In recent days, there have been many people on social media trying to intimidate and silence me. They usually belong to two camps: either they are Muslim or "progressive". In this country, according to certain “progressives”, everything falls under freedom of speech... except what I share based on knowledge and experience I gained while living under the yoke of Islam. When I was detained in a prison of Ayatollah Khamenei in 1999 at 23 for criticising the way I was marginalised as a woman by Islam as a second-rate gender, I never imagined that I could ever experience so much hate in the West because of the same criticism. It’s a capital mistake that in the name of a principle like religious freedom, we applaud certain inhuman practices happening from a religion like Islam that took shape 1400 years ago. This religion also contains hateful misogynistic and totalitarian ideologies that may rightly be criticized in order not to lose the freedom that people have fought for in the West. Tolerance towards intolerants can destroy an entire civilisation. If you have to condone everything that can be seen as freedom of religion because it is a religious ritual or the culture of a particular country, then you must also condone the imposition of Islamic dress for young girls, total gender segregation, genital mutilation, and many other inhuman rituals. Ah yes, and maybe stoning and whipping as well? Because that's also part of it, after all. By the way, what about sharia courts like in the UK and other European countries? They give a sentence, which is totally illegal in our western countries. Where are you going to draw the line? How far does cultural relativism extend? This is how you erode everything about our enlightened Western society, which is based on human rights and self-determination. Freedom in Islam doesn’t exist, yet everyone is allowed to believe in what they want. But oppressing others with it is inadmissible. Many Muslim women suffer because of it and let me know that I need to continue working for women's rights. I do it for Western principles, but also for those who are stuck and cannot find an exit. As a woman raised under the yoke of Islam, I know very well how a woman feels as a second-class gender. I will not let these women and girls down because certain "progressives" relativize everything. No one can silence me or limit my freedom of expression through intimidation. I will continue to fight for Western values. Long live gender equality and true freedom!
@SafaiDarya "Western Values" is capitalism, oppression, destroy or pillage resources from every source--human or land, imperialism, apartheid , "mowing the lawn," mass incarceration, rapid escalation of police state apparatus, and genocide.