The Wire

As the world remembers the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001, new research has revealed the devastating impact that events had on ethnic minorities in Australia. A report released on Sunday to coincide with the anniversary of the attack, which claimed almost 4000 lives, has revealed that racially-motivated terrorist attacks rose significantly in the months following September 11. Equally concerning is that ongoing research reveals that high levels of racism continue to be experienced in Australia. The report was released by the University of Technology Sydney’s Shopfront project, a community-based legal initiative, and was based on calls to a hotline number set up the group. According to UTS shop front research manager, Tanja Dreher, in the months directly following September 11, 248 calls were logged to the hotline. The callers spoke of acts of violence, abuse, harassment and discrimination and vilification targeting not only Muslims and Arabs, but also the Sikh community. Dr Dreher claims that the report’s findings have implications for how we handle any future backlash against acts of terrorism, which might be carried out against innocent members of the community.