A group of 12 writers have put their names to a statement in French weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo warning against Islamic "totalitarianism". Here is the text in full:
"After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new global totalitarian threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
Recent events, prompted by the publication of drawings of Muhammad in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values.
This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field.
It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism between West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
Like all totalitarian ideologies, Islamism is nurtured by fear and frustration.
Preachers of hatred play on these feelings to build the forces with which they can impose a world where liberty is crushed and inequality reigns.
But we say this, loud and clear: nothing, not even despair, justifies choosing darkness, totalitarianism and hatred.
Islamism is a reactionary ideology that kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present.
Its victory can only lead to a world of injustice and domination: men over women, fundamentalists over others.
On the contrary, we must ensure access to universal rights for the oppressed or those discriminated against.
We reject the "cultural relativism" which implies an acceptance that men and women of Muslim culture are deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secularism in the name of the respect for certain cultures and traditions.
We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", a wretched concept that confuses criticism of Islam as a religion and stigmatisation of those who believe in it.
We defend the universality of the freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit can exist in every continent, towards each and every maltreatment and dogma.
We appeal to democrats and free spirits in every country that our century may be one of light and not dark."
Signed by:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Levy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq
4 comments:
this whole thing keeps getting uglier and uglier.
funny thing is that this is all stemming from...guess what...profit!!
Islam is hated because its very much against capitalism and accumulation of wealth, and refuses to be the west's bitch. when the cartoon was first depicted the papers didn't pick up on it for a good 2 months. It was only when economic sanctions were taken out on the WEST (for once) by the east, that the west got its panties in a twist and started printing this stuff so as to rile ppl. up, since most of the press is euro-west controlled. and of course the extremist/fundamentalist religous folk (of whatever sect) are scapegoated and everyone that is Islam or Jew or whatever is made to be a criminal.
fuck i dunno, i'm still trying to wrap my head around all this. why all this freakin' hating???? gotta make Islam the new boogeyman to be feared so that Whitie can temporarily satisfy his appetite for wealth. My friend made a really good point:
"once the generation that remembers [historical] events directly dies off/gets too old to be taken seriously - then people start feeling 'untouchable' - they've never experienced a global war in their lifetime and, therefore, feel like it never happened/never will happen again...so they stop thinking about the "larger" consequences of their actions..."
*shudder*
we can't buy into this propoganda that is being forced down our throats.
Here we go again. Fan those flames!
Islam has so many good things about it. First and foremost is the absence of capitalism and of interest on loans. We should adopt that ASAFP! It's far more fair economically even though socially it is incredibly prejudiced and unfair to women, children and minorities.
This article has one thing right, not all Muslims are interested in being subjects to a radical theocracy but they ALL want a fairer shake in the world scene. Fair enough. I'm sick of the West (read U.S.) running the show, it's great that there is another system coming up to replace communism as the alternative to capitalism. I'm looking forward to the capitalist system imploding but not if there isn't another system ready to take it's place.
I don't want to fan the flames, I only want to show a perspective. I don't agree totally with this letter, although it does merit some good points. Islam is no less culpable for its irrationalities than Christianity or Judaism are. They are all twisted branches of the same tree. The fact there are so many factions of each speaks volumes on the 'immutability' of their dogma. If they can't even agree on the 'truth' among themselves, how are they do expect the rest of us to go along with them? Retarded!
And now the soon-to-be Iraqi civil war - all based on theologies. It's all nuts.
It's simply to say that Islam is not the best religious environment to be in to invent progressive social institutions such as democracy, since the religious tenets are so strict.
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