Multi-culturalism

Suburban Scrawl - Stuart Fenech's blog - is an excellent way for keeping udated about the politics of Australia. Last week, Queensland based Stuart, who is half Maltese, blogged about racism, multi-culturalism and Maltese migration in Australia. From Suburban Scrawl:

As a British colony, Malta was on our side during World War 2, consequently getting bombed more than London. After World War 2, the Chifley Labor Government in Australia launched a program to bring in large numbers of immigrants to boost Australia's population and provide the labour for large projects like the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme. Since Malta was in such a bad shape after the way, many Maltese took their chances and moved to Australia. On the 9th of April 2005 my branch of Fenech's are having a gathering to celebrate 50 years since the original journey was made by sea by my father's family.

'Wog' had traditionally been a term used to refer to people from the Mediterranean area, like the Greeks, Italians and Maltese. It was used as a taunt on my family many years ago, as they struggled to adapt to a new country while working hard to make a winner out of the big move. The term 'wog' seemed to disappear from mainstream dialog during the 1980's, partly due to Hawke and Keating Labor Governments. It's ugly appearance in two distinct social circles I am around around a month ago got me thinking about issues relating to racism, prejudice, assimilation, multiculturalism in Australia.

Prejudice and racism are not easy to define. I consider prejudice as when you believe that most or all people in a certain group have particular negative characteristics that make them worse than or inferior to other groups of people. I view racism more as when people display or promote prejudiced views, which actively harms those that are being misrepresented.

The main targets of prejudice and racism have moved over time, with the focus in recent years on Asians and Muslims. I believe that there are many factors that contribute towards the prejudiced and racist views of individuals. These include but are not limited to an individual's upbringing, exaggeration of our differences, lack of knowledge, limited personal experiences, overly simplistic views, irrational fear and opportunistic presentations of specific groups...

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