MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
Encyclopedia
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism is a political statement made in response to the violence surrounding the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
. The signatories said they issued the letter to demonstrate that there is a need to fight for secular values
and personal freedom
. One of the main points that it focuses on is "its comparison of the Islamist ideology to Nazism and Stalinism and its passionate defense of Western values (particularly free expression)." The letter was published in the French
weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo
and warns against Islam
ic totalitarianism
.
The Charlie Hebdo magazine was one of several Europe
an papers to reprint the caricatures. Its right to publish these was contested by the French Muslim Council, who tried, but failed, to get a court to ban the publication.
A second manifesto was created in response to a threat issued from Ummah.com
. This manifesto asked for online users to put down their names as a signature, instead of it being signed by the original signatories.
, which was in response to the subject matter of the manifesto and who the signatories were.
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
. The signatories said they issued the letter to demonstrate that there is a need to fight for secular values
Secular ethics
Secular ethics is a branch of moral philosophy in which ethics is based solely on human faculties such as logic, reason or moral intuition, and not derived from purported supernatural revelation or guidance...
and personal freedom
Freedom (political)
Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...
. One of the main points that it focuses on is "its comparison of the Islamist ideology to Nazism and Stalinism and its passionate defense of Western values (particularly free expression)." The letter was published in the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo
Charlie Hebdo
Charlie Hebdo is a French satirical weekly newspaper, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics and jokes. It appeared from 1969 to 1981, when it folded, and was resurrected in 1992. The current editor is cartoonist Charb. His predecessors are François Cavanna and Philippe Val...
and warns against Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
.
The Charlie Hebdo magazine was one of several Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an papers to reprint the caricatures. Its right to publish these was contested by the French Muslim Council, who tried, but failed, to get a court to ban the publication.
A second manifesto was created in response to a threat issued from Ummah.com
Ummah.com
The Islamic website Ummah.com, formerly the Islamic Gateway, is best known for the Ummah Forum, a large English Muslim internet forum. Ummah.com is based in the UK, as are the majority of its voluntary contributors and active forum users...
. This manifesto asked for online users to put down their names as a signature, instead of it being signed by the original signatories.
Statement signatories
- Ayaan Hirsi AliAyaan Hirsi AliAyaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
, a SomaliSomali peopleSomalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
authorAuthorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and film maker; - Chahla Chafiq, an IranianIranian peoplesThe Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
author (exileExileExile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
d in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
); - Caroline FourestCaroline FourestCaroline Fourest is a French feminist writer, journalist, columnist , editor of the magazine "ProChoix" , and author of Frère Tariq , a critical look at the works of the Muslim intellectual Tariq Ramadan.A graduate in sociology and political...
, a French journalistJournalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and editorCopy editingCopy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...
; - Bernard-Henri LévyBernard-Henri LévyBernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:...
, a French intellectualIntellectualAn intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
; - Irshad ManjiIrshad ManjiIrshad Manji is a Canadian author, journalist and an advocate of "reform and progressive" interpretation of Islam. Manji is director of the Moral Courage Project at the Robert F...
, a Canadian author, journalist, and activist; - Mehdi Mozaffari, an Iranian academic (exiled in DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
); - Maryam NamazieMaryam NamazieMaryam Namazie is a human rights activist, commentator and broadcaster. Namazie has served as the executive director of the International Federation of Iranian Refugees. She is spokesperson for the One Law for All Campaign against Sharia Law in Britain. The campaign is opposed to faith based laws...
, an Iranian Communist human rightsHuman rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
activist; - Taslima Nasreen, a BengaliBengali peopleThe Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
BangladeshBangladeshBangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
i physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, authorAuthorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and human rights activist; - Salman Rushdie, a BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n essayist and bestsellingBestsellerA bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
author of fictionFictionFiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
; - Antoine SfeirAntoine SfeirAntoine Sfeir, , is a Franco-Lebanese journalist and a professor.He is the editor of the French magazine Les Cahiers de l'Orient , is the president of the Centre d'études et de réflexions sur le Proche-Orient and a professor of International relations at the school Celsa Antoine Sfeir, (born 21...
, LebaneseLebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
writer, political economist and journalist; - Philippe ValPhilippe ValPhilippe Val is a French singer, comedian and journalist who is currently director of France Inter. He previously was the editor and director of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical political weekly newspaper.-Life and career:...
, a French journalist and editor; - Ibn WarraqIbn WarraqIbn Warraq is the pen name of a polemical author of Pakistani origin who is critical of Islam, and who founded the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society . He is a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry focusing on Qur'anic criticism...
(pen namePen nameA pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
), a bestselling historianHistorianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and social critic (exiled in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
).
Critical Reception
Paul Belien of the Canada Free Press criticized the manifesto by pointing out that the "three scourges of the 20th century were secular ideologies" while Islamism "can be considered the perversion of religion". In his book Islamophobia/Islamophilia: Beyond the Politics of Enemy and Friend, Andrew Shryock called the manifesto "simplistic and alarmist", saying that the use of the term "Islamophobia" in the text is "the most perplexing" of the terms used. David Perusek commented "How ironic" in his scholarly article on cultural relativismCultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture. This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few decades of the 20th century and...
, which was in response to the subject matter of the manifesto and who the signatories were.
See also
- Criticism of IslamismCriticism of IslamismCriticism of Islamism concerns critique of those beliefs or notions ascribed to Islamism or Islamist movements. Such criticisms focus on the role of Islam in legislation, the relationship between Islamism and freedom of expression and the rights of women.Among those authors and scholars who have...
- Stop the Islamification of EuropeStop the Islamification of EuropeStop Islamisation of Europe , also known as Stop the Islamification of Europe, is a group with the self-declared goal of "preventing Islam becoming a dominant political force in Europe". It is a political interest group which has been active in Denmark and has conducted anti-Islamic protests in the...
- Political group - Neither Whores Nor SubmissivesNi Putes Ni SoumisesNi Putes Ni Soumises is a French feminist movement, founded in 2002, which has secured the recognition of the French press and the National Assembly of France. It is generally dependent on public funding...