racism in australia

"Religion is not an opium."

Call it white bigotry, the archaic White-man mentality that they are a cut above the rest just because they are of a lighter skin color.

Look no further than the western media coverage of the Beijing Olympics or even closer to home, for me, would be my university's outright and blatant prejudice against Muslim students.

RMIT Islamic Society has been holding a campaign over the university's decision to covert the Muslim Prayer Room into a "multi-faith" facility. Apparently, a staff member had entered the facility and complained about the Muslim "branding" of the facility. Funny how the university did not even utter a word of contempt when they were collecting school fees from these Muslim students. In a bid to recover their prayer room, RMIT Islamic Society has been holding open protests in the middle of the school campus, Bowen Street, every Friday.

This is the longest student campaign in recent memory, spanning approximately 7 to 8 months, and the actions of these Muslim students and their decision to fight back and not be needlessly intimidated by a giant commercial and profits-driven tertiary institution is highly admirable and laudable. Week after week, these Muslim students congregate together in protest, and support for their cause have been encouraging, the movement has seen a tremendous growth from 75 to 650 people. In a heartening show of solidarity, they have also received support from the RMIT Christian Students Union and the RMIT Branch of the Australian Union of Jewish Students.

I attended one of their meetings last Wednesday, on the alarming increase in anti-Muslim bigotry and Anti-Muslim racism in Australia today. RMIT's decision to shut down the Muslim prayer rooms, no doubt, has a 'political agenda' attached to it. No doubt that it is a university, and its ultimate aim is to make as much profits as possible, but yet we cannot deny the fact that there is some sort of racism against Muslim students going on here.

Many Muslim students choose RMIT because they had the impression that the university was "Muslim-friendly". RMIT was happy to take their money, and yet they showed an uncaring attitude towards these Muslim students after that.

It is outrageous to expect these Muslim students to share their prayer facility room with groups of other faiths. Firstly, there is a strict dress code to be observed. And secondly, there are specific windows of prayers of time. Other customary routines that need to be observe include removing one's shoes before entering the prayer area, and that it must be free of any other representations of idolatry.

This campaign highlights the existence of Muslim discrimination, in a pervasion of a culture of fear, intimidation and terror towards Muslims.

I spoke to J, a political activist for a few years, and she termed Australia as a "disgustingly- racist" country. We had a very long chat, and much of the information she provided was very quote-worthy, but unfortunately, she refused to go on-the-record. Even though she was Aussie, she said that as a Left-Wing socialist activist, she had to be upfront about the blatant discrimination Aussies hold towards their Asian counterparts. She commented that Australia denying themselves to be racist would be like George Bush saying, "I support democracy." RMIT has successfully put up a propaganda show, a demonstration of 'racism attack' masquerading as upholding the principles of a 'secular society'.

One of the speakers for the day was a member of the RMIT Islamic Society. He said that penetration of Western media forces and influences has cast a disparaging stain towards Muslims, triggering a flood of anti-Muslim sentiment, bias and prejudice.

No doubt, the word 'terrorism' has become a synonym for 'Muslim', 'Islam', 'Afghanistan', 'Bomb'. A recent survey conducted in Australia had half of the respondents believing that Muslims have a negative impact in Australian society. This climate of racism and thwarted media representations of what constitutes as Muslim or Islamic, has led 96% of Muslims to consider suicide at one point in their lives. The speaker even confessed that he sometimes felt 'guilty' to be a Muslim.

One of the members from the floor proclaimed that it was ironic that the government was stripping funding from universities, healthcare and education to fund the 'war on terror'. This has resulted in massive cuts to government funding in universities and tertiary education, where the funds used on the terror war could have been put to better use.

I approached the two speakers after the event. One of the speakers happen to be one of the lecturers in my department in RMIT. He asked me if I recognized him, and my response came in the form of looking at him blankly. He suggested that I get my article published out there, instead of merely completing it as an assignment.

After speaking to many supporters during the event, and doing my own research, they all pointed to one person who had to bear the full brunt of the responsibility for the taking away of the Muslim prayer rooms - the Vice-Chancellor otherwise known as the CEO of the university.

And, so I rang up the VC the very next day, and of course her assistant picked up. My question posed to them was: "Do you think that such a move clearly places the economic welfare of the university as a priority above the welfare of the students?"

I was directed to the Media and Communications Advisor instead. It seemed no one was willing to speak to me or to answer my queries. I wonder if I had been an Age or Herald Sun reporter, instead of a mere journalism student, would they have been more responsive?

In the end, I was forwarded an email which contained another VC's official statement which rejected any propositions that the removal of the Muslim prayer room was an official attack directed towards the Muslims.

This is what I abhor about journalism. Because we journalists are obliged to an ethical code, which means that we have to be 'objective' and 'truthful' in all our reports. This presents a major Catch 22: How can journalists be expected both to be objective and truthful at the same time? Sometimes, being truthful means not being objective. It means taking a stand, or otherwise a 'biased' perception in our story angle. But, because we are journalists, and we have to act ethically and the whole other truckload of ethical bullshit, we are ethically obliged to report whatever junk information and propaganda that the rich and powerful feed us with, just so you know, that we 'balance both sides of the story'. It doesn't matter that in the course of the interview, it becomes clear to the journalist that one party is wrong, and merely feeding propaganda message to the news media. Our job is to regurgitate whatever has been said, reducing the job of journalists to marionettes for the rich and powerful. I think that all journalists should act MORALLY, not ETHICALLY.

The second form of racism in Australia would be towards the Chinese, or rather, China and the Beijing Olympics, in particular.

I follow the news in Australia daily, and the media has been inundated with negative reports of the Beijing Olympics. Lavish praise and media adoration can only be found in reports exalting the proud achievements of Aussie athletes taking part in the Olympics, especially Australian's golden swimming girl, Stephanie Rice and her multiple gold-awards winning.

Apart from that, every single day, there is one more page of criticism, literary attack and assault against the Chinese. Being in a Western country which prides itself on a 'libertarian' press model, I thought I was glad at once to be out of Singapore's tightly-controlled media. So, I appreciated all the negative reports that I was reading in Australia's dailies that I wouldn't otherwise have if I was back home. Until, that is, I smelt something amiss, the lethal whiff of strong racism and the Western countries' fear of the Chinese imperialist powers. It is as though that the Western media assume that by launching a tirade of verbal and literary assault upon China, they would gain an upper-hand, that by putting down China, they would portray themselves as greater, that by criticizing China, it would wash clean their own sins, and that it would dwarf China's growth into a world power. While Singapore's reports are diluted, Australia on the other hand, is largely tilted towards Western pride, in favor of the West over the East.

In fact, among all the coverage of China during the Olympics, there has only been one favorable piece speaking up in favor of China's growing power and host to the Olympics this year, and no surprise that it was written by a Chinese.

Again, we see the 'Western media's assault on the East' masquerading on the moral high ground of 'press freedom'. To see the extent of Australian's bias coverage of the Olympics, one need look no further than the headlines of the Australian major dailies.

1. Don't Boycott China's Shame (Herald Sun, 26 March 2008)
2. Games spirit stifled under an iron fist (The Age, 4 August 2008)
3. Tanks for the memory of Tiananmen 1989 (The Age, 4 August 2008)
4. Crouching tiger, hidden dragon (The Age, 11 August 2008)
5. Controls on China media exposed (The Age, 14 August 2008)

The above is only a microcosm of the negative media coverage of the Beijing Olympics.

In a clear demonstration of Western countries' fear of Chinese imperialism, the story of the use of fake singers and computer-generated fireworks during the Olympics made front-page highlights in The Age. The only time a Chinese athlete, Liu Xiang made the front page of the online Age's website was because of his surprise withdrawal from the Olympics because of an injured hamstring, and the subsequent shame to the entire nation who had their hopes pinned on the golden boy for a gold medal.

Sydney Olympics 2000 was not without propaganda as well. Yet, the Australian media choose to disregard all those flaws and gave positive media coverage to the event. For example, when China and Australia were fighting over the Olympic bid, the Australia government put together a team to uncover all the dirt about China and to publicize their flaws, so as to gain an upperhand over them. Also, when the Olympic team came to Sydney to scan the surroundings, the same people made sure that everytime the car of the IOC chairman drove pass a traffic light, it would turn green instantly. Even the Sydney Opera was not 'live' in action, and pre-recorded in advance (something that the Australian media only choose to highlight in 2008).

But, perhaps, it is a good thing after all. Criticism is always good, because at the very least, it means someone is watching.