Women Against Fundamentalism: stories of dissent and solidarity

Abstract

This book combines a detailed theoretical and historical introduction to Women Against Fundamentalism (WAF) with a collection of illuminating life stories by some its members and founders. Women Against Fundamentalism (WAF) was formed in 1989, partly in response to the controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, but also with the aim of challenging fundamentalism in all religions. It sees fundamentalism as a political movement that uses religion to consolidate authoritarian and repressive forms of power. WAF’s members are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, and from across the world.

The book maps the development of the organisation over the past 25 years, through the life stories and political reflections of some of its members, focusing on the ways in which lived contradictions have been reflected in their politics. Their stories describe the pathways that led them to WAF, and the role it has played in their lives and in the forms of politicial activism in which they have engaged. Discussing feminist activism from different ethnic and religious back-grounds, contributors highlight the complex relationships of belonging that are at the heart of contemporary social life.