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More Australians are encountering antisemitism, racist attitudes towards Arabs and Palestinians, and Islamophobic sentiments, as the race discrimination commissioner points out that “certain government strategies are causing divisions within communities”.
Giridharan Sivaraman and his team at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) have found that conflicts in the Middle East have left Australian communities feeling “dehumanised”.
In his speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Sivaraman stressed the importance of implementing several proposed measures to tackle racism effectively.
“Every instance of racism is distinct to the individual, yet it is clear that more people are now being affected than ever before,” Sivaraman stated during his address.
‘Equating’ racism
Sivaraman described the world as going through “febrile times”.
“The war in Gaza has triggered a terrifying surge of antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism, and Islamophobic hate,” he said.
“Mentioning those different forms of racism doesn’t mean equating them. Mentioning one doesn’t invalidate another.”
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ October 7 attack in 2023, in which more than 1,200 people, including an estimated 30 children, were killed and over 200 hostages taken, according to the Israeli government. More than 60,430 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
As part of its Seen and Heard initiative, the AHRC has been engaging with Jewish, Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Australian communities.
The federally-funded initiative has found these communities feel dehumanised and “stripped of their humanity”, when suffering is not recognised at home or overseas.
“When the massacre of Jews and Israelis by Hamas on October 7 is not acknowledged, it dehumanises them — and, by extension, Jewish and Israeli Australians,” he said.
“When the devastation caused by Israel in Gaza — the deaths of 18,000 children, mass starvation, the destruction of homes — is ignored, it dehumanises Palestinians, and by extension, the Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim Australians who identify with them.”
Israel has persistently denied accusations of exacerbating hunger in Gaza, blaming Hamas for intentionally causing a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian area.
Recommendations for the government
Sivaraman said he believes “some government approaches pit communities against each other rather than fostering shared solutions”.
It calls for several major legal and policy changes, such as the introduction of a national framework with 10-year commitments that include acknowledgement of the “systemic and structural nature of racism” and “historical and ongoing impacts of settler colonisation on First Nations peoples”.
Nine months since its release, the AHRC is still waiting for a commitment from the federal and state governments.
Bilal Rauf, a senior adviser to the Australian National Imams Council, said it’s heartless and unrealistic to expect Australian communities not to feel affected by overseas conflict.
“I believe that the proposed framework and key points presented are grounded and something I support,” he shared with SBS News.
Efforts to combat racism must be ‘First Nations-centred’
The framework would also include an agreed-upon national definition of racism for Indigenous people.
“There can be no racial justice in Australia without justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. That’s why the National Anti-Racism Framework, and all efforts to combat racism in Australia, must be First Nations-centred,” Sivaraman said.
“Resolving these issues involves addressing their fundamental origins. All forms of racism in our country are connected to the historical violence against First Nations people.”
Sivaraman said it is vital to look to the past to inform future decision-making.
“We cannot achieve true progress without acknowledging the realities of colonisation — from massacres to land theft.
“Sometimes, we’ve got to have difficult conversations. Hear uncomfortable truths. But doing so isn’t a means to divide us. It is a powerful act of unity.”
