Politicians Fuels Racism - Are You “Mainstream” Australians?

Racism is a die hard issue in Australia. While the racism against Indians across the country over the last two years has yet to show any sign of winging down,  the new opposition leader Tony Abbott begin the 2010 election year with Howard’s style racism on the issue of Immigration.

In  his Australia Day speech, Tony Abbott urged minority leaders to “respect mainstream Australian values.” He stressed that “the great prize of Australian citizenship is insufficiently appreciated and given away too lightly”. The impression I had with the tone and content of Tony Abbott speech are as follows:

1) Australia is doing a favour to migrants by giving them the “Great Prize” of the citizenship lightly;

2) Minority Migrants are not appreciative of Australia citizenship;

3) Minority Migrants fail to respect “Mainstream Australian values”;

4) Minority Migrants has not done the right thing to Australia.

It puzzle me that throughout Tony Abbott speech, he failed to explain unambiguously the meaning of  “mainstream Australians” and “Australian Values”.

Are you “Mainstream” Australian?

Our First Australians (Indigenous peoples) called Australia Day (26 January) an “invasion day” and would like to “change the date of Australia Day to a date that includes all Australians,” this request has been rejected by Prime Minster Rudd in 2009 ( Northern News, 25 Jan 2009). The question here is, is the term “Mainstream Australians” includes our First Australians? If not, what is “Australian values”? Who represent “Mainstream Australians”? - Our First Australians or Prime Minister Rudd?

The reality is, all human being regardless of race, language, tradition or religion are individual with their own mind and values. Each of these values and beliefs are to be respected and accommodated in order to create a harmonise society. That is, people need to learn to agree to disagree!

Even members of the same family could have different opinions, beliefs and values in regards to the same subject matter. For example, contrary to Prime Minister Rudd 2009 position on the issue of Australia Day and racism in Australia,  his  nephew, Van Rudd marks this year (26 January) 'Invasion Day' with anti-racism protest. So, who represent “Mainstream Australians”? Our Prime Minister or his nephew?

According to a recent survey, most Australians believe that “high-income earners do not pay enough tax, and nearly all think low- and middle-income earners pay too much”. A quick search on the Internet will provide us numerous examples of rich people spending big money on accountants and legal experts to fight the Australian Tax Office in order to minimise their tax obligation to Australia. Just to name two examples: 

(1) Our late Kerry Packer (Richest man in Australia): Packer tax case and The dark side of Kerry Packer; and

(2) Our famous “Crocodile Dundee” actor Paul Hogan: Paul Hogan loses bid to stop ATO examining US bank accounts and Paul Hogan on Nine Network Sixty Minutes, paid his ATO tax.

So, do these rich peoples represent “Mainstream Australians”, do their effort to minimise their tax obligation to Australia represent “Australian values”?

Australia has no value - the term “Mainstream Australians” is simply another form of racism

Like any human society, Australians as individuals have a variety of views and values on a variety of issues. For examples:

There are people who passionately want to retain the British’s Queen as our Queen (we called them Monarchists), there are also people who passionately want Australia to become a Republic to reflect the reality that modern Australia is made up of migrants from all over the world; In term of religions, there are believers (Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, etc) and non-believers (Atheists, etc); Even among the Christian populations, there are history of conflict between Catholic and  Protestants; Politically, there are right wing, left wing; there are pro-gay and anti-gay; there are  pro-abortion and anti-abortion; there are criminal and police; there are very wealthy people and homeless;  there are emigration and immigration; there are ruling party and opposition party; the list of contradiction within the populations is simply too lengthy to be listed.

It is like the Chinese philosophy of “Ying and Yang”, only through mutual respect and inclusion where harmony could be achieved.

Therefore, the term “mainstream” Australians is simply another form of racism representing a section of the population trying to control and assimilate all others. It is divisive and meaningless as I believe that, no body could possibly provide a flawless definition on the term “mainstream Australians”.

Migration to and from Australia is a two way traffics

The movement of people across the world is an ancient issue not exclusively Australia. There are many reasons for people to move from places to places within a country or from countries to countries. People move around for all kind of reasons. For examples,

Escape from wars such the displacement caused by the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003; Escape from prosecution such as the Nazi Holocaust; Escape from natural disaster such as Earth Quake (Haiti), Tsunami (Samoa), flood (Katrina in America), famine, the spread of disease and so on.

There are also migration against one will, for examples, the First fleet to Australia and the African slavery during the colonial era.

People also move from country to country for economic reasons (career and business opportunities); family reasons (following the new career posting of a love one and marriage); personal reasons (education, the love for travel, the love for certain culture or living environment, weather condition or humanitarian effort, etc).

According to the ABS (latest update: 7 April 2006), under the heading: Population Growth: Leaving Australia, states that: “Over the past five years, the number of Australian-born people leaving Australia permanently has doubled.”, “interest in emigration has shifted to its impact on the composition of the workforce. The recent higher levels of emigration are causing concern that skill shortages are being created or exacerbated in some fields.”

In fact, the number of Australian leaving Australia permanently each year is by the ten of thousands for a variety of reasons. According to ABS, “for Australian-born persons, emigration is more likely to be a result of increasing internationalisation of labour markets and increasing global demand for skilled workers. In contrast, overseas-born emigrants often leave permanently to return to their former country of birth because of feelings of homesickness or insecurity. Older emigrants often depart after they retire from the workforce, while widowhood and divorce can also motivate departures among the overseas born.”

Therefore, the issue of immigration and emigration is a two way traffics. We should use a normal heart to respect the desire of a fellow human being to seek a better life elsewhere through migration in the form of employment, marriage or refugee.

The shifting of wealth and economic power from West to East in the 21st Century

If history is of any indication, the rise and fall of a civilisation is an inevitable process. The Roman Empire did not last forever; the Crusader was unable to hold on to Jerusalem; Spain was unable to prevent the rise of Britain; and Britain was unable to prevent the independent and rise of America. The 2008 Wall Street Financial Tsunami resulted in the decline in the number of migrants from Mexico to USA (New York Times,  14 May 2009).

21st Century may be a century shifting away from the West, the following news headlines may provide some insight  into the trend of the new world order within the next few decades:

1) China Will Continue to Drive the Global Economic Recovery in 2010 (Money Morning, 3 Dec 2009)

2) China Playing Important Role in Steadying World Economy, Zoellick Says (World Bank, 2 Sept 2009)

3) Australia Economy to ride a second wave of China stimulation (The Australian, 4 Dec 2009)

4) China Outrunning the Global Recovery and Still Looking Ahead (Money Morning, 22 Jan 2010)

5) Growth in China continues to influence East Asia’s economic recovery, two new World Bank reports say (World Bank, 3 Nov 2009)

The attractiveness of Western countries in the form of wages, social welfare, political stability may also be in the process of declining in the 21st century if the western politicians unable to manage the current crisis effectively. For examples:

1) America's decade of dread (Washington Post, 16 Dec 2009)

2) A Rising Anti-Government Tide (Washington Post, 22 May 2009)

3) Obama Orders 1 Million US Troops To “Prepare For Civil War” (Pakalert Press, 30 Nov 2009)

4) Paulson Was Behind Bailout Martial Law Threat (Prison Planet, 20 Nov 2008)

5) Medicare and Social Security are in terrible shape. Unfortunately, private-sector health and pension plans are doing even worse (Slate, 27 May 2009)

6) Budget scenario bleak for Montgomery schools (Washington Post, 9 Dec 2009)

7) Foreclosures Force Ex-Homeowners to Turn to Shelters (New York Time, 18 Oct 2009)

8) California’s Zigzag on Welfare Rules Worries Experts (New York Time, 6 Oct 2009)

9) Poverty rates increase in 31 US states, says Census Bureau (The Australian, 29 Sept 2009)

10) Breadline USA: Why People Are Going Hungry in the Land of Plenty (Alternet, 4 July 2009)

Australia is also facing a series of new and accumulated problem throughout the country in the 21st century (For examples, the currently hotly debated issue of aging population; the record level of national and individual debts; the lack of hospital funding; years of water mismanagement with dying rivers; Global warming with disastrous weather pattern such as the threat of flood, bush fire, sand storm; the threat to the survival of the Great Barrier Reef and a series of social imbalance in the form of the number of homeless and housing affordability etc. All these required finance, technology and human resources to overcome. Can Australia cope with these challenges with on-going racism against migrants (an important contributor to the economy) fuelled by politicians?

Australia may be a lucky country due to its natural resources, and was blessed by the wave of China economic dynamic and strong demand for its resources (Iron Ore, natural gas etc) over the last decade, if our politicians continue to stir racism against migrants and countries in the Asia Pacific region, the middle east and Africa, I am afraid,  Australia will eventually pay the price from the racism and political myopia of its right wing politicians. The recent drastic reduction of Indian student enrolment to Australia universities is just an example deserve policy maker attention. (Brisbane Times, 7 Jan 2010 - Indian student numbers plummet).

The reality is, most Western countries including Australia after decades of restless spending will have to cut back their social welfare program in order to cope with the declining economy and rising national debt as a result of their recent borrowing to stimulate their economy. While China, after 30 years of economic reform with accumulated wealth and foundation to push its economy upwards, it is in the process of extending its social welfare program to its citizens. For examples:

1) A quick look at 60 years of China's development (World Bank, 8 Oct 2009)

2) A decision to increase the amount of pension for retirees (Hong Kong Media - Ifeng in Chinese language, 20 Nov 2008)

3) A decision to speed up its investment in the poorer Western region (Hong Kong Media - Ifeng in Chinese language, 16 Oct 2009)

4)  Strategies to improve infrastructure in rural areas,  the development of health, culture, environmental ecology and housing security (Hong Kong Media - Ifeng in Chinese language,  20 Nov 2008)

5) Education: 700,000 impoverished students receive subsidy (Global Time, 20 Aug 2009)

6)  Every Chinese Village To Get Health Clinic (CBS News, 8 April 2009)

7) China plan to resolve 7.47 million low income urban families housing problem within 3 years (Hong Kong media - Ifeng in Chinese language, 2 Jun 2009)

8) From poor areas to poor people: China's evolving poverty reduction agenda (World Bank)

What will Australia born emigrants feel if the new country they called home begin to treat them like Tony Abbott?

The anticipated shift in the economic powerhouse from the West to the East will inevitably results in the increasing flow of migrants from the West to the East for better life style, business and career opportunities in the decades to come. I wonder, what will Australia born emigrants feel if their new country they called home begin to behave like Tony Abbott and former Prime Minister John Howard?

Australia Media love to put migrants on the TV screen each and every year telling the world that Australia is the best country! Australia is not a racist country! Are we?

Let’s handle the issue of immigration and emigration with a normal heart and respect each other as a fellow human being. We are all equal. Aren’t we!

 

Related articles on Racism in Australia:

• Let’s not deny the evidence that Australia has a problem with racism—General Cosgrove is right…. 
• Evidences of Australia Media Fueling Racism against Minorities