When government gets into the business of "training leaders" it has first to get into the business of "selecting leaders"

my observation of government's ability to select is

It will be as good at selecting leaders as it is at selecting any other sort of "winner"...

which means

the "leaders" to graduate from this type of program are condemned to fall over in a mild breeze, forget standing up in a storm.

Collins Class Submarines - ok so long as you don't want to submerge
Button Car Plan...
Bracks Car Plan...

Hawke and Beazley... Rhodes scholars and the "winners" behind the collins class subs and winners by association of dip-stick car plans.

Dear KMB,

The Leadership Training Program for young Muslims
of which you speak is part of MANY programs
on offer at the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe
University. You give the impression that only
Muslims are being catered for. Not the case.

I refer you to the following website:

http://www.josephcamilleri.com/proj/curr/cfd.htm

The website tell us, "The establishment of the
Centre for Dialogue was approved by the Academic
Board of La Trobe University in 2005 and commenced
functioning in late 2006. This is a major initiative
which will have not only local and national but
international significance."

"The Centre for Dialogue features these characteristics:

1) It is inter-cultural (exploring a great MANY religious
and cultural traditions) and inter-disciplinary (bringing
together the insights of many disciplines, including cultural studies, religious studies, education, international relations,
sociology, law, philosophy, history, and economics).

It serves several interrelated functions:

It had the full support of the previous Prime Minister -
John Howard. On its Board of Advisors are people like:

Mr Brian Ashen/Buddhist Council of Victoria.
Ms Margaret Tonkin/ Pax Christi Victoria
Dr Peta Goldburg/ Head of School of Religious Education,
Australian Catholic University
Mr George Lekakis/Chairperson, Victorian Multicultural
Commission.
Mr Simon Tisher/Multicultural and Interfaith Officer,
Jewish Community Council of Victoria

And many more. The Board of Management includes people like
Reverand Phillip Huggins/Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of
Melbourne's Northern Region, Professor Sandy Gifford Director,
Refugee Health Research Centre, La Trobe University, Proefessor
Spencer Zifcak/ Allan Myers Chair in Law and Director,
Institute of Legal Studies, Australian Catholic University.

The Muslim Training Program is only one of the projects
that has been establised and this was a start because to
help with the handling of tensions between Islam and the
West since Sept. 11th.

However the long-term aim of the Centre is for collaboration
between institutions and individuals located in such centres
as Naples, Oxford, Heidelberg, Moscow, Hawaii, Kuala Lumpur,
Manila, Shanghai, Nagoya, Tehran, Jerusalem, Istanbul,
Athens, and Nicosia.

Simply talking ONLY about Muslims - is not an accurate, and a
very narrow point of view, and not the aim of the Centre
at all.

Foxy

Thank you for the full background to KMB's claim, which provides the necessary perspective in which to view this discussion thread.

You know what I find quite amusing?

Consider this - if we break down this recurring 'Islam' issue into the basic perceptions of the problem (exaggerated for the sake of this example, but taking each extreme allows us to examine the full spectrum) then we realise how foolish posts such as this are:

Possibility A: the bulk of muslims are simple people who want to live and let live.

The reality of this possibility: If this is the case, we're dealing with idiotic bigotry.

Possibility B: Islam is a threat to modern democracy and we should all be wailing and running to the hills.

The reality: if this is the case, then with a large portion of the world being of this religion, then antagonising them would be idiocy. Wouldn't a better idea be to try and engage with them?
Even if the die-hard anti-muslim brigade see this as 'subverting' muslims into moderacy, then wouldn't these kind of government subversion programs be a good thing? Wouldn't poking at them with this kind of comment, be just plain stupid?

So again, we see idiocy.

So, here are the brutal facts:

1) This program doesn't appear to just be for muslims, and if it is, then as evidenced by threads such as this, there is friction which needs to be addressed.

2) If muslims are indeed the global threat that certain conspiracy theorists fear, then having a dialogue with moderates is our best hope, as you can't simply bomb them into oblivion. There will always be a lot of muslims. Get used to it.

Frankly, it's pretty clear this thread is a stalking horse for other issues anyway.

Well researched Foxy.

It puts the whole topic into perspective and in a more honest light.

Storm in a teacup.

ALL deluded people should have leadership training.
Go ahead,waste more of my tax money.