It is said that peace is the basic tenet of all religion. Yet it is in the name of religion that there has been so much disturbance, bloodshed and persecution. It is indeed a pity that even at the close of the twentieth century we've had to witness such atrocities because of religion. Flying the flag of religion has always proved the easiest way to crush to nothingness human beings as well as the spirit of humanity.
~ Taslima Nasrin
I was born in a middle class Muslim family, in a small town called Myonenningh in a northern part of Bangladesh in 1962. My father is a qualified physician; my mother is a housewife. I have two elder brothers and one younger sister. All of them received a liberal education in schools and colleges.
Women are oppressed in the east, in the west, in the south, in the north. Women are oppressed inside, outside home, a woman is oppressed in religion, she is oppressed outside religion.
I write against the religion because if women want to live like human beings, they will have to live outside the religion and Islamic law.
Those religions that are oppressive to women are also against democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.
I studied in a medical college and qualified myself as a medical graduate.
When Bangladesh refused to renew my passport, I used U.N. travel documents. You can't disown your country.
Sheikh Hasina's government is one of the best Bangladesh has ever had. She is taking action against fundamentalists. But even she refused to let me return. I don't think I can ever return home.
All I ever want is to return to either Bangladesh, my motherland, or India, my adopted home.
I believe in absolute freedom of expression. Everyone has a right to offend and be offended.
