Speaking at a ceremony to mark the opening of a memorial to the 138 people who died trying to cross the wall between 1961 and 1989, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the Communist east said:

“We can change things for the better — that is the message of the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

With that in mind, do Australian citizens have the confidence to "tear down the walls" - and come forward to examine issues in our society like racism, a better understanding of cultural beliefs, attitudes towards refugees and a better acceptance of Australian history and multiculturalism?

Dear Nathan,

Thank You for this discussion - and what a great
introduction and how appropriate to the start of
a New Year. To quote from the old adage:

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book.
So write a good one!"

There's also a Prayer for the World that Rabbi
Williamson quotes in her lectures which is also appropriate
here:

"We pray for this our world.
We ask that You remove the walls that separate us
and the chains that hold us down...
May we no longer be at war with each other.
May we no longer be at war within ourselves.
Let us forgive this century and every other,
the evils of history, the pain of our common fears.
Remove from our hearts the illusion that we are
separate.
May every nation and every people and every colour
and every religion find at last the one heartbeat
we share..."

Well the poms would have been a damn sight better off if the thing still stood.

They would not have their country flooded with eastern European immigrants, who are destroying the life style for the lower socioeconomic quarter of the country who actually want a job & a life.

Obviously the elites don't give a dam how the lower third of the population get on. Provided they can complement each other at those awful diner parties they have, on how gracious & generous they are to underprivileged foreigners, they are happy. Pity they are not the ones who have to wear the costs of their generosity.

Thank you Foxy for your comments. However last night (after I posted my thread) I just happened to read on another post:

"During a panel discussion German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with Prime Minister David Cameron when he said:

“Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged Muslims and other immigrant groups to live separate lives, apart from each other and the mainstream. We have failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong."

Finding out more about Angela Merkel online - feeling she was saying something completely at variance to what I had initially found - she is a German politician (with very strong views) - so I am not surprised by the above comments.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/17/angela-merkel-german-multiculturalism-failed

We should forget history, but too many still live in the past, have an addiction to it, no will to move forward and a view towards others (based on bias), have limited forms of forgiveness or the ability to move on - but I can't force change on others.

Hello,

My above post was meant to read in the last line:

We should *not* forget history, but too many still live in the past, have an addiction to it, no will to move forward and a view towards others (based on bias), have limited forms of forgiveness or the ability to move on - but I can't force change on others.

Dear Nathan,

On August 1st 1994, the Polish nation commemorated the
fiftieth annuversary of the Warsaw Uprising, in which
200,000 Poles were killed by German Nazis, and 500,000
more were transported to concentration camps.

During this commemoration, then German President
Roman Herzog made an extraordinary apology to the Polish
people:

"Today, I bow down before the fighters of the Warsaw
Uprising as before all Polish victims of the war," he said.
"I ask for forgiveness for what has been done to you by
Germans ...It fills us Germans with shame that the name of
our country and people will forever be associated with
pain and suffering which was inflicted on Poland a million
times. We mourn the dead of the Warsaw Uprising and all
people who lost their lives in World War II."

Polish President Lech Walesa had invited the German President
to take part in commemorative ceremonies as an "act of healing."
He said, "We do not give absolution to the murderers in
Warsaw, but we do not pass those feelings upon the German
nation ... Blood and hatred are a curse of the twentieth
century; may they disappear in the past along with it."

FOXY...

Nice words, high ideals, unfortunately human nature being what it is, nothing will change. The strong get stronger, the weak - well the weak will be consumed, unless they cast aside high ideals, and nice words and toughen up !

Happy New Year To All.
I read the first 2 posts from NathanJ and Foxy and they give hope for the future that there are enough 'men of goodwill' in this world to overcome the impossible and achieve the ideals as outlined in the Prayer for the World as quoted by Rabbi Williamson and reproduced by Foxy.
Then Hasbeen chimed in, and one realises what a struggle we face to overcome such blind opposition.
o sung wu, with some justification you highlight the pessimistic view of man and his world. The battle is a long one, and the war even longer, but lets all aspire for a better world.

Reality is the enemy of all lefties, particularly for dills like Paul.

Hassy, there are few honours one can receive on this forum, but a Hasbeen Dill Award is indeed an honour, Thank you!
As an old lefty once said to me "Son...while they (Hasbeen types) disagree with you, you don't have a problem, its when they start agreeing, then you're in trouble!"

Happy New Year Everyone!

Dear O Sung Wu,

It was Jonas Salk who told us that -

"Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the
courage of those who dare to make dreams into
reality."

At the same time Rabbi Williamson points out that -

"We are experiencing a crisis of leadership now,
not so much because people lack the qualities
necessary for it, but because we systemically invalidate
such qualities. It is hard in today's world for a person
to stand up in excellence and power within the public
realm. There are myriad forces marshaled against doing so,
causing a massive brain and spirit drain from the realms
of wordly power."

"Let us support the possibility of greatness in anyone
at any time. We must re-think our attitudes about leaders,
or at the rate we're going we will soon have none. We must
create the fertile ground for leadership in order to
prepare the way for great leaders..."

Dear Hassie,

"The only thing worse than being blind is having sight
but no vision."
(Helen Keller).

Dear Paul,

You might enjoy this quote:

"The left-wing forces will be stopped
dead in their tracks upon direct orders from
the Fuhrer..."

I sometimes get the idea that to some people left-wing means being for a lot of decent things like a fair wage for all, opposition to militarism and racism, care for the environment and a lot of other things that they don't give a stuff about as long as they themselves are ok.

Natham,

Racism-: My experience is that there are very few racists. i.e. People that dislike others because of their race. To be critical of a culture, a religion or a persons conduct is not racism. I add here that Islam is not a race, persons of many races are followers of Islam.
Many persons try to bring accusation of racism into a debate to put an opponent on the defensive. A sure sign they are not doing well.

a better understanding of cultural beliefs-: It is not hard to understand most cultural beliefs, whether one agrees with some practices is a different story. I don't mind dragon parades and children in colourful dress doing folk dances and beer festivals. However I will not accept FGM, forced marriage, honour killing, or the eating of dog meat and human placenta. I understand these cultural practices but cannot accept them.

attitudes towards refugees-: I am happy for us to accept a number of genuine refugees after making sure they will integrate into our society. However that does not include those that simply turn up on our doorstep and gatecrash our country, expecting us to accept them. These persons are economic migrants, country shopping.

a better acceptance of Australian history and multiculturalism-: The simple facts are that the Poms decided to colonize (take over) Aus in 1788 and did so. You cant undo history, so accept that is what happened and every person now has to live under present laws.

Multiculturalism was supposed to unite the various community groups, including Anglo Aussies, and has failed to do so. It simply divided us into tribes and told newcomers they could carry on all their cultural practices. In our rush to show how tolerant we were we ignored such things as polygamy, forced marriage and FGM and that is why these alien practices exist. We have to accept that some cultures are not compatable to our society and we, and they, would be better off if no more of some groups were accepted. To emphasize diversity simply for the sake of diversity is ridiculous

And may what ever god there may be, protect us from people with vision, including the Hillers, Stalin's, Mao Tse-tungs, Whitlams & Obamas. Most visionaries are have too dumb, with too little experience of the world, to see the disasters their dreams will become, if implemented.

What we need is simple good managers, who get the hell out of peoples lives, & simply keep the roads swept, the sewage treated, & the power on. The rest is none of their business.

"What we need is simple good managers, who get the hell out of peoples lives, & simply keep the roads swept, the sewage treated, & the power on. The rest is none of their business."

Except, I presume, to supply people like Hasbeen, with free hospital medical care and subsidised doctor's visits and pharmaceuticals.

Hassy, are you one of those "simple" people you refer to? Is it on your CV? "Simple" that is! We have only 3 positions available!

1 Gutter Sweeper
2 Dunny Cleaner
3 Electrical Globe Fitter

I can see the problem, if the light goes off, the dunny will get missed, and all the crap will end up in the gutter.

Which job will you be applying for? A man of your talents should, with exhaustive training, be capable of doing all three.

Hello,

One program I watched on SBS this year was called "The Great Divide". More details can be found at:

http://www.sbs.com.au/programs/first-contact/article/2014/10/30/ray-martin-great-divide

The program is described on the website as: "Six whitefellas meeting blackfellas for the first time in their lives. This group of ordinary Aussies hit the road for a month - starting out as a bunch of strangers. They weren’t allowed outside or family contact. No mobile phones or internet. (That proved a lot tougher than you might think.) These six get to confront their own beliefs, their own prejudices and, in some cases - by their own admission - their “ignorance”."

However what the program didn't answer was: "Aboriginal people seeing Anglo Saxon or other people for the first time in their lives", for me to break down barriers across Australia.

One remote Aboriginal community visited in the Northern Territory, people had to see a large turtle killed and left overnight (whilst still alive) in a boat. One (anglo saxon - I am not using the above term from SBS) woman was in tears.

The reason given by the Aboriginal people (for the killing) was that this was part of their tradition, despite a modern boat used to kill the turtle, having modern housing and clothing far from traditional. A reference was also made to the commercial fishing industry to justify their case - despite other Aboriginal people saying (at other times), these people's killings were at the detriment to the animal species - many that were very rare.

The discussion after the program was bland, predictable and sent a message that Aboriginal people are all suffering and have little or no future.

I know this is not true - being related to Aboriginal people myself (two direct nephews and other relatives) and not being Aboriginal myself. One of my nephews for example is working in a conservation/recreation park in the Northern Territory as a Park Ranger - alongside a range of people - both Aboriginal and Anglo Saxon.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, and the election of President Obama in November 2008, shared the sense that an era had come to an end, that profound and sudden change had taken place, even that something had been overthrown. Germans wept that cold November night because they had at last overcome their history and were unified again as a people and a nation. The tears of Americans in balmy Harlem, understood by people around the world, said that it was not an impertinence to compare the outcome of that election night with the dramatic news that the cold war was over.

Of course, one could not say that racism in America had come to an end, certainly white supremacy and the lawlessness associated with it had been repudiated; some said that they had been made to depart from power.

For the first time in the memory of many a major political party was moving in the direction of nominating a demonstrably superior candidate—a genuinely literate man in a culture that does not prize literacy, an actually cosmopolitan man in an arena that deems tolerance of the world suspect by definition. A civil man.A politically adroit man. Enthusiasm was high. Participation was up.-Ron Price with thanks to Darryl Pinckney and Joan Didion, “Obama: In the Irony-Free Zone,” 18/12/’08, in The New York Review of Books.

@ NathanJ

<<I watched on SBS this year was called "The Great Divide"...The discussion after the program was bland, predictable >>

SBS across the board is bland & predictable --its advertorials (aka documentataries) about Oz, run with a typical lefty theme about Anglo racism and injustice--what a farce that it should be taxpayer funded.