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).

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.

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: