Ihsan

The Final Solution

I have been following the blog of prominent Melbourne barrister Peter Faris QC for some time now. His blog interests me because it is a prime example of the kind of anti-Muslim rhetoric that leads many to commit hate crimes against Muslims.

Hate-speech is a dangerous phenomenon. In the present environment, with social tensions being played in the context of national security concerns, the worst scenario is one where particular ethnic and faith communities are made to feel marginalised.

The bin-Ladin’s of this world are busy trying to generate hatred of Western migrant Muslims toward their host communities. Extremists are also attempting to establish the existence of a giant anti-Muslim conspiracy in order to convince Muslims (both indigenous and migrant) to attack Western targets.



When influential and well-connected persons like Peter Faris QC preach anti-Muslim hatred, they assist the bin-Ladin cause. Peter Faris’ diatribe fuels the fires of hatred and suspicion against Muslim Australians.

What the bin-Ladin’s and the Faris’ of this world attempt is to identify what they see as the real agenda. Bin-Ladin claims that the real agenda of the West is to destroy Islam. Faris, Daniel Pipes and their cohorts claim that the real Muslim agenda is to destroy the West. One coin, two sides.

Perhaps even more interesting than Mr Faris’ own demented views are those of his supporters on the blog. Now we must remember that these views are not necessarily those of Mr Faris. However, Mr Faris does state at the top of each page of his blog:

“This is a public forum. I have no control over comments posted by others. I will delete inappropriate comments if they come to my notice.”

It is strange that the following comment by one “Gravelrash” has not been edited or removed from Faris’ blog. The comment is clearly in praise of Hitler’s final solution, and calls for a mass genocide to take place against Muslims.

This call is being made some 10 years after the Srebrenica massacre in which over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were hunted down, tortured and killed by Bosnian Serb “Scorpion” forces who filmed the entire event. That massacre was shown on the Channel 9 Sixty Minutes program on Australian television on Sunday 14 August 2005.

The Bosnian Serb leadership wanted to implement a Final Solution against Muslims in Bosnia. And many of Peter Faris’ allies wish to implement the same solution in Australia and across the world.

And so, at 9:37am on Wednesday 18 August 2005, the following response appears on the Faris blog. The comment is in response to a posting by Peter Faris entitled “Muslims must become Aussies now”. The comment #96 of “Gravelrash" reads as follows:

“I think it’s time we stopped beating around the bush. Hitler had the right idea, wrong race. A time is coming when everyone will have to make a choice, and that time is soon. What side will you be on?”

These sentiments are reflected in an article by Daniel Pipes in which he states that the best way to deal with terrorism is to lynch Muslim communities anytime a terrorist incident occurs.

These sentiments are the Judeo-Christian version of al-Qaida rhetoric. Peter Faris and his supporters have become the Omrans and Abu Bakars of Anglo-Australia. Yet do we see tabloid programs like “Today Tonight” exposing these dangerous views? Do we read Piers Akerman, Andrew Bolt and other conservative columnists attacking these dangerous sentiments?

No.

The Melbourne-based Herald-Sun was quick to draw inferences from a survey it did of Imams in Melbourne. Will the Herald-Sun now expose Peter Faris and his blog as a force of anti-Australian hatred?

Australian conservatives must speak out against this kind of hate-speech. They must condemn the all-Aussie al-Qaida. Because if they stay silent, their silence will be interpreted as support for a final solution against Muslim Australians.

iyusuf@sydneylawyers.com.au

© Irfan Yusuf 2005

posted by Irf at 8/16/2005 07:47:00 PM