Casey locals were amongst the crowd demonstrating against racism in the Melbourne CBD on Friday 26 September.
Marg Edwards and Gwyneth Jones from Berwick were seen in the crowd, along with Maryknoll notables, Kerry Van Diemen, Anne Wynne and Anne Jones and many of their friends from elsewhere.
A diverse range of speakers addressed a visibly diverse crowd, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity and lifestyle.
Speakers included Uncle Robbie Thorpe, from Camp Sovereignty, and Ms Rathi Bartholote, a Tamil Refugee with Deepak Joshi, from Hindus for Human Rights, all of whom have lived experience of racism throughout their lives
The rally represented many different support groups, ie, refugees with lived experience, refugee advocacy groups, unions, and supporters of Palestine.
About 60 organisations endorsed the Rally, including Casey Cardinia for Refugees.
The speakers urged the crowd in front of the State Library in Swanston Street to resist, wherever possible, the racism so blatantly on display at the recent Anti-Mass Immigration rallies in Melbourne and other Australian capital cities.
These speakers were joined by others who represent in total many thousands of members, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, Union representative, Danae Bosler and Marg D’Arcy, Labor Friends of Palestine.
All speakers lamented the rise in the ideas of white supremacy building in Australia as elsewhere, and how it is “at the heart of racism”.
The crowd was urged to reject the idea of white supremacy and to embrace diversity.
