Manifesto of the League of Dutch Ex-muslims
This is the manifesto of the League of Dutch Ex-muslims. It is a general outline of our ideology and how we identify societal problems and try to tackle them. Thus is a living document, which means it can and will be modified as our movement evolves.
Enemies of the murtadin
One impactful thing in Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine, a text that was released during the second congress of the PFLP, is that it starts out right with identifying the enemies of the Palestinian liberation. So, we do the same, we will list the enemies of ex-muslims first, before we describe our own ideology.
The world is an extraordinary hostile place to the oppressed and the downtrodden. Those in power seek to do nothing but increase the oppression and keep their control. We classify these oppressors in certain ways based on their ideological background.
Religious fanatics, fundamentalists and extremists
It comes to no surprise that we start of with religious fanatics, fundamentalists and extremists. There are a few semantic differences between these groups, but at the core they embody the same hatred towards apostates and other minority groups. We do not ise the word radicals, for it implies that non-far-right religion is not radical.
Religious fanatics
Fanaticism is a broad term, which we acknowledge as a broad term. But in the context of ex-muslims and our movement, religious fanaticism refers for the most part to conservative and reactionary muslims, often communities.
As apostates we do not see much acceptance from within muslim communities. Conservative and reactionary tendencies have dominated the narrative within the Ummah for the past century. People from the community may very unfortunately be family members, former friends or acquaintances. We may face mental and physical abuse and ostracism.
The same can be said for the treatment of religious fanatics of queer people. Like apostates, they are faced by similar forms of abuse.
Religious fanaticism is not limited to islam. We see in the west that fanatic Christians also push a harmful agenda which targets vulnerable communities. See the book bans in the United States. And queer people may face abuse and ostracism from Christian fanatics too. Likewise, fanaticism can be seen often in Judaism and Hinduism as well.
Religious fundamentalists
Fundamentalists are a special type of devoted fanatic. They quite often interpret religion to the letter. In a sense, to return to the fundament of the religion. Fundamentalists may be part of the aforementioned fanatical groups.
Religious extremists
We're talking about the big boys here. Governments such as those of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Maldives. That by state decree criminalise apostasy and queerness, sometimes punishable by death even. Non-state actors such as ISIS, Boko Haram, formerly the Taliban (they are state actors now unfortunately), Al-Qaeda, are also extremist groups that seek to hurt apostates, women and queer people.
Quasi-religious hate
Sometimes the idea of religion is there in very hateful and harmful people, but it is merely superficial. Nevertheless, it is there. Far-right pundit Andrew Tate doesn't tick many boxes that you would for muslims, yet he is one, calls himself such and some muslims do take his views seriously. He converted to Islam for reasons that drive most of us ex-muslims away from Islam. The misogyny, the homophobia. But aside from woman-hating rhetoric, there isn't much Islam in Andrew Tate.
Sure the views of what constitutes quasi-religious or faux religion is debatable, many christians would outright reject the idea that the KKK or the Lords Resistance Army are christian, but at least they do display faith and are at least spiritually involved. Not something that can be said of Tate. The difference between Andrew Tate and say the typical Dawah Guy is that these Dawah Guys at least have some understanding of Islam, it may be misguided, but it is there.
Nationalists
Borders divide us and these national divisions can be just as harmful as religious divisions when abused by the right. Think of India and Pakistan and their relation as an example of both divisions. While we abhor all nationalism, we do want to explicitly state a few examples of harmful nationalism.
Ethnonationalists
These are a type of nationalist that combine racism with nationalism. Think of Pakistani Punjabi nationalists, Turkish Grey Wolves, white nationalists, zionists and the Taliban. They may enact violence upon ethnic minorities and foreigners and in the worst case they may be responsible for genocide.
Imperialists
Empires must fall, although in the modern era we don't really speak of empires. But the international relations have not changed much since decolonisation. We still exploit Africa for resources. We just call it capitalism now, though it is still neo-colonialism. There are two opposing, equally bad, capitalist blocs: The western capitalist hegemony and the Russian capitalist hegemony.
Hate Groups
There are many hate groups, too many. One hate group is one too many. We can't possibly go over them all and more often than not this hate is also disorganised or poorly organised, it varies in its organisational capacity.
To address the elephant in the room, anti-muslim hate is a very prominent type of hate. Groups like PEGIDA or Identitarians subscribe to these sorts of ideas. Also political parties such as the Republican Party (US), Party for Freedom (Netherlands) or Alternative for Germany (Germany) can subscribe to these sorts of harmful ideas, the latter having clear ties to neo-nazi's as well.
Why do we as ex-muslims care so much about anti-muslim hate? After all, we sometimes hear from these sorts of movements that they stand with ex-muslims. But nothing is further from the truth. It is a farce and nothing but a farce. We will have to examine anti-muslim hate for what it is. Most often drenched in orientalism. Islam has become synonymous with ethnicity, nationality, refugee status and more unrelated things in the eyes of islamophobes. For this reason, we as ex-muslims are often targeted by islamophobia. Nonetheless, muslims are the primary target of anti-muslim hate, but even then we know this hate is often misdirected.
There is a reason we distinctly state that religious conservative and reactionary tendencies are the enemy. Because we know better than to attack every single muslim in a blind rage of hate. This however is not common sense amongst the large swaths of espousers of anti-muslim hate. Which differentiates us from them and makes them dangerous.
Moving on from anti-muslim hate, which intersects with racism and anti-refugee hate. The following applies to many of the aforementioned hate groups and individuals, it is anti-queer hate or queerphobia. Anti-queer narratives built upon lies dominate the media. Islamophobes as well as muslim reactionaries spread these fear mongering lies. It is pure and unabated hatred.
What are ex-muslims?
Ex-muslims are those who have distanced themselves from the religion islam, or have left islam so to speak. We count this term as synonymous with "murtad", an originally Arabic term which denotes an apostate, someone who leaves islam. We use the terms ex-muslim, murtad interchangeably, and additionally we may use the word apostate as well although this has a more general meaning and doesn't necessarily pertain to islam.
The views and experiences of ex-muslims are unique in their own right. There are non-practicing muslims or cultural muslims, who would fall under our definition of ex-muslim, but they do not see themselves as ex-muslims, murtadin or apostates. The subjectivity and complexity on this matter is enormous, but we do welcome these people into our fold even if they do not call themselves ex-muslim. For they may either face the same discrimination as us or they are crucial in the normalisation and destigmatisation of apostasy.
Why the term Ex-muslim?
This is a question that ex-muslims get asked a lot. While the reasons for the use of this label vary per person, the use by the League of Dutch Ex-muslims is clear: It is to bring awareness to our situation, we can only advocate for ourselves if we let ourselves be known. When the stigma around apostasy in Islam is large, it only makes sense we use the word ex-muslim or murtad to refer to ourselves. Furthermore, we need to reclaim our identity from the clutches of far-right hateful islamophobia.
The Ex-muslim Identity
When it comes to the question of the ex-muslim identity, we must not only ask ourselves: what makes an ex-muslim? But also bring forth the question: What does it mean to be ex-muslim? We exist across cultures, although we do have one thing in common: disavowment of the religion of Islam. Then how does one find an identity in that? Yes, we can form community and mutual support groups, and we should have those. But does that really encapsulate the ex-muslim identity? Mutual support is built on the largely negative experiences we share with Islam, but it is not an universal experience for all of us. This may be the wrong approach to mutual support. But then, what does it mean to be ex-muslim? It is a common goal, approached from solidarity and not from individualism. Mutual support exists not because of a universal negative experience for every ex-muslim, it is the understanding of both individual and structural problems alike, responding to these issues accordingly by supporting our fellow ex-muslims.
The ex-muslim movement has been poisoned by far-right rhetoric. Attempting to twist the ex-muslim identity to a grotesque monster it really isn't. This tendency should be counteracted at all times.
Who are we?
We are the League of Dutch Ex-muslims. We see ourselves as a new direction the ex-muslim movement should move towards. Our primary goals are making the acceptance of apostasy more common and hopefully even mainstream. The destigatisation of apostasy is a whole bunch of hay on your pitchfork, but we do believe over time it is possible.
We are a more activism-oriented group and there are a lot of risks involved, considering how protests have been violently suppressed in the past. These are not only climate actions, Palestine solidarity, but also queer rights protests. Imagine this so-called progressive country called the Netherlands supressing queer voices. We always expect the same hostile response of the state apparatus. But we will not back down. When our people's lives are being destroyed, it makes it all the more important to make our voices heard and we will. We will not be stopped by islamists, not by racists, not by the violent gangs of the capitalist class. Peace is not a norm, we have not been treated with peace for far too often, peace is a goal, but in the current state of affairs seemingly a luxury.
Our ideological line consists of a few different aspects, which will be described.
Secular humanism
Humanism is the only - I would go so far as saying the final- resistance we have against the inhuman practices and injustices that disfigure human history.
- Edward Said
We do not all believe in gods, but we do all believe in the power of humans themselves. Reason and secular ethics are at the forefront of our ideological base. Even though some of our member may not be agnostic or atheist themselves. We do not seek to suppress religion, but we vehemently oppose the aspects of religion that are harmful to others. Religious freedom is a right. Even if this freedom may not have been granted to some of us, it is only purely miserable to enact those same type of ideas upon others.
Feminism
Women's rights are under fire globally. It is of the utmost importance that we protect access to education, healthcare including abortion, birth-control, job security, safety and much more. These are pressing issues not only in muslim communities, but all over.
The oppression of women is exacerbated by patriarchal, oftentimes religious abuse of power, in the Middle East also supplemented with tribalism. In the concept of Jineolojî Abdullah Öcalan states that a liberated society requires women to be liberated. Although the situation of ex-muslims is much broader but not more complex than the situation of the Kurdish people, these aspects of liberation of democratic confederalism should be included in the struggle for ex-muslim liberation.
Misogyny is expressed by means of controlling women and their bodies, in the west this often the access to birth control and safe abortion. In muslim countries additional practices on top of abortion and birth control access may arise, these include but are not limited to: the mutilation of parts of the clitoris, labia or the performance of infibulation (in less "woke" terms called female genital mutilation or FGM), invasive virginity testing, femicide (in the form of honour killings). These means of controlling women's bodies should obviously be stopped.
Queer rights and liberation
Likewise queer rights are under fire worldwide. Queer acceptance is on a decline. Queer people may face the very same issues as apostates. Queer people may be ostracised from their communities, abused, attacked violently, killed even. We stand for the protection of queer people, unapologetically and without concessions. Let gay people love whom they want, let trans people experience joy in their life. Trans children (and adults) have a right to healthcare.
We can either choose to join the assimilationists and shun our Selves and our comrades, or we can embrace the fringes and the dissidents and begin the work of Queer radical action. This of course is no real choice, as assimilation will only broaden the fringes and exclude more and more of the essence of Queerness.
- Lex B
Culturally queer people can go three ways: either seeking validation from a society that deeply hates them, staying in the closet and not publicly expressing queerness, or on the other hand unapologetic self-expression and acceptance of oneself. Assimilation, suppression or liberation. The League of Dutch Ex-muslims is absolutely clear on this matter, that we stand on the side of liberation. That is our stance and our goal. Queer rights were never conceived through means of assimilation. Suppression is however an unfortunate reality for many people who live in communities where queer identities are not accepted. As we see it, liberation is a means to dismantle suppression.
Refugee rights
Another part with intersections, refugees may seek refuge because of their apostasy or queer identity. At the League of Dutch Ex-muslims we firmly believe that everyone has the right to live in safety. Refugees should be treated with respect and dignity. Unfortunately these exceptionally vulnerable people's are not always treated as they should be.
Anti-hierarchical clericalism
We do not think clergy is bad per se, but we must acknowledge that the hierarchical structures of many modern organised religions lead to abuse of power and corruption. The hierarchical nature of present-day organised religion makes communities highly susceptible to indoctrination and cult-like behaviour. We advocate not for the abolition of clergy, but for the power dynamics that lead people to blindly follow leaders and be indoctrinated with oftentimes hateful rhetoric.
In the consolidation of power, religion can get involved, this is the case for many nation-states. Even de jure secularist countries use religion for power. We're not just talking about how the USSR used the Russian Orthodox Church as a vessel to spread propaganda and increase nationalism, we see this in currently existing nations as well. Syria and Turkey are on paper secular republics, yet religion plays a role in the power dynamics there. According to Abdullah Öcalan, Turkey possibly has more state-appointed imams than Iran has, despite Iran being a theocracy and Turkey a secular republic. Israel in its state ideology of ethno-religious nationalism, is fueled by religious folklore and culturally it is a regressive religious state, perhaps not in comparison to some of its neighbours, but it is by by no means a free and secular society. The same can be said for western powers of course, one only needs to look at the red states in the United States to see what an impact religion has on society in an otherwise secular republic.
Anti-capitalism
I am convinced socialism is the only answer and I urge all comrades to take this struggle to a victorious conclusion. Only this will free us from the chains of bigotry and exploitation.
- Malala Yousafzai
Capitalism is an economic system which devalues others and only values the accumulation of one's own capital. Worker's exploitation, literal slavery and animal abuse are crucial cogs in the capitalist machine. If we are to create a society that actually values life and the value if one's labour we will need to topple capitalism. Capitalism is a system without morality.
Capitalism is also linked to imperialism and neo-colonialism. The most atrocious crimes will be justified by capitalists just because it leads to power, control and capital.
Who are we not?
You cannot continue to victimize someone else just because you yourself were a victim once—there has to be a limit.
- Edward Said
There is a cycle of hurt and pain and violence and we wish to not continue this cycle. We are not a group that aims to demonise Islam or muslims. We take a strong stance against the conservative and reactionary tendencies within the Ummah, but we will not attack the muslims who are our allies. There are muslims who do not hate apostates, there are muslims who are queer or are allies to queer people, who will agree with us that the cisheteronormatieve system has not brought us anything of value. It is not a luxury but a necessity for muslims and ex-muslims to not fight each other but to cooperate on the matters of meaningful social and political change.
Conversely we distance ourselves from self-proclaimed allies of ex-muslims, who in reality espouse racist and xenophobic rhetoric. right-populists are not our friends, neo-fascists are not our friends. Because we know what they really think of us, and we know we would be the first to get backstabbed if we were to align ourselves with them. The right is not the friend of the ex-muslim.
The ex-muslim movement has been plagued with far-right idiocy for a long time. This includes, but is not limited to, aligning with the racist and xenophobic right, just because they dislike Islam. It is absurd to leave a conservative and oftentimes reactionary environment and then proceed to join an equally conservative and reactionary environment. This leads to ex-muslims espousing the same type of hateful rhetoric about queer people as islamists do. Far too many ex-muslims are caught up in the Trans Exclusionary Radical Fascist movement, which aims to deny trans people healthcare, the right to participate in sports or in public life. It is a hate movement that mocked the death of transgender teenager Brianna Ghey, it is a movement which encourages trans death and suicides, a movement which aligns themselves with other neo-fascists. When Eden Knight ended her own life, it was the TERFs and the islamists that together jumped at the opportunity to cheer. The League of Dutch Ex-muslims explicitly rejects and opposes anti-queer sentiments, for they are not only on the bedside of far-right islamism, they are an affront to humanity.
Strategy, tactics and policy
A goal is one thing, a strategic plan is another. Our goals to destigmatise apostasy and queer identities need some strategic foothold.
Peaceful protest versus armed struggle
In the context of ex-muslim liberation, we're fighting something large and abstract. Sure it can be expressed in hostile governments and far-right extremist groups and armed resistance against those groups is a valid form of resistance, but really our enemy is the right-wing conservative and reactionary tendencies within islam. One cannot simply shoot or bomb their way out of that, in fact it could potentially have the adverse effect of furthering the divide between muslims and ex-muslims. The exposure therapy and dialogue are our prinary forms of achieving our goals.
Furthermore, the right to protest is a right that should be protected at all times. Malicious entities who impede with that right are not only our enemies but enemies of freedom of speech and expression and should be stopped. Peaceful protest is a right and not a crime. Criminalising peaceful protest is a surefire way to make sure the transition to armed struggle is within the bounds of a conceivable reality .
Exposure therapy
The theory is that exposure over time leads to normalisation, this can be applied in a negative context as evidenced by the normalisation of islamophobia, capitalist hyperindivualist thought and desensitisation of violence in Gaza to name a few. But we can turn the same exposure into positive change, the more people are aware ex-muslims aren't all neo-fascist monsters the more normalised apostasy will become. This is also a positive feedback loop, once a more positive view on ex-muslims is established more people are willing to come out as ex-muslim, further increasing the exposure.
Online outreach in this way is the safest way currently, but perhaps we will be more visible in in-person action. We already attend demonstrations and pride events, those however were always not visibly League of Dutch Ex-muslims actions. Hopefully some day we can reasses the situation and cone to the conclusion that physical outreach is a viable option.
The dialogue
We have previously stated that we consider conservative and reactionary tendencies to be oftentimes fanatical and declared them an enemy, however the lesser radicals of this group are prime targets for our movement. We feel they can at least be reasoned with.
I raised my voice to free the mind from the chains of taqlid. Islam clearly declares that man was not created to be led by a bridle, but that it is his nature to be guided by science and by signs of the universe and the indications of events and that teachers are only those who arouse and direct and guide into the way of investigation.
- Mohammed Abduh
The strategy is to make them think. Not about apostasy per se, but think about the severity of breaking rules in an Islamic context. There is an idea that religion is an absolute and objective source of truth. This idea makes hard for people to wrap their head around the idea of someone leaving the perfect truth. Apostasy is a big thing, oftentimes seen as an affront to Islam. But if we can make people think about religion and whether or not they really feel like it is the absolute truth, that will loosen them up to potentially be more accepting to apostasy or queer identity.
Example: It can be argued that dismemberment as a punishment for theft, as is a common implementation of Sharia, is for example not a proportional response, especially considering the socio-economic circumstances that lead to crime such as theft. More arguments could be made that punitive "justice" is highly ineffective at stopping criminality, doesn't improve one's material conditions and oftentimes makes people resent the society that made them a certain way and punished them for it as well.
The goal not to attack them nor to make them leave Islam. It is to make people more open-minded and lose some of the dogmatic ideas that will to harmful behaviours towards others.
The application of Democratic Confederalist thought
When we look at the revolutionary confederation Rojava, officially the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, we see an egalitarian society not built on nationalism or religious dogma, but rather on progressive values. A common misconception about Rojava is that people tend to think it is a Kurdish state, which is not entirely how the situation is in reality. Rojava does consist of areas with large Kurdish populations in Syria, but the reality is that it is a confederation not of the Kurdish people, but of every inhabitant of the region. Arabs, Armenians, Arameans, they all have a say in what happens in Rojava and they should all be treated with the same dignity and respect.
Now, we as ex-muslims are not a society, we don't control land, we don't legislate. But the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan and the PKK do have planted a seed within our organisation. Ex-muslims and muslims should be equals, as should be for every religious and spiritual group. Öcalan does recognise that religion can be used to consolidate power just like how nationalism is used for this same purpose. As the League of Dutch Ex-muslims, we want to welcome everyone who shares our ideological basis of women's, queer and apostate liberation. As a consequence, we have accepted exceptionally progressive muslims within our ranks, they as much as ex-muslims agree that apostasy is not a crime, is not a sin (for those who believe in such a concept), and that apostates should be accepted and treated equally. Likewise our enemy isn't islam nor is it muslims, it is the consevative and reactionary tendencies that are unfortunately dominant in the Ummah, these backwards tendencies are opposed by muslims and ex-muslims alike.
Financial policy
Although we'd rather see a world without money, realistically in our current economic context this is nearly impossible to achieve. Our finances come out of our own pocket or via Monero (XMR) donation, we do not trust the financial market, banking, brokers and any non-privacy-oriented cryptocurrency. Furthermore, we do not trust nation-states, so we do not ask them for financial aid, no subdidies, no ANBI status, no Chamber of Commerce registration. Our financial operations, like our internal communications are obfuscated.
Are we communists, marxists, anarchists or otherwise?
We are socialists and anti-capitalists, although we draw inspiration from philosophers, thinkers and revolutionaries all over the world and across a plethora of ideologies, we as a collective are not ideologically bound to marxism, anarchism or otherwise. Census of our membership shows us the following statistics:
This is a display of not the biggest ideological diversity, but in comparison to other groups, this may be an enormous ideological diversity.
Organisational structure
├── Ex-muslim League International
├── Queer (Ex-)Muslim Alliance
Our organisation is largely horizontally organised, we do have some individual working groups, which have autonomy over their actions and policy.
Ex-muslim League International (EMLI)
This is the international wing of the League of Dutch Ex-muslims. It helps maintain contact with international groups, not only apostate groups, but also feminist, queer, refugee, indigenous, anarchist and marxist movements.
Queer (Ex-)Muslim Alliance (QEMA)
Formerly known as the Queer Muslim-Murtad Alliance, it is a working group for queer muslims and queer ex-muslims.
Research and Intelligence Group ABDUH (ABDUH)
This is our working group for research, information security, operations security and OSINT operations.
On the matter of Palestine
In today’s world no one is innocent, no one a neutral. A man is either with the oppressed or he is with the oppressors. He who takes no interest in politics gives his blessing to the prevailing order, that of the ruling classes and exploiting forces.
- George Habash
When people say the situation in Palestine is complex, it's really not. It is the struggle of a people against a hostile colonial takeover and its accompanied genocide. The League of Dutch Ex-muslims is principally and diametrically opposed to colonialism. We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, likewise we stand for the coexistence of religious groups in the region. Before the zionist occupation, jews, christians and muslims lived together in Palestine. Using divide-and-conquer techniques the zionists aimed to seize control over the whole region.
Zionism
Zionism from its inception was a European colonial project. Early zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky stated that: "Zionism is a colonisation adventure". Furthermore, zionist organisations instrumental in the creation of Israel called themselves colonial, e.g. Jewish Colonisation Association and Jewish Colonial Trust.
Zionism is characterised by an unmistakable religious ethnonationalism. And as we have previously stated, ethnonationalism is an ideology that must be opposed. The nation-state is detrimental to society and the use of ethnonationalism only furthers the horrors committed in the name of the nation-state.
Palestinian resistance
Palestinian resistance to zionist occupation and genocide is first and foremost an anti-colonial endeavour. And as we believe in people's right to self-determination as a fundamental right, we do support the anti-colonial struggle of the Palestinian people.
This doesn't mean the resistance is free from problems, we need to critically examine the movements as well as our support for the cause.
We affirm that our struggle is deeply rooted in the Arab regional context that must be freed of neocolonialism in order for the complete liberation of Palestine to become a tangible reality.
- FAUDA #4
Our first problem we encounter is, once again, the nation-state. We believe the power structure of the nation-state is not one that we should wish for, as nation states consolidate power using nationalism, monopolising violence and potentially religion. However, much of the Palestinian resistance wants to move towards the creation of a Palestinian nation-state, only the anarchist movement Fauda seems to not enroll in this paradigm. This is however but a secondary concern to the anti-colonial struggle. Palestinian self-determination dictates that if they so wish to establish a nation-state it is their right. But the Palestinian people should be aware of the consequences of establishing a nation-state, it is instrumental for this new state to uphold the egalitarian values or else we replace one ruler with another and one dominant group with another. There is hope, however, that lies in the deep and rich history of the Palestinian resistance and the Kurdish resistance. The PKK has cooperated with the PFLP and DFLP and has furthermore fought against the zionist entity alongside the PLO. This historic cooperation opens the doors for Democratic Confederalist ideas to enter Palestine and help establish a truly free and egalitarian society in Palestine.
Another glaring issue pertains the matter of islamists vs secularists. Historically Israel has used this to its advantage, using divide-and-conquer tactics to pit the Palestinian people against one another. It even financed Hamas as a supposed "counterweight" to Fatah, which was the dominant Palestinian faction at the time. Currently the tension between Hamas and some of the parties within the PLO have seemed to have died down and an alliance has been formed. This is an overall positive development for the current state of the resistance, but may cause ideological friction in the future. As the League of Dutch Ex-muslims we support secular anti-colonialism. Islamism should not take a foothold as these far-right religious politics are detrimental to the development of freedom and a just and egalitarian society. On the matter of "supporting" such islamist groups as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, we send a clear message: we do not support our ideological opponents, but we do support their struggle for independence, for people's self-determination is a fundamental right.
Relation to the Dutch state
Recently the Dutch state apparatus has become increasingly hostile to ex-muslims. By enabling violent far-right islamists and zionists to thrive and supressing the right to demonstrate, which is anchored in the European Treaty for the Declaration of Human Rights. The Dutch state is no different from the governments of Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc. and should thus be considered an enemy and a hostile entity. This means that if the rights and freedoms of apostates is to be protected, the Dutch state apparatus must be dismantled. This is really the case for much of the western hegemony, which prides itself on its freedom of speech, all these nations monopolise violence and misuse that power to curb freedom of speech and fundamental human rights.
History
The creation of the League of Dutch Ex-muslims didn't come out of nowhere. It was preceded by a long series of religious developments and geopolitical events. The basis of our existence comes from the understanding of islamic history and how the Ummah turned so hostile.
Islamic history
Islam wasn't always like this, the current state of right-wing dominance was only a recent development. Let's talk about one really defining aspect of Islam: the stance on LGBT issues. For a long time the Islamic world was not the homophobic cesspool we know it to be now. Before European colonialism, homosexuality was accepted in islamic culture. From the 8th to 13th century, homosexuality was publicly spoken and written about without restrictions. Baghdad was until its conquest and destruction a cultural centre for the Islamic world and a beacon of LGBT culture and acceptance.
Influence from the west
European colonial rule was a major contributing factor to the decline of queer rights in the Islamic world. Colonial powers and in particular the British Empire introduced anti-gay laws, particularly from 1860 onwards. Queer identities were not just seen as "immoral" but also as a threat to western imperial rule. In 1885 the British government penalised homosexuality.
Influence of the west did not just introduce judicial change in the form of oppressive colonial law. Contact between the Islamic world and the west kickstarted numerous ideological and philosophical movements.
Modernism embraced certain technological advances and social changes. From it came both an opposition to western colonial powers, ironically influenced by western secularism and ideas about egalitarian values. Many such ideas that scientific progress, educational reform and social progress were the key to liberation from colonialism were held by modernists. We do admire the modernists for being a progressive and secularising force for their time. Our research bureau Abduh is named after the father of Islamic Modernism: Mohammed Abduh.
On the flipside, islamism and salafism also became influential movements, in particular salafism sought to oppose western colonialism by means of religious fundamentalism.
The period of the world wars and the cold war also caused massive shifts in the Islamic world. One in particular was a strategic and moral failure of the Bolsheviks, when they tore down the independent Kokand Autonomy, which was an Islamic Modernist state.
Furthermore cold war geopolitics saw the west attempting to counter the USSR by means of financing and arming right-wing islamist groups. This in turn gave rise to groups like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This further shifted the Ummah on a path of right-wing conservative and reactionary intolerance.
In the decolonial context, western coups or other influence also halted progress, take Indonesia for example. Also Hamas is a product of this type of western meddling. Israel sought ti defeat Fatah by finacing Hamas, which as we all know backfired hard on them. Saudi Arabia, a fundamentalist wahabbist entity was propped up by western powers as well.
The continuation of western imperialism led to a series of events which all in turn led to the further shifting of the Islamic world to the right and adopting conservative and reactionary thought.
The ex-muslim movement
Reactionary forces are great at creating opposition to themselves. It's kind of hard to be liked. This is twofold as is going to be explained.
Although people have been leaving Islam for a long time, undoubtedly as long as Islam has existed. Ex-muslim movements can be traced to the advent of the twenty-first century. In 2007 the first ex-muslim organisation was created in Germany.
The rise of anti-muslim sentiment in the west, especially in a post-9/11 world has caused anti-muslim hatred to use or rather misuse our experiences as ex-muslims to fan the flames. This is a longstanding problem, recognised by many ex-muslims. What doesn't help is that prominent ex-muslim voices go along with the harmful narratives that proponents of anti-muslim hate propagate. This only widened the gap between muslims and ex-muslims and additionally created a more complex cycle of reinforcement of hate. Many ex-muslims are not treated well by their muslim environment. In turn they turn to muslim haters and contribute to the increase in anti-muslim sentiment. This is a very vicious cycle that needs to be broken if we want to bring about positive change. This is first and foremost the case in the west where far-right anti-muslim hatred holds a significant position in the social and political sphere.
The League of Dutch Ex-muslims
From this climate of a dual hatred comes the League of Dutch Ex-muslims. This cycle must be broken, only then apostasy may be normalised.
Co-founder of the League of Dutch Ex-muslims, going under the pseudonym Patthar, was disowned and ostracised for the reason being her being lesbian. Religion was a major factor in this such treatment. Becoming disillusioned with Islam for the misuse of this religion, she started questioning her faith, the verifiability of Islam and became ex-muslim. This was paired with a disdain for Islam exacerbated by far-right anti-muslim rhetoric. It took queer muslims who didn't outright reject Islam to steer her back from harmful far-right ideology. In particular our other co-founder Muzbian was instrumental in getting rid of these harmful conceptions about Islam.
Following this, the critical examination of the ex-muslim identity followed. As well as for the muslim identity. Concluding that the real issue is conservatism and reactionism as a root cause for intolerance for both muslims and ex-muslims, the League of Dutch Ex-muslims was founded to unite progressive ex-muslims with progressive muslims. While still focusing on the liberation of ex-muslims as a primary goal.
