Consultations Homepage || Meeting Notes: 17 November 2003
Consultation with Arabic young people aged 18 - 27, undertaken by Australian Lebanese Welfare Inc., Melbourne, 17 November 2003
These notes summarise a discussion with eight young Christians of Arabic speaking background led by Michael Mawal, Arabic Youth Worker at Australian Lebanese Welfare.
1. What are your experiences of discrimination and vilification?
Who is targeted?
“I mainly work with a lot of Muslim people and one thing I found is that regardless [of religion], after September 11 the people that were doing the vilification were not doing it against somebody that could stand up for themselves, so to speak, because they were doing it mainly against older women, kids, defenceless kids, and people who represented something, in terms they were wearing their hijab, so it’s obvious that they’re a terrorist so we have to go get them. Or in America I know that the two days after September 11 two Sikhs died because Sikhs wear turbans even though they’re not Muslim, they’re not Arabs; there is the ignorance of people where he’s wearing something on his head so he must be Muslim so therefore he must be a terrorist so therefore we must kill him.
“One of the reasons why I did this group is because a lot of the time, after September 11, the majority that were vilified were the Muslims because they were easily identifiable especially the women who wear the hijab. But I have always found that I still copped it even as a Christian and was still called a terrorist and whatever growing up. So it doesn’t matter whether I’m a Muslim or not, I’m still copping the vilification and discrimination.”
“In relation to discrimination and vilification not so much. Me being Lebanese Christian I’ve never had anything like that happen to me. I found more discrimination against my culture and the way I live and what I aspire to do in my life as opposed to what others do in my country.”
Who are the perpetrators?
“It’s usually the uneducated who make silly remarks and slanderous comments towards others.”
“There are a lot of educated people, presumably educated people, who do exactly the same thing. I have stories about teachers, about workers, about politicians, where you would think ‘wait a minute, you’re educated, why are you saying something so stupid and ignorant’?”
“You’d be surprised how many school educated people are ignorant about these things. A lot of them don’t even know the difference between Muslim and Christian, a lot of them don’t know the difference between someone who speaks Arabic and lives in Syria and someone who speaks Arabic and lives in Africa. They have no idea. They all speak Arabic, they’re all Muslim, and they all come from the Middle East.”
Experiences at school
“I had one but it was mainly when I came to Australia in ’98 [aged 9] I got beaten up in school by the kids and there was another girl in the classroom who was Anglo-Australian, who no-one liked, and one day she didn’t rock up to school and the teacher sat us all down and gave us a big talk about being nice to other people, we shouldn’t tease people, or hit them whatever… and she was specifically talking about this girl, then all the kids started being nice to her. So I thought ‘cool’ you can tell the teacher. So I went and told the teacher and she sent me away and told me I was dreaming. So there was discrimination and vilification in that. It put a hatred in my heart towards Australia that has never left me.
“I understand that they were kids and had a very ignorant upbringing, and there weren’t that many ethnics at the school; it was a very Anglo dominated school. I went to other schools later where multiculturalism is more accepted … [It] didn’t make me discriminate against others; it made me realise that you should love one another.”
“Just with all the media attention on the Middle East and the buzz around the Middle East, when kids found out I was Palestinian background, my nickname soon became ‘terrorist’. But initially, you really don’t know how to react until you’ve had a few rumbles, mingles. It’s sort of like a double edged sword because not only were you called terrorist and crazy lunatic, you were labelled as a Muslim. Not that’s it bad being a Muslim but you’d like to be known for who you are. It’s just ignorance about other cultures and other societies and that’s extending from the media; media coverage in regards to Eastern issues.”
“I copped that a bit because I grew up during the Lebanese war so, it was always ‘there’s your mum coming with the tank’ or ‘terrorist’ and all this sort of stuff, which I used to just play up to and say ‘be careful because I’ll just pull out my knife and stab you any second if you keep saying those things’ and that sort of thing. I used to just play up to it.”
“All my life of my schooling days. I don’t think I recognised it but we were discriminated against at the start, and only until recently till I started understanding these sort of things that it sort of came to my head of discrimination and vilification. We were always a small minority, always together and always picked on in the class for being Lebanese. Simple as that.”
“My school is very small - about 100 children - and you can tell straightaway which families are racist, prejudiced. One particular family, straightaway anyone who was from Arabic-speaking background was name-called a ‘terrorist’ and was frowned upon. But because we were in a supportive community, those people who were name-calling were frowned upon for being unaccepting. So that was a positive outcome.”
Michael asked whether there is any good or positive thing about being called a terrorist. The responses were:
“People are truly scared of you. People have a better idea about where you come from.”
“It means that you’re unique. Rather than being a Western thinker [thinking] that everything the West does is right, you might attach yourself to an organisation or a school of thought that goes against the idea - the West is not always right.”
“We are passionate about what we believe in.”
The role of the police
This group was aware of and very critical of NSW police use of ethnic descriptors, particularly the official descriptor ‘Middle Eastern appearance’ for crime suspects.
“Maybe because there the Arabic population is much bigger than it is here, but whenever there is a shooting or some kind of tragedy that happens, they always say ‘a Lebanese or a Muslim’. But if it’s an Australian, they won’t say ‘an Australian’ or if it’s a Greek they won’t say ‘a Greek’.”
“A friend of mine was in Sydney about early nineties, and he was there with two or three friends. Two of the three were Lebanese and one was Italian or Greek or something like that. They were reading in the paper about a crime that had been committed and the police were on the lookout for a thirty year old something, Middle Eastern man with a dark complexion. So what they did was… even though they weren’t all Middle Eastern, they were all dark complexion and in their late twenties, early thirties… so they took a camera and went to the police station and they said ‘excuse me officer but I think one of us must be the criminal. Can you tell us who it is so we can hand ourselves in.’ And they were just looked at like ‘what the hell are you talking about’ and ‘who are those weirdos’ and why are they doing this on camera. But what they did it as was to show how stupid that description was because it could fit any single person even someone who wasn’t Lebanese, or wasn’t Middle Eastern. So, that’s just a little way of people fighting it.”
The role of the media
“Filipinos don’t get discriminated against as much as the Arabs. If you look at Hollywood, Hollywood seems to follow world events. Initially it was James Bond against Russians and when the cold war threats had dissipated we had James Bond against Afghanistan. We’ve got all these movies that are depicting Arabs as stupid, aggressive, violent… whatever it is… rapists…everything. So little kids look at this and they want to be like their heroes and they see an Arab and they’re like ok go against the Arabs. There was one on ‘Law and Order’. About an airline company that prohibited a Muslim from travelling on a plane because they feared he was a terrorist. The mere fear of terrorism became justification for discrimination and the courts ruled in favour of the airline company. I mean like you put a show on TV that’s respected, loved, watched and all these Westerners are viewing this, taking it all in thinking ‘you got a point’. And let’s face it a lot of Westerners are very passive in their outlook on those things, they’re not going to think against that view, they’ll adopt it as theirs thinking that it’s tolerated.”
“The media runs rampant with racial vilification. They say ‘a criminal of Middle Eastern appearance’. That’s the worst kind of discrimination. And everyone’s going to be looking out for a Middle Eastern person.”
The influence of government policy
“The government clearly doesn’t want the Australian citizens to keep their own culture. They want to melt them all and make this new culture. So, if the government can’t accept this how are we going to persuade the public approval.”
2. What is being done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
The efforts of Muslim students on the Bundoora campus of La Trobe University were briefly mentioned.
“It’s very heavily populated by Muslims and I know they have their own prayer rooms and washrooms set up at uni. Only they’re allowed to go into the rooms; they have a special access code to go into rooms. I know like when it was around September 11, and the recent terrorist things that have been going on, they’ve been having like information sessions on what their faith is and how it’s not related to the terrorism and things like how they’re different to other religions and how they believe their religion is a peaceful religion, and just sessions on asking questions… ‘Are we terrorists?’…are we this are we that…sort of questions… come find out.”
Other initiatives were also mentioned.
“Our church released a lot of articles on and against war: what war does to people, the effects of war, long-term and short-term. It’s very much against anyone using physical violence against anyone.”
“This group called ‘Women from Palestine’ is actually run by women - women representing an Arab group. They do a lot to combat racism in the west by discussing issues.”
The following individual effort was described.
“A colleague of mine, about two years ago, actually after September 11 and all the asylum seekers came out, she runs a support group for Iraqi women and decided to seek some money out, get some funding, which she got. What she did was she got three of the women in her group to tell their stories about their lives in Iraq, why they decided to leave, who decided to leave, what they had to do to leave, their journey across the deserts, what happened to them at the refugee camps they went to, how they got to Australia and what happened in Australia. And we were able to publish that and give it out to people, to organisations, to make them better understand what an asylum seeker is. So, that might not have reached millions, might not have reached thousands, but it reached hundreds, or tens, whatever. So you can still do things. I guess I’m getting a bit of a message that a lot of you are thinking that unless the government does something or unless it’s this huge thing then nothing’s going to be achieved. But you can.”
3. What more could be done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
“I don’t think more needs to be done. I think a different approach needs to be taken. So, not necessarily bombard people with the same tactics we have happening now, with like the one little bit of media coverage, or like little talks here and there, or a poster here and there in certain areas. But a different approach to handling it because whatever is happening now doesn’t seem to be making such a huge impact. Something different needs to done.”
“I think we need to publicise all these things further. You were saying with any bits of information, any festivals, all those sorts of things, now even with the education, it’s all in place. But the awareness is not there, it’s not publicised enough, people do not know about it. Not only local papers but the vast media of advertising. Also advertising through schools where all this education is supposed to be happening.”
Raising community awareness about Arab diversity
“We don’t need to raise awareness within our community, everyone knows what the issues are. We need to raise awareness to the external society. And when we continually say Arab and Islamic groups then we’re continuing to leave that spider web across the Arab community. I mean there are many different cultures and we’re vastly diverse and we’re assuming that by labelling Arab and Islamic, everyone thinks that Arab and Islam, it’s the same thing. People associate Islam with Arab as it is. We need to open up and say that there are Christians, there are Jews, there are this and that. I mean Christianity, the West is based on the teachings of Christ and where do they think He was born? Washington?
“Whether you’re Christian, whether you Jewish, whether you’re Muslim - as long as you look Arabic you’re still copping it. The reason today is that people think that Arabs are one group in the same pot, and the longer we allow this stereotype to remain … the perception won’t change; they’ll continue to attack people that are Arab. But if we somehow open it up and make them realise that it’s a very diverse part of the world, you can’t just label this person a Muslim or Arab just because they might look like they.”
“You know what I would rather, is an education for people to understand that we’re not people of the same group. That there is a difference between Lebanese people and Palestinian people, Syrian people, Israel people, Saudi Arabia people. That they are their own country; that they are their own people. The Lebanese history is very complex but for people to understand even a little bit, and will understand that it’s not the same people doing the bombings or where they’re coming from so at least not everyone is being labelled: it’s the individual not really the nation. It’s not the Muslims around the world, it’s the individual. Not that it’s a right thing to discriminate but if they’re going to do it at least get it on the right person.”
“We want the diversity of our background to be expressed. This diversity will make them realise that you can’t discriminate against an Arabic person in Australia for the actions of an extremist in the Middle East. You can’t punish the entire group of people for the actions of one.”
“You know those ad campaigns like ‘Don’t drink and drive’, ‘Life be in it’? Why don’t they have a tolerance campaign?”
A lengthy discussion ensued about the concept of ‘tolerance’ and whether ‘acceptance’ is any different. Some argued that acceptance implied an undertaking or an obligation to take on the cultural and religious practices of others while others felt it is simply another word to express tolerance.
“If you’re accepting somebody then there’s already something there that you have an issue with. Whereas, we shouldn’t have an issue with them, everybody’s an individual. If you’re tolerating that means you’re holding something against them or you’re not doing something even though you think you’re doing something. To tolerate a child is to put up with him even when he’s making a mess.”
“For example we have Australia Day. In Melbourne we have Moomba festival. Maybe it’s a good excuse for a public holiday [to] have a day where all different cultures get together and celebrate their individuality en masse.”
Influencing government and the media
There was a substantial discussion about the best way to influence the media. The main points made were as follows.
“If you want to change the media by actually taking actions: on the outside, if you do something, it might not be as effective. Once you’re on the inside, you can influence them a lot more readily. What’s on television is not just what the public wants but because of what some person decided what’s good for the public. And so if you’re in there you can be one of the decision makers.”
“I think if there is a strong body that you can join outside the mainstream system and fight it, you fight it from in a supported structure of people who believe in the cause. Whereas, if you go out on your own and join the system you will either eventually surrender to the mainstream of thought because you realise you can’t survive with your own thinking or you’ll be pushed out.”
“When you’re lobbying, you have to join in and be a part of it, be involved to make changes. Now if I’m sitting on the outskirts doing nothing, just screaming without trying to make waves, nothing’s going to happen unless I get in there and do something about it and make people notice.”
“But you can lobby as part of a community organisation. You don’t have to be part of the political system.”
Individual action
“The only way to struggle against this is for each individual I guess Arab Muslim to be educated about their culture and background. I mean when people say to me where do you come from, I say ‘I’m Australian and my background is Palestinian’. And I just wait for them to say ‘Palestinian? Are you serious? You come from there. You ever shot a gun?’ They ask stupid questions and that gives you the opportunity to go in there and explain things to them. I guess what we have to do is be knowledgeable in our own history so we can educate others then we can start lobbying against the government.”
A lengthy discussion followed about the efficacy of individual action.
“If you can change the way your friends think about certain things, they might get to change their friends’ way and their family…It would be ideal if the federal government came out and said we want to do this, this and this. But we know in reality that’s not going to happen.”
“But the problem is if they continue to be satisfied with this approach that we change our family and friends, it’s going to be a constant battle. You’re going to have our group and we can only influence our group, influence our kids for example. We might influence people younger, people older. Then you’re going to get primary school kids that are growing up in the same school system, with the same media, the prejudices still exist. So you’re constantly playing catch up. So, what I’m saying is great let’s influence our circle of friends but let’s work on an initiative - and it could be national - so we can stop the problem from occurring. Let’s not stop influencing our friends but we need something on a big scale to try to prevent it.”
“If you educate yourself and your circle friends, and they’ve got friends of friends, it’s going to happen to them. If your friends have kids, their kids are going to have that thought of mind and their kids’ kids are going to be instilled with that thought process. So it doesn’t matter if it’s a small group of five people; that five will come to five hundred. That is the big picture.”
School programs
“Part of it is in schools. That’s where a lot of the action starts, or the discrimination starts. Because kids are not really shy or realise the consequences or effects they have when starting that young. If I were to understand your upbringing, a Greek upbringing, an Italian upbringing or their morals, not even a big part but even their morals, you can slightly comprehend where they’re coming from. People say the Lebanese are aggravated people. But if someone were to live in a war for so many years and come to our country Australia, you’d think the guy is not going to be normal. And people automatically generalise that ‘ok this guy’s a terrorist’. You got to cut the guy some slack, running from a bomb every other day, how would you be, you know what I mean?”
“Something like that would be good, like you know you have maths, you have science, you have English, at school. Maybe there could be social studies; maybe have social studies and multicultural studies.”
“If we want to truly achieve change within Australia it’s got to be targeted at the youth… and we’re going to need something for the adults like a media campaign to educate the adults at home.”
“For us to have a greater relationship between communities, I think you can’t start from the top. It’s only going to happen from here down. From us and the generation that follows. It’s true. Because if we try to start it on a larger scale I don’t think it will ever happen.”
