Recently in mid May, I was in Sydney to attend a fantastic course. I wandered round in railway stations at midnight, went for walks beside the Harbour Bridge, and went shopping along the streets. I found the local citizens as friendly, courteous and helpful as they were during my last visit to the Gold Coast and Brisbane 6 years ago. The only problem was that except for Fridays, shops closed at 6 PM. so we could not shop except for that one day.
However Newspapers and Television channels were telling a different story. Indian students were being attacked and brutalized. They were lying in hospitals fighting for their lives. I could not equate the horrific pictures with my own experience. Though there was quite a high percentage of immigrants from Middle East and Asian countries, and they were present in most shop stores as employees, there seemed to be a particular animosities towards Indian subcontinent origin dwellers.
How did this happen?
There are ,I think many reasons for this and Social scientists should have seen this coming.
Firstly the immigrants huddle amongst themselves, converse mostly in their own languages and mostly listen to news and music of their countries. They often are loud, lack the simple courtesies that are prevalent in these countries, and are slow integrators. However, this is true of most immigrant communities and cannot be a cause or justification of such violent, antisocial behaviour of resident gangs.
Secondly the great hullaballoo created by the Media in India, Amitabh Bacchan's refusal to receive an University Award and statements by various political leaders --all contributed to resentment and increased targeting of the hapless Indian students. Australian officials in an attempt to save their massive Education Industry, refused to accept the racial causes and insisted that it was a simple law and order problem. This encouraged the teenage gangs to continue their lumpen activities with greater energy.
Thirdly, Australian society has changed. The newspapers and Television news are very tabloid like--almost like their British counterparts. The papers are filled with players hurling abuses, fighting, getting involved with prostitutes, drinking and drugs. A football coach invited a stripper to do her act in front of the players before a big match to "rejuvenate" them!!! A large picture showed a player urinating in a public place!!! Scandals, risque stories and pictures were everywhere. It seems that the Aussies are following the Brits in the crumbling of social values.
A bar room brawl, a few punches, grappling and fighting are the standard ways in which Australians are venting their anger and frustration as they struggle to adjust to the new realities.This cannot be blamed to alcohol consumption alone as WHO statistics showed that that level had remained steady for the last decade. See the picture above of an Australian family.
Sequelae of a bar room brawl
Fourthly, the Economic Recession has meant many workers losing their jobs leaving immigrant workers to fill those positions with their higher level of education and propensity to work more for less money. This has left a huge number of teenagers and their families with increasing resentment against the "invaders".
Already Australians are feeling the pinch. Many Indians are turning away from them , deciding to pursue their studies in Europe, USA, and South East Asia and China.
Action has to come from the Australian Government and their social leaders if they have to salvage the situation. So far, actions have not matched the actual needs.
The breach will take a long time to heal, unless the ordinary ,courteous, helpful, tolerant Australian citizen, the real silent majority, come forward with energy and purpose.
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