Harpreet Bhagrath on Australian racism

Has been interesting to see the usual suspects of the cultural Left, such as sundry academics (from useless Mickey Mouse joke disciplines such as racism studies, cultural studies, peace studies etc that are dependent on talking such things up) and fringe losers like the Socialist Alliance, pile onto the issue of the recent bashings of Indian students.   Of course this was taken as self-evident and manifest proof of the racism of white Australia.   Ignoring of course the inconvenient fact that the, er, "racial" profile of many - not all - of the attackers doesn't quite gell with this self-serving ideological spin.   Funnily enough, it wasn't Anglo Australians that a group of Indian students chased and assaulted the other week, but a group of, (oh dear, how do I say this?), um, men of "Middle Eastern appearance."   Other attackers of Indian students have been described by their victims as aboriginal, African and pacific islander.   So, despite what an especially foolish and naive academic, whose PhD is in racism studies, had to say on Triple J's Hack program last week, racism is not about power.   The recent disturbing events in Melbourne and Sydney are not about white people exercising power over coloured people.   Racism is about fear and prejudice and these are sadly universal human characteristics.   India’s Harpreet Bhagrath takes issue with recent claims of Australian racism: During five years of studying and working in Australia, no one made more than a passing remark at me. Now, all of a sudden, I hear this Australian racism crap. I don’t buy it.   I mean, seriously, such amiable and courteous people cannot, all of a sudden, turn into remorseless racists. Australians are much more tolerant of other cultures than we are. We, I reckon, are so wrongly known for our tolerance. M.K. Gandhi may have contributed to this image of India being a tolerant nation but after he passed away, it’s just been all downhill. Tim Blair

Posted via email from Garth's posterous