"Living in a multicultural society means respectful coexistence with people from diverse cultural, religious and ethnic groups."

It works both ways!

The Elephant in the room, is that certain imigrants would not allow their children to have relationships with the mostly caucasian australians. This still exist today.

Back to the riots/protest, the mother who took a photo of her child holding up the sign saying that certain people should be 'beheaded'.

She claimed to be university educated and did not know what the word 'behead' meant.

It is not hard to imagine what would happen if I walked around with sign saying "All ...... should be beheaded!"

I doubt that I would not live very long without police protection.

Since when has Australia even been multicultural? Looks like there's one culture here "and if you don't like it you can eff off back to where you came from". Great article, hope the rednecks read it.

If talking about the riots might be termed infeartainment then trying to explain them away as the isolated, out of character actions of a few, might properly be termed befooltainment --or just plain dumb.


The starting point with anti-racist groups/campaigns is that racism is some peculiar WASP disease (they classify anyone with light skin as WASP even if they haven’t got a micron of Anglo-Saxon ancestry) and the only way to overcome it is to castigate & reeducate those dastardly "redneck" wasps.

In an earlier age the people behind such groups/campaigns might have set out to save our souls.In the current age, they are more likely to front non-profit organizations which (usually, with a level of govt funding) strive to save us from racism.

Now, to correct a few errors in the article:
1) It isn’t true that the recent riot was the first sign of trouble(s) arising out of our multicultural program. Just ask some of the residents of the Southern/Western Suburbs of Sydney, or better still, ask Mohamad Tabbaa who on a parallel thread tells us:
<<Leaders on all sides have been articulately playing down the genuine tensions and anxieties which exist between different communities in an attempt to maintain an image of social cohesion and harmony. This has not worked>>

2) Our values are NOT the big draw card they are made out to be. And parroting off a few lines on some DIAC quiz does not indicate that the immigrant knows or accepts “our values”

3) People of diverse origins, beliefs & wants living together is properly termed liberalism (or marriage). Multiculturalism on the other hand is where those differences are accentuated and brownie points (and often jobs) are allocated on the basis of ethnicity.

It's not enough for Muslim leaders to condemn violence. They must state unambiguously that they accept the values underpinning Australia's democratic institutions. That is, they must declare their support for an elected government; for the rule of law enacted by that government; for equality of all before the law; for freedom of speech; for freedom of religion; and for freedom of association.

Victoria's Education Reform Act 2006 requires all schools operating in Victoria to promote these values. It's perhaps time for the Commonwealth and the other states and territories to do something similar.

It might also be time for Muslim leaders to take some action to remedy the dysfunctional Muslim youth culture prevailing in Western Sydney, from where many of the violent protesters originated.

Until someone has gone themselves and found out what the Muslim, for example, community IS actually doing to sustain within it's own numbers the values that contribute to the kind of society most of us want, you're are simply assuming the media's portrayal of what's going on is 'the truth'. An assumption unlikely to be true.

I've seen footage of white Australians, angry, loud, abusive, pushing and shoving, insulting, making racist and offensive statements with twisted faces and spit flying from their lips outside refugee centres. Does that mean we are all like that? No.

Does it say anything at all about white Australians in general? No, well, maybe it says we tolerate extremes views among our own numbers even if they make us uncomfortable or sad and don't reflect our overall view of things.

Hey, maybe the Islamic Australian community is the same as the white Australian community?

Mikel Azure.

The Australian's value statement means zit if your belief system allows you to lie for the greater cause. It does not help when secular values with no moral basis allows you to do the same thing.