Religion

Israel – Palestine Part II: Is Jewish religious fundamentalism the flip side of Islamism?

By Plebity | Jul 22, 2024

Are there parallels that can be made between Jewish religious fundamentalism or perhaps Jewish ethno-nationalism, political Judaism and Islamism, political Islam?

Hamas has Islamist roots but makes political claims. In Israel there is a ruling coalition that includes the Religious Zionism Party and a party called Otzma Yehudit, the 'Jewish Power' party. Are there parallels to be made here between Hamas and Jewish fundamentalism?

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Dov and Willy talking – perspectives from the left on political violence, history, colonialism, imperialism, racism, antisemitism, social media and the importance of critical thinking and debate

By Plebity | Jan 28, 2024

Dov Osheroff and Willy Maley: perespectives from the left on political violence, history, colonialism, imperialism, racism, antisemitism, social media and the importance of critical thinking and debate

Participants:
Willy Maley
Dov Osheroff

Moderator:
Mark White

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Is criticism of religion an intolerant act of bullying against a minority or a courageous challenge to established power?

By MW | Jul 7, 2023

ARTICLE

One afternoon last June, Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee living in Sweden, stepped in front of the largest Mosque in Sweden and lit several pages from the Quran on fire. Momika had sought and received a permit from the Swedish authorities for his provocative demonstration, and there were police monitoring the event.

The event, apparently involving two people, caused international uproar and condemnation from world leaders, especially in the Middle-East. It may affect Sweden’s prospects for entry into NATO, and both the Pope and Putin felt the need to weigh in.

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Religion and Free speech – Daniel Ben-Ami and Jacob Mchangama

By Free speech and the left conference 2023 | Jun 3, 2023

Conference

Panelists: Daniel Ben-Ami, Jacob Mchangama

Moderator: Daphna Whitmore

Description: Jacob Mchangama and Daniel Ben-Ami discuss the limits to free speech with focus on blasphemy, anti-semitism, and islamophobia.

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Wikipedia vs Pakistan: who won, blasphemy laws or free speech?

By Plebity | Feb 19, 2023

Blasphemy

We recently wrote about Pakistan's 48 hour ultimatum to Wikipedia–either remove certain ‘sacrilegious’, i.e. blasphemous content, or be blocked in Pakistan.

In fact, after the 48 hours were up, Wikipedia was blocked throughout the country. The ban was short-lived. Access was restored after a three day suspension.

Who won, blasphemy laws or free speech?

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Will Wikipedia bow to Pakistan’s censorship laws?

By Plebity | Feb 5, 2023

Blasphemy

Last Wednesday the Pakistani government issued an ultimatum threatening to shut down the online crowd-sourced encyclopedia Wikipedia. The Pakistani authorities gave Wikipedia 48 hours to remove certain content they deemed to be ‘sacrilegious’ or blasphemous.

The forty eight hours had passed by Friday evening, and Saturday it was announced that Wikipedia had been banned in Pakistan.

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Penn State Students Versus the Proud Boys–who won?

By Mark White | Oct 28, 2022

Article

If you want to fan the flames of fascism, keep doing things like this, Penn State students!

Several days ago Penn State, a top-ranked U.S. research university, known for its football team and its programs in engineering, business, and marketing, began trending on social media for something entirely different.

The event was to feature Gavin McInnes, cofounder of the right-wing organization Proudboys and comedian, provocateur Alex Stein. Student opinion was very strongly against allowing these individuals to speak, and violent protests developed.

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Postmodernism – the joke is on society

By Daphna Whitmore | Sep 28, 2022

REDLINE article

Under postmodernism many ideas that were seen as objectively true came to be seen as mere constructions of language. Foucault refers to them as ‘discourses’ that construct knowledge. Consequently, since discourses are believed to create and maintain oppression, they have to be carefully monitored and deconstructed. This is not some obscure academic issue, it is the outlook that is behind calls for laws to outlaw speech which may cause offense.

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