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UNHEARD: Islamic Women Open Up About The Racism They Suffer In Australia By Being Visibly Muslim

UNHEARD: Islamic Women Open Up About The Racism They Suffer In Australia By Being Visibly Muslim

From verbal slurs to full-blown physical attacks, Islamic people suffer a lot in Australia.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Despite Australia being one of the most multicultural countries in the world, minorities continue to come under physical, verbal and psychological attack.

Muslim Australians suffer a lot due to other people's fears and misconceptions about the religion and the statistics of abuse are shocking.

A whopping 72 per cent of attacks on Islamic people in Australia are directed towards women.

The majority of those female victims (96 per cent) were targeted while they were wearing a face veil.

Figures also show 71 per cent of the perpetrators of these attacks are men.

Women have come forward to explain how they feel stepping out in public in the UNHEARD documentary series, which looks at instances of racial injustice in Australia.

The second episode in the six-part series takes a look at the numerous cases of anti-Islamic attacks on people in Australia and the ways in which these attitudes are entrenched in society.

They mention how September 11 caused anti-Islamic sentiments and fears to skyrocket and they have been scared to leave their homes ever since.

Asma Fahmi explains in the UNHEARD documentary series how she was out with her family after seeing Les Miserables and was verbally abused by three blokes on a balcony.

When Asma, her mum and sister shrugged off the misdirected racial slurs, the men escalated their attack and started pegging objects at them.

When she reported the incident to police, Ms Fahmi said police seemed to be more concerned about the damage to the cars surrounding the women rather than the fact they were targeted because of their appearance and their faith.

This is the carpark where the attack happened.
LADbible Australia.

Afghan-born Australian lawyer Mariam Veiszadeh also explains how social media has been used against her and how she has received horrible death threats from total strangers.

She feared for her life and even had the FBI look into threats against her. The online attacks became so severe that she made the personal decision not to wear a head scarf in public, which can be a core part of the Islamic faith.

Ms Veiszadeh explained how influential the media and Australian politicians are in shaping the public's attitude towards Muslim people in the country and around the world.

They say it's no surprise that 48.6 per cent of Australians identify themselves as having anti-Muslim sentiments.

Advocates are calling for more federal legal protections for Muslim people to ensure they aren't subjected to more verbal and physical attacks.

At the moment, Aussies are protected by free speech as long as they don't target someone for their specific background.

If you want to watch the whole episode and learn more about Australia's problem with Islamophobia, head to Amazon Prime to watch the third episode of UNHEARD.

To support the fight against racial injustice visit ladbible.com/unheard.

Featured Image Credit: LADbible Australia

Topics: Australia