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Richard, Nick, Salman, Ayaan
Richard Dawkins has a response to “Froborr.” Ok I’m lying, he doesn’t really, but it might as well be. Plus it’s a response to all the “oh won’t you please think of the poor fragile believers?” wails...
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Treason and offending
How not to understand free speech. The case of a cartoonist charged with treason and offending India’s national sentiments reflects a growing debate over what constitutes freedom of expression in...
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More publications that will uphold love for truth
Now it’s Taslima Nasreen’s turn. Taslima Nasreen has faced protests at the launch of her latest memoir, with an event at the Calcutta Book Fair cancelled. Ms Nasreen is not at the event, and tweeted...
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Taslima’s readers and fans
Taslima Nasreen has a lot of tweets about the cancellation of (or move outside of) her book launch in Kolkata. News media have been quoting her tweets, so I might as well do a few too. (How nice it...
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Why a book about censorship?
The Economist talked to Nick Cohen about his new book, aptly titled You Can’t Read This Book. First question was What made you want to write a book about censorship? Now what do you suppose he said....
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“Open to all” does not mean “pleasing to all”
The LSESU Atheist, Secularist and Humanist Society issued a statement yesterday. It starts with thanks for support from various groups (including One Law for All) and a chronology of the exciting...
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Tragic failure of education
Via the LSESU ASH Facebook page and later via Alex Gabriel, a poster advertising an event put on by the LSE Socialist Worker Student Society. It reads: Religious discrimination is irrefutably on the...
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At Maryam’s place
Maryam’s post on the Free Expression Rally is up. So is her post on Malaysia’s outrageous deportation of Hamza Kashgari. Malaysia’s home ministry has said that ‘The nature of the charges against the...
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Free Hamza Kashgari
You know the drill – same old same old. Join this Facebook group. You know the media report it when causes get big support on Facebook, so join. I added a few people, because you can’t just invite any...
View ArticleThose who are wanted by their countries of origin
Malaysia today is defending its extradition of Hamza Kashgari back to Saudi Arabia where he could easily be executed for saying he has questions about Mohammed. International rights groups have slammed...
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Nick Cohen on a culture that pretends to be brave
At the Rally for Free Expression. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lffXO_LLWo
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Atheists v Hasids
American Atheists were going to give the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn a very nice atheist billboard. Dave Silverman says they get emails from atheists there who feel very alone; AA wanted to...
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A bargain
It can seem strange how entirely alien the whole idea of free discussion can seem to people who (I suppose) have never had any experience of it. A Bangladesh court on Wednesday ordered authorities to...
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Measuring the distance
Another free speech issue, a tricky one. France has barred a group of Muslim clerics, including one of the most prominent voices in Sunni Islam, from entering the country to attend a conference....
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Insulting Islamic values in Twitter messages
Another entry in the annals of Persecuting and Prosecuting People For Having an Opinion That Reactonaries Dislike. A court here on Friday charged Fazil Say, a classical and jazz pianist with an...
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“Satan’s representative” on the Michigan Student Assembly
More detail on the Andrew Shirvell case, because CNN has more. Shirvell was fired from his job in the attorney general’s office in 2010 after targeting the student leader online and in person — then...
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He will be sentenced later
No no no; doing it wrong. A Yorkshire teenager has been found guilty of “posting an offensive Facebook message.” Posting an offensive Facebook message is a crime? Azhar Ahmed, 19, of Ravensthorpe, West...
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Doin it rong
A guy from Greater Manchester, Barry Thew, wore a horrible T shirt right after two police constables, Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, were killed. The T shirt said “one less pig perfect justice.” Nasty....
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Not simple
Update: this probably needs a trigger warning. It is indeed very upsetting. Speaking of girls, and bullying, and sexualization, and bullying, and name-calling, and bullying… A girl in Coquitlam, BC,...
View ArticleYou don’t believe unless
A philosophical aphorism seen on Twitter… You don’t believe in freedom of speech unless you believe in freedom for speech that you consider ugly, offensive, deplorable, dangerous… What? The first three...
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