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In the last ten years the world of the refugee has rapidly shifted. The refugee camp is now the exception rather than the rule: 58 per cent of all refugees reside in urban areas, mostly in the rapidly growing slums of the cities in the global south.
The disparate strands of Libya's revolution have been held together by a single unifying thread: a visceral desire to oust Gaddafi. Extremely effective as a rallying cry for rebellion, this anti-Gaddafi sentiment is deeply flawed as the unifying narrative for a new nation.
Sociologist Eva Cox heard all the vitriol about boat people when, as a five-year-old Jewish girl, she fled Nazi Germany and headed to Australia. My nine-year-old mother was a different kind of boat arrival: one of 135,000 'child migrants' imported under the 'Populate or Perish' policy.
Walking home from work in the early evening, 29-year-old Godfrey Sibanda was set upon by a mob, who beat and killed him. Like Australia, South Africa is concerned that it has become the nation of choice for forced migrants. This has caused both social and political unease.
Zimbabweans have been coming to South Africa for reasons such as political violence, displacement due to land reform, and the collapse of the economy. After initially turning them back at the border, South Africa moved towards a pragmatic 'special dispensation' that was more compassionate, even if the future of the country's refugee rules now remains uncertain.
Like many emerging societies, South Africa is a long way from being truly inclusive. The World Cup experience brought it much closer to that goal. Now it needs to ensure this progress is not undermined.
Significant agreement was achieved in Copenhagen on the present and future forcible displacement of people because of climate change and environmental degradation. Can global cooperation for the protection of vulnerable displaced persons be renewed to meet new circumstances?
One night 11 years ago I joined members of a local police commando to report on a mission to intercept Mozambique refugees travelling into South Africa. It is easier to 'tolerate the intolerance' in under-resourced, refugee-deluged South Africa than in Australia.
Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi looked like Michael Jackson when he landed in Rome. During his first ever visit to Italy, he said Islamic forms of government should not be criticised since the Vatican is a theocratic State.
Bilingualism trains the mind and encourages more flexible problem solving. Such qualities go unnoticed in a society with a strong monolingual mindset. Social inclusion policy must also move beyond the socioeconomic dimension to prevent the exclusion of significant sections of Australian society.
Australia's story as a people building a nation despite hardship resonates with the experiences of asylum seekers surviving insurmountable odds to reach our shores. We deny this parallel to the cost of the entire community.
A recent series of raids by the US Department of Homeland Security signals a new era of anti-immigrant sentiment in the country. This is rationalised by a false association of undocumented immigrants with the 'war on terror'.
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