First it was nuclear physics, and now it's terrorism studies. It's getting hard to figure out what to study these days. "The Age" reports that "A Monash University academic has warned 200 students enrolled in a terrorism studies course that they could be monitored by intelligence agencies."
Abraham, an Australian-born convert to Islam and honours student in the course, was questioned by Australian Federal Police last Thursday about books he had bought and borrowed from the university library. He was interviewed yesterday on ABC radio by Jon Faine. I remember reading a similar case to this from the US recently about a journalist who was raided after she had borrowed and/or purchased certain books on the FBI's watch list. That was a lot more heavy-handed but even the questioning of the student seems out of order to me. Terrorism is a legitimate subject for study and, regardless of what the AFP says, it certainly appears Abraham was targetted because of his religion. If not, then what about all the other students in his class?
This is a worrying trend in Australian politics. I don't see how anyone can say they are defending Australia's way-of-life by chipping away at the very foundations of what makes it the place it is. Expect to see more of this in future.
