29
Aug

Ballsy Backbencher Bronwyn Bishop backs ban, but Brendan bites back

   Posted by: Past Contributers   in GravelRash, In The news, Islam

From todays SMH.
Bronwyn Bishop has put her hand up to be next in line for a public bashing over her “misunderstanding” of the Religion of Peace.
She seems to have a good grasp of it, from where I sit!
I have previously mentioned my experiences in Language Institutes in several Australian cities, where this issue has been raised. I have never encountered this issue without it being accompanied by a well-orchestrated and backed campaign, involving support from mosque and imam, and usually, media notification, petitioning, lobbying and web support. How could I have failed to notice the non-political implications!!!!
I’d like to suggest an email or two of support might not go astray. Bronwyn.Bishop.MP@aph.gov.au

“……. the issue of Islamic headscarves continued to bubble after federal Liberal backbencher Bronwyn Bishop told Channel Seven they were being worn “as a sort of iconic item of defiance” and should be banned from state schools.
The federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson, said he supported the right of students to wear headscarves provided this fell within each school’s uniforms policy.(Kind of oxymoronic, in a State School, Brendan!)
Later, Mrs Bishop told the Herald she had singled out the muslim headscarf because no other religious group was arguing for the fundamental rules of society to be changed.
About 1500 people attended the mosque’s fifth annual open day yesterday, a day when visitors have a chance to clear up questions about the religion or its followers.

Makiz Ansari, a 25-year-old primary school teacher at Auburn’s Sule College, was surprised by Mrs Bishop’s remarks.
“I was actually shocked to hear an Australian local say something like that,” she said. “It just shows a lack of true understanding about Islamic practice and it’s actually against freedom of choice and freedom of expression.”

Oh well, of course it does, Ms Ansari….of course it does. We all know you live in a religiously-induced, ghetto-enforced stupor, that your husband would beat the living shit out of you if you said anything different and that you have no concept of your fellow Australians attitudes….. which I’d think automatically disqualifies you from comment, …. but then again, I’m not a staffer on the PC Herald. How is it that you, a non-elected nobody, gets more quote-space than an elected Australian representative? And how could you seriously expect such a disingenuous statement, in this present climate, to be taken with more than a grain of salt?
Here’s a quote from another school teacher, me…that the Herald could use.
“Only a fool would argue that “headscarves” are anything but a weapon in the political armory of aggressive Islamisation. Far from disagreeing with Mrs Bishop, I’d like to ask why the entire Cabinet is not soundly behind her, and acting upon the obvious desire of the electorate at large. It’s why I voted for them.”

This entry was posted on Monday, August 29th, 2005 at 9:57 am and is filed under GravelRash, In The news, Islam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

8 comments so far

Patrick
 1 

I believe she is backed by Russel Savage (who has almost redemed himself after his part in the downfall of the Kennett Government) and Sophi Pandazopolis (sorry in advance for spelling that wrong).

[Reply]

August 29th, 2005 at 10:34 am
dee
 2 

“It just shows a lack of true understanding about Islamic practice and …”

Statements like this one REALLY REALLY piss me off. When are these people going to finally get through their thick heads that it is not incumbent upon Australians to ‘understand’ Islam. Personally, I find Islam the most primitive and least interesting form of belief on the planet. And they dont even seem to realise how offensive their bs is – why the hell should anyone have to ‘understand Islam’? I think most people ‘understand’ it only too well.

Maybe its time for Muslims to ‘understand’ that about 95% of Australians find Islam and its bizarre nonsense to be incredibly unappealing and want it gone.

[Reply]

August 29th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
Rachel
 3 

does this mean she will also be calling for a ban on the wearing of a yarmulke or a cross in public schools as well? I say all religious symbols should be banned in state schools, and bad luck to anyone who disagrees because there are plenty of Christian, Jewish and Muslim schools who would be happy to take you

[Reply]

August 29th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
dee
 4 

Rachel – the hijab is not a religious symbol, despite what Muslims would have us believe. The hijab was invented in Iran in the 1970s and worn as a symbol that the wearer was against the West and the Shah. Its just this kind of dishonesty that iritates me most – the shameless lying and misrepresentation that seem to go hand in hand with Islam.

I think the whole subject baffles most Australians, who are not really a religious people. Most seem to find it bizarre and almost laughable. But there is a simple test of compatibility where migrants are concerned – if new laws need to be enacted to restrain their behaviour, they dont belong here.

[Reply]

August 29th, 2005 at 6:03 pm
Scott
 5 

If memory serves me, the very people backing the Islamic cause are the very people who enacted so ardently the rule of secularism in public schools. Didn’t Bob Hawke and Paul Keating so stridently push for religious free schools free from any cultural or religious intonements so as to water down Christian beliefs in schools. And didn’t Paul Keating claim that no Lord’s Prayer should be used in Parliament?

How hypocritical that Labor and the media left are now the advocates for supporting Islaimc religious rights.

I wonder if they’ll do the same this year when the likes of Clover Moore try to further ban Christmas?

It’s time Muslims tried to be a little more tollerant of others, not just here but world over.

[Reply]

August 29th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
Rachel
 6 

I was under the impression that the hijab has been around since the time of Muhammad, but they were only worn by Muhammad’s wives to distinguish them from other women. And since that time have been misappropriated by religious leaders to represent something that Muhammad didn’t actually promote. However, no matter how much I disagree with its use, it has begun to represent a part of the religion (not necessarily a part that I agree with).

The hypocrisy drives me nuts though. We should allow the hijab because it is a “religious symbol”, but we should ban Christian or Judaic symbols lest they offend. Logic anyone?

[Reply]

August 29th, 2005 at 10:43 pm
CheeseRings
 7 

What has been referred to popularly as “hijab” in the more recent decades, has always been a religious obligation according to traditional Islamic law and interpretation. That is, the covering of the body with loose, opaque clothing. The various interpreters of religious law are divided upon whether the face, hands and feet are excluded, the stricter opinion is that covering includes the face except for eye/s. Pick up *any* classical – or indeed any pre-1970s – book on religious laws regarding women’s dress and it becomes abundantly clear that Taheri must have been high when he wrote that the hijab was a 1970s invention.

[Reply]

August 30th, 2005 at 8:22 pm
Gravelrash
 8 

That the hijab is a modern day political statement, seen by non-muslims as a threat to authority, a repudiation of existing sovereignty, a statement declaring Ummah and significant of a stance contra to any an Australian can relate to, was made abundantly clear on tonights SBS program “Insight”.

Hijabism may have historicity on it’s side, but I suggest that is irrelevant. The present day insistence on it, for whatever reason, does not exist in a vacuum of innocent religiousity. The muslim KNOWS full well what is at stake.
It is typical of them, that their women have to take the “point duty”, but those women that have seem to be only to willing.
I’d point to the websites established in support of “Jasmin”, prior to her subverting her schools authority.
I’d point to the publicly acknowledged sermon she used as her inspiration to take the stance, and further point to the content of that sermon….Ummah.
It is now irrelevant if hijabism has religious significance or not….it has become, by virtue of the notoriety hijab gained in France, several States of America, and in Northern England, an extremely potent rallying point and a symbol of an intent to establish a Muslim hegemony, no matter what the cost.
It appears, in contemporary history, to always be the first shot fired in the war.

[Reply]

August 30th, 2005 at 10:01 pm

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