Past Events – Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain

16feb2:00 pm5:00 pmCEMB Social - Movie & Munchies

14feb6:30 pm10:00 pmWhy we defended Rushdie and why it is still important today: 30 Years After the Fatwa

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Event Details

14 February, 6:30pm-10pm, Conway Hall, London

Why we defended Rushdie and why it is still important today: 30 Years After

On this Valentine’s Day, the 30th anniversary of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, join Feminist Dissent to defend the right to apostasy, to love, to flee persecution and seek asylum/Oppose blasphemy laws, the threat to free speech and the deportation of apostates.

Get tickets here.

Programme:

6:30 pm: Registration and Refreshments

7:00 pm: Film Screening

“Hullabaloo over The Satanic Verses” and “Struggle or Submission? Women in Islam” (films by Gita Sahgal)

8:00 pm: Panel Discussion

Maureen Freely (editorial collective member of Feminist Dissent; author, journalist, translator and academic; Chair of English PEN and advocate for writers at risk, especially in Turkey)

Maryam Namazie (secularist and human rights activist, commentator and broadcaster; co-founder of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and the One Law for All campaign)

Pragna Patel (editorial collective member of Feminist Dissent; co-founder of Women Against Fundamentalism, Director of Southall Black Sisters)

Gita Sahgal (editorial collective member of Feminist Dissent; writer, film-maker, human rights activist; founder of the Centre for Secular Space which challenges fundamentalism in all religions and co-founder of Women Against Fundamentalism)

Salil Tripathi (writer and journalist; PEN International, Writers in Prison committee; author of The Colonel Who Would Not Repentand Offence: the Hindu Case.)

Background: On May 27, 1989, 40 women of many religions and none stood at Parliament Square to oppose a massive march of orthodox Muslims demanding the banning of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses, as well as a National Front demonstration making racist attacks on Muslims in Britain. The march by orthodox Muslims called for the promulgation of blasphemy law to protect Islam from what they saw as an attack on their religion. They were supporting a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeni demanding that Rushdie be killed. Under the banner, ‘Our Tradition, Struggle Not Submission’, the women’s stand for Rushdie was part of their defence of their secular traditions and for their own right to read and dissent and to defend secular values and religious freedom. This was a foundational moment for Women Against Fundamentalism, a group committed to opposing the rise of fundamentalism in all religions across the world.

Although WAF no longer exists as a formal organization, many of its members have allied with other organisations to continue to campaign against fundamentalism’s impact on women and sexual minorities, as well as against blasphemy laws, and to support the growing movement of people known and unknown across the world who are fleeing from fundamentalist violence. In Britain, they oppose the UK government’s hostile environment against migrants and refugees, as well as the police’s failure to deal with death threats against atheists.

Conway Hall was the location of a benefit/fundraiser for WAF in August 1989. We are proud to be returning to this historic location to continue WAF’s work against fundamentalism and racism.

Time

(Thursday) 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm

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12feb6:00 pm8:00 pmMeet-Up with Sadia Hameed on FGM and MGM

05feb6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

01feb2:00 pm3:00 pmWorld Hijab Day Protest #NoHijabDay - CANCELLED!

31jan6:00 pm8:00 pmBirmingham Support Group

31jan10:00 am12:00 pm31 January 2019, Amsterdam Talk to students of Calvijn College Amsterdam and Het Amsterdams Lyceum

30jan8:00 pm10:00 pmDe Balie Freedom Lecture, Amsterdam

29jan7:00 pm9:00 pmFreedom Lecture, Brussels

22jan6:00 pm8:00 pmWarwick for Free Speech and Human Rights at Warwick University

20jan12:00 pm5:00 pmLGBT & Secular Rights At Risk: A Bangladesh Perspective

19jan2:00 pm5:00 pmCEMB Social - Movies & Munchies

16janAll DayNever Forget Fadime International Conference in Swedish Parliament

08jan6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

06dec7:00 pm8:30 pmLEAVING FAITH BEHIND | AN EVENING WITH THE AUTHORS

04dec6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

25novAll DayConference on Sharia, Segregation and Secularism

06nov6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

02novAll Day04San Francisco Freedom from Religion National Convention

21oct1:45 pm3:15 pmFilia talk - Feminism and Class Struggle

20oct5:45 pm7:15 amFilia talk - Secularism is a Feminist Issue part 2

16oct6:30 pm9:00 pmAutumn Coming Out Party

10oct7:00 pm10:00 pmBullet Hole By Gloria Williams

02oct7:45 pmFeaturedBullet HoleBullet Hole @ Park Theatre

02oct6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

25sepAll DayPOSTPONED - European Parliament in Brussels on “New Media and political communication in the Mediterranean”

22sep2:00 pm4:00 pmCEMB Social - Meet and Eat

10sep7:15 pm9:30 pmCardiff Humanists - Heresy, Blasphemy and Apostasy

04sep6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

28aug6:00 pm8:00 pmMeet up with Imad Iddine Habib - 28th August 6pm

21aug5:00 pm9:00 pmBring and Share Heathen Veggie Eid Party

18aug2:00 pm4:00 pmCEMB social - Meet and Eat

11aug2:00 pm6:00 pmFestival of Reason & Freethought 2018 (For Ex-Believers & Non-Believers)

07aug6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

24jul6:00 pm8:00 pmMeet up with Hassan Radwan - 24th July at 6pm

21jul10:30 am5:00 pmCEMB Social - Thorpe park Visit

07julAll DayLondon Pride

03jul6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

26jun6:00 pm8:00 pmHONOUR, SHAME AND APOSTASY WITH SADIA HAMEED

23junAll Day2018 Muslimish Conference

18jun9:00 am2:00 pmVigil for imprisoned writers in Saudi Arabia - Friday 18 May, 9:00 am—Monday 18 June, 2:00 pm

16jun2:00 pm4:00 pmCEMB social - meet and eat

14jun6:00 pm9:00 pmLGBT Rights, Apostasy and Blasphemy at Pride Festival

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Event Details

Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) is organising a screening of the film, Islam’s Non-Believers, by award-winning filmmaker Deeyah Khan on 14th June, from 6:00-9:00pm, as part of London Pride Festival to raise awareness amongst those who are unfamiliar with CEMB & the ex-Muslim movement.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A on LGBT Rights, Apostasy and Blasphemy. Imaan, Mend, East London Mosque, Pride and Pink News have been invited to join the discussion.

Confirmed Speakers:

Jimmy Bangash, LGBT Activist

Matthew Mahmood-Ogston, Founder & Trustee of Naz and Matt Foundation

Sadia Hameed, Spokesperson of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain

Syed Isteak Hossain Shawon, LGBT activist from Bangladesh and Editor of Boys Love World

The panel discussion will be chaired by Gita Sahgal, Chair of Centre for Secular Space.

The format of the evening is as follows:

6:00pm – Welcoming guests

6:30pm – Screening of Islam’s Non-belivers

7:15pm – Break for drinks

7:30pm – Panel Discussion

9:00pm – Finish

The venue location will be given to ticket holders closer to the date of the event. Please note that tickets cannot be bought at the door and must be purchased prior to the event.

For more information, please contact Daniel Fitzgerald and Sadia Hameed, exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com.

Biographies

Deeyah Khan is a critically acclaimed music producer and Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentary film director. She was born in Norway to immigrant parents of Pashtun and Punjabi ancestry. Her 2012 multi-award winning documentary “Banaz: A Love Story” chronicles the “honour killing” of a young British Kurdish woman killed in 2006 in London. Deeyah’s second film the Bafta-nominated “Jihad” involved two years of interviews and filming with Islamic extremists, convicted terrorists and former jihadis. Her third film is on ex-Muslims, called “Islam’s Non Believers”. She has also received several awards for her work supporting freedom of expression, human rights and peace, including the Ossietzky prize by Norwegian PEN and the University of Oslo’s Human Rights Award. She received the 2016 Peer Gynt Prize from the Parliament of Norway. Deeyah is also the CEO of Fuuse. One of the most recent Fuuse initiatives is “sister-hood”, a digital magazine and a series of live events spotlighting the voices of women of Muslim heritage.

Gita Sahgal is a writer, journalist, film-maker and rights activist. She is currently Founder and Director of Centre for Secular Space. She was formerly Head of the Gender Unit at Amnesty International; she was suspended in 2010 after she was quoted criticising Amnesty for its high-profile associations with the Islamist Moazzam Begg, the director of a group called Cageprisoners. For many years she served on the board of Southall Black Sisters and was a founder of Women Against Fundamentalism and Awaaz: South Asia Watch. With Nira Yival Davis, she edited “Refusing Holy Orders: Women and Fundamentalism in Britain” ( London, 1992). Among her articles are “Legislating Utopia? Violence Against Women, Identities and Interventions” in “The Situated Politics of Belonging”. During the 1980s, she worked for a Black current affairs programme called “Bandung File” on Channel 4 TV. She made two films about the Rushdie affair, “Hullaballoo Over Satanic Verses” and “Struggle or Submission”. She has also made two programmes for Dispatches Channel 4, “The Provoked Wife” on the case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia and “The War Crimes File” an investigation into allegations of war crimes committed by members of the Jamaat i Islami in Bangladesh in 1971.

Jimmy Bangash is a gay British ex-Muslim Pakistani living in the UK. He grew up in a traditional Pashtun family in London where he struggled with both the homophobia and ardent misogyny within his community. He has written poems and prose about these experiences; many of which have been published on Sedaa. As an LGBT ex-Muslim activist, he is committed to unbridling the reins of patriarchy on gays and women of Muslim heritage. As a coach, he seeks to empower those individuals liberated from problematic ideologies to live a life of authenticity, self-assurance and self-expression.

Matthew Mahmood-Ogston is Founder & Trustee of Naz and Matt Foundation. In 2001, soon after coming out to himself, Matt met his soulmate Naz in a nightclub in Birmingham. Naz was 21, Matt was 23. They quickly fell in love and ran away to London to be themselves and escape the intense pressures of not being out to family. They had to keep their relationship a secret for fear of what might happen if they were found out. After 13 years together and engaged to be married, Naz (Dr Nazim Mahmood) sadly took his own life, just two days after being confronted about his sexuality by his deeply religious family during Eid. It was the first time they had heard that their son was gay, in a long term relationship with another man, in love, and planning to get married. Their solution was to tell Naz that he needed to see a psychiatrist to be ‘cured’ for being gay. For ‘shame’ not to be brought on the family. In memory of Naz, Matt set up “Naz and Matt Foundation”, a registered charity that tackles religious and cultural homophobia. The organisation helps families learn how to accept their LGBTQI+ children for who they really are – for who they were born to be. The Foundation’s mission is to “Never let religion, any religion, come in the way of the unconditional love between parents and their children.”

Sadia Hameed is a Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and has been featured in a 2016 film, “Islam’s Non Believers”, by award-winning filmmaker Deeyah Khan. She is also a human rights activist and Honour Based Violence, Forced Marriage and FGM Consultant, based in Gloucestershire, working in the sexual violence field, with a focus on Black Minority Ethnic women. Sadia organised a hugely successful event titled ‘Let’s Talk Honour’ in October 2016, which was held at Gloucester University. She also launched Critical Sisters. She is Winner of IKWRO Special Recognition: Activist of the Year 2017.

Syed Isteak Hossain Shawon is an LGBT activist from Bangladesh and Editor of Boys Love World, which has been established in 2011 as an online Magazine for Bangladeshi LGBT Activists. The mission of the Boys Love World is to advocate and defend LGBT community and its members. Bangladeshi LGBT rights activists and bloggers from different country contributes to Boys Love World with their quality writings and engages with the readers. Boys Love World has many readers not only in Bangladesh but around the world. Our main aim is to educate mass people about LGBT community and cultivating a sentiment in favour of equality and diversity to create a safe environment where LGBT people can promote and explore their culture and work in the interests of the public benefit to remove any social exclusion. We achieve our aims and objectives by holding various events, workshops and seminars throughout the year.

Time

(Thursday) 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Organizer

CEMBHello@Ex-Muslim.org.uk Kings Cross, Central London, United Kingdom

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05jun6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

02junAll DayUAAR Cagliari Public debate on state secularism and civil rights, Italy

31may6:30 pmCEMB swimming lesson

29may6:00 pm8:00 pmEVENING WITH LAWYER ANA GONZÁLEZ ON APOSTASY AND ASYLUM

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Event Details

An evening with Lawyer Ana Gonzalez on Apostasy and Asylum

Tuesday 29 May 2018, 6:00pm-8:00pm, central London by Kings Cross
Evening with lawyer Ana González on apostasy and asylum
Ana will go through asylum procedures and also provide one-on-one advice during the evening.

PLEASE NOTE: If you would like to attend, please email exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com to register and receive further information.

Suggested donation: £3 waged; £1 unwaged.

Biography:

Ana Gonzalez was born in Spain and graduated in Employment Law at the University of La Coruna. She moved to the UK in 1994 and qualified as a solicitor in 2003.

Ana became a partner at Wilson Solicitors LLP in 2010.

Having trained in asylum, nationality and public law, she now practises in immigration and asylum work, and has interests in human rights and European Law. Ana is an internationally recognised expert in gender and sexuality-based asylum claims as well as having extensive expertise in representing victims of human trafficking.

Ana is praised in Chambers and Partners for her “constant attention to cases, leading client care and real knowledge of the law.” She “continues to stand out for significant work on human trafficking cases, often raising new country guidance points” (2012). “She is a stand-out practitioner in the field of refugee law, with particular expertise in trafficking cases” (2014). She “is very experienced, passionate and has very good judgement.” (2016)
She practises in all aspects of immigration and asylum work, and has a specialist interest in European law.

Ana has been with Wilson since 1999. Prior to joining us Ana was at the well respected Refugee Legal Centre. She has been a guest speaker at the London School of Economics and is currently involved in the ILPA asylum sub-committee group.

Ana has been featured in the New Statesman for her excellent work.

She has been instrumental in supporting asylum cases of those deemed “apostates” from Islam.

Time

(Tuesday) 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

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22may(may 22)9:00 am23(may 23)12:00 pmSeminar at European Parliament on Fundamentalism & Neo-Liberalism in Europe

18may12:00 pm2:00 pmFast-Defying Protest in solidarity with those persecuted during Ramadan

04mayAll Day06Giornate Della Laicità 2018, Reggio Emilia, Italy

01may6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

19apr7:00 pm12:00 amFEMEN 10th Anniversary: Riot Party

17apr6:30 pm8:30 pmSpring Coming Out Party, London

04apr6:00 pm8:00 pmMonthly Support Group

27mar7:30 pm9:30 pmIslamist fundamentalism and its impact on women

06mar6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with Houzan Mahmoud for International Women's Day

04mar11:30 am5:00 pmMarch4Women - 4th March 2018

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Event Details

Hello

On Sunday 4th March 2018 Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain are going to be joining the , organised by international development charity Care International UK, ahead of International Women’s Day. We would love it if you could join us on the march. The aims of the march:

Equal rights for people of all genders
The right to speak out and be heard
The right to work free of harassment and abuse
The right of every woman and girl around the world to live, learn and earn with safety, dignity and respect

This is a march for people of all genders, adults and children.

What’s more, we will also be using the march as an opportunity to show our support for the brave women of Iran who are currently protesting the country’s the mandatory hijab laws. We wish to show solidarity with these brave women as well as encourage other groups to support the women of Iran. This is a great opportunity to bring this issue to the attention of the wider public. Please feel free to bring a white scarf on a stick, to hold up in solidarity.

Please see this report by Amnesty International for more details about compulsory veiling protests in Iran, and the mistreatment of protesters:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/ latest/news/2018/02/iran– dozens-of-women-ill-treated- and-at-risk-of-long-jail- terms-for-peacefully- protesting-compulsory-veiling/

We will meet at 11.30am at the Monument to Emmeline Pankhurst. We will join the main march at 11.50, which starts at midday at Millbank. We will have some scarves on sticks and banners to give out, please feel free to bring your own. If you are running late and need to find the group on the march you can call Hana on 07740049689.

To be part of the March4Women, you need to register with Care International. You can do so at the address below:

https://www.careinternational. org.uk/march4women

You can find out more about the March4Women here:

https://www.careinternational. org.uk/march4women/map-and- timetable

https://www.careinternational. org.uk/march4women/ march4women-faqs

Hope to see you there.

Best wishes,

Sadia Hameed and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain

Time

(Sunday) 11:30 am - 5:00 pm

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27feb6:00 pm8:00 pmCANCELLED - DUE TO POOR WEATHER Evening with lawyer Ana González on apostasy and asylum

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Event Details

CANCELLED DUE TO POOR WEATHER

THE EVENT WILL BE RESCHEDULED

Tuesday 27 February 2018, 6:00pm-8:00pm, central London by Kings Cross
Evening with lawyer Ana González on apostasy and asylum
Ana will go through asylum procedures and also provide one-on-one advice during the evening.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a new venue for our monthly meet-ups; if you would like to attend, please email onelawforall@gmail.com to register and receive further information.

Suggested donation: £3 waged; £1 unwaged.

Biography:

Ana Gonzalez was born in Spain and graduated in Employment Law at the University of La Coruna. She moved to the UK in 1994 and qualified as a solicitor in 2003.

Ana became a partner at Wilson Solicitors LLP in 2010.

Having trained in asylum, nationality and public law, she now practises in immigration and asylum work, and has interests in human rights and European Law. Ana is an internationally recognised expert in gender and sexuality-based asylum claims as well as having extensive expertise in representing victims of human trafficking.

Ana is praised in Chambers and Partners for her “constant attention to cases, leading client care and real knowledge of the law.” She “continues to stand out for significant work on human trafficking cases, often raising new country guidance points” (2012). “She is a stand-out practitioner in the field of refugee law, with particular expertise in trafficking cases” (2014). She “is very experienced, passionate and has very good judgement.” (2016)
She practises in all aspects of immigration and asylum work, and has a specialist interest in European law.

Ana has been with Wilson since 1999. Prior to joining us Ana was at the well respected Refugee Legal Centre. She has been a guest speaker at the London School of Economics and is currently involved in the ILPA asylum sub-committee group.

Ana has been featured in the New Statesman for her excellent work.

She has been instrumental in supporting asylum cases of those deemed “apostates” from Islam.

Time

(Tuesday) 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

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10febAll DayLosing your Religion: ex-Muslims Speak, Melbourne

30jan6:30 pm8:30 pmThe ex-Muslim experience through art workshop, London

20jan(jan 20)10:00 am22(jan 22)5:30 pmInternational Conference in Stockholm

13janAll DayAVEC CHARLIE, Laïcité, j'écris ton nom, Observatoire de la Laïcité de Saint Denis

09jan1:00 pm2:00 pmLondon protest for imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi

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Event Details

9 January 2018, 1:00 pm-2:00 pm
At the Curzon Street entrance to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mayfair, London

On 9 January, English PEN and Reporters Without Borders will hold a special lunchtime vigil at the Saudi Embassy in London to mark three years since Raif Badawi was first flogged. Please join us between 1-2pm, even if just for a few minutes on your lunchbreak, to show the Saudi authorities we will not forget him. Activists are asked to meet at the Curzon Street entrance to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mayfair, London (note: the postal address of the Embassy is 30-32 Charles Street).

The vigil will be co-sponsored by other organisations active on Raif Badawi’s case including Amnesty International UK, Bread and Roses TV, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, International Humanist and Ethical Union – IHEU, and One Law For All.

Three years ago, on 9 January 2015, reports emerged that the imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi had been flogged in Saudi Arabia. Although Badawi had been arrested in June 2012 and sentenced almost two years later – to ten years in prison and 1000 lashes – it was the brutal public flogging that took place that January morning, covert footage of which began to make its way around the world, that forced the international community to pay any real attention to his plight.

TAKE ACTION

Join our vigil

On 9 January, English PEN and Reporters Without Border will hold a special lunchtime vigil at the Saudi Embassy in London to mark three years since Raif Badawi was flogged. Please join us between 1-2pm (even if just for a few minutes on your lunchbreak!) to show the Saudi authorities we will not forget him. Let us know if you’re coming and please invite your friends.

The vigil will be co-sponsored by other organisations active on Raif Badawi’s case including Amnesty International UK, Bread and Roses TV, the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, International Humanist and Ethical Union – IHEU, and One Law For All.

Send a card

PEN’s annual Season’s Greetings initiative encourages members and supporters to send messages to writers at risk around the world and their families. #PENgreetings

Ask your MP for their support

Write to your MP urging them to support this Early Day Motion for Raif Badawi’s release via https://www.writetothem.com/

Spread the word

Share details of Raif Badawi’s case on social media #FreeRaif

Time

(Tuesday) 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

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06janAll Day#Toujours Charlie, Paris

10dec2:00 pm6:00 pmEnd-Year Celebration, London

02dec5:00 pm7:00 pmNormalising Dissent Tour, Islam and Identity, NYC

30novAll Day01decNormalising Dissent Tour, Islam and Human Rights, MIT, Boston

17novAll DayCouncil of Ex-Muslims of Germany Event, Koln

10nov12:00 pm3:30 pmProtest at Iranian and Pakistani Embassies in defence of apostates and blasphemers, London

09nov7:30 pm9:30 pm"This House Has Lost Faith in Faith" debate at Cambridge Union

07nov6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with Installation Artist Sadia Sadia

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Event Details

7 November 2017, Evening Meetup with Sadia Sadia, central London by Kings Cross, 6:30-8:30pm
PLEASE NOTE: This is our regular space for our monthly meet-ups; if you would like to attend, please email exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com to register and receive further information. If you already know the location, just show up.
Suggested donation: £3 waged; £1 unwaged.

Biography:

Sadia Sadia is a Canadian-born British installation artist. She was one of the first women in the world to be signed to a major label as a record producer, and became the first female member of the British Record Producer’s Guild (now the MPG Music Producer’s Guild), under the chairmanship of Sir George Martin. Her work has been sequenced to film and television by companies such as Polygram/Miramax, Interscope and Universal Pictures. Sadia was the music producer of the inaugural TUC ‘Respect: Unite Against Racism’ campaign, featuring dozens of international musicians. As an artist and film maker, Sadia’s work has been screened around the world in venues including the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Tricycle Theatre, the National Science and Media Museum and the Cinematheque Francaise. Her work forms part of the permanent collection of ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image). Sadia has a master’s degree in design from Central St Martin’s as well as a master’s degree in political science and economics with a specialisation in gender from Birkbeck University. She was born to a Pakistani Muslim father and is an atheist and ex-Muslim.

Time

(Tuesday) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

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28octAll DayAnarchist Book Fair

24oct6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigneron the links between the gay rights and ex-Muslim rights

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Event Details

24 October 2017, Evening Meetup with Peter Tatchell, central London by Kings Cross, 6:30-8:30pm
PLEASE NOTE: This is our regular space for our monthly meet-ups; if you would like to attend, please email exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com to register and receive further information. If you already know the location, just show up.
Suggested donation: £3 waged; £1 unwaged.

Biography:

Peter Tatchell has been campaigning for human rights and global justice since 1967. New Statesman readers voted him sixth on their list of “Heroes of our Time” 2006. He won Campaigner of the Year at The Observer Ethical Awards 2009, as well as Secularist of the Year 2012. He writes and broadcasts on many human rights and social justice issues. In protest against the Archbishop of Canterbury’s support for legal discrimination against LGBT people, he interrupted Dr. Carey’s Easter Sunday Sermon in 1998. He attempted a citizen’s arrest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in 1999 and again in 2001, and was beaten unconscious the second time. He was also arrested and beaten when he went to support Moscow LGBT Pride in 2007. Both attacks left him with brain and eye damage. He is currently the Director of the human rights organisation, the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

Time

(Tuesday) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm GMT

Location

Kings Cross

Organizer

CEMBHello@Ex-Muslim.org.uk Kings Cross, Central London, United Kingdom

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20oct(oct 20)9:30 am22(oct 22)12:30 pmBeyond all Fundamentalisms, Rome

19oct7:00 pm9:00 pmNottingham University ASH society

14octAll Day15London Feminist Conference

13oct(oct 13)9:00 am15(oct 15)5:30 pmGrowing Signs of Fundamentalism, Belgrade

26sep6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with lawyer Ana Gonzálezon apostasy and asylum

15sepAll Day17Freedom from Religion Foundation40th National Convention, Madison, WI

24jul2:00 pm8:00 pmBodypainting Actionby Victoria Gugenheim in support of ex-Muslims

24jul2:00 pm6:00 pmBodypainting Action by Victoria Gugenheim in support of ex-Muslims

22julAll Day23International Conference onFreedom of Expression and Conscience in 21 Century

22julAll Day24International Conference on Freedom of Conscience and Expression in the 21st Century

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Event Details

International Conference on Freedom of Conscience and Expression in the 21st Century
Saturday and Sunday 22-24 July 2017
Central London, UK

BUY TICKETS TODAY . NO TICKETS SOLD AT DOOR.

SEE EXCITING SCHEDULE HERE.

READ INTERVIEW DISCUSSING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONFERENCE AT A TIME WHEN ATHEISTS AND SECULARISTS UNDER INCREASING ATTACK.

Join over 70 notable free-thinkers from around the world for a weekend of discussions and debates on freedom of conscience and expression in the 21st century at a spectacular venue in central London during 22-23 July 2017.

On 24 July, an activist strategy meeting will be followed by body-painting in support of ex-Muslims, which will be open to the public.

The two-day conference will discuss censorship and blasphemy laws, freedom of and from religion, apostasy, the limits of religion’s role in society, LGBT and women’s rights, atheism, secular values and more.

Speakers from countries or the Diaspora as diverse as Algeria, Bangladesh, Canada, Egypt, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Ireland, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, UK, Ukraine, US and Yemen will gather in London to defend freedom of conscience and expression and argue that freedoms are not western but universal.

The conference will highlight the voices of people on the frontlines of resistance – many of them persecuted and exiled – as well as address challenges faced by activists and freethinkers, elaborate on the links between democratic politics and free expression and conscience, promote secular and rights-based alternatives, and establish priorities for collective action.

Art and culture will be integral to the event as will lively debate with the dauntless use of the free word.

Confirmed Distinguished Speakers:
A C Grayling, Philosopher
Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, Egyptian Feminist Activist
Ani Zonneveld, Founder and President of Muslims for Progressive Values
Annie Laurie Gaylor, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation
Armin Navabi, Founder of Atheist Republic
Aryan Arian, Photographer/Filmmaker
Asher Fainman, President of Goldsmiths Atheist Society
Benjamin David, Editor-in-Chief of Conatus News
Bonya Ahmed, Activist, Writer and Blogger at Mukto-Mona
Cemal Knudsen Yucel, Co-Founder and Chair of Ex-Muslims of Norway
Chris Moos, Secular Activist
Damon Conlan and Neil Edwards, Magicians
Dan Barker, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation
Dave Silverman, President of American Atheists
Deeyah Khan, Filmmaker
Djemila Benhabib, Author and Activist
Elham Manea, Yemeni-born Author and Human Rights Campaigner
Fariborz Pooya, Bread and Roses TV Presenter and Editor
Fauzia Ilyas, Founder of Atheist & Agnostic Alliance Pakistan
Gina Khan, One Law for All Spokesperson
Gita Sahgal, Director of Centre for Secular Space
Gona Saed, Co-Founder of Kurdistan Secular Centre
Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, Award-winning Playwright
Halima Begum, Ex-Muslim Activist and Blogger
Hassan Radwan, Agnostic Muslim Khutbahs blog
Houzan Mahmoud, Culture Project Co-Founder
Imad Iddine Habib, Founder of Council of Ex-Muslims of Morocco
Inna Shevchenko, FEMEN Leader
Iram Ramzan, Journalist and Founder of Sedaa
Ismail Mohamed, Egyptian Atheist and Founder of Black Ducks Talk Show
Jane Donnelly, Atheist Ireland’s Human Rights Officer
Jimmy Bangash, LGBT Ex-Muslim Activist
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index on Censorship
Karima Bennoune, UN Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights
Karrar D. Al Asfoor, Co-founder of Atheist Alliance Middle East and North Africa (Visa Denied)
Kate Smurthwaite, Comedian
Kenan Malik, Author and Broadcaster
London Humanist Choir
Marieme Helie Lucas, Algerian Sociologist and Founder of Secularism is a Women’s Issue
Maryam Namazie, Iranian-born Rights Activist, Writer and Conference Organiser
Mazen Abou Hamdan, Co-Founder of Freethought Lebanon
Michael Nugent, Atheist Ireland’s Chairperson
Mohammed Alkhadra, Founder of Jordanian Atheists Group
Nadia El Fani, Tunisian Filmmaker
Nina Sankari, Polish Secular Activist
Noura Embabi, Muslim-ish President
Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigner
Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters
Rahila Gupta, Writer and Journalist
Rana Ahmad, Head of the RDF Arab Atheist Community
Richard Dawkins, Author and Scientist
Sadia Hameed, Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Sanal Edamaruku, Founder and President of Rationalist International
Sarah Haider, Co-founder of Ex-Muslims of North America
Sarah Peace, Nigerian Artist and Director of Fireproof Library
Savin Bapir Tardy, Lecturer in Psychology at UWL
Shabana Rehman, Performance Artist and Human and Animal Rights Advocate
Shelley Segal, Singer/Songwriter
Tasneem Khalil, Swedish-Bangladeshi Journalist and Editor of Independent World Report
Teresa Gimenez Barbat, MEP, Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Euromind
Victoria Gugenheim, Award-winning Body Artist
Waleed Al Husseini, Palestinian Writer and Founder of Council of Ex-Muslims of France
Yasmin Rehman, Women’s Rights Campaigner
Zehra Pala, President of Atheism Association of Turkey
Zineb El Rhazoui, Moroccan-born Author

Saturday Day Delegate Rate: £85
Sunday Day Delegate Rate: £85
Sunday Dinner with Entertainment: £65
Saturday and Sunday Day Delegate Rate: £170

FULL CONFERENCE TICKET INCLUDING SATURDAY AND SUNDAY DAY DELEGATE RATE, COCKTAILS, AND DINNER WITH ENTERTAINMENT: £230 unwaged; £260 waged; £350 organisations

All tickets must be purchased beforehand. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Organisations/vendors can book stalls for the two-day conference for a flat rate of £500.

For more information, contact:
Maryam Namazie
maryamnamazie@gmail.com
Tel: +44 (0)7719166731
www.secularconference.com

The conference is sponsored by: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe; Atheist International Alliance; Bread and Roses TV; Center for Inquiry; Centre for Secular Space; Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain; Culture Project; Euromind; Equal Rights Now; Fitnah; Freedom from Religion Foundation; National Secular Society; One Law for All; Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science; Southall Black Sisters; Secularism is a Women’s Issue, amongst others.

Time

july 22 (Saturday) - 24 (Monday)

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08julAll DayCEMB to join Gay Pride London

27jun6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with Rahila Gupta, Journalist and Activist

23junAll DayRamadan Fast Defying Action in solidarity with persecuted

16jun9:26 pm9:26 pmMark fifth anniversary of Raif Badawi’s arrest

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Event Details

This month marks five years since the Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi was arrested in Jeddah in June 2012. Almost two years later, in May 2014, Badawi was sentenced to ten years in prison, 1000 lashes, a huge fine, and two additional penalties – a ten-year travel ban and ten-year ban from participating in visual, electronic and written media, both to be applied following his release. Raif has now served nearly half of his ten-year prison sentence and the campaign for his release, championed by his remarkable wife Ensaf Haidar, continues.English PEN was honoured to co-host Haidar during a recent trip to the UK, along with our colleagues at Reporters Without Borders. Haidar met with key human rights and free expression organisations active on her husband’s behalf, took part in a number of media interviews, and attended a special vigil at the Saudi Arabian Embassy, joined by many of her and her husband’s friends and supporters.Haidar also spoke at an event hosted by Doughty Street Chambers, at which she delivered a moving statement about her husband’s ongoing detention, translated by Bayan Abughaida:

Today I carry a message from my husband and my three children who have been deprived of their father for exercising a natural right to express his opinion.

I bring you a message of hope that one day, I will see my husband, Raif Badawi, standing among you on this platform, to talk to you about freedom and human rights, to tell you how freedom cannot be incarcerated, flogged, or executed. No matter how hard some try.

I also carry a message of determination:

A determined Saudi woman, standing here, and saying that a peaceful transition in Saudi Arabia is possible. With this new generation, the generation of globalisation, Internet, and blogs; ideas can no longer be prevented or blocked. It is a new change, a new revolution, from Morocco to Jakarta, young people today will determine the future and we must support and stand by them. Thus, your role here is participating in this change.

Raif Badawi’s message can be summed up as follows: The peaceful expression of opinion and thought is a non-negotiable human right, which is the right of all human beings with no exception.

However, the real prisoners are those who can defend freedom but do not….

Raif has not lost hope, but he is mentally and physically suffering from this unjust sentence. I can tell you that he is fine and very optimistic, but I will be lying. His mental health is worsening. So I beg you for more mobilisation and solidarity. What frightens every detainee is to be forgotten by the supporters of freedom.

TAKE ACTION

Join our protest at the Saudi Embassy

9-10am, Friday 16 June

To mark the five year anniversary of Raif Badawi’s arrest and the birthday of his lawyer Waleed Abu Al-Khair, who himself is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence, English PEN will be hosting a vigil at the Saudi Embassy in London and continuing to call for their immediate release.

We will be joined by colleagues from Bread and Roses TV, Campaign Against Arms Trade, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, Index on Censorship, One Law For All, the Peter Tatchell Foundation and Reporters Without Borders. Please join us if you can.

NB Activists are asked to meet at the Curzon Street entrance to the Embassy. (note: the postal address of the Embassy is 30-32 Charles Street, Mayfair, London).

Spread the word

Please keep sharing details of Raif Badawi’s case and calls for his release on social media. Follow @Raif_Badawi on Twitter and tweet your support with the hashtag #FreeRaif

Join the photo action for Raif Badawi

We are aiming to get 1000 images to represent the 1000 lashes to which Raif has been sentenced. As well as helping to raise and maintain awareness of his case, these photos will serve as a powerful visual representation of the widespread support for Raif and his family .

Please share your photo, ideally with details of where it was taken (eg Embassy of Saudi Arabia, London, UK), with us before the 17 June 2017.

Download our #FreeRaif poster

Send us your photos

Via Twitter: Please share your photo with the hashtag #FreeRaif and tag @englishpen

Via Facebook: Please tag English PEN Writers at Risk in your photos, and use the hashtag #FreeRaif https://www.facebook.com/English-PEN-Writers-at-Risk-78698626750/

Via Email: Please email your photos, with the subject line ‘Free Raif photo’ to cat@englishpen.org

Time

(Friday) 9:26 pm - 9:26 pm

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23may6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with Daniel Fitzgerald, Imad Iddine Habib and Jimmy Bangash on Pride

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Event Details

Tuesday 23 May 2017, 6:30pm-8:30pm, central London by Kings Cross
Evening with Daniel Fitzgerald, Imad Iddine Habib and Jimmy Bangash on Pride and the CEMB contingent which will march in the gay pride parade in London on 8 July 2017.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a new venue for our monthly meet-ups; if you would like to attend, please email exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com to register and receive further information. If you already know the new location, just show up.

Suggested donation: £3 waged; £1 unwaged.

Biographies:

Daniel Fitzgerald has been involved with with local and national LGBT politics for years, including organising LGBT History Month in Lambeth in 2003. He has also campaigned against Islamists like Abu Usamah who have incited murder of LGBT people. More recently, he has been involved with social housing issues. He is a Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain activist who is organising our first ever presence at this year’s Pride.

Imad Iddine Habib is a Moroccan atheist threatened for his atheism. He is founder of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Morocco, the first public atheist organisation in a country with Islam as the state religion. The Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain declared May 15 “International Imad Day” in order to galvanise support for his case. His case was also highlighted in a 2013 CEMB report on the political and legal status of apostates in Islam. He is currently co-Spokesperson of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain.

Jimmy Bangash is a gay British Ex-Muslim Pakistani living in the UK. He grew up in a traditional Pashtun family in London where he struggled with both the homophobia and ardent misogyny within his community. He has written poems and prose about these experiences; many of which have been published on Sedaa. As an LGBT Ex-Muslim activist he is committed to unbridling the reins of patriarchy from gays and women of Muslim heritage. As a coach, he seeks to empower those individuals liberated from problematic ideologies to live a life of authenticity, self-assurance and self-expression.

Time

(Tuesday) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

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12mayAll Day14Rationalist International Conference, Helsinki, Finland

29aprAll Day‘Defending Progressivism’ London Conference

04apr6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with Wissam Charafeddine, Co-Founder, Muslimish Support Network

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Event Details

Tuesday 4 April 2017, 6:30pm-8:30pm, central London by Kings Cross
Evening with Wissam Charafeddine, Co-Founder, Muslimish Support Network on Why the Classical Proof of God Does Not Work Anymore (based on his background on Islamic theology)

PLEASE NOTE: This is a new venue for our monthly meet-ups; if you would like to attend, please email exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com to register and receive further information. If you already know the new location, just show up.

Suggested donation: £3 waged; £1 unwaged.

Biography:

Wissam Charafeddine, was born in United Arab Emirates from Lebanese parents. He attended the Islamic Hanbaly Educational Institute and graduated with a diploma in Islamic Shariah. After the first Gulf war, his family immigrated to the U.S. During his academic studies, Wissam continued to study and give lectures on Islamic Shariah through distant-study programs with Hawzah of Ahlulbait in Qum, Iran, and with local scholars. He was the founder of Halakat Imam AlBaqir, an Islamic Studies Institute in Dearborn where he taught, among other teachers, various topics in Islamic studies. He was a co-founder of the Muslim Scouts of Michigan, Islamic Monitor Action Network, Islamic Unity Magazine, and was a member of various organizations, among which were the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic House of Wisdom, and Amnesty International.

In 2005, he co-founded IRSHAD (the Institute for Religious Studies, Humanities, and Dialogue) to seek free coexistence between human beings and the aspiration for building a better life centered around the well being of humanity. IRSHAD functions in its Islamic branch as a reform movement that calls for freedom of belief and expression, and a less literal interpretation of Quran.

In 2008-2009, while researching to write an article about Islam and Evolution, Wissam found new understanding of science, and adapted a new understanding of life based on it. The article was never finished, but a new intellectual journey started.

Wissam co-founded Muslimish in 2012, which is an organization that seeks to create an environment for support and dialogue among ex-Muslims and questioning Muslims, and fight for the freedom of expression and against blasphemy laws in countries under Islamic rules.

Time

(Tuesday) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

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31marAll Day02aprAtheist Weekend, KFI Foundation, Poland

14mar7:00 pm9:00 pmUniversity of Edinburgh Humanist Society

11mar10:30 am2:00 pmCritical Sisters Launch, Cheltenham

08mar7:00 pm9:00 pmGoldsmiths University Viewing of Islam's Non Believers

24feb8:00 pm9:00 pmOxford Brookes University

24feb6:00 pm8:00 pmSecularism and Diversity Conversation, Westminster University

23feb1:00 am1:00 amUniversity of Nottingham

15febAll DayConference on Islam, Secular Integration, Freedom of Speech

07feb6:30 pm8:30 pmEvening with lawyer Ana González on apostasy and asylum

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Event Details

Tuesday 7 February 2017, 6:30pm-8:30pm, central London by Kings Cross
Evening with lawyer Ana González on apostasy and asylum
Ana will go through asylum procedures and also provide one-on-one advice during the evening.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a new venue for our monthly meet-ups; if you would like to attend, please email exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com to register and receive further information.

Suggested donation: £3 waged; £1 unwaged.

Biography:

Ana Gonzalez was born in Spain and graduated in Employment Law at the University of La Coruna. She moved to the UK in 1994 and qualified as a solicitor in 2003.

Ana became a partner at Wilson Solicitors LLP in 2010.

Having trained in asylum, nationality and public law, she now practises in immigration and asylum work, and has interests in human rights and European Law. Ana is an internationally recognised expert in gender and sexuality-based asylum claims as well as having extensive expertise in representing victims of human trafficking.

Ana is praised in Chambers and Partners for her “constant attention to cases, leading client care and real knowledge of the law.” She “continues to stand out for significant work on human trafficking cases, often raising new country guidance points” (2012). “She is a stand-out practitioner in the field of refugee law, with particular expertise in trafficking cases” (2014). She “is very experienced, passionate and has very good judgement.” (2016)
She practises in all aspects of immigration and asylum work, and has a specialist interest in European law.

Ana has been with Wilson since 1999. Prior to joining us Ana was at the well respected Refugee Legal Centre. She has been a guest speaker at the London School of Economics and is currently involved in the ILPA asylum sub-committee group.

Ana has been featured in the New Statesman for her excellent work.

She has been instrumental in supporting asylum cases of those deemed “apostates” from Islam.

Time

(Tuesday) 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

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27jan6:00 pm9:00 pmLSE Human Rights Society Debate

09dec6:00 pm9:00 pmSecularism, Freedom of Women, LGBT Rights, UCL

09nov7:00 pm9:00 pmBristol University

03novAll DayAsturian Cooperation for Development, Oviedo, Spain

24oct7:00 pm9:00 pmReligion, Spirituality and End of Life Care Event organised by Royal Society of Medicine

18oct7:00 pm9:00 pmEvening drinks with secular activist Chris Moos on gender segregation at universities

23sepAll Day25Women in Secularism 4 conference in Arlington, VA

14sepAll Day16Keele international symposium on child protection, Shaffordshire

18jul7:00 pm9:00 pmEvening Drinks with lawyer Ana González on apostasy and asylum

17jul7:00 pm9:00 pmLeicester Secular Society

09julAll DayWorkers' Liberty annual summer festival

01julAll DayFlashmob of apostates: “We need your Love”

27jun7:00 pm9:00 pmEvening with Yasmin Rehman, Centre for Secular Space on Polygamy

25jun6:00 am9:00 amLondon Black Atheists

24jun12:00 am6:21 pmFast-defying during Ramadan

18jun10:00 am7:00 pmMuslimish 2016 Annual Conference

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Event Details

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to the Muslimish 2016 Annual Conference! The conference will be held on June 18, 2016, from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM (EDT) at the Pennsylvania Hotel – 401 7th Ave, New York, NY 10001. The full-day event will host many speakers and cover a wide range of topics, including Why Muslimish?, The Right to Dissent, Promoting Science, and Fighting Blasphemy Laws. If you are a pioneer of truth and believe in freedom of conscience for all human beings, this conference is for you!

Background:

In recent years, progressive Muslims, ex-Muslims, and even regular Muslims are finding less and less space to question the establishment and live according to their own conscience. One of the main objectives of Muslimish is to provide an environment that supports and fosters discussion, questioning, and free speech. Additionally, in a century marked by great scientific progress and advancements in human thought, blasphemy and apostasy are still illegal in many countries, with Muslim-majority countries accounting for 75% of all countries that outlaw blasphemy and 100% that outlaw apostasy! This is simply unacceptable and must be stopped!

Muslimish Mission Statement:

Create a safe, supportive, and open-minded environment for the exchange of thoughts and ideas among current and former Muslims, foster a pluralist society that respects the rights of all individuals to live according to their conscience, and strive to abolish blasphemy and apostasy laws across the globe.

The Conference:

Entry into the conference will begin at 9:00 AM (EDT). Bagels and coffee refreshments will be provided. The conference will also contain two breaks for lunch and dinner. Please visit Muslimish website to reserve your spot. We hope to see you there!

You can also sign up to the Facebook Event Page.

Time

(Saturday) 10:00 am - 7:00 pm

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14jun6:00 am8:00 amDurham University

12junAll Day“Mean Tweets party”

11jun2:00 pm4:00 pmOxford Forum's Panel Discussion: Islam and Feminism

04junAll DayReason Rally in Washington DC

17may7:00 pm9:00 pmNewcastle University Atheists & Secular Humanists, Newcastle

11may7:00 pm9:00 pmChiltern Humanists, Amersham

04may7:00 pm9:00 pmUniversity of Hull Atheist Society, Hull

30apr11:30 am5:30 pm30 April: Day Conference on Sharia Law, Legal Pluralism and Access to Justice

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Event Details

Poster - Sharia Law White
Day Conference on Sharia Law, Legal Pluralism and Access to Justice
30 April 2016
11:30am-5:30pm
Central London, near Kings Cross Station

Elham Manea will present the findings of her new book Women And Sharia Law: The Impact Of Legal Pluralism In The UK. Women’s rights groups that led successful campaigns preventing public authorities such as the governing body of UK Universities and the Law Society from incorporating aspects of Sharia laws into their public policies will further present their case against Sharia courts and the Beth Din, legal aid cuts, and the denial of access to equality and human rights.

Speakers include:

Diana Nammi, Director of Iranian Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation
Elham Manea, Author of Women And Sharia Law: The Impact Of Legal Pluralism In The UK
Gita Sahgal, Director of Centre for Secular Space
Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters
Maryam Namazie, Spokesperson of One Law for All and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Nareen Rehman, Co-Founder and Chair of British Muslims for Secular Democracy
Yasmin Rehman, Women’s Rights Campaigner

Tickets cost: £20 (organisations and statutory bodies); £10 (waged); £5 (unwaged). No tickets will be sold at the door. To register for the event, please post your name and telephone number with a cheque made payable to One Law for All to BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX, UK. You can also purchase tickets on Eventbrite. The event location will be sent to those who purchase tickets.

For any questions or to register, please email onelawforall@gmail.com.

SCHEDULE

11:00-11:30am Registration with tea/coffee

11:30-11:40am Opening with MC Rayhana Sultan, Spokesperson of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain

11:40-1:10pm Elham Manea, Academic and Author of “Women And Sharia Law: The Impact Of Legal Pluralism In The UK”

1:10-2:30pm Lunch (on your own)

2:30-3:00pm Tea/Coffee Break

3:00-3:15pm Comedy by Kate Smurthwaite

3:15-5:15pm Panel Discussion with Diana Nammi, Director of Iranian Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation; Gita Sahgal, Director of Centre for Secular Space; Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters; Maryam Namazie, Spokesperson of One Law for All and Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain; Nasreen Rehman, Co-Founder of British Muslims for Secular Democracy and Yasmin Rehman, Women’s Rights Campaigner. Panel Chair: Women’s Rights Activist Gina Khan.

5:15-5:30pm Next Steps and Closing

BIOGRAPHIES

Diana Nammi is the Director of Iranian Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, which she founded in 2002 to provide advice, advocacy, training and counselling to women and girls from Middle Eastern and North African communities affected by so called “honour” based violence, including forced marriage and Female Genital Mutilation as well as domestic violence. In 2012 she was named in a list of 150 women who shake the world by Newsweek and The Daily Beast. In 2014 she received the Special Jury Women on the Move Award from UNHCR, The Forum and Migrants Rights Network, she was honoured with the Woman of the Year Award and was recognised as one of BBC’s 100 Women. In 2015 she won the Women of Courage Award from the Women’s Refugee Commission in New York, the XX1 Premis Ones Mediterrania Award in Spain and the Red Woman of the Year Community and Charity Award.

Elham Manea is an Associate Professor specialised on the Middle East, a writer, and a human rights activist. She is a Fulbright scholar who holds a PhD degree in political science from the University of Zurich, Master degree in comparative politics from the American University in Washington D.C, and a Bachelor degree in political science from Kuwait University. She has published several academic and non-fiction books including The Arab State and Women’s Rights: The Trap of Authoritarian Governance. She works at the Political Science Institute at the University of Zurich and a consultant for Swiss government agencies and international human rights organizations. Recently, she has been appointed by the Swiss Federal Council as a Member of the Federal Commission for Women Affairs. Her concept of humanistic Islam was first published in a series of articles in Arabic. Her most recent book is: Women And Sharia Law: The Impact Of Legal Pluralism In The UK.

Gina Khan was born in Birmingham to Pakistani Muslim parents. Gina is a Human Rights activist and researcher. Personal experiences prompted Gina to break her silence in 2005 by speaking out in radio debates and writing to local Birmingham newspapers following a traumatic divorce and experience of living as a lone woman and parent in Birmingham. Gina focuses on two main subjects; the rise of pro-jihad ideologies within Muslim communities and the position and status of women within those communities. Gina believes these two twin phenomena to be symptomatic of deeper problems. After speaking out against Jihadism in Birmingham, Gina and her children were forced to leave her home after it was attacked.

Gita Sahgal is a writer, journalist, film-maker and rights activist. She is currently Founder and Director of Centre for Secular Space. She was formerly Head of the Gender Unit at Amnesty International; she was suspended in 2010 after she was quoted criticizing Amnesty for its high-profile associations with the Islamist Moazzam Begg, the director of a campaign group called Cageprisoners. For many years she served on the board of Southall Black Sisters and was a founder of Women Against Fundamentalism and Awaaz : South Asia Watch. With Nira Yival Davis, she edited Refusing Holy Orders: Women and Fundamentalism in Britain (London, 1992). Among her articles are ‘Legislating Utopia? Violence Against Women, Identities and Interventions’ in ‘The Situated Politics of Belonging. During the 1980s, she worked for a Black current affairs programme called ‘Bandung File’ on Channel 4 TV. She made two films about the Rushdie affair, ‘Hullaballoo Over Satanic Verses’ and ‘Struggle or Submission’. She has also made two programmes for Dispatches Channel 4, ‘The Provoked Wife’ on the case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia and ‘The War Crimes File’ an investigation into allegations of war crimes committed by members of the Jamaat I Islami in Bangladesh in 1971.

Kate Smurthwaite is a stand-up comedian and political activist. She has appeared on more than 500 TV and radio shows including This Morning, The Big Questions, Woman’s Hour and The Moral Maze. In 2013 she won a Three Week’s Editor’s Choice Award for her show at the Edinburgh Festival. Kate is a writer for BBC Three show The Revolution Will Be Televised and is the Vice Chair of Abortion Rights UK.

Maryam Namazie is the Spokesperson for One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain and the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. She hosts a weekly television programme called Bread and Roses broadcast in Iran via New Channel TV. She is on the International Advisory Board of the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom; Humanist Laureate at the International Academy of Humanism, Central Committee member of the Worker-communist Party of Iran; National Secular Society Honorary Associate; Honorary Associate of Rationalist International; Emeritus Member of the Secular Humanist League of Brazil; a Patron of London Black Atheists and Pink Triangle Trust and a member of the International Advisory Board of Feminist Dissent. She was awarded Atheist of the Year by Kazimierz Lyszczynski (2014); Journalist of the Year at the Dods Women in Public Life Awards (2013); selected one of the top 45 women of the year by Elle magazine Quebec (2007); one of 2006’s most intriguing people by DNA, awarded the National Secular Society’s Secularist of the Year Award (2005), amongst others.

Nasreen Rehman is an award winning playwright and screenplay writer. She co-founded British Muslims for Secular Democracy. Nasreen believes that for far too long the British public sphere has been ceded to obscurantist voices representing their own version of Islam. BMSD is an organisation that challenges these voices and seeks to appropriate this space in order to forward a different and more enlightened face of Islam – one that is more democratic and equitable. She represents BMSD at conferences in the U.K. and Europe and engages in media debates on topics such as Islamophobia and the hijab. She also serves on the Board of Akademi, a lead organisation for South Asian dance, in Britain; and is a founder member of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) a women’s rights movement in Pakistan. In the past, she has worked as an economist in the private sector and in development, in the U.K and in Pakistan. As director of the Mahbubul Haq Human Development Centre, in Islamabad she steered the publication of the Report on the Crises of Governance in South Asia, and helped to develop the terms of reference for the Centre’s report on Gender in the region. As trustee of the Runnymede Trust, she served on two national commissions on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, respectively.

Pragna Patel is Founder and Director of the Southall Black Sisters and Women Against Fundamentalism. SBS is, a multi-award-winning women’s organisation founded in 1979 to address the needs of black and minority women experiencing gender violence. It successfully campaigned for the release of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a landmark case in which an Asian woman was convicted of the murder of her violent husband. The case reformed homicide law, creating greater awareness within and outside minority communities. Pragna is also a co-founder of Women Against Fundamentalism. She has also written extensively on race, gender and religion, including ‘Citizenship: Whose Rights?’, ‘Faith in the State? Asian Women’s Struggles for Human Rights in the UK’, and ‘Shrinking Secular Spaces: Asian Women at the Intersect of Race, Religion and Gender’. She was listed in The Guardian’s Top 100 women: activists and campaigners.

Yasmin Rehman is a freelance consultant and doctoral candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Her area of research is polygamy and the law. She has worked for more than 20 years predominantly on violence against women, race, faith and gender, and human rights. Yasmin has worked for Local Government, the Metropolitan Police Service as Director of Partnerships and Diversity (2004-08) during which time she also held the Deputy national lead for forced marriage and honour based violence. Yasmin has most recently been commissioned as founding CEO of a race equality charity in East London, followed by Transforming Rehabilitation bid and now reviewing police responses to domestic abuse for national charities. Yasmin is currently member of the Board of EVAW (End Violence Against Women Coalition), an Independent Adviser for City of London Police and a member of the Centre for Secular Space.

Time

(Saturday) 11:30 am - 5:30 pm

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28apr6:00 pm8:00 pmConference at Warwick University on Free Expression

27apr7:00 pm9:00 pmMerton College, Oxford

27apr6:30 pm8:30 pmBodley Club and Neave Society Event, Merton College, Oxford

24aprAll DayRationalist International Conference at Tallinn, Estonia

15aprAll DayMuslimish Conference

12apr7:00 pm9:00 pmEvening with ex-Muslim feminist Halima Begum, central London

19marAll DayFestival of ideas, Bristol

17mar5:00 pm6:00 pm17 March Rally at NUS: Revise Safe Space and No Platform Policies to Facilitate not Restrict Free Expression and Thought

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Event Details

On 17 March 2016 from 5-6pm Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and Right2Debate will be holding a protest at the office of the NUS, Macadam House, 275 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8QB. Join Us. Also Tweet “I call on @nusuk to revise safe space and no platform policies to facilitate not restrict free expression and thought,” take part in the thunderclap campaign or email the NUS stating the same at office@nus.org.uk.

NUS: Revise Safe Space and No Platform Policies to Facilitate not Restrict Free Expression and Thought

We are deeply concerned by the increasing attempts by the National Union of Students (NUS) and its affiliated Student Unions to silence dissenters – including feminists, apostates, LGBTI rights campaigners, anti-racists, anti-fascists and anti-Islamists – through its use of No-Platform and Safe Space policies.

We stand against all prejudice and discrimination. We agree that free speech does not mean giving bigots a free pass. A defence of free speech includes the right and moral imperative to challenge, oppose and protest bigoted views.

Educational institutions must be a place for the exchange and criticism of all ideas – even those deemed unpalatable by some – providing they don’t incite violence against peoples or communities. Bigoted ideas are most effectively defeated by open debate, backed up by ethics, reason and evidence.

The student body is not homogeneous; there will be differences of opinion among students. The NUS’s restrictive policies infringe upon the right of students to hear and challenge dissenting and opposing views.

We, therefore, call on the NUS to revise its No-Platform and Safe Space policies to facilitate freedom of expression and thought, rather than restrict it.

Signed:
FINAL UPDATED 18 March 2016 AM

(Students, Activists and Academics are welcome to sign on to the letter, which will be updated regularly. To sign on to the letter, please email below contact persons.)

AC Grayling, Philosopher
Adrian Hart, Author ‘The Myth of Racist Kids’, ‘That’s Racist!’ and occasional contributor to Spiked
Afsaneh Vahdat, Women’s Rights Activist
Alexa Robertson, Secretary of UNASH at Nottingham and Campaigns Officer for the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies
Alicia McElhill, President City of Leicester NUT
Amanda Jane Brown, Humanist/Secular Activist, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Amanda Sebestyen, Asylum Education and Legal Fund
Andrew Browne, University Student
Andrew Kekwick, Activist
Annie Sugier, President of the Ligue du Droit International des Femmes
Ansar Ahmed Ullah, International Forum for Secular Bangladesh
Asher Fainman, President of Goldsmiths Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society
Asqar Karimi, Executive Board of the Worker-communist Party of Iran
Ateizm Dernegi in Turkey
Atheist Alliance International
Author, Jesus & Mo
Babak Yazdi, Spokesperson of Kanoon-e Khavaran
Bahram Soroush, Activist
Becky Lavelle, President of Hull University Secularist, Atheist, and Humanist Society
Benjamin David, President of Warwick Atheists, Secularists and Humanists
Bernárd J. Lynch, Catholic priest and Chair of Camden LGBT Forum
Bread and Roses TV
Brendan O’Neill, Editor of Spiked
Brian Robinson, Retired Psychiatrist
Brighton Secular Humanists
Caroline Fourest, Author
Center for Inquiry
Central London Humanist Group
Centre for Secular Space
Chichester Humanists
Chris Austin, Physicist
Chris Moos, Secularist Activist
Christine M. Shellska, President of Atheist Alliance International
Christy Walsh LLM
Coel Hellier, Professor of Astrophysics, Keele University
Connor Naylor, External Outreach Officer of the LSESU Free Speech Society
Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Coventry and Warwickshire Humanists
David Browne, LLM Student in International Human Rights Law
Durham Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society
Eda Ulus, Lecturer, University of Leicester
Elham Manea, Academic and human Rights advocate
Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize
Equal Rights Now – Organisation against Women’s Discrimination in Iran
Erin Dopp, Activist
Esam Shoukry, Defense of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq
Evelyne Abitbol, General Director and Co-Founder of Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom
Faisal Saeed Al-Mutar, Iraqi Writer and Human Rights Activist
Faizun Zackariya, Citizens’ Voice for Justice and Peace
Fariborz Pooya, Host of Bread and Roses TV
Farzana Hassan, Author
Farzaneh Derakhshan, Activist
Feminism in London
Fireproof Library
Fitnah – Movement for Women’s Liberation
Fredric M. London, Activist
Frederick Money, Undergraduate, Merton College Oxford
Free Speech Society – LSE Speakeasy
Gino Ragnoli, Treasurer for the University of Leicester Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society
Gita Sahgal, Director of Centre for Secular Space
Gregory Kent, Academic and Journalist
Gush Bhumbra, President of Leicester Secular Society
Halima Begum, ExMuslim Researcher and Blogger
Hamid Taqvaee, Leader of Worker-communist Party of Iran
Hassan Radwan, Founder Member of Agnostic Muslims Facebook Group and Admin/Blogger of Agnostic Muslim Khutbahs
Helen Chamberlain, President of Durham Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society
Houzan Mahmoud, Women’s Rights Activist, Kurdistan
Hull University Secularist, Atheist, and Humanist Society
Ian Leaver, Secretary City of Leicester NUT
Ian Symons, Secretary of Central London Humanist Group
Imad Iddine Habib, Spokesperson of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Index on Censorship
Indian Rationalist Association
International Forum for Secular Bangladesh
James Burchett, Activist
Jane Donnelly, Atheist Ireland
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO, Index on Censorship
Josh Crossman, Psychology graduate from Aberystwyth University, and a Health Psychology MSc student at Surrey University
Julie Bindel, Justice for Women and the Emma Humphreys Memorial Prize
Justice for Women
Kalsoom Bashir, co-directors of Inspire
Kameron J. St. Clare, President of the Middle Common Room, St. Hilda’s College, Oxford
Karrar Al Asfoor, Arab Atheists and Forum for Humanitarian Dialogue
Kate Smurthwaite, Comedian and Activist
Katha Pollitt, Feminist Poet, Essayist and Critic
Kazem Nik-Khah, Political Activist
Kazimierz Lyszczynski Foundation
Kenan Malik, Author
Keyvan Javid, Director of New Channel TV
Keziah Conroy, UCLU Atheist, Secularity and Humanist society President
Kieron Kavanagh, Retired Paramedic
Kojin Mirizayi, Law student and President of the Kurdish Society at the University of Kent
Laura Guidetti, Marea Italian feminist magazine
Lee Jones, Queen Mary, University of London
Leicester Secular Society
Leo Gibbons-Plowright, Blogger, Secularist and Free Speech Campaigner
Lesley Dove, Animal Rights and Pro-life Activist
Ligue du Droit International des Femmes
Lila Ghobady, Filmmaker
Linda Weil-Curiel, Lawyer, Paris Bar
Lisa-Marie Taylor, Chair of Feminism in London
Lloyd Newson OBE
Maajid Nawaz, Author and Counter-extremism Activist
Maggie Hall, Chair, Brighton Secular Humanists
Magi Gibson, Scottish Poet and Author
Marea Italian Feminist Magazine
Marek Lukaszewicz, Polish Atheist and Feminist
Marieme Helie Lucas, Algerian Sociologist and Founder of Women Living Under Muslims Laws and Secularism is a Women’s Issue
Maryam Namazie, Spokesperson of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, One Law for All and Host of Bread and Roses TV
Matilda Dow, Fourth Wave Edinburgh Feminist Activist group
Matt Corden, Undergraduate at Newcastle University
Melody Patry, Advocacy Officer at Index on Censorship
Mersedeh Ghaedi, London Spokesperson for Iran Tribunal
Michael Nugent, Atheist Ireland
Mick Hall, Organized Rage
Mina Ahadi, Coordinator of International Committee against Stoning and Execution
Miranda Yardley, Writer, Publisher and Activist
Mohamed Atef Saad Hegazy, Aerospace Engineering student
Nadia El Fani, Tunisian Filmmaker
Nahla Mahmoud, Spokesperson of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
National Secular Society
Nazanin Afshin-Jam, Co founder of Stop Child Executions
Nazanin Boroumand, Council of Ex-Muslims of Germany
Nick Cohen, Author
Nina Sankari, Polish Atheist and Feminist
Nira Yuval-Davis, Director of the Research Centre on Migration, Refugees and Belonging at the University of East London
Ollie Burton, President of Newcastle University Atheists’ and Secular Humanists’ Society
One Law for All
Ophelia Benson, Writer
Peter Flack, Leicester Social Forum
Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigner
Pink Triangle Trust
Pragna Patel, Director of Southall Black Sisters
Rationalist International
Rayhan Rashid, Oxford
Rayhana Sultan, Spokesperson of Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain
Renas Siti, Student at the University of East Aglia
Rhys Morgan, Undergraduate student at Oxford Brookes University
Richard Barton, Ex Roman Catholic Priest
Richard Dawkins, Scientist and Author
Right2Debate
Risalat Khan, activist
Roberto Malini, Poet Laureate, Human Rights Defender and Co-President of EveryOne Group
Robin Blick, Musician and Artist
Roger Corcho, Assistant to MEP María Teresa Giménez Barbat
Ronald Lindsay, President of Center for Inquiry
Roy Brown, International Representative and former President of International Humanist and Ethical Union
Rumana Hashem, Founder of Community Women’s Blog and Adviser at Nari Diganta
Rumy Hasan, Senior Lecturer (Science Policy Research Unit), University of Sussex
Ryan Smith, Student
Salil Tripathi, Writer
Salman Rushdie, Writer
Sanal Edamaruku, Founder of Rationalist International and Indian Rationalist Association
Sara Khan, co-director of Inspire
Sarah Peace, Fireproof Library
Secularism is a Women’s Issue
Shahla Daneshfar, Coordinator of the International Labour Solidarity Committee of the Worker-communist Party of Iran
Shelley Segal, Singer/Songwriter
Shiva Mahbobi, Women’s Rights Activist and Spokesperson for Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran
Sikivu Hutchinson, Author, Moral Combat: Black Atheists, Gender Politics, and the Values Wars
Siôn Trewyn, History and Politics student at the University of Sheffield
Southall Black Sisters
Spiked
Stephen Evans, Campaigns Manager of National Secular Society
Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor, Dept. of Psychology, Harvard University
Susan Moore, Journalist
Swadhinata Trust
Taha Hosseini, Political Activist
Tehmina Kazi, Director of Media, Outreach and Lobbying for British Muslims for Secular Democracy
Terry Sanderson, President of National Secular Society
The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies
Thor Halland, Comedy Actor
Tom Holland, Author and Historian
Tym Szala, Third year Student at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute
Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Philosophy and Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics
University of Leicester Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society
Waleed El Husseini, Founder of Council of Ex-Muslims of France
Zahra Asli, Friends of women in the Middle East

For more information, Contact
Benjamin David, benjamin.david@hotmail.co.uk
Haydar Zaki, Haydar.zaki@quilliamfoundation.org
Maryam Namazie, maryamnamazie@gmail.com

Time

(Thursday) 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Location

NUS

Macadam House 275 Gray's Inn Road

Calendar GoogleCal

15mar6:00 pm9:00 pmLSE Atheist Society, London

14mar6:00 pm8:00 pmWomen's Rights in the Middle East, UCLU

10mar7:00 pm9:00 pmEvening with Atheist Vlogger AronRa in Central London

09mar7:00 pm9:00 pmWomen's Liberation in Middle East, University of Kent

07mar7:00 pm9:00 pmUniversity of Leicester

29feb7:00 pm9:00 pmMaryam Namazie and Tariq Ramadan discuss Islam in Europe today, Oxford Union

27feb7:00 pm9:00 pmPlace of Religion in 21 Century, Birmingham University

23febAll DayConference on Religion and Humanism, European Parliament, Brussels

17febAll DayConference on The New Intolerance on Campus, London

15feb7:00 pm9:00 pmEvening with CEMB Spokesperson and #ExMuslimBecause organiser Rayhana Sultan

08feb7:00 pm9:00 pmEx-Muslim & Black Atheist Experiences, Southampton University

18jan7:00 pm9:00 pmApostasy and Asylum Meet-up with Lawyer Ana Gonzales

13dec3:00 pm6:00 pmEnd-year Celebration!

10decAll Day10 Downing Street

30nov7:00 pm9:00 pmGoldsmiths University

25nov7:00 pm9:00 pmUniversity of Exeter

16nov7:00 pm9:00 pmEvening drinks with Ibrahim Abdallah, Muslimish NYC

12nov5:30 pm7:00 pmNottingham University

29oct7:00 pm9:00 pmUCLU, Black History Month

28oct7:00 pm9:00 pmWarwick University Atheist Society

more

Event Details

BREAKING NEWS 27 September 2015: Warwick Student Union has now approved the Warwick Atheists’ request to have me speak there and Isaac Leigh, President and Jacqui Clements, Chief Executive of the Warwick Student Union have issued a gracious apology that is very appreciated. The event will go ahead as planned. I am really excited that I will be able to speak to students there and am grateful for all the brilliant support from Warwick Atheists and from so many wonderful people listed below but also on social media.

***

Maryam was meant to speak at Warwick University Atheist Society event on 28 October but the student union there has declined the request to have her speak. The Society is appealing.

UPDATE: 27 September: Warwick Student Union and the Islamist Narrative

Here is Maryam Namazie’s statement on it:

Warwick University Student Union: the Islamists incite hatred, not us

I was invited to speak at Warwick University by the Warwick Atheists, Secularists and Humanists’ Society on 28 October 2015. The University Student Union has declined the request for me to speak saying the following:

This is because after researching both her and her organisation, a number of flags have been raised. We have a duty of care to conduct a risk assessment for each speaker who wishes to come to campus.

There a number of articles written both by the speaker and by others about the speaker that indicate that she is highly inflammatory, and could incite hatred on campus. This is in contravention of our external speaker policy:

The President (or equivalent) of the group organising any event is responsible for the activities that take place within their events. All speakers will be made aware of their responsibility to abide by the law, the University and the Union’s various policies, including that they:

must not incite hatred, violence or call for the breaking of the law

are not permitted to encourage, glorify or promote any acts of terrorism including individuals, groups or organisations that support such acts

must not spread hatred and intolerance in the community and thus aid in disrupting social and community harmony

must seek to avoid insulting other faiths or groups, within a framework of positive debate and challenge

are not permitted to raise or gather funds for any external organisation or cause without express permission of the trustees.

In addition to this, there are concerns that if we place conditions on her attendance (such as making it a member only event and having security in attendance, asking for a transcript of what she intends to say, recording the speech) she will refuse to abide by these terms as she did for Trinity College Dublin.

The Atheist group is of course appealing their decision, however, it’s important for me to comment briefly on the Student Union’s position. I will be writing a more detailed letter to the university to formally complain about the Student Union accusations against me after taking legal advice.

For now, though, suffice it to say that criticising religion and the religious-Right is not incitement of hatred against people. If anything, it’s the religious-Right, namely Islamism in this case, which incites hatred against those of us who dare to leave Islam and criticise it.

The Student Union seems to lack an understanding of the difference between criticising religion, an idea, or a far-Right political movement on the one hand and attacking and inciting hate against people on the other. Inciting hatred is what the Islamists do; I and my organisation challenge them and defend the rights of ex-Muslims, Muslims and others to dissent.

The Student Union position is of course nothing new. It is the predominant post-modernist “Left” point of view that conflates Islam, Muslims and Islamists, homogenises the “Muslim community”, thinks believers are one and the same as the religious-Right and sides with the Islamist narrative against its many dissenters.

It is the “anti-colonialist” perspective which always unsurprisingly coincides with that of the ruling classes in the so-called “Islamic world” or “Muslim communities” – an understanding that is Eurocentric, patronising and racist.

This type of politics denies universalism, sees rights as ‘western,’ justifies the suppression of women’s rights, freedoms and equality under the guise of respect for other ‘cultures’ imputing on innumerable people the most reactionary elements of culture and religion, which is that of the religious-Right. In this type of politics, the oppressor is victim, the oppressed are perpetrators of “hatred”, and any criticism is racist.

These sort of Lefties have one set of progressive politics for themselves – they want gay rights, equality for women and the right to criticise the pope and the Christian-Right, and another for us.

We are not worthy of the same rights and freedoms.

We can only make demands within the confines of religion and Islam. If we dissent, if we demand equality, if we demand to live our lives without the labels of “kafir” or “immoral” – and all that which they imply, then we are inciting hatred…

It’s a topsy turvy world when “progressives” who are meant to be on our side take a stand with our oppressors and try to deny us the only tool we have to resist – our freedom of expression.

Well, it’s not up for sale or subject to the conditions of a Student Union too enamoured with Islamism to take a principled position.

By the way Warwick, in case you’re wondering, I will speak at your university – as I will be soon at Trinity College Dublin despite my initial talk being cancelled by organisers.