Taslima Nasreen, an award-winning writer, physician, secular humanist and human rights activist, is known for her powerful writings on women oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, despite forced exile and multiple fatwas calling for her death. In India, Bangladesh and abroad, Nasreen’s fiction, nonfiction, poetry and memoir have topped the best-seller’s list.

Taslima Nasreen was born in Bangladesh. She started writing when she was 13. Her writings won the hearts of people across the border and she landed with the prestigious literary award Ananda from India in 1992. Taslima won The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament in 1994. She received the Kurt Tucholsky Award from Swedish PEN, the Simone de Beauvoir Award and Human Rights Award from Government of France, Le Prix de l' Edit de Nantes from the city of Nantes, France, Academy prize from the Royal Academy of arts, science and literature from Belgium. She is a Humanist Laureate in The International Academy for Humanism,USA. She won Distinguished Humanist Award from International Humanist and Ethical Union, Free-thought Heroine award from Freedom From Religion foundation, USA., IBKA award, Germany,and Feminist Press Award, USA . She got the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh prize for Promotion of the Tolerance and Non-violence in 2005. She received the Medal of honor of Lyon. She got honorary citizenship from Paris, Nantes, Lyon, Metz, Thionville, Esch etc. Taslima was awarded the Condorcet-Aron Prize at the “Parliament of the French Community of Belgium” in Brussels and Ananda literary award again in 2000.

Bestowed with honorary doctorates from Gent University and UCL in Belgium, and American University of Paris and Paris Diderot University in France, she has addressed gatherings in major venues of the world like the European Parliament, National Assembly of France, Universities of Sorbonne, Oxford, Harvard, Yale, etc. She got fellowships as a research scholar at Harvard and New York Universities. She was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in the USA in 2009.

Taslima has written 40 books in Bengali, which includes poetry, essays, novels and autobiography series. Her works have been translated in thirty different languages. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh. Because of her thoughts and ideas she has been banned, blacklisted and banished from Bengal, both from Bangladesh and West Bengal part of India. She has been prevented by the authorities from returning to her country since 1994, and to West Bengal since 2007.

Child marriage is child abuse

“Child marriage is a fundamental human rights violation and impacts all aspects of a girl’s life. We want to alert and raise awareness on the negative effects of child marriage on girls and the society as a whole.” – Anne Stenhammer, regional programme director of UN Women.

“Child marriage is not a solution to protecting girls from sexual crimes including rape.” – Krishna Tirath, heads of four UN agencies in India — UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women and UN Information Centre.

“No country can afford the lost opportunity, waste of talent or personal exploitation that child marriage causes.” – Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director, UN’s population fund. [Read more…]

Humanity needs more Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai received Pakistan’s first National youth Peace Prize from Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Malala’s diary when she was 11 years old in 2009:

THURSDAY JANUARY 15: NIGHT FILLED WITH ARTILLERY FIRE
The night was filled with the noise of artillery fire and I woke up three times. But since there was no school I got up later at 10 am. Afterwards, my friend came over and we discussed our homework.Today is 15 January, the last day before the Taleban’s edict comes into effect, and my friend was discussing homework as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. [Read more…]

Death Penalty is a cruel and inhuman punishment in the name of justice.

Abolish the death penalty.

Amnesty International said marking the 10th World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October:

The last decade has seen significant progress towards abolishing the use of the death penalty worldwide, but serious challenges remain before capital punishment is relegated to the dustbin of history.

But there is a hope. [Read more…]

Women speaking out

Feminist icon Robin Morgan is speaking with Mona Eltahawy, Egyptian-American Journalist and activist.

Robin Morgan: Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian-American feminist, brilliant journalist and pal. She was a correspondent for Reuters in Cairo and Jerusalem. She has reported news from the Middle East for The Guardian in the UK. She has written for US News and World Report. She writes essays and op-eds for publications around the world on Egypt and the region and the Islamic world and a particular focus on women’s status. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and lots of really highly respectable wonderful journalistic places. She is a force majeure and she is here with me today fresh from the plane landing from Cairo. Are your jets still lagging? [Read more…]

From human stem cells to human eggs to human babies!

Mouse pups are created from lab-made eggs.

Kyoto University in Japan managed to make viable sperm from stem cells. Now they have made eggs. From stem cells to mouse eggs to baby mice! Bravo Kyoto University! [Read more…]

Women were metal workers during the Bronze Age!

Researchers found evidences. Women did metal work in the Bronze Age.

An Austrian museum says skeletal remains found in an ancient grave are that of a woman metal worker – the first indication that women did such work thousands of years ago.

The Museum of Ancient History says the grave originates from the Bronze Age, which began more than 5000 years ago and ended 3200 years ago.

In a statement on Wednesday, it said that although the pelvic bones were missing, examination of the skull and lower jaw bone shows the skeleton is of a woman.

The museum says tools used to make metal ornaments were also found in the grave northwest of Vienna, leading to the conclusion that it was that of a female fine metal worker. [Read more…]

Are men truly that stupid?

Bizarre!

A German liquor company called G-Spirits is promising customers that “every drop” of its line of alcoholic beverages has been poured on the naked breasts of a certified model— with her approval, of course.

The company claims that the stock is limited to a mere 5000 bottles and comes with a certificate, including the original signature of the model and the bottle number, which proves that “every single drop” touched the model’s flesh. [Read more…]