Tim Doughney, Melbourne
"To not speak out against racism would be cowardly", Dean Mighell, Victorian secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, told an anti-racist public forum held at the Brunswick Town Hall on February 9. He said workers should unite against racism because anything less would undermine the principles and strength of the union movement.
The meeting, attended by 150 people, was organised jointly by the Socialist Party and the ETU in response to the racist attacks in the Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla last December and the climate of fear among Muslims and Arabic Australians created by the Howard government.
Yarra City councillor and SP member Steven Jolly chaired the meeting, which was opened with a greeting from Mayor Tony Helou from the Moreland City Council, who had arranged to have the hall provided free of charge. Staff at the council had received threats earlier in the day for allowing the meeting to go ahead.
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union state secretary Martin Kingham told the meeting that the government's "anti-terror" laws were a political stunt. He gave the example of a construction site at Tullamarine Airport which was building a state-of-the-art screening facility for explosives. The construction was delayed for 18 months while the government looked for a company that would use non-union labour.
Other speakers were Greens Moreland councillor Andrea Sharam, former footballer and media personality Phil Cleary, author Hanifa Deen, Islamic Council of Victoria representative Sherene Hassan and Omar Merhi, a well-known and respected ETU shop steward, whose brother has been arrested on terrorism charges.
"There are people out there who think that the new terror laws give them the right to go out and attack Muslims and think they have done nothing wrong", said Merhi.
From Green Left Weekly, February 15, 2006.
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