Multiculturalism

In the past few days, we have had a few prominent and highly regarded individuals coming out to voice their concerns about racism in Australia. They say it is very much alive and kicking.

Dr Charles Teo, a very respected neuro-surgeon who has saved many lives, said that racism is still “very much alive in Australia”. Then came Fayia Lahai, a refugee from Sierra Leone in West Africa, who also agreed with Dr Teo’s assessment that Australia has a racism problem.

Mr Fayia Lahai was recently appointed to a new body called People of Australia Ambassadors – a body that will give advice to the Government and to the Australian Multicultural Council. Mr Lahai arrived in Tasmania in 2006.

Continue reading "Change the topic, Australia Day is not about racism" »

Christmas is long gone, New Year is a distant memory, the tennis is on TV and the summer break that saves the sanity of so many Australians is almost over. As usual in the lead up to Australia Day it’s time debate the health of the nation: where we stand internationally, and the slippery issue of our national identity.

I don’t think there are many countries that spend so much time trying to define exactly what they stand for.

While navel-gazing isn’t always healthy, one of the reasons for this debate is that we do not feel that our national identity is fixed, or tied to events of the past, but something that is always changing and improving.

Continue reading "Multiculturalism. It’s as Aussie as a lamb roast" »

On Tuesday night, four shots were fired into the front of a Wetherill Park home. Inside a woman and her two children were sleeping. This incident was the ninth shooting to take place in Sydney in eight days. NSW Police have not laid any charges and have voiced their frustration, blaming the “wall of silence” in the community.

On Saturday, 25 May 2002, a man shot and wounded seven people including a child attending a wedding at a restaurant in Cabramatta. There were 140 witnesses in the New World Restaurant but no one was able, or willing, to give a clear description of the gun man.

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Continue reading "The great wall of Cabramatta" »

“Opinions are like orgasms: mine matters most, and I don’t care if you have one.”

I’m not sure where I first read this, but it seems to typify public debate in Australia, where opposing parties love to discredit an argument by giving it a label: racist, sexist, chauvinist, insensitive, homophobe, ignorant…

In philosophy classes, this type of argument was called an ad hominem, and it’s only reward was an F, but in public debate it’s a timesaver, a cheap political point. Remember when Bill Heffernan questioned Gillard’s leadership because she was “deliberately barren”? Same deal.

Continue reading "The biggest bigots are the buggers who blame bigotry" »

This video does not make for happy viewing. It depicts a British Mum, who quite possibly is intoxicated, and her racist rant against just about everyone else in her tram carriage.

The video, taken this weekend, has sparked a nationwide debate about racism and immigration and has reportedly resulted in the woman being arrested. After this year’s London riots, it is hardly the video the English needed the world to see.

London’s Olympic organisers probably won’t be too chuffed either. But mostly, we feel sorry for the kid on her lap. What kind of life can he look forward to?

Cradle snatcher. Toy boy. Cougar. Child bride. Teen bride. Paedophile.

How old is too old, how young too young? We may have a visceral revulsion when we witness a large age gap in a relationship, but when does it go from odd to deeply wrong, sick – when should it be illegal? And what can we do about it?

The Daily Telegraph reports that more than 200 17-year-old girls and hundreds of 18, 19 and 20-year-olds have been granted prospective spouse visas to marry older – in some cases much older – men here in Australia.

Continue reading "Culture and religion are no excuse for child brides" »

Whether you like it or not, multiculturalism is here to stay. I don’t use the word in the political sense, of multiculturalism as an ideology, a doctrine or a social vision. I use it as a general descriptive term, in the absence of any other, to reflect the reality of life in the suburbs of Australia, where for every Tom, Dick and Harry there’s a Mustafa, a Tran and a Nkosana just around the corner.

In the ten years since September 11, 2001, it’s the Mustafas who have been the source of the greatest unease in countries such as ours which have been built on successive patterns of immigration.

Those us who can’t comprehend the concept of flying a plane into a building to make a political point have quite understandably rounded our contempt on those who seek to excuse or explain such murderous conduct.

Continue reading "9/11 and the struggle to retain perspective" »

One of the joys of multiculturalism is that if you suddenly find yourself hankering for a kilogram of pork belly or some Hello Kitty stationery at 9pm on a Monday, you can head to a suburb such as Ashfield in Sydney’s west and shop until you drop.

If Australia has a restrictive shopping hours regime, someone forgot to tell our Chinese friends. In places such as Ashfield or in the many Chinatowns around the land the shops open pretty much whenever they want – which, with the work ethic that defines this excellent community, is almost all the time.

It’s a different story if you have the misfortune of landing in the centre of one of our bigger cities – worst of all Adelaide – on a public holiday weekend, only to discover that penalty rates and state-legislated restrictions on trading hours have combined to deliver a retail experience which is almost as much fun as queuing for bread in Moscow.

Continue reading "The shop must go on…" »

Despite our web-interconnected, frequent-flyer, globalised world, we are still predominantly tribal people. We identify or invent enemies to scrap it out with, and occasionally this tribalism ends in violence. Extreme violence, as we’ve just seen in Oslo.

Tribes were once small groups of families, communities that lived together. People survived and prospered because of their commitment to those groups. Now tribes might be religious, or cultural groups. They might be left wing or right wing, emos or nerds. Footy supporters. Gamers, Nazis, fetishists, gypsies, gun nuts or just plain nutters who’ve found something in common.

We huddle together, sometimes in peaceful solidarity, sometimes with spears raised to the outside world. We use clothing, our words, our beliefs, to signal our membership.

Continue reading "Tribalism can lead to terrorism and tragedy" »

The savage, blood-soaked massacre in Norway might seem like the act of a deranged madman. But the perpetrator, Anders Behring Breivik, was nothing of the sort.

In fact, he appears to have been an intelligent, well-educated individual and a competent businessman, who owned a successful farm. Nothing in either his life story or even in this unprecedented atrocity smacks of wild insanity.

Just the opposite. He planned the whole operation with utter ruthlessness and precision, from using fertiliser from his farm to make the bomb that was planted at the government’s offices in Oslo, to disguising himself as a policeman to gain access to the island summer camp.

Continue reading "A glimpse into Scandinavia’s heart of darkness" »

Is the case of the niqab-clad Sydney woman who berated a police officer and fronted court this week with an aggressive all-male cheer squad a sign that multiculturalism has failed? Or does it merely signal that the people involved in this case are simply a bunch of persecuted, trouble-making ratbags who would rather have a fight than a feed?

Judging from the commentary this week many people have opted for the first conclusion. I would argue strongly in favour of the second.

The danger in rightly identifying the conduct of these individuals as appalling and unwelcome in this country is that it will get cited as proof-positive of a broader problem. It should not be used to besmirch the name of the vast majority of decent people within Australia’s Lebanese Muslim community who go about their business and live their lives in a civilised and productive manner. Equally, we should call this sort of behaviour for what it is.

Continue reading "Just yobbos, not a crisis of multiculturalism" »

So, apparently we Aussies are one of the most tolerant nations in the world when it comes to migrants and ethnic minorities. That’s according to the OECD’s latest Society At A Glance.

Pardon me, but it’s been hard to tell lately.

The barrage of bigotry that has passed for public discourse on multiculturalism, asylum seekers, Islam and pretty much any issue touching on brown-skinned newcomers has been exhausting and depressing.

Continue reading "Today’s ‘threat’ is tomorrow’s model citizen" »

On Anzac Day, I along with about 150 protestors stood across from the Villawood Detention Centre where the crumpled remains of a burnt building, barbed wire and a security guard stood between us and them: the scourge of this naton, the ‘refugee’. The protestors chanted while a lone figure of a detainee on top of a tiled roof squatted, looking on despondently.

I wondered if he was thinking what I was thinking: That our brave soldiers who fought in Gallipoli and who today are fighting in Afghanistan, did so to protect our freedoms in the name of humanity. And ironically, while we celebrate those freedoms as a democratic nation, we are locking up people, depriving them of their freedom, their dignity and their common humanity, driving them to acts of insanity.

The Immigration Minister, the Prime Minister and the ALP at large may be caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the question of what should be done with asylum seekers; however, Australia not only as a signatory to the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, but as a democracy, should place human rights before politics.

Continue reading "Don’t blame Muslims for multiculturalism’s failings" »

The latest debate over multiculturalism has again exposed the often inflammatory nature of media reporting and its misrepresentation of Australian society.

A recent study by the University of Western Sydney noted that 87 per cent of Australians agree that “It is a good thing for a society to be made up of people from different cultures”. 

Yet the headline from one major tabloid newspaper was “Australia a land of racists”.

Continue reading "Multicultural debate cloaks the problem of Big Australia" »

He’s been billed as New Zealand’s answer to the Super Nanny and his program The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show, which advocates punishing children by padlocking them in their rooms, will be screening in Australia later this year.

Nigel Latta says that reasoning with toddlers is “like trying to explain bad behaviour to drunken rugby hoons with the language skills of a chimpanzee” and that the only way to bring the little buggers into line and save your own sanity is to lock them away for a while.

Latta, who it should be stressed doesn’t support smacking, is entitled to his view. It’s clearly a harsh view, and the theatrical addition of a padlock to the traditional time-out is obviously there to drive ratings. But there would be plenty of frazzled parents out there who would agree that from time to time the only solution to a crazed tantrum-throwing two-year-old is a dose of isolation, to let them cool down and regroup shortly after. Ideally without resorting to a padlock.

Continue reading "Say yes to Easter eggs but no to naughty corners" »

It’s hardly surprising that Johnny Lee Clary’s Australian tour has caused a stir. It’s not every day you get a former KKK Imperial Wizard dropping in and warning us that we’ve got problems with racism.

Here’s the story - where he says racism in Australia is reaching the fever pitch he saw in the Deep South- in case you missed it.

The story was light on details, so I called Reverend Elder Clary to see what he’s on about.

Continue reading "Australians are not racist, but…" »

The NSW election was limping along with numbing predictability, like a circus missing one of its three rings, when the most persistent name in politics emerged to make the spectacle complete.

Pauline Hanson has decided not to emigrate to Britain as she declared last year, to not abandon bids for election as she had vowed several times.

She has decided instead to ignore her total absence from political debate in NSW and run with a bunch of buddies for the State Upper House.

Pauline is back, and finally that missing clown ring has been restored to the campaign circus.

Continue reading "Hanson is back, and the circus is complete" »

It’s been a big week this week for the politically correct.

Tracey Spicer is worried her children are being indoctrinated into Christianity at school.

Some Coalition backbenchers are worried they can’t indoctrinate new citizens to Christianity.

Continue reading "It’s political correctness gone maaaaaaad!" »

I have just returned from spending five weeks in India. The purpose of the trip was to deliver a number of papers and lectures, attending various conferences including the Indian Association for the Study of Australia – a three-day conference looking at the cultural interactions between the two nations.

Leading up to the World Cup, there were obviously discussions about cricket, but the history is a lot more complicated than that, as our nations are intertwined in ways that most of us are ignorant of.

For example, Professor Deb Narayan Bandyopadhyay is researching the way our two countries collaborated during the World Fair in the nineteenth century. Researcher Amit Ranjan presented a personal account of his research into the grave of Australian Alice Garden who died of cholera in Calcutta in 1882: Why was she there? What kind of interactions did she represent?

Another issue that is often raised is the experience of Indian students in Australia - not only the attacks of last year, but the more general encounters between Australians and Indians. In the context of a history that includes the mistreatment of indigenous Australians and the infamous ‘White Australia Policy’, I am asked: ‘Is Australia a racist country?’

Continue reading "We’re only as racist as our pollies make us out to be" »

Last week was a historic moment for multicultural Australians, a day for which we have waited and fought for five years. When migrants were targeted in the last elections and when some Australian voices joined the chorus of multicultural indictment in Europe, we despaired and thought the day would never arrive.

Last week in Sydney, Minister Chris Bowen announced that Australia has a new Multicultural Policy.

Australia’s last national multicultural policy expired in 2006.  The lack of a national government affirmation of Australia’s multicultural reality has allowed divisive and racist voices to gain legitimacy. The statements of European leaders, which in actual fact spoke more about the failure of their own vision, seemed to fuel abhorrent sentiments in our country.

Continue reading "Multiculturalism has never been a dirty word" »

It’s the great Australian amnesia. We sometimes forget who we are and where we came from.

For a nation of immigrants, whose cultural diversity helped shape this adopted homeland, there are those who would like to keep Australia just as it is – or was.

The ongoing debate over who to let into the country and who to keep out found new impetus last week when Immigration Minister Chris Bowen delved into a 1970s timewarp and resurrected the multicultural mantra - the policy that launched a melting pot of ideals on living together in perfect harmony.

Continue reading "Multiculturalism is Australia’s great divide" »

The wretchedness of grief on display at the burial of two asylum seekers who perished at Christmas island, and the swift point scoring by Opposition spokesman on immigration Scott Morrison rebuking the government for flying grieving relatives to the event, illustrate the extent to which Australia’s refugee policy is driven by desperation. 

On the one hand, there’s the desperation of people fleeing for a better life, with all the tragedy that it entails. Then there’s the frantic effort of local people to save lives as the calamity unfolded on the shores of Christmas Island last year. Few could have been unmoved by the accounts of Christmas Islanders who helplessly watched the disaster evolve and who spoke emotionally of its lasting impact.

Desperation also drives the politics of refugee policy, something made patently obvious again this week.  After pausing for a nano-second during the Christmas Island calamity, the toxic political narrative seems set to lunge along its usual course.

Continue reading "Desperation is driving the asylum seeker debate" »

Islam doesn’t have much of a reputation for a sense of humour. Maybe its best comics don’t get an airing here in the west – there might be an equivalent of a Peter Cook or a Lenny Bruce doing stand-up at a nightclub in Tehran.

But as a general rule, the more orthodox practitioners of the Muslim faith are more likely to crack a fatwa than a funny. And there are a few Danish cartoonists who found out the hard way that poking fun at the prophet Mohammed by daring to draw a picture of the guy can land you some pretty bad reviews, and also result in your nation’s embassy being burned to the ground.

In Australia, the relationship between Muslim communities and the wider community has often been fraught. The tension has been strongest in Sydney, particularly in relation to the Lebanese Muslim community. There was an amusing and hopeful moment last week which suggested that a genial kind of mutual accommodation may be taking hold.

Continue reading "Multiculturalism: something we can all joke about" »

Whatever flapping around there might be in public as the Liberals sort out their lines on boat people funerals, the activity beneath the surface is a lot more manic.

The ``insensitive’’—his word—comments by Scott Morrison and the implied rejection by colleague Joe Hockey on Tuesday picked the stitches from some old Liberal Party wounds.

It’s not a matter of policy debate. The Opposition will be united in questioning the $300,000 charter bill for getting the 21 mourners from Christmas Island to Sydney.

Continue reading "Ugly asylum seeker spat sparks Liberal tensions" »

Apologising is tough work. Most of us are hard wired to defend our actions, even when deep down inside we know we were wrong.

There are certainly historical precedents that show politicians are reluctant - to the point of childish stubbornness - when it comes to saying sorry.

So here’s to Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, who this morning apologised for his “insensitive” comments questioning whether we should foot the bill for families to attend the funerals of those who died in the Christmas Island boat tragedy.

Continue reading "When sorry seems to be the hardest word" »

Former Premier Jeff Kennett has urged Australians to be vigilant about ethnic threats and told the Herald Sun that migrants should accept our way of life.

He was commenting in the wake of a claim by British Prime Minister David Cameron that multiculturalism had contributed to the threat of terrorism within the UK.

Multiculturalism is a hot button topic. And in Australia the topic is plagued by empty, yet dangerous phrases such as ‘way of life’.

Continue reading "Australia does not have a ‘way of life’" »

Reconciliation, multiculturalism, sustainability (including confronting human-induced climate change), feminism and economic redistribution are five ‘big ideas’ that, not only excite the passions of The Punch readers, but have characterised Australia’s post-War history.

Each one of these concepts represents a noble goal to be achieved in our society. Let me explain by starting with reconciliation. Reconciliation has little to do with ‘saying sorry’ – though it is an important symbolic act – but more to do with confronting the forced and illegal dispossession of the Australian Indigenous population.

Reconciliation is about reconciling the past with the present, as well as defining the type of future we want – one that recognises and celebrates Indigenous culture and finds a way to compensate for things passed.

Continue reading "We need big ideas to kick start the new decade" »

Sitting in the Norrkoping campus of the Linkoping University, Sweden, southwest of Stockholm, I am overwhelmed with a sense of wonder that the sun has begun setting at 1 pm. It will be dark by 3.30.

Though a clear, sunny day, snow is forecast for this evening and there is a type of cold that would make most Australians shiver.

In the corridors here, one of the central topics of conversation amongst staff and students is the rise of the far right, anti-immigration party – the Sweden Democrats – that received 5.7 percent of the votes and gained 20 seats in Parliament. Their motto, “responsible immigration policies” for Sweden is, according to one of my colleagues here, a euphemism for limiting Muslim migrants.

Continue reading "Multiculturalism hasn’t failed, it’s been suffocated" »

There was an unusual and confusing incident in the chamber of one of our Parliaments last week which spoke volumes about the tensions within this multicultural society of ours.

The incident demonstrated the hyper-sensitivity which Muslim Australians feel towards any discussion of their behaviour and, specifically in this case, their attire.

It also demonstrated the logical inconsistency of those Australians who will loudly champion our values of freedom and a fair go, while also demanding that governments pass laws to determine the type of clothing people are allowed to wear.

Continue reading "Holy War in the City of Churches" »

One in four Australians experiences some form of racism. (“The People of Australia”, AMAC, April 2010).

83% of Australians agree that there is racial prejudice in Australia (“Challenging Racism, The anti-racism research project”, Prof Kevin Dunn et al, October 2008).

In his discussion of different kinds of racism, Prof. Kevin Dunn includes amongst them that which protects “privilege” usually as perceived by the White establishment.  The “quality of life” arguments of the current political debates around population are dangerously close to the privilege arguments of racism.  Words such as conformity to “Australian” ways of life are being aired bravely.  As Dunn points out, assimilationist positions are inherently anti-multicultural.

Continue reading "No holds barred for racism in Australian politics" »

Andrew Bolt, the man all lefties love to hate, has really done it this time.

Bolt’s a great opinion columnist. He is well researched, eloquent, and knows exactly which buttons to push to whip up indignation and outrage. That’s his job, and he’s bloody good at it.

But his latest effort treads a dangerous line. It fuels racist thinking. Even more than usual.

Continue reading "Sorry Andrew, you’ve bolted headlong into racism now" »

Tory is very quick to use the “racist” slur to disguise her lack of argument and of comprehension. It’s a dead giveaway these days.

But there is an even more telling sign that she is totally unable to refute, let alone understand, my argument.

It’s that rather than deal with what I actually wrote, she imputes to me sentiments I do not share and arguments I have never made.

Continue reading "Sorry Tory, you should try reading what I actually wrote" »

Last week I gave birth to my second child – another beautiful daughter.  Like most new mothers, in between the very physical challenge of adjusting back to sleepless nights and the many other wonderful changes wreaked upon the body, I was during a quiet moment filled with a sense of great hope and optimism for her future.

I am thrilled that the opportunities that lie available to my daughters (and I am also blessed to have 2 step-daughters) are vastly more varied than the choices their grandmothers had.  The world has evolved so much, in terms of what women can achieve – even just in the past 40 years.

Yet for all the advancement of women in our nation, the same week that I gave birth, there were calls to allow Australian doctors to perform a form of female genital mutilation (FGM), citing “cultural reasons” as a mantra for tolerating this barbaric practice.

Continue reading "Cultural tolerance is no excuse for harming kids" »

One night in an impromptu makeshift dance party in Mosul, in Iraq, I met a young girl of age 20 who I started to talk to about Iraqi politics. We spoke in English - her fractured English was a lot better than my fractured Arabic – and discussed topics as broad as the disconnect between the political class and the people, to the Bollywood blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire. 

I fondly remember that conversation, for one simple reason - Lubna was wearing the niqab, or, what most Australians would refer to (incorrectly) as the burqa.  She wasn’t what I had envisaged a typical niqab wearing woman to be like. 

She was partying and dancing next to both males and females who were drinking alcohol and rocking out to Katy Perry.  She was progressive, easy going and open-minded.

Continue reading "Talking about Green Day with a cool chick in a niqab" »

Like most females, I am prone to that odd bit of judgment. With the exception of close friends’ birthdays, I forego trashy clubs in favour of nights out at great restaurants.

My fashion icons are from days gone by, so I’m more inclined to emulate the feminine styles of Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly than look for dresses that barely skim my thighs. And although I love the odd cocktail, I am particularly cautious about how far I go for a drink, lest I wind up trashed anywhere – particularly on the internet.

Some would say I’m a little tightly wound, but after my latest social networking discovery, I couldn’t care less about their opinions. And that’s because my recent discovery had me questioning things I’d accepted as fairly concrete aspects of life in the modern day and age, and in the Australian society.

Continue reading "Uncovered meat, Facebook and a simmering melting pot" »

I’m sitting in my lounge room looking at the swag of contemporary political philosophy books I own, simmering with resentment at the noise the uneducated wogs downstairs are making.

My family moved to Balmain when I was a teenager and until recently I’ve mainly lived in the Inner West of Sydney. I tried the Eastern Suburbs for a while but decided it was too cashed up and pretentious for my left-wing sensibilities. So I stayed close to Glebe and Newtown, went on the right marches, studied the right subjects at uni, and voted for the right political party.

But a couple of years ago my boyfriend and I found ourselves priced out of the inner city rental market - a direct consequence, I told myself, of my lack of materialism and desire to pursue a modest creative life.

Continue reading "How I became a nasty little racist" »

Would Australia’s sporting mainstream benefit from the introduction of a Rooney Rule?

In 2003, America’s NFL introduced the Rooney Rule to provide legitimate opportunities for minority candidates. The rule, named after Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise and a strong advocate for the rule’s introduction, requires all NFL teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any vacant head coaching or front office position.

Concurrently the Fritz Pollard Alliance was established to identify candidates, submit names for vacancies and to prepare prospective applicants for the interview process.

Continue reading "A simple rule that could transform sport in Australia" »

Imagine our disgust the other night when we went to the Marconi Italian Club only to discover the joint has been overrun by wogs.

“Table for four, signore?” the lippy waiter asked incomprehensibly, so I shot back: “Don’t signore me champ, this is Australia and I didn’t come here to be insulted with your jibber-jabber.”

Speaking slowly and a little bit more loudly to help him understand, I explained that all we wanted was a quick tea - nuggets and chips for the kids, a steak for me and a bowl of spaghetti bolognese for my lady wife.

Continue reading "Speak English and just bring us the damned gelati" »

Ed’s note: Stephen is the BBC reporter who asked former Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo whether Australians are racist. Here he explains why he asked the question.

G’day, mate! Strewth. Did you hear what Kevin said about that Mexican and his amigos. Gave it to him straight, cobber, like a true blue Aussie. Senor Sol won’t be going walkabout near our billabong any time soon.

Offensive, isn’t it? And it’s offensive because it’s patronising. It’s a tired cliché that portrays Australians falsely as hicks and provincials and so distorts and devalues a modern country.

Which is presumably exactly what all those sombreros and cheap Mexican tunes and words like “adios” were meant to do. Rather than take Sol Trujillo on his merits, it was his background that was the salient point about him.

Continue reading "Is Australia too immature to examine its racism?" »