DFAT Supports Hijab wearing
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.
Pity it was left to Corporal Senator Jackie Lambie to respond but Abdel-Magied’s statement certainly needs debate.
This also needs some debate;
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.
Why would DFAT feel a need to dish out taxpayers funds to promote a book in the Middle East advocating hijab wearing ?
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“Why would DFAT feel a need to dish out taxpayers funds to promote a book in the Middle East advocating hijab wearing ?”
Have you read her book?
If you haven’t, it might be a good idea to do so before you tell us what it advocates.
It’s available as an ebook – https://penguin.com.au/books/yassmins-story-9780857986177
Advocacy for wearing the hijab is not what it is about.
Advocacy for wearing the hijab is not what it is about. No, it’s all about convincing us that Islam is OK. It isn’t
gave a TEDx Talk “What does my headscarf mean to you”
Goes to St Paul’s College because they allowed to wear her headscarf
Says of Islam it’s about mercy, it’s about kindness
In 2007 she was named Young Australian Muslim of the Year. I must have missed the Young Australian Catholic, Protestant, Anglican etc of the year.
Is employed by the ABC
Is a multicultural activist and promotes diversity and inclusion (a contradiction?) in western nations.
Goes on a tour paid for by the taxpayer to promote an ideology that would destroy us. What were DFAT and the government thinking.
She has become a pinup and go-to girl for the ABC and the Left as they strive to change our mind about Islam.
All of that sets off alarm bells.
She is of little interest to me until she starts promoting the Australian lifestyle. The one that’s funding her media fame.
“The most feminist” of all religions is so wrong that you must question everything she says.
“Goes to St Paul’s College because they allowed to wear her headscarf”
Yep – could have gone to any school in Brisbane, and Toowoomba for that matter. I work in schools where headscarves are commonplace. Nobody cares.
“Says of Islam it’s about mercy, it’s about kindness.”
Most if it is. There are some sects (Wahhabism – which has been around for a long time) and Boko Haram (a relatively new development) which are radical and espouse Sharia Law and totalitarianism. To call them “Islam” is about as accurate as calling the Kingdom Identity Ministries (http://www.kingidentity.com/) and the Klu Klux Klan (https://traditionalistamericanknights.com/Application.php) “Christianity”.
When I studied Islam in 1972 (ironically on a DLNS rehab fellowship) these sects (whom most Australians had never heard of) were described as aberrations. The fact that a bunch of lunatics flew aircraft into buildings in 2001 does not alter that basic fact. What 9/11 has very successfully done has been to create a reaction in the west that dragged us into a disastrous war that has fed the radical sects and given them what they regard as a reason to exist. It’s a classic example of asymmetric warfare and has played into the hands of the terrorists.
“In 2007 she was named Young Australian Muslim of the Year.”
Yep, and in 2015 she was a National Finalist for Young Australian of the Year. The winner was Drisana Levitzke-Gray, an advocate for people with hearing impairment. Both Levitzke-Gray and Abdel-Magied are Australian citizens, just like you and me.
“diversity and inclusion (a contradiction?) in western nations”
Not a contradiction – just the opposite. Inclusion and diversity go hand in hand. My job is to assist with the inclusion of children with disabilities in bush schools. They are, as a consequence of their disabilities, different and diverse. They require specialised support. Exactly the same applies (for very different reasons) for children from different and diverse backgrounds.
“Goes on a tour paid for by the taxpayer to promote an ideology that would destroy us.”
No – she is promoting Australian values of tolerance and inclusion. That’s why she was visiting countries where these values are not as front and centre as they are in this country. I’m proud of my country’s values, and quite happy for my taxpayer dollar to be used to promote them. This person is a great advocate for Australia, and the fact that she’s a Muslim gives her credibility amongst people of her creed in other countries – very effective. You really need to read her book. She describes why her family left Sudan – to escape the kind of fundamentalism ascribed to her on Q and A by Pauline Hanson. No wonder she got angry.
Mind you – arguing with someone as thick as Pauline is a complete waste of time.
When she describes Islam as “feminist” she is talking about the moderate denomination that her family belongs to. They fled their country of birth, because the fundamentalists who took power after the Second Sudanese Civil War considered her father a threat. Her relatively brief life so far indicates that she and her family practices what she preaches. Do you think she would have graduated with honours in a male dominated field like engineering without support from her family – especially her father?
She’s also a petrol head – but that’s another story.
The question was,” why would DAFT feel a need to dish out taxpayers money to promote a book in the Middle East advocating the hijab wearing?”, and fuckwit rattles on, as usual, about fuck all. Answer the fucking question dipshit, why make a bigger arsehole of yourself. Fuck I would like to bump into you one day.
Abdel-Magied’s book does not promote the wearing of the hijab. If you had read it, you would know this.
What it does promote are Australian values of tolerance and inclusion. In addition, her tour of the ME (of which the taxpayer funded component was about $6000) was not an exercise to promote her book. In 2016 the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), sent her to the Middle East to promote Australia, not her book. The fact that she is a hijab-wearing Muslim provided her with a great deal of credibility in those cultures – strategically a very sensible activity.
She visited Riyadh Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi UAE, Dubai UAE, Doha Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Ramallah Palestine, Israel, Cairo Egypt and Sudan.
If you took the time to visit DFAT’s website (under Executive Brief for the Council of Arab Australian Relations – CAAR) you would discover that – “In 2011-12, CAAR commissioned a review of its role to ensure it was relevant in the prevailing landscape of Australian- Arab engagement. The CAAR Strategic Plan is aimed at all Arab League countries from which countries and sectors will be chosen for particular focus from time to time to enable CAAR to achieve its stated Mission and Objectives.”
And – “CAAR is strategically placed to CREATE the conditions for productive partnerships and trade relationships and to promote cultural understanding and awareness for mutual value.” – http://dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/foundations-councils-institutes/caar/management/council-history/Pages/caar-strategic-plan-2013-15.aspx
So DFAT is doing its job, and fulfilling its brief to government and the Australian taxpayer.
We have bile and abuse directed at this woman on this website for no good reason other than she has been game enough to promote her religion, smart enough to be successful at a wide range of activities, and confident enough to believe in herself and her generation.
It’s the tall poppy syndrome, garnished with bigotry and fear.
Sad.
Everything this woman said after her statement that Islam is “the most feminist religion” is irrelevant. It’s just a ploy by the ABC and SBS to convince us that Islam is wonderful – it isn’t. The fact that you say she was only talking about the moderate denomination her family belongs to doesn’t count. She said Islam…not my version of Islam.
I don’t want Australia promoted in Arab Countries. I want her promoted in countries where they eat food with a knife and fork and teach their kids maths, science and English and that one shouldn’t wish evil on those who don’t subscribe to your God.
That precludes most of the Middle East.
“She said Islam…not my version of Islam”.
The Ku Klux Klan, Anti-balaka, the National Liberation Front of Tripura, The Lord’s Resistance Army, The Army of God and Aryan Nations, are all terrorist organizations claiming to be Christian. They are not my version of Christianity.
Taking your argument to its logical conclusion, Christianity should be condemned because of the activities of these groups.
Islam is not one entity, just as Christianity is not.
Stereotyping is just dumb.
Abdel-Magied promotes the hijab by wearing it and being a Muslim she promotes Islam which hates the “Australian values of tolerance and inclusion” and does not “promote cultural understanding and awareness”.
“DFAT sent her to the Middle East to promote Australia”? Sending a hijab wearing Muslim activist to Muslim countries does not promote “Australian values of tolerance and inclusion” it is an echo chamber. Still waiting for a Christian representative from a Muslim country to visit Australia to promote the Muslim values of tolerance and inclusion.
“We have bile and abuse directed at this woman for no good reason other than she has been game enough to promote her religion”. She, as a self-proclaimed activist, and her barbaric religion invites the deserved verbal criticism. If only Muslims would use verbal criticism.
If Abdel-Magied had one tenth the intelligence and understanding of Aayan Hirsi Ali I might have some respect for her.
CAAR strategic plan is fluff, written by an arts graduate.
DFAT declined to reveal the cost of her trip so the $6,000 is dubious.
A tad long but some very interest points Kev.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMJRsd8SrhU
Bill Leak said it all http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/people/2017/02/20/yassmin-abdel-magied-muslim-sharia-law/
When Abdel-Magied admires the Islamic emperors’ new clothes she is applauded by a collective delusion (Islam, leftists, climate change etc) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0W9sSqeJnA but when Ayaan Hirsi Ali reveals that the Islamic emperor has no clothes, expertly articulated from far superior experience and knowledge, she is castigated by the same collective delusion http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/we-should-never-allow-islam-to-be-the-exception-in-liberal-society/news-story/6335b8b3a8aba8d13146132dcad6a3db
Further to the CAAR strategic plan fluff, it should have featured in this clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hozBzf3xU9U
And just because it’s funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JfFJ7R8pDs
Interesting comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4eMW_O0e8g