Search Results: xenophobia
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AUSTRALIA
- Fatima Measham
- 26 October 2015
22 Comments
A series of protests against a mosque in Bendigo and the launch of an Islamophobic party in Perth may be cause for concern, but only if political leaders fail to invalidate fringe views. Under Tony Abbott, the conflation of Islam and extremism became mainstream. Corrections regarding racial vilification and incitement are most properly determined in the court, so it is not Muslims or lefties who are oppressing these views but the laws that operate in the secular democracy they purport to defend.
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AUSTRALIA
- Justin Glyn
- 21 October 2015
11 Comments
While running a Royal Commission into domestic violence and a $30 million campaign against it, ringing the bell marked 'asylum seekers are queue jumpers' has allowed successive governments to abuse alleged rape victims with barely a word of protest from the public. Insofar as any feelings of empathy for asylum seekers exist, we tell ourselves brutality is inflicted 'to stop deaths at sea'. So successful has this Pavlovian policy been that Australian refugee policy is now the toast of German neo-Nazis.
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AUSTRALIA
- David Holdcroft
- 20 May 2015
3 Comments
South Africa has again experienced the ravages of xenophobic violence. The official response reflects a fearful government that needs to resort populist scapegoating that stigmatises migrants. It has found itself incapable of creating the inclusive narrative that was evident 18 months ago when the country came together to mourn Nelson Mandela.
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AUSTRALIA
While the AFP are clearly right to argue that they need to cooperate with Indonesia – it is, after all, Australia's biggest neighbour – the police's understanding of their role seems absolutely extraordinary in the light of the Extradition Treaty. The implication is that, although Australia is absolutely forbidden from extraditing a person to Indonesia to face the firing squad, the police are entitled - as an 'operational decision' and, if the police are to be believed, with no reference even to Cabinet guidelines - to hand someone over to be executed.
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INTERNATIONAL
- Emily Mitchell
- 01 May 2015
13 Comments
Today, the relationship between Indonesia and Australia — the 'most important relationship' espoused by our Prime Minister — is aching. People are saying we must boycott Bali, that we must not go to Indonesia. While I understand these sentiments, I do not think this is the answer. To stay within our borders would only maintain the status quo. Instead we must embrace our neighbours and rekindle our friendship.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 22 January 2015
17 Comments
The Martin Place and Paris killings both generated hashtags that focused popular response. Their simplicity allowed people to express instantly their solidarity with victims and rejection of violence. But they also raised complex questions about the responsible use of freedom.
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AUSTRALIA
- Andrew Hamilton
- 16 June 2014
47 Comments
In the lead up to Refugee Week the attitudes of Australians to people who come by boat to seek protection made sober reading. 71 per cent of Australians believed Australia should turn back asylum seeker boats. That is far higher even than the Prime Minister's disapproval rating. Some might say that 71 per cent of Australians can't be wrong. At Eureka Street we have never been persuaded that majorities always have truth on their side.
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AUSTRALIA
At a time when we are preoccupied with the shock and immorality of the budget, the Australian Catholic Bishops issue a direct and forceful challenge to current government policy. 'The time has come to examine our conscience.' But it seems no-one is listening.
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AUSTRALIA
- Ray Cassin
- 16 October 2013
31 Comments
It may be that the press gallery sees no significance in Shorten’s 'Catholic background' because he supports same-sex marriage and perhaps also some other things that bishops don’t like. Is the gallery’s view that his 'background' somehow didn’t 'take'? The truth is that these days even being a practising Catholic, rather than the nebulous 'of Catholic background', conveys nothing about the course a politician will choose on issues of conscience.
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AUSTRALIA
- Fatima Measham
- 07 June 2013
66 Comments
There is no denying that our nation was forged by men and women who settled here from the UK. There is also no denying that men and women from other parts of the world came after them, and that there were countless generations here before them. Until monarchists can reconcile themselves with these facts then the image they hold of Australia is incomplete.
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AUSTRALIA
- Michael Mullins
- 22 April 2013
16 Comments
In a week of racist and xenophobic reaction to the Boston Marathon bombing, one US observer commented separately on Australia's racism, describing our country as one of the 'most comfortably racist places' he'd ever been in. Racism is a source of shame in the US, but part of the culture in Australia.
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AUSTRALIA
- Fatima Measham
- 20 March 2013
7 Comments
The Prime Minister's aggressive attempts to tighten the rules for 457 visas is part of a campaign to appease her party's blue-collar base. This didn't begin last month in Western Sydney; it was kick-started as far back as 2011 when she said the 'Australian Greens do not share Australian values'.
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