Muslim, Jewish & Sikh women talk about fashion, faith and how it feels to look different.

Here’s a press release about an event that readers  (especially those in Melbourne) might find interesting:

Finding the perfect scarf to match an outfit is one challenge. Racist abuse is another.  Then there’s the question of safety if you happen to be a kick-boxer.

Women who wear head-coverings for religious reasons are among the most visibly different people in Australian society.

But Muslims who wear hijab, religious Jewish women who cover their hair with wigs and Sikhs who don a modesty scarf are finding unexpected allies in one another.

Minority women will about fashion, faith and how it feels to look different  at a special event entitled Under Our Hats in Melbourne later this month.

Syafiqah Khan , a young Muslim woman, has begun wearing a hijab regularly only recently – but she still takes it off for safety when competing as a kick-boxer.

Sheiny New, an Orthodox Jewish woman, never goes out without her “sheitl” , a wig she wears every day. Only her husband and children see her hair.

Jamel Khaur Singh, a Sikh woman, wears a head scarf but unlike a Sikh man – who is expected to wear his turban at all times – she can choose  when to be visible and when to slip into the crowd.

The event is being run by the Jewish anti-racism group ADC and the National Council of Jewish woman to emphasise the commonalities between women of different religions.

7.30 pm, Wednesday 29 June

Blue Room @ Multicultural Hub

Corner Victoria & Elizabeth Sts
Opposite Victoria Market

$10 adults/$5 students including a light supper.

For further information, please call ADC on 95725770 or reception@antidef.org.au

A scene from The Reluctant Infidel, where the main protagonist, Mahmud/Solly has an identity that blurs the lines between Jewish and Muslim

Jews should welcome a Muslim prayer group in St Kilda, argues Deborah Stone.

I don’t know the Muslims who want to use the Alma Road Community House for their prayers. I have no reason to believe they are terrorists, any more than I have reason to expect that the applicants to run the next Italian restaurant will be using it as a mafia hideout or that the local Catholic school is sheltering a paedophile priest.

It’s true the Muslim community contains a small section that support fundamentalism, and an even smaller group of potential terrorists. It’s also true that there are bubbles of underworld activity and paedophilia and other terrible crimes within certain groups for complex historical and sociological reasons.

But people are innocent until proven guilty. The day we start assuming all Muslims are a threat is the day we end religious freedom – not just for others but also for ourselves.

Alma Community House is a Port Phillip Council venue for hire by all kinds of welfare and cultural groups, from rummy players to children’s birthday parties. It’s in East St Kilda, in the heart of Jewish Melbourne, just down the road from Temple Beth Israel, Melbourne’s largest progressive synagogue, and St Kilda Shule, a heritage-listed orthodox shul.

An application for a new planning permit is currently before the council to designate it as a place of assembly for use by up to 100 people.

There are the usual concerns about parking and neighbours – although it seems that the House is already being used pretty much as a place of assembly and it’s a moot point whether the neighbours will get any more noise from the projected use than they already get from the sugar-high toddlers who clamber over the playground equipment there on weekends.

What has really got the goat of some local objectors is that the extended permit would enable a Muslim group to use the House a couple of hours a week to hold prayers.

A group of petitioners have come up with a long list of objections to allowing Muslim prayer in East St Kilda.

The group calls themselves QSoc claims to be upholding “Australian values” – a claim that should always be viewed with suspicion because it is usually used to argue against the Australian value of multiculturalism and a “fair go” for minorities.

Some of their objections are farcical. They argue that Muslim ablution requirements waste water. I hope they are planning on banning sport too, on the grounds that all the extra showering by sweaty players after the game is environmentally unsound.

But some of their claims are far more damaging. They claim Muslim prayer is racist and rejecting of other religions, that Islam is separatist and proselytising and that prayer gatherings may encourage violence. They tar the group with associations with extremists and imply that because they are Muslims they want sharia law.

Their stirring has prompted a series of rumours now circulating in the Jewish community that are without foundation: for example the extraordinary claim that the prayer group is actually a banned terrorist organization.

Even worse, the opponents of the Muslim prayer group argue that East St Kilda is “a bastion of Judeo-Christianity” and Muslims are “trying to infiltrate”.

As a Jew, and as the executive director of a Jewish organization dedicated to countering antisemitism and racism, this kind of claim makes my blood boil. Imagine how we would feel if the tables were turned and a Jewish prayer group wanting to meet across town was turned down on similar grounds? (And don’t tell me you can’t find extremist or separatist writing if you start trawling Jewish texts!)

The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) supports the right of all faiths and cultural groups to hold prayer services and cultural activities in any part of Australia. We support freedom of religion for all religions and oppose extremism and hate by anyone.

For this reason, we welcome this application by a Muslim group to hold a prayer service in an area where there are a number of synagogues and a significant Jewish population and look forward to a harmonious relationship with this community.

We encourage those who support diversity and justice to show their support by signing this petition in support of diversity.

Because Jews are often the targets of the most extreme and dangerous Muslim groups, some people have argued ADC should not be supporting a Muslim prayer group in the heart of the shtetl.

I take the opposite view. Jewish people know only too well what it is to find oneself subject to stereotyping. We are familiar with being the stranger in a strange land, and for this very reason we are enjoined to welcome the stranger within our gates.

This is not only a just response, it’s also a pragmatic one. We at the ADC understand that by defending everyone’s freedom we ensure a freer society for ourselves.

We also understand that when all Muslims are treated as extremists, some are more likely to become extremists. Muslim moderates need the support of other faith groups, particularly a group like Australian Jews who have experience in retaining our identity while integrating successfully into Australian society.

When I am in Israel I love to visit the Old City at a time when I can hear the Jewish prayers at the Western Wall, the call of the muezzin from the Dome of the Rock and the bells of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre simultaneously. I always feel the prayer is lifted by the multiple melodies that carry it.

I’m looking forward to the day yomtov falls on a Friday. I might choose to attend services at one of the synagogues on Alma Rd just so I can have the multicultural pleasure of being within cooee of some other Australians at a different kind of prayer.

Deborah Stone is executive director of the Anti-Defamation Commission.

Very little subtlety here.

As the ADC releases its report on Antisemitism on Campus in Victoria, Deborah Stone reflects on the increasing grey area between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

I’m a Jew. I’m not an Israeli. I could have been an Israeli. Like many Jews of my generation I had the gap-year Israel experience and chose, for all sorts of reasons, to live in the Diaspora.

Though I love the place, my feelings about Israel are inconsistent, rather like my Hebrew-language skills that include the odd sophisticated metaphor while balking at simple verb-preposition constructs.

But I’m quite clear on my Jewish identity and my rights as a Jew to be free from hate speech. I’m also clear on my responsibility, as a Jew and as a human being, to advocate for respectful pluralism in Australia. So when an opportunity to use my media and research background came up at the Anti-Defamation Commission, it seemed a good fit.

Opposing antisemitism and racism is a task I can approach with moral clarity, particularly so as I am by nature a bridge-builder with a genuine belief that interfaith engagement and shared experience is the way to handle differences. For the same reasons, I can stand firm against vilification of any sort.

I don’t have the same moral clarity about Israel. I care about Israel. I care about Palestinians too. I care more about Israel for the same reason I care more about my son than yours, but that doesn’t give me the right to advocate for my son at the expense of yours.

I believe in the right to a Jewish state and I get a buzz out of the place that’s unparalleled by any other place on earth. But my positions on given issues may be wildly at variance with the decisions of the Israeli government of the day – not to mention some of the decisions of the past.

My ambiguity is caused by the fact that advocates for Palestinian causes and opponents of Israel’s policies outside the Jewish community rarely make such distinctions. Attacks on Israel are habitually vilifying and their targets are anyone with Israel attachment of any sort. Read Jews. So although I’m in my role to defend Jewish people from vilification, I often find myself criticising Israel’s critics – even when I think they have a point.

It would be easier if our interlocutors were clearer in their discourse. When they yell “Israel is a terrorist state” do they mean “Israel made some wrong decisions in Gaza” “or do they mean “Israel is an illegitimate entity – Jews have no rights to self-determination”? Are they critics of Israel or antisemites?

I’m happy to be a voice of moderation and to argue that we need to be very clear about what constitutes legitimate criticism and the ways in which attacks on Israel are now frequently used to stereotype, demonise and delegitimize  – tropes which any student of antisemitism will recognize.

But I’m struggling to put the boundaries on the grey area of antisemitism and anti-Zionism because so much of the criticism of Israel is intemperate, delegitimizing and comes so close to the essential experience of being Jewish in the 21^st century.

There was a time when political Zionism was a controversial ideology within Jewish thought. History has moved on and Israel is now a key part of Jewish identity and experience for most Diaspora Jews.

Certainly it is possible to be a cultural or religious Jew with no attachment to Israel. But Bundists and Neturei Karta are marginal sects. Their existence says little about the experience of most Jews.

It is also possible to be a biological Jew and dedicate a successful media career to a narrative that paints Israel as pure aggressor. But if being Jewish means anything it’s about being part of a historical and continuing community and such a position puts one outside the community.

The real experience of most Diaspora Jews is that Israel is a significant, though not necessarily a defining part of our Jewish consciousness. While there’s clearly a continuum here, the language, religious, and historical connections are deeply ingrained. For many of us, these links are reinforced by gap year or summer programs, attachment to family or friends living there, engagement with Israel-based charities, business or cultural interactions. We begin to feel that that “when they say Israel they mean us”.

My recent work on antisemitism on campus has made it clear to me that most Jewish university students experience attacks on Israel as if they were traditional antisemitism. In response to increased reports of antisemitism on campus and intimidation of Jewish students, the ADC recently invited Jewish students in Victoria to fill in a questionnaire about their on-campus experiences. Fifty respondents completed the questionnaire. This group is clearly self-selecting and it is probable that students who have experienced antisemitism or who more strongly identify with the Jewish community were more likely to respond.

But the results, available in the ADC’s Antisemitism on Campus report, give a clear indication that Jewish students do feel intimidated and attacked and that Israel is at the core of that experience. Their reports range from informal harassment – for example, verbal abuse of a student wearing a souvenir Israel t-shirt – to more considered political attacks – for example, academics using their positions to deliver polemics attacking Israel, sometimes in courses unrelated to political issues.  Students in settings as diverse as architecture and psychology have reported being subject to anti-Israel harangues during classes.

More than two thirds (68 per cent) of respondents reported experiencing or witnessing some form of antisemitism. The students defined as antisemitism many broad anti-Israel messages such as “Israel is a terrorist state”. The situation was particularly bad at La Trobe University, where all the respondents said they had experienced or witnessed antisemitism.

In an effort to judge whether students saw these attacks as purely about their attachment to Israel or also about their Jewishness we asked students whether they or their friends ever hid their Jewishness or Israel views. Few students admitted to hiding themselves (possibly this smacks of disloyalty) but many said their friends did. Significantly students were just as likely to hide their Jewishness as their Israel views.

There are, of course, a number of other reasons that students might hide their views about Israel: they may disagree with Israel’s actions but feel disloyal expressing this disagreement; they may be ambivalent; they may agree with Israel but feel insufficiently competent to defend their position; or they may wish to avoid conflict.

But the consistency of their willingness to identify as Jews and their willingness to identify as having opinions on Israel suggests none of these factors is overriding the perception that being Jewish and supporting Israel will attract pretty much the same degree of opprobrium on campus.

The tone of protests that characterise Israel as a violent and oppressive regime create an increasingly uncomfortable environment for Jews because most of us feel attached to Israel, whether or not we agree with a given policy. We feel uncomfortable or worse because Israel is on the outer and that puts us on the outer. That sense of being unwelcome in the wider world is the experience of antisemitism.

Deborah Stone is executive director of the Anti-Defamation Commission

A leadership program is working to ensure tomorrow’s multicultural leaders will understand other faiths, writes Deborah Stone.

Heba Ibrahim is a young Muslim leader, who sits on the Islamic Council of Victoria. Amelia Tendler is a Jewish student with a passion for interfaith. Krista Celle is an involved Christian whose church is central to her life.

All three share many qualities: they are young, engaged with life and passionate about their own faith and culture. Perhaps they will grow to be leaders of their own communities, representing the particular needs and passions of their own minorities.

The leadership they will provide in their communities will include an understanding of other religions and ethnicities thanks to their involvement in an exciting new program to provide leadership training to future leaders of Victoria’s faith communities.

The Multifaith Future Leaders Program brings together young people identified as potential leaders of their own community and provides leadership training in a multifaith environment. Heba, Amelia and Krista are all part of the first Future Leaders group which began in February 2009.

The group came together with a three-day residential leadership seminar in Campaspe Downs, on the outskirts of Melbourne, supported by the Victorian Multicultural Commission. The seminar was a chance for young leaders to learn basic skills like public speaking, media and team-building. Puzzling over the shared challenges of writing a media release or giggling blindfolded over a team-building exercise the three young women were part of a group of thirty young leaders sharing the experiences of preparing for leadership in a unique environment.

They all say the skills they learned were valuable. But just as important was a chance for participants to share the experience of learning and get to know people from very different backgrounds. Studies of interfaith programs have shown working together on joint endeavors and understanding oneself as a similar to others are essential to overcoming a perception of difference.

For these young multicultural leaders, learning leadership is now something they have in common with people who may dress or celebrate or believe differently but are equally passionate about building community.

Heba Ibrahim says the networking opportunities of the program were important to her. “The most valuable asset that this leadership program left me with is a wide network of very intelligent people who come from a range of backgrounds, not only culturally and faith-wise but also academically and professionally. Hopefully they will be lifelong friends and people I can partner with in the future on projects that will benefit Australia as a society and maintain harmonious communities.”

Understanding others and being understood is essential to the program. Says Amelia: “I think this a fantastic opportunity to reduce ignorance and encourage tolerance and harmony among people from different religious backgrounds.”

Amelia hopes the next generation of leaders might be more tolerant than current faith leaders because they were more open to different ideas. “I’m a strong supporter of interfaith dialogue and multiculturalism. I really want to be part of promoting understanding.”

The young people involved in the program are aged 18- 26, most of them university students. Some have been involved in interfaith programs such as Building Bridges, a secondary school program, but many have no prior experience of other faiths. They are at the age where they are forming and solidifying their ideologies and understandings of the world.

The Multifaith Future Leaders Program was developed by a Jewish communal organisation, the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC), to ensure young potential leaders in this age group have an opportunity to understand the pluralistic Australian society. The ADC’s mission is to counter antisemitism and other forms of racism and to promote justice and opportunity for all.

The program is funded by the Victorian Multicultural Commission, which enables the ADC to make the seminar free and draw in a good variety of participants. The first seminar had Jewish, Muslim and Christian participants but a second seminar will be held in February 2010 and will include representatives from other faiths including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Bahai.

The seminar, though, is only the beginning. Participants build networks and hopefully friendships which mean they keep in touch. Additional programs throughout the year provide opportunities to discuss issues, commonalities and differences and to do joint activities. This year’s participants are working on putting together a joint charity project, having recognized that charity is a value all their religions share.

Krista points out that the program enables friendships across barriers that often don’t happen when people are fully engaged with their own little worlds.

“The first thing that comes to mind when I reflect on the program is how unique this situation is, yet none of the participants live more than 30 minutes apart in Melbourne. How come this dialogue doesn’t happen in our homes and communities and how can 30 people who are so unique and different cohabit peacefully for three days without any prejudice-fuelled riots?

“I believe it is because we broke down a barrier of fear and misunderstanding when we gave each the right to ask, “Why are you different?” and found out that we had so much in common.”

Multiculturalism is by no means a value Australians can take for granted. As recent racially-motivated attacks have shown, there are still some Australians who are hostile to difference. The far right continues to have its attractions and particularly in times of economic challenge there is a tendency for people to retreat into the worlds they know and be frightened of those who look or act differently.

Young people who are passionate about their own culture need to have opportunities to celebrate their own beliefs in the context of Australian diversity and respect. This is particularly important when extremism and the rejection of all others are motivating terrorism and hate in other parts of the world.

When our future leaders have friends and contacts who will be leaders of other communities, we have an insurance policy that promotes diversity, tolerance and sustained cohesion in our multicultural society.

Plus, as the young participants say, it’s a lot of fun.

Deborah Stone is executive director of the Anti-Defamation Commission, which runs the Multifaith Future Leaders Program. If you would like to participate log on to www.antidef.org.au or call (03) 9572-5770