The attacks on Indians in Australia continue 
The violent attacks on Indians in Australia continue. Last week, another Indian student was assaulted and left unconscious in Melbourne. The Australian youth attackers told him that “in this place there is no home for you”. This is the second published attack in last one week. There may be many more smaller or unreported incidents that we don’t hear about.

It is very sad and horrifying that these incidents against Indians have continued over the months. Since June 2009, scores of Indians have been attacked and are victims of physical violence at the hands of local Australians. The governments from both sides have been addressing these ugly incidents. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has spoken to his Australian counterpart in the past; external affairs minister S M Krishna has visited the country; and Australia has assured a policy of zero tolerance against the attacks. There have been many steps taken by the Australian Government to deal with all this, but there seems to be no end in sight.

It is clear that the issue is bigger than the Australian authorities. The law enforcement authorities and the policeman on the street can only do so much in this case.

Is the local economy to blame for the attacks?
Many believe that these attacks are triggered by the slow-down in economy. The unemployment is growing everywhere; people are struggling to find jobs. The immigrants and outsider often get the blame for stealing the jobs away from the locals.

This thinking and blame-game is not new or uncommon across the globe. In America, with unemployment exceeding 10%, immigrants and outsourcing are often quoted as one of the reasons for difficulties in finding work. There are many factions and groups, including some media outlets, in USA that openly blame immigrants as part of the economic problem. The main focus in America has been the Mexican immigrants who are blamed for taking away the lower wage jobs from working class Americans.

The attacks in Australia could very well have economic downturn as a contributing factor, if not the bigger or actual rootcause. However, the nature of the attacks, where the students are more prone to the violence,  seems more of a general resentment against sharply growing Indian population.

Racism or not?
Now, this is another can of worms. So far in recent years, this resentment against the immigrants and outsiders has been peaceful – non-violent – except these on-going cases in Australia. No matter how you look at the social or economic issues, it is hard to justify any violence against a particular community under any circumstances. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Australia, Culture, immigrant, India, india abroad, Indian students attacked, Indian students in australia, Living Abroad, Non Resident Indian, Race Relations, racial-bias, society, student attacks