Consultations Homepage || Meeting Notes: 17 June 2003
Consultation with a group of young Muslim women aged between 18 and 30, Brisbane, 17 June 2003
The meeting was facilitated by Omeima Sukkarieh (notes) from HREOC and was attended by six women aged 18-30.
1. What are your experiences of discrimination and vilification?
The following comments were made about where Muslims are at greatest risk and what has provoked major incidents.
"I've noticed that in the smaller country towns, even though Muslims do get discriminated against, the towns are a lot better than the big cities. I've noticed it when I go home to Innisfail, which is 65 kms south of Cairns. When I go back home, I have no problem at all. I'm one of the only ladies who wears the scarf. You might see one every couple of months but really there's no-one up there who wears it. I've actually had a ladies come up and ask me 'Oh, why do you wear it? You look so beautiful with it on'."
"[The Islamic Women's Association - IWAQ - office] got grafittied around the time of the 55 year sentence. There was a scout hut that the Brisbane City Council was doing up and IWAQ was using it temporarily and the graffiti was "F ... Muslim Sluts' and it was directed to the Muslim women. There were other threats made saying that 'We're going to rape your women'."
"These threats were sent to the Kuraby and Holland Park mosques by mail and they were saying that 'We are going to rape your women just like you raped ours'."
One participant commented on the complex of causes of anti-Muslim prejudice.
"The thing is that it's not just ignorance. It's multi-factorial, which means it's more than one factor. Firstly it's the media and it also comes back to your upbringing, socialisation, who you spend most of your childhood with, the types of people that you hang out with and all those things. It all plays a big role. So if you're in a household where your parents constantly say 'That black man is this, etc', unless you get the opportunity to meet with that person and you realise 'Hang on. I see something different than what my parents have been telling me'. [Without that] your attitudes and perceptions of that person will not change. So I think the basic thing is your upbringing and socialisation."
The women were not aware that Queensland law makes religious discrimination and vilification unlawful.
"I didn't even know about the law and the new religious vilification changes and I fee better knowing that now. The law if you know how to use it can be symbolic as well as practical."
One participant described the reluctance of the Islamic Women's Association to report incidents to the police.
"The other thing in regards to making official complaints was that after September 11, IWAQ got messages left on the answering machine and when we walked in the morning and listened to them. The majority of the calls were in support, and people were fantastic but there were a couple of women who made obscene and threatening phone calls and we told the police. But what ended up happening was because the police were finding out this information they would come and talk to you and ask you all these questions about what's going on. They started to come periodically to check up on what's going on. It's called I think the 'Islamic Taskforce'. And what happened was we retreated because we thought they're coming to ask about our community. They're coming to ask about what was happening but how do we know how they are going to use that information? What benefit is it going to do us to go and tell them all these things when they're not doing anything about it anyway?"
Another participant described her experience of complaining to the police about a serious assault.
"I was assaulted in a road rage situation and it was his word against mine. I wasn't seriously assaulted; he got out of his car, got into my car, threw my keys in my face and hit me and he had already tried to run me off the road and all sorts of stuff. Anyway, I then went straight to the police and told the police that I want to take it further. So they asked me if I was hurt, and they had a couple of photos taken and it was only a couple of bruises, and so on. The officer asked me 'Why do you want to take this further?' referring to the long process I had to go through. And the thing that made me want to take it further was the fact that if he can do that to a total stranger, how is he going to be with his wife, or daughter or girlfriend, or whoever? So I wasn't doing it for me, but I was doing it for the fact that it was one step at a time."
Another participant talked about her experience of complaining about incidents at school.
"Even though no-one supported me at school I don't feel that I could go and complain about any of it because I just feel that no-one will take me seriously and what's going to be done is going to take a lot of time, a lot of headache and I just don't want to go out of my way just for a bad outcome. It happened to me nearly everyday of last year and after September 11 so you just get tired. I went and I saw a Guidance Officer at my school and I went to her in tears and I told her what the other kids were saying. She sat me down and started saying to me that I had to understand that they were boys. She was trying to explain that whole peer pressure thing with the guys and that this was normal behaviour and I was so angry. I wanted her to tell me that they had no right to do these things. She did ask me 'Do you want me to take these boys up to the office with you?' But I said to her that if she was going to take these boys up to the office with me and I am going to tell them what they did, they're just going to give me more crap and they are just gonna deny it and gave me more crap in class and then it's going to explode into this big thing. So she said 'I will make sure that they announce it on parade [Assembly] and explain to them what happened on September 11 does not affect any Muslims directly and to leave them alone and not to harass them'. I didn't attend the next day because I was so tormented and traumatised. So I don't know what happened and whether they did it or not."
Employment discrimination
There was a feeling in the group that wearing the hijab is not a barrier to employment in Queensland, although Muslim women were the target of negative comments from colleagues following September 11.
"Basically hijab doesn't stop you. It's more qualifications and personality."
"[Male recruiters] see that you're straight with them, that you're professional but you're still a woman. You might be in hijab but bugger it, what's the big deal and they say 'Wow. You can actually speak; you've got an IQ'."
"After September 11 I was working with well educated people in the biggest accounting firm worldwide and they were asking me 'What do you think of suicide bombers?'"
"One of my colleagues started talking about Osama Bin Laden and so on and she asked 'Why is Osama Bin Laden doing this?' as if I had the answer. She was totally against Osama Bin Laden and what he was doing and all that stuff. Then I explained to her that Islam is not like that and Muslims aren't supposed to do this. And anyway she actually said to me that she actually sympathises with the Palestinians. I just get this feeling from talking to people that the issue of Palestine is coming up and they are realising who's really innocent in this picture. People are starting to be more aware of the issues of Palestinians because I think particularly after September 11; the issue got more coverage even though it was all bad."
"You think it's just young people who don't know any better, but there's a 49 year old person I work with that calls me a terrorist and he should know better."
"I have a friend who is getting really pressured at work for wanting to grow a beard. Why? He shouldn't feel that way."
At school
One participant, a senior secondary student, described her experiences with both teachers and other students.
"My teachers would even discriminate against the religion and say 'It's all those Islamic people from the Middle East. They're terrorists'. And I would just look at my teacher in the face and I would go crazy. I started going crazy at every student in the class saying to them 'You're ruining my life. You don't understand how just talking casually can affect people'. And they're like going 'We should kick them all out'. I'm just sitting there in the class thinking 'Hello, you're talking about me'. And the teachers allow them to talk like that and sometimes they are the centre of the conversation. My teacher was an Anglo-Australian and she was really bad. She [the teacher] was agreeing with them and then I said to her 'We're [Muslims] not the only terrorists here. Haven't you seen an Israeli Zionist and how many Palestinians they kill everyday?' And I was really upset and started swearing in front of her. I thought if she has no respect for me then I have no respect for her no matter what age she was, because I was just really devastated and she was like 'I'm sorry'. She just started saying to me later that 'I respect that you stood up for yourself and students generalise what Muslims are'.
"I used to get so many emails about the rallies and the number of dead in Palestine and stuff like that. I used to check my emails at school and all the kids would come up behind me and say 'You're gonna be a suicide bomber one day. You're gonna kill us all'. They keep saying stupid things like 'On your honeymoon, why don't you just suicide with your husband?' They say really stupid things. You try and explain things to them but they're not interested so after a while you hold your hand up to them and you say 'Talk to my hand'."
In the media
There was a consensus that the Australian media have overwhelmingly portrayed Muslims in a negative light.
"They portray Japanese women [who are also renowned for their modesty] and their culture as upcoming and forward in technology and they're just with it. Whereas the Arabs they always put us down; they put our women down. It's the media and they're the ones that are educating the public. I remember after September 11, I was so shocked because I've never been questioned about who I was until then and some of them were such stupid questions."
"That's true because post September 11 the media just spurred with anti-Islamic stuff. I went to school the next day and after that I was not treated the same and until now I am treated differently by everyone no matter what culture or anything."
"Australian talkback radio is the worst. Do you know what they are saying about Muslim women on talkback radio? They said 'Why do Muslim women always crash into people in the shopping centres with their trolleys?' And one lady caller says 'After September 11, in Sydney there were no Muslims in the shopping centres and that was the best time in my life'."
In public places
"I was driving back from the Gold Coast last weekend and it was about 1 in the morning. There was one other girl with me in the car. The boys, my cousins and my brother, were in another car and lucky for them being there. Anyway, the boys are behind us and we could see them and we're cruising 100 on the freeway. And I look over, and I have got my hijab on, and I look up and this guy in the car next to me just did some really obscene things with their tongues and other parts of their body. I'm driving along and thinking 'You disgusting men. What are you yukkie things? Like you are the epitome of scum'. Anyway we're driving so I just jam my brakes on the freeway, slow down to about 70 and then they jam their brakes on. So I put it into third and I fly past them and they just sped up. We called the boys on the mobile and told them to hurry up and catch up because there were these four guys in a four wheel drive - these disgusting animals - and they kept tormenting us on the freeway. We could have had an accident very easily on the freeway and I could have driven off the road any time looking over at them. And I couldn't help myself; I had to just give them the finger while I was driving. I sped up and I couldn't get away. Anyway, the boys came up and so there were three of us now driving on the freeway and it could have been very bad. They couldn't see them coming but as soon as they did they just took off because our boys were just screaming at them saying stuff like 'How dare you treat our sisters like that'."
"Women aren't as scared [when their brothers or husbands are with them] but sometimes I get scared that they are around me because of what they will do. But the reality is they do provide you with some sort of protection."
One participant described how she took her own revenge on another driver.
"Another time I was driving with [a friend] and this guy took our parking space. He was a fair dinkum Aussie with the rats tail and everything and so I got out and tapped on his widow and told him that he had taken our parking spot and that we were waiting to park the car. He was going to move but his wife or girlfriend took a look at [my friend], saw her hijab of course and said to him, 'No, stay here'. I got really mad and I took his air caps off his tyres as souvenirs."
Community divisions
The group discussed the sources of discrimination in some detail, noting that the Muslim community itself is significantly divided.
"It's divided and it's more divided with different belief systems. I don't necessarily mean between sects but like you might have say for example everyone who is Sunni, and this is just an example, amongst the Sunnis themselves for example instead of looking at a group of people and saying 'mashallah', these people are trying to do things for the better of Islam, sometimes you feel like you're being dragged down and dragged under, so when you're trying to do the right thing, you're getting stomped on, and when you're not doing the right thing, you're getting talked about. It's a bit of a vicious circle."
"I think divisions do exist within the community, like people say Darah Mosque, the Fijian Mosque, or Kuraby Mosque is the South African Mosque is the Bosnian mosque. So people divide the community up in terms of what mosque they go to. But all mosques are for everyone and that's how it should be."
"I think this thing about divisions within the community, can I tell you it happens in just about every community I've lived in, whether it's Muslim or not. It's got nothing to do with Islam, and it's got everything to do with fear. Lack of education and fear is a dangerous combination. You put that together and you have a molotov cocktail of cultural paranoia."
2. What is being done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
Several community strategies and projects were mentioned by the group.
Train the Trainer Course for Dahwah
"This is a Dahwah training course to enhance the Muslims' knowledge on Islam in order not only to teach their community but be able to face outside questions that come in. Members of the Islamic Women's Association of Queensland undertook two five day courses and became trainers themselves. In order for Muslims to be able to feel more confident about themselves, we help empower Muslims to speak out. So a Muslim's going to come and attend the course for example, and the course is going to give them material and the first section for example is "Misconceptions on Islam", so when they look at the first section they say 'Ok, you might get a question on the street like why do you wear hijab'. There are those women that can answer them and there are those women that will fight at them and make narky comments at them and say 'What's your problem?'. And there's those people that will just become very passive and get upset or emotional about it and walk away. So the one thing I found in actually being able to conduct the training, and we've done about five training sessions here in Brisbane, is that our community is very difficult to get educated Islamicly because you have people with different opinions, you have different people across the board, but participation is very hard to get. However we've gotten the numbers and participation has been quite high. Most of them have been people who are progressive thinkers who are maybe older. The overall feedback has been fantastic, and what it has enabled to do is get people to realise that Islam is not such a narrow path, it's wider, and enabling them to talk about Islam outside, and that has been used as a tool to fight the prejudice against them because instead of folding when they are asked a question, they question the questioner. And they are able to give them more information and broaden other people's thinking, so it's like a chain reaction. This is one thing that has really worked. You can connect to ietqld@yahoogroups.com for more information."
Australian Muslim Media Rights
"The objectives are to deconstruct journalism by giving the average Joe and Mary on the street or Ismail, Ahmed and Mariam, a voice where they can write in and say 'I saw this on Channel 9, these words were used to describe Muslims, it was ethnic profiling, etc', wack it up on the net and then everyone else can pick it to pieces, but it's more proactive than that. It's a yahoo group at Australianmuslimmediarights@yahoogroups.com"
"It is very effective. One strategy is to deconstruct journalism or the media system by saying ok, everyone here can have a go, everybody can have a voice, presenting each issue as it comes up in the media from a multitude of different angles and so everybody can have an opinion on it and it's effectively being aired on a big forum where there's a lot of people paying attention, and it's media watch. Let them know that we're not going to let them get away with it."
Cross-cultural health partnership
"Now we, IWAQ, have something in the pipeline. True we're the Islamic Women's Association and we cater our services just to Muslims but now we're going to be joining forces with Trans-cultural Mental Health which is a non-Muslim body and the Ethnic Community in the Gold Coast. We're actually spreading our wings and 'inshallah' [God Willing] to get out in the community and that's a way of educating people about us as well. The women on the management committee, they're educated, independent, working, and they have the characteristics that we need."
Australian business and aid relationships in Muslim communities or countries in our region may offer an opportunity to increase awareness of Islam among Australians.
"One good thing also that IWAQ did was that the State Development section in Brisbane City Council is building some new roads in Malaysia or Indonesia I think, and they asked IWAQ to go and explain Islam. We covered the basics of Islam. They asked us so they could be more culturally aware so that they could go to the country and respect their culture and beliefs. So there could be more cultural awareness out there, and there will be more understanding and that's what we need."
"It's about taking opportunities that are put out as well. When I was a secretary we went to the Mater Hospital when they were building the new women's section and they wanted to know cultural sensitivity issues and how the women's placenta is buried and all these things and what need sot be done in accordance to Islamic beliefs, so we were there for the whole day doing a workshop with them."
3. What more could be done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
In education
There was debate about the value of cross cultural education in the classroom.
"It comes back to the curriculum. We have to start putting cross cultural awareness as part of educating kids at a young age."
Another speaker argued that the focus should be on the parent-child relationship, indicating that parental attitudes are of the greatest influence. There was also a discussion about how schools should deliver information to Muslim students about other religions.
"[My son] came and said to me [his teacher] is going to read us a Christmas story. Now my husband had an issue with it and I said to him, look, his particular teacher is not a Muslim, but my problem with it is this; number one it's an Islamic school so they don't need to be reading about Christmas, not that they don't need to know about it because my own parents are non-Muslims. They need to understand that there are different religions and what they celebrate but you don't want them to learn too much. [He] said that Christmas was yukkie but I told him it wasn't and tried to explain it to him. They have to be able to grow up with the ability to think and assess situations around them. Example is Christmas. It's around them and it may not be directly linked to them but they need to understand that it's a belief that other people have and we have to respect it. How hypocritical would I be to go and bring [him] up with this concept that they are all sinners and Christmas is bad when my own mother and father are not Muslims. How is he going to look at them with respect? He knows that they are not Muslims."
"If you want other people out there to accept Islam, you can't turn around and judge Christmas and Easter."
In the media
There was a call for the training and employment of more Muslim journalists.
In community leadership
All participants agreed that community leadership should be a major focus as there is room for improvement at present.
"If you look at the Imams now they need training as to how to speak out. We need an Imam who is ready to stand up and speak out."
"But if you look at the Imams now, they're too scared to even speak out about anything to do with our religion because they are in fear that the audience aren't ready."
"I think that we are limiting ourselves if we are letting our Imams be our only representatives to the wider community or the media. What happens is that the females just get omitted anyway from the equation, like we're all invisible or something; so there needs to be more outspoken women and their needs to be more unification as well. Like all these other Islamic organisations that I know nothing about, there has got to be some kind of unifying factor here or common denominator that can bring us all together and it doesn't need to be one person. Why can't we go back to basics and be a bit more democratic about this? I think we also need to be very diverse about how we promote Islam to the mainstream community too. We need to present Muslim women as 'Muhajabine' [Veiled], not wearing the hijab, Anglo, African, Asian, Indian, non-Arab, different styles of dress, different styles of adornment, different styles of behaviour and practice and tradition and all that sort of thing. And this is where it gets hard because people's interpretations of Islam are so different and there are groups that will say that this is the only way, and you know what, I think part of the miracle of the Qur'an is that Allah (SWT) made a lot of things open to interpretation on purpose. This needs to be given validation too, so women with scarves get respect and women without scarves get respect. Women from different cultures also can say 'I'm proud to be Muslim' and get respect and not fall into that really narrow stipend where all of a sudden it's all about community education in Islam and how is the rest of the community going to relate to that? We need to encourage respect for diversity in the Islamic community and this will lead to greater solidarity."
"But the wider community always turn to the Imams. They don't know who else to turn to. They don't realise that there are a lot of people who don't have anything to do with the organisations and Imams and that they don't speak on their behalf."
