Lately there have been a lot of reports of Indian people being attacked whilst being out in public here in Australia.
At first, I didn't believe that Indians would be targetted on any greater scale than the rest of the community, however, now I am of the opinion that it may be escalating. And unfortunately, the more that it is reported both here and in India, the more that it seems to be escalating.
I'll attempt to list some of my views of why this is occuring and I will look forward to some responses of my opinions. And these are just my opinions.
1. Telemarketing. Over the years, India has become the hub of telemarketing for phone comapanies. Most people realise that Indian people need to earn a living, however, the telemarketers know that it is more likely that people will be home at dinner time and they constantly interrupt people while they are eating. This seems very rude to us and eventually causes resentment.
2. Student placements. It's not the fault of Indian people who can afford to come here for an education, however, many Australian citizens miss out on university placements in favour of overseas visitors. This could be a cause of resentment from young people who could not get into a university.
3. Cultural differences. A caste system of any type has been rejected throughout the history of Australia. The majority of Indian people who come here are from the upper class of Indian society and may have attitudes which are rejected by us.
4. Selling techniques. Having travelled to regions close to India, I have noticed that Indian people are the hardest sellers bar none. This is understandable as most Indian people have been brought up from hardships and need to sell very hard to get ahead.
This type of technique is not very well accepted here, and many people have stories of how they were deceived into buying something.
5. Media reporting. News of how these incidences are being portrayed in India seem very exaggerated and paint us all as being racists.
6. Protests. Recently there have been protests by Indian students which involved violence and shut down the entire CBD of Melbourne for a time. Austrlain citizens are not afforded the right to stage emasse protests without prior organization, and this may have casued further resentment.
7. Population. India has over 1 billion people, we only have 25 million.
Indian people are able to travel overseas in far greater numbers now than at any time in the past and it doesn't take much of the Indian population to travel here to make an impact upon our population.
8. Places of residency. Students in particular will often choose to reside in places which are the hot spots for violence, mainly so that they can be closer to their place of study. Some of these places, I would not even venture out at night through fear for my safety.
9. Bogus student visas. It is allowable for a student to work here as long as they are enrolled in a course of study. Australian people in the workplace know that they are rorting the system and taking jobs from Australian citizens to send money back home.
10. Our own government. Being constantly told by our government not to be racist because you are destroying "our brand" is a sign that the government is only interested in the money coming into our country and not interested in the views of the people. This will only cause a greater backlash.
On the whole, Indian people are very polite and I admit that sometimes Australian can be very abrupt, or even downright pigs.
There is a cultural difference between Indians and Australian that needs to be accepted on both sides. And btw, I still love going to my favourite Indian restaurant. : )
[question posted by DiamondDogs]
responses and comments:
It is sad to see that there are attacks happening in Australia against Indian students. India is a country where we welcome all types of people from different countries. Many of the Australian autorities promised that they will take actions to stop these type of attacks and it was stopped for sometime. But, it is still happening...that is sad. [daliaj]
There's no use for the government to just say "hey don't attack people", they need to find the root cause of the problem. Personally, I think the attacks are far overstated as there are many more Indian people here now than at any other time in history. Attacks happen to everybody if your in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not like Australians don't also get attacked, and it's not like Indians don't also get attacked in their own country. [DiamondDogs]
wow wow thanks for the very interesting post. it lets us know a lot about what goes on in your country. we have the very same problems here in USA with mexicans coming over from mexico except for a few of your reasons are a difference in what goes on here with racism. also when first reading i was thinking about we do have a little bit of problems with indians also because i think they look so much like the terrorists,that some mistake them for terrorists. but then again i think we have many more problems with the mexicans. and yes we still love our mexican restuarants alsolol plus 2 of my kids have married mexicansrolleyes [bunnybon7]
That's OK. It would've been nice to get some opinions from Indian people, but it seems that they have their own ideas. I sincerely think taht Australia would be far better off by offering opportunities to Chinese or other nationalities to come here, because it seems that media reporting has escalated this problem and Indian people will become less accepted here in the future. [DiamondDogs]
hi diamond dogs, In last one year there have been countless attacks on Indians in Australia and once it was favourite place for Indians to go to study , now Australia doesnt figure in top 5 simply because of the intensity and frequency of attacks on Indians. On top of it the attacks were racist to say the least and most disheartening is the attitude of the Australian authorities. No arrests and then blaming Indians for the attack which is really shameful. had those attacks been on some fair coloured skin people it would have been such a furore. Yes i had plans to go to Australia on Honey moon when ever i would have married but i think i would rather go now to south africa or europe than going to this country. May be i would go to Newzeland rather than going to Australia because i would go on honeymoon to have fun and know my wife better and not go to a place where we might be always looking behind our shoulder if some attack is coming. [agrim94]
Thanks for your response agrim. I agree that if you are to look over your shoulder all the time, then it will spoil the fun. My choice would be to go to Europe anyway because you can travel to many countries within a short amount of time and see much more interesting history. Australia is very large and takes a lot of time to see. Concerning the attacks on Indian students, there are also many Chinese students here, and I'm not sure if they are also suffering attacks by racist white Australiana as reported by the Indian media. If the reports were honest, I think that you would find that the attacks are largely perpetrated by ethnic groups living within Australia, as we are one of the most multicultural countries in the world. Many white Australians also suffer attacks on a daily basis, but as they are more experienced with the dangers that might arise, they know more about keeping away from the trouble spots. To put it in proportion, there are far far more Indian people in Australia now than at any other time in history. This of course will result in more occurences of attacks on Indian people, especially when they usually reside in the more dangerous areas and use public transport. To say that white Australians judge people poorly becuase their skin is not the same colour is not correct. But I agree that there is some prejudice towards nationalities, as we are also are seeing in India at the moment. Yes older Australians who still have some connection with WW2 might revere the "fuzzy wuzzy angels" from New Guinea. Youth groups might revere the "black brother" from the U.S. who they see on MTV. When the West Indies were at their peak, a lot of white Australians actually went to the game to support them above our own team. Some prejudices can't be helped. As a nation, you should be aware that there are things that will tick people off, and it's in no way due to the colour of the skin, it's due to experiences with the nationality. As I've already outlined, I do see some prejudices against Indian people because of poor experiences, but it has nothing to do with skin colour. [DiamondDogs]
An unfortunate, but a sad and true fact is that Australians (including the government) are racists to the core and bad loosers too. I'll cite just one example - There was a bombaing the the UK-not Australia, and a qaulifed Muslim Indian doctor working in Australia was arresetd, harassed and treated badly by the Australian police on the orders of the Australian government. The mans's only fault was that he happened to be a cousin of the alleged terrorist in UK. The Australian government judged the man guilty until he was proven innocent by the Austarialn courts - thats one sided Austarlian jurtice. Look what the white man has done to the original Australian native? Note the crime happened in the UK and not in Australia, yet the government was quick to help a fellow white country, (despite and maybe because of the conveic connection?) Now crimes against Indians in Australia and not a single arrest? A footballer refuses to pay his fare and when the Indian cabdriver wants the noney, he trashes him and the Australian ambassador says that the boy is a good boy and was drunk and is now repatant - just imagine if it ws the other way around? Would an Indian footballer or a cricketer allowed such lattitude? [tarachand]
Yes please happy I would definitely like that investigation to go ahead. In fact I challenge that you are a liar and can do no such thing. So here's the deal. I'll wait for this "investigation" to occur and if it doesn't happen then you must admit that you are a liar. Fair enough? Now going by your past comments whereby facts do not enter the equation, I would be absolutely shocked if I am not entirely correct in stating that your are a chest thumping liar. Time to back your words. Put up or shut up. [DiamondDogs]
Great post DiamondDogs, one of our slogans from tourism Australia is "Where the bloody hell are you?" If anyone find that offensive then simply do not visit our great country. Tarachand if you believe that you should boycott this country then mate, go for it. Good luck in convincing the rest of your country to do the same. You have only a few isolated incidents, for instance the cab driver. It would have been seen on your televisions, radio and newspapers but did you hear about the white Australian cab driver who was recently bashed in Brisbane by 2 Indian men - I think not. You have racist views and no wonder you hate our country, coming here with an attitude like that I no doubt believe that Australian would not welcome you with open arms. But for the most of it, Australians are good people and are accepting of the cultures of others. You down our government, when it is working here for us. I could not imagine living in a place with no order. We are a lucky country and we are a free country. Not all of us have come from convicts and even if we had so what. One cannot change their past but one can influence change in the future. [rachaelspires]
TY Rachael. Yes it is a big problem when only one side of the story is told or listened to. I'm sure there would be no widespread reporting in India of incidences against Australians perpetrated by Indians. I'm sure that the Indian government has been working hard to return the Indian student who killed a bystander and then escaped Australia with a phony passport rolleyes There are cultural differences to the way that we conduct ourselves, but as they say: "When in Rome". [DiamondDogs]
That is a wonderful piece of writing.I kind of waiting for a long time to hear about the situation from a person In Australia.Thanks a lot for bringing out the vital facts that has created these problems.I like the way you gently pointed the changes that are needed in the behaviour of the people who are going to any country.One must always ready to change ,accept and respect the cultural values of the people of a country where he is going.I know a lot of Indians living peacefully who knows the art of mingling with the people of Australia. [balasri]
Thanks for your comments balasri. Yes it's true that anybody travelling to a foreign land should first learn something about the nation's customs and how to stay clear of trouble. Learning the ways of a different nation has always been an enjoyable part of travelling for me personally and I've usually found it very simple to raise a smile by trying to fit in with the customs of a different nation. Even if, or sometimes especially if I get it blatantly wrong. It's not too hard to be accepted by people of a different nation if you go there with a good attitude, but I wouldn't travel to a country where I had the belief that people would have something against me because that would be a recipe for disaster. [DiamondDogs]
No...not Indians....just conservatives right? [hornswaggled]
You are stalking me around trying to wind me up. Well bully for you, you like to flame and stalk. I don't see what's so condescending about the topic. There was a misunderstood statement where I said "all that Indians do is rubbish", meaning that they put crap on Australia in the media, and not how it was taken. Otherwise, there's nothing too offensive and I copped more than my fair share without the backing of fact and logic. So maybe you should post something about this topic, or go back to your promotion of war-mongering governments that create recessions. [DiamondDogs]
Hi DiamondDogs, Thank you for your response above and I'd just like to add a little further to what you have commented. 1. Outsourcing I think this will remain as long as corporations find this option viable and that the local government does not forbid it. I mean, how else can the companies hire feasibly and union hassle free for after office hours or 24 hour shifts? 2. Education I think we can have differing views and our arguments can be endless. But, I just feel that this is a cause and effect case, where your government is also worried with the numbers of education institutions going under as there are just not enough local students enrolling. So, what better way than to open up to foreign students? Even if the whole country's high schools and universities are open, we will still have preferences from both parties to be enrolled into top institutions. So, once again we will all be faced with scarcity issues where students will then have to vie for a place basing on their SATS or whatever pre-qualification or requirements. I do not want to perceive what goes on back there, but I will take that the acceptance process to be fair and uncorrupted. I am sure if your country's own are qualified I doubt they will be treated any less than the foreign applicants. 3. Culture No offense here. But, this is really something which I call "tolerance and understanding" that the Australians need to work on. Now, the issue is on Indians and do you know what it was like in '88 when your country hosted World Expo in Brisbane? Japanese. Now, I am a true bred Chinese which has similar skin tone as the Japanese. Whilst on a holiday trip to Gold Coast with my wife, that we had the most memorable impression of local Australians. I remember that it was a cool evening when we thought we would deviate from our tour group and have a bite at a local restaurant close to our hotel. As we were approaching an Italian restaurant, we were suddenly circled up by a group of local undergrads - spitting and cursing every known vulgarities in the dictionary. I was just amused to appalled at what did we do to receive such a reception. Then, one of them stepped forward and shouted: "Why can't you Japs be like us whites?" "What's so good about being YELLOW?" Now, how's that for typical local Gold Coast welcome? My first racist encounter. (Oops! Is this racial?....I don't doubt so...especially when our faces and sweaters were autographed by white Australian sputum!) I was already ready to drop him, had he not retracted his hand from reaching my wife. Oh, I forgot to mentioned that I spoke out that we were Chinese and even though my wife looks like a Japanese, she is another true blooded Chinese. Is that what they teach about "fair go"? To generalize? That Whites are superior? I don't believe I have to tell you why your locals had issues with the Japs back then, do I? 4. Hard Selling Or Cheating? I think this is a rather strong statement and very opinionated at your end. I wonder if you have visited other countries in the world where you will be having your fair share of encounters with scrupulous sellers. It just does not start and end with Indians, so let's be fair. 5. Journalism or Libel? I feel that all of us will need to be discerning here. I am sure you will have your preference of news media or papers when you want to catch up with the current affairs and I believe this has something to do with the news reporting. 6. Protest I quote: "Would it be OK if a bunch of Aussies came and protested in your country?" Well, if your people have not been ill-treated or overall unfairly dealt with, then I do not think there will be a protest in the first place. Would it?lol Also, most protests are unannounced if I may add here.happy As for the rest of the points here I shall encourage you to refer to my references below. I think they are being reported fairly and there is no prejudice against anyone. I think you may be fair to say that your government has not been speaking for your people but then again, can you say that the population may not be at fault as well? I can buy that we need to do what the Aussies would do, when we are in Australia. But, how can we effectively blend when we are being rejected and prejudiced in the first place? References Facebook Race Hate Group: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20100105-189838.html Student Seek Aid Reasons: http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/foreign-students-seek-aid/2009/09/14/1252780270090.html [skysuccess]
skysuccess, I am not stupid enough not to realise that your intention from the start was to impart your irrational thinking upon me. You are the one who resides in an insular nation. We are made of tougher stuff here that succeeds and succeeds very very well. Don't impart your irrational way of thinking upon me please or I will come over there and have my way again and again with your lovely Singapore women who love the western ways sooo very much. When you get in touch with a bit of self-acceptance, come and ask me kindly for some advise and I may just be benevolant enough to provide some for you. Oh..and go grow a set of balls also. Your women will thank you for it. [DiamondDogs]
Hello there Diamond Dog, just read your discussion after the response you have given to jennybianca. Yes, it is a fact that people are afraid to travel to Australia. My son who is doing physio theraphy wanted to come to Australia for further studies, because Australia's physio thearaphy course is world famous and he wanted to do sports physio, but now he is afraid of going to Australia, and he is thinking of going to U.K. We are not from the higher strata of society and we are a normal middle class family in India, who hope for a better future for our children.I have seen a lot of Cricket matches in your channel 9, and I always wanted to come to Australia a watch a Cricket match in Melbourne or Adelide, and soak in that kind of atmosphere you people seem to have.I will never be able to enjoy a cricket match in India like you are enjoying in Australia. This discussion had been started about 5 months ago, but the sad part is the racial abuse against the Indians are still continuing. [rameshkumaar57]
If he is afraid to come, then I'd suggest not to come. I've put forward enough facts here and I only get "Racist white Autralian" in reply. 37% of our population are "white Australians". The attacks are more likely to be from troublesome nationality groups which often get around in gangs than drunken "white Australian" thugs . The Indian attitude is racist in itself. The racist card gets used constantly, however, there is growing resentment to people of the Indian nationality. This has nothing to do with skin colour, it has to do with the constant whining. It has to do with cartoons in Indian papers depicting our police as the KKK and other bigotted references. Yes we are getting sick and tired of Indians phoning us and coming to our door at meal times. We are getting sick and tired of Indian ministers trying to tell our government what to do. We are getting sick and tired of Indian reporters using our newspaper reports as an easy article that they can make some easy buck from. Do Indians consider themselves racist because they have trouble with the Pakistanis? And how many attacks get reported in Indian papers? Why is there no outrage about the 8000 odd dowry murders that happen in India each year? We have a low murder rate here, less than half that of India's. Every murder makes the papers here whereas they don't make the papers in India unless it's somebody of note. Australians get attacked and murdered here, and they get attacked and murdered in India also. There are currently about ten "unsolved" murders of Australians in recent times in India. India also harbouring a criminal and refuses to deport him back here for trial. I'd suggest that Indians get control of their own media and get them to report the facts equally before the doors close completely to a good relatively cheap education for Indian students here, of which there are about 100,000 each year. The students need to be taught how to keep away from trouble spots and unsafe situations which just seem common sense to most Australians. The Indian student who was murdered was one of three stabbings that night. He was the unlucky one to have died. He was walking through a park in an area which I know very well. I would never walk through there alone at night as there are lot of gangs around that area. He probably did this most nights which is very foolhardy. The killer's nationality shouldn't matter, but they are more likely to be African or Lebanese gangs around that area. As I said before, what might seem to be a nice area back in India may very well be a rough neighborhood here, that's why it's cheapest to rent there. [DiamondDogs]