Oh hey check out what my friend Taslima has been up to. She was at a gathering of Sakharov Prize laureates in Strasbourg. The guy in the middle in the president of the European parliament.
Butterflies and Wheels
Gnu atheism, women's rights, internationalism, universalism, and gossip
I think I know who the woman on the other side of Herr Schulz is.
Six degrees trivia: I had the pleasure and challenge of accompanying and interpreting for Elena Bonner, Dr. Sakharov’s widow, on her three-day visit to my undergrad uni for an honourary degree back at the Dawn of Time.
She was more a force of nature than a simple human being, an incredibly strong-willed presence with a habit of smoking the most ghastly and completely unfiltered cigarettes (as was common for Soviets/Russians in the day), and a gruff but cultured and highly educated accent in Russian. Remarkable woman, and she spoke very movingly about her late husband.
What a proud moment it must have been for the president of the European Parliament to have found himself standing between two genuine humble humanitarians. Two people who care desperately for humanity, that they’ve risked life and limb. People of the calibre of Taslima and Malala are such a rarity. Thank you both for your sincere human kindness towards the world at large.