My aim is to turn Victoria’s parliament upside down, putting workers’ needs and demands front and centre in an institution designed to keep them down.
Hi I’m Omar. I’m proud to be the lead Victorian Socialists candidate for Northern Metro.
I grew up in Melbourne, the child of Lebanese migrants. My parents came here for a better life after fleeing a civil war in Lebanon that killed many of their family and friends. Like so many migrants, they worked hard to establish themselves, and spent countless hours volunteering to help those around them. They burned with rage at the racism they experienced from some, but appreciated the solidarity and friendship they found from others.
One of my earliest memories is of my mum yelling at the radio during the MUA dispute in 1998, probably during an interview with then Industrial Relations Minister Peter Reith, and helping to raise money for the striking wharfies. I remember learning from that experience that the same right-wing politicians who vilify refugees and migrants also despise workers and our unions. Some things never change.
I became a socialist in high school, after seeing US President George Bush and then Prime Minister John Howard use the tragedy of 9/11 to justify a decade of wars in the Middle East and racism towards Arabs and Muslim. To me, these atrocities were more than just bad policy decisions, they were symptoms of a system characterised by imperialist competition and industrial-scale violence.
I work as a teacher, and come from a whole family of educators both here and in Lebanon. In my experience, there’s nothing more rewarding than helping young people learn to understand and appreciate the world around them.
It frustrates me so much seeing how educators and support staff in the public system are sabotaged by government underfunding while elite private schools boast about their eight-lane swimming pools and multi-million dollar performing arts centres.
This year I've been proud to be a part of the campaign by the teachers’ union and Socialists in Schools to fight for a better deal for school staff than the Labor government was willing to offer. It showed that workers are fed up trying to survive in a cost of living crisis while real wages go backwards year after year. And it shows real wage rises can be won if we are prepared to fight for them.
Union power has won so many of the things we value, from the eight-hour day to paid holidays and the weekend, and it needs to be rebuilt. Without it, working conditions across the board are going to continue to go backwards, while the billionaires and their political stooges further enrich themselves.
Co-chairing the massive protest in response to Israeli resident Isaac Herzog’s visit to Melbourne earlier this year was an incredible experience. To see tens of thousands of people flooding the streets in solidarity with the Palestinian people, despite all the slanders from the media and politicians, was the culmination of decades of patient organising so many of us have been part of, and hugely moving for me personally.
But the challenges keep coming.
Right now, Pauline Hanson is on a billionaire-funded rampage against working class people, claiming that we're overpaid and lazy, and that unions have too much power. She wants to blame migrants for the skyrocketing cost of groceries, energy bills, mortgages and rents. But last time I checked, migrants don’t control the banks, the construction industry, the supermarkets or the energy companies. Capitalists do, and increasingly, they’re backing One Nation.
If elected I will do my best to speak up for the best of Australia that my parents found when they arrived: the workers, the migrants, the First Nations people, and everyone else trying to survive in a rigged economy. My aim is to turn Victoria’s parliament upside down, putting workers’ needs and demands front and centre in an institution designed to keep them down.
We urgently need change. The widening gap between rich and poor, the decrepit state of our public infrastructure, the neglect of our schools and health system, the endless wars, the looming climate catastrophes, and the very real threat of Australia’s first ever far-right government.
We can’t afford to give in to despair in the face of these threats. We need to get organised to fight back. It is endlessly inspiring to me that the Socialist Party continues to attract members and supporters from all over the country. And not as a result of media puff pieces or huge corporate donations. But because of the tireless efforts of thousands of volunteers across Victoria and Australia, who are committed to the fight for a better world.
As a parent to a young child, the fight for a socialist society is for me about doing what I can to ensure the next generation live lives that are safe and healthy, not marred by war, poverty and environmental chaos, and where human life matters more than business profits.