Friday, January 23, 2009

CRIKEY: Jonathan Greene's piece on the Abu Hamza pseudo-scandal ...


I normally don't do this. I only reproduce on my blogs Crikey items I have written myself. But in the circumstances, I think the following is warranted ...

I am posting the complete Jonathan Greene story on Abu Hamza (including graphics) for a reason. From time to time, we are all prone to being over-affected by media spin and journalistic bullsh*t. I always thought I was immune from this. Well, in fact I wasn't quite as immune as I thought.

Crikey is a subscription-only service which is a terrific read and well-worth subscribing to. It has been a key force in keeping media magnates, journalists and politicians honest. I strongly recommend readers take out a trial subscription or even fork out a small amount for a full subscription. Find out more here.

When the Abu Hamza story first hit the media websites, I thought I would do something many Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph readers wouldn't do. I thought I would watch the video.

Anyone who watched the video will see that News Limited and/or the lecture organisers have done a rather clumsy edit. It is quite clear from the video that, far from promoting domestic violence, Abu Hamza was emphasising just how evil it is.

Today, the tabloids are going nuts over Abu Hamza's comments about Australia being allegedly a nation of drunks and gamblers. Again, a complete fabrication. If it is true that Abu Hamza really did make this gross generalisation about Australians, is it any worse than Rupert Murdoch's gross generalisation to the effect that all Muslims suffer from genetic defects because they marry their cousins?

Of course, none of this detracts from the fact that any suggestion that marital rape is OK should be condemned in the strongest possible language.

Anyway, enough from me. reproduced below is Jonathan Greene's analysis of the media lynching of Abu Hamza.

UPDATE I: This article is also available to non-subscribers at the Crikey website here.

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf

_______________

Muslim cleric the YouTube hit of ... 2003

Crikey editor Jonathan Green writes:

"Outspoken Islamic cleric" Abu Hamza has been top of the pops for the past two days, incurring no lesser thin-lipped wrath than that of the Prime Minister yesterday for YouTubed comments on s-xual violence and r-pe. He backed up again in this morning's tabloids, accusing Australians of an over-fondness for booze, gambling and s-x.

More of the last later, but the sudden flurry over these six-year-old recordings must have left Hamza more than a little bemused, not only for the Australian tabloid press's capacity to recycle the ancient as fresh front page news, but also for the way on which the media wheel can turn.

Hamza, also known as Samir Mohtadi, has been a feature of significant media coverage before. Three years after the recordings that so enraged Kevin Rudd, the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun he was much discussed as the "moderate cleric" who appeared as a star prosecution witness in the case against accused terrorist Abdul Benbrika.

This is how the ABC's AM described Mohtadi in August 2006:
Samir Mohtadi is the director of the Islamic Information and Services Network for Australasia, based in Melbourne. He's a moderate Islamic cleric who preaches regularly at the Preston mosque in north-east Melbourne. He's also a teacher, who gives lectures about the meaning of Islam, mainly to young people.

Through his work, Samir Mohtadi knows some of the men who have been charged with various terrorism offences, and today he gave evidence at their committal hearing.
And this is how news.com.au described him at the time of the 2006 trial:
Mr Mohtadi is the director of the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia, in Coburg, in Melbourne's north.

The network provides information and services to Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam.

He said he had known Mr Benbrika as they both attended the same mosque, also in Melbourne's north.
According to sources close to the Benbrika trial, Samir Mohtadi had been cultivated by Australian security agencies since the events of September 2001. He became a key Crown witness in the Benbrika case and gave evidence about a meeting he had with Benbrika in 2004 in which he said to Benbrika that he had heard Benbrika was planning a terrorist attack in Australia. Benbrika denied it. Mohtadi said he would go to the government if he got wind of any plan. According to some, it is not too greater stretch to wonder of Mohtadi was not something of an ASIO mole within Melbourne Muslim circles.

He gave evidence at the long Benbrika trial, and was cross examined at length about Islamic practices, scholarship and views about Israel and jihad. Richard Maidment SC, the lead prosecutor for the Crown, said in his closing that:
... you saw Mr Mohtadi and he was a credible witness, in our respectful submission.

How times change.



Which takes us to today's outrage at Hamza/Mohtadi's comments -- 2003 remember -- that Australians

... think happiness can be achieved by being intoxicated, by going to the casino and blowing your money away.

The Herald Sun demanded his removal from the continent in its editorial today:
Mr Hamza would be better off living somewhere else. His inflammatory teachings are not welcome here.
That was on page 46 of the paper. Here's a look at some other content from the same edition:





Which is not to say that across town The Age is any less dependent on alcohol fueled display advertising. Au contraire:


All of which goes to show that Mohtadi might have a point. Or at least he did in 2003.


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5 comments:

Shamz said...

brilliant- well put

Margarita Windisch said...

lets not forget its Australia Day (better referred to as Invasion Day) coming up - where a bit of Muslim bashing always comes in handy...

ibn_yasin said...

Telling the bitter truth is always hard.

Only a few months ago even the PM was speaking against binge drinking but then he isn't Muslim!

What about Church organisations that regularly speak out against gambling and prostitution are they all un-Australian? I think not.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, there needs to be bright souls to illumiante the darkness of ignorance. Many simply let the headlines, media think for them and tell them what to think! Dare we process information ourselves! Hate crime on our minds I say! Thank you for being one of the few. xxxx

glen jenvey said...

http://www.analyst-network.com/article.php?art_id=2982

Statement regarding Abu Hamza and myself Glen Jenvey
19 Jun 2009
Dear Colleagues
The Daily Mail published an article entitled ‘Unmasked: The football hooligans behind last weekend's bloody protest against a Muslim war demo’ on the 29 May 2009. My name was mentioned in the article. I wish to make it clear to all my contacts in the media that:
I did not=2 0attend the march
I did not organise the march
I have never met in person the two people mentioned together with my name
At the time I was having dinner with a lady from the local church, my next door neighbour and my partner.
By the way I have no interest in football or being a football thug wannabe
I find it damaging to my reputation and very offensive to be associated with these extremists by the Daily Mail, who made no effort to make contact with me to verify their story before publishing. I have also been subjected to continuous abusive and libellous attacks in various blogs over the last few months, which have attempted to discredit everything that I have done over the last few years.
I have had enough, so thanks to the bloggers, and the Daily Mail I will be contacting the FBI and stating that I wish to recall all the evidence I handed over regarding the Abu Hamza extradition case (see my email to John Young of Cryptome) below) and I am not prepared to attend as a witness of help in any way should Abu Hamza be extradited to the USA.
I was so infuriated by the Daily Mail and the bloggers that I phoned Anjem Choudhary yesterday and he wants me to meet him. I won’t go into the details of what we discussed.
Regards
Glen

[Phone number 0044(0)7929591353 ]
Source: http://cryptome.org/0001/jenvey-hamza.htm