Adelaide Racism??Or It Is Just A Fun??

Hello Japankiller,

It's sad that your visit to Australia has been less than enjoyable. I hope the remainder of your stay is more enjoyable.

In relation to whether your experience has been caused by racism or not, the answer is "It' hard to tell, but it's possible."

Australia isn't an overly racist country (I'm black and have experienced what I consider racism just once, about 20 years ago). Others from minority backgrounds sometimes differ with me on this opinion though.

That said, Australia (probably like any other nation on earth) does have a small percentage of people who delight in tormenting other people. Australians of this persuasion usually do so from the safety of a car, or from somewhere with some distance/anonymity (yes, cowardly I know)

The eggs may just be a local thing, and almost without exception will be done by the young. I know of intermittent problems in parts of Brisbane where youths are throwing eggs from cars late at night - but here they usually them against buildings and cars.Whether the ones in Adelaide target foreigners, ethnic minorities, or everyone is not something I can answer for you.

In relation to the Road Rage - Australia certainly has it's fair share of offenders. It is also true that most Australian's consider 'Asians' as bad drivers. ' It is something for you to be aware of (I'm guessing you are asian, but I could be wrong on that score)

Also be aware that, like any country and any big city, there are certain suburbs in Australia a greater percentage of racists. Perhaps you are in one of these suburbs, and if so, a change of suburb may be all it needs for you to have a much better experience of Australia.

Best wishes for the remainder of your stay in Australia.

I am horrified you have had these experiences!


I am also shocked you had them so near the city......with all the recent migration, asnd young people coming to study, I now find the centre of Adelaide a delightful sort of "Little Asia and Africa"...and I would have thought such horrible attacks might happen out in the more economically depressed, and underprivileged outer fringe suburbs....where it would be shocking enough.



Are you saying these are the SAME people? Can you get the car number and call the police? Their behaviour is criminal, whether racist or just randomly aggressive. This is NOT fun......it is loutish and ignorantly aggressive behaviour. I think it is not just racist, though. I have had anglo acquaintances to whom louts have done such things. I think it rare, though...I think you have had awful luck.


There certainly is a very small neo-nazi group here, who pick on non-anglos, or anglos who confront them.


Sadly, Adelaide and Australia have racist pigs, or just pigs, as I guess any city and country do.


But, please don't let them put you off all of us! The majority of us welcome you with open arms....and I am very sad and sorry about your experiences.

i'm sorry for what you've gone through. i haven't been to Adelaide, but i think racist [insert appropriate word here] are everywhere. most of the young males i know are jerks to anyone who isn't caucasian or has an accent. a school trip a few years ago to Alice Springs and Coober Pedy revealed that our teachers also bore the same respect the Indigneous members as the guys did.
my best friend was also the victim of racial bullying, so bad it forced her and her family to move
discrimination sucks, but not everyone is like that. there are laws that prevent this sort of harrassment, so if possible, i suggest talking to someone who can give you (legal) advice

Australia is a backwater, a racist and inward-looking country that turns its back on adventure and the opportunity to do better; a country that has rejected leaders who provide the chance for a multiracial, multicultural and independent nation to prosper in the region where it is, Asia-Pacific.

It is a nation which periodically makes world headlines for its racist outbursts, whether it be the disgraceful campaign of the Howard Government in 2001 to demonise the wretched and the weak who sought sanctuary on our shores, or the media and political leaders who barracked for Pauline Hanson's inane and stupid rhetoric about Aboriginal Australians and Asians, or the racist thugs now taking it upon themselves to beat up anyone who looks as if they are from the Middle East.

Attacks that Prime Minister John Howard refuses to see as examples of Australia's racism, which is exactly what they are. Perhaps that's because he is partly to blame for december 2005s appalling events and for the persecution of Muslims and Arab Australians in the community. For 20 years Australia looked as though it might move from its Anglo-European racist conservatism towards becoming truly cosmopolitan and modern. Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating all believed in an Australia that was different from the one in which they had grown up.

Keating promised an exciting Australia that embraced Asian cultures, that saw itself as a bridge between European and Asian cultures and which finally rid itself of the British monarchy. The electorate, though - selfish and materialist, if not racist - felt scared and voted Keating out, replacing him with the most conservative Prime Minister this country has ever had. They replaced the positive confidence of Keating with the cringing, reactive conservatism of Howard. The conservatism that gives a wink and a nod to Pauline Hanson's racist attacks; the conservatism that attacks people on the basis of their religion and race; the conservatism that demonises people clinging desperately to leaky boats as they do what any of us being oppressed in our homeland would do - seek asylum in a free country; and the conservatism that allows the media and security agencies to talk up the links between Muslims and terrorism as though they are inextricable, despite not one charge being successfully pursued through the courts.

It's the conservatism that dismantles the policy of multiculturalism, a policy Malcolm Fraser championed and which refuses to allow Anglo-European traditions to suffocate other great cultures and value systems. It is also a conservatism that refuses to let Australia grow up, a conservatism that forelock tugs before an English Queen and a British monarchy that is rancid and corrupt. The racist thuggery of the past week is the inevitable consequence of the conservatism of people such as Howard and former New South Wales premier Bob Carr, a conservatism that never challenges and dismantles the antics of such media as The Daily Telegraph in Sydney and shock-jocks such as John Laws and Alan Jones, who perpetrate a myth about Arab Australians being different and somehow less Australian than the rest of us.

It's a media which shamefully subscribes to the view that the rape of European women in Sydney five years ago by a gang of young men, who happened to be Lebanese, was a battle between the values of Arab Australians and European Australians; a media which whips up fear and loathing by attacking the right of Muslim women to have their own time in a local swimming pool for religious and cultural reasons; a media which gives comfort to people such as Pauline Hanson by providing her with all the air time she needs and then, when she's on the political scrapheap, allows her to become a television celebrity.

Why can't Australia be more like Canada, a nation that embraces civil rights and tolerance, with political leaders who stand up to racism and nastiness; a nation that sees its role in the world as an independent nation and which is not frightened to stand up and be counted in the global fight for a fairer world.

Let's admit it. Australia has become a pigsty. The majority of voters have succumbed either to materialism or to the underbelly of their soul, an underbelly that gives free rein to fear, racism and xenophobia. This is the land of missed opportunity, the land where the alternative government is made up of populist conservatives such as Julia Gillard, sometimes touted as a leader, or Kevin Rudd whose capacity for imagination and vision seems severely limited.

Why not leave? Because to cut and run is cowardly. There are decent people who wish for more and surely they will win out one day - if not for themselves, then for their children and grandchildren.

What do you call egg throwers and water bombers in Japan?

It was disgraceful that this was done for political purposes. However, there is nothing at all "racist" about preventing all boat people from reaching Australia - the policy is not selective based on race, and so by definition isn't racist.

Whether you morally agree with it is a different issue.

Further, there are economic, demographic, and crime concerns with such a slipshod system of allowing people into any country, including Australia. Australia has an immigration system. If you disagree with the policy, then that is your prerogative, but to call the banning of queue jumpers as racist is rather ill concieved.


I presume you are referring to Sydney? It is sad that it has come to that, and I hope that there are successful prosecutions against anyone who commits such violence.

A question needs to be asked in relation to this. Why do Australians never seem to be racist against Italians (the largest minority group) or Greeks (another large minority group). Why is it that Australians seem to respect their cultures (they do retain their own cultural organisations), and not certain others?

A further question that arises is "Why has this problem only arisen (or worsened) in the last few years?", and "What has changed" These questions need to be asked of both involved communities. It's easy to blame everything on one community, but that rarely produces any significant insight. Rather, a contribution system needs to understood.



You may have a legitimate message, but do you understand the inherent hypocrisy in stating "Australia's…Anglo-European racist conservatism"? Further…going from aforesaid to "becoming truly cosmopolitan and modern…that is a meaningless phrase. And as previously mentioned, we are second only to Israel in the multiculturalism of our population.




True, true. Things could always be better. One mans vision of course, does not mean it's possible. I wonder whether human nature allows for it. By the way, what do you think the cause of racism is?



You do realise how many people you've misrepresented by stating such (and ignored many many other factors)? Among other things, Keating was one of the most hated prime ministers in Australian History.




One of the failures of the system, was that it allowed minorities to discriminate against the majority. Further, many Australian cultural icons were let to drift away for fear of upsetting this group or that group…whilst those groups happily kept all their culture. This of course, was Australia's own fault, and they can't blame anyone else for it…but it does lead to a natural backlash of disenchanted people.


Now now…reverse racism…I mean, racism…is never appropriate from a person complaining of it.



How would you describe it?

And what would you say to Australian concerns that the Islamic Imams teach their youths that it is not their fault (or at least the fault is mitigated) that they rape women, because "If a cat sees naked meat, it will eat it"?

And did these boys do such things to their own Islamic women…or were they racist in whom they chose to gang rape?



Err…the media panned Hanson severely…while giving her a lot of air time, because she made them money by saying stupid things. That's the media for you. Is greed a simile for racism?



Considering I come from a minority group, and have lived in 3 Australian cities without ever experiencing thing, and considering as I've previously mentioned the lack of racism towards Italians and Greeks (and some other cultures)... I'd say there would be many grounds to debate you on this particular view that you hold....perhaps if you were to be more specific.

Vikorr, may I say how much I admire your contributions here.

Thank you for the compliment

These words are not mine, and for the life of me, can't remember who wrote them, but it is food for thought .......

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The lessons of history teach that diversity, aka multiculturalism is seldom a strength and usually leads to the death of the nation practicing same. Canada is not a particular example of anything to the contrary, its defence and world position having much more to do with its proximity to the US than anything else.

The wonderful process by which so many from so many places welded together into the US, (or Canada for that matter) was known as assimilation, which is directly contrary to multiculturalism. People came, learned the prevailing language, history and culture, and blended in while adding a bit from their own past. Strong nations come of such.

The current insane notion of multiculturalism leads to separate and distinctive subcommunities which can function as a whole only so long as a dominant culture holds them together. As these unassimilated minorities grow in numbers, the fabric of society will pull in various directions and be ripe for exploitation ,internal and external. Even the sacred political dialog of democracy weakens when that dialog is carried on in multiple tongues which other members of the same state cannot understand.

Multiculturalism is the current liberal mask for the dewesternization of western nations. It is produced by the liberal sickness of white guilt. It is childish and naive, and displays a total lack of grasp of the essential elements of national cohesion.

END QUOTE