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| Extremism must be tackled without demonising Muslims, cleric tells Q&A | Extremism must be tackled without demonising Muslims, cleric tells Q&A |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Violent extremism can be tackled without demonising Muslim communities, in the same way the causes of domestic violence are being addressed without demonising all men, an Islamic cleric has said. | Violent extremism can be tackled without demonising Muslim communities, in the same way the causes of domestic violence are being addressed without demonising all men, an Islamic cleric has said. |
| Also on Monday’s Q&A, a former neo-Nazi shared a first-hand account of the appeal of extremism, describing how “all of sudden the world is no longer complex, it’s literally black-and-white”. | Also on Monday’s Q&A, a former neo-Nazi shared a first-hand account of the appeal of extremism, describing how “all of sudden the world is no longer complex, it’s literally black-and-white”. |
| Related: Muslim community split in response to violence committed in name of Islam | Related: Muslim community split in response to violence committed in name of Islam |
| Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, a Sydney-based cleric and school chaplain, took the brunt of early questions, beginning with why Muslims were apparently so susceptible to “radicalisation”. | |
| “In reality it’s a human problem,” Charkawi said. “And it requires a whole community effort, a holistic effort.” | “In reality it’s a human problem,” Charkawi said. “And it requires a whole community effort, a holistic effort.” |
| One driver was “identity issues” among young Muslims, who regularly told Charkawi: “We don’t belong … we are not part of the Australian society.” | One driver was “identity issues” among young Muslims, who regularly told Charkawi: “We don’t belong … we are not part of the Australian society.” |
| He said young people needed “safe spaces” where they could discuss personal and political grievances “without fear they are going to be put in handcuffs”. | He said young people needed “safe spaces” where they could discuss personal and political grievances “without fear they are going to be put in handcuffs”. |
| What is it about Islamic religion that makes people susceptible to radicalisation? Wesam Charkawi responds #QandA http://t.co/upbAln9Fbv | |
| A lack of upward mobility among new immigrants, including Muslims, was another source of frustration, the Greens member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, said. | A lack of upward mobility among new immigrants, including Muslims, was another source of frustration, the Greens member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt, said. |
| The assistant minister for health, Ken Wyatt, said disengaged young men – regardless of their religion – needed help. “We have got to identify in the schooling process those young males who become isolated in the course of their primary school years ... through to their later high school years,” he said. | The assistant minister for health, Ken Wyatt, said disengaged young men – regardless of their religion – needed help. “We have got to identify in the schooling process those young males who become isolated in the course of their primary school years ... through to their later high school years,” he said. |
| “By not intervening and preventing some of the bullying they experience, some of the tensions that are created by their ethnicity, or because they are ignored, then we fester at that level.” | “By not intervening and preventing some of the bullying they experience, some of the tensions that are created by their ethnicity, or because they are ignored, then we fester at that level.” |
| A member of the audience, James Fry, gave a gripping account of his own descent into extremism, in the form of a neo-Nazi gang. “What happened to me was I had significant behavioural problems, drug and alcohol problems. I was on the periphery of society,” he said. | A member of the audience, James Fry, gave a gripping account of his own descent into extremism, in the form of a neo-Nazi gang. “What happened to me was I had significant behavioural problems, drug and alcohol problems. I was on the periphery of society,” he said. |
| “Achieving any kind of success in terms of mainstream goals, in terms of doing well at sport, or at school, all the stuff that young blokes tend to mark themselves by, was no longer available to me. So I was looking to achieve in some other way, to feel like I belonged, like I was part of something good.” | “Achieving any kind of success in terms of mainstream goals, in terms of doing well at sport, or at school, all the stuff that young blokes tend to mark themselves by, was no longer available to me. So I was looking to achieve in some other way, to feel like I belonged, like I was part of something good.” |
| He said extremism offered a satisfying “black and white” worldview that said: “You don’t have to work on yourself, you don’t have to put any effort into yourself. ‘They’ are the problem, the solution is joining us.” | He said extremism offered a satisfying “black and white” worldview that said: “You don’t have to work on yourself, you don’t have to put any effort into yourself. ‘They’ are the problem, the solution is joining us.” |
| The Tasmanian Labor senator Lisa Singh said the language around government “deradicalisation” efforts needed to change, including the linking of new social cohesion programs to counter-terrorism. | The Tasmanian Labor senator Lisa Singh said the language around government “deradicalisation” efforts needed to change, including the linking of new social cohesion programs to counter-terrorism. |
| Charkawi suggested domestic violence provided a model: “In Australia, domestic violence is tackled through mental health, awareness campaigns, countering the narrative. [Perpetrators] have support services. So it is done in a way that doesn’t demonise all men,” he said. | Charkawi suggested domestic violence provided a model: “In Australia, domestic violence is tackled through mental health, awareness campaigns, countering the narrative. [Perpetrators] have support services. So it is done in a way that doesn’t demonise all men,” he said. |
| Asked about the prospect of doctors refusing to discharge children back into detention, the soprano Tania De Jong drew on her mother’s experience as an “enemy alien” during the second world war. She was interned behind barbed wire in northern Victoria. “I think that keeping kids in detention is child abuse,” she said. | Asked about the prospect of doctors refusing to discharge children back into detention, the soprano Tania De Jong drew on her mother’s experience as an “enemy alien” during the second world war. She was interned behind barbed wire in northern Victoria. “I think that keeping kids in detention is child abuse,” she said. |
| Wyatt, the first Indigenous member of cabinet, drew snorts from the audience when he suggested child asylum seekers should remain in detention with their parents while their claims were process, or else “you run the risk of another stolen generation”. | Wyatt, the first Indigenous member of cabinet, drew snorts from the audience when he suggested child asylum seekers should remain in detention with their parents while their claims were process, or else “you run the risk of another stolen generation”. |