A Manifesto Against Islamism

From 12 brave intellectuals at the Jyllands-Posten

MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject cultural relativism, which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of “Islamophobia”, an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

HT: Stop The ACLU, Michelle Malkin
Graphic Credit: Junkyard Blog

I am in agreement with Jay about the wording of the manifesto. I too believe the use of the word secular is not intended to imply the elimination of religion, but the freedom to exercise the religion of your choice or the choice to not be religious at all. The point of the manifesto, in my humble opinion, is to respect the rights and opinions of others regardless of whether you agree with them or not. It is about refusing to tolerate intolerance!

Add my name to the list.

Stop the ACLU notes these folks who are already on board:

Rusty Shackleford
Atlas Shrugs
Vince Autmorire
Tim Blair
Bryan Preston
Captain’s Quarters
Small Town Veteran
A Tic In The Mind’s Eye
Anti Idiotarian Rottweiller
No-Pasaran
Eureka Iron Works
Wizbang
Bad Hair Blog
Protein Wisdom
Gateway Pundit
Bright and Early
Sister Toldjah
LomaAlta
Blue Star Chronicles

If you want your name added, leave a comment or TrackBack to Stop the ACLU's post here. If you would like me to post your name here as well, I'll be glad to add it. Just send a Trackback or post a comment on this post. I'll continue to check the post at Stop the ACLU and if I get any names he doesn't already have listed, I'll notify him. As Jay pointed out, the list needs as wide a distribution as possible.

Update: Blue Star Chronicles has an extensive link round up as well.

Tags: A Manifesto Against Islamism, Islamism, Jyllands-Posten, Totalitarianism, Cultural Relativism