Award-winning writer and human rights advocate Arnold Zable will speak at the annual general meeting of Hobsons Bay Refugee Network, which is open to the public for free.
“We’re a country of Indigenous people and immigrants, a new world with an ancient past, a grand symphony with many melodies,” Zable said. “That’s what makes us great.
“And if we appreciate it and we honour it, I think we have a very positive way forward, but if we play fearmongering, then I think we’re sailing in dangerous waters.”
Zable will also speak about the effect of Donald Trump on international communities, including Australian politics.
“What we’re seeing is a person who is casting all kinds of aspersions on whole groups of people, and I find this utterly alarming – Mexicans are this, Muslims are that.
“What he’s put out there in his own words condemns him as a person who is using the age-old tactic of fear-mongering … I think it’s extremely dangerous.”
He said the heart of his work lies in storytelling and humanising the predicament of refugees and asylum seekers.
“I think the big problem that we face is that we are speaking all too often about people we don’t know, that we have not met and that are subject to all kinds of generalisations.
“The story can counter that – the story can bring home who we are actually talking about – fellow human beings and, in most cases, fellow human beings with the same longings, the same aspirations as we all have.”
The AGM is at 7pm on February 20 at Altona’s Louis Joel centre. Zable’s books will be on sale, with all proceeds donated to the HBRN.
Details: HBRN president Ann Morrow 0477 319 000 or morrowann8@gmail.com
