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Members of the crowd hold up an anti-racism banner during a cricket march. (Reuters)
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SYDNEY,
December 22, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A debate
has raged in Australia over the country's racial violence, with about
75 percent of Australians believe there is "underlying
racism" in the nation.
An
opinion poll showed that 75 percent of Australians believe there is
"underlying racism" exists in the country, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported Thursday, December 22.
Asked
if "there is an underlying racism in Australia", 48 per cent
of respondents to an ACNielsen survey said they agreed. A further 27
percent also strongly agreed.
A
new poll published in The Australian newspaper Thursday found
that 44 percent of respondents agreed that the nation was racist while
53 percent said it boasted a tolerant society.
Both
polls showed strong support for multiculturalism, defined in Australia
as the presence of different ethnic groups in Australian society.
However,
The Australian's Newspoll survey found that support for
multiculturalism has slipped since 1997 from 78 percent to 70 percent.
Riots
began in Australia when more than 5,000 people gathered at Sydney’s
Cronulla beach on December 11, after e-mail and mobile phone messages
called on local residents to beat-up "Lebs and wogs" --
racial slurs for people of Lebanese and Middle Eastern origin.
"Law
& Order"
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"I really am quite optimistic that people will see that nothing is ever achieved by violence," Howard said.
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Australian
Prime Minister John Howard, however, said he does not believe the
average Australian is racist, nor that there is underlying racism
within society.
He
maintained that the country's racial violence was primarily a
"law and order problem".
Asked
at a news conference whether Sydney was likely to see further violence
on the beaches, Howard replied: "I'm quite optimistic that we
won't."
"I
really am quite optimistic that people will see that nothing is ever
achieved by violence. Violence is repugnant no matter who engages in
it, it is never to be excused and never to be justified.
"I
would encourage Australians to enjoy their Christmas as they
traditionally do."
The
riots have, however, forced the cancellation of traditional Christmas
carols and celebrations in several areas and prompted police to commit
some 800 officers to 24-hour beach patrols for most of the Southern
Hemisphere summer.
Seaside
businesses have complained of lost earnings and Canada, Britain and
Indonesia have issued travel warnings of possible further unrest.
Social
experts have blamed the Australian government policies of alienation
and ignorance of ethnic minorities and the draconian anti-terror
legislation for violence in the country.
Harassment
Since
the riots, the rate of harassment has remarkably increased against
people of Middle Eastern appearance, said the New South Wales
Anti-Discrimination Board.
It
said that it had received 42 complaints since December 12.
"People
who are thought to be of Middle-Eastern background are being harassed
in the workplace and abused in shops and restaurants," board
president Stepan Kerkyasharian said.
The
riots were sparked by the beating of two volunteer lifesavers by
Lebanese-Australian youths on the southern beach of Cronulla.
Cronulla's
mainly white residents gathered on the beach on December 11, to
"claim back" the sands from the ethnic-Lebanese after calls
to engage in some "Leb (Lebanese) and wog" beating.
On
Thursday, police said they had made their first arrest over the riots,
charging a man for using mobile phone text messages to incite racial
violence.
The
33-year-old man allegedly repeatedly forwarded a message calling for a
gathering on two Sydney beaches, one week after the initial violence.
