Australia is a country with strong cultural pressures to conform; Aussies are rewarded for fitting in rather than standing out in all areas except for athletics. It’s known as the tall poppy syndrome, as in the tall poppy gets mowed down. In the USA, there’s a different saying, one about squeaky wheels, and I’m glad to say that desis in Australia seem to be following the American model. 
This weekend, at least 2,000 Indians protested in Melbourne, blocking traffic on a busy street for almost 20 hours to protest the large number of crimes and assaults against Indians in the last year and the lack of police interest or response. The demonstrations started at Royal Melbourne Hospital where Sravan Kumar Theerthala was lying comotose after having been stabbed with a screwdriver at a party.
Latest available police figures say 1,447 people of Indian origin were robbed or assaulted in Victoria state in 2007-2008, although students from the country say they have risen since then. Many of the most serious cases occurred in the western suburbs of the state capital Melbourne, where police estimate Indians account for about 30 percent of all robbery and assault victims. [link]Police have denied any racial motivation, saying the students were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They have said the crimes were “opportunistic”, with Indian students seen as “soft targets”. [link]
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p>In addition to the protests in Melbourne, there was a strong diplomatic response. Manmohan Singh has called the Australian PM, and the Indian and Australian Foreign Ministers are holding talks on the matter. The diplomatic engagement was accompanied by a vigorous thapad by BigB who turned down a honorary doctorate offered by the Queensland University of Technology, saying “Under the prevailing circumstances I find it inappropriate at this juncture, to accept this decoration.”
This is a serious issue for Australia because it makes $15 billion (AU) from foreign students, 40% of whom come from India and China (90,000 Indian students and 130,000 Chinese students). Foreign students are the third largest export earner behind coal and iron ore.
Right now, news of these attacks has widespread coverage in India and both governments are threatening to discourage future students from coming to Australia. This is a credible threat, a few years ago the New Zealand government failed to take racist violence against Chinese students seriously and they lost all their Chinese students as a consequence.
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p>As a result of this escalation the Australian authorities have changed their tune considerably, and they are now bringing in the PM’s national security advisor to formulate policy:
Australia said Tuesday the former head of its elite Special Air Service (SAS) regiment will lead a task force examining attacks on Indian students … Duncan Lewis, now the government’s national security adviser, chaired the task force’s first meeting Tuesday and would coordinate Australia’s response to the assaults. [link]
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p>The government is also considering enacting hate crime legislation that would consider prejudicial motivation as a factor in sentencing.
I think it’s pretty sad that it took this much diplomatic pressure, and some outright hysteria by the Indian media, before the Australian authorities would take the issue seriously. That said, based on my experience with hate crimes in the USA, the copycat attacks (including vandalism of a Gurdwara on Monday and a slashing yesterday) should die down as soon as perpetrators realize that the government will be enforcing the law vigorously. I’ve got family in Australia, I’d like to feel that they’re safe.
DhoomPhatak
What are the odds that he is a big consumer of “Fair and Lovely”
hey dont blame the victim like the Police. The primary attribute of a first world nation is safety / law and order. If that is not around then that society looses its claim to be a first world one. Is Melbourne a safe liveable city – maybe – depends on many factors and who you ask. Dhoom your point is taken.
I think I have said a lot – need to get some work done ð
DhoomPhatak, Even though you are now bordering troll territory, from my experience of east London, I think there is a grain of truth in what you say.
Melbourne Desi, I fully endorse your attitude.
akaash. the servos and taxis have always been staffed / driven by immigrants – never by the native born.
try sudanese as well.
Thanks for the input, Melbourne Desi!
Keep lying DhoomPatak, even though you are not fooling anyone. You seem to have a pernicious racist agenda here: divert attention from white, arab, asian racism against indians in Australia and blame blacks for all the attacks. Disgusting.
We got a joker here.
But like african and aboriginal blacks you too were enslaved by whites, colonized by whites, segregated by whites, racially humiliated by whites. And for your information, to the aussies and other racists, indians (like the native aborigines whose land they stole), are also pretty much blacks. They are racist towards indians even when in India and indians are so spineless they take the racial abuse and contempt as if they were still being ruled by anglos.
http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/news/lehmann.html
To believe this was the first time Lehmann used this terrible language about black people is to show the indulgence of a parent who believes their teenager’s “it was my first joint” defence. Lehmann’s misfortune is that he is the man who got caught revealing the unwitting racism that infuses not only Australian cricketing culture but mainstream Australia. Lehmann’s supporters cannot understand the difference between calling someone a “c—” and a “black c—“. Nor, presumably, can they understand that it is offensive for our media commentators to speak of the Sri Lankans as “babbling” in the field, as “leaping about with great big smiles” or as “little guys”. Monkeys babble. Little black sambos have great big smiles……………..When I wrote about the Indians who felt shut out of Australian cricket, I was taken to task for “inventing” trouble where none existed. Yet I’d seen racism with my own eyes. On a tour to India, I heard two Australian cricketers call the locals “niggers”. I saw Australian cricketers coming across Indians sleeping on a railway platform in Jamshedpur and nudging them awake with their feet to take a happy snap.
Currybashing by racist whites in Australia. Dotbusting by racist whites in America. Pakibashing by racist whites in Britain.
See a pattern in the anglosphere?
I’ve received government dole before for a short time when I needed it, however, it is a self-perpetuating cycle that leaves people with a lot of time on their hands to do mischief and worse. I think all forms of doles need to be phased out in all countries where they are given.
Nobody should be allowed to stay more than 6 months in a country unless they can and are going to work there. As for natives, nobody should be paid by the government for being a ho or being lazy.
Don’t get me started on baby mamas and baby daddies.
If Ozzie police force is inept, then Desis need to start their own patrolling.
Learn martial arts, carry knives, whatever it takes.
Somalian (or is it Sudanese) gangs are terrorizing Sweden as well. Must be something in the water.
I’m a Melbourne desi myself, albeit not much of an outdoor person. I respect the courage of student bodies who brought people together to protest and demand police action. And I would seriously verify before I can accept Vic police’s version of the truth, both about the protests and the attacks.
The most nauseating part for me has been patronising advice from Vic police telling Indian students how to conduct themselves, and some condescending desis fall for this sort of sh*t, as if young Indians need to apologise for being boisterous at times. I have had a lot of Indian students drive me around in cabs and very rarely if ever have I come across a rude one. They have nothing to apologise for.
I do agree with you Melbourne Desi, about the need to defend oneself, but there is always a risk of having a knife pulled on you.
You have to wonder whether the recent media stories about the indian doctor Patel, aka Dr. Death, who lied about his qualifications and killed dozens of his white aussie patients due to incompetence, and the burning alive of the australian missionary Staines and his children in India by right wing hindu fanatics, poured fuel on the fire of racial hostility towards indians in Australia.
yup it is true in Australia. did you know that mainstream australian media did not cover this story for two days.
exactly. blaming the victim. As if ipods are so expensive!!!
please – have some perspective. Staines was burnt ages ago and I have not seen a single news story on that in the last 5 years !!!
The latter happened so long ago that I doubt it. First I’m hearing about Doc Patel. When did that take place?
The only way to find out what spurred these attacks is to ask the attackers.
Austrailain police need to release info on them. Like. Right. Now.
What is up with all the secrecy? Is this how Australia normally opererates?
Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has a family member among the recent victims of racist attacks against indians in Australia:
http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/31/stories/2009053160030900.htm
Blame Bush
No. In this case, blame Obama!
why does it matter. A kick to the head hurts regardless of the attacker. As a resident I dont care about skin colour, I just want the criminals locked up for a long time.
Melbourne Desi, did Parish Charles serve any time for his attempted murder around this time last year of taxi driver Jalwinder Singh, in Melbourne?
I read that his lawyer claimed that his new HIV medicine was responsible for his temporary loss of sanity. Did that actually hold up in court? Please say it ain’t so!
White racists openly instigated this:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25585087-421,00.html
AN Australian website urging a “hate offensive” against Indians was condemned as “disgusting”, while fears grow that racial tensions will escalate. For the past six months, Melbourne man Patrick Oââ¬â¢Sullivan has posted comments onto a white supremacy forum about how ââ¬Åevilââ¬Â Indians were and urged others to participate in a ââ¬ÅSummer hate offensiveââ¬Â in the Victorian city. In late November, Mr Oââ¬â¢Sullivan posted a comment ââ¬â using the name ââ¬ÅRAWHOWA NOWââ¬Â – on a neo-Nazi forum which said he was sick of ââ¬ÅDirty F**king Indiansââ¬Â. ââ¬ÅThey infest the Melbourne area. I could write all day (about) how evil and putrid those scum are… one particularly infuriating thing about these curry n*ggers is their arrogance,ââ¬Â he said. ââ¬ÅI think this may seem (to have originated) from the apathy of Whites not putting tem (sic) in their place. Those browm (sic) maggots used to get spat on, tolchocked and on occasion even stabbed and/or hospitalised.”Amit Menghani, president of the Federation of Indian Students in Australia, said he thinks the comments were promoting ââ¬Åcurry-bashingââ¬Â. The term ââ¬Åcurry-bashingââ¬Â is used to describe the hunting down of Indians and beating them.
I am not sure there is a widespread racial hostility at work. Prejudices may abound, but people usually don’t go around beating up other people they may not be friendly with.
PS: What’s with the ‘abo’ word being thrown around?
there is not. Vast majority of Australians are friendly and easy going. The minority is racist. The issue at hand is not about “crazy minority” which is a separate issue. It is the insitutional disinterest of the police judiciary and the parliamentarians. For what it is worth – Ted Bailieu has been supporting the desi position for a couple of years. Harmony march and hate laws – my foot. Arrest the criminals and lock them up for a long time. Maybe we should send them across the ditch.
ps across the ditch is New Zealand ð
As an Indian-American student I recently returned to the United States after spending five months in Sydney studying and working. A lot of the news reports I have read have Australian police officials questioning whether the violence is specifically motivated by racial hatred or just that Indians are easy targets. Based on the numerous deaths of Indian students in the United States in recent years – maybe this trend reflects on a failure of our community to stand together and protect ourselves. I was born and raised in Los Angeles and was working on some masters coursework in Sydney. I also happened to be bartending to make extra money. Australia is a very racially charged society and I noticed extreme social segregation between international students and white Australians. I also felt treated differently by my employers because I was Indian, but was treated better than my South-Asian counterparts because I was American.
Oi! We’ve got enough of our own racist crazies over here – we don’t need them learning any new stuff, thanks!
I used to be one of these people with the stereotypical view that all Australians were just like surfers, chill, calm, always saying “G’day mate” and various lame stuff. After reading more on the Cronulla riots a few years ago though, which were racially motivated, it’s kind of scary. I wonder if it stems from Australia having such a huge portion of non-natives who often just go there for a few years and then leave, leaving some ill will behind.
(From Sydney) it really is a law and order problem – and a matter of making the police take the issue seriously. (Who cares if the attackers are black, white or brindle? Irrelevant. As is the reason they’re targeting Indians.) Imho that seems to be happening – slowly, and with much resistance – and with some threatening of ‘dire economic consequences’, but if that’s what it takes, then that’s what it takes. To spell it out: I don’t care if the police force here is made up of people who are racist in terms of their personal beliefs so long as they do their jobs and enforce the very definitely non-racist laws.
“The racist attacks come from long term residents whose only understanding of black people are dole bludging abos.”
Melbourne Desi, that’s just not cricket. If we buy into stereotypes about other people, why wouldn’t other people buy into stereotypes about us?
sorry. no stereotypes meant. let me rephrase that. Most of the racists (normally long term residents) have a mental mindset that a darkie is a drain on society. For a racist a black african / an aboriginal / desi are all of the same class – non human and hence dont deserve the same respect. No need to distinguish between the three.
quite common. welcome to australia ð Sydney is way worse than Melbourne especially on the north shore.
cronulla was partially a fightback to the pack rapes by the Lebanese gangs. So was Camden.
dont know. not reported in the news. Normally you would expect that if a police station received two calls – 1) one calling about an alleged assault and attempted murder with rock throwin 2) a break into a school after school hours.
most reasonabley people would assume that the attemped murder is of greater import. Well the Police here decide that the school break in is more important. Link below
What exactly constitutes “racism”. Any sane person will condemn a violent attack, but does preferring to move in social circles of one’s own ethnicity constitute “racism”? What about having a policy of only marrying someone from one’s own ethnic background? Is that racism too.
I understand condemning violence. But the term “racism” seems to be bantied around here and well, let’s define it. Where is the line drawn?
Agreed. Pile it on top of various failures of Brumby and co. It’s good that there is some level of concern now in the political class. Even though I am quite cynical about it, that is the only way to address the problem in the long term. It is also a potential vote bank.
As Ennis pointed out, regardless of the race, there is a class factor. Elite racism / prejudice / thuggery doesn’t result in broken bones or stab wounds.
So its the white/black proletariat vs. the brown raja?
Desi Police, it’s not about brown rajas. The point is even if the Toorak Toffs as melbourne desi called them look down upon you, they are not going to jump you in a dark alley. And you can give them the figurative middle-finger. The victims here are praja – not cocooned in a leafy suburb and driving home from work (well, to be fair a lot of white collar people also use the transport network). They are exposed.
good thing the esteemed commenter rob on this website isn’t so indiscriminate.
I really sympathise with the desi population in melbourne. Even locals have trouble with the locals down there. Thats why they keep coming to queensland – we used to be racist scum under sir joh the danish nutjob – nowadays we’re too busy.. Go north my friends, go north..
Another Indian Aussie here.
You know who should get some perspective? The Shiv Sena idiots who were burning effigies of Kevin Rudd. For heaven’s sake.
As awful as it is that Australia has some racist people in it, it’s hardly the only country to be facing such a problem.
Melbourne has the best police money can buy, the saying goes. Miranda Devine (A right wing hack) in her column notes Melbournes approach to fighting crime is actually fighting crime statistics. If a crime is not recorded it did not happen and to fight crime statistics they have placed many obstacles for crime being reported. Even then VIC had 31,000 or so assaults in 2007-2008.
Sydney where I am based has a massive Lebanese gang problem and these gangs have even infiltrated and created their bikkie gangs, so much so you have a Middle Eastern crime squad that focuses on Middle Eastern crime. The approach to Policing is different between these 2 cities. Though both states are ruled by Labor the VIC is ruled by Labor’s left faction and NSW is ruled by Labor’s right faction and that explains touchy feely policing in Melbourne and over the top heavy handed in NSW.
@melb desi, aakaash, pallavi et.al
Another Indian Aussie bloke here, staying in Adelaide (i’m a crow eater melb desi ð )
thanks for the melbourne perspective. a couple of years ago we had some similar incidents in adelaide, where a young indian student lost sight in one of his eyes. there was also a feeling of police apathy here, so they approached the local Indian association. The association then set up a meeting of stakeholders, such as the South Aust Police, the Universities, Indian government reps etc….after a couple of such meetings, the incidents started to decrease.
I don’t know about how it is in Melb, but in Adelaide definitely the Indian association could do more to engage local students. Adding to that is also the fact that the international Indian students (who are usually the targets) do not show much enthusiasm in joining Indian Student Associations in Australia (barring the FISA)….that could be due to 2 reasons: 1) different priorities 2) lack of engagement.
Apart from that I pretty much agree with what melb desi says….from what I hear the media reaction in India has been to tar all Australians with the same “racist” brush. In my 15 years here in Australia, I’ve been racially abused aroun 6-7 times. All but two of those times, I had my australian friends to stand up for me, one which resulted in a half funny chase with the perpetrators stacking it, because they were punch drunk. The two times, I reported the matter to my school teacher and the situation was dealt with very well.
BTW melb desi…i’m currently a dole bludger ð
The most dangerous jobs in Australia or even US are cab drivers and night shift at the convenience store. Indian students are over represented in those jobs, place them in a city with high street crime and you will have an over representation of Indians in the number of victims.
As some one who studied in Australia as an International student, the real problem begins at home in India. You have irresponsible education consultants (pimps would be a better word) who match clients with education providers for commission from the provider. These agents try to sell their client a provider who pays them the highest commission, usually a diploma mill whose diploma is not worth the paper it is printed on but it is still currency in the permanent residency market sadly not in the employment market. These agents fail to take into consideration the intellectual ability and/or the financial capacity of their client. The financial criterion for the student visa is fees + 1000 per month allows many students into Australia but then the reality of living in very expensive city sets in. [Only NY is more expensive than Sydney and Melbourne in USA in terms of cost of living]. The student visa also places a major disadvantage on the students in the employment market, it limits you to a strict 20 hour work week, quarter hour more and you risk visa cancellation, detention and deportation at your expense. Yes! you are billed for it at $ 125-$255 per day of detention. To get around this strict time limit many seek employment in the cash in hand economy where they are exploited often by some one of their ethnicity who owns a restaurant or a Seven 11 franchise. They form the under ground economy working for as little as $8 an hour (less than the $543.79 per work week (37.5 hours) minimum wage).
The attacks are really sad but if it weren’t for the chronic shortage of seats in India many would not risk studying at sub standard institutes down here placing themselves at risk financially and physically.
Media coverage against the Indian students bashing.
These bashings have been rightly condemned and calls for strong actions to be taken on the perpetrators.
I also hope that when other nationalities in India are murdered must be given the same level of condemnation. There has been in the case of some Russian families trying to get the details into how their loved ones were murdered in GOA and the Goan police have not cooperated. Action must be taken on a lot of racism that is found in India for example, where were the Indian politicians and well known public figures when Biharis and other north Indians were thrashed in Maharastra. You guys have caste racism, regional racism, problem with another regional language etc. You have Police brutality, rapes, muders galore.
For crying out loud you people need to set example by cleaning up your own backyard first.
Where were these stars when a strong protest was required re Varun Gandhi and others made the hate speech? Is it the fear that if you make the comment against the politicians or your local goondas that you maybe beaten up or your house set on fire? I guess it is easier and safer to rev-up the sentiments when similar crimes are committed in a far away place.
Can any of you stand up and tell me when your nation is going to literally wipe out this caste based racism? Therefore there will be no need to have so called cast based quarter system in education, employment etc. I guess if you are lucky it will take more than 300 years to give fair go to your own citizens let alone outsiders.
Hypocrisy thy name is Indian.
You should take to the streets and protest 100 fold more strongly on all the issues I have mentioned.
Crime committed against any one must be strongly condemned not only when it suits one.
Um. . . everywhere? All over the television and newpapers.
Good to know Australia is going to compare its level of state capacity with a third world country. Way to set the bar.
Can any of you stand up and tell me when your nation is going to literally wipe out this caste based racism?
Are you kidding me? I live in the US and there’s racism galore here and from what I’ve heard racism still exists in Europe huh? Uh, there’s affirmative action here too, that is targetted for the “underrep” minorities – blacks, latinos and native americans. There’s racism between minorities and how often have I had a white person say something stereotypically negative when when it comes to a black American…and this to an Indian. We’ve been a nation for some 60 years during which time we’ve maintained a democracy and have a constitution that holds everyone as equal and caste discrimination is illegal. Where do you see that in the MidEast, China? Other South Asian countries…um, you don’t.
Perhaps you haven’t noticed with our relatively free press (again you don’t see this too often in other parts of Asia, Mid East, Latin America, Africa- do you?) that for 60 years people have been trying to raise awareness about gender issues, religious equality and caste discrimination – I’m sorry india isn’t perfect…just like your own country isn’t perfect…does that mean that an Aussie who’s beaten up in India, particularly b/c of his race, can’t call on the Indian govt to live up to it’s laws….do we just say, well since white Aussie’s wiped the aboriginees they have no say if their rights our violated?
Indians in Aussie sure as hell have every right to call attention to the human rights and civil rights violations that occur, when a bunch of ignorant bastards cause the death or horrendously attack law-abiding residents. India hypocrite? No man, you are one big stinking hypocrite and hopefully most people in my country, US, don’t feel like you. Otherwise an immigrant coming from say an African country that conducted genocide amongst it’s people, or former Yugo immigrants coming to America, or Chinese who comes from a country that has killed millions of its own people either b/c of ethnicity or politics, will just have to deal with any racial violence that comes their way…I guess b/c none of them come from a region of the world that is perfect, apparently like you…lol.
I am impressed how Mel-Desi and other Desi’s living in OzLand are trying to balalnce the argument in this case.
One Question:
To what extent Desis in Ozland have been able to assert themselves in 1.) Politics 2.) Public service 3.) Corporate structure 4.) Entrapreneural activities 5.) Other small business.
Thanks melbourne desi and the other ausi-desis for your inputs. We will have to wait and see if the ausi authorities start craking down on crime more seriously. In the meantime Bal Thackeray chimes in with his own take on this.
From: Outrage over attacks on Indian students
“We’ve been a nation for some 60 years during which time we’ve maintained a democracy and have a constitution that holds everyone as equal and caste discrimination is illegal. Where do you see that in the MidEast, China? Other South Asian countries…um, you don’t.
India’s treatment of minorities is worse than countries in the mideast. Which country in the mideast, when not in a state of war, has treated its minorities like the sikhs were treated in 1984 or Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.
JD, You’re kidding, right? How about, off the top of my head, massacre of Sunnis by Alawites at Hama in Syria (death toll probably somewhere between 10-30K); Turks killed over a million Armenians (OK, they’ll try to justify it w/ WWI but the Turks have killed a lot of Kurds since); Iranian revolution led to mass killings of Kurds, Bahai’s, Zoroastrians, gays, etc., etc., etc.
India’s treatment of minorities is worse than countries in the mideast
It’s horrible what happened to the Sikhs, different Hindu caste groups, and violence between Hindus and Muslims (there are victims on both sides), but besides what Rob has stated (the obvious) why not look at what rights a Sikh has in India (like any other Indian), and the dynamics of what happend that day, when what I consider a terrorist Sikh group and the killing of a PM (who I don’t have much respect for but that doesn’t excuse a killing)? Considering the the 1000s of Hindus and other nonMuslim minorities in most Muslim countries have little basic human rights such as freely exercising the way they want to worship, it is also interesting to note that Hindu or Sikh minorities have gotten smaller, and smaller in regions where they were once populous, whereas in India our minorities such as Muslims, have only increased in population.
The Kurds have a terrible situation in Turkey…one of many minority groups that will never have the same rights as their citizen colleagues who happen to practice the right form of Islam and/or come from the right tribe. And please stop with the Muslims in Gujarat (hindus and muslims both died) and yes, I think it was horrible what happened when Muslims set a train on fire, with Hindu families, men, women and children, killing them in a horrible death and yes, I think it’s horrible that many Hindus then reacted by attacking innocent Muslims and vice-versa…but that is nothing like what happens continously in the midEast, b/c in most of those countries, the very premise is that if you are not Muslim, the right type of Muslim then you have either no rights or are second/thrid class citizens.
Off topic, y’all. Please come back to Australia or take it offline in emails. We’re not discussing India vs. Mideast …
I hope that the Australian government realizes that if they will not stop these attacks, its going to give rise to Indian gangs in Australia. Not all immigrants, specially in Australia, are the harmless grad student types. There might be some tough cookies going there too and once they are pushed to the corner, they are going to react.