The recent attacks on Indian students inVictoria, especially Melbourne, could easily be seen as "teenage violence".But it is undeniable that there are racist undercurrents in these shocking casesof violence.
No one else is more to blame than the Victorian government forignoring repeated requests over the months from the Indian community to shore upsecurity in the public transport systems especially the late night trams andtrains.
For the Victoria Police to claim that Indian students are‘soft targets’, inviting hostility from teenaged white Australians due totheir overt brandishing of their iPods and laptops, is a skewed argument to saythe least.
Not that it matters, but for the record, none of the attackedIndian students carried their iPods. Nor were brandishing their laptops inpublic.
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That the violence will come to the fore at this juncture is notstartling. Melbourne’s poorer western suburbs like Sunshine and St. Albanshave witnessed a rise in crime and teenage violence over the months since thefinancial recession hit Australia late last year.
Indian grocery stores have been attacked in Sunshine, and racialabuses are regularly hurled at Indians in streets and the public transportsystem in the western suburbs by white Australian youths aged between 14 and 18years.
Unlike the Chinese students who move in groups, Indian studentsworking in KFCs and McDonald's tend to return alone late at night to rentalapartments in these areas, and hence easily fall prey to young miscreants highon drugs and alcohol.
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Radio jockeys in Melbourne have recently aired ill informedprogrammes creating the perception that Asians, especially Indians, are crowdingthe suburbs and have taken over jobs otherwise meant for Australians.
Significantly, Victoria’s educationsector is its highest export earner with a turnover of Aus $ 4.5 billion to thestate economy in 2008 alone. Between 2007 and 2008,the total number of international student enrolments in Victoria increased from132,000 to 161,000 including an additional 19,000 enrolments in vocationaleducation and training courses.
Of the 95 thousand Indian students in Australia, some 47thousand reside in Victoria alone. This student influx has not only created jobsfor Victorians in the education sector but the international student communityhas significantly filled critical gaps in the labour market and local economy.
While Australia has worked hard to attract overseas students forthese very obvious benefits to its education sector and local economy, it hasneither prepared the Australian citizen for this huge influx nor has it upgradedits compliance mechanisms to keep up with this growth.
As a result, there has been discernible ‘systemic’ failureon the part of the Australian government to address issues of basic security ofinternational students.
Indian students who took part in the protest rally in Melbourneon May 31, 2009 rightly argued for more security and care from the Australiangovernment. But apart from security, there are other emerging areas of concernin the education sector which are coming to the fore as well.
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Higher education sectors in Melbourne like hospitality, teachingetc have been taken over by the private sector which is mostly unregulated bythe government. Most of these private institutes attract students from India andChina with the promise of world class courses, accommodation and jobs but end up‘way short’ in reality.
While local Australian students have travel concessions inMelbourne, international students are charged full fares in public transportwhich are way too expensive for students funding their own education. Theprivate institutes, where international students mostly study, also tend to havea "hands off" policy when it comes to their daily security.
Incredulously, the Victoria Police is advising Asians not totalk loudly in their native language in trains and trams and avoid carryingiPods and laptops. It’s like saying that the victim is at fault and not theperpetrators -- as if it is the Asian student’s fault for provoking anger bynot appearing poor.
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The Victorian authorities should howeverrealize that if they do not treat the cause now, they could inevitably end uptarnishing the image of a majority of Australians who are tolerant, warm andkind.
It should be noted that Melbourne is the most multicultural cityin Australia, known for its inclusive character, artists, cuisines andlifestyles. People from different cultures and religions reside here showcasinga disarming political and social ethos.
Ironically, just a day or two before the attack on Shravan Kumarwith a screwdriver, the main streets of Melbourne City like Flinders, Swanston,La Trobe and Elizabeth Streets were vibrant with music from Japan, China,Indonesia, India, Egypt and Australia. The wonderful symphony of musical scoresin the heart of the city showcases Melbourne’s multi-cultural character at itsbest.
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A word of caution is however in order herewhen we discuss racism.
While the protest rally organized by the Federation of IndianStudents in Australia (FISA) is the right way to bring about awareness on issuesof increasing teenage violence against Indian students in particular andinternational students in general, it is clearly not right to term allAustralians as "racist" as was done by some of the Indians studentsparticipating in the rally in Melbourne and by some sections of the Indian printand electronic media.
While shocking, these Melbourne incidents are no different fromthe what students from Bihar and other north Indian states faced at the hands of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) as they were appearing forthe All India Railway Recruitment Board Examination for the Western Region inMumbai.
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Similar incidences also occurred in Assam in 2003 when Biharicandidates were targeted by Assamese youths as they were appearing for railwayexams in Tinsukia, Assam.
Students from the North East India routinely sufferdiscrimination in the capital New Delhi -- "chinky" is after all a distinctly racial slur. India, like Australia, does have some of the toughestlaws against discrimination, but it clearly has not percolated down to thesocial level.
The attacks on Indian students inAustralia could have resulted in a diplomatic impasse between Australiaand India, but the Australian government has perhaps averted such a situation bysetting up a new task force chaired by Duncan Lewis, the National SecurityAdvisor to coordinate the government’s response across states to theincidences of violence and ensure they do not recur.
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While it is a step in the right direction, one ardently wishesthat these policy steps were adopted earlier when the Indian and Chinesecommunities repeatedly requested the government for more security in publictransport.
Australia must ensure that its systems meet up to the challengesof law enforcement in the emerging context of its growing education sector andprevent rather than react to violent incidences.
Dr. Namrata Goswami is a Visiting Research Fellow, Centre forDialogue, La Trobe University, Melbourne and Associate Fellow, Institute forDefence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The views expressed here are that ofthe author and not that of the institutes.
