Since 9/11, thanks
to the implicit and explicit government and media propaganda that Islam
is the “new enemy” of the West, those Australians who are most visibly
Muslim — women who wear a headscarf (hijab) or full body covering
(chador) — have borne the brunt of an escalation in racist attacks
and abuse. I spoke to Sue Edelbi, a Muslim Australian, about her experiences
of racism in Australia.
“As a Muslim, every day you suffer from racial oppression. It’s just
the way it is”, she said. “People are not trying to hide their racist views,
particularly post-September 11 [2001]. You never really accept it, but
you learn to tolerate it.” While much of it comes from Anglo-Australians,
Edelbi added that “as a Muslim, I have been on the receiving end of racist
attacks by people who not long ago were themselves subjected to the same
racial oppression.”
“It is definitely in the more subtle ways that I experience racism ...
I see it in a lot of business acquaintances. They see you, but don’t really
value your opinion. It’s patronising and demeaning to me, not only as a
Muslim, but as a Muslim woman.
“I am a practising Muslim who prays five times a day. I fast in the
month of Ramadan and I wear the hijab because I choose to. Every
day I travel from Strathfield to [the city] by train, but I don’t travel
alone. Each day I am accompanied by eyes, facial expressions and bodily
gestures that are either understanding, considerate, compassionate, confused,
curious, frowning or glaring rudely. Sometimes when I smile as a friendly
gesture, I find myself met with looks of hostility — actually, I would
say about 90% of the time I’m met with hostile eyes, people who regard
Australia as theirs, as belonging to white Australia.
“I have been wearing the scarf now for six years and I know racism thrives
in Australia, because I know there is a difference between how people treated
me before I wore the scarf and how they treat me now. It takes a Muslim
woman to know racism is flourishing in our country. Put simply, racism
is in the psyche of the nation, but not all Australians. Can you blame
those Muslims who don’t want to integrate with the broader society?”
Emphasising what she feels is an important point to make, Edelbi said:
“The underlying racist attitude started somewhere. It stems from our history,
our treatment of Aboriginal people. If we can’t put right that situation,
how can we mend the situation we face now with other minority groups?”
“I remember one incident, when I was at the train station one morning,
buying a ticket, one old white Australian woman standing behind me turned
and said with such hostility I’ll never forget: `All your men treat you
bad, and then you die virgins’. She started pulling at my scarf, actually
trying to pull it off until I moved away, shocked and offended. That was
one of the first experiences of that kind that I had.
“I don’t think people have yet come to terms with the scarf. I find
people are mostly judgemental, even my friends, though they accept I wear
the scarf... For Muslim women it’s a strong part of their femininity and
identity as Muslims. Both are powerfully connected… We want people to acknowledge
us for who we are as Muslims, because our religion matters to us... It’s
how we choose to live our lives.
“Once I walked into a restaurant on my lunch-break and just about every
single person was scrutinising my every move. Imagine every time you lifted
the fork to your mouth, if there were about 20 people from all walks of
life glaring intrusively at you, for no other reason then because they
fear you. They see you as a terrorist or suicide bomber about to blow them
up. That’s the worst thing, having your every move in the public space
fall under inspection by [people] who pass judgement without knowing you.”
“But of course, there are many, many Australians who don’t believe in
racism. My closest friends are [Anglo-] Australian and they mean the world
to me.” Edelbi described the 500,000-strong anti-war march in Sydney on
February 16 as the “people’s movement for peace”, explaining that she felt
it “echoed the voice of many white Australians and Muslims in solidarity
for the sake of peace and justice... I will never forget that day. It made
me proud to be Australian, standing amongst the thousands chanting in one
uniform voice: `peace’.”
BY SARAH STEPHEN
From Green Left Weekly, April 23, 2003.
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