[Dave. zzz....]

Jus' seen on the news that Sydney's got some pretty serious problems at the mo.

Two lifeguards were attacked, so 1000s of white people attacked people of middle-eastern background on the beach. Now gangs of young men of Middle Eastern appearance rampaged through the suburb of Cronulla, in apparent revenge for attacks by whites on Sunday.

So it's White's vs Middle Eastern's once again-What I want to know is, do you care, and if so, who's side are you on?

[Droogie]

yeh i saw that in the newspaper.. looks pretty bad. had a picture of some asian guy holding his head and trying to defend himself with a crowd of white guys around, one of them punching him.

i thought australia was one of the least racist places.

[Forgone Conclusion]

I do care, and i'm on nobody's side. I WAS sympathetic to the M-E 'side', but prob now so more now.

I think it's rediculous that in this day and age this sort of thing still happens. I think it was started by a group of neo-nazis stirring up some drunks, which prob make sit more believable, but still

Then i should prob stop being so naive and sheltered and torture all the brown ones cos they're terrorists, and if they dont admit it under torture they're probably just lying

[Dave. zzz....]

Droogie, on Dec 13 2005, 11:08 PM, said:

i thought australia was one of the least racist places.

The same here.

I mean, we have our own problems in Bradford/Burnley etc, but nothing on this scale and I genuinely thought a year or so ago that we were one of the worst 'developed' countries when it comes to racial prejudices. Since then we've had the French riots, 'George Bush doesn't care about Black People"-Kanye West, Spanish fans monkey chants to black English football players, and now this. The people of the world are pretty focked up sometimes.

[Adi (ESA)]

I heard that one of the 'middle eastern' folk, broke into an auzzie's car or sumthing?? and they've been breaking into shops and hiding out in there n stuff.

I can understand totally what the auzzie's are feeling (im from bradford...)

Im not against other races, just the ones who think they can turn up in another country, and expect the rules to change to suit them, pisses me off rotten!

[Gabriel Synthesis]

if you run over an aborigine you are allowed to keep on driving, because there were many cases of them jumping out infront of cars then when you stop to check if they are alright, you get jumped on by all their mates who've been hiding in nearby bushes

[Droogie]

thats pretty terrible. i guess they've brought it upon themselves.

[where_i'm_calling_from]

actually australia is one of the most xenophobic countries in the world. its completely isolated from most of it, and unlike countries like France (which is also very xenophobic), it has very little immigration, and strict quotas each year. basically in australia the 'foreigners' are aborgines (who australians hate), chinese (who they hate), athletes (who they tolerate cos they win stuff), and a few middle easterns etc, who i imagine are viewed in the same way as the other outsiders. australia is a relatively new country/continent with a predominantly white population, that has only just started letting any other races in at all. thus it is hardly suprising that australians are intolerant of these people, as, as a race, they are not really used to being with people who 'aren't like them.'

it is also amusing to note that despite dubbing the disturbances 'race riots', and acknowledging that the dispute is between middle easterns and whites, the government also claims that race is not a factor in the cause of the violence.

[Forgone Conclusion]

I dont think they said race wasn't a factot, they said there is not underlying racism in Australia, which is different

I think the Uk's probably pretty xenophobic - there aren't exactly many countries we typically like is there? You always heer us slagging off the americans, the French, the germans, the greeks, etc

[where_i'm_calling_from]

that's not really xenophobia in the same way...if black footballers go to italy/albania/spain/a lot of places, they get monkey chants and stuff. british people don't do that sort of thing (as much).

britain has traditionally been a centre of immigration throughout history, and as such has a much more diverse culture than most other places. britain isn't inherently racist in the same way that many other places are - where the locals believe that other races are actually inferior, rather than just having a slight disdain for them.

[Forgone Conclusion]

Yes, but football chanting, etc is racism - something entirely different for xenophobia (while similar, and often one leading to the other)

What you described is Xenophobia, which is what i said, not racism, whic, in m,y opinion, the UK is not

[where_i'm_calling_from]

yeah...i should really have made a distinction. but hatred/fear of other countries/races isn't really rife in britain. its more historic rivalry/caricaturing of other races. or just a general, reasonably informed disdain for other cultures (eg. america). its rare to find people who genuinely strongly dislike all french people because of who they are, for instance. its more joking than serious.

whereas in australia etc, they really do seriously despise other cultures.

[paddys wink]

[quote name='Forgone Conclusion' date='Dec 13 2005, 11:08 PM' post='20256']
I do care, and i'm on nobody's side. I WAS sympathetic to the M-E 'side', but prob now so more now.

I think it's rediculous that in this day and age this sort of thing still happens. I think it was started by a group of neo-nazis stirring up some drunks, which prob make sit more believable, but still

Then i should prob stop being so naive and sheltered and torture all the brown ones cos they're terrorists, and if they dont admit it under torture they're probably just lying
[/quot

the brown ones eh ,no youve got the paddys and the chechens;niether brown