Of bashed Indian students, she said they were “playing the victim card” and “the shit around their head must do something to their brain”. “Maybe a gun to their head might help them get the hint that they are not wanted here!,” she wrote.
Congratulations are in order to former Griffith (NSW) DJ Terrie-Anne Verney, as:
Indian students to shun Australia due to attacks
Michael Perry
Reuters
December 30, 2009SYDNEY, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Australia’s international student sector, the third largest export earner, is forecast to see a 20 percent drop in Indian students in 2010, costing $69.7 million, after a series of attacks on Indians students in 2009.
A study by The Tourism Forecasting Committee released on Wednesday found that while international tourism numbers were expected to grow by 4.3 percent in 2010, there would be a significant decline in international student arrivals.
It forecast 4,000 fewer Indian students, a fall of 21 percent compared with a 35 percent rise in 2009.
“The resultant loss in economic value to Australia could be as high as A$78 million in 2010 if these enrolments are not filled by other international students,” a statement by the Tourism Forecasting Committee said…
See also : Man fatally stabbed on way to work (AAP), The Age, January 3, 2010: “Police investigating the vicious fatal stabbing of an Indian man on his way to work in Melbourne, are appealing for help from the public. The 21-year-old staggered into a Hungry Jack’s restaurant on the corner of Somerville Road and Geelong Road, West Footscray, about 10pm yesterday and pleaded for help before collapsing. He was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital but later died…” | Race link ‘presumptuous’ in Indian killing: police (AFP): “SYDNEY — Australian police on Sunday played down suggestions the fatal stabbing of an Indian student in the southern city of Melbourne was racially motivated. The 21-year-old was apparently attacked as he walked through parkland west of the city on Saturday night. Senior sergeant David Snare said there was no indication the man, who had been studying accounting, was targeted because of his race. “I think to jump to any conclusion like that is presumptuous and may well interfere with the investigations,” Snare told reporters…”
Source : ABC
No indication that he was attacked because of his race – like the stab wounds forming the shape of a swastika, I guess. On the other hand, there appears to be no evidence that it wasn’t, and not the slightest suggestion of any other motive someone may have had to murder a Hungry Jacks employee.
Robbery, for example, has not been mentioned, which it surely would have been if the police could easily have used that as a way to sidestep the question of race, and as a way to save, say, a hundred million dollars of “export income” – an arbitrary but hardly excessive figure meant to symbolize how the state government understands the economic consequences of an Indian on a student visa being regarded as dead because of pervasive, violent racism. The economic consequences for the approx five billion dollar per year Victorian ‘international education industry’ – the state’s largest export earner by a comfortable margin etcetera.
While almost all the media quoted that cop stating that they had no evidence that the attack was racially-motivated, the ‘Herald-Sun’ alone (so far as I could tell) reported what appeared to be the same police comments as declaring that the police believed the murder was not racially motivated.
What would have to be different for the reality of racism to be accepted?
http://culturaldiversity.net.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=292:what-would-have-to-be-different-for-the-reality-of-racism-to-be-accepted&catid=21:human-rights-blogs
“The first step might be to have public officials recognise that Australia has a racist history and that they are serious about working to reduce the possibility of a racist future…”
If that’s the first step, then I think there may be a problem. To begin with, Australia and Australians are Good; racism is Bad; therefore, Australia is not racist.
Secondly, even if there was racism (which is Bad), it was a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. Thus, while History books may claim that the first Acts of Federal Parliament were the ‘Immigration Restriction Act’ and the ‘Pacific Island Labourers Act’, that was over 100 years ago, and things that happened 100 years ago have no little or no effect on the present. This is especially the case if they are Bad things. Despite being a Marxist (which is Bad), even Julia Gillard understands this. Thus she is able to observe that:
The fact that Nitin Garg was not killed in a racist attack is further evidence of this fundamental reality.
another viewpoint, minus the hysteria… or the PC hegemony…
i thought you were more worldly wise… see the below link.
http://anonymouslefty.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/melbourne-to-india-its-a-bloody-murder-of-course-were-taking-it-seriously/
@ redxanth:
I’ve read Jeremy’s post. He makes a number of points, most of which are fairly obvious. Thus: murder is a crime and police are investigating. His core argument, however, is:
I’d suggest that there are broader political issues at stake, related to the size and scope of the education industry: the financial contribution Indian students make to this industry, the interest the Victorian and Australian governments have in maintaining and growing it, and the Indian government’s own domestic concerns. Of course, even if it’s the case that Indian students are not subject to a ‘disproportionate’ level of violence, and even if this violence is not ‘racist’, it’s still possible to maintain that Australia is a ‘racist’ country. After all, it was only in 1992, after a determined legal campaign led by Eddie Mabo, that the court system conceded that the continent was not uninhabited by human beings when the British Empire claimed it on behalf of a bloke called George.
I agree with your assertions re. Australia being a racist country…and not just because of the knobjockeys within it, e.g Cronulla, Hanson’s minions…but because of the institutionalised racism propagated by our governments and media; N.T Intervention, anti-African generalisations, anti-Chinese hype re. a corrupt businessman locked up for breaking the law there, anti-Japanese comments re. the whaling issue (note that the same people don’t howl as loud when Aussie farms torture pigs and chickens).
The real point I’m trying to get to is this: the more focus given to racist Australia helps give airtime and a platform to those that are racist…more talk back commentary discussing it, more media showing India ‘telling us off’, thus giving more fuel to anti Indian sentiment…yet nowhere is there an outcry re. the crap conditions suffered by temporary residents…Indians and other nationalities…forced to work in dangerous jobs with crap wages…just to pay their way here. If everyone focused more on the class issues, such as slumlords exploiting students, landlords raising rents to obscene levels, employers ripping off people by giving them ‘training wages’, then sacking them before they finish, and less on the race issues, more people of all nationalities would have a better life here, including those that grew here, thus giving less fuel for the far right to use.
redxanth:
You have a point. Examining racism in Australia — especially when this examination is performed by the state/corporate media — can sometimes assist racists in gaining a platform, and bring racist ideas to a wider audience. But I think that the issue is more complicated.
So, with regards talk-back: radio talk-back, especially its commercial arm, frequently allows for, in fact positively encourages, the expression of all kindsa crazy (racist) shit — Alan Jones on Cronulla is but one example. Safely tucked away in his studio and mansion, the squawking multi-millionaire hack boasted that he “led the charge” in December 2005. For this boast, there was no punishment, as Alan Jones is a powerful figure, and hence immune from the law, if not criticism. An honourable mention should also go to the other corrupt broadcaster John Laws (about whom I could relate a funny story, but won’t as I’ll probably get a letter from a law-talking guy as a result):
‘The Intervention’ has received support from both the Working Families Party and the Tories — the only voice of criticism in Federal Parliament has come from The Greens, which has obviously had no effect upon Government policy. As for print media, there’s no shortage of trollumnists making with the crazy talk; on television, tabloid current affairs is little better.
Re the absence of an outcry over poor wages and conditions for ‘temporary residents’: yeah. But then, there’s a generalised absence of concern over economic exploitation and social inequality, and expressions of concern only rarely emanate from those what make a point of making students from India an issue; on those rare occasions when it does, these will almost invariably be in the context of concern over the likely effects upon social order. That is, economic exploitation is Good; it is Bad, however, when it produces political turmoil.
Moar later, but in the meantime…
Move over One Nation, here comes Australia First!
Poem: The Rebel (Bidrohi)
Original: Kazi Nazrul Islam
Translation: Sajed Kamal
Proclaim, Hero,
proclaim: I raise my head high!
Before me bows down the Himalayan peaks!
Proclaim, Hero,
proclaim: rending through the sky,
surpassing the moon, the sun,
the planets, the stars,
piercing through the earth,
the heavens, the cosmos
and the Almighty’s throne,
have I risen: I, the eternal wonder
of the Creator of the universe.
The furious Shiva shines on my forehead
like a royal medallion of victory!
Proclaim, Hero,
proclaim: My head is ever held high!
I’m ever indomitable, arrogant and cruel,
I’m the Dance-king of the Day of the Doom,
I’m the cyclone, the destruction!
I’m the great terror, I’m the curse of the world.
I’m unstoppable,
I smash everything into pieces!
I’m unruly and lawless.
I crush under my feet
all the bonds, rules and disciplines!
I don’t obey any laws.
I sink cargo-laden boats: I’m the torpedo,
I’m the dreadful floating mine.
I’m the destructive Dhurjati,
the sudden tempest of the summer.
I’m the Rebel, the Rebel son
of the Creator of the universe!
Proclaim, Hero,
proclaim: My head is ever held high!
I’m the tempest, I’m the cyclone,
I destroy everything I find in my path.
I’m the dance-loving rhythm,
I dance to my own beats.
I’m the delight of a life of freedom.
I’m Hambeer, Chhayanat, Hindol.
I move like a flash of lightning
with turns and twists.
I swing, I leap and frolic!
I do whatever my heart desires.
I embrace my enemy and wrestle with death.
I’m untamed, I’m the tempest!
I’m pestilence, dread to the earth,
I’m the terminator of all reigns of terror,
I’m ever full of burning restlessness.
Proclaim, Hero,
proclaim: My head is ever held high!
I’m ever uncontrollable, irrepressible.
My cup of elixir is always full.
I’m the sacrificial fire,
I’m Yamadagni, the keeper
of the sacrificial fire.
I’m the sacrifice, I’m the priest,
I’m the fire itself.
I’m creation, I’m destruction,
I’m habitation, I’m the cremation ground.
I’m the end, the end of night.
I’m the son of Indrani,
with the moon in my hand and the sun on my forehead.
In one hand I hold the bamboo flute,
in the other, a trumpet of war.
I’m Shiva’s blued-hued throat
from drinking poison from the ocean of pain.
I’m Byomkesh, the Ganges flows freely
through my matted locks.
Proclaim, Hero,
proclaim: My head is ever held high!
I’m the ascetic, the minstrel,
I’m the prince, my royal garb embarasses
even the most ostentatious.
I’m Bedouin, I’m Chenghis,
I salute none but myself!
I’m thunder,
I’m the OM sound of Ishan’s horn.
I’m the mighty call of Israfil’s trumpet.
I’m Pinakapani’s hourglass drum, trident,
the sceptre of the Lord of Justice.
I’m the Chakra and the Great Conch,
I’m the primordial sound of the Gong!
I’m the furious Durbasa, the disciple
of Vishwamitra.
I’m the fury of fire, to burn this earth to ashes.
I’m the ecstatic laughter, terrifying the creation.
I’m the eclipse of the twelve suns
on the Day of the Doom.
Sometimes calm, sometimes wild,
I’m the youth of new blood:
I humble even the fate’s pride!
I’m the violent gust of a wind storm,
the roar of the ocean.
I’m bright, effulgent.
I’m the murmur of over-flowing water,
Hindol dance of rolling waves!
I’m the unbridled hair of a maiden,
the fire in her eyes.
I’m the budding romance of a girl of sixteen:
I’m the state of bliss!
I’m the madness of the recluse,
I’m the sigh of grief of a widow,
I’m the anguish of the dejected,
I’m the suffering of the homeless,
I’m the pain of the humiliated,
I’m the afflicted heart of the lovesick.
I’m the trembling passion of the first kiss,
the fleeting glance of the secret lover.
I’m the love of a restless girl,
the jingling music of her bangles!
I’m the eternal child, the eternal adolescent,
I’m the bashfulness of a village girl’s budding youth.
I’m the northern breeze, the southern breeze,
the callous eastwind.
I’m the minstrel’s song,
the music of his flute and lyre.
I’m the unquenched summer thirst,
the scorching rays of the sun.
I’m the softly flowing desert spring
and the green oasis!
In ecstatic joy, in madness,
I’ve suddenly realized myself:
all the barriers have crumbled away!
I’m the rise, I’m the fall,
I’m the consciousness in the unconscious mind.
I’m the flag of triumph at the gate
of the universe:
the triumph of humanity!
Like a tempest
I traverse the heaven and earth
riding Uchchaishraba and the mighty Borrak.
I’m the burning volcano in the bosom of the earth,
the wildest commotion of the subterranean ocean of fire.
I ride on lightning
and panic the world with earthquakes!
I clasp the hood of the Snake-king
and the fiery wing of the angel Gabriel.
I’m the child-divine: restless and defiant.
With my teeth I tear apart
the skirt of Mother Earth!
I’m Orpheus’ flute.
I calm the restless ocean
and bring lethean sleep to the fevered world
with a kiss of my melody.
I’m the flute in the hands of Shyam.
When I fly into a rage and traverse the vast sky,
the fires of Seven Hells and the hell of hells, Habia,
tremble in fear and die.
I’m the messenger of revolt
across the earth and the sky.
I’m the mighty flood.
Sometimes I bring blessings to the earth,
at other times, cause colossal damage.
I wrestle away the maidens two
from Vishnu’s bosom!
I’m injustice, I’m a meteor, I’m Saturn,
I’m a blazing comet, a venomous cobra!
I’m the headless Chandi,
I’m the warlord Ranada.
Sitting amidst the fire of hell
I smile like an innocent flower!
I’m made of clay, I’m the embodiment of the Soul.
I’m imperishable, inexhaustible, immortal.
I intimidate the humans, demons and gods.
I’m ever-unconquerable.
I’m the God of gods, the supreme humanity,
traversing the heaven and earth!
I’m mad, I’m mad!
I have realized myself,
all the barriers have crumbled away!!
I’m Parashuram’s merciless axe.
I’ll rid the world of all the war mongers*
and bring peace.
I’m the plough on Balaram’s shoulders.
I’ll uproot this subjugated world
in the joy of recreating it.
Weary of battles, I, the Great Rebel,
shall rest in peace only when
the anguished cry of the oppressed
shall no longer reverberate in the sky and the air,
and the tyrant’s bloody sword
will no longer rattle in battlefields.
Only then shall I, the Rebel,
rest in peace.
I’m the Rebel Bhrigu,
I’ll stamp my footprints on the chest of god
sleeping away indifferently, whimsically,
while the creation is suffering.
I’m the Rebel Bhrigu,
I’ll stamp my footprints:
I’ll tear apart the chest of the whimsical god!
I’m the eternal Rebel,
I have risen beyond this world, alone,
with my head ever held high!
Another victory for Terrie! In Griffith!
Police identify burnt body by rural road
AAP
January 6, 2010
Police have identified a partially burnt body found beside a rural road in southwest NSW as that of Indian national Ranjodh Singh.
Mr Singh, aged 25, had been living at Wagga Wagga and was visiting Griffith at the time of his death. A passer-by found his body on December 29 beside Wilga Road at Willbriggie.
Inquiries led investigators to a Kookora Street home at Griffith where a search began on Tuesday night.
Griffith police Inspector Paul Smith on Wednesday described Mr Singh’s death as “horrific” and repeated an appeal for public information.
“We are reaching out to all members of the Griffith community to come forward, including members of the local Indian community who might hold crucial information that could be the key to solving Mr Singh’s death,” Insp Smith said in a statement.
“To assist with the investigation we have appointed an Indian-speaking detective as a liaison officer, who speaks Punjab and Hindi, and I would urge anyone with any information no matter how small, to contact us.”
Police also want to hear from anyone who was in the area near Kookora Street and Griffin Lane in Griffith between midnight (AEDT) on December 28 and December 29.
Melbourne not safe for students, India warns
ABC
January 6, 2009
Gillard dismisses Indian travel warning
ABC
January 6, 2009
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Australia will continue to welcome Indian students despite a new travel warning from the Indian government in New Delhi.
The Indian statement warns of increased robberies and assaults in Melbourne and urges Indian students to take extra security measures such as not travelling alone at night.
Ms Gillard says the travel advisory is a matter for the Indian government but she says Australia is a safe country for all international students.
“In big cities around the world we do see acts of violence from time to time; that happens in Melbourne, it happens in Mumbai, it happens in New York, it happens in London,” she said.
“Any individual act of violence is obviously to be deeply regretted and our sympathies go to anyone who is harmed by an act of violence.”
The advisory singles out Melbourne as a street-crime hotspot and says acts of violence against Indians have often been accompanied by verbal abuse and fuelled by alcohol and drugs.
It says while most Indian students have had a positive experience in Australia, assaults and robberies have been on the rise, despite the efforts of Victorian police.
It was issued by New Delhi’s Ministry of External Affairs in response to the killing of 21-year-old Indian graduate Nitin Garg, who was stabbed to death in Melbourne on Saturday night.
Victoria’s Acting Premier, Rob Hulls, also maintains the state is a friendly place to study.
“Whilst warnings are entirely a matter for the Indian government, everyone needs to realise that Melbourne is a welcoming, open place that certainly welcomes Indian students and students from all around the world,” he said.
Market ‘doomed’
The New Delhi vice-president of the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India, Bubbly Johar, says Mr Garg’s death has further damaged Australia’s reputation as a safe and affordable destination for Indian students.
He says if the Australian Government fails to act, the Indian student market will fall apart.
“The market is absolutely doomed. Which parent will allow students to go to a country like this?” he said.
“The market is 90 per cent down in India and this will continue; it’s not going to stop.”
Mr Johar says the debate over whether Mr Garg’s killing was racially motivated misses the point.
He says the most important thing is to ensure the safety of Indian students in Australia and acknowledge the terrible loss for Mr Garg’s family.
“We do agree that Australia is not a racist country, we do agree that,” he said.
“But parents have lost their child. Whether it’s racist or not racist doesn’t bother anyone now. Losing the most precious thing in your life, is your child.”
And if the attacker wasn’t White, do we change our opinions?
redxanth – what is a class issue and what is a race issue, and how are you making the distinction?
Is it necessary that non-white people keep quiet about their grievances as they relate to discrimination or racialised violence in order for there to be “class unity?” I agree that we should be talking about the issues you have raised – it’s partly why I co-authored this:
http://web.overland.org.au/?page_id=1960
But I am curious as to where you think that line is.
And I think the UNITE union are pretty much the only ones doing any consistent work around these issues. Dull orthodox Trots tho many of them are, their walk is so much better than their talk. Check out their 7-11 campaign.
http://www.unite.org.au/
And no David Innes, the whiteness or not of the attacker does not change for a minute the existence of racialised low wage labour markets and the social and economic impact on those stuck in them, and those who see themselves locked out of them.
Fire ‘attack’ on Indian deepens race tensions
Stephen Cauchi and Josh Gordon
The Age
January 10, 2010
RELATIONS between Australia and India were under greater strain last night after the second Indian man in a week was allegedly attacked in Melbourne.
Just days after 21-year-old student Nitin Garg was murdered in West Footscray, 29-year-old Essendon man Jaspreet Singh was allegedly set alight in the street by four attackers about 2am yesterday.
Mr Singh, believed to be the father of a young child, is living in Melbourne on a spouse visa while his wife studies. He remained in a stable condition in The Alfred hospital last night with burns to 15 per cent of his body, including his face, arms and hands…
We’ve known for two years about Indian attacks: Overland
The Age (AAP)
January 20, 2010
Victoria’s top cop has admitted police realised two years ago there was a problem involving crime against Indians.
Indians are over-represented in robbery statistics and there is a racist element to some attacks, Chief Commissioner Simon Overland says.
“There is no question, regardless of the motives, Indian students have to a degree been targeted in robberies and that is not okay,” he told ABC radio today.
“We recognised this problem a long time before it hit the public.
“We have known for two years that there has been this issue and we have been working away, at a number of levels around engaging with students, trying to make them understand the risks and how they keep themselves safe.”
Mr Overland said police had detailed data on attacks involving Indians and said that while Indians were over represented when it came to robberies, the same could not be said for assaults.
About 50 per cent of assaults on Indians occurred in their workplace, mostly involving taxi drivers and convenience store clerks, he said.
Mr Overland said some of the attacks were racist.
“I have said from day one undoubtedly some of these attacks have a racist motive or there is racist elements to these attacks,” he said.
“Regardless of who they are, what they are, what colour they are, what occupation they are, my job is to make the state as safe as I can for everyone.”
The comments come after a number of attacks on Indians, including the stabbing murder of student Nitin Garg in Melbourne earlier this month.
In the latest incident, an Indian taxi driver was bashed in Reservoir on Saturday.