Eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australias
Consultations Homepage || Meeting Notes: 11 April 2003
St. George Lebanese Joint Committee Women's Group
St. George Migrant Resource Centre, Friday 11 April 2003
The meeting was chaired by Ms Ghada Hijazi, CSS Worker and Carol Arrowsmith, Community Development Officer, Rockdale City Council and facilitated by Omeima Sukkarieh, Community Liaison Officer, HREOC (notes). It was attended by 17 invited participants.
The consultation was conducted in Arabic with the assistance of Nada Khoder, interpreter.
1. What are your experiences of discrimination and vilification?
Has the community experienced discrimination and vilification?
For the majority of these women, shopping centres and on the street are where they are experiencing discrimination and harassment the worst.
The group believes that the focus on Arabs and Muslims and the crimes they commit is all political and they therefore feel like they are "political pawns in a game". They also acknowledge that racism and discrimination are foreign to a lot of women until they leave their homes, believing that this is the reason why some women haven't yet experienced it and women stay at home so they don't experience it.
"When I was at home I didn't know what racism was until i went to TAFE to learn English, then i began to hate this country. For example, the teacher explained the anti-discrimination laws to us then i saw him doing exactly what he was telling the class it was illegal to do."
Many women also believe that the police are insensitive and target and harass their young boys, especially by handing them unnecessary driving charges. There is a general belief that the punshment handed out to Arabs and Muslims does not fit the crime, and therefore Muslims and Arabs are being unduly punished.
Most of the incidents are indirect. However the more common things that happen include having things thrown at them, being spat on, called names, told to go back to their own country and/or their veils are pulled off their head.
All the women believe that the general Australian public, if not all Australians, are "disgusted with [them]", meaning with both Muslims and Arabs.
Where is it happening?
In shopping centres, banks, government offices etc
Some women believe they are not getting the same service as other customers, e.g. customer service officers and customers alike try and avoid them completely or just stare at them.
One of the women who had lived in Australia for over 30 years wore the hejab until recently after having been discriminated on many occasions. She made her final decision to remove it "after a Woolworths teller employee threw the change at me after I bought the groceries".
A few women told personal stories of more serious and violent incidents in shopping centres which left them feeling humiliated and powerless. Mostly they are upset and amazed by the inaction of witnesses, including centre staff.
"I was shopping at Kogarah in the centre and someone threw eggs at me, spat at me and took my veil off. Who was there to help?"
Most feel powerless when they are witness to racist incidents. For example, one of the ladies in the group witnessed an old Anlo woman telling a Muslim mother, whose child was crying whilst waiting in line, that she does not know how to teach her children some manners and continued "You've taken over our country here". No-one else said anything.
One woman, whose son suffers from an intellectual disability and is being cared for and attends DoCS services. On the advice of her doctor, she believes DoCS workers are not taking care of her son's needs appropriately. Like many of the women, she cannot prove that this is directly related to discrimination, however does believe so.
In the street or public transport
Many of the incidents discussed took place while they were the driver or passenger of a vehicle, where they are confronted with other drivers of Anglo background mainly shouting abuses at them or "sticking their finger up". Women have also been sworn at and spat on while walking in the street either by other pedestrians or by people driving by. One of the most common and frightening things that occurs is that drivers attempt to run the women and children over or at least scare them into thinking that they will do it. Alternatively, they hit their cars and drive off or blame them for it. If these incidents happen, most of the women believe the best thing to do is not to shout back or yell abuses but to keep going.
In the media
Those women who do watch Australian TV or read the Australian newspapers (not many do) generally believe that it is not people in the community who are discriminatory but the media is biased and discriminatory and influences people's attitudes and perceptions of the community.
"Channel 10 don't focus on crimes of non-Arabs but focus only on crimes committed by Arabs."
Other places
There appeared to be quite a significant number of discriminatory acts taking place in public housing complexes, with the perpetrators being both men and women, to the point that women fear being physically and sexually abused.
2. What is being done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
There was little knowledge among the group of existing Premier's Department initiatives, such as the Youth Partnership, even though Rockdale was one of the target areas. The strategies that the group was familiar with were known to them through the group coordinator, who was also unfamiliar with the Partnership and how the community could get involved.
There was also a general consensus that there have been no strategies targeting the negative media reporting and therefore the media is left unaccountable to general public perception and attitude towards the Arabic and Islamic community.
3. What more could be done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
Media
It was suggested that SBS not be the only channel that broadcasts shows etc. on migrants but that commercial channels take part of that role and responsibility.
Schools / Educational institutions
The most effective method to educate parents was for students to be educated first and foremost and then have written information given to students in the language that their parents speak at home, or through newsletters sent home to parents.
Isma Objectives
The meeting proposed the following strategies for achieving the objectives identified by Isma.
Challenging stereotypes
The group reiterated their concern that the community will be continually singled out if posters were to be placed with their pictures on it in shopping centres, etc to try and dissuade the wider community from discriminating against Muslims. They did not want people to feel sorry for them but only to understand the Muslim religion more. Some women believed that billboards were a more appropriate and effective alternative to the use of posters, not showing Muslims but telling people that discrimination is illegal and having a Muslim woman as well as other ethnic women next to that message.
Providing community support
As language is a huge barrier to accessing information and services that advocate on behalf of the community, the group felt that English classes should be used as an essential tool for educating the community and supporting them in making complaints or by teaching them how to speak back and what to say when they experience discrimination or vilification.
Setting up support groups for people who have experienced discrimination at all levels.
Improving public safety
The department of housing needs to be more responsible for the safety of its residents and also more aware of the issues facing all residents.
Informing communities about their rights
The group felt that the focus should be redirected to the importance of making complaints and this was more likely to occur if there was a long term and comprehensive project to educate the community about their rights and the law. They believed educating families was the best means of spreading the message as the community will begin to educate each other.
The group suggested that, if the people cannot go to the law to complain, then education should focus not on how to complain to HREOC or the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, but on where and how to complain to the places where the incidents take place: ie who to complain to in a shopping centre, school, at a service, bank, police, etc.
Ensuring complaints are taken seriously
Legislative changes need to be made that protect the community from incidents and therefore increase the confidence that is currently lacking in anti-discrimination and human rights bodies and government departments.
People will not complain because there is a fear of victimization, and unless that is addressed then there will continue to be a fear.
Setting up of centres with complaints and/or education officers who are neutral in the process which the community can and will easily access, such as in key local city councils where there has been a significant problem of discrimination in the communities. Further to that the group believes that the local council has a key role to play in eliminating prejudice and should therefore be more proactive in doing so by, for example, employing more people of non-English speaking background who understand what other services exist to support the community.
There was strong sentiment that the general public will not start to take complaints seriously until politicians do. There was great concern that if the law does not protect the community then there was a question as to who brings politicians to justice, especially when they take no responsibility for the discriminatory and harmful things that they say.
