21/03/2021
Today is Harmony Day in Australia, the last day of Harmony Week. Read our thoughts on this bellow.
“Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.” (harmony.gov.au)
Today, this week, and all year Ethical Law celebrates and cherishes the rich cultural diversity that exists within Australia, and its importance in shaping the country we live in cannot be understated.
While celebrating that, we should also not ignore or forget that racism is still prevalent in Australia; and that part of celebrating diversity, also means calling out racism.
Harmony Day coincides with the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which, for 2021, the theme is “Youth standing up against racism”, calling on everyone to stand up against racial prejudice and intolerant attitudes, and celebrating the young human rights defenders who are leading this challenge. (https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-racism-day)
So let’s carry today’s messages forward through the rest of the year:
1. Let’s continue and be better at celebrating cultural diversity through positive actions of inclusiveness and actively showing our respect, and
2. Let’s continue and be better at standing up to racism, both on the big stage, and in the day-to-day occurrences.
They are two related but quite different sets of actions - both equally as important.
So starting from today, I challenge myself, and I invite you to join me, to be better in both of these streams of actions. In particular, I challenge myself to be better at calling out those subtle negative or divisive remarks or jokes that are based on skin colour, race, or cultural background.