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A PROGRESSIVE VOICE AMONG JEWS, A JEWISH VOICE AMONG PROGRESSIVES

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The Rise of Organised Intolerance

by AJDS on March 9, 2011

Hold the back page! The detailed scoop on the QSociety’s links can be read in New Matilda.
The full version, edited down because of space limitations, includes a discussion of the ‘quite interesting views’ of Bill Muehlenberg of the Australian Family Association and Senator Cory Bernardi (html file, with links).
I don’t know if you can call it a conspiracy, but..be on the alert for this stuff. It reminds me of the propaganda put out by the League of Rights many years ago, ‘reason’ cloaking intolerance that is easy to find, once you scratch the surface. They say they are not racist, just against Muslim extremism, but it all collapses into stereotyping that translates as hatred of the strange and different other. All too familiar.
The academic Paul Gardner spoke of the League of Rights, an ancestor of many right-wing organisations in Australia as using “self-serving definitions, idealistic appeals, obfuscation, innuendo, illogic, blaming (or accusing) the victim, distortion and group libel”, and QSociety like other groups (including the Christian Democratic Party), seems to be using quite the same tactic. [see the excellent survey of the history of the right in Australia by Andrew Moore, from where Gardner’s quote is taken. The League too, had some strong links to conservative churchmen and theology]

The Rise of Organised Intolerance

by AJDS on March 9, 2011

Hold the back page! The detailed scoop on the QSociety’s links can be read in New Matilda.
The full version, edited down because of space limitations, includes a discussion of the ‘quite interesting views’ of Bill Muehlenberg of the Australian Family Association and Senator Cory Bernardi (html file, with links).
I don’t know if you can call it a conspiracy, but..be on the alert for this stuff. It reminds me of the propaganda put out by the League of Rights many years ago, ‘reason’ cloaking intolerance that is easy to find, once you scratch the surface. They say they are not racist, just against Muslim extremism, but it all collapses into stereotyping that translates as hatred of the strange and different other. All too familiar.
The academic Paul Gardner spoke of the League of Rights, an ancestor of many right-wing organisations in Australia as using “self-serving definitions, idealistic appeals, obfuscation, innuendo, illogic, blaming (or accusing) the victim, distortion and group libel”, and QSociety like other groups (including the Christian Democratic Party), seems to be using quite the same tactic. [see the excellent survey of the history of the right in Australia by Andrew Moore, from where Gardner’s quote is taken. The League too, had some strong links to conservative churchmen and theology]

Melbourne Age attacks racist campaign

by AJDS on March 6, 2011

The Melbourne Age has an account of the events surrounding the Alma Road Community House, as well as an editorial in which the AJDS gets a guernsey for its work.
As the Age says, “Encouragingly, this racist campaign has led some members of the Jewish community to support the prayer group (the Alma Road house is in the heart of a Jewish precinct). The prayer group’s supporters include the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, the Jewish Christian Muslim Association, the Australian Jewish Democratic Society and the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC).”
Sign the petition in support of freedom of religion and in support of tolerance.

Liberty Victoria slams racist campaign against Muslims

by AJDS on March 5, 2011

The Liberty Victoria’s President Spencer Zivcak said that Q Society’s campaign against a Muslim prayer group in St Kilda “bears all the hallmarks of a deliberate attempt to deny to one religion the freedom of religious belief accorded to every other religion”.

Another purveyor of racism involved in the Campaign against the East St Kilda Community House

by AJDS on February 27, 2011

Criticism and critical (‘higher criticism’) scholarship about religion and religious texts is par for the course, and expected in an educated, liberal, and secular society.
[The attached image is taken from the Australian Islamist Monitor Website just to provide some ‘flavour’and it is obviously not endorsed my me or AJDS]

Another purveyor of racism involved in the Campaign against the East St Kilda Community House

by AJDS on February 27, 2011

Criticism and critical (‘higher criticism’) scholarship about religion and religious texts is par for the course, and expected in an educated, liberal, and secular society.
[The attached image is taken from the Australian Islamist Monitor Website just to provide some ‘flavour’and it is obviously not endorsed my me or AJDS]

AJDS Condemns Hysteria Over Muslim Prayers At Neighbourhood House

by AJDS on February 26, 2011

A campaign to bar a Muslim prayer group from using an East St Kilda Community House for one hour a week is being driven by extremists with an anti-Muslim agenda. The public controversy was manufactured by a group calling themselves the Q Society. The Q Society identified a need for a planning amendment to the Community House that would affect all groups that use the space.

AJDS Condemns Hysteria Over Muslim Prayers At Neighbourhood House

by AJDS on February 26, 2011

A campaign to bar a Muslim prayer group from using an East St Kilda Community House for one hour a week is being driven by extremists with an anti-Muslim agenda. The public controversy was manufactured by a group calling themselves the Q Society. The Q Society identified a need for a planning amendment to the Community House that would affect all groups that use the space.

Fred Nile's troops behind opposition to the Alma Road Community House?

by AJDS on February 26, 2011

This is all very local politics, but another test for diversity and freedom of peaceful association.
There is a planning application to increase the size of meetings so that a Muslim prayer group can meet for a couple of hours a week in St Kilda, Victoria at a community centre.
Opposition is being led by a group not from St Kilda. They are strong anti-Muslims, making all sorts of outrageous accusations.
Fortunately, responsible Jewish organisations have denounced the campaign, as outlined here and here.
The lead person in the anti-Community House campaign (Vickie Janson) was the number 1 candidate for the right wing Christian Democratic Party in the last Victorian elections, and she has also been a Senate candidate. The party is led by the Rev. Fred Nile, a well-known partisan preacher of intolerance in New South Wales. While the QSociety (the anti-Muslim group) claims to be speaking in support of Judeo-Christian values, the CDP makes it quite clear that Australia is a Christian, not any other nation.
Sign the petition in support of freedom of religion and in support of tolerance.

So what is going on in the Middle East at the moment?

by AJDS on February 25, 2011

Everyone has an opinion, and there was a recent event at the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas at the State Library of Victoria. You can watch the video/podcast via this link.
Of course, all view expressed are those of the individuals who participated, including Dr Sally Totman, Dr Larry Stillman and Professor Fethi Mansouri, two specialists on the Arab Middle East, and one with expertise in social media and knowledge of Israel.

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