For folks in Sydney …
10.30am, Saturday, April 4, Queens Square >>> Martin Place
“Counter-rally speakers at Queen Square (on Macquarie Street near St James station), followed by march to the top of Martin Place.
KYOL BLAKENEY, Sydney University SRC president and Aboriginal rights activist
NICK RIEMER, Refugee Action Coalition, Sydney
PAUL MCALEER, Maritime Union of Australia, Sydney branch secretary
More speakers TBC.”
Facebook : Anti-Racist Counter-Rally — Stop Islamophobia
It[‘]s spelled “unopposed”…
Well, I considered attending your rally as I am opposed to nationalism, nazism etc, but with my curiosity piqued I decided to look at the reclaim australia page and found that they are not racists. bigots, nazi’s or even Islamophobes as Muslims are welcome to attend as are people of all races, nationalities, religions etc. In fact I found they were discussing genuine concerns, and not wanting to promote discourse [discord?]. Why are you being misleading? Now with that date cleared in my calendar I will go to the Reclaim Australia protest, and invite my Muslim friends who share some of the same concerns. They are sick of being ripped off paying a useless Halal tax when the majority is on products already classified as Halal. They were born here and are Australians in the true sense even down to celebrating Christmas. Just who do you plan to be representing other than young brainwashed Uni students whose behaviour at all rallies tends to be obnoxious, loud, demeaning and superior. Oh, forgot to mention the greenies who will show up to anything involving anything they think will border on anarchy at any given time.
Please reply to me in a non insulting manner if I have anything wrong here.
I’m organising the Newcastle rally and I’d like people to know why I’m involved. I am a happily married father of two boys and a working middle class taxpayer living in a free country. I am concerned about the future of Australia and I am in no way racist or hate-filled as you make out. I have witnessed what happens to countries that allow mass immigration from Islamic regions and there are no positives as a large percentage of these people refuse to integrate into our democratic freedoms. I would like assurances that what is happening in Sweden will never happen here. I’ll be at the Newcastle rally if anyone wants to speak to me. John 0434 733 077
Kazoo, if you look into what they are on about you will see that it is right out of the American white supremacist neo-Nazi white pride anti-Islam handbook.
Also if you take the time to read the post on those sites you will see that, although the organisers “claim” it is nothing to do with the “bigots”, they are posting all over the place there; just itching to show those Muslims they are not welcome here.
It’s a bit like “I’m not racist but…”
@kazoo812
Firstly, thank you for adding some much needed frivolity to this serious topic.
I am gladdened that your Muslim friends join in Christmas celebrations, because I think interfaith celebrations are a great way to build harmony and respect. Do you celebrate either of the two Eid festivals with them as well?
I am curious though about which of the following ‘approved slogans’ from the Reclaim website your concerned Muslim friends will be marching under?
– 2 4 6 8 Aussie Values Reinstate 1 3 5 9 Islam Cannot Reach its Prime!
– We are awake to islam, are you?
– Not scared of islam yet? You should be!
– Who is going to Ride with our Police? Now that Islam had declared war on Police
– I love bacon, Not pedophilia .
http://www . reclaim-australia . com/flyers-and-slogans . html
One of my personal favourite Reclaim objectives comes from their ‘What we’re about’ section:
To make Sharia Law illegal in every State and Territory.
Do your ‘Muslim friends’ support this call? I.e. do they support the blanket banning of all five branches of sharia? Since by simply being Muslims they are ipso facto following sharia, i.e. the belief branch of sharia, they would of course in effect be supporting a call for the outlawing of Islam itself.
So are the Muslims who you say are “welcome to attend”, going to be all those in favour of having themselves declared illegal?
John Oliver – feel free to elaborate on how you have “witnessed” what is going on in other countries.
With close relatives living in the UK, and visiting it every year, I do not recognise the place that the Islamophobes like you describe. Perhaps you saw it in a Youtube video.
All muslims live by the laws of sharia -Gods law and this is why they cannot assimilate into any country they migrate to as the laws of sharia -islam -the Ummah -won’t let them as it demands allegiance to it first and only, muslims must not enter parliament as this is where their “push” for sharia will come and as they become more powerful in numbers this will happen -in Australia our constitution 44 states -if you can’t put Australia -first and you have allegiance to another power -you cannot stand for public office or as a member of parliament -yet we do have a muslim member in parliament who swore the oath on the qurán -puzzling that.
Just as there are Christian MPs who swore the oath on a bible. Is their allegiance to God greater than to Australia? We should be worried. Christian MPs probably already make up a majority of the Federal parliaments. Are they planning to introduce Canon Law? We should be frightened. Canon Law seems to support the sexual abuse of children and the concealment of the abusers from the civil authorities.
The ignorant replies here are astounding. Australia is a Christian/Judea faith. Those who follow their religion, do so in their own quiet way. Moslems shrieking “racist” “islamophobia” are intent on becoming the majority. The Koran, supposedly the word of a marauding, murdering, paedophilic misogynist (that’s hater of women), Muhammed who existed back in 640AD, is filled with orders to lie to the dis-believer, kill the dis-believer until only Islam exists. Now, I would rather live in the 21st century and have peace and harmony. But, the history of the ideology of Islam has never shown tolerance and assimilation. I am not prepared to wait until it is too late for our Australian culture to recover from this radicalisation.
Janne you sound about Muslims just like the Nazis in 1930s Germany did about Jews. That’s why decent Australians will always stand against your hate rallies. We don’t want a repeat of the 1930s and 1940s.
Janne, funny how you start your post with “The ignorant replies here are astounding” and then …
@Janne Laycock
>>”Australia is a Christian/Judea faith”
? Which Australia are you talking about? And what makes you think our nation is able to be classified solely as Christian today?
The current year is not 1901, and Australia today is religiously pluralistic. In 2011, nearly 40% of Australians did not identify as Christian. The trend over the last 100 years has been a consistent decline in the number of people identifying as Christian, and a consistent increase in those who don’t.
The fastest growing and largest category of non Christians in Australia, is that of those professing no religion – 22.3%. The largest increase amongst non Christian religions in Australia since 2006 is Hinduism. And the largest non Christian religion currently in Australia, according to the last (2011) census, is Buddhism at 2.5% of our total population.
http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/CO-61
Given the trends, by census time next year the number of non Christians in Australia will be somewhere between 40 – 45%. Hardly an insignificant minority.
Don’t blame Islam if Australians are turning away from Christianity. Don’t blame Islam if Australians are being consistently ‘radicalised’ into abandoning Christianity for other religions or no religion. Perhaps the palpable prejudice and ignorance (exemplified by your post) is part of the reason some Australians are questioning being associated with followers such as yourself?
You don’t sound anything like the Christians I personally know. You sound instead like part of an unrepresentative, surly minority with a deluded sense of entitlement. What’s amazing is not that you think Australia’s religious character is defined exclusively by a little over a half of its population. Rather, what’s really amazing is that you think your own representation of Christian values would be attractive to others.
Ah Rashid, the voice of reason.
Do not listen to the fools leading the reclaim Australia rally. Why don’t they complain about the kosher tax? Why did they say that MUSLIMS are welcome (but they’ll be offended by our flags)? I’ll be attending the anti reclaim Australia rally. Maybe remind a few Anglos that MUSLIMS traded with the aborigines long before the first fleet. Maybe remind them that immigration built this country. And hopefully to confirm my belief that not all Australians hold these filthy bigoted views. They may claim not to be racist twisted their words (aw islam is not a race it’s a religion), but well you put lipstick on a pig … 🙂
Christians are trying to change our laws all the time. Are you one of them?
I think Australia’s Indigenous people would probably debate whether that was the first terrorist attack on Australian soil. Bigots have poor knowledge of history.
Ishkabibbul
Fundamentalist Christians certainly want to force their misguided reasoning onto us, indeed it is fundamental Christian illogical reasoning that is behind the lies and dis-information about Islam that the “blind followers” of RA are “fanned” on.
Also, Manny is not referring to the Afghan cameleers who were “asked” to come here to help “open up” the country (not as traders), Manny is making the point that Muslims were trading with “Australia” for a few hundred years before Cook got here and continued up until the early 20th century.
Also the first terror attacks in Australia were perpetrated on the Indigenous people by Christian Europeans; a terror campaign that continues to this day.
The RA mob are running on, and selling, false history to blind followers who do not have a clue about Australia’s true history, and then these blind followers, armed with false information, repeat the lies as if they know it to be fact.
For me the enemy of humanity is the illegitimate reasoning and dogma of right wing ideology (see the writings of the Enlightenment scholars).
what muslims? who have u been speaking to? more bogans? ive never met anyone who claims such nonsense. how can someone be so ignorant? why would muslims want sharia law in australia? if they want sharia law they will go live in saudi arabia or iran. Islam has integrated, we now have our first muslim MP, we have muslim actors etc. Did you expect them to give up their religion? the idea of islam wanting to take over was created and spread by insecure bogans who blame immigrants for taking their jobs while they drink VB. Yet theyll go and have kebabs (made by muslims) and lebanese charcoal chicken (made by muslims) while they complain about islam. they complain about the halal tax, but they dont complain about the kosher tax do they? Often they go around the word racist by saying islam isnt a race, so really they arent racists they are just bigots. Use your brain and ignore the 1 or 2 muslims who claim to want extreme ideals, listen to the millions of others in this country who want and DO live in peace. open your eyes and stop listening to the media rubbish. the real terrorists are the soldiers destroying the countries in the middle east and funding islamist groups. The real terrorist is a pilot who crashes his plane and kills 150 people. The real terrorist is Israel who kills palestinians in plain sight.
Ah Manny, you are poetry in motion.
@ishkabibbul
>>”what other -religion wants to change our laws to live under their own barbaric laws -the laws of sharia ?….islam -it doesn’t recognise man made law -the law of the land as their only allegiance is to sharia -Gods law”
From your posts you seem a little confused. Are you claiming that some Muslims in Australia are actively seeking to replace our current laws with some interpretation of sharia? Most or all Muslims in Australia are actively seeking to replace our current laws with some interpretation of sharia? Or that the religion of Islam, i.e. its teachings, not only do not recognise man-made laws, but also fundamentally require that Muslims disregard and replace any man-made laws under which they may be living?
If you are claiming either of the latter two assertions, I challenge you to provide evidence to back up your claim.
If you are claiming the first assertion, i.e. some Muslims (e.g. Hizb ut-Tahrir possibly) are seeking some undesirable changes to law, then so what? They’re a minority of a minority. Why should anyone within our vibrant functioning democracy be any more worried of such persons than all the other fringe groups with unpopular political agendas?
Ah john, you speak the words of a truly intelligent man. However I don’t know if the words will work on a person who is not truly intelligent. And all this time I had struggled to find no MUSLIMS against these bogans! Who tells them this crap?
Rashid -no I am not confused -especially about islam -muslims are living by the laws of sharia in their conclaves they have colonised in our once nice little towns such as Bankstown -Lakemba -Campsie etc. 60 minutes done a survey and asked the men and women in the street which law they followed -Australian law or sharia -they all answered -sharia -Gods law -they do obey -our laws but if there is any conflict they will choose sharia -their aim is to as they become more powerful and get the numbers in parliament -keep pushing for some parts of sharia -at first such as -halal -divorce and finance etc. as they have done in England -to their sorrow -all other cultures have assimilated into our Australian way of life -the followers of islam -never will -where ever islam has migrated to their is no -peace -only chaos and mayhem.
You”re off your head. Sharia law where it conflicts with Australia law would be illegal, so if you are aware of any such breaches of Australian law, report it to police and stop whinging about it on the internet.
Where’s it’s not illegal (halal, burqa/niqab) it is voluntary and no more of your business than Christians abiding by Canon Law or Jews abiding by their laws.
Assimilation is racism.
Wherever British people migrated to they caused chaos, genocide, disease and conflict.
is that so? when was the last time you heard of a beheading in bankstown? or of a shia being killed for being shia? or a stoning? and campsie? asians have sharia law now? lol.
60 minutes? you get your information from 60 minutes and expect people to take you seriously? you ask most christians if they would murder someone if it was legal and theyd say no because its against their religion. god always comes first, its religion. halal? why dont you complain about kosher food? islam integrated a long time ago. wake up.
Sheesh Ishkabibbul, you are relentless in your lack of reasoning.
You know Manny, I like to think that I use some sort of logical (legitimate) reasoning with my approach to understanding “things”, not so much that I am more intelligent than others (thanks for the encouragement though).
I know so many people who are otherwise intelligent and good at their “craft” but in certain areas seem unable (or unwilling?) to apply that intelligence, particularly the political/cultural/social divide.
They accept a “message” on something they are uninformed about, believing the information in the “message” is all they need to know, and then use their intelligence to remember and repeat the “message’s” arguments (that’s in a debating sense).
They do not seek information from outside the “message”, or, as per part of the “message’s” argument that any counter information is lies, when they hear the counter information they reject it; ironically seeming to believe they used their intelligence in doing so, in that, when rejecting the information they accuse the “false messenger” of not being intelligent (amongst other things).
This puts them in a position where they can’t apply any logical reasoning to the matter, they don’t bring enough information into that “internal discussion” one has when reasoning legitimately on such things in order to come to a logical conclusion; in a sense it is the realm of the “blind follower”.
But then I suppose it’s not really an intelligent move to blindly follow something so I have to agree with your sentiment; “I don’t know if the words will work on a person who is not truly intelligent”.
@ishkabibbul
Perhaps you misunderstood my questions. And perhaps you misunderstand what sharia is. Sharia literally means ‘the path to life-giving water’, and is a way to live life which covers ritual worship, transactions and contracts, behavior, beliefs, and punishment. All of these things are sharia.
But there are two points you seem to be missing. Firstly, sharia is not a singular ‘set in stone’ blueprint or template, upon which all Muslims agree. On the contrary, there is no agreed upon universal sharia in existence. Just as there is amongst Muslims, either in Australia or globally, no agreed upon consensus of what is and isn’t Islamic.
Because sharia is derived from the Quran, Sunnah (what the Prophet(sa) reportedly did), and Hadith (what the Prophet(sa) reportedly said), there are multiple versions of sharia followed globally. Each version depends entirely on how Islam itself is interpreted and followed. So what one Muslim considers to be a part of sharia may not be accepted by another as either valid or relevant.
The point you make about the 60 Minutes survey is an interesting one, because this question of the divided loyalties of ‘believers’ within a secular state applies to all citizens who follow any religion. Famously, in the run up to the 1960 US presidential election, the loyalty of contender John F. Kennedy was publicly questioned in what was a strongly anti Catholic atmosphere at that time.
Some critics amongst the majority American Protestants, suggested Kennedy’s first allegiance as a practicing Catholic would always be to the Pope and the Vatican. Kennedy’s response illustrates how religious belief is essentially a personal matter, and can and does operate in a different sphere to the public, political context.
“I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.”
“But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office… But I do not intend to apologize for these views to my critics of either Catholic or Protestant faith, nor do I intend to disavow either my views or my church” – John F. Kennedy, Sept. 12, 1960.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16920600
As an Australian Muslim myself, I see no conflict between my private religious beliefs, and any law of this land. None. Nor would I support the legislative imposition of my views upon others, as that would violate sharia – i.e. a violation of behaviour and belief in freedom of faith and practice.
The Quran is crystal clear on this harmony between an individual’s practice of Islam, and their loyalty to a ruler, be that ruler Muslim or non Muslim:
“O ye who believe obey God and obey the Prophet and obey those in authority from among you.” (Quran 4:60)
The Arabic “from among”, i.e. ‘min’, also means ‘over’ or ‘of’ or ‘in’. In other words, if as a Muslim you are able to freely practice your religion (i.e. follow God and his Prophet(sa)), you are then Quranically obligated to obey (be loyal to) whichever ruling authority you are freely practicing this under. In my case, it’s whichever state and federal authority of Australia I happen to live under.
The second point you miss is that in Australia’s democratic system, Australians choose who enters our parliaments, and a majority chooses who forms government and therefore drafts laws. So even if there is (as you suggest) a conspiracy by ‘the Muslims’ to “get the numbers in parliament”, the only way that could happen is if a sufficient number of Australians (Muslims and/or non Muslims) vote for them. And the only way that laws could be changed is if both houses of whichever state or federal parliament agree upon their passing.
So explain to me where or how you see such law change possibly occurring. Where (at a state or federal level) do you see Muslims with a secret sharia agenda in danger of being voted in, much less forming a majority for legislative change?
I’m not sure who to reply to as you all seem to have such mutual admiration for each other and speak a lot of gobbly gook, I am only one of many Australians who resent your arrogance and intolerance of other cultures, your continual demands for more concessions for islam, we liked our country how it was and want it back, see you at the rally -now no throwing stones.
YOUR intolerance for other cultures, or in fact religion and one in particular. Why are you so intolerant of Muslims?
I’d bet that everyone posting comments contrary to yours are far more tolerant of ALL cultures and religions than you are.
Ishkabibbul
What you throw stones and then ask to not have stones thrown back, especially arrogant when you are the only one throwing stones.
What is gobbly gook to you obviously makes a lot of sense to most others here, indeed you are the gobbly gooker; I haven’t seen one demand here “for more concessions for islam” [sic], all I have seen is calls for tolerance and understanding (logical reasoning).
Which in itself becomes ironic when you suggest that we have “arrogance and intolerance of other cultures”.
And then you complain that you want something back that you haven’t even lost; and then you do so using the collective “we” as if you are the voice of a majority collective when in fact you are just one individual imbecile among many.
Have fun… oh… and no throwing stones now.
Had my say, none of you sound like a full quid, over and out.
educate yourself ishkabibbul. open your eyes and wake up.
See all you confused Commie/Anarchist/Fascist/Anti-Fascists on Saturday. To the Antifa puppets: it’s a shame you don’t see that your gutless, coward master will never go to the great lengths of sacrifice what you do. He/she will never step out from behind their computer to fight against racism with eggs or will ever steal a flag for the sake of equality. They will never hide behind police and unionists because you do. You are the stupid uneducated foot-soldiers of a state backed fraud. I get it, you are not white, black, straight, gay, you’re not really sure what you are with all the confusion. I get that, well not really, it’s actually quite hilarious. But hey I’m just an evil “Nazi”.
Lol who’s side r u on flammen?
Seems to me – and correct me if i’m wrong – the whole islamic faith is based on the claim that an angel visited an illiterate arab trader in a cave. Really?
hmmm. moderated site. free speech?
Buraq people are entitled to their beliefs. All religions are open to the same critique. But this is Australia, and Section 116 of the Constitution in effect guarantees freedom of religion. And if you don’t like it, you know what they say you can do…
Free speech is the USA, not Australia. Perhaps you need to take my earlier advice, Buraq.