Blasphemy Laws in Denmark: Charlie’s Appeal
In a show of solidarity, Shuddhashar FreeVoice signed this joint statement opposing the implementation of blasphemy laws in Denmark.
Statement
Shuddshashar’s editorial body releases statements in response to urgent humanitarian crises. These statements reflect Shuddhashar FreeVoice’s views on a particular issue and serve our broader goal of raising awareness about injustices, urging appropriate authorities to act, and holding perpetrators accountable.
Denmark’s Return to Blasphemy Laws
Shuddhashar FreeVoice is deeply worried about the long-term implications and consequences if Denmark illegalizes the burning of the Qur’an because of outside pressure. While we consider the burning or banning of any book to be abhorrent and anti-democratic, we also strongly support freedom of expression and freedom to critique religious norms, practices, and all political …
Freedom to Publish Day
Publication houses play an vital role in sponsoring and promoting writers and thought-provoking work in a marketplace of ideas. Shuddhashar proposes we recognize this by making 31 October Freedom to Publish Day.
Shuddhashar Condemns Attack on Salman Rushdie
It is with horror and anger that we express our strongest condemnation of the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie in New York. Rushdie has lived most of his life under the threat of assassination. For his novel, The Satanic Verses, the Ayotollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him in 1989, calling for his assassination. Publishers and …
A Decade Later, Another Deadly Attack on Progressives in Norway
We are deeply outraged by the Oslo mass shooting, which has left two people dead and many injured. The fact that a bar popular with the LGBT+ community was targeted suggests that it was a hate crime. Local police authorities are treating the incident as an Islamist terrorist attack. This is not the first time …
A Decade Later, Another Deadly Attack on Progressives in Norway Read More »
Ananta Bijoy’s Murderers Are Found Guilty, and Shuddhashar Pledges to Keep His Dreams Alive
Between 2013 and 2016, numerous secular writers, religious minorities, and activists in Bangladesh were hacked to death by radical Islamists. This was a deliberate and coordinated onslaught on freethinking and free speech in Bangladesh. That particularly gruesome violent stage seems to have quietened, but the chilling effects persist through censorship and fear and an oppressive …
Let Love Live! Stop LGBT persecution
We are deeply concerned about the safety of two Bangladeshi teenage girls currently being targeted because of their sexuality. The leaked news about a botched tryst between these two teenagers has sent local media and social network users into a frenzy. Disregarding the safety and security of the teenagers and their family members, the local …
Stop Putin! Stop War!
Shuddhashar stands in solidarity with the Ukrainians as we watch with horror the Russian invasion of their country. With this destructive and entirely unprovoked assault, Russia is aggressively seeking to destroy Ukrainian’s democratically elected government and the people’s own rights to independence and human dignity. Further, such flagrant violation of the territorial integrity of a …
Set Assange Free but Also Hold Him Accountable
Barring a miracle, Julian Assange will soon be extradited to the United States and face espionage charges. Forsaken by his native country Australia, stripped of citizenship by his adopted country Ecuador, Assange finds himself a persona non grata in hostile territory — Great Britain. To a motley group of die-hard supporters that includes, inter alia, …
Foster Interfaith Solidarity to Defeat the Scourge of Communal Violence
Shuddhashar expresses its deep concerns about reports that Hindu temples, establishments, and Puja venues are subjected to vandalism in Bangladesh during the ongoing Durga Puja festival. Local news media reports that as many as four people were killed and hundreds were injured in the clashes between the rioters and the police. The situation remains volatile …
Foster Interfaith Solidarity to Defeat the Scourge of Communal Violence Read More »
Stand in solidarity with the Afghan people
What took place in the span of a few months after the Biden administration decided to leave the Afghan government to its own devices was decades in the making. For twenty years, beginning with the Karzai government and ending with the Ghani government, none of the US-backed governments managed to gain the trust of the …
