| ritten by Administrator |
| Sunday, 08 May 2011 17:24 |
Egypt said o n Sunday that it will use an “iron hand” to protect national security and will use anti-terror laws against those sowing unrest, following deadly sectarian clashes in Cairo.Authorities will “strike with an iron hand all those who seek to tamper with the nation’s security,” Justice Minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi told reporters after cabinet crisis talks. Gindi said the government would “immediately and firmly implement the laws that criminalise attacks against places of worship and freedom of belief” and will use anti-terror laws to combat those “threatening national security.” The clashes in the working class neighbourhood of Imbaba, in northwestern Cairo, on Saturday left 12 people dead and 232 injured, state television said.Among those killed were four Christians and six Muslims, while the two other bodies were still unidentified.The two groups clashed after Muslims attacked the Coptic Saint Mena church in Imbaba to free a Christian woman they alleged was being held against her will because she wanted to convert to Islam. The country has been gripped by insecurity and sectarian unrest since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak on February 11. Gindi blamed the events on a “counter-revolution” which the government has repeatedly said is being orchestrated by remnants of the Mubarak regime, for stirring unrest in the country. “Egypt’s people, the noble police and the great army are standing together today to foil the counter-revolution,” Gindi said. He said that laws criminalising attacks on national unity “face severe punishment and can lead to a death sentence.” “The government will be using the regular law, not exceptional laws and not the emergency law,” said Gindi. Mubarak had ruled for 30 years under the emergency which gave police wide powers of arrest and suspended constitutional rights. “This government is a government that believes in the sovereignty of the law,” Gindi said. Copts account for up to 10 per cent of the country’s 80 million people. They complain of discrimination, and have been the targets of fairly regular sectarian attacks. |
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Egypt to use ‘iron hand’ to protect security
Great Britain edge Pakistan 3-2 in Azlan Shah Cup
| Written by Administrator |
| Sunday, 08 May 2011 17:28 |
 Pakistan’s two-match winning streak was brought to an end on Sunday as they squandered chances and lost to Great Britain 3-2 at the Azlan Shah stadium in Ipoh, Malaysia.Great Britain opened the scoring in the 8th minute through Robert Moore. After that, Pakistan struggled to create chances in the first half, with Shakeel Abbasi missing a chance to equalise in the 24th minute. Simon Mantell came close to making it 2-0 for Great Britain in the 25th minute but his shot was saved by Pakistani keeper Imran Shah.Pakistan’s first penalty corner came in the 27th minute and the opportunity was wasted but soon enough, Sohail Abbas scored the equaliser for Pakistan through their second penalty corner in the 31st minute. In the second half, Great Britain once again took the lead over Pakistan through Jonathan Clarke in the 39th minute. Pakistan got another chance to equalise but the shot from the penalty corner was saved by Great Britain’s keeper, while Umar Bhutta also missed a sitter for Pakistan in the 55th minute. Great Britain increased their lead in the 63rd minute as Clarke scored his second goal and the score stood at 3-1. Pakistan quickly caught up and made the score line 3-2 as Abdul Haseem Khan scored in the 64th minute. Pakistan were given another penalty corner in the 67th minute but failed to convert it into a goal as Sohail sent it wide. Pakistan defeated New Zealand and South Korea in the first two matches with impressive performances and will now face Australia on May 9. India vs Australia Earlier, India and Australia’s match ended in a 1-1 draw. AFP reports, world champions Australia were held to a 1-1 draw by India thanks to a superb defensive performance against a second-half onslaught from the world’s leading team. Both teams now have four points after a win and a draw, but the Indians have played a game more, losing to South Korea. Just six months ago India were thrashed 0-8 by Australia in the Commonwealth Games final in New Delhi and Australian coach Ric Charlesworth said the result was disappointing. “But I am not surprised… India played good hockey but I think we too were responsible as we did not take our chances,” he said. It was a resilient performance by India who had to absorb tremendous pressure in the second-half as the Australians pushed for victory after being pegged back from a 14th minute lead. Australia created early opportunities with Glenn Turner and Jacob Whetton having good shots at goal saved by India’s Adrian D’Souza. The Aussies took the lead through Whetton, who scored with a field goal after dribbling into the D. India had several chances but the best opportunity came in the 19th minute when Shivender Singh missed the final touch. But Indian pressure paid off in the 23rd minute, equalising from their first penalty corner. Rupinderpal Singh, who scored three penalty goals in the match against Britain, flicked home the ball for his fourth goal of the tournament. Australia, the World Number one, responded by going on the offensive, dominating play for much of the second-half. But the Indians managed to hold out for the draw, ably clearing the ball from defence. Both teams were unhappy with the umpiring claiming it was inconsistent and that decisions had gone against them. |
US releases seized Osama bin Laden videos
| Written by Administrator |
| Sunday, 08 May 2011 17:37 |
 US officials on Saturday released extraordinary videos of Osama bin Laden seized in the daring raid that killed Al-Qaeda chief, saying the material shows he was a hands-on leader who took pains to shape his public image. The tracking of bin Laden and the May 1 raid, in which more than 20 US Navy SEALs swooped on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan and shot him dead, represented an intelligence coup on a historic scale, a senior US intelligence official said. The Al-Qaeda leader “was far from a figurehead, he was an active player,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters at the Pentagon.The seized material includes digital, audio and video files, printed items, computer equipment, recording devices and handwritten documents. “As a result of the raid, we have acquired the single largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever,” the official said. “This is the greatest intelligence success perhaps of a generation,” the official said. Five videos were made public, including an extraordinary one in which the Al-Qaeda chief is seen holding a remote and sitting with a blanket over him, watching images of himself on television in a spare-looking room. In that video, bin Laden has a gray beard, but in other videos that were apparently meant for distribution as propaganda his beard appears to have been dyed black. Audio was removed from the videos to avoid any possible terror messages, US officials said. One video is styled as a “message to the American people” and is believed to have been recorded in October or November. Bin Laden is groomed and is speaking from a prepared text. Three others recordings appear to be propaganda message rehearsals. The official said these show missed “cues” and problems with lighting. “This clearly was an Al-Qaeda leader who was very interested in his own image,” the official said. He “jealously guarded his image.” It remains an “open question” now who will succeed bin Laden as head of the terror network, the official said. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon long considered Al-Qaeda’s number two, “is obviously the presumed successor.” However, Al-Qaeda acknowledged their chief’s death in a statement, but “did not announce a new leader, suggesting it is still trying to deal with Bin Laden’s demise,” the official said. There are “strong indications he is not popular within certain circles of the group. So I believe it’s an open question as to who will take over from Osama bin Laden.” Like his Saudi-born co-conspirator, Zawahiri has been in hiding ever since the September 11, 2001 terror strikes on the United States. Reportedly last seen in October 2001 in eastern Afghanistan, close to the Pakistan border, Zawahiri has released multiple videos from hiding, calling for war on the West. The material seized from the compound “only further confirms how important it was to go after Bin Laden,” CIA Director Leon Panetta said in a statement. The effort that traced Bin Laden to Abbottabad also showed the CIA’s “perseverance, skill and sheer courage,” Panetta said. In Pakistan, bin Laden’s Yemeni wife said the Al-Qaeda kingpin had lived for five years in the Abbottabad compound, Pakistani security officials said. The revelation, if corroborated, would pile further embarrassment on the country, which is already reeling from accusations of incompetence and complicity in allowing bin Laden to hide out a mere 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the capital Islamabad. The terror chief’s wife, who was shot in the leg during the raid by US Navy SEALs, is undergoing medical treatment and interrogation in Pakistan along with 15 of his other relatives, the officials said. “She said in Arabic that bin Laden and his family were living in this compound for the last five years and he never left the compound,” said one of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But this is only her statement and we have not yet corroborated it,” the official added. A second security official confirmed the information. Mounting questions have been raised about how bin Laden managed to hide out for so long in Pakistan, in a garrison town which is home to a top military academy and many retired generals. The leader of Pakistan’s opposition in parliament demanded that President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani resign following the incident. “The operation tramples on our honour and dignity, and the president and prime minister must either give an explanation or resign,” Chaudhry Nisar Ali told reporters. “The government is keeping silent and there appears to be nobody to respond to propaganda against Pakistan,” he added, saying that people in the country were feeling “insecure” after the covert US mission. Al-Qaeda has vowed to avenge the death of the architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks, declaring him a “martyr” and calling on Muslims to rise up against the United States. Attacks on government targets in the Afghan city of Kandahar which killed two and wounded 29 on Saturday were described as “revenge” by extremists for Osama’s killing, a statement from President Hamid Karzai’s office said. “Al-Qaeda and its terrorist members who have suffered a major defeat with the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistani territory have tried to hide this defeat by killing civilians in Kandahar and take their revenge on the innocent people of Afghanistan,” the statement said. US President Barack Obama had earlier swept aside the threats, decorating on Friday the team that killed Osama and pledging the United States would crush Al-Qaeda. The White House has been eager to avoid triumphalism over the killing of the world’s most wanted man, blamed for the deaths of 3,000 people in the attacks, in a bid to avoid whipping up Muslim anger. Obama on Thursday laid a wreath at Ground Zero, the site where the World Trade Center once stood, in a sombre moment aimed at bringing closure to Americans still haunted by the September 11 attacks. |
Badminton body defends ‘sexist’ new rule on skirts
Badminton’s governing body has responded to criticism that it is being sexist by ordering women players to wear skirts. The Badminton World Federation says it’s “never been the intention … to portray women as sexual objects.” Some players have opposed the new rule, which will apply at the world championships in London from August 8-14, and the Olympics next year.The federation says women can “continue to wear shorts if they wish but simply wear a skirt over the top of the shorts.”
The BWF says “aesthetic and stylish presentation” of players is important to increase badminton’s popularity.
The rule takes effect at international events from June 1 following the federation’s annual meeting in Qingdao, China.
Death of Osama Bin Laden beyond a good versus evil perspective
And once again, in this Manichean good-versus-evil, us-versus-them, black-versus-white, world that we are told we live in, we are expected to take ‘sides’, and either jump for jingoistic joy as we thump our chests screaming, ‘USA! USA!’, or else mourn the death of a ‘martyr’.And once again, many people, myself included, will have to take a deep sigh and wonder whether we can ever successfully explain, to an increasingly polarized world, the complexity of our stances and the nuances of our positions.
The fact of the matter is, contrary to what both bin Laden and his one-time nemesis Bush propagated, we don’t live in a stark black-and-white world. We live in a very colorful, very multi-faceted world. Because I refuse to see everything in black-and-white, my position is neither one of sorrow nor one of elation.
It is not one of sorrow because I never viewed bin Laden as someone worthy of my reverence. He was a reactionary who lacked wisdom and who had no long-term vision. His response to Western imperialism was a visceral rage expressed in the language of a false pseudo-jihad – an understanding of ‘jihad’ that he himself invented, and not one that the trained scholars of our glorious religion shared with him. He helped formulate and propagate ideas that caused more bloodshed in Muslim lands, and more civil war, than any non-Muslim invasion in the last decade. Suicide bombers claiming allegiance to him cheerfully bombed men, women and children in bazaars in Baghdad, in shrines in Karachi, in sky-scrapers in New York, and in markets in Kabul.
Through his rhetoric of takfir, hundreds of people who were deemed ‘co-operating’ with the enemy were considered permissible to slaughter, and if a few thousand innocent bystanders needed to be killed in order to get to those handful, so be it. This was to be a permissible form of ‘collateral damage’ – one that seems to provoke only a fraction of the ire from those who harp on and on about Western collateral damage. (For the record, both are evil, and both need to be condemned; and again for the record, the ‘collateral damage’ of Muslim extremists groups is far more severe than the ‘collateral damage’ caused by Western drone attacks). His death was expected, for his own words and deeds called for action against him from a powerful military and a mighty country.
So I feel no personal grief at his death. After all, he was already largely irrelevant in the Arab and Muslim world. What good did all of his fiery rhetoric ever do for the Palestinians he claimed to have been fighting for? And what impact did he have amongst the Arab masses as they all rallied together (and continue to do so) against their brutal dictators? From the alleyways of Benghazi to the maydans of Cairo, and from the mosques of Damascus to the streets of Sana, not one protestor waved the flag of Osama or chanted slogans of al-Qaeda. It was the people who brought about real change, not Osama with his anti-American rage and calls for violence.
Yet, I cannot cheer his death either. Why?
Firstly, because the intentional taking of another human life is not a cause for cheering. Even if a murderer is legitimately executed (qisas) by the State for his crimes, it is not in our religion to rejoice at such a death; therefore how much more so when the death was caused in this fashion? (By this I mean that I would have preferred a live capture and public trial – but then again, at this stage we do not know the circumstances of his death).
Secondly, those who looked up to bin Laden for inspiration were not motivated to become suicide bombers and radical terrorists because bin Laden managed to brainwash them. The grievances that all such radicals recite are political and social (I have discussed these in other articles at length). Bin Laden was but a figurehead, and his death will actually feed into the whole martyrdom mythology that these movements weave around themselves. As Jeremy F. Walton, professor of Religious Studies at NYU, wrote on his blog today,
“I do not mean to denigrate the persistent grief of the families of 9/11 victims, or, for that matter, the pain that countless Americans continue to experience when they recall or witness the indelible images of that infamous Tuesday morning. But make no mistake: last night’s celebrators, and all those whom they represent, have no comprehension of the political history, quotidian violence, and post-colonial frustration over increasing global inequities—to gesture to but a few factors—that made Osama bin Laden and his network possible. Political theorist Mahmood Mamdani, for one, has vigorously argued that a reckoning of the American role in the creation of jihadist violence during the Cold War is indispensable to understanding al-Qaeda itself. Acknowledgement of this neglected political history is even more crucial in the wake of bin Laden’s death.”
Therefore, the real question for me is not whether we should rejoice or not. The real questions are far more profound and difficult to answer.
Now that we have killed bin Laden, will his death extinguish his ideas and truly make the world a safer place?
Now that we have killed bin Laden, will the anger that millions of people around the world feel towards our foreign policy simply dissipate into thin air?
Now that we have killed bin Laden, will that justify the trillions of dollars that we have spent on our two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the hundreds of thousands of dead since 9/11?
Now that we have killed bin Laden, will our infamous ‘War on Terror’ finally come to an end, and will we discontinue drone attacks in far-away lands and draconian policies back home? (And on that note: can we finally travel with our toothpaste and without having to be sexually assaulted by TSA officials?!)
Now that we have killed bin Laden, will the hysteria being propagated by the Right and the Islamophobia that is rampant across Europe and America subside?
Now that we have killed bin Laden, will we start concentrating on far more important domestic and international issues?
I guess the bottom line is: now that we have killed bin Laden, has status quo really changed all that much?
I don’t have answers to all of these questions, but these are the questions that need to be asked before we rush to celebrate his death or, as some overzealous Muslims are doing, label him a shahid. (And on a theological note, I remind our readers that only Allah assigns Heaven and Hell to anyone, so let us not challenge this right of Allah by proclaiming anything about any individual’s fate in the Hereafter).
It took America – the most powerful and technologically advanced country on earth – a full ten years to find this one man. How great it would have been if we had managed to capture the perpetrators of 9/11 back then! But our own reactions to 9/11 created a whole list of new issues, both domestic and international, that the killing of bin Laden will not solve. And to make matters even worse, in that decade a new generation, a young generation, has come of age – a generation for whom 9/11 evokes barely a memory. For this young generation, the death of bin Laden does little to solve its own problems.
If we have learned anything from the Arab protestors across the Middle East, it is that change has to begin from within, and the best way to fight for the change that you believe in – even if that fight be against powerful regimes – is through nonviolent means. Killing your enemies doesn’t solve problems; working proactively and productively to gain the world’s sympathy when clear injustices have been committed does.
A blogger friend of mine wrote that it is as if America is playing a game of chess with a small group of radical Muslims. We are not playing this game ourselves, for we are spectators. We understand both players very well, and both have made ridiculous moves in the past that have caused many unnecessary pieces to be lost.
America has just made its latest move.
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No proof Pakistan knew of bin Laden, but must probe
The White House has demanded Pakistan investigate the support network that sustained Osama bin Laden, but one week after killing the Al-Qaeda chief the United States says there is no proof Islamabad knew of his hideout.“There was some support network in Abbottabad, Pakistan with the support of bin Laden,” White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon told NBC Sunday talk show “Meet The Press.”
“We haven’t seen evidence that the government knew about that. But they need to investigate that.” US President Barack Obama ordered the clandestine US Navy SEAL mission that killed Bin Laden at his Abbottabad compound, which also allowed the United States to seize a massive cashe of intelligence.
But Donilon stressed that, despite the fugitive terror chief hiding for years in a three-storey house near the capital Islamabad, “I’ve not seen evidence that would tell us that the political, the military, or the intelligence leadership had foreknowledge of bin Laden.”
“The second point though, is the fact which you’re alluding to, is that Osama bin Laden was in this town for six years, 35 miles (50 kilometers) away from the capitol of Pakistan, Islamabad, in a town that was known as a military town where they had an important military academy. This needs to be investigated.”
Donilon, like US intelligence officials on Sunday, described the data haul from the raid as the richest terrorism treasure trove ever collected.
“This is the largest cache of intelligence derived from the scene of any single terrorist,” he said. “It’s about the size, the CIA tells us, of a small college library.
“If we develop any information about planning or imminent threats, obviously, we will act on this,” he added.
Donilon would not comment on specific potential threats, but when asked about reports that bin Laden was planning US rail attacks for the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, he responded “to the extent that we hear information like that, we obviously make the appropriate notices and take the appropriate action.”
While killing bin Laden, the 9/11 mastermind, is a significant US victory, Donilon cautioned: “we can’t declare al-Qaeda strategically defeated.”
“They continue to be a threat to the United States. But we have taken a really important milestone in terms of taking down this organization.”
Donilon said it’s “absolutely critical for us to remain vigilant as we continue to press this organization.”He said the United States was now eyeing the world’s new most wanted man:
Ayman al-Zawahiri, long considered Al-Qaeda’s number two.
But Donilon said Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon and global terrorism franchise master who has been hiding ever since the United States declared its war on terror after the 9/11 attacks, “is not anywhere near the leader that Osama bin Laden was.”
Al-Qaeda “will have to work themselves through some sort of succession,”Donilon said. Killing bin Laden was “a real blow.”
Next >
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Contaminated ZamZam sold in UK
Holy drinking water contaminated with arsenic is being sold illegally to Muslims by UK shops, the BBC has found.
Zam Zam water is taken from a well in Mecca and is considered sacred to Muslims, but samples from the source suggested it held dangerous chemicals.
Tourists can bring back small amounts from Saudi Arabia, but it cannot be exported for commercial use.
An undercover researcher found large quantities of bottles being sold in east and south London, and in Luton.
The president of the Association of Public Analysts said he would "certainly would not recommend" drinking it.
'Poisonous' drinkA BBC investigation discovered Zam Zam water was being sold by Muslim bookshops in Wandsworth, south-west London, and Upton Park, east London, as well as in Luton, Bedfordshire.
"The water is poisonous, particularly because of the high levels of arsenic, which is a carcinogen," said Dr Duncan Campbell, president of the Association of Public Analysts.
The water has a special significance for many of those who go on pilgrimages to the city of Mecca
"The limits set in drinking water are set there for very good reason.
"Once the water gets above that limit, it's not safe."
Secret recordings captured the vendors describing customers who drank it daily.
"They depend on it, they don't drink anything else," said the owner of an Islamic bookshop in Upton Park.
Last year the Food Standards Agency said people "should consider avoiding" the drink in the UK, which it said came from dubious sources.
'Sensitive matter'The BBC asked a pilgrim to take samples from taps which were linked to the Zam Zam well and to buy bottles on sale in Mecca, to compare the water on sale illegally with the genuine source.
These showed high levels of nitrate and potentially harmful bacteria, and traces of arsenic at three times the permitted maximum level, just like the illegal water which was purchased in the UK.
Zam Zam water is gathered from a well in Mecca but there is a ban on exporting it from Saudi Arabia
Dr Yunes Ramadan Teinaz, an environmental health officer who has previously warned about Zam Zam water, said it was "a sensitive matter".
"People see this water as a holy water," he added.
"They find it difficult to accept that it is contaminated but the authorities in Saudi Arabia or in the UK must take action," he said.
None of the three shops involved would say why they were selling the water or how they obtained it, but further investigation suggested it had now been removed from their shelves.
The Saudi embassy in London declined to comment on the issue of contamination at the source in Mecca.
East West 101 explores sensitive Muslim issues
The makers of critically acclaimed Australian crime series East West 101 say the third season, now airing Wednesday nights on SBS, is about the devastation wars in the Middle East have on Muslim and non-Muslim people in Australia. It is a bold aim untouched by any other Australian network.“Some of us feel untouched by war,” Kris Wyld, who created and produced the show with collaborator Steve Knapman, tells Green Left Weekly. “We hope East West 101 makes the audience feel the impact for themselves.”
Knapman and Wyld made the acclaimed police dramas Wildside (ABC 1997-99) and White Collar Blue (Network Ten 2002-03). They have blazed a path for engaging and realistic crime drama, with gritty subject matter and shocking truths about society.
The realism of East West 101 is especially pronounced in hand-held camera work and choppy editing. It is a show that demands an engaged and thinking audience.
It is a truly high standard of crime drama. The scripts are multi-layered and each series’ story arc tackles a long-term case with broad ramifications.
Each episode carries stories exploring complex cases that reach across the world and deep into a diversity of Australian communities.
In season three, the fallout of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are explored through violence in Australia.
But the impacts of conflicts in Somalia, Palestine/Israel, Bosnia and tensions in Maori communities are also explored.
Knapman says that throughout all three seasons, the first of which aired in December 2007, they “searched for the international connection”.
“This notion that Australia is cut off from the world, we resisted that.
“So the beginning of the show was set just after 9/11 and everybody was in a very strong climate of fear in this country, which was traded on by politicians and papers.
“We thought, the consequences of 9/11 were one thing, but also just who are these Muslim people? What do people know about them, how much do we understand Muslims living in Australia?”
This question is answered by the main character, detective Zane Malik (Don Hany), a Muslim cop in a major crime unit based in Sydney’s western suburbs.
Malik is devout, progressive and heavily conflicted. He has strong convictions, but also flaws.
He tries to negotiate the two worlds he is committed to — the police force and the Arab community of Sydney’s western suburbs, which more often stand opposed to each other than united.
The series’ multi-award winning director Peter Andrikidis has said the insights of a Muslim cop are unique in contemporary crime drama.
“His strength of purpose is very important”, Andrikidis says. “Malik’s journey is the audience’s journey … The audience will be seeing Australia through his Islamic eyes.”
Andrikidis lives in western Sydney, where much of the show is set — in suburbs such as Auburn, Lakemba and Cabramatta.
“I always try to present a Sydney that is more about its inner workings, rather than the harbour bridge glamour shots,” he tells GLW.
“The extras on the street are real people living there, and so we put the actors in real spaces. We create that look by being in Auburn.
“People tell us they see themselves on the screen, and a lot of police officers tell us they have lived this, they know Malik.
“You’re presenting role models for a whole community, people have seen it and said that’s what made them feel Australian.
“We’re the only ones doing that, really.”
The rest of Malik’s crime unit is ethnically and politically diverse, making it distinctive in contemporary Australian crime drama.
His partner is Maori Islander Sonny Koa (Aaron Fa’Aoso). His fellow officers — detective Helen Callas and constable Jung Lim — are hardly stereotypical white-bread Australians.
There are only two Caucasians in the lead cast. The squad commander is the ambitious superintendent Patricia Wright (Susie Porter). New squad member Neil Travis (Matt Nable), an affected Iraq war veteran, brings the violence of the Middle East conflicts to the fore of the show.
“The actual makeup of the squad is reflective of reality,” Wyld says. “Multicultural Australia is the reality. It did not try to create something that doesn’t exist.”
Knapman and Wyld explain that the show and most of its characters were inspired and developed by actual detectives in a crime unit in Sydney’s west.
“True stories can be more unusual than what you can invent,” Knapman says.
The show’s inception was a two-year creative process of research and development. This included meeting and working with actual police and detectives who were the backbone of the show’s inspiration.
Some of them held consultant positions on the show, such as detective Ali Rafik. Knapman says Rafik, an Egyptian and devout Muslim, “worked in a crime squad with a Samoan, a Lebanese Christian, and an Aussie bloke”.
“They became the inspiration for the show. We found them first, and then the show emerged.
“That’s the key thing. It was very grounded in real people.”
Wyld says of Rafik: “Not only did he bring authenticity from his work into our storytelling, but also from his cultural background into the character [of Malik]. He is also a brilliant creative mind.
“His whole family is very inspiring — and they give enormously to their community and to our community.”
Also unique and enriching is the Malik family, whose home the audience sees into with a depth and honesty not previously ventured into by other shows.
The shades of faith and practice of Islam is shown without a trace of tokenism, from general home life, to regular prayer and a heartbreaking Islamic funeral.
“It’s too easy to paint people in simplistic terms, to paint them as ‘the other’,” Wyld says.
Knapman says that commercial media in Australia reproduces dangerous stereotypes with little conscience.
“We tend to try and work from research and reading, and speaking to real people — and not sit around and try to please networks by coming up with stereotypes that make them feel comfortable, which is the way most other stuff is made.
“The whole notion of stereotyping people was part of what we railed against. But also we try to get the balance and the contradictions — our characters say conflicting things all the time.”
In the new season’s first episode, Malik walks in on the team watching footage of a violent $36 million robbery, the investigation of which will span the season.
“The theory is that robbery was committed to fund terrorist operations,” Knapman says.
In the show, Travis comments offhand: “This is why we need to stay in Afghanistan until the job’s done.”
But Malik cuts in: “Staying in Afghanistan is not going to stop this — there’s just too many innocent people being killed.”
Wyld says East West 101 was about finding the story they felt was worth telling: “What story are we passionate about? Why do we want to tell the story? Is there an injustice that we think needs to be examined?
“East West 101 shows real Australia — and it’s a positive thing. Because some networks present a very narrow view of what Australia is, and they think that’s what the audience wants.”
Knapman wants the show to expand people’s understanding of what Australia is made of. “There’s the tremendous amount of ignorance about the wars, refugees and Muslim Australians.
“But the show is not designed to be a didactic teaching device to convince you of any view. It’s dramatic, exciting and mysterious, intriguing, all of these things.
“The idea is to entertain you while, maybe, the status quo position gets challenged through the different characters’ points of view on all these things.”
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Australia’s first Islamic history museum planned
Australia’s first Islamic museum is to be built in Thornbury and will work to dispel stereotypes of the often misunderstood religious minority. The project is spearheaded by a group of Melbourne Muslims, including prominent business figures Ahmed and Moustafa Fahour, and will seek to showcase the community’s cultural contribution in a mainstream museum setting.Modelled on ventures such as the Chinese Museum, the Museo Italiano in Carlton and the Jewish Museum in St Kilda, the idea for a precinct emphasising heritage and art drawn from the more than 60 ethnicities who identify as Muslim here was developed by Macquarie banker Moustafa Fahour and his wife Maysaa.
”I am a very proud Australian Muslim,” says Moustafa Fahour, 29, one of eight children born to Lebanese migrant parents who settled in Melbourne in the 1960s.
Maysaa Fahour, 27, a teacher who has assumed the chairmanship of the board that will oversee the museum and raise funds for the construction, approached her brother-in-law, Australia Post chief Ahmed Fahour, at a family barbecue and he agreed to become the museum’s patron.
The venture has recently been granted charity status by the Australian Tax Office and has the personal endorsement of Victoria’s Multicultural Affairs Minister Nick Kotsiras.
Land has already been acquired at a Thornbury industrial site. While plans to refit the former factory will have to go through council approval processes, the Darebin Council had signalled that an Islamic museum would be welcome in the neighbourhood, Moustafa Fahour said.
The museum will include a permanent exhibition featuring basic information about Muslims’ religious beliefs provided in a digestible form to the public.
School groups are also expected to tour on a daily basis.
”As a mother, I love the NGV and Scienceworks and have my kids participate in knowledgeable activities. Nowhere was there something about Islam … It struck me as something to really strive for,” said Mrs Fahour, who settled here as a child-migrant from Lebanon.
Apart from a six-member board, which has been collaborating on the idea for about two years, an advisory committee includes SBS board member Hass Dellal, Immigration Museum manager Padmini Sebastian and ABC personality and politics lecturer Waleed Aly. Islamic art expert Phillip George is among the arts advisers.
At the 2006 census there were more than 340,000 Muslims in Australia, of whom 128,904 were born here.
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There is no winner when hatred prevails
As a Muslim, I am relieved that Osama bin Laden has been brought down and his reign of terror brought to an end. His death represents a defining moment in the battle against terrorism. A battle not fought by the West alone, but by the majority of Muslims whose faith was hijacked on September 11, 2001. Despite my relief, I will not celebrate his death, as I do not believe anybody’s death should be cause for celebration. That does not stop me from feeling that justice has been served.But it prompts the question – when and how will justice be served for the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children, from all walks of life and faiths, who have been killed in the process of pursuing bin Laden?
Every time I think about the plight of the Afghan people, I am gripped by tremendous sadness. I am an Afghan myself, who came to Australia at the age of seven.
Although they are a resilient people who have managed to withstand centuries of repeated foreign intervention, the Afghan front in the war on terror has caused great damage to my country and her people. I am cautiously optimistic that one day in the not too distant future we can close this dark chapter in Afghanistan’s history.
Bin Laden represents many things to many people. To me he was the catalyst for a dramatic rise in Islamophobia, a previously unknown term.
Further, he contradicted the true message of Islam and he violated the sacred Islamic teachings upholding the sanctity of all human life – not just Muslim life. He represented a distorted form of Islam and caused the deaths of countless Muslims and non-Muslims worldwide.
He created so much mistrust and fear of Islam that his actions, message and rhetoric have caused pain to not only those he considered his enemies, but those he, however delusional he may have been, considered to be his friends: The Muslims on whose behalf he claimed to speak.
There can be no question that September 11 had a profound impact on Muslims. On that day, it was not only the planes that were hijacked and crashed into the twin towers – Islam was hijacked and Muslims all around the world were taken as hostages.
The news of bin Laden’s death makes me remember how I felt when I heard about the planes crashing into the twin towers and the terrible aftermath of grief, mistrust and vilification that followed.
I happened to be at my sister’s house in Penrith that night. I was up late watching the news and saw Sandra Sully announce the first plane crashing into the World Trade Centre. I felt sick in the stomach, knowing full well what was to come. I knew my life, and the lives of other law-abiding Muslims, would never be the same again.
Being a visible Muslim (I am referring to the fact I choose to wear the hijab) means that many people associate me with what happened on that September day.
As unfortunate as it is, some people cannot seem to differentiate between everyday Australian Muslims going about their lives, and the extremists who choose to commit horrific and unforgivable crimes in the name of my faith.
The crime of 9/11 was committed in the name of Islam and the perversion, dishonesty and distortions bin Laden used to justify the attacks makes my blood boil.
There is no denying that a minority of Muslims are sympathetic towards bin Laden. Not necessarily because they condone his inciting of violence against innocent men, women and children, but because, perhaps, they saw him as an advocate of their political and social grievances.
They saw him as an advocate of a just war, in the same way there are those who defend the death of civilians in the war on terror as part of the wider narrative of a just war. It seems human beings will never learn the senselessness of violence.
There are other Muslims, unsympathetic to bin Laden’s cause, but who are hesitant to accept America’s version of how the battle with bin Laden played out. Given America’s track record with fabricating intelligence to justify wars in the Middle East, the scepticism is understandable. Perhaps, if bin Laden had been captured alive and tried in court, the conspiracy theories would have been put to bed.
I am not naive to think that bin Laden’s death will significantly change his followers’ twisted thinking. Nor has the West scored the moral high ground. We are all losers when we allow violence and hatred to prevail.
If we are to learn anything out of this bloody mess, then let it be that we can and must work collectively to change the narrative that Islam and the West are at war and, in so doing, we will deny a battlefield to those who wish to be soldiers.
Next >Every time I think about the plight of the Afghan people, I am gripped by tremendous sadness. I am an Afghan myself, who came to Australia at the age of seven.
Although they are a resilient people who have managed to withstand centuries of repeated foreign intervention, the Afghan front in the war on terror has caused great damage to my country and her people. I am cautiously optimistic that one day in the not too distant future we can close this dark chapter in Afghanistan’s history.
Bin Laden represents many things to many people. To me he was the catalyst for a dramatic rise in Islamophobia, a previously unknown term.
Further, he contradicted the true message of Islam and he violated the sacred Islamic teachings upholding the sanctity of all human life – not just Muslim life. He represented a distorted form of Islam and caused the deaths of countless Muslims and non-Muslims worldwide.
He created so much mistrust and fear of Islam that his actions, message and rhetoric have caused pain to not only those he considered his enemies, but those he, however delusional he may have been, considered to be his friends: The Muslims on whose behalf he claimed to speak.
There can be no question that September 11 had a profound impact on Muslims. On that day, it was not only the planes that were hijacked and crashed into the twin towers – Islam was hijacked and Muslims all around the world were taken as hostages.
The news of bin Laden’s death makes me remember how I felt when I heard about the planes crashing into the twin towers and the terrible aftermath of grief, mistrust and vilification that followed.
I happened to be at my sister’s house in Penrith that night. I was up late watching the news and saw Sandra Sully announce the first plane crashing into the World Trade Centre. I felt sick in the stomach, knowing full well what was to come. I knew my life, and the lives of other law-abiding Muslims, would never be the same again.
Being a visible Muslim (I am referring to the fact I choose to wear the hijab) means that many people associate me with what happened on that September day.
As unfortunate as it is, some people cannot seem to differentiate between everyday Australian Muslims going about their lives, and the extremists who choose to commit horrific and unforgivable crimes in the name of my faith.
The crime of 9/11 was committed in the name of Islam and the perversion, dishonesty and distortions bin Laden used to justify the attacks makes my blood boil.
There is no denying that a minority of Muslims are sympathetic towards bin Laden. Not necessarily because they condone his inciting of violence against innocent men, women and children, but because, perhaps, they saw him as an advocate of their political and social grievances.
They saw him as an advocate of a just war, in the same way there are those who defend the death of civilians in the war on terror as part of the wider narrative of a just war. It seems human beings will never learn the senselessness of violence.
There are other Muslims, unsympathetic to bin Laden’s cause, but who are hesitant to accept America’s version of how the battle with bin Laden played out. Given America’s track record with fabricating intelligence to justify wars in the Middle East, the scepticism is understandable. Perhaps, if bin Laden had been captured alive and tried in court, the conspiracy theories would have been put to bed.
I am not naive to think that bin Laden’s death will significantly change his followers’ twisted thinking. Nor has the West scored the moral high ground. We are all losers when we allow violence and hatred to prevail.
If we are to learn anything out of this bloody mess, then let it be that we can and must work collectively to change the narrative that Islam and the West are at war and, in so doing, we will deny a battlefield to those who wish to be soldiers.
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