2012-07-30
Source of Terrorism Found
Open Letter to Mr A, hirer of McMahons Point Lavendar Bay Community Centre, 165 Blue Point Rd, North Sydney NSW 2060, Australia for Friday 1:15pm prayers
cc: NSW and Australian police, shock jocks around the world, et al.
Dear Sir,
On 2012-07-08 I said the shahada at the Auburn Gallipoli mosque (in Auburn, Sydney, Australia), formalizing my entry into the Islamic faith. Interestingly, my Chinese friend said I was crazy to go there, that it was a tight-nit community, and there was a less than 1% chance that they would accept me. Things couldn't be further from the truth. They accepted me with open arms. They gave me literature, they invited me to itfar dinner, they gave me a prayer mat, they (mainly one guy actually, let's call him E) gave me one-on-one training in the Arabic alphabet pronunciation (although an Iraqi Arab Shia who is also my friend told me that this is totally unnecessary and that it would be better if I used English, which I actually understand, when talking to God). I later found out that this is a Turkish Sufi mosque, but it welcomes anyone, and even non-Muslims can go and pray there if they wish. No-one checks IDs or anything. There's no certificate for saying the shahada either, so there's no way to prove you're a Muslim. You just have to self-identify as one.
But I work in North Sydney, nowhere near Auburn mosque, so I needed to find a prayer centre close to where I work. E to the rescue - he pointed me towards the McMahons Point Community Centre. He gave this to me on 2012-07-15, meaning I skipped the first Friday prayers since reversion (2012-07-13). E warned me of dire consequences if I skipped 2 Friday prayers in a row, so I asked work to rearrange 2 meetings that clashed with the prayer times, which they did, although I probably stretched the relationship by inconveniencing them like that. So I attended the prayers (+ sermon - sermons are only given Friday lunchtime) on 2012-07-20. This was the start of Ramadan (which I am observing - 12 hours without even water!), and the speech was something about Muslims who are only Muslims during Ramadan are doing the wrong thing. As harmless as the "the lord is my shepherd" inanity I was compelled to sit through for years at a Christian prison camp (BBC in Brisbane). So far all my experience with Islam had been good. It was just like the spokespeople say - the vast majority of Muslims are great people, just like non-Muslims, and just as loyal to the country they live in as any non-Muslim, and there's no need for Islamophobia just because of a rare instance of terrorism from Muslims on 9/11.
However, along came Friday prayers on 2012-07-27. And boy oh boy, was I in for a shock. Some "brother", probably of Burmese descent, but I'm not sure, went into an anti-western tirade. Let's call him Mr X. I say "brother" because just because he's a Muslim, doesn't mean I consider him to be my brother. I only accept people as my real brother if we share a common ideology. And I could not be further from this guy. I wish I had recorded his sermon, but here's roughly what I remember of it:
Brothers (presumably anyone self-identifying as "Muslim") are being oppressed around the world, predominantly by the West. Examples include Syria and Afghanistan (and I'm pretty sure he's not referring to the draconian Afghan laws that murder anyone who converts away from Islam, or the extreme religious bigotry in the Afghan constitution that superfluously?! says the president must be a Muslim), but also the lesser-known Burma, where the religiously-bigotted Buddhists are oppressing and driving out the Muslims. They try to escape into Bangladesh (a Muslim country), but the Bangladeshis, who are controlled by the US, like everyone else, force them to return to Burma and close the borders. The West says nothing of this, and only issues hollow words for other brothers being oppressed, e.g. Syria - the West doesn't really care about Syrians, and the entire (his emphasis - as if all Westerners are the same and speak with one voice) West is complicit in this oppression.
That's about it. I rolled my eyes during the anti-western diatribe, and sought to seek quick smirks with others who were also rolling their eyes at this insane anti-western diatribe, as I assume 99% of the 100-200 people there were as equally as appalled about this anti-Western (and by corollary - anti-Australian - ie against the very country that allowed him migrate here, regardless of his religion, when we could have instead taken some non-racist, non-religious-bigotted Christian Filipinos instead) diatribe. But no-one caught my eye, probably because they were too focussed on kicking themselves for not bringing some rotten tomatoes to the sermon, just in case there was a rare anti-western sermon, as I assume that given that 99% of Muslims are nice, tolerant people, that 99% of the sermons are nice, pro-western in nature, and this is just the 1% terrorist-inciting speeches that are allowed due to freedom of speech, and I was just unlucky enough to get the 1 upfront, and the next 99 will be painstakingly debunking every single terrorist meme. Mr A, is that also your understanding of what happens at the prayer centre? Because I understand you don't attend personally at the hall you hire, so you are probably completely innocently unaware that the 1% bad apples are getting air time with a large audience, in a place of worship no less, instead of being relegated to shouting alone in chat rooms like other terrorist-paradigm people need to do.
Please don't assume that I am blindly pro-western. I am far from that. E.g. I wrote a post where I railed against both the right-wing and the left-wing Australian parties. But if anyone with a brain reads that, they can clearly see that its mostly hyperbole. E.g. I even call the Israelis "kikes", just because they didn't immediately implement a plan which I only published on 2012-07-14, and which called for them to allow an Arab occupying force into Israel proper. It's clearly unreasonable to expect that to happen at all, nevermind in just 12 days. That's hyperbole. Hy-per-bol-e.
It's amazing how many people can't see obvious hyperbole though. I was (no joke) arrested by government forces after this post, where I threatened to kill a non-existent wife, and where I said that Assad had both a death ray and a cure for cancer. Yeah, right. And Australia has been allies with Denmark for 7000 years?! Australia only came into existence in 1901. Regardless, the government forces took me to a detention centre, and even tried to deny me my one phone call. They eventually agreed to give what I hope is my statutory right, and I (no joke) used it to dial the Turkish military to come and liberate me, since I know that Australia doesn't have a Bill of Rights that would protect me from government abuses like this. Unfortunately the guy I spoke to in the Turkish military didn't speak much English, so I was held without charge or even ground leave for nearly a week. Oh yeah, and after my phone call, the government forces physically forced me down and injected me with something. So yeah, if the West does something wrong, which they often do, I will be the first to complain, believe me. However, hyperbole aside, the West is almost always a force for good in the world.
It was the West, not some Islamic country (well, except Turkey) that came to the aid of the Bosnian Muslims. It was the West, not Islamic countries (again, sans-Turkey) that came to the aid of the Kosovars. It was the West who tried to help Muslims in Somalia. It is the West that gives the most aid to Africa (for many decades, although I consider that aid to be futile, but the fact is they mean well). It is the West that provided the bulk of the air support to the Libyan rebels. It is the West that liberated (instead of nuking) Afghanistan. It was the West that liberated Iraq. The West is overwhelmingly an extremely valuable force for positive change in the world. And besides Libya (where it was France in particular), it is the US in particular who is the major force for improvement in the state of the world.
In fact, the only recent bad thing I can think of that the US did, was annex territory from a liberal democracy (Serbia) so that a bunch of racist religious bigots (Kosovars) could have an independent state. But I doubt Mr X sees that the same way. The Russians were rightly incensed though. Speaking of which. Mr X didn't have a single bad word to say about the East (Russia and China), who are the ones actually blocking UN action on Syria. If these two immoral countries would become moral, we could "legally" (for those that recognize the immoral UN as an authority) go and liberate Syria tomorrow.
Anyway, I love freedom of speech, and do not think that Mr X should be denied his right to express an evil terrorist-inciting opinion. I believe the solution to this problem is for mass protests outside the McMahons Point Community Centre, asking people to boycott the place as 1% of the time may be all that is required to incite a terrorist. I told E that I was not going to go to Friday prayers anymore and be associated with this forum that gives anti-western terrorists a platform. But E insists that it is compulsory to go, so I will continue to go. Mr A, it would be nice if you would allow me to give a sermon, as one of the next 99 pro-western sermons that completely expose and destroy Mr X's religious bigotry. I assume (assuming good faith wherever possible) that you're in no way in league with Mr X, so would be happy to give me a "right of reply"? It's a great shame these sermons aren't actually debates, with a panel on each side. Although this really is wtf material - why are political debates being held at a place of worship?!
Ok, next thing. Even though I support Mr X's right to incite terrorism, or at least, some measure of freedom of speech, guaranteed in a Bill of Rights, I am aware that Australia does not have such protection, and I know that Christians have been hauled over the coals (instead of being defended) for (allegedly) anti-Muslim remarks, and whites have been hauled over the coals for (allegedly) anti-Aboriginal remarks. It is about time that minorities (Burmese Muslims would be great!) were made to face the same "justice" that whites and Christians are subjected to. As such, I am reporting this matter to both the NSW police and the Australian police, to see if charges can be laid against Mr X. Even though I don't have a recording of the speech, there are 100-200 witnesses, and hopefully 99% of them are Australians who believe in a fair go, and won't lie under oath when asked to confirm my account of what happened on that terrible day.
I could continue, but it's 7:30pm and the Ramadan fasting ended at 5:21pm but I still haven't eaten because I thought it was more important to get this to the police et al before luxuries like eating dinner.
Thanks. Paul.
P.S. Unlike Mr X, who probably didn't do a straw-poll of even 1 single westerner, despite living in a western country, I did a straw poll of a random American to find out what she thought about Syria. Here's the conversation:
Edwards, Paul 12:11 PM
hi akakak. non-work-related question. do you care about the syrians being slaughtered by their government, and if you do, what do you think should be done about it?
akakak 12:11 PM
yes I do care
Edwards, Paul 12:12 PM
cool. someone told me on friday that the west doesn't care
you're my straw poll so that i can call him a liar
and ask him for an opinion poll that proves his point
akakak 12:12 PM
Not sure what do, probably the rest of teh Arab countries should step in but they jsut as bad
Edwards, Paul 12:13 PM
so if the other arabs are just as bad, do you think someone good should step in?
akakak 12:14 PM
sure
Edwards, Paul 12:19 PM
someone good like who? the UN is split, so they won't be doing anything. Turkey could unilaterally do something. NATO could do something. There could be an Australian-led multinational force. Indian-led multinational force. US unilateral. etc. what would you suggest?
akakak 12:20 PM
Well, If waiting on Europe, you can forgetit about it, by they tiem they decide tehr e will be no people left in Syria
Edwards, Paul 12:21 PM
:)
akakak 12:21 PM
Others never took actions on their own
but some of them did help US
US and Australia can do it, who needs anybody else
Edwards, Paul 12:22 PM
so your ideal action would be the ANZUS alliance to go in? Not even including the UK?
akakak 12:23 PM
O ya, they would probably join in, I forgot about them
Edwards, Paul 12:23 PM
and who should lead the action out of US, UK and Australia?
akakak 12:23 PM
US
Edwards, Paul 12:24 PM
ok, thanks for your thoughts. :)
akakak 12:24 PM
sure
P.P.S. I have also made inquiries with the North Sydney Council about renting out the hall prior to 1:15pm so that I can have a pro-western agenda being heard. I can indeed afford the cost of the hall and insurance all on my own, so just need a cooperative Imam, since I am not qualified to do that myself.
P.P.P.S. I don't just offer to protect Syrian Muslims. When I saw the 9/11 jumpers I swore to them that I would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the root cause of what happened to them would be found and utterly destroyed. Obviously they couldn't hear me. But nor could Filipinos see me doing the "laban" sign in 1986. Only my TV saw that.
P.P.P.P.S. There's a chance that I will be arrested by the Australian police for wasting police time or some other trumped up charge. Because I'm only a white Muslim, so I don't get the general protection that Muslims get. If you don't see updates from me in twitter feed "kerravon86" you can assume the worst. Put a comment on this guy's blog if you want to contribute to the effort to free me.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Before anyone tries to make the assertion "Oh, we only mean the governments are bad, not the people", please be aware that Western governments are DEMOCRACIES so in 1/21 millionth of a way I AM the bloody government! Also read this. Even when democracies are doing something bad, like annexing territory from the Serbian liberal democracy to create a terrorist state - that action is supported by a HUGE percentage of the population (not always a majority though).
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. E assures me that the Auburn Gallipoli mosque doesn't have such anti-western diatribes at it.
|
cc: NSW and Australian police, shock jocks around the world, et al.
Dear Sir,
On 2012-07-08 I said the shahada at the Auburn Gallipoli mosque (in Auburn, Sydney, Australia), formalizing my entry into the Islamic faith. Interestingly, my Chinese friend said I was crazy to go there, that it was a tight-nit community, and there was a less than 1% chance that they would accept me. Things couldn't be further from the truth. They accepted me with open arms. They gave me literature, they invited me to itfar dinner, they gave me a prayer mat, they (mainly one guy actually, let's call him E) gave me one-on-one training in the Arabic alphabet pronunciation (although an Iraqi Arab Shia who is also my friend told me that this is totally unnecessary and that it would be better if I used English, which I actually understand, when talking to God). I later found out that this is a Turkish Sufi mosque, but it welcomes anyone, and even non-Muslims can go and pray there if they wish. No-one checks IDs or anything. There's no certificate for saying the shahada either, so there's no way to prove you're a Muslim. You just have to self-identify as one.
But I work in North Sydney, nowhere near Auburn mosque, so I needed to find a prayer centre close to where I work. E to the rescue - he pointed me towards the McMahons Point Community Centre. He gave this to me on 2012-07-15, meaning I skipped the first Friday prayers since reversion (2012-07-13). E warned me of dire consequences if I skipped 2 Friday prayers in a row, so I asked work to rearrange 2 meetings that clashed with the prayer times, which they did, although I probably stretched the relationship by inconveniencing them like that. So I attended the prayers (+ sermon - sermons are only given Friday lunchtime) on 2012-07-20. This was the start of Ramadan (which I am observing - 12 hours without even water!), and the speech was something about Muslims who are only Muslims during Ramadan are doing the wrong thing. As harmless as the "the lord is my shepherd" inanity I was compelled to sit through for years at a Christian prison camp (BBC in Brisbane). So far all my experience with Islam had been good. It was just like the spokespeople say - the vast majority of Muslims are great people, just like non-Muslims, and just as loyal to the country they live in as any non-Muslim, and there's no need for Islamophobia just because of a rare instance of terrorism from Muslims on 9/11.
However, along came Friday prayers on 2012-07-27. And boy oh boy, was I in for a shock. Some "brother", probably of Burmese descent, but I'm not sure, went into an anti-western tirade. Let's call him Mr X. I say "brother" because just because he's a Muslim, doesn't mean I consider him to be my brother. I only accept people as my real brother if we share a common ideology. And I could not be further from this guy. I wish I had recorded his sermon, but here's roughly what I remember of it:
Brothers (presumably anyone self-identifying as "Muslim") are being oppressed around the world, predominantly by the West. Examples include Syria and Afghanistan (and I'm pretty sure he's not referring to the draconian Afghan laws that murder anyone who converts away from Islam, or the extreme religious bigotry in the Afghan constitution that superfluously?! says the president must be a Muslim), but also the lesser-known Burma, where the religiously-bigotted Buddhists are oppressing and driving out the Muslims. They try to escape into Bangladesh (a Muslim country), but the Bangladeshis, who are controlled by the US, like everyone else, force them to return to Burma and close the borders. The West says nothing of this, and only issues hollow words for other brothers being oppressed, e.g. Syria - the West doesn't really care about Syrians, and the entire (his emphasis - as if all Westerners are the same and speak with one voice) West is complicit in this oppression.
That's about it. I rolled my eyes during the anti-western diatribe, and sought to seek quick smirks with others who were also rolling their eyes at this insane anti-western diatribe, as I assume 99% of the 100-200 people there were as equally as appalled about this anti-Western (and by corollary - anti-Australian - ie against the very country that allowed him migrate here, regardless of his religion, when we could have instead taken some non-racist, non-religious-bigotted Christian Filipinos instead) diatribe. But no-one caught my eye, probably because they were too focussed on kicking themselves for not bringing some rotten tomatoes to the sermon, just in case there was a rare anti-western sermon, as I assume that given that 99% of Muslims are nice, tolerant people, that 99% of the sermons are nice, pro-western in nature, and this is just the 1% terrorist-inciting speeches that are allowed due to freedom of speech, and I was just unlucky enough to get the 1 upfront, and the next 99 will be painstakingly debunking every single terrorist meme. Mr A, is that also your understanding of what happens at the prayer centre? Because I understand you don't attend personally at the hall you hire, so you are probably completely innocently unaware that the 1% bad apples are getting air time with a large audience, in a place of worship no less, instead of being relegated to shouting alone in chat rooms like other terrorist-paradigm people need to do.
Please don't assume that I am blindly pro-western. I am far from that. E.g. I wrote a post where I railed against both the right-wing and the left-wing Australian parties. But if anyone with a brain reads that, they can clearly see that its mostly hyperbole. E.g. I even call the Israelis "kikes", just because they didn't immediately implement a plan which I only published on 2012-07-14, and which called for them to allow an Arab occupying force into Israel proper. It's clearly unreasonable to expect that to happen at all, nevermind in just 12 days. That's hyperbole. Hy-per-bol-e.
It's amazing how many people can't see obvious hyperbole though. I was (no joke) arrested by government forces after this post, where I threatened to kill a non-existent wife, and where I said that Assad had both a death ray and a cure for cancer. Yeah, right. And Australia has been allies with Denmark for 7000 years?! Australia only came into existence in 1901. Regardless, the government forces took me to a detention centre, and even tried to deny me my one phone call. They eventually agreed to give what I hope is my statutory right, and I (no joke) used it to dial the Turkish military to come and liberate me, since I know that Australia doesn't have a Bill of Rights that would protect me from government abuses like this. Unfortunately the guy I spoke to in the Turkish military didn't speak much English, so I was held without charge or even ground leave for nearly a week. Oh yeah, and after my phone call, the government forces physically forced me down and injected me with something. So yeah, if the West does something wrong, which they often do, I will be the first to complain, believe me. However, hyperbole aside, the West is almost always a force for good in the world.
It was the West, not some Islamic country (well, except Turkey) that came to the aid of the Bosnian Muslims. It was the West, not Islamic countries (again, sans-Turkey) that came to the aid of the Kosovars. It was the West who tried to help Muslims in Somalia. It is the West that gives the most aid to Africa (for many decades, although I consider that aid to be futile, but the fact is they mean well). It is the West that provided the bulk of the air support to the Libyan rebels. It is the West that liberated (instead of nuking) Afghanistan. It was the West that liberated Iraq. The West is overwhelmingly an extremely valuable force for positive change in the world. And besides Libya (where it was France in particular), it is the US in particular who is the major force for improvement in the state of the world.
In fact, the only recent bad thing I can think of that the US did, was annex territory from a liberal democracy (Serbia) so that a bunch of racist religious bigots (Kosovars) could have an independent state. But I doubt Mr X sees that the same way. The Russians were rightly incensed though. Speaking of which. Mr X didn't have a single bad word to say about the East (Russia and China), who are the ones actually blocking UN action on Syria. If these two immoral countries would become moral, we could "legally" (for those that recognize the immoral UN as an authority) go and liberate Syria tomorrow.
Anyway, I love freedom of speech, and do not think that Mr X should be denied his right to express an evil terrorist-inciting opinion. I believe the solution to this problem is for mass protests outside the McMahons Point Community Centre, asking people to boycott the place as 1% of the time may be all that is required to incite a terrorist. I told E that I was not going to go to Friday prayers anymore and be associated with this forum that gives anti-western terrorists a platform. But E insists that it is compulsory to go, so I will continue to go. Mr A, it would be nice if you would allow me to give a sermon, as one of the next 99 pro-western sermons that completely expose and destroy Mr X's religious bigotry. I assume (assuming good faith wherever possible) that you're in no way in league with Mr X, so would be happy to give me a "right of reply"? It's a great shame these sermons aren't actually debates, with a panel on each side. Although this really is wtf material - why are political debates being held at a place of worship?!
Ok, next thing. Even though I support Mr X's right to incite terrorism, or at least, some measure of freedom of speech, guaranteed in a Bill of Rights, I am aware that Australia does not have such protection, and I know that Christians have been hauled over the coals (instead of being defended) for (allegedly) anti-Muslim remarks, and whites have been hauled over the coals for (allegedly) anti-Aboriginal remarks. It is about time that minorities (Burmese Muslims would be great!) were made to face the same "justice" that whites and Christians are subjected to. As such, I am reporting this matter to both the NSW police and the Australian police, to see if charges can be laid against Mr X. Even though I don't have a recording of the speech, there are 100-200 witnesses, and hopefully 99% of them are Australians who believe in a fair go, and won't lie under oath when asked to confirm my account of what happened on that terrible day.
I could continue, but it's 7:30pm and the Ramadan fasting ended at 5:21pm but I still haven't eaten because I thought it was more important to get this to the police et al before luxuries like eating dinner.
Thanks. Paul.
P.S. Unlike Mr X, who probably didn't do a straw-poll of even 1 single westerner, despite living in a western country, I did a straw poll of a random American to find out what she thought about Syria. Here's the conversation:
Edwards, Paul 12:11 PM
hi akakak. non-work-related question. do you care about the syrians being slaughtered by their government, and if you do, what do you think should be done about it?
akakak 12:11 PM
yes I do care
Edwards, Paul 12:12 PM
cool. someone told me on friday that the west doesn't care
you're my straw poll so that i can call him a liar
and ask him for an opinion poll that proves his point
akakak 12:12 PM
Not sure what do, probably the rest of teh Arab countries should step in but they jsut as bad
Edwards, Paul 12:13 PM
so if the other arabs are just as bad, do you think someone good should step in?
akakak 12:14 PM
sure
Edwards, Paul 12:19 PM
someone good like who? the UN is split, so they won't be doing anything. Turkey could unilaterally do something. NATO could do something. There could be an Australian-led multinational force. Indian-led multinational force. US unilateral. etc. what would you suggest?
akakak 12:20 PM
Well, If waiting on Europe, you can forgetit about it, by they tiem they decide tehr e will be no people left in Syria
Edwards, Paul 12:21 PM
:)
akakak 12:21 PM
Others never took actions on their own
but some of them did help US
US and Australia can do it, who needs anybody else
Edwards, Paul 12:22 PM
so your ideal action would be the ANZUS alliance to go in? Not even including the UK?
akakak 12:23 PM
O ya, they would probably join in, I forgot about them
Edwards, Paul 12:23 PM
and who should lead the action out of US, UK and Australia?
akakak 12:23 PM
US
Edwards, Paul 12:24 PM
ok, thanks for your thoughts. :)
akakak 12:24 PM
sure
P.P.S. I have also made inquiries with the North Sydney Council about renting out the hall prior to 1:15pm so that I can have a pro-western agenda being heard. I can indeed afford the cost of the hall and insurance all on my own, so just need a cooperative Imam, since I am not qualified to do that myself.
P.P.P.S. I don't just offer to protect Syrian Muslims. When I saw the 9/11 jumpers I swore to them that I would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the root cause of what happened to them would be found and utterly destroyed. Obviously they couldn't hear me. But nor could Filipinos see me doing the "laban" sign in 1986. Only my TV saw that.
P.P.P.P.S. There's a chance that I will be arrested by the Australian police for wasting police time or some other trumped up charge. Because I'm only a white Muslim, so I don't get the general protection that Muslims get. If you don't see updates from me in twitter feed "kerravon86" you can assume the worst. Put a comment on this guy's blog if you want to contribute to the effort to free me.
P.P.P.P.P.S. Before anyone tries to make the assertion "Oh, we only mean the governments are bad, not the people", please be aware that Western governments are DEMOCRACIES so in 1/21 millionth of a way I AM the bloody government! Also read this. Even when democracies are doing something bad, like annexing territory from the Serbian liberal democracy to create a terrorist state - that action is supported by a HUGE percentage of the population (not always a majority though).
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. E assures me that the Auburn Gallipoli mosque doesn't have such anti-western diatribes at it.
# posted by Paul Edwards @ 19:31 
