Multicultural Mythology

Quadrant Magazine - Babette Francis, June 15th 2017

When a Senate committee sought perspectives on the future of multiculturalism I shared the thought that, given some of the odious and appalling customs and beliefs made immune to criticism by official policy, it shouldn't have a future. Here is what our elected representatives refused to accept:

The recent atrocious behaviour of the Saudi national team at the World Cup football qualifying match in refusing to observe a minute's silence in remembrance of Australians killed in the London terrorist attack has rightly been criticized in our media. However the issue goes beyond the Saudi team's insult to innocents who have been killed. During the apartheid era in South Africa, that country was not allowed to participate in international sport because of its racial discrimination. Many Islamic countries practice total gender discrimination - their women are not allowed to participate in international sport, indeed in some of these countries women, particularly in Saudi Arabia, are not allowed to participate even in domestic sport but spend their lives in any public area encased in all-encompassing black burqas.

Why are men's teams from these countries allowed to participate in international sport? Isn't gender discrimination as serious as racial discrimination?

International sporting federations need to examine this issue. And that brings me to the issue of multiculturalism and the myths surrounding this latest cult of the Left's intelligentsia. Yes, I know "Left's intelligentsia" is an oxymoron, but let it pass for the moment.

Recently, an Australian Senate Committee, dominated by ALP and Greens, called for submissions on strengthening multiculturalism. I put in a submission expressing the view that multiculturalism should not be promoted; rather, it be rejected as it implied promoting a number of obnoxious cultural practices alien to Australia.

My submission was initially accepted, but I was informed it had been rejected as it did not comply with the terms of reference. The rejection is, I suppose, technically correct because the Senate Committee had called for submissions on strengthening Multiculturalism, and my submission rejected the concept. Now that my submission is rejected, I am free to circulate it so here it is:

To: the Senate Select Committee on Strengthening Multiculturalism

Dear Committee,
This is a submission on behalf of Endeavour Forum Inc. which is a women's NGO having special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN. We are opposed to the "strengthening" or promotion of multiculturalism. This does not mean disrespecting ethnic groups other than those of British origin, but it does mean that the unsavoury aspects of some other cultures should be acknowledged.

1/ I was born in India and lived there until my marriage to an Australian, after which I came to live in Australia.

2/ India is a fascinating "laboratory" for multiculturalism because it is probably the most multicultural country in the world. India has 15 main languages, about 150 dialects and several religions. This has not created harmony; and, in fact, led to the Partition of India in 1947 into India and Pakistan, because the Muslim-majority provinces could not tolerate the idea of living in a secular democracy.

Islamic culture does not give priority to democracy, freedom of speech or freedom of religion, with death sentences prescribed for apostates and blasphemers. Currently there are several prisoners, both Muslims and Christians, on death row in Pakistani jails on spurious charges of blasphemy.

3/ Even nearer to home, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, the popular former governor of Jakarta in moderate, supposedly secular Indonesia, has just been sentenced to two years in jail on a charge of blasphemy. Similarly in Turkey, a member of NATO and supposedly democratic and moderate, has arrested and jailed hundreds of journalists, generals in the army, and civilians from all walks of life, on charges alleging treason.

4/ All this should enable you to understand that that the culture of Islam is simply incompatible with democracy and basic human rights.

Islam mandates death for infidels, apostates, homosexuals, and for Christians and Jews who will not convert or cannot pay an additional tax. Some of the "multicultural" aspects of Islam include polygamy, child marriage (following the example of their "Prophet"), female genital mutilation, requiring rape victims to produce four pious male witnesses to the assault or if unable to do so, be stoned for adultery, and sex-slave taking by the victors in any tribal war.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are the main examples of Sunni Muslim culture and Shia Muslim culture respectively. In Saudi Arabia women are forbidden from driving cars, and women in Iran are forbidden from cycling in public as these practices will allegedly damage their "virginity".

5/ The culture of Hinduism also contained major abuses - such as suttee, the burning of widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands bodies, the dowry system (if insufficient dowry was paid, the hapless wife could be abused or discarded), and the caste system. The British colonial system (so despised by our multiculturalists) abolished suttee, and the Indian government, which is secular and democratic, has made the caste system and the requirement for payment of dowries illegal, but these "multicultural" practices still persist under the radar and are difficult to eradicate.

May I humbly suggest that you stop promoting "multiculturalism" and instead promote the Judeo-Christian culture of Western democracies which have given the world outstanding examples of freedom and prosperity. I am willing to give evidence to the committee at any public hearings and I hope you will call on me to do so - I have the unique experience of having worked on all five continents.

Babette Francis, National & Overseas Co-ordinator, Endeavour Forum Inc.


(Editorial Comment) There seems to be a dawning realisation among some media commentators that, maybe, Islam is not compatible with democratic values. Peter Kurti in "Tackling deadly beliefs" and Jonathan Cole in "We need to talk about theology" (Weekend Australian, June 10-11, 2017) are to be commended for explaining how Islam, the Koran and the life of Islam's Prophet, underpin the activities of jihadists. Western democracies need to understand that Islam is a totalitarian ideology akin to other totalitarian ideologies which they defeated in World War 11 and the Cold War. Columnists Janet Albrechtsen and Melanie Phillips (The Australian 7/6/17) have also pointed out that jihadist violence is clearly based on Islam's scriptures. By contrast, Muslim apologist and political commentator, Waleed Aly, refuses to acknowledge that the incitements to murder, as in London and Manchester, by Islamic terrorrists are directly inspired by the Koran. Here, for his information, is a direct quote: Koran 8:12

"Strike terror into the hearts of the disbelievers. Cut off their heads and cut off all their fingertips".

Mr. Aly has many opportunities in the media and academe to deal with such incitements to the killing of innocent human beings, so what is he going to do about it? And please don't tell us that the quote is out of context. What is the context in which it is legitimate to behead innocents?

And what is our government going to do about this incitement to violence? No citizens should be allowed to distribute a book calling for the beheading of all those who did not share their views, so why are imams, sheikhs and mosques allowed to proclaim that the Koran is the unalterable teaching of Allah?

Muslims are not our enemies; indeed they are the main victims of Islam. Currently, Muslims are killing each other at a much higher rate than they are killing non-Muslims: bombs regularly detonated in mosques in Pakistan; the killing of 132 student, the children of Pakistani army officers in Peshawar in 2014; the continuing Taliban atrocities in Afghanistan; the war by ISIS in Iraq and Syria; and the latest attack, only last week, on the Iranian parliament. This is all Muslim-on-Muslim violence. The theology of Islam provides the reservoir for jihadists and de-radicalisation programmes will not suffice until - to borrow from Donald Trump, "the swamp is drained."

Muslims need to be freed, liberated, evangelised - call it what you will - from the pernicious ideology of Islam.

(editor's note: the thumbnail illustration atop this essay is a poster detail for The Stranglers of Bombay, a 1959 British film concerned with the thuggees of India. The cult of stranglers was suppressed in the 1830s, which is fortunate indeed. Otherwise the word thuggeephobia would by now have entrenched itself in the multicultural lexicon, and the Human Rights Commission would be that much busier.)