Now the Australians are protesting

[MiddleAgedMusings]

Their main target is Indians.
Indians. Who have come legally - not on boats - but on aeroplanes, with the correct visas, who are students seeking further education in order to train as doctors, nurses, or whatever so that they can give back to Australia - Or they are already trained in a profession that the government has outlined has a shortage.

Australia is absolutely solid to get into with specific qualifications or experience being a mandatory requirement and the financial means to support one self. The whole western world constantly puts Australia on a pedestal for not being a soft touch for immigration. How are these protesters questioning the value of this diaspora's contribution to the Australian economy, and how can anybody deny that it's pure racism?

Australia doesn't have a problem luring white British nurses and doctors to their shores with generous repatriation packages, but an Indian nurse or doctor aren't good enough. Australians don't have a problem with their white teenagers or graduates emigrating to western countries for 10 years before fucking off back to Australia when it's time to settle down, but god forbid anybody does it the other way

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/05/melbourne-immigration-migrated-indians-targeted-racist-messaging-asking-why-ntwnfbArticle
Link will work without paywall, press downwards arrow.

Yes, I lived there in the 1990s and racism was perfectly open, including on national TV. Not sure how much that's changed since then, but given its history I always wondered how Australia managed such a squeaky-clean PR image compared with, say, South Africa or North America.

Why do you hate your country so much?

We should be proud we ended the African slave trade. Because we did. I don't know where you get your information from, but you have been brainwashed.

William Wilberforce was instrumental in the movement to ban the slave trade, probably someone you have never heard of. And it was a moral argument based on Christian values - we are all equal in the eyes of God. I am sure you dismiss Christianity too, but all our values in the UK are based on Christianity, and that is why we are a pretty good place overall.

If you have ever been to any of the colonialised countries in Africa, it is hard to argue that the British did not bring benefit to those countries.

I have Samoan and Tongan ancestry. Please explain to me how blackbirding didn’t exist to create wealth for British colonisers and entrenched poverty for my people.

I’m an Australian living in Australia and I reject being called racist. I want to try and explain what has been going on for the past 25 years in this country to give it some context.

I’m not going to sugar coat it. There are race issues in Australia.

Currently we have mass migration from countries/demographics that don’t assimilate and it causes problems in our community. People are angry at the government because we are in a housing crisis and don’t have the infrastructure to cope with a massive influx of people into our communities. We have people living in tents and cars in the suburbs. It’s pretty bad right now and people are angry at the government.

I’m going to be very blunt. The Sikh community has been target for a long time because the people attacking them confuse them with Muslims. It keeps happening because the people targeting them are really dim. I’m friends with Sikh’s and there isn’t an issue with Sikhs not being wanted in the community. There is a history of Sikh’s stepping up when there is a crisis in the community and they are known to help people in the community by giving charity. The Sikh’s are very much a valued part of our community.

Australia has had issues with terrorism and serious assaults on women. A lot of people are angry.

Recently there was an incident in Bondi where pro-Palestinian demonstrators decided to stage a demonstration …Bondi has a large Jewish population that live there so people believe it was a deliberate attempt to spark race riots - knowing the surfers in that community would react and they did react. But two female coppers diffused the situation and it didn’t escalate on this occasion.

In 2005 there were riots which started from an incident at Cronulla beach in Sydney after middle eastern men were harassing women at the beach over how they were dressed. Lifesavers tried to shut it down and were unsuccessful and the surfers didn’t take too kindly to women being harassed so there were race riots. If you Google it you will read that the cause of the race riots were Islamophobia - but that isn’t entirely true. The men on the beach the day the riots kicked off were sticking up for women.

In 2000 there were a series gang rapes in Sydney committed by Muslims (the leader was Lebanese). These were violent and degrading and the victims were women and young girls (the youngest was 14). The leader got 31 years. People are still angry about this because the attacks were racially motivated.

Most recently a woman from Iraq killed a young boy with her car. He was sitting inside the school grounds. She drove over a median strip, mounted a curb and went through a fence. She should have received jail time - but she was only charged with a lower offence - specifically careless driving. Many people believe she should have been charged with manslaughter or dangerous driving causing death but she was only charged with careless driving and got a fine. So people are upset about that. Many people believe she deliberately drove into the school after a meeting with the Principal. She said she was upset over that meeting but she was observed smiling and happy immediately after.

Australians are angry. They don’t like what is happening in our communities.

There’s other things going on in our communities (violent home invasions occurring in Melbourne by immigrants) but I just wanted to give some context on why the Sikhs were targeted - given that this was what the post was about.

To be absolutely clear I don’t condone violence or acts of aggression at all. It is important to understand context and why many Australian’s are angry right now.

This is just horrific.

@nomas

I strongly disagree that the slave trade was abolished by Britain because it was no longer profitable. How much do you know about Wilberforce and his campaign against the slave trade and against slavery? He fought passionately for it and was instrumental in having this evil practice stopped. His motivation was driven by his faith and the horrors of slavery, and he relied on the evidence others produced which included brutal accounts from sailors and former slaves.

Other nations then followed the UK, although many dragged their feet and continued for decades longer (looking at you- USA, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, etc).

There is a lot of ignorance around the history of this

please explain how you imagine you have the right to guilt trip ordinary people over what’s long gone.

That’s precisely what you are doing here. And you can’t and won’t answer my question about black birding because you don’t even know what it means.

Could you please cite which pages of that publication you sourced your figures from? I can see on page 40 that there was £390k collected for Ireland, but this did not all come from the British government or people. This came from the wider world as well including catholic communities around the world I.e. the people who had to emigrate sending money home, US/Irish communities. I think you need to review your figures again.

I agree, Starlia - I just didn’t know what to say in reply to it. It’s just gross.

It’s interesting you mentioned being refused service in a Chinese restaurant. I was refused service and told I would have to pay cash. The ATM was so far away - but I walked there and walked back only to realise that they did this to get rid of me. The young guy that I spoke with was embarrassed and avoided eye contact. He had originally argued with an old Chinese lady when I tried to order.

I’m wondering if we live in the same city?

@VoulezVouz the British aside what do you think you are doing in Australia for First Nation people? We can't change things from here, but you can.

Just out of interest, do Samoans and Tongans have any kind of legal protection, any kind of reparations process similar to the Treaty of Waitangi process in New Zealand?

Germany did pay £86 billion to victims of the Holocaust.

Slavery has existed throughout history in almost ever culture. Almost every ethnicity has been subject to slavery at some point. Let’s not forget the African slave slave trade was well established before any Europeans entered the Market. So are you talking increased gully because of numbers? Europeans at the time were making use of an existing market, luckily Britain brought an end to that particular slave market.

No one alive today was responsible for the transatlantic slave trade. No one alive was a part of the transatlantic slave trade. Slavery continues in many parts of the world. That is where resources should be targeted. Sue does not need to feel guilty because of something some people did in the sane generation as her great great great great grandmother. John is not entitled to any money because of something that happened to his great great great great grandfather. Holding people responsible for the sins of their ancestors creates terrible injustices. Where do you draw a line? If my grandfather killed someone’s father should the child be able to sue me? Because essentially that is what people who are claiming reparations are saying.

I have a close relative with cancer and rent to pay. It’s got nothing to do with me what happened to samoans a long time ago. get Real.
You’re carrying baggage because you like dishing out blame. Trust me, you aren’t in a healthy place psychologically by being so self righteous and punitive.
Do yourself a real favour: go be nice to people and let your holier than thou stuff go.

I’m white and I was the target of racism. On more than one occasion.

Racism is an issue here. I think it’s an issue everywhere.

I have an Indian friend who was darker than members of her own family and she was the target of racism by her own family.

Same, had to go private for DC braces at the cost of €4k each as there is at least a 4 to 5 year waiting list. Can’t afford it but the work is necessary.

I haven’t been able to get a doctors appointment in months. The same doctor I have been going to for 20 years, that cared for my DC. Didn’t have an issue until 4 years ago. I’ve had to resort to online GP services and presenting at out of hours clinics if there’s been an issue.

The country is a mess at the moment, we can’t look after our own much less sustain the thousands of migrants coming into the country. It’s insanity.

It is regrettable that you are an awful person. I’m not wasting my time and energy on your bigotry and racism any further.

Why is it “gross” did you not know what to say because, even though it goes against everything you want to believe it’s true?

The country is a mess at the moment, we can’t look after our own much less sustain the thousands of migrants coming into the country

1. The country is a mess
2. Uncontrolled migration is not ideal

Migrants are not grabbing dental appointments or houses.

Denmark was the first European nation to ban its involvement in the TAST. This abolition took
effect on 1803, 4 years before Britain. While Britain granted emancipation before Denmark
it’s not the complete truth to say they ended slavery “decades after Britain”.

Correction - SOME Australians. Not all and not most.
30% of Australians were born overseas. We have over 200 nationalities living in the country. According to the 2021 Census, nearly half (48.2%) of all Australians have at least one parent born overseas, while almost one-quarter (24.8%) speak a language other than English at home. This data underscores Australia's high level of cultural diversity, with over half of the population being first or second-generation migrants.
FYI, I am almost all Irish descent and been here between 5 and 8 generations. I should be your stereotypical complaining white Aussie.

@Muffinmam Thank you for the background to the current crisis, very interesting (and mirrors the unease being expressed in the UK too).

My earlier post about racism in Australia related really to things like colleagues at work speaking with contempt about "Asians" and a sort of insidious racism on TV, e.g. a 1-hour documentary about the murder of an Aboriginal man spending the first 40 minutes explaining that he wasn't just an alco waster, he had a proper job and all that! Not sure if it's still like that, but I remember finding it quite an unexpected culture shock on moving there from the UK.