Festival
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDozens of men attacked participants; many chanted ‘Kill the Gays!’ and ‘Allahu Akbar!’… Read the rest
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code Retained
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonControversial Section makes homosexuality a punishable offence in India.… Read the rest
Sarajevo: Gay Pride Parade Attacked
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Muslim media in Bosnia has opposed the festival; death threats were made against the organizers.… Read the rest
South Africa: Joy as Manto Leaves Post
Sep 27th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘It’s nine years too late. There were tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths due to her.’… Read the rest
News Story Based Entirely on Random Variation
Sep 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSampling error quietly undermines almost every piece of survey data ever covered in any newspaper.… Read the rest
Don’t Let the Facts Spoil a Good Story
Sep 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The newspapers grossly and crassly misrepresented everything we are doing.’… Read the rest
Forced Marriage Helpline Inundated With Calls
Sep 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKarma Nirvana’s Honour Network advises people who fear forced marriage or ‘honour’-based violence.… Read the rest
Normblog Profile: Karl Marx
Sep 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFor recreation in the evenings I have been reading Appian’s Civil Wars of Rome in the original Greek.… Read the rest
Centre for Islamic Pluralism on Domestic Abuse
Sep 26th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonImams are also accused of refusing to speak out against domestic abuse in their sermons.… Read the rest
The tip of the iceberg
Sep 26th, 2008 11:50 am | By Ophelia BensonLots of girls calling for help.
Hundreds of children fearing for their lives have called a new national helpline set up to assist victims of forced marriages since its launch four months ago…Many are seeking ways to escape parents and family members who are trying to force them into unwanted marriages. Others have said they fear becoming victims of so-called “honour killings”, because of social and sexual behaviour that their community disapproves of.
A small but nevertheless significant point – if a ‘community’ disapproves of various forms of innocuous social and sexual behaviour enough to motivate killing the people who engage in it, then that ‘community’ is not ‘their community,’ and it’s misleading to call it that. It sounds … Read the rest
Michael Dickinson Cleared by Istanbul Court
Sep 25th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonArtist was cleared after a judge decided the controversial collage of Tayyip Erdogan was art and not insulting.… Read the rest