You are a very wise man, Belly, thank you.

Banjo,

Perhaps the Turks may have some reason to get involved, as might people from all of the other countries whose soldiers fought at Gallipoli, French, Indian, African, English. I wouldn't be surprised if Greek soldiers participated in it as well. If it had occurred in the last months of the War, perhaps the Americans might have got involved :)

CSteele,

Yes, we are one but we are many. And we can all enjoy each others' celebrations.

Thanks Lexi.

csteel you and I clash then agree such is life.
Our past conflicts included your defense of that woman, race religion does not matter, who lied.
She bought charges against police.
A group of thugs, grubby ones, protested out side the court.
I found them , well lets say less than good.
I however challenge your implied view about our culture and ANZAC day.
I try here in this thread to put fires out.
But believe me, ANZAC day is my culture.
Read of the prisoners of war in ww 2 in south east Asia, the nurses pushed in to the water and murdered.
Anzac day is two fold, it reminds us of sacrifice and warns us of war.
Yes the report was rubbish! and each of us, if we want a better world, should poor water on spot fires not light them.

Dear Belly,

I agree with Joe (Loudmouth) - you are a very wise man.
And so is csteele. And so's Joe (of course).

This is actually turning out to be a good discussion
afterall.

csteele,
Doesn't matter whether he drinks or not, Some Aussies do not drink. Nor does it matter what religion, if any, he practices. If he is naturalised he is Aussie.

I suggest you read my first post as I argue that we are not multicultural even though the concept was imposed on us in the 1970s.
We are in essence multi-racial but we do not embrace wholly any other cultures. We are simply tolerant enough to allow some aspects of some cultures. Some alien cultural practices we even turn a blind eye to, such as forced marriages and FGM. Others such as cockfighting and the consumption of dog meat are against the law. But overall we expect all to integrate into our society and conform to our laws and social standards. Multiculturalism is simply a philosopy that rates original culture ahead of national loyality. An attempt at social engineering that fosters seperate development. But you will notice that the very foundations of our society remain derivities of the Westminster system.

In relation to Anzac Day, there is not any reason why others of different cultures should not share our commemorations if they desire but we do not consider other cultures when planning our ceromonies. Anzac commemorations are not the occassion to be culturally sensitive and inclusive, it is afterall about Anzacs. That is a huge part of our culture.

Hi Banjo,

Well, there's 'culture' and there's human rights. I guess we are lucky to live in a country where - at least formally - human rights take precedence:

: we ask, about any cultural practice, does it interfere in any way with the rights of women ? Or children ? Or in any way devalue the rights of any Australians ? Or is that practice manifested in cruelty to animals ? Does it despoil the environment ?

As long as everybody in Australia, and all those coming here to make lives for themselves, are clear about respecting the rights of all others, then they can live as they like.

But in a modern, liberal, democratic society, there can be no devaluing of women, no abuse of children, no cruelty to animals, just because it may have been done back in the old country. There should not be any form of respect for any of those outmoded practices, just because some people try to make out that their culture would be somehow damaged if they are not carried out.

If a 'culture' depends on the inequality of women, etc. to flourish and survive, then it doesn't deserve to flourish or survive, simple as that. There should be no 'special rights', or special consideration, or cultural 'sensitivity', for any group so that its dominant members can get around those laws which are supposed to safeguard EVERYBODY's rights, equally.

Culture, after all, is sometimes not much more than congealed inequality in social relations, in the practices which cement injustice in place and justify it. We have to find the courage to hold cultural practices up to the light and call them as we see them.

Cheers,

Joe

G'Day Joe,
I don't know if we have actually conversed before, but I cannot find anything wrong in what you say. You just put it differently to me.

Multicultualism here is a misnomer because we do not actually embrace other cultures. We allow all to practice those aspects that we find suitable for our social standards. Although I do find it concerning that we ignore FGM and forced marriages but prosecute others for holding cockfights. Roosters apparently have more rights than little girls. A strange quirk in our law enforcement.

When one looks at various cultures around the world, there are many aspects that are not allowed here. They are either against the law or socially unacceptable. We are definately multi-racial but not multicultural. I cannot think of any other culture that we totally embrace. Kiwis come the closest but they have some differences.

We do tend to pander to various ethnic demands but should remember that in doing so we compromise our own culture. Also strange that we uphold the rights of all to retain their cultures, but seemingly do not hold our own in very high regard.