Cronulla riots and Australian tolerance

December 14, 2005

The recent riots and attacks in Cronulla in Sydney are nothing short of disgusting. I’m taking a hard line on this because I believe that’s all it deserves. I don’t care what the build up or triggers may or may not have been, it is quite simply wrong. Chasing down anyone of ‘non-Australian’ appearance and bashing them in the name of being an Aussie is one of the most offensive things I have heard of. Not to mention one of the most unAustralian.

Australia, largely, is the country that it is due to tolerance, acceptance and the ability to work together. Noone in this country should be made to feel like they are not welcome or do not belong here and to have it done in such a fashion as has been done recently is ridiculous. The sheer racist, ill-informed and pathetic nature of the 5000 or so ‘Aussies’ that brutalised Cronulla on the weekend is a blight on the country that is now being exposed to the world. Five thousand drunk, feral and bigoted young people do not have the right to claim a beach as theirs. Put simply, it is not theirs. Nor does it belong to any of the cultural or religious groups they are trying to chase off it.

I’m thankful that Melbourne does not have a Cronulla or a Maroubra. I’m thankful that we don’t have the ‘Bra Boys’ or the militant surfie gangs and I’m pleased that the “ethic enclaves” that apparently exist in Sydney are not prevalent in Melbourne. I’m also thankful that the unbelievably multicultural nature of Melbourne has led to a (predominately) tolerant society. The text messages that fuelled the scenes on the weekend (literary pieces, such as “So bring your grog down on Sunday and let’s start cracking skulls for each other for once” and “exterminate the enemy”) would, I believe, have very little effect here. In Melbourne, you can take a group of four people from almost any suburb and have eight different nationalities represented. With over 140 nationalities represented in the city, racial tension would probably cause more confusion than rioting. Above all, it is the difference in the underlying nature of the two cities, the cause of so many jokes and rivalries, that I am thankful for.

The thought of a grossly uninformed mob singing ‘Advance Australia Fair’ or ‘Waltzing Matilda’ while hunting for ‘dagos’, ‘wogs’, ‘lebs’, ‘arabs’, ‘faggots’ or anyone is enough to turn my stomach. The Police Ministers, MPs and Premiers have an obligation to see that this is not tolerated and the general public has an obligation to denounce such amazingly offensive behaviour. The justifications I read in the feedback sections of the newspapers are just as repulsive.
No, this is not a response to Australia’s multicultural nature. No, this is not a response to the (largely unfair) implication of Islam in modern terrorism. No, this is not an effort to keep Australia Australian and ward off foreign invasion.

This is an absolute disgrace by a particularly pathetic group of people. It is as simple as that.