This was sent as an opinion piece to the editors of several major Australian newspapers. (December 2002)


Some sections of the media were very quick to label National Headscarf Day on 29th of November a total failure. Someone on radio even called it “the mother of all flops”. It is meaningless to talk about success and failure without referring to goals. Obviously those who consider it a failure assume that the main goal of Headscarf Day was to get large numbers of women to wear headscarves. If this was the goal, then the day has failed. But this was not my goal. I would like to share some of the real goals that were on my mind when I came up with the idea, and some of the lessons I learnt from the experience.

The first and most important goal for me was to provide support to the Muslim community in Australia. At this shameful time in Australia?s history a whole community is deliberately made to feel unwanted. For the time being, this is still done informally by individuals and groups who are filled with fear and hatred. These people, like very young children, have no personal boundaries or restraints and feel entirely justified in dumping their pain and fear on people they do not even know. This is the nature of racism and bigotry. Those who are infected with racism and bigotry seem to lack the ability to feel empathy towards their fellow human beings. Racism is also poisonous and it does have the potential to make the persecuted group feel like there is something wrong with them. They can lose their sense of wellbeing, self-esteem and dignity. Being of Jewish background I know something about this phenomenon. I also know that racism can kill.

When our survival buttons are pressed, all of us have the capacity to regress to tribalism. Fortunately not everyone does. Those who do not, seem to have a special capacity to deal with their fears without losing their compassion towards others. They are able to remember, even when they are afraid, that we are all one.

Since initiating National Headscarf Day I have received hundreds of email messages from Muslim people all over the country, many on behalf of whole families, groups or organisations. The main message was that the Muslim community was deeply moved and relieved that someone was concerned about how they feel, and was prepared to stick up for them, particularly at a time when it is becoming unpopular to do so. From this perspective Headscarf Day was a resounding success! (I have no doubt that my family and I will be happy and healthy for the next fifty years at least, judging by the wonderful blessings and prayers that have been so generously showered upon us.)

The second goal I had in mind was to make a statement against racism. I have extended an invitation to all Australians to join me, and do something unusual to express their disapproval of racism and racist practices. Not everyone liked my idea of donning a headscarf for all kinds of good reasons. This does not mean that therefore those who didn?t don the headscarf are racists or are in favour of racism! Australian racists need not celebrate prematurely. I am convinced that if there was a clear option to wear a badge or a ribbon many more would have participated. I will keep this in mind for the future.

I am deeply proud of the thousands of women, men, girls and boys around Australia who did have the courage to wear a scarf or a headdress, of those who didn’t wear a heardscarf but supported the day in spirit and those who would have liked to participate but heard about it too late.

Those who wore the scarf experienced for one day the feeling of being an outsider within their own community. For many this has been a significant experience that will continue to resonate for a long time.

An interesting eye opener was the discomfort that some sections of the media had with the fact that Headscarf Day was initiated by an individual. Some journalists and radio presenters desperately wanted me to belong to a group or an organisation. On several occasions when I said that I was doing this as a private citizen, there was much confusion. One of funniest examples of the determination to attach me to a group was a caption that one of the commercial television channels gave to me: “Avigail Abarbanel, Jewish support group”… This is the first time in my life that I was called a group. This made me realise that there is little faith in our society in the ability of individuals to act or to make a difference.

One of my goals for Headscarf Day was to demonstrate that individuals do have a voice. Although our society attaches much greater importance to groups, individuals do not have to disappear. Many who wrote to me said that they dislike things that are going on but often feel helpless and do not know what they can do. I consider the fact that so many individuals feel so helpless and voiceless as one of the greatest failures of modern democracy. Not everyone feels comfortable with rallies or demonstrations, and many said to me that Headscarf Day gave them something that they could do that was gentle, quiet and powerful.

I am a psychotherapist, which I believe makes me an activist by definition. However, the kind of activism that I represent is non-adversarial and it does not pursue change directly. In therapy I work with my clients to develop their self-awareness because I believe that self-awareness is what leads to a meaningful and long-lasting change. My idea of Headscarf Day was a kind of a therapeutic intervention on a large scale; the kind of intervention that helps people realise what is, the kind that brings issues to the surface to be discussed and reflected upon. Those who think that Headscarf Day has failed probably expected some kind of a dramatic overnight change. I didn’t. My profession taught me better than that. I wanted to promote awareness and discussion in our society of issues that are central to our wellbeing and to the future of our democracy.

Judging by what people tell me about the effect that wearing a headscarf had on them and on those around them, I conclude that that Headscarf Day has succeeded in meeting this goal as well.

Page content last modified: 27 Apr 2003