Women reporting violence in a time of war

WOMEN REPORTING VIOLENCE IN A TIME OF WAR :: The silenced Voices of the 'Race' Election :: 8th November, 2001

At the culmination of this Australian Federal 'race election' campaign, migrant, refugee and Indigenous women hosted an alternative 'great debate' to discuss issues of racial and sexual violence from their perspectives. The forum was held at the University of Technology, Sydney on November 8, 2001, two days before a bitterly-fought election returned a conservative government to power.

The election campaign was waged against a backdrop of security fears about terrorism, refugees and 'ethnic crime.' In this forum, women from non-English speaking and Indigenous backgrounds discussed how the climate of escalating hostility and fear has impacted on their lives.

"The race election we had to have has effectively silenced the voices of women, in particular migrant and refugee women and Indigenous women on issues of sexual and racial violence" said Ms April Pham, spokesperson for Women Reporting Violence Organising Committee.

"The half-day Forum was also an opportunity for a critique of the historical, systematic, and continuing violence waged against women of 'difference' and for discussions about the representation and misrepresentation of racial and sexual violence".

The Forum commenced with Afghan and Indigenous women leading a Remembrance ceremony to honour the many women, children and men who have died as they sought asylum and freedom.

This was followed by two panels.
Session One Challenging The Media: where refugee, migrant and Indigenous women will address the issues about how women's voices are silenced during times of war by media and political pressures.
Session Two Women speaking back to violence: in which women spoke of their own experiences, indigenous, immigrant and refugee, of repression and silencing and the weapons to fight back.

The Forum was organised by Immigrant Women's Speakout Association of NSW; by We Who Believe in Freedom: End Racialised Punishment, by X-Text, by UTS and by individual activists.