Hirsi Ali zegt nee tegen Danmark

Nu blijkt er ook nog een 19 internationale steden voor vluchtelingen netwerk ter zijn; "de International Cities of Refuge Network (Icorn), an initiative comprising 19 towns around the world offering asylum to authors under threat"
19/4-07: The government together with the Danish branch of international literary organisation PEN has

De govt samen met de Deense Tak van int. literatuur org. PEN heeft

decided to join the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) that grants persecuted

besloten aan te sluiten bij icorn die geeft vervolgde

literary personalities a safe haven and stipends.

schrijvers personen een veilig onderkomen en stipendia/toelagen.

ICORN, which was founded by Salman Rushdie after he was made the target of an Islamic fatwa in 1989 for his novel ‘Satanic Verses’*, is a worldwide network of cities that allow writers to continue their work without fear of reprisal from authoritative regimes. *sar-stanza's; treiterrijmen en dwanggedichten. b.v. aantal engelen moest rijmen, zodat het er acht ipv 7 werden wat gewoon veel is waardoor complete woestijnvolken met ander engelgetal opeens duivelaanbidders werden.

Brian Mikkelsen, the culture minister, said he considered ICORN as a way for Denmark to demonstrate its support for freedom of expression.

Danish Culture Minister Brian Mikkelsen was quoted as saying today.

"Ayan Hirsi Ali should top the list of writers who, in my opinion, should be invited to (come and live in) Denmark. She has, more than anyone, fought for freedom of speech and she has, more than anyone, faced personal threats on her life," Mikkelsen told the Jyllands-Posten daily.

He called on Danish towns to offer to house the Somalian-born Hirsi Ali within the framework of the International Cities of Refuge Network (Icorn), an initiative comprising 19 towns around the world offering asylum to authors under threat, which Denmark plans to join.

The following cities are either hosting a writer now, or have committed to receiving a writer within the next year:

Kristiansand

Edinburgh

Molde

Skien

Chiusi

Tromsø

Trondheim

Grosseto

Stavanger

Hannover

Gothenburg

Bergen

Mexico City

Stockholm

Oslo

Norwich

Barcelona

Frankfurt

Potenza

Title	ICORN : international cities of refuge network
Description	The International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) is an international organisation for persecuted writers, and operates as an "association of cities and regions around the world dedicated to the value of Freedom of Expression". The ICORN website has details of the organisation, its aims and membership, its events, and contact details. There is a quarterly ICORN Newsletters in PDF format, which is freely available on the website. As of June 2007, four issues of the newsletter are available. In addition, the 'Babel webzine' sidebar gives free access to many profiles of writers, poems, testimonies, essays on inter-cultural communication, region profiles, and spoken audio files. The Babel webzine can be searched by keyword.
URL	http://www.icorn.org/ [English]
URL	http://icorn.org/ [English]
Keywords - controlled	censorship; censors; freedom; authors; journalists; publishers
Keywords - uncontrolled	free speech; freedom of speech; human rights; first amendment; book burning; banned books; cultural sanctuaries; empire of the mind; dictatorships
Type	Associations; Journals - full-text
Classification	Communications, Media and Culture > Journalism > Gender or Sexuality in Journalism Communications, Media and Culture > Journalism > Journalists Communications, Media and Culture > Publishing > Bookselling Philosophy > Political Philosophy English Studies > English Literature English Studies > Philosophy and Religion
Responsibility	ICORN (Author)
Publisher	ICORN (Publisher)
Country of origin	Norway

AAI sets up ABBA Tabernacle

American Bible Beltway Atheists set up taburnakel;
ref: washingtondc craigslist event 426525285
Atheist Alliance International "Crystal Clear Atheism"

After seeing her give a speech at AAI a few weeks
ago (which will be on the DVD from RDF of that
event) I have new found respect for her situation.

American Atheists & Beltway Atheists will be tabling (setting up a tent, and a table with first amendment materials) in Washington DC (@ Dupont Circle).

Why:

It’s important to make people aware of the Constitution, and the Jeffersonian Wall of Separation of Church and State being attacked and undermined by the Religious Dominionists in the United States.

How:

American Atheists and Beltway Atheists are going to be providing people with first amendment materials about Separation of Church and State, as well as information on the Bill of Rights. We will also be asking people how they feel about Separation of Church and State, in attempts to engage them on the issue at hand.

Highlights from the Atheist Alliance International Convention 2007:

• Hearing Ayaan Hirsi Ali start a sentence with “Fundamentalist Islam…” and then quickly correcting herself by saying, “well, Islam… ”
• Listening to a question posed to Ali: “Why are Americans so stupid?” Her response: “Well… [it’s] only half of them…”
• Seeing Richard Dawkins stand in line to ask Ali the question, “May I nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize?”
• Hearing Christopher Hitchens avoid answer one attendee’s query by saying: “Your question didn’t give me enough of an erection.”
• Hearing Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson and Hollywood screenwriter Matthew Chapman explain why he should be up for sainthood: “If an old lady who argued against contraception in the slums of Calcutta can be up for sainthood, so should I for having done nothing.”
• Hearing Chapman also say that for a woman to be religious, it was like “a freed slave still living on the plantation.”
• Staring at the word “ATHEIST” and realizing that you can unscramble it and get “EAT SHIT.”
• Being really upset that at one point, Dawkins, Harris, Ali, Hitchens, and Dennett (all of whom have made The New York Times bestsellers list) were in the same room, and there was no photo opportunity with all of them together.
• Hearing Dennett joke that “Atheism is a chick magnet.”

More from jezblog;

Ayaan Hirsi Ali had a hypnotic effect on her audience. Her beauty and eloquence, her bravery and intellect, the sheer extraordinariness of her life, she is simply an incredible person. A perfect embodiment for this audience of secular rationalists of all the possibility in the triumph of reason over tribalism and superstition. They loved her. I loved her. She was fantastic.

Her latest book Infidel has caused more controversy and sadly she must have body guards at all times even in America.

Clearly she is amazingly strong willed and defiant but she also has a wonderful modesty and gentleness about her as she speaks from the rostrum and with her admirers afterwards