Australia Day
26 January is Australia's national day, marking the foundation of the first British convict colony here. To Indigenous Australians, it's also known as "Invasion Day" or "Survival Day".
As an Australian, there's a lot to be proud about. When I look around the world, I'm extremely grateful to be living in a peaceful, prosperous democracy, with legal abortion, high literacy, and low infant mortality. That said, there are still so many areas where we must improve. (We've recently ousted a very conservative government, which gives me hope for change.)
When it comes to race, I think Australia has three major areas where we've got to do better. These are Indigenous Australians; asylum seekers and refugees; and immigrants, especially Muslims, who are the current scapegoats of choice. What follows is a very brief introduction to these areas.
The story of Indigenous Australians since whitefellas arrived is largely the same sorrowful tale of conquest, genocide, exploitation, indifference, and bureaucratic bungling as you'll find around the world. The health of Indigenous Australians is notoriously poor, largely thanks to a lack of health services. During the Twentieth Century, large numbers of Aboriginal children of mixed descent were forcibly removed from their families; they have become known as the Stolen Generations.
In the 2006 Census, about half a million Australians identified themselves as Indigenous. You'll often hear the expression "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander", sometimes abbreviated to ATSI; the people of the Torres Strait to Australia's north are culturally closer to the people of Papua New Guinea. Famous Torres Strait Islanders include Eddie Mabo and Christine Anu.
In 1992, the then Australian government began a policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers who reached Australia without the correct paperwork. Some people were imprisoned in this "administrative detention" for years without charge or trial. Such detention is illegal under international law, and for good reason: it has destroyed the mental and physical health of perhaps hundreds of genuine refugees, including children. While the new government has abandoned the "Pacific Solution", an policy of detaining asylum seekers off-shore at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, the policy of mandatory detention is still in place. The overwhelming majority of asylum seekers prove to be genuine refugees; no asylum seeker has been found to be a danger to Australia.
Since 9/11, Muslim immigrants around the world have become targets for suspicion, vilification, harassment, and violence; Australian Muslims haven't escaped this, with Lebanese immigrants in particular becoming targets. In December 2005, egged on by racist organisations and by the media, a crowd of 5000 people gathered at a Sydney beach turned into a race riot, attacking Australians "of Middle Eastern appearance". (It was the retaliatory violence by Lebanese-Australian youths which was reported in the media overseas.) Politicians continue to grab for votes by scapegoating Muslims.
(You can find more posts on these issues under the australia tag at my LJ.)
As an Australian, there's a lot to be proud about. When I look around the world, I'm extremely grateful to be living in a peaceful, prosperous democracy, with legal abortion, high literacy, and low infant mortality. That said, there are still so many areas where we must improve. (We've recently ousted a very conservative government, which gives me hope for change.)
When it comes to race, I think Australia has three major areas where we've got to do better. These are Indigenous Australians; asylum seekers and refugees; and immigrants, especially Muslims, who are the current scapegoats of choice. What follows is a very brief introduction to these areas.
The story of Indigenous Australians since whitefellas arrived is largely the same sorrowful tale of conquest, genocide, exploitation, indifference, and bureaucratic bungling as you'll find around the world. The health of Indigenous Australians is notoriously poor, largely thanks to a lack of health services. During the Twentieth Century, large numbers of Aboriginal children of mixed descent were forcibly removed from their families; they have become known as the Stolen Generations.
In the 2006 Census, about half a million Australians identified themselves as Indigenous. You'll often hear the expression "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander", sometimes abbreviated to ATSI; the people of the Torres Strait to Australia's north are culturally closer to the people of Papua New Guinea. Famous Torres Strait Islanders include Eddie Mabo and Christine Anu.
In 1992, the then Australian government began a policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers who reached Australia without the correct paperwork. Some people were imprisoned in this "administrative detention" for years without charge or trial. Such detention is illegal under international law, and for good reason: it has destroyed the mental and physical health of perhaps hundreds of genuine refugees, including children. While the new government has abandoned the "Pacific Solution", an policy of detaining asylum seekers off-shore at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, the policy of mandatory detention is still in place. The overwhelming majority of asylum seekers prove to be genuine refugees; no asylum seeker has been found to be a danger to Australia.
Since 9/11, Muslim immigrants around the world have become targets for suspicion, vilification, harassment, and violence; Australian Muslims haven't escaped this, with Lebanese immigrants in particular becoming targets. In December 2005, egged on by racist organisations and by the media, a crowd of 5000 people gathered at a Sydney beach turned into a race riot, attacking Australians "of Middle Eastern appearance". (It was the retaliatory violence by Lebanese-Australian youths which was reported in the media overseas.) Politicians continue to grab for votes by scapegoating Muslims.
(You can find more posts on these issues under the australia tag at my LJ.)