Professor Mansouri took part in the 7th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue which called for collective action  to mitigate against conflict and divisions within and across societies. The Forum highlighted the role of ICD in improving education, public services, digital life, cultural memory and the recovery of communities affected by conflict.

In his keynote address, Professor Mansouri discussed the broad historical context for the governance of ethno-religious diversity including in relation to Muslim migrants. He argued that the current political context is feeding into the normalisation of Islamophobia asking what role does knowledge and discourse play in shaping the circulation of reductive and reified categories about Islam and Muslims.

In this public seminar, Professor Mansouri proposes a relational-democratic conception of social cohesion as the continually negotiated capacity of a diverse democracy to sustain equitable institutions, reciprocal relationships, legitimate disagreement and a shared but plural sense of belonging. A sustainable Australian model must combine multicultural justice with transformative intercultural practice.

Professor Mansouri noted that this report makes a timely and important intervention. For too long, public debate about African Australians has been organised around a narrow repertoire of problems ranging from unemployment and crime to youth disengagement and social disadvantage. These issues should not be ignored, but African Australians are making an impactful contribution to Australian society across so many domains.

Professor Mansouri argues that Australians can demand a better managed migration system. but more critically, we must also demand a debate worthy of the diverse, resilient democracy we aspire to be.

Read Fethi’s article in the Conversation which argues that the response of Albanese government to the special envoy’s report on Islamophobia in Australia, doesn’t go nearly far enough to address the scope of the problem.