Sunday, 1 October 2006

Newsletter 0099

This week's CCN is brought to you with the compliments of

لسلام عليكم

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As a long-suffering reader who will have had the dubious pleasure of seeing us though 100 issues next week, we ask you to email us your views and comments on CCN and what the journey has meant to you.

To celebrate and mark the occasion, one lucky reader will receive a GIFT VOUCHER valid at a number of stores, including K-MART, BI-LO, Coles, Myers and Target.

Report and photos by FGFP

The General Delegation of Palestine to Australia has a new Head, Ambassador Izzat Abdulhadi, who has replaced the long-serving Ali Kazak. Like his predecessor, Ambassador Abdulhadi represents Palestine across the south-Pacific, including New Zealand, but will be based in Canberra.

Fair Go for Palestine and members of other Palestinian solidarity groups hosted a dinner and meeting on 29 September 2006 to welcome Ambassador Abdulhadi and to give him an opportunity to provide an update on the situation in Palestine as well as to discuss the objectives of his appointment.

Ambassador Abdulhadi has a comprehensive strategy for the advocacy of the Palestinian cause, which will include the co-ordination of Palestine advocacy groups across the country and the establishment of research and information centres so that the reality of the Palestine issue can be made more widely understood in Australia. His strategy will also involve constructive engaging with government and political leaders; business associations and networks; schools and universities; social and community groups, including the Australian Jewish community; and the Australian media.

FGFP members, Nora Amath, Halim Rane, and Les Wilson, who attended the meeting, were impressed with Ambassador Abdulhadi’s vision and leadership and look forward to working with him in carrying out this strategic plan. The major obstacle at present is the chronic lack funds as almost all sources of revenue have been cut off from Palestine since the democratic election of Hamas in January. Funding for the implementation of the strategic plan will have to be raised locally, from around Australia. Insha’allah, the Muslim community of Brisbane will support and contribute generously to this most important cause.

After Ramadan, FGFP members will attend a meeting in Canberra with Ambassador Abdulhadi along with other Palestine advocacy groups from around Australia to discuss the implementation of the strategic plan. Shortly thereafter, FGFP will host Ambassador Abdulhadi in Brisbane for a series of public lectures as well as to meet with members of the Muslim community. If you would like to join FGFP, email contact@fairgoforpalestine.org or phone Nora or Halim on 0422 349 786 / 0422 349 785 respectively.

Every Saturday night, after Taraweeh during the month of Ramadhan, the Algester Mosque is the venue to be at if you want a deliciously hot BBQ-ed flame-grilled chicken or steak meal and a bit of a chat.

The Saturday night out here has become somewhat of a tradition with local mosque goers, and the fare is good value for money as well.

PROJECT WORKERS

Muslim Labour Market Participation Project-Two workers  who identify with the Muslim faith will be employed by ACCES Services Inc. with funding and support from Dept Employment & Training and Dept Immigration & Multicultural Affairs to work in the Greater Brisbane region with an outreach focus to rural and regional areas. 

The project aims to support unemployed and underemployed Muslim people, with a focus on young people aged 17-24 years who are disadvantaged in the labour market, and to examine/address barriers to employment for Muslim people in the workforce.  Initial period of employment 12 months at SACS Level 5 full time ($41926-$43999). Application available 3808 9299 or www.accesservicesinc.org.au.

Closing date 13/10/06 5pm.  

By Evelyn Yamine

September 28, 2006 12:00

Article from:

THE spiritual leader of Australia's Muslims, Sheikh Taj el-Dene Elhilaly, has joined in the football grand final fever hype – and he's backing the Sydney Swans all the way.

The mufti was disappointed when his team – the Bulldogs – did not make it to the NRL grand final and is now relying on the Sydney Swans to redeem the state's sporting reputation.

The self-confessed avid sports fan said he wanted the Swans to bring the cup home again this year.
Wearing a Sydney Swans scarf over his traditional Islamic dress robe, the mufti was not afraid to show off his athletic skills by kicking a ball around in Lakemba this week.

"I like sports in general and I live in Sydney so of course I support the Sydney Swans," Sheik Elhilaly said.

"With the Bulldogs being out of the competition and no Sydney team in the rugby league grand final, I'm supporting the Sydney Swans.

"We want them to win but win or lose, we are proud of them," he said.

The mufti, who is in the middle of the Islamic fasting season of Ramadan, said he planned to be glued to the television for the football finals on the weekend.

Although he is still interested in the outcome of the NRL grand final between Melbourne Storm and the Brisbane Broncos, the mufti believes the Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles at the MCG on Saturday is the game to watch.

"I will be watching it. It's important for everyone in NSW to get involved and show support for the only NSW team left in the grand finals," he said.

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[Editor]: For the record, the West Coast Eagles won the AFL Grand Final by one point yesterday, and Brisbane will hold its breath for tonight's NRL result.

The full speech

The Conference released a communiqué soon after.

Legendary writer Harold Pinter's plays have been so influential in theatre all over the world, that the word 'Pinteresque' has appeared in the lexicon to describe the particular menace of stripped-down language and pregnant pauses that characterize his work.

Ramona Koval of the ABC interviewed him at the Edinburgh International Book Festival recently.

You can read the full interview or put your iPod to good use by downloading the mp3 Audio and listen to the full ABC interview while out on your morning jog.

Extract 1:

........I had sight of a correspondence quite recently which does reflect upon this whole matter, between the families of British soldiers killed in Iraq and the Prime Minister. And the substance of the families of the British soldiers, of their letter, was why did our sons/fathers/husbands/ die? What did they die for? And our prime minister—I think he's called Blair, as far as I can remember—actually said (I've seen it in black and white) 'They died defending their country.' Now if you examine that statement, what it means is that Saddam Hussein must have invaded Britain. I might have been watching cricket at the time. But I hadn't noticed that he'd invaded Britain. You could only defend your country against an invader, if you like, an aggressive force. And that hasn't happened. But Tony Blair gets away with that kind of rhetoric, that kind of meaningless statement. And nobody takes him up on it—apart from me I have to say. And I'm sure everyone in this room, if you really examine what it means, it's absolute nonsense. And it's also not only nonsense, it's disgraceful. And it's an insult not only to the families who wrote a very, very serious letter—but also to our intelligence generally.

Extract 2:

Well my position is just my position. I think everyone has a responsibility to have their own position. What I think, however, is that—you talk about the blood on the streets—in Iraq there have been about 150,000 deaths which we have brought about. There's plenty of blood on those streets. And we've brought it about by use of what I would state without any reservation as 'state terrorism'. It seems to me also that the word 'terror' is so easily used, and even Hermann Goering once said—not 'even' Hermann Goering—Hermann Goering once said that all you have to do to retain power is to tell the people that you are protecting them. And that's what's happening here, I think, now. We are protecting the people.

So the hysteria over the last few weeks is palpable and evident. Now I've no idea whether there's any substance in what's being said about these young men and their activities or their aspirations. But all I do know is that it has to be proved in court, and justified, weighed, measured, by an independent judiciary. And until that happens I believe it's just using, as Goering said, using the media and using government power to say, 'We are protecting you, and leave it to us.' And I believe that this totally avoids the appalling indignities, humiliations and the never-ending series of death and destruction which we have brought about. I'm talking about what's called the western democracies, which includes Israel. We have brought about under the name of bringing freedom and democracy. Now those words have become totally undermined and in fact in my view abject, hollow and meaningless. Bush, don't forget, says, 'We are bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East.' Really. I'm afraid he's not, by a very, very long way.
 

Leading the Taraweeh every night at the Darool Uloom is a team of energetic and enthusiastic Hufaaz.

Other than Zubair, who became a Hafiz in Durban, the rest of the young men are home grown Hufaaz having completed their memorizing of the Quran under the tutelage of Qari Fida Ur Rahman during his time at the Holland Park Mosque.

Now based in Kuraby Mosque Qari Rahman continues to produce a steady stream of Huffaaz each year.

Hafiz - A person who has memorised and can recite the whole Qur'an by heart. Hufaaz is the plural of Hafiz

China counted on Rebiya Kadeer, a Muslim businesswoman-turned-activist, fading into political irrelevance like most exiled Chinese dissidents when she left for the United States last year. But it may have miscalculated.
 

Kadeer, 58, an ethnic Uighur jailed for more than five years in China for providing state secrets to foreigners before her exile, won a Rafto Prize for human rights in Norway in 2004 and has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

"Rebiya Kadeer champions the rights of western China's Uighur ethnic group and is one of China's most prominent advocates of women's rights," Annelie Enochson, a Swedish parliamentarian, wrote in nominating Kadeer for the prestigious Nobel award.

"Kadeer has also used her resources as founder and director of a large trading company in northwestern China to provide fellow Uighurs with training and employment," Enochson said.
 

Her crime, the authorities said, was to send local newspaper reports about the activities of Xinjiang's ethnic Turkish-speaking Uighurs to her US-based husband, even though these were freely available.

It was a sharp reversal in fortunes for someone whose local achievements the Communist government had until then trumpeted.
 

Mrs Kadeer, twice-married and the mother of at least 11 children, grew up in poverty but at the time of her release was known locally as "the millionairess".

Human Rights Watch researcher Mickey Spiegel, who has met Mrs Kadeer's family several times, described her as "a very enterprising woman, who was able to bring herself up, in a sense, by her bootstraps".

After working as a laundress, Mrs Kadeer founded and directed a large trading company in Xinjiang, and used her wealth to provide fellow Uighurs with employment and training.

Partly as a result, she was appointed to China's national advisory group, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and sent as one of the country's delegates to the United Nations World Conference on Women in 1995.

But her treatment by the authorities changed, rights organisations say, when her Uighur husband and former political prisoner Sidik Rouzi fled China for the US in 1996. He had previously been imprisoned for campaigning against China's treatment of the ethnic minority, which make up more than half the mainly Muslim population of Xinjiang.
 

Mrs Kadeer's passport was seized, she was harassed by police and, in 1998, barred from reappointment to the CPPCC.
 

Before her arrest, Mrs Kadeer was running the 1,000 Families Mothers' Project, which helped Uighur women start businesses.

Sources:

http://news.ibn.net/newsframe.asp?url=http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews;XPC;storyID=2006-09-11T055011Z_01_PEK161842_RTRUKOC_0_US-CHINA-ACTIVIST.xml;XPC;archived=False

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4618995.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4357607.stm

Latest News

The Australian Uygur Association has arranged a protest rally on
SUNDAY 1ST OCTOBER 2006 AT 10AM
CAMPERDOWN PARK AUSTRALIA ST CAMPERDOWN
then march to Chinese Consulate in Dunblane St
 

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A car dealership's adio advertisement declaring "a jihad on the automotive market," will not be changed, the company said, despite drawing sharp criticism that the ad's content is offensive.

Several stations rejected the spot from Dennis Mitsubishi, which boasts that sales representatives wearing "burqas" -- head-to-toe traditional dress for Islamic women -- will sell vehicles that can "comfortably seat 12 jihadists in the back."

"We firmly believe the ad does not in any way disrespect any religion or culture, but we feel, I guess, that maybe poking a little fun at radical extremists is fair game," dealership president Keith Dennis said on Saturday. "It was our intention to craft something around some of the buzzwords of the day and give everyone a good chuckle and be a little bit of a tension reliever."

While Dennis defended the ad as a harmless attempt to bring levity to a serious situation, the Columbus chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations decried it as disrespectful.

"Using that as a promotional pitch when so many are dying from the criminal activity of suicide bombers, that's not funny," chapter president Asma Mobin-Uddin said. "I don't think it's appropriate when it causes real pain. It exploits or promotes misunderstanding in terms already misunderstood or misused."

In the ad, Dennis talks about "launching a jihad on the automotive market" and giving away toy swords to children.

"Our prices are lower than the evildoers' every day. Just ask the pope!" the ad says. "Friday is fatwa Friday, with free rubber swords for the kiddies."


Some radio stations are balking at the dealership's attempt to poke fun at extremists, though.

"With no disrespect to their creativity or their desire to build business, everything we're about is promoting the values of diversity. To air things of that sort would go against our mission statement," said Jeff Wilson, general manager of three Radio One stations in Columbus.

The dealership claims nothing in the ad is intended to promote a negative stereotype of Islam. A group that previewed the ad didn't raise any objections, although no one from the group was Islamic, Dennis said.

Radio executives who heard the ad last week thought it was funny and aggressive, dealership general manager Aaron Masterson said.

"This is one where we feel we're taking a bull's-eye on terrorists," Masterson said. "After all the nonsense that the terrorists put the public through, they're fair game."

The ad, written and produced by the company, will begin airing next week, although he was uncertain of which radio stations had accepted the spot, Dennis aid.

Source: http://www.nbc5.com/money/9927712/detail.html

The ECCQ is also preparing a response to the DIMA Citizenship Testing Discussion Paper which can be accessed at http://www.citizenship.gov.au/news/discussion_paper.htm. The deadline for submissions is November 17. if you have any comments or views you would like included in ECCQ’s submission email the manager@eccq.com.au by October 20.
 

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