I live in the north of Queensland and I often hear this very odd expression – “reverse racism”.

This expression can often be heard in pubs and more increasingly in Letters to the Editor sections in the locally published newspapers in Mackay, Townsville and Cairns.

We have been told so often that we are a racist nation that when a group of indigenous youths beat up and rob an unsuspecting local or naive tourist in the Townsville Mall the only expression the ignorant can muster is “reverse racism”.

I have heard racist remarks from many.
I have heard it from teachers in the safety of staff rooms at both state and non-state schools.
I have heard it from migrants who themselves have had racist taunts thrown at them.
I have heard them in pubs and clubs (even those clubs that have the word International or Italian or some other identifying country in their name).

Racism is taught at home to children by parents.

Armed with negative stereotypes children will selectively find examples to support and reinforce their parents’ attitudes when they enter the world outside their homes.

All we can do is show good example and hope that positive experiences can alter someone’s attitude before they start influencing their own children.

Here we go again, Conservatives bad, Socialists good.

Bruce, never have I read a load of false facts. If anything, it is the socialists who have racism as its underbelly. It was Socialists parties (Labor) that introduced the white Australia policy and the Conservative parties (Liberals) who abolished it.

It was the Socialist parties that denied the aboriginal population a vote and the conservatives that championed and introduced voting for these people.

It was the liberals who first had an aboriginal elected to parliament, Labor never have.

It was the conservatives in America that fought to end slavery.

It is the conservatives that are the true moralists and the ones that fight for equality. You will never get this from the left side.

I have always found that it is the socialist who are the real racists, true conservatives are not.

Bruce, please spare us your false propaganda!

Well spoken, Bruce. I agree, there is a firmly entrenched undertone of racism running right throughout Australian society. It's so endemic now I'm losing faith in us ever being able to counter it.

You mention schools and universities and I agree, education is the key. Most state schools in my experience though are places of inclusion and do embrace multiculturalism and acceptance of difference. As pointed out by The Observer, the problem lies in the fact that these same values and attitudes aren't reinforced and modelled within the home environment.

As well, the growth of private schools has destroyed the universality of Australian education. Where children once rubbed shoulders with all classes and races, they are now increasingly restricted to mixing with their own kind, and as such tend to perpetuate the snobberies and intolerances peculiar to their particular group.

High schools and universities have become very instrumental in their focus. The Humanities subjects, which help promote greater understanding and acceptance of other cultures, have been progressively sidelined in the interests of maths, science, vocational and business subjects, so that many students now walk away with 'how to' job qualifications and little else.

In the same period that rightwing conservative values have permeated the education system, so too has education's ability to buffer the effects of ignorance and intolerance been severely weakened. Looking to the education system is I think a noble but vain hope.

Bruce sounds like the Dutch woman journalist who was raped several time by the Taliban. Hating Western culture so much she writes that the Taliban are not monsters but they respected me. I wonder if she feels the same way about the Taliban who rape young girls.

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3946

When are the lefties ever going to wake up to the fact that they themselves are the most racist people themselves. They have taught the aboriginals through their perverted untrue versions of history to hate the whites, they defend terrorist accusing anyone with half a brain of racism and seem to loathe Western civilization which has given them more freedom than ever before. Bruce is more a reporter of the mantras of the left rather than a Political commentator.

Just happens that the middle eastern men bashing Indians are the same who bash old ladies as revealed yesterday. Unfortunately this does not fit Bruce's self loathing views of most white Australians.

You must be a very bitter and unhappy man, Bruce, to feel the need to badmouth your country and countrymen as much as do on OLO.

Your racism rant is your most appalling effort so far. With citizens like you, Australia doesn't need any enemies.

Racism or Prejudice?
We are continually accused of being a racist society. But is it racism? Or plain old Aussie prejudice! For instance, Chinese restaurants dishing up stray cats as rabbit or chicken! This old tale kept me off Chinese food for years! Aussie ex-P.O.Ws from ww 2 refusing to buy Japanese cars because of their treatment. Is this racism? If so, what is color prejudice? If you're white you're right, if you're brown hang around, if you're black get back. This is a determining factor in Aboriginal society as well. Is this racism? And if you're Islander (Mud) get back even further! The division between Full-Blood and caste Aboriginal People is legend. An issue not discussed in the public domain. Almost like a taboo subject ! But a fact of life. You won't hear Michael Mansell talk about this. A Full-Blood will accept and trust a white person before they would a yella fella or mixed blood Aboriginal they know will exploit them. Is this racism? Torres Strait Islanders are derided by us. Is this racism? This is one reason why they are seeking to annul the marriage "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders". On the grounds of non consummation. It was a marriage in name only. Regarding and involving easier and continued access to funding. A marriage of convenience so to speak. (A.L.B. c. 9/07) An extract from, www.whitc.net.bigpondhostings.com A.L.B.

A few years ago Dr Eva Sallis, who lives in
Adelaide,SA., wrote an excellent article
(in my humble opinion) for The New York Times,
Dec. 17, 2005, called, "Australia's Dangerous
Fantasy." The article was on the Cronulla riots,
and racism in general. For me, it was a real
eye-opener - because I was buying into the media
'hype,' at the time. If anyone's interested you
can read it at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/opinion/17sallis.html

I fully agree with Sallis when in ending she says:

"What happened on Cronulla Beach warns us that
our self-inflicted wounds are festering. A volatile
part of our-community is deeply alienated, unable
to belong, and another volatile part has retreated to an
irretrievable past and a mythical notion of racial purity.
If contemporary Australians are to live at ease with
ourselves, we need more education, less fear mongering
and, not least, greater honesty about the culture of
racism that is so damaging us."

This is the best 'dog whistle' ever. it will bring out all the socialists, greenies, do gooders and advocates for multiculturalism and illegal boat people. They will shout 'Of course Australians are racist just look at the bashings and robbery of the Indian students'. But i suspect this article was written before the later information about other ethnic groups being responsible.

You can't beat a good racist story and authorities in Vic and NSW, by ommission, let everyone believe that anglo Aussies were the ones making life miserable for Indian students. This was followed up by the media broadcasting the same to the world via the wire services and internet. No doubt they will find a way to say anglo Aussies are giving us a bad reputation overseas.

The simple fact is that critisism of a culture or religion or a persons actions is not racism. Some people refuse to acknowledge this and see that there are some groups that can't or will not integrate because of their culture. Their are some groups that will not abide by our social standards and are blantly contemptous of our laws and our authorities.

If we really want our country to have a cohesive society we have to dispense with the idealogy of non-didcriminatery immigration and dissallow those groups in that have shown they will not integrate.

The thing about all of this 'racist' hoo ha is that people get sick and tired of being told they are racists, and switch off. The continuation of a few Indian students demonstrating makes people switch off. The whole thing becomes boring, and everyone loses interest.

By the time people like poor old Bruce Haigh get around to it, its over and done with.

The business of a few Australians of a certain type calling other Australians (the majority) racists has lost its impact. We expect the idiots to always be mumbling about 'racism', and, so what? The have reached the very, very boring stage; and it's high time they thought of something else to lambast us with.

Bruce Haigh states the obvious - at least it's obvious to those of us who aren't blinded by racism. As a nation, Australia was founded on racist ideology which persists just below the surface of polite discourse to this day, and constitutes much of the less polite discourse.

However, I don't think that Australia as a nation is any more racist than other comparable States these days, at least since the White Australia policy was dropped by Whitlam and Aborigines and Islanders achieved full human status under Fraser. Mind you, that is certainly not to say that many Australians don't subscribe to ideas that are plainly racist and/or xenophobic.

Also, I don't think that persistent racist sentiments are solely the province of "conservatives" - where I live I'm frequently regaled by ALP-voting acquaintances with tales and jokes about "coons", "curry-munchers", "ragheads", etc etc. Mind you, it's probably arguable that voting ALP these days *is* "conservative".

I guess I'm a lot older than any of you so I can recall the time when all Italians and Greeks who came to this country were "itys" and "wogs".I believe that we humans are tribal in our relationships,therefore,everybody who is different from us in some way, is to be feared.

Are the attacks on Indian students racist, or do people walking home alone from railway stations late at night simply stand a higher chance of being assaulted and robbed?

How many people who weren't foreign students were assaulted and robbed in the same timeframe?

Oh, that's right, police don't profile cases that way - it would be racist.

All that aside, I've no doubt there is racism in Australia, and racism is simply unnacceptable, but for heaven's sake, let's have some sense of proportion.

Indian media have made much of this issue, which I find interesting.

When 1,000 people are killed and 150,000 displaced by religious/ethnic riots in Australia, or when there are riots over the result of an international cricket match, then perhaps I'd concede that the Indian media have a right to criticise Australia.

This is a biased article which fails to pay adequate attention to the improvements made by Australians to issues of race and culture in the past 40 years. Yes, there may be some signs of racism, but Australia's record is pretty good when compared to other nations.

Is there racism in Australia? Of course there is.
Is it any worse than any other state/culture/ethnic group? I can't say but I'd be pretty confident in saying we are less racist than many and more racist than some.
This is indisputable. What is much more contentious is that somehow this is the preserve of the 'conservatives'.
In my view racism has been just as firmly grasped by the organised Leftist Labour movement since the Chinese first appeared on the Goldfields right through to their staunch opposition to 457 visas.
Then on the the rallying cry of the social reformers - the key to all our problems is to indoctrinate the children with whatever we think is the right way of thinking... I don't need my children to be taught that they are somehow guilty of some thought crime and must apologise for the actions of their forebears. My children play with kids of other races very happily every day. My eldest daughter's best friend is of Chinese background, my youngest son's best friend is Aboriginal, my youngest daughter's best friend is of Mauritian ancestry. Do they care - not at all.

If there is any racism here, it is induced by this damn stupid multiculturalism.

It is this stupid policy that is helping to promote racists gangs. It's given us the middle eastern "appearance" gangs, the south sea islander "appearance " gangs, & a host of appearance gangs.

Idiot bleeding heart anti racists have helped develop this split in our comunity.

Yes, we had the wogs & the dagos back in the 50s, but in not too long, they became main stream. Just a glance at the names of sporting teams proves this.

I'm afraid that the resentment, growing in our multicultural society today, will probably never allow this with nany of our current immigrants.

CJMorgan, thank you " I don't think that Australia as a nation is any more racist than other comparable States these days".

Exactly, we need to keep this in perspective as all states struggle with racism, some countries cannot even by emigrated to at all for this reason e.g. Japan, South Korea.

We are so keen to shout from the rooftops that our "carbon contribution to worldwide AGW" must be measured per capita, but when it comes to racism, it has to be completely internally focussed and self loathing.

Australians struggle with racism, as do other peoples, and we do the best we can, unfortunately we just can't overcome it overnight and it may take a long time. No one believes we strive to be racist, it just takes time till other attitudes and predjudices are taught around the breakfast table. We get the basic attitudes to these things from our parents, who probably also struggled with them.

The usual cry from the left who hate to examine things without dogma and prejudice is 'racism'. That is why we have lunatics denying that 9/11 was an attack by Muslims. They prefer the label terrorist to disguise the truth and label all extremist together. If calling some things from some cultures repugnant is racist then every fair minded person on the planet is racist.

On the whole Australians are among the most tolerant people on this planet even to their own determent. I know no one who isn't happy to accommodate and share with Islanders, Indians, Pakis, Kiwis or anyone else who is prepared to live peacefully in this land. Mass racism is an invention in the minds of the left to push their failed dogmas.

I agree that we are racists but there are many countries, MOST countries in the world MORE racists.
We know that more men than women are racists, more conservatives than lefts, more adults than youngs, more unskilled and uneducated than educated and skilled, more poor than rich, more people in the towns than in the cities and more racists in the states with less migrants.
We also know that there is a big part from the lefts especialy unionists who are against the migrants and some of them racists and many of conservatives, the rich, educated or employers who are not racists and prefer more migrants.
The conservative party is more xenophobic than the ALP but in the base of both parties there is a big part of racists.
We have race discrimination mainly in work places in the private sector than in the public sector.
Most times the race discrimination is covered and it is extremely difficult for the victims to find their rights, according to Human Rights Comission of UN from 2001 to 2005 no one victim of race discrimination won in the court.
For me only an open, democratic, mass, national Organization, in full and permanent coopersation with Australian authorities, can minimize the race discrimination.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

"Australians from the dominant Anglo-Celtic culture expect new Australians from other cultural backgrounds to show some respect, perhaps even a small cringe and obsequiousness, forelock tugging, until such time as they know the ropes, cut their cultural ties and enter the main stream."

So according to Bruce the "racism" goes away when new Australian's learn to fit in. No mention that new Australian's have to change their skin tone and or facial features, just get to know the local rules (written and unwritten) and try to fit in. That does not sound at all like racism.

Some do suffer due to their racial heritage but I suspect that true racists are relatively rare, more often it's something else and a something else that tends to go away with familiarity and basic manners all round.

Conservatives whatever they are may not like some change all that much, maybe that's why the term conservative makes sense. That does not make them racist. The article says more about the authors inability to give a fair evaluation of his political opponents than it does about racism or conservatives.

R0bert

Maybe it's not racism in Australia but eye for eye tooth for tooth response. If Lebanese are doing most of the attacks here then maybe they have heard before Aus people about what's really going on. See the first post and YouTube URL at:

http://www.topix.com/forum/world/australia/TVR80CTEUI5GMU19B

It's time for peace not hatred and unrest and war.

Insightful, informative, providing positive ideas about Indian student concerns... I'm talking, of course, about Rory Metcalf's excellent essay see http://www.lowyinstitute.org/Publication.asp?pid=1061

Meanwhile Bruce has produced a shallow piece which is out of character.

Recent and current pogroms (slaughter of different religions/races) are a way of life in many African, Asian and Latin American countries. Our racism is minor by comparison.

But as these Third World pogroms don't involve White People, who cares, who counts, no press, where's the guilt trip?

D minus Brucey

Pete

Banjo
Do not worry, in overseas there are only Australians, not anglo Aussies or Greek Aussies etc. I never read in any foreign publication for anglo Aussies but for Australian extreme nationalists, or Australian racists.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

We have slimy corporations bringing Indian workers into Australia to be taught by Aussies how to replace Aussie jobs back in India and people wonder why we're aggro towards them?

We have Slimy corporations sending thousands of Aussie jobs over to India every year and people wonder why we're aggro towards them?

We have a massively growing unemployment problem and a government bringing in more people by the thousands from other countries and we wonder why we're aggro towards them?

Yep, makes absolutely no sense to me either!

BUT! Let's not forget it wasn't just Aussies abusing these people!

Antonios,
That is exactly the way I want it here too. Do away with multiculturalism and its divisive ways. MC promotes alien cultures at the expense of Aussie culture and divides us into groups. New Australians is a much better and friendlier term to refer to recent immigrants. Then they are Australians pure and simple.

Problem is the lebanese muslims call themselves 'Lebs' and they are anti-social and are contemptous of anything Aussie including our courts and laws. They do not even get on with other muslims. We do not seem to have the same problems with other muslims or non-muslim lebanese, why is that?

You said on another thread that we should give immigrants more time to become part of the community. The 'Lebs' are now here 2 or 3 generations and if they are ever going to integrate they should have by now.

I think it is time we put a stop to Lebanese muslim immigration.

Banjo,
You propose an dichotomy between preserving Australian culture and promoting alien cultures. Neither position is intellectually justifiable. Holding on to values beliefs and customs merely because they are the ones we have is absurd. Rather, we should preserve what is good in our society and change what is not. We should be open-minded enough to examine what other cultures have to offer, and to consider what we might learn from it.

When I came to Australia, the double standard of sexual morality was common. Indigenous children were being taken from their parents and put into institutions where they were raised to be an underclass. There was objection to what was called miscegenation. The Victorian police beat up peaceful protesters and were praised by the press and politicians. Newspapers refused to publish advertisements opposing the Vietnam war or the 1971 Springbok tour. In parts of the country, women who married automatically lost their jobs. ASIO was spying on The West'--and putting its interests ahead of those of Australia. The NSW government was extremely corrupt; and several of the other police forces were also. That was part of the culture of the country I had come to.

Quite plainly, the culture of the country I had come to had much that required to be changed. (I had a clear obligation to argue for change, and did so.) I am glad that most of these things have been changed--Australian culture has in these respects improved. It can be improved further. It is less racist than it was--but there is no doubt that the Howard Government encouraged racism in a way not seen since before 1972. That increase in racism ought to be reversed.

"Of course Australia is racist."
Why then have so many people immigrated to Australia over the past 70 years from Europe, Asia, Middle East, Americas, Africa and more wish to immigrate here?

I feel that most racisum is prevoked and as such is in reaction to an event or an on going chain of events.

Indiginous welfare is one example. Our children go without because we have to provide so much for these people (the majority) who simply will not work. This causes racisum.

Riots like Crunulla beach or the leboneese on the streets of Sydney, only to cry for help when they were stranded in lebinon.

Non Australians are only Australians when it suits them, and this is the problem.

Krud appologised to the aboriginies. Did that stop them bashing out children and steeling from us. NO!

Just remember one very important issue.

Go to a forien non-english speaking country and disobay their laws and you will soon find out what racisim is all about. That's if you don't get shot in the mean time.

All imigrants should be told, 'This is Australia' and, if you wish to live here you must obay our laws.

p.s. You are free to leave at any time!

Racism exists in both sides of politics and more runs in families than to political leanings.
I think we need to distinguish "racism" from "cultural prejudice". Most would agree that all cultures have good and bad including ours. Pointing out differences is often pounced upon as "racist".
I believe one of the strengths of Australian culture is the ability to absorb and rise above the differences, the so-called "layed back" attitude. However when pushed "you must respect ..." the response often is "No, *you* respect our ...". The media filters for the sensational and escalates the "conversation" into "argument", a cultural discussion becomes a racist rant.
E.G. A woman uses the term "wog" and is branded racist. I grew up with this term in common usage with the "wogs" at school. There was a stage shows in Melbourne called "wogs out of work", etc. It was an acceptable term in certain parts of our culture. The groups actually referred to themselves as wogs and their non-wog friends picked it up. This kind of tongue-in-cheek stuff is a celebrated part of our culture. It is *not* the same as deriding name calling like "poofter", it is a sign more of acceptance than not. Calling *her* racist is an attack on her (and many others) native culture.
Female genital mutilation is another "cultural" issue where I have been accused of being racist because I describe a traditional cultural practice as unacceptable in my country. I want it banned, stuff the ancient "reasons": you don't mutilate children, period.
Having to absorb so many differing/contradicting cultures, the only theme that can be common to all is "respect trivial difference, don't be too quick to be offended, don't be rude to others". When this attitude is rewarded with "no, you must do things this way with *us*, we are different", then yes, Australians ark up. Similar to stuck up people in school, "stuck up" cultures also get short shift. This is more akin to culture wars than racism. If keeping standards up is racist, then yes we have a few and thank God we do.

Indian's get attacked by Lebanese gangs, and then 3rd generation Australian's beat themselves up about a racist Australia. Ye Gods!

If racist means we are suspicious and wary of new cultures moving into our neighbourhood, then I suspect we are all racist. But I always thought racism was how you dealt with those suspicions. Having gangs of youths bash the crap out of them isn't the Australian way. Never has been, and it isn't now. What is Bruce complaining about?

Australia does have a black history but in 2009 the situation has improved remarkably. The June this year, Blacktown City Festival in Western Sydney had students and participants with origins from over 49 countries. We are home to tens of thousands of people migrating from Asia and Africa.

I live in this racial melting pot and feel tremendously enriched for the experience. Our racial mix is found in local schools, shopping centres, sporting venues and factories. The Council's Bowman Hall, where Whitlam gave his famous 'It's Time' speech is hired out to many community groups.

Crime is low amongst recent migrant groups and thanks to the work of pro-active arts programs, festivals, schools bridging initiatives, faith-based organisations, community leaders efforts and tolerant attitudes by ordinary residents, the evidence is that multi-culturalism can work well and enrich all our lives.

Understanding cultural differences improves with time thanks to the mature attitudes from most Australians and the dedicated efforts of our Migrant Resource Centres, community development workers, police, shop-keepers and leaders in migrant communities.

Community harmony and some spectacular success stories are the rewards for continuious effort to have a positive vision, create job opportunities, develop a sence of inclusion and the ability to respond rapidly and wisely to race based incidents that can spark violence and public protest.

There's always room for improvement - particularly the way that some politicians and political candidates seek to exploit racism for political advantage, as occurred at the last few elections with fake racist election leaflets put out in Western Sydney by members of the Liberal Party. Magistrate O'Shea let them off with light fines.

That kind of offence should attract the harshest prison sentences since it is the exposive material that stokes racist attitudes, distrust and violence, undoing all the good work in community development.

Dear Quick response,
Crime is not low among many new migrant groups. The Multicultural industry tries to suppress statistics on migrants crime. I believe it is much higher than for your average Anglo Aussie. There was a recent enquiry into ethnic crime in Australia which came to very few conclusions as stats for different ethnic groups are not collected. One of the proposals of the finding was that stats should be collected for different ethnic groups but this was opposed by the Multicultural lobby as it could promote disharmony( ie they don't want us to find out the truth). Have a read about these recent indian bashings violence. Of 12 taxi Indian drivers assualted recently in Melbourne all indentified their asailants as African. Still we don't hear this, because of the MC lobby trying to hide the truth. Asians are more than 10 time smore likely to be involved in drug crime but we don;t hear about this. All these 3rd world people coming here are bringing their own problems here. All those Indian students are just "studying" so they can then get residency. Immigration has no overall benefit to Australia.

If Australia is racist it’s because we worship lawyers like little tin Gods,. Australia has a class of home grown terrorists, who are the government of this country. We can talk about Al Qaida, but the real terrorists dress up in black gowns, and put dead sheep on their heads, and instill terror as they run their extortion racket against ordinary Australians.

We have a law against racism. Its Article 26 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It says: All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Yet we tolerate a form of terrorism inflicted upon us by point 25 of the population, the lawyers. Everyone fears a court case. We are now terrified of getting involved with the law, because it offers no good outcomes. It is simply an extortion racket, run by lawyers for lawyers, and they are always on the hunt for victims. Because we are a pretty gullible race in itself, victims keep on stepping up to the plate, and if a person protests, he or she is declared a vexatious litigant and excluded from any venue where the matter could be settled.

The word court, was not a bad word. A court was even a place where justice was dispensed, but a Court is a bird of a different color. Racist, discriminatory, snob filled Courts are what we tolerate whether we like it or not in Australia. Go to Court, get costs against you, and even Senator Bob Brown will pay, because he knows they will bankrupt him. .

How long will it be before Australia wakes up to the fact that a lawyers cartel, is worse than any other cartel because we all pay the price for their greed. Wake up Australia, its time to fix the problem

Hi Quick response,

If the crime of new migrants is so low, why do the Police feel the need to have groups like the Middle Eastern and South East Asian crime squads?
Is it because they are racist. More likely because they are neccessary.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the prison population is heavily represented by certain immigrant groups.
Can anyone verify this as fact, or is it untrue?

Regarding the actual article, what a load of crap.
As many have said we are more tolerant than most, and the incidents against Indians students while deplorable, are doubtfully racist, and more likely related to living in high crime areas.

ozbib,
All cultures change with time and I am old enough to have seen a lot of change and that includes some for the better. I can even remember six o'clock closing of pubs and one could not obtain petrol after about 11.00pm. The Greek migrants taking over the milk bars/cafes was a big improvement.

I want to correct you on one thing though. Part aboriginal kids were removed because they were deemed to be at risk, especially the lighter skinned ones. The clan treated them very badly. At that time many anglo babies and kids were also taken and adopted out or put in state instatutions. You can google the parliamentry report of "The Forgotten Australians" if you want details of their treatment.

As I said all cultures change, but what I object to is government imposed change that put the emphasis on foreign cultures at the expense of our culture. Millions of dollars have been wasted on this useless ideology that has only succeeded in dividing the community into groups. Each group has been competing with each other for funds to promote their own foreign culture. Have a look at the annual reports, over the years, and see where the millions have gone, both State and Federal. Centrelink alone produces information in some 16 different languages which cost an enormous ammount.

The changes to our culture should come about by simply the community accepting what they deem to be good and rejecting aspects that are not so good.

I have noticed that those advocates of multiculturalism only see the 'nice' things like food variety, dragon parades, beer festivals and children in colourfull costumes and do not recognise the baggage that comes with many cultures. There are many aspects of some cultures that are alien to us and will remain so.

I disagree that the previous government increased racism. They certainly cut the use of the multicultural term and it is pleasing to see that the present government has not revived it, so far.

Banjo

Tell me Banjo do you believe that Lebanese people have a problem in their DNA, something bad which transfered from generation to generation or somithing happened to them here in Australia?
In Europe Lebanese people have considered as the most modernized arab muslims. Libanese society was the most open and most tolerant society in the middle east. (later Israelis, Palestinians and Syrians divided them)They did not have religious or race conflicts. Many Europeans studied at the American Universtity in Beirute. I have a friend (christian)who finished the American Universtity in Beirute, he never had any problem in Lebanon. If you ask people from other countries about lebanese people you will take the same answer the best of the arab world.
Why these opened mind muslims have problems in Sydney?
They was unlucky! Lebanese young people created a gang! but gangs created and Greeks, Chinese, and vietnamese, and anglo etc. NOT ONLY LEBANESE! then why we are against them and not against the others? BECAUSE THEY DID WHAT THEY DID ON THE WRONG TIME!
It was when muslims (al queda) killed thousands Americans in New York and the hate against muslims and the worries from muslims was on the TOP. It was when Howard turned his arrows against migrants and especialy against Muslims, It was when lebanese gang raped girls. It was when the huge number of migrants in Sydney and Melbourne scared Australian nationalists.
They are not diferent from the other migrants from the other muslims.
If you love Australia let's create an association which will promote the friendchip with lebanese people and try to help them. Let's do something usefull
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Banjo,

Thank you for a considered reply. I've read the parliamentary discussions, and I have a copy of Bringing Them Home--which you might like to read, if you haven't.

A culture is not whole and indivisible. Opera is part of our culture, for instance. Its traditions are largely European.

Just three out of the 13 Opera Australia productions this year are by British composers. The Governments support this company, and the conservatoria of music which produce most of the singers and instrumentalists. They also foster music in schools, and support specialist music secondary schools. They are seeking in this and other ways to change our culture, by making music more central. In particular, a good deal of effort is going into encouraging boys to develop and maintain a delight in classical and romantic music.

Do you object to this effort? It goes against another bit of our culture, which says that art music is for sissies. Is that any sort of good reason to oppose it? I would not have thought so. Rather, it is to be judged on the merits of the change. If people who scorn music are missing out on something wonderful, then that surely is a reason for change. Where the traditions of music come from is irrelevant.

Similarly with those aspects of other cultures to which you object. What counts is not where they come from, or whether they are alien, but the strength of the argument that shows that they are bad or harmful. As you say, indeed, 'The changes to our culture should come about by simply the community accepting what they deem to be good and rejecting aspects that are not so good'.

So to languages.

Are you wanting to argue that we should not accept immigrants who cannot speak good English when they arrive? ) Should we deny ourselves our third largest source of overseas funds, by no longer accepting foreign students? If so, we could have a debate about that. But while we do accept either group, we create for ourselves an obligation to enable them to participate.

I am not surprised by patriotic Aussies who are violently upset by Bruce's honest and insightful article, but I am dissapointed. Bruce is merely mentioning an unpleasant truth about Australian culture, and somewhat understating the case, if anything.

Acknowledging the truth is vital to making real changes.

ozbib
Welcome! You know the truth and you are brave enouph to tell the truth!
Stay here! Cansel your trips to the other planets and fight for the truth and justice on our planet, especialy in Australia.
You have a friend!
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

"at least it's obvious to those of us who aren't blinded by racism. As a nation, Australia was founded on racist ideology"
Dear CJ
Australia was colonized by Britain in 1788. The idea of a racial hierarchy (ie a system of stratification that focuses on the belief that some racial groups are either superior or inferior to other racial groups) developed much later and helped to rationalize the treatment of Australia's indigenous population by Colonial and later Australian governments and to shore up the White Australia Policy. However I'm not convinced that Australians,as a whole, still support this view. Given the incredible melting pot that Australia has become, only a very small minority believe in a racial hierarchy. Apart from some ethnic groups, intermarriage among the "races" has become the norm. Ideas of racial superiority just don't make sense in this context.
This does not mean unfortunately that disparaging remarks about one's colour or ethnic group are still not made in Australia. But then people wearing glasses are still called "four eyes".
Regards
Blair

I'd not heard the term "reverse racism" before. Learn something new every day. Us 'whities' are not the only racists here in Australia; but it's not normally PC to say so. Open your eyes.

Antonios,
I do not know why the Lebanese muslims are like they are. I was hoping you could inform me. Perhaps you could find out from any migrant contacts you have in Sydney. Most Sydneysiders will be forthcoming with opinions on 'Lebs'.

You are not the first to say Lebanese have a good reputation in Europe, another poster on OLO has stated that she found them 'lovely people' in the Middle East. So I do not disbelieve you.

As I said before, we do not seem to have the same problems with other muslims or non-muslim Lebanese. But 'Lebs' certainly have a poor reputation here and that goes back well before the gang rapes era of 2000. As I understand it, the first big intake was about 1975 to 1980 during the time of the civil war in Lebanon.

They are well known for gang bashing of anglos, arrogance, rudeness and anti social behaviour. Their attitude to females is demanding, rude and dominating. Some have even refused to be served by a female shop assistant and/or assesed by a female doctor or nurse. Female workers such as police, ambulance, teachers, shop assistants and receptionists have made many complaints over the years about 'Lebs'. There has been difficulty in getting teachers to go to schools in some areas because of the attitude of 'Leb' students.

'Leb' have no respect for our police and are contemptous of our courts and justice system. During the trials of the gang rapists, friends and relatives, of the prosecuted, hissed and spat on the victims as they went to and from the courtroom. Constant interjections from the gallery with one yelling out 'Whats wrong with f#####g a whore'. Such is their respect for females.

They have been here now for 2-3 generations and seem resentfull of being here and even seem contemptous of other muslims.

According to todays paper there are 56000 Lebanes in Sydney, that were born overseas. I really do think it is time we stopped importing 'Lebs'

Regarding racism, as my mother used to say, not all whites are guilty and not all blacks are innocent.

In other words, make your mind up about people based on what they do, and see their actions for what they are without the preconditioning.

I am surprised at Bruce dividing up our nation Labeling Conservatives Racist and the Socialists apparently enlightened ?
Secondly his adoration of Whitlam , I can only surmise he must have been OS post '72 , somewhere that had no communications possibly or perhaps the only History he knows is that written by Whitlam . Goughs history is best forgotten , I don't refer to the dismissal , just his arrogance for the position he inadvertently placed our Aboriginal people in ; then failing to advocate reversing his mistakes after his dismissal. No other race in Oz suffered such pain .

Bruce mistakes Conservatism if he defines their actions as Racist , he simply can't see their actions as wise , responsible and timely.

Whitlam and Rudd share the same radical "Grand Gesture" impulses that have the capacity to hurt people ; excitement is not a fiduciary tool and will not repay debt .

Bruce, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. I tend to agree with most of your pieces, but here I don't.

As a nation, I don't think Australia's any different to other western countries really. I don't think we're more or less racist, as CJ points out.

I'd go further though - I don't think we're more or less racist than other western countries, nor other countries for that matter.

The racism of India's class structure's been pointed out repeatedly, but in fact, you can look at almost any nation and see examples of racism in their history.

On practical measures, Australia accepts a higher migrant intake than most countries. We're reasonably multicultural too - I know it's more fashionable to point out how very anglo-saxon most of Australia is and I guess that's a fair point, but travel to some genuinely monocultural countries and you really do see a difference.

So, sure, you can call Australia racist. What I'd like to hear, are examples of less-racist countries. I bet I can give you examples of their racism too. Even the netherlands and Britain are changing.

So I really don't accept that Australia's so very bad these days. Sure, we've got some shameful history that I don't gloss over. But so does everybody.

Banjo, generalisations from very limited evidence are the root of prejudices; and when they are generalisations about a race, they are racist.

Certainly there have been Lebanese persons who have behaved badly, some criminally, and at times evilly. But do you know enough of them, or have a statistical case on the basis of research or the like for objection to the lot of them? Or most of them? I have taught a number of Lebaese, Islamic Christian and atheist, and those have mostly been typical students; mostly thoughtful of others, interested in ideas, challenged but polite when their values and beliefs are questioned. It does not follow that Lebanese in general are like that, either.

I've been trying to work out, so far ineffectually, what the parts of our culture are that you object to governments changing. I have some. It has been part of our culture that people are held to be not guilty until they have been proven to be so, beyond reasonable doubt. It has been up to the prosecution to prove the case against them, not for them to prove their innocence. Those charged have been entitled to see the evidence against them, to know who their accusers are, and to challenge the evidence. Where the prosecution knows of evidence which will aid the defence, it is required to reveal it.

Both the Howard Government and the NSW Government have been gradually whittling those rights away--with the vehement support of some of the regular writers to this blog.
I invite you to join me in objecting to these changes to our culture.

Antonios Symeonakis, thank you. I generally read OLP. I write from time to time--but I try to limit myself to topics where I have some knowledge to contribute. And when governments propose what I consider to be bad legislation, I generally abandon OLP entirely, while I try to get the legislation withdrawn or modified.

>> Quite plainly, the culture of the country I had come to had much that required to be changed. (I had a clear obligation to argue for change, and did so.) I am glad that most of these things have been changed--Australian culture has in these respects improved. It can be improved further. << (ozbib)

Perhaps something like this some imams, and other Muslim zealots, would like to be able to say after they had lived in Australia for a couple of decades.

These were certainly not my sentiments when I came to Australia in 1968 as a refugee: I was overwhelmed by its tolerance towards, and acceptance of, newcomers (there was no equivalent of the term “new Australian” in other countries that received migrants or refugees at those times), as well as by its “free world” atmosphere (I can still remember how my first visit to the university bookshop made me feel like a child in a candy shop).

Therefore I wanted to use my different cultural background as a contribution, hopefully enrichment, to what I saw as a privilege of becoming part of, and not to strive for changes before learning what made this free and tolerant country tick.

I am sure that today, as in 1968, there are (Muslim) migrants to Australia, who want to contribute with what is positive in their background culture, rather than change things that do not fit their prejudices, be they ideological or religious.

Osbib,
I reject entirely your insinuation that my assesment of Lebanese muslims is racist. My opinion that we should no longer issue permanent residentcy visas to 'Lebs' is based entirely on the conduct of this group over the last 20-30 years. I might add that there are just a few other groups that I have reached the same conclusion about, again based on their conduct here. I believe their conduct is cultural as it is handed down from one generation to the next.

My information, bringing me to this conclusion, is from mainly media reports, posts on forums like OLO, letters to editors, statements by former police officers, my own personal experiences and so on. These have numbered in their thousands over the years and are the basis of public opinion.

I have no doubt that the AFP and Immigration Dept has extensive files on the conduct of various groups we have allowed into our country. Reports would be made available to the Minister if requested. I also believe the Minister would have the power to instruct that permanent residentcy visas not be issued to a person or group if that is what he desired. The same power he has to regulate the number of immigrants. It is not a courtroom, it is government decree.

The Opposition would not object because there is an agreement between the major parties that they will not debate immigration matters.

The only reason, in my opinion, such action is not taken is because of the stupid ideology of 'non discriminatory' immigration.

It beggers belief that all cultures will get along with each other. 'Unity in diversity' has to be one of the biggest lies ever.

The latest attacks on students is just another example of anti-social and criminal behaviour by some groups.

"The White Australia policy “officially” died with the election of the Labor Whitlam government in 1972; but in reality it didn’t. Attitudes in the white macho middle class didn’t change. It was a badge of honour among the emotionally and intellectually beleaguered (and challenged) conservatives in the middle class to oppose anything the Whitlam government instituted."
Did this attitude change in the "white (non?) macho working class"? If so how do we explain the electoral support for Pauline Hanson from this very group?
Leftists have great difficulty in rationalizing working class support for such racist views as embodied in the "White Australia Policy" and the various Acts controlling indigenous Australians amongst the State governments. Better to blame conservatives who weren't in power.

Banjo
I do not understand you! Do you think all lebanese are same? There are good and bad lebanese, smart and supid, religious or non religious, hard working and lazy, Lebanese conservatives and lebanese progresives, Cristians or Muslims.
6-7 years before a lebanese came in my workplace for permanent work. He smoked very much and I said him to reduce the smoking and work harder in other case he will lose his job. He answered to me that hard work or not he will lose his job because he is lebanese.
NO Banjo HE WAS NOT MUSLIM, HE WAS A CRISTIAN, MARRIED WITH A GREEK WOMAN.
We have isoleted and rejected Lebanese, we have created to them huge problems.
I REPEAD MY SUGGESTION, FOR THE CREATION OF AN ASSOCIATION WHICH WILL PROMOTE THE FRIENDCHIP WITH LEBANESE PEOPLE.
WE SHOULD LOOK TO THE FUTURE AND TRY TO FIND WAYS TO CREATE THE BEST POSIBLE FUTURE FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS, INCLUDING OUR LEBANESE BROTHERS.
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

Banjo, I carefully did not say you are racist. If you objected to a whole range of different groups on the basis that they are genetically different from you, then you would be. I have seen so sign of that. I take it that your objection is to people whose culture makes them prone to misbehaviour.

You say, though, 'My information, bringing me to this conclusion, is from mainly media reports, posts on forums like OLO, letters to editors, statements by former police officers, my own personal experiences and so on. These have numbered in their thousands over the years and are the basis of public opinion.' Some of these are obviously more reliable than others, but let's put that aside. Do you have a list of these thousands of cases? Have you checked that there is no doubling up? Have you determined which of the reports are merely impressionistic? And have you determined what the proportions of objectionable Lebanese are to the total set of Lebanese immigrants?

As an old bloke going on 89, I'm with you, Poddy.

Can well remember us litle kids calling Italian migrants Dagoes and Dings in Buntine in 1929.

And where did we learn it from?

No one else but our parents, just as we learnt to call our local Abo's, Boongs, who in a white society we unfortunately felt would never be much good for anything.

And sadly enough, while since the end of WW2 it seemed Italians et al, have become just one of us and better, our Blacks, apart from their special adaptability to ball gathering and kicking goals in AFL, sadly enough are still said by our country whites, to be still not much good for anything else

Antonios and Ozbib,
As i have said before, most migrants appreciate the freedom of our lifestyle and make every endeavour to make the best life for themselves and family that they can. However that does not excuse those that do not. There are some groups that cannot or will not try to get along with others in the community and Lebanese muslims are one such group. Now not entirely all may not hold us in contempt but there is more than enough for me to conclude that we should not allow any more in. The evidence has been there for 20-30 years. Now if it happens that it gives the remainder a bad name then that is a problem for them, and their 'community leaders' to address.


As I also said before, there is just a few other groups that I would treat the same.

Croats and Serbs should also be refused entry, because they obviously refuse to leave their old hatreds for each other behind. They fight each other at sporting fixtures, with the tennis being the latest, and some of that violence has resulted in cars burnt and shots fired into buildings. We can well do without paying the costs of trying to keep the peace between these two groups and allowing more to enter only compounds the issue.

Those groups that carry out FGM on little girls also should be banned. The incidence is increasing and after 15 years of education we must admit failure. We have given them every opportunity by turning a blind eye, as it is against our laws. No more of those groups should get entry and prosecutions should occur forthwith.

Those groups that carry out forced marriages should also be stopped and the occurrances prosecuted.

Those groups that carry out dog fights and cock fights should also be banned. These activities have also been going on for years.

The conduct of all the above groups is simply unacceptable and if we want a safe and cohesive society we should stop allowing any more in.

I for one believe that racism is much more ubiquitous than being at the "underbelly of conservative politics and conservative attitudes".
Yes and for sure the conservatives have learned how to disguise their beliefs (just) but these same beliefs are also to be found within the foundational intellect thinking of the Left. The real losers between this ongoing war about virtues between the left and the right are those that encounter racism (be it personal or institutional) on a daily, yearly basis. To simply accord racism to be parallel with traditional political polarities is simple to do - if not a lazy attempt to understand what racism actually is. This article gets four out of ten from this little black duck.

George,
Like you, I waited for some time after I came here before doing anything more than asking questions. I have also sought to make a positive contribution in a variety of ways.
However, there were some things that were clearly wrong, and needed fixing. I saw six policemen standing around a prostrate demonstrator at the Melbourne Springbok test in 1971, repeatedly hitting the demonstrator with their night sticks. He could not escape—four of the cops were standing on his limbs. I saw a number of other instances of police brutality. I spoke to a policeman who was regretting that he had not been at the demonstration, because he enjoyed bashing ‘these people’. . I was at a trial—or rather, an appeal--in which a friend of mine proved, with photographs and eyewitness accounts that two police had lied on oath at the trial where he was convicted.
I learned that in 1961 and in 1969, the Australian people had voted for the ALP, but that the gerrymander had kept them out of office. It became clear that Australia was a partially managed democracy, not quite a real one. When the ALP took office, they held a referendum on equalising electorates, but instead of requiring them to be close to equal in voters, the referendum would have required them to be equal in population—thus giving the ALP a long term advantage. They were not committed to democracy either. There were also gerrymanders operating in the states. There were plainly limitations to the commitment of Australians at the time to the principles of democracy.
I learned that newspapers had repeatedly refused to accept advertisements opposing the Vietnam war. I learned that ASIO had sought to prevent the appointment of a professor at Sydney University because the man was a Jew. I heard Arthur Calwell condemn miscegenation (he pronounced it ‘miskegnation”, and Henry Bolte agree. I learned that police in Adelaide had thrown a homosexual man into the River Torrens, and watched him drown.
I read condemnation of ‘new Australians’ who dared to argue for changes in Australian society.

Tts easy to ascribe criminality to ethnicity when you think 'white' or 'anglo' is not an ethnicity. From this postion you determine yourself at the centre and an arbiter of everyone else who is not white, anglo, democratic...the list goes on and on. Its a fool proof and easy strawman arguement to put together [as many here on OLO often use to justify their explanations]. For me its intellectually lazy and ignorant.

You may not be overtly racist but you've certainly discovered ways to disguise your racism through a critique of your own contructions of "culturalism". 'This is a form racism without race' or 'new racism' where people think racism is acceptable if its cloaked in forms of cultural discrimination which appear to be no longer rooted in biologically defined race. But it has the same effect as bio-racism.

Dear ozbib
Why on earth did you immigrate here? Weren't we a lost cause?

Blairbar, I don't think any such cause is lost. I did wonder what I had struck.

I came to study with a world-famous scholar, and with no intention of staying; then married. There were a number of Australians, too, struggling to make things better. I joined them. There were a good many successes. (I don't claim the credit). Once I decided to stay, the question was how can I best contribute to the country I had joined, not where can I go where life will be most comfortable.

You'll be aware, though, that some notable Australians did despair and emigrate.

ozbib,
All I wanted to express was my hope that the majority of today's Muslim immigrants will embrace their new homeland using the generous space it provides for the maintenance of their own ethnicity/religion, instead of wanting to bring about changes by resorting to activities that necessarily call for police attention and reaction.

Going back to those years, I know many people saw what we called the "free world" as something that had to be disrupted. Since this was in the middle of the Cold War, this could only serve to strengthen the other side, that I just had escaped from. I know, this was unintentional, at least on the part of the young, naive, "revolutionaries". So was the final outcome that I referred to as the cultural vacuum that - at least in Western Europe - we prepared for the Muslims to move in.

What you described looks bad enough retrospectively. However, at those times the other (actual, not fictitious) alternative was the world I came from, where e.g. my oncle was sentenced to 9 years labour in a uranium mine only for translating and distributing a French prayer book. There was no visible police brutality in those countries - with the emphasis on visible - that the newspapers would be allowed to report on.

There were thousands of refugees from Hungary, Czechoslovakia etc coming also to Australia, but I do not know of any larger number of people who in those times would have wanted to escape Australia and settle to live in these countries, or even in the Soviet Union.

These numbers are the only objective criterion we have to decide which of the - then only two - alternative worlds was preferable, and whether it was good to disrupt it (calls for necessary reforms are not disruptions, they do not involve the police), causing the other political system to increase its influence and self-justification.

Apologies for this lengthy comment on times long bygone. Please let us just agree that our recollections are from very different perspectives in the context of very different life experiences.

I am a young Australian with Hong Kong heritage. I have experienced racism myself and it gave me a sense of powerlessness, helplessness and tremendous frustration. However, I think the majority of Australians believe that everyone is equal and that all deserve a fair go in life.

I think it is an affront to all Australians when we see racism but chose to ignore or dismiss it. In doing so, we are in effect encouraging the spread of racism. And by extension, eroding a core Australian value, the ethos of a fair go.

I hope more people will understand that just because an individual is not white, it doesn't mean that they aren't Australians who want to contribute to their country as much as white Australians do.

Racism takes many forms. For example, how do you react to the news that twenty four thousand Indigenous people have graduated from universities in this country ? Does that mildly surprise and excite you ? Or are you flabbergasted, or find it unbelievable ? We all are affected by the racism of low expectations, all of us, black and white, that's been the general Australian attitude to Indigenous people for a very long time - not vicious, not necessarily nasty, not overtly brutal, but racism just the same.

A worse form of racism towards Indigenous people would be to condemn their success in tertiary education as somehow wrong, intolerable, people getting above their station, or - more hypocritically - as not being loyal to their cultural roots. This form of racism is much closer to the controlling, confining racism of the early twentieth century, but it can still be found, even in academe.

There will be around fifty thousand Indigenous university graduates by 2020: get used to it, Australia.

Joe

Loudmouth,
My reaction to that piece of news is that it is good, and good to have some positive news relating to aborignals.

For a long time now i have believed that the best course for aboriginals is integration and the key to that is in education. This brings the opportunity for more and better employment. which in turn negates the need for a welfare type lifestyle.

I hope the numbers continue to rise and those academics become further inspiration for the young.

Hi Banjo,

I'm not sure that academics have anything positive to do with Indigenous tertiary student success, except of course the academics who work with such dedication in Indigenous student support. For decades, there has been a sort of war going on between the 'academics' who want all funds directed towards the teaching of Aboriginal-focussed courses mainly for non-Indigenous students, and the wonderful student support staff who have been fighting so hard to protect their funding so that it does not disappear into teaching, 'research' and international conference budgets.

There is still a sort of racism by which Indigenous students enrolled in mainstream courses - 'white' courses, as I have seen it described - are disparaged and/or ignored in favour of the rapidly diminishing number of Indigenous students doing Indigenous-focussed courses, proper black courses. Not that it worries the mainstream students - they tend to have much better retention and graduation rates anyway.

So yes, racism takes many forms, even now - and even at the hands of some Indigenous academics.

Joe

Loudmouth,
We may be talking about different things.

My understanding of an academic is that once a student has passed his qualifacations in higher education, he can rightly be referred to as an academic. He may not necessarily be a Uni lecturer.

I am sure there is some racism and other forms of discrimination/pecking order in the ranks of the academics.

However My interest in the news was a hope that it indicates a greater participation in education generally. As i said, i think the better people are educated the more and better paid work becomes available to them.

The more people with aboriginal heritage become involved in higher education can only be good news.

Joe, if we are going to have our own lawyers, doctors. pediatricians, optometrists, accountants, architects, nutritionists, etcetera then providing access and support to these degree courses is the only option available.

If your cultural grounding is strong then no university course will be able to change these characteristics of your foundational beliefs, customs and traditions.

There are now many Aboriginal leaders with higher degree qualification who can easily move between three or four cultural / linguistic domains. Not many white Australian leader have these qualities.

In Europe such individuals are the norm, not the exception. Having cultural competence is about the ability to know and understand the changing social and interactive context of your own and other cultures.

From my own observations its mostly mono cultural /mono lingual white Australians who have hang ups about being mono cultural, and the need to assimilate 'Others' into this, “throw another shrimp on the Barbie” “true blue” gidday maaate” ockeristic monoculturalism- simly because this is all the poor buggers know

Racism is always a bad thing whether it is Black or White.It should end or else everyone gets involved in it someway or the other.The only way to end is making people aware of it. Several Anti-Racism Organisations such as http://www.bullies2buddies.com/ are working for this perspective. We should help those making people aware and get help when needed.