“If we are really a majority, which I believe, can we please see it on the streets for a change?”
Maryam Namazie Pod Delusion interview on the Rally to Defend Free Expression
One Law for All spokesperson Maryam Namazie was interviewed for this week’s Pod Delusion at the recent Centre for Free Inquiry conference on Blasphemy. She spoke about the need to support Atheist societies on campus and called for people to take to the streets to defend free expression on 11 February.
“I think the rally is important for two reasons. One is that Atheist student groups don’t feel alone, because they are being bullied, they are being intimidated, and they’re being called all sorts of things, for merely posting a ‘Jesus and Mo’ image on their Facebook page, or expressing their beliefs. I want to give them a sense that they’re not alone. There are a lot of people who support them, who’ll defend their right to free expression.
“There are a lot of ways in which you can defend free expression, but I do think going out on the streets is important as well. A lot of changes in the world didn’t take place behind closed doors with people in power discussing things. It happened because there was so much pressure on the streets that things changed for the better, and I think this is one way of defending free expression. So I do urge everyone to come. If we are really a majority, which I believe, can we please see it on the streets for a change?”
To listen to the Podcast, click here or listen below.
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A Day to Defend Free Expression
Saturday 11th February, 2pm – 4pm
Old Palace Yard, Opposite the House of Lords
London
A list of events in other cities here.
For more information please visit One Law for All.
2 Comments
jebat moden
Another street law?
Freedom of expression without limits?
Back to basic please, everybody require a basic need-Home for shelter,Clothes and Foods. Not Street Law.
Terri Murray
Western “liberals” have naively capitulated to the false dilemma between respect for diversity (their sacred shibboleth) and freedom of expression. First, there is no dilemma between these two values, nor are they opposed. Only when said “diversity” involves the use of violence or coercion to suppress dissent do the two conflict, and in this case we are dealing with ideologies with unwilling followers who have been coerced into conformity to the ideology anyway. Such ideologies, even when they wear the mantle of “religion” to protect their ‘liberty’, are not worthy of respect. We cannot assume that their adherents VALUE the ideological beliefs of the group, since coercive violence is used to secure it. Therefore to speak of their ‘values’ is a contradiction in terms. Holding values is something that is done voluntarily. As for women who claim to voluntarily subscribe to sexist practices, these claims cannot and should not be believed until the stigmatizing and brutalizing violence, threats and economic sanctions against them are completely removed. When they THEN claim to be acting “voluntarily” we can believe their claims.
Second, Western liberals are so desperate not to offend the cultural sensibilities of the “other” that they rush to judgement and demonize as “racist” anyone who genuinely acts in solidarity with oppressed members of the intolerant ideology by expressing dissenting viewpoints. This puts these so-called liberals in contradiction with their own liberal values – as the ideologies they defend against “racism” do not themselves respect the value of tolerance, and trample the human rights of members of their own communities – who are also minorities! Western liberals have been ignorant in allowing right wing ideologues to use these claims of “cultural imperialism” and “racism” to divide and rule minorities from diverse communities who ALL SHARE THE VALUE OF TOLERANCE and who would otherwise unite against the TRUE oppressors – those intolerant religions and ideologies that reject the value of free expression, freedom of conscience, and self-determination.