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|| Meeting Notes: 30 April 2003

Preliminary consultation to
launch Isma in Victoria with government, non-government and Arabic and
Islamic community organisations

Hosted by the Equal Opportunity
Commission of Victoria on Wednesday 30 April 2003

The meeting was chaired by Dr Diane Sisely,
CEO of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission, and facilitated by
Dr William Jonas, Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner,
and Ms Omeima Sukkarieh, Community Liaison Officer, from HREOC. It was
attended by 21 invited participants.


Formally launching Isma were Dr Sisely, Dr Jonas, Ms
Sukkarieh, Ms Halla Marbani representing the Australian Arabic Council
and Ms Joumanah El Matrah representing the Islamic Women’s Welfare
Council of Victoria.

1. What are your experiences
of discrimination and vilification?

Has the community experienced
discrimination and vilification?

Who is being affected? Who is worst affected?

The participants as a whole felt that the issue of discrimination
and vilification against Arabs and Muslims living in Australia is a serious
one which has not disappeared but continues to affect the Arabic and Muslim
communities in Victoria and in fact around the world.

The majority of the group were concerned about the subtlety
of racism and discrimination. For example, one participant talked of a
friend’s daughter who in sending out the invites to her birthday
party mentioned that she would not be inviting one of her friends because
she was dating a “Lebanese boy”, and that “Leb boys”
oppress women and this gave her friend’s daughter reason to be very
concerned about her friend. Laws focus on obvious and explicit discrimination
and that becomes very problematic.

Many in the group believed that there have been notable
incidents of discrimination and harassment of families and youth by police
and that police have a huge role to play in dealing with the issues of
discrimination and harassment against the community.

“Police
has a great role to play as role models, particularly in building trust
with youth. For example, yesterday a youth was put into custody, was
beaten by police and the kid refused to report it. The impact is always
greater when [discrimination] comes from Police.”

Participants agreed that there needs to be recognition
that the impact of physical, verbal and other racially or religiously
motivated attacks are not just immediate but long lasting.

“It
is not just the attack, but also the loss of opportunity to get a job,
walk freely in the street, and so on, and people who stay at home and
who don’t go out will not be attacked, but still there is a problem,
so it needs to be addressed from different angles.”

Participants strongly believed that small businesses
are also suffering. Arabic or Islamic people who own businesses, such
as those who own Arabic grocery and sweet stores are afraid of being targeted,
which has happened, and other small businesses are greatly affected, especially
after September 11 as “people don’t go to the shop because
they are afraid, and so stay in their house”
.

Dr Sisely suggested that currently a different approach
is required as physical attacks have decreased, however isolation of and
within the community has increased, and “people therefore ignore
the issue as a non-problem”
.

Where is it happening?

One participant said that the nature of most attacks
is that they do not belong in any institution so the perpetrators are
not physically present for Police to arrest them, therefore making it
almost impossible to register a formal complaint.

“Yesterday,
a Muslim woman was attacked in a [public] housing unit and nothing could
be done, and this makes up about three quarters of the complaints. So
there are types of crimes that society can do nothing about.”

Dr Sisely responded that “It is inappropriate
to expect the victim to fix the system and individually complain.”

Information from the Equal Opportunity Commission and [its equivalent
in other states] needs to be consistent and taken seriously at that level.

2. What is being done to fight
anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?

The Australian Arabic Council (AAC) for many years has
been greatly interested in the media and its impact on the Arabic community.
Last year, the AAC contracted someone to look at articles and the media
in general, whilst at the same time recognising good journalism, and thus
held the media awards. The AAC has also conducted and organised media
training for people in the community, including young people, which has
proved very popular and effective. The Australian Arabic Council in Victoria
uses some of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC’s)
education resources, including media education, which has proved to be
very effective. Lawyers and organisations and departments in Australia
need to research and use initiatives implemented by groups overseas such
as the ADC.

Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee (AMPAC) is
an organisation that does a lot of media writing in Melbourne. Journalists
such as those who are Australian Muslims are given voice which is very
powerful and a model which should be followed.

Government strategies and
projects

One participant said that there is a general view in
the community that many of the existing community and government initiatives
have approached the issue with a focus on victims rather than perpetrators
and that this is “off balance”. It is important to focus on
who the perpetrators are to avoid preaching to the converted, including
an analysis of their age groups, employment status, etc. Victorian Police
in obtaining their data on this issue are attempting to do this.

“One
of the errors we fall into is thinking that the ‘victim’
is the only one that needs to be dealt with. It should be a collaborative
approach; a focus on the victim as well as the perpetrator.”

The police representative at the meeting added further
that when trying to focus on perpetrators, identifying a common link amongst
perpetrators is very difficult, however cannot be ignored, and the Police
service will continue to try, whilst at the same time, he believes that
there is a need to address the mainstream also. In regards to education,
“education should start young” and it generally hasn’t
yet been doing that.

Dr Sisely responded that there “can’t
just be reliance on generational change, but also on mainstream attitudes
and values”
.

“The
Arabic and Islamic community’s experiences are built around a
history of discrimination against them and their experiences are also
based on racist cultural movements. This report [that is, the planned
HREOC summary of the consultations to be published early in 2004] needs
to contextualise what is happening now to the community with what happened
throughout history.”

In the Victorian Police Service, strategies and initiatives
have been implemented to try and build trust and strengthen relations
between police and young people. Such initiatives include a Spiritual
Leadership Camp which took place between Muslim youth and Police. Also,
a restorative justice process is being used now.

Most participants agreed that 6 month projects to address
these issues were not useful and that funding should be administered for
longer term projects as their outcomes and impact will be long term.

In response, Dr Sisely noted that the Victorian Equal
Opportunity Commission had a 6 month project where they employed a worker
on a project similar to that of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board’s
education project. In attempting to extend the project, the EOC trained
a group of community advocates which involved skilling up people in existing
organisations to further educate and carry the message to the community
about their rights and the complaints process. In doing this, one of the
objectives was to use resources effectively.

Dr Sisely continued that people must be mindful of unintended
negative consequences, such as government body’s ignorance of Islamic
or Arabic communities. For example, identifying community and/or religious
leaders can therefore “unintentionally put women on the back
foot”
.

A DIMIA liaison officer at the meeting has been consulting
broadly over the last 6 months with Arabic and Islamic communities. He
is amazed at the diversity in the community and especially in the Middle
East. He has been getting a sense that Christian Arabs are not as impacted
as “visible Muslim Arabs”. He said that it is important
for politicians to avoid focusing on one mosque or group as this, as an
unintended consequence, will isolate others.

3. What more could be done
to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?

Media
  • Participants
    agreed that there was a serious concern with the role the media has
    played. Government and community organisations need to address how they
    can bring in some influence in editorials. One suggestion made was to
    bring in discrimination commissioners and editors and other influential
    media personalities, such as those on HREOC’s Isma Project Reference
    Group to work together on addressing the issue of discrimination and
    vilification against Arab and Muslims in Australia.


  • There is
    a need for a body, such as a body of community leaders who are well
    respected in the community, to monitor the media and provide influential
    comment on particular media reporting, as media is “not behaving
    responsibly”
    , and therefore the media’s irresponsible
    reporting needs to be spoken about openly and addressed.There is a need
    for decent research to be conducted on the specific impact the media
    has had on different communities of all backgrounds and nationalities.
Schools / Educational institutions
  • An employee
    of the Victorian Department of Education stated that part of her job
    is to organise professional development for teachers. She recently organised
    a workshop with the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria
    about understanding people of different backgrounds. One of the issues
    emerging during such workshops is that teachers need to attend workshops
    on how to look at the media critically, so they can then educate their
    students on doing the same.

Isma Objectives

The meeting proposed the following strategies for achieving
some of the six objectives identified by Isma.

Promoting positive public
awareness
  • Advertise
    in local, ethnic and mainstream newspapers about positive aspects of
    Islam and the Arabic culture.


  • More projects,
    including HREOC’s consultations should be more inclusive and focus
    more on youth. “Kids were born here and their contribution
    is very significant and this should be told.”



  • Educating
    people within the Arabic and Muslim communities, as well as the broader
    community and government departments who fund projects that not all
    people recognise or identify themselves as being Arab or Muslim.


  • Community
    awareness begins with legislative change and policy and procedural change
    within all levels and sectors of society in recognition that Arabs and
    Muslims do exist and are as much a part of the community and Australia
    as any other.

    “The
    reality is that Muslims and Arabs are here and they aren’t going
    away, and one way of [making people aware of this] is having some
    king of recognition of this, such as a holiday during Ramadan or legislation
    that has a practical impact and outcomes. For example, including in
    a work policy that Muslims are allowed 2 hours free on Fridays for
    prayer.”

Challenging stereotypes
  • Arabs and
    Muslims loyalty is being questioned constantly, especially when they
    protest against the war, etc. Therefore, there is a need to reassess
    and redefine what it means to be Australian.
Providing community support
  • Organisations
    and community leaders need to speak out more, rather than relying on
    the person who has experienced discrimination to speak back to the media,
    the attacker, etc.


  • Need for
    Arabic and Muslim communities to be more organised in their response
    to issues affecting the community. In doing this it is important to
    ensure and encourage greater participation and representation in government
    and politics in Australia.


  • An essential
    part of what everyone should be doing is building on the current goodwill
    that exists in the community and capitalising on this and using people
    such as Christopher Kremmer and others on HREOC’s reference group
    to do this. It is important to get the stories of offers of support
    out into the community.


  • Need for
    a recommendation on how support for organisations can be facilitated.
Strengthening relationships
between communities
  • Besides
    Arabs and Muslims, it is important that other ethnic communities are
    educated about their and other people’s rights and the issues
    faced by the Arabic and Islamic community in Australia, so they can
    gain a better understanding of what the community is going through.
    This will in turn enable them to speak out against what is happening
    to the Arabic and Muslim community and therefore strengthen relationships
    between communities, and possibly “influence mainstream thought”.


  • It is important
    to bring together people or other community groups who have previously
    experienced discrimination on a large scale in Australia to discuss
    the issue and experiences of what is happening to the Arabic and Islamic
    community and strategies in dealing with these issues. For example,
    Sikhs, people of Indigenous background, Italians, Vietnamese, etc. In
    doing this, there is also recognition that there are wider influences
    and impacts on people rather than focusing on Arabs or Muslims.
Informing communities about
their rights
  • Research
    or workshops need to be conducted on why people don’t complain.
    The community should then be trained and educated about their rights,
    on how to complain and speak back.

    “There
    is a need to identify why ‘victims’ don’t speak
    back. Is it because they don’t know how or have no experience
    in standing up for their rights?”

  • What is
    lacking is an effective media and education campaign for the community
    in general, i.e. everybody. For example, a video where the Police Commissioner,
    the Premier, etc. talk about the consequences of not complaining, why
    it is important to complain and how people can assist a ‘victim’
    of discrimination, physical or otherwise, to complain and get support,
    e.g. saying something like “if you see racism happening, it is
    important to support the ‘victim’ of racism”. The
    video can be used long term as an effective educational tool for schools,
    community organisations, health centres, etc. and can be done in a number
    of different languages.
Ensuring complaints are taken
seriously
  • Statutory
    bodies such as HREOC, the ADB and the Australian Press Council need
    to tackle the most abusive and vilifying media reporting in order for
    any change to have “a ripple effect” on all levels of media
    reporting, as there is a lack of legislative intervention in more serious
    incidents of discrimination and vilification.

4. Other issues and suggestions

  • Discrimination
    is not just prevalent in Victoria, but all over the world. Organisations
    need to gather enough information about other initiatives, strategies
    and projects being implemented nationally and globally in order to learn
    from them and to determine best practice models.


  • Consultations
    such as these being conducted by HREOC need to look at how young people
    are going to deal with the marginalisation they are feeling and one
    effective method is using drama and humour.


  • In doing
    these consultations, it is good to consult with community organisations
    as well as having individuals putting in submissions as people may be
    hesitant to give information through consultations in the same way they
    would personally. People will participate more in the consultations
    if they perceive there to be an influence in government policy as an
    outcome of this project.