Islam’s Threat to Free Speech – Continuing

Whilst the Ayn Rand Institute is standing up for free speech with its Free Speech Campaign, New York University and Borders Book Stores are both submitting themselves to the rule of Islam.

New York University has banned the public from an exhibition of cartoons by the NYU Objectivist Club. In addition the exhibition was apparently sabotaged by local NYU Muslims. The cartoons will be displayed on the campuses of USC and the University of Chicago.

Border’s has stopped circulation of the magazine Free Inquiry because it carries 12 caricatures of Mohammed.

It is more essential than ever to stand up for free speech. One way to do this is to continue to publish the cartoons and to not apologize for doing so.

Some General Observations

These are some issues that have been on the radar:

1. Comments on the electricity consultation paper are closing on March 30. If you favour free markets, please send your comments in support of free markets by then.

2. Over 500,000 students demonstrated in France last week against labour reform, but only a handful protested against Islamic threats to free speech.

3. Over 1000 arrests and only one person now facing charges over the WTO riots in Hong Kong. The protesters showed a contempt for Hong Kong’s rule of law, even attacking Hong Kong policewomen with long sticks. Maybe the police should have been quicker to arrest the nihilists and charge rioters with assault rather than public assembly violations.

4. There are reports that the Russians helped Saddam during the war in Iraq. They are now supporting Iran in its bid to build a nuclear power plant. Watch as the American State Department sits on its hands and does nothing. Watch as they fail to build "international support" against a rogue nation that actively supports the elimination of Israel and America.

5. A Christian mystic in Afghanistan now faces the death penalty for converting from Islam. The penalty is proscribed by Sharia law, which America has helped to bring to Afghanistan by allowing it under the Afghan constitution. (Exactly the same law that the Taliban operated under too.)

6. The Democrats want tax cuts and more social welfare. Despite what the government says, Hong Kong is already a welfare state. As long as the government accepts the idea that parasitism should be rewarded and productivity penalized, this will continue.

Defending Free Speech

The Undercurrent is an Objectivist campus newspaper that is being distributed around universities across the United States. It is an excellent newspaper and I had the privilege of writing an article for them last year entitled Religion versus Spirituality.

With the current threat to free speech from Islam, the students at The Undercurrent have just put out an excellent mini-issue to address this threat and have arranged for a mass distribution across campuses. I recommend this issue to anyone who might be interested.

On Holidays

I have been on holiday for the last week and will be back by the weekend. I will be adding more links (mainly to Objectivist blogs and sites) next week.