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March 1, 2006
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism 'of Islamism'
Topics: Understanding IslamI got busy yesterday and failed to get back to this, but it's sufficiently important to post on it tonight in order to help give the issue as much exposure as possible.
This "MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism" was published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten on Tuesday (Version française sur le site UPJF.org) by the twelve signatories identified below:
After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.The twelve signatories are: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
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq
Paul Belien at the Brussels Journal writes a dissenting view on the manifesto (hat tip - Michele Malken), one that I find flush with important points - although it shouldn't be considered in any way to take away from the bravery and determination of the individuals that signed the important and informative document, nor the importance of it's message.
There's much more on this at Agora (***), with an abundance of commentary and a number of updates.
The action by these 12 very brave individuals will hopefull begin to set the stage for a world wide increase in an understanding of what the dark plague of Islamism means for civilization, and why it must be stopped at all costs - now, else there will be no later!
Posted by Richard at March 1, 2006 9:07 PM
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