Sunday, October 15, 2017

Islamophobia in Australia

Terrorised and persecuted, made stateless and homeless, this is the plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority community in Myanmar. At the hands of the Myanmar military, their villages have been burnt, leaving ten thousands of Rohingyas to flee into Bangladesh.

 Having linked Islam to terrorism and jihadism the vulnerable Rohingya may now face fear and resentment when they seek to settle in new communities. Islamophobia is on the rise and Islamophobia doesn’t recognise the heterogeneous nature of Muslim communities.

In 2004, a report to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission by the Centre for Cultural Research at the University of Western Sydney to investigate Australian Arabs’ and Muslims’ experiences of post-September 11 racism, found sharply increased incidents of racism, abuse or violence against Arab and Muslim Australians. 

A 2015 report “Islamophobia, social distance and fear of terrorism in Australia” by professors Riaz Hassan and Bill Martin from the University of South Australia found 10% of Australians describe themselves as highly Islamophobic, 20% as undecided and 70% as less Islamophobic. 

A combined Charles Sturt University and University of Western Australia report Islamophobia in Australia It shows Muslim women, particularly hijab-wearing women and their children, bear the brunt of most Islamophobic attacks.

The Islamophobia in Australia report finds that victims are reluctant to report the all-too-regular crimes committed against them due to the inadequate response from authorities. And witnesses, who are more likely to report these attacks, still rarely intervene to stop the harm being inflicted.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/14/we-have-to-stop-normalising-relentless-islamophobia-in-australia

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