WEBVTT

00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:13.440
My name is Derya Iner.

00:00:13.440 --> 00:00:16.840
I am associate professor at Charles
Sturt University.

00:00:16.840 --> 00:00:21.000
We are producing Islamophobia
in Australia reports here

00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:25.200
in collaboration with Islamophobia
Register Australia.

00:00:25.200 --> 00:00:28.560
It's a community platform
which collects incidents

00:00:28.560 --> 00:00:33.960
from proxies, victims and bystanders.

00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:36.560
In my talk today,
I will be giving some examples

00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:38.400
from this report.

00:00:43.440 --> 00:00:45.840
Islamophobia is a form of racism.

00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:49.280
That's why we call it anti-Muslim racism.

00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.600
It is very much similar to racism.

00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:55.320
The only difference is
it is directed at Muslims

00:00:55.320 --> 00:01:00.600
because of their religious names,
visibility or association with Islam.

00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:06.120
Also, people may have opinions about
and biased opinions about Islam.

00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:09.640
That's very normal it’s
people's personal opinions.

00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:12.840
But if these biased opinions are leading

00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:17.200
to assault, insults, belittle someone else

00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:21.480
or Muslims in general,
we would call it Islamophobia as well.

00:01:21.480 --> 00:01:23.880
Then it is not freedom of speech.

00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:25.400
It is freedom to hate.

00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.560
And that is not acceptable.

00:01:33.080 --> 00:01:35.000
Open discrimination.

00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:38.800
It can be physical assault or harassment,

00:01:38.800 --> 00:01:42.600
but sometimes it comes in
a very subtle way as well.

00:01:42.600 --> 00:01:45.000
It's like as if kidding.

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.600
It can be amongst children, name calling.
In the media

00:01:48.600 --> 00:01:52.760
rhetoric and political rhetoric,
it is very commonly

00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:55.800
and openly made like

00:01:55.800 --> 00:01:59.360
Muslims
associated directly with terrorism...

00:01:59.360 --> 00:02:02.640
So it becomes the everyday usual language.

00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:07.800
Or when children are playing
computer games,

00:02:07.800 --> 00:02:09.880
dark skin, Arab looking

00:02:09.880 --> 00:02:14.120
people are the ones - bombers, let's say.

00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:18.240
So we can see that
this kind of surrounding culture

00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:23.240
can easily be infused
into everyday language of students

00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:25.200
and teachers as well.

00:02:30.280 --> 00:02:36.640
Islamophobia can be experienced in the
actual school premises, but it can be

00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:41.160
maybe on the way to school
or from school to home.

00:02:41.160 --> 00:02:47.280
One parent was telling that one day
her son came from school

00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:52.320
and asking about Pauline Hanson, Trump
and who these persons are.

00:02:52.320 --> 00:02:55.640
And then the mother said,
Where do you know them?

00:02:55.640 --> 00:02:57.600
How did you hear about them?

00:02:57.600 --> 00:03:00.360
And the son said they told

00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:04.920
that they don't like Muslims,
they don't like women with headscarves.

00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:07.800
I'm afraid that they will kick you
out of this country.

00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.840
If you go, how
who is going to look after us?

00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:17.160
Again in the child's world,
it is a completely different story.

00:03:17.160 --> 00:03:20.600
It's a fear story. What?
They don't want us?

00:03:20.600 --> 00:03:21.960
They don't want my mum?

00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:25.160
What if they just send him, send her away?

00:03:25.160 --> 00:03:29.560
Another parent was reporting that
then 8 year

00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:32.600
old children were playing

00:03:32.600 --> 00:03:35.720
hide and seek at the schoolyard.

00:03:35.720 --> 00:03:40.080
One of them, they had a dispute,
I think, over the play over the game

00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.440
and one called the other terrorist.

00:03:43.440 --> 00:03:47.000
Children are a role
modelling people around them,

00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:51.720
whether it be parents or adults around
them.

00:03:51.720 --> 00:03:56.280
Children are affected
by media and political discourse

00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:58.920
and without knowing the meaning
they're using it.

00:03:58.920 --> 00:04:03.720
It is just a way of expressing
their frustration in the earlier ages.

00:04:03.720 --> 00:04:06.640
That's why they just call it
without thinking, and I would call it

00:04:06.640 --> 00:04:09.840
mirroring in early age children.

00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:15.720
But when they become older and older,
it becomes a very normal rhetoric.

00:04:15.720 --> 00:04:19.640
If you're able to say someone
when you are eight years old terrorists,

00:04:19.640 --> 00:04:21.040
why not then you're 18?

00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:23.760
Because that is a very regular rhetoric.

00:04:23.760 --> 00:04:26.280
By that time, you just hear it.

00:04:26.280 --> 00:04:29.720
You hear it
here and there, again and again.

00:04:34.520 --> 00:04:39.000
We see a strong correlation
between what is happening around the world

00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:44.120
or a political figure
going and speaking against Muslims openly

00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:48.720
and the incidents happening at school
or the rhetoric

00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:51.120
directed at children, at school.

00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:54.840
During the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,

00:04:54.840 --> 00:05:00.160
a Palestinian child
brought a flag with him to school

00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:03.880
and teacher said, “Why
do you bring a terrorist flag?

00:05:03.880 --> 00:05:08.320
Put it back.” So the child felt really

00:05:08.320 --> 00:05:13.720
I think, ashamed in front of his friends

00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:16.920
and the parent was trying to address
this matter.

00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:24.360
In another case, it was after the shooting
by a student in a high school,

00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:28.800
and it was in the context
of violent extremism

00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:32.600
and in a Sydney suburb and in that suburb

00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:35.880
some time later in a similar school,

00:05:35.880 --> 00:05:40.080
a teacher was very angry
with the Muslim student and he was calling

00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:43.560
and shouting at him
and calling him terrorist.

00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:49.600
They’re in high school,

00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:54.560
so this self-esteem is developing
and it is very hurtful

00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:00.720
if they feel like they are not wanted
or their religious identity

00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:06.040
or who they are is diminished
or belittled, that's a problem.

00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:09.440
But also for a younger child as well,

00:06:09.440 --> 00:06:12.840
from the earlier stages,
it can be a source of fear.

00:06:12.840 --> 00:06:16.960
But also being feeling
that you are belonged

00:06:16.960 --> 00:06:21.040
is a very human innate nature and need.

00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:24.320
And I remember another mum was saying

00:06:24.320 --> 00:06:27.360
I wanted to take leave

00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.640
for my daughter, for her

00:06:30.640 --> 00:06:34.640
for our religious celebration, Eid.

00:06:34.640 --> 00:06:38.000
She said, I'll tell your teacher that

00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.000
it's our religious celebration,
so you shouldn't go.

00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.240
And she said, “No, please,
mama, don't do it.

00:06:45.240 --> 00:06:48.080
Otherwise
they will understand that I am Muslim.”

00:06:48.080 --> 00:06:51.880
And that child was in kindergarten
when this happened.

00:06:51.880 --> 00:06:56.040
From kindergarten onwards it becomes a

00:06:56.040 --> 00:06:57.840
frequently heard

00:06:57.840 --> 00:07:00.680
or frequently experienced discrimination

00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:03.960
and abuse and that repeat victimisation

00:07:03.960 --> 00:07:07.160
in the long run has a bigger impact

00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:11.080
in terms of emotional well-being,
social wellbeing,

00:07:11.080 --> 00:07:18.120
because we are reinforcing
a “us and them” discourse

00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:22.480
and if that starts in an earlier age,
that's going to grow

00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:24.440
and that's a concern.

00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:34.680
Take racism, Islamophobia cases
as an opportunity to tackle them

00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:38.040
and turn into a positive, informed action

00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:41.480
for students, but also for children

00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:45.520
who are in the receiving end
Muslim children.

00:07:45.520 --> 00:07:49.200
We should really time to time
a check with them.

00:07:49.200 --> 00:07:53.080
Are your okay everything going
well at school, maybe?

00:07:53.080 --> 00:07:58.320
So my main point is really not silence it,
not suppress it,

00:07:58.320 --> 00:08:00.880
take it as an opportunity to address it,

00:08:00.880 --> 00:08:04.880
to educate,
and to direct it into a positive way.

00:08:04.880 --> 00:08:08.920
We recommend that you implement
the “Four Rs”

00:08:08.920 --> 00:08:14.840
in terms of becoming an upstander
and those for us are firstly to recognise

00:08:14.840 --> 00:08:19.080
what what you are seeing, recognise
that this is, this is Islamophobia.

00:08:19.080 --> 00:08:25.400
It's not just a harmless joke or, or
banter and that it needs to be addressed.

00:08:25.400 --> 00:08:29.160
The second “R” is to respond
to that situation.

00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:34.160
So, you know, call it out, say something
if you feel that it's safe to do so.

00:08:34.160 --> 00:08:38.160
A response doesn't
have to be calling it out necessarily

00:08:38.160 --> 00:08:41.040
then and there,
it could be just staying with the victim

00:08:41.040 --> 00:08:44.160
and checking in with them
to make sure that they're okay.

00:08:44.160 --> 00:08:48.440
Thirdly,
to record key details of the incident

00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:50.880
so make a note of what was said.

00:08:50.880 --> 00:08:51.840
Who said what?

00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:54.240
What exactly happened?
Where the incident took place?

00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:58.040
If it if it didn't take place at school,
if it took place on the way to school,

00:08:58.040 --> 00:09:01.440
for example, on public transport,

00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.520
the bus number
or the train carriage number.

00:09:04.520 --> 00:09:06.520
And fourthly, report.

00:09:06.520 --> 00:09:10.560
And that means report it to the teacher.

00:09:10.560 --> 00:09:13.600
Report it to your parents,

00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:18.360
if the teacher, for example, is dismisses
it and

00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:21.880
report it to the Islamophobia
Register Australia,

00:09:21.880 --> 00:09:25.320
because it's really important
for us to be able to capture that data.

00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:29.760
And in order for for us to be able
to adequately address Islamophobia,

00:09:29.760 --> 00:09:34.400
we need to be able to communicate
the scale of the problem.

00:09:34.400 --> 00:09:37.440
And so we heavily
rely on reports for that.