<< back to archive index Other Speeches Date: 1st September Subject: UN Year Dialogue among civilisations Forum 2002 Overcoming the dynamics of peace and prejudice - creating a dialogue among civilisations and cultures in Australia.” It is a privilege to be here this morning surrounded by the beauty of nature! I would like to speak of the need for tolerance, intelligence, honesty and compassion in Australia today as events in the world appear to be placing Australia on the verge of descending into another dark and tragic part of our collective history. Tolerance, Honesty and Compassion are key values of the Democrats and such values are essential if our society is to survive. I am here today to discuss how we can overcome the dynamics of peace & prejudice and create positive dialogue among civilization and cultures in Australia. Some of these threats are external, the threat of international terrorism, or at least the perceived threat of it. And some of it is internal. Racial intolerance & prejudice towards others are sins that never seem to go away. A recent example is a bill that was debated the other day in the Upper House of State Parliament. The Hon. Rev. Fred Nile introduced a bill called the Family Impact Commission bill. The actual intention of the bill was noble. Which was providing for the tabling of family impact statements on bills in Parliament. However, the definition of the family mirrored the traditional Christian definition of the family. However, the modern family does not mirror the traditional concept of the family. This is just an example of a group trying to impose its view of the world and society by legislation. On the eve of the first anniversary of September 11 we should reflect on the horrible events of that day and their consequences. However, I am saddened little effort has been placed on addressing the causes behind such actions and the reasons why thousands of innocent civilians died that day! As a medical doctor, I believe prevention is better than the cure. Perhaps the same principle should be applied to foreign policy. It is time for reflection on how the West engages with Islam. Samuel Huntington, claimed that future conflicts would be between civilisations in his book “The Clash of Civilisations.” Will the next wars be between religion and the secular stat?. In the Western Hemisphere there exists the concept of the separation of powers between church and state. In the Islamic world there is no such concept: The church is the state. The European concept of the modern nation state was imposed on Africa, Asia and Southern America during the colonial carve-up of continents. Under Islam the state is one unified Islamic empire. European colonisation of the Middle East and South Asia carved up the Arabian peninsula, the Levant Plain, Persia and the Subcontinent, and imposed the western concept of the modern nation state-a concept alien to Islam. It is my view that the West has kept the Arab states divided, as was pointed out by T. E. Lawrence many years ago. The division in those states has enabled the West to get much of the money from the oil that might otherwise have flowed to a United Arab nation. More than 20 years ago thousands of Vietnamese fled from oppression by the communist regime in Vietnam, as did survivors from Pol Pot's Cambodia. One must step back and look at what happened in that part of the world in context. After America withdrew from Indochina as part of the Nixon administration's "Guam Doctrine of American Engagement in East Asia", the America-backed regimes of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos fell like dominoes to the communist insurgents. The American and Australian policy towards Vietnam was to block trade and lobby other Western economies to implement trade sanctions on Vietnam. With the ascendancy of Pol Pot in Cambodia, an estimated 2 million people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. The People's Republic of China, and to some extent the United States, backed the Khmer Rouge in its proxy war against Vietnam, which at that stage was backed by the Russians. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia after a brief border skirmish in 1978, only then was the true extent of atrocities that had been committed by its regime brought to the world's attention. Past foreign policy directions by the US for temporary political expediency have burnt the US once again. When Iran and Iraq fought over access to the Shatt-al-Arab waterway for shipping lanes to the Persian Gulf the United States backed Iraq under the authoritarian leadership of Saddam Hussein because he was fighting the enemy of the time, Iran. However, times have changed in relation to that issue as well. In the early 1980s at the peak of Reaganite paranoia over the Soviet evil empire, the Afghans were portrayed in the film Rambo: First Blood Part II as a noble people who were fighting against the common Soviet enemy. The very people trained by the United States and to whom the United States sold surface-to-air missiles are now involved in war against the West. In Pakistan there are four million refugees from Afghanistan but it is probable that the anger of the Palestinians over the non-settlement of its dispute with Israel and a perception that the US has backed Israel uncritically have led to the fanaticism that has fanned the recent terrorism in the United States. The central issue that needs to be addressed is that it appears that terrorist movements such as Al-Queda, find plenty of recruits from countries with a poor record of democratic institutions where people can express their opinion and make necessary changes for the benefit of their society. I am not advocating for one particular brand of democracy, nor do I advocate that the west be interventionist in shaping indigenous democratic movements. However, Australia should assist in helping establish strong Democratic institutions such as a separation between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. It is important for Australia to be seen as the more approachable and tolerant country so that our management of refugees and our foreign policy does not render us a target for similarly frustrated groups. We must behave in a tolerant and rational manner. We must support and celebrate diversity in our country. We must encourage and facilitate the acceptance of new refugees into our land, and we must not act hastily in poorly directed revenge. As a true ally of the United States and as a successful multicultural nation, we must build on our experience, not retreat into the xenophobia of the 1950s at this time of tragedy. We must recognise that missile defence shields cannot defend us against Stanley knives. Civilians will always be vulnerable. We must act with justice and tolerance in both foreign policy and domestic policy. We must have good relationships between people as a policy objective although that cannot be easily calculated in this dollar-driven world. The world is complex and there are many issues encompassing religion. Religion is often a proxy for complex economic, social and political issues that need to be systematically addressed. I support this motion as a step in the right direction towards tolerance and addressing these problems. Not only were innocent American citizens the victims of a cowardly and senseless attack in New York 9/11, thousands of people from other nations also were victims-not only Australians, but people from Pakistan and Bangladesh. My sympathies extend to the families of all the victims. However, that terrorist attack on the United States must not be an excuse for racism in Australia. All Australians should be horrified that threats are being made against local Muslims and mosques. Why did extremists and zealots commit the cowardly deeds? We cannot judge a whole ethnic group by the zealous actions of a minority. What happened in the US must not be an excuse for racist attacks and threats in Australia. It is beyond comprehension that Australian citizens who are followers of Islam should be made to share the blame, but that seems to be happening. I have received a letter from the Australian Arab Communities Council, which states in part: Racially motivated attacks against the Australian Arabic community and the Arabic Muslim community have intensified since the tragic events in the US. We have received shocking complaints from people, many of whom, I add, are living in fear and are not venturing outside their homes. In general, the community has been experiencing a wave of hatred perpetuated by talkbacks, irresponsible media reports and the barrage of disturbing TV images. As a result, members of the Australian Arabic community, particularly women wearing religious attire, have endured intimidation, stares, rejections, being spat on, being refused services, verbal abuses, physical attacks, hate mails, cars being vandalized, anti Arab and anti Muslim graffiti and so on. The reported incidents to this organization, have included all of the previously mentioned forms of attacks and have occurred in the most common places, from shopping centers, walking on the road, picnic areas, to universities, banks, schools, churches, mosques and community centers. The Tampa incident and the flow of asylum seekers was inflamed in the lead up to the last federal election, by the current Federal government. Statements linking boat people to terrorism where absurd and dangerous. The Minister for Defence, Mr. Reith, that boats arriving in Australia could be "a pipeline for terrorism" were totally unfounded and were politically calculating and based on xenophobia. The cold-bloodedness and merciless nature of this terrorist attack shows exactly why people flee persecution and tyranny to seek asylum in many parts of the world. The two issues are clearly different, and it is highly irresponsible to link them. Refugees are fleeing oppressive regimes. Historically, political refugees are often the elite of a country, and Australia should have a much more welcoming policy towards them than it has been displaying. Religion has, quite wrongly, been used as justification for inhuman acts on our fellow man for the past millennium. The Crusades from 1096 to 1272, the Nazis and the troubles in Northern Ireland exploited religion as some kind of twisted justification by the powers that be to mobilise a support base for violence. In recent history, the partition of India and Pakistan, civil wars in the Balkans, Sri Lanka and Sudan, and internal instability in the Indonesian archipelago between Javanese migrants and indigenous populations are examples of intolerance leading to devastating conflicts. The collapse of states through internal conflict has regional consequences. The flow of refugees and the potential for warring parties to spread their activities beyond national boarders can destabilise an entire region. We are neighbours to the world's largest Islamic nation, and we must factor our unique circumstances into how Australia is to support any action with America. Indonesia was formed in the vacuum left by the withdrawal of the Dutch from the region, and where its people have taken over areas of different ethnic, racial or historical culture and experiences there have been problems, and may well be again. The Philippines have a largely Muslim nation in Mindanao, and relations with and control by the rest of the Christian Philippines is an area that has not had the attention it will eventually demand. It is easy for America to make demands of us as an ally in the Asian-Pacific region. Geoffrey Robertson, QC, our prominent human rights activist and lawyer, once commented that it was easy for an American Secretary of State to parachute into Asia, shake his finger and tell regional leaders what to do about human rights, then jump back in a plane home and wait for the next ASEAN regional forum. This is not so easy for Australia as we live here, and any regional fallout would be on our back door. On the 19th of September 2001 I made a speech in Parliament calling on all fair-minded Australians to speak out against violence towards Muslims in our community after the September 11 attacks. While the attacks on the United States were cowardly deeds perpetrated by religious extremists, it is beyond comprehension that Australian citizens who are followers of Islam should be made to share the blame. Australia is a multicultural society and has been the envy of the world. We must maintain that status and reputation. The grief that we share must not ruin reason.

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