We are here today to acknowledge
the importance of free speech and unconditional freedom of
expression. We are here today to say "enough is enough." We
will not submit any more. We will fight to safeguard the right
to freedom of expression and criticism. We mean it and we will
not be intimidated, bullied or blackmailed by any religious
groups, sentiments, superstition, or by any terrorist act.
This is important.
We should continue this fight and never give up. However,
this is not enough. This does not go far enough. In order
to succeed in our struggle for securing the unconditional
freedom of expression and criticism, we need to widen our
scopes. We need to fight for freedom in a wider spectrum.
Right wing aggression
on civil liberties and individual rights has been enormous,
particularly in recent years. The terrorist attacks by political
Islam have inflicted a great blow on our society. As a result
of these attacks the world has suffered greatly, both in terms
of human lives and the loss of civil liberties and individual
rights.
We must stand
firmly against religion as an institution. Religion is not
only spiritual beliefs, it is an industry, big business, a
mafia-like organisation, be it fundamentalist or not. We must
fight for de-religionisation of the society while we respect
the right of every individual to believe in any religion.
To clarify the matter, I like to quote Waffa Sultan: "you
can believe in any piece of stone you like, as long as you
do not throw it at me." Religion must be a private affair.
If we aspire to make a much freer
and more egalitarian world, we must go further than
establishing secular principles. We need secularism as a
necessary condition for a free society, but in fight against
religion we need to be more aggressive, not against believers,
but against the religious industry. We need to expose religion
as a reactionary ideology, as a weapon to stupefy humanity, as
a weapon of exploitation, discrimination and degradation.
Throughout history and even today, more human beings have lost
their lives under the name of god and religion than any other
banner. We must cut religion's hands off state, legislation,
education and society. We must organise an orchestrated and
dynamic fight against religion to push it back to the private
sphere and try to build a world free of religion. And here I
mean world in the literal sense of the word. We must think
internationally and not allow ourselves to be confined in
Eurocentric or Western borders. The whole world needs to be
free of religion
www.medusa2000.com
fax:+44 870 135 8385
Sazman e azadi zan
azadizan@yahoo.com
Mansoor Hekmat Foundation
www.m-hekmat.com
