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Issue No. 125 | 22 February 2002 |
Unfair and Dismal
Interview: If Not Now, When? Activists: Fighting Back Industrial: Croon And Divide Politics: Politics of Extinction History: Harry Bridges: International Labour Hero International: Rats in the Ranks Review: Follow The Fence, Find The Truth Satire: Howard Screws Refugee Kids: G-G Turns Blind Eye Poetry: Let It Be
Building Workers' Bid to Win Back Lives Dog-Tired � Long Hours Leave Beagles Buggered Home Care Workers Reject Sweat Building Commission's Costly Spin Caltex Asked To Explain Price Hikes Palm Sunday Resurrected for Refugees Dismissals: Labor Blocks The Lot Company Collapses: Union Wants Bank Powers Legal Action to Block Job Exports Councils Targeted in Contracting Campaign CFMEU Constructs Lebanese Bridge Israeli Aircraft Destroy Most Of Palestinian Union HQ
The Soapbox The Locker Room Week in Review
Tom's Foolery Give Us a Spray!
Labor Council of NSW |
Activists Fighting Back
*************** Lakemba sizzles. It's chapter in the story of modern Australia is writ on shopfronts where English battles with Arabic and Chinese for the attention of passers by.
Groups of Lebanese, Iraqis, Jordanians and Algerians, mainly male, sit outside cafes, sipping coffee or gulping ice-cold water. Women announce their affiliations with anything from full black covers to pale headscarfs. Change has been dramatic in this sweltering, airless part of Sydney, until recently best known for its Bulldogs, racecourse and a handy grade cricket side featuring the likes of Steve and Mark Waugh. Five minutes walk from the bustling shops, opposite the Mosque on Wangee Rd, men and women are working the phones in a rearguard action on behalf of their community. They're onto journalists, solicitors, banks, politicians and departmental officials, but not for long. Their efforts are constantly interrupted by incoming calls from people seeking visas, loans, legal or religious guidance. Only the fans work harder than the phones at the Lebanese Moslem Association - a historical title that hardly describes the range of nationalities, and sects, that utilise its services. It's a million miles from the ATO where Keysar Trad spent the first 14 years of his working life. He attributes to that experience and, more particularly, his eight years as CPSU Tax Section delegate in Sydney and Bankstown, the negotiation and communication skills that have, lately, seen him pitched into the national spotlight. Two of his many unpaid roles with the Association have been to act as senior adviser and interpreter for Mufti Taj Aldin Elhilali - the spiritual leader of Australian Moslems. During an era in which detention centres, "ethnic crime", September 11 and immigration have hogged headlines, Trad (38) has been at the bottom of more media scrums than his nemesis, Phillip Ruddock. He subsidises the "volunteer" work, which chews through most waking hours, with the remains of an ATO redundancy payout he took in December '98. "The tax office used to be good," he explained, "your workmates were good, understanding people and the job was enjoyable until the Liberals got in and mounted a concerted campaign to undermine the sales tax system, which was where I worked. "I guess they ran it down to pave the way for the GST but it was frustrating to watch compliance being deliberately reduced at the expense of the honest taxpayer. "From being busy, we were sitting around twiddling our thumbs. I'd had enough. "One of the good things about this job has been proving to myself that I hadn't become a bludger." There's never been much chance of that. Our interview was peppered with calls to and from journalists about a sexual assault on a five-year-old Iraqi in the Curtin detention centre, and advice to a mixed race couple interested in converting to Islam. Immigration was the field in which Trad cut his Moslem Association teeth. For three years now he has been pleading cases with Minister Ruddock and says he is still awaiting a "first positive response". Three times he has been in delegations that have hosted the Minister and each, he insists, has been marked by a provocation - the removal of 50 Moslems from Sydney's Villawood to locations unknown, certainly by family and friends, comes to mind, as does the storming of Port Hedland and ensuing allegations of beatings. "If he comes to our centre, I will welcome him - in our culture we have no choice," Trad explains, "but if he invites me to his domain, until there is a change in policy, I won't go on principle." The relationship with Bob Carr's NSW administration has been better. "We did have some misunderstandings," Trad admitted "But the Premier showed leadership and did a great deal to promote harmony and understanding in the broader community.". Trad talks to asylum seekers in the camps and is regularly on the phone to Curtin, Port Hedland and Woomera. Sewing your lips, he insists, is not part of any Moslem tradition. "It's a human response to desperation, some people have been in detention for years without any idea of what will happen to themselves or their families," he says. The Australian Defence Forces utilise his knowledge to prepare servicemen and women heading for the Gulf or other Moslem regions. The Moslem Association vice president provides English translatations, during Friday prayers at the Lakemba Mosque, for any of the 5-10,000 worshippers unfamiliar with the Arabic spoken by the Imam or Mufti. During the Federal election campaign, in the wake of September 11, his workload sky-rocketed. Reluctantly, Trad produces some of the dozens of threatening letters which have been referred to police. Most are unfit for publication but the following excerpts encapsulate the general sentiment. If you wish to live in Australia you MUST renounce Islam! Or go live in a Muslim shit hole .... MOSO/ISLAMS .... YOUR ALLAH .... YOUR WOMEN MOST OF ALL .... YOU WHOLE RACE FILTHY DIRTY LAZY ARABS SHIT OF THE EARTH YOU NEED TO BE EXTERMINATED SOON! The father of eight shrugs his shoulders. "What can you do?" he asks. Every action brings a reaction. Community leaders worked hard to keep a lid on passions when the media went feral after the twin towers outrage. His association, indeed the Mufti, condemned the attack in unequivocal terms but, Trad said, many didn't understand why there hadn't been similar outpourings over the million-plus Iraqis who perished under US-led sanctions, the dead of Chechnya, Bosnia, Palestine or Somalia, indeed, the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane. "Some of our people got extremely annoyed about the media attention. At one stage, a community member cut the phone line while I was talking to a journalist. "Early on, it was difficult to convince our young people to remain calm." It's certainly not the tax office. But the man, who arrived in Australia as a kid fluent in Lebanese and French, said his current role would be a struggle if not for those ATO years and the union experience they brought. This piece ariginally appeared in The Works, the CPSU's national journal
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