By Brendan Rees
Members of the community are stepping up to combat public violence against Muslim women and children.
A successful event was held with Muslim community activists during a Resilient Women’s Forum staged at Lynbrook Community Centre on Friday 20 October.
The workshop, led by April Robinson from the Uniting Church of Australia, allowed the community to come together and share their thoughts as well as raise awareness about women who are targets of Islamophobic violence.
Ms Robinson, who has been working on the project for three years, said she was often surprised physical attacks on Muslim women and children were not widely recognised.
“There have been few reports and media articles released, which means that if you are not, or have not spoken to someone who has experienced Islamophobic violence, you may not be aware,” she said.
“Incidents range from being completely ignored in a shop to being spat on, pushed over, followed, or women having their scarf torn from their head, all the while hearing taunts.”
“Many women I have spoken to face these encounters everyday, yet still remain resilient and committed community members. This project is not about victimising women, but acknowledging their resilience through what can be a continual struggle,” Ms Robinson said.
She said the project was a “whole community approach”, adding the community needed to work together to achieve a safer environment for women and children.
“It will also take a community working together to break down the fear and misunderstandings that perpetuates violence. We not only hope to raise awareness of current strategies, but also to develop positive initiatives for individuals, community leaders and local agencies as a way to respond to public form of violence against women.”
Ms Robinson said the level of support and commitment by those who work in the community was “incredibly motivating”.
“Many people share the view that violence, in whatever form, in unacceptable and just want to know how to help.”
Ms Robinson began her role as the Interfaith Research and Network Developer for the Uniting Church four years ago and said she had come across “countless stories” of women and their children being subjected to fear and isolation.
“Public violence is not only felt by Muslims, but the type of violence I would hear about was relentless and went further than anything I myself had ever experienced. People’s fear of what was happening in the world had turned into hatred, and those who bore their hatred tended more often than not to be Muslim women,” she said.
One speaker included Leading Senior Constable Maha Sukkar who joined Victoria Police in 2004 after persuading management to accept that wearing her scarf with her uniform would not be an obstacle.
“The forum will empower women to learn the following: To recognise violence against women in public in general and Muslim women in particular, the difference between prejudice motivated incident and prejudice motivated crime, and hints and tips on how to report it and what happens after the report has been filed,” Leading Sen Const Sukkar said.
She added the forum also encouraged women to report these matters and help the community reduce such incidents and also understand Victoria Police’s zero-tolerance stances on Islamophobia.
Other speakers included Inaz Janif, a local school teacher and community activist; Mariam Issa, an inspirational public speaker, author and storyteller; Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, spoken word poet; Manal Younus, spoken word poet; Playback Theatre Company, a team of professional actors and musicians, who engage its audience to share stories and experiences.
Ms Janif said: “Recent statistics from the Islamophobia report released earlier this year shows that physical attacks on women especially in the presence of their children have grown.”
“I can say that physical attacks have happened to Muslim women and children in Casey and also say that there was a recent arson attack on our local mosque in Hallam,” Ms Janif said.
