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When compared to the scale and severity of the events in Europe I was referring to, no, not by a long way.
But it was still an ugly and pointless event.
In terms of racism though, it was pretty ugly. A reminder that we're not immune from this sort of thing. I can imagine Europe style riots in Sydney, though. If our economy was worse.
In terms of racism though, it was pretty ugly. A reminder that we're not immune from this sort of thing. I can imagine Europe style riots in Sydney, though. If our economy was worse.
Yes, race certainly played a role in that fracas.
You could also look at it as a gang dispute; the tightly knit local surfer dudes against a bunch of interlopers who were accused of perennially causing trouble - it just so happened that while the surfer dudes were white, the "intruders" were all Lebanese.
Either way, yes, it was ugly. From the news reports and analysis that followed, neither side looked like anything but a bunch of thugs.
Australia is often steriotyped as a racist nation due to things like extremely late indigenous rights and many Australians are overly sensitive to any racial issue being highlighted, but denying they exist doesn't fix any problems. Every multicultural country has these issues, don't be so quick to judge Europe!
These sorts of events are extremely rare and usually have other factors other than race that set them off. Cronulla is used as an example continuously for the very reason that these events just aren't the norm at all.
There are individuals that are racist but Australia isn't a racist country and has legislation to protect people against discrimination. Most western countries really do try to make sure that people aren't discriminated against because of their race or religion.
I'm always baffled by people that have never been to Australia labelling it as racist. If you live here for any length of time you see that Australian people are very accepting of other people. People forget that people from all over the world live here and Australia has always had different nationalities here especially from the time of the gold rush era.
You could also look at it as a gang dispute; the tightly knit local surfer dudes against a bunch of interlopers who were accused of perennially causing trouble - it just so happened that while the surfer dudes were white, the "intruders" were all Lebanese.
Either way, yes, it was ugly. From the news reports and analysis that followed, neither side looked like anything but a bunch of thugs.
That's the Cronulla riots in a nutshell. It was a localised event and both sides were to blame. There were all yobbos.
In terms of racism though, it was pretty ugly. A reminder that we're not immune from this sort of thing. I can imagine Europe style riots in Sydney, though. If our economy was worse.
Yes I agree that this sort of thing happening in Western Sydney would be plausible if the economy was in a similar state to what much of Europe is. You can feel a certain tension when you go there that doesn't really exist anywhere else in the country.
This is another reason for that matter why folks outside Australia shouldn't use the Cronulla Riots to tar all Australians with the same racist brush. That sort of thing just wouldn't happen in any other part of Australia
Yes I agree that this sort of thing happening in Western Sydney would be plausible if the economy was in a similar state to what much of Europe is. You can feel a certain tension when you go there that doesn't really exist anywhere else in the country.
This is another reason for that matter why folks outside Australia shouldn't use the Cronulla Riots to tar all Australians with the same racist brush. That sort of thing just wouldn't happen in any other part of Australia
Yeah I find it hard to imagine it occurring in Melbourne.
I'm always baffled by people that have never been to Australia labelling it as racist. If you live here for any length of time you see that Australian people are very accepting of other people. People forget that people from all over the world live here and Australia has always had different nationalities here especially from the time of the gold rush era.
And people like Battleneter want us to believe that issues like these aren't a part of life in their own country:
A quote from the latter: "Pakeha street gangs with interests in neo-fascism and white power tendencies grew stronger, particularly in Christchurch, during the 1990s. Gang involvement in crime also became deeper and more sophisticated. Gangs moved toward cooperation and were involved in drug importation, cultivation, manufacture, and selling. High-profile crimes continued, such as the 1996 killing by Black Power members of Christopher Crean who was due to testify against them on serious assault charges."
Strange I have just returned from Mauritius, which is the ultimate melting pot of religious and ethnic tolerance.
Australia is not far off though, most Australians are very respectful of other's race, religion etc.
There is increasing inter-marriage as well now, compared to what there used to be, with mixed race children.
One of my cousins (who has Italian and white Irish Catholic heritage) married a Pacific Islander for example, and has 2 beautiful daughters of now extremely mixed heritage.
The Cronulla riots came to a head years ago, but there has been no repeat or ongoing unrest since then.
The Sutherland ""Shire"" was white enclave back then, but even that is changing.
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