Women Against Fundamentalism

This timely book should inspire younger generations of activists to pick up the torch, to lead simultaneously anti-racist and anti-fundamentalist feminist politics. With the xenophobic far right rising and communalism turning beliefs and cultures into identity politics' weapons, women's rights, citizenship and secular traditions are at stake. The spirit of WAF, its rare political clarity, its true internationalism, are more than ever needed. Marieme Helie Lucas, founder of Women Living Under Muslim Laws The powerful analyses and reflections of diverse women in the UK fighting authoritarian religious movements are documented here in all their brilliance and honesty. This is a resource in the best sense: of the refusal to submit, the courage to challenge, the strength to reflect critically. In a turbulent and complex period global - religious atrocities, military invasions, and a brutal war against the dignity and personhood of women - this book shows us that we can and must face many ways at once if progressive global politics is to have a future. Professor Chetan Bhatt, London School of Economics and Political Science There is much to learn from, and much to celebrate, in these pages: a feminist, anti-racist politics which supports religious freedom and expression but which challenges fundamentalism in all its forms, combined with compelling testaments to the intermingling of the personal and the political in private and public life. As individual accounts and as the documentation of an important social movement, these inspiring political narratives provide insight into one of the most complex and persistent challenges of our time. Molly Andrews, Professor of Political Psychology and Co-Director, Centre for Narrative Research, University of East London