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A plea to all Pakistani progressives and moderates, and a plea to support Pakistani moderates and atheists
Tags atheism, bloggers, brown pundits, freedom, marvi sirmed, pakistan, raza rumi, religion, salmaan taseer, twitter
In the wake of the cowardly and barbarous murder of Salman Taseer, of the death-threats made at his daughter, or at Marvi Sirmed and anyone else with any sense of moral decency left in Pakistan, in the wake of the blasphemy laws being used against more and more innocent people like Asia Bibi, and of oppression of minorities, this is a plea to support all Pakistani moderates, to support all those - whether Muslim, Christian, atheist or anything else - who act against such brutal authoritarianism and the crumbling of democracy there. In the bigotry in education and the Orwellian re-writing of history so often present in Pakistan
This is also a plea to Pakistani bloggers; please take time out to factually and fully explain to us Westerners the details of what is happening in Pakistan, and the intricate politics surrrounding events and personalities there. For example, I was once puzzled by what the word "Shaheed" means, and I tweeted a question about it, only to get no answer. I found out later by myself, but assistance is always welcome and helpful to both sides in these matters.
It's going to take a very broad coalition to bring any sense and moral decency back into politics in Pakistan, and to end the rule of fear by the religious extremists and the opportunist army, so every bit and every person counts. And while it will only be Pakistanis who can eventually free Pakistan from the rule by fear and bigotry, I am sure they would welcome every bit of support from outside.
Here are some resources for learning about what is going on in Pakistan; I shall add to these by updating this blog post in the comments under it every now and then.
Bloggers like Brown Pundits, then Pak Tea House, and Raza Rumi.
The Facebook group Pakistani Atheists And Agnostics
The Twitter "Progressive-Pakistan" daily: http://paper.li/marvisirmed/Progressive-Pakistan
The Twitter "Raza Rumi" daily: http://paper.li/razarumi
Pakistanis and those covering Pakistan on Twitter like:
Please feel very welcome to suggest extra resources and people in the comments underneath.
Comments are welcome! Please keep in mind if you are not registered that comments posted here to this blog post may take a while to appear - up to 16 hours after you post them, since they go onto a moderation queue and have to be individually approved, owing to a recent flood of spammers. The answer to the so-called "Random Question" is always "human".
This is also a plea to Pakistani bloggers; please take time out to factually and fully explain to us Westerners the details of what is happening in Pakistan, and the intricate politics surrrounding events and personalities there. For example, I was once puzzled by what the word "Shaheed" means, and I tweeted a question about it, only to get no answer. I found out later by myself, but assistance is always welcome and helpful to both sides in these matters.
It's going to take a very broad coalition to bring any sense and moral decency back into politics in Pakistan, and to end the rule of fear by the religious extremists and the opportunist army, so every bit and every person counts. And while it will only be Pakistanis who can eventually free Pakistan from the rule by fear and bigotry, I am sure they would welcome every bit of support from outside.
Here are some resources for learning about what is going on in Pakistan; I shall add to these by updating this blog post in the comments under it every now and then.
Bloggers like Brown Pundits, then Pak Tea House, and Raza Rumi.
The Facebook group Pakistani Atheists And Agnostics
The Twitter "Progressive-Pakistan" daily: http://paper.li/marvisirmed/Progressive-Pakistan
The Twitter "Raza Rumi" daily: http://paper.li/razarumi
Pakistanis and those covering Pakistan on Twitter like:
| @brownpundits | @Mustafa_Qadri | @sirmedmanzoor |
| @AbdulNishapuri | @marvi_memon | @Saba_Imtiaz |
| @MunizaeJahangir | @Razarumi | @FreeAsiaBiBi |
| @RiazToori | @marvisirmed | @AamnaTaseer |
| @SalmaanTaseer | @shehrbanotaseer | @sherryrehman |
| @PCRBlog | @alizansari | @ShirazHassan |
| @cfdpk (Citizens For Democracy, Pakistan) | @sanasaleem | |
Please feel very welcome to suggest extra resources and people in the comments underneath.
Comments are welcome! Please keep in mind if you are not registered that comments posted here to this blog post may take a while to appear - up to 16 hours after you post them, since they go onto a moderation queue and have to be individually approved, owing to a recent flood of spammers. The answer to the so-called "Random Question" is always "human".
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I write my state representatives fairly regularly and get a form letter back saying thank you for your interest in such and such but congressman, or representative or senator so and so is busy at this time with important things. Well, nearly that, its a bland go away letter anyway. In Idaho it was the same unless it was an issue already tabled by the person one is writing. Here in Kentucky, if it isn't exactly what so or so is doing now, you can count on the sorry form letter. Issues of international concern we send to Federal offices or state reps at that level, and pretty much the same response comes back. Now, if you write about anything related to Muslims, you hardly get a response, but you might get a response in the form of a tag. I don't twitter, posting here and on Fb, signing petitions and talking to people is about all I'm doing to question anything or state my view. I don't have monetary resources to throw at anything. Not that I would in any case, I prefer near home effort in volunteering and supporting what I agree with or promote. I'm trying to figure out what else to raise attention levels beyond the current "its news today, replaced tomorrow attitude" I see so much of. Any more advices on where to send supportive comments, inquiries or let it be known we care about it letters? I mean written physical letters. I am working on local news agencies, but they get their feeds from the broadcast networks nationally. I doubt petitions in other countries count non-citizen signatures. What to do besides trying to stay informed.Posted 06-Mar-2011 at 04:35 PM (16:35) by iamwombat 
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Good on you, Iamwombat. That is all already a big amount, and good on you for doing that.Quote:Originally Posted by iamwombat
I write my state representatives fairly regularly ... Issues of international concern we send to Federal offices or state reps at that level, .... trying to stay informed.
I'm told these days sending an email PLUS letter is the done thing in the States; possibly worth keeping in mind.
Don't over-extend yourself, or leave yourself wide-open to burn-out. Best of luck.Posted 07-Mar-2011 at 02:29 PM (14:29) by Gurdur
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