When I left the sandy, sunny shores of Port Melbourne,
destined for the Middle East, I knew I would learn a lot about myself and
others. I knew that my little world would change and that my perception of
people, place and culture would change indefinitely. Australia would no longer
be an endless inescapable expanse, but just one continent in my journey to
traverse the world and capture every opportunity with zest and excitement.
Never did I think that I would come home and cringe at public outcry against
the exact thing I was learning so much about.
Multiculturalism.
Why has it become such a dirty word?
I do not claim to be an expert in this area, and I have been
out of the loop on many of the developments on Australian shores, but from the
outside it appears that the once celebrated multiculturalism of Australia has
become even less appreciated than ever. I have come home to a barrage of media
onslaught, constantly partitioning Arabs as violent, intolerant and religiously
fundamental. I sit in horror as I watch cameramen walk into districts and talk
about how they are attacked by African Muslims. I know, it’s media, they’re
never going to give the whole truth, but the reportage here around Islam is,
quite frankly, disgusting.
How are Australians ever going to appreciate
multiculturalism or religious tolerance if they are constantly fed media
rubbish about other cultures? How can anyone expect to hold an open mind to the
experiences and beliefs of others when they are fed violent extremism as stereotype?
I have spent the last eighteen months learning more and more about Islam, from
those who are not fundamentalists so
that I can be the one to come home and say, “Hey, wait a second,” and yet it’s
such a hard prejudice to break, when over the last eighteen months, the media
has done such a wonderful job of stratifying the nation; breaking them down and
letting cracks appear in a country that once celebrated its cultural diversity.
In particular reference to the Arabs, yes, there are some extremists.
There are Islamic fundamentalists all around the world. There are also
Christian and Jewish fundamentalists around the world, starting cults and
multi-marriage communities, locking women into marriages where they bear twenty
to thirty children to a multitude of men in their lifetime. Why is the
Australian media so hell-bent on attacking the Muslims? Why are they not
looking at the alcohol-fuelled violence that plagues the city’s streets at
night or the dole-bludging welfare scum that live off bonuses paid for
procreation? Why are they not addressing the unjust taxation system that
cripples the middle class, those educated, taxpaying citizens who never get a break
or the small businesses who keep the Australian economy afloat? Too hard,
right? That would be a national problem we don’t actually know how to solve.
Instead, they take the easy route. Pick on the Muslims. Pick
on those who are different, because, God forbid if you are even remotely
different from what typical Australia thinks you should be these days. It began
with the Cronulla riots, targeting conflict between “locals” and men of “Middle
Eastern appearance”. More recently Europe, and most specifically France, has
taken its stance on the ‘burkha’,
though most regions in the Western world can’t tell their sheila apart from their niqab
nor their hijab, yet they’re all out
for the burkha. It feels a little
like a witch hunt, from my little expat-coming-home window; a witch hunt where
they don’t really know who the witch is or how to spot her.
All this shows is a complete fear of the unknown. People don’t
know enough about Islam, and so they fear it, and they fear what it might do to
a community. Yes, there are parts of Islam’s rulings that I don’t agree with,
particularly the one that states that any woman is only worth half that of a
man, but that is someone else’s belief and it is not my right to change that.
There are parts of Islam that don’t make sense to me, and there are parts of
Christianity that don’t make sense to Muslims. Who are we to say what is right
and wrong? If I have learned nothing else from travelling and sharing
experiences around the world, I have learned that there is no right or wrong;
there is just different. I don’t have to agree with different: genital
mutilation, childhood marriages, voodoo, domestic violence, child drug abuse
and slavery or sweatshops, but I do have to acknowledge that these ways of
living exist for someone else, and that there is a reason, developmentally,
that things are this way. It is not my right to tell them that they are wrong,
and it is not theirs to tell me that I am wrong either.
The majority of racial conflict in Australia seems to occur
when people immigrate here and want to continue their usual way of life on
Australian shores. They want to experience the freedom and cultural wonder that
Australia has to offer, yet they do not want to leave the comfort of everything
they know, and they gather together in communities where they can communicate
easily with like-minded citizens. This, to Australians, is seen as ignorant and
backwards. As an expat, I understand what they are doing. Surrounding yourself
with like-minded people, who speak your native language as their own is a
phenomenal comfort when you are away from everything you know and grew up with.
Shephard’s Bush in London is teeming with Australians; they flock together and
share their own cultural values while living on the motherland that once threw
them out as convicts. The Pacific Islanders congregate in New Zealand, sharing
common values and cultural behaviours. The Kiwis, well, they all seem to be on
Dubai radio and even Mr
Vintage has noticed. It’s not uncommon to gather with those who are like
yourself, to find solace in routine and normality that you grew up with. Is it
too much to ask that Australians give some leeway to people who want some
familiarity when they are so far from home?
Of course, there are ample contrasting arguments to all
this. If they aren’t happy with the lifestyle here, they shouldn’t come here in
the first place, or they should go home. Alternatively, and rightly so, if we just
arrived in their countries, we wouldn’t get the same welfare or protection. In
some parts, I agree with this, but why are we not willing to accept and be open
to others, as a portal for learning and development? Why can we not accept that
sometimes, people are just different and that this is ok? I, as a Western
woman, live in a Muslim state and I dress conservatively. I avoid displays of
public affection, and for the most part, avoid public drunkenness. As a
foreigner entering another country, there is an expectation that I pertain to
their rules, their culture and their laws, but I think it is unreasonable for
Australians at home to assume this is all-encompassing. I am not wholly subject
to Sharia law; in fact I am able to sign my way out of many a clause that locks
in Muslims to relinquish all of their rights and wealth under many
circumstances. I dress conservatively and avoid public displays of affection to
avoid unwanted attention, more than anything else. It is a sign of respect to
the country and it means that I am treated more politely by my hosts. It is not
law, in the same way that wearing hijab
should not be against the law in Australia.
If an immigrant does not make that same choice of respecting
commonly held values while they are here on Aussie turf, should they not only
be treated with that same mild disdain? Sure, if a woman is fully covered in a
forward-thinking nation with Christian values, she will be stared at, but does
she really deserve to be hunted down and harassed for doing so? I would not be
hunted down for wearing a short skirt on a hot day – I’d get a few odd looks,
but nobody is going to crucify or attack me. I can still do what is natural in
my upbringing as an Australian, and I don’t think they should be reprimanded
for doing so if they wish to in keeping with their religious values. Sometimes
people are just looking for comfort in what is familiar to them. Why are we not
reaching out to ask ‘why?’ instead of just screaming “NO!”
Multiculturalism was such a treasured part of my education
when I was young. Learning about other countries, their cultures, beliefs and
traditions was one of the most fascinating and exciting parts of my experiences
growing up. I remember having a young Arab friend named Omar when I was in
first grade, and I never thought for one second that that was unusual. My
closest friends now, that I have treasured for so long, are Scottish, British
and Papua New Guinean – not one of them is an Australian citizen. Do they
deserve to be outcast from society because there are things that they might do
or say differently? Should they be chastised or banned from singing, dancing or
talking in the ways that they do because they might not be typically ‘Australian’
for every waking hour of every day? Who was it that decided on what was ‘Australian’
in the first place? If you ask this little expat, a few people around the
country need to remember that the majority of the people here came from
somewhere else anyway, be it British convicts, the Scots subject to Highland
clearing, or the Islanders looking for somewhere new. We need to remember that
we came together from so many places, we can’t just pull down a barrier and say
“Sorry, we’re done developing now. No new experiences allowed.”
Break away from that barrier.
Multiculturalism is not a dirty word.
