A no man's land in our ethnic mix
We are mostly a tolerant society, except when alienation meets
ignorance writes Gerard Henderson.
The charred remains of a Uniting church stands adjacent to an
Islamic College (in background) in the Western Suburbs of Sydney,
December 14th. The suspicous fire follows two days of violent
asaults and vandalism in Sydney since it was rocked by race riots on
December 11th. AFP |
Australia is an accepting nation. This is best judged by the
relatively high levels of inter-marriage between ethnic groups and the
relatively low levels of ethnic crime. That's why the violence which has
taken place on various beaches in southern Sydney over the past two
weekends is so troubling.
However, the matter should be kept in perspective. This is not so
much a clash of civilisations but, rather, a series of disputes between
some aggressive Australians of Lebanese Muslim background and a group of
aggressive (and drunk) Australians of Anglo-Celtic background. If the
violence which was evident last Sunday (most notably on Cronulla beach
and in suburban Maroubra) is to be properly assessed, the facts should
be dealt with honestly.
As the contributors to James Jupp's edited collection The Australian
People (CUP, 2001) make clear, Lebanese immigration to Australia started
a century ago. The early settlers were Christian - Maronite Catholics,
Melkite Catholics and Orthodox.
There were also some Muslim Druse, who mainly settled in Adelaide.
For over a century, Christian and Druse Lebanese made a most positive
contribution to the Australian community. Perhaps the best known
Australians with a Lebanese background are the NSW Governor, Dr Marie
Bashir, and the Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks. Both were born in
Australia with one or both parents from the Maronite tradition.
The first wave of Lebanese Muslims came to Australia following the
start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975. As Dr Nahid Kabir points out in
her book Muslims in Australia (Kegan Paul, 2004), "they have been
referred to as 'quasi-refugees' because they were not accorded refugee
status or services but the usual requirements were temporarily relaxed
to allow them entry".
In other words, Lebanese Muslims circa 1975 did not meet the strict
definition of a refugee. This decision was made by Malcolm Fraser's
Coalition government and was consistent with Fraser's accepting attitude
to refugees, or those whose condition could be regarded as similar to
that of refugees. The Lebanese Muslims tended to settle in the
south-western suburbs of Sydney.
There have been successes among Lebanese Muslims. But some
Australians of Lebanese Muslim background, who were born in or after
1975, have not pursued education and, consequently, have found
themselves unemployed or in low-paying and/or insecure employment. Some
of this group are involved in serious crime against people and property
and, in recent years, a small minority have flirted with radical
Islamism.
For the most past this small group, which is overwhelmingly male, has
become alienated from mainstream Australia - including their family and
religious groups. Quite a few young Muslim Lebanese Australians take
little notice of their fathers, their mothers or their spiritual
leaders. In short, they are out of control. Not because they are of
Muslim background but because they are into crime, from a relatively
young age.
Mix Lebanese Australian youth with drunken Australian beach-goers and
an occasion for serious violence soon exists. As Bruce Baird (the
federal MP for Cook, which includes Cronulla) pointed out on ABC Radio
702 yesterday, more than 90 per cent of the Sutherland shire consists of
Australians of Anglo-Celtic background. That is, from Monday to Friday.
On weekends, however, many Lebanese Australians travel to the area from
south-western Sydney.
Australia is essentially a tolerant and accepting society. It is
consistent with the essential Australian empiricism that individuals of
ethnic background meet their most sustained opposition in the areas
where few of them live. This is in stark contrast to genuinely racist
societies where ethnic groups are opposed because they are known.
In Australia, on the other hand, opposition to immigration is highest
in those suburbs, regional centres and rural areas where there are few
Australians of non-Anglo-Celtic background. In Australia, it is
invariably a lack of familiarity which breeds contempt.
Cronulla is very much the embodiment of the Australian surfie
culture. There is significant alcohol and drug abuse, along with a
disturbingly high suicide rate. This matter has been referred to by
Baird and fellow federal Liberal MP Danna Vale along with the state
Liberal MP Malcolm Kerr.
Last Sunday's violence came after that of the previous week, where a
gang of Muslim Lebanese Australians attacked some young lifesavers on
North Cronulla Beach.
The former group inflicted the violence but it seems a degree of
verbal provocation was involved since the Cronulla North lifesavers
reminded the south-western suburb inhabitants that they could not swim.
The revenge came a week later. It was fuelled by drink and drugs. But
there was a degree of organisational support from such extreme right
groups as the so-called Patriotic Youth League. Television viewers
witnessed quite shocking scenes as young out-of-control Anglo-Celtic
Australians inflicted extreme violence on anyone they deemed to be of
Lebanese background.
The police and ambulance services did their best but both were
outnumbered. Then, later, a group of Muslim Lebanese Australians
conducted their own violent revenge on the citizens of suburban Maroubra.
It was a case of ethnic violence begetting ethnic violence.
It is unfair to blame the mainstream media for what happened. For
example, a re-reading of Sydney's Daily Telegraph indicates that it
reported the lead-up to last Sunday's events quite responsibly.
Likewise, talkback radio did not spark the violence. Young
Australians, of whatever ethnic background, can communicate their
messages by mobile phones without using the established media.
What occurred in Sydney last weekend is a police matter which should
be resolved in the courts. It is especially serious because the crimes
which took place have been motivated by troublemakers, Anglo-Celtic
members of the lunar right and alienated cultural Muslims alike.
For the most part, multiculturalism in Australia has worked well. The
violence of last weekend was not evidence of the breakdown of
multiculturalism but, rather, its absence.
Gerard Henderson is the executive director of the Sydney Institute.
(Courtesy: Sydney Morning Herald) |