Afghanistan has an Islamic constitution which must be respected, protesters said.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Peter Tatchell on Lies About Saturday’s March
Mar 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The ultra-left propaganda machine has insinuated that a mini-Nuremberg took place.’… Read the rest
Mafioso Proud to Have Shot His Sister in the Face
Mar 27th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘It is a question of honour,’ he said.… Read the rest
Wot’s All This Then?
Mar 27th, 2006 3:44 am | By Ophelia BensonMaryam tells us more about what happened to Reza Moradi at the free speech demonstration. The Washington Post, as I mentioned, reported that he was questioned by the police.
… Read the rest“It’s my freedom, everyone’s freedom, to expose these pictures and encourage everyone to do the same,” said Reza Moradi, 29, a protester who identified himself as an Iranian who has lived in Britain for eight years. Moradi was later questioned by police after someone lodged a complaint regarding the “nature of his placard,” which featured a copy of the Danish cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, a London police spokeswoman said. After a brief, heated exchange with officers, Moradi left the protest on his own
Run That By Me Again?
Mar 26th, 2006 8:29 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere’s a lot of ‘How’s That Again?’ at the moment. There is the half-laughable half-weepable mess of the ‘March for Free Expression’ ha ha for instance. The ‘March for Free Expression’ which had to be renamed at the last minute the ‘March for Free Expression Only as Long as the Free Expression in Question Doesn’t Irritate Anyone Too Much’ – which, you have to admit, is a pretty lame halting stumbling weak-kneed shambling unimpressive unstirring sort of march. More like a ‘Keep on Lying Down for Thoroughly Hedged “Free” Expression’ than a march for anything. You might as well march against a war and have on all the banners ‘Unless You Really Really Want to Of Course’. You might as … Read the rest
You’re Too Kind
Mar 26th, 2006 7:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonTime for yet another installment of that long-running series, ‘How’s That Again?’ or What the Oxymoron Said. Sit down, stop whispering, fold your hands, don’t kick the seat.
The scene this time is Afghanistan, where a judge is explaining things to BBC reporter Sanjoy Majumder.
… Read the restUnder the interpretation of Islamic Sharia law on which Afghanistan’s constitution is based, Mr Rahman faces the death penalty unless he reconverts to Islam. “The Prophet Muhammad has said several times that those who convert from Islam should be killed if they refuse to come back,” says Ansarullah Mawlafizada, the trial judge. “Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance, kindness and integrity. That is why we have told him if he regrets what he did,
Boris Johnson Rebukes Hand-wringing Wetness
Mar 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘They weren’t doing it for Shabina; they weren’t doing it for the other female pupils.’ … Read the rest
Reports from March for Free Expression Kind Of
Mar 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Could have done better.… Read the rest
Was God the Protection or Was it Soldiers?
Mar 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Crimes against humanity that would have produced outrage in the 90s are met with indifference today.… Read the rest
A Religion of Peace, Kindness and Tolerance
Mar 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘That is why we have told him if he regrets what he did, then we will forgive him’ and not kill him.… Read the rest
Police Question Man Carrying Motoon Placard
Mar 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Free speech demonstration enacts irony after irony.… Read the rest
Rahman to be Freed Pending Review of Case
Mar 26th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Details of his imminent release kept secret, as feelings in Kabul have run high over the case.… Read the rest
Freedom of Expression: No Ifs Ands or Buts
Mar 26th, 2006 | By Maryam NamazieThe following was Maryam Namazie’s speech at a free speech march in Trafalgar Square in London on March 25, 2006.
- In Iran, Tehran bus workers demanding their rights have been arrested, including their wives and children, and some tortured.
- In Afghanistan, teachers defending the right of girls to an education are threatened with death.
- In Iraq, women’s rights activists are threatened for demanding equality and freedom.
- In Iran, journalists who published a satirical article comparing the advent of Khomeini to AIDS are languishing in prison…
- In Yemen, Mohammad Al Asadi, an editor, is facing execution for recounting how Mohammad approved of the killing of a woman who had insulted him.
The list is endless…
Too many more nameless, faceless human … Read the rest
Crusty
Mar 25th, 2006 9:54 pm | By Ophelia BensonRussell Jacoby is in fine form.
… Read the restIf you missed the 1995 CUNY “Question of Identity” conference, the issue of October magazine devoted to it, the “remarkable” essay on the same subject in Diacritics or – even worse – you are unaware you have missed these, don’t despair. Help is on the way. Eric Lott, who teaches English and American studies at the University of Virginia, will bring you up to speed. His book The Disappearing Liberal Intellectual is to stay-at-home tenured radicals what the television remote is to couch potatoes. Without parking hassles or library bottlenecks, you get the latest on unforgettable conferences and pathbreaking journal articles. Did you know, for instance, that Gene Wise’s “famous” essay “Paradigm Dramas
Jacoby on Tenured Vacuity and Mock Radicalism
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A fiery radical marches – but only only from the podium to the speaker’s table.… Read the rest
Susan Haack: ‘Pragmatism Old and New’ [pdf]
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Contemporary Pragmatism, Volume 1, Number 1.… Read the rest
March for Inoffensive Free Expression
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No Motoons please. Okay but what’s the march for then?… Read the rest
Amartya Sen: Democracy Isn’t ‘Western’
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Athens is more ‘Eastern’ than European, for a start.… Read the rest
March for Free Expression, Sort Of
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Initial plans to have Motoons on banners to support cartoonists and free expression were ditched.… Read the rest
Why Libraries?
Mar 25th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Soueif, Pullman, de Botton, A. Geras, Phillips and others say why.… Read the rest