PROPOSALS INVITED FOR RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL AWARD We invite proposals for the Rationalist International Award-2002, which will be given during the forthcoming Third International Rationalist Conference scheduled to be held at New Delhi in February 2002. Details about the Conference will be announced soon in the Bulletin. The Rationalist International Award-2000 was received by Prof. Paul Kurtz (USA) during the Second International Rationalist Conference held at Trivandrum in January 2000. For more details, photographs and the citation, visit our web site. Please send your proposals for the Award-2002 to the President of Rationalist International at the following address: Edamaruku@rationalistinternational.net
THREATS DON'T WORK Iran's Revolutionary Guards never sleep. Today is 14 February and punctually they started growling and snarling that Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa against Salman Rushdie was still valid. But threats don't work. And nobody has demonstrated this more impressively than Rushdie. In September 1998, after Tehran had been finally pressed by the British Government and by their own interest in expanding trade relations with Europe, to assure that Khomeini's edict would not be further pursued, Rushdie stroke the balance of 10 years under fatwa. He declared: "The Satanic Verses has not been suppressed, this author has, so far, not been suppressed. It didn't work, but it has engendered the climate of fear; at an international level, certain books are not published." BANGLADESH: FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL AS A SECULAR STATE "Bangladesh will never become a fundamentalist state", declared Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decisively after one week of violent rampaging by Islamic fanatics which cost twelve lives and left about two hundred people injured. Sheikh Hasina's secular government has started to stand up to fundamentalism. The eruption of the zealots' wrath, which is currently shaking the country, began on 2 February - as usual after the Friday evening prayers. Radical clerics rallied against the path breaking High Court judgement, which banned religious edicts or fatwas as illegal and punishable acts. Moulana Fazlul Haq Amini, general secretary of the extremist Islami Oikkya Jote (IOJ), ordered the hanging of the judges who were responsible for the ban (see report in Bulletin # 60: 16 January 2001). The judgement, digging at the very roots of the power of the mullahs, is meantime partially stayed by the Supreme Court, but the fury of the fanatics did not stop. They marched slogan shouting through Dhaka and torched and destroyed private and public property. In a mosque, a policeman was beaten to death, another had his hands chopped off. Police arrested Amini and IOJ's president Maulana Azizul Haq and 65 of their followers. Amini is held under the Public Safety Act, which can keep him for several months behind bars, even before formal charges are laid. After the arrest of two of their leaders, the fundamentalists enforced hartal, a total close- down of all shops and offices, which paralyzed the whole country. They threw bombs, attacked police with guns and other weapons and derailed a passenger train, killing and injuring several people. In Brahmanbaria, 80 km east of Dhaka, police fired into the mob and killed seven militants. The fundamentalists have been able to cause a serious crisis though they do not have many supporters among the general population and are univocally condemned by the main media. The militant mob, anytime under their command, is recruited from the thousands of madrassas in the country, Islamic religious schools, which are breeding legions of young fanatics. Police searches in madrassas have brought impressive arsenals of bombs, guns and other weapons to light. It is well known that these centers, preparing for an Islamic revolution, are run with foreign support and funds. In some of the searched madrassas, police has seized documents and videotapes of military operations of the Taliban Mujahideen. The IOJ as well as Jamaat-e-Islami are members of the four-party opposition alliance under leadership of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and her Bangladesh National Party (BNP) which represents the broad mainstream opposition. Despite warnings of her supporters, Khaleda Zia hopes to ride on the back of the fundamentalists to power. But if she succeeds, it is not very likely that she would be able to keep the rein over them. She may have already lost the upper hand. Singing their tune and supporting all demands of the IOJ, she has meantime mobilized a countrywide strike against police atrocities and "government sponsored terrorist acts". In the wage of the next general elections on 13 July 2001, the fundamentalist muscle flexing has opened the ring for the opposition's election campaign. The left democratic parties, on the other hand, though in several regards critical of Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League, extend their full support to her fight against fundamentalism. Facing the threat of fundamentalism, the secular and progressive forces of Bangladesh are uniting. While the saber rattling fundamentalists, as usual, were grabbing all the lime light during the last week, there was also another huge rally: one in defense of religious and political freedom. The majority of the impressive crowds marching through the streets of Dhaka on 3 February were women, demanding an end of religious oppression and terror. The bold High Court judgement against the fatwas, though for the time being curbed by the Supreme Court, gave new hope to the women's liberation movement which was crippling under the crushing blows of religious edicts and brutal punishments. BARRY WILLIAMS NOW HONORARY ASSOCIATE Barry Williams, editor of the Skeptic, leader of the Australian Skeptics, and the major force behind the successful World Skeptic Congress held recently at Sydney, has joined Rationalist International as an Honorary Associate. Barry joined the newly formed Australian Skeptics in 1980, and has been fully involved in its activities ever since. In 1990 he became Editor of its journal, the Skeptic, overseeing its transition from an in-house newsletter with a small circulation into a substantial journal with a wide readership. At the beginning of 1998, he combined this role with that of the full-time Executive Officer and continues in both positions today.
NEW ZEALAND: DEATH DURING CHRISTIAN EXORCISM In January, police found the body of a 37 year old Korean woman in a house in Auckland, New Zealand. She had stayed for about six weeks on a tourist visa in the country before she died. Iain Middleton, editor of the New Zealand Humanist, informs about the mysterious background of her death. The young woman had been introduced by a friend to a small, obviously Korean, Christian religious group, with the name "Lord of All." Luke Lee, priestly leader of the group revealed that they have carried out an exorcism on her, because she "had demons inside". He and seven other members had been placing hands on the woman's chest and neck - "without using great force", as he claimed. Lee, who made a preliminary appearance in court on charges related to the death, claimed that the woman was suffering with mental and physical illness, which resulted in a skin pigment problem "as known from pop star Michael Jackson". At night in a bedroom shared with others she had screamed and chanted when she "saw" the demons. It had been her will to get rid of them with the help of exorcism, he claimed. They did not expect her to die, but took her death as "miracle" and "God's will". At the time of questioning, Lee was still confident that she would soon return to life.
SAUDI ARABIA: SHARIA LAW INCOMPATIBLE WITH HUMAN RIGHTS CONVENTION Saudi Arabia's recent half-hearted attempt to join UN Human Rights conventions "as far as they do not contradict Islamic Sharia laws", (see report in Bulletin # 45: 26 April 2000) has failed. A UN expert committee has found out what was no real surprise: they do contradict anyway. "Noting the universal values of equality and tolerance inherent in Islam", the committee observed that Sharia law applied in the Muslim kingdom discriminates against women and non-Muslims, and urged the government to change its judicial system according to international standards. Especially alarming is, according to the report of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the violation of basic children's rights. The Sharia law with its draconian punishments is strictly implemented against children, as there is no definition of childhood and no age of majority marking the end of it. Officials routinely harass and assault persons under 18 for dress code infractions. Brutal corporal punishment including flogging, stoning and amputation, which is per se violating Human Rights, is meted out to children as well as to adults who are found guilty of offending laws. In Saudi Arabia, children do not enjoy any protection and even death penalty is imposed on them.
INDIA: A MESSAGE FROM GOD GANESH Pallavi Sharma, who calls herself a "Seer", had a message from elephant god Ganesh to deliver. After speaking in trance to the traditional Hindu deity, she called the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and informed that on February 10, exactly at 7.40 p.m. a passenger plane coming from Canada was going to crash over India. The plane, painted red and white, had the number I 298. AAI officials lodged a formal complaint with the police against the caller. Damn sure about the veracity of her prediction, the "Seer" offered herself to be arrested if it did not come true. The AAI officials reacted reasonable and responsible. Considering the possibility that sabotage might be involved, they did not take any chances and checked the flight manifests. But there was no flight from Canada scheduled to fly in Indian air space at the given time. With greatest discretion, not to cause any unnecessary panic, they passed their information to the senior most officials in all possibly concerned airlines. 7.40 p.m. passed and no air crash was reported. "Canadian time, of course," said the "Seer". 7.40 p.m. Canadian time passed, still nothing happened. Never mind, to err is divine, Ganesh.
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