Secularism

Pierre Rousset is a long-standing member of the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA), and its predecessor organisation the Revolutionary Communist League (Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, LCR) in France. This article, discussing the political implications of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and at shoppers at a kosher supermarket, was first published on the Europe Solidaire website here , and was translated into English by Nathan Rao, and published on the Secularism Is A Women's Issue (SIAWI) network website here . We should start with a worrying observation. Heads of state understood the importance...

Southall Black Sisters have always organised autonomously as an anti-communalist, anti-racist, and progressive organisation. We’ve been going since 1979, as both a service provider to black and minority women, and an anti-racist and feminist organisation. When we were set up, there was silence on race and gender in a range of social movements. We wanted to organise within those movements, autonomously, and at the same time calling on these movements to adopt what is now fashionably termed an “intersectional” approach to seeing the interconnections between race, class, sex, gender, and to build...

We join the comrades of the Red-Green Alliance of Denmark in unequivocally condemning the attack on a meeting to debate free speech and a Jewish synagogue in Copenhagen on Saturday-Sunday 14-15 February. At this time it seems the attack, in which a member of the meeting audience and young Jewish security guard were killed, was the work of an individual, a young man of Palestinian heritage, and impoverished background who had recently spent time in jail. It seems this individual was “inspired” by an Islamist political creed and the murderous attacks in Paris last month. How should socialists...

Pragna Patel, of Southall Black Sisters , and Yemisi Ilesanmi , Nigerian socialist and LGBT rights activist spoke at a Workers' Liberty London Forum on secularism and religious fundamentalism on Thursday 12 February. Here are recordings of their speeches (unfortunately the recording of Yemisi's speech was cut short):

"Killing in response to insult, no matter how gross, must be unequivocally condemned. That is why what happened in Paris cannot be tolerated. But neither should we tolerate the kind of intolerance that provoked this violent reaction." ( Bill Donohue, Catholic League ) "Now, I think there’s a critical difference between solidarity with the journalists who were attacked, refusing to concede anything to the idea that journalists are somehow “legitimate targets,” and solidarity with what is frankly a racist publication." ( Richard Seymour, Lenin’s Tomb ) I do not mean to suggest an amalgam between...

Manchester University's Free Speech and Secular Society were prevented from displaying Charlie Hebdo at their stall during a societies fair on 27 January. Irony knows no limits. A representative of the group said they wanted to print copies of the cover following the massacre in order to show support for the murdered journalists right to free expression. They also stated that they did not necessarily agree with all the content of Charlie Hebdo, but wanted to defend the principle of freedom of publication. Manchester Students' Union censored the magazine on the grounds that the cover could be...

The far right in France appear to see recent terrorist attacks as political currency to attack both the government and the EU on immigration. The Front National has said the attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine and an assault on a Jewish supermarket are the final proof that open borders and poor efforts to tackle immigration in France have led to an “enemy within”. Party leader Marine Le Pen described terrorism as a tool of Islamic fundamentalism which had been allowed to develop in France’s cities because people did not want to talk about the issue for fear of being politically incorrect. To...

This was written as a reply to a piece by Moses Trod, replying to my 8 January article about Charlie Hebdo: you can find both here . However it has much wider relevance to the British left. Much of the criticism of the article like many modern accusations of being liberal or not sufficiently left-wing basically boils down to not decrying Western imperialism or the racist French bourgeois state enough for creating the problems of Islamism, as well as the neo-fascist far-right. The piece by Moses Trod also falls into the trap so common on the left of effectively fetishizing how different their...

“Charlie Hebdo", "Muslims", and how to defend freedom of expression (2012) The vicious French debate about migrations and national identity : some of its background reasons (2010) The anti-burqa law in France and the Left: to fight a government, you better understand its policy! (2010) The rise of Muslim religion and its negative political consequences for the French Left (2005) Revolutionaries, secularism and multiculturalism (2004) Old and new conceptions of secularism in France (2004) France, the hijab and the left (2004) French CP and secularism (2004)