Muslim students denied swim classes

BY ALISON DELLIT

SYDNEY — In another example of rampant racism in Sydney's west, female students at Noor Al Houda Islamic College have had a booking cancelled by the Auburn Swim Centre, after a racist campaign by local talk-back radio hosts to stop it.

The school had booked, and paid for, exclusive use of one of the centre's three pools for 10 one-hour blocks, wanting to restrict access while female students were dressed only in swimming costumes. According to the August 21 Auburn Review, "irate callers had threatened to march on the pool because they believe specific religious groups should not have exclusive access to the facility".

The manager of the pool was quoted by the Auburn Review as saying: "Only one pool out of three [would have been] open [at that time] anyway. It was just the same as a school booking the pool for a swimming carnival. Because it was a Muslim school, we had to stop the program."

From Green Left Weekly, August 28, 2002.

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From GLW issue 506