WEBVTT

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My name's Sandy Hollis.

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I'm the head of education here
at the Sydney Jewish Museum.

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They created this remarkable space
for three reasons.

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They wanted an educational institution

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to teach about the dangers
of discrimination.

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They wanted a memorial space.

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And they also wanted a repository
for their memories.

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Antisemitism is prejudice

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or discrimination or hatred of Jews,

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either as individuals or as a group

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based on stereotypical beliefs

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and understandings of rituals and beliefs
that Jews may have.

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The Holocaust is probably

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the most extreme example of antisemitism

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in modern times, but antisemitism

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has actually existed
for thousands of years.

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And, you know, in society,
we generally talk about “us and them”.

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We generally talk about the “other”
and the “other”,

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the “them” is very often
blamed for different

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things that happen in society
and the world, around us.

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And antisemitism
is just one example of that.

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We find it in

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social media outlets.

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We find it in literature.

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And because antisemitism is constantly
being repackaged to suit situations

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and times, it's very,
very difficult to deal with

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or to educate about.

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Antisemitism
takes on many different forms.

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Students would probably encounter
antisemitism on social media.

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But antisemitism takes on

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these stereotypical images of Jews

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blaming Jews for world events,
perhaps blaming Jews

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for having power,
controlling media or controlling banking.

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All of these are based on myths.

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We also see antisemitism

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in ideologies of white supremacists,

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more extremist groups.

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And it's often portrayed
in the media, too.

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It's portrayed
and shown in micro-aggression, perhaps.

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And interestingly
enough, antisemitism can also be couched

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in more positive comments.

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For example, you should be good at maths

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because Jews are good with money.

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So although
that is a kind of a compliment,

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it's also a compliment based on age old

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stereotypical images of Jewish people.

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Really difficult to define.

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But unfortunately, it's very prevalent
in society

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and in schools in the world around us
today.

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Students today

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are most likely to come across
antisemitism in social media outlets.

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But there has been a terrifying
increase in

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antisemitic incidences
being reported from schools,

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antisemitic symbols, Nazi symbols
being drawn on desks.

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Students doing the Nazi salute.

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Verbal abuse. Religious bullying.

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All of these are ways that students
might come across it in schools.

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And we at the Sydney Jewish
Museum have seen an alarming increase

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in reports about antisemitism in schools,

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and we've seen it ourselves in schools
who happened to come to the museum where

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students might behave
in an inappropriate manner.

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Doesn't happen often,
but it happens enough in our own doors.

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And of course, we know
this is only the tip of the iceberg

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because in most instances,
antisemitism isn't reported.

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And that's the alarming thing.

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It's really interesting to

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follow the trend of antisemitism,

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depending on world events.

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For example, post-COVID,

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there was a huge amount of antisemitism.

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Students
had been stuck at home for two years,

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and they were watching
this social media feed.

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They were involved in the social media
feed.

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Some extremist groups might have,
and in fact did say

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COVID was an antisemitic plot
to take over the world.

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Vaccines were created

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by Jews to implant chips in people.

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Obviously, totally irrational,
but I guess students are subject to

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so much, so many mixed messages,

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and they are then fed this algorithm

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and they are being constantly bombarded
with these messages.

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Federal government legislation
about Nazi symbols.

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What was in the news?

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There was no doubt
some kind of feedback on social media.

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And again, it feeds the algorithms.

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So world events definitely do impact.

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We see when when there are tensions
in various parts of the world,

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we see an increase in antisemitism too.

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We need to be clear that antisemitism doesn't
only impact

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the student
who is the target of the antisemitism.

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In fact, antisemitism
and any form of othering

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or anti
whatever impacts the whole of society

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because it talks
about the elimination of differences.

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And it's the differences in society
that enrich the society.

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So we can talk about antisemitism,
but we actually need to talk about

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the acceptance of all the differences
and the honouring of all differences.

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Antisemitism impacts the targets, though,

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in truly awful ways

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a person might start
denying their Judaism.

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A person might actually

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start feeling defensive

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about their religion.

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They might feel embarrassed,
which is awful to feel embarrassed

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by any part of your identity
that enriches you.

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They might not want to go to school.

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If they're a school student,
they might try to kind of blend in.

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And again, that is denying the part

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of a very rich part of their identity.

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So it's not only antisemitism.

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We in society should be talking
about acceptance of all differences,

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regardless of who the people are,
where they come from,

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what they do, who they pray to,
and who they love.

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It's just an acceptance and an honouring
and a recognition

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of everybody's humanity.

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Education is

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the key to combating
any kind of discrimination and prejudice.

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If the school has first of all,
got to recognise the problem

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and very often what we see the end result
antisemitic comments

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could be a reflection of what students
are hearing at home

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around the dinner table
or hearing on social media.

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So it starts off
with a recognition of the problem

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and then it goes on to a willingness
to tackle the problem.

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Schools have got to be willing

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to tackle not only antisemitism,
but all kinds of discrimination.

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The Sydney Jewish Museum is primarily
a holocaust and Jewish culture museum

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and we reflect the end result
of a horrific

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lack of empathy the Holocaust.

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We have online resources
for people to access.

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We also present
workshops here at the museum

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where people come and learn about
the dangers of discrimination and othering

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and combating this kind of problem
actually opens the door to combating

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all kinds of discrimination
and prejudice that students are

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subject to.