Author: Ophelia Benson

  • Praveen Swami on Salman Rushdie and India’s new theocracy

    Rushdie’s censoring-out from the ongoing literary festival in Jaipur will be remembered as a milestone that marked the slow motion disintegration of India’s secular state.

  • My Visit to Australia

    From August 17 to September 5 2011, I visited Australia. I was invited by the the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Australian Skeptics to deliver the Canberra Lecture and to do a speaking tour of the country. It was my first visit to the country and continent. Late in 2010, I was contacted by Kevin Davies to know if I could visit Australia and deliver a lecture as part of events marking the National Science Week. I readily accepted.

    What started as an invitation to deliver a lecture gradually ‘evolved’ to become a grand tour that would take me to all states in Australia. It was only the Northern Territory that has Darwin as its capital that I did not visit. I had known and worked with many Australian humanists, atheists and skeptics over the years. I contributed articles to the Australian Skeptic journal and followed with interest the activities of the vibrant skeptic and freethinking community, so I was excited by this opportunity to visit and meet with friends.

    I arrived Sydney airport on September 17 from Norway where I attended the World Humanist Congress. I was recieved at the airport by Tim Mendlam, and after a few hours of transit I left for Canberra where I delivered the lecture on Witch hunts and Superstition in Africa, and met with Canberra skeptics. It was in Canberra that I saw and ate the Kangaroo for the first time in my life. I returned to Sydney(August 19) and delivered a talk at a dinner with North South Wales Skeptics. It was at the talk I met with Barry Williams. Barry is a former editor of the Australian Skeptic Journal. He was actually the one who introduced me to the skeptical community in Australia. It was during his tenure as the editor that I started writing for the journal. Most of the articles I first published in the journal were on Nigerian scams which he gave me to understand was then of interest to the readers. While in Sydney I had a lunch with atheists who also took me on a sightseeing trip. On August 22, I left for Brisbane. I delivered a talk to the Queensland Skeptics, dined with the humanists, spoke to the Gold Coast Skeptics and then left for Melbourne.

    I arrived in Melbourne August 25. I gave a talk to skeptics at La Notte Italian Resturant. I gave a lecture at another event organized by the skeptics, humanists and atheists. Australian skeptic Mel Vikers and his friend Gracie Marcucci took me to the Healesville Sanctuary for sightseeing. Before coming to Australia, I thought that Australia would have a different wildlife, and I asked friends to arrange so that I could see a bit of the wildlife during my tour. I looked forwarded to seeing some animals or birds I had not seen before or seen only in photos in books or television. I was so happy to visit the Healesville sanctuary, and the animals, birds and the entire wild life I saw there left me with very deep impressions. From Melbourne, I left for the Island of Tansmania where I spoke to skeptics in Hobart. While in Hobart, my host Leyon Parker took me to the top of Mount Wellington. It was my first time to go up a mountain, and right there the temperature was around 7 degrees, from around 30 degrees I was used to in Nigeria

    I also visited Adelaide where I delivered three talks to humanists and skeptics. One of my long-time friends and supporters, Dick Clifford, is from Adelaide. We have been corresponding since 1998 and had never met in person. Also from Adelaide is Mary Gallnor, former president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies. I met Ms Gallnor in India in 1999. So it was a great pleasure meeting these friends. Mary and her friend, a former parliamentarian, took me on a tour of the South Australian state parliament and introduced me to the speaker. Perth was the last leg of my tour. While in Perth I gave a talk to skeptics and presented an award to a student who won a contest organized by skeptics. During my tour, I was interviewed by ABC radio in Canberra, Sydney, Hobart etc. A journalist from a local newspaper in Gold Coast also interviewed me.

    I would like to thank CSIRO and all my skeptic, humanist, atheist and freethinking friends from Australia for the successful organisation of this trip. As the IHEU representative in Africa, I have traveled a lot in Africa and overseas, but there was no trip like this.

    My visit to Australia will ever remain special to me. I will always remember and treasure it. I was truly blown away by the care, warmth and friendship and hospitality I received in all the states. It was encouraging to know that many Australian friends followed my work and were interested in my writing and activism in Africa. Even as I am writing this piece I have yet to come down intellectually and emotionally from that trip. I felt at home, spoke freely, cracked jokes, met, lived and dined with people whom I could truly call friends.

    Thanks to this visit I, today, feel more connected to the community of reason in Australia than before.

  • Guardian on Rushdie not in Jaipur

    A cleric’s description of Rushdie as having “hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world” was widely reported in India, and prompted calls for Rushdie to be denied a visa.

     

  • Nigerian reporter murdered while covering bombings

    Enenche Akogwu, 31, was shot by unidentified gunmen as he attempted to interview witnesses of a deadly terrorist attack in Kano.

  • Mr Rushdie regrets

    More on Rushdie not in Jaipur.

    Times of India:

    Two prominent authors on Friday read out portions from Salman Rushdie’s banned book “Satanic Verses” at the Jaipur Literature Festival as a mark of protest after the India-born author had to pull out of the event over security concerns.

    As the literary community expressed outrage over Rushdie not being able to make the trip, Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar used their session at the festival to read from “Satanic Verses”. The controversial book was banned in the country shortly after it was published in 1988, for allegedly hurting the sentiments of Muslims.

    Love those guys.

    The organizers later asked Kumar not to go ahead with his reading. Kumar initially agreed to the suggestion but later continued reading from Rushdie’s work.

    Later, authors Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi also read from the Satanic Verses.

    The BBC:

    Author Salman Rushdie has withdrawn from India’s biggest literary festival, saying that he feared assassination after influential Muslim clerics protested against his participation.

    The author had been due to speak at the Jaipur literature festival.

    He said he had been told by sources that assassins “may be on the way to Jaipur to kill me”.

    Wait for it –

    Salman Rushdie sparked anger in the Muslim world with his book The Satanic Verses, which many see as blasphemous.

    There it is. Wouldn’t do not to have that.

    The author had been scheduled to speak on the opening day of the five-day Jaipur event which began on Friday, but earlier this week organisers said his schedule had changed and took his name off the list of speakers.

    “I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to ‘eliminate’ me,” Salman Rushdie said in a statement read out at the festival.

    “While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the festival in such circumstances; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience and to my fellow writers,” he added.

    “I will therefore not travel to Jaipur as planned.”

    …

    Correspondents say the protests against this year’s planned trip are linked to crucial state elections due in Uttar Pradesh.

    Correspondents say no political party wants to antagonise the Muslim community, which constitutes 18% of voters in the state, India’s largest.

    Notice that correspondents apparently assume that Muslims can be seen as a solid bloc or a “community” which thinks and votes as one. Somewhat “Islamophobic,” that.

     

     

     

  • No longer a “safe space”

    Alex Gabriel reports another front in the battle against “Islamophobia” (meaning, in the battle against any and all criticism or mockery of Islam). This time it’s LSE’s Student Union hassling LSE’s student atheist society. It has to do with the atheist society’s Facebook page not being a “safe space” for Muslim students.

    What?

    Well don’t look at me, it’s not my idea. It’s what they were told:

    Here’s part of the e-mail I got today from the society, who’ve just met with their union to discuss the issues:

    Essentially, a large of group of Muslim students felt offended that there were pictures of Mohammed on the facebook group. As a result, they felt that our facebook group was no longer a ‘safe space’ for Muslims. Thus, they have ‘requested’ that we remove the offending images. Until an official complaint procedure is completed they cannot mandate we take it down. However, they made it pretty clear that would be the next step should we choose to keep the images.

    Was the atheist society’s Facebook page ever intended to be a “safe space” for Muslims? Is that the point of such societies – to be “safe spaces” for their opposites? Aren’t people allowed to be X without also having to be a “safe space” for anyone who disagrees with them?

    No no and yes. It’s just a new way to bully people you don’t like – conflate a difference in world view with a personal assault.

  • These crimes happen everywhere in the world

    Speaking of “Islamophobia,” as we were, we can always count on the Guardian for lashings of Islamophilia. David Shariatmadari tells us the University of East Anglia is going to set everyone straight on women, Islam, and the media. I bet you can figure out what’s coming.

    Women, Islam and the media are topics often found in close conjunction, and not always in the happiest of circumstances. So in a canny move, the University of East Anglia (UEA), which often gives better-known institutions a run for their money in terms of column inches, has developed a course entitled exactly that.

    The 12-week module, which the university claims is the first of its kind in the UK, will cover the often inflammatory topics of veil wearing, arranged marriage and “honour” crimes – looking at how they are portrayed in contemporary film, TV and other media, and how this reflects cultural biases in both the east and west.

    Ahhhh yes, those pesky cultural biases in “the west,” the ones that think systematic subordination of women is a bad thing.

    The course was developed by Dr Eylem Atakav, a graduate of Ankara University and lecturer at UEA. “Lots of people have written about women and Islam, lots of people have written about Islam and media or women and media, but they haven’t been brought together before,” she said.

    Atakav said the course would be an important way of changing perceptions of Islam. Study materials include films and TV programmes from around the world, including Iran, the US, Turkey and China. “We will look at how the media talk about ‘honour’-based violence, for example. If it’s a Middle Eastern woman who happens also to be a Muslim woman it’s called an ‘honour crime’. But if it’s a British woman who was killed because her husband was jealous because she was having an affair with another man, it’s called murder.

    “These crimes happen everywhere in the world, it’s not just a Muslim, or just a Middle Eastern thing.”

    But if it’s a British woman who was killed because her husband was jealous because she was having an affair with another man, does the killer or anyone else talk about “honour”? Would the same woman’s father or mother or brother or son help the husband kill her in the name of protecting the family’s “honour”? Would their friends turn a blind eye or cheer them on, because a woman who has an affair is a stain on the whole “community”?

    The article doesn’t say.

  • Malawi: women assaulted and stripped for wearing trousers

    Hundreds of people have protested in Blantyre including Vice-President Joyce Banda, the gender minister, several MPs, church leaders, university lecturers and activists.

  • Atheism is illegal in Indonesia

    An Indonesian man who said that God did not exist in a posting on a Facebook page for atheists was attacked by a mob, could face jail and loss of his job.

  • Muscle v truth and humour

    Salman Rushdie stayed away from the Jaipur Literary Festival because of threats. So, defying the organizers of the festival, Hari Kunzru and Amitava Kumar read from The Satanic Verses, then Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi joined them.

    And then what happened? According to Stephanie Nolen, South Asia correspondent for the Globe and Mail, who is at the festival and tweeting from and about it, the four writers are being investigated by the police. Since she tweeted that from the festival, it must mean that the cops were “investigating” the writers up close and personal, right then and there.

    I get all this via the invaluable Salil Tripathi (#FF!), who said at Facebook about an hour ago:

    Stephanie Nolen has tweeted that the authors who read from The Satanic Verses (Hari, Amitava, Ruchir, Jeet) are to be investigated by Rajasthan’s finest. Many of my friends reading this are in Jaipur, some as writers, some as participants. Overwhelm the cops; hope more and more of you read publicly from the novel, and shame the state further. Deoband and the state may have the muscle – the writers have truth, humour, and Gandhi on their side.

    Go, writers. Rock the world. Push back.

    Update

    Subir Ghosh reports a press release that he got from Kavita K Bhaskaran, Senior Vice President, Sampark, the PR agency running the Jaipur festival:

    This press release is being issued on behalf of the organizers of the Jaipur Literature Festival. It has come to their attention that certain delegates acted in a manner during their sessions today which were without the prior knowledge or consent of the organizers. Any views expressed or actions taken by these delegates are in no manner endorsed by the Jaipur Literature Festival. Any comments made by the delegates reflect their personal, individual views and are not endorsed by the Festival or attributable to its organizers or anyone acting on their behalf. The Festival organizers are fully committed to ensuring compliance of all prevailing laws and will continue to offer their fullest cooperation to prevent any legal violation of any kind. Any action by any delegate or anyone else involved with the Festival that in any manner falls foul of the law will not be tolerated and all necessary, consequential action will be taken. Our endeavor has always been to provide a platform to foster an exchange of ideas and the love of literature, strictly within the four corners of the law. We remain committed to this objective.

    So much for solidarity in defense of free expression.

  • London: “blasphemy” event January 28

    Kenan Malik, Austin Dacey, Andrew Copson, Jacob Mchangma, Maryam Namazie speaking informatively and provocatively on this controversial topic.

  • Rushdie’s absence from Jaipur festival “a stain on India”

    Rushdie’s staying away from Jaipur sets a dreadful precedent for its artists who are deemed by religious groups to be producing “blasphemous” material.

  • For God so loved the 1%

    Complaints about economic inequality are inconsistent with the concept of “one nation under God,” but only because the “1%” of an earlier era intended it that way.

  • Muslim feminists targeted by Islamists

    They face a backlash in the form of persecution, intimidation and death threats.

  • Are you now or have you ever been an Islamophobe

    The UCL Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society put out a statement today. They’re tired of the whole thing and don’t want to talk about it any more.

    What makes a student society is the ability to be open, foster community and – most importantly – encourage critical debate. The principal objective of our Society is to maintain a sceptical view on everything, be it astrology, numerology or theism. I am personally a strong believer of freedom of speech and I believe that it is a vitally important freedom to maintain. Freedom of speech guarantees the space for intellectual discourse, and in that space, people should be able to say what they want, without being afraid of censorship on the grounds of offence.

    In other words – thank you so much for your valuable input, Ahmadiyya Male Muslim Youth Association UK, but we’ll take it from here. We would actually like to run our organization in a way that fits with our reasons for belonging to it in the first place rather than according to your reasons for wanting to kick up a fuss. We’re terrifically grateful for your energetic – indeed, truth be told, rather insistent – offers to help, but we think we know better how to run our own organization than you do. We would draw your attention to that lack of input from us on how you should run your organization; there’s a reason for that.

    By our publication of this image there was no intention to offend and i am sorry to hear that people took personal offence when viewing it. However, ‘offence’ was certainly inadequate grounds for the removal of the image to be requested by the UCL Union. Their policies need clarification to prevent this same situation from arising in the future.

    Yes they do.

    Meanwhile, in case anyone’s blood pressure should fall dangerously low, the LSE Students Union has leapt into the breach created by the UCL ASH’s retirement. The LSE Atheist, Secularist and Humanist society has also put out a statement.

    Today we were contacted by the LSE Students Union to “discuss some of the issues around recent postings on facebook etc.”

    We think this might have to do with the accusations of “Islamophobia” that were levelled against us during Thursday 19th Union General Meeting after some “Jesus and Mo” cartoons were posted on our facebook group and Marshall Palmer posted an article on his blog about the cartoon controversy at UCL.

    Any accusation of “Islamophobia” against the LSE SU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist society are baseless. We will be meeting SU officials tomorrow 20th to discuss this issue.

    And so the secret police continue their vital work.

     

     

  • More from the bully boyz

    And then we drop in on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association UK – which is actually not a “youth association” at all because it addresses members as “Brothers,” so clearly it’s only for male youth. Anyway we drop in on it and find its views on how to get more deference and obedience from people who don’t share its religious commitments.

    You should all now be aware that we have been running a campaign over the past week in response to the decision take by Atheist Society of UCL to post a cartoon depicting the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) and the Holy Prophet Jesus (as) having a beer (God forbid) at a pub frequented by some of the UCL students.

    To defend the honour of our beloved Prophets, a press release was issued along with a number of articles. Our message to the UCL Atheist Society was simply that they should use their right to ”freedom of speech” in a responsible way which demonstrates both tolerance and respect.

    The voice of the goombah bully boy again. The voice of the thug smacking a club against the palm of his hand in a threatening manner. “Hey you: use your ‘freedom of speech’ [pause to spit on the ground] in a responsible way or you might be getting a visit from us. Demonstrate tolerance and respect or we’ll make things hot for you. When we say ‘respect’ we mean do whatever we say as soon as we say it; that’s respect. We hope we don’t have to remind you of this again.”

    All this for the sake of “defending the honour” of a couple of guys who have been dead for many centuries.

  • London 11 February 2012 – defend free expression

    Maryam says HOLD THE DATE:

    One Law for All is calling for a rally in defence of free expression and the right to criticise religion on 11 February 2012 in central London from 2-4pm.

    We are also calling for simultaneous events and acts in defence of free expression on 11 February in countries world-wide.

    The call follows an increased number of attacks on free expression in the UK, including a 17 year old being forced to remove a Jesus and Mo cartoon or face expulsion from his Sixth Form College and demands by the UCL Union that the Atheist society remove a Jesus and Mo cartoon from its Facebook page. It also follows threats of violence, police being called, and the cancellation of a meeting at Queen Mary College where One Law for All spokesperson Anne Marie Waters was to deliver a speech on Sharia. Saying ‘Who gave these kuffar the right to speak?’, an Islamist website called for the disruption of the meeting. Two days later at the same college, though, the Islamic Society held a meeting on traditional Islam with a speaker who has called for the death of apostates, those who mock Islam, and secularist Muslims.

    Read the rest at Maryam’s.

  • Cranston florists refuse to deliver roses to Jessica Ahlquist

    That’s telling her!

  • Quackometer on Burzynski in court

    According to the Courthouse News Service, an elderly cancer patient is suing Burzynski for allegedly “bilking her of nearly $100,000″.

  • History has told us that these things cause offence

    The president of UCL’s Atheist, Secularist and Humanist society, Robbie Yellon, has stepped down to be replaced by former vice president Michael Thor. Yellon quit because of all this mishegas about the Jesus and Mo image.

    “Robbie stepped aside because he signed up as president to organise events and run a student society,” said Michael Paynter, secretary for the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies.

    “He did not appreciate the stress he would be under when dealing with a controversy like this, so he wanted to make way for someone else.”

    A small but no doubt pleasant victory for the shit-stirrers. The BBC goes on to make the shit-stirrer case.

    The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association is continuing with its protest against the image, saying it has wider implications.

    Adam Walker, the association’s national spokesperson, said the two student groups had worked well together in the past and said the offence was unnecessary.

    “The principle is more important than who is being attacked – this time it is Muslims and Christians* but in the future it could be atheists themselves.

    “There is no need to print these things other than to cause offence and history has told us that these things cause offence.”

    That is such an interesting idea, or not so much idea as trap. People have pitched huge violent rageboy fits in the past over what they chose to consider “offence”; therefore history shows that what rageboys choose to consider “offence” will be met with huge violent fits; therefore you must never do the thing which rageboys choose to consider “offence”; so just forget about this pesky liberal idea of free debate. It’s an elaborate threat. “Our goombahs have killed people over this stuff in the past, so you know they’ll do it again, so shut your filthy kuffar mouth.”

    But at the same time what we’re talking about here is a principle, and it could be atheists next time. It never is, of course, but it could be. We’re all in this together, united for the principle that perceived “offence” trumps freedom of discussion and criticism. In your dreams, Adam Walker.

    UCL Union (UCLU) said in a statement: “The atheist society has agreed they will take more consideration when drawing up publicity for future events.

    “The society was asked to remove the image because UCLU aims to foster good relations between different groups of students and create a safe environment where all students can benefit from societies regardless of their religious or other beliefs.”

    Yes it did. We saw that statement a couple of days ago, and a very nasty statement it is. A “safe environment” is interpreted as one in which one particular religion is given special treatment.

    *Note the lie. It’s not Christians.