Hear Maryam Namazie, Peter Tatchell, Labi Siffre, Johann Hari, Keith Porteous Wood.… Read the rest

Could have done better.… Read the rest

Initial plans to have Motoons on banners to support cartoonists and free expression were ditched.… Read the rest

No Motoons please. Okay but what’s the march for then?… Read the rest

‘We abhor the fact that people throughout the world live under mortal threat simply for expressing ideas’… Read the rest

More on the Paris nightmare:

Samuel Paty, 47, who taught history and geography at the school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine , north-west of the French capital, was attacked on Friday evening by an 18-year-old man who was shot dead by police shortly afterwards.

Because of a cartoon.

Earlier this month, Paty had shown a class of teenage pupils a caricature from the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo during a moral and civic education class discussion about freedom of speech, sparking a furious response from a number of parents who had demanded his resignation. Before presenting the caricature, the teacher reportedly invited Muslim students to leave the classroom if they wished.

Afterwards, the father of a 13-year-old girl who did not leave the

Ann Marie Waters asks, is it the role of speakers and students to face off against potentially violent Islamists in defence of our free speech?… Read the rest

We the undersigned urge the University College London Union to immediately halt their attempts to censor the UCLU Atheist, Secularist & Humanist Society.… Read the rest

Atheist convicted of ‘religiously aggravated intentional harassment’ for cartoons; maximum sentence 7 years in prison.… Read the rest

Egypt and US co-sponsored a resolution condemning ‘negative stereotyping of religion.’… Read the rest

IHEU called for recognition that it is believers, not beliefs, that are entitled to protection against hatred. … Read the rest

Roy W Brown examines why the UN is putting protection of religion above freedom of expression.… Read the rest

Defamation of Religion is a concept that has no place in Human Rights discourse.… Read the rest

A ‘moderate’ or ‘reformed’ religion is one that has been pushed back and reigned in by an enlightenment.… Read the rest

And calls for its suppression.… Read the rest

‘Anything that can hurt the convictions of another, particularly religious convictions, must be avoided.’… Read the rest

The National Post tells us:

In Canada, professors can face discipline for openly claiming to believe in biological sex.

Not really the right wording. Not “claiming” and not “believe.” For openly saying that biological sex is real, would be more accurate.

That’s ultimately what anthropology professor Kathleen Lowrey discovered years into her battle with the University of Alberta, over her 2020 dismissal from an administrative position that she undertook on top of her teaching and research. Lowrey’s great sin: the display of print-outs outside her office door that asserted males could not be female, and her open expression of gender critical views.

There, that’s better wording.

Her punishment: removal from her position as associate chair of the anthropology department

Andrew Copson at Humanists UK:

This morning, three civilians were murdered in France – stabbed to death and beheaded – by an Islamic extremist. It was a shocking and despicable act, but not an isolated one.

It comes just a fortnight after state school teacher Samuel Paty was murdered for teaching his class about freedom of expression and the attacks on Charlie Hebdo. France responded then in the only way a human rights-loving republic should. It defended the right to free expression, including to publish materials which may cause offence.

Sickeningly, today’s murders have been portrayed as a retaliation for that defence of free speech and secular education and it feels like this is a situation spiralling out of