Secularism

High court “purity ring” challenge

As I write this we are awaiting the High Court judgement on the case that a 16 year old girl, Lydia Playfoot, has brought against her school for stopping her wearing a “purity ring”. The idea of “purity rings” is imported from the Christian right in the United States. They are aimed at young people and are supposed to represent their commitment to chastity until they get married. They are the symbols of a movement called “The Silver Ring Thing”. The rings are inscribed with a reference to the biblical verse I Thessalonians 4:3-4, which translates as: “God wants you to be holy, so you should...

Turkish demonstrations are about freedom

Richard Preece discusses the recent anti-government demonstrations in Turkey Much mainstream liberal and centre-right reporting on the crisis in Turkey has portrayed the debate as being a kind of “clash of civilisations in one country” between “Islamists” (or even “Muslims” according to others) supporting the ruling Adalet ve Kalk¦nma Partisi and “secularists” supporting the army and the opposition Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi. On the other hand, sections of the left seem to be tending towards the totally boneheaded view that the hundreds of thousands on the streets of Istanbul and Ankara, and the...

State bans and school uniform

The Guardian recently published an edited version of a letter from a number of Socialist Teachers’ Association activists. They had responded to new advice issued by the DfES about school uniform. This advice, which is available to read and respond to on the DfES website, draws partly on the decision in March 2006 by the Lords of Appeal to overturn an earlier decision in the legal dispute between Shabina Begum and her school (over whether or not she could wear the jilbab, a long gown). Briefly, the Lords of Appeal decided that the right to hold a religious belief was absolute, but the right to...

The shame of the invertebrate liberals

The liberal Establishment, including the liberal newspapers, have responded to the still-burning political explosion ignited by the Danish cartoons showing Muhammad in a downright disgraceful way. They have turned tail on the traditions of freedom of religion and freedom to have no religion, of free speech and a free press, which in less demanding times they claim as their own and are ever ready to denounce Marxists for allegedly not accepting or defending. Very little of the political explosion triggered by the Danish cartoons seems to have been spontaneous, raw religious outrage. It has been...

Egyptian secular activist jailed - Free Kareem Amer!

By Amina Saddiq 22 year old Egyptian blogger and former law student Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, or Kareem Amer as he is known online, was arrested by the authorities in Alexandria on 22 February and charged with the following offences: • Spreading information and malicious rumours that disrupt public security; • Defaming the president of Egypt; • Incitement to overthrow the regime based upon hatred and contempt; • Incitement to hate Islam and to breach public peace standards; and • Highlighting inappropriate issues that harm the reputation of Egypt and spreading these publicly. He has now...

Yes to secularism, no to racism

By John O’Mahony Jack Straw’s article three weeks ago about the wearing of the hijab has unleashed a large and very important public discussion about the relationship of Muslims to the rest of British society. Ministers including the Prime Minster have taken sides with — in the case of most of those who have spoken — or against, Straw’s position that Muslims are at fault in holding on to social-religious mores and practices which cut them off from others in Britain, behind self-erected and self-sustained cultural walls. Straw in his article, and Blair in his comments, have been at pains to...

Free to chose?

By Amy Fisher The furore over Jack Straw’s comments on the niqab has generated hundreds of column inches from liberal commentators at The Guardian. Many, including David Edgar, quite rightly rail against state bans on religious clothing and stand up for the right to wear whatever you choose. As Edgar says "if we want to have a leg to stand on when we stand up for The Satanic Verses or Behzti or Jerry Springer, we must defend to the death the right to wear it [the niqab]". However, the issue of choice is much more complicated than this. The spectre of the silenced, oppressed, helpless Muslim...

Able to teach?

Can a Teaching Assistant carry out her job in the classroom whilst wearing a niqab? Being prepared to take it off when no male is present does not resolve the issue. Men work in schools. A TA can quell unruly behaviour with a raised eyebrow or a pursed lip. A student gets a clear message from facial expressions. They get reassurance that, though we don’t approve of what they just did, we don’t think they are nasty people. You can’t do that without showing your face. Children learn with their whole bodies. We are role models. We must not teach students that women’s bodies are shameful, or that...

Defend Monica Ali!

By Dan Katz Following a small — 60-strong — march in Brick Lane, East London, the companies involved in making a film of Monica Ali’s novel, Brick Lane have unfortunately caved in to the protestors’ demand that they stop filming in the area. This protest is the latest in a number of reactionary, communialist/religious mobilisations aimed at preventing critical voices discussing religious stupidities or backward practices inside minority communities. The Brick Lane protesters claim Ali’s book portrays them as, "ignorant and unsophisticated". They marched with placards reading, "Stop demeaning...

New win for religious bigots

An exhibition of paintings by the internationally renowned Indian painter M F Husain was recently closed for “security reasons”. The announcement by the exhibition hosts, Asia House, the was a reaction to a protest by the so-called “Hindu Human Rights Group”. These days the words “religion” and “human rights” being used in the same phrase or sentence, generally means freedom for fundamentalists to throw their weight around and censor everything they find offensive. This group, is indeed a right-wing fundamentalist pressure group, and it staged a protest against the artist’s allegedly “obscene”...

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