Manifesto against Islamic totalitarianism
A dozen bold intellectuals have put together an important document that speaks out against Islamic totalitarianism, published in the Jyllands-Posten (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin):
Danish blogger Agora reports that the French paper Charlie Hebdo's published it today, and is urging others to do the same in solidarity with freedom of speech. I fully agree, especially after reading this article from The UK Times (via IBA), that tells how badly free speech is in danger in places like Holland, and even Britain (and angeringly enough, it seems that Oriana Fallaci is to stand trial in a lawsuit for one of her latest books). We can't let the political dhimmis silence us to appease savages. So let's all take a stand for the sake of free speech.
Also available at Basil's Blog, Don Surber, Jo's Cafe, Third World County. Others standing bravely with free speech include No-Pasaran, Stockholm Spectator, Johan Norberg, Israpundit, The Jawa Report, All Things Beautiful, bRight & Early, Vince Aut Morire, House of the Dog, Atlas Shrugs, Deep Keel, A Tic in the Mind's Eye, Small Town Veteran, Anti-Corn Law League, Slapstick Politics, Eureka Iron Works, Fullosseous Flap's Dental Blog, Stop the ACLU, Tipping Points, Blue Star Chronicles, A Blog for All, Super Fun Power Hour, Wizbang, Sensible Mom, Simi Valley Sophist, Stuck on Stupid, The Dread Pundit Bluto, Urban Grounds, Political Pitt Bull, The Bodie Specter, Fish Taco Stand, Scipio the Metalcon, Canadian Sentinel, JunkYardBlog (plus, another one), Davids Mediankritik, Don Singleton, David Boyd, Protein Wisdom, Ace of Spades, Literal Barrage, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Outside the Beltway.
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianismNow this is what I call having guts. Two of the brave folks on board include Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.
We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.
The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.
Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man's domination of woman, the Islamists' domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.
We reject cultural relativism, which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.
We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.
We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.
Danish blogger Agora reports that the French paper Charlie Hebdo's published it today, and is urging others to do the same in solidarity with freedom of speech. I fully agree, especially after reading this article from The UK Times (via IBA), that tells how badly free speech is in danger in places like Holland, and even Britain (and angeringly enough, it seems that Oriana Fallaci is to stand trial in a lawsuit for one of her latest books). We can't let the political dhimmis silence us to appease savages. So let's all take a stand for the sake of free speech.
Also available at Basil's Blog, Don Surber, Jo's Cafe, Third World County. Others standing bravely with free speech include No-Pasaran, Stockholm Spectator, Johan Norberg, Israpundit, The Jawa Report, All Things Beautiful, bRight & Early, Vince Aut Morire, House of the Dog, Atlas Shrugs, Deep Keel, A Tic in the Mind's Eye, Small Town Veteran, Anti-Corn Law League, Slapstick Politics, Eureka Iron Works, Fullosseous Flap's Dental Blog, Stop the ACLU, Tipping Points, Blue Star Chronicles, A Blog for All, Super Fun Power Hour, Wizbang, Sensible Mom, Simi Valley Sophist, Stuck on Stupid, The Dread Pundit Bluto, Urban Grounds, Political Pitt Bull, The Bodie Specter, Fish Taco Stand, Scipio the Metalcon, Canadian Sentinel, JunkYardBlog (plus, another one), Davids Mediankritik, Don Singleton, David Boyd, Protein Wisdom, Ace of Spades, Literal Barrage, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Outside the Beltway.
Labels: islam
