Rainer thing is that when I am on my own I don't tend to get challenged when I say am Australian (I came to Australia age 2 so this is all I know) as I am olive skinned but reasonably fair and depending on what colour I have used in my hair it can be hard to tell my background. However if I am with my girls (born here) who have taken their fathers dark Lebanese look the fact that we call ourselves Australians is challenged. Not just by those who are white but by those of other shades and cultures too. My daughters (16 and 11) are always made to reveal their background. No matter how many times they insist that they are Australian it is not accepted and generally it turns into a guessing game to try to guess their background. Sometimes they find it easier to just tell up front that they are Australians of Lebanese and Spanish background. Although they tend to put Spanish first and sometimes they avoid the Lebanese part, as they are concerned that the Lebanese part may be used against them. It isn’t easy.

My husband gets it all the time. I don't think he has ever had anybody accept that he is Australian as he is dark and of middle eastern (can also be confused for a Mouri) appearance. It just seems that unless you are aboriginal or white, or whitish you cannot call yourself an Australian - not a true Australian anyway.

Maybe we should just all accept that we are all different and actually refer to ourselves an Australian Lebanese or an Australian Spaniard or an Australian Aboriginal etc. That will at least fix the problem. I really don’t think that the majority of people mean any harm when they ask. They are just curious and given that different people and different cultures have different ways and ideas it is a good idea to know who you are dealing with so as to relate better and adjust your conversations so as not to offend.

l do so love a boagan chick. Australia has an abundance of them. The one's who put on the sophisticated schtick are the best ones.

HRS, the 'leave if you dont like it' slogan can be rather ironic. For one can take their own advice. Best stay off that slipeery slope.

Jolanda,

I hope that your girls will grow up declaring all their heritage as a matter of pride and fact. Especially Lebonese heritage.

Why shouldn't they I say.

Perahps you really don't feel comfortable discussing racism here.

Thats ok, I understand, everyone to their own.

Rainer we live in the Sutherland shire. You know right near the Cronulla riots. It is very hard to be proud of a heritage when that heritage is seen in such a negative light. My kids were scared to go to the beach for a while for fear of being attacked after the riots. The youngest one was impacted for a long time and given that his father often works in Cronulla and had to work there the next day he was scared and worried that his father was going to be attacked. Of course nothing happened, some people appeared overly apologetic many others totally ignored him and pretended he wasn't there. Many didn't want to make eye contact and appeared to feel bad about what happened.

Of course there are reasons why those of Lebanese background have developed this reputation and reasons why these people reacted the way that they did but certainly it isn't fair to the innocent young people who happen to be of middle eastern background and appearance and it certainly isn't right to paint everybody with the same brush.

Personally I think is all the Governments fault. They keep talking about accepting difference and then they want to pretend that we are all the same. They do not deal with the issues that difference creates. They create this problem with racism by making it an issue and a focus. Discrimination and bullying fuelled by malice and spite should be against the law, regardless of colour, nationality, type or race. The anti-discrimination laws discriminate by being particular about who they protect and they make it dependant on a persons race.

How did you come to the conclusion that I am not comfortable discussing racism?

Ranier,

When Australians in sport play almost any country other than Scotland, England, or Ireland, there is a mass of support in Australia for those teams, and a smidgen of support for Scotland, England, or Ireland. Those decendent from these three places provide by far the largest support base for Australia in sport, not for Scotland, England, or Ireland. Does this help you understand what Jolanda means?

And it is only those Australians of YOUR political mindset who "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 long for the day when this stops, but not for your reasons, but for the fact that it denies non-whites the agency and therefore responsibility required before it is deemed legitimate to criticise them. It is wrong to criticise a child who had no choice in the matter, so we blame their parents. Apparently the whites are the parents for all those against open criticism for all Aussies.

This lack of valid criticism aimed at all non-whites is perpetuated by leftist tacit white supremicists who cannot conceive of non-whites being able to take up a position of deeming them inferior. But unless we throw the vile race card in the bin and start being allowed to criticise all Aussies we will never move on.

All human beings are equal but not all cultures are equal!

We have every right to criticise some of the cultural practices entering Australia, such as the racist arranged marriage practices we see.

It is only those like you who demoralise all but those who perpetuate such criticism of whites only, and therefore it is you, not those you think it is (me?), who must consider that only whites have the freedom to have done otherwise than they did, and thus the responsibility for their choices. You see non whites as child like.

Be careful Jolanda, you might get called a "darling of the right".

White Warlock,
Thanks for that info. I certainly recall the MSK brothers, but I believed them to be just criminals who were trying to emulate Skaf and Co. That was the only incident I recall involving Pakistanis.

The fighting between the Iraqi Sunnis and Shia at Auburn, at the first Iraqi election, I view more seriously as it involved many and they were middle aged men, who should be more mature. This incident resulted in a couple of shootings, bashings and extensive car and other property damage. But, again this is the only incident I know of involving Iraqis.

I know nothing of the 'Assyian Kings' you mentioned.

Although I am aware of big problems in overseas countries with other Muslims, it seems our main problem here is with Lebanese Muslim anti-social behaviour. I wonder about this as we don't seem to have this with other Muslims or Non-Muslim Lebanese. I could well be wrong in this but I wonder, why?. Any thoughts?