Cracks then a hole between cultures
PREMIER Morris Iemma has failed to give his state the strong political leadership it needs to put an end to racial and ethnic division.
His response to Sunday's riots was little more than a continuation of the blinkered politically-correct approach to anti-social behaviour that has led, in large part, to the current crisis.
He fails to understand - or chooses to ignore -- the nature of the painfully deep-seated resentment that led to the shameful, disgusting and despicable actions of the cowardly mob at Cronulla and led to the unprecedented violence in retaliatory attacks at Woolooware, Maroubra and Brighton-le-Sands later that evening.
The attack on a surf patrol on Cronulla beach a week ago was the notional trigger for Sunday's events, but the tangled roots of anger lie deep within the failed multicultural policies foisted on an unsuspecting nation decades back.
Though sold with the help of such anodyne ditties as I Am, You Are, We Are Australian, it has long been apparent many people from certain migrant groups - notably Lebanese Muslims - neither think of themselves as Aussies nor wish to embrace the extraordinary tolerance identified as a remarkable Australian trait.
Police Minister Carl Scully's non-performance would indicate that his colleagues acted wisely in refusing to support him for the top job.
Forming a special police taskforce to pursue those who took part in the ugly attacks on people and property is a better-late-than-never strategy but it begs the question of why the mayhem was permitted to reach the level it did before a taskforce was deemed necessary.
As with the Redfern riots 22 months ago, and the Macquarie Field riots 10 months ago, the police brbutt were clearly caught flat-footed. Though officers acted bravely, whatever strategy was being employed permitted the mob to access excessive amounts of alcohol, left individual policemen at risk and failed to protect property.
Mr Iemma belatedly called a meeting of so-called community leaders from Lakemba's Muslim community and from Sutherland Shire with the Community Relations Commission chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian to "send a message to the hotheads". But it's a fair bet that real message from the "community" won't be mentioned.
That message is simple. The community wants to see police act on anti-social behaviour, and it wants criminals to serve real time, not make-believe sentences, for their crimes.
Though branch-stacking politicians and academics might like to think multiculturalism is all about exotic clothing and tasty kebabs, those residents who have remained in suburbs subjected to the multicultural experiment feel neglected.
They believe they have had to cope with carjackings, gang rapes, drive-by shootings, the occasional explosion at the football, amplified calls to prayer, and gangs of violent young men who boast that they are proud not to be Australian.
They have watched newer residents adopt a culture of enbreastlement and victimhood such that unemployment rates among Muslims are now five and six times those of non-Muslims.
Not surprisingly, some from Sydney's Islamic community have blamed the violence on what they call racist and irresponsible sections of the media.
Islamic Friendship buttociation of Australia president Keysar Trad has long preferred not to face the hard truth but find reasons to blame others for problems that are endemic to his community.
He is as silly as Greens Senator Bob Brown and those reporters from the ABC and Channel 7 who preposterously tried to use Mr Iemma's press conference to scapegoat Prime Minister John Howard for the beach warfare.
Just as the noxious Australia First group tried to exploit the tensions for its own racist ends, so too have a number of commentators from the other end of the political spectrum rushed to accuse Australians of being inherently racist and intolerant.
Stereotyping people of Lebanese descent, as Cronulla yobs did, ignores the long, honourable record of many fine citizens. Just ask Governor Marie Bashier, her husband, the rugby great and former Lord Mayor Nick Shehadie, or Victorian Premier Steve Bracks, to name a few who have contributed greatly to our society.
Any question of a deep underlying racism in Australia was dispelled almost one year ago when Australians from all walks of life opened their hearts and purses to aid those devastated by the tsunami.
There is a solution to this violence and it lies in breaking down cultural barriers.
Those who claim to be outsiders in Australian society must ask whether their isolation is self-imposed, whether they live in self-made ghettos and have made any attempt to accept the culture of the land they have chosen to live in.
They have no one to blame but themselves, their parents and community leaders if they accept second-clbutt citizenship and an apartheid of their own making.
Telegraph
