<
https://theconversation.com/the-islamic-state-flag-hijacks-muslim-words-of-faith-banning-it-could-cause-confusion-and-unfair-targeting-of-muslims-209042>
"The Australian government may make the Muslim community a target through an
ill-informed proposal.
New legislation has been introduced to parliament to outlaw the public display
of “prohibited symbols”. These include two Nazi symbols and the Islamic State
flag.
The bill was initially introduced to ban the Nazi Hakenkreuz (swastika) symbol
as Australia tries to deal with a rise in Neo-Nazi activity. Neo-Nazi groups
are becoming a greater threat as they try to recruit new members and are
becoming more brazen through public displays, according to ASIO
Director-General Mike Burgess.
The Islamic State flag was not in the initial bill. To justify its late
addition, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the IS flag symbolised the
“abhorrent actions taken by one of the world’s deadliest and most active
terrorist organisations”.
According to the proposed bill, the IS flag is to become a prohibited symbol.
Anything that “so nearly resembles” the IS flag such that “it is likely to be
confused with, or mistaken for” the IS flag, is also to be banned.
The bill then details what is meant by public display: “if it is capable of
being seen by a member of the public who is in a public place”.
This can include documents such as newspapers or a magazine. Basically,
anywhere in public where the “symbol” can be seen.
But this is problematic because the IS flag hijacks words which are sacred for
all Muslims. The IS flag ban will likely create more problems than it solves
and should be removed from the legislation. Or at the very least, the ban
should be postponed until solid data is available about its problematic use.
There has been some backlash over the proposed wording already. In response,
Dreyfus said the Labor government would listen to such concerns and that final
changes to the wording are still possible, though it remains to be seen what
form that would take.
The bill will now be looked at by a parliamentary committee."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
