No harmony without truth

Australia is the only country to rename the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as Harmony Day.

March 21 was established to remember the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, where at least 91 black South Africans were murdered while peacefully protesting apartheid. Globally, this day is a commitment to confronting racism and dismantling systems of oppression.

In 1999, the Australian Government rebranded it as Harmony Day, shifting the focus from eliminating racial discrimination to a more palatable celebration of multiculturalism. It’s a well-meaning attempt at unity, but in reality, it avoids the ugly truth: racism exists here, in our systems, in our institutions and our everyday lives.

In 2019 Harmony Day expanded into Harmony Week. Then, in 2024, the Multicultural Framework Review examined Australia's multicultural policies, including Harmony Week, and acknowledged that while celebrating diversity is valuable, our approach risks sidelining the essential task of confronting systemic racism. The Review recommended formally observing IDERD on March 21, explicitly recognising ongoing racial discrimination. The government has adopted the recommendation with a small acknowledgement on its Harmony Week website.?

Australia is a tough and resilient country. Rather than diluting the message, we must be brave enough to call out racism and commit to fairness and real change. With the original name – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – now reinstated it’s up to us to observe it in a way that reflects our own history of injustice against a peoples:

• The dispossession of First Nations peoples
• The Stolen Generation
• The ongoing inequalities in health, education, employment and shameful incarceration rates.

True reconciliation isn’t about avoiding discomfort – it’s about truth-telling, accountability and action. Celebrating multiculturalism is important? – and Harmony Week has brought a lot of good to our country’s cultural landscape – but it cannot replace the work of dismantling racism.

If we truly believe in equality, use the day for what it was meant to be: a day to stand against racism in all its forms.

So, on March 21 when people are wearing orange and enjoying a cupcake in the office break room, let them know that the day is International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and have those hard conversations.