Page 234 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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cultures and generations sharing and exchanging beliefs and values. While many would agree with this, all too often we see multicultural policy shaped around the preservation of culturally specific institutions and in some cases leading to the social, political and economic marginalisation of some ethnic communities.
Multiculturalism is not about communities operating in silos or merely co-existing and coming together for community events. It will need strong political leadership to think outside the box. The hope here is to move beyond this outdated outlook. I believe a well-resourced and accessible Islamic library in Canberra will encourage interaction and an understanding of the many faces of Islam. A friendly environment will help promote tolerance between Islamic and non-Islamic communities and encourage interaction. This is already happening in other states. The National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies is funded by the Australian government to provide outstanding higher education level programs in Islamic studies. This is happening in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, Griffith University and the University of Western Sydney.
I would like to note that the ACT government has made efforts to support Islamic activities. The previous Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Mr Hargreaves, supported many of these ventures, such as the Muslim Advisory Council.
I would now like to touch on Islamic young people. Asmi Wood, a lecturer at ANU, in his paper Muslims Australia: an untapped resource on this topic, says in relation to Muslim youth:
The ‘Muslim identity’ in Australia appears to be at present a secondary identity and one subsumed by ethnicity.
He goes on to say:
A key underlying factor for the slow emergence of a cohesive identity in Australia is arguably because the Australian Muslim community is not only ethnically and linguistically diverse, but also because the multicultural funding criteria encourage the preservation of classic cultural characteristics … The ethnocentric organisation of multicultural affairs favours cohesion on ethnicity in preference to cohesion around a ‘religious’ identity. …
The hope here is that a recognisable identity will help Muslim youth to avoid disregarding the ethics and values of Islam on the one hand or retreating into a self- destructive extremism on the other.
For young people, having a sense of identity, as we all have experienced, is a juggling act. Having to negotiate multiple identities for some can be a source of great stress. I believe if young people can have access to their history and culture it can provide a solid foundation in and amongst the many pressures of our society. Having a source of identity for Muslim young people can provide a great sense of security, particularly in the face of sensationalised media reports, racism and xenophobia. Let us not forget that it was only three years ago we saw ugly scenes in Camden, New South Wales with the proposed mosque, and only five years ago when racial violence spilt onto the streets of Cronulla, Sydney. We have seen similar racist responses by small sections
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