Langton labelled a ‘Zio’

Laureate Professor Marcia Langton told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion last week that she was branded a “Zio” by the pro-Palestine movement in Melbourne, had her car windows smashed, and has been effectively silenced in public debate.

Langton, a Yiman and Bidjara woman and Melbourne Laureate Professor, said speakers had withdrawn from panels she was listed to appear on, and international figures had been told she was a “Zio”.

“They will not allow any debate of the issues by labelling me as a Zio. I’m therefore made voiceless in the debate,” she said, describing the term as illogical and “another form of xenophobia”.

While she said she was horrified by and opposed to what is happening in Gaza, Langton said that could not excuse the treatment of Jewish Australians.

“The foul treatment of Jewish Australians cannot be justified by saying that Israel is doing this in Gaza. They’re Australians. This is our country. This is where we have to treat each other properly,” she said.

“There can be no peace if the pro-Palestine movement make enemies of Jewish people in our country. We have to be united for peace, not dividing our country by ethnicity.”

Langton spoke of the deep historical bond between Jewish and Aboriginal Australians, citing the role of Jewish lawyers including Ron Castan, Bryan Keon-Cohen and Ron Merkel SC in landmark cases advancing Aboriginal rights.

She pointed to Aboriginal elder William Cooper’s 1938 protest march to the German consulate in Melbourne following Kristallnacht as a foundational moment. “Still to this day in Melbourne, that protest is acknowledged by some public event, because nowhere else in the world had anybody protested against Kristallnacht,” she said. Cooper is now honoured at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.

Commissioner Virginia Bell observed there was “an alliance, of a sort” between Jewish and Aboriginal Australians, and Langton agreed.

Langton said Jewish Australians who arrived after the Second World War joined Aboriginal advancement leagues and worked alongside Indigenous communities.

“Because they landed in this country and saw a situation very similar to what they had experienced, and I think that binds us together in many ways.”