All entries by this author

Emergency! Everybody to get from street

Jan 24th, 2012 5:08 pm | By

Great news! The LSE Students’ Union has another statement out. It’s another pip. It’s about an urgent EGM on Thursday – which I take to be an Emergency General Meeting (but perhaps it’s Electric, or Elegant, or Educational, or Elevated*). Emergency, emergency! Why I bet we can guess what that is…

In light of recent events there will be two anti-discrimination motions being discussed and debated at an EGM this week, these are: No to racism – no to Islamophobia! and Stop Anti-Semitism Now.

Guessed right.

Stop racism no to Islamophobia! – in the form of a cartoon image of two guys having a beer on the Facebook page of a student group. That’s racism ‘n’ Islamophobia? No, but … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

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Spot the agenda

Jan 24th, 2012 10:33 am | By

The letter to the Guardian cited a survey.

“Muslims deserve a better press than they have been given in the past decade.” And according to a recent ComRes poll, one in three people in Britain today believe that the media is responsible for “whipping up a climate of fear of Islam in the UK”.

The letter calls it a ComRes poll, but that’s just a brand name. What it really is is an Ahmadiyya Muslim Association survey, and to be exact, it’s an Ahmadiyya Muslim Association UK Islamophobia Survey. It’s not an impartial bit of research, it’s an agenda-driven poll.

The poll was commissioned by one of the UK’s oldest Muslim groups, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, in order

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

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Say more good things about Islam please

Jan 24th, 2012 9:37 am | By

Another busy day for the shutters up.

A bunch of Islamist bullies managed to get Salman Rushdie’s video talk to the Jaipur Literary Festival blocked.

A bunch of Islamist bullies and some allies wrote a stupid letter to the Guardian demanding more friendly coverage of Islam in the media.

Let’s take a look at that letter. (Martin Bright has been arguing with Sunny Hundal, who signed the letter, at Twitter for an hour or two. Sunny ended up saying he signs letters he doesn’t agree with, leaving Martin and also Padraig Reidy gobsmacked.)

That letter is a dog’s breakfast.

Over the past decade, a number of academic studies have indicated a worrying and disproportionate trend towards negative, distorted and

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

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Jaipur: Islamist bullies block Rushdie video talk *

Jan 24th, 2012 | Filed by

Announcing the cancellation, an emotional Sanjoy Roy said: “We have been pushed to the wall…Earlier today, a number of organisations came to us and threatened violence.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Islamist misogyny on the rise in the Maldives *

Jan 24th, 2012 | Filed by

Shadiya Ibrahim, a long-time campaigner for women’s rights, said the society was growing steadily more oppressive of women.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Bruce Gorton on bad times for free expression *

Jan 24th, 2012 | Filed by

On the 11 of February, One Law for All is arranging a rally to stand up against this. Are you prepared to stand up and say “We give this kuffar the right to speak”?… Read the rest

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It has come to our attention that you are wicked

Jan 23rd, 2012 5:22 pm | By

The LSE Students’ Union has put out a statement on its quarrel with the LSE Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society. It’s a horrible little document.

On Monday 16th January it was brought to our attention via an official complaint by two students that the LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society posted cartoons, published by the UCLU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society, depicting the Prophet Mohammed and Jesus “sitting in a pub having a pint” on their society Facebook page. Upon hearing this, the sabbaticals officers of the LSESU ensured all evidence was collected and an emergency meeting with a member of the Students’ Union staff was called to discuss how to deal with the issue. During this time, we

… Read the rest

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LSE Students’ Union issues statement on ASH *

Jan 23rd, 2012 | Filed by

“The offensive nature of the content on the Facebook page is not in accordance with our values of tolerance, diversity, and respect for all students.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Nigeria: police find bomb-filled cars in Kano *

Jan 23rd, 2012 | Filed by

Police said they found cars and vans filled with explosives in Kano three days after Boko Haram carried out a deadly attack there.… Read the rest

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Seeing what you want to see

Jan 23rd, 2012 4:03 pm | By

Karen Armstrong tells us all, not for the first time, how swell Islam is.

First, she tells us the problem. It’s that “western people” think Islam is “a violent and intolerant faith” but this is all wrong. Couldn’t be more wrong. Very very wrong. It’s the hajj what does it, you see. Religion is like ice skating, you learn it by doing it, so the hajj teaches people to do all the good things.

The ancient rituals of the hajj, which Arabs performed for centuries before Islam, have helped pilgrims to form habits of heart and mind that – pace the western stereotype – are non-violent and inclusive.

Which is why everywhere we look, or nearly everywhere, that’s what … Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

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That’s how it’s done

Jan 23rd, 2012 3:37 pm | By

There was a time when Lego knew how to market to girls without treating them like idiots or aspiring princesses.

… Read the rest

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Too much conflation of being offended and being intimidated

Jan 23rd, 2012 12:27 pm | By

The LSE Student Union Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society has told the LSE Student Union to take a flying jump. I should think so too.

There are no reasonable grounds for the LSESU’s instruction because we are in no way violating their policies or byelaws. The cartoons on our Facebook page criticise religion in a satirical way and we totally reject any claim that their publications could constitute any sort of harassment or intimidation of Muslims or Christians.

That there was no deliberate intention to offend is illustrated by the fact that the cartoons were posted only on the LSESU ASH page and not in other spaces. But even if some people are offended, offence is not a sufficient

… Read the rest

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Skeptic lawyer on the two sorts of limits to law *

Jan 23rd, 2012 | Filed by

The first concerns what one ought to do (with law). The second concerns what it is possible to do (with law). Principled v means-end.… Read the rest

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Karen Armstrong says how great Islam is *

Jan 23rd, 2012 | Filed by

“The ancient rituals of the hajj…have helped pilgrims to form habits of heart and mind that – pace the western stereotype – are non-violent and inclusive.”… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


More on arrest of Indonesian atheist *

Jan 23rd, 2012 | Filed by

Official said that he had yet to decide whether Alexander would be dismissed from his post. “I told him that there was no place in this country for his beliefs,” he said.… Read the rest

Posted in Latest News


Nick Cohen on how freedom goes *

Jan 22nd, 2012 | Filed by

The people the liberal mainstream lets down are liberal Muslims and ex-Muslims who need help in their fight against theocratic oppression.… Read the rest

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And there are more other critics of the word “Islamophobia”

Jan 22nd, 2012 12:56 pm | By

There’s Kenan Malik. I trust there won’t be too much sensitive frowning over the possibility that Kenan Malik is being obtuse about bigotry toward Muslims or immigrants or other races.

Ten years ago no one had heard of Islamophobia. Now everyone from Muslim leaders to anti-racist activists to government ministers want to convince us that Britain is in the grip of an irrational hatred of Islam – a hatred that, they claim, leads to institutionalised harassment, physical attacks, social discrimination and political alienation…

But does Islamophobia really exist? Or is the hatred and abuse of Muslims being exaggerated to suit politicians’ needs and silence the critics of Islam? The trouble with Islamophobia is that it is an irrational concept.

… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

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No Jaipur Literature Festival for you

Jan 22nd, 2012 12:27 pm | By

Yesterday Praveen Swami reported that

Local intelligence officials in Rajasthan invented information that hit men were preparing to assassinate eminent author Salman Rushdie in a successful plot to deter him from attending the Jaipur Literature Festival, highly placed police sources have told The Hindu.

I didn’t post about it yesterday only because it was a little thin (and it’s absolutely extraordinary), so I decided to wait.

Now Salman Rushdie has said on Facebook and Twitter:

I have investigated this myself and am now convinced that the story is true. I was lied to by the Rajasthan authorities, and don’t know when I have felt so angry.

Staggering. So much for secular India.… Read the rest

(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)

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It’s only a ruddy parking ticket

Jan 22nd, 2012 11:27 am | By

Remember the Monty Python court room bit?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLplQWB2S_8

Behold Michael Sean Winters yesterday in the National Catholic Reporter, doing a very similar bit.

President Barack Obama lost my vote yesterday when he declined to expand the exceedingly narrow conscience exemptions proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services. The issue of conscience protections is so foundational, I do not see how I ever could, in good conscience, vote for this man again.

I do not come at this issue as a Catholic special pleader, who wants only to protect my own, although it was a little bracing to realize that the president’s decision yesterday essentially told us, as Catholics, that there is no room in this great country

… Read the rest

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Joan Smith on a dreadful week for free speech *

Jan 22nd, 2012 | Filed by

Why hasn’t there been a furore about all these incidents? Why aren’t MPs and ministers insisting on the vital role of free speech?… Read the rest

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