Sergio Redegalli, the Australian artist who found himself under siege due to the “Say No To Burqas” mural he painted on the wall outside his studio (see the most recent report here) has issued a statement. His message was published as a paid advertisement in The Inner City Weekender, January 28, 2011 (it’s tomorrow already in eastern Australia):
Statement From Sergio Redegalli
Newtown has always been a safe haven for the unique varieties of people in Sydney. Newtown has always been, and hopefully will remain, a rich source of creative people. Newtown has for a very long time been an interesting mix of Australians coming from many different backgrounds, education and countries.
Newtown in the last 30 years has been on the leading edge for the creative arts, with many successful artists not just working in the area but committing to making Newtown their home.
This page is a step in clearing up some untruths spread about the ‘Say No To Burqas’ mural (‘the mural’) by a very small number of people.
The ‘Say No To Burqas’ mural was painted to create dialogue and to hopefully encourage people to be better informed about some very important issues currently facing Australia today.
As Australian Citizens we all have a duty to stand up and express ourselves on issues that are important to discuss and to do this always in a sensible and peaceful manner. We all have the right to express ourselves non-violently both verbally and creatively, via any form of media format without having to be fearful of physical abuse or vandalism to property.
There have been too many untruths made by people and groups who take very much care in not putting their names (as individuals as well as groups as a whole) to their beliefs.
Firstly, the ‘Say No To Burqas’ mural has always and only been a starting point for debate and discussion, aside from graffiti and vandalism, it has never had the wording painted saying anything other than ‘Say No To Burqas’.
Point of fact, Islam is a Religious Ideology with its followers coming from many races all over the world and it is impossible to be racist towards a Religious Ideology.
Islam is more than a Religion; it is in fact a system of rule that guides all devout Muslims throughout their lives from the time of their birth to their death. Apart from its Religious element that most Western people understand the concept of, it also has a very clear and fixed set of legal rules, for almost every event in a Muslim’s life (Sharia).It also has a political system within its structure clearly describing the aims, desired and results that would be the most beneficial for the expansion of Islam. I personally have discussed these sections with my Australian Muslim friends and I encourage anyone interested in understanding Islam to read more about the challenges facing Australian Muslims and the problems that they are facing because of minority groups who have extremist views that do not represent the greater Australian Muslim population.
Extremism does exist; every time any we fly overseas we are exposed to the measures that airport security under take to combat this risk. This year, the majority of Australian Coptic Christians had their Christmas celebrations cut short due to terrorism threats made towards them for their celebrations held on the 7th January 2011, after several Sydney Churches were targeted. (Terror threats sour Coptic Christmas services). The list goes on.
One very important fact for all Australians to understand is that the burqa and niqab are not a necessary part of Islam. This ruling was made clear to all Muslims around the world by Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, the dean of al-Azhar university, when he stated that “full-face veiling (is) a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith”. (Egypt’s highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women’s veils, known as the niqab).
An important reason for a law to be passed in Australia regarding all forms of full-face covering worn in public spaces, is that we live in a land where reasonable rules make more sense. We as Australians like being one united country, not a divided one. We have rules that we have all been following in the past, not because they are Law, but because they give all people a feeling of safety. Australians understand that taking off our motorcycle helmets in banks and other sensitive areas is a normal practise, that people walking the streets with their faces fully covered for no apparent reason is out of the norm.
Australians have worked very hard in creating a balanced and non discriminative society. Let’s not let our good will be used against the common good of all Australians. This issue is not about the clothing, it is about the direction of Australia, and the type of community we wish to live in, one that is clear about what is suitable in Australia and what is not. We have rules that clearly state that public nudity is not appropriate and creating rules that state that 100% full-face coverings in public spaces are not appropriate is just as balanced.
Some people may say it is the right of a woman to make a choice of covering themselves 100%, however I ask one very simple question, who is going to protect and allow for the freedom of choice to the next generation of young girls born into these family groups that will control all aspects of their dress code, education and the types of friends they will be allowed to know.
Sergio Redegalli
Local resident and artist
Hat tip: Shirl in Oz.
12 comments:
Sergio Redegalli may not realize it, but his own statement is riddled with clues that illuminate why he's in the pickle he's in:
"Newtown has always been a safe haven for the unique varieties of people in Sydney... a rich source of creative people... an interesting mix of Australians coming from many different backgrounds, education and countries.
Newtown in the last 30 years has been on the leading edge for the creative arts..."
Translation: Newtown is a Leftish Bohemian enclave, much like Berkeley, California, perhaps, or parts of Seattle, or Portland, or Cambridge, Mass., or Greenwich Village, NYC; etc. In these communities, "diversity" is nourished and encouraged -- as long as it's all one way: anti-Western, anti-white, anti-Christian, anti-Catholic, anti-American, and -- increasingly -- anti-Jewish.
"...some untruths spread about the ‘Say No To Burqas’ mural (‘the mural’) by a very small number of people."
It can't be so "very small" if he's going to this trouble, can it?
"As Australian Citizens .... we... all have the right to express ourselves non-violently both verbally and creatively, via any form of media format without having to be fearful of physical abuse or vandalism to property."
Not when you are perceived to be defaming what is perceived, by the PC MC majority, to be an Ethnic People.
"Point of fact, Islam is a Religious Ideology with its followers coming from many races all over the world and it is impossible to be racist towards a Religious Ideology."
It may be impossible for a rational person, but the PC MC majority is not rational. They perceive Muslims collectively as an Ethnic People. Of course, this isn't entirely illogical or daft; for, nine times out of ten, when we see a Muslim, he or she in fact looks ethnic. This is not merely some accident, nor is it some optical illusion of a "racist" perspective: it reflects the historical fact that Islam spread mostly throughout areas of the Third World, beginning in Arabia, westward across North Africa, eastward into Persia, India, central Asia, further into SE Asia and the south Pacific. The exceptions to this (Spain, SE Europe) are exceptions to the rule.
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[comment continued]
Redegalli goes on to discuss
"...my Australian Muslim friends and ... the challenges facing Australian Muslims and the problems that they are facing because of minority groups who have extremist views that do not represent the greater Australian Muslim population."
Isn't it ironic how often we find that the tiny minority of anti-Islam activists who are branded as "racist" and "fascist" in fact believe more or less in the same paradigm -- Islam itself is ok and most Muslims are ok, it's only the tiny minority of 'extremists' who are the problem -- that their Leftist accusers believe in?
This is a lesson I've come to realize which teaches me that it does no good to be tactically gingerly about stepping on the hypersensitive eggshells of the PC MC majority, for fear that if we say the wrong thing we will be branded as "racist" or "fascist". Redegalli, however, seems to take it a step farther: he seems to really believe that Islam itself is okay and that most Muslims are okay.
And finally, Redegalli offers (unwittingly) a clue as to why Australia is not standing up sufficiently to the followers of the outrageously anti-liberal and fascist ideology of Islam:
"Australians have worked very hard in creating a balanced and non discriminative society."
So have all the other countries of the West -- Canada, the U.S.A., Great Britain, Europe. This process of "creating a balanced and non-discriminative society" is precisely why we the West are bending over backwards to placate the followers of the outrageously anti-liberal and fascist ideology of Islam: because the dominant and mainstream PC MC throughout the West perceives Muslims as an Ethnic People, and Ethnic Peoples are, according to PC MC, the only beneficiaries of a "balanced society" that is "non-discriminative".
The problem with the massive sociopolitical growth and institutional encouragement throughout the West in the past half century of the values of "diversity" and "tolerance" (exclusively toward non-white non-Westerners, of course) is that it exemplifies, one might say, the opposite of the "throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater" fallacy: it has been a massive project of retaining the stinky, toxic bathwater with the baby.
It has been so in this way: Let us say, to be generously liberalish here, that overall it is a good thing to be "diverse" and "tolerant" when it comes to various Third World peoples in general, those who do not follow a cultural blueprint for supremacist expansionist supplantation of all other ways of life, and who, as a consequence, are able to assimilate into, and appreciate our Western societies into which they stream to escape the dreary and often cruel chaos of their own dysfunctional societies. Now along comes PC MC, and irrationally, because it regards Muslims as one more Ethnic People jostling colorfully -- with their wonderfully diverse exotic Third World garb and non-white skin tones -- alongside all the other non-Muslim Third World peoples, it decides to ignore the ideological baggage this particular Ethnic People brings along with them, and just embraces them indiscriminately (for we don't want to discriminate, do we, Sergio?) along with all the other masses of Wearily Dispossessed from around the non-Western world.
I.e., Sergio doesn't realize it, but insofar as he carries the PC MC template in his head and heart, he is part of the problem that is now impinging on his vocation and passion.
What is fascinating about this whole ideology versus religion thing is how simple it is to justify any intrusion or colonization.
If Hitler said that Thor told him the Aryans were superior and all other peoples must submit to the Viking Gods and Aryan peoples, or pay the Viking Tax, would the leftists have bent over backwards to allow him and Nazis into the West? Somehow I don't think so.
But he sold it as an ideology, not a religion so he was screwed.
Then again, there is the "Christian Identity Movement" as lefties call it, which are various Christian sects that find racism in the Bible and preach segregation.
Yet lefties do not give Christian Identity folks the official "religion" approval just because they are motivated by God's orders.
Nope, leftists call them racists and sue the crap out of them (SPLC) whenever they can.
As best I can figure, your religion has to be a "brown" religion and it has to be dedicated to the destruction of the West in order to be a real religion.
Well, brown or Jewish, that is. New York State pays kosher inspectors to go around and certify that wine (for example) sold as kosher IS kosher.
And "kosher" in the case of wine means that no gentiles have touched it or been involved in its processing.
As rabbis will readily admit, these kosher rules were established to reduce or eliminate socializing and race mixing of Jews with Christians.
Can you imagine the Christian Identity folks getting New York State to certify that NYS wine was not touched by black people in order to help reduce race mixing of white people with blacks?
Yeah. I didn't think so either.
Like I say, where the left draws the line between "religion" and "ideology" is indeed curious.
Burqas are just the tip of the iceberg in Islamic oppression of women. The more contact I have with Muslim men, the angrier I become.
I received a friend request, entirely unsolicited, from a man in Pakistan. In the first message he sent me, he asked about my religious beliefs. I told him I was Christian. Then he proceeded to ask me if I am married or have children. Then he asked me WHY I never married or had children, then he lectured me on the sinfulness of having relationships without marriage.
Note: if he is such a holy man, why is he writing non-Muslim women and asking them about sexual matters.
The real reason: non-Muslim women are not part of the Ummah and it is perfectly okay to hit on them.
I have many male friends on facebook who are not Muslim and NONE of them treat me this way. This kind of behavior is FAR MORE COMMON among Muslims than among non-Muslims.
When I was in Paris, the sexual harassment was so bad it bordered on attempted rape.
Yes, I know, not all Muslims are cads but the percentages are so much higher. I have absolutely had it.
I personally have discussed these sections with my Australian Muslim friends and I encourage anyone interested in understanding Islam to read more about the challenges facing Australian Muslims and the problems that they are facing because of minority groups who have extremist views that do not represent the greater Australian Muslim population. [emphasis added]
Sigh, the ATM (A Tiny Minority) meme rears its disruptive and misdirecting self to point away from orthodox Islam as the central culprit.
The burqua is a side issue at best, regardless of Sergio Redegalli noble intentions. Even if Islam did not impose the burqa upon women, its institutionalized policy of abject gender apartheid would still require it being eradicated from civilized society.
Then there's the terrorism …
Oh, and what Hesperado said. Especially:
Isn't it ironic how often we find that the tiny minority of anti-Islam activists who are branded as "racist" and "fascist" in fact believe more or less in the same paradigm -- Islam itself is ok and most Muslims are ok, it's only the tiny minority of 'extremists' who are the problem -- that their Leftist accusers believe in?
This is a fantastic reductio ad absurdum of the issue because it shows the way that Liberals − all of whom should be aghast at the vast majority of Islamic doctrine − somehow manage to evince the exact same meme as their self-declared Muslim enemies.
This parallelism is no accident. It is a direct result of both misguided Liberal Magical Thinking™ plus the most duplicitous and deeply ingrained sort of deceit upon Islam's part (i.e., taqiyya).
Both parties seem almost totally unaware of how thoroughly their chosen foibles damn them to history's graveyard of dysfunctional ideologies.
A reader named Western Feminista was unable to leave this message in the comments, so I volunteered to post it here.
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Tried to leave a comment, but my google account has crashed….so has Typepad (Hmmmm…?)
Unfortunately here in Australia, calling "a spade, a spade" would not be allowed in the newspaper - self funded advertising or not.
To state anything other than a watered down, politically correct view of the situation to appease the whingers and bleaters would not get published.
(Yep, you guessed it - it is impossible to say what you actually think, least you "offend" a minority group of some description – and we seem to have enough minorities to choke a camel...)
We know that the "Religion of the Perpetually Enraged", the "Professional Political Protesters" and the "Let's-stick-it-to-the-establishment Uni students" would have a field day, if it were any different. Our Govt is sending the country broke paying compensation to ex-Gitmo inmates, illegal asylum seekers who stub their toes in detention centres, and all manner of other undeserving whiners and gut ache-ers.
Newspaper editors come with an obligatory yellow stripe down their backs in Australia...Sad, but true.
Regards
Western Feminista
I have to agree with Western Feminista. Newtown is part of the Inner West, which is trendy, very left-wing (the Greens, aka the Watermelons, are looking like a chance to win lower house seats in that area at both State and Federal level), and all that jazz. Sergio knows he's in deep, and he can't say exactly what's on his mind, regardless of its truth, for fear of actually inflaming the situation.
He's attempting to start debate, and considering just how allergic we seem to be to debate, we need to be coaxed into it. You can't hit too hard to start with, otherwise the walls go up and the portcullis is shut.
And as a final note, it is hard to escape the PC MC mindset, especially when it's been drummed into you from a young age, or you are a beneficiary. Not everyone who we follow here holds the same views as we do, and in the public sphere, a certain dilution may be the only way to actually get heard.
As I understand it, this mural campaign was started by Sergio Redegalli when a friend backed down from conducting a fashion parade the idea of which offended Muslims who then threatened to firebomb his shop - modus operandi for Islamo-Socialists (Greens) - remember Joschka Fischer? He showed the way on how terrorism and the Greens go hand in glove - but I digress
Sergio keeps talking about this great community in Newtown but where are they all? Sergio seems to be the only one with sufficient courage to take the heat. Why is he the only one signing this statement?
The next step must be that a "SAY NO TO BURQAS" community group forms around the mural initiative that Sergio has created.
Not just "no" - "HELL NO!" is more like it. Dr.Shait
LAW Wells wrote:
"Sergio knows he's in deep, and he can't say exactly what's on his mind, regardless of its truth, for fear of actually inflaming the situation."
I've heard this often whenever some individual expresses asymptotic (my term for watered-down) criticisms of Islam -- whether they be George "Islam is a great religion of peace" Bush, or Donald "the vast majority of Muslims are moderates" Rumsfeld, or Robert "I am not 'anti-Islam' " Spencer, or Sergio "minority groups who have extremist views that do not represent the greater Australian Muslim population" Redegalli: they don't really mean to say these wimpy formulations, they are just being cautious, lest they step on the hyper-sensitive eggshells of the dominant and mainstream PC MCs.
Problems with this:
1) for most of these individuals (and they are innumerable) there is no evidence for this claim that they are moderating their true feelings
2) this claim implies that a) conservatives can't possibly believe such wimpy formulations; and that b) critics (conservative or otherwise) of aspects of Islam (like the burqa) can't possibly believe such wimpy formulations -- and so they must agree with us that all of Islam is bad and that all Muslims are part of the problem of Islam.
This assumption reflects a curious underestimation of the psychological and cultural influence that PC MC has had. People in the anti-Islam movement continue to think that anybody who believes in PC MC must either be 1) evil or b) "Leftist" and/or c) part of a diabolical cabal of "Elites", and that no one who is relatively decent and intelligent could possibly sincerely believe in PC MC.
In fact, the whole point of the success story of PC MC is precisely that it has captured the hearts and minds of the majority of relatively decent and intelligent people throughout the West (which, unlike all other cultures, actually abounds in relatively decent and intelligent people in all stations of life, from politicians to lawyers to judges to policemen to academics to doctors to construction workers to bus drivers to janitors to jazz musicians to butchers, bakers and candlestick-makers).
3) Aside from the flawed premises, the implicit advice in this claim is I argue counter-productive: if we continue to tiptoe on eggshells lest we anger our fellow PC MCs around us, we will tend to reinforce the very paradigm that is continuing to impede the social and psychological change we are trying to effect -- the paradigm shift that will undo PC MC (which, being itself a paradigm shift which occurred only half a century ago, can be undone as sweepingly as it was done).
The Hesperado
"Say No to Burqas" is too negative. A more attention getting slogan could be:-
Say Yes to Sharia Law
Say Yes to Polygamy
Say Yes to Stoning Adultresses
Say Yes to Hanging Gays
Say Yes to Honour Killing
Say Yes to Female Genital Mutilation
Say Yes to Amputation Punishment
Say Yes to Jihad
Say Yes to Intolerance
Hesperado: 3) Aside from the flawed premises, the implicit advice in this claim is I argue counter-productive: if we continue to tiptoe on eggshells lest we anger our fellow PC MCs around us, we will tend to reinforce the very paradigm that is continuing to impede the social and psychological change we are trying to effect -- the paradigm shift that will undo PC MC (which, being itself a paradigm shift which occurred only half a century ago, can be undone as sweepingly as it was done). [emphasis added]
Regardless of arguments that center upon whether jihad can be fought without first addressing debilitating effects of the Liberal PC MC mindset, the foregoing maxim remains true:
Pandering to the Liberal PC MC mindset with politely mumbled responses about Islam only serves to further entrench it.
Islam is NOT something that can comingle with civilized society, irrespective of what Liberals may or may not pretend to themselves and others. It is long past tea to begin treating this barbaric slave mentality with the scorn and disrespect it at all times deserves.
Adopting even a relatively soothing tone like that of Bush, Rumsfeld, Spencer or Redegalli totally neuters the counter-jihad's most vital role in alerting Western minds to the horrible consequences of shari'a creep.
One principal artifact of shari'a creep is non-Muslims adopting a softspoken criticism of Islam that demonstrates undue and unmerited deference for that which CANNOT be shown even a scintilla of respect by civilized people.
Islam must be criticized and berated at every turn so that inflamed Muslim "sensibilities" continue to reveal it for the intolerant and totalitarian rubbish that Islam always has been and will continue to be if we give it even an inch of slack.
Think how different the situation would be if, on September 12th of 2001, all Western countries had declared the same sort of Total War upon Islam that it is currently prosecuting against us.
This nonsense of jihad already would be treated with the disrespect and invective it will finally garner from Westerners and (surviving) Muslims alike once the real fighting begins.
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