Wins seat in Afghanistan’s new parliament.… Read the rest
Amartya Sen: Wrongs and Rights in Development
Oct 9th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonProspect celebrates tenth anniversary by reposting Sen on India and China.… Read the rest
Guardian Tries to be Funny
Oct 9th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPretend columnist writes mock tribute to Harry of Harry’s Place. Crushing sarcasm.… Read the rest
Secularist of the Year
Oct 9th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWomen’s rights campaigner Maryam Namazie wins award.… Read the rest
Secularist of the Year Award
Oct 9th, 2005 | By Keith Porteous Wood, Maryam NamazieMaryam Namazie wins the NSS Irwin prize for Secularist of the Year award
Yesterday, October 8, 2005 Maryam Namazie, adjudged to have made the most significant contribution to the promotion of secularism in the preceding year, was awarded the National Secular Society’s (NSS) first Irwin Prize for “Secularist of the Year” in London. The £5,000 annual prize, sponsored by NSS member Dr Michael Irwin, was presented by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee at a lunch at the Montcalm Hotel in London. The event also featured cutting edge cabaret from stand-up comedian Stewart Lee, who is also co-author of the controversial “Jerry Springer – the Opera”.
In introducing Namazie, Keith Porteous Wood, NSS executive director stated: ‘Maryam is an inveterate commentator and … Read the rest
Secularist of the Year
Oct 9th, 2005 1:05 am | By Ophelia BensonMaryam won! Maryam Namazie is Secularist of the Year. Ya-hoooooo. Sorry to be so American, but I’m really really pleased. As a matter of fact, I’m also damn smug. Here I’ve been publishing her articles like mad all this time, which I haven’t noticed the Guardian or the Independent bothering to do. Well? Well??! Wouldn’t you be smug? Wouldn’t you? Who has the better judgment? Eh? Eh? Which would you rather have published – Dilpazier Aslam, or Maryam Namazie?
Well maybe now they’ll start publishing her. Maybe this will be the push they need. Kenan Malik said, you know. Remember that? In the Guardian (she said pointedly). All the way back in January.
… Read the restIt also creates a climate
The Amplifier
Oct 8th, 2005 5:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonSome more on that terrific Simon Blackburn article ‘Religion and Respect’. So much of it is so exactly what I think myself, and have been saying here with tedious iteration – naturally I think it’s terrific. But it is, all the same.
… Read the restBut, I argued to myself, why should I
“respect” belief systems that I do not share? I would not be expected to respect the beliefs
of flat earthers or those of the people who believed that the Hale-Bopp comet was a recycling facility for dead Californians, and killed themselves in order to join it. Had my
host stood up and asked me to toast the Hale-Bopp hopefuls, or to break bread or some
such in token of
Earthquake Death Toll Nears 2000
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSeveral villages wiped out; Kashmir is the worst hit area.… Read the rest
Action Philosophers!
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The idea of relating complex metaphysical concepts through bathroom humor makes perfect sense to me.’… Read the rest
Bush Thinks God Chose Him
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.’… Read the rest
Lack of Qualifications is a Virtue
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEducation and relevant experience just make people think they’re smart.… Read the rest
What Would Wittgenstein Do?
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNew philosophy site aims to connect general public with ideas and history.… Read the rest
Secularists Meet to Defy Rise in Religion
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAzam Kamguian, Maryam Namazie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali nominated for awards. Hurrah!… Read the rest
Rania al-Baz Flees Saudi Arabia
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTV presenter shocked S.A. by publishing photographs of herself after husband beat her.… Read the rest
BBC Backs Away From Bush God Story
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhite House said ‘he never’ so programme editors were put off.… Read the rest
Bush’s Citation of God ‘Not Literal’
Oct 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSo he uses the word metaphorically? Interesting.… Read the rest
And the Nominees Are
Oct 8th, 2005 2:42 am | By Ophelia BensonYippee!
You know how I’m always asking why people like Azam Kamguian and Maryam Namazie don’t get the kind of attention the MCB gets? How I’m always saying the BBC and the Guardian and, you know, the government, ought to talk to them as well as or in fact damn well instead of a lot of fundamentalists? You know? Well – well you already know what I’m going to say, probably, since I just put it in News. But I want to yell and squeal and dance and hop for a minute anyway. Bear with me. The day didn’t begin well – it began with the horrid shock of going online and finding dear old B&W turned into a mocking … Read the rest
Hacked
Oct 7th, 2005 12:04 pm | By Ophelia BensonWe’ve been hacked, so I’m going to have to take the server down for a while. I’ll get B&W up and running asap.
Bastard Spammers!… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on Anti-semitism on the Left
Oct 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe issue is whether the liberal left is as keen on universal principles as it pretends.… Read the rest