Will Student Bashing be accepted as a Way of Life in Australia?
4 people of Indian ethnic origin were recently assaulted by 50 people outside a pub with an equal number of bystanders watching and shouting racial slurs like Go back to India. No, this did not happen deep inside Taliban territory in Afghanistan. The despicable act happened at a place which is the epicentre of cultural renaissance in Australia, a city voted to be one of the best places to live in the world and a city which prides itself on being the multicultural hub of Australia.
Melbourne is home to 4 million people which include over 27% of people who were not born in Australia. In the last five years, total international student numbers in Victoria have almost doubled from 288,400 to 547,663.
And the ones that were bashed were not Indian students but Australian born Indians, first generation Australians. In almost all of the past assault cases, most of the victims were students, but his time the attack has happened on residents. Anybody tracking these attacks since the past few years will easily come to the conclusion that the sphere and intensity of attacks against Indian students has actually increased and not decreased.
This specific act did not involve any robbery. It was just a wanton act of causing bodily harm to anyone remotely being seen as an Indian. It is a sign of medieval times, something which all citizens of the world should abhor. This is racism to the core displayed by the attackers including people who were watching without intervening.
Hats off to Victorian police for keeping the news under carpet (sic.)? Speaks a lot about the culture and ineptitude of Victorian police. Remember all the sermons and media releases as to how Indian students are shy in approaching police and part of the problem. Well how about now
Did Kevin Rudd’s office or foreign office know about these acts?
If yes, did they inform their Indian counterparts about these acts? They should have been on phone and media on day 1 informing the community about this incident to prevent a media flare up in the Indian media and sections of Indian establishment.
How many such incidents have the police covered up till now?
The Indian media’s appetite for coverage of violent incidents against Indian students is encouraging even more victims to come forward and speak about their experiences. The world’s landscape has changed and this is not apparent to the media cell in the police department which appears to be still living in the vintage era.
This act is sure to inspire more copy cat acts and should serve as a warning to all those people who have been watching these incidents from the sideline and have so far spent their energies in blaming Indian students for provoking all the bashing acts. Silently condoning these acts will only serve the interest of the perpetrators of this crime. Today it is Indian students, then it could be Australian Indians and if we don’t take a hard line, soon this virus will engulf more demographic segments.
Student bashing should not be allowed to become a way of life in Australia. Kevin Rudd may blame urban decay for this but that does not absolve him of any responsibility, especially when he has given an assurance to another sovereign government that he will protect Indian students. Victorian Premier John Brumby and Victorian police hardly inspire any confidence. Unless some heads roll inside the police department on this, we will not see any change in police attitudes.
The ball is entirely inside Australian court.
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