Tanveer Ahmed is a real thinker. He sees the hype put forward by the left - pretending to speak on his behalf (being from a minority) - but he knows from his own experience how miniscule the levels of racism are in a great liberal western democracy like Australia.

We have imported hordes of racists and bigots and homophobes in the cultures of the third world. To free them of their medieval ignorance and fear of change is what we all need to focus on.

Banning the burqa would be a good start, I feel sick knowing that whites have been the only in history to fight against slavery (the rest just accept it as the norm and only don't want it happening to their particular clan) and yet here we are tolerating this sickening value system that promotes gender aparthied.

"the hurt runs deep" Nairbe :)

Mate.. you wrote your piece in a way which is suggestive of "Those whites...yuk" as you outlined a few bits of history which seem to make your implied point.

I totally agree with the principle.. that "when one group of humans oppresses another,..it creates long standing hurt"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_wars_in_Europe

Have a look at the start date.. 1299....

Then have a look at the finish date.... 1699

That's 400 years of oppresssion.. of "taxing" conquered countries ("white" countries) 500 little boys.. as a tribute to be trained as mercinaries/elite soldiers (call them the WAFEN SS of their day) for the Turkish sultan.

Bottom line here.. we are talking about 'Humanity'...not 'white' prejudice and racism.

People are not dull...they do have memories of what was done to them, and by whom. They also know an ideology which has core values which are an inherent threat... Have a look at surah 9:29
http://www.ummah.net/what-is-islam/quran/noble/nobe009.htm

by all means form your own opinion.. (read the whole chapter if you like)

But have a look at the next verse (9:30).. see if you see any reason to be concerned about a 'large number of people of that faith' coming to predominantly Christian Australia.

I've reversed that verse (9:30) and made the Muslims the 'cursed' ones and the Christians the 'author' so to speak and shown it to Muslims.. asking "DOes this look like hate speech to you"? and invariably they reply YES! (when they recover from the shock of the idea of someone showing them such a statement.) So... why should we feel any less threatened by such things ?

The crazy thing about the article is that it once again (yawn) equates the 'religion' Islam with 'race'..... that's not rational.

Have a peek at this :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna

Look at the 'date' on which this attack happened..... ring any bells of something that happened in 2001 in New York?

Every year on that date..I stand at the State library with a sign..making this point.. makes for some interesting discussions.

Amicas, fantastic that things are working out well for you, good on ya. Don't know what you were reading in to what i wrote but i made no references to welfare or burdens of guilt. The situation does not require anyone to feel guilty just to take an honest view of the way we behave socially toward cultures that we perceive so differently that we don't understand them. Guilt is negative and creates the very welfare burden you speak of.
You make a very poor assumption that the "sit on my bum and feel sorry for myself" welfare sector is the way Aboriginal peoples live. They don't. Most of the families i know are very hard working and committed to the community. The welfare issue is a socio-economic one that spans all peoples that live in this country. That is another matter all together that runs deep into mental and community health as well as issues like education and child welfare.
The main point is the way we see and treat other countries, migrants and Aboriginal peoples. We are patronising at best. Look at the way we have dealt with many of our near neighbours over the past decade. We are often rude and insensitive to cultural matters in negotiations and representations. Things are improving but the constant use of boat people to gain political leverage is pathetic.
Perhaps when you have achieved some of your personal goals in life and have time to reflect on the values of humanity you will begin to understand that the world wasn't created for you. We are all part of this land and share it together, we don't have to rape and pillage it for our selfish gain and treat those who are different with suspicion and ridicule.

Tanveer Ahmed is in no position to lecture Australians on prejudice, while his religion is the world's most prejudiced belief-system.

As noted by Mark Durie http://markdurie.blogspot.com/2009/12/greatest-recitation-of-surat-al-fatiha.html

"To be genuine and effective, reconciliation between Muslims and those they refer to as 'People of the Book' (Jews and Christians), requires that Al-Fatihah and its meaning be discussed openly. That devout Muslims are daily declaring before Allah that Christians have gone astray and Jews are objects of divine wrath, must be considered a matter of central importance for interfaith relations. This is all the more so because the interpretation of verse 7 which relates it to Christians and Jews is soundly based upon the words of Muhammad himself. As Al-Fatihah is the daily worship of Muslims, and represents the very essence of Islam itself, the meaning of these words cannot be ignored or glossed over."

and from Sahih Bukhari, Book 12, Number 723 http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/012.sbt.html

Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever does not recite Al-Fatiha in his prayer, his prayer is invalid."

Ginx: << Formerslag: are you on day release? >>

LOL. Reading through most of the posts in this thread is like walking into a One Nation group therapy session.

Same old, same old. If this thread and other discussions about 'racism' at OLO are anything to go by, Tanveer Ahmed seriously underestimates the level of racist and xenophobic bigotry in Australian society.

One interesting point that is evident in both the article and some comments is the particular racism towards Aborigines that is often displayed by more recent immigrants.

Foxy,
The present government recently stopped the processing of Afghans and Sri Lankans for permanent residency.

This is clearly racial prejudice so why are not the Australians Against Racism organising street demos about that? What does Dr Eva Sallis have to say about it? Are these people not fleeing genocide and persecution, as we have been told? Where are the asylum advocates?

According to our resident constitutionalist on OLO, Mr Gerrit, (see other thread on Asylum seekers) It is unconstitutional unless we deny visa processing to all Afghans, including those that arrive by air. This would apply to all Sri Lankans as well. So where doe this leave us?

Is the Government racist and is it currently acting outside our constitution?