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Jun062009
Tick tick tick…
The attacks against Indian students in Australia have gotten me thinking a lot. As someone who has up until very recently been a “visitor” in other countries, and in a couple of instances faced the palpable fear of a racist attack, I cannot help but put myself in the shoes of those boys.
I was chatting with a colleague in Ahmedabad a few days ago and he told me, “I don’t see why everyone is so surprised by these attacks. Be it Australia or Nigeria, the Indian immigrant community is among the most hated across the world. This was bound to happen sooner or later.” I’ve never lived in Australia, I cannot comment on the validity of his assertion. But in the African context, the East African one in particular, I can vouch for my colleague’s statement.
The links between India and East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda) have spanned many many decades.There is a sizeable Indian immigrant community there just as there is a strong (though more silent) community of African Indians in India (in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in particular). However, even after so many years of interlinkages between the two regions, there is a huge divide between the Indian community in East Africa and their black African counterparts. Many a time during my stays in Rwanda and Uganda I’ve had colleagues tell me, “You know, the first time we met, I really did not expect to like you.”
Flabbergasted the first time I heard this, “Why?!” I would ask them. I would get a sheepish smile in response “You know, the Indians here, they don’t like us black people.” I would try to keep pushing the discussion. Ask them if they had personally encountered a racist act or if it was something they had been told of- it was often a combination of the two. The African men in particular had stories of love to tell me. Indian women they had wooed. Only to have rich Indian businessmen fathers and brothers come after them and threaten to beat them up.”Your people, you don’t like us Africans.”
I would of course try to tell them not to generalize. That by generalising they too were succumbing to some subverted form of racism. They agreed with me.Told me they would try to give the next Indian they met the benefit of the doubt. I hope they do.
The Indian immigrant story in the US and UK are different. There the dislike is promoted by an economic reason for most part. Jobs that are being taken away from locals, etc etc. But in East Africa, while the economic tension cannot be ignored - the Indian community tends to be far better off than the local one- it is the social transgressions that cause the deeper rift. Once, I had someone tell me that while Idi Amin had economic reasons for kicking the Asians out of Uganda, the last straw was when he tried to woo the daughter of a rich Indian businessman and had his overtures rejected because of his race. The young, educated 20 something African Ugandan who told me this story followed up by saying, “You know, I’m sorry to tell you this. But I agree with what Idi Amin did about the Asians. A lot of us do.”
I loved my time in Rwanda and Uganda. The hospitality and affection that were bestowed on me are only comparable to that which I get when I am home in India. The people, the history, the cultures, I remain so amazed by how much we have in common with the East African people. It used to embarrass me then that Indians were viewed in such a negative light. It embarrassed me further than I couldn’t confidently negate their opinions….I had an Indian friend once ask me “Oh you taught black kids in Rwanda. They can’t be intelligent like Indian kids, can they?” Many more “educated” Indians who have expressed utmost surprise and disgust when I tell them I decided to work in East Africa after studying in the States. “But AFRICA…!?”, they would tell me. How could I then refute my East African counterparts’ opinions of us? (There are exceptions of course, Indians who have migrated to Kenya for instance and now consider themselves more Kenyan than Indian. Speaking fluent Kiswahili and not paying attention to issues of race. But they are the exceptions…)
The racially motivated attacks in Australia have had me thinking so much about our relations with East Africa. How tenuous they are and how unsurprised I would be should attacks start taking place against the Indian community there too… We had an India-Africa trade summit last year and our trade agreements with nations in the African continent are getting better as we speak, but until we give as much priority to our social and cultural diplomacy in the region, until we expand our vision to look beyond just the economic incentives we gain by immigrating there…well, we have a time bomb on our hands.
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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Eternal Truth
001
1:18 pm
I think the current violence against the Indians in Australia needs a proper analysis. From our experience of 26/11 we know well that Indian media needs a good story to sell and they can go to any extent to do that. Of course one way is to constantly hammer it on your head, exxagerate it and add lot of drama and emotions to it (repeatedly showing close up of the stitches on that poor kid’s body proves this). Success of “Kyonki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi” has proved that Indians tend to like those ingredients.
It seems more saner analysis would be to calculate percentage of crimes committed in specific neighborhood against Australians and that committed against the Indian students. In order to save money, students tend to live in cheaper neighborhoods where crime rates are higher. The number of Indian students has been under constant rise. Hence while if earlier 1 Indian out of 10 was getting victimized, now it could be 10 out of 100. Now if media states that last year only one Indian was victimized and this year 10, it would potentially create a wrong impression that now more Indians have been targetted as compared to earlier.
Having said this, I am not trying to eliminate possibility of racism but just suggesting a proper approach to interprete the situation better. Aparently our media doesn’t care, as long as their story sells.
Grace
002
12:46 pm
The reality of the situation has been massively blown out of proportion.
The protests by Indian students have caused much more trouble than the attacks.
Whilst they might be racially motived, in most instances the issue is Indian students living in unsafe suburbs and then complaining when a crime happens.
Harris Park is largely a safe and quiet area, with Indian restaurants and eateries that are visited by all ethnic groups.
It is sad the way things are being protrayed in the media, and in reality it is the Lebanese community perpetrating these attacks.
The same community that has terrorised Australian’s for decades.
Look at the movie The Combination, written by Lebs about Lebs.
The rest of the world is associating Australian’s with violence and hate, which simply isn’t the case.
A lot of the issue would be alleviated if Indians took the same precautions as someone that grew up here would. Being fully aware that like in any major City it is not safe to roam around at night.
Admittedly there are tensions between white Australians and Indians as well, which can be attributed to the differences in culture and social practices. The reality is, Indians are often very noisy, talk too loud and generally don’t consider other people.
At the end of the day, the attacks are not as common as the media would have you believe and there is not a drastic rift between Indians and the rest of the community. They come here for a reason, which is largely attributed to Australia’s lenient migration laws and how quickly they can get their citizenship. We benefit by the fees they pay.
Comparing statistics racially is stupid, obviously in an area affectionately known as Haresh Park the majority of people are Indian. Also, the families and people with common sense would not be out near a seedy train station in the middle of the night. Also the rates 1 in 10 and 10 in 100 are exactly the same, 10%. If you take note of the actual Indian community in the western suburbs, you would realise the statistic is probably 1 in 100.
The students demand the same rights as residents, but that simply won’t happen anywhere in the world. They can only work 20 hours a week, because they do not have a working visa. These rules apply to anyone that comes here.
There will be a massive jump in anomisity towards Indians after all of these protests and demonstrations they are holding, especially as the protests are increasingly violent.
Attributing the actions of a small group of Lebanese men to the entire community, is very unfair.
Also the protests in India sparked by BJP that involve burning pictures of our leader, are very offensive.
You should also note, that many of the protests by Indians have been overseen by Police for safety. Where in reality they should be broken up and the people sent home. In doing what they are they are breaking the law. If a Police Office gives a person a move on order and they refuse they can be arrested.
In regard to indifference by Police, a description like “middle eastern men in a car” doesn’t exactly prove fruitful in investigations.
If they don’t like it, they can leave just the same as anyone else living here.
The reality is that they know the justice system here is far better than that of other places, that their opportunities are greater and they have equal opportunity for employment regardless of their race.
raghuramr
003
3:30 pm
The mass of students that goes from India to Australia are guys and gals who were told to behave through and through in their country. when they find open spaces in australia without any regulations and control they blast it off there. now for the auzzies its like getting into their home and creating a lot of mess. Even we would have did something or other to keep things neat and tidy.
Grace
004
4:34 pm
I don’t think it’s that. Yes they can be rowdy and excitable but I would say that is common amongst young people that are given a big dose of freedom.
The protests are exaggerated and a big inconvenience they are becoming increasingly violent and students are being arrested because of that. The protestors are young men with too much time on their hands.
The reality is, these areas are run by Lebanese the Parramatta area and much of Western Sydney is.
I don’t think these students realise the consequences of what they are doing. There will be reprisal attacks by the Lebanese community and the Indians will simply not stand a chance.
Whilst this is having a very bad affect on the perception of Australia, it is also going to make life much harder here for Indians. Trouble begs more trouble.
Eternal Truth
005
12:38 pm
Grace, this weekend I got to talk with few of my friends living in Australia. All of them work there and are really mad at Indian media the way they are misrepresenting the true picture. They think that most of the violence is not racial. They said that Indian media interviews few students and asks their opinion about Australia, now these students have been in the country for not even a year and know very little about the culture. At the same time they might be facing financial challenges and missing family; hence quite possibly they don’t have great opinion about the country. If the media wants to potrait a true picture, they need to interview more diverse group of Indians.
Like you said, more than helping, they are ruining it for the Indians living in Australia.
Eurasian Sensation
006
9:14 pm
As y’all have said here, the issue of Australian attacks on Indians is more complicated than the Indian media are portraying it.
Some attacks are definitely racist in motivation. Many are purely “wrong-place-wrong-time” attacks in which the victim just happened to be Indian. And many are in-between those two.
Grace, regarding Harris Park, yes the attacks there appear to be the work of young Lebanese thugs. However this is not the case in Melbourne, where most of the attacks have occurred.
In some cases, it has been white Aussies who attacked the Indians. In other cases, Africans. In other cases, East Asians. In other cases, Greeks and Italians. In other cases, Pacific Islanders.
There is no overwhelming pattern in the ethnicity of the perpetrators, except that they are young (14-25), usually male, and clearly have little better to do with their lives than start trouble. This kind of person would bash anyone, Indian or not, if they looked different or vulnerable.