Category Archives: Freedom of Expression

Freedom of Expression in Qatar

This is a cross-post from Harry’s Place of an article by Imran **** Maqbool Fida (‘MF’) Husain is a 95-year old Indian artist, often referred to as the Picasso of India. Following a celebrated career spanning seven decades, Husain became embroiled in controversy in 1996, following the publication of an article about nude images of Hindu [...]
Posted in Freedom of Expression | 1 Comment

Artist MF Husain given Qatari Citizenship

Good news (that’s sarcasm) for people who feel their right to be religiously offended trumps freedom of expression: Renowned Indian artist MF Husain, under attack from hardline Hindus for his paintings of nude Hindu goddesses, has been offered Qatari nationality. The artist made the announcement in The Hindu newspaper. It is not clear whether he will accept [...]
Also posted in Civil Rights | 1 Comment

free speech: we all scream for murder – at the oxford union

as you may know by now, the israeli deputy foreign minister, danny ayalon, was heckled pretty comprehensively at his speech at the oxford union on monday night. the high (or low) point came when, rather like the accusations of murder levelled at the israeli ambassador to the us, michael oren, at the university of california, [...]
Also posted in Activism, International Affairs, Islamism, Israel/Palestine, Racism | 4 Comments

“well, they’re a bit extreme, but they do such good work bringing people back to judaism!”

david t from harry’s place forwarded me this cartoon by eli valley, whose satirical strips appear monthly in the leading us jewish magazine “the forward”. on reading it, i didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. on one hand, it’s a caricature of the position of the kiruv (“outreach”) organisations, but on the other hand, once you [...]
Also posted in Entryism, Identity Politics, Interfaith, Jewish Extremism, Obscurantism, Politics, Sectarianism | 57 Comments

Kaboom and Brum

This is a cross-post by habibi of Harry’s Place **** Azzam “Kaboom” Tamimi, one of the UK’s most radical Islamists, is scheduled to address a conference at the University of Birmingham on 20 January. The conference is titled “In Pursuit of Justice: Remember Gaza” and is organised by the university’s student Islamic society (ISOC). Tamimi’s fellow speakers will [...]
Also posted in Antisemitism, Islamism | 6 Comments

Defend Kurt Westergaard

This is a cross-post of an article by Lucy Lips from Harry’s Place **** “I locked myself in our safe room and alerted the police. He tried to smash the entrance door with an axe, but he didn’t manage.” – Kurt Westergaard This is the news from Denmark: A Somali man has been charged with trying to kill a [...]
Also posted in Islamism | 1 Comment

Copts Complain of Islamic Leaders’ Double-Standards Over Minarets Vote

Whilst leading Muslim clerics complained of the Swiss decision to ban the building of further minarets, there was not a word from the same for the continued denial of the right to worship freely for religious minorities across the Muslim-majority world. In Egypt, the Coptic Orthodox Christian minority make up some 10% of the population; yet [...]
Also posted in Human Rights, Interfaith, Sectarianism | 7 Comments

Index On Self-Censorship?

An internal debate at Index on Censorship has gone public. The new edition of the magazine carries an interview with Jytte Klausen about her book on the Danish cartoons controversy and the kerfuffle with Yale University Press which at the last minute refused to publish them. Jo Glanville (editor of Index on Censorship) wanted to [...]
Posted in Freedom of Expression | 3 Comments

beard-pulling update: are lubavitch a bunch of messianic heretics, or what?

it appears that the mainstream orthodox rabbinical council of america has picked a fight with the powerful chabad / lubavitch movement over the perennial problem about whether the last lubavitcher rebbe is dead, or the messiah, or both, or what. obviously, there is a slight problem with jews who start believing that the messiah has [...]
Also posted in Exegesis, Farce, Obscurantism | Tagged | 3 Comments

Cry Freedom!

Sudanese opposition groups, both Northern and Southern, vowed over the weekend to stage a mass demonstration at the Parliament on Monday, despite a last minute ban issued by the Sudanese regime. Eyewitnesses reported thousands of heavily armed policemen took up positions in the capital from early Monday morning hours in an apparent bid to curb the [...]
Also posted in Democracy, Human Rights, International Affairs | 1 Comment