Why the anti-racism campaign should begin with the rule of law, not Australian values?

After a series of denied by our politicians and police chief over the past years about the existence of racism in Australia, the Gillard Government has finally found the political courage to confront the issue head on by announcing that the government will launch a nationwide campaign against racism and will restore the multiculturalism portfolio after dumping it following the 2010 election. (Daily Telegraph, 17 Feb 2011)

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen outlined his concepts of multiculturalism (Brisbane Times, 17 Feb 2011) with the following key points:

1) Our multiculturalism is underpinned by respect for traditional Australian values.

2) Australia will respect different cultures, however, if there is any inconsistency between these values and individual freedom and the rule of law, then these Australian values win out. They must.

3) Secondly, to enjoy the full benefits of Australian society, it is necessary to take a pledge of commitment.

4) Australian governments do not defend cultural practices and ideas inconsistent with our values of democracy, justice, equality and tolerance. Nor should we.

5) Intolerant interpretations of religion do not align with Australia's values, principles or laws.

From the outset, the above listed 5 points seem to be reasonable, however, when the term ‘Australian values’ is repeatedly used in a vague and undefined manner, the whole problem with racism is back to square one. The logics are very simple:

What is “Australian values” or “traditional Australian values”?

From the above 5 points mentioned by Mr. Bowen, we may pick up the following key words as Australian values:

a)  Democracy

b)  Individual freedom

c)  The rule of law and Justice

d)  Equality

e)  Tolerance

The hollowness of the term “Australian values”

The above 5 objectives are the dream of every mankind. Anybody who is familiar with Confucius philosophy dated back 2,500 years ago know that the above 5 principles has been a part of his teaching. The only different is that, he defined them in a different manner base on the political, economic and social culture at that time. Unlike the way our politicians talk about “Australian values” in a vague and ambiguous manner, Confucius has a very precise and clever way of promoting a series of values between leaders and peoples to maintain an orderly society, and also a series of principles between people and people to maintain social harmony. Just to name two examples,

1)  人民如水 (People like water),水能载舟(water can carry boat),亦能覆舟(can also sunk boat).

This is about people power. The world first concept of democracy whereby Confucius urges leaders to respect and care for the well being of the people. This is perhaps the reason why throughout Chinese history dating back thousands of year, governments are genuinely concerned about the well being of the people whenever there is a natural disasters. Government also involved intensively in the building of dams, water irrigation system to ensure agriculture production to feed the population. In fact, if you visit Sichuan next time, ask your tour guide about the 2000 year old ancient irrigation water way, they will tell you that its has survived the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake.

This 2 part series Video show us the speed and quality of reconstruction two years after Wenchuan Earthquake in China.

This 3 part series Video show us the rebuilding progress in one of the minority village and the amount of subsidise and assistance the Chinese government provided to the villagers.

British Journalist, Peter Foster, after being transfer from India to Beijing by The Telegraph, was surprised at “how sensitive the country’s autocratic leadership is to public opinion.” The reason Mr. Foster used the term ‘autocratic’ is because he, like many westerners do not understand China. This is the link to the content of his full article: China v India: two kinds of people power.

If you are interested to make further comparison about government caring for the people in needs, do a simple research yourself base on the following questions:

a)  What kind of assistance the Australian government provided to the 2009 bush fire victims in Victoria over the last 2 years?

b)  How many homes have been rebuilt so far and how many still sitting in the Council office waiting for approval?

c)  What happen to the 700 families without insurance at the time of the bush fire?

If democracy is about government listening to and caring for the people in needs, Confucius has definitely doing a better job than the so-called “Australian values”.

2)  己所不欲,勿施於人 (Don’t do to other if you do not want them to do to you)

This principle regulates the relationship between people. Confucius want people to think first before doing anything to inconvenience or harm others.  Anything that we do not like other to do to us, don’t do to other. The Confucius message is simple and easy to understand. This principle can only be successful if we respect other as equal. It also help to build a tolerance society as one has to always consider one own feeling if place under the same circumstances before doing any silly thing against other.

In fact, if we can apply this same principle to regulate the relationship between countries, I believe that the world will have fewer wars.

Now, let’s examine the concept of so-called ‘Australian values’ in practice:

In order not to make this article too lengthy, I will use only one example for each of the above 5 listed values to prove that, the term “Australian values” is nothing more than a hollow political slogan and an expression of culture superiority of one culture over the others. For examples:

a) Democracy:

Aren’t we just witnessed the overthrown of an elected Prime Minister 8 months ago by a handful of privilege people within the ALP in a political coup ? (Herald Sun, 25 June 2010) 

b) Individual freedom:

Aren’t our government in the process to censorship the Internet? (The Australian, 21 Jan 2011).

c)  The rule of law and Justice:

54 year old Australian born Mamdouh Habib was arrested in Pakistan after the Sept 11th attacks. He was tortured while held in Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay before finally being released in January 2005 without charged.   

Over the last six years, he sued the Australian government for aiding and abetting his torture by foreign agents. The government denied their involvement and refused to compensate him over his ordeals.

However, 2 weeks ago, the government suddenly decided to pay him an undisclosed amount under a secret deal to keep his mouth shut and withdrawn his lawsuit. (detail in News Limited, 8 Jan 2011)

However, the Australian government still refused to return him his passport and allow him the freedom to travel.  Few days ago, Mr. Habib decided to make public the background story that lead to the Australian government sudden decision to settle the compensation with him. (detail in WA Today, 13 Feb 2011).

Note: This story tell us the following information: The final payout of an undisclosed amount to Mr. Habib after 6 years is the result of the rule of law; the torture without charge for 3 and a half years under the present of Australia government official, and the subsequent 6 years of covering up and lying about the existence of torture of an innocent citizen to prevent compensation is an indication that our government fail to respect the rule of law, justice and basic human rights.

The continue deprivation of Mr. Habib the freedom to travel without any evidence of his wrong doing is the deprivation of basic human rights, civil liberty, and justice. It also represent the gross abuse of power by the government.

All these incidents demonstrated the deficiency in our legal framework and the lack of respect for the concept of the rule of law.

It is worth noting that Nelson Mandela (former South Africa President) has once been listed as a terrorist as well.

d) Equality:

This story is about how some of our judges using their special position to discriminate against our FIRST Australian. Please read this report: Kirby's last blast: my fellow judges racially biased (WA Today, 2 Feb 2009) for detail. As this story is only the opinion of a retire judge, I therefore provide one actual example to proof that Judge Kirby observation may be accurate: please click on ‘Black and white justice’ (NINE MSN).

e)  Tolerance:

We tolerated publicly held race-hate music festival to go ahead on the Gold Coast, we also allow organised racially motivated race hate rally against immigrants and Islam to go ahead on the street of Melbourne. We even allow the drive by shooter of a mosque in Perth using an illegal fire arm to walk free with just a few thousand dollar fine.

However, when a mother of two with an un-specify ‘extreme religious view’ living with her two children age five and seven in Yemen, our government suddenly withdrawn her passport, and allow the notorious Yemeni security officials to detain her and held both her children on house arrest and been left to fend for themselves. The story is here.  There is apparently, no following up report by our media about the well being of this family.

The concept of “Australian values” need to define in Confucius way

As demonstrated above with examples, the concept of the so-called “Australian values” has not been upheld in practices. Therefore, it is a hollow concept. Our politicians have the responsibility to define them with examples or at least using Confucius method to describe those values so that, our leaders themselves and law enforcers understand the actual meaning of our “Australian values”, and are able to apply them equally and fairly to all in our society to prevent the appearance of double standard in practices.

Migrants are second class citizens with an inferior culture under the new multiculturalism campaign

The problem with the Australian politicians is that, whenever they talk about “Australian values”, they seems to assume in general that, migrants don’t respect the concept of democracy, personal freedom, human rights, etc.

The reality is, when one was unable to uphold and practice the so-called “Australian values” listed by Mr. Bowen, the term itself has become nothing more than a racist slur with the purpose to demonstrate a hollow sense of superiority of one culture over all others.

As a result, when there is a conflict in opinion, the superior culture view regardless of how hollow and ambiguous they might be should always prevail. Using Mr. Bowen own words: “If there is any inconsistency between these values and individual freedom and the rule of law, then these Australian values win out. They must.”

The only way to uphold a value is through the rule of law and the mechanism to monitor and enforce those laws

I have been living in, studying in, working in or simply travelling to as a tourist to around 20 countries over the last 30 years. I only came across the concept of who is right and who is wrong under what circumstances whenever a dispute taken place. This kind of dispute can be resolved through sound reasoning and logic. Common sense can easily prevails as parties involved can use normal heart to put one shoes into the other. Nobody has attempted to expressed superiority over the other.

Every country has its own set of written law and court system. If anyone violated any of those written law, they will be subjected to the jurisdiction of that country. It is a simple, straight forward, fair and transparent matter. Regardless of who you are, where you come from, under the law, all men are equal.

The problem with those so-called “mainstream” in Australia (as they like to call themselves) is that, through their own act, they have consistently demonstrated time and against that, they are having difficulties in upholding and practicing the very ‘values’ they preaches,  and yet, they still keep using the term “Australian values” to lecture others.

Therefore, as long as we continue to use the hollow term “Australian values” to express the superiority of one culture over the others, this artificially imposed concept of ‘US and THEM’ will always be there and there will never be any sense of ‘EQUAL’ in this society.

The best and most effective way to eliminate racism is to put in place a legal frame work to ban race hate music festivals, rallies, websites, leaflets and whatever publications that incite racial and religious hatred like the Singaporean government did, and  also the examples of Germany and Austria did to Nazism after the Second World War.

For those who are interested to learn more about how racial and religious harmony is maintained in Singapore, and as a result of those government policies,  Singaporeans of all ethnic groups enjoy a kind of freedom and human right not found in Australia, please read my earlier article: Culture of bigotry hindered Australia ability to integrate with its Asian neighbour.

Australia government censorship news: Few months ago I read on the internet that Indian film maker produced a movie “Crook” telling the story of racism in Australia. As a result, I visited a nearby Indian DVD shop asking for a copy of the DVD, I was told that the Australian government has banned the movie.

I have no objection with this kind of censorship. My only question is, why didn’t our government ban all other materials, music and rally that incite racial and religious hatred against migrants as well?

Apparently, the rule of law need to be monitored and enforced as well to uphold our “Australian Values” of equality, fairness, justice and tolerance.

Outlaw the use of “Mainstream” and “Australian Values”

By the way, I would like to propose to the government to outlaw the use of “Mainstream” and “Australian Values” as a first step towards a fair and equal society. The “US and THEM” mentality must first be removed to solve our die hard racism problem.

 

Written on 22 Feb 2011

by www.outcastjournalist.com

Geography: 

Comments

Wei ling chua You talk about China like its a great place you are all brain washed in China if you spoke like this about China in China you would be shot and your family would pay for the bullet.

Wei Ling Chua there is a lot of things you dont get about Australia but not a bad try at least you are thinking about what is going on around you.
Let me try to help when we have a election in Australia we vote for a political party eg Liberal, Labour, Greens,Sex Party to name a few.So we elected the Labour party and Keven Rudd was the leader of that Party so he was the Prime minister then the Labour Party thought he was doing a shit job so the Party we elected kicked him out and Julia Gillard was voted in by the Party we elected.Here in Australia you vote for a Party not a person(it's a crap idea but thems the rules).
Instead of Confucius we have religion I think the biggest following here in Australia is Christianity. Most try to follow the word of Jesus Who said " do to others as you would want done to you" or words of that effect. A bit the same as Confucius said.Then you got the ten commandments which is old testament But basically if you follow that you wont piss too many people off.
Now Mamdouh Habib Issue this bloke had a big mouth(but harmless) and it got shut we all know there is no such thing as free speech Here or any other place in the world and most Aussies dont care what happens in other countries they only care about Football or Cricket the Australian moto is "who gives a fuck" because most Aussies know Politicians are full of shit.Our politicians Just follow America and we do what they want for our security(military and economically) and America is run by Zionist and the banks are run by Zionists(thats another story) and they are out to crush Islam at the moment so thats why Mamdouh copped it to show our support (Kiss arse).
The movie "crook" was banned because it would have made it worse for the Indians if a lot of people had of seen it they really would of got bashed.I'm a white Australian Male and believe me Indians don't have a monopoly on getting bashed heaps of my mates get bashed it's not just Indians I live in a town where just about every one is a Aussie and we love to get pissed and play the tough man and fight, childish I know but Aussies Love it, if you get a fight , pissed and laid you have had a good night out I know it's crazy its just the way it is.
AUSTRALIAN VALUES is hard to define but I think its about looking after your mates, doing your own thing, working hard and not making waves Aussies dont like to talk about Religion or Politics or argue What we do is enjoy this great country go fishing go motor bike riding, bush walking ,four wheel driving ,BBQ's with friends, go to the Pub get laid,Take long drives in to the country etc.
Racism every bodies racist to a point even you I get the feeling you dont like Australians.What its all about is people dont like to change their ways,the Italian for example came to Australia they kept their culture which is food friends cloths some of them have been here 40 years and still dont speak English. Same with Arabs Asians Indians Greeks we all dont like to change our ways thats normal.And Australians dont want to change either they want to keep Australia Australian.And its no different when Australians go over sea's we hang out in our own group speak our own language and the Locals don't like it. I pointed this out to a bunch of Australian's when I was living over seas I told them that we are the wogs now! Some laughed and agreed some got upset.So I made it a point to learn the local language adopt their custom and I had fun but it was always them and us i guess thats human nature.
You say you have travelling the world for the last 30 years I also have been travelling the world for the past 17 years I noticed racism in Asian countries Philippines the worst I nearly got shot because i was white I was blamed for all white mans wrong doings But a nice Philipino Bloke saved my arse so not all are bad.When I was in Africa the white man (ME) went to the back of the Line every time,But it didnt worry me, this might sound bad I knew I was better than them because I was Australian and my country was better and I did not have to live in poor conditions like them.If I was African I too would be mad with white man.
You say that "the Chinese Government is genuinely concerned about the well being of the people" I was in a third world country and the Chinese Government were building a Chinese Embassy they brought Chinese people over from China to build it for them,their accommodation was appalling cramped and dirty they worked from sun up to sun down and were not allowed to leave the compound they were treated like slaves.The people over seeing them were from the government and were very arrogant the way the yelled orders and sat on their arses in the shade I was putting in a generator and this Chinese government bloke started treating me like that so I told him if he spoke to me like that again I would punch him in the mouth I was the only one for 2000Km that could put his generator in and he knew it so he shut his mouth after that all the Chinese worker greeted me with a smile even though we did not speak the same language I knew they were saying good on you mate.We wont mention Tibet or Tiananmen Square but I dont think any of this is genuinely concerned about the well being of the people do you?
So i dont think Australia are the only ones that are racist i think its man in general.

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the feedback.

It is not the Australians or Australian values that I am critical about.

It is the double standard of our political leaderships and media industry that drive my resentment.

I find these people cannot live without smearing against others. Mankind has yet to find a perfect political system, and that is precisely the reason we should learn from each other.

The reason I respect China media is that, they do not seek to smear against other culture or country. There are a series of program such as "Let the world understand you", using the live interview and dialog between a selected US city Mayor and a selected China city mayor to openly discuss about what they can learn from each other, with the participation of the public. It is all about promoting understanding between both countries and culture. When China invest in broadcasting in another countries, their aim is to promote understanding of China, but when the West invest in broadcasting in another countries, their aim is to distablise the other countries when their government doesn't tow their line of interest.

If you understand Chinese history before and after 1949, you will understand the difficulties they overcome to achieve today prosperity, and hence, the possibility of massive human right achievement by lifting 400 million people out of poverty within the last 30 years.

Can you imagine country with 1300 million people experience labour shortage in the middle of the world financial crisis? While the world is struggling to increase tax and cut expenses, China is increasing it social welfare payment across the board including the average wages. Living standard for 1300 million people (65 times the size of Australia population) can only be lifted over a period of time. At the moment, they are letting some section of the population become wealthy first.

They are still people who live in dire condition, that is why they are building 5.8 million affordable housing in 2009 and will build another 10 million this year.

The government is now in the next phrase of economic push and infrastructure investment right into the heartland of the remote villages across the Western region hoping to lift another few hundred million people out of poverty within the next 1 to 2 decades.

In a country with such a huge population with many hundred of million of people still waiting for a better life, the government are concerned about maintaining social stability to enable the economic to progress smoothly. Hence, they are a lot more sensitive with "Free speech". However, if you read their newspaper, you will find they actually not as lack of freedom as our media and politicians would like us to believe. For examples,

Read this news about Ai Weiwei: Ai Weiwei's Shanghai art studio is torn down without interference:

http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2011-01/611552.html

Read this article by ROBERT FOGEL : $123 trillion economy

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/01/04/123000000000000 

This is his statement about free speech in China:

"there is an annual meeting of Chinese economists called the Chinese Economists Society. I have participated in many of them. There are people in attendance who are very critical of the Chinese government -- and very openly so. Of course, they are not going to say "down with Hu Jintao," but they may point out that the latest decision by the finance ministry is flawed or raise concerns about a proposed adjustment to the prices of electricity and coal, or call attention to issues of equity. They might even publish a critical letter in a Beijing newspaper. Then the Chinese finance minister might actually call them up and say: "Will you get some of your people together? We would like to have some of our people meet with you and find out more about what you are thinking." Many people don't realize such back-and-forth occurs in Beijing. In this sense, Chinese economic planning has become much more responsive and open to new ideas than it was in the past. "

The problem with Australia is that, our media created a lot of dodgy story about China. For examples: Read this story and the links to my 3 other articles about the same event: http://www.outcastjournalist.com/index_Australian_Press_Council_Protecti...

In each and every pages of my personal website: http://www.outcastjournalist.com/index.htm ,

I urge that "people do not get angry with me over the facts I presented, question me if I get my facts wrong".

If any of my article make any Westerners uncomfortable, all of you have my personal apology.

Please read my statement of apology:

http://www.outcastjournalist.com/index_my_apology.htm

By the Tienanmen Square is nothing like the Western media reported. When I have time, I will touch on this issue in the future. My article about Australia may make some uncomfortable, but if you examine the facts I presented, you will agree that I have a point. I hope that by pointing out those issues, it will help to make this country a better country. A more peaceful one.

Thank you

Cheers

www.outcastjournalist.com

 

 

HeraldSun

We're a land of racists - survey

From: HeraldSun
February 23, 2011
HALF of Australians harbour anti-Muslim sentiments and a quarter are anti-Semitic, according to the biggest survey ever done on racism in this country.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/were-a-land-of-racists-survey-...

Israel is the biggest racists country in the world.This survey was done in 2008

G,day Wei Ling Chua

I read you Website I had a good laugh not at you but what you are learning about our press and politicians.
First of all the only time you have free speech is when you tow the party line and follow the sheep or when no one is listening. What you have to under stand is who runs the media,our Politicians and the world you will find it's the Jews or Zionists Hollywood the whole of the American media and the white House is all controlled by Zionist Jews do some research for your self you will see.you can say what you want about any country or religion But say one word about Israel or a Jew and you are in trouble.
The problem now is China will become the most powerful country in the world and if the Jews cant control China they will try to take China down.This is why we are told a load of rubbish about Climate change to stop countries like China and India from developing (but i think it's too late)So you will have to put up with smear campaigns against China thats what the Jewish run Media do then when they have the majority of dumb arses believing their bull shit they take that country down like Iraq wheres the WMD's ? all bull shit And 911 the Jews did that so they could attack the Muslims.
My advice to you is Keep speaking the truth but you wont be liked.
I'm not racist I just tell it the way I see it and you would have to be blind or stupid not to see the evil caused by the Jews and Zionists in this world.
I hope you get to read this before the Jew Lap Dogs delete it Because I have no freedom of speech when I speak the Truth either.

"Help! Help! I am being discriminated against! All others are allowed to be racists, only I am not!"