MuslimVillage.com has obtained exclusive documents that reinforce the belief that Senator Bernardi’s espouses the same Islamophobic ideology as Geert Wilders.
Revelations by notorious Islamophobe Dutch MP Geert Wilders that he has been invited to Australia by Liberal Senator for South Australia Cory Bernardi to “help him”. This should come as no surprise to anybody who has been following Cory Bernardi’s public comments regarding Islam and Australian Muslims over the last few years.
Wilders told ABC’s ‘Foreign Correspondent’ program in Amsterdam on Tuesday that he had met with Bernardi.
“I met one of your senators, Senator Cory Bernardi, not so long ago.
“He invited me to help him at least when I would visit Australia, and I will certainly do that as soon as I can.”
To “help him” in exactly what is not clear as yet, but if Senator Bernardi’s previous comments are anything to go by, it is not suprising that he would enlist an Islamophobic right wing extremist such as Wilders to come to Australia to further his anti Muslim stance.
Wilders, whose anti-Islamic views had him banned from Britain, is planning a trip to Australia later this year or in early 2012.
Cory Bernardi has come out and said that he has offered to help with his schedule and to arrange meetings for Wilders.
Bernardi, who represents a state that only has a 3.1% Muslim constituency seems obsessed with everything and anything to do with Islam and Australian Muslims.
MuslimVillage.com has obtained exclusive access to documents that reinforce the belief that Senator Bernardi’s espouses the same Islamophobic ideology as Geert Wilders.
In a letter (see below) sent to an Australian Muslim man from Sydney on April 1 2011 after the Muslim man had wrote to him asking him to list what problems he believed Islam had caused in Australia, Senator Bernardi makes the claim that fundamentalist Islam (whatever that means) has been linked to “gang rapes being justified by Muslim clerics” and “hate speeches being espoused in Australian mosques in the name of Allah” amongst a list of other allegations.
Senator Bernardi then goes on to state that these “practices” are unacceptable.
These are of course not Islamic practices and all that Bernardi has done is list a series of incidents that have involved individuals to malign Islam and the Australian Muslim community.
What is more concerning is that he then goes on to make a bizarre and disturbing request of the Muslim writer:
“You have identified yourself as an Australian Muslim. I would be interested to know if you subscribe to fundamentalist Islamic practices. If not, I ask then for evidence that you have publicly denounced the above mentioned practices and the preachers who advocate for non-engagement of Muslims and “infidels”.”
We are not sure what type of “evidence” Senator Bernardi is after, but his views are not befitting for a member of Parliament, let alone the shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition.
In a follow up letter sent in August this year (see below) Bernardi tells the correspondent
“In the absence of your condemnation, one could conclude you agree with their conduct. According I will not be engaging in further correspondence with you.”
Bernardi earlier this year virtually mimicked Wilders comment on Islam when he told radio station MTR:
“Islam itself is the problem – it’s not Muslims.“Muslims are individuals that practise their faith in their own way, but Islam is a totalitarian, political and religious ideology.”
Wilders was quoted in a 2009 interview with the Boston Globe as saying:
“I have nothing against the people. I don’t hate Muslims. But Islam is a totalitarian ideology. It has religious symbols, it has a God, it has a book – but it’s not a religion. It can be compared with totalitarian ideologies like Communism or fascism.”
Although Tony Abbott keeps distancing himself from Cory Bernardi’s comments, it is beyond belief that he allows him to continue making his Islamophobic statements without his approval.
If he wants to be seriously seen as an alternate Prime Minister, Tony Abbott needs to consider that the views of his personal Parliamentary Secretary will not exactly hold him in a positive light when he is meeting the leaders of Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
Bernardi must surely now be a liability not only to Abbott, but also the Liberal Party.
They would be seriously concerned about losing the significant support they received in the recent NSW state elections from the Australian Muslim community. It is understood that leaders of the Muslim community who worked closely with the Liberal Party in NSW and helped create swings of close to 30% in many areas with significant Muslim voters in Western Sydney, are seething behind closed doors.
In light of the current revelations, it remains to be seen how long the Liberal Party and specifically Tony Abbott can continue to tolerate Bernardi’s outbursts. If they continue to ignore them, the only conclusion that can be reached is that they either agree with them or have deemed it more politically opportunistic to sacrifice the “Muslim” and liberal “lefties” vote for the sake of gaining the right wing Hansonite voters.
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