Soul Searching Continues in Australia Over Causes of Race Riots, Comment and Opinion

Having visited Australia, and experienced the warm hospitality of its inhabitants, your editor was as shocked as anyone, at the race riots which erupted in the Sydney suburbs earlier this month.

There is no doubt, that these episodes have blemished the reputation for tolerance and inclusivity, which Australia has carefully guarded for decades.

That image was tarnished, when an angry crowd of approximately 5,000 or so Anglo- Australians staged vicious mob attacks on dark-skinned beachgoers and on people they believed to be Muslims.

As the Australian Nation searches for causes and answers, many observers are viewing the riots, at least in part, as a local manifestation of the broader ethnic troubles linked to the world-wide fight against terrorism.

Immediately after 911, there were isolated attacks in the United States by white Americans on ordinary Muslim inhabitants. These attacks were no doubt linked to a sense of powerlessness, felt by many in that country at the time.

In a public opinion poll by the Sydney Morning Herald published this past Monday, 75 percent of respondents disagreed with Australia's Prime Minister Howard, saying that Australia has underlying racial problems.
"Australia has changed in the post-9/11 world without many of us even realizing it," said Amanda Wise, a fellow at Macquarie University's Center for Research on Social Inclusion.(as quoted December 20, 2005 in an excellent report by Anthony Faiola for the The Washington Post) "It is clear that we are now in the middle of Islam-aphobia, and we need to admit that racism is at the core of this so we can begin dealing with it."

Let's hope that this can begin immediately, otherwise, Australia may become a destination of last resort, for the millions of holidaymakers who previously looked forward to visiting.





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