User Comments

1. 

   9/30/09

   hanifalhusayn

   Not 100% sure why. but here's my 2 cents in regards to Australia (I am Australian btw).
   
   One reason is that mass immigration to Australia by people from India is relatively recent in Australian history (since the 1970s only). Up until the 70's the Australian government had a 'White Australia Policy' that heavily restricted immigration from people of non-european decent - the people living here were therefore not really used to non-Europeans and had a lot of built up negative attitudes about them. You can then understand that it has taken many years for non-european groups that immigrated here to be generally accepted by the Australian people. They are mostly accepted here now though.
   
   Despite what you may have read in the media, in Australia there has never been a high 'background' level of racism against Indians compared with what I remember hearing against other groups like the Vietnamese etc (which was outright hatred). I think why some Indian immigrants have continued to run into trouble, wheras now other immigrant groups have no problems here, is partly due to socioeconomic reasons and the type of employment Indian immigrants particularly engage in here. Many Indian immigrants cannot find good work in Australia because Indian universities are not looked upon highly by our education system. Therefore you will find many Indian immigrants, even the very well educated, working in the service industry, or in convience stores, as taxi drivers late at night etc. These are high risk jobs in that you regularly come into contact with a segment of Australian society that consists of violent people and drunken idiots. Thse fools treat the Indian workers poorly, not neccessarily because of their race (at first) but because of their job and because they are simply drunk and aggressive(though these are indirectly connected to racism as I will demonstrate). Unfortunately, because Indians are always employed in these jobs, the idiots begin to associate the negative traits related to this kind of work with Indian people as a race. In addition, this kind of late-night aggression these people always engage in reinforces negative attitudes towards Indians, because their jobs make them always in the position where they will receive the brunt of it. It is a bizzare situation where aggression against Indians actually reinforces negative attitudes against them by the dominant group. This racism then trickles down into other elements of Australian society. This sounds weird, but if you study the dehumanizing effects of racism throughout the history of other countries you get a similar pattern.
   
   Unfortunately, like in any country there is a segment of Australian society that is outright rascist, and Indian people living here can be badly impacted by this. In general, the frequency of assault has risen dramatically in Australia over the last few years and I think that many of the attacks reported in the media against Indian students are not neccessarily race-related. There are *so* many more violent incidents here now that it is really affecting everybody.
   
   I almost never hear anything bad about Indians during normal daytime hours (literally a handful of times in my entire life - I would struggle to even remember them), but have regularly seen drunken fools at night abusing indian taxi drivers etc. This may give you an idea of what's going on here in Australia.

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2. 

   10/01/09

   crazyTsu

   It could be as simple as some groups of people who are jealous of the Indians' earnings, jobs and prosperity while their own selves lag behind

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3. 

   10/12/09

   Hels

   I have also read the reports of racist nastiness to Indian students in Australia and have been mortified. But today in
   The Age, Victoria's quality newspaper, we have this report. I am not sure what it all means.
   
   Australia Tops Poll for Student Safety (amongst Anglo countries)
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   Foreign students rate Australia as the safest study destination amongst Anglo-Saxon countries, according to a global survey. Despite media coverage here and overseas of violent attacks on Indian students, 40% of respondents ticked Australia as the safest place when asked to choose from a list comprising Australia, USA, Britain, New Zealand and Canada. USA ranked last for safety, with 4.3%.
   
   The survey of more than 6000 students from eight countries was conducted from 12th September to 6th October 2009 by IDP Education, one of Australia's biggest international student recruitment companies. The findings will be presented at the Australian International Education Conference starting in Sydney today. Of those surveyed, 1130 were Indian students and the rest were from China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. They ranked Australia No.1 for: safety, access to permanent residency, access to student visas and government policies to protect international students.

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   1. 

      10/12/09

      crazyTsu

      @access to permanent residency
      
      Ha! thats almost a no-brainer. But safety etc is crap
4. 

   10/12/09

   sorcerer

   my friend who studied in AUS says he didnt have any issues, cuz, he mingled with the native people and he tried to become one of them.
   knowing them and their way of life rather than resisting it.
   
   what you call..loving the country and its people. rather than staying away and be like an alien.
   
   I think a lot of issues or misunderstandings can be cleared if we approach with an open palm.
   Now something somewhere had escalated and its the ripple effect(See..iam talking like a genius..rigt? Dont misunderstand me.).Will take some time and patience from both side to clear off what was created..ripple that is
   
   
   Seriously, I do think he has a point there.

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5. 

   10/18/09

   Hels

   *sad sigh* three more Indian students badly hit and robbed in the western suburbs of Melbourne yesterday. Their mobile phones and computers were stolen
   
   When will Indian students be left in peace?

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   1. 

      10/24/09

      Livinginthepast

      I'm not sure about this. Because it's not like it's the only violence or theft against anyone, right?
6. 

   10/24/09

   HollytheHousewife

   Not sure. Kinda been busy focusing on my country lately to really notice, but that's sad

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