Butterflies and Wheels weekly update
Ophelia Benson
New in "Latest News"
Top Muslim Brotherhood woman on women’s rights
“When a woman marches to defend her rights, this affronts her dignity.”
Filed: January 16, 2012
The Guardian is defending sharia again
It’s disturbing that ‘leading’ barristers and newspapers can say Sharia is compatible with human rights whilst it amputates, stones to death, imposes veiling, and kills apostates.
Filed: January 16, 2012
BBC on growing use of Sharia by UK Muslims
Filed: January 16, 2012
“Angry Brides” game targets Indian dowry demands
The parody of "Angry Birds" throws a spotlight on dowry demands and harassment.
Filed: January 16, 2012
U of London: meeting on sharia disrupted by threats
One Islamist filmed everyone at the meeting and announced he would hunt down those who said anything negative about Islam’s prophet.
Filed: January 17, 2012
New Humanist on disruption of sharia talk at U of London
"He shouted ‘listen up all of you, I am recording this, I have your faces on film now, and I know where some of you live'."
Filed: January 17, 2012
Rhys Morgan threatened over Jesus and Mo
His sixth form college is considering expelling him if he doesn't remove the cartoon from his profile.
Filed: January 17, 2012
Freedom of expression under threat by violent extremists
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?
Filed: January 17, 2012
How defamation law can be used to chill legitimate debate
Criticising the motivations of public figures, or calling on them to be more candid about their motivations, should not be actionable.
Filed: January 17, 2012
Paula Kirby on the pile-up of censorship efforts
It is no longer just the religious who would inhibit our freedom of expression: increasingly, secular bodies are buying into this invidious idea too, all in the name of 'tolerance' or 'community relations' or 'respect'.
Filed: January 17, 2012
Independent reports disruption of meeting at Queen Mary
Enquiries by Tower Hamlets police are ongoing.
Filed: January 18, 2012
Rhode Island state senator sneers at Jessica Ahlquist
Senator Beth Moura tweets: "Look at ACLU sweetheart's Twitter acct and rhetoric of her followers. Not good."
Filed: January 18, 2012
Paula Kirby on how atheists find meaning in life
Filed: January 18, 2012
Bangladesh: teacher arrested over Taslima Nasreen novel
Yunus Ali, the Head Teacher of KC Technical and Business Management College of Pirojpur, was arrested for having allegedly kept a copy of “Lajja” (“Shame”) in the college library.
Filed: January 18, 2012
President of UCL ASH society resigns
Filed: January 19, 2012
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″.
Filed: January 19, 2012
Cranston florists refuse to deliver roses to Jessica Ahlquist
That's telling her!
Filed: January 19, 2012
Muslim feminists targeted by Islamists
They face a backlash in the form of persecution, intimidation and death threats.
Filed: January 19, 2012
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.
Filed: January 19, 2012
Rushdie’s absence from Jaipur festival “a stain on India”
Filed: January 20, 2012
London: “blasphemy” event January 28
Kenan Malik, Austin Dacey, Andrew Copson, Jacob Mchangma, Maryam Namazie speaking informatively and provocatively on this controversial topic.
Filed: January 20, 2012
Atheism is illegal in Indonesia
Filed: January 20, 2012
Malawi: women assaulted and stripped for wearing trousers
Filed: January 20, 2012
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.
Filed: January 20, 2012
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.
Filed: January 20, 2012
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.
Filed: January 21, 2012
Church in Spain goes for the crazy
Bishop of Córdoba: "Cardinal Antonelli told me a few days ago in Zaragoza that UNESCO has a program for the next 20 years to make half the world population homosexual."
Filed: January 21, 2012
Nigeria: bombs kill at least 120 in Kano
Filed: January 21, 2012
Filed: January 21, 2012
David Remnick on a writer under threat again
The festival is an astonishingly diverse and gaudy affair, with five enormous venues centered around the Diggi Palace, smack in the middle of Jaipur’s Pink City.
Filed: January 21, 2012
‘Rajasthan police invented plot to keep away Rushdie’
Local cops made up a story that hit men were planning to kill Rushdie in a plot to deter him from attending the Jaipur Literature Festival, police sources have told The Hindu.
Filed: January 21, 2012
Telegraph obit of Frank Cioffi
Later critics of Freud such as Frederick Crews, Allen Esterson and Malcolm Macmillan always acknowledged their debt to Cioffi, and Freud’s frequent departures from truthfulness are now conceded by even ardent admirers.
Filed: January 21, 2012
Joan Smith on a dreadful week for free speech
Why hasn't there been a furore about all these incidents? Why aren't MPs and ministers insisting on the vital role of free speech?
Filed: January 22, 2012
Nick Cohen on how freedom goes
The people the liberal mainstream lets down are liberal Muslims and ex-Muslims who need help in their fight against theocratic oppression.
Filed: January 22, 2012
More on arrest of Indonesian atheist
Official said that he had yet to decide whether Alexander would be dismissed from his post. “I told him that there was no place in this country for his beliefs,” he said.
Filed: January 23, 2012
Karen Armstrong says how great Islam is
"The ancient rituals of the hajj...have helped pilgrims to form habits of heart and mind that – pace the western stereotype – are non-violent and inclusive."
Filed: January 23, 2012
Skeptic lawyer on the two sorts of limits to law
The first concerns what one ought to do (with law). The second concerns what it is possible to do (with law). Principled v means-end.
Filed: January 23, 2012
Nigeria: police find bomb-filled cars in Kano
Police said they found cars and vans filled with explosives in Kano three days after Boko Haram carried out a deadly attack there.
Filed: January 23, 2012
LSE Students’ Union issues statement on ASH
"The offensive nature of the content on the Facebook page is not in accordance with our values of tolerance, diversity, and respect for all students."
Filed: January 23, 2012
New in "Articles"
My Visit to Australia
By Leo Igwe
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.
Filed: January 20, 2012
New in "Notes and Comment Blog"
- Who’s an evil little thing then?
Filed: January 16, 2012 - On her own she will not be able to get her rights
Filed: January 16, 2012 - Never anything more than an informal request
Filed: January 16, 2012 - Developments
Filed: January 16, 2012 - They will take more consideration
Filed: January 16, 2012 - 1 shut up. 2 shut up. 3 shut up.
Filed: January 17, 2012 - He annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past
Filed: January 17, 2012 - “If I hear that anything is said against the holy Prophet Muhammad”
Filed: January 17, 2012 - Just a kind request
Filed: January 17, 2012 - Behold, theocracy in action
Filed: January 17, 2012 - QED
Filed: January 17, 2012 - Jesus and Mo promote peace, tolerance and respect
Filed: January 18, 2012 - Another chorus of “god hates atheists”
Filed: January 18, 2012 - Threat threat threat threat
Filed: January 18, 2012 - Who gave these kuffar the right to speak?
Filed: January 18, 2012 - Orlando
Filed: January 18, 2012 - History has told us that these things cause offence
Filed: January 19, 2012 - London 11 February 2012 – defend free expression
Filed: January 19, 2012 - More from the bully boyz
Filed: January 19, 2012 - Are you now or have you ever been an Islamophobe
Filed: January 19, 2012 - Muscle v truth and humour
Filed: January 20, 2012 - These crimes happen everywhere in the world
Filed: January 20, 2012 - No longer a “safe space”
Filed: January 20, 2012 - Mr Rushdie regrets
Filed: January 20, 2012 - A big win for theocracy
Filed: January 21, 2012 - The UN plans to make everybody gay!!11!
Filed: January 21, 2012 - Hank Fox’s book
Filed: January 21, 2012 - The organisers have refused to hand over the tapes
Filed: January 21, 2012 - There are other critics of the word “Islamophobia”
Filed: January 21, 2012 - It’s only a ruddy parking ticket
Filed: January 22, 2012 - No Jaipur Literature Festival for you
Filed: January 22, 2012 - And there are more other critics of the word “Islamophobia”
Filed: January 22, 2012 - Too much conflation of being offended and being intimidated
Filed: January 23, 2012 - That’s how it’s done
Filed: January 23, 2012 - Seeing what you want to see
Filed: January 23, 2012 - It has come to our attention that you are wicked
Filed: January 23, 2012