Transcript of Thought For the World’s thought for the day

Maryam Namazie

18th February 2009

One year on, the Archbishop of Canterbury has once again defended his comments on Sharia law.

Just the word itself is for me like a kick in the stomach. I find myself trying to catch my breath every time I hear it being uttered.

I mean Sharia is why so many of us have fled and are fleeing Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

To get as far away from it as possible.

Only to have it repackaged and sold to us by the US-led ‘liberators’ in Iraq and Afghanistan or by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Britain as the next best thing to sliced bread.

Contrary to claims of promoting social cohesion and ‘minority rights,’ Sharia in Britain is actually a capitulation to political Islam. Just as the Pakistani government’s agreement to allow the imposition of Sharia in the north-west this very week is an attempt to placate and appease the Islamists. It has nothing to do with freedom of religion and belief, or rights and choices. In fact, the stronger and more pervasive its hold, the less freedoms, rights and choices people – and particularly women - have.

Yes of course there is a difference between letting Islamic courts and councils decide on civil matters rather than criminal ones. But the difference is a matter of degree; the fundamentals are the same. Losing custody of your child at a pre-set age irrespective of the child’s welfare, being told to remain in an abusive relationship or having your forced marriage at 13 stamped with the approval of these sham courts can be just as destructive. In fact, discriminatory family and personal status codes are important pillars in the oppression of women in Islamic states. And much of the struggle for women’s rights is taking shape in countries like Iran against these very aspects of Sharia.

Moreover, rather than promote ‘minority’ rights and social cohesion, Sharia law promotes fragmentation and social conflict. It imposes different standards and norms for ‘different’ people. It denies universal and equal rights fought for and established by progressive social and working class movements over centuries. It gives precedence to the most regressive cultural and religious norms of the ruling elite rather than to human beings and their rights and lives.

Opposing Sharia law in Britain, as in Afghanistan or elsewhere isn’t an attack on people’s right to religion; it is a defence of people’s human rights.

After all, rights, equality and respect are for real live human beings not for beliefs and certainly not for inhumane political movements.

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