This morning when I was reading The Hindu I came across a statement in an article which was quite disturbing. It was a comment made by the Deputy Commissioner of Melbourne Kieran Walshe regarding the recent spate of assaults on Indian students in Australia. Amid speculations about the attacks being racial and the Indian High Commissioner to Australia Sujatha Singh stating that racism was a factor in some of the incidents, Walshe in a press statement said that the attacks are not racist crimes but just "opportunist activity". To quote his exact words: "We [Australians] think they[Indians] are vulnerable, we don't think it's racial, we think they are a weak target." My jaws simply dropped at walshe's notion of racism. Isn't it a racial stereotype to think of another race [read Indians] as "weak" and therefore, an easy prey to "opportunist activities" or to be taken as easy targets for such crimes. This is what I would call as "race selective crime" whereby you single out one race because you perceive them to be weak and make them a target. The belief that some races are superior to others is the basic definition of racism that any dictionary will give. The foundation of such a notion as to think of Indians as weak arises from the very fact that they [read white Australians] consider themselves as superior racially/physically. And it does not require a rocket scientist to figure that out from Walshe's stupid statement. You don't even have to be trained in POCO to even understand what happened in the last couple of weeks in Australia is nothing but a racist crime. Australia over the past few years have been trying to revamp its image as a tolerant, anti-racist nation with the nation's Prime Minister offering a formal apology to Australia's stolen generation. However, these recent incidents and what Australia is trying to maintain as just an opportunist crime by trying to deny the racial angle is a testament in itself to the hidden truths of racism in Australia.
by copywrite , on Friday, May 29, 2009
Very well put Tali. You beat me at writing about this but I am glad you did it!
by Reef by any other name , on Friday, May 29, 2009
I wonder what Andrew Symonds will have to say about all this.
by Reef by any other name , on Friday, May 29, 2009
By that i do not mean there is no racism here,i just really wonder what he'll have to say about all this.I will never understand what is this about the White that makes them feel superior.
by hruaia , on Saturday, May 30, 2009
well said tali,i hear this too. I dont belive in racial superiority especially those living in "Australian".
by Apu , on Saturday, May 30, 2009
Hey, was that written by you? Sorry if I sound like this, but I found the piece brilliantly put together, man! Congrats and Hats off! Keep writing! Completely agree with Mr/Ms divinewrite.
I don't know who is who till now. Will someone clarify please?!
by Nao! , on Saturday, May 30, 2009
Hmmm... my impressions of the Australians also come from their cricket team too. and we all know what the ABC and the Australian team has been upto regarding this issue. But frankly, this only shows the peanut brains they have and nothing else.
I was actually not aware of the comments that have come across from the Deputy Commissioner and the other higher officials who seem to buy this stupid argument about the whole issue being out of the racist agenda.
But I would say, considering how the Australian media and govt had reacted to harbhajan or andrew symonds or ricky ponting episodes or even those commentary on Test crickets played in their country, this reaction does not come as a surprise. It only adds to the arguments and proves the fact that they are absolutely too full of themselves.
No wonder the Australian media can't digest the fact that this has made headlines in all Indian newspapers...
I really wonder what Symonds or Waugh would say about this issue!!
by copywrite , on Sunday, May 31, 2009
Oh by the way today's newspapers have the news of another Indian student being attacked by a man of African origin...I wonder how this will be interpreted in the turn of events... Whether it will add a new angle to the whole thing...
by copywrite , on Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Yet another Indian student stabbed! A gurudwara attacked! Will this never end? And fear is precisely the thing these perpetrators are trying to generate. Indian Students are already revising their plans of going to Australia for further studies! The fear element is working! Where will this end?