A public meeting discussing what can be done to respond to the increase in racist violence and Islamophobia. The past few weeks have seen an escalation in racist attacks and harassment, particularly against Muslims, following the government’s decision to once again return to Iraq. This has occurred concurrently to massive police intimidation and violence against Muslim suspects of terrorism, with only a handful of people raided by police actually charged of any crime. On top of the government’s treatment of asylum seekers and continued attacks on Indigenous people, politicians are fuelling racism in Australia and doing little to condemn or hinder the evident increase we’ve seen recently.
Speakers:
Chair: Mehreen Faruqi, NSW MLC
Lydia Shelley, Islamophobia Register
Fatema Ali, Arab Council, NSW
Prof. Wendy Bacon, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, UTS
Professor Stuart Rees, Founder of Sydney Peace Foundation
Stephen Blanks, NSW Council of Civil Liberties
Supported by:
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney University
NSW Council for Civil Liberties
Stop the War Coalition Sydney
Anti-Racism Collective, Sydney University
