Dear Mani,

As Australian society has become more diverse with continuing immigration, expressions of racism in Australian popular culture have changed over time. Racist language and attitudes that were common at the end of the nineteenth century are no longer acceptable one hundred years later. However, racism continues to find expression in new ways, reinforced through the popular media.

Contemporary expressions of racism which have emerged in recent years relate to notions of nationhood which are seen as incompatible with diversity. These racist beliefs may be expressed in various stereotyped views of who the "real" Australians are. This form of racism is based on an ideology of national culture in which minority cultures are regarded as alien and a threat to social cohesion.
It consists of pervasive cultural assumptions where the customs and beliefs of the dominant group in society are presented as the norm.

As a result, the status and behaviour of minority groups, particularly those who are more visibly different are defined and
judged with respect to the dominant group of largely British and Celtic backgrounds.

These attitudes are widely discussed in the media where they are presented as reasonable and commonsense and reflected through media images that do not accurately portray Australia's cultural diversity.
In this way, racist idealogies are expressed and reinforced through a process of group interaction and thereby absorbed into popular culture.

As the famous journalist, John Pilger has pointed out, "Australia is the only developed country whose government has been condemned as racist by the United Nations." (13 Oct. 2000).

Well, Foxy, I guess you are right, by and large. Anyway, let me go to the main article now.

Mirko says: "No one likes being verbally abused." Glad he says so. But what have the Aussies been doing all these years, particularly since Steve Waugh took over? What is sledging? And the Aussies will lay down the rules as to what abusive words can be used, and what cannot be used? Hogwash, Mirko.

>>And as for the controversy over Symonds not walking, there is a classic case of much ado about nothing.<<
Sorry, Mirko, you are totally off-key. Ponting and Kumble made a gentlemen's agreement that they will accept the word of the fielder if he says he took the catch cleanly. What that said was that they will trust the honesty of the player. Well, the player cannot say that he will be honest and truthful when he claims a catch, but reserves the right to be dishonest and untruthful when he knows he himself is out.
It doesn't wash.

>>Given the human element involved adjudicating, baring bias, over a period of time statistically all teams will have as many poor decisions go in their favour as they do go against them.<<
Theoretically, yes. But when the adjudicaters tend to favour the Aussies more against India in Australia, and then be more kind to India against Bangla Desh or Kenya, the "statistical evening out" is not acceptable. In Sydney all commentators have agreed that the imbalnce was atrocious. Look at the way the third umpire gave Symonds not out to a stumping when even the Aussie commentators, who too watched the same TV replays, had declared him out. No, Mirko. There was something perverse about umpiring in Sydney.

>>As spectators we want a contest on the field and for predictability in the manner in which the game is adjudicated. Thereafter, may the best team win.<<
As brought out above, the adjudication had been "predictably" pro-Aussie, as it has happened with other teams visiting Australia also. So only Australia can win, not the best team.

Dear Mani,

Racism affects everyone. It damages communities by limiting the contributions of its members and disrupts peaceful co-existence and
co-operation between groups. It damages individuals by destroying self confidence and preventing them from achieving their potential. It is particularly damaging for children as it hampers social development and limits educational opportunities. The consequences of racism - social injustice, a less productive economy and a divided community are clearly detrimental, not only to its victims but to society as a whole.

And nothing will change until we all realize that racial prejudice is a corrosive influence attacking the most fundamental values of Australian society - our commitment to justice, egalitarianism and a "Fair go" for all.

Sport is so much a part of the "Australian" way of life - it is a passion of all races. But I think Australians would weep if they were taken on a tour of black sporting Australia. The annual Aboriginal Games in the Northern Territory (an event of great significance to black Australians) is played in a dust bowl without the most basic facilities. There are no athletics tracks, no swimming-pools, no basketball courts, often not even a set of goalposts...

In 1998, the Howard government enacted legislation that effectively took away the common-law rights that the High Court said belonged to Aborigines. Nothing like it has been passed by a modern parliament. It is just one of the disgraces that has given Australia the distinction of being the only developed country whose government has been condemned as racist by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The UN has also called racist the mandatory sentencing laws in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, which have given black Australians an imprisonment rate at least as high as that of apartheid South Africa, and have been a primary cause of one of the highest suicide rates in the world, among young Aborigines.

Dear Foxy

I am an immigrant and experienced many of the things you've experienced. I got over them. I grew, worked, had a family, mixed, became involved and now have a diverse range of friends and acquaintances. Few are racist and wouldn't dare indulge in the things you apparently still experience ... for they know the damage it causes to everybody and the community. Australias have genuinely changed in my 30 years here. And
I don't doubt a part of that is and was because of my attitudes.

Dear ALL,

the thing that really annoys me is that, in the entire world's history, it is only North-Western European cultures (which includes their descendents in Australia, US and Canada and NZ) that have undergone these MASSIVE demographic changes, that have multicultural policies that sometimes border on utter madness (when we put up with clear bigotry from some sections of some ethnic communities). It is only these North-Western European cultures that have a public shaming policiy on racism, that (I think) even talk about the concept, and here we have people from all over the world, many of whom are from cultures that have absolutely NO history of smooth ethnic/religious relations, or even have equality and discrimination policies that are upheld (even Japan is periodically chastised by the UN for their treatment of ethnic Koreans), telling people from a culture that has proven its tolerance, that champions human rights worldwide, and that frankly, if it didn't exist (mostly by way of the power of the US and Britian), the world would be a moral cesspit in an intellectual iceage.

Why don't any non-Anglos ever attack the racism and bigotry and racist marriage practises of your own cultures? Don't you think that it is morally wrong to just come to a country that culturally is light years ahead of your parents' country for human rights, equality, and actual racism discourse (since most other nations don't even have this term in their vocabulary), and start calling us racist and asking us to change our flag, etc.?

Dear Keith,

Please don't misunderstand. I love this country. I was born here.
Although my ancestry is from Northern Europe - the Baltic (not Balkan).

I am simply reacting when someone pushes the right buttons. But I do feel that enough has been said on the topic. And it is time to move on.

As I said in another post - It would be good if all of us would realize that racial prejudice is a corrosive influence attacking the most fundamental values of Australian society - our commitment to justice, egalitarianism and a "Fair go" for all