By Cam Lucadou-Wells
AN organiser says a stream of hate mail will not deter a region-first forum to combat Islamophobia in Melbourne’s south-east this month.
Casey-based teacher Inaz Janif said she organised the forum ‘The Right to Remain Muslim’ due to several reports of young Muslim women being assaulted in public.
Among the victims was a woman whose hijab was snatched off her head by a male in a Hallam supermarket.
Ms Janif was also aware of a group of girls wearing hijabs who were shoved into a wall by an attacker in a Melbourne shopping centre and another nearly forced off the road by a hate-speaking fellow driver.
“These are people who I know and care about. Should these girls lose their lives over this?”
Ms Janif said after initial reluctance by police to prosecute the supermarket attacker, he was handed a 12-month good-behaviour bond.
However, she said many victims – vulnerable, young and from refugee backgrounds – were not comfortable to report such attacks.
“That’s why it’s so disturbing to see people in the national political sphere giving oxygen to people who say Muslims are not welcome.
“It’s one thing to verbally attack people, another thing to put our hands on other people.”
Posts on a south-east based Facebook pages that incited violence against Muslims and mosques was also disturbing, Ms Janif said.
She requested the date and place of this month’s forum not be publicised due to “hate mail” she’s already received as well as security concerns by police.
Ms Janif said the forum was a first of its kind in the south-east.
It was designed to promote understanding of “racism, bigotry and Islamophobia”, and to make young people resilient and stronger against anti-Islam sentiment.
“We need to highlight the importance of reporting these crimes and knowing it’s not OK. By staying silent, it is giving the message that it’s OK.
“People have been quiet for so long, and this is trying to open the discussion.”
Speakers at the forum include Monique Toohey on being resilient to racism, Yassir Morsi on understanding Islamophobia and Mohamud Hersi.
It is supported by Project Mosaic funding from the Islamic Council of Victoria, and supported by Casey Against Racism and Islamophobia Watch Australia.
Ms Janif recalls after the September 11 attacks how she was shunned by fellow university students at the time.
“I’d sit down and people would get up and sit on the other side of the lecture room.
“I built up strength and resilience by thinking about where I come from and where I want to be. I thought about other strong role-models who are female and Muslim.”
