Latest news with #antiArabRacism
Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Report on anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab racism will inform recommendations to government, special representative says
Canada's special representative on combatting Islamophobia says a new report that tracks anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism in this country since Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel will help shape her recommendations to the government on the issue. Amira Elghawaby was referring to a report from York University's Islamophobia Research Hub that looks at cases of harassment from 2023 and 2024 and was released in Ottawa Wednesday. 'This report will help inform the advice that I provide to the federal government,' Ms. Elghawaby told a news conference, adding that she will be reviewing the 15 recommendations in the document. 'We will be looking at where they are related directly to my mandate and then we will be having discussions with decision makers on these.' The report says there has been a rise in anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism and antisemitism since the militant group Hamas launched a series of attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Hamas attacks killed 1,200 people in Israel, which responded with a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 60,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. What does Canada's recognition of a Palestinian state mean in practice? Researchers say the incidents include the targeting of young people in schools and postsecondary institutions and hate-motivated crimes. The report also refers to what it calls the 'Palestinian exception,' referring to incidents of censorship, discipline and punishment for those speaking out against violence by the Israeli state and for Palestinian human rights. The report's 15 recommendations include adopting a definition of anti-Palestinian racism at all levels of government, as well as related curriculum development, training and education. There's also a call for political and institutional leaders to speak out against such racism, provincewide reviews of how schools and school boards have handled reports of anti-Palestinian racism in schools, and creating a fund to support victims of hate-motivated crimes. 'Our hope is that this report contributes to efforts to combat the Palestine exception and strengthen democratic rights and freedoms for all,' said Nadia Hasan, director of the Islamophobia Research Hub. Carney's policy shift on Palestinian statehood met with cautious hope, criticism by Canadians 'If you go through the report, the incidents that we document here, they portray a picture of something very wrong. There is a problem that needs to be addressed, and it needs to be solved through a good-faith engagement with impacted communities.' She predicted difficult conversations on these issues, and questions on how to best proceed. 'But I think it can be done if the right processes are in place in how we consult, how we engage communities, and how we address the problem in a grounded way.' Nihad Jasser, a representative of the Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians, said the report documents how anti-Palestinian racism is real and happening in classrooms and workplaces. 'Students have been shamed for speaking about Palestine. These students are being denied the ability to mourn the death of their family members just because they are Palestinian,' she said. Ms. Elghawaby was appointed as Canada's first special representative on combatting Islamophobia in January, 2023. She said the report demonstrates that civil liberties in Canada have been threatened since 2023 with limits on freedom of expression around Palestine and the protection of Palestinian, Muslim and Arab Canadians. 'We know anti-Palestinian racism is a form of discrimination that can intersect with Islamophobia,' she said.
SBS Australia
7 days ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Australia at a 'critical time' to stamp out 'terrifying surge' of racism, commissioner says
More Australians are facing antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism, and Islamophobic hate, as the race discrimination commissioner says, "some government approaches pit communities against each other". Giridharan Sivaraman and his team at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) have found communities in Australia have felt "dehumanised" amid conflict in the Middle East. In an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday afternoon, Sivaraman urged the government to act on several recommendations to combat racism. "Each experience of racism is unique to the victim, but the fact remains more people are being harmed in these ways than before," Sivaraman said in his speech. 'Equating' racisms 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. The AHRC has been undertaking consultations with members of the Jewish, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Australian communities as part of its Seen and Heard project. 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 consistently rejected allegations it has fuelled a hunger crisis in Gaza, instead accusing Hamas of deliberately creating a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. 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. 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. "We cannot fix a problem without addressing its root cause. And every manifestation of racism in this country stems from the original violence against First Peoples." 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."
SBS Australia
05-08-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Australia at a 'critical time' to stamp out 'terrifying surge' of racism, commissioner to say
More Australians are facing antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism, and Islamophobic hate, as the race discrimination commissioner says, "some government approaches pit communities against each other". Giridharan Sivaraman and his team at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) have found communities in Australia have felt "dehumanised" amid conflict in the Middle East. In an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday afternoon, Sivaraman will urge the government to act on several recommendations to combat racism. "Each experience of racism is unique to the victim, but the fact remains more people are being harmed in these ways than before," Sivaraman will say in a speech seen by SBS News. 'Equating' racisms 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. The AHRC has been undertaking consultations with members of the Jewish, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim Australian communities as part of its Seen and Heard project. 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 consistently rejected allegations it has fuelled a hunger crisis in Gaza, instead accusing Hamas of deliberately creating a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory. Recommendations for the government Sivaraman believed "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. 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. "We cannot fix a problem without addressing its root cause. And every manifestation of racism in this country stems from the original violence against First Peoples." 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."
