We+Are+One

=      **Together We Are One **=

//by Stephen Mathews//

Synopsis:  ** This report examines the need for acceptance into the community with people who come from an Islamic background and have migrated to Australia and the generations that have followed. The research indicates that Muslims are seen with suspicion and with negative attitudes because of the difference in their religion and cultures. I have focussed on the problems that Muslim youth have in being accepted in the Australian society and the problems that Muslim youth have to face in their daily activities. I recommend that there be varied cultural programs and education for the non Muslim community to educate about the socially acceptable differences that the Muslim community has to offer. ** Introduction ** My topic for this assignment is racial and cross cultural tension with Muslims and especially Muslim youth living in Australia. Followers of Islam are called Muslims. Over 1.3 billion people from a vast range of races, nationalities and cultures across the globe are united by their common Islamic faith. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world with 220 million people. About 180 million live in the Arab world; there are also large populations in Africa and Central Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia, while significant minorities are to be found in China, South America, Europe (approx. 16 million) and the Americas. Australia currently has over 300 000 Muslims living across the country from Christmas Island to Tasmania. According to the 2001 census, there are 282,578 Muslims in Australia with 35% being born in Australia. In the 2006 census there was 340,000 Muslims living in Australia, from 2001 and the 2006 census there was a 21% increase in Muslim migration in Australia. Muslims generally and Imans in Australia have been subjected to severe criticisms for expressing their views to the point that many are afraid to say anything for fear of being attacked and vilified. Sixteen per cent of Muslims who were surveyed - men more than women - reported having experienced racism in their workplace, in education, in housing or in their contact with police. But almost a quarter experienced "everyday racism" of name calling, lack of trust and disrespectful treatment in restaurants, in the streets and in sport. More than any other cultural or ethnic group, Muslims from the Middle East are thought to be unable to fit into Australia, with more than half of Australians preferring their relatives did not to marry into a Muslim family. There are approximately one thousand Muslim families living in the Northern Territory. NT Muslims are making significant contributions in a wide range of endeavours, including social, economic, cultural, and religious and educational advancements. Northern Territory Muslims are a diverse racial, cultural and linguistic group originating from at least 23 different countries.

Participants in the Australian Muslim Youth Summit-2007 (A report by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship) recognised that discrimination is not always intended and can be connected to a lack of understanding, as well as fear based on negative stereotyping. It was also acknowledged that young Muslims need to increase their activity in the wider community with the aim of increasing their profile in leadership positions and other community roles allowing them to change attitudes through positive influence. Many participants thought that doing voluntary work as a way to contribute to the wider community by promoting Islam and Muslim youth in a positive way. The concerns that affected Muslim youth at the Muslim youth summits were: My role in “Together We are One” was to facilitate youth from different cultures and Muslim youth together so that they could interact with each other, to promote peace and harmony amongst the various multicultural organisations in the Darwin and rural area, which in turn would overflow into the broader community. I was at the start of getting a youth group to connect with other agencies both government and non government and youth orientated groups and to form a networking process. The way I gathered ideas was to work with the Multicultural Society Northern Territory. After speaking to them, they gave me the names of all of the multicultural organisations in the Northern Territory (Top End). I went and made contact with all of the multicultural organisations and when I asked them about the issues they thought faced them with integration and involvement with the broader community and especially the youth of each community. I had to be culturally sensitive with all the organisations because of any tension that could exist. After gathering the information from all the multicultural organisations I then went back to the Multicultural Society N.T. After having a meeting with them they decided I could have a forum at the Multicultural Society Community Room. With the information I gathered at the forum, the main issue was the Muslim community was the least accepted in the community. So the purpose was to get a project that was aimed at young people and involving the Muslim Community to take part in a in the project by doing a cultural dance/music/singing concert style event. I decided to have a forum to get young people together and get the project running. The forum was going to be held in the Multicultural Society’s community room and was held during Youth week. To inform the broader community I contacted the Darwin sun, local radio, community billboards, Charles Darwin University and a local television station. The Multicultural Society NT received a small grant from the Youth Blast initiative and we used part of the grant money to do the advertising. At the forum the issue was discussed and it was decided that 6 youths would form a structured group called Multicultural Youth NT and work with the Multicultural Society but it was also decided that Multicultural Youth NT would make all the decisions and continue with the music/dance/singing concert. Once Multicultural youth was going my role was to be an observer/ youth worker only and let the group take over the project. My only role was to give advice when they could not go any further in the project but only after they had tried to sort the problem themselves. All future meetings would be held in the Multicultural Society’s community room. The Multicultural Society was to use funding from the Youth Blast grant to fund the project but the Multicultural Youth NT were to decide were the money would be spent. When the event was decided upon the group started to organise the event. Again the Multicultural Youth NT was to make all the decisions. The way Multicultural Youth NT Group organised the promotion of the event was to inform all the multicultural organisations, Darwin Sun, local radio and television stations community billboards and inform the youth organisations around Darwin and the rural areas some of them being Mission Australia, Anglicare, Centrecare, Red Cross (the SHAK) and other agencies. The office of Youth Affairs was contacted as well. Notices were put up at shopping centres and Charles Darwin University which has a high intake of youth students. Multicultural Youth NT organised sponsorship from the local cinema and Big W for prizes for competitions that would be run at the event. Catering was supplied free of charge by some of the multicultural organisations, all agencies that were connected to the event were allowed to set up in the area to promote their services at no cost to the Multicultural Youth NT group. A local security firm was hired for the event which was paid for by the Youth Blast grant and the Northern Territory police were present. It was decided that a small entry fee was to be initiated at $2. The entry fee was structured so that young people could afford it. All money raised from the entry fee went back into the Youth Blast grant. Public Liability insurance was covered by a policy that the Multicultural Society had. The venue for the event was to be held at the Timorese community centre which was free of charge to the Multicultural Society as the Multicultural Society is affiliated with the Timorese Society. The event was to be an entertaining base event, meaning a event that was for multicultural communities to promote thier cultures in a non threatening way and be seen not to antagonise the negative perception that the Muslim community has been labelled with and by doing so making the event "fun" with a message being we can all live together with our cultural differences, and with a lot of the multicultural organisations allowing the Multicultural Youth NT to be able to access them and for the multicultural organisations to present some of their dancing/music/singing from their respective cultural background. The theme was Muslim youth being accepted in the wider community. The event was held at the Timorese community centre starting at 3 PM and finishing at 8 PM because of the age of the young people, the target age group was 12 to 20. The Multicultural Youth NT group facilitated the whole event by organising all the activities and the shows put on by the different multicultural organisations. All the agencies that represented youth groups were set up so all the people at the event could meet with the agencies and find out what they had to offer and how to access their services. The resources needed to run the event were covered by the Youth Blast grant and also covered by sponsors and the multicultural organisations so that the cost was minimal to the Multicultural Society which was funding the event out of the Youth Blast grant. This event would raise the awareness of the issue by bringing together most of the multicultural organisations in the Darwin and rural areas and by including the Muslim Community it also opened up dialogue between the various multicultural organisations and the wider community with the Muslim community. By aiming the event at young people it created a sense of being united within the multicultural organisations. Another reason that event was aimed at young people was that some of the young people that attended will be future leaders in the community as adults and would keep the theme of multicultural organisations being a united society. The means that evaluating the success of the event was that during the event Multicultural Youth NT set up a recruiting strategy and by doing so got names, phone numbers and email addresses from both the young people ( being the target group) and the various multicultural organisations, youth agencies and a representative from the Office of Youth Affairs. Both the Multicultural Society and the Multicultural Youth NT contacted the multicultural organisations through their internal network by email, phone, meetings and by doing a survey at the event and sending the survey by email through their networks, which invited people to give comment on the event and how it was run, then puting all the information together to do an evaluation of the event. A copy of the proposed survey form is attached below.
 * Mental health is an issue because of the process of seeking acceptance under such a negative way, mental health issues can result in possible suicide attempts, depression and anxiety related problems. Which also can lead to anti-social behaviour ( including alcohol and drug problems)
 * Youth and police was identified as a problem area, a lot of Muslim youth indicated they had fear of the police and the justice system as many Muslims that have migrated have come from countries in which authority figures often abused trust. Youths feel intimidated by police and often react negatively to any level of interaction.
 * Media was considered a problem because they felt the constant negative media attention and irresponsible comments from high profile personalities contributed to emphasising difference and was a major cause of feelings of alienation and marginalisation.
 * Education is an issue of concern for young Muslims as they were discriminated against because of there religion. Name calling and other forms of harassment, in particular targeting female students wearing the hijab and other religious attire were also of concern. Another concern was lack of appropriate venues for prayers in educational institutions, which is a significant inconvenience to practicing Muslims.
 * A major issue of concern was that of bullying in the main stream schools and students felt more secure in an Islamic school.
 * Employment is another area for concern for young Muslims because they felt they can be discriminated against because of their religion and the wearing of the hijab and other religious clothing. Young Muslims felt they were under attack because of their religious beliefs are not of those of the majority of Australians. Some participants cited that instances of reluctance to employ on the grounds that young Muslims in client service roles may be ‘bad for business”. A number of young Muslim women choosing to wear the hijab in the workplace felt particularly targeted by negative feedback from members of the public.
 * Consultation **
 * Networking **
 * The Event  **
 * Evaluation **



The way young people can be involved in the evaluation process is to let them take responsibility for the whole project and then follow up and by getting them to move forward by allowing them to host future events/projects and to analyse what comes out of the events/projects that they held, by phone, email, meetings and the information that was recieved from the survey. The aim of the whole project/event was that it was organised/run and followed up by youth for youth. After the event the Multicultural Youth NT, due to the recruitment drive, done at the event, more members from different cultural backgrounds were included in the Multicultural Youth committee and future events were planned. As well a Youth Camp was organised by Multicultural Society Northern Territory and the Muslim community to get Muslim and non Muslim youth together with the theme of bonding and getting to know each other cultures and beliefs.

**References ** [|http://www.afic.com.au] -Australian Federation of Islamic Councils Inc

[|www.abs.gov.au] Australian Bureau of Statistics/Australian Government website

[|www.nt.gov.au/dcm/multicultural] Northern Territory Government/multiculture link

[|www.fair.org.au] -Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations Muslim Youth Summits-2007 (Department of Immigration and Citizenship) Pages 5, 6, 10, 12,17,20,22 Multicultural Youth NT (MyNT)- Kevin Kadirgamar