Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Camden Says “No!”

I reported yesterday on the Islamic school that had been proposed for the town of Camden in New South Wales. Tonight (it’s already past midnight in Australia) the Camden town council met and unanimously rejected the planned school.

Here’s the report from the Camden Advertiser :

Camden’s proposed Islamic School has been unanimously rejected by Camden Council at its meeting tonight.

A subdued crowd of about 200 people were at the Camden Civic Centre for what turned out to be a muted debate on planning grounds rather than raw emotion.

Residents clapped when the vote was taken to oppose the school.

“We are the champions,” one man said as he left the civic centre.

But the Quranic Society has already told the Advertiser that it will fight the rejection in the Land and Environment Court.

When I wrote about the issue yesterday, I had no significant information about the Sydney-based Quranic Society (a.k.a. Dar Tahfez El-Quran), the sponsor of the proposed school. Since then I have received several emails from Australian readers with more background on the group:
- - - - - - - - -
The Quranic Society became a society in 1986. They’ve done just enough to stay legal and to stay under the radar of Tax and Business departments.

They are funded entirely by Saudi money.

They had the Architects of the school submit the development application. The question here is, why didn’t they submit it under their own name?

One of the prerequisites of permitting a development such as this school is, can they pay for it?

According to the submission, the school will cost 19 million dollars to build [Note: Zenster predicted the cost very accurately in yesterday’s comments. — BB]. However, the Quranic society has only 345,000 dollars in cash in their bank account and no record of any assets.

They have not submitted who will be the actual owner of the school.

One of the main things we have to fight against is their lack of transparency. All of the above points mentioned have not been detailed with any degree of honesty. If everything is above board and they have nothing to hide, why do they do everything by stealth and deceit?

The main hurdle for us, and indeed anyone else who has to go through this fight, and it’s happening more and more, is, even if the development applications a rejected by the Council, it is then taken to the Land and Environment Court where, because of the unlimited Saudi funds available to them, they simply hire the best whoring solicitors they can and keep bombarding the court until the Councils realise they can no longer afford to fight them.

They also have become adept at switching who the owner will be of a property right at the time of signing and exchange of contracts. That was what they did at Bass Hill. All along it was believed that a developer was buying the land to build medium-density dwellings. When everyone was seated for the signing of contracts, the solicitors informed the Education Department that the land was actually being sold to another party.

If people in the US are having a similar problem, make sure that they go for the transparency issues. Who is the actual owner? Where is the money coming from? Pay particular attention to the planning details. Unfortunately, the planning details are getting harder to circumvent, as they have realised that they have to get the best money can buy to cover themselves in that area. Since money is no object, planning is no longer a problem.

Despite the bottomless pockets of its Saudi sponsors, the proposed Camden Islamic school was defeated, and overwhelming local public opposition played a large part in that defeat:

During the eight months since the Quranic Society lodged its application, the council has received 3083 submissions, which included 3042 objections.

However, in order to defeat the project, opponents had to avoid introducing religion — the dreaded I-word — into their objections. Other criteria had to be used, such as environmental concerns, the need to preserve the character of the neighborhood, traffic congestion, etc.

Camden/Macarthur Residents’ Group president Emil Sremchevich spoke only about rejecting the proposal on planning grounds and did not speak on religious or racial concerns.

[…]

Seven of the councillors spoke, but all stuck to the script of speaking on the planning-based objections rather than wider community concerns.

Councillor Peter Johnson moved the motion that the council staff recommendation to reject the proposal be accepted and praised the report’s depth.

[…]

Cr Johnson said he would welcome an Islamic school closer to his home in Catherine Field, possibly near the planned Leppington train station.

[…]

Mayor Chris Patterson said the decision was made purely on planning grounds, not on ‘‘religion or multiculturalism’’.

There’s much more information about the council’s decision, including video clips, at the Camden Advertiser site.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

This is an important victory for anti-jihad forces in Australia, and we all have reason to celebrate.

However, it’s important to remember that this success is contingent. It depended on several key factors:

  • Heavy local opposition. This is not always guaranteed; in areas with a larger Muslim minority, vocal and vigorous local supporters are likely to appear, and non-Muslim residents may be intimidated by the implicit threat of violence that always accompanies dense concentrations of Muslims in any urban area.
  • Plenty of the right kind of publicity. Any slight missteps by the opposition could have led them into a media fever swamp of “racism and xenophobia”, from which they would have found it hard to extricate themselves. The organizers are to be commended for handling the issue in an intelligent and effective manner.
  • Finding the right mix of criteria to use in opposition. Success depended on being able to use zoning and land-use regulations to deep-six the school. It won’t always be this easy. What if the school’s planned location had been different, a place where the objections used against the proposal would have been unable to gain traction?

The Camden Islamic school was voted down because the Quranic Society failed to game the system to its advantage. But, generally speaking, Muslims in the West are adept at gaming our systems. They learn a lot from setbacks like this one, and next time they will make a proposal that will be harder to defeat on technical grounds.

That’s why it’s important for opponents eventually to be willing to name the real problem: Islam.

It’s not the endangered species, or the air quality, or the traffic congestion, or the effect on the scenic landscape of Camden. The problem is Islam. Everyone involved, whether for or against the school, knows this.

But the suicidal rules of Politically Correct Multiculturalism forbid any public discussion of the issue in these terms. Political and business leaders risk their careers if they broach the problem frankly. A media firestorm engulfs anyone who dares transgress the defined boundaries of discourse, and ordinary people can even be arrested for speaking their minds.

But long-term success will depend on our courage to reframe the debate.

We need to be willing to stand up and say that it’s not just a school, but an Islamic school that we object to.

We need to prepare detailed, sober, thoughtful, and reasonable data to support our views. There’s no need for hysteria: a simple presentation of the history and current actions of the Great Jihad is all that’s required. The complete facts about Islam are arguments that speak for themselves.

If we don’t do this, then make no mistake: the forces of Islamic infiltration will successfully game the system, over and over again, and gradually erode our culture and our civilization from within.


Hat tip: Nilk.

17 comments:

Joanne said...

Aussies need to declare Saudi Arabia a terrorist-supporting country, and no monies from Saudi Arabia can be used to fund anything in Australia. Saudi Arabia is funding the building of mosques and muslim schools in the free world, and it is time that the free world put an end to it. Would Iran be allowed to fund a mosque or muslim school in Australia? Lord help us if this is true. Why is Saudi Arabia given a free pass? Money is power, and if there is no money, there is little or no power.

blogagog said...

I saw this on BBC News (I accidentally watched it). Even the Beeb wasn't gung-ho for this school.

Camden handled this perfectly. By ignoring the 'islam factor', they've essentially blocked the courts from entering into the fray. Smart move, Camden. Re-elect everyone involved.

shokk said...

Every time you fill your tank, another Islamic school is funded.

Nancy Ewart said...

I was very pleased when I read that. Good for the Aussies. Here's what happens when you pander too much to the current cult of radical Islam - honor killing in Germany. A 16 year old girl who wanted to live like other German girls her age!

From Der Spiegel:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,555667,00.html

randian said...

Is Saudi funding a permissible objection under Australian law? It wouldn't surprise me that the law doesn't contemplate the problem.

straight talker said...

"That’s why it’s important for opponents eventually to be willing to name the real problem: Islam."

The conundrum is how to get this across to the regular folks in the West. For instance, prophetofdoom.net has a complete book and book on audio that is brimming with compelling evidence that Islam is the root of the problem - to include its evil designs for the world. I am asking myself, "what is the barrier to the development of outrage among good people?" Are we (Western culture) truly brainwashed to the extent that we cannot see the evil or is it more about how to get the word out?

Darrin Hodges said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Darrin Hodges said...

The Quranic Society are planning to appeal in the Land and Environment Court, so lets not celebrate too long.

There is more background here.

wheatington said...

God bless those people. The principals involved should let us know exactly how they managed this.
Maybe the tide will turn.

Iftikhar Ahmad said...

Education of Muslim Children

London School of Islamics is an educational Trust. Its aim is to make
British public, institutions and media aware of the needs and demands of the
Muslim community in the field of education and possible solutions.

Today in Slough Islamic school Trust Slough had a seminar on Muslim
education and schools in Thames Valley Atheltic Centre. The seminar was
addressed by the education spokesman of MCB. I could not attend the seminar
but I believe lot of Muslims from Slough and surrounding areas must have
attended. Very soon, the Muslims of Slough will have a state funded Muslim
school but there is a need for more schools. A day will come when all Muslim
children will attend state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim
teachers as role model.

Muslim schools are not only faith schools but they are more or less
bilingual schools.

Bilingual Muslim children need to learn standard English to follow the
National Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve
humanity. They need to be well versed in Arabic to recite and understand the
Holy Quran. They need to be well versed in Urdu and other community
languages to keep in touch with their cultural roots and enjoy the beauty of
their literature and poetry.

Bilingualism is an asset but the British schooling regards it as a
problem. A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not
want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. Pakistan is only seven hours
from London and majority of British Muslims are from Pakistan.

More than third of British Muslim have no qualifications. British school
system has been failing large number of Muslims children for the last 60
years. Muslim scholars see the pursuit of knowledge as a duty, with the
Quran containing several verses to the rewards of learning. 33% of British
Muslims of working age have no qualifications and Muslims are also the least
likely to have degrees or equivalent qualifications. Most of estimated
500,000 Muslim school-aged pupils in England and Wales are educated in the
state system with non-Muslim monolingual teachers. Majority of them are
underachievers because they are at a wrong place at a wrong time.

Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual
Muslim teachers during their developmental periods. There is no place for a
non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. As far as higher education
is concerned, Muslim students can be educated with others. Let Muslim
community educate its own children so that they can develop their own
Islamic, cultural and linguistic identities and become usefull members of
the British society rather than becoming a buden.

We are living in an English speaking country and English is an
international language, therefore, we want our children to learn and be well
versed in standard English and at the same time well versed in Arabic, Urdu
and other community languages. Is there anything wrong with this approach?

It is not only the Muslim community who would like to send their children to
Muslim school. Sikh and Hindu communities have started setting up their
schools. Last week. British Black Community has planned the first all black
school with Black teachers in Birmingham.

Scotland's first state funded Muslim school could get the go-ahead within
months after First Munister Alex Salmond declared he was sympathetic towards
the needs and demands of the Muslim community.

Iftikhar Ahmad
London School of Islamics Trust

Rolf Krake said...

Never have I seen so many excuses for apartheid, not only gender-apartheid but cultural apartheid and a sick notion of supremacy while muslims children have failed for 60 years - How come?
Those who have failed are solely those who are indoctrinated in the quran - How come other immigrant groups such as none muslim east asians have a higher percentage of success in educational institutions than native Europeans?

Could it have something to do with their culture, flexibility and adaptation, mentality and openess towards new ideas and thinking?

How can these verses be explained as to be relevant to any success other than the the striving for success in installing islamic supremacy through a system of slaves, barbaric and outdated primitive sharia laws abolished in the civilized world for more than half a millenium, dhimmies, jizia taxes a little more sophistificated as what one can call inland piracy?



From Political islam


Hated 40:35 They who dispute the signs of Allah [kafirs] without authority having reached them are greatly hated by Allah and the believers. So Allah seals up every arrogant, disdainful heart.

A kafir can be:
Mocked 83:34 On that day the faithful will mock the kafirs, while they sit on bridal couches and watch them. Should not the kafirs be paid back for what they did?

Punished: 25:77 Say to the kafirs: My Lord does not care for you or your prayers. You have rejected the truth, so sooner or later, a punishment will come.

Beheaded: 47:4 When you encounter the kafirs on the battlefield, cut off their heads until you have thoroughly defeated them and then take the prisoners and tie them up firmly.

Confused: 6:25 Some among them listen to you [Mohammed], but We have cast veils over their [kafirs] hearts and a heaviness to their ears so that they cannot understand our signs [the Koran].

Plotted against: 86:15 They plot and scheme against you [Mohammed], and I plot and scheme against them. Therefore, deal calmly with the kafirs and leave them alone for a while.

Terrorized: 8:12 Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, “I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the kafirs’ hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!”

Annihilated: 6:45 So the kafirs were annihilated. All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds!

Killed: 4:91 If they do not keep away from you or offer you peace or withdraw their hostilities, then seize them and kill them wherever they are. We give you complete authority over them.

Crucified: 5:33 The only reward for those who war against Allah and His messengers and strive to commit mischief on the earth is that they will be slain or crucified, have their alternate hands and feet cut off, or be banished from the land. This will be their disgrace in this world, and a great torment shall be theirs in the next except those who repent before you overpower them. Know that Allah is forgiving and merciful.

Made war on: 9:29 Make war on those who have received the Scriptures [Jews and Christians] but do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day. They do not forbid what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden. The Christians and Jews do not follow the religion of truth until they submit and pay the poll tax [jizya], and they are humiliated.

A Muslim is not the friend of a kafir: 3:28 Believers should not take kafirs as friends in preference to other believers. Those who do this will have none of Allah’s protection and will only have themselves as guards. Allah warns you to fear Him for all will return to Him.

Evil: 23:97 And say: Oh my Lord! I seek refuge with You from the suggestions of the evil ones [kafirs]. And I seek refuge with you, my Lord, from their presence.

Disgraced: 37:18 Tell them, “Yes! And you [kafirs] will be disgraced.”

A partner of Satan: 25:55 And still they worship others besides Allah who can neither help nor hurt them. The kafir is Satan’s ally against Allah.

Unclean: 9:28 Oh, believers, only the kafirs are unclean.

Cursed: 33:60 They [the kafirs] will be cursed, and wherever they are found, they will be seized and murdered. It was Allah’s same practice with those who came before them, and you will find no change in Allah’s ways.

Rolf Krake said...

Correction: barbaric and outdated primitive sharia laws where similar barbaric laws have been abolished in the civilized world for more than half a millenium

Iftikhar Ahmad said...

Salaam

According to Dr Robert Crane, former advisor to late President Richard Nixon that Islamic Sharia has universal principles that fit people in all ages: Freedom of religion, respect for the human person and human life,respect for marriage and huamn community, respect for the universal right of ownership of productive property, respect for the human dignity, especially gender equity, respect for the rights of free speech, publication and association.

Iftikhar

Henrik R Clausen said...

IftikharA, these are really nice principles.

Do you have any plausible explanation that Islamic countries and organisations do not defend them, but instead focus on fielding more 'demands' on the rest of the world?

The practial behaviour of just about every Islamic organisation I've heard of - CAIR is but one example - is diametrically opposite to this.

Do you expect this to change anytime soon, or will Muslims contitnue to be radically more outraged over cartoons than over random bombing of innocents?

X said...

Dr Robert Crane may well have said all of these things, but he also advised Richard Nixon, so you'll excuse me if I take what he said with a few mountains of salt.

Henrik R Clausen said...

Graham, it is indeed remarkable that a presidential advisor can make mistakes of this magnitude. No wonder Nixon fell on his nose.

Islams seems to hijack everything good in this world, saying: "This world is nothing. If you follow Islam, the next one will be *much* better. Now, please hand me your stuff..."

Other religions, such as Buddhism, differ.

Iftikhar Ahmad said...

Salaam

Muslim children need state funded muslim schools because state schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers have been mis-educating and de-educating bilingual Muslim children. It is an educational issue and it is nothing to do with Islam. According to an educational theory, there should be a positive co-relation between home and school, otherwise, the education of a child will suffer culturally. linguistically and spiritually. A Muslim home teaches a child that dogs and pigs are unclean animals but non-Muslim schools teach childdren the opposite. Therefore, in my opinion, all so called western secular countries should set up state funded Muslim schools for Muslim children

Muslims in the west pay taxes and contribute for the economic prosperity of western society. They have the right to demand a different type of education for their children. Free education is the birth right of each and every child but western countries have been depriving Muslim children their right of free education.