Graham Matthews
As the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US approached, PM John Howard and treasurer Peter Costello launched another barrage of racist attacks on Muslims and people of Arabic background.
On talk-back radio on August 31, Howard accused a "small section" of the Islamic community of refusing to embrace "Australian values" and "fully integrate" into the "Australian way of life". He also accused a "small minority" of refusing to learn English and failing to treat women as equals.
On September 3, Costello backed Howard's call for Muslims to embrace "Australian values", and demanded that the Islamic community "publicly denounce terrorism in all its forms". "You have seen it with September the 11th, you have seen it in Bali, you have seen it with the London bombings ... terrorism is always wrong and terrorism is always to be condemned no matter what religion they seek to use as a cover", Costello told Channel 9 on September 3.
While Howard and Costello purport to be directing their comments at those in the Islamic community with a "radical political ideology", in fact they spread the net wide, reinforcing the establishment media's link between Islam and terrorism. The Muslim community's supposed refusal to "integrate" into Australian society is a racist furphy, designed to ratchet up the pressure on an already frightened and marginalised community. The government's campaign also works by creating the illusion that Muslims, and those of Arab backgrounds, are not patriotic enough, and that those Australians of non-Arabic background have a right to be suspect about the former's loyalties.
Scott Poynting, associate professor of humanities at the University of Western Sydney, told Green Left Weekly that there is no evidence that sections of the Muslim community are refusing to learn English. He argued that the federal government's winding back of multicultural programs — "the prerequisites for participation in Australian society" — is a problem all migrant communities face.
"No amount of hectoring or harassing people that they need to 'belong' is going to achieve it", Poynting said. "When people feel that they belong, it will happen — organically. Howard and Costello are singling out communities, and making them feel that they don't belong. This is completely counterproductive."
The other message being pushed by Howard and Costello is that Muslims must forget the political struggles in their home country, where many of their relatives may still be living.
It is no coincidence that the government's renewed attack on Muslim Australians comes after the outpouring of solidarity for Lebanese Australians trapped in southern Lebanon when Israel began its five-week bombing campaign in July. Canberra was shamed into putting effort into organising evacuations for the many Lebanese-Australians trapped in Beirut. Now that the ceasefire is in place, world attention has turned to Israel's war crimes in Lebanon, and Howard and Costello are keen to try and derail public sympathy for the Arab and Muslim communities. The best way of doing this is to revive ethnic divisions.
The anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, and the associated corporate media hoopla, provides an opportunity to reinforce the government's divide-and-rule strategy. The "war on terror", we are reminded, is primarily a war against Islamic fundamentalists, Islamic "terrorists", and that could be Jack Thomas, David Hicks, Faheem Lodhi, or even an Arab woman wearing a hijab.
Islamic community leaders have been quick to criticise Howard's inflammatory remarks. Ameer Ali, head of the government's Islamic advisory committee, said Howard's comments would increase the isolation many young Muslims already feel. He also warned that such inflammatory comments would likely fuel more Cronulla-style anti-Muslim riots.
Iktimal Hage-Ali, a NSW member of the advisory committee, agreed that Howard's comments would further marginalise Muslims, adding that there are not enough free English classes for new migrants.
Keysar Trad, president of the Islamic Friendship Society, told Green Left Weekly that Howard is wrong about the community not trying to integrate into Australian society. "We've asked him, on numerous occasions, what more can the community do. He hasn't been able to offer a suggestion." Trad called on community leaders in Howard's Islamic advisory committee to end their cooperation with the Coalition, saying, "If these people say they won't have a bar of this cheap point scoring, the federal government will not be able to continue doing it".