Harmony Day

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Harmony awareness ribbon

Harmony Day is celebrated annually on 21 March in Australia. Harmony Day began in 1999, coinciding with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Overview[]

Typically, Harmony Day in Australia is marked by community events and local activities. The message of Harmony Day is social cohesion and racial harmony, and it is expressed through community participation, inclusiveness, celebrating diversity, respect and belonging. The designated colour for Harmony Day is orange. A variety of events are organised by communities.

Origins[]

The day was introduced by the Howard Government to promote a singular and unifying notion of Australian-ness within multicultural policy.^[1] In 1998, Australian Prime Minister John Howard commissioned Eureka Research to begin an anti-racism study to "explore and understand the subtleties and nature of racism in the Australia of the late 1990s with a view to mounting an effective mass media and/or education anti-racism campaign". Among the conclusions of the study were that there was a need for an anti-racism campaign and a promotion of 'living in harmony'.^[2]

According to subsequent media reports, the outcomes of the research were not aligned with Howard's views that Australians were not racist. Commenting on the racially motivated 2005 Cronulla riots, he stated: "I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country."^[3] Therewith, the Howard government focused on the second part of the research and developed Harmony Day.^{[citation needed]} The Eureka report was suppressed from public access until 2011.^[2][4]

Diversity[]

The Diversity and Social Cohesion Program has two elements: Community Grants and Harmony Day. The Diversity Cohesion Program provides funding, education and information to help organisations create a spirit of inclusiveness, and to ensure all Australians are treated fairly regardless of their cultural background or circumstance.^[5]

Criticism[]

Criticism of Harmony Day has focused on the multi-cultural aspect of the day and the shift in focus away from anti-racism.

Shift in focus from anti-racism[]

Emeritus professor Andrew Jakubowicz was critical of the 13-year governmental suppression of the original Eureka study, and the subsequent lack of research or focus on attempts to eliminate racism.^[2]

Indigenous critics like IndigenousX CEO and founder Luke Pearson argue that while Harmony Day is perceived as a positive contribution to a multicultural society, the day provides little to provide practical solutions to racial discrimination.^[6]

Anti-racism groups have highlighted media coverage at the time Harmony Day was introduced that proposed the Australian government was not doing enough to eliminate racism.^[4][7] Not-for-profit group All Together Now have questioned why Harmony Day was needed at all if there was no racism in Australia, describing the creation of the day as "Orwellian". The Secretary for the New South Wales Fabians, a left-wing thinktank, argued that the day dilutes the UN marked event of its intended meaning and that it avoids discussion of the structural barriers of racial discrimination.^[7]

Multiculturalism criticism[]

Commercial and technology lawyer Dan Ryan, ^[8] writing in The Australian in 2011, criticised Harmony Day, likening it to government projects in China. He said that events like Harmony Day are aimed at oppression of liberties in China, and are therefore impossible to achieve in a democratic country such as Australia.

The problem with the harmonious society is not just the disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality. The truth is, while superficially sweet-sounding, the idea is illusory and utopian. We may all wish in the abstract that everyone got along, but the reality is that free societies by their nature are cacophonous, argumentative and full of dissent."^[9]

He also said that multiculturalism was being whitewashed by the government and media.

If it is decided that we must restrict speech or avoid discussing certain subjects to keep the peace over an apparently combustible population, might now not be the time to ask whether this type of harmony is worth celebrating?"^[9]

Grette Toner, in an Australian Curriculum Studies Association paper titled "Beyond Harmony: Rethinking Intercultural Learning for Australian Primary Schools", visited a primary school and said the day's activities were "largely symbolic...difficult to gauge what students learned". She criticised the school for not involving anybody from outside of it.^[10]

References[]

External links[]

• Harmony Day official website