I will be travelling and out of London until September 13.
First, I will be going to Reykjavik, Iceland where I will be speaking on Wednesday Sept. 5th from 12:00-13:00 at the Women's Rights Alliance on the veil, women's rights and Islamic laws and at the Institute of International Affairs of the University of Iceland on apostasy, ex-Muslims and the challenge to political Islam on Thursday Sept. 6th at the Oddi building (Humanities) room 101 from 12:15- 13:15. For more information, click here.
I will be in the Hague, Holland on September 11 for the formal launch of the Dutch Ex-Muslim Committee led by Ehsan Jami. For more information, click here.
On September 12, I will be giving a statement with other ex-Muslims to the European Parliament Working Group on Separation of Religion and Politics in Brussels on developments regarding Islam and secularism. For more information, click here.
4 comments:
Have fun.
I will be sending you an email. I have some political questions, I'm interested in your opinion on.
Check your email. I sent you an email, and it was returned, saying your box is full.
http://peiknet.com/1386/07shahrivar/18/PAGE/34SALGARD.htm
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I attended Maryam Namazie lecture on "human rights for all" in Oddi (Reykjavík, Iceland) few days ago. While listening to Namazie it crossed my mind that "cultural barriers" are maybe just as real as we make them. Namazie confronts those barriers with a brave mind and determination. Her enthusiasm and believe in the possibilities of social improvement is like a fresh breeze in the face of an era where possibilities of social and cultural progress has been seriously doubted as well as the possibility of the human (individual) self to have any real control over her/his own live and surroundings. Namazie and her political struggle for justice and fairness arouses hope that women and men from very different cultural backgrounds can share the same worldviews and mutual understanding on issues that concern their live prospects and possibilities most deeply and can join their forces to fight for a better world without sexual, ethnic or class/economic discrimination. Listening to Namazie made me feel closer in many ways to her ideological background than I feel towards some of my icelandic, christian (although usually not truly religious chiristians) fellow icelanders "cultural and ideological background".
I totally agree with Namazie that tolerance and respect for different religions and customs must always be secondary to the respect for individual human right and welfare. This is especially important in relation to women and their rights as respect for religious customs of minority groups (or any separate social group) often leave their women members unsheltered in a vulnerable position. Islam religion have proved to be a effective tool to oppress women in Muslim tradition. Let us not forget that right up to our time christian religion has just as well been a very powerful tool to keep women oppressed in western societies and exclude women from the public sphere . This is not only a dark past but something that is still "going strong" as shows for example in the recent strengthening of right wing religious groups in the U.S.A. where feminism is under attack. It is no exaggeration to state that the christian myths and the christian ideology has degraded and excluded women. I am convinced that strict secularism is necessary to avoid oppression of one religious group towards other religious groups and to respect individual freedom in general as well as being vital for the development of a non-sexist society that truly respects equal human right for all.
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