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 …
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 »
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 …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 »
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 …
Shuddhashar reiterates its deep concern at the prolonged incarceration of Bangladeshi Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishor, known for his political cartoons, who has been denied bail so far. Kishor was arrested from his home under the Digital Security Act — a draconian law the government regularly exploits to muzzle dissent in Bangladesh. It is noteworthy that, …
Shuddhshar demands the immediate release of Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishor Read More »
The beheading of the Parisian school teacher Samuel Paty and subsequent stabbing to death of three churchgoers last month are stark reminders that freedom of speech is still very much at peril. From Turkey to Bangladesh, reactionary elements in the Muslim world have seized upon the opportunity to make the most out of the Muhammad …
Stop politicising Samuel Paty’s death; uphold the principles he championed Read More »
Shuddhashar is deeply alarmed by the arrest of Mubarak Bala, a well-known humanist, who serves as the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria. Persecution of the non-religious is nothing new; its history can be traced to the age of antiquity when belief in a creator of the world buttressed the legitimacy of the state. …
Mubarak Bala is incarcerated for a victimless crime. Set him free! Read More »
