Saara Sabbagh, Founder and Jessica Swann, Outreach Manager - Benevolence Australia
"Connecting Communities & Making a Difference"
Saara shared her stories about the racial myths relating to Islam; the impact of stereotyping and how Australian foreign policy has contributed to these problems. She sees three main challenges for society to get to the core of:
- racism,
- the attitude of ‘privilege; and
- the lack of accurate knowledge of cultural backgrounds.
Jessica has an education and journalist background and has spent many years identifying the life of Islam in the modern world (post-9 September 2011). She also identified the difference between Islam and Islamism; the latter being something she feels is the greatest current and future threat to the Moslem way of life. In identifying how to deal with today’s issues, Jessica believes that we need to look at history. She referred to the Sykes-Picot Agreement, a secret 1916 agreement between the United Kingdom and France. The agreement defined their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in Southwestern Asia and its impact is still mentioned today in relation to the region and its conflicts.
She identified the media mentality ‘If it bleeds – it leads’ as a contributing factor to the misinformation that the community takes as true. That is, the media promote drama because it sells.
Having recently hosted a the 2017 District Conference with the theme ‘Connecting Communities’, there is sure to be an opportunity for Rotary to be involved in helping to create a more inclusive and cohesive society.