Tony Iltis, Melbourne
Sheikh Issa Musse was an invited speaker at the 60th anniversary rally of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 7. His speech drew a link between the US's atom bombing then, US aggression in Vietnam and today's wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.
"How many have died as a result of American intervention in the world? Countless, countless people have died", he said. "We have to struggle to make our voice heard, stop the war, stop uranium exports and stop anything that takes away the rights of people."
The following day's Age ran an article headlined "Sheikh uses rally to call for US withdrawal". The article began: "A Muslim sheikh has used an Australian rally marking the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing to call for the United States to 'shrink from aggressiveness' and stop occupying other countries."
Tim Doughney, from the Melbourne Stop the War Coalition and an organiser of the rally, told Green Left Weekly that the Age's suggestion that the Sheikh Issa Musse had somehow "used" the rally to push his own agenda was completely wrong.
"We were keen to link this anniversary protest to the current wars of occupation. Calling for the troops to leave Iraq and Afghanistan were part of the message. Sheikh Issa Musse's speech was entirely relevant. The Age's description of the rally as 'Australian' and 'used' by 'a Muslim Sheikh', can only be interpreted as racist."
After reporting these comments from Sheikh Issa Musse, the Age made reference to Sheikh Mohammed Omran and Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesperson Wassim Doureihi, neither of whom were involved with the Hiroshima Day rally. Both have been labelled by the corporate press as Islamic "extremists".
"Is it now the Age's editorial policy that no Muslim leader may be quoted without also mentioning so-called 'extremists'? Is any Muslim leader who opposes the government's participation in the brutal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan liable to be tarred with the 'extremist' brush?"
"This is particularly worrying given that Britain Prime Minister Tony Blair has begun suggesting that any Muslim leader opposing the Iraq war is 'inciting terrorism'", Doughney concluded.
From Green Left Weekly, August 24, 2005.
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