Hate Crimes Heat Up in Oz
A Sikh exchange student from Punjab became the 20th victim, this year, of a hate crime in Australia. His attackers attempted to rip off his turban and forcibly cut his hair. According to the AFP, this is the latest in a wave of attacks against desis in Australia.
These attacks have been the subject of public protest, both among university students in Australia, and among others in India. Australia has been under pressure to address these hate crimes, and has been deploying police while claiming that these attacks are uncommon. The sheer number, however, indicate a wider tension between victims of racial hatred and violence, and their attackers. The last attack on a desi student, for example, has left the victim comatose. While the Australian government denies that these are racist attacks, the particular nature of these incidents seem to contradict this position. Does this spate of violence, then, expose the seemier underbelly of Australian race relations?
Australia currently hosts roughly 95,000 desi exchange students, a result of active marketing for university exchange programs. The blowback, it seems, has been in a string of nativist and race-targeting attacks.
As particularly visible community-members, Sikhs are familiar with the fallout of racist violence. What is interesting to me is how this moment, and the unrest and protests against these disgusting acts of hate, are challenging Australia’s identity. Perhaps this is uncharitable to say, but Oz is not known for being a particularly inclusive or friendly country for non-whites, despite exposure to, and the presence of, aboriginal communities and communities of color over the past decades.
Instead of explicitly confronting these issues, however, it has attempted to police its way into a solution without acknowledging any potential root-causes that may be racially or identity driven. This dialectic makes me wonder if Australia is poised to undergo a transformation in its policies akin to the UK’s anti-racist breakthroughs of the 1970s and 80s.
Despite maintaining the legal veneer of inclusion, Australia has not really had a critical mass of any one community of color to force it to be inclusive at the community-level. The sudden arrival of tens of thousands of desi students, coupled with the government’s ham-handed attempts to keep the peace, have created a situation in which the State will have to acknowledge that it simply has not done enough to achieve inclusion on the ground. Instead, it has created an untenable situation that allows hatred to forment from nativists toward newcomers.
This makes me wonder, then, whether Australia will chose to address its issues by examining som eof the root concerns around endemic racism, or if it will pass the buck in the name of “personal responsibility” of its citizens. Either way, it has a lot of explaining to do as another young man is rushed to the hospital.
6 Responses to “Hate Crimes Heat Up in Oz”
Graham Stuart Staines (1941-January 1999) was an Australian missionary who was burnt to death along with his two sons Philip (aged 9) and Timothy (aged 7) while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa, India in January 1999. In 2003, the Hindu activist Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Staines
A human rights organisation, International Christian Concern (ICC), said that the bodies of six Christians had been found, and that 60 churches and 400 homes had been destroyed. The reports were based on an investigation by Dr John Dayal, the secretary general of the All India Christian Council. Dr Dayal said that the lives of people who were unable to flee were in danger.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=49365
Did Mr Badal criticize any of these .
Does he have the moral right to now criticize australians now ?
I am reminded of Saint Kabeer saying whose more than 500 sayings are in "Sri GURU GRANTH SAHIB".
I dont know if this one is included but I got it from Khalsa site
http://akaalpurakhdifauj.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_…
Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye
Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye
-Bhagat Kabeer
I searched for the crooked in others, met not a single one
Upon searching my own self, "I" found the crooked one.
Sant Kabeer day falls on 7 july 09
Graham Stuart Staines (1941-January 1999) was an Australian missionary who was burnt to death along with his two sons Philip (aged 9) and Timothy (aged 7) while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village in Keonjhar district in Orissa, India in January 1999. In 2003, the Hindu activist Dara Singh was convicted of leading the gang.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Staines
A human rights organisation, International Christian Concern (ICC), said that the bodies of six Christians had been found, and that 60 churches and 400 homes had been destroyed. The reports were based on an investigation by Dr John Dayal, the secretary general of the All India Christian Council. Dr Dayal said that the lives of people who were unable to flee were in danger.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=49365
Did Mr Badal criticize any of these .
Does he have the moral right to now criticize australians now ?
I am reminded of Saint Kabeer saying whose more than 500 sayings are in “Sri GURU GRANTH SAHIB”.
I dont know if this one is included but I got it from Khalsa site
http://akaalpurakhdifauj.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html
Bura Jo Dekhan Main Chala, Bura Naa Milya Koye
Jo Munn Khoja Apnaa, To Mujhse Bura Naa Koye
-Bhagat Kabeer
I searched for the crooked in others, met not a single one
Upon searching my own self, “I” found the crooked one.
Sant Kabeer day falls on 7 july 09
I beg to differ with this article
Being a teenage sikh i have grown up in the australian culture and way of life, attending the schools and interacting with a variety of people. Australia is definitely at this moment one of the most open-minded and recially tolerant countries in the world despite boasting geniuine numbers of variuos nationlities. I myself have numerous friends from a lebenese, african, anglo-saxon, sri lankan, chinese and south american background. And these are only from one school.
Now I raise another point. Onli one out of the twenty attacks you mention can really be attributed to raise. This one. Why i say this is simple. In my 15 years in this country I have never once encountered a piece of racial slander or violence ( the onli time i have was when i observed the treatment of minorities and so called 'lower class' in india). Me and my dad both travel around sydeny in turbans and beards and definitely stand out. The fact that all of a sudden there has been a spike in attacks on clean shaven individuals who would stand out less than us definitely detracts the racial label.
The real issue is the culture that these students have been a part of and bring to australia. India, and more specifically middle class india where these students arrive from is notorious for rampant consumerism and exuberance. In australia i have seen students with mobile phones i didnt knoe existed. Not just that but they show them around and often can be seen with them in their hands showing them off or playing music on them. Sorri but if you do that you are asking for it and will get it. Add to this the fact that they often work odd hours and it is a dangerous combination. Anyone on a railway station in the early hours of the morning showing off a mobile phone anywhere in the world is in definite danger…..
This recent attack is however disturbing, although not isolated. In the past, just with any other western country, ignorant individuals have done such things. I dont feel it was anything against the student.
So instead of this australia bashing that i am seeing, australia remains one of the most renowned multicultural communities in the world. Instead of attempting to force change, indian soceity should look at itself. If it even took two minutes to examine the class based, socioeconomic, skin based racism in the country i think it would run for help.
Thats my two cents
Bhul chuk likhia maaf
I beg to differ with this article
Being a teenage sikh i have grown up in the australian culture and way of life, attending the schools and interacting with a variety of people. Australia is definitely at this moment one of the most open-minded and recially tolerant countries in the world despite boasting geniuine numbers of variuos nationlities. I myself have numerous friends from a lebenese, african, anglo-saxon, sri lankan, chinese and south american background. And these are only from one school.
Now I raise another point. Onli one out of the twenty attacks you mention can really be attributed to raise. This one. Why i say this is simple. In my 15 years in this country I have never once encountered a piece of racial slander or violence ( the onli time i have was when i observed the treatment of minorities and so called ‘lower class’ in india). Me and my dad both travel around sydeny in turbans and beards and definitely stand out. The fact that all of a sudden there has been a spike in attacks on clean shaven individuals who would stand out less than us definitely detracts the racial label.
The real issue is the culture that these students have been a part of and bring to australia. India, and more specifically middle class india where these students arrive from is notorious for rampant consumerism and exuberance. In australia i have seen students with mobile phones i didnt knoe existed. Not just that but they show them around and often can be seen with them in their hands showing them off or playing music on them. Sorri but if you do that you are asking for it and will get it. Add to this the fact that they often work odd hours and it is a dangerous combination. Anyone on a railway station in the early hours of the morning showing off a mobile phone anywhere in the world is in definite danger…..
This recent attack is however disturbing, although not isolated. In the past, just with any other western country, ignorant individuals have done such things. I dont feel it was anything against the student.
So instead of this australia bashing that i am seeing, australia remains one of the most renowned multicultural communities in the world. Instead of attempting to force change, indian soceity should look at itself. If it even took two minutes to examine the class based, socioeconomic, skin based racism in the country i think it would run for help.
Thats my two cents
Bhul chuk likhia maaf
I totally agree with Oz Sikh. These incidents have just been sensationalised by the media because it makes great tv. Sadly the Indians have jumped on board and without thinking have begun these protests. As a Sikh that calls Australia proudly home I condemn any attack on any individual and truth be it, Sikhs are not being targetted any more than any other person who is walking home late at night.
Does a problem exist? Yes!
Unfortunately the real problem for the Indian students is not the Australian govt or Australian people. It is their own people who have set up shockingly below standard "international" colleges to provide skills shortage courses that after 2 years give them a chance at gaining permanent residence in Australia. These are the same people that take $20,000 in fees for their substandard courses and then do not provide the adequate social and communication training and supporr to their students. What ensues is that you have students walking around on public transport blaring bhangra or bollywood music, no manners, yelling at eachother crudely about girls in their own language…etc.
The students are partly to blame as well for working over their 20 hours per week and hence being caught in their own trap by fearing reporting to the police any incident at night for they are working illegally. If only they understood that immigration and police are 2 seperate depts and it would be better off to report directly to the police as soon as an incident happens so as to keep the police informed and they would not be investigated regarding their work or visas!
Theres the truth…
I totally agree with Oz Sikh. These incidents have just been sensationalised by the media because it makes great tv. Sadly the Indians have jumped on board and without thinking have begun these protests. As a Sikh that calls Australia proudly home I condemn any attack on any individual and truth be it, Sikhs are not being targetted any more than any other person who is walking home late at night.
Does a problem exist? Yes!
Unfortunately the real problem for the Indian students is not the Australian govt or Australian people. It is their own people who have set up shockingly below standard “international” colleges to provide skills shortage courses that after 2 years give them a chance at gaining permanent residence in Australia. These are the same people that take $20,000 in fees for their substandard courses and then do not provide the adequate social and communication training and supporr to their students. What ensues is that you have students walking around on public transport blaring bhangra or bollywood music, no manners, yelling at eachother crudely about girls in their own language…etc.
The students are partly to blame as well for working over their 20 hours per week and hence being caught in their own trap by fearing reporting to the police any incident at night for they are working illegally. If only they understood that immigration and police are 2 seperate depts and it would be better off to report directly to the police as soon as an incident happens so as to keep the police informed and they would not be investigated regarding their work or visas!
Theres the truth…