A Liberal Democrat MP has said the courts should refuse an extradition request from Germany for an Australian schoolteacher accused of being a Holocaust denier.
Latest Updates: freedom of speech RSS
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thabet
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thabet
Late last month, Inayat Bunglawala was reflecting on how the views of British Muslims (and his own) have changed (notwithstanding these idiots) regarding the publication of ‘offensive’ material. I think it is fair to add that non-violent protest is perfectly legitimate if something upsets you so much.
On this topic, Charlie Gere is right to point out that states regulate and define (and so protect) speech, and that even liberal societies have their own cultural blindspots. But Gere is wrong to imply Muslims in these societies need special protection. They don’t — they just need to be treated fairly.
And Tom Heneghan asks, “Now what?”.
Hopefully, nothing.
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thabet
This is how the media works: They go hunting for Rent-A-Quotes.
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thabet
Another example of rich people using our libel laws to quash any criticism of their activities.
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thabet
Silvio Berlusconi’s superior civilisation: The Ministry of Justice in Italy is considering an appeal for the prosecution of an Italian comic for ‘insulting the Pope’.
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baraka
With apologies to this person, I just got off of a call in which I was told that the “Jewel of Medina” has found a UK publisher as also reported by the Guardian.
The person who told me, a prominent Muslim American activist, is trying to formulate a response plan & would love your input. She anticipates a “Satanic Verses + Danish Cartoon” level controversy. She was thinking of having Muslim women writers present a range of views on this.
I thought having scholars and people of faith (drawing from all religious traditions) speak to balancing the responsibilities and the freedoms of speech would also be helpful so that it didn’t just look like “Only Muslims get pissed about this issue.” Respect for religious figures and artistic license is something all people of faith grapple with to some degree.
I also suggested that an artistic response celebrating the lives of the Prophet, Hazrat Ali & Hazrat Aisha, and, in particular, highlighting Sunni-Shia partnerships in art or other areas would be useful. She said these figures and relationships were denigrated in the book. She has an advance copy, which she said she read with “liberal eyes” and was still horrified by.
Any other ideas of what kind of response could be given if this does go forward so as to mitigate the “raging Muslims” depiction?
I realize that because the book hasn’t been published or read by most of us, it’s hard to articulate specific responses, but some general PR/media ideas would be helpful.
During the cartoon crisis, one image stood out for me: A Muslim man sitting outside of a Danish embassy painting a beautiful picture of the Virgin Mary in response to the cartoons. I would love to see a response like that, a good action in turn for a bad, articulated for this.
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thabet
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thabet
I am sorry, but here is another link on Random House and Jewel of Madina. This time it is to Aziz’s shiny new Beliefnet blog.
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thabet
Irshad Manji offers her views on the Jewel of Madina controversy.
(Via Haroon Moghul.)
Related: See Talk Islam’s Jewel of Madina archives.
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thabet
Stanley Fish says whatever you call the decision by Random House not to publish the Jewel of Madina, don’t call it censorship.
Meanwhile, the Jewel of Madina has divided Muslim opinion in Serbia.
Related posts: Read the views of Shahed Amanullah, Denise Spellberg, Sherry Jones, G. Willow Wilson, Johann Hari, Sunny Hundal and Salman Rushdie.
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thabet
Johann Hari discusses child brides in Yemen and the UK, and also has a post which is highly critical of Islamophobia Watch.
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thabet
Another genuine threat to free speech: The UN committee on human rights has criticised Britain for its terror and libel laws, saying they contradicted a covenant guaranteeing freedom of speech and exchange of ideas and information “regardless of borders”.
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thabet
The comments on one of the several threads touching on the Jewel of Madina issue has inevitably led to discussing Salman Rushdie.
Given that Random House have also published some of Rushdie’s books, it was only a matter of time before the Knight Bachelor would offer his thoughts.
(I would like to note that back in 1990 Rushdie threatened legal action against an English writer for depicting his situation, following the Iranian fatwa, in a play.)
Related: Read the views of Denise Spellberg, Shahed Amanullah, the author Sherry Jones, Willow, Johann Hari and Sunny Hundal.
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muse
Ms. Sherry Jones, she of all things tolerant, who courageously “refuse[s] to succumb to racism,” writes about her anguish over having her book Jewel of Medina pulled.
I think Willow’s comment says it all.
Related: Professor Spellberg’s and Shahed’s response
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thabet
Denise Spellberg, the academic at the centre of the Jewel of Madina controversy, responds to Asra Nomani’s article “You Still Can’t Write About Muhammad” (covered by Shahed, who was also mentioned in Nomani’s WSJ article).
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thabet
Buddhists follow a Hamas activist, a secretive Orthodox Christian organisation, a British mercenary and an Uzbek billionaire gangster in threatening legal action against a blogger.
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thabet
Dave Walker, an Anglican blogger and cartoonist, has been threatened with libel action by the owner of Society of Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) bookshops.
SPCK are owned by Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust (SSG), an American Orthodox group.
The cease and desist notice sent to Walker relates to a series of posts on his site regarding the sale of the SPCK bookshops to SSG, who are accused of running the bookshops into the ground.
Warman’s Wire has a detailed series of posts on this issue. There is also an entire blog dedicated to the transfer of SPCK to SSG.
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thabet
I wonder if Nicolas Sarkozy will speak out in favour of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo this time around?
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thabet
Academic freedom in Britain: This is the state of academic freedom in contemporary Britain:
The article is raises a glaring contradiction between the police account in a letter to Rizwaan Sabir and the reported views of Sabir’s lecturers. The police claim in a letter to Sabir that (my emphasis):
“The university authorities have now made clear that possession of this material is not required for the purpose of your course of study nor do they consider it legitimate for you to possess it for research purposes.”
Yet the article says (again my emphasis):
Mr Sabir’s personal tutor Bettina Renz, a lecturer in international security, and his MA supervisor, Rod Thornton, a terrorism specialist and former soldier, have both said they told police that Mr Sabir’s possession of the document was legitimate given his research interests.
So, which is it?
A commentator at the Times Higher Education website notes that the other man arrested (but also never charged) alongside Sabir, Hischam Yezza, has received no help from the university despite studying and working there for over a decade.
One question not addressed by the article is whether Rizwaan Sabir would have been arrested had he been called, say, ‘Roger Simpson’. I honestly hope this is not interpreted as an attempt to keep Muslims away from pursuing degrees in similar fields (terrorism, international security, war and peace studies, etc).
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thabet
The Times responds to criticism of one its journalists by threatening legal and criminal action against Media Lens, a website which targets coverage of current affairs from the ‘quality’ press.
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thabet
The British Muslim Initiative (BMI) has threatened the blog Harry’s Place with legal action. BNR explains:
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thabet
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thabet
Out of step with its allies, the US defends the freedom to offend, says the New York Times.
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thabet
Richard Barnbrook, the BNP’s London Assembly member, has used a blog on the Daily Telegraph’s website to blame immigrants for knife and gun crime after a spate of murders.
I am not sure where Sunny Hundal is going in his criticism of the Telegraph with this, although of course, like all ‘free speech’ type arguments, it can be pointed out that it is perfectly reasonable to criticise (though not legally block) the abuse of this freedom.
My Telegraph, the Telegraph’s blogging platform, is open to the public. Anyone can register and start writing. If there have been violation of its Ts&Cs, write to the site’s moderators.
All this blog will do is make the BNP (and the Telegraph by extension) look even more like the stupid racist morons we all know they are. I mean just look at this argument from Barnbrook:
The last thing [young Britons] should do is start going to those disgusting lefty therapists for counselling to relive the trauma. Look at that word “therapist” the rapist….and that is what they do….the rape of the mind.
Hilarious.
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thabet
Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology a ‘cult’.
