Congratulations! You deserved the award. Thank you
for what you are doing.
Sheila Ayala/Canada
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Please acceptmy heartiest congratulations on receiving the NSS
Irwin prize for Secularist of the Year award.
best regards
Khawaja NAVEED Aslam
Magazine Editor,
THE NATION daily,
Lahore,
Pakistan.
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Hearty Congratulations
on “The Secularist of the Year Award-2005”
This is to congratulate Ms. M. Namazi on her decoration with the
said award.
It is a great achievement to be honoured so.
With Best wishes
(A Pakistani refugee in Switzerland)
Dr. M Younes Sheikh
Chemin de Louis Boissonnet 90
1010 Lausanne, Switzerland
+41 21 601 3645
<humanists_international@yahoo.com>
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Dear Ms. Maryam Namazie ...all I can say at this happy
moment is that : Congratuation from the depths of
heart for you Ms. Namazie ; the brave woman who
dedicated herself for the good of woman's issues
everywhere ; its a historical moment to see you
surrounded by flowers of love after the great victory
you have made in this long struggle against the
barbarous , savage mentality which wants to enslave
humanity and kill the lovely spirit of women.
I really consider this prize as a symbol of human
evaluation for a woman like you who could stand
bravely challenging all the conspiracies of the hollow
- minded category. This prize is actually honored by you since you
really deserve to be a symbol of honor for all great
women in the world due to the suffering , patience and
pain you afforded and due to the great efforts you
have done for championing the human rights
particularly those of women in Iran and middle east.
Accept my love.
Ahmed Al-Shahmani.
Writer & Researcher of civil society issues.
Head of Democratic Culture Society.
IRAQ.
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Happy to hear this good news!
Would you like to give a radio interview this Friday
between 3.30 and 4.30pm.
I'll need a landline number.
Resonancefm:
'The best radio station in London' - The Guardian
Nadim
Middle East Panorama
http://www.resonancefm.com/ (click Listen)
or 104.4fm (if you are in London)
Every Friday 3:30 - 4:30 pm (GMT)
The show is repeated on Monday 7:00 - 8:00 am (GMT)
Programme maker
Nadim Mahjoub
Mobile: 078 1058 3487
Radio: 020 7836 3664
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Dear Maryam,
I just wanted to wish you hearty congratulations on your well deserved
award.
With best wishes
Josh Kutchinsky
Hampstead Humanist Society
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Dear Maryam,
Congratulations! This is Doris from GABRIELA Network in NYC. It
has been more than 5 or 6 (?) years since we last spoke, and I think
you were still here in NY. And I wish you're here in NY now because
we are actually hosting a woman from the Philippines who chairs
Bangsamoro Women, a secular Muslim Filipinas' organization and a
member of GABRIELA Philippines women's alliance. We would've loved
to introduce her to you. Or maybe you know each other already? Her
name's Amirah Ali Lidasan. She's also the spokesperson for the Soara
Bangsamoro Political Party and vice-chair of BAYAN Philippines/New
Patriotic Alliance. We're holding a public forum with her and the
secretary general of GABRIELA Philippines next month (I'll email
you details, just in case you happen to be here or know of anyone
who might be interested.)
On another note, I will be in London some time early/mid 2006, partly
to visit friends, but more to check-out what's happening with the
immigrant communities there, particularly with women of Philippine
ancestry. I hope we can arrange to meet.
Again, congratulations on this award. Also, congratulations with
the baby (I remember reading on the WPI website about you being
on maternity leave). Looking forward to hearing from you,
In militant sisterhood,
.............
Dorotea Agustin Mendoza
Secretary General, GABRIELA Network USA
A Philippine-US Women's Solidarity Mass Organization
PO Box 403, Times Square Station
New York, New York 10036 USA
Tel: 1212.592.3507
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Dear Maryam,
many congrats - so well deserved!! And so good that there is now
a Secularist of the Year award - let's hope this gains support and
recognition in wider society - not least among left circles.
Best,
Rumy
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This is so fantastic. Congratulations. Too bad you
won't be available for the workshop, but I would love
to arrange a video interview with you in London
sometime on this trip, since I missed you last time. I
do radio and and video here in the U.S, so your
thoughts and analysis would be widely heard. Perhaps
not as widely as Jerrry Springer (what a world!) but I
would get it out nationally.
Perhaps on Friday the 21st? The workshop is that
Saturday. Or I can wait for the following Monday, the
24th. After that, I am leaving London, and won't be
back till the 7th. We can do it then, if that's better
for you. I leave UK for US on the 9th, so it has to be
before the 9th.
I was thinking an hour interview if you have the time
and energy for that.
Thanks again Maryam. By the way, What was the name of the gentleman
you
interviewd that I orignially asked about for this
workshop? Azar is willing, which is wonderful, but we
would like to have at least 2 speakers. This is a very
will attended event, with good potential for building
support.
I will be in touch.
all the best,
Priya
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Congratulations! I am so pleased that you won this award - and
it is well deserved.
Hanne Stinson
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congratulations maryam !!
Nico
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http://www.dengekan.com/
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Congratulations! You deserved the award. Thank you for what you
are doing.
Sheila Ayala/Canada
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Dear Maryam,
I was very joyed to receive from you the news that you have been
adjudged by the National Secular Society (NSS) as the Secular of
the Year 2005.
On behalf of your Journal of Brave Minds, the Institute, the editorial
team, the international advisory board and myself, congratulations.
Considering the significance of this event, I'll increase pages
in the current issue JBM 8 to have it included, while it is on its
way to the printer this week.
My heartfelt wishes to you. We are proud to have you with us.
Be well,
Marvin F. Zayed
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Dear Maryam:
Thank you for keeping me on your mailing list. Congratulations on
this award. I know it is only small recognition compared with the
work involved. I admire your work even if I have a different take.
I went to Iran in March to meet with the Center for Human Rights
Studies at Mofid University. I was struck by our ignorance of their
work and the quantity and quality of their personal and library
collections of major western works in human rights and philosophy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEAR MS MARYAM
CONGRATULATION FOR YOUR RECENT SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENT.KEEP UP THE
GOOD WORK.
SINCERLY,
AHMAD
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Maryam,
What an impact you have made! How lovely to have all these congratulations.
I feel quite choked up with emotion, it’s so lovely.
We did have a photographer there and he says that the photos came
out well. He’s going to send them to me on a disc. But I’ll ask
whether they can send one to you of the presentation directly by
email. Glad you enjoyed the event, it was very well appreciated
by all who attended.
Love,
Terry
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Congratulations on winning this well - merited Award for your
courageous and consistent activism on behalf of secularism and universal
humanism, gender equality, and women's empowerment.
Best wishes.
I.K.Shukla
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FANTASTIC!!
Dancing around and cheering.
Best,
Ophelia
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Congrats Maryam Jan. Keep up the good work.
Best Regards
Shahriar (a strong supporter of capitalism with a conscience)
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Dear Maryam
Congratulations for your well deserved NSS Irwin prize for Secularist
of the
Year award yesterday – bravely and so entertainingly achieved!
What would you feel about a devout Muslim who preached about the
harm done
by certain modern interpretations of the Qur’an to women and argued
that
women and men should be viewed as equal in law – that Sharia was
indeed
misguided. He or she would no doubt suffer persecution but would
you feel
able to applaud their “religious” arguments against the oppression
of women,
and the corrupting effect on men of being its instruments? I raise
this, not
seeking an answer on gender politics, but because of two examples
of
religious approaches to environmentalism (to which I am committed)
described
below.
I wrote to you earlier in the year praising your programme. I waver
between
secularism and religion along with many others (no excuse but an
explanation), but I wondered about your thoughts on the following
contributions of religions (Christianity and Islam) to the environmental
crisis.
Reading this piece - “A Crisis of Biblical Proportions by Amanda
Griscom
Little, Grist Magazine, 7 Oct 05 where a bible-basher is preaching
stewardship of the earth across America:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/100705G.shtml
I was reminded of an account by an academic - Dr Fazlun Khalid
– who I have
had the honour of meeting (and who might be a good guest on your
programme)
- based part of the year in Birmingham, who referred me to work
in Zanzibar
by the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences
(IFEES),
off the island of Pemba, where fisherman had been using explosives
to catch
fish. Local NGO arguments about reef destruction and its long terms
effects
on their livelihood failed to prevail over the fishers’ need to
survive by
what seemed to them the most practical method available to them
for
harvesting fish. It was religious admonitions rather than secular
arguments
that persuaded people to stop this practice.
QUOTE: As the situation appeared quite pessimistic we were invited
by CARE
International (an American based organisation) to develop an Islam
orientated environmental education programme amongst the fishing
communities, religious leaders and government officials and to canvass
the
support of local institutions .... and representatives of the international
NGOs who participated in these workshops were of the view that the
use of
the Qur'an as a teaching resource has had the result of sensitizing
stake
holders to conservation issues in a matter of days compared with
the poor
results achieved over previous years using standard conservation
approaches.
(END)
http://www.ifees.org/jour_art_pract.htm Islamic Foundation for
Ecology and
Environmental Sciences (IFEES), 93 Court Road, Birmingham B12 9LQ,
UK
ahlan@ifees.org
There are things about religion that drive many to secularism but
perhaps it
should not blind those who prefer secularism to the powerful influence
of a
theological approach to environmentalism, especially as for many
of us our
environmentalism has some of characteristics of religious observance.
For me walking and cycling as well as being enjoyable are one of
the most
important sources of serenity and solace – a time to think, reflect
on
myself and make resolutions. I do this several times a day throughout
the
year and feel I am failing in my duties to the world, to myself
and my
fellows when I cannot carry out these routines. Dare I suggest this
is a
little like a form of praying?
Simon
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Maryam: I read what you send all the time but this time I wanted
to write and tell you what wonderful work I think you are doing
and that I am so pleased it has been recognized.
Congratulations on this and so many other things - and so many good
wishes, Mary Anne
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
be name khoda
you really really deserve it! at least i think you deserve this
price much more than mohammad El-Baradeie. bye the way i wish all
the best for you despite of what do you believe or practice
ya hagh
JAFAR ALSAYED NOOR
AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mrs Namazi
I wish the best for you in the way to tackle superstitious, discreminations,
oppressions and dominations and I think you have been succesful
in this way. I am sure that one day we will have a relatively independent,
wealthy and free Iran in which people live with love and social
justice.
Best Regards
Mahmood
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Subject: Re: Maryam Namazie wins the NSS Irwin prize for Secularist
of the Year award
Congratulations, Maryam. You deserve it. I hope this is a good
rebuff for certain parties who have described you and others as
"Islamophobic".
Keep up the excellent work.
One minor criticism, though: the point size you are using in your
bulletins is very small. If I am in a rush I don't always have the
time to convert it to a bigger size. Could you please change the
format to make it immediately more readable?
Many thanks,
Anna
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Dear Maryam... congrats! Can you send me a recent photo?
JJ
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Barvo and congratualtion Maryam. I am so pleased to
hear this news. Who else could be as suitable for this
honor as you, the secularist of the year. I have not
met you but your mind is reflected in your writings
and interviews. Despite my sicnere support for the
women's casue everywhere, as you know my prirority has
been supporting Kurdish casue at this stage. It is an
intersting coincident that my last article related to
Kurdish women might be consistent with your hope for
the women everywhere.
Ba dorood,
Kamal
For the Kurdish Daughters of Mesopotamia!
By: Kamal H Artin, Oct. 8, 2005, California
Surprisingly current American administration had the
courage to take a risk and "terminate" one of the
Middle Eastern dictators, without worries about
potential complications of an invasion. It is more
surprising that the same administration has lost its
courage to say no to a flawed draft constitution. The
Iraqi constitution seems to be drafted under the
supervision of some clerics who have much more in
common with Khomeini, Talibans, and Bin Laden than
with Bush, IV league students, and Chomsky. These
clerics and their agents have become more
sophisticated than western missionaries or KGB agents
in leading the world toward an outdated and homogenous
unification. They deserve recognition for charlatanry,
for taking advantage of poverty, simplicity, and
superstition of the masses, and for their attempt to
legitimize religious discrimination. Although
Americans are no saints, they could be called
contemporary promoters and guardians of liberty; as
such, I hope they declare that nothing short of a
modern democracy is acceptable any where in the world!
The preamble of the Iraqi constitution starts with "we
the sons of Mesopotamia", as if the daughters of
Mesopotamia are hiding under the veil in the kitchen
and have nothing to say about their future. I hope the
daughters of Mesopotamia stand up and say no to their
brother's patriarchal ideology! I am afraid they might
argue that the American constitution was also written
by a few men known as "the founding fathers". However,
imagine that American constitution would have stated:
Christianity is the official religion of the state, no
law can be passed that contradicts undisputed rules of
Christianity, the constitution guarantees the
Christian identity of the majority of American,
America is a part of Christian world, and as an active
member of league of Anglo-Saxon nations she is
committed to the charter of the league. I am not sure
if the free and brave Americans would have been
willing to defend such a constitution. Now in order to
detect the flaws in the Iraqi constitution in the
above statement, substitute Islam for Christianity,
Iraq for America, and Arab for Angle-Saxon.
It is understandable that Arab-Muslim nationalists
would support this constitution. What surprises me
though, is that Americans are going along with such a
flawed document. It seems almost as if the American
administration is acting scientifically to test a
hypothesis that helpless and needy people will accept
any ideas or laws without questions. Maybe they
believe that if the theory can be tested in Islamic
Iraq with a reassuring outcome, its Christian form
could be legalized and practiced in America without
any major concern. I am also quiet surprised that the
mainstream Kurdish parties plan to vote yes on this
constitution. However, maybe they are taking one step
backward toward selling themselves or performing
"Jashayati" in order to get two steps closer to their
ultimate goal of Kurdayati, the independence! I hope
they stop their submissive behavior, declare
independence now, and begin building a free Kurdistan,
which could become a refuge for all free people of the
Middle East, while their own home is under the siege
of sheikhs, ayatollahs, kings, and permanent
presidents.
Dr. Artin is a member of Kurdish American Education
Society; however, his views are not necessarily
reflective of all of the members of KAES
(www.kaes.us). |
