International Campaign Against Shari’a Court in Canada

Conference on

Effect of globalization of political Islam on Women’s Rights, in connection with
Polygamy, Neqab and Honor Killing

The problem of legal pluralism and cultural relativism with respect to women’s Rights

Discussion on separation of religion from state

Confirmed Speakers:

Social and political activist, founder of the Organization for Women’s Liberation – Iran, founder of  Mansoor Hekmat foundation, producer and host of several TV programs in Farsi and English on New Channel TV, a satellite TV broadcasting into Iran under the name of  No to Political Islam, co-founder of  the Center for Women and Socialism, editor of Medusa, the director of Radio International, a radio station broadcasting into Iran.

Azar Majedie… Read the rest

On July 15, Aruna Papp, author of a recently released report, “Culturally-driven violence against women: A growing problem in Canada’s immigrant communities” published by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy’s study, wrote in an editorial in the Vancouver Sun:

Problematically, most advocates and activists for female victims of abuse shy away from challenging the immigrant communities to examine their own traditions and cultural values in explaining the violence in their homes.

The ideology of multiculturalism, even among the most well-meaning advocates for female equality, tends to preclude any discussion of cultural values and traditions. Such advocates are afraid of being seen as “colonialist” and try to avoid a perceived “racialization” of an entire ethnic community.

Papp writes in the … Read the rest

In the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, we have (so Internet gurus like to suggest) moved from a top-down, “authoritarian” approach to web content to an interactive, user-generated, kaleidoscopic, and, above all, more “democratic” social experiment. As Elie Ofek, a professor of marketing and expert on business innovation, recently put it, consumers “now want to customize content and products to fit their preferences and personality, get immediate feedback on their actions and opinions, and be rewarded for their contributions.” If the bromide that Internet content wants to be free is actually true, then how much more true is it that people in an open society, those committed to a virtual public sphere as well as to each … Read the rest