Dr Abedin is being held captive by her family in Dhaka; she is thought to have been violently beaten.… Read the rest
Conscience and belief is it
Dec 7th, 2008 11:16 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Cardinal talks the usual familiar self-pitying self-serving bullshit.
“Although the tone of public discussion is sceptical or dismissive rather than antireligious, atheism has become more vocal and aggressive.” Britain’s most senior Catholic leader says that the “unfriendly climate for people of all faiths” has united the country’s three major faiths, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
In complaining about people who don’t share their baseless ‘faiths’ having the gall to speak up. Touching to see them unite though, when in the good old days they used to slaughter each other at every opportunity.
… Read the rest“The vocal minority who argue that religion has no role in modern British society portray Catholic teaching on the family as prejudiced and intolerant to those pursuing
Other people far away
Dec 5th, 2008 12:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonNorm makes a very sharp and telling point.
Periodically, the Guardian newspaper carries an op-ed piece on how somebody or other, typically a Western government, is sowing fear for some nefarious purpose. If the piece isn’t by Madeleine Bunting, then it’s likely to be by Simon Jenkins. And so it is today. He’s talking ‘scaremongering’, ‘politics of fear’, ‘fear politics’, ‘the pervasiveness of fear’…
Yes isn’t he just:
… Read the restThe media’s fondness for describing any explosion as “al-Qaeda-linked” has turned what was a tiny, if efficient, cabal of fanatics into a global menace, ridiculously on a par with Hitler and postwar communism…At least organised crime and communism posed genuine threats to American liberties. Al-Qaida does not, yet it has
Normblog on Simon Jenkins on ‘Scaremongering’
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAs long as the bombers announce their hatred of secular law and liberty, the Simon Jenkinses can’t wait to urge you to relax.… Read the rest
Many Opposition Activists Missing in Zimbabwe
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe whereabouts of 14 MDC activists and a baby are still unknown more than a month since they disappeared. … Read the rest
Cries for Help From Congo’s War Victims
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We have been abandoned. Who will protect us? Who will help us?’… Read the rest
HRW to Zimbabwe: Where is Mukoko?
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Mukoko has been abducted in suspicious and alarming circumstances, and we are profoundly concerned about her well-being.’… Read the rest
COSATU Condemns Union Arrests in Zimbabwe
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCOSATU condemns arrest of dozens of union leaders and the abduction of Jestina Mukoko.… Read the rest
AI Demands Release of Jestina Mukoko
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMukoko is the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was grabbed by gunmen December 3.… Read the rest
Nigeria: Child ‘Witch’ Killer Arrested
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPolice in south-east Nigeria have arrested a man who claimed to have killed 110 child ‘witches.’… Read the rest
Odinga, Tutu Say Mugabe Must Go
Dec 5th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCollapse of health systems and water supply in Harare are major reasons for the cholera deaths.… Read the rest
Study Shows Physical ‘Self’ is a Trick of the Mind
Dec 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNeuroscientists induced ‘out of body’ experiences; will help researchers understand how the brain constructs a sense of physical self.… Read the rest
Launch of Campaign Against Sharia in UK
Dec 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCampaign organiser Maryam Namazie says sharia’s voluntary nature is a sham: many women will be forced. … Read the rest
Romania Removes Evolution From Curriculum
Dec 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMinister of Education says it’s implicit. Nonsense, say critics: if it’s not there it’s not there.… Read the rest
Aid Worker Murdered in Sri Lanka
Dec 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA Vigneswaran worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, was killed by gunmen in Batticaloa last week.… Read the rest
UNESCO Deplores Killings of Journalists
Dec 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUNESCO has called on India, Mexico and Pakistan to take greater steps to protect reporters.… Read the rest
UNHCR Worker Murdered in Afghanistan
Dec 4th, 2008 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShe was shot dead on 26 November at a meeting of local elders in a temporary settlement for returnees. … Read the rest
Launch of Campaign against Sharia law in UK
Dec 4th, 2008 | By One Law for AllThe One Law for All campaign against Sharia law in Britain is to be launched at the House of Lords on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2008 from 4:00 to 5:00pm.
According to campaign organiser, Maryam Namazie, ‘Even in civil matters, Sharia law is discriminatory, unfair and unjust, particularly against women and children. Moreover, its voluntary nature is a sham; many women will be pressured into going to these courts and abiding by their decisions. These courts are a quick and cheap route to injustice and do nothing to promote minority rights and social cohesion. Public interest, particularly with regard to women and children, requires an end to Sharia and all other faith-based courts and tribunals.’
The campaign has … Read the rest
The sleep of reason begets monsters
Dec 4th, 2008 10:48 am | By Ophelia BensonWe’ve finished the book. Don’t say what book – the book we’ve been writing – Does God Hate Women? It’s finished.
It’s full of nightmares – but the nightmares are only a tiny fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the nightmares there are. Nicholas Kristof has been finding some.
… Read the rest[A]longside the brutal public terrorism that fills the television screens, there is an equally cruel form of terrorism that gets almost no attention and thrives as a result: flinging acid on a woman’s face to leave her hideously deformed. Here in Pakistan, I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia
The universality of the UDHR
Dec 3rd, 2008 5:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnthony Grayling is doing a series on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It is easy now, as it always has been, to think that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a fine-sounding efflation of rhetoric, or, conversely, to think that it is a piece of Eurocentric Enlightenment imperialism whose highminded pronouncements – for example, about the equality of men and women – do not please all members of all cultures.
Indeed. Highminded pronouncements about rights and equality of anyone are bound to fail to please some members of all cultures because there are always some members of cultures who want to be able to exploit and dominate other people. The UDHR is intended to be an obstacle … Read the rest