Isma-Listen: Eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australians

Consultations Homepage || Meeting Notes: 16 July 2003

Adelaide women’s consultation hosted by the SA Equal Opportunity Commission, Adelaide, 16 July 2003

The meeting was chaired by the Deputy South Australian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, Ms Anne Burgess and facilitated by Omeima Sukkarieh, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (notes). It was attended by 21 invited participants.

1. What are your experiences of discrimination and vilification?

An overview of experiences was provided at the start of the consultation by a representative from the Muslim Women’s Association.

“The Muslim Women’s Association is a key organisation that provides welfare and social services for about 15,000 South Australian Muslims, other services including cultural training for service providers and community development programs here in Adelaide. There has always been an element of discrimination against Muslims - but since Sept 11, the MWA has been presented with a significant number of reported incidences, specifically of discrimination and harassment against Muslims in the community. Women form the majority of these cases, probably because of our visible Islamic identity. Most of the reported cases have involved offensive verbal attacks.

“Just about two months ago when I was driving the children to school – I’ve got three children, between ages 13 and three and a half years old - a car stopped beside me at the traffic lights and the language that came out of the gentleman’s mouth was extremely offensive. I was angry, but I felt that I could handle it. But my children; you can imagine the impact it has on three children …Unfortunately we’ve been receiving kinds of cases like that but that was just a personal experience and I consequently reported it to the police [and provided number plate details].

“All the SA mosques, including our office and the people answering phones were bombarded with offensive language and even threats. Our social worker actually had people come to the office and verbally threaten her. She was quite frightened and we actually had to close the office for about two weeks because of that. It was directly after Sept 11, and we had another influx directly after Bali. Furthermore, there have been a few reported incidents of physical attacks. Also, inadequate service provision has been reported to us. When it’s inadequate service provision, it’s really hard to prove that it’s a religious or racial thing. A person could be having a bad day. I confront it on a daily basis: I might come up to the plaza and receive a rude salesperson making it difficult for me to return an item. I have no problem articulating what I want to do, but sometimes they can be quite rude.”

Later in the consultation several women talked at some length about the meaning of the hijab for themselves and also its distorted meaning for many Australians. Some had contemplated removing their hijabs. There was general agreement that the hijab operates as a trigger for discrimination and as an identifier of Muslim women.

“I’ve been married for 15 years now and I only put the scarf on a year ago and I have been amazed with the response. I am treated differently. For someone who’s a professional woman, who’s lived in South Australia her whole life, is an active participant in the community. I did it myself because if my husband made me do it, he would have made me do it 15 years ago. Now I’m receiving discrimination. I’m still the same person; I still believe in the same things; I’m not doing anything bad.”

“There’s an issue in the way the media try to select women wearing a scarf out of the crowd at functions and suddenly that woman is the spokesperson for that group. There’s one school of thought that says media shouldn’t do that and that media should be encouraged to talk to Muslim women who don’t wear the headscarf also, regardless.”

South Australian media reporting on this very consultation had been offered a photograph of one woman who does not wear hijab but had rejected it and asked for a woman in hijab instead.

“There are women I know who received overt forms of hostility, one as recent as last term where a Muslim lady was walking her child to school and she was abused and threatened by someone in a passing car and it came to the point where this lady is too frightened to walk her child to school and her husband had to give up other activities to be able to walk the child to school and pick them up. I know of other examples of women experiencing the same things, women who wear the hijab, women who don’t and women who wear the sari. It affects women’s daily lives and some are afraid of going out.”

Participants confirmed that who do not wear the hijab also experience discrimination and abuse.

“I’m a University student and I have a Turkish father. But because I have blonde hair and blue eyes and because I don’t represent what people think a Muslim should look like, suddenly, as soon as they find out what my background is, it’s like a block. It’s not only Muslims wearing the hijjab [who experience discrimination]. I dress like any western teenager but as soon as people find out what background I am, there is an immediate block being put up. Sometimes that can be even more disappointing and hurtful. It’s sort of like the outward discrimination that comes from wearing the hijjab, I think that needs to be addressed also, and even though I’m not a practicing Muslim, I find that discrimination extremely offensive. But it particularly hurts because it does form part of my identity.”

“It’s not just the ladies who are wearing hijab who experience discrimination like this. I have been in Australia for 20 years and before when they asked about my background and my religion, I’d say I’m from Afghanistan and I’m Muslim. But now if someone is asking me, I’m scared to say I’m from Afghanistan and I’m scared to say I’m Muslim. When I say I’m from Afghanistan, they say ‘Go back to your uncle Osama’ and they ask ‘Are you an Al Qaeda member?’ And that’s very sad for us.”

“I’m Iranian and I don’t wear the hijab but I’m proud of being a Muslim and I’m proud of being an Iranian. But it’s still ridiculous that when I say I’m Iranian, they laugh and they say ‘Terrorist’. I don’t know why some people they hear the name of some Middle Eastern country and I want to say that instead of saying Middle Eastern country, they say ‘Terrorist country’. What does it mean “terrorist’?”

Sources and causes of prejudice

“I do find that we do get quite a bit of discrimination from [other, earlier] migrant groups themselves, and I don’t know if you’ve found this in other states, but there is a pecking order. We get more discrimination from those that have got to the top of it. And I don’t want to mention specific groups but I’m very disappointed because I know that they’ve gone through the same stuff as I did when I was at school.”

Experiences in the workplace

“I’d like to share a story with you about a complaint we received and I conciliated. I can’t go into too much detail but basically this man working in a large organisation felt discriminated against because of his religion and race, but because he couldn’t complain just on the basis of his religion, he linked his complaint to race. Basically what happened in his workplace was that he was frisked by his colleague’s wand and asked if he had bombs on him. We basically brought him and his employer together at conciliation and the employer wrote a formal apology and agreed for the Commission to go and do training for managers and workers in the office. We have had other examples of complaints where people being refused rental accommodation and things like that.”

“I’m a qualified dental technician and it was really hard for me to get employment with my scarf and I applied for a position at a dental laboratory and the boss, well we talked on the phone and everything was ok. When he saw me for the first time he was shocked. But I had all the qualifications and experience, and I got employment for two weeks. Then he told me I was a really good and hard worker but that I could not continue being employed there unless I take off that scarf. I felt so miserable and I couldn’t describe how I felt because I spent four years studying and I wanted to achieve in this job. I asked him ‘Are there any other reasons why you wouldn’t give me this job?’ He said ‘No. You’re a really nice person and a hard worker but I don’t want to bring religion into my laboratory’.”

Experiences at schools and universities

“My daughter was attending this Catholic Girls’ School and had been wearing the hijab for over a year or so. She’d had her class picture taken and then they decided to have the whole school picture taken. When we got the pictures back, my daughter didn’t find herself anywhere in the school picture and what they had actually done was blacked out her scarf so she could blend in. She was of course very upset. I spoke to the photographer and he blamed the principal, and I spoke to the principal and he blamed the photographer. The principal in the end said ‘Well, she stood out too much’. The uniform is brown and beige and what my daughter did, ‘cos she’s actually quite feisty, she went around and started a petition and this absolutely outraged the principal who called me at home and was so angry and said this was not going to continue. In the end I had to remove my daughter from the school.”

The impacts of discrimination and vilification

“I thought long and hard about taking the scarf off after Sept 11 like many women. We were instructed at the MWA like other Muslim women to stay home for three days until things calmed down a bit, just as a safety precaution. But after three days I had enough [and went out alone]. I remember within one hour of going out I had been spat on, had someone threaten me as if they were going to hit me, the shop assistant at Coles would swipe my card and would not look at me in the eye. I remember coming home crying my eyes out and asking myself, ‘Do I take this scarf off?’

“My husband is an Ophthalmologist; a doctor at the hospital. He wears a suit now but he used to wear a Sunni cap for three years when we were in Melbourne but could not find employment, and that’s why we came to Adelaide. But, anyway, he now works with a suit and tie and he’s got very dark skin, frizzy African hair, very large nose, his name is [Arabic], and it was on the door of his room at the hospital. He had patients not wanting to see him because he’s obviously Arab or Middle Eastern. And I thought what’s my husband going to do, is he going to do a Michael Jackson and bleach his skin and wear contact lenses? You cannot change the fact that he’s got dark skin or he’s of Middle Eastern appearance.

“I also had a friend of mine who doesn’t wear the scarf. She’s a beautiful girl with long hair and wears the latest fashion. But she’s only been in Australia for a short time and has a very strong Afghani accent. She was also discriminated against, and we all know that accents are not going to change. And so I thought what is this individual going to do, what is my husband going to do? They can’t change. They shouldn’t change. Why should I change? I’m wearing a scarf because of God, my creator, not because of other people. People are always going to pick on you for being different. Why should I change for these handful of ignorant people and they will never be happy with me anyway? A lot of girls have taken the scarf off after September 11. It’s sad because they (the perpetrators of discrimination) have won. These handfuls of ignorant people have won and why should we cater for their needs?”

Do victims of discrimination and abuse submit complaints?

The difficulty of proving a discriminatory motive was mentioned as one important reason why incidents are not reported. As mentioned later in these notes, lack of information about agencies which deal with complaints and about their processes is another reason.

“I find in a lot of discrimination that it’s very, very hard to prove. Sometimes it’s about going to a manager and lodging an official complaint, but often we can’t do that. You can go to a shopping centre and be treated rudely and go to Centrelink and be treated rudely and it’s very hard to follow through.”

“I arrived seven years ago in Australia and that [workplace discrimination] happened four years ago and I didn’t know much about the laws in Australia and I was learning English and it is really hard for me to lodge a complaint because I was sort of put off.”

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

Community strategies – Muslim Women’s Association

The extensive activities of the Muslim Women’s Association were outlined. Strategies to increase the reporting of incidents:

“We’ve had several consultations with the SA Police and they’ve been fantastic and telling us the procedures involved, like getting a report number and apparently I think if there’s a case mentioned, they’ll follow it through or something like that. In a lot of cases, we’ve been finding that a lot of our community members are reluctant to report. A lot of them were from societies and countries where there is fear attached to any form of government or policing. As a result, they’d rather put up with it and bear the brunt of it all than actually report it. And that’s something that we, as an organisation, are really trying to address. We’re also really trying to teach our community how to report and the processes involved and we’re also informing them of bodies available such as the Equal Opportunity Commission. I can see that a large proportion of our community don’t even know the EOC exists and their functions. We’re going to try and work with the EOC on that.”

Strategies to inform the communities and challenge stereotypes about Muslims.

“In response to this discrimination, we’ve actually found ways to address that - some strategies which we feel are working quite well to counteract existing stereotypes and misconceptions about Muslims. We’re providing some cross-cultural training services for service providers and schools, both in the private and public sector. We have an educational officer to co-ordinate and run this along with a group of volunteers. We have conducted 66 sessions over the last 18 months and it’s been really successful.

“Interestingly enough, we received more interest from private schools than from public schools and it fits in under their religious education program. Also both government agencies and non-government organisations have taken an interest. And actually what we do is provide an information session on Islam and include things like: Who are Muslims? Where are they? Where are they from? As well as basic beliefs and talk about some of the misconceptions which have been thrown around by some of the media such as the complete misconception of women and also about the concept of Jihad. We always have question time at the end of it and we’re always amazed. We have people saying ‘Gosh, there are so many misconceptions and unfortunately we’ve been misled by the media’. The response has been great and really enlightening.

“We received funding from DIMIA and part of our work plan includes cross-cultural training as a whole component. I guess there must be some promotion through DIMIA and also through the office of Multicultural SA. We conduct very professional sessions and do evaluations on a regular basis.”

“We believe that the only way is through education, so we are trying to make sure that we reach every individual, particularly the young, until we change these attitudes.”

“It’s good going out to schools and seeing kids be totally non-receptive and go ‘Who’s that person?’ and then at the end of the session saying ‘You know I didn’t want to come here today, I really hated Muslims’ and then say ‘Now I feel a little more comfortable being with you’. It’s good to hear that because you know that people always have the fear of the unknown and they just need that opportunity to come to know us and learn that they can relate to us. Our kids like Harry Potter and do normal things too during the school holidays. That really breaks down the barriers. And I think a lot of us have been born and bred here in Australia and we know what it’s like, we’ve suffered racism at school, like the Greeks and Italians, we were picked on for our ‘garlic sandwiches’. Because we’ve experienced it ourselves, we’re absolutely determined to eliminate it.”

Other aspects of the MWA’s school education strategy include:

“Students at the Islamic school compete with public school students at the recreation centre where they play soccer and netball. We also have a buddy program where students from grade 1, 2 and 3 write letters to students from other schools and at the end of the term they actually meet each other. Emmanuel College is also starting a program where two of their students will do community work experience at the Islamic College.

“[Another project] which is part of the Living in Harmony Grant, involved bussing for children, basically going and collecting children from other schools and bringing them to the Islamic College where they have a tour and talk to the Principal and sending them to the Al Khalil Mosque and then they were given a little tour and talk and then had afternoon tea and were bussed back to their school. Again, that requires a lot of money. We did 12 schools and 1,500 participants and we are hoping to reapply for funding.”

On the subject of how these educational activities could be further improved, the meeting was told:

“We definitely need to reach out to more schools. [Schools are often referred to the MWA by a local mosque. However,] they can ring up mosques for example and get answering machines or no-one answers. So sometimes it’s by luck, by chance [that they are referred on]. So I’d like to see a better method of reaching out more to schools. And it is preferable that they go through the MWA because most of us there are teachers or are trained in education whereas the mosque might provide a more theological approach and discussion. So we know how to cater for their needs so we really want to know how to reach out to more schools. I actually put out a flyer and sent it through the Department of Education and the lady sent it out through the internal mail but there are certain schools where they miss out on such information. Al Khalil mosque had both private and public school teachers attend the mosque for information sessions and then they were interested in holding similar ones for students at school.”

One participant suggested other ways to improve outreach.

“Decentralize it! Now we all live in different neighbourhoods so we need to spread out and perhaps go and make a time to see deputy principals and you’d be surprised how a one on one approach would work. The face to face approach has always worked. You might be surprised just how much support you’ll get. It’s in the high schools where you’ll find most of the problems and they need to see you because a lot of Anglo-Saxon kids at high school have never seen, or directly come across, a woman who wears a scarf (and most aren’t even religious). To come into the school and actually talk to the students - it’s new, it’s very strange and they’re very fearful of the unknown. But if they see you as a human being, and you’re just like them, then they’ll look beyond the differences. Public schools is where you’ll need to reach out and it takes a lot of effort but it is possible. So, try the DET Press [which publishes school newsletters] and working with DIMIA and other funding bodies to get the information out.”

MWA’s strategies to resource teachers:

“Another strategy is encouraging South Australian schools to include the study of Muslims and Islam in the Society and Environment Curriculum. Now you’re all aware that there is a society and environment course that goes from year 8 to year 10 and basically it’s the study of cultural groups and society. Unfortunately a lot of teachers don’t have the resources, credible resources about Islam, the Muslim community, particularly in SA, and the contribution the Muslims have made here. You’ve all heard about the Afghans and our early railyard in the outback. I mean, there’s a rich history here in Australia. Now we would like to see teachers starting to teach that, so one of the things we’ve done is to get together a resource package which contains information and resource sheets which includes overheads which we give schools at a cost of $50. So when we go out we encourage schools to buy that and we’re now finding that teachers are begging to teach it so we’re trying to fill gaps. We need to work on that more. We need to produce a more comprehensive package, and we need to let schools know that. It’s called the Muslim Women’s Association Resource Package.”

One participant noted another barrier to engaging with schools.

“Every school and principal says ‘Our school is tolerant, our school is fine’. Inviting someone to come to the school and train the staff - they think that means that the school has to admit that there could be issues of discrimination at the school. And they don’t want to do that.”

MWA’s strategies to engage with the media:

“We also have a media strategy which includes responding to media, and in particular to talk back radio because in Adelaide the talk back radio was absolutely dreadful so much so that none of us even tune into those radio stations anymore.”

“[The MWA] has also been very active in writing letters to the editor. A general info session on Islam and the nature of the SA community is scheduled next year for all sectors of the media. We haven’t done anything like this so far and again, we have limited human resources and limited financial resources. We are all doing this on a voluntary basis and it’s tough. There’s only so much we can fix. But we feel that there is such a need to let people see who we are, what we believe, how we believe, in the hope of removing some of those stereotypes which are being flared up. So we want to call all sections of the media and have cross-cultural training sessions specifically for them early next year. We will also have packages available to give to them. It would be good to work with other organisations around the country to develop this training because we’d like to know what worked for them and what didn’t.”

It was further suggested:

“As a suggestion, I think the best thing to do is go out and speak to the media advisers at different departments as well as media and communications students, especially the ones that will go out there and become the new journalists.”

MWA strategies of engagement with other faiths.

“The fourth strategy which the MWA is engaged in and is ongoing is a staging of six Muslim and Christian dialogues. These have been advertised on the media. They have been open to the general public, and so far all the dialogues have attracted around 100 people. You get all types of people participating from all walks of life and they involve general talks about Islam as well as some of the misconceptions of Jihad and the role of women, as well as information about some of the Christian concepts of trinity. We recently had a topic around ‘ Nurturing a Peaceful Society’, that was from both perspectives, about what we can do to have generally a more peaceful society. It’s about talking together in trust. They are being organised in conjunction with the South Australian Council of Churches.”

These MWA strategies are all implemented with “only 2 paid workers and they work part-time. The rest are volunteers.”

“Hopefully we will develop more as we go along but at the moment that’s enough for us to handle. I must say that these strategies are ongoing and rely heavily on our limited financial and human resources and we’re fully aware of our limitations.”

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

Misinformation in the media

“We have to have some impact on the media. Where are these discrimination and vilification laws that should have been implemented by now? I would have thought by now that they would have. These radio announcers must be held accountable for stirring certain religious and racial groups. Even the rapists in Sydney, straight away they were called Lebanese and Muslim rapists. I mean they are Australian!”

“We’re also looking at putting a documentary together or some sort of film about Islam. They recently had a documentary about Islam called ‘Empire of Faith’. But that sort of thing is always shown on SBS or ABC and they are only watched by about 2% of the population. I don’t think it’s that 2% that are going to start abusing people. So it’s something that we need to try and infiltrate into mainstream Australia somehow. There was a movie called ‘The Message’ that was in the cinema about 20 years ago and I believe it’s in some video shops now and that shows a good history about Islam and it’s got actors like Anthony Quinn. It would be good if somehow that could be played on Channel 7 or Channel 9. We have to counteract things like ‘Not Without My Daughter’ and ‘Forbidden Love’.”

“Can I just put in a plug for an organisation called ‘Young Media Australia’ who made a video called ‘Put Me in the Picture’ and it had these kids saying ‘I don’t see myself in popular programs’. They basically say ‘Here I am, of a particular cultural background’ and then ‘I don’t see my culture or religious group reflected back through mainstream media and entertainment’. It’s one of the few resources that is available that addresses this issue. It is meant for mainstream media to stop and think about who they are portraying as Australians. That was ten years ago now and I don’t see any great changes in what’s out there. I don’t see culture and interest groups in shows like Neighbours or Home and Away.”

Workplace discrimination

“If there are reported incidences of discrimination in the workplace then as part of their punishment there they should attend a compulsory information session on Arabs or Muslims.”

Assisting victims of discrimination and vilification

“It’s learning skills for the person who’s feeling harassed, as well as the person who’s doing the harassing. The process is all about strengthening that inner confidence. Do people struggling to cope with being harassed have that support and know how to deal with it on the spot and afterwards? I guess I’m wondering if that could be incorporated in the info and education that communities receive rather than the 100% of the focus be changing the perpetrator’s behaviour. Perhaps educating school counselors about how to educate kids in dealing with such harassment or discrimination.”