December, 18th. 2014 - I'llridewithyou

i'llridewithyou

News that up to thirty people had been taken hostage in Sydney’s centre of Martin Place earlier in week shocked not only Australians, but also the international community. Normally categorised as a peaceful country with strict gun laws, the location of the attack particularly garnered attention, with the siege lasting for more than twelve harrowing hours. The ordeal began early in the morning Australian time, and came to a traumatic end at around two in the morning. It resulted in the death of two hostages and the hostage taker, along with a number of injuries. In the wake of the attack, many Australian’s have flocked to Martin place to lay flowers and express their shared grief and shock.

Along with a number of other countries around the world, Australia tightened its security measures post 9-11 due to the perceived threat of terrorism. Alongside these increased anti-terrorist measures however, Australia also saw a rise in Islamophobia. This manifested in a number of ways including verbal and physical attacks on public transport and islamophobic discourse in the media. This culminated in the 2005 Cronulla riots in which large numbers of people took to the streets attacking people of Middle Eastern appearance chanting slogans such as “I grew here, you flew here”. September 2014 saw the latest rise in Islamophobia when Police across a number people of capital cities in Australia made arrests on suspicion of planning a terrorist attacks.

When news broke of the Martin siege in Sydney, commentators across the country predicted that Australians would again target the wider Muslim community. In the hope of quashing the threat of backlash, Muslim leaders, immediately condemned the siege in the hope of protecting their community. This was the beginning of the #i’llridewithyou campaign that went viral on twitter, with the hashtag trending over 120,000 times across the globe.

The movement began when a twitter user witnessed a woman on the train in Sydney take off her headscarf in tears after suffering abuse from a fellow passenger. The twitter user offered to walk with the woman, so she could put her headscarf back on and support her in the case of further derogatory remarks. After news of this story broke on twitter, people from the community united on twitter with the hashtag #i’llridewithyou, offering to accompany Muslim Australians on public transport if they felt unsafe, standing up against racist remarks and generally expressing solidarity in a period when the whole nation was in mourning.

What began as a small sign of solidarity has become a global symbol for community’s uniting in light of a terrible situation. Rather than creating division, the Sydney siege has shown that communities are able to stand together in the face of adversity. The Australian example demonstrates that cultural diplomacy and social media can strengthen relationships between people. Australians defied expectations in regards to their response of the Sydney Siege, exemplifying that solidarity is much more powerful and transforming than bigotry.