If you haven’t been following the news, there’s been  back-to-back (supposedly racist) attacks on at least six Asians (Indians)  in Australia. One person (a 25 year old student named Shravan Kumar) suffered serious (almost fatal) injuries and is still in critical condition. The media has had its field day, voicing venomous rhetoric on the spate of racist attacks. There’s been a flurry of protests, globally. 18 Indians were arrested after one such protest (for no reason, apparently) and later let out, in Australia. The incident has reached spectacular proportions with  Amitabh ‘Big B’ Bachchan rejecting a doctorate degree conferred on him by Queensland University of Technology, Australia, in protest.

CC credits: ThinkVegan

A few thoughts in this regard:

• In India, millions of people were/are slaughtered (not just beaten up, but hacked into pieces) just because they belonged to a particular religion/caste/sect or because they spoke a particular language. News items about foreign nationals getting attacked/molested abound by the day. Such a nation, which can’t even handle its internal woes has no right to protest about half a dozen of  its citizens getting flogged abroad!
• People who go outside the nation to pursue higher education – I do not blame them. Our education facilities are abysmal to say the least. But they should keep the fact in mind that there’s no reason cribbing after being hit by drunk/unruly/racist people. They should’ve thought about the consequences.
• Australia, is more pluralist a nation than India, and if you check the stats, the incidents of violence is far lower than the same in India! Calling Australia (and other foreign nations where NRIs live, for that matter) ‘racist’ without any sound reason, whatsoever, is sheer madness! Any country would give preference to its own citizens rather than foreigners – it’s natural. Cribbing over policies by foreign nations that support its citizens and condemning their ‘discriminatory’ laws is childish!
• The media has a staunch hand in beating the issue out of proportion. Far from showing solidarity with the hapless victims, it has commercialized the whole issue, spewing meaningless debates, in a relentless quest for eye-ball space and ad-revenue! I’m reminded of the quote by media-baron Rupert Murdoch (which incidentally, is featured in the bond movie – ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’): “There’s no news, like bad news.”
• Why bother to leave your motherland for a distant land in search of ‘better prospects’? Given all the resources of our nation, it’s not so hard to find success here. All one needs is some will-power to fight the anomalies of the system that bog you down and to cut the red tape!

All said, Racism is a reality – an ugly truth that refuses to go away despite all the anti-apartheid-struggles and tryst-to-destiny’s. Xenophobia and racism – meaningless mutual hatred, will exist as long as man remains to be a social animal. However stringent the laws become, however brainwashed people get, in the back of their mind, many citizens, if not all,  will always be xenophobic. The only way to tackle racism is to stay back in your own nation, swear by it and to work for it!

Still, is it so hard to realize that despite minor bodily, soci0-economic differences, a subsaharan tribal is a carbon copy of Hon. Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd?

The last ink drop:

Check out this series of racism tests – an ingenious way to check if you’re racist or not!