2015-12-04
In the same light as the President and Ms Patten, I take this opportunity as the Victorian Greens spokesperson for multicultural affairs to formally acknowledge the pain, the suffering and the tragic loss of so many people in terrorist attacks on civilians during the past fortnight. We are particularly familiar with the attacks in Paris and Mali and their almost incomprehensible losses of life. There have also been deadly attacks in Beirut, Iraq, Nigeria, Israel and Cameroon. In response we have seen the best and the worst of humanity. After Paris we saw the public grief, the calls for peace and the calls to resist the vengeful responses that can only make things worse by perpetuating the cycle of violence, but we have also seen the politics of exclusion, the closure of borders, the protests against Islam and, almost unbelievably, the calls for the registration of Muslims.
The Reclaim Australia rallies over the weekend were also misguided, because they buy into the logic of terrorism, which is all about fear and division. Reclaim Australia sees Muslim Australians as the problem rather than seeing our multiculturalism as the solution. Blaming Muslims for the terrorism of ISIS makes as much sense as blaming Catholics for the terrorism of the Irish Republican Army. In the wake of such horrific terror we must stand in unqualified support for Victoria's successful multiculturalism and for the right of all people of all religions and of no religion to participate fully in the Victorian and Australian community.