Our leaders’ tacit support for racism and xenophobia
Events in recent Australian political and social life have led to a particular eruption of racism and xenophobia different from those of the past. While denying even that racism exists, our leaders have given tacit approval and support for it through policy, whether this is policy on refugees, security or on Indigenous affairs. The glaring racism that Aboriginal Australians live with has all but faded from public discussion and positive policy making. Our current government has benefited and continues to benefit from fear of Muslims and Arabs, rather than working to educate and lead Australians beyond it.
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I agree that racism has grown in Australia over the last 6-7 years, i do not believe it is the work of our federal or state governments and anyone who thinks that, is simply jumping on the bandwagon and is not fully informed. Aboriginal people need to be treated better espescially in the fields of health care (an area controlled by the states), and i believe people need to be tolerant, espescially towards Muslim and Arab people as it is only a very small minority who want to conduct these attacks, but, as a customer in our store said to me a few weeks back “Muslims should not be looked at differently because of what has happened, but, how many Christians, Hindus, Aboriginal, and other people will walk into a crowd and blow themselves up, with that in the back of your mind, how can you not give a second look”.
Not that i totally agree with his analogy, it does seem to have a minor point. Thank You
Why do we have to avoid taking risks about “illegals”, “terrorists” etc. when we had no hesitation about accepting flawed information about Irak in spite of warnings from Europe and our own intelligence agencies? And why is the Opposition silent on these maters?
I feel that until this country honestly and deeply addresses the racial genocide upon which it was ‘founded’, the continued effects from these unhealed wounds manifesting in transgenerational traumatisation and the national amnesia of denial embedded deep within the psyche of each and every Australian, we will continue to breed racism, which we witnessed in Cronulla and which shapes the lives of Indigenous Australians every day.
I feel that we can all begin this process personally, by interrogating the ‘white privilege’ through which we are granted ‘exemption’ from being excluded as the ‘other’. It is this ‘white privilege’ which veils our own unexplored prejudice, and makes us continually look outside rather than inside, creating the division which we collectively experience as racism. And we are all victims of this prejudice through the mere fact of a human existence. This is where the possibility for true transformation as human Beings lies.
During the 1960s -1980s I worked in State Schools with 40 nationalities. Teenagers mixed together and parents came together at school events. The proliferation of private and religious schools has been a disaster for our society. Children now have little daily contact with a diverse range of cultures and socio-economic groups.Unfortunately the precedent was set 100 years ago with the founding of Protestant/ Catholic schools and now with such an affluent society and gov,t. funding segregation of children is at an all time high.Asians in Australia attend a mix of schools (no Asian private schools)…is this why they appear to blend so easily into our society? Prejudices will only be overcome via children…children only gain knowledge by many experiences ..these are not gained in small cocoons encouraged by lazy governments BUT ” the horse has bolted” Very sad, racism will flourish through ignorance and fear of the unknown different neighbour.