It's an ugly word, isn't it? Very ugly - yet it's been all over the news here in Australia recently.
First off we had the Cronulla riots, where a big angry mob decided to beat the living shit out of anyone who looked like they were Middle Eastern, followed up by another big angry mob that decided to beat the living shit out of anything and everything.
Just when that little escapade was over, the South African cricket team popped in for a visit and were welcomed with a few questionable comments. Reports have also come through that some of the Sri Lankan players were also racially abused, although coach Tom Moody denies this is the case.
One story in today's Sydney Morning Herald gave an example of racial abuse by a group of supporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). This really is looking glum, eh?
Yet as many who have met Australians or been to Australia would know, these people are in the minority. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland described the trouble at the cricket as "shameful behaviour of maybe half a dozen half-wits". Chances are you can add that they were pissed as a fart as well.
Yet at the one game I've attended at the SCG, the spectators where I was generally had a bloody good time. The game was close (decided by a Brett Lee 6 with three balls to go), and supporters from both sides enjoyed cheering when their team did well. The only downer for mind was when one of the young couple next to me started calling the Indians "curry-munchers", to which I protested. Everyone had had fun without resorting to that level: why stoop there now? For the record when Lee hit the 6 all the Aussies stood as one and chanted "look at the scoreboard!" instead of some stereotypical rubbish. As I say, a great day out.
But these are minor compared to the problems Sydney is having with a certain sub-section of its community.
It has been said that the reason a bunch of drunk "Anglos" went and beat up "wogs" was becase groups of young males had been harassing beach-goers in Cronulla.
The Cooma-Monaro Express' infamous Snowman put the differences between Sydney and Cooma rather bluntly:
"ISN'T it amazing? In Cronulla we have gangs of so-called Australian bashing and harassing "lebs" or anyone who might be of middle eastern descent. In Cooma, we have gangs of people rushing to a Lebanese restaurant for completely different reason - the food and hospitality are top-notch."
"WE might have to put up with some limitations in the bush, but at least in Cooma, we appreciate multiculturalism and embrace the differences which make life more interesting."
Of course, the riot sparked the inevitable revenge attacks, where witnesses say they were too scared to confront the men, while debate rages about how much the police have done to try and apprehend those involved in the revenge attacks (as opposed to the earlier, televised attacks).
These young hoons (calling them men would be an affront to men everywhere) say that they are "Lebs" (Lebanese), and that women wearing revealing clothing is against their culture.
Yet Lebanese-born Joseph Wakim makes a very good point in the Sydney Morning Herald when he says:
"There is a perception that if offenders label themselves as Lebanese, rather than Australian, then we should treat them accordingly. However, there is nothing Lebanese about their behaviour. Ask anyone who has been to Lebanon, or watch Lebanese TV. The local youths in question are a hybrid subculture akin to the chick-chasing characters portrayed in Fat Pizza."
"They over-identify with the American rappers and their themes of rejection, victimhood and revenge. Their attire - baggy jeans, brand-name jackets, athletics shoes and baseball cups - represents their hip-hop heroes. The Bankstown boys are more likely to blend into the Bronx than Beirut. In Lebanon, their behaviour would not be tolerated. They would be rejected as shameful misfits and deported back to Australia."
Last I checked, you could choose your nationality. Last I checked, being Australian means that you're tolerant of other people.
In this blog I make a lot of references to songs, and the one mentioned in the title of this post is perhaps the one we should remember (and even one to sing during the World Cup in Germany later this year). I'll only link to the lyrics here (PDF file), but here's the chorus:
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on Earth we come
We share a dream, and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian.
Sums it up for me.
2 comments:
read your thing about the riots in cronulla, and to take it out on us " yobbos" is shameful. it wass the "lebs" after all who did belt the hell out of a life guard, the very man who is out there saving everyone, regardless of race, just for "a patch of turf". They have been getting away with it for too long!! I t was only a matter of time before the general public got the shits and took matters into our own hands. These lebs pary on the weak or when they have larger numbers, as a regular night clubber myself i have experienced this first hand, but unfortantly for them at the time i was in the armed forces and i had a bunch of mates around the corner. Yet like i say there is still parts of our great country you just cant go because these "lebs", and im not saying all of them, have claimed there "patch of turf" and anyone who goes there and expect a beatting. Im sick of it and everyone i have spoken to have said the same thing. Australia is the best country in the world, they are trying to change it for the worse. They are whats wrong with this country, dont worry about the health system, they are a bigger problem. SO GET OUT OF MY COUNTRY
brother of SAJ
Like a man jumping to avoid a needle, you've missed the point: I'm not condoning the actions of the "Lebs" at all. Those that beat up the lifeguards then retaliated later are thugs who would be alienated if they went to Lebanon. That doesn't excuse what the mob in Cronulla did though.
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