Sydney Lebanese community fears backlash after Cronulla riot PRINT FRIENDLY EMAIL STORY
The World Today - Monday, 12 December , 2005 12:14:00
Reporter: Jennifer Macey
KAREN PERCY: Lebanese Australians have condemned the weekend's events, describing the violence on all sides as disgusting. Out in Sydney's south-western suburbs, home to a large Lebanese community, people fear a possible backlash against the entire community.
Jennifer Macey went to Lakemba and filed this report.
JENNIFER MACEY: On the streets of Lakemba, home to the majority of Sydney's Lebanese community, there was reluctance to talk about the violence in Cronulla over the weekend.
Some feared an attack on lifesavers earlier in the week, blamed on a gang of Lebanese youth, would result in a backlash for the entire community.
VOX POP 1: We're not here to cause any trouble at all, at all, at all. We've been in the country for 36 to 40 years, nothing happened at all. Why is it happening now? I don't know. I go swimming, I take my kids to Cronulla, I take them to Manly, we go and swim, you know?
VOX POP 2: I think it's disgraceful. I think the bashing of the lifeguards was disgraceful, but what happened yesterday was a truly scary precedent in Australian history, and I think that comes down to 10 years of Howard Government, where he's played the race card for so many years that it's now sort of seeped into the Australian psyche, or the ethos, that it's okay to be racist, or to make excuse based on people's ethnicities - to target people, basically.
VOX POP 3: You know what I mean, I couldn't sleep yesterday. Lifesaving, my kid is practising to be a lifesaver. What's this? I wouldn't accept that, you know what I mean?
VOX POP 4: I think this is wrong, this racism, because we don't want, we don't want to se what happened in French or anywhere in the world, because we live in peace in Australia. And we don't want to see what happened overseas.
JENNIFER MACEY: Ahmed Kamaledine the President of the Lebanese Muslim Association. He says this idea of us and them is unacceptable.
AHMED KAMALEDINE: This is really disgusting, I think a lot of people are shocked for words, they're just stunned, and I'm one of those people. It's hard to say what could motivate for such a person, such people to go out of the lead, you know, and go out and do such a thing.
But regardless, this is not the way to treat a problem existing in the community. We give full support to the police. We also ask the police to go out and have a look at the surveillance and all the footage on the day, and bring those people to justice.
JENNIFER MACEY: He's concerned that talkback radio is fuelling anger and resentment against the Lebanese community.
AHMED KAMALEDINE: But a lot of suggestions by some of the media outlets, talkback radios, that go out there - even headlines across the newspapers as well - really isolate some of the people.
So, if you're going to stereotype a kid of Lebanese descent who thinks that he's being labelled or targeted, he might say something stupid, you know, or he might do something stupid. But if he does, then the law must deal with it. Not to punish the rest of the community by someone's actions.
But, I mean, having said that, why don't we focus on the successful achievements that the Lebanese have been made in Australia. I mean, have a look at Marie Bashir, for example, she's Lebanese. Steven Bracks, Premier of Victoria, he's Lebanese.
I mean, have a look at the great achievements Lebanese have been done to this community, or to the Australian community. We've contributed to the Australian community, or contributed to the Australian way of life.
So we don't want to be punished and labelled and isolated by media outlets, and sometimes by politicians, by scavengers who would really use these type of events to get popularity.
JENNIFER MACEY: Eman Dandan is the office coordinator at the Lebanese Muslim Association that offers counselling services to Lebanese young people.
She questions the notion of ownership over public spaces like beaches.
EMAN DANDAN: Along the lines of, how can people like that come to our beaches? And this concept of ownership over beaches and over public property, which sort of purports this idea that we can decide who comes, if we don't like you, you're not allowed here.
I mean, this mentality that's been bred in Australia, I mean, from the issues of refugees and now to issues of beaches. I mean, just this mentality, you can see the same sort of mentality running through. It's quite ridiculous.
JENNIFER MACEY: Eman Dandan says her organisation has been cooperating with the police and says anyone who commits a crime should be dealt with as a criminal, regardless of their cultural background.
EMAN DANDAN: It's really, it's leading Australia down the one-way track of returning to a White Australia policy. And I mean, if that's where we want to go, then we've really got to… I mean, we can look at the results that reaped… and if we can't learn from our mistakes, and our history, then when are we going to learn?
KAREN PERCY: That's Eman Dandan, from the Lebanese Muslim Association in Lakemba, speaking to Jennifer Macey.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
