IHEU: Petition for defence of individual rights at the UN Human Rights Council

"[…] The [Human Rights Council] has become an ideological war machine against its founding principles[The Universal Declaration of Human Rights]. Ignored by the mainstream media, day after day, session after session, resolution after resolution, a political rhetoric is forged to legitimize tomorrow’s violence. A "triple alliance" of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) represented so far by Pakistan, the Non-Aligned Movement where Cuba, Venezuela and Iran have a central role, and China -- with the cynical complacency of Russia – are working together to establish of a genuine revolution in the guise of "multiculturalism". Thus, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, Doudou Diène has said that criticism of the Burqa is a racist aggression, that secularism is rooted in a culture of slavery and colonialism and that the French law against the wearing of religious symbols in schools is part of anti-Muslim racism, renamed "Western Islamophobia ". The confusion of minds is at its peak when any criticism of religion is denounced as a racist attitude. This is a radical threat against freedom of thought which is being condoned by the United Nations. By equating with racism any criticism of the excesses of those who speak in the name of Islam, because supposedly such criticism belongs to neo-colonialist attitudes, the spokespersons of this new alliance tighten a little the noose they have put on the neck of their own peoples and undermine the foundations of a civility hard-won in Europe since the wars of religion."

[...]

If by misfortune, the United Nations should sanction the imposition of such criteria, if blasphemy should be equated with racism, the right to criticism of religion outlawed, religious law become the international norm, it would be a regression with disastrous consequences, and a radical perversion of our entire tradition of struggle against racism, which has developed and can only develop in the most absolute freedom of conscience.

[...]

To sign this petition, please send an email to licra@licra.org"

Please sign.
I've also made a new logo for the Human Rights Council:

Offensive stats

Has anyone noticed the way Muslims use statistics these days? Well, the rest of us can use statistics too.

Re: Kathy Griffin - Censoring anti-religious comments could be used to restrict religion

"Suppressing secular or anti-religious commentary will set a precedent that could be used to restrict religious content. People of faith are already losing the "war on Christmas." Retailers, municipalities and even the White House opt for the politically correct term "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."If we continue to demand the silencing of Griffin and others who don't believe as we believe, we run the risk of losing many more battles.
Under the Constitution, Griffin has as much a right to say Jesus had nothing to do with her statuette as her colleagues do to thank God for theirs."

Corey Hodges (senior pastor), Salt Lake Tribune, 09/14/2007

Update:

"Nearly 5,000 people to date have signed an online petition opposing the censoring of Kathy Griffin's remarks for the 2007 Emmy Awards. Obviously, it is too late to change the censorship, but it is still a great way to show support for Griffin. I think I'd get one of these stickers, but I'd hate to have to remove my f@$% the skull of Jesus sign to make room."

atheistrevolution.blogspot.com, 23. september 2007

Turkey bans Wordpress blogs over alleged libel

"Turkish internet users have been blocked from accessing sites on the Wordpress.com hosting service. A court in Istanbul ordered the website be blocked after lawyers complained that a number of blogs hosted by Wordpress were libellous of Islamic creationist author Adnan Oktar.

Turkish internet users attempting to access more than a million Wordpress sites are now redirected to a site that says in Turkish and English: "Access to this site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/195 of TC Fatih 2 Civil Court of First Instance."

[...]

In response to a question on whether Wordpress should stop hosting the sites that allegedly libel Oktar, a blogger by the pen name of "savedbymcr" wrote: "My opinion is that if you give in to this it will only be the beginning. Everyone will start filing lawsuits and having blogs removed and sites shut down. Blogs are/were intended to be a place to speak your mind, not speak about what a government deems appropriate."

The sites that Oktar's lawyers wanted removed were written by Edip Yuksel and his supporters. Yuksel is described as an Islamic reformist who is based in the United States and who has frequently criticised Oktar.

Oktar himself is an Islamist who under the name Harun Yahya has written and distributed many books supporting creationist theories. His latest book, The Atlas of Creation, has been distributed unsolicited to schools across Turkey, the US and Europe."

Mail & Guardian, 20 August 2007

This is appalling, And this happens in a country that wants to be an EU member.

On a different note, as most of you probably are aware of: the only redeeming thing about this "Atlas" is all the nice photos. The book is 788 pages fat, weighs 6 kilos, and has pictures all over the place. Apparently, very good photos. Professional photos. And, as a Norwegian receiver/reviewer pointed out: uncredited photos. Copyrighted photos. "Thousands", apparently.
I assume that a good deal of professional photographers have had their photos stolen for this purpose, and I am sure that they want money for them. He's not anonymous, as he's been to court, so there's an address to send the bill to. If some kind receiver want to scan or photos of the pages, and post them on the net, then it will be a small problem to find the photographers. A lawsuit may be the likely result, if they're eager enough.

If these photos are stolen, btw. then Sharia has the answer.