Muslim Heretics Conference

Australian Muslims gaining confidence

Phil Mercer, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: June 14. 2008 8:55PM UAE / June 14. 2008 4:55PM GMT

The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, second from right, kneels down to talk to a schoolgirl in a school classroom on June 14, 2008. His wife Therese Rein, right, looks on before inaugurating the Islamic primary school in Indonesia, which was destroyed in the 2004 tsunami and rebuilt with Australian aid. Jewel Samad / AP

SYDNEY // After years of discrimination and violence, a new generation of Muslims is standing up to challenge the country’s suspicions and misconceptions about Islam.
Educated and vocal, this group is determined to repair some of the damage inflicted on its faith since the attacks of September 11 and the bombings in Bali in 2002 in which 200 people died. Most of thom were Australian tourists.

“Among young people there is less inclination to take on that victim complex and more willingness to embrace a powerful and dynamic identity as an Australian Muslim,” said Randa Abdel Fattah, a 29-year-old Sydney-born lawyer and an author of children’s books.
“There are those who are defiantly rejecting the attempts by some people to make them feel alienated,” she said.
Muslim Australians have often been at the sharp end of racist remarks, as well as physical abuse.

Graffiti written on walls outside a hotel in Sydney last year crystallised the misunderstandings about Islam and Muslims in Australia. Daubed in bright spray paint were the words “Islam is Evil”, “Mohammed is the Antichrist” and “Muslims are devils”.
In 2005, race riots erupted at Cronulla Beach, a suburb of Sydney, as residents attacked anyone they thought looked Middle Eastern, believing Muslims were trying to take over their beach.
Although such attitudes in broader Australian society do remain, the way that younger Muslims are responding to them is shifting.
“There really is a growing sense of empowerment,” said Ms Abdel Fattah, who has both Egyptian and Palestinian roots. “There are lots of creative ways that people have dealt with this negative image, which is happening through the arts.
“Comedians are using television to try to dispel stereotypes about the Muslim community. I have used writing to try to build bridges. Rather than succumb to a victim mentality and say the world misunderstands us, we’re allowing people into our world. It’s an opportunity for us to learn more about each other.”
There are about 350,000 Muslims in Australia – about two per cent of the country’s population. They are a culturally diverse group and have come from all corners of the globe – from Lebanon and Bosnia to Bangladesh and Turkey.
One-third of the Muslim community is Australian-born.
Kuranda Seyit, director of the Forum on Australia’s Islamic Relations, believes this group is coming of age and its maturity is driving fundamental changes in the way Muslims and non-Muslims interact.
“We are shredding the migrant mentality and all the baggage that goes with it and we are getting a more home-grown and refreshing attitude towards these issues.”
Younger Australian Muslims take great pride in their distinctive brand of Islam, which is helping them to build bridges with other parts of society.
“The combination of education and upbringing in an open, liberal society works towards creating a unique Muslim who has the best of both worlds with the benefits of strong, moral and ethical guidance through their Islamic teachings. Islam puts a lot of emphasis on respect and tolerance so it’s a unique blend,” Mr Seyit said.
Other community representatives have said the defeat of John Howard, Australia’s right-wing former prime minister, in an election last year altered the mindset of Muslims, prompting a more optimistic view of the future.
“It’s not about recovering after 9/11, it is more about the collapse of John Howard’s government,” said Jamal Daoud, from the Sydney-based Social Justice Network.
“Immediately after last November’s election there was what I call a positive shock among the Muslim community that was victimised by John Howard and his government.”
Mr Howard urged Muslims to do more to fit into mainstream society and expressed concerns about their attitudes towards women. He was a popular and successful conservative politician, winning four elections over a 12-year period and presiding over a decade-and-a-half of unprecedented economic growth.
The former leader strongly rejected accusations that he made Australia a meaner and less tolerant place. Others are not so sure.
In May, an Australian council rejected plans for an Islamic school near Sydney. The issue stirred emotions in the town of Camden, where demonstrations were held by locals opposed to the project.
Many residents insisted the presence of 1,200 Muslim students and their parents would cause traffic chaos in their sleepy corner of outer suburbia. The application was rejected by councillors on planning grounds. They, like the people of Camden, denied allegations of racism, although some members of the community have expressed far more uncompromising attitudes.
“If I wore a hijab now I could have an M16 under my hijab and you wouldn’t even know I had it there,” roared one Camden resident at a public meeting.
“They’ve got terrorists among them, OK? We can’t say they haven’t because they have,” said another.
Australians are proud of their egalitarian society and most abhor racism, although the cancerous roots of discrimination do run deep in certain quarters.
Clearly there is much work for this new generation of young Australian Muslims to do, but they appear willing to fight hard for what they believe.
“There are suburbs where people have never met Muslims and I’ve visited schools where I’ve been told by the students: ‘You are the first Muslim we’ve ever met in our lives.’ So, we need to have more mixing of communities,” Ms Abdel Fattah said.
pmercer@thenational.ae

Australian Muslims gaining confidence - The National Newspaper

There is a real war on Islam. No, it’s not waged by Israel, the US or the rest of the western world. It’s waged by radical Islamists who are hijacking their religion and seeking to make the whole world into an Islamic Caliphate.

Islam is a religion like Judaism, Christianity or other religions. Previously, they Muslims were seen as desert people. Then because of the radical Islamist bombings, kidnappings and hijackings, it then became associated in some people’s mind with terrorism. Most people understand that radical Islamist terrorism doesn’t represent all of Islam. The political correct liberals have called people Islamophobes, bigots or racists anyone who doesn’t want to put up with the threat of radical Islam even though they’re not talking about Islam when talking about the threat of the radical Islamists. Many people don’t understand the plight of the moderates, as they battle with the radicals for the control of their religion. While there are moderate Muslims who battle with radicals tirelessly to prevent it from being hijacked by the radicals, there are also Muslims who pretend to be moderate. The Muslim Brotherhood has pretended to be moderate while supporting terrorism on Israel and calling for a global Islamic caliphate to dominate the world. While some factions of the MB use terrorism, the Muslim Brotherhood has also used the political process to achieve their goals. The Muslim Brotherhood has the same goals and interpretations of Islam as Al Quada. But unlike Al Quada, the Muslim Brotherhood also uses the political process. While some factions engage in terrorism. The Muslim Brotherhood funds and incites radical islamist terrorism. Radical Islamist indoctrination is the cause of all suicide bombings including the Palestinian ones. The male suicide bombers [the majority of suicide bombers] believe that they’ll go to heaven and get 72 virgins after they die for Allah in fighting the infidels. The women suicide bombers such as the Palestinian ones also believe they’re fighting for Allah and that they’ll go to heaven. However, they believe they’re one of the virgins. They do it for honor. Poverty is a contributing factor to the cause of suicide bombings. But it’s not the root cause. When it comes to the cause of Palestinian suicide bombings, despite the opposition to the Israeli occupation and policies, it plays a small role. The first suicide bombings happened in the early ’90’s when Israel was gradually trading land for peace to prepare for a gradual creation of a Palestinian state and while Israel was preparing for peace. A huge series of them happened in 1995 and 1996 when 98% of the Palestinian people were no longer under Israeli rule. The suicide bombings resulted in the Likud leader Benyamin Netanyhu’s election victory because the Israeli public saw him as someone who could provide some security. When Israel fought back when Netanyahu was Prime Minister, terrorism decreased. From 1967 until 1987, only a handful of Palestinians became terrorists. Life in the Palestinian territories was still pretty normal. The economy in the territories improved. Israel was still unpopular politically, as most Palestinians preferred to live under Arab rule. Israel sought to trade land for peace and had no peace partner.
In 1987, there was the first intifada, which got more Palestinians to go fighting Israel. Then came Oslo. The Oslo peace process resulted in more Palestinians supporting and seeking to become terrorists. While Israel complied with their agreements, the Palestinian Authority violated their agreements. Their widespread propaganda called for terrorism and the destruction of Israel. Suicide bombers were [and are] portrayed as heroic shahids and the propaganda stated that suicide bombers were holy Islamic fighters who were fighting off the evil Jewish infidels from Palestine, which, according to the propaganda, includes modern day Israel. When restrictions are more harsh, which result from terrorism, terrorism decreases. The security fence has helped to dramatically decrease suicide bombings. The 2005 disengagement from Gaza resulted in rocket attacks escalating.
As radical Islam promotes suicide bombings, moderate Muslims claim it contradicts Islam because Islam forbids suicide.
The extreme left has collaborated with the radical Islamists because of their hatred of the US and the west, which led to their hatred of their ally Israel, which ended up being the US’s important ally and agreeing with the US on most [though not all] issues. The PC propaganda in Europe is far worse than America. Not only are you a bigot, racist and/or Islamophobe if you want to fight the Islamo-fascists, but the PC nonsense there says that the west’s [especially America's] foreign policy has treated their Muslim citizens and the ones in the Middle East so badly that they had no choice but to bomb innocent men women and children in cold blood. In America, at least there’s more toleration for the side that says that radical Islamists attack us because we’re infidels and that we have to fight them. Yes, President Bush is right that they hate freedom. It’s a major obstacle to their totalitarian goal. Their beliefs contradict the basic concepts of freedom and democracy. They stone people to death. They’ll kill you for converting from Islam to another faith. Their evil Nazi-like ideology hates freedom.
According to the PC in Europe, radical Islamist terrorism is seen as something terrible but also something coming from them because of the desperate conditions created by their governments. People killed for expressing their views that radical Islamists hate and seen by them as anti-Islamic are killed. If you say that you won’t tolerate it and you need to fight for your freedom and democracy, according to the PC propaganda system, you’re a bigot, a racist or an Islamophobe. The PC system has made it okay to bash every religion excluding Islam. But if you give any criticism toward Islam, then you’re a racist. To the European PC system, the killing of people by radical Muslims are seen as people who got what was coming to them because they were spreading anti-Islamic bigotry.The PC in Europe portray Israel as an imperialist nation that wants to take over Palestine and oppress it’s people for the heck of it, creating desperate conditions there for terrorism on Israel. According to the European PC, the Israelis had what was coming to them, as terrorism there is seen as the only weapon to fight Israeli oppression. The PC propaganda portrays Israel as a proxy to US imperialism. The conflict in the holy land and the US-Israel relationship is far more complicated than how European PC liberals portray it. Yet that’s exactly what a totalitarian dictatorship is. You kill innocent people in cold blood because of their views and you justify it by saying they’re too dangerous.
The PC is not actually helping Islam. It’s allowing Islam to be hijacked. Anyone who says the truth about what’s going on is a bigot, a racist or an Islamophobe. Many victims of radical Islam are Muslims. Real moderate Muslims understand the threat and are trying desperately to expose the threat. Radical Islamists claim that the infidels [especially the Jews and Christians] are fighting a war on Islam and that it’s their duty to spread jihad until Islam conquers the world. The radical Islamists are a huge global movement. It’s not isolated extremists. It is true that it only represents a part of Islam, a part that is trying to hijack the religion. Only extremely few of the Fundamentalist Christians as well as the Kahanists [the Kahanists are condemned by most Jews, most Israelis and the Israeli government] i.e. the ones who truly are isolated extremists are Islamophobic. The radicals are helping to build up their case by their terrorism, even though it’s still just a few isolated nuts, who spread racism against the Muslims. There is different types of racism, many that are bigger than the anti-Muslim of anti-Arab one. Islamo-fascists and Islamo-Nazis are legitimate and accurate terms when meaning the radical Islamists. It doesn’t mean Islam. They’re very politically incorrect. But the radical Islamists really do hold fascist and Nazi like views and claim to be doing their attacks in the name of Islam. The Nazis believed that Aryans were superior to everyone else. Radical Islam feels the same way about the Muslims. The Nazis persecuted and put into concentration camps non-aryans. Non-Muslims are getting persecuted by radical Islamists. In their society, they’d be persecuted. They both want to make global empires, Hitler an an arian one and the Islamo-fascists, an Islamic one. When Hitler was threatening the world, the world was asleep. The same thing is happening today. Both ideologies hated the Jews. Hitler’s holocaust helped find him allies in the Middle East. It was one of the factors that gave him allies there. Radical Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Arab nationalists such as the Baath party and the Free Officers collaborated with the Nazis. Al-Husseini, the Palestinian leader also collaborated with them. Al-Husseini commanded two Bosnian Muslim SS divisions. He supported Hitler’s holocaust on the Jews and said to “kill the Jews wherever you find them.” The radical Islamists are publicly speaking about their evil goals as Hitler did in Mein Kompf, which, along with the protocols of the elders of Zion, which is a well-known anti-Semitic hoax, are becoming best sellers among radical Islamists and to many anti-Semites in the Middle East. It’s becoming a best-seller in the Middle east. I’m not saying most Muslims in the Middle East have it or believe it. Many there do believe it. Anti-Semitism in the Middle East is becoming a big issue. While the world condemned the Danish newspapers for making fun of Muhammad with political cartoons, which caused there to be riots, Arab newspapers have for decades and still do today have anti-Semitic political cartoons. When people are attacked for talking about violence in Islam or for saying something they dislike, it does send the message, weather it’s true or not, that Islam is violent. The moderate Muslims are heroically fighting the radical Islamist ideology and should be supported. The moderate Muslims are even risking their lives to expose the radical Islamists, which shows how courageous they’re.

The real war on Islam by Benyamin Solomon