White Australia was founded upon invasion, theft, and genocide. It was subsequently shaped by social inequality, foreign wars and corporate power.

So Australian nationalism is not very admirable stuff. For this reason, Australian nationalists avoid defining what they stand for. In vague terms, they praise "Australian Values", and go bananas about some entertainers and sportspeople.

Nationalism of this kind is meant to cover up the class divisions in Australian society - apparently workers and bosses all love to cheer themselves hoarse over sporting victories, even though some are sipping champagne in corporate boxes while they do it.

But Australian nationalism is also a way of creating other divisions, by concentrating on enemies of the "Australian Way Of Life", both at home and abroad.

The capitalist press does this systematically. Every second month or so, they campaign against a new target. One such target is Sheik al-Hilaly, the Imam of the Lakemba mosque in south-western Sydney.

In an interview in Egypt, al-Hilaly said that Muslims are "more Australian" than Anglo-Saxons, and that "Australia is not an Anglo-Saxon country". In other words, al-Hilaly suggested that Australian society should be more inclusive toward non-Anglo-Saxons.

But nationalists want to define True Australians, and they don't mean Aborigines. So they go for whiter meanings - such as descent from Anglo-Saxon convicts (not the Irish), and respect for the spiritual authority of the established Christian churches.

Hence a trivial dig at Anglo-Saxons by a Muslim cleric drove the editorialists into a frenzy. They sentenced Hilaly to a second term of serving as a hate figure for Australian nationalists.

But the media furore is not directed just against al-Hilaly (or the newly-discovered Sheik Feiz Mohammed).  Primarily it is directed against Australian Muslims. Australian nationalism is another part of the "war on terror" being fought against inhabitants of Australia.

Ever since Australia joined the war on Iraq, the press has often defined Muslims as enemy agents. How dare they fall to their knees to praise Allah, when they should be praising Australia?

Australian nationalism in wartime, as usual, requires racism. It holds all Muslims collectively responsible for the perceived "crime" of one member of their religious community. It expects them to prove themselves innocent by "distancing themselves" from al-Hilaly.

Prime Minister Howard and NSW Premier Iemma have presumed to tell Australian Muslims that they should sack their spiritual leaders. I can't think of the last time they gave such advice to a Christian church.