Australia's Race Riots: John Howard's Lack of Leadership on Race Issues is Not Helping
Read here full article by Michelle Grattan in The Age (Australia)
(Michelle Grattan is a political editor for The Age )
While debate has been going on for months about how to fight terrorism, this extraordinary and frightening racial rioting has crept up on the Australian community.
We're suddenly reminded that both the Lebanese and wider Australian communities contain lawless and aggressive thugs who can terrorise ordinary citizens.
This must be seen as the latest blow in what has been a bad year for multiculturalism, a term Austalian Prime Minister John Howard recently admitted he didn't particularly like.
Howard, anxious to avoid highlighting the glaringly obvious central role of race in the riots, has sounded off-key in trying to explain the most ugly scenes in Australia for years.
"I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country," he said on Monday.
Most Australians are not racist.
But anyone denying the strands of racism is rejecting history and current reality.
Malcolm Thomas, president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, believes Howard is trying to perpetuate a "myth".
An element of racism is always there, Thomas says: it bubbles up periodically — "the maturity of the society is to be able to handle it".
One of the most shocking and startling images was of the Anglos wrapped in the Australian flag — a confrontingly nationalistic response to ethnic violence.
Yet Howard, always preoccupied with the Australian symbols, was not galvanised by this sinister side. Rather the opposite. Howard said:"Look, I would never condemn people for being proud of the Australian flag."
It was a totally inappropriate comment on what had been a traducing of the flag.
Howard has several reasons for not wanting to get drawn on the race aspect.
The riots also come at an embarrassing time internationally for Howard who, as he left yesterday to attend the East Asian summit, was anxious to play down the implications for Australia's reputation.
Howard said, "Every country has incidents that don't play well overseas."
It sounded almost as if he hadn't come to grips with the seriousness of what's happening.
The Cronulla violence is not only about race. The clash between beach boys and those from Sydney's west stretches back a long time.
But the introduction of race to an old conflict is especially dangerous when fears about terrorism are putting new strains on relations between ethnic-religious communities and the wider community.
The riots should be a wake-up call to politicians, ethnic leaders, the community, and perhaps to the security organisations.
ASIO is watching and listening to terrorist suspects, but what information is it getting about the far-right groups who seemed able to mobilise so many people so quickly?
Howard has brought race into it when talking about the way forward.
Howard said (Australians) reaffirm the non-discriminatory character of Australia's immigration policy. We also needed to reaffirm our respect for freedom of religion in Australia but also "place greater emphasis on integration of people into the broader community and the avoidance of tribalism within our midst".
Yet much of what has been done this year in the name of the fight against terrorism has made minority communities feel more besieged and isolated, and has not contributed to a better feeling of belonging.
Terrorism doesn't just blow up people and buildings; it destroys tolerance.
The riots are not acts of terrorists but to the extent they blow away trust within the community, they have aided its cause.
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1 Comments:
The Holy Spirit's message today on The Christian Prophet blog seems to say that Muslims create a backlash against themselves by insisting on feeling separate and different.
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