The attacks on desis in Australia
Sunday, 10 January 2010 01:32 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deepadOn 29th December, 2009, the burnt body of a 25 year old Indian national was found near Griffith, in Australia.
On 9th January, 2010, a 29 year old Indian was set on fire in Melbourne, Australia.
It is true, as the police say, that we do not know that either or both of the attacks were racially motivated until the culprits are caught (and even then, how do you verify the intent of a murderer?)
But minorities do not have the luxury of extending the benefit of the doubt to their potential assailants. And when the Australian acting Prime Minister describes an Indian cartoon that says as much as "deeply offensive" and Bob Cameron, the Victorian Police Minister, says, “We are a tolerant place and Victorian police are very tolerant and this business about racism is just wrong," it is very clear that they are speaking to their White constituents, who would like their outraged astonishment at being accused of racism to be pandered to.
Fire Fly has an excellent post here about the academic-industrial complex in Australia and its relationship to violence against Indian students.
People being set on fire is outragous. A comic speculating about intent is not.
ETA: A comprehensive, albeit dense article about the intersections between racism and educational capitalism in Australia.
On 9th January, 2010, a 29 year old Indian was set on fire in Melbourne, Australia.
It is true, as the police say, that we do not know that either or both of the attacks were racially motivated until the culprits are caught (and even then, how do you verify the intent of a murderer?)
But minorities do not have the luxury of extending the benefit of the doubt to their potential assailants. And when the Australian acting Prime Minister describes an Indian cartoon that says as much as "deeply offensive" and Bob Cameron, the Victorian Police Minister, says, “We are a tolerant place and Victorian police are very tolerant and this business about racism is just wrong," it is very clear that they are speaking to their White constituents, who would like their outraged astonishment at being accused of racism to be pandered to.
Fire Fly has an excellent post here about the academic-industrial complex in Australia and its relationship to violence against Indian students.
People being set on fire is outragous. A comic speculating about intent is not.
ETA: A comprehensive, albeit dense article about the intersections between racism and educational capitalism in Australia.
(no subject)
Date: 10/1/10 10:35 am (UTC)Yeah, tolerant of violence, apparently.
(Not that I can say much better of my own country, ahaha.)
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/10 03:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/10 06:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 11/1/10 03:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 10/1/10 07:46 pm (UTC)This.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/10 03:14 am (UTC)I've been watching both sides become more and more hysterical.
Apart from 'hysterical' being a very gendered and dismissive term to use in regards to ligitimate outrage against an act of violence, I cannot accept your division of two equally illogical sides: victims critiquing an oppresive state in no way equate with a defensive authority denying the existance of racism.
While there were no "racially based" incidents reported in the five years
There may not have been official reports of such incidents; but in no way can you speak to the actual experience of ethnic minorities, especially since the prevailing discourse from such students is that racism is indeed alive and kicking in Australia.
I was there there was a certain amount of annoyance from Australian students that International students paid for their degrees and got them whether they passed exams or not.
This is disingenous, especially since in your only anecdotal evidence, your partner saw both international and local students being passed.
This article provides a very comprehensive overview of the relationship between racism and capitalism in the Australian educational system.
Personally, I think that if students make use of University shuttle services at night, and are careful to walk in well lit places, preferably in company, they will be ok.
This advise is very close to victim-blaming.
(no subject)
Date: 11/1/10 01:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 12/1/10 05:45 am (UTC)University of Sydney shuttles take students right to their door? And to work, at any hour? Wow, that's astonishing service! If only Nitin Garg had gone to your university instead of a crummy old Melbourne college!
(no subject)
Date: 12/1/10 06:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 13/1/10 12:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 11/1/10 04:56 am (UTC)None of the 3 men recently killed were students at all, and only a minority of the Indian students who've been victims of violence were university students. The majority of issues have been faced by students in the private sector, students that white Sydney Uni graduates would hardly ever come into contact with. So I don't think your second-hand experience is really relevant.
I'm not sure if you're trying to say that you think that prejudice against full-fee-paying international students is justified, or you think that it's news to anyone that universities and colleges lower their academic standards in pursuit of fees. Papers have been talking about the issue for a long time. It's pretty naive to assume that the federal government doesn't want it this way.
Nitin Garg was stabbed in a park in Footscray, yes, but the motive that police ascribe (theft) is unconfirmed. I've heard reports that none of his belongings were missing. It's negligent and disingenuous of the police to continually deny racism when it's clear that the denial is both ideologically motivated and contradicted by fact.
I think that if students make use of University shuttle services at night, and are careful to walk in well lit places, preferably in company, they will be ok.
This suggestion is meaningless to most international students, since nowadays most international students are in the private sector where such infrastructure is unavailable. Typical of the ill-informed attitude of the privileged white students of Sydney University to assume everyone has the same conveniences they do.
(no subject)
Date: 12/1/10 05:43 am (UTC)It's very, very important for white Australians to deny racism in the face of all evidence. I've done it myself, and I know the urge to say "isolated incident!" "out of context!" "if the victim hadn't..." "probably someone the victim knew!". Any of that may be true, but it's irrevelant.
(no subject)
Date: 12/1/10 12:36 pm (UTC)Perhaps it's a misunderstanding/denial of what racist means on the part of the politicians? Things can be also racist. Racist as well as opportunistic and out of context and by someone the victim knew. None of that changes the racism inherent in cultural understanding in Australia. The fact that racism goes unnoticed and unchallenged and excused.
(no subject)
Date: 12/1/10 10:37 pm (UTC)Or also opportunistic, also copycats, etc. Definitely, and there's no real reason that wouldn't fit in a soundbite!
(no subject)
Date: 13/1/10 12:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 13/1/10 02:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 15/1/10 06:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 12/1/10 12:24 pm (UTC)No, no, Australia really does have race problems. Problems. Plural. They're different from the race problems in the UK and the US, but they're real. I only know that much about it. I've had that conversation several times since leaving Australia to travel.
(Even if the beatings of Indian students in Sydney were opportunistic (late night travellers, suburban trains, etc) the fact that Indian students were the ones in that position of vulnerability is the result of racist policies. Just because the attackers aren't KKK-like, doesn't mean there's no racism in the attacks or the situation of them. (This is OT, me working my way through my own thinking in public.))
And a part of me still wants to think, "I thought this was a Sydney problem."
Thank you for the links. (I came via
(no subject)
Date: 13/1/10 12:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 14/1/10 11:43 pm (UTC)Larger context of Australian racism
Date: 14/1/10 11:36 pm (UTC)There is this construction of white, Anglo-Irish descended Australians as 'normal', baseline Australians. Politicians pander a lot to these 'normal' Australians. Most of them aren't racist enough to set fire to someone, but they are racist enough to see themselves as 'normal' and I think more importantly in this context, get defensive and protective of other 'normal' Australians who are that racist.
I just did a bit of web-searching for ethnic composition, and it suggests to me that Anglo-Irish descended Australians are now about 2/3 of the population, as part of a gradual decline from the 1950s. Reports talk a lot about 'recent immigration policies' but of course there were no Anglo-Irish Australians before 1788, and many Asian and Pacific, particularly Chinese, Australians can trace their Australian heritage to the second half of the 1800s, to the gold rush and subsequent expansion of Australian farming and mining and thus population*. During the first 2/3rds of the 1900s, Australia had a "White Australia" policy (oh, the shame!) but many non-Anglo-Irish whites arrived during that time, particularly from Italy and Greece after WWII.
Anyway, it's very intriguing to me, this 2/3 figure. Because I believe it's the same 2/3 that has been found in studies of previously-male only workplaces: when the men drop to 'only' 2/3, they start to feel overwhelmed by women. So not only do I think Australia is racist, the 'normal' population might be suffering actual racist panic around now.
* I feel I have to include the 'Blackbirds' in this: Pacific Islanders who were captured to be slaves on sugar cane plantations.
[Personal disclaimer: I am a white Australian citizen, but an immigrant from Denmark, first arriving as an eight-year old. Because I learnt English before puberty from Australian children I have an acceptably Australian English accent and generally pass (based on accent and appearance), although I am personally aware that 'normal' Australian culture is not my culture. I think I sit in the doorway between 'normal' and 'ethnic' Australian.]
Re: Larger context of Australian racism
Date: 15/1/10 06:33 am (UTC)2/3 theory
Date: 15/1/10 07:11 am (UTC)Re: 2/3 theory
Date: 15/1/10 09:11 pm (UTC):-)
Re: 2/3 theory
Date: 18/1/10 05:48 am (UTC)1. That teachers in classrooms devote 2/3 of their time to the male students, 1/3 to the female students.
2. That perceived "balanced" conversations between a man and a woman actually involve the man talking 2/3 of the time.
There is certainly a body of research and evidence relevant to each of these claims. Neither is necessarily 2/3, but I think the gist does hold up.
1. (Western) Teachers without specific training do in fact devote more time to their male students without being aware of it, usually believing they are completely fair (and they can and do become aware of it with training). Most of the US research seems to have been done by or summarised by David and Myra (now deceased) Sadker. It's unfortunately not really available online, being either in books or academic articles.
2. There is a pop-cultural (Western) belief that women talk significantly more than men which is completely untrue; in fact men, if anything, talk slightly more than women. In other words, for women and men to be perceived as talking equally much, men would have to talk more than women. This belief was crystalised by a book called 'The Female Brain'. The claim was noticed and debunked particularly by the blog Language Log, but also in other places. This page has a long list of Language Log posts about the issue.
I cannot find anything relating to my original claim that workplaces with 1/3 women are perceived as gender-balanced or 'the women are taking over'. I will continue looking, and avoid making the claim in the meantime.
In an attempt to re-rail a bit, I do think there is a core issue here which does not seem to be solidly researched (based on my googling, admittedly) and would apply equally to issues of racism, particularly in majority-white countries like Australia. That is the extent to which privilege distorts the perception of balance, fairness or normalness.
Solid research would be a matter of comparing people's perceptions of situations to hard data: show pictures or video of classrooms or other settings, and afterwards ask subjects questions about the male-female ratio in the room, or the white-PoC ratio (or any other dimension of privilege of interest). Compare the actual ratio with the (range of) subjects' perceptions of the ratio, taking into account the subjects' own status with respect to whatever is being investigated.
Re: 2/3 theory
Date: 18/1/10 06:53 pm (UTC)Re: 2/3 theory
Date: 19/1/10 12:30 am (UTC)Your 2 is the one I remembered.
Re: 2/3 theory
Date: 25/1/10 04:54 am (UTC)Nevertheless, I think her description of tilted is relevant: Minority members are potentially allies, can form coalitions, and can affect the culture of the group. They begin to become individuals differentiated from each other as well as a type differentiated from the majority. "Affecting the culture of the group" sounds like a bingo for challenging the privileged majority and making them uncomfortable.
It looks to be quite the classic citation. I hope to find something interesting and more specific in all those links eventually.