Meant to post this yesterday...

Migrants welcome - unless they're from the Middle East by Joseph Kerr

This got me thinking, just how racist *are* we as Australians?

I don't think we've ever had to deal with racial reconciliation in the way that other countries, such as the USA, have had to. But this sort of thing extends far beyond reconciliation (something we've yet to come to grips with in Australia for the Stolen Generation, etc, where we seem to feel a total lack of nation guilt for the treatment of the Aboriginals in the past and to the present day).

It's like there's a new style of racism or something, one that's far more private and tied in to thought processes rather than actions. I mean, 53% of the people interviewed in the survey to be published in Monash University's People and Place said that they'd like to see fewer migrants from the Middle East. And it wasn't just Middle Eastern people that they didn't like. More than 36% wanted there to be less Asian migrants. And this is after a few years since the last survey where people interviewed were far less tolerant!

However, it's interesting to note that people from Europe or Britain were the ones that people wanted to migrate here, which seemed to be the case in the last survey, too.

Obviously people don't have an issue with people speaking a language other than English, if migrants from Europe are welcome, so it can't be said that Australians are hesitant to have people come to our country if people aren't born English-speakers.

So could it possibly be that there are a lot of Australians who don't want non-white people to move to the country?! *gasp* Yes, I said that. Perhaps Australia isn't quite so tolerant as it would like to believe itself to be. Maybe it doesn't think that everyone should have a "fair go," regardless of race, background, religion, gender, etc. Are we sacrificing our multiculturalism after all?

Perhaps some people feel threatened by migrants from the Middle East because they tar all Middle Eastern people with the "terrorist" brush. One example of this that I clearly remember was at the Sydney domestic terminal in January perhaps about two years ago. There was a large Muslim family there and people went out of their way to avoid standing near them, be in their way, etc. Perhaps it was an unconscious thing on the part of most people that did it, but then isn't that a worry, too? The silent intolerance was visible from a mile off and I felt ashamed by the behaviour of the non-Muslim people there that day.

Not quite sure about why such a large percentage would want there to be less Asian migrants. That makes no sense, really.

But then when has racism ever made sense?

Personally, I don't think we should have any issues with migrants, but should be welcoming them. Especially since our population is steadily aging and there's a predicted shortage of workers on the horizon (let's not think about the tax issues that will cause). All of the migrants I've met are really glad to be here, want to work hard and do their best at making a go of it here in a new country. Almost all of the issues that surround migrants are there because of the people who were born and raised in Australia and who treat new arrivals with suspicion or fear or intolerance. Things would probably be a lot better if Australians welcomed migrants and did their best to integrate them into the local areas with cultural and personal sensitivity.