Taslima Nasrin's Blog, page 24

Sudan court convicts Ethiopian woman over ‘gang-rape’.

It is nothing new.

We know it very well that we women get harassed, raped, abused, trafficked, tortured and then

we get punished for being harassed, raped, abused, trafficked, tortured. We get killed for not paying

dowry, for not behaving well or for not cooking well.

I tried to say:

‘Freedom of expression is again under attack in India. Penguin India should not have withdrawn Wendy’s book ‘The Hindus’. The publishers should uphold an author’s freedom of expression. Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, the organization that claims that the book has many factual errors,could write a book correcting those errors. The book under attack is currently one of the bestselling books on Amazon. It shows that censorship cannot keep freedom of expression suppressed. In fact, it breeds curiosity and so censorship is really

its own worst enemy.

Penguin India is one of the biggest publishing houses in India. It had all the capacity to fight the court cases it faced. But instead, it compromised with those who do not believe in free speech. Penguin India said, “Indian penal code section 295a, makes it difficult for any Indian publisher to uphold international standards of free expression”. It is true, but my question is why don’t you fight for the abolition of the age-old British law, which is used by governments to ban books, harass and imprison authors? Free speech is universal. There is no such thing as national free speech, or international free speech. Like there are no such things as Islamic human rights or Western human rights. Like free speech, human rights are universal.

Writers should have the right to write whatever they like. Everyone should have the right to offend people. Without the right to offend, freedom of expression does not exist. Nobody should have the right to spend his or her entire life without being offended. Don’t we all know that if “Free Speech” means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not like to hear! Without hurting the sentiments of misogynists, obscurantists, ignorant irrationalists — you will not be able to bring change in society. Throughout history always some people’s sentiments were hurt – had to be hurt – especially when society was about to change. In this country when sati was abolished, or girls’ education started, many misogynist sentiments were hurt. But should we care about their so called sentiments or should we help society to evolve, to make the world a better place?

It is dangerous if the government tries to deny people’s freedom of expression in order to protect the sentiments of those who don’t believe in democracy. Many of my books are banned in Bangladesh. My book was banned in West Bengal too. The government of West Bengal not only banned my book, it forced me to leave the state too. The new government banned the release of my book Nirbasan in 2012 and a few months ago forced a TV channel called Akash Ath to stop telecast of a mega serial written by me. The serial was about women’s struggle and how three sisters living in Kolkata fight against patriarchal oppression to live their lives with dignity and honour. She (Mamata Banerjee) banned me in order to appease some misogynist mullahs.

The truth is I am used for the vote bank politics in India. If fundamentalists demand for the banning of books, should governments ban books? Should fundamentalists decide what we should read, write, watch, wear, eat, drink, think? Governments seem to give them the

authority to decide. Fundamentalists do not believe in plurality of thoughts. They do not believe in individual freedom. They believe intheocracy, not in democracy.

Most Indian secularists do not support me. They support writers who are attacked by Hindus, but not the writers who are attacked by Muslims. Salman Rushdie is supported by secularists though, probably because he is not so vocal against Islamic oppression on women the way I am. I am not a man. I am not macho. I am a woman. A single woman at that. And a feminist. We live in a misogynistic, patriarchal societyand people in this society hate feminists.

Freedom of expression is like rape in India. Politicians and intellectuals do not defend everyone’s freedom of expression like they do not condemn every rape. If I could get the same support Wendy got, the TV producer could start broadcasting my mega serial despite government’s threats.’

In Syria, a girl was stoned to death for having a Facebook account.

The girl, Fatoum Al-Jassem, was executed by a mob of Islamic extremists after being sentenced to death by a Sharia court.

The Al-Reqqa religious court, under the jurisdiction of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), ruled that having a Facebook account was “Zina” or immoral behavior, and deserved to be penalized the same way as adultery, Arabic-language media reported.

ISIS is a hardline Islamic group present in Iraq and Syria. The predominantly Sunni jihadist group has been active in the civil war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and government forces in Iraq.

Recently the central leadership of al-Qaeda sharply renounced ties with the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. ISIS’s savagery and draconian interpretations of Islamic law has alienated many Syrians and drove a wedge between rebel groups.The group’s ideology is based on an extremely strict interpretation of Islam.

This resistance group is generally described as being made up of Sunni Islamist mujahideen. Its goal is to overthrow the Assad government and to create an Pan-Islamic state under Sharia (the moral code and religious law of Islam) and aims to reinstate the Caliphate.

Sometimes I do not find any word to express my anger.

Al Qaida asked Muslims in bangladesh to start intifada.

The audiovisual message purported to be from al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has urged the Muslims in Bangladesh to wage an intifada (popular uprising) to confront the “crusader onslaught against Islam”.

Posted in Jihadology.net, the message alleged thousands of people were being killed in the streets of Bangladesh for protesting the “collusion of the anti-Islam secular government with a bunch of transgressing secularists”.

“I invite you to lead the masses in a vast and inclusive popular uprising (intifada) whose tide dose not recede, nor its dynamism subsides, until the Shariah of Islam governs the land of Islam, instead of being governed over,” it went on.

Titled “Bangladesh: A Massacre behind a Wall of Silence”, the message was released on January 14, but it surfaced in the media only yesterday.

In it, the voice of an unseen narrator is placed over still images including Zawahiri’s and video clips along with English subtitle. Not a single shot does show the al-Qaeda chief speaking on camera.

Jihadology, which describes itself as a clearinghouse for Jihadi source materials, said this was a new message of Zawahiri and it was presented by As-Saḥab, known as the media house of al-Qaeda.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian physician, took the helm of the much-feared global militant organisation after US Navy SEALS killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

The audiovisual material starts with photographs from the May 5, 2013 Hefajat-e Islam rally in Dhaka and the subsequent crackdown by law enforcers on it.

“A massacre of Muslims is being carried out these days, and the Muslim world is totally oblivious to it. The western media is colluding with the killers to belittle its significance and hide the facts,” the message said.

“Hundreds of callers to the religion and scholars are also facing hardships, manhunts, imprisonment, trials, death sentences and life imprisonments without any guilt,” it said.

“My Muslim brothers in Bangladesh, I invite you to confront this crusader onslaught against Islam, which is being orchestrated by the leading criminals in the subcontinent and the West…

The release went on, “Bangladesh is the victim of the conspiracy in which the agents of India, the corrupt leadership of the Pakistan army, and treacherous power hungry politicians of Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are always prepared to sacrifice everything for the sake of fulfilling their ambitions and desires, were all equal participants.”

Turning to the Liberation War, 1971, the message said, “Their purpose was not independence from Pakistan, stopping the aggression against the people of Bangladesh, or getting rid of military rule in Pakistan.” The real purpose was weakening the Muslim Ummah in the subcontinent, the release claimed.

Bangladesh is being turned into “a subjugated surrogate of India”, it also said.

“Those who massacred the Muslims in Bangladesh only yesterday are the same people who are massacring the Muslims in Pakistan today. Similarly, those who allied with India against Pakistan by claiming that they sought to defend the honour and sanctities of Bengalis are the same people who are attacking the sanctities, beliefs, honour, lives and properties of Bengalis today.”

While accusing the media for downplaying the alleged attacks, he also criticised the West for remaining “unmoved”.

The events in Bangladesh enjoy the blessings of both India and America, “since their interests in fighting Islam overlap, and this is why their bilateral relations are becoming stronger day by day”.

When people of Afghanistan, Mali, and Somalia “decide to implement” Shariah”, “they are then met with a full-fledged military onslaught, in which the leading international criminals and their local surrogates take part”.

“But when Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin and Ali Rajib Haider insult Islam, the Prophet of Islam (pbuh), and the beliefs of Islam, they are treated as heroes who must be defended, honoured, and given awards,” said the al-Qaeda chief.

Comparing the situation in Bangladesh with the attacks on Muslims in Myanmar, he said, “The events in Bangladesh and Burma are not too distant from the oppression and killings of Muslims in Kashmir or the racial cleansing in Assam, Gujarat and Ahmadabad either.”

There are more than enough ignorant Islamists in Bangladesh who will get influenced by Al-Qaeda chief and turn the country into a fucked up Islamic hell. They should be fought now without any compromise. Don’t sit on your fat ass, lazy bum.

Full text of al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s audio message:

My dear Muslim brothers! May peace, mercy and blessings of Allah be upon you! A massacre of Muslims is being carried out these days, and the Muslim world is totally oblivious to it. The western media is colluding with the killers to belittle its significance and hide the facts.

This is the bloodbath taking place in Bangladesh, without the Muslims paying the least attention to it.

Bangladesh is the victim of the conspiracy in which the agents of India, the corrupt leadership of the Pakistan army, and treacherous power hungry politicians of Bangladesh and Pakistan, who are always prepared to sacrifice everything for the sake of fulfilling their ambitions and desires, were all equal participants.

However, the real victim was the Muslim Ummah in the subcontinent generally, and in Pakistan and Bangladesh specifically.

The crimes that are being committed in Bangladesh today against the core beliefs of Islam, the Prophet of Islam (pbuh), and the Muslim Ummah are only the fruits of the rotten seeds sown by these criminals.

Their purpose was not independence from Pakistan, stopping the aggression against the people of Bangladesh, or getting rid of military rule in Pakistan. None of these was the real objectives, even if these criminals took cover behind these slogans, parroted these lines, and propagated these out of their malevolence or stupidity, or due to both. None of this was the real purpose.

The real purpose was weakening the Muslim Ummah in the subcontinent. It was to rip the Muslim Ummah apart into pieces, and lead it to death by getting it entangled in mutual strife, regional conflicts and wars.

Above all, their purpose was to attack the real capital of this Ummah, and the secret of its strength: the Islamic faith.

What is taking place today in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan is only a prelude to the execution of this evil plan, and the aforementioned criminals are the tools of the enemies of Islam in this vile conspiracy.

Those who massacred the Muslims in Bangladesh only yesterday are the same people who are massacring the Muslims in Pakistan today. Similarly, those who allied with India against Pakistan by claiming that they sought to defend the honour and sanctities of Bengalis are the same people who are attacking the sanctities, beliefs, honour, lives and properties of Bengalis today.

They claimed that they created Pakistan more than 60 years ago to defend Islam and Muslims in the subcontinent. Today we have a Pakistan that has no Shariah, no independence and no honour. Its government, army, intelligence, police and judiciary act as mercenaries hired to defend the interests of the crusader onslaught in South Asia.

Similarly, they claimed that they created Bangladesh more than 40 years ago to protect the independence, glory, honour and freedom of its people. But today we see Bangladesh turning into a huge prison in which the sanctities, honour, dignity and sacred places of Muslims are violated. Their lives are put at stake, and they are tortured in defence of the crusader onslaught, which is fighting Islam politically, militarily and ideologically.

Bangladesh, which they claimed to have won from Pakistan so that it may get its freedom, is being turned into a subjugated surrogate of India. These anti-Islamic policies that assail Islamic beliefs, symbols and the noble Prophet of Islam (pbuh), are only a manifestation of complete subjugation to India.

The events in Bangladesh enjoy the blessings of both India and America, since their interests in fighting Islam overlap, and this is why their bilateral relations are becoming stronger day by day.

This is the bitter truth that we must be aware of, so that we can take the first step on the road to freeing ourselves from this misfortune, humiliation and subservience to foreign powers.

Continue reading..

Wonderful film but very mild revenge we see in this new short film. Just a little bit of assault in the street. No rape or gangrape, no domestic violence, no dowry murder, no bride burning, no sex trafficking, no sex slavery, no stoning to death, no burqa etc. We know very well that we who do not want patriarchal society, do not want matriarchal society either, we rather want equal society. This film is not about equal society, this is just to imagine how a man might experience a sexual assault in a matriarchal society. Everyone should have some reverse experience. How would you feel if it happened to you? Men always forget the golden rule, ‘one should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.’

The film maker Eléonore Pourriat is now working on her next project – a mockumentary about the removal of pubic hair. I am waiting for that film. I hope that will be much more stronger.

Poet Hashem Shaabani was accused of being an “enemy of God” and a threat to security. So he was executed. Amnesty International said in the beginning of this year Iran executed 40 people within two weeks. According to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre (IHRDC) more than 300 people have been executed since Hasan Rouhani became president in August.

Holy fucking shit!

It is so good to see people dancing in Tunisia. They are happy dancing to happy song.

Young people across Tunisia are tapping into an online trend, posting videos of themselves dancing to the Pharrell Williams song Happy as a defiant reaction against the tense conditions in the country.

The clips, which have attracted tens of thousands of views on YouTube, have been criticised as “debauchery and moral decay” by conservative religious groups who disapprove of young Tunisians dancing to an American pop song.

Who cares!

I am so happy to see happy people! I am happy because these happy dancing people are living in Muslim country. All Muslim countries are not Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Young people living in Muslim countries should learn from Tunisian girls and boys to dance. Islamists would always say no to songs, no to dances. But don’t listen to them. Say big NO to Islamists and misogynists. And be happy.

It is so easy to harass women, molest women, rape women, sell women, buy women, exploit women. It is so easy to throw acid on women’s body, beaten women up, burn them down. It is so easy to kill women.

It is in Bangladesh. I was born and brought up in that country, unfortunately.

Our scientists can turn skin cells into stem cells.

Don’t call it a miracle. It has no relation with supernatural stuff.

Call it an amazing fact.

Human skin cells have been turned into stem cells which have the potential to develop into fully-formed embryos, simply by bathing them in weak citric acid for half an hour.

I may not get the benefit of it in my lifetime, but I am so bloody excited for being one of the witnesses of such an incredible scientific achievement.

Although there is no intention to create human embryos from skin cells, scientists believe that it could, theoretically, be possible to do so given that entire mouse embryos have already been effectively created from the re-engineered blood cells of laboratory mice.

Creating the mouse embryos was the final proof the scientists needed to demonstrate that the stem cells were “pluripotent”, and so capable of developing into any specialised tissue of an adult animal, including the “germ cells” that make sperm and eggs.

What else do we really need?

A team of Japanese and American scientists converted human skin cells into stem cells using the same simple approach that had astonished scientists around the world last month when they announced that they had converted blood cells of mice into stem cells by bathing them in a weak solution of citric acid for 30 minutes.

The scientist who instigated the research programme more than a decade ago said that he now has overwhelming evidence that the same technique can be used to create embryonic-like stem cells from human skin cells.

We can prevent our degenerations and deaths if we want. Why don’t we try to live as long as we like? I don’t like the idea to stop cloning because some bad people may misuse cloning, and to stop using stem cells because some bad people may use stem cells to live forever.

200 authors from 30 countries wrote a letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Authors have condemned Russia’s anti-gay and blasphemy laws as a “chokehold” on creativity.

Here is the letter:

The story of modern Russia is the story of dramatic, almost seismic change. Russian voices, both literary and journalistic, have always striven to make themselves heard above the clamour of their nation’s unfolding story – commenting on it, shaping it and, in doing so, contributing to the political and intellectual shape of the world far beyond their country’s borders. But during the last 18 months, Russian lawmakers have passed a number of laws that place a chokehold on the right to express oneself freely in Russia. As writers and artists, we cannot stand quietly by as we watch our fellow writers and journalists pressed into silence or risking prosecution and often drastic punishment for the mere act of communicating their thoughts.

Three of these laws specifically put writers at risk: the so-called gay “propaganda” and “blasphemy” laws, prohibiting the “promotion” of homosexuality and “religious insult” respectively, and the recriminalisation of defamation. A healthy democracy must hear the independent voices of all its citizens; the global community needs to hear, and be enriched by, the diversity of Russian opinion. We therefore urge the Russian authorities to repeal these laws that strangle free speech, to recognise Russia’s obligations under the international covenant on civil and political rights to respect freedom of opinion, expression and belief – including the right not to believe – and to commit itself to creating an environment in which all citizens can experience the benefit of the free exchange of opinion.

Putin abolishes blasphemy and anti-gay laws or not, this is a very important letter. Every injustice should be opposed. I hope authors also should write an open letter like this one to Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and other countries that have been using blasphemy laws to violate people’s freedom of expression and anti-gay laws to threaten Human Rights.