Great article Andrew. Thank you.

I remember the Russian and Polish arrivals in Bondi too, and how the kids all got along regardless of their parents' fears, learning bits of new languages, hearing stories about things we could only imagine. Then the Pacific Islanders came and we learned to sing together without feeling awkward.

Grassby's amazing suits, Frazer's compassion, Keating's Redfern speech, multicoloured kids at my own kids' schools.

Life goes on regardless. It's a matter of individual choice whether you make the most of it or make yourself miserable complaining about it and indulging paranoia.

Sparkles

The origins of our current time measurement system go back to the Sumerian civilization of approximately 2000 BC. This is known as the Sumerian Sexagesimal System based on the number 60. 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour.

Sumer (or Shumer, Egyptian Sangar, Bib. Shinar, native ki-en-gir, (from Ki = Earth, En = (title) usually translated as Lord, Gir = (cultured) usually translated as Civilised, thus "the land of the civilised lords") was an ancient civilization located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (modern day southeastern Iraq) from the time of the earliest records in the mid 4th millennium BC until the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language. Sumer is considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a "civilization".

Why don't you go back to bed and dream of racial dominance.

Flack I predicted and sure enough...it came :)

Pericles.. I'm using the imagery from Paul/Newtestament of a body with many parts. Each having its own function, but.. integrated into the whole..the body.
Noses without bodies are useless... do I have to repeat this 50 times ?
All I'm saying, is that it's more socially and nationally beneficial in terms of harmony,to have all cultural subsets being part of, rather than being isolated/insulated from, the main body.

Sparkles picked up on the flawed logic of Steve, who indeed DID use the 'predominant' cultures language to make his post.

Pericles.. you always jump to either Adoph or Mosely as the intended direction of my 'rants'. I fail to see this.
For this to be valid about my posts, I would HAVE to be advocating 'everyone must become a NOSE and nothing but a nose' get me?
Am I saying that ? errr no.

Other critics leap onto the "white superiority" bandwagon. "You think you are better than us" is implied.

Then its "All an Islamist plot to take over the world"

YES, That is absolutely correct. Note the word 'Islamist' used in the sense of radicals. Let me QUOTE from an Arab Sheikh in Lebanon or Gaza or somewhere.. shown on the Doco "Obsession: the threat of radical Islam" spoken in English !

"We once ruled the world, we can do it again !"
Recent Al Qaeda statement "We will not stop till we blow up the Whitehouse"
British Intelligence "There is a plot to explode a Nuclear device in England"
Same source 700 active terror plots being monitored.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20759752-2703,00.html
<The Iranians want Saif al-Adel, a 46-year-old former colonel in Egypt's special forces, to be the organisation's No3, after bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.>
Why ? Proxy use for nuke !

Now.. the thinking man sees this clearly. He does not immediately send all Muslims to Baxter because of this moron, but what he DOES do, is beef up intelligence, and protective powers to monitor the ONE community "from which" this element comes.

Good introduction to start with the "Negative" of Immigration, that is overwhelming Australian communities.

Got the gist of the vision, plan and agenda of Immigration. This has been said before.

Got a bit muddled up with the "Positives", before concluding, that multiculturism is alive and well and doing Australia proud.

I just take my "uncovered meat" and the "uncovered meat" and "infadel" of my family and live happily ever after.

Some comments on the article:

'We live in a world now where unease about the "other" has escalated dramatically.'

Really? Wasn't the "other" far more feared during the two world wars last century? Isn't it true that now most countries in the world have a far greater mix of ethnicities than 'before'?

Perhaps it is only the author's unease has escalated dramatically, or at least revived from 'back then'..

Tell me, Professor Jakubowicz, when you look around at Sydney now, compared to when you first arrived, can you seriously say that unease about the "other" has increased? In Sydney today the mix of culture and race is truly unprecedented.

I believe this hanging onto of old fears is what drives your ideological Multiculturism movement. So many people lost so much before they came to Australia, and many (like you, Professor) deep down are afraid that this might happen to them again. This shows clearly in the victim mentality so strongly presented here. You are not a victim anymore.

Many immigrants have no time for 'Multiculturism' - they just want to get on with their lives. They're not obsessed with trying to regain what they might have lost before. Important also is the fact that often the people who are able to 'escape' to Australia are/were the ones who could afford it! Like in the New Orleans hurricane, the poor were/are often left behind. It follows then that those who lost a lot of wealth in their previous countries perhaps lost degrees of prestige and power as well, and very much seek to regain it.

I heard a story recently about a man who lost his whole family to the Nazis, but his family was able to send him to the USA (he was only 12). Now, he is mega-rich. He lives in a massive mansion by a lake in Switzerland, with a garage for more than 12 cars carved into the hillside. His philosophy?: "I lost everything, so I vowed to become so rich and powerful that nobody could ever hurt me or my family again".

No more victimhood!

The multi cultural question is resolved - it is part of us. So I have know idea what the fuss is all about - unless of course one doesnt like the way we are - if that is the case too bad I guess.

YOu can clammer all you like but no oe will unscramble these eggs -

And BD it is time to walk away from the Islamic Dominance thing - it will given your insistance, and that of others, probably become a self fulfilling prophesy sadly - I know you are bif on the prophets - but this will be a socailly engineered outcome if ever there is to be one.

And dont be so sure that there arent other groups out there with dreamsof taking over the world - because there are: they too are mad - just like the Islamic extremists