Rainer. I actually didn't know what term to use to explain the situation because I worried that no matter how I presented it that it would get a response like the one that you have presented.

If you do not understand what I am trying to say then that is your problem not mine.

In Australia if you are not a white Aussie then you are not Australian. You might call yourself Australian but when somebody asks you your nationality and you say Australian they do not believe you, they will not accept it and they say come on tell me the truth! I am Australian born in Spain and my husband is an Australian born in Lebanon we have 4 Australian children and that has been our experience and the experience of all our family and friends. People will not accept that we are Australian when we identify ourselves as such and always insist that we tell them the truth.

I actually wanted to specify certain cultures who seem to feel that if somebody doesn't like them it is because of their race and not their actions and/or personality. Maybe I didn't write it well, I was in a bit of a hurry as I wanted to watch a show on TV and I was worried as it just seems that no matter how you present things somebody will find a way to attack what you say rather than listen to what you are saying.

Very interesting point, Rainier.

It occurs to me that part of the paranoia that a significant and vocal minority apparently experiences, concerning Australian identity, arises precisely because there is no "Australian" ethnicity per se (unless of course Aboriginality is regarded as a kind of ethnicity). While the "Anglo-Celt" minority often like to claim that their heritage is the most authentically Australian, the reality is that there is really only an Australian identity that is derived from nationality. Ethnicity is therefore perceived by some aggrieved members of the Anglo-Celt minority to be "Un-Australian" - ergo, if you're "Ethnic" you're not "Australian".

"Australia" as such has only been in existence for a bit more than a century, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the ethnic traditions that our various waves of immigrants have brought with them and passed on to their descendants. The shrill few who want to claim ethnic predominance of so-called Anglo-Celtic ethnicity, in a nation with such a relatively shallow history and increasingly multicultural demographics, are perhaps fortunately doomed to marginalisation by their own hands in Australian society and culture.

Of course, the only people who can really claim to be "ethnically" Australian are our Indigenous citizens, who don't really seem to get into Australia Day for some reason.

Hello Jolanda,
I understood what your point was in your first post, but the main thing I picked up on was your use of the word 'respect'. I agree totally with you and I think our standards have dropped in this regard.

We need to teach our kids to respect others and this can begin very simply by saying 'please' and 'thank you'and by kids addressing adults with their title of Mr, Mrs or Ms. Politicians set a poor example of showing respect.

Unfortunately, in our quest to demonstrate a non-discrimitary stance, we have allowed into this country some cultural groups that show scant respect for our laws, our community standards or some others of differing ethnicity or religion.

We are stuck with those already here, but I believe we should deny citizenship and permanent residency in future, to those groups that actively show little regard for our laws, our standards and respect for others. Those who will not or cannot integrate to ensure an harmonous community would have to be happier elsewhere, where they are accepted.

Mercurius, well spoken.

It is again abundantly clear that though there are Ausies who like to think that they hold 'Australian values' dear they have increasing difficulty not to approach every person who looks different to them with a whole set of prejudices before even meeting them. So much for 'fair go'.

Any Australian who does not think that racism is alive and well in Australia is living in cloud cuckoo land.

My young blond blue eyed city bred stepson on his one year sojourn as a jackeroo was staggered by this fact. His claim: 'Everyone is racist. Even people you think are really nice.' As young as he was he noted: 'But mum, they haven't even had any personal dealings with aboriginal people or non English (his words) people and yet they hate them.'

Expressing an opinion or relating an unpleasant experience about any aspect of Australia, its people or its culture does not mean a lack of love and commitment to this nation. Some Australians need to remove that chip of their shoulder and become more mature and confident about who they are. We are not simple one dimensional cartoon characters from a Crocodile Dundee movie.

Mercurius, that is the difference between American citizens and Australians. They are so confident about themselves I have found that they are quite willing to discuss things American. Diverse opinions are still openly and publicly expressed. You will only be mugged in NYC for your shoes, not your opinions.

'If you don't like it then leave' is pathetically infantile. It belongs in the primary school playground.

Jolanda,

The point I make, and one you clearly understand, is that notions of diversity ethnicity in this nation proposed by white Australians refuses to treat whiteness as a form of ethnicity and in doing so posits whiteness as an invisible norm by which other ethnicities are judged (i.e., you are Spanish and thus not the whiteness that is accorded power and privilege – i.e., the ability /authority to declare who is “ethnic” as well as declare yourself Australian)

I have never really considered myself Australia simply because my primary identity as a human being did not derive its epistemological substance from the establishment of this nation state (Australia).

In fact the term ‘Australian’ it’s a reminder that this "development" was enabled only though a complete revulsion toward me and mine.

The history of regulation and control of me and my family has been guided by white government and socio-cultural theories of what constitutes ‘Aboriginality’. I also do not recognise myself as such as an “Aboriginal”. This is very difficult for ‘Australians’ to comprehend.

I understand why you are frustrated when (mostly) white Australians (conservative multiculturalists) disregard your claim of being Australian as dishonest.

This is, as you say, because they confuse nationality with ethnicity and never see their own whiteness as being an ethnicity. Instead they perpetuate a system of belief that makes their ethnicity invisible and unexplained whilst retaining and empowering themselves to name who is or is not ethnic.

I sometimes wonder if new ‘Australians’ or old ones that are not white understand what they are buying into by vehemently declaring themselves to be Australian.

I think it’s a kind of threatened anglocentricism that is only capable of being maintained in an ethnic enclave sheltered from a real knowledge of the breadth of cultural diversity in this country.

C.J. Morgan, Australia Day is for me a celebration of white Australianness – as well as lots of self congratulatory BS about how well ‘ethnics’ are complying with the cultural expressions of this whiteness – all on one day

Banjo,

yes, Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi and Pakistani Muslims also have been involved in racist bashings and such. Remember, for instance, the infamous MSK Pakistani gang rapists from Ashfield a few years ago? Remember the "Assyrian Kings" gang members who savagely murdered police officer David Carte in Fairfield a decade ago?

However, it is true that according to the ABS stats, Lebanese Muslims are the largest single group of Muslims in the country.

There is also Asian racist gangs. The worst experience I had with the Asian groups of "KKK" was when I was 14 in 1988, at the back of Bonnyrigg plaza (next to Cabramatta), I was innocently riding past on my skateboard at about 10pm and, little, did I know, 6 drunk Asians were bashing a lone young white teenager when one of them saw me and ran towards after me with a knife calling me an "Aussie c###". I ran for my life thinking that I was dead.