KEY POINTS
- The Australian government is has been criticised for continuing to celebrate Harmony Day on March 21, instead of The UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
- Critics argue that Australia's failure to commit to the purpose of the UN day has hindered the country's efforts to understand, fund, and develop research into problems stemming from systemic racism.
- SBS understands that the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs will ditch Harmony Day and instead celebrate Harmony Week.
For almost a quarter of a century, the Australian government has encouraged workplaces and schools to ‘wear orange’ on March 21, a day labelled ‘Harmony Day’, which kicks off a week to praise the benefits of multiculturalism through morning teas across the country.
“Harmony Week is the celebration that recognises our diversity and brings together Australians from all different backgrounds,” the Department of Home Affairs
However, globally it's a day of mourning, marked as The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, “observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 [black] people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid,”
reads.
The date opens “a week of solidarity with the peoples struggling against racism and racial discrimination”.
Alfred Deakin Professor Fethi Mansouri, is the Director, of Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University, UNESCO Chairholder, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice, and UNESCO UniTwin Convenor, Inter-religious Dialogue and Intercultural Understanding (IDIU)
He said in an interview with SBS Arabic24 that "the mistake may have been in celebrating Harmony Day on the Elimination of Racism Day".
Source: Supplied
Professor Mansouri adds that there are many studies confirming an increasing racist view in Australia.
"All the research that we have done, and that of our colleagues, confirms that although there is a respectable percentage that supports multiculturalism in general, there is a constantly increasing percentage from 8 percent to 15 percent of those who reject diversity and in particular have racist views and attitudes towards many communities Including Africans, Arabs and indigenous peoples".
Why ‘Harmony Day’ and not ‘End Racism Day’?
Harmony Day was introduced in 1999 by then Liberal Prime Minister John Howard, following the 1998 government-commissioned Eureka Report, which revealed significant levels of racism and intolerance in Australia.
Professor Fethi Mansouri believes that it is better to find "another week or another period in which to celebrate diversity and racial harmony."
"This is reasonable, but we should not confuse matters. Instead of having knowledge and knowledge of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is essentially a call from the United Nations and UNESCO in particular to all member states to do more to eliminate racial discrimination, but to replace this day with a day we celebrate In it, in a way that invites business organizations to share food and the like, I think this is a superficial pseudo-plasticization of a deep problem that continues to harm Australian society and others.”
"We will not be able to advance in the field of combating racism if we do not recognize that we have a racist problem", Professor Mansouri says.
"Secondly, the institutions and the state should pay attention to this issue and try to allocate for it from the budget what can lead to improvement in the future."
