Boaz,

I always enjoy watching you turning even law enforcement, youth problems into ‘Muslim issues’.
Did you see the great white ‘Muslim’ sharks around the Sydney beaches lately: -)? Watch out they only attack non-Muslims!

Seriousley now: Gangs, whether Lebanese, aborigines, whaterver-ese, is a matter of law enforcement. There are probably a hundred rotten apples on each side that is creating all the headache (including Lebanese ‘Christian’ gangs in Bexley area by the way).
There are few case studies on how the US police solved the LA, NY and SF gangs problems.

We should see crime as a crime without pinning it on an ethnicity or faith.

Btw, Can I ask you to ‘coach’ Coach a little? He is desperate to become a ‘Boaz’ but he doesn’t even know the Quran addresses believers and not Muslims.

Peace,

Irfan,

Just read your article in New Matilda. Well done. Have you had your Crikey today?

Salam

Thank you for your article.

In common with some posters, I was somewhat amazed that you blend culture with religion.

Even more astonishing - you say we are all Australians, yet you call yourself an Australian Muslim or a Muslim Australian (as in other articles you have written).

Perhaps you need to take heed of what the 10 years old boy said (who you quoted): "I am Australian. I am Muslim". The philosophical differences are not rocket science.

Italians, Greeks and others do not say: "I am a Greek Australian. I am in Italian Australian". Rather, they acknowledge their heritage: "I am an Aussie of Italian heritage". They do not bring religion into the scenario. Why do you?

Irf

Clearly of late, you have taken an overdose of bitter pills. Initially, when I joined this forum, I enjoyed reading your articles and your posts. Not so any more. You have become quite vicious - hardly in keeping with your "Peace" mantra.

BD

I thought your last paragraph was interesting.

Cheers
Kay

Irfan

I've submitted two articles to OLO both over 800 words both fairly representative of an Anglo Aussie opinion. Neither have been accepted. But neither make claims of racism nor laud victimhood of Arab Muslim Australians unlike all but three of the more than 20 odd articles published by OLO so far. Little of what has been written is supported by reasonable research. It is mere opinion attempted to be dressed up as expert opinion by overpaid academics resident in their traditional towers of imitation ivory spouting their beloved truisms and their now very shakey fanatical ideas.

Your post here merely highlights this bias on OLO. And really it is tiring to see one after another deceiptful piece of sometimes reasonably written prose spout charges of racism and blame anything but the Lebanese Muslim youth gangs/louts ad infinitum.

That is causing me to look askance at the whole of OLO.

It really is getting bloody boring with it's one-sidedness so much so it could soon become an irrelevance simply because it does not reflect all Australian attitudes on this subject.

And now you Irfan use the OLO editorial policy to lash out unreasonably at people who reject your biased and simplified views.

Unfair and unconscionable really.

There is no debate in OLO articles. There is only the epistles of dogmatic religious cranks, left behind balding broken down lefties and unoriginal bearers of outdated dogmas.

I appreciate you borrowing my analogy of heads in the sand at Cronulla. I approve but there'd be no room for your nominations.

With all these other airhead's heads in the sand and with their bullous bottoms stuck in the air we're bound to get a fairly large onshore zephyr, cos sure as hell most all would be pointing westward.

Thanks irf, you and your ilk have finally revealed yourselves. You are just like all religious, hate for those that disagree. Muslims always relate to themselves as muslim Australians, rather than Australian.

Sadly as long as we have religion we will have violence and war. A truly utopian situation would be for some country or organisation to take control of the world and get everyone in each country to vote for what sort ideology or none at all, to run that country. Once that is known, those who wish to live in a country that has the ideology of their choice, would move there. They would also vote for the laws they wanted and it would be illegal in all countries to try and change or practise any other ideology in that country.

The only problem with that is, those countries that voted for religious control, would start of with a few people, but over time all that would be left is the half dead zealots fighting each other to be the best at that religion.

The only countries that would have a large population would be those that voted for no religion at all. Free enterprise, free choice, free from religion. Actually if you gave a free vote to everyone, there may be no religious countries, just places like Australia once was.

Now that I've finished my day dream, what will happen within the next 5 years, is the collapse of the worlds societies except for just one or two. They will be the countries that take control of themselves and remove the negatives that wish to destroy us, religious power and control.

I also fully agree with Keith it is becoming boring, nothing constructive to debate just the PC"s and religious elite fluffing themselves.

Salam, nice article. You seem to have been spared input so far from the few who use these forums who actually like racism - enjoy it while it lasts.

A couple of questions you might like to think about and which I would appreciate answers to. Irfan and other muslim writers appear to be unwilling to answer variations of the same question.

Why just "collectively condemned the incidents that occurred during and after the Cronulla riots" and not condem the racist violence which lead up to Cronulla?

The Cronulla riot was not an unprovoked outburst of the racism that lies just beneath the surface of Australians, rather it appears to be for the most part an unpleasant response to years of racist violence in and around Sydney. Reportedly gangs of Australian youths of Lebanese origin have had a very high profile in initiating this violence. It is a law and order issue as FH and others rightly point out. I doubt that the youths in question are fine upstanding members of the muslim community. For some reason muslim authors on these pages appear to be more than willing to condem the racism in the riot at Cronulla but refuse to condem the racism of these gangs. Mostly they describe the lead up to the riot as a single assault on lifesavers and totally fail to address the wider issue. Why?

I really would like to understand why this is happening as I'm finding it a very devisive approach on the part of Irfan and others.

R0bert