Counter-Terrorism White Paper directly targets Islam and Muslims
The Australian Government’s latest White Paper on Counter-Terrorism was released on Tuesday 23rd February 2010. It highlights that the threat of terrorism has become a ‘permanent and persistent’ feature of Australia’s security environment. It notes that on top of the previous threat from the ‘global violent jihadist movement’, Australia now also faces an increased threat from those born or raised in Australia and influenced by the ‘violent jihadist’ message. The release of the White Paper followed the unjust sentencing of five Muslims on terrorism-related charges in Sydney the week before.
These developments are deeply concerning given their severity and the audacity with which the Government is now victimising Muslims. However they are not surprising insofar as they represent a continuation of Western Governments’ targeting of Islam and Muslims. The entire so-called ‘War on Terror’, which began over eight years ago, has in fact been a war on Islam – a war fought ideologically, economically and politically as much as it has been fought militarily. It is imperative that these current developments be understood in light of these more holistic considerations.
“Verily the disbelievers spend their wealth in order to take (people) away from the path of Allah…” (al-Anfal: 36)
The aware observer notices relatively easily that the objectives of Western Governments in their ‘counter-terrorism’ policies have not been those which they have stated. Rather their objectives have been to:
• Develop a pretext to justify, and intensify, their continuing interference in the Muslim World;
• Shift blame for the consequence of their actions in the Muslim World unto the Muslims themselves;
• Intimidate the Muslims and force them to cease accounting their oppressive foreign policy; and importantly to
• Undermine key Islamic ideas and values which they find as obstacles to managing the world affairs according to their interests
Western foreign policy with respect to the Muslim World is the single most important element in all of this. It has been brutal, vicious and inhumane. It is a sadistic composition of economic exploitation, political subjugation, and ideological imposition by stealth. Its modus operandi has been wars, invasion, occupation, pillage, support for oppressive dictators and monarchs, unwavering support for the illegitimate Jewish State, and the imposition of foreign ideologies and systems on the Muslim lands. This is the true terrorism, as a result of which millions have died, nations destroyed, women dishonoured, wealth stolen, and entire societies have been systematically impoverished. According to Western analysts themselves, America alone has killed over one million Muslims in the last thirty years! Unofficially, the number is significantly higher!
Such sustained and brutal oppression naturally has repercussions. No people aggressed so harshly for so long will simply accept such aggression without responding. The Muslim response has by and large been exemplary, and the majority rejected Western interference in their affairs through intellectual and political means; others adopted material means. But Western Governments would have none of this. Their exploitative foreign policy was beyond reproach, and they would not accept any response or rejection in any of its forms. Hence they sought to shift blame for this reaction unto Islam and the Muslims by painting the reaction as the problem itself. Instead of the problem being US interference in the Muslim World, it was the 9/11 attacks of 2001. Instead of the problem being British interference, it was the London bombings of 2005. Instead of the problem being the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, it was the alleged plots to bomb Western capitals. Instead of the problem being ‘Israel’, it was the Palestinian resistance, and so on. By shifting the blame unto the Muslims, Western Governments have sought to absolve themselves of all responsibility and thereby continue their oppressive and inhumane foreign policy.
Another obstacle to this foreign policy was the constant exposition and criticism of it coming from Muslims living the West. To minimise the effect of this obstacle a further objective has been to silence the Muslims through fear and intimidation. Hence we have seen labels of extremist, fundamentalist, radical, islamist and the like used to label the Muslims and to ostracise them.
The key objective however has been to target central Islamic ideas. Ideas that make the Muslims strong and unique. Ideas that are the fundamental hurdle in the way of Western dominance over the Muslim World. Ideas such as the obligation of the Muslim lands to be united, the Muslim people to be united under one leader, the obligation of implementing the Shari’ah through the Khilafah, the obligation of Jihad to resist invasion, the obligation of accounting the rulers, and of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. These are the very ideas that enable the Muslims to resist Western hegemony in the Islamic lands, enable them to establish the Khilafah, and thereafter challenge the West for universal leadership. Hence, the core matter has always been about these ideas, with the aim of forcing Muslim to abandon them. But because Western leaders have not had the spine to come out and say that they have a problem with Islam itself, they have used the issue of terrorism as a smokescreen.
Therefore we now see that all Western Governments have shifted from speaking about terrorism itself to focusing on the ‘ideology of terrorism’. Constantly we have seen that even those who undertake no material or violent actions have also been labeled as extremist or radical, simply because they carry and propagate the above-mentioned Islamic ideas. A leaked proposal of British anti-terrorism policy called Contest II showed that they considered extreme anyone who advocates a caliphate, promotes Shari’ah law, believes in jihad, argues that Islam bans homosexuality or fails to condemn the killing of British soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan. Reports from think-tanks in the US and UK have noted similar conclusions.
The Australian Government’s own White Paper shows that it is moving in the same direction. Part of its strategy is ‘resilience’ which is all about targeting ‘violent extremism’ as opposed to terrorism itself. ‘Extremism’ of course is about ideas, not actions. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute already advised the Government in a report published in June 2009 that its focus should move to ‘counter-radicalisation’, following in the footsteps of the UK. Part of this strategy is to promote ‘moderate’ Islam and to counter ‘radical’ Islam, a policy of dividing Islam and promoting a secular version that fits nicely with Western designs over the Muslim world.
Hence we see that the whole issue of terrorism has been used as a smokescreen in order to achieve other ulterior objectives. This conclusion is further evidenced by the disproportionate focus Western Governments place on so-called ‘Islamic terrorism’. A recent Europol report shows that in the last three years 99.6% of terrorist attacks in Europe have been carried out by non-Muslims! In the US, statistics show that 94% of attacks are carried out by non-Muslims. Yet despite these realities it is still made to seem as if ‘Islamic terrorism’ is the biggest threat to the Western World.
In reality, the terrorism threat is statistically almost insignificant. Studies show that in the US more deaths occur from Sports Utility Vehicles than from all terrorist attacks combined. It is more likely that a person will die by drowning in a bathtub than by a ‘terrorist’ act. In Australia, not a single person has died due to a ‘terrorist’ act since 9/11. Even when we include those killed overseas, statistics show that the risk of being killed in a highway accident is still almost 470 times higher than being killed by a terrorist attack! Yet many of Australia’s highways remain in a shocking condition whilst the Government continues to spend billions on ‘counter-terrorism’.
The conclusion is also strengthened by the fact that Western Governments keep focusing on the symptoms of terrorism, as opposed to its root-causes. They refuse to acknowledge the central role their foreign policy plays in creating grievances, grievances that are felt in both the Muslim and non-Muslim world. These grievances are not even properly acknowledged; instead they are casually dismissed as ‘perceived grievances’ as is the case in the current White Paper. If Western Governments were serious about national security they would acknowledge the root-cause and respond accordingly.
Even the ‘anti-terror’ laws legislated in recent times in the US, UK and Australia, have been changed to make them much broader and encompassing. This is not because of any pressing need to stop attacks – there have been no attacks in Australia – but in order to make it easier to jail Muslims and in doing so make examples of them to intimidate other Muslims. This is precisely the essence of the case of our five Muslim brothers sentenced two weeks ago. Due to the unjust broadness of the laws, they were convicted of planning for a terrorist attack even though there was no direct evidence, no established intent to kill, and no specific target. The conviction was reached on the basis of circumstantial evidence pieced together through a particular narrative with what the judge called the ‘extreme’ views of the accused – many of which were basic Islamic views!
O Muslims!
You are a brave and honourable people because of your Islam. It does not befit you except to respond to this attack on your Deen except in the bravest of manners, emulating your Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and pious predecessors.
We must not accept the narrative fed to us by the Government and its parrots in the media. We must reject any attempt to shift blame onto the Muslims and maintain that Western governments are the real terrorists. As long as their state-terrorism does not stop, resistance will continue, as it does today, in both the Muslim World and in the non-Muslim world.
We must also reject ‘moderate’ Islam and accept only Islam as it is, without labels and qualifications. We must uphold those central Islamic values and ideas that are being targeted. We must maintain that the only solution for the Muslim world is Islam and that the Shari’ah alone must be implemented in the Muslim lands. We must maintain that it is an obligation on the Muslims to defend any Muslim land that is invaded and that ‘Israel’ in particular is an illegitimate state. We must uphold all of Islam without any compromise.
Finally and most importantly, we cannot be satisfied by only being reactionary to aggression. Islam establishes for us an agenda of our own, which is to implement Islam in the Muslim World in the form of the Khilafah, and to spread this light to the rest of humanity. This is an obligation upon us from Allah سبحانه وتعالى, and we must all play a role in its materialisation.
“And Allah has full power and control over His affairs; but most of mankind know not!” (Yusuf: 21)
Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia
19 Rabi’ al-Awwal 1431 AH / 05 March 2010 CE