Australian Government Enforces Racism
Little Fish | 27.10.2006 20:21 | Analysis | Anti-racism | Repression | London | World
What concerns us most of all is that decent people, and there are very, very many of them, would also be very upset about racial scapgoating for the war criminals war on terror that killed over 665,000 innocent musilm men, women and children in Iraq and their having a tough enough time as it is.
Racial Scapgoating
Minister Helen coonan's racial scapegoating comments on John Howard's ABC refering to Sheikh Taj el-Din Al Hilaly during a sermon in Sydney last month is typical of the John Howard Government and media provocations that sparked racist violence on Sydney beaches last year.
The Sheikh comments were reported on the front page of The Australian on Thursday. But the sermon in which he made the comments was at the beginning of Ramadan, a month ago.
So why do one month old comments by a mufti take up half the front page of The Un-Australian?
When John Howard attacks Muslims and tells them to respect women because we regard women as equals in Australian society, just remember that the devious lying little bastard voted against the Equal Opportunity Act in 1985.
While Coonan is busy inciting racial hate and violence for her racist hate mongering leader, we are concerned about the damage her comments will now cause.
There is never an excuse to incite race hate and violence under any circumstances.
What concerns us most of all is that decent people, and there are very, very many of them, would also be very upset about racial scapgoating for the war criminals war on terror that killed over 665,000 innocent musilm men, women and children in Iraq and their having a tough enough time as it is.
Coonan's comments on Howard's ABC are inflaming the next Cronulla race riot.
We think that is entirely unacceptable.
The media provocation, however, can only be understood as an expression of the broader political climate of racism and backwardness that has been consciously promoted by both federal and state governments in recent years.
Prime Minister John Howard has based much of his political career on anti-immigrant attacks. Immediately after his election in 1996, he gave tacit support to the racist ideas promoted by the extreme-right politician Pauline Hanson. The Liberal-National Coalition won re-election in 2001 on the basis of a filthy anti-refugee campaign, engineered around the lie that asylum seekers had thrown their children into the sea as part of an attempt to reach Australia.
The government has scapegoated Muslims and Middle Eastern immigrants ever since the September 11 terrorist attack and the so-called war on terror. Immigrants and refugees have been repeatedly labelled "potential terrorists" by government ministers, and significant numbers have been the targets of intimidatory police raids. Howard has advanced all of this in the nationalistic framework of "protecting our way of life".
Will someone take Howard and his cronies off to the Hague for their war crimes agaist humanity before they create a civil war in Sydney?
Related:
Government and media provocations spark racist violence on Sydney beaches
Both the Liberals and the Laborites are committed to implementing deeply unpopular right-wing economic reforms--exacerbating social inequality, eliminating job security, and driving down wages and living conditions. The two parties seek to deflect opposition to their agenda by fomenting racial divisions in order to channel the insecurity and disaffection felt by millions of ordinary people into deeply reactionary channels. At the most fundamental level, that is what caused Sunday's events.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9723
Cronulla race riot
The lifesavers asked for it!
The Mainscream Media asked for it!
The Police asked for it!
Then the community decided it was ok to be racist!
More: http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9715
Race Riot Nationalists spread to third Sydney suburb
The latest violence comes after a racially motivated pro-government right wing Nationalist media taking John HoWARd's lead, ended up in a riot at Cronulla Beach which saw several people of Middle Eastern appearance attacked. Shame HoWARd....Shame on you!
More: http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9717/index.php
Thugs ruled the streets, and the mob sang Waltzing Matilda
Sometimes when a victim was cornered, the mob started singing Waltzing Matilda. Advance Australia Fair was similarly employed against obstructing police, and the usually good-natured "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant in the mouths of the Cronulla crew assumed a menacing tone.
More: http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9719/index.php
International Human Rights Day
One of the events for International Human Rights Day in Melbourne was a rally outside the State Library attended by about 100 people on Saturday December 10. Issues canvassed by speakers included opposition to mandatory detention of asylum seekers, treatment of indigenous Australians, opposition to the "anti-terror" laws, and scapegoating of the muslim community.
More: http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9714/index.php
Christmas in Guantanamo
After four long years, David Hicks - and scores of others - have been confined in steel cages in Guantanamo Bay, without trial or charge. Here in Australia, draconian anti-terror laws abolish some of our most cherished freedoms, and give ASIO and the Australian Federal Police carte blanche to treat the Islamic community like criminals.
More: http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9696/index.php
Australian treasurer steps up ideological offensive against welfare recipients
The treasurer's comment piece was released shortly before the Senate passed the Howard government's "Welfare to Work" Bill on November 6. The new legislation will slash welfare payments for thousands of new claimants, and force single parents and the disabled into low-wage jobs. By driving down the living conditions of some of the most vulnerable members of the community, the government intends to create an enlarged pool of cheap labour available for exploitation.
More: http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9710
Politically manipulated police raids in Australia
In the largest such operation yet seen in Australia--reportedly involving 850 federal and state police and intelligence personne--heavily-armed officers burst into at least 23 homes in Sydney and Melbourne in the pre-dawn hours of yesterday morning and arrested 17 Islamic men on vague and unspecified terrorism charges. Today, raids are still continuing in Sydney, amid angry protests by family members.
More: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/raid-n09.shtml
The Sheikh comments were reported on the front page of The Australian on Thursday. But the sermon in which he made the comments was at the beginning of Ramadan, a month ago.
So why do one month old comments by a mufti take up half the front page of The Un-Australian?
When John Howard attacks Muslims and tells them to respect women because we regard women as equals in Australian society, just remember that the devious lying little bastard voted against the Equal Opportunity Act in 1985.
While Coonan is busy inciting racial hate and violence for her racist hate mongering leader, we are concerned about the damage her comments will now cause.
There is never an excuse to incite race hate and violence under any circumstances.
What concerns us most of all is that decent people, and there are very, very many of them, would also be very upset about racial scapgoating for the war criminals war on terror that killed over 665,000 innocent musilm men, women and children in Iraq and their having a tough enough time as it is.
Coonan's comments on Howard's ABC are inflaming the next Cronulla race riot.
We think that is entirely unacceptable.
The media provocation, however, can only be understood as an expression of the broader political climate of racism and backwardness that has been consciously promoted by both federal and state governments in recent years.
Prime Minister John Howard has based much of his political career on anti-immigrant attacks. Immediately after his election in 1996, he gave tacit support to the racist ideas promoted by the extreme-right politician Pauline Hanson. The Liberal-National Coalition won re-election in 2001 on the basis of a filthy anti-refugee campaign, engineered around the lie that asylum seekers had thrown their children into the sea as part of an attempt to reach Australia.
The government has scapegoated Muslims and Middle Eastern immigrants ever since the September 11 terrorist attack and the so-called war on terror. Immigrants and refugees have been repeatedly labelled "potential terrorists" by government ministers, and significant numbers have been the targets of intimidatory police raids. Howard has advanced all of this in the nationalistic framework of "protecting our way of life".
Will someone take Howard and his cronies off to the Hague for their war crimes agaist humanity before they create a civil war in Sydney?
Related:
Government and media provocations spark racist violence on Sydney beaches
Both the Liberals and the Laborites are committed to implementing deeply unpopular right-wing economic reforms--exacerbating social inequality, eliminating job security, and driving down wages and living conditions. The two parties seek to deflect opposition to their agenda by fomenting racial divisions in order to channel the insecurity and disaffection felt by millions of ordinary people into deeply reactionary channels. At the most fundamental level, that is what caused Sunday's events.
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9723 Cronulla race riot
The lifesavers asked for it!
The Mainscream Media asked for it!
The Police asked for it!
Then the community decided it was ok to be racist!
More:
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9715 Race Riot Nationalists spread to third Sydney suburb
The latest violence comes after a racially motivated pro-government right wing Nationalist media taking John HoWARd's lead, ended up in a riot at Cronulla Beach which saw several people of Middle Eastern appearance attacked. Shame HoWARd....Shame on you!
More:
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9717/index.php Thugs ruled the streets, and the mob sang Waltzing Matilda
Sometimes when a victim was cornered, the mob started singing Waltzing Matilda. Advance Australia Fair was similarly employed against obstructing police, and the usually good-natured "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant in the mouths of the Cronulla crew assumed a menacing tone.
More:
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9719/index.php International Human Rights Day
One of the events for International Human Rights Day in Melbourne was a rally outside the State Library attended by about 100 people on Saturday December 10. Issues canvassed by speakers included opposition to mandatory detention of asylum seekers, treatment of indigenous Australians, opposition to the "anti-terror" laws, and scapegoating of the muslim community.
More:
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9714/index.php Christmas in Guantanamo
After four long years, David Hicks - and scores of others - have been confined in steel cages in Guantanamo Bay, without trial or charge. Here in Australia, draconian anti-terror laws abolish some of our most cherished freedoms, and give ASIO and the Australian Federal Police carte blanche to treat the Islamic community like criminals.
More:
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display/9696/index.php Australian treasurer steps up ideological offensive against welfare recipients
The treasurer's comment piece was released shortly before the Senate passed the Howard government's "Welfare to Work" Bill on November 6. The new legislation will slash welfare payments for thousands of new claimants, and force single parents and the disabled into low-wage jobs. By driving down the living conditions of some of the most vulnerable members of the community, the government intends to create an enlarged pool of cheap labour available for exploitation.
More:
http://adelaide.indymedia.org/newswire/display_any/9710 Politically manipulated police raids in Australia
In the largest such operation yet seen in Australia--reportedly involving 850 federal and state police and intelligence personne--heavily-armed officers burst into at least 23 homes in Sydney and Melbourne in the pre-dawn hours of yesterday morning and arrested 17 Islamic men on vague and unspecified terrorism charges. Today, raids are still continuing in Sydney, amid angry protests by family members.
More:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/raid-n09.shtml
Little Fish