RACE VIOLENCE SWEEPS SYDNEY

Or so claims the Sydney Morning Herald in a story about an anti-racism rally:

About one thousand people are rallying at Sydney's Town Hall calling for peace and condemning race-fuelled violence sweeping the city.

That's just a little bit of lefty sensationalism to draw attention to the cause.










Here's what Osmond Chiu, 19, the National Union of Students anti-racism officer and organiser of the rally, had to say:

"The riots have drawn attention to the racism in this country."

"I am shocked and appalled by what's been happening, I never fathomed anything of this scale, that such violent racist clashes, could happen here."

"John Howard, the leader of our country, has denied that racism played a part in the week's violence."

"He needs to admit that racism played a big part in what happened."

So, here we have a 19 year old student pontificating on the cause(s) of the Cronulla violence and condemning Australians as racists with the Prime Minister racist number one. I mean, how can anyone take this guy seriously when his name reminds one of a Donny and Marie lolly. (Beck, you racist!)

The left really is – surprise, surprise – going way over the top with this "Australians are racists" pitch. Screaming it again and again ain't gonna make it so. Sure some Australians are racists but overall Australians are a lot more tolerant and accepting of "ethnics" than many ethnics are of mainstream Australians.

In my experience, Australians are amazingly tolerant and accepting of anyone – either native or foreign-born – who "has a go" but feel no sympathy for anyone who not only won't have a go but also refuses to make the personal compromises necessary for integration into the mainstream. Thus, Australians have no sympathy for those with a face full of piercings who complain they can't get a job. So, mainstream Australians aren't going to buy the argument that the actions of young Lebanese-Muslim thugs should be excused because they're merely reacting to rejection: if these hoons want to be accepted they're going to have adjust their behaviour and try to fit in.

The young hooligans pushed and they pushed until they pushed things too far and the local community reacted. Unfortunately, a few opportunistic racists where on hand to foment violence, especially amongst those who had been drinking. The problem isn't one of race but rather one of expectations. The community expects Lebanese youths to accommodate to it; the Lebanese youths expect it the other way round.

Update: The ABC estimates the rally crowd at 2,000. Here are representative quotes from attendees:

"We're actually seeing a miniature civil war, you know a turf war."

"People are not willing to admit that this is about racism."

"I've just come back from overseas and I'm fed up with a country full of racism."

"We need no anti-terror law, we need the anti-racism law."

What a bunch of dumb-arses.

Update: The Currency Lad and Evil have also posted on the rally.