Believe it or not, the word most frequently heard in cricketing circles today is a perfectly normal English word – not chucking, sledging, googly, fine-leg or doosra. Racism has always been lurking around the fringes of the game – when unapologetically segregationist South Africa was kept away from cricket, several (mostly) white players from Australia and England would sneak in to play a game or two, lured by the money; risking lifetime bans. Each quaintly labeled rebel tour would inspire a few articles condemning apartheid, and (predictably enough) British newspapers would write muted articles about why things weren’t really that bad, and why people shouldn’t get their undergarments into intricate knots over a mere game.
Neighboring Zimbabwe had an all-white cricket team as well, but that didn’t raise too many eyebrows because the team hardly won anything, but mostly because they played for a country ruled by a benign black dictator.
But today, things have changed. The benign dictator is not so benign anymore, and of late, he has been maintaining a punishing schedule – creating food shortages in his country by taking away farms from white farmers. But Robert loves playing games, and he is going to make time for cricket, punishing schedule or not. And how well he plays. First, he cleanses his team of all white players – using other people of course, why would a powerful man get his hands dirty? – and then obviously pleased with how clean the team looked, he is now on another cleaning spree – this time to get rid of all the good players, especially the pesky ones that want to get paid for their services.
Several interesting strategies have been employed in this round, including but not limited to robbing players of their money, death threats, divide and conquer. Meanwhile, the standard of cricket has dipped alarmingly in the country, and most games involving them bear a more than passing resemblance to games involving the Atlanta Hawks. But Mugabe doesn’t know that because he has no time for the NBA. Plus now his team is all black, and isn’t that good enough?
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Meanwhile, events in Australia are ensuring that things stay balanced on the racism front. Crowds at cricket matches in Australia are always a bit more, um… boisterous than crowds elsewhere, possibly due to a lot of beer and not too many bathrooms on the grounds, but this year they’ve taken their bad behavior to new depths. People have learnt new words, and are not hesitant to try them out on visiting cricket teams.
A few years ago, a prominent Australian cricket player was suspended after using an innovative new phrase that combined the color black and a certain part of the female anatomy to describe Sri Lanka’s cricketers, and at that time, there was a sneaking suspicion that this was no isolated incident. Events this year are proving that theory right.
Less violent [than the Sydney riots], but in some ways more disturbing, have been the growing number of racist taunts that have since sullied international cricket grounds throughout the summer. Perhaps spurred on by the alarming images a week earlier in Cronulla, spectators at the first Test in Perth subjected some members of the South African cricketers to crude apartheid-era insults. Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini and several other players were called “kaffirs” and “kaffir boetie” (brother of blacks) by people in the Waca crowd. [Link]
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p>And in some ways, the most surprising thing has been the incredulous reaction of most of Australia to protests by the South Africans – Much noise about harmless name calling has been the general refrain. Neil Manthorp explains:
Just over a month ago, between the second and third Test matches in Melbourne and Sydney, one of the country’s most prominent newspaper sports editors asked me to write a comment piece explaining what “all the fuss” was about.
To the majority of Australians being called a “kaffir” is no different to being called a “wanker” or a “prick”, said the editor. Could I please explain why the players were so ‘sensitive’ to a bit of ‘name calling…’ [Link]Later this month, when Sri Lanka’s cricketers arrive in the country to play in the VB one-day series, will sections of the crowd welcome them with Tsunami taunts?
[…] That’s the equivalent of what Graeme Smith and his players have been experiencing from time to time during this tour.
South Africa, too, has had its Tsunami but it began in 1948 and it was called Apartheid. And it was not a natural disaster, it was man-made and that makes it even worse. And like Sri Lanka’s Tsunami, it claimed many thousands of innocent lives but, just as in Sri Lanka, we can’t be sure how many because there are still people missing, buried in secret graves by an invisible force.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison for fighting Apartheid and there would not have been a single day of that time when he wasn’t called a ‘kaffir’. [Link]
And here is Peter English chiming in on the controversy, rubbishing the theory that racism was confined to expatriate South Africans living in Australia.
“Don’t blame Australians for the racist remarks,” a reader wrote to Cricinfo’s feedback this week. “They were made by South Africans now living in Australia.” This popular comment misses the problem that has been pushed underground for decades.
A bay of supporters was decked in patriotic gold shirts at the SCG last summer to watch Australia play Pakistan. Closer inspection of their garb revealed a slogan including the words “Pakis” and “towelheads”. The year before Indian supporters were upset to be called “coolies” at Adelaide and in response to the Barmy Army’s 2002-03 chants the locals fans responded with “I’d rather be a Paki than a Pom”. [Link]Yesterday a sports-loving gentleman at a club morning tea wondered what all the fuss was about: “They’ve been called kaffirs all their life, why does it matter now?”… [Link]
And in the midst of all this, John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister is concerned about the offensive language on television shows.
Prime Minister John Howard says there has been a marked deterioration in good manners in Australia. [Link]
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And you thought the British were masters of understatement?
PS: I hate to be presumptuous, but am wondering if we can keep the comments focused more on racism and less on cricket…
Hooray! Cricket on the Mewtinnee! Thank you K-man, all my dreams have come true.
Well, one of them has. And not a particularly important dream if I’m honest. Kind of more like a daydream. Perhaps a whimsy.
I love the way you wikilinked cricket – just in case they didn’t know what it was stateside!
I’ve written about this elsewhere, so I’ll see what you all make of it for the time being.
Having said all that, I do want to add – let’s not sidestep the latent racism in many Indian and Pakistani crowds. This isn’t just a problem with whitey.
I forget which tour it was, but I remember watching the highlights of a one-dayer somewhere in Australia (maybe Melbourne?) between India and Australia. A few Australian fans had made a huge banner which read, “Thank you, come again”
India won. So nyah.
Um, Desi crowds can be abusive, but not racist – not as far as I know. Never heard of any player heckled because of race.
Um, Desi crowds can be abusive, but not racist – not as far as I know. Never heard of any player heckled because of race.
Many years ago, in Pakistan, Joel Garner from West Indies was fielding near the boundary. Some people threw bricks at him. He tunred around and threw the brick back – They were shit scared. At that time, Joel Garner was one of the fastest bowler in the world.
I agree Karthik, and this extends to the pitch as well. At the level of the players, those from South Asia or the WIndies might be indignant about decisions or aggressive in their pursuit of a wicket, but in all of the trash-talking I’ve never heard them stoop to racism the way someone like a Michael Slater appears to do habitually. There has also been an ongoing undercurrent of bitterness among some players from the UK/Australia regarding the presence and place of non-“Whites” in cricket officialdom – who can forget Mike Gatting’s ugly outburst during the Pakistan tour in the late 80s.
Geez, I would be too. I remember seeing him in Sharjah – the man was one giant hunk of muscle!
cricinfo.com has been exploring this topic in the last month, given the South African and Sri Lankan complaints about racist taunts from Australian crowds. When India last went to Australia, even journalists were apparently subjected to appalling comments such as having chicken bones thrown at them and told to “eat that, you curry lovers.” Unfortunately, racism is present in all crowds, but does seem to be the worst in Australia, follwed by New Zealand and South Africa at times. Indian crowds in Mumbai were particularly mean to the West Indies during their last tour – the first time I’ve ever heard of Indian crowds chanting racist taunts openly at an opposing cricket player. That was depressing. I hope it is not repeated. But racism and sports seem to go together all over the world. The West Indies used to be such an admired team in India and Brian Lara still is. Anyways, looking forward to India-England in a few weeks and of course the World Cup next year in the West Indies.
cricket is a gay sport anyway, who cares. it’s gayer than the superbowl, because the superbowl is gay.
India is where most money is made by professional cricketers. Australian cricketers make more money in India, endorsing products than they do in Australia. I remember reading this somewhere.
Can you give more details about Mike Gatting’s outburst? I am not aware. Also, if India’s got the most money in Cricket, than why isnt India writing all the Cricket laws?
“Also, if India’s got the most money in Cricket, than why isnt India writing all the Cricket laws?”
The BCCI is the richest board, if I’m not mistaken. It just sold the rights to show India matches for the next four years for $611 million. It has recently started asserting itself (a trend that began under the no-nonsense, shrewd and controversial Dalmiya), insisting to the powers that be that they stop organizing the ICC Championships around Australia and England’s most profitable seasons while cutting into India’s. It was a bit highhanded and arrogant in its pronouncements, but it can afford to be, and of course this caused consternation amongst some English, West Indian and Australian commentators. When the status quo favored them, they had no problem with being the master and the rest being slaves (to use Mike Atherton’s words). But now, as Atherton points out a bit bitterly, it’s clear to see who is master and who is slave now. But as other commentators have pointed out, the English and Aussies administrators (still the best team though) will just have to get used to the shifting power structure and realize their day in the sun is over. India will have to learn to use its power wisely and for the betterment of the game as a whole.
Well, from what I remember a Pakistani Umpire Shakoor Rana called dead-ball on a delivery by John Emburey because captain Mike Gatting had moved a fielder behind the batsman without his knowledge. Gatting was incensed at the decision and then stormed up to Rana, pointing fingers in his face and yelling obscenities (Rana got a few in himself). This was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back – Gatting had been generally displeased with the umpiring decisions during the tournament.
How long before cricket-hating comments flood this thread……….
Hey! I just wanna tell you that I have been enjoying reading your blog…I love India, Indian food, textiles etc…..this blog is pretty difficult to keep up with though, you’re all so prolific! Everything I ever wanted to know about cricket, I learned from watching Lagaan and from some school kids in Bangalore! LOL Love your blog, keep up the good work…..
All sport has its crazed supporters and cricket is no different. It is true that the Aussie supporters are the most obnoxious; donÂ’t let me get started on its players, yes Shane Warne included! The truth is that there are a lot of South Africans livings in Australia, and they are probably the ones throwing out the slurs. No one knows how much it hurts being called a kaffir more than a South African. BTW we brown people were also called kaffirs in apartheid SA. I canÂ’t stand the word, itÂ’s filthy.
The thing that sticks most in my mind was a semi final match of the World Cup in India, being played between India and Sri Lanka. India was losing and the spectators turned hostile, they started to throw water bottles and other stuff on the ground, forcing India to forfeit the game. Sri Lanka went on to be the World Champions that year. I distinctly remember seeing Anil Kumble (sp?) wiping a tear away.
Everyone has their bad moments, try and keep it out of the damn game! I dont like cricket…..I love it!
Cricket isnt a “game” in India (and for that matter Pakistan) Its an instrument of POWER. I think Sharad Pawar is somekind of politician and he just got some post that “controls” Cricket in India. If I am not mistaken, this politician Sharad Pawar had no qualifications to be associated with Cricket, and apparently he has high political ambitions and Cricket just fits into that. So, no longer a “game”.. just IMO ofcourse.
Wasn’t that Vinod Kambli?
Karthik, perhaps racism isn’t the main problem with South Asian crowds, but it certainly exists. And even more so in the UK amongst brown fans. But what is more problematic is of course Indo-Pak hatred. The BBC recently had to shut down a cricket forum because of very offensive anti-Hindu and anti-Muslim slanging.
Sorry, can you point out his bitterness please? And Dalmiya is “no-nonsense and shrewd”?? He has been one of the worst things to happen to the game.
For Atherton’s comments, please see his article “Selfish India must be made to toe the line” in The Telegraph. Some of it strikes me as being a bit bitter or hypocritical, given past actions of England and Australia in the control of cricket. Particularly this line: “India’s announcements last week as to their future playing arrangements, meekly confirmed by England, has left no one in any doubt who is now master and who is servant.” The use of the word now is interesting. So when the relationship was reversed, I don’t remember Atherton or anyone else writing columns about making England and Australia toe the line or referring to them as the beasts of cricket. As for Dalmiya, I didn’t say he was the best thing to have happened to Indian cricket and indeed, he has not been good for it in many ways. I’m referring to his role in dealing with the other cricket boards who had for too long dictated everything, not so much to his role in the domestic scene. His manner was abrasive but he did accomplish some good in that area. He did play a big role in wresting some control of the cricketing fiefdom from England and Australia. What Indians choose to do with it and how they handle it after that is their problem.
At international level no sport is just a game. Cricket fans of India make the India cricket-Board pretty powerful and its quite appropriate for Indians to approach any negotiations from a position of power.
The Presidents of Cricket boards do not play cricket inside the board-rooms, they cut deals. Shard Pawaris a desi politician I sincerely hope he is just as vilely as they come. I hope he causes enough consternation amongst ICC bosses, enough to turn them purple, black and Â…yeah brown.
Bong and the rest…this news piece about Dalmiya might interest you all.
Karthik,
Like most desi’s I make it a point to go 99% of the matches played here during summer, especially when India, Sri Lanka or Pakistan are touring. This year I went with about 20 of my friends, donned a SL jersey and cheered for lanka till I lost my voice. I completely agree with what you say about Aussie crowds, they throw beer around, they sing racist slogans at the the top of their voices and they make it known whose side their own, but all of this is just during the match. After the match, most of us go with them to have a beer or two!!! And by the way, the Sub-continent fans arent so well-behaved themselves. A few years ago I went to a game where the pakistani crowd were yelling racist profanities at Shane Warne, not just that, even at the games played this summer, the Aussie team copped as much flak as the Sri Lankans. There are enough Indian/Srilankan fans in the crowd to make ourselves known and heard. We are as Aussie as the beer-guzzling spectators next to us, we aren’t making a big deal of this, we enjoy poking fun at ourselves and eachother, its CRICKET for goodness sakes. Stop whining on our behalf, we don’t care so why the heck should you, ESPECIALLY if you’re from the USA where most desi’s shrug when you ask them what cricket is!!!
i can’t understand what they are talking about when they report cricket on the BBC. and oh, racism is very bad.
hear, hear.
aussieindian: Your comment and those of other aussies on this blog suggests that many aussie-desis think that reports of aussie-racism are exagerated. I find it hard to believe that the things aussie sports-fans say while watching sports are not a reflection of what they think or feel while not watching the games.
On another note, the mention of the word “Kaffir” reminded me of the use of the word by M.Gandhi (google for references) — also talked about here previously on SM. About indian racism towards black people in general: it clearly exists, in certain quarters atleast, and hopefully it’s decreasing. The code-words indians use for black people (the k-words derived from the word ‘black’ in hindi or malayalam or whatever) sound pretty offensive to me. They strike me as crossing the line from being a mere descriptive terms to being derogatory. Maybe as a general rule if you have to use a code-word for a person of another race that is not going to be understood by most of the people around you, it’s probably a bad idea to use it.
ashvin et al, while I don’t think the claims are exaggerated, from what I’ve gathered from four months on the Mutiny and other desis, the nature of racial attitudes and discourse is very different in Australia vs the US. So you will always have many Aussie desis responding to charges of Australian racism with a degree of light-heartedness.
aussieindian: thanks for the Lankan support (curry^3>hot^3 etc). …but I would disagree: I’m aware of the nature of most of the taunts, but I still don’t see why they have to be there. Some of it is fun, most of it tiresome. I think the issue with the South Africans is that it was equivalent to being called an “n-lover” and they were jsutified in their complaints.
You’ll get some racism from players and supporters in any team sport, but for some reason Football (soccer) and cricket seem to attract the most racist people.
But as Mr Bong mentioned, it goes both ways. My sister went to the VB series final Sri Lanka v Australia, and she said she saw a desi girl (Sri Lankan most likely?), hold a banner saying “At least we came here on planes” (referring to the majority of Australians who have convict heritage who arrived in boats). It’s not racist, but it certainly is provocative – and what the hell does that have to do with cricket? Needless to say some people responded to her taunts…
I also witnessed a similar incident a few years ago in another Sri Lanka v Australia (yeah they are pretty rough games esp: because of Murali and all the trouble he faces when he comes to Australia) where a drunk desi girl was shouting “The convicts are losing! The convicts are losing!”. It was funny at first, but not after 20 minutes of non stop chanting.
But is being racist worse than being abusive? Is it worse to be called a coolie/nigger/kaffir or is it worse to have pellets, bricks, and junk thrown at you? I don’t think any nation/race can sit on a high horse and sanctimoniously postulate.
Interesting to see that expat (white) South Africans support Australia instead of South Africa. This certainly wouldn’t be the case for any desi community.
What do you guys think of supporting the ‘home’ country as opposed to supporting the country you were born and brought up in? Why do some nationalities support the ‘home’ country even after 3 or 4 generations? (In Australia this can be seen in the Greek and Turkish communities and in the UK I suppose in the South Asian community).
I think there may be some truth in what readers wrote in response to the Cricinfo debate, as very few Aussies (or anyone outside SA, for that matter) would be familiar with the ‘Kaffir Boetie’ term. Of course, there is racism in Australian grounds, that’s stating the obvious, but I don’t think it’s as bad as it’s being made out to be (I say that from personal experience, but of course everyone has their own story).
As for Atherton, he’s just being stupid. He’s generally a smart commentator but has on the odd occasion shown he’s not beyond prejudice (that’s understating it) when it comes to the subcontinent. I agree with Kom, where was the posturing when the England-Australia nexus was doing as it pleased?
BongBreaker, Dalmiya is as slippery as they come, but he’s made enormous contributions to the BCCI (and my implication, Indian cricket – or at least the financial health of it). He, along with NKP Salve et al, was instrumental in getting the 1987 World Cup to the subcontinent. Whatever money or clout the ICC has today, is because of him. If one has to survive in the murky world of BCCI, one has to be shrewd and a bit of an ass**le. The English (and sections of Indian) media have continually depicted him as a snake-oil salesman, because that suits their worldview I guess.
England and Australia have run Cricket as a white man’s club long enough. It’s high time we stood up to their condescending attitude.Once the new BCCI hot shot Modi is through with them, they will be begging for Dalmiya to return. Best of luck to the team, hope we hammer England in the coming series.
flygirl,
you are right, it shouldnt happen at all, but it does. From both sides. And it supposedly only happens here. The SA stuff was disgusting, I’m glad complaints were made, but not with everything else. A lot of the comments make it seem like its all the white Australians that are responsible, when are the curries gonna step up and take the blame for all the name-calling they do??
and karthik, how the HECK is ‘I’d rather be a Paki than a Pom’ racist?? I call all my pakistani friends paki’s and all my English friends pom just like they call me curry, how do I make you understand that this is common in Australia? We really are laid back and we donÂ’t lodge formal complaints everytime we’re called curry, paki or pom! So ashvin, just because someone yells Paki in the crowd does not mean they all harbour a deep resentment for Pakistanis, often its due to too much beer and of course, competitiveness! Australia is the best team in the world, and when you a track record like theirs, you become very defensive and competitive. Cricket is one of the most popular sports here, people are passionate about it even if it that passion appears to be more violent than it is. Have you heard this sort of behaviour happen during the Aussie Open or even the footy?
As for the horrible comments made to some SA players, Nanda, i guarantee that very few aussies are familiar with those terms
AFAIK “Paki” is a (designated) slur, which originated from UK and it does not distinguish between the nationalities of South Asians. I guess “curry” is new and I think it is offensive. Seems like you and your friends are pretty tight and have reached a level of understanding where you can laugh this sort of name calling off. This thread was about the behavior of Aussies towards visitors and thatÂ’s where this type of language gets to be totally out of line.
Aussie players and spectators, both have behaved badly in past. I recall several incidences that I have seen on TV where WHITE aussie spectators shoved and pushed desi’s who were celebrating, kicked the Indian Tri-Color after an Indian WC win and abused desi players who were fielding at the boundary lines.
calling person paki is completely of racist mantalitty. Communities with racism embedded in all premises call minority community names. After sometime minority community people are thinking, ok this is our name we have to accept it. So black people are calling other black people niggers, affectionatedly of course. but this is not the comprehensived approval of this type of behaviours. educated people and communities is solutions to this problem. i receiving abuse from white peoples manay manay times, but life is not ending. So I am always forgiving and try to move away from such rubbish peoples. i very good spinning bowler but no opportunity for me in the team why? because i dark brown. michel atherton is shiveriing when akram bowlling, now he talk big talk is cheap
It must be hard for the rest of you to understand that in our (adopted) countries, being excluded and discriminated against is just a sign of our acceptance by the majority population. Sort of like “tough love”. If we weren’t called names here and there, we would forget we look different, who we are, and our rightful place in society. A man’s got to know his place.
I am not saying this because I am desperate to fit into a society with good roads, lots of McDonalds, etc.
Besides, the Aussies aren’t racist, they just like drinking beer. Hey so do I. We have to show them we can drink just as much as they can, and can be just like them in every conceivable way. That’s the Australian way. God forbid we don’t adopt their ways wholesale.
By the way when the Aussies nearly exterminated the “aborigines”, that too was mainly the fault of beer. It wasn’t about greed, land, money or anything so serious. Really, its in the Australian history books- under “Don’t blame us, blame the beer”.
Laid Back Guy, I fear your irony may be lost. But I like your post.
Aussieindian, I’d rather be a paki than a pom IS racist. It originated, as most things do, in the UK. It was originally “I’d rather be a Paki than a Turk”. The words are irrelevant, it’s the sentiment – that neither are desirable, but one is worse than the other. Of course it’s racist, it’s moronic.
We came to the conclusion over on Pickled Politics, that while football fans are very racist, cricket is less so, but rugby fans are altogether a nicer breed. Let me say one thing – I have aussie friends and they’re a great bunch. I’ve been to lots of sporting occasions with aussies. We get on fine, drink and are merry etc. But I think it’s silly to excuse quite parochial and small-minded prejudiced comments as “oh that’s just our way mate”. Well change your ways. There is a latent racism in Aussie culture, as recent race riots have shown. Race relations in Oz have been poor for years and the gov’t hasn’t helped. I’ve only met one South Asian aussie and he was, for want of a better word, an Uncle Tom.
bengali, the whole supporting/Tebbit/2nd gen question is really complex and I’ve talked about it a lot. I’m a bit unusual in that I support England, not India. I get somewhat confused when British-born and raised desis support India or Pakistan so vociferously. Of course I support India when they’re not playing England. But I would never ask other British South Asians to change, that’s their decision. Just as Nasser Hussain was born in India and then captained England, I came to the UK as a kid and as a British citizen, I support England. The funny thing is that we all know second gen Indians wouldn’t support India if the team sucked. Take football, my friends all wear Indian shirts to the cricket and then go nuts for England in footie. There IS an Indian team…although they just got thumped 6-0 by Japan.
Oh, and Bangladesh just beat Sri Lanka (at cricket), hoho!
I’m making no excuses for Aussie racism in cricket. But I will continue to oppose charges that Australia is some sort of redneck paradise and continued attempts to suggest it’s more racist than other immigrant nations.
Paki isn’t actually a term used much here, so I’m actually pretty surprised at that incident; the term for generalisation of South Asians is “curry.”
Bong:
Er, no they haven’t been “poor for years,” but during the period of this government they have declined, and aren’t improving.
aussieindian: Both sides of the fence may do it, but both must change. I just don’t buy the “it’s all part of the game” excuse, that’s all it is, an excuse. I don’t give a stuff if someone calls me “curry” but I do resent having players or other desis or anyone else being abused. This includes my brother and his friends who were spat on, the goon who yells “black c***” and the Lankans in Melbourne who were told to “sing in English or go home.” Right….to…Fitzroy?
Having said that, the yobbo-isation of Aussie cricket began in the 70s and has continued to decline since. And there is something about the cricket that does turn Australians from pretty decent people to drunken twats; and the kids end up imitating the appalling behaviour. See this article aswell.
ausseindian: wtf?? dude, we’re racist. thats all there is to it.
Well, I could be a dick and say that it depends how you define ‘years’. But I will maintain that Australia has had an undercurrent of racism amongst large parts of the less urban population for a long time. I am not suggesting everyone, but more than I feel is acceptable. The paper you link, The Age, drew attention to the fact that the race riots in Birmingham and in Oz had similar origins – both sparked by radio DJs. But whilst in the UK they were illegal pirate DJs, in Australia it was Alan Jones, a perfectly legit commercial radio DJ. The kind of stuff he says is tolerated too easily by the Australian press, who are consistently weak if liberal, and frequently inflammatory and even racist if right wing. The Cronulla coverage was shockingly biased.
I also didn’t suggest it’s more racist than other countries with immigrants, Britain has had all sorts of problems with racism and whilst it has become far less visible day-to-day, institutions like the police or the health service have been branded institutionally racist. America too enjoys a great deal of racism. As you mention, your present gov’t hasn’t improved things and your immigration policy is now heartily asinine. I firmly believe that if Australia were a much more powerful and rich nation, it would be to the right of America politically. The East coast is not necessarily representative of the country as a whole.
Bong> I accept that you, specifically, didn’t mean that Aussies were more racist, so I’m sorry if I misrepresented you. But as I’ve gathered from some of the comments here (and also on the Cronulla issue), people seem to have this idea that Australia is more racist than these other countries. Certainly regional areas have been more backward in terms of race relations; as the number of migrants increases in these populations, these attitudes change…alebit slowly. There’s been a concerted effort by the government to put migrants into rural areas, though not because of any desire to improve relations. There’s also a weird split in attitudes: immigrants may be welcome but Kooris are still marginalised and demonised. While the East Coast isn’t representative of the country as a whole, the main state capitals have the highest populations and population densities.
With regards to our immigration policy, I would argue that our refugee/asylum seeker policy is appalling, but for general entry, there isn’t much by way of selective entry and our intake last year was one of the highest in recent times.
Our media hasn’t generally been particularly insightful or deep, but yes, in recent times it’s quality of coverage and analysis has diminished, becoming mere sycophants and cheerleaders for a kind of soft right. Alan Jones is the most vicious example of the tabloid media and I have no idea why someone hasn’t charged him under the new sedition laws.
As for the Cronulla coverage, it was pretty poor; varied according to who’s newspaper you read (Murdoch’s or Fairfax’s) but in keeping with the nature of current media analysis. Again, whenever such an issue crops up, it’s stifled. Karthik has quoted one of the PM’s recent comments; that particular one was made as part of a distraction from the current scandal with the Australian Wheat Board’s deals with Iraq.
Perhaps we should get back to the cricket.
A sentiment expressed all too often.
Bong,
When we are good, we’re brilliant, and when we are bad, we suck big time!
I dunno about that. It’s different for cricket because cricket, the Sahib’s game, has become ingrained into our culture for a very long time. It’s much more important than football/soccer or hockey. (You’ve seen Lagaan right? 😉 )
Also, the Bangladesh cricket team sux ass, and the SL cricket team used to suk ass in the 80s yet all the second geners from those countries madly support their respective teams. shrug it could be an underdog thing.
I used to support Australia until the age of about 12, and then for some reason I started supporting the brown & black dudes (Ind/Pak/SL & WI and now BD) – am I racist?
Bengali, I’ve not only seen Lagaan, I’ve played with one (that I know of – perhaps more) of the Englishmen in the fillum! They were all from Balham club – up the road from where I study. One of the chaps wrote a book – from Balham to Bollywood, which was quite fun but I didn’t read the whole thing.
Of course you’re not racist for not supporting Aus. But again, I can kind of see what you mean by the underdog thing. Australia’s dominance got boring. So if I were you perhaps I would’ve done just the same. Luckily (?) for me, I’ve supported England all through the shit times too. That’s not to say I’ve always been this way. When I was a kid I was a kind of angry ethnic, and I’d chide my Asian friends for wearing England strips. How things changed.
Perhaps somewhat stragely, also at a young age I automatically supported dark skinned people in sport when neither of my countries were involved, or if it was domestic British sport. Sorry to be random – your “brown & black dudes” comment reminded me of this.
bengali> I’m 1.5 gen, and still have strong links with SL, so I support SL. But I have issues with the Aussie team so cricket’s the only sport I don’t support them in – the level of outstanding arrogance and preciousness in both media and player attitudes is too much to take 🙂 cf. Ricky Ponting!
Don’t really understand about the 2nd genn support; perhaps it’ll take the third to get there; when people have less significant links with origin countries.
Nah I disagree flygyal, we have 3rd gens here and their support is just the same as any generation before. As I’ve said before, this is just the lighter side of the stickier topic of identity. I’ve met second and third gen Pakistanis who say they’re Pakistani ahead of British, and many hadn’t left the UK. So obviously we know which team they support. I’m sure there are Indians of the same mentality. As long as people go to faith schools and grow up in ghettos, their link to their grandparents’ country will persist, even though most have never been there.
Now, if you support SL can I take the piss out of you for losing the Ashes? Hmm…
Bong> Sorry mate… we could both take the piss though 🙂 Ponting, Pointing, Pouting…(yes,need a coffee)
Bong:
Hey, I still do that at the Olympics/Commonwealth games and I’m hardly young. Cameroon, Kenya, Burundi mean nothing to me, yet I always get this uncontrolable urge to support these guys whenever they compete! You kinda feel that since they come from a poor country, they deserve to win more.
flygirl:
I think that’s probably why I can’t support them. Coz I have no problems supporting the abysmal socceroos!
flygirl:
Guys, that’s very disapponting!
(I’ll get my coat)
Bouncing off from flygirl’s comments, but a question for the board in general: Is there a rising pressure in Australia for non-white migrants to have to say “Nah, calling me a curry [or whatever] isn’t racist, it’s fine, I enjoy it; in fact I call my other friends wogs and chinks too, etc”? Because I notice this sentiment being expressed more and more in Howard’s Australia, and it gives me the creeps. It comes up every time someone raises a perfectly legitimate claim of racism, and calling people “kaffirs”, “curries”, etc, is very deeply racist indeed.
Also, I don’t subscribe to some kind of East Coast urban exceptionalism. The Cronulla riot just took place in Sydney, after all. Racism in Australia is rural and urban.
wow… thats a new one to me… kind of explains some things… i had an acquaintance who went from here to te uk on a teaching assignment… found a love… got married… met the two when they came back… there was a definite coolness in the air… to me it was just abrupt… but it sounded like the ‘us’ and ‘them’ had set in and i wont blame them if they lived in an environment like htis
kind of a shame becaue i was quite looking forward ot visiting london later this year on work… i’ve heard so much of ‘rambling’… and would love to explore the english countryside… i hope there isnt any great risk of getting beaten up while on a walk…. on the flip side i suppose it isnt difficult to fit in as a ‘local’, which is always a good thing when in an alien land