Prepared by: Kais Al‐Momani Nour Dados Marion Maddox Amanda Wise C
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PATTERNS IN POLITICAL DISPOSITIONMuslims have stood as candidates for all major parties, but those available for interview were skewed to the left of the political spectrum, most identifying with either the ALP or the Greens. A few community activists described themselves and their organisations as determinedly apolitical or bipartisan. A very common response was that, as Muslims, our interviewees overwhelmingly felt that they could neither stand nor vote for the Liberal Party during the Howard era, because of what they saw as the unfair targeting of Muslims during the border protection debates. On the other hand, some felt that Muslims’ traditional Labor voting had made the Labor Party complacent and unresponsive to their concerns. Saeed Khan, Greens councillor for the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, described how, in the first years of the new millennium, ‘there wasn’t much difference between Labor and Liberal’, particularly on asylum‐seekers and border protection. At the time, almost eighty‐five to ninety per cent of Muslims were voting Labor. And some of us went and spoke with Labor at the time, and they just wouldn’t listen. Because they got the votes every time, you know, in Lakemba, and Canterbury, and Bankstown, and Liverpool—they just couldn’t care less. And some of us thought, ‘No, no, this is not right’ ... and the Greens were growing at the time, and they had some good leadership at the time ... so I spoke with them, I said, ‘Well, here’s what ... Islamic communities want ... they’re very similar to other communities, but there are some specific issues that need to be addressed’. And they [the Greens] looked at it; they came back with a very detailed response. Saeed Khan recalled that ‘I was one of the key people from Islamic communities that was involved in convincing Muslims in New South Wales to vote for the Greens’, around the time of the state election in March 2003. More precise psephological data would be needed to arrive at a firm conclusion, but our research indicates that we may be witnessing the beginnings of a significant shift away from Muslims’ traditional Labor voting towards more Muslims identifying with the Greens. The number of Muslims who have stood as Greens in local government elections may be an early sign of this shift. Liverpool councillor Mazhar Hadid (previously Labor, but Liberal at the time of our interview) mentioned that his daughters preferred the Greens, and Silma Ihram had also observed that younger Muslims tended to have more interest in the Greens. WHO WAS EXCLUDED OR UNDERREPRESENTED?Women experienced additional barriers in getting support, and being heard, as did young people. The most underrepresented group was recently‐arrived migrant women. Newly‐arrived men were also underrepresented, especially when their transition to Australia involved language or cultural barriers. The length‐of‐residency effect was often compounded by home culture. For example, some of the longest‐ standing residents (eg Lebanese, Turkish) were also from countries with traditions of democratic participation. Conversely, some of the newest arrivals had grown up in environments in which political participation could be dangerous. Auburn‐based settlement services officer Rana Dabliz explained: Most of our clients come in from Iraq, which is—you know what the regime is like in Iraq. So apparently they’ve been tortured, and been educated not to talk about politics ... so we try to avoid political conversation at the office ... we don’t talk about it at all. Nevertheless, Rana Dabliz, working mainly with women, encouraged them to understand their rights in Australia, to understand legal aid and to know how to speak up if they experienced problems like domestic violence. An academic, who wished to remain anonymous, emphasised the need for more input from Muslim women, including feminists, and from young and rural Muslims – and less from the “usual suspects”. A number of interviewees felt that some of the “usual suspects”—Muslim community representatives who are regularly called on as media commentators on Muslim affairs—didn’t actually advance the cause of Muslim participation much, tending instead to reinforce negative stereotypes. Directory: sites -> default -> files -> documents -> 01 2014 documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems documents -> The south australian government gazette documents -> All public acts appearing in this gazette are to be considered official, and obeyed as such documents -> Union interparlementaire inter-parliamentary union 01 2014 -> Voices Shaping the 01 2014 -> Muslim Voices – Hopes and aspirations of Muslim Australians Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies 01 2014 -> Editors: Kerry Download 16.24 Mb. Share with your friends:
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