Analysis: Media Reporting of "The Gang-Rapes" Options

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Analysis: Media Reporting of "The Gang-Rapes" Issue
By: OziMedia-Junkie

AA
The article below makes a very interesting case study of (print) media's race-related representational discourse, which illustrates how the Daily Telegraph sub-editors are irresponsibly perpetuating the RACE angles in their headlines, despite the fact, that there were categorical rejections of the media-driven "racist rapes” accusations. While both Nicholas Cowdery, QC (DPP) and Keyser Trad (LMA) agreed upon this notion that the gang rapists' "motivation was the object of their gratification rather than the race of the object of their gratification" and then according to Mr Cowdery "it's always been a young man's crime", but the DT's distorted narrative structure attempts to tell the "reality" of the story in a different way, possibly to support the paper's hardline, one dimensional and racialist reporting of an emotive issue involving youths of "middle eastern appearances".
This article is constructed despite of the latest statements by the two young victims of these heinous crimes, who in an “exclusive” TV interview with A Current Affairs, last night (July 16, 2002) , have echoed Cowdery/Trad's views as they refused to accept media's "hate crimes" claims.
So Please keep an eye on ACA website http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/default.asp for the online availability of their “exclusive” interview.

W'salam
(OMJ)
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Racism 'a Factor in Gang Rapes'
By: Joe Hilderbrande and Rachel Morris - Daily Telegraph (17 July 2002)
http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/comm...5E21302,00.html

RACE was a factor in the recent pack rapes of seven women, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions said last night.

But he later said gang culture, not ethnicity, was the real cause of the crimes.
Nicholas Cowdery, QC, told the ABC's 7.30 Report: "That certainly was the case in the recent series of matters that have been dealt with, and that of course makes it doubly relevant.

"How can you say it is not relevant when it seems to have been a factor in the motivation of the perpetrators?"

But later in the program, Mr Cowdery appeared to back away from his comments, saying it was gang culture and not ethnicity that was the real root cause of the crimes.

"I have difficulty accepting that this was some sort of ethnic offence by one ethnic group against another ethnic group," he said.

"I think there's always been gang culture among young males ... that's the real evil."

Lebanese Muslims Association vice-president Keysar Trad said race or culture had nothing to do with the series of rapes that saw 14 Lebanese men convicted.

He said far from being a product of Lebanese or Muslim culture, the crimes were committed by youths trying to emulate violence they saw on television.

"They have developed their own culture that is a mixture of the television cop shows with the street culture, the drug scene, the crime, and so forth," he said.

"And by disaffiliating with their own background, they try to create something which is unique to them, and this is really a copycat of some of the gang shows they've seen on TV."

He said the Lebanese and Muslim communities had "worked very hard" with police since the horrific nature of the gang rapes in Sydney's southwest were revealed.

In the wake of the rape charges and revelations about ethnic crime Mr Trad said trusted young people in the community had been called on by police to help diffuse potentially explo- sive situations.

Meanwhile, the NSW Department of Corrective Services has confirmed two of the rapists awaiting sentencing in Silverwater jail have been given protection amid fears for their safety.

The gang rapists' parents had received calls saying their sons had been bashed in jail.

"They are in protection but they haven't been touched, no one's assaulted them," the spokesman said.
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An interview with Nicholas Cowdery (DPP) and Keyser Trad (LMA)
Ethnicity Linked to Brutal Gang Rapes
7:30 Report, ABC TV (15 July 2002)
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/s607757.htm

MAXINE McKEW: In recent days the full details have emerged of a series of brutal gang rapes in Sydney's south-western suburbs which took place nearly two years ago.

There have been no similar crimes since then, but the initial attacks got massive publicity in August of last year, after what appears to have been deliberate police leaks.

And again in the past few days, there has been blanket coverage since the conviction of the 14 men involved.

The intense media focus, combined with the horrific nature of the crimes themselves, has stirred up tensions in south-west Sydney because all of the perpetrators were Lebanese Muslim youths, and all of their victims were Anglo-Celtic teenage girls.

Now some argue that's irrelevant -- that this sort of ugly crime has been committed by young males of all races and creeds, as long as there have been gangs.

Others hold the rapes are a sign of a serious cultural discord that must be addressed.

Earlier tonight I discussed the issue with the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions and with a Lebanese Muslim spokesperson.

But first, Tracy Bowden with this background report.

TRACEY BOWDEN: These were horrific savage crimes, committed in a two-month reign of terror starting in August 2000.

In all 14 young men have either been convicted or pleaded guilty to a series of gang rapes in south-western Sydney, brutalising seven young women.

ABC NEWS (LAST THURSDAY): The victim, who can't be named, was just 16 when she was dragged to a park in Greenacre in Sydney's south-west by a group of up to 12 men.

TRACEY BOWDEN: One teenage girl was raped 25 times by 14 men over six hours.

No-one disputes the horror of these crimes, but what sparked intense debate is whether the ethnic background the young men is an issue. According to newspaper columnist Miranda Devine, there's no question.

MIRANDA DEVINE, NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST: "These were racist crimes. They were hate crimes. The rapists chose their victims on the basis of race."

TRACEY BOWDEN: The victims were all Caucasian women aged between 13 and 18, those convicted all Lebanese Muslim youths.

BOB CARR, PREMIER (AUGUST 2001): The incidents had a similar MO, in that males of Middle Eastern appearance aged between 15 and 19 years old would operate in this fashion, that is entice girls into the car and effectively, in some cases at least, kidnap them.

TRACEY BOWDEN: These were not spontaneous attacks. Once a woman was lured to a suitable location, the ringleaders would call their mates to the scene on their mobile phones. In evidence one young woman revealed that during the ordeal she was called an Aussie pig, and told, "I'm going to (bleep) you Leb style.

The rape trials coincided with a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment.There were the horrors of September 11 and stories of boatloads of asylum seekers heading for Australia.

TALKBACK CALLER (SEPTEMBER 2001): As far as Muslims go, talk to the people that live in the Muslims' family. I have. And let me tell you they are not a peace loving nation and everywhere they go they cause trouble.

TALKBACK CALLER 2: There are some terrific people amongst them but there are so many lots that I just call scum.

ABC NEWS (AUGUST 2001): Ethnic community leaders met today, drawn together by mutual alarm over the tone of the increasingly noisy law and order debate, accusing Premier Carr of fuelling tensions been continuing to link ethnicity with some crimes.

SALVATORE SCEVOLA, ETHNIC COMMUNITIES COUNCIL: There seems to be this constant correlation between crime and ethnicity as if someone's ethnicity is the cause or link that leads them to offend.

SHEIK TAJ ALDIN ALHILALI, MUFTI OF AUSTRALIA: We condemn all rape. This hysteria is politically motivated. Let us all take responsibility for finding solutions.

TRACEY BOWDEN: There was more controversy in recent days over the decision to identify two of those convicted. These men were over 18 at the time of the attacks.

PREMIER BOB CARR: We changed the law to enable them to be named when the sentences are handed down.
They're serious crimes. Every bit the crimes of an adult. And the community deserves to know those names.

TRACEY BOWDEN: While some members of the young men's Lebanese Muslim community resent the focus on their ethnicity, others acknowledge the problem and the need to address it.
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DPP and Lebanese Muslim Spokesperson Discuss Gang Rapes
7:30 Report, ABC TV (15 July 2002)
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/s607758.htm

MAXINE McKEW: And to discuss some of the issues thrown up by this case, I've been joined now in the studio by Nicholas Cowdery, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions and by Keysar Trad, a spokesperson from the Lebanese Muslim association.

Gentlemen, I suppose I want to start by talking about I guess one of the big issues thrown up by this case, and that is the linkage that has been made between crime and ethnicity. Nicholas Cowdery you seem to be suggesting that there has been a bit too much squeamishness about this and you say that's unhealthy?

NICHOLAS COWDERY, QC, NSW DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS: Yes, I do. I think those of us who are dealing with crime need to be objective all the time.

MAXINE McKEW: And what made this case unique was a particular ethnic group targeting another exclusively.

NICHOLAS COWDERY: That certainly was the case in the recent series of matters that have been dealt with.
And that of course makes it doubly relevant. How can you say it is not relevant when it seems to be a factor in the motivation of the actions of the perpetrators of offences.

MAXINE McKEW: And yet you feel there has been a bit too much political correctness associated with this case? Where did you see that?

NICHOLAS COWDERY: There were some representatives of the community, of the ethnic community involved, closer to the time of the initial publication of these offences, who were in effect saying that these people were being targeted because they were of that particular ethnic group. That wasn't the case. It was never the case. The police were always very professional in the way in which they investigated the matter. And there was this reaction to try to downplay what may have been the actual participation of these people in these offences and go behind the shield of improper prejudice in the community.

MAXINE McKEW: Keysar Trad, do you think that is right when this case first came to attention, was there a willingness or an unwillingness for the community to face this?

KEYSAR TRAD, VICE-PRESIDENT, LEBANESE MUSLIM ASSOCIATION: Well, this case came into the public light long after the community was aware of it. The community was aware of it pretty much immediately as the crime occurred and there had been a great deal of work done in cooperation between the community and the Police Service and there's a very good working relationship between the community and the Police Service and a great level of mutual respect and the matter had been dealt with pretty much the day after the crime took place and the fact that it was reported a year later and the way it seemed to have been politicised at that time was unfair because it reflected on the community rather than on the individuals, and for the duration of that year there were no recurrences of that crime and in fact there had been no recurrences of that crime or any name of that nature up until today and because of the programs that we have in place now, we are certain that there will be no recurrence in the future either.

MAXINE McKEW: Do you accept that in this case, and do others in the community accept, that in this particular case, though, there was a quite distinct ethnic motivation?

KEYSAR TRAD: Oh, well, when a criminal commits a crime, they're motivated by the fact of the gratification they get from that crime, or what they perceive to be a benefit from the crime. And whoever falls into their dragnet, whoever is unfortunate enough to fall into it, will fall into it and they will use derogatory terms irrespective of who it is. Most violent crimes see the use of derogatory terms -.

MAXINE McKEW: No, what about this crime? This was a particular group targeting western women, non-Muslim women.

KEYSAR TRAD: This is the issue that I'm getting at. That I've received reports from Muslim women who feel that they were also targeted by rape, sexual harassment, so forth. Now, the issue in this case is that the lady who came forward and reported the complaint happened to be an Anglo-Celtic woman. I believe that if we follow the case further, you will find that the motivation itself of these people, even though they are making derogatory, racist slurs, that their motivation was the object of their gratification rather than the race of the object of their gratification.

MAXINE McKEW: Nicholas Cowdery?

NICHOLAS COWDERY: I think that's right. I think the criminality of the crime of rape, as we used to call it, was the primary motivating factor and I think the rest was just regarded as an embellishment by the people who were involved. I have difficulty accepting that this was some sort of ethnic offence by one ethnic group against another ethnic group. I think it was delinquent male behaviour.

MAXINE McKEW: But there were seven women and all Anglo-Celtic.

NICHOLAS COWDERY: Yes. Maybe there's an element of self preservation in that. They look for a target outside of their own ethnic group because if they target anybody inside their own ethnic group they may not even get to court.

MAXINE McKEW: What of the families, are they still in denial?

KEYSAR TRAD: The families, the first impression of the family was one of sympathy for the victims they do believe that the victim has suffered a great tragedy but one of the problems they are trying to deal with is whether their sons were the perpetrators of this particular crime or not. Because any parent can tell you that if you raise a child and you love and pamper them, it becomes a great shock to actually try to imagine that your son did something so horrific.

MAXINE McKEW: We heard some -- we heard during the course of the case horrific language was used, not an unusual of course in rape cases, but do you think an issue for your community is the very deep level of misogyny that appeared to be at the heart of these attacks?

KEYSAR TRAD: Well, foul language of any nature is something we don't endorse and approve of.
And whether it's in violence or without violence we don't approve of it and misogyny is another thing that unfortunately the community has been stigmatised with due to a misunderstanding and what we are trying to do is promote level of understanding that, OK, the Islamic religion believes that there are different roles that people play in society, that not everybody, whether even if you look at group of males, not everybody can do the same thing, people have different qualifications, different skills. When you broaden it out to males and females, different roles, different skills. Same respect, same value as human beings.

MAXINE McKEW: Well, how common is it for young Muslim men to think of say young Western women as 'sluts', as inferiors?

KEYSAR TRAD: Well, I'm a Muslim man. I grew up in Australia. My younger brother married an Anglo-Celtic girl and many Muslim men do marry Anglo-Celtic girls and many Muslim women also marry Anglo-Celtic men and they live with each other and husband and wife in a most beautiful, respectful relationship.

MAXINE McKEW: I know, but we've heard, for instance, and as we've seen in the press the last couple of days Muslim women have been saying part of the problem is some of these Muslim youth do have a sense of superiority and are being taught the wrong things.

KEYSAR TRAD: Well, yeah, this is criminal superiority, not necessarily misogynist superiority. They feel superior to me, for example. Because they are into this group thing. They are into this culture, this street scene. It's a gang thing. It's not the fact that I'm a male so I'm better. It's the fact that I am me, so I am better, it's unrelated to ethnicity and it's unrelated to culture, unrelated to -.

MAXINE McKEW: Well what is it related to?

KEYSAR TRAD: It's just the gang scene, the crime scene, the street scene. It's just the individual identity.

MAXINE McKEW: Well, that has to be addressed, doesn't it?

KEYSAR TRAD: Definitely.
And this is an issue that we are trying to address very seriously, that if we refer it to religion, the religion says that arrogance and pride are things that are exclusive to God, people have no right to compete in terms of arrogance and pride and they have no right to look down upon each other and the Koran has several statements that reinforce this idea.

MAXINE McKEW: Yeah, but it sounds as if -- and again I gather your own staff have seen some of these young men in prison and they are completely divorced from the principles of Islam.

KEYSAR TRAD: Exactly.
This is the issue that this -- some of these criminals have disaffiliated completely from culture and religion and they have developed their own culture that is a mixture of the television cop shows with the street culture, the drug scene, the crime and so forth, that by disaffiliating from their own background, they try to create something that was unique to them, and this was really a copycat of what they've seen in some of the gang shows on TV.

MAXINE McKEW: Do you think we've seen something that's quite isolated or are there bigger cultural issues that we need to be a bit more open about?

NICHOLAS COWDERY: I think there's always been gang behaviour by young males. I don't understand entirely the motivation for it but it's one of the phenomena of our society and I think every society around the world.
That's the real evil.

MAXINE McKEW: All right, gentlemen, for that thank you very much indeed.
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Gang Rapists in Protective Custody for Safety
The Sydney Morning Herald (15 July 2002)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/15/...6185150428.html

Two convicted gang rapists have been placed in protective custody indefinitely for their own safety.

The men, convicted of a series of gang rapes in Sydney's southwest two years ago, were moved from their jail cells at the Silverwater Remand Centre on Saturday into maximum security protection.

Keysar Trad, vice-president of the Lebanese Muslims Association, said the gang rapists' parents had received calls saying their sons had been bashed in jail.

But the Department of Corrective Services said the reports were untrue and the men had not been assaulted.

"They are in protection but they haven't been touched, no one's assaulted them," the spokesman said.

"But from Saturday, mainly because of the crimes and because of the publicity, we put them in protection just for their own safety as a precaution.

"That's fairly open ended. We'll just play it by ear. It could go on for months actually, it just depends on how they shape up."

There are 1,000 prisoners across NSW currently in protection.
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Public Reaction:

Does Culture Shock Play a Part in this Male Madness?

SMH Letters (17 July 2002) http://www.smh.com.au/letters/index.html
- Take young men from a society where women are considered little more than male possessions, and where women who wear Western clothes are considered the lowest form of wanton hussy.Instruct them through their religious teachings that Muslims are one thing and everybody else on the planet is something else. Transplant them into a Western society in such numbers that the unbridgeable cultural and religious divide creates such a division that these young men have no need or wish to identify with the values and attitudes of their adopted community. Let them wander in a society where women have equal rights with men and where women are free to wear miniskirts, light summer dresses and bikinis. Given the difference in attitudes, it would be unusual if such a scenario did not breed race-hate rape packs.I wonder what the Australian girls who were gang-raped think of multiculturalism? John Kayes, Telopea, July 16.

- Where in the Koran does Islam promote rape? Nowhere. However, its punishment is execution. Where in the Lebanese culture is rape accepted? Nowhere. Shame and chastise them. "Name them and shame them" may be an effective tool, but this is a crime committed by an individual or gang and should be treated as such. Islam and Lebanon have got nothing to do with this. I am wondering whether this rule of name and shame would apply only to those of Arab and/or Muslim background, or to the wider Australian community who are convicted of similar crimes? Many rapes occur and never do I see a religion and culture attached to the accused name. Journalists take note: breeding hate with your unrelenting paintbrush will only further divide the Australian community, by making people xenophobic, suspicious and hateful of others. Raja Yassine, Wallsend, July 15.

- A British court last week sentenced a rapist convicted of the rape of two women to three life terms. While crack cocaine was not involved in the unfortunate Sydney case, which it was in Britain, it will be interesting to see the sentence handed down by the Sydney judiciary and whether this sentence represents the community concerns and desires for heavier penalties. Without the influence of a drug it could be argued that the crime is greater as the guilty parties were clearly aware of what they were doing when they kidnapped and held these unfortunate young ladies. A life sentence is what they deserve. Michael Joseph Batty, Mosman, July 15.

-You report today that two convicted gang rapists have been placed in protective custody for their own safety (Herald, July 15). Why, pray? It would be more of a deterrent, surely, to let them take their chances among the ordinary decent criminals - rapists and the like are the kind of people who give criminals a bad name. Tom Donnellan, Cessnock West, July 15.

-Although it is difficult to feel anything other than repugnance towards the members of the Lebanese Muslim gangs who raped innocent young Anglo-Celtic women, the offenders require clinical assistance as well as appropriate punishment. Rape, often described as the ultimate demonstration of male dominance, tends to connote images of strength, assertiveness and power. In fact, the accepted psychological profile of a rapist is very different. In a high percentage of cases (including domestic, date and gang rape) the offender is a person of low intelligence, with few social skills, a profound sense of his own inferiority and frequently a deep-seated fear of women. He seeks to bolster his poor self-image by attacking someone physically weaker than himself. Nicholas Cowdery QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, has emphasised correctly that gang rape is not confined to the Lebanese Muslim community: "It's always been a young man's crime." However, the evident maladjustment of many young men within that community should be the focus of concern for its leaders. Pamela Chippindall, Point Piper, July 16.

- Stop wasting time. Australia is becoming a Third World slum with the raping of white women. Send all migrants back where they come from. Why should we let them destroy our country?
Tim Sheehan, Hamilton Island (Qld), July 15.
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Print Media's Headlines

"Gang Rape Thugs Convicted ": The Daily Telegraph (12 July 2002)
http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/comm...255E701,00.html

"Two Brothers Guilty of Second Gang Rape": The Sydney Morning Herald (12 July 2002) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/11/...6185088587.html

“Serial Gang Rapists Convicted": The Australian (July 12, 202)

http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/st...55E2702,00.html

"Calm Shattered by Rapists' Reign": The Australian (12 July 2002)
http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/st...55E2702,00.html

"Brothers Convicted of Another Gang Rape": The Canberra Times (12 July 2002)
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.as...3566&y=2002&m=7

"Faces of Evil": The Daily Telegraph (13 July 2002) http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/comm...255E701,00.html

Home of Intolerance
The Australian (3 July 2002)


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New Faces, Old Frictions
By: George Megalogenis
The Australian (13 July 2002)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/print...4727915,00.html

AUSTRALIA'S immigration wound reopened this week in response to three unrelated events: NSW Premier Bob Carr's call for a cut in migrant numbers to Sydney, the publication of a landmark opinion poll on racism and the traumatic conclusion of a gang rape trial involving young Lebanese-Australian men.

The racism survey by Macquarie University and the University of NSW contained the disturbing news – to sophisticated Sydneysiders, at least – that the city's west is more prejudiced than any area of Pauline Hanson's Queensland.

But neither this finding nor this coincidence of race-related episodes should be seen as proof of a significant or irreparable cultural divide. On the contrary, official data updated exclusively for The Weekend Australian shows why immigration is still working, even in Sydney.

Every surge in immigration has been shared between Sydney and Melbourne, either 50-50 or 60-40. The one exception is the Lebanese. Sydney has accepted – but not necessarily welcomed – 72.9 per cent of all Lebanese arrivals to Australia.

The way the talkback radio alarmists see it, Sydney's Muslims risk becoming the only culture Australia could not absorb, after six decades of success with every other configuration of humanity.

Yet the concentration of Lebanese Australians can not explain why the racism survey shows Sydneysiders have a greater fear of Muslims than do Melburnians or even Brisbanites.

Sydney's race angst is out of proportion to the numbers involved. The Lebanese-born make up 1.3 per cent of the city's population and 3.4 per cent of its total immigrants. Their brethren in the bush account for 0.05 per cent of the rest of NSW.

All up, Sydney's Lebanese amount to a mere speck of 52,008 in a city of 3,997,302 – and many of them are Christian, not Muslim. They rank fifth behind Sydney's English-born (150,782); Chinese (82,029); New Zealanders (81,963); and Vietnamese (61,423). They pale beside the white Australians who are truly disconnected from the community, either through long-term unemployment or mental illness.

Sydney and immigration is a case of mind over matter, and the only genuine difference in outlook remaining between the harbour city and increasingly cocky Melbourne. The postmodern phase of the Sydney race debate began with publicity about the gang rapes, which occurred during the past two years. It reached its xenophobic apotheosis with the Tampa affair last August and with September 11.

The ethnic gang is the community-wide slur that attaches itself to the latest arrival. The Lebanese gangs replaced the Asian Triads of the 1980s, which usurped the Italian mafia of the '70s.

The other cliche is the ethnic enclave, the idea that immigrants stick together rather than adopt Australian values.

Fortunately, there is proof from the real world to demolish the furphy that Muslims are radically different from the other new Australians before them.

The suburb that received the highest number of immigrants during the past 11 years – Fairfield in Sydney's west – did not have Lebanese in its top five entrants, Department of Immigration analysis supplied to The Weekend Australian shows.

For the anti-immigration lobby, Fairfield is shorthand for the no-hoper suburb, an area so poor that it traps the low-skilled immigrant into a cycle of exclusion. But even if you accept this dubious argument about Fairfield, the Lebanese are not part of it. The Lebanese centre in Sydney's west is the neighbouring working-class suburb of Bankstown. Even there, the Lebanese-born are not an enclave.

This is perhaps the most telling percentage of all: Bankstown's Lebanese intake increased from 5 per cent to 6.4 per cent of the suburb between the 1996 and 2001 censuses. The Vietnamese are moving in at a faster pace, from 4.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data. The Lebanese of Bankstown have yet to surpass the English and Irish, who made up 7.1 per cent of the suburb in 1971. They are nowhere near the original wogs, the 13.6 per cent of the population in Marrickville, in Sydney's west, that was Greek-born in 1971.

Clearly, Sydney is not being inundated by Lebanese. "We don't get what they have in America," Macquarie University geographer James Forrest says.

"The very large number of people coming from different areas means that even in the most-migrant areas, no one group dominates. This doesn't happen anywhere else."

It is the mix that makes multiculturalism work, says Forrest, who headed the academic team that has been measuring racism. The survey published this week looked at attitudes in NSW and Queensland.

The results can be read two ways. For Muslims, they highlight their present alienation. For Asians, they are proof of their rapid integration. But therein lies a source of optimism for Muslim Australians.

It was less than a generation ago that Asia was viewed as one culture too far for our immigration program. As John Howard has admitted since, history had proved those fears, which he once shared, to be wrong.

Forrest's unit found that 52.8 per cent of those questioned would be concerned if a close relative married a Muslim. This is the rawest indicator of prejudice, the Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? test. The survey indicates Asians are more popular than Aborigines: 71.8 per cent were not concerned about the former, compared with 70.5 per cent for the latter.

Bankstown had almost 20 per cent of its residents identifying themselves as "prejudiced against other cultures", which was exceeded only by central western Sydney (almost 25 per cent) and southwestern Queensland (almost 35 per cent). Bankstown was also the suburb rated as the most anti-Muslim.

The birthplace of former Labor prime minister Paul Keating and cricketing twins Steve and Mark Waugh, Bankstown is important to Sydney's race equation. The suburb missed the southern Europeans after World War II, who went to inner-city areas such as Marrickville instead.

In 1981, Bankstown was still 2.4 percentage points whiter than the Sydney average. But two decades later it had become 3 per cent more cosmopolitan. Without the first wave to get used to, the second wave of settlers from Asia and the Middle East gave old Australian Bankstown a culture shock. It should subside in time, as it did in inner Sydney, which is now the most tolerant place north of the Murray River, according to Forrest's survey.

Bankstown's identikit in Melbourne's west, Sunshine, is different. It took both waves. Today, Sunshine shows no signs of fracturing in the same way the shock jocks of Sydney radio think Bankstown is. Sunshine has been a majority overseas-born suburb since 1996. It was down to 46.2 per cent Australian-born in 2001, with the Vietnamese-born at 12 per cent.

The scoop for Sydneysiders is that no one in Melbourne is complaining. Bankstown is much whiter than Sunshine, with 58.4 per cent Australian-born. It is the pace of the change that offers the explanation for Sydney's immigration indigestion.

Population is one of the few real policy spats in Australia at the moment. This week, Carr called on Canberra to help him restrict further immigration to Sydney, citing environmental pressures. If Howard had said the same thing, he would have been accused of playing a race card. But Carr is playing a green card and says he is keen to send more immigrants to the rest of NSW.

Carr is pitted against the pro-immigration Victorian Labor Premier Steve Bracks. A third-generation Australian – his Catholic grandparents migrated as children from Lebanon in the 1890s – Bracks does not make great play of his heritage.

Although Bracks respects Carr's environmental motivation, he says it is "senseless to say that big cities like Sydney and Melbourne are not going to grow".

"It is unreasonable to argue that a portion of that growth will not be from immigration," he says. "I can't see why you wouldn't want that diversity, that cultural change and that cosmopolitanism, which is important in your engagement with the rest of the world."

Carr says he is not pretending Sydney's population can be halted but that his issue is with the rate of growth.

Interestingly, Howard has chosen to sit in the middle of this argument: "I think Bob Carr's [zero growth] view is a bit unrealistic, but I think Steve Bracks's [mass migration] view is a bit simplistic."

Bracks thinks Melbourne is better at immigration because it is less divided according to income and infrastructure. The Census proves the point. The evidence of upward migrant mobility in Sydney is below the highest income north shore suburb of Mosman, in neighbouring areas such as Howard's middle-class electorate of Bennelong. It has an Asian-born population heading towards 20 per cent.

The good news is the Lebanese-born of Bennelong are approaching 3 per cent of the population, a Bankstown-type level. In other words, Middle Eastern immigrants are on the same path from outcast to middle class as Asians and continental Europeans before them.
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Is Parramatta Racist? Melting Pot Signs of Boiling Over
By: Rachel Morris & Jaedene Hudson
The Daily Telegraph (12 July 2002)
http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/comm...5E21302,00.html

PARRAMATTA'S image of a harmonious multicultural melting pot has been challenged by a national survey which claims it is bubbling with barely concealed racism.

With more than 30 per cent of its population born overseas or of ethnic origin, Parramatta ranks just above the Fairfield-Liverpool area for racial intolerance in the academic survey of attitudes to race.
The survey, by the Geography departments of Macquarie University and the University of NSW, found that more than 50 per cent of those surveyed in Australia admitted they would be "concerned" if one of their relatives married a Muslim.

The Everywhere Different: A Geography of Racism in Australia survey also confirmed that racial prejudice in Sydney was "cyclical", with Asian Australians becoming "accepted" and recent migrants from the Middle East being the new "targets".

The survey of more than 5000 in Sydney and Brisbane identified central western Sydney – Parramatta – as the most racist region despite its high numbers of Asian Australians and Middle Eastern-born Australians.

Neighbouring Fairfield-Liverpool, with more than 130 different nationalities, was ranked just below Parramatta on a scale of racial intolerance devised by the report's authors.

Inner Sydney, around Leichhardt and the inner west, was the "most tolerant", along with the Richmond-Tweed area of NSW's far north coast.

Census 2001 figures show that the average Parramatta resident is a 34-year-old Australian-born married parent earning no more than $400 a week.

The majority of Parramatta's population was born in Australia, with 56 per cent born here and 55 per cent speaking English at home. The next highest populations came from China, Lebanon and the UK.

The survey found that more than one in 10 openly identified themselves as "prejudiced" against other cultures.

According to the Federal Government-funded study, nearly 53 per cent of Australians would have a problem with a relative marrying a Muslim.

While only 28 per cent said they wouldn't want an Asian Australian marrying into their family, 29 per cent said they would be uncomfortable with an Aboriginal relative.

Nearly 45 per cent said some cultural groups "did not belong in Australia" and the same number said the country was "weakened by people of different ethnic origins sticking together".

One of the report's authors, Macquarie University's James Forrest, said a reason for the anti-Muslim attitude is the belief by many that new migrants, especially recent ones from the Middle East, challenge Australians for jobs.

This is a possible explanation for the results in Parramatta and south western Sydney.

"It's economically based," Mr Forrest said.

The anti-Asian sentiments of the 1980s and '90s had been replaced by anti-Muslim feeling.

Mr Forrest said Muslims are seen as "different" by sections of the Australian community – the attitude, dubbed "old racism", that other cultures are "not part of the group".

"They have been demonised," he said.

But Parramatta Lord Mayor John Haines rejected the survey's results, saying the report's authors "spoke to the wrong people" and he found the results "hard to believe".

"I don't believe that is the case," Mr Haines said. "We are very tolerant, very understanding ... people here are treated as one."

Director of Islamic Resource Management Hind Karouche said it was "hard to be Muslim" in Australia today.

"We are looked at with suspicion, and we are judged as guilty before we are proven innocent," she said. "As Australian and migrants to this country we want to feel that we belong [as Australians] and we are still welcome to belong."

Glenn's Faith in Mixed Marriage


WHEN Glenn Anderson's uncle travelled to Malaysia he met a local family and thought one of the daughters – Julainah Aziz – and his nephew would make a good match.

He played "matchmaker" and gave the pair each other's addresses.

For the next 12 months the couple exchanged letters discussing everything from interests and hobbies to future aspirations.

It was the prospect of marrying a woman from the Islamic faith which motivated Australian-born Mr Anderson to read the Koran.

Before the meeting could take place, Mr Anderson, from Lakemba, decided to read the Koran with "an open mind and an open heart".

"I realised that if the relationship was going to proceed any further, if we were to meet I had to make a decision, would I be prepared to become a Muslim?" Mr Anderson said.

"I could not read the Koran and become a Muslim simply because I wanted to marry, if I had done it that way it would not have been sincere."

After deciding to change to Islam Mr Anderson decided to meet with Ms Aziz.

The couple married in Malaysia in 1997 – with Ms Aziz immigrating a year later to be with her new husband.

They initially settled in Glebe but moved to Lakemba because of the area's high Islamic population.

The couple have a two-year-old daughter, Ayesha.

He said since living in Australia the pair have not suffered any racism.

"Since we have been here together I have not noticed anyone looking at us strangely," Mr Anderson said.

Love Thy Neighbour
THE study by Macquarie University and the University of NSW Geography Departments found that more than one in 10 identified themselves as "prejudiced" against other cultures.

The survey also found:
52.8 per cent of those surveyed said they would be concerned if a relative married a Muslim
27.4 per cent said they would be concerned if a relative married an Asian Australian
28.9 per cent said they would be concerned if a relative married an Aborigine
44.9 per cent said they can identify some cultural groups that don't belong in Australia
44.8 per cent said that Australia was weakened by people of different ethnic origins "sticking to their own ways"
In Sydney and Brisbane, 13.2 per cent say they are "prejudiced against other cultures".
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Wave Goodbye to the Fear of Immigration
The Australian Editorial (13 July 2002)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/print...4694030,00.html

WOULD you let your daughter marry a Muslim? The answer for 52.8 per cent of Australians is no. As a nation of immigrants you'd think we'd welcome newcomers. In fact we've struggled to cope with waves of new arrivals. But as John Howard says, we managed – and hopefully we're getting more adept at it.

Most Australians recognise the contribution of migrants with their new ideas, cultures and passion for a better life. A benchmark study by the University of NSW and Macquarie University shows http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/comm...5E21302,00.html that while most of us recognise racial intolerance in our midst, only about one in eight consider themselves racist. But the word itself is so explosive. The academic definition – believing in differences between the races – varies from the colloquial use of prejudice against racial groups. Race gets mixed up with culture. And how people think of themselves may be different from how they behave. Considering all this, the headline numbers hardly make Australia a hotbed of hate. It looks more like fair progress for a nation born of British colonial stock and which still had whites-only immigration 30 years ago.

Many old and new Australians do tend to question or fear ethnic difference. When challenged by new arrivals, be they neighbours, workmates or the subject of media reports, some harbour secret worries. It is no surprise the study found those living in areas with the least experience of diversity to be the most fearful when a new wave of migrants arrives.

The measure of a civilised society, however, is its ability to overcome base instincts and treat newcomers with the same respect accorded peers. Yes, we've called newcomers names and occasionally needed reminding about our egalitarian principles. On the whole, though, it's been a peaceful tolerance followed by happy coexistence and positive embrace of Irish, Chinese, southern European, Asian and Arab immigrants. Our success notwithstanding, we cannot let complacency blind us to the danger of racism, nor lead us into accepting mere tolerance of difference.

The challenges posed by immigration used to be about jobs. Then it was Asians who might study harder and work longer. Now it's mainly Muslims fleeing despots, amid a global fear of Islamic terrorism. The September 11 confluence of religion and crime has fuelled a fear of ethnic violence. Australians will tolerate new ways but not threats – real or perceived – to their security. That's why, in a week when Lebanese Muslim youths in Sydney were convicted of gang rapes, it is so important to educate Australians about Islam and put these crimes into perspective. There must be an open debate about any links between immigration, ethnicity and crime. That's the only way to minimise racism and ensure fear of strangers doesn't become witchhunts.

Only one out of 100 people in Sydney are Lebanese Australian. The vast majority of them are law-abiding. The Muslim faith abhors violence against women. Indeed, the punishment for errant behaviour is harsher than our laws proscribe. On many issues, Muslim Lebanese youths are torn between their parents' strict culture and a more liberal Australian experience. They also face different pressures than Christian Lebanese. As alienated youths of any nationality might, some young Muslims react to their problems by lashing out. Feeling powerless, they seek safety in numbers and abuse the weak. Such explanations in no way excuse these criminals for their heinous acts, but provide a basis from which police, policy-makers and the Lebanese community can build strategies to remove the threat of gang violence.

The quicker ethnic crime is defused, the sooner the immigration debate can focus on the benefits of a cosmopolitan society. This week's horrific slaying of young Vietnamese in Melbourne did not provoke panic about "Asian gangs", reflecting a recognition that the problem is criminal behaviour, not ethnicity.

Immigration has repeatedly challenged the economic, social and personal view we have of our country. With each test we have emerged stronger and less hateful. Let's keep heading that way.
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OUR SHAME ...
Your Sons Are Rapists, Muslim Head Says
By: Jim O'Rourke, The Sun-Herald (July 14 2002)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/13/...6185126169.html

The head of the Islamic community has been visiting the mothers and fathers of the young men convicted of a series of gang sexual assaults to convince them their sons are rapists.
Sheikh Tajeddine Hamed el Hilaly, the Mufti or spiritual leader of Australia's Muslims, has spoken to parents who cannot believe their sons were involved in the attacks on at least six teenage girls in Sydney's south-west two years ago.

A spokesman for the Lebanese Muslim Association, Keysar Trad, said the traditional Muslim families have said their sons were "invited" to have sex with the girls.

The parents were not accepting the fact their sons, aged 16 to 20, had gang-raped the girls, Mr Trad said.

"The parents are under the impression the men did not rape the girls and had sex with them on a one-to-one basis, not in a group of men. They've been told the girls invited their sons to have sex.

"But the Mufti has taken it upon himself to visit the homes of the parents of the criminals to get them to come to terms with the crimes their sons have committed."

Mr Trad said the rapists had been asked by their religious advisers to consider making a public apology to the victims.

The attacks included the rape of a young woman by 14 men over a period of six hours at three separate locations on August 30, 2000.

In a separate incident, two girls were forced to perform oral sex on eight males in a Greenacre park.

Police alleged the girls were lured from train stations and shopping centres to isolated
locations before the rapists contacted more males on mobile phones to join in the assaults.

The Mufti's visits come as a debate rages over whether the identity of the rapists should be made public.

The Daily Telegraph yesterday http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/comm...255E701,00.html released the names and photographs of two men found guilty of being involved in pack rape and sexual assault.

Premier Bob Carr defended a law that allows judges and magistrates the discretion to name juveniles only after they have been convicted of serious crimes and if they deem it to be in the community interest.

The law applies to children charged with murder, malicious wounding with intent, armed robbery with wounding and a range of sexual assaults. Juveniles convicted of minor crimes cannot be publicly named.

The so-called "name and shame" legislation was drawn up in 1999 by then Attorney-General Jeff Shaw, when crime figures showed 27 children had appeared in NSW courts in 1998, charged with homicide or manslaughter and driving a motor vehicle causing death - almost double the number of the previous year.

Supporters of the law said it prevented young criminals remaining anonymous and not suffering the consequences of the public knowing of their actions.

A spokeswoman for Mr Carr said the Premier believed the rapists' identities should not be protected because they had committed awful adult crimes.

Mr Trad said the identity of the rapists should remain secret because their names made it obvious they were Muslims and the whole Islamic community was being blackened because of their actions.

He said the Muslim community was not defending the criminals.

"We acknowledge they took away the rights of the victims with their vile crimes, but they are being properly punished for their crimes," he said.

"The names of the men shows they are people with a particular religious background and their behaviour has tarnished the good name of the whole community.

"The whole 300,000-strong Muslim community in Australia should not have to suffer as well.

"Because of the vile, heinous crimes they have committed, these men have disowned their religion and their race," Mr Trad said.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties said it feared the release of the rapists' identities would encourage others to take revenge or exact punishment on the criminals.

Council president Cameron Murphy said naming the rapists could also lead to the victims' names becoming known.

Mr Murphy pointed to recent incidents in the United Kingdom where innocent people were bashed or hounded out of their homes when the names of convicted pedophiles were made public.

"The court is in the best position to administer punishment, not members of the public who may want to take revenge or punish the offenders," he said.
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'These Lads Have Heaped Shame on Islam'
By: Eamonn Duff, The Sun Herald (July 14 2002)http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/13/1026185124706.html

A leading cleric in Sydney's Muslim community has launched an astonishing attack on fellow Lebanese parents, accusing them of isolating their children from mainstream Australia.

And he said of the young people found guilty of gang rapes: "What they have done is wrong. These lads have heaped shame on Islam.

"Nobody would accept them now and let me tell you, if this had happened in a Muslim country, they could have expected far worse than any punishment they are likely to receive here."

Lakemba-based Sheikh Khalil Chami claimed thousands of Lebanese parents were refusing to teach their children about harmony and the need to love their neighbours, regardless of religion, creed or colour.

In an exclusive interview, he told The Sun-Herald: "We as a community have to educate our children that while we are naturally proud of our religion and background, we should also be proud to be Australian.

"Only when Muslim parents realise that this is essential will our youngsters integrate, learn to accept and, in turn, be accepted."

Sheikh Chami has lived in Sydney for 39 years and has six children. He said that one of life's greatest challenges had been to find the best words and ways which would see his children go on to fulfil their ambitions and integrate "successfully into the larger community".

"I feel I have done the best job that I can. But up to now, as a community, we [the Lebanese] are still far from it. Why? Because our leaders, mainly the parents, refuse to adopt this same attitude. They see their community and the larger community as divided and so the majority of Lebanese children and Australian children are growing up to be divided also."

Sheikh Chami's words are sure to offend many within his own community but he is under no illusions. He said that if things did not change, the message would be lost forever.

He said: "Things have to change now if the future is to change because when my generation has gone, who is going to provide this message to our children?

"We have to realise that in 10 to 15 years' time, they [the children] will be responsible for representing the Muslim community.

"We have to look at what is happening at present and ask, is this how we really want to be represented?"

Sheikh Chami has a message for Muslim children but he said it is one from which the whole world could learn.

He said: "If I shake the hand of an Australian man, at least I have got
50 per cent of my shoulder on his shoulder. These kids have to be taught that this is the way forward. If this happens, I believe they will open their eyes and their hearts to the people outside of their own community - and to the world."

Sheikh Chami said the gang rapes could have happened in any society. But he refused to use this as an excuse for the horrific attacks which have seen 14 Lebanese youths convicted or plead guilty.

"People are entitled to ask whether they are mad or confused ... we have to find out, but my feeling is also one of part sympathy ... nobody has looked after some of these boys or corrected them that this behaviour is wrong."

The so-called "name and shame" legislation was drawn up in 1999 by then Attorney-General Jeff Shaw, when crime figures showed 27 children had appeared in NSW courts in 1998, charged with homicide or manslaughter and driving a motor vehicle causing death - almost double the number of the previous year.

Supporters of the law said it prevented young criminals remaining anonymous and not suffering the consequences of the public knowing of their actions.

A spokeswoman for Mr Carr said the Premier believed the rapists' identities should not be protected because they had committed awful adult crimes.

Mr Trad said the identity of the rapists should remain secret because their names made it obvious they were Muslims and the whole Islamic community was being blackened because of their actions.

He said the Muslim community was not defending the criminals.

"We acknowledge they took away the rights of the victims with their vile crimes, but they are being properly punished for their crimes," he said.

"The names of the men shows they are people with a particular religious background and their behaviour has tarnished the good name of the whole community.

"The whole 300,000-strong Muslim community in Australia should not have to suffer as well.

"Because of the vile, heinous crimes they have committed, these men have disowned their religion and their race," Mr Trad said.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties said it feared the release of the rapists' identities would encourage others to take revenge or exact punishment on the criminals.

Council president Cameron Murphy said naming the rapists could also lead to the victims' names becoming known.

Mr Murphy pointed to recent incidents in the United Kingdom where innocent people were bashed or hounded out of their homes when the names of convicted pedophiles were made public.

"The court is in the best position to administer punishment, not members of the public who may want to take revenge or punish the offenders," he said.
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Incitement Watch I:

Racist Rapes: Finally the Truth Comes Out
By: Miranda Devine, Sun Herald (14 July, 2002)http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/07/13/1026185124700.html

So now we know the facts, straight from the Supreme Court, that a group of Lebanese Muslim gang rapists from south-western Sydney hunted their victims on the basis of their ethnicity and subjected them to hours of degrading, dehumanising torture. The young women, and girls as young as 14, were "sluts" and "Aussie pigs", the rapists said. So now that some of the perpetrators are in jail, will those people who cried racism and media "sensationalism" hang their heads in shame? Hardly.

The journalists, academics, legal brains and politicians who tried to claim last August that the gang rapes of south-western Sydney were just a run-of-the-mill police blotter story being beaten up by racists, scaremongers and political opportunists don't ever want to acknowledge the truth about that ugly episode in Australian history. They don't want to acknowledge the fear and tension that ran through a part of Sydney they rarely visit and can never understand.

This newspaper was the first to report the story, which had been common knowledge in police and media circles, and it has never censored the race element.

Even last week, with the conviction of two brothers for their part in the gang rape of Miss D, who was 16 when she was held at gunpoint in a Greenacre park, there were media outlets that downplayed the story and air-brushed race from it.

Yet the victims have been crying out for the truth to be told. In court on Friday, one victim gave another a card on which she had written

"Truth is Justice".

In August, when Judge Megan Latham handed out laughably lenient sentences to three men in one gang rape case, which were later more than doubled on appeal, she made a special point of debunking the race link: "There is no evidence before me of any racial element in the commission of these offences," she said. "There is nothing said or done by the offenders which provides the slightest basis for imputing to them some discrimination in terms of the nationality of their victims."

Except that later one of the victims complained her victim impact statement had been "censored" of any "ethnic" references by prosecutors intent on a plea bargain. She was convinced she was raped because of her ethnicity. "You deserve it because you're an Australian," the rapists told her during the five-hour attack.

It's just so inconvenient of the victims to insist on telling the truth.

"I looked in his eyes. I had never seen such indifference," one 18-year-old victim, codenamed Miss C, told the court, remembering one of the 14 men who called her "Aussie pig", gang raped her 25 times over a six-hour period in Bankstown and Chullora, and then turned a hose on her. "I'm going to f*** you Leb style," he said.

Fourteen gang rapists have been convicted, or pleaded guilty, thanks to the courage of seven victims who testified for days in court as their tormentors smirked nearby, the men's families threatened them and defence lawyers suggested they had enjoyed the rapes.

"They're very brave, very strong and very courageous young women," said Salvation Army Major Joyce Harmer, who held the hands of many of the victims through the trials. "They knew this was something they had to do."

There were encouraging signs by the end of the week that some Muslim community leaders were talking of "Muslims accepting responsibility that they may have failed to do things that would have prevented these things from happening", as Amjad Mehboob, chief executive for the Federation of Islamic Councils, told ABC Radio on Friday.

Keysar Trad, vice-president of the Lebanese Muslim Association, said: "It is certainly a disgrace to our community that people who were born to a Muslim family would commit such heinous crimes." But he went on to say it was "rather unfair" that the rapists' ethnicity had been reported "because these boys themselves have completely disaffiliated themselves from their culture or their religion".

Yes, it is unfair that the vast bulk of law-abiding Lebanese Muslim boys and men should be smeared by association. But their temporary discomfort may be necessary so that the powerful social tool of shame is applied to the families and communities that nurtured the rapists, gave them succour and brought them up with such a hatred of Australia's dominant culture and contempt for its women that they think of an 18-year-old girl, dressed for a job interview in her best suit, sitting on a train reading a book, as a slut.

These were racist crimes. They were hate crimes. The rapists chose their victims on the basis of race. That fact is crucial to this story. If the perpetrators had been Anglo-Celtic Australians, the furore would have been enormous. No newspaper would have left out that fact and you can bet the guilt and shame would have been spread far and wide. devinemiranda@hotmail.com
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Incitement Watch II:

No More Excuses For the Culture of Barbarism By:Terry Lane - the Sunday