Page 820 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 29 March 2006
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Migrant Resource Centre’s demonstration and celebration of harmony, I attended an activity which really did demonstrate the essence of harmony in a very stark way. I am talking about what the Arabic community actually call a party, or a night-time party activity, which was organised to bring together the Iraqi community on or about the third anniversary of the war in Iraq.
The broader Arabic community conspired to bring Iraqis out of their homes to have a good night and the Australian Iraqi Arabs were seen out having a good time for the first time in a long time. I must congratulate the Arab and Australian Women’s Friendship Association. I declare a small vested interest in that my wife Samira Baqastada was involved as one of the players in putting together this activity. Dr Nathem al-Naser, a Christian Jordanian, was the driving force behind the organisation of this Iraqi party night. A very active worker in the broader multicultural community, Diana Abdul-Rahman, worked with Dr al-Naser in the preparations for this activity.
They brought down from Sydney a very good Iraqi Arab singer and a band of about five, and a high-quality show was put on by these people. What was remarkable, though, was that gathered around the tables was a coalition of Shia, Sunni, Christian and Muslim Australian Iraqi Arabs who, after an hour or so of some reticence, finally took each other by the hand and joined in the dancing and the singing. I thought that it was a beautiful demonstration of how the great myth that runs round in the media that Iraqis of different ethnic and religious backgrounds are at each other’s throats is so incorrect. I thought that was the value of the night.
Of course, being the third anniversary, there was some talk about the war. There was a very wide variation of opinion about the war and what started it—how it happened. There were, of course, wide degrees of like and dislike, respect and disrespect for the Americans and about where things were going, but to a man and a woman all agreed that it was a good thing that somebody had gone in to break the circuit and get rid of Saddam. All of these people were very hopeful for the future. Whilst they have varying likes and dislikes about the fledging democracy and whether al-Jaffari could get a government together to try to bring about some sort of peace, they are still hopeful that something is going to happen and they are hopeful for the future.
In discussions through that night and in discussions with these people since I found that they also thought that Iraq, after it goes through yet another rough period of disruption, will become a country of some moderating influence in the Middle East if the external neighbours allow them to go ahead and do that. So, there you go: it was a quite interesting and eye-opening experience. Apart from the fact that we were wonderfully entertained by some tremendous singing and dancing, it was great to see these people get together on the third anniversary of that war. More importantly, it was great to see the broader Arabic community of both Christian and Muslim background bring out Iraqi Arabs who had tended before not to come out and celebrate, look after them, encourage them and help them to settle in.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 6.27 pm.
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