Australian Politics Forum - DFAT funding Islamic propaganda

freediver

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DFAT funding Islamic propaganda
Feb 16^th, 2017 at 8:19pm

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/taxpayers-billed-for-qa-activist-yassmin-abdelmagieds-grand-tour-of-islamic-regimes/news-story/7d406323d63bdca4b20da74d567fa028

The federal government paid for activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied to tour some of the world’s most repressive Islamic regimes last November, promoting her book about being a Sudanese-Egyptian-Australian Muslim woman who wears the hijab.

The tour, which included stops in Saudi Arabia, where women are flogged for adultery and are not permitted to drive, was funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which declined yesterday to reveal the cost.

Ms Abdel-Magied, who sat next to Malcolm Turnbull at the Iftar dinner for Muslim leaders held at Kirribilli House last year to celebrate the end of Ramadan, made headlines this week when, as a guest on the ABC’s Q&A program, she described Islam as “the most feminist” of all religions.

Her statement was rejected by a fiery senator Jacqui Lambie, who argued that those countries where sharia informs the law are some of the most violently misogynistic places on earth.

• JOHN LYONS: Sugar-coating the reality of Islam

A group of 49 Muslim scholars are now demanding an apology from the ABC for not silencing Senator Lambie, saying the program host, Tony Jones, failed to provide a “safe environment” for Ms Abdel-Magied to speak.

MORE: The places Yassmin visited
Ms Abdel-Magied, who is also employed by the ABC as a host of a travel program, promoted her tour of the Middle East and Africa on her blog last November, saying: “I’m heading out on tour to the Middle East and North Africa! Very excited to be supported by the Australian Embassies in the region to visit numerous countries over the next three weeks inshallah. First stop: Saudi Arabia!”

Asked to explain the purpose, rationale and cost of the tour, DFAT said: “Yassmin Abdel-Magied visited a number of countries in the Middle East to promote Australia as an open, innovative, democratic and diverse nation. She met youth representatives, scientists, entrepreneurs, women’s groups and others.”

The statement said DFAT posts or embassies in the Middle East funded the visit “from existing budgets”, but declined to reveal the cost. Promoting her tour of the Middle East and North Africa, Ms Abdel-Magied blogged: “I’m incredibly honoured to be hosted by the Australian Embassies … I’ll be visiting a number of countries, and although not all stops have public events I will do my best to make time to meet people inshallah. If you can come to any of the public sessions though, I would LOVE to see you there!”

Her stops included Riyadh, where women who venture outdoors must wear the abaya, or full body covering, and punishments for sexual crimes include flogging and stoning; Abu Dhabi, where women require the permission of a male relative to remarry; Dubai, where most Westerners live in compounds; and Qatar, where marital rape is not a crime.

She also visited Kuwait, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Sudan, where more than 90 per cent of women undergo forced genital mutilation, forced marriage is common and polygamy is permissible, although only for men. “If you have questions about specific locations, hit me up on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter inshallah,” Ms Abdel-Magied wrote. “Can't wait!”

Many women who attended the public events praised her, with one Twitter user saying: “What an awesome speech. Thank you Yassmin for the valuable advice and for being such an inspiration to the Sudanese youth.”

Ms Abdel-Magied posted on Instagram from the Ahfad University for women in Sudan: “@ahfad_university50 was a blast! Mashallah, amazing women doing awesome things. Keep at it!” From Abu Dhabi she posted: “Among meeting some amazing women in government and seeing the grand mosque, had the opportunity to address almost 200 female engineers ... Hopefully it has an impact inshallah!”

She told the ABC audience on Monday night: “Islam, to me, is one of the most ... is the most feminist religion, right? We got equal rights well before the Europeans. We don’t take our husband’s last names ... the fact is, what is culture is separate from what is faith.”

She also argued that Muslims in Australia must follow the laws of the land on which they live.

Some Islamic scholars disputed this. Sharia advice website IslamToday said: “They must comply with the laws of their country of residence without, at the same time, disobeying Islamic law.”

Ms Abdel-Magied addressed the Q&A stoush on the website Junkee yesterday: “I got into a bit of a tiff with Jacqui Lambie. I said Islam was a feminist religion and some people found that really hard to understand … I’m not going to deny, some countries run by Muslims are violent and sexist, but that’s not down to sharia. That’s down to the culture and the patriarchy and the politics of those … countries.”

She has not responded to questions from The Australian.

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« Last Edit: Feb 16^th, 2017 at 8:29pm by freediver »

People who can't distinguish between etymology and entomology bug me in ways I cannot put into words.

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Gordon Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 20709 Gordon Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #1 - Feb 16^th, 2017 at 8:27pm Very very interesting. I also pasted this into the other thread Some Islamic scholars disputed this. Sharia advice website IslamToday said: “They must comply with the laws of their country of residence without, at the same time, disobeying Islamic law.”
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Gordon Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 20709 Gordon Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #2 - Feb 16^th, 2017 at 8:29pm Wow . I paid for this
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polite_gandalf Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 20027 Canberra Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #3 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 6:43am Its a strange title FD. Seems DFAT was paying her to spread Australian propaganda.
Back to top	A resident Islam critic who claims to represent western values said: Quote: Outlawing the enemy's uniform - hijab, islamic beard - is not depriving one's own people of their freedoms. IP Logged

issuevoter Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 9200 The Great State of Mind Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #4 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 10:44am A smile can hide a lot. They are going to teach their children that Mohamed was the messenger of God. And that God is the answer to everything. Dark Age superstition being imported into secular Australia under the guise of multiculturalism.
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Grendel

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Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda
Reply #5 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 3:00pm

Quote:

Activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied ‘blind’ to Islam’s treatment of women
The Australian
6:01AM February 17, 2017
Rick Morton

The Muslim activist who said on national television that Islam was “the most feminist religion” has been criticised by former prime minister Tony Abbott for being “blindfolded” during a taxpayer-funded speaking tour of the Middle East and Africa.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied triggered a debate over Islam and feminism after a fiery exchange with senator Jacqui Lambie on the effects of sharia during Monday’s Q&A on ABC TV.

“If she’s right that ‘Islam is a feminist religion’, how come such terrible things are done to women in its name?” Mr Abbott said.

The Australian revealed yesterday that the federal government paid for Ms Abdel-Magied to tour some of the world’s most repressive Islamic regimes last November, promoting her book about being a Sudanese-Egyptian-Australian Muslim woman who wears the hijab.

Mr Abbott said Ms Abdel-Magied was “entitled to her view” but “she must have been wearing a blindfold on her taxpayer-funded tour”.

Her views of Islam as a feminist religion also appear to be at odds with her co-member of the Australian government-funded Council for Arab Australian Relations, Joumanah El Matrah.

In a 2015 submission to Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence, Ms El Matrah, who is also chief executive of the Australian Muslim Women’s Human Rights Centre, said there were “significant problems” in how Islam was interpreted, which caused violence against women.

Ms El Matrah has previously declared that Muslim women and children would be “extremely disadvantaged” by any form of sharia court. “Among Muslims, the interpretations and application of Islamic doctrine in relation to women varies considerably and, given the diversity of Muslims globally, there is a lack of consensus as to the status of women, and this has a direct impact on their treatment in Islam,” she said. “Orthodox interpretative frameworks allocate women an inferior status to men and this directly affects marital and family relationships, rendering women vulnerable to violence and abuse.”

She said there were “significant problems of interpretation of Islamic doctrine relating to the status of women, how they are to be treated in the home and the level of control permissible by a husband over his wife”.

The Australian’s coverage of Ms Abdel-Magied’s speaking tour was raised in parliament yesterday during a debate about section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, on the same day parliament also debated a bill proposed by Senator Lambie to restrict the wearing of the burqa.

Greens senator Nick McKim launched an attack on this newspaper yesterday for publishing details of Ms Abdel-Magied’s tour of the Middle East and North Africa. “It’s a straight, simple character assassination by The Australian, as they always do … when someone dares raise their head above the parapet and make comments with which they disagree,” Senator McKim said. “It is a disgusting, race-baiting rag.”

Liberal backbencher Eric Abetz described Senator McKim’s statements as “outlandish”. “It is a statement of fact that in many of the parts of the Middle East where Ms Abdel-Magied visited, women would be stoned to death for seeking an education and people even suspected of being gay are thrown off buildings,” Senator Abetz said.

Mr Abbott commended The Australian for bringing “common sense to this discussion”.

Senator Lambie said yesterday Muslim women had been “emboldened” by her call to ban the face-covering burqa. “I’ve been told by this person who came to visit me and I trust and respect very much that these Muslim women have been emboldened and given hope by my public comments and the provisions within this bill,” she said during a speech in favour of her bill to ban the burqa yesterday.

The ban is linked to the national terrorism threat level, kicking in when the threat reaches “probable”. The threat level is currently at “probable”.

Commenting on the debate about feminism and Islam, Australian Muslim Women’s Human Rights Centre chairwoman Tasmeen Chopra said anti-women issues in relation to Islam were “not text-based”.

“To be honest, in Australian Muslims’ lives right now the argument about feminism is not front and centre,” she said.

Sheik Shady Alsuleiman, who attended Malcolm Turnbull’s Iftar dinner last year with Ms Abdel-Magied and has made comments in a lecture saying gay people spread diseases, said last year that Allah gave “authority for men over women” but this meant that they must be “dutiful”.

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bogarde73 Gold Member Offline Anti-Global & Contra Mundum Posts: 18443 Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #6 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 3:31pm This is disgusting. I will be emailing Malcolm and Angus Taylor. I don't want.my money.funding Islamic friendship tours.
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BigOl64

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Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda
Reply #7 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 3:41pm

freediver wrote on Feb 16^th, 2017 at 8:19pm:

She told the ABC audience on Monday night: “Islam, to me, is one of the most ... is the most feminist religion, right? We got equal rights well before the Europeans. We don’t take our husband’s last names ... the fact is, what is culture is separate from what is faith.”

I own my dog, it doesn't have my last name either.

If it is the culture and not the faith / religion that is the problem, then that is fantastic, because section 116 of the Constitution does not apply and we can ban their filthy terrorist culture from our country.

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freediver Gold Member Offline www.ozpolitic.com Posts: 49342 At my desk.	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #8 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 5:15pm polite_gandalf wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 6:43am: Its a strange title FD. Seems DFAT was paying her to spread Australian propaganda. What is Australian about this? she described Islam as “the most feminist” of all religions
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Aussie

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Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda
Reply #9 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 5:29pm

freediver wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 5:15pm:

polite_gandalf wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 6:43am:

Its a strange title FD.

Seems DFAT was paying her to spread Australian propaganda.

What is Australian about this?

she described Islam as “the most feminist” of all religions

You'll have to ask her what her definition of that is, Effendi. Have you? No point attacking her if there is no agreement on the basic terminology, is there?

Even Western women, including those here at OzPol cannot agree on what that word means. What makes you, as a 'man' think you know better, Effendi?

I know it suits some to leave a term generic to a discussion un-defined as that allows for greater flexibility in attack aspect.

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Grendel Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 28080 Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #10 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 5:55pm Woka woka woka.... honestly Aussie.... give us all a break will ya.
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Grendel Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 28080 Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #11 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 6:14pm http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/cartoons/bleak-gallery/image-gallery/ee8... SELFIE
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Gordon Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 20709 Gordon Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #12 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 6:18pm Gold.
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Grendel Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 28080 Gender:	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #13 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 7:07pm It is isn't it...
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Brian Ross Gold Member Offline Representative of me Posts: 42248	Re: DFAT funding Islamic propaganda Reply #14 - Feb 17^th, 2017 at 7:34pm Grendel wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 5:55pm: Woka woka woka.... honestly Aussie.... give us all a break will ya. Oh, dearie, dearie me. Geoff when you give Muslims a break, hell will freeze over... Tsk, tsk.
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