Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Local News

Under the screamer "Streets of shame", This Monday's Moreland Leader reports:

Muslim women are being made the target of religious and racial abuse on Moreland Streets.

Graffiti including "Kill Muslims" has been painted across a Coburg building and women wearing headscarfs have been subjected to threats and verbal abuse.

Local Muslims have told the Moreland Leader that over the past month:

  • A man in his 30s yelled "F**k off terrorist" and swerved his car at a Muslim woman as she crossed the road with her baby;
  • A Muslim woman and her three children had a milkshake thrown at them as they walked along Sydney Rd;
  • There were various instances of Muslim girls being spat at or having obscenities screamed at them from passing cars.
Inside, on page 4, the paper reports:

Ms Fartun Farah [of the United Somali Women's Organisation] said women were being targeted because they are easily identified as Muslims by their hijab garb, while Muslim men integrated with western dress.

There you go then; problem solved. If these women stopped parading around the streets in archaic garments that mark them out as the oppressed victims of a patriarchal religion, they'd spare themselves a lot of aggravation. If the blokes can learn to fit in, why can't the women? When you look at the broader context, that 30 year old bloke in the car was doing the woman a favour.

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