Feminist activist sent to prison for ‘Allah is lesbian’ T-shirt - Morocco

[IwantToRetire]

A feminist activist has been sent to prison for two-and-a-half years because of messages on a T-shirt she wore in a selfie posted online.

The shirt featured the word “Allah” in Arabic, followed by the words “is lesbian” in English.

Ibtissam Lachgar was charged with blasphemy and with disseminating the image online.

She was found guilty of violating part of Morocco’s criminal code that outlaws offending the monarchy or Islam, her lawyer, Naïma El Guellaf, said.

A member of Ms Lachgar’s legal team said they plan to appeal the conviction.

Article continues at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/morocco-islam-prison-ibtissam-lachgar-b2819995.html

I don't want to derail to Connolly. I don't believe she herself wanted to invite violence, I think it was clearly hyperbole. But I still think it was ambiguous enough for a short jail sentence.

I'm sorry for mentioning her again, let's just focus on Lachgar

It's not about knuckle under
It's about staying safe
And you can't argue with that religion
They have got her now

Lots of people value staying safe over speaking up for what is right. It is how totalitarian regimes are born.

I know
Do you think they will let her out eventually

Oh I am glad YOU don't think it is genocide. That will no doubt change the minds of everyone in WHO, ICC, ICJ, UN, UNICEF, IAGS and the hundreds of other non governmental organisations.

Maybe she can be a part of changing it. She knew what would happen. Very brave

There has been concern over the amount of influence anti Semitic Muslim countries have over the UN and other organisations.

I agree the situation is terrible, I'm just not certain it's genocide. I hope not.

It's categorically NOT genocide. If this WAS genocide then Israel could have had this over the next day. They have nukes and one of the most advanced army in the world.

If this was genocide then it must be the poorest attempt in all of human history and Israel must be so piss poor at this genocide business they'll become a laughing stock in years to come.

If you believe the Islamic terrorist fundamentalist narrative that this is genocide youre really not much brighter than they are IMO.

Where have you heard this
Any links pls

Any chance you could stop derailing?

Thats a fair point, I’ll re-phrase that to “my personal belief is that no individual should be persecuted for offending religious sensibilities”. Of course no country has to listen to me.

Brave woman. Fuck blasphemy laws.

Here's to that ! 👏

Thank you, I wasn't aware of the ANC's violent terrorism. Terrible.

Nehru, Gandhi & MLK are better examples, as they and their movements didn't use violence.

Are you following the conversation? The comment was that the shirt was not as offensive as the cartoon, and you asked why. I said they were quite differernt because of the way they were or were not making serious criticisms.

I don't particularly gaf what you think about it one way or another and I wasn't saying anything about what the law should allow.

There is an implied criticism of Islam's views on women and sex imo, but it's pretty low key. She must I think know that there isn't a serious theological point to be made about about God being a lesbian, and that's not what she's looking for. She could make an argument about depicting God as male, and she could do that from within a Muslim discourse, at least theoretically, but I don't think that's the point of the shirt.

The Hebdo cartoon is a political statement, from a non-Mulsim POV, which not only breaks a major religious taboo in Islam, it is also using that depiction to call Mohammad a terrorist, the implication being that Islam is inherently a terrorist religion.

Wow. Nice to be allowed to decide who is a Real Feminist.

I think there can be a worthwhile discussion to be had about the extent to which it is a good idea to use the courts as arbiters in a manufactured way, rather than trying to lobby for legislative change.

The former has been quite effective at creating change at times, especially in places like the US with their approach to the constitution.

But the change it creates can be almost violent, and it can fail to bring people along, even solidify opposition.

Even looking back at the school segregation win in the US which is considered and early success in terms of changing social attitudes, as I get older I sometimes wonder if it was as successful as we think. Because I suspect the main reason it was effective is because the balance of the public view was already in favour of that kind of change And when you consider the real children who were involved I think it was very harsh on them, almost using them as political objects rather than treating them as children.

I suspect a slightly more organic process would have been slower to start, but would have come to the same place, and maybe even brought a few people over who were alienated by the whole thing.

That's all speculation, but when court decisions don't reflect the views of a large part of the population, there is a lot of scope to cause serious problems.

You don’t gaf what I think but still need to come on the thread ten hours later to tell me… sure 🙄

I agree re segregation. I've read about the experiences of the first children to enter segregated schools in the Deep South and a lot developed PTSD, had horrible bullying and violence directed at them, in one case, even attempted murder.

MLK's approach of using children in protests etc was really controversial within the Civil Rights movement, and I think it is a blot on his legacy.

Stuff like the busing policy, which was a kind of successor to that, didn't work well arguably. I do think the element of forcing change is often counterproductive.

Out of interest, Alicealig, what do you think of the case of white nationalist (I don't use that term lightly, she is genuinely one) Lauren Southern, who went to a Muslim-dominated area of the UK & handed out leaflets saying 'Allah is gay'. She was banned from the UK for this!

I think it's outrageous she was banned & I don't disagree in theory with what she did, though given how homophobic US white nationalists often are, I'm doubtful whether she was driven by any motive to help gay Muslims. It's seems much more like a trolling move to offend, though she did make an eye-opening point about the de facto Islam blasphemy laws we apparently have here...

Do you think she was right to do what she did? I expect you also agree she shouldn't have been banned from the UK.

Other people might be interested in the Lauren Southern UK parallel to this case. Here's the article where I found out about it, which also contains worrying info on US & Canadian white nationalism & misogyny on the so-called 'alt right'.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/alt-right-star-racist-propagandist-has-no-regrets/616725/&ved=2ahUKEwiZ2qPupPWPAxVgQkEAHXdWMOgQFnoECAwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2CcDd0dm7GvfR-7kB5jtdO

Of course she shouldn't have been banned from the UK. Until recently, the UK was built on a platform of free speech. You should be able to come to the UK and speak your mind. Generally as a culture that's who we are.

I've just come back to this thread and it seems that segregation should have been maintained in the USA and apartheid in South Africa

Imo what she did was foolish, and it’s not the first time either. Brave is a word i would use to describe the women of the SOE in WW2, not a loose cannon like Betty, who I happen to know , and whose actions have made absolutely no difference to anything or anyone except herself.