"Are Australians racist?"

Sunday, January 9th, 2011
Indian student protest in Mebourne

Indian students protesting in Melbourne, May 31, 2009. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Magnus Manske.

“Are Australians racist?”

This is a question I have been asked frequently since I came to India from Australia in August, 2009, a result of the much reported recent spate of attacks on Indians studying and working in Australia.  I have lived in Australia for approximately two decades and I find this question extremely simplistic. A country is made up of millions of people, with vast differences in personality and outook, and Australia is no exception.  I cannot deny that there are racists in Australia, however I do not think there is even a remote possibility that such a wide generalisation could possibly be true.

Firstly, Australia is a country of migrants and its society consists of people from many different countries including Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Romania, Spain, Finland, Lebanon, Vietnam, Sudan, Nigeria, Afghanistan and India. With such a diversity of individuals living together, the average Australian simply cannot afford to be a racist. Also, if Australians were racist, the whole country would be in a non-stop war with itself, and there would be never-ending accounts of attacks not just on Indians but on other groups as well. This is not the case.

Now having said this I cannot deny that there are racists in Australia. I have done all my schooling in Australia and I myself experienced some racially motivated bullying during primary school. This teasing was done by young children who noticed I was different from them; my dark skin made the difference very salient. Most of my primary education occurred in an older area of Melbourne where the percentage of migrants was less and it was a mainly white area. All my high school years however occurred in a different area where the proportion of migrant families was greater; there I never experienced any racial bullying. My parents however never experienced any such problems in either of these areas. Typically, when people found out we were from India, they usually expressed interest in our culture as a whole.

The recent attacks on Indian students are indeed alarming and it is understandable that Indians are asking if Australia is a safe place to go for further studies. I feel that it is, but that Indians need to be aware that at certain times, and in certain places, big Australian cities are not as safe as our cities. For anyone, regardless of race. The vast majority of attacks have occurred at night in lonely places and many involved robbery of some kind. As a result the majority of attacks may simply have been due to the fact that these individuals were easy targets. This is quite likely given that in the suburbs of Melbourne where most of the attacks have happened, it is not safe to wander around alone at night.

Most Indians are simply unaware of the dangers and, also partly from necessity, will walk alone from public transport stops to their homes on dark deserted streets. In India the streets are busy until 8:30-9:30pm at night and therefore it is relatively safe to walk around for some time after dark. This is not the case in Melbourne. In most areas, the shops close by 6pm and after dusk you will see almost no-one walking around, they will all be driving.  Due to the large sprawling residential suburbs, policing is difficult. The Australian government should address this problem of inadequate police resources since it encourage criminals and puts the public in danger.

It is possible that some of the attacks on Indians were racially motivated, particularly those in which victims claim that the assailant verbally abused them with racist slander.  There might be ill-feelings in small parts of the population towards indians, which could be exacerbated by the apparent clannish nature of Indians who have arrived recently. As with most recent migrants, they tend to group together and not mix with the general population. But some incidents that originally appeared to have a racial element turned out to be fakes. In one case, an Indian man claimed that his car was set on fire late one night by apparently anti-indian youths, but it was later revealed that the man had actually set fire to his own car and confabulated the attack in order to claim $11,000 insurance (3AW Radio, 2010).

Crook

Indo-Australian relations hit the big screen


The Indian film industry has also been quick to jump on the bandwagon. The recently released Hindi movie Crook depicts Melbourne as a city completely devoid of morality and dignity, where topless bars are the norm and peoples’ ultimate goal in life is to beat up Indians (Calcutta Tube, 2010). It is completely ridiculous. Some people clearly think that “the Aussies deserved this”, but this type of petty ‘tit for tat’ behaviour suggests a lack of maturity and worldly wisdom.

To practically tackle this issue, the best solution is to ensure that Indians who come to Australia understand the dangers of walking alone at night through the suburbs, particularly with laptops, iPods and other electronic valuables visibly in hand. Locals know this, and hence this is why you won’t see many people wandering alone at night on foot. The state of the situation may not be apparent to Indians entering a foreign country for the first time, and hence the Australian government should ensure that new students understand these things. If this is done students may take fewer unnecessary risks and the number of attacks will be fewer.

Lalitha Krishnan

The author, right, enjoying Melbourne social life.


References
Department of Education and Training, NSW Government. (2005). Cultural Diversity and Community Relations Policy: Multicultural education in schools. Source: https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/policies/student_serv/equity/comm_rela/PD2005... .
Victoria Police (2010). Crime Statistics 2009/2010. Source: http://www.police.vic.gov.au/content.asp?a=internetBridgingPage&Media_ID....
3AW Radio (2010). Indian set himself on fire: Police. Source: http://www.3aw.com.au/blogs/3aw-generic-blog/indian-set-himself-on-fire-....
Calcutta Tube. (2010). Crook: It’s Good To Be Bad (2010) Hindi Movie Review-Rating-Box Office. Source:

Comments

Racism is true and well

Racism is true and well kicking in Australia. Its not the hooligans thats a concern. Its the "Schreibtish Tater" (people in high positions) who maker important decisions in day to day life at work and politics. Its not easy for highly skilled migrants to get many of high level jobs as proved by a study conducted in Australia itself. Unless, this issue is discussed intelligently we may not be able to solve racism at its core. Sadly, this is not a blame game and truth always hurts. Its better bring out the core issue than sweeping it under the carpet.

Australians (as a nation) are

Australians (as a nation) are no more racist than any other country, including India which, by the way, has a long, sad history of classism (ie discrimination based on social class) which is also alive and well in England. I have been to India a couple of times and love the culture (and its people), however, I think it is very hypocritical of those in India to point a finger at Melbourne when the crimes against some of the Indian students were clearly based on criminal intent (robbery). The unfortunate Indian students were (sadly) in the wrong place at the wrong time. Australia (like every other nation on this planet) is not perfect, however, it still is a multicultural success story. This country is known as "the land of immigrants" who have come to this land from every corner of the world and, for the most part, have settled in and made a success of their lives (provided they did not choose to bring the biases and hatreds of their homeland with them). England has a long history of racist attacks (by skinheads) and America has its history marred by the KKK (and other racist-based groups). Some of the most racist countries in the world are Asian countries like Japan and China whose demographies remain incredibly homogeneous and its system of trade relations singularly xenophobic. Clearly, it would be very wise for countries (outside Australia) to clean up their own backyard before pointing a finger at us - Australia still remains as one of the most tolerant, flexible and progressive nations on earth with a standard of living that is the envy of the world. If this was not the case, then we would not have so many thousands of people (from all over the world) desperately trying to reach our shores.

There is racism in Australia.

There is racism in Australia. I have expereicned this very often. For example, having beening told 3 or 4 times at work that I am not to be promoted or get the position I applied because 'you are a Chinese', it just proves it. However, racism is everywhere. I am from China, and it exists in China as well. The difference is that in Australia, people talk openly about racism, and many behave in a racist way or like a racist inpublic. Quite often, these people are held as heros.

I find this hard to believe -

I find this hard to believe - "having beening told 3 or 4 times at work that I am not to be promoted or get the position I applied because 'you are a Chinese' " Are you telling fibs?

I find your story totally

I find your story totally unbelievable. Anyone who made such a bold statement leaves themselves open to legal action under state, federal and workplace laws. Yes, there are racists in Oz, when I was at school it was European migrants who were the focus of the small minded, then it was the turn of SE Asian migrants. Your lies do nothing to change the situation

I think it's all depends how

I think it's all depends how well you can mix with local population and how well you can adapt new culture. I am from india and been living in australia from last 5 years. I love this country and i love australian's because i think they got pretty much same sense of humor as us but some indian's face difficult to understand it due to lack of communication and might misunderstood it in wrong way from where trouble starts. I use to work with aussie blokes and i never felt any find of racism from them. We always have great time at work and use to go fishing,pub etc together. They helped me to learn so many australian ways to do things. Unfortunately we all got redundant and now i do miss them all. I miss CSR Bradford........ :(

If you didnt get a promotion

If you didnt get a promotion its because you dont have the skills required, not because you are Chinese. Dont blame others for your lack of ability. There are laws prohibiting such behaviour you claim to have experinced in the workplace.

Yes there are laws

Yes there are laws prohibiting such behaviour but it doesn't automatically mean that everyone follows those laws. You need to report these bosses, they need to be dealt with and to realise that there are repercussions to being racist. I am personally dead set against racism and I feel both ashamed and saddened that a few (maybe more than a few) ignorant people are making my beautiful country look bad. I watched an episode of 'dumb, drunk and racist' last night and it drove me to tears. I have lived in Melbourne my entire life and was brought up by my parents to judge people on their character and not on their skin colour, sexual preference...etc...I actually have trouble understanding how anyone could think otherwise. Melbourne has changed. I am 30 years old and I can remember spending many nights out in the city just 5 years ago, my friends and I felt safe walking th streets at night (all female). Now I wouldn't walk in the city after a certain hour unless accomponied by a male friend and I won't catch public transport after 9pm. I think it's high time the government took action just like they did in New York, we need a stronger police prescence, in the city, on the trains and in suburbia. I have been to New York, I walked Times Square at midnight, I didn't know the area and yet I felt safe.

Clare, I would not take the

Clare, I would not take the Show "Dumb, Drunk and Racist" too much to heart! I find the Show and its one-eyed presenter incredibly biaised and infuriatingly ill-informed! The young, Indian students who appear on the Show are absolutely gorgeous and, quite frankly, very willing to perceive that everything they are being told does NOT represent the full story. Why is it that only white people are accused of racism? The episode on how hard done by our aborigines are is totally unfair. When will aborigines (and others) learn that racism is a two way street - the experience of open hositility by members of the Alice Springs aboriginal community was exactly what we (as white tourists into Alice) experienced. I will never, ever go to Alice Springs again! There is no mention of all the millions of dollars of taxpayer money provided to various aboriginal community programs. I found it absolutely incredible that ordinary Australians are blamed for an individual's dependency on drugs and alcohol - do you want to know who IS responsible? Look in the damn mirror! This is the land of opportunity so do what we all have to do, ie get out of a welfare mentality, get a job and stop believing that the world owes you a living. What happened 200 years ago is in the past - it was a tragedy but aboriginal families were not the only ones effected. Thousands of young English children were sent out to Australia (by the English and Irish governments) on their own from the late 1940's right through to the early 1960's and placed in horrific institutions where many of them were horrifically sexually and physically abused. This is what happened in those days - it was terrible, it was tragic and it was widespread. Now the aboriginal communities need to do what those little English and Irish children have done, get over it and move on! Shows like this do not help the healing process .. they just open old wounds and prolong long-held racist beliefs based on misinformation.

Sure dont take the show

Sure dont take the show seriously But how about the consequences of discrimination felt by generations of Aboriginals ? Europeans made them look like intruders in their own land ! time to pay back folks ! so let the useless government pay them peanuts ! you reap all the glory of this land and dont want them to share it ? you must analyse present situation unbiased ! you made them minority in their own land ! looted and killed them like anything ! why are you ashamed of accepting the truth ? be a sport (like you do after loosing to a good side in any sports event)

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