BY SUE BOLTON
Since September 11, many Muslims and migrants from South Asia and the Middle East have copped racist abuse, and even violence, on the street. But that's not the end of it: many have even suffered harassment from workmates or employers.
There aren't yet any statistics about this racist harassment in the workplace, although some incidents have been reported to the NSW government's Community Relations Commission hotline, to various Islamic organisations and to some trade unions.
Some examples of racist harassment include:
- two Arabic building workers in Melbourne were prevented from entering their building site by co-workers until organisers from the construction union arrived to guarantee that the workers be allowed to work;
- a Chilean shop steward at a factory in Melbourne had his car tyres slashed at work because he was known to be opposed to the US war;
- a Muslim woman in Sydney was told by her workmates that she "should be ashamed" to turn up to work after September 11. She copped so much abuse that she resigned; and
- several Muslim workers in Sydney, sacked after September 11, believe their dismissals were because of their religion.
While a number of unions and labour councils around the country have adopted motions urging caution about military retaliation and some union officials have spoken out at anti-war rallies, most unions have been reluctant to publicly oppose the war and reluctant to initiate debate about the issue among rank-and-file union members. Many union officials have argued that they could not speak in opposition to the war until after the elections, in case it jeopardised a Labor victory.
Now that the federal election is over, it is vitally important that trade unions throw their weight behind the emerging anti-war movement.
The unions need to challenge the fallacies used to justify the war: that the war in Afghanistan is a war against terrorism, and that Afghan civilians are partially responsible for the crimes of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and can be punished accordingly.
If this was a war against terrorism, the US would not continue to fund, arm and train terrorists just like Osama bin Laden in other parts of the world. The US would not support repressive governments like that of Saudi Arabia and Israel, and it would sign the UN conventions against terrorism.
If the US was genuine in its concern about terrorism, it would never have supported Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, as they carried out human rights abuses against the Afghan people.
As for Afghan civilians, they are no more responsible for the crimes of the Afghan rulers than the civilians in the World Trade Center are responsible for the crimes of the US's rulers.
The US and Australian governments hope that if they can maintain public acceptance of the war, then they can break down public resistance to all kinds of things: increased military expenditure at the expense of public health and education at home; military adventures and wars in all kinds of countries; restrictions on civil liberties; and perhaps even conscription.
Not challenging the war will prove dangerous for unions.
Unions' rights to organise and strike could easily be undermined in any general government assault on civil liberties.
Further, so long as the working class movement is susceptible to such xenophobic and racist prejudices, the government and employers will be able to pull the racist rabbit out of the hat time after time, diverting workers from uniting in opposition to exploitation.
The unions need to promote discussion and debate about the war not just at the level of union executives, but among delegates and rank-and-file members, especially given that now many workers who initially supported the war are starting to have misgivings about it.
Some unionists have begun collecting signatures on a "Trade unionists against the war" statement (go to <http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/471/471p11b.htm>). More signatures need to be collected from throughout the union movement.
These signatures can then be a base for establishing Trade Unionists Against the War networks linked to the anti-war coalitions in each city.
The next major focus for building the anti-war movement among union members should be Human Rights Day, December 9, which is starting to firm as the next date for major anti-war rallies.
If unions make an attempt to convince members to mobilise on this day, the rallies could be significantly larger than they have been up until now.
From Green Left Weekly, November 14, 2001.
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