Last December, we followed the hostage crisis in Australia when Islamic cleric Man Haron Monis walked into a Sydney cafe armed with guns and extreme religious zeal.

Since that time, many Australians have been re-evaluating the inclusive, feel-good policies toward Muslim immigrants supported by the government, including those that related to certification for halal-based foods.

Many Australians, unhappy with the lack of response to their objections, have begun organizing Down Under a citizen-based organization named “Reclaim Australia”:

“Reclaim Australia” rallies were held in 16 different locations across Australia Saturday [April 11, 2015]. Billed as a call for “patriotic Australians” to “stand together to stop tax, Sharia law and Islamization,”. the rallies provoked violent encounters with counter protesters who billed the events as racist and anti-Muslim. Reclaim Australia, a community organization, denied the accusations. “We’re not against any particular race or any particular religion,” John Oliver, an activist with the organization, said. “We’re against the extremists of one particular religion. I know in Sydney and Melbourne they’ve got Muslims already signed on to attend because they can see what’s happening and they don’t like what’s happening.” Most Reclaim Australia protesters interviewed seemed to agree that the group was opposed to Islamic extremism and not Muslims who follow Australian law and whose intentions were not to change Australian culture.

I have a contact in that country, who is following “Reclaim Australia” closely (my source must remain unnamed, due to connections to the government). She indicates that the halal certification is pervasive, and seems to be a way to garner special rights. For example, the halala promoters require certification on everything (water, spice) at every level down to cleaning supplies. Furthermore, most government agencies and public places (sports complexes, museums, schools, hospitals) only offer halal slaughtered meat.



Why is that important? As with all other issues in politics and government, one needs only to follow the money.

This certification process has angered a small number of consumers, however. Kirralie Smith is the founder of Halal Choices and does not support Halal labelling. Ms Smith and other anti-Halal activists claim certification fees are being directed to mosques which aim to impose Sharia law in Australia. She says her objections are not about racism, however. ‘There are companies wanting to make a lot of money out of it,’ says Ms Smith. ‘A lot of these companies are just paying the certification because they don’t want the hassle.’

The Australian concerns seem reasonable, given the connection between some mosques and their members (e.g., the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge, Mass., investigated for Islamic terrorism and the religious home of the murdering Tsarnaev brothers).

“Reclaim Australia” also addresses female genital mutilation (FGM):

Ban FGM and introduce mandatory 10 year jail terms for perpetrators and organisers. This includes those who send girls overseas to have FGM carried out outside Australia. Once their jail term has been completed, their citizenship should be cancelled and they be immediately deported back to the country they originated from.

On the 25th of April 1915, Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula during World War I. There is an annual celebration of that event that went off without a hitch this year, in part because of a series of raids that led to the arrest of five men over a ISIS-inspired attack.

Despite the obvious presence of Islamic terrorist wannabes, “Reclaim Australia” participants are mocked by the elite press and derided as racist...sort of the same way my Tea Party group was mocked when we dared to protest government policies.

As my contact notes:

“The people who took part in the Australian rallies were average citizens from many ages and races who have issues with current policy. The issues the average person was protesting are centered around Islam. Not necessarily against the people who follow, but the ideology hiding behind the religion. This ideology wants consideration given but does not give any in return and people are getting fed up.”

The world has really turned upside down when a citizen can’t protest mandates on the items they are able to purchase, the imposition of extreme religious laws on a civil society, or female genital mutilation without be called either racist or insane.



