Media

22/10/2014

Noorjahan Akbar at TEDxLafayetteCollege: Education and empowerment in Afghanistan

In this TEDx talk, Afghan women's rights activist and WLUML networker Noorjahan Akbar shares her personal journey for getting an education and the impact that education has on empowering women around the world and in Afghanistan.

10/10/2014

Away From the Uniform and the Beard: She Rides Her Bicycle!

Tomorrow seven Women Human Rights Defenders will go on trail in Egypt, charged under the so-called 'Protest Law' for exercising their right to peaceful assembly. Among these women is Yara Sallam, a WLUML networker and a friend and ally to many at WLUML. Here, Doaa Abdelaal, Chair of WLUML's Board, pays tribute to Yara's work and friendship.

10/10/2014

WHRDs in Egypt: Between the Junta and the Islamists

Since the revolution erupted in Egypt in 2011, two main forces have been controlling the scene: the military junta and the Islamists. Tomorrow sees 7 Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) charged under the so-called 'Protest Law' appear in court. Fatma Emam, Egyptian feminist and member of WLUML’s Advisory Council, describes the situation from the ground.

8/10/2014

Manifesto for Secularism

Our era is marked by the rise of the religious-Right – not because of a “religious revival” but rather due to the rise of far-Right political movements and states using religion for political supremacy. This rise is a direct consequence of neo-conservatism and neo-liberalism and the social policies of communalism and cultural relativism. Universalism, secularism and citizenship rights have been abandoned and segregation of societies and “communities” based on ethnicity, religion and culture have become the norm.

7/10/2014

Why Bill Maher and Ben Affleck Are Both Wrong

When I watched Bill Maher -- with whom I agree about many other issues -- talk about Islam on his show "Real Time" last Friday night, I felt as though my father's life story was being erased.

6/10/2014

Promoting the global secular alternative in the ISIS era

MARIEME HÉLIE-LUCAS and MARYAM NAMAZIE 4 October 2014

While many of us watch in horror as ISIS advances, and fundamentalist ideas spread across religious traditions around the world, Maryam Namazie and Marieme Hélie-Lucas - secular feminists from Iran and Algeria - told Karima Bennoune why they are convening the International Secular Conference in London this week.

3/10/2014

We all know about jihadists, but what about those waging an ‘anti-jihad’?

As the UN Security Council tackles the entity claiming to be “Islamic State,” and President Barack Obama invokes global Muslim responsibility, many ask whether people of Muslim heritage do enough to counter extremism.

29/9/2014

Standing With Those Who Fight Fundamentalism

At the United Nations on Wednesday, President Obama said "it is time for the world -- especially Muslim communities -- to explicitly, forcefully, and consistently reject the ideology of Al Qaeda and ISIL." As a human rights lawyer proud of her Muslim heritage, I concur entirely, and I hope this call will be heeded from Detroit to Doha. There is no way to fight jihadist terrorism without undercutting its ideological base.

23/9/2014

Mahienour al-Massry's release: Scenes from the first night

“Your wishes, Mahienour?” were Judge Sherif Hafez’s first words to leftist activist Mahienour al-Massry in the deliberation room before he ruled to suspend her six-month prison sentence.

Firm and confident, Massry replied, “The release of the thousands of detainees from prison.”

22/9/2014

Ungrateful Ants: A response to Manning’s strategy to leave ‘self contained’ enclaves for IS to rule

Whether or not one believes a US/European military intervention against the Islamic State is a strategy that is likely to fail,
whether or not one foresees, as a result of opting for the wrong strategy, decades of chaos in the region and more fighters joining IS,
whether or not one considers military intervention as a cover up from imperialism in the Middle East,
whether or not one is aware of human rights past justifications for military interventions,
whether or not one is an all-out pacifist opposed to any war, even against Hitler (or the new Hitlers of our times that we, in Algeria, have been labeling ‘green-fascists’ since the nineties),