Australia: Race warfare divides city

Source

"I do not accept there is underlying racism in this country," Mr Howard told journalists.
__________________________

Unbelievable!

They are working on a pure race of whites in Australia.

Vitally important news: Stop the racism in Australia!!

(Thank God Walter has brought this important issue forward!!!)


Today, many Australians pride themselves on their nation being one of "the most multicultural countries on earth." This is somewhat of a myth. In terms of race, religion and language, Australia is not a multicultural society. The 2001 Census found that Australia has very little racial diversity, with 92 per cent of Australians being of Caucasian descent, 7 per cent Asian descent and 1 per cent Aboriginal descent. Nor is there much religious diversity, with 69 per cent of Australians citing themselves as Christian, 26 per cent atheist and less than five per cent non-Christian. Nor is there much linguistic diversity, with only one official language, which almost all first-generation Australians can speak. CIA World Fact Book

The fact that Australians want to see their country as multicultural, when the reality clearly states otherwise, does in itself say something about how Australians feel about other races.

Another myth promoted by the intelligentsia is that immigration is something new to Australia, or that there was no immigration from non-Anglo countries until after World War II. Again, statistics paint a different picture. In 2001, 21.9 per cent of Australians were foreign born. This is less than 1901 when 22.7 per cent were foreign born. In 2001, .08 per cent of Australians were born in China and they were the fifth largest ethnic group. In 1901, 0.8 per cent of Australians were born in China and they were the fourth largest ethnic group. In 1788, the first fleet brought Convicts from Madagascar, the West Indies, Holland, France, Germany, Portugal, Sweden , Norway, Bengal along with the Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English.

In a way, the myth that non-anglo immigration is a recent phenomenon is a form of racism. The myth denies the contribution non-British people have made to Australia prior to World War II. Furthermore, the myth allows white proponents to see themselves as people who are making a "sacrifice" in order to welcome non-white migrants. This sacrifice allows them to feel a sense of moral superiority.

Australia must be stopped!!!

John Howard is the head of the most racist government this country has ever seen. He deflected many questions on the issue because he's a racist himself.

The problem started before Howard was born. Australia hasn't addressed it yet in a meaningful way.

But, I am glad an Ozzian disapproves of the status quo.

I'm in Thailand now, and am hoping to marry a Thai lady (and bring her to Australia). It would be very difficult for me to be racist!!!


When I do eventually bring a Thai lady to Australia, I expect most of the underlying racism to come from white Australian women-possibly the most immature, lazy, selfish and arrogant group of people on the face of the earth.

I've just done some more reading about it. I live in an area that is very multicultural. About half the people I know speak a second language. Some are immigrants and quite a lot are the children of immigrants. I would trace this current violence not through race but actually religion.

It's sad, as I gather it started as a peaceful thing, a peaceful march about the bashing of a couple of Australian born life savers by supposedly Lebanese men a few days before? Then, I read, lots of young men stayed around drinking, and this awful thing happened.

I haven't had much chance to look at news recently, but I gathered that from something I read yesterday.


Be good if one of our Sydney people chimed in, but I have been wondering if something like this was brewing, as, a couple of years ago, a gang of Lebanese males were given long sentences for serial rapes, in which they targeted Anglo women, and there seemed to be a revenge motive built in to this.


What is worrying, both here and in the recent riots in France, is the level of organization they now seem to have, with mobile phones and caching of weapons.

I wouldn't have a reason to think or suggest you were anti-black.

I think it's wonderful that you have found someone.

I used to think Australia is quite successfully multicultural--but the statistics point to an almost homogenous country.

I don't understand the disparity.

Wow, this is a weird process, I am looking for stuff on what sparked this, and I get info from an American blog site about it!

They are saying that "gangs" of allegedly Lebanese males have been harassing women who wear bikinis on the beach, first I'd heard. So, then allegedly two life savers are beaten up by one of these gangs (can't see any definite news re that) and things are on.

There is also talk of National Front involvement (the Nazis here). Anyhoo, it was sure being organised, according to the ABC report I just read:




"Australian Broadcasting Corporation

TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1529509.htm

Broadcast: 12/12/2005
Race riots erupt in Sydney

Reporter: Jonathan Harley


TRACY BOWDEN: It started out as a show of solidarity against gang violence on one of the country's most famous beaches but the drunken rampage at Cronulla yesterday has shocked the nation. Police and ambulance officers were pelted with bottles as they tried to protect beachgoers of Lebanese or Middle Eastern appearance from the fury of the mob. Within hours, the violence at Cronulla sparked apparent reprisals at other Sydney beaches. In all, 16 people have been arrested, while more than 20 were injured. A police taskforce has been charged with apprehending the ringleaders. Just what sparked this cycle of ethnic violence and how can it be stopped? Shortly, I'll talk to NSW Premier Morris Iemma who spent the afternoon locked in meetings with community leaders. But first, this report from Jonathan Harley - and I should warn that it contains strong language.

ISSA: I always go to the beach. Family, you know, cousins, whatever, friends. I just didn't expect that to happen, you know. It's just a normal day for me to go down to the beach, you know.

JONATHAN HARLEY: It was a disastrous day to be Lebanese and to go to the beach. Eighteeen-year-old Issa is so shaken by his experience yesterday and the possibility of reprisals, he wants to be known by his first name only.

ISSA: Then I got smacked from behind and then everyone just started throwing punches, bottles. I fell to the ground. Everyone just kept kicking me, kicking me. One bloke - Aussie bloke, see, not everyone's the same - he got on top of me and goes, "Mate, I'm just protecting you, just wait, just wait". He was just protecting my head and that. And like I've got my eye here, and all my neck through to, like, halfway down my back, got bruises on my body. It's not something I expected.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Unwittingly, he was heading directly into a drunken storm, an incendiary combination of booze, twisted nationalism and naked racism.

ISSA: People who've got anger towards - it all comes back on terrorism, we're terrorists. While I was in the crowd people were yelling, "Watch out he's got a bomb, he might blow himself up. What are you doing in the middle of the crowd? Have you got a bomb?" That's what they were saying. I'm not a terrorist. I'm nothing near that.

JONATHAN HARLEY: The day started with a carnival-like atmosphere but it was almost inevitable that this show of strength would descend into violence. And while bigotry may be age-old, this baying mob was called to arms via the most modern of means. For days, text messages had been circulating which could leave no-one in any doubt as to the intention of the day and the sentiments of those organising it. One message read: "F***ing Aussie in the Shire get down the north Cronulla to help support Leb and wog bashing-day. Bring your mates down and let's show them that this is our beach and they're never welcome back. F***ing Lebs/wogs. Let's kill the c**ts. Tell everybody, spread the word. Fire up Aussies. Sunday midday, don't forget. Forward this to all you know and help us..."

JOHN WIDMER: I think the Shire's sort of almost like a big village and people in this Shire, we've had probably not too much invasion from the outside. The Shire tends to be like a forgotten area, although it probably isn't now, and we've had this racial problem - it has been something that has been stepping up for a number of years.

ISSA: I am Australian, I was born here. My mates are Aussie, as they say, my neighbours are all Aussie. Get along perfect, you know, it's just the people from Sutherland Shire, they've got something against us, but we've got nothing against them personally. We just want to go down there and have a good time. They're saying, "This isn't your beach". Well, it's not their beach either.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Cronulla is part of Sydney's Sutherland Shire. Resident of more than 40 years John Widmer watched with shock as the violence unfolded but he shares the frustration, which has been building among locals for years and then came to a head the previous weekend when two Cronulla lifeguards were allegedly attacked. For John Widmer, it was the last straw.

JOHN WIDMER: I don't mind anybody coming here as long as you're going to respect what happens here as the general public.

JONATHAN HARLEY: And what has been happening?

JOHN WIDMER: We've had some ethnic groups coming in causing problems.

JONATHAN HARLEY: In what way?

JOHN WIDMER: Disrespect to the females in the area in the majority of cases.

JONATHAN HARLEY: How's that expressed itself?

JOHN WIDMER: Fear amongst most of the women. I've got a 4-year-old girl and my partner has been harassed down here by gangs of youths over the years.

JONATHAN HARLEY: What shape has that taken?

JOHN WIDMER: Soccer balls being kicked at them, names being called at them, which is uncalled for and I think it's a lack of respect for women, whether that be in their own culture or not. I think the minority is causing a problem for the majority. I don't tarnish all people, all Muslims or anything as being anything. And I think yesterday was a prime example. We had some idiots here causing problems as well.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Today, Cronulla was the calm after the storm, sparkling in the summer sun and covered in police.

RADIO ANNOUNCER: Part of the discussion has been the role that the media's played in perhaps whipping up hatreds or resentments within the community.

JONATHAN HARLEY: And a shocked public were attempting to make sense of it all on talkback radio, reactions swinging from outrage at the random rolling violence to sympathy for the plight of locals.

TALKBACK CALLER #1: I mean yesterday, what we saw was a nation of convicts acting as criminals and I mean, I was absolutely disgusted.

TALKBACK CALLER #2: They flick their cigarettes everywhere, they play football right next to them. Why aren't the council taking more responsibility, not only the police?

JONATHAN HARLEY: The political action was swift. Condemnation of mob violence, the PM, John Howard, appalled by what he saw but unconvinced that it exposed any widespread or endemic racism.

JOHN HOWARD, PM: I think it's important that we don't rush to judgment about these events. I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people.

JONATHAN HARLEY: At state level, a police task force has been set up. Its brief: to identify those who took part in yesterday's violence and importantly, to track down the original author of the inflammatory text message.

COMMISSIONER KEN MARONEY, NSW POLICE: I have seen women, never in my working life did I ever imagine a mob, a drunken mob turning on a woman, an innocent woman who happened to stray into their path.

JONATHAN HARLEY: The broader challenge is not only the re-establishment of order and the prosecution of those involved, but to also make sense of this mob violence and the deep-seated hostilities that propelled it. Territorial, even tribal battles along Sydney's beaches are nothing new. For decades, locals have fought with those they've regarded as outsiders but yesterday's violence was different and not just because of its size and fury.

KURANDA SEYIT, FORUM ON AUSTRALIA'S ISLAMIC RELATIONS: I'm trying to recollect a period in Australian history that I can remember where we've seen this type of, I suppose, racially-motivated attack on a specific minority.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Kuranda Seyit spent yesterday at Sydney's Maroubra Beach before the violence took over Cronulla later in the afternoon. He believes there is blame on both sides of this beachfront battle.

KURANDA SEYIT: There are some ratbags amongst them. We can't blame the whole community for that. What happened yesterday, innocent people walking in the streets, families were terrorised, women were terrorised. The actions of those few hooligans have now placed all people of Middle Eastern background in jeopardy as they peacefully walk through the streets or enjoy the beach.

JONATHAN HARLEY: The riots present community leaders like Kuranda Seyit and Cronulla local MP Malcolm Kerr with a profound challenge - how can further violence be prevented when the battlelines in this turf war are blurred by ethnicity and religion?

MALCOLM KERR, STATE MP FOR CRONULLA: Well, you go back to the core problem and ensure that people can go to the beach and to parks without being subjected to any antisocial behaviour.

JONATHAN HARLEY: And what does that mean? For the people of Cronulla, what does 'antisocial' mean?

MALCOLM KERR: It means being insulted, spat at and being abused when you go to a beach or a park with your children.

JONATHAN HARLEY: How widespread is that in your view?

MALCOLM KERR: That's been quite widespread of a weekend over the last few years.

JONATHAN HARLEY: By whom?

MALCOLM KERR: Oh, by Middle Eastern gangs and just generally.

JONATHAN HARLEY: What do you mean by Middle Eastern gangs, how do you characterise them?

MALCOLM KERR: People of Middle Eastern appearance, some will undoubtedly be Lebanese. That's a matter of public record.

KURANDA SEYIT: I've just been thrown totally out of whack in terms of my understanding of where I am here in Australian history. I think we are now going down a very, very dangerous and shaky path.

JONATHAN HARLEY: Already, there are reports of a new wave of text messages urging a repeat performance this coming weekend, or even revenge attacks. This, in the place locals proudly call God's country, a place which yesterday looked more like a battle zone and a place which, for some, is now a no-go zone.

ISSA: It makes you feel like you're a nobody. Lets hope it's not heading to a racial war or something, you know."

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1529509.htm



Hmmm....interesting to wonder how much the beat up by the conservativ eHoward government of terrot threats here by islamic people has fueled this stuff.


There's a report that says it's revenge for Bali!!!!!

"Riots revenge for Bali - MP

December 12, 2005

RIOTING at Cronulla Beach in Sydney is revenge for the Bali bombings and the September 11 attacks, federal Liberal backbencher Bruce Baird says.

Mr Baird, whose Cook electorate takes in many of the south eastern Sydney suburbs affected by a wave of violence at the weekend, said tensions had been simmering within the primarily Anglo-Saxon community against people of Middle Eastern descent for some time.

He said many locals were angry, particularly after six women from the area were killed in the 2002 Bali bombings.

"Where this riot took place is actually the site of where we've got the Bali memorial for these women," Mr Baird told ABC Radio.

Asked if the riots were revenge for Bali and September 11, Mr Baird said: "I think so."



"I think there's been increasing emphasis on terrorism and our security," he said.

"There has been high-profile rape cases in Sydney and of course, the Sutherland Shire itself is very much an Anglo-Celtic enclave and during the week it is pretty much Anglo and on the weekends there are lots of visitors that come from elsewhere."

Mr Baird said the violence was prompted by an attack on a young surf lifesaver.

"When you have some of the icons being attacked such as the Aussie lifesavers, especially the young ones, then people get very upset and of course any attacks on young people on the beach concern locals but it is a whole mix of things," he said.

"Just on a straight parochial level there's been inadequate policing at Cronulla and a very small police station.

"The major station is at Miranda which is some 15 minutes away from Cronulla. So if something happens they are always too late on the scene and it can blow up rather than the presence being there as a deterrent right from the start."

Mr Baird said while racism was part of the violence, it was more the threat against a way of life that spurred many.

"I can understand at one level at people's frustration because they all feel that the beaches belong to them and it is a Sutherland Shire thing and when anybody disturbs the equilibrium, given all the events that have happened since September 11, I just think that's the match that sets alight the fuel."

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17538305-5001021,00.html


Yeah, sure, blame Australian Islamic Lebanese extraction people for deaths in Bali bombings by Indonesian extremists!

And this life saver stuff changes every time I read about it......what's the betting it is an urban myth Any Sydney folk know?


Response by NSW Premier:

"Task Force to tackle thugs

December 12, 2005

A POLICE task force has been set up to track down those responsible for yesterday's race riots in Cronulla.

A police strike force has been established to track down those responsible for race-fuelled riots in Sydney, NSW Premier Morris Iemma says.

Mr Iemma told reporters that video and photo evidence would be used to track down offenders following incidents which he said showed "ugly face of racism in Australia".

He said the government would examine what additional police powers would be needed to combat further outbreaks of violence.

A meeting of community leaders would be convened this afternoon to discuss the problem.



Mr Iemma said he would hold a meeting with community leaders this afternoon to address the problem.

"I've called for a meeting of community leaders ... starting with the Community Relations Commission and leaders of the community from within the Lakemba area representing the Lebanese community, the Muslim community, as well as community leaders from Sutherland Shire are meeting here at 2.30pm this afternoon to do a number of things," he said.

"Firstly, there is the police response and the response to ensure order and safety in our streets.

"Secondly, part of the response (is) to take the heat out ... and to lower the temperature, to get the hotheads to understand that they pull their heads in or they get locked up."

"Let's be very clear, the police will be unrelenting in their fight against these thugs and hooligans," Mr Iemma said.

"What showed on the weekend was the ugly face of racism ... and also the attitudes and the physical assaults that took place the weekend before."

NSW Police Commissioner Ken Moroney praised the actions of police during yesterday's riots.

He said police officers had to face a drunken mob, and in one case had to protect an innocent woman targeted by rioters......"

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17538323-5001021,00.html


Hmmm...Daily Telegraph reports gang attack on life savers as fact.....

Aha....ABC giving some background:

"Race riots erupt in Cronulla over the weekend

AM - Monday, 12 December , 2005 08:00:00
Reporter: Hamish Fitzsimmons
TONY EASTLEY: The racial violence that erupted at Cronulla in Sydney's south at the weekend continued overnight, with police cars attacked in one suburb and dozens of private vehicles smashed in another.

At Woolaware, near Cronulla, a man was stabbed by a gang of youths. He's in hospital in a serious condition.

What have been simmering, but relatively minor racial problems at one of Sydney's beaches blew out of control yesterday at Cronulla.

Large numbers of mainly young people had gathered to, in their words, reclaim Cronulla beach from gangs of youths, mainly of Lebanese descent.

There were dozens of arrests as police tried to maintain control of an increasingly drunken mob.

Anyone of Middle Eastern appearance became a potential target. Several people were set upon and bashed.

Hamish Fitzsimmons was there for AM.

And a warning: there is some strong language in his report.

VOX POP 1: We come here, we just get run over by Lebanese and wogs and ****. It's not cool. They come here, they disrespect the women, they disrespect the beach. They just, they just leave a lot of hate here. They come here and they use the beach, there'll be no problem.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: It was almost inevitable that there was going to be trouble at Cronulla.

After last weekend's bashing of two lifeguards, allegedly by men of Lebanese descent, word of mouth and text messages made the call for a day of bashing Lebs or 'wogs', as the messages said.

On a sunny Sunday, thousands flocked to the beach in Sydney's southern suburbs, drinking heavily and looking for a fight.

VOX POP 2: Anyone can come down here, and we let everyone come down here. But once they sound like idiots, we'll get together and say look, get away.

VOX POP 3: This is the best day I've ever seen in Cronulla in the five years I've lived here.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Why is that?

VOX POP 3: Everybody here… these are people that have come from all different suburbs that have said, you know what? We've had enough.

Sure, the Lebanese community out in Bankstown to Lakemba to Stanmore to wherever, they've got more numbers than we do. It wasn't until two lifeguards got beaten up that everybody said, you know what? And I'm sorry for the language, but **** this.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Dozens were arrested and a number of people were set on by mobs because they appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent.

New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says he's disgusted by what took place.

ANDREW SCIPIONE: Some appalling behaviour's been shown here, un-Australian, I'd probably go as far as to say.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: What about the alcohol that's been involved with that. There are a lot of people drinking and look to be drunk around the streets here.

ANDREW SCIPIONE: Yeah, it's a major issue, and particularly on my arrival we had a chance to look at what was happening, a decision's been made, we in fact approached the local liquor outlets, a number of bottle shops and hotels, they have voluntarily agreed to shut off the alcohol today. They've done that.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: There's definitely a racial element here today. The people I've spoken to have been saying this is all about people who come to the beach, particularly young Lebanese men, showing respect. What do you think of that definite racial element at play here?

ANDREW SCIPIONE: Well, look that's very sad. Australia's prided itself on being tolerant and being welcoming to anyone. Today's behaviour, as I said, if what you're indicating to me is that the people out there are seeing this as a racist issue, then that's appalling. I mean, it's just not Australian.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: What about the further issue, that there's been criticism of the police that there are inadequate resources down here, and now I guess you've had to throw hundreds of officers down here. What's going to be done about those claims?

ANDREW SCIPIONE: We've got more than enough officers here. We have officers in reserve. You've seen multiple helicopters, you've seen maritime fleet outside on the beach, you've seen dogs, you've seen horses. I mean, we are well resourced here today.

And the fact that this has gone as well as it has in terms of hardly any injuries, minimal damage to property, a number of arrests, would suggest to me that we've got… the mood of the crowd has been read, and the police have done an outstanding job in maintaining peace and order, as best they can without letting this flare up and go into a full scale riot.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Locals going for an afternoon walk like Kerry Woolsher are also troubled by the day's events.

KERRY WOOLSHER: I must say, I probably don't really approve of it. I think there's a lot of people that are getting fairly worked up over a small issue, and it's a bit of a worry, the racial side of things. It's pretty sad.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: Others like Paula, a 40-year Cronulla resident, don't appreciate the troubles, but also point the finger at young men from the Western Suburbs.

PAULA: Half these people don't need to be here. They've only come to stir up trouble and to look and to see what's going on. Like, I wouldn't feel safe to go down the beach, with all those, whatever they are, what nationalities and all that, they've got no consideration for the people that live here.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: The violence isn't good for local businesses, which rely on the influx of tourists in summer.

Halouk runs a kebab shop within view of the beach and he says there are incidents every weekend involving local and Lebanese youths.

HALOUK: Every weekend there's all the Westerns come in here from Bankstown or Hurstville, and that group of young people.

The problem is I think they come in groups, just to… these locals feel uncomfortable, because they start teasing the girls and this, that.

But every weekend we have small incidents like this, but this time, I don't know why is… media pay too much attention, and both group start to increasing to tension, they start to exchange the words and the text messages.

I think it's not very right, because I've been here six years, never had a racial problem, they never called me racist or you're Turk, what you doing here, this that. I was happy with here.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: So as a person of Turkish descent, you've never had any trouble at all?

HALOUK: No, no, not at all.

HAMISH FITZSIMMONS: As a local businessman, how does stuff like today and over the last week affect you and your business?

HALOUK: Of course they affect it, because it's a bad reputation for Cronulla. It's nice paradise place, and everybody happy here, relax on the Sundays and the weekend, everybody comes here to… this beach for everyone, not only Aussies or Lebanese or other ethnic groups. Everybody has to share it.

TONY EASTLEY: Halouk, a Cronulla kebab shop owner, speaking there with our reporter Hamish Fitzsimmons."


http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1528707.htm


Idiots!!!







Local member of parliament: ("Liberal" here meand conservative0

"MP says simmering tension in Cronulla has hit boiling point
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AM - Monday, 12 December , 2005 08:08:00
Reporter: Tanya Nolan
TONY EASTLEY: The State Liberal MP for Cronulla, Malcolm Kerr, says he supports the rights of locals to protest against what he describes as "years" of anti-social behaviour by Lebanese gangs coming into the area, but he says locals should be ashamed of yesterday's violence.

Mr Kerr, an MP for more than 20 years, has been telling our reporter, Tanya Nolan, there's been a lack of adequate policing for a long time.

MALCOLM KERR: Well, there's been a history of trouble of these gangs basically insulting, abusing people. That's turned to violence on a number of occasions, and then you had last Sunday, where a couple of lifesavers were injured.

So you've had this simmering anger and frustration and a lack of policing over the years. I've been calling attention to the need to have more police with this sort of situation brewing.

TANYA NOLAN: What I've been hearing is that a lot of the concerns to do with gangs coming to the beach, of gangs of Lebanese descent or Middle Eastern descent, have been largely anecdotal. What sort of statistics are there? Have there been many police arrests?

MALCOLM KERR: The police say they've only had one assault this year. But you must bear in mind that a lot of the antisocial behaviour hasn't resulted in reports to police.

People have been abused, spat on, insulted, but they haven't taken action against police, they've moved away from what they were. They've had their freedoms curtailed. While it's anecdotal, the people that have given the stories are quite credible and have no reason to lie.

So there has been that level of antisocial activity, that level of bad behaviour, and I think the population are now finding that intolerable.

TANYA NOLAN: Were you supportive of the community's decision to protest against the trouble that was going on at the beach with these gangs?

MALCOLM KERR: Well, I would support the community exercising its right. Nobody had a problem with people coming down to beaches and parks and observing the law. What we saw yesterday… nobody could condone attacks on bystanders, or attacks even on an ambulance, that occurred yesterday.

So the situation is that I would have been happy if people had taken to the beaches rather than the streets.

TANYA NOLAN: Do you think that the locals of Cronulla have anything to be ashamed about in relation to yesterday's violence?

MALCOLM KERR: Clearly, yes.

TONY EASTLEY: Cronulla Liberal MP Malcolm Kerr speaking there, with Tanya Nolan."



http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1528709.htm


"Cronulla beach at the centre of violent turf war
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The World Today - Monday, 12 December , 2005 12:10:00
Reporter: Michael Vincent
KAREN PERCY: First today, to the Sydney beach turf war that turned a day of nationalism into a racist free-for-all never before seen in modern day Australia.

Thousands of young people converged on Cronulla Beach in the city's south to lay claim to a patch of sand that has become a lightning rod for ethnic divisions.

It was the culmination of a week of escalating tensions in the area, and is being seen as payback for the attack of two lifeguards on the beach, the weekend before.

Alcohol helped fuel much of yesterday's violence, but it's exposed an alarming underbelly of intolerance and hatred.

That's been reflected on talkback radio in Sydney this morning. As well, listeners have revealed a growing frustration and anger at this kind of behaviour.

RADIO CALLER 1: I didn't even leave my building yesterday afternoon. It sounded like something from Apocalypse Now.

RADIO CALLER 2: The young men who tore up multiculturalism and so forth by the rapes, in my view, the icing was put on the cake yesterday at Cronulla when people from the Australian community finally said no.

RADIO CALLER 3: The searing image for me, Virginia, was the image of two girls about 10 metres in front of me clearly of Middle Eastern descent walking along the main street of Cronulla out the front of Northies Bar, all of a sudden they were pointed out by some people nearby.

Two girls then came forward and pushed them over from behind. One of the more disturbing things was all the locals stood around, and all the girls came in, and kicked them and punched them and pulled their hair.

RADIO CALLER 4: There's thousands of people there, and two Middle Easterners and a Middle Eastern woman walking with her head gear on. What are they expecting to happen?

RADIO CALLER 5: I am a Cronulla resident as well, and I too am very devastated and just so embarrassed about what the mob was all about. There was so many people dressed, you know, draped in the Australian flag, and I just thought, I just didn't want to be associated with the Australian flag if that's what they believed, what Australia is all about.

RADIO CALLER 6: We've become this gang because they've been coming down to our beach all these years, and I've had baseball bats handed to me, as a 12-year-old, going for a surf, to deal with them. Now, that's my upbringing. When you've got these other gangs coming to our beach, that's when it stems and the violence erupts.

RADIO CALLER 7: Racism in the community is always the responsibility of governments, and I think that they've got to take some responsibility for these fools who thought that they were somehow upholding Australian traditions.

KAREN PERCY: That's a taste of what callers have been saying on Sydney radio stations today. And we'll explore what role politicians should play a little later in the program.

The violence lasted well into the night and spilled over into other beachside suburbs, and this morning feelings are still running strong at Cronulla and Brighton-Le-Sands.

The World Today's Michael Vincent has spoken to some of the locals today, and while no one was justifying the violence, no one was prepared to say that it was over either.

MICHAEL VINCENT: A day after the violence, the music at the Cronulla kiosk is still playing, but the mood is definitely not relaxed.

Friends and long term local residents Sue and Marilyn are enjoying a coffee and a chat, but neither wanted to give their last names when approached by The World Today.

Both tell stories of violence and intimidation from men they describe as of Lebanese background.

VOX POP 1: I am becoming racist. I will tell you, I am becoming racist.

VOX POP 2: I think we're the ones that are discriminated against, really.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Why?

VOX POP 1: The law doesn't protect the innocent. The law is giving all the rights to the guilty. It is.

VOX POP 2: Not only that…

MICHAEL VINCENT: You don't think that those people that bashed the lifeguards the other day, you don't think they're going to get jail time?

VOX POP 1: No, no. No, they'll say they're the ones discriminated against.

MICHAEL VINCENT: So what do you think when you see a young Lebanese man come down to the beach? What do you think immediately?

VOX POP 1: Well I… nothing. I don't judge him, because… I mean, my cousin used to be married to a Lebanese. You know, I mean, I don't judge them, it's… it's what they do, what their intention of why they come here. And it's obvious later on. I mean, I take everybody, you know, I give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

VOX POP 2: Yeah, once you're jumped on it's too late. Yeah. You're the one that's injured, and…

VOX POP 1: The thing that scares me is what is Australia going to be in 50 years time? I've got a 10-year old grandson, and what is it going to be like for him, unless they can change the law, and I don't think that'll ever happen now.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Change the law to what?

VOX POP 1: Back to… I mean, they've got no respect. They've got no respect for any of our laws.

MICHAEL VINCENT: This feeling of us and them is even stronger amongst the young members of Cronulla.

Chris and his friends are still drinking and their beachfront apartment is littered with bottles from the party they began before yesterday's rally.

VOX POP 3: No, I wouldn't say it was ugly. It was only ugly when people were throwing beer bottles at the bloody ambulance.

VOX POP 4: Yeah, that was disgraceful.

VOX POP 3: That just wasn't on. That was un-Australian. That's not how you play cricket. It's just not how you play cricket.

MICHAEL VINCENT: But you were there in support of the lifesavers from last weekend?

VOX POP 4: Yep.

VOX POP 3: Yeah. Not so much support, just here as brothers in arms for our brothers and sisters, you know? You gotta… we gotta stand up for our town, basically.

VOX POP 4: And we don't want a party, so…

VOX POP 3: It was a good excuse to drink on a Sunday, really (laughs).

VOX POP 4: And Monday.

MICHAEL VINCENT: I heard… the reports in some of the papers today that there were neo Nazi groups down here yesterday trying to cause trouble.

VOX POP 3: No, they weren't trying to cause trouble, they were just handing out flyers. They weren't neo Nazis. They were skinheads, but just because they've got shaved heads doesn't mean they don't like Asians.

MICHAEL VINCENT: But do you think that their presence kind of influenced the violence yesterday?

VOX POP 3: No, no, not at all. Not at all. You know, there wasn't any specific violence towards anyone, anyone that wasn't causing trouble.

MICHAEL VINCENT: It wasn't just Cronulla that was affected by the violence, with confrontations erupting in nearby suburbs throughout the evening.

Bay Street in Brighton-le-Sands is a popular nightspot. Local resident Jay, who didn't want to give his last name, explains what happened when a group of Lebanese youths grabbed the Australian flag from the local RSL.

VOX POP 5: It started off here. Right?

MICHAEL VINCENT: We're just outside the Brighton-le-Sands RSL club.

VOX POP 5: Yeah. There was about 30, 40 boys here. There was about 30, 40 boys just standing here. There was an Australian flag up there. One of the Lebo boys jumped up here, grabbed it down, ripped it down, burnt it.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Burnt it?

VOX POP 5: Burnt it. They burnt it in the middle of the road, in the middle of the road over here. And then they laid the flag out on the ground for all the cars coming past, and cars were just stopping and doing skids on the flag, and then someone rang the police, and the police come over here, and then everyone went across the road and then went down the road to Hashems.

And there was about 200 boys down there, ready to go to Cronulla, and then the police turned up, riot squad came running out, and just started spraying everybody, started arresting everyone.

Everyone started running, everyone ran back this way, and then everyone met here, and then the police, the police just started blocking it up and then everyone just started meeting up and… boys were ringing boys, telling them to come down, and then the next thing…

MICHAEL VINCENT: How many people all in all?

VOX POP 5: I'd say about 400 people.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Have you ever seen… I mean, have you seen the tensions building between …

VOX POP 5: Yeah, I've had it myself. I've had phone calls from a few of the boys – "where are you? Meet us at blah blah street, bring heaps of boys," you know?

MICHAEL VINCENT: Are these your so-called Aussie friends, or the Lebanese friends?

VOX POP 5: Just a few Lebanese boys, yeah.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Yeah?

VOX POP 5: Yeah.

MICHAEL VINCENT: How do they feel about it?

VOX POP 5: They were pissed off that… what they were pissed off about was how they bashed the lady out at Cronulla, that's all they were pissed off about. Like, one of the boys here was saying here last night there's going to be a few drive-bys out at Cronulla and stuff, you know?

MICHAEL VINCENT: Drive-by shootings?

VOX POP 5: Drive-by shootings, yeah.

KAREN PERCY: That's Jay, a young man in Brighton-le-Sands, the beachside suburb near Sydney, talking to Michael Vincent."


http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1529136.htm


"Sydney Lebanese community fears backlash after Cronulla riot
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The World Today - Monday, 12 December , 2005 12:14:00
Reporter: Jennifer Macey
KAREN PERCY: Lebanese Australians have condemned the weekend's events, describing the violence on all sides as disgusting. Out in Sydney's south-western suburbs, home to a large Lebanese community, people fear a possible backlash against the entire community.

Jennifer Macey went to Lakemba and filed this report.

JENNIFER MACEY: On the streets of Lakemba, home to the majority of Sydney's Lebanese community, there was reluctance to talk about the violence in Cronulla over the weekend.

Some feared an attack on lifesavers earlier in the week, blamed on a gang of Lebanese youth, would result in a backlash for the entire community.

VOX POP 1: We're not here to cause any trouble at all, at all, at all. We've been in the country for 36 to 40 years, nothing happened at all. Why is it happening now? I don't know. I go swimming, I take my kids to Cronulla, I take them to Manly, we go and swim, you know?

VOX POP 2: I think it's disgraceful. I think the bashing of the lifeguards was disgraceful, but what happened yesterday was a truly scary precedent in Australian history, and I think that comes down to 10 years of Howard Government, where he's played the race card for so many years that it's now sort of seeped into the Australian psyche, or the ethos, that it's okay to be racist, or to make excuse based on people's ethnicities - to target people, basically.

VOX POP 3: You know what I mean, I couldn't sleep yesterday. Lifesaving, my kid is practising to be a lifesaver. What's this? I wouldn't accept that, you know what I mean?

VOX POP 4: I think this is wrong, this racism, because we don't want, we don't want to se what happened in French or anywhere in the world, because we live in peace in Australia. And we don't want to see what happened overseas.

JENNIFER MACEY: Ahmed Kamaledine the President of the Lebanese Muslim Association. He says this idea of us and them is unacceptable.

AHMED KAMALEDINE: This is really disgusting, I think a lot of people are shocked for words, they're just stunned, and I'm one of those people. It's hard to say what could motivate for such a person, such people to go out of the lead, you know, and go out and do such a thing.

But regardless, this is not the way to treat a problem existing in the community. We give full support to the police. We also ask the police to go out and have a look at the surveillance and all the footage on the day, and bring those people to justice.

JENNIFER MACEY: He's concerned that talkback radio is fuelling anger and resentment against the Lebanese community.

AHMED KAMALEDINE: But a lot of suggestions by some of the media outlets, talkback radios, that go out there - even headlines across the newspapers as well - really isolate some of the people.

So, if you're going to stereotype a kid of Lebanese descent who thinks that he's being labelled or targeted, he might say something stupid, you know, or he might do something stupid. But if he does, then the law must deal with it. Not to punish the rest of the community by someone's actions.

But, I mean, having said that, why don't we focus on the successful achievements that the Lebanese have been made in Australia. I mean, have a look at Marie Bashir, for example, she's Lebanese. Steven Bracks, Premier of Victoria, he's Lebanese.

I mean, have a look at the great achievements Lebanese have been done to this community, or to the Australian community. We've contributed to the Australian community, or contributed to the Australian way of life.

So we don't want to be punished and labelled and isolated by media outlets, and sometimes by politicians, by scavengers who would really use these type of events to get popularity.

JENNIFER MACEY: Eman Dandan is the office coordinator at the Lebanese Muslim Association that offers counselling services to Lebanese young people.

She questions the notion of ownership over public spaces like beaches.

EMAN DANDAN: Along the lines of, how can people like that come to our beaches? And this concept of ownership over beaches and over public property, which sort of purports this idea that we can decide who comes, if we don't like you, you're not allowed here.

I mean, this mentality that's been bred in Australia, I mean, from the issues of refugees and now to issues of beaches. I mean, just this mentality, you can see the same sort of mentality running through. It's quite ridiculous.

JENNIFER MACEY: Eman Dandan says her organisation has been cooperating with the police and says anyone who commits a crime should be dealt with as a criminal, regardless of their cultural background.

EMAN DANDAN: It's really, it's leading Australia down the one-way track of returning to a White Australia policy. And I mean, if that's where we want to go, then we've really got to… I mean, we can look at the results that reaped… and if we can't learn from our mistakes, and our history, then when are we going to learn?

KAREN PERCY: That's Eman Dandan, from the Lebanese Muslim Association in Lakemba, speaking to Jennifer Macey.""

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1529204.htm


"White Australia in the Shire: understanding the violence
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The World Today - Monday, 12 December , 2005 12:26:00
Reporter: Stephen Long
KAREN PERCY: Our Finance Correspondent Stephen Long grew up in the Shire, not far from where the riots took place. He and his family still live there, just a couple of suburbs away. This is his personal view of the area, and the prejudice underlying the current tensions.

STEPHEN LONG: There's a scene in the first Lord of the Rings movie where Frodo and his friends set off on their adventure.

One of the hobbits exclaims: "If I take one more step it will be the furthest I've ever been from the shire".

When I heard this I laughed out loud - because it seemed to sum up the insularity of my own shire.

The Shire, as locals call it, is bordered by water to its north, west and south, so you can only get there by bridge or boat.

Locals joke that you should need a passport to enter, because in multicultural Sydney, the Shire is an Anglo enclave. More than 90 per cent of its residents stem from English or Irish stock. And racism's always been the Shire's dark underbelly.

When I grew up there in the 1970s, it was the wogs, the slopes and the slant eyes who were the target. Since I moved back to the Cronulla district four years ago, it's been "the bloody Lebs".

It's not just young people, and it's not just surf culture tribalism. The racism is pervasive. And the assumption is that anyone from "our shire" will share the view.

I often hear phrases like: "If they don't want to adopt our ways, they can piss off." "Bloody Lebs, lock em all up," one of my touch footie mates is fond of saying.

When I replied one time that they used to say that about Catholics not so long ago, he said: "Yeah, lock them all up too"

I asked a buddy I cycle with why a certain Shire school was so popular.

He replied, "well, it's got high academic standards, and let's just say there's an absence of kids from Southern Mediterranean extraction."

When I sought clarification, he said: "all Aussie kids, no Lebanese".

The prejudice is underpinned by fear.

Last year, my friends and neighbours were mortified to find there would be kids from outside the Shire on a cruise to celebrate the end of the HSC.

80 per cent of the patrons were Shire kids, but about 20 per cent were from the multicultural suburbs of the St George and Canterbury districts, just a 15-minute drive or so away.

Fathers muttered darkly about the prospect of "bloody Lebs" raping their daughters.

The Shire is full of good people. Kind people. People who you would trust your kids. And Cronulla is just 30 kilometres from the centre of Sydney. But in some respects it's a world away.

KAREN PERCY: That personal perspective from our reporter Stephen Long, who was raised and lives in the Sutherland Shire.


http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1529141.htm



This one would summarize my attitude to the deliberate divisivement of the Howard government, but we can't blame it all on that!!!!

"Divisive politics blamed for Cronulla violence
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The World Today - Monday, 12 December , 2005 12:22:00
Reporter: Tanya Nolan
KAREN PERCY: Some of the talkback callers to ABC radio around the country pointed to the racial violence that erupted at Cronulla yesterday as a product of divisive politics.

But the nation's federal and state politicians are today distancing themselves from the events, and are looking to community leaders to address the problems.

Tanya Nolan reports.

TANYA NOLAN: Racist violence at Sydney's Cronulla Beach wasn't just a hot topic for radio talkback callers in New South Wales.

Callers to 774 ABC Melbourne summed up what became a common theme for discussion this morning.

CALLER 1: I just wanted to express my absolute disgust at what I saw on the news last night in Cronulla, and I think we need to really lay the blame at the foot of the person who's responsible, and that's the Prime Minister John Howard.

This is a man whose entire leadership has been based on fear and hatred. This is a man who's made… who has said about refugees that we will decide who comes to this country - 'we'. Who is the 'we'?

CALLER 2: I am saddened by this whole thing, I'm ashamed, I'm disgusted, and I must agree with the last caller. I think the Prime Minister would be sitting back and secretly rubbing his hands together.

I think this is a product of the divisive politics that have been a part of our society since he's been in power.

CALLER 3: I think reclaiming our society is going to be very difficult in the context of the politics of fear that John Howard has been proclaiming for the last decade.

CALLER 4: I'm not blaming John Howard per se, but I think the politicians generally in the aftermath of the gang rapes and so forth haven't acted with real responsibility.

TANYA NOLAN: But the Prime Minister John Howard doesn't see it that way.

JOHN HOWARD: I do not accept that there is underlying racism in this country. I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. This nation of ours has been able to absorb millions of people from different parts of the world over a period of now some 40 years, and we have done so with remarkable success, and in a way that has brought enormous credit to this country.

REPORTER: Do you think anything the Government's said…

JOHN HOWARD: I beg your pardon?

REPORTER: Do you think anything the Government's said over the last years has set the tone… (inaudible)?

JOHN HOWARD: Which government?

REPORTER: Your government.

JOHN HOWARD: My government?

REPORTER: Yes.

JOHN HOWARD: No, certainly not.

TANYA NOLAN: The Prime Minister does see it as first and foremost an issue of the police applying the law to those who break it.

However, many callers, particularly those who live in the area where the violence erupted, raised what they see as the steady decline in policing numbers as partly to blame for the tensions coming to a head yesterday.

But New South Wales Police Minister Carl Scully says it shouldn't just be a problem for frontline agencies to deal with.

CARL SCULLY: The police can respond to acts of violence and threats of violence. We actually need support from the community. These communities have leaders and they have people who are looked up to. And I'd be calling for some of those to exercise some responsibility.

TANYA NOLAN: The Federal Member for Cook, Bruce Baird, who lives in an apartment on Cronulla Beach agrees the community needs to take the lead from this point.

BRUCE BAIRD: I think community leaders have got to come out, I think government leaders need to say this is not the Australia we know.

TANYA NOLAN: The Federal Treasurer Peter Costello says it's certainly not the Australia we want.

PETER COSTELLO: This is not the Australia we know, it's not the Australia we want. We don't want gangs fighting each other in public places.

TANYA NOLAN: But if the public was hoping for politicians to take any more responsibility than that, it may be sorely disappointed.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma was pledging the efforts of a new taskforce to pursue investigations into those "thugs and hooligans", quote unquote, who he blames for the violence

MORRIS IEMMA: There have been some 16 arrests, and there will be further action taken. Strike force Seta, formed with detectives, will continue to pursue those responsible.

TANYA NOLAN: Mayor of the Sutherland Shire Council, which governs the Cronulla area, Kevin Schreiber, was doing his best this morning to make sure the name of Cronulla isn't irreparably damaged

And he wanted to make sure that all who use the beach understood that local government is doing all it can to make sure it is a safe place to return to.

KEVIN SCHREIBER: There was no call for this and there's no excuse for this level of violence or room for this behaviour in the Sutherland Shire.

Well, I've met with the Commissioner Ken Moroney and we've agreed to work together to implement strategies to help and bring calm to the situation and try and make the place safe so everybody can enjoy it.

KAREN PERCY: That's the Mayor of the Sutherland Shire, Kevin Schreiber, ending Tanya Nolan's report."



http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1529244.htm

Wilso

I've read this far into the thread and must respond. I have no idea of what follows your statement.

In a nutshell, Wilso, I'm absolutely appalled by how you categorize all "white Australian women". (As I happen to be one.) Let's face it, you are hardly an expert on the subject! You are in Thailand to find a wife. You have had bad experiences with (from what I can gather from your threads on the subject) with a small number of Australian women with whom you wished to form relationships. Things didn't work out. That's life. It happens. But never once did you suggest that these women you wished to form relationships with with were "possibly the most immature, lazy, selfish and arrogant group of people on the face of the earth". It didn't work out between you and them, that's all. Where that hell is the above nonsense from you coming from? It sounds kinda misogynist to me. You really disappoint me, Wilso! Amazing!

... furthermore, Wilso, most Australian women wouldn't give a rat's where any future wife of yours might have come from. All they'd care about is that you treat her properly. That's the important thing.

OK, back to the thread topic ....

bm

Sorry Msolga, but that has been my experience. I have reached the point that I would NEVER form a relationship with an Australian woman. And I don't recall saying ALL. But most I've met fit into that category, and I will neither apologise for the belief or step away from it.

Don't put too much weight into the statistics. There are LOTS of Australian born people, who speak English as a first language (hence the census data), but who were born to immigrants of the 50's and 60's.

I'm biting my tongue here, Wilso.
Just let me say that yours is a spectacular generalization based on very limited & subjective data.
I don't think you're likely to ever find yourself in such a relationship, either. But for somewhat different reasons ... :wink:

Anyway, back to the topic ...

No I won't. I've already bought tickets to take one the lady's I've met here with me on my next holiday.