Hmm. The BBC is looking on the bright side of life. The leader of the Islamist party that won the most seats in Tunisia’s elections has said women’s social gains would not be reversed. Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi promised to strengthen the role of women in Tunisian politics. “Leaders” promise lots of things; they don’t …
Monthly Archive: October 2011
Oct 28 2011
If conceptually coherent
Dan Fincke takes issue with dismissiveness toward philosophy, and I agree with him about that, but I’m not sure about the particular example he’s chosen. That could well be just because I’m not a philosopher, so I’m not understanding. The example is a postdoc fellowship in philosophy funded (lavishly) by the Templeton Foundation. The fellowship …
Oct 28 2011
Only 377 to go
A Foxhole atheist needs only 377 more signatures on the petition to “End the Military’s Discrimination against Non-Religious Service Members” to get the 5000 necessary, but he needs them in the next four days. If the petition gets to 5000 signatures in the next four days the White House will have to respond. If you …
Oct 28 2011
Defining sexism downwards
A re-post from January 2010 – of quite startling relevance: about a pro-rape Facebook page and sexist epithets and…Rod Liddle saying a woman should be kicked in the cunt. How about that. January 19, 2010 I did not know – some male students at St Paul’s College at the University of Sydney set up a pro-rape …
Oct 27 2011
How dare you enforce the law
Stewart sent more links today. I’m still catching up. So…where were we? Oh yes – Womens’ rights groups and organizations opposing religious coercion have demonstrated against the segregation. Jerusalem councilwomen Rachel Azaria of the Yerushalmim (Jerusalemites) faction and Laura Verton (Meretz) petitioned the High Court of Justice against the practice. Well guess what. Guess what …
Oct 27 2011
Shoving people off the sidewalk, again
Stewart sent me a couple of interesting items last week. I was having technical issues and am catching up. Israel High Court upholds ban on Sukkot gender segregation in Jerusalem. Oh yes? There was gender segregation? Rather.
Oct 27 2011
For a free and secular Middle East and North Africa
76 secularists and human rights campaigners, including Mina Ahadi, Nawal El Sadaawi, Marieme Helie Lucas, Hameeda Hussein, Ayesha Imam, Maryam Jamil, Maryam Namazie, Taslima Nasrin, Farida Shaheed, Fatou Sow, and Stasa Zajovic have signed on to a Manifesto for a Free and Secular Middle East and North Africa. In light of the recent pronouncements of …
Oct 27 2011
It could turn out like Iran
Middle-class women in Tunisia are not thrilled about the win of the “moderate” Islamist party. In Sunday’s election Tunisia, birthplace of the “Arab Spring” uprisings, handed the biggest share of the vote to Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party that was banned under decades of autocratic, secularist rule. “We’re afraid that they’ll limit our freedoms,” said …
Oct 26 2011
Wubete and 100,000 more
Ever seen Nova’s “A Walk to Beautiful“? I was sure I’d posted about it at ur-B&W but I didn’t find such a post so I guess I didn’t. It was repeated on one of the local PBS stations last night so I saw it for the third time. It rips my guts out every time. …
Oct 26 2011
Disseminate the word
JT Eberhard of the Secular Students Alliance and Freethought Blogs says spread the word. What word? This word. 1. Like the SSA Facebook page. You do not need to be a student to do this, you need only support our cause. 2. Upvote the reddit article to push back against all the Christian down votes. …
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