BECAUSE I CANNOT DRAW CARTOONS




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NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY

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As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned.’ [1]   Mariam also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her. The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband. Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say can do as they please in these matters. Mariam Ibrahim and her husband.  Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and in 12 of those countries...
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IN THE SHADOW OF THE AGENT PROVOCATUER *

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* A person who induces others to break the law so that they can be convicted. Bob Lambert was a police spy and agent provocateur. He infiltrated Greenpeace in the 1980’s; during his time spying on British citizens he had several sexual relationships and fathered a child. In 1986, under the cover name Bob Robinson he co-wrote a leaflet that led to the infamous McLibel case. BOB LAMBERT THEN AND NOW In the 1980’s the McLibel case shone like a beacon of resistance against the growing power of bullying corporations. Whilst McDonalds may have technically won the case morally and in PR terms they were the losers. The role of this agent provocateur, - a term strangely alien to the British political scene, - in this affair has only just come to light. I believe that morality and ethics have nothing to do with religion. I believe we are all born with a predilection toward human solidarity. It is even possible that the golden rule is innate. As nature and nurture take their cour...
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INTERVIEW WITH TOM VAGUE

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Tom Vague At the top end of All Saints Road there is a refuge, an enclave in which a local Bohemian culture retains a foothold, this is the Book & kitchen , a café/bookshop with adjoining terrace. Here the bustle of the nearby market gives way to conversation, conversation in the presence of images of the recent, and not so recent, past. The past of an area that has contributed so much to the life and culture of the city. I was there to meet local historian Mr Tom Vague a man intimately familiar with so much of this history. What Tom doesn’t know about the recent history of the area probably is not worth knowing. With Tom’s energy and effort Colville Community Forum, supported by City Living Local Life, recently held a gathering at The Book and Kitchen to celebrate this rich history. February 16 6-9 Pm, with Film Screening and Readings Exhibition February 16-26 2016. Featuring 30 Classic Westway Photographs and Posters. This represents one of a number of initiatives of t...
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