As I flip through channels, words like violence break the silence, they come crashing in, in to my little world via an Australian reporter being phone-interviewed on FOX news:
What we’ve seen here is that these locals are attacking anyone with a different color skin.
Shudder
Since FOX news helpfully changed the subject right after that incendiary quote, I am left to frantically type “Australia” and “race” in my Google toolbar. I’m dismayed by what I find; tensions between “local” Australians and those who are of Lebanese descent have exploded. Apparently a few of the Lebanese-Australians attacked innocent lifeguards on the beach and “locals” retaliated, much to the delight of Aussie Neo-Nazi retards.
Hordes of vigilantes who had marinated in sun and alcohol sought vengeance against the “Lebs” for this and other, more disturbing offences. No good can come of this revenge race. I cringe at the way “Middle Eastern appearance” is being tossed around, because I am just waiting for some brown person to get caught up in this tragic mix, since we look more “Middle Eastern” than, well, Middle Eastern people do.
Another thought strikes me– sure enough, you tipsters are on it. Mutineer Ananthan points me towards the following, massively disturbing words in the Sydney Morning Herald:
A BARE-CHESTED youth in Quiksilver boardshorts tore the headscarf off the girl’s head as she slithered down the Cronulla dune seeking safety on the beach from a thousand-strong baying mob.
Up on the road, Marcus “Carcass” Butcher, 28, a builder from Penrith, wearing workboots, war-camouflage shorts and black singlet bearing the words “Mahommid was a camel f—ing faggot” raised both arms to the sky. “F— off, Leb,” he cried victoriously.
Indeed, victory is yours, you idiot.Cronulla is a suburb which is south of Sydney (and incidentally, the birthplace of Elle Macpherson):
A crowd of at least 5000 – overwhelmingly under 25 – took over Cronulla’s foreshore and beachside streets. Police were powerless as 200-odd ringleaders, many clutching bottles or cans of beer and smoking marijuana, led assaults on individuals and small groups of Lebanese Australians who risked an appearance during the six-hour protest…
After a local man, “Steely”, had led a chant of “F— off, Lebs”, a young man demanded the megaphone and told the crowd it was “racist”. A bottle arced in from the audience and shattered on his forehead. He fled “like a bleeding rabbit”, someone yelled after him.
Here, have some perspective with regards to how significant this is:
Cronulla was possibly Australia’s biggest racist protest since vigilante miners killed two Chinese at Lambing Flat in 1860.
An eye for an eye and the whole world can’t see a damned thing:
Yesterday’s violence had been brewing for months. It came to a head last weekend when some Lebanese Australian men attacked members of the North Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club after they asked the visitors to stop playing soccer because it was disturbing other beach users.
Because ignorance is as noble as serving your country in the military:
“Steely” – who did not want to identify himself “for fear the Lebs will come and shoot up my joint during the week” – said his children had been scared by Lebanese Australians coming in from the western suburbs.
“I’ve got a four-year-old girl and a boy who’s 11, and they see these bastards come here and stand around the sea baths ‘cos their women have got to swim in clothes and stuff, or they see them saying filthy things to our girls,” he said. “That’s not Australian. My granddad fought the Japs to see Australia safe from this sort of shit, and that’s what I’m doing today.”
Here\’s the working link:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/php/article_view.php?article_id=581
Quadrant (in the comment above) at one point apparently received 40% of its income from the CIA.
Flygirl — My comments about the “evil dominion” of Australia was deliberately inflammatory. You’re better than me for not rising to the bait.
I’ve only been following the nativist thread in Australian politics since the Tampa incident. Compared to the UK, Canada, NZ, and even South Africa, I’d say Australian is now the most racist of the old ‘white’ dominions. What I’d like to figure out is whether a similar political style (nativist with coded racism) could arise in Canada. Is it really John Howard who is to blame, is does ‘Hansonism’ have deeper roots down under?
is aus really all that bad? it could be some are reacting to having a pretty small population and being in asia, when the other economies are doing well
Manish: It’s long been known that Quadrant is a conservative magazine with very specific readership and agenda, but I had no idea that it was funded by the CIA. This is one reason why I’ve tended to provide links to broadsheets as the coverage and analysis will be fairer and more balanced than tabloids such as the Daily Telegraph and Herald-Sun. Another source, though it might require subscription, is “The Bulletin. However, it is a weekly magazine so won’t cover the riots just yet.
Al Mujahid: You’re welcome to believe what you like. As I said before, a neo-nazi won’t, but an average Aussie will. Australians are not the same as Americans in this respect (from what I gather of Americans): they’ve had a greater exposure to Asians of all persuasions and do make the distinction between Arabs and Desis. It will sound cute, but having three Desi cricket teams travel regularly here (for many decades) could be one reason. Desis will often be lumped with each other but this has also changed. Australians are better with the identification of various ethnicities.
Ikram, I’d be happy to talk about the Tampa affair with you, perhaps in another forum, it would just take up too much space. There has been a rise in xenophobia in Australia since Tampa, but not to the extent you would imagine. Australian racism and race relations can be extremely schozophrenic in its manifestation.
As for Hansonism, yes, there has always been an element of it in Australia, both in the cities and in regional/rural Australia. There are a number of factors invovled in the latter, though: the slow death of rural Australia through high unemployment, loss of land/farms etc. as well as latent racism. I would argue, however, that this particular sort of racism has been encouraged by the current government.
Of course I mean “schizophrenic,”, not “schozophrenic.”
Flygirl: I agree but I donÂ’t think the government has encouraged this particular sort of racism so much as having stood back doing nothing to have given people the leeway to speak their minds without being branded as racist which is usually Beazley’s easiest way of attacking the liberal government. I think Hansonism would have emerged and spread regardless of whether Howard or Beazley/Latham were elected to power. What I do agree with however (being no supporter of the Howard government whatsoever!), is that nine years of a conservative governments policies have had such an impact on household income and political unrest amongst the masses that it has been almost catalytic in leading towards the riots on Sunday. I think what happened was inevitable; however, economics coupled with a volatile political climate worldwide has further inculcated fear and uncertainty. Middle Eastern communities worldwide have felt persecuted and insecure after 9/11…heck even the Gulf War. How can we not expect this group of people to further cling to their ways when the world in general has clearly branded them as outsiders? It all brings me to think of Samuel Huntingtons ‘The Clash of Civilizations’ where he describes people reverting back to their blood roots when forced to decide between which ‘tribe’ they belonged to. This is not an isolated incident having occurred in Australia alone. In my previous posts I have seemed almost contradictory in trying to say what I’ve felt (apologies Ennis et al). In no way do I want to be seen as supporting or justifying 5000 people hunting down those that bore an Arabic resemblance. What I have always meant to say is that a culmination of factors have led to this tragic outburst of public hatred that will only continue to grow between these communities unless and until the root causes are addressed. As I mentioned to flygirl, I can only speak from a socio-economic perspective, being an economist, and not so much of the anthropological or political impacts etc. What I have observed amongst Middle Eastern communities having lived/worked/studied amongst them are the following shifts:
Public attitudes toward the community, particularly by the wider Caucasian Australian population have shifted from being open and accepting and even curious to hateful, pushy and unwelcome. Howard, Hanson, Ruddock (minister for immigration) have certainly sown the seeds of doubt and open unfriendliness. Howard and Ruddock are important political figures who are held in respect by the Australian population as Christian folk in a position of power to keep a stronghold of Christian traditions and the interests which they depend upon. Thus, slowly, the move away from acceptance, tolerance and empathy began. This widely held view has had severe economic repercussions for this community who have found themselves having to band together to progress academically, socially or even financially, only to be viewed as being secular and disinterested in ‘assimilating’ with the wider Australian population. This has led to them feeling isolated as a community and feeling threatened as accusations of terrorism ran rife throughout Australian and international communities.
Public attitudes seep into all tiers of a country, particularly those that are vital for economic progress. The stigma of being ‘troublemakers’ coupled with falling self esteem and banding together as a community, have made it much more difficult for members from this background to rise up from existing attitudes from family and friends that they could not succeed. Whilst many, many have and have done so quite easily, there is a large lower-middle class who have struggled academically and thus financially to progress and have sought comfort from these ‘gangs’ or members of their community who have faced the same struggle to overcome prejudice from their own community as well as the wider community at large. Thus many are dependent on social welfare payments (not that members of these neo-nazi groups aren’t), and government hand-outs in order to survive. Welfare payments, while substantial, are never enough to survive in the long term. This has led to cyclical unemployment which in true chain-reaction form, have been passed along from one generation to the next.
Therefore, the above two factors: a shift in public attitudes due to poor leadership and this having led to slow economic progress is a deadly concoction as it is, however, add to that a global shift in attitudes and an uncertain political climate worldwide, and you have a certain recipe for disaster in the form of a societal breakdown which is what we witnessed on Sunday.
The only solution to all of this, as flygirl has stated to me, is better leadership. Leadership that is not afraid to grasp the reigns of change and to bring with it the ability to change community attitudes and foster economic progress without holding back and denying responsibility for racist and xenophobic acts from any community at any time.
Sorry about the essay 🙂
Take Care all,
Divya
Added: Wednesday, 14 December, 2005, 20:56 GMT
As a ex australian i like to comment
Sydney on the surface seems a friendly bright place but behind those smiles are a very intolerant heart . From 2000 to 2004 i lived in redfern sydney and the rascism i saw against aborogines shocked me to the core If u listen to the radio or read the newspapers there they seem to be extremely biased and the top radio stars in sydney are the most rascist reactionary shock jocks I have encountered in the world. As a society in sydney we need to speak out against this to make out future safer and better for our children.
By the way i now live in buenos aires argentina which has over 12 million people of every conceivable race and i find that peope here have a very good attitude towards each other and they have accepted me as their own within a very short period something that i never achieved in 40 years in australia
pericles
pericles james
to dear all pretentious wankers (americans)
why dont u all go back to the cesspool of ignorance u live in and leave the dissection of world events to ppl who actually know what the fk theyre talking about….
to make an assessment of whether australia has an underlying racist problem on the basis of a FOX news item is complete bullshite..
indians (and other non anglo races) are very well respected and held in high esteem here and australia is a very accepting and tolerant country with a huge migrant population….in fact i would say its a benefit being an indian in the australian workforce or community…
for americans (and others) to judge my country on the basis of one incident is screwed up considering their own countries track record on racism..
my opinion…if u dont know what ur talking about….shut the hell up
Pericles,
Sorry but I dont think four years in Sydney near Redfern has suddenly provided you with the right to speak on behalf of 22 million Australians. I lived there for 18 years as an Indian migrant, studied and worked there for a great number of years, lived in suburbs as economically diverse as Penrith and Maroubra. I dislike the fact that people feel it is their right to call Australians racist based on Redfern. I am well aware of the issues there and also the background, but unforunately you, nor the majority of people that walk past Eveleigh st. during peak hour are aware of the underlying issues of the Aboriginal people themselves, nor are you willing to learn and contribute to their betterment (you’d rather stand back and judge or…move to Argentina). When you speak of Redfern, you not only patronise the Aboriginal sectors there that are financially independent (bet your didnt know they existed in and around that area), you also insult the many support groups that provide food, clothing and counselling services to the community (I know because I am a part of one of those groups). When you say that their smiles hide their true ‘racist inhibitions’ you really do strike me as naive. I never been smiled at like that! When people have those intentions, rarely do they smile when they see you and I’ve witnessed that side of honesty too. So please, dont feel it is your right to speak of the intentions or feelings of millions of people, perhaps you are the one that needs to be less judgemental and more open minded.
In this thread, people talk about getting ready to bash some heads on the Cronulla beach.
i think we should get on to a new topic that pretty much the whole world knows the answer to..
ARE AMERICANS THE DUMBEST RACE ON EARTH?
yes
divya,
Thanks for bringing it up. You are quite correct that it would be overly simplistic to imply that the current regime is solely responsible for this situation. We agree that it is the lack of leadership in dealing with issues such as Hansonism that has contributed to the ossification and spread of these attitudes.
The attitudes espoused by Hansonism have always been latent in the electorate, and in particular segments of the electorate. However, the Howard government’s particular response to this and many other issues is enormously significant: throughout 9 years, he refuses on every count, to speak out strongly against racism, narrow attitudes and has actively, if not obviously, encouraged a snide, creeping xenophobia and, at times, hysteria and paranoia. This was coupled with social and economic insecurity that’s led to rather bizarre state of a fearful, suspicious society with record household debt (not to mention world wide political climate), all the while telling itself what a great, militaristic, successful nation it is, hey we have no problems. The cited reason for this softly, softly approach to racism seemed to be that he doesn’t want to alienate and suppress these views. Well and good but they can be dealt without alienating these attitudes and pushing them underground. Failing to do so grants them unwarranted legitimacy. My attitude and response does, however, tie in with my (rather cynical) view that this is can be a malleable electorate on some issues and impossible to predict on others. As you know, the every day experience of living here is mostly so far from these attitudes one maybe be forgiven for thinking that perhaps a fair amount of basic ignorance can be removed and that multiculturalism can and will be properly embraced.
Some of the factors that led to the formation of Lebanese gangs would have led to formation of other ethnically-based gangs to be formed, and are also true for the communities of Cronulla, Maroubra and other beachside suburbs. They were primarily poor, whitebread suburbs that have a long history of gang related violence and isolation. While I appreciate the particular social climate of the two main groups came from, I want to focus on the fact that regardless of perceived provocation, 5000 Aussies gathered for an “Aussie Pride” day, chased anyone of middle-eastern experience and bashed them. They turned up to this meeting with “Lebs and wogs go home,” and other racist epithets painted on their bodieswhile sober. The subsequent riot was alcohol fuelled but the core issue here is a virulent and sinister form of racism emerged for the first time in 140 years with an extraordinary number of participants. The Lebanese community is dealing with its problems but the other side of this issue of racism is being swept under the carpet. This is a golden opportunity for the likes of the Patriotic Youth League and other neo-nazi groups to make a palpable bid for the mainstream. Meanwhile, as Manish links above, there’s growing threat of another incident.
While I now expect that any thing is possible, I wonder if the particular demography of Sydney was a major player. This blogger lived in Sydney for 2 years and describes what he saw as stratification and ghettoisation of ethnic groups in Sydney. I don’t agree with everything he says, but he does give an interesting picture. This degree of ghettoisation occurs elsewhere in Australia but not to anywhere near the same extent. Barney Zwartzsuggests that the situation in Melbourne is different on a number of levels. I would agree with his statement that there is quite a bit of exchange between Christian and Muslim schools. I’d be happy for you to enlighten me on that aspect as a prejudiced Melbournian.
ah, at moments like this, i’m so proud to be a malayalee. such maturity and eloquence…truly, it brings a tear to my eye.
pericles, your comments are interesting, I’ve never heard that response from a long term resident of Oz and I’ve never heard anyone praise Argentinian race relations over Australia. Each to his own. My impression was very different as probably as enlightened as some of the ideas about Australia on this thread.
divya, you’re sounding like…a nationalist 😉 Next you’ll be wandering about draped in an Aussie flag – something I am tempted to do myself.
Flygirl: The mere vastness of Sydney is one reason that it has always been more evident here of inter-racial differences. We have the worlds most magnificent harbour and are continually voted the worlds most liveable city. Unfortunately, 70% of those that live in those privileged areas are Caucasian Australians who have wanted it to remain that way.
Maroubra, when I used to live there, wasnÂ’t as big of a deal as it is today. Today, Cronulla and Maroubra are considered to be affluent areas. Western Sydney is said to be where the lower socio-economic class reside, a majority of them being immigrants. Sydney is also the city that receives the highest number of migrants simply because when they think of Australia, they think Sydney, not Melbourne simply due to the media attention Sydney has received recently from the olympics etc.
The population issue is another factor. Sydney is a million people stronger populous wise, that’s a lot more with a lot more issues to contend with. Sydney has always come with a prestigious price tag which is why class conflict is such an issue here today. Unlike Melbourne where the CDB is central with suburbs built around the City area, Sydney city has very few surrounding suburbs and is a line of suburbs heading west ward. In Melbourne you could live at two opposite ends of the city but the distance is the same. In Sydney, if you don’t live ‘near the city’ and people believe they are ‘near’ the city when living 45 minutes away, you are immediately prejudiced as being part of a lower socio economic class. Thus in Sydney, you are quite right in saying, demographics plays a big part of wealth and status. Considering the beaches are near the north shore area heading away from the west, living near the beach is also considered to be a status symbol, an indictor of personal wealth and position. With household incomes decreasing as a result of increasing interest rates, the accessibility to live in these so called ‘affluent areas’ has become a much harder goal to reach. As a result, you have people travelling long distances to areas in and around the city resulting in an intermingling of people from various parts of the city. Whilst this has not been a problem for most people and areas, other areas have had issues of territorialism, hence the rioting in those areas. I hope this brings some clarity to the issue
flygirl: thanks for the warning!
runs screaming in the opposite direction
divya,
Ta. You’re right, I forgot to mention the whole size issue. Sydney is huge economically, population wise and in sheer size. It has a bigger international reputation and so migrants flock to it preferentially as a result. We’re just…smaller and more distributed.
In my personal experience with my ex australian girl friend and her white family and friends it was pretty clear that Australia is a far more racist place than other Anglo countries. Maybe the desi immigrants down under quite like the desi immigrants to the US are just oblivious to the subtle racism in that society though I wont exactly call it subtle. Of course I realize the silliness of extrapolating anything from personal experience but to an outsider the Aussie society does come out as pretty racist.
Yes, Al Mujahid, it is more subtle, and it’s schizophrenic. I don’t think desis here are that oblivious to it, in fact from throwaway lines in conversations with them here, they’re very aware of it. I just don’t see it as hugely different to that of the UK or any related nation. Maybe you should visit us and see for yourself. 🙂
you should visit us and see for yourself. 🙂
I actually have and lived there for two months at a time too (twice). Maybe its not racism but that white australians are less PC than americans. For example, some of the things that the otherwise liberal and educated australians would say about the lebs or the natives, you would never hear that in the US from similar minded people.
are less PC than americans.
it seems a common impression that excluding canadians americans are particularly PC in regards to race. then again, race has always been an issue in america, while it has been less important in places like Oz.
more PC or more ignorant?
Al Mujahid,
The PC issue may be it. Sometimes the Aussies try painfully hard to be sensitive (and so end up being patronising and almost offensive), other are just blunt. Bluntness does not imply racism, it’s just, well, an Aussie characteristic. After all, the use of terms “wog,” “curry” and “leb” have for the most part had the sting taken out of them (well, depending on who’s using them and in one context) and co-opted by the relevant groups. There’s a more relaxed attitude generally. They won’t hesitate to poke fun at you, just don’t take it (or yourself) too seriously.
more PC or more ignorant?
the two are not contradictory.
left their genetic imprint in southern india.
Bangladeshi, puhlease! You should know better than using the reductionist ‘south indian’ as the markersfor an ethnic group.
i’m american. please 🙂
Larry Fishburne had a taste of racism in Australia while filming the Matrix movies. Some feathers in Australia were ruffled by his comments…
Australians are laid-back and always have been. Like Flygirl said, terms like wog or curry that may seem offensive overseas are no big deal here and are almost always said in good humour.
Razib: I didnt mean in a contradictory sense. Often I find Americans (I lived with a bunch of them in college) are PC because of ignorance…in other words, they mean well and do their best but end up being patronising more than anything else by lumping cultures together (mixing up indians and pakistanis being the one I found most prevalent). There seemed to be a general lack of awareness in terms of political awareness of countries outside the US…wonder why that is?
Aboriginal-American, right 🙂
Vikram:
“woooooh the vibe man” Maybe its the ghosts of our oppressive ancestors squinting quizzically at Fishburne? I understand you are trying to make a point but seriously, couldnt you do better than that? What next? Pamela Anderson complaining about how she was sleaze stared at Bondi??
Divya, I mean this in the kindest possible way, but you’re not helping your cause.
what cause? isn’t she just posting like 99% of the rest of SM does? (barring the other 1% whose words are honey from the gods)
Aussie Race Schizophrenia:
My favorite race relations experience came on a Melbourne tram one day.
It was a few months after Tampa and Sept. 11. A woman was telling her friend about her recent return from overseas, very loudly so that the whole carriage could hear:
“Oh my god, I was sooo worried, you know on the plane coming back, I was looking at every Arab, there was one woman there, you know, thinking oh my god does she have a bomb? Well, we just went to the detention centre [in Mary]…yeah, we just wanted them to feel, you know, make them feel welcome. Oh, you should have seen them, they were so happy….”
I swear she said it in the same breath.
Communis: I’ve made all the points I need to
that article was just too funny, stop taking it all so seriously:)
Raju – thank you 🙂
flygirl – hahaha, bet we could write a book about all the kind of nonsense we’ve heard on public transport
Ummm … Divya? Which country are you currently residing in?
Australia?
I think “The Vibe” phrase is always going to raise a laugh from most Australians, it’s a line from the 1997 movie The Castle. It was used to describe how a court case related to the general “vibe” of the Australian constitution. Yep. It has a vibe…
A “small minority” once again seems to be causing this…
Divya, Were you born in Australia or did you immigrate there ?
Pericles, why can you not set foot in Redfern after sunset and feel safe? Because it is infested with Abos. All the bleeding hearts who feel bad for the Aboriginal community need only be thrashed by some Abo youth, to come to their senses. There’s a reason for people being wary of Aboriginals. Its easy for an outsider to go on and on about how they get a bad deal, but the whole issue is that Abos bring it upon themselves.
The classic example of an ignorant response to Aussie White supremacists has been, “get the Abos to rise up and kick the White Man out”. So that’s not racist now, is it?
And then what? Who’s going to sell the Abo his liquor? Who’s going to build the Abo his house? Who’s going to hand the Abo his social security cheques?
The Sydney Lebanese community is brimming with criminals and mischief-mongers. While we’re all outraged at the “race-based” bashings of “people of Middle Eastern” appearance, they had it coming for a long, long time [heard it before, haven’t you?]. That said, there are exceptions to the case – one of the four major banks has a Lebanese Muslim CEO, University of Wollongong has some great Lebanese professors – but these are exceptions to the case. Most of them are content stealing/beating/raping, and hanging out with their “bro’s”.
Everybody is inherently racist and xenophobic, as much as you might claim not to be. Some hate Whites, some hate Blacks, and some hate their own people. Point is, letting your bigotry manifest itself into a violent form of physical attack means its time to pay the shrink a visit, instead of clubbing someone to a pulp.
What is shocking to me is that all this happened in the relatively affluent suburbs of Cronulla and Brighton Le Sands – living by the seaside costs money. And in all my living years, I’ve never seen a Leb visit the beach to tan or surf, so it could only be to create trouble, or molest some White chicks.
Flygirl, I don’t know what you’re on about – I’ve lived around Sydney for 4+ years (Crow’s Nest, Hurstville, Drummoyne, and Wollstonecraft) until I moved to Perth. As far as race-recognition is concerned, I have people ask me my nationality all the time. So unless you live up to the curry stereotype and speak with a thick desi accent, I don’t see how an Aussie would be going, “lets spare Flygirl the thrashing, she’s a samosa, not a falafel”. Anyway, its gone beyond Sydney. My boss was showing me text messages, asking the Caucasian public to thrash any non-white they might spot on the Perth beaches. Brace yourselves for the ride, my colored friends.
I guess these riots show the grimmer side of racial multiplicity, something that shows like Fat Pizza fail to capture, and why wouldn-t they – they’re comedies.
Sydney is NOT LA, Mumbai, or wherever you might be. Sydney is Sydney, unique, and special. Please don’t judge Australia without even having set foot on our shores. And if you do, meet us at Cronulla so we can bash the living daylights out of you. J/K.
One final thing – for every desi who migrates here, and then disses the country and its laws – GO BACK.
You know i kinda agree with melbourneMALU, Americans aren’t really the wisest when it comes to knowing what happens on this planet. Here I was thinking that atleast the brown people would be different, but you guys are not!
You guys are such a perfect example of how the rest of the world perceive Americans to be like.
Oh sorry……
not on all your topics, just this one.
mmmmmm, i love the smell of sweeping generalizations in the morning. just blissful.
very, very interesting thread y’all.
divya – your bringing up of the geographic aspect was fascinating. the point about sydney being elongated, westward away from the water, versus melbourne being relatively compact and “rounded” – that is very significant. often, the role of urban geography in shaping social outcomes is insufficiently understood. it’s also true that any city has its own layout and physical characteristics, and it’s a challenge for leaders (political leaders, civic leaders, business leaders, both citywide and within each area) to integrate an understanding of these dynamics into their decisions. more often than not, they don’t, or they do so in contradictory and improvised ways. the whole discipline of urban planning (though “planning” is too restrictive and loaded a word to describe the breadth of the field today) is about this. if you have further suggestions of readings that would help understand sydney and melbourne (and other australian cities for that matter), please do share.
what this underscores in my mind is how much what we’re talking about here is problems of cities, rather than of countries. when i read the stories of cronulla and maroubra — in the australian broadsheets that flygirl linked to — it didn’t “describe australia” to me as much as it reminded me of white nativist neighborhoods undergoing certain economic and social pressures in major cities in other countries. the vibe — pardon me, atmosphere — those articles described was reminiscent of, say, howard beach and bensonhurst in new york, neighborhoods where notorious racist murders of darker “outsiders” have occurred. i am sure that londoners here were reminded of certain areas in their city too.
where i’m going with this is to say that all these comparisons people are bandying about as to which country is more racist than the other, or whether one country (in this case australia) is or is not racist, not only are ridiculous in themselves but also miss the point. the point is that what’s happening in sydney right now is a sign of tensions and change in global cities in general. the events outside paris last month are another sign. and there are lots more signs, not all of them negative of course. it’s the ugly ones that get reported.
having said that, in each country the political situation is going to have an impact on city life. so flygirl’s core point, basically that the chickens of nine years of john howard are coming home to roost, is very important. you don’t need to be in australia to get a sense of this guy and the shameless way he has played the race/immigration card over and over in shoring up his power base. just as certain reactionary national and state-level politicans in the u.s. have done, or in the u.k. or france for that matter. it’s not exactly an exotic strategy, from a political science standpoint; it’s quite common. but howard seems a particularly egregious case. and i do wonder about its success. not about whether australians are in some way predisposed to that argument, but rather why it is that it has succeeded so well in the political arena and for so long. specifically, what the hell has the opposition done about it? have they rolled over and been complacent “triangulators” like the democrats in this country? if so, that would certainly go a long way to alienate people of color and make them feel like the system doesn’t give a damn about them, so why not give it the finger and start to act in self-isolating or socially damaging ways. (not justifying anything here, people. analyzing.)
flygirl, divya, i’d love to hear about the political debate about “multiculturalism” in australia over the past 9 years, and in particular how the opposition has forged its positions in response to the howard/hanson approach.
and another thing: when flygirl writes,
she could just as well have been describing the united states today. it certainly helps explain the kinship that bush and howard feel for each other, and the australian government’s gung-ho support for bush’s, shall we say, dubious international ventures.
and the combination of this sort of ideology with the economic stresses that both divya and flygirl have described, resulting in certain impacts on urban life, also feels familiar. certainly the increasingly self-reliant stance (in both positive and perverted ways) of ethnic communities disenchanted with the myth of the melting pot; and the nativist and violent reaction of white working-class and lower-middle class young males facing reduced job prospects and increasing costs of living in the neighborhoods they’ve called their home, and responding by drinking heavily, wrapping themselves in the flag, and causing trouble. we get that here too, in our own ways.
all this reinforces for me the idea that a big, multicultural, sprawling, economically unequal though culturally vibrant, city in australia and same in the u.s. might have more in common than not.
thanks divya, for your analysis — though i have to call out your equation of laurence fishburne feeling uncomfortable with pamela anderson having her tits stared at. anti-black racism is a specific curse of our societies, and i think you’re not understanding it for what it is. nevertheless i want to thank you for your other points.
and flygirl, you’re the bomb. i think i’m in love!
peace
Pot meet kettle…..
just a note on Redfern,
If you went to Pine Ridge South Dakota, I’d imagine it was a lot like Redfern (not having been to Redfern obviously)
reservations for indegenous people seem almost set up so that people lose hope and drink. truly, it is not anything that can be blamed on the people there. Pine Ridge is a place of startling hope and dismal hopelessness, and no one should pass judgement on the place or its people if they haven’t seen things first hand. I imagine Redfern is similiar
G’Day,
FACTS ABOUT AUSTRALIA:
all australians hav white skin, freckles, red or blonde hair…. start each sentence with “g’day mate”…and finish with “no worries mate”… ……all men call their girlfriends/wifes “sheila”…. and are all misogynistic and homophobic….in fact homosexuality is illegal here, and if u are homosexual u will be fed to crocodiles.. ..and its also illegal to wear anything other than khaki shorts and shirt and its also against our religion (the state religion being buddhism & alcoholism) to be sober and communicate a sentence without a swear word in it shit and we address our prime minister as “johnno mate” oh yeah and we ride kangaroos to work- the beer factory…and we have no other commercial industries other that beer making….everyone works in a Fosters factory…and we wrestle crocodiles for kicks no worries mate fair dinkum….
my point is that u ppl really dont know anything about australia or its ppl….. …ur trying to summarise the psyche of the australian population by stereotypes that just arnt a true representation of the population
this is MY COUNTRY ur talking about….my parents came here in the 70’s from kerala and i was born here and have never experienced any of the sort of behaviour described in some on the above posts…i have family and friends in Sydney, and if they didnt turn on the news, they wouldnt have even known of the events on the wkend.. its true that we dont place much importance on political correctness and making sure we use the correct terminology when describing a race, but thats just the way we are…
hope I didnt offend anyone in my previous post but I feel as passionately about Australia as u my for the US or india…just take my word for it…we, including my anglo/italian/greek/arab/maltese/indian/chinese/viet/etc etc buddies are far from xenophobes or racists….as a whole
A N N A….just love the sarcasm…or maybe im being sarcastic
melbournemalu, got a chip on your shoulder or what? there’s actually an interesting conversation going on here and some very strong contributions from australians, which are making the rest of us think. perhaps you’ve been reading a thread on some other site. this is the last place you’d find primitive opinions like the ones you’re lampooning. you’re turning into rather a lamentable caricature yourself, one that has nothing to do with australia.
peace