Anti-racism
Why capitalism needs racism
Submitted by Resistance on Fri, 29/01/2010 - 12:22pmWhy capitalism needs racism
The recent murder of Nitin Garg highlighted continuing violence against Indian students. It has led some to ask “Is Australia a racist country?” and put others on the defensive about Australia’s racist image. The ongoing Northern Territory intervention, which required the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, and the demonisation and persecution of refugees by both government and opposition politicians suggests that racism is alive in Australia. The following article is from the new and updated What Resistance Stands For, which Resistance branches around the country will launch in coming weeks. To find out more, order your copy, or attend a launch near you, visit www.resistance.org.au.
Indian student attacks: Denial of racism will lead to more attacks
Submitted by Resistance on Tue, 19/01/2010 - 4:28pm
Stop
the Attack on Indian Students
Deputy
PM Julia Gillard’s different reactions to two media controversies
say a lot about the denial of racism in Australia. After performers
on the television show Hey
Hey It’s Saturday
did a blackface skit Gillard was insistent that “obviously I think
whatever happened was meant to be humorous and would be taken in that
spirit by most Australians”. However,
Gillard failed to see the humour when the January 5 Delhi Mail
Today
published a cartoon depicting a Ku Klux Klan type figure wearing a
Victorian police badge saying: “We are yet to ascertain the nature
of the crime.”
The cartoon referred to the January 2
stabbing murder of Indian university graduate Nitin Garg as he walked
to his workplace: a Hungry Jack’s restaurant in Melbourne’s
western suburbs. Gillard reacted furiously and said, “Any
suggestion of that kind is deeply, deeply offensive to the police
officers involved and I would absolutely condemn the making of a
comment like that.” Both comments, and other statements by the
government regarding attacks on Indian students, deny, and
consequently refuse to deal with, the racism that exists in
Australia.
National Day of Action: Stop the NT Intervention
Submitted by Resistance on Mon, 01/02/2010 - 10:11pmOn February 13, 2010 there will be a national day of action against the NT Intervention and for Aboriginal rights.
This will mark the 2nd anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations, when Prime Minister Rudd committed the government to, "a future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again".
But ongoing NT Intervention policies reek of the same paternalism and commitment to assimilation that created the Stolen Generations.
The Intervention has been a $1.5 billion disaster. The government has taken control of Aboriginal lives and land - but has not yet built a single house. Shamefully, communities will not receive housing until they sign 40-year leases over their land.
