Standing with atheist bloggers in Bangladesh

About the worst thing that can happen to you if you’re an atheist blogger in the West is that you’ll get caught up in a nasty flame war with other atheist bloggers. Not so in Bangladesh, where your life could be in serious danger.

Maryam Namazie has reported on physical attacks, including a murder, and ongoing death threats, all accompanied by active government persecution. What can we do in the West? Well, we can at least stand in solidarity with atheist bloggers in Bangladesh and in opposition to the approach of the Bangladeshi government, with its apparent unwillingness to protect the bloggers and its all-too-apparent willingness to curtail their freedom of speech.

To that end, I have signed the statement prepared by Maryam Namazie, petitioning the Bangladeshi government, and I commend it to you as well: you can sign it in the form of a petition. As Namazie explains, you may be able to do more, whether it’s writing letters, protesting in front of embassies, or merely raising awareness of the situation through the social media.