Muslim toddlers in Australian childcare centers would inescapably fall under the radar of spy organizations and counter-terrorism police, heard a massive gathering of men, women and children at a forum on the criminalization of the Islamic community, in Sydney last month. The approximately 500 members of the audience were also told that Muslim children should not be compelled to sing the national anthem, as deradicalization has emerged as the agenda of forced assimilation.
Organized by the provocative Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), the gathering heard that Muslims were being demonized over their religious beliefs.
“Deradicalization has come to mean making Muslims less Islamic, more Western, more secular, more submissive to secular, Liberal political ... norms,” HuT spokesman Uthman Badar said. “It is nothing more than an agenda of forced assimilation justified by exaggerated fears of a security threat.”
He also said that Muslim children should not be compelled to sing the national anthem.
“The insistence of senior government ministers that Muslim children sing the national anthem – an anthem that reflects a particular disputed view of history and celebrates particular ideological values ... Why should they be forced to sing it?” he asked the crowd, gathered at The Bellevue function center in Bankstown.
Wassim Doureihi, another HuT member, spoke of how Australian toddlers were increasingly becoming the target of counter-terrorism activities.
“There is a huge and renewed emphasis on the Muslim youth today,” he said following revelations that a 12-year-old Australian boy is on security agencies' terror watch list. We don't know where the bottom [age] is going to be … Is it inconceivable that 10-year-olds will be placed under suspicion? Is it inconceivable that 12-year-olds will be placed on ASIO watch lists? Is it inconceivable, as we've already seen in Europe, that toddlers in childcare facilities are reported through counter-terrorism policies? We live in an era of mass hysteria ... Muslims are under siege and Muslim children in particular are under siege. What has happened in the UK ... will inevitably happen here.”
In July this year, it became widely known that a three-year-old was on Great Britain’s terrorism radar.
Last month’s conference started with a recitation from the Koran and the screening of a short film depicting the fictional life of a Muslim toddler who skips Anzac Day only to have the police raid his home. Inside a glossy booklet of 36 pages, which was distributed at the forum, the organizers tutored the community on how to respond when security forces do come knocking at the doorstep. Titled “Don’t Be Spooked: How to Deal With Spies”, the booklet cautions Muslims from befriending those who have unexplained pasts.
“They appear out of the abyss, with pasts that either cannot be explained or do not make sense,” an article reads. “Keep your guard up in such cases.”
Another article warns Muslims from interacting with unknown people online while reminding them that they are under no obligation to meet anyone from ASIO unless of course they have a warrant.
“If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to hide! Why the need to meet with an agency that treats the entire community as possessors of knowledge of criminal activities or similar?” it states. “Even if the spooks turn up on your doorstep (again, not an uncommon occurrence), politely decline their request to talk and insist on your legal right not to.”
Photo Credits: The Sidney Morning Herald
