Text of my speech at the ‘Australia has not escaped its racist past’ debate

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen;

 

I agree with the opposition that Australia has made progress. Yes, since the last couple of decades, we have stopped institutionalised killings and stealing kids.

 

However racism still exists and it exists in every nation – so to argue that Australia is 100% racism free is baloney.

 

The fact that today we are even discussing whether a long established multicultural society like Australia is racist shows how much the political leadership of this country has dropped the ball on the fight against racism.

 

In 2009 the Age claimed Victorian crime statistics showed that Indian-born citizens were twice as likely to be victims of street crimes.

 

But the main impact of racial street crimes was felt by the 50,000 Indian-born students, and not by the more affluent established Indian-born migrant community. Which is also why 'established Indians' could say that they 'felt safe'. How nice for them

 

The shocking reality was that Indian students were over 400% more at risk than the general Victorian population. According to Police just in one suburb of Maribyrnong 46% of all victims of armed robberies were Indian students.

 

Few believe the Premier when he tells us Victoria is the safest sate in Australia. And with assault levels 400% greater than ordinary Victorians how can Indian students and their parents have any faith in Victorian claims about racism or crime?

 

I am proud that I spent every waking hour of my life making sure that the world heard the stories of these victims of violence and racism and; that I fought for the emotional and medical support that they needed.

 

By standing up for these voiceless victims I have been labelled' by some powerful people as public enemy number one. It is a pity, the public figures did not turn their anger towards the criminals; who terrorised and victimised innocent students from Asia.

 

The Police response in such cases shocked the world. Police was busy trying to prove how these cases were not racist while suggesting, that Indians should not speak in their native tongue and to look as poor as they can.

 

The police in Melbourne got tangled in war of words with victims and failed to demonstrate the scientific and clinical precision in crime-solving that is expected of a professional police force.

 

The incidents of street crime and the indifference of our institutions were communicated directly to their relatives via sms messages and youtube videos. It is no surprise' that thousands of angry young people protested around Australia and worried Asian parents stopped sending their children to Australia.

 

Furiously denying these attacks while all of Asia watched the video evidence was pure stupidity.

 

At the time, community leaders like myself were also racially attacked for speaking out, on websites and personally attacked by government officials but shooting the messenger solves nothing. This was just another symptom of obvious racism.

 

It is very damaging for Australia's Asian-dependent economy that across Asia Australia is now seen as returning to it racist ways this perception in Asia is largely due to our Government's erratic treatment of Asian visa holders and potential migrants and its denials about the recent surge in racial attacks on internationals students from India.

 

This is not a nicety of political correctness that requires us to make amends in Asia for out treatment of their students – it is a question of economics.

 

Asia is now both our main banker and our link to economic growth – the fortress mentality of Europe has proven to be a path to stagnation and debt.

 

We have escaped the shackles of European and Anglo economic stagnation because of three Asian factors:

 

1) We have in place a huge public spending program underwritten by Chinese capital and

2) We have a massive current and future export trade assured by being locked into supplying the four big Asian trading partners - that is China, India, South Korea and Japan.

3) We have secured a cheap and highly educated source of migrants to repair is fast ageing society

 

It should be noted that we have used the massive cash cow of international education and discounted labour guest workers schemes like 457 visas to do this.

 

It is understandable that given this stark economic reality that our current political and media elite want to deal in such absolutes as: is Australia racist or is now free of racism?

 

The reason that Australia is being called racist today in Asia is largely because of our mono-cultural establishments - the police, the judiciary, the media and the political elite. These lily-white institutions have resisted Asian faces and Asian accents for 40 years even while we opened our doors to Asian migrants.

 

But letting in Asians and treating them as equals are two distinct things. Asians can be award winning heart surgeons but they cannot be political leaders or police?

 

We will need to find the courage we found forty years ago to end the white Australia policy in immigration; and reform our institutions to reflect the new reality where both Indian and Chinese born outnumber traditional migrant communities like the Italians and Greeks.

 

Our media and politicians do not thank Asia for saving Australia from the recession rather they blame Asians for everything from dodgy sushi to rising house prices.

 

The only thing Asians have not been blamed for are the bushfires but I am sure some channel is working on that story as we speak.

 

The ever tactful Chinese have called Australia 'an ungrateful kangaroo'. That is their way of expressing their deeply hurt feelings about the rise of racism in our politics, media and even in international business.

 

Instead of sledging and demeaning Asia's best and brightest who have called Australia home or who seek to make a future here – we should welcome Asia and lock Australia into a bright future. After all as our national anthem says 'we have boundless plains to share'.

 

We must ask ourselves as to why do our aged and elderly have to wait over a year for hip replacement surgery when we have easy access to millions of Asian professionals?

 

For the sake of our children we must have the moral courage to confront our racist past and current racist attitudes.

We have to work harder and smarter to alter the Asian viewpoint that still thinks that England stole a continent from a black people – put a fence around it – and for two hundred years had a sign saying 'whites only'. 

Saying we are no longer a 'whites only' colony and actually reengineering the key institutions to be multi-racial, is not easy. We are still waiting to see an Aboriginal as an Australian head of state. Let us have someone as inspirational as Cathy Freeman - to be our First President.  

She, to many, represents the hopes for the Indigenous of this country.  

Let us demonstrate the courage to see Asians, Indigenous, Muslims and Africans in Parliament.

 

Australia is uniquely placed to tackle this issue; as unlike most of our politicians; ordinary Australians are honest. In a 2003 study by UNSW over 83% respondents recognised that there was a problem with racism in Australia.

 

Denying the new racism in Australia is pointless. In fact denial of these nasty pockets of hate in our criminal youth and in our police, media and political elites betrays the majority of ordinary Australian citizens who have embraced our Asian future and embraced 'fairness for all' as a way of life.

 

In January 2010 Former Defence Force Chief General Cosgrove said and I quote "the number of incidents against Indians seemed too many to be coincidences,'' ''If you didn't suspect a racial strand you'd be mad,''

 

Today I repeat the call he made to all Australians "to deal more openly and directly with race issues than many political figures have been willing to do."

 

Let's be strong and stop Australia's retreat back to the 1800's. Let us all Advance Australia Fair.

 

 

Thank you for listening.

 

 

For details and video visit http://www.iq2oz.com/events/event-details/2010-series-melbourne/02-june.php

 

 

 

Copyright Gautam Gupta

Australian media must lift its game

 

There have been times when people usually query about the media integrity. It has happened many times that our local (Australian) media projected the migrant community in bad light. Just last month various local publications have provided names and pics of Indians charged with anything illegal from stealing a few goods to sexual assault. The language used in such cases had been one to trial them as guilty even without court appearance or judgment.

Unfortunately different standards have been applied when the criminal happen to be from white background. Now a days it has become easy to identify the identity of the criminal, if the media is silent about their identity than most likely they'll be white otherwise their identity and whole family history can be read in the story.

Yesterday, Victoria Police identified and charged the murderer in the Nitin Garg murder case. It is a welcome move that really goes to reassure the community that finally the Police are taking the matter of public safety seriously. As always the identity of the criminal was kept confidential.

BTW, I personally support equality. Either identities for all criminals should be kept confidential or should be disclosed. The selectivity in reporting smells like a rot.

This bias discouraged me to limit my contribution but Nitin Garg case is too important and can have a huge impact. So I finally decided to make a statement. I did only about 10 interviews today and could not entertain another 10 requests. Could not any morning radio shows due to prior engagements.

Guess what, The Indian media carried my statement with my intentions intact. I have not seen what Ch10 did, but I guess The Age definitely pulled another one on me. Here is the evidence.

PTI quoted "Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA) spokesperson Gautam Gupta lauded the role of Victorian police in charging the teenager and said the Indian students attack crisis has helped in making Victoria a safe place.

The Age quoted "Federation of Indian Students of Australia spokesman Gautam Gupta said it was too early to say whether the charge would improve relationships between the two countries and it was not about ''one crime, it's about the police attitudes''".

Now one would wonder why will The Age be selective in quoting only a tiny bit of what I said? It also changes the meaning of what I said. The Age Reporter spoke to me at length and I told him exactly what I told PTI. He asked me if this will help bring the countries closer and I explained the issue of inconsistency. But I stressed upon the whole community coming together and congratulating and encouraging the Police. The consistency in Police response, which has been missing till date, will bring the countries and communities back together.

Well, I guess we still have a bit more to go to get a fair and just media. I sincerely hope they see the big picture and really work to bring communities closer.

 

Transcript from my live chat on www.theage.com.au

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/heroes--villains-20100613-y5u1.html

 

Racism has been rife in Australia for over 200 years and Indian students haven't been exclusively subjected to it. while I support any efforts to address what is a community dividing ideology; I couldn't but somewhat react to the Victorian govt's response and concerted efforts with visits to India etc with nothing more than indignation at the display of such hypopracy and the need to respond due to revenue sources rather than addressing the real root of the problem; ignorance and bigotry. Aboriginal Victorians have been subjected to this behaviour without consequence. So the question beckons; why is racism being considered an issue only for the past decade? What about the past 200 years? Racism dose not touch one group and I would call on our Indian community members to acknowledge that they are not the sole victim here.

Marngrook | Colac - June 14, 2010, 8:47AM

 

You are absolutealy right. If you listen to the video of my interview I highlighted the fact about discrimination in general. One of the first thing I aspire to see is aboriginal representation in our Public institutions. Imagine having an Aboriginal head of state... However, as you pointed out, let us not forget that at this point, Indians are the new kids on the block and at a receiving end. All what we have done is articulated our pain. I am sure the Doctors amongst you will agree that sharing pain reduces it.

I hope we are moving to a new possibility of a national consensus for affirmative action.

Gautam Gupta - June 14, 2010, 12:09PM

 

I have no doubt that some of the attacks are racially motivated, but it's a pity the analysis doesn't go far enough. Australia is a multi-cultural society and the various migrant groups bring their own prejudices and racism.

Unfortunately the Indian press has presented this as a white Australians attacking Indians issue, when in fact many of the attacks are by gangs of youths containing an ethnic mix.

The question to ask is why this is being presented as a crime committed by white Australians? Here we discover the racism of the Indians themselves.

I've been to India and I've studied Indian philosophy. The term Aryan comes from the Sanskrit 'Arya', which means 'pure'. This is the name the higher castes call themselves, the descendants of the Indo-European migrations of the distant past. These are the people who imposed the caste system on Dravidian India and relegated the adivasi to the category of untouchable. It is a profoundly racist religious movement that glorifies pale skin and despises the 'mleccha', the darker skinned. The spoiled brats of the Arya middle-class are raised to believe they are racially and spiritually superior.

So how many Indian students are Dalit, from the untouchables? Or are many of them spoiled middle-class Arya? I've met some of these students, worked with one who still wore his sacred cord to indicate he was a Brahmin, of the highest caste. He was lazy and arrogant.

Australia is an egalitarian society. And it is especially rich for racist Indians to be calling Australians racist. They need to attend to their own prejudices.

Siddha - June 14, 2010, 9:30AM

 

I appreciate the effort you have made to go to India and read its rich history and culture. I am not going to argue your interpretation of Indian history but what I will highlight are some of the achievements post independence.

There are over 700 Million registered voters in India, making it the bigest democracy in the world. Less than 20% voters are non-Hindus. Within 60 years of independence India has a Sikh Prime Minister, a Muslim head of Nuclear Program, A Muslim President, the longest serving woman Prime Minsiter, a foreign born Christian Lady head of the ruling Party. 

There is a whole list of affirmative action and its successes that I can describe here. However this is not what is the issue here. Two wrongs don't make a right. 

This blame game is not going to alter the reality of our own backyards. When Aboriginals die behind Police vans in 2008 whom are we going to blame? Let us take ownership of our community, city and country. Let us not compete but be better from within. 

Can you see Australia as the envy of the world in 2020? Can we lead the world in best practise when it comes to multi-cultural practices? Can we alter the reality for aboriginals?

Gautam Gupta - June 14, 2010, 12:20PM

 

 

If Gupta truly was concerned about the welfare of Indian students, he would have been complaining about the shocking standard of education being offered to some students. But on that issue, at least, there was not a word from him.

Whatever happened to the funds he raised to support Indian victims of crime? Was that ever distributed?

I deplore racism. However I deplore even more those who seek to benefit from it. Gupta's rhetoric does nothig to quell racism, it only inflames.

A true community representative would be organising events to help foreign students feel welcome in melbourne. Others have done that, why hasn't Gupta?

teiwaz | Richmond, VIC - June 14, 2010, 9:47AM

 

I welcome your question. I would like to refer you to the submission that we made to the Federal Senate Committee hearing held last year in August/September. I have personally worked on that submission and it is a comprehensive 50 page summary and has extensive examples on the poor quality of education offered to all students.

The report also highlights the quality of life issues with racism related issues taking less than 5 pages of the report. I think the mention of racism has touched an uneasy nerve whereas the other issues are acceptable. Hence we have a situation where the Government is leaving no nuts uncracked to downplay racism and introducing vague and confusing arguments such as comparing with other countries or cultures.

There are a lot of changes that have taken place and are taking place within the education sector as a consequence of the direct action that we have taken and I lead. I am sure you are keeping track of collapsed colleges and expose' of shonky operators. More will come. Keep tuned.

I am not sure what your standards for a true community leader is. Maybe I am not a community leader from your standards and I have no issues with it. But I would like to share my feelings. I feel hurt when I meet victims and share their stories.

When a young person comes and tells how we was bashed in in his house and the Police refused to register a complaint, it hurts. I chose not to sit at home and organise self-indulging events to feel good, but to spend my Christmas evening in Hospital talking to patients and taking them food parcels.

Should I advertise these things? Maybe. I will encourage you to help your fellow human beings and join FISA (Federation of Indian Students of Australia) or any other charity organisation. Help me support these victims of violence and fraud. Together we can make a difference.

I welcome you to also help me promote the social activities that we have organised and lead. Some of them include negotiations with AFL to organise camps for Indian students, organising appreciation breakfasts at Flinders St station, wotk with Cricket Australia to promte the message of harmony and lift sanctions against Australian players from participating in IPL amongst others.

Regarding the victims of crime fund, I again welcome you to enquire from the President or Secretary of FISA. To my knowledge, we had raised some $1900. Approximately $400 of which raised from Sydney for Mr Rajesh. He had sufered burn injuries when his house was petrol-bombed. The rest of the money is still avalaible. Any victim, who has not recieved any government support can simply write to FISA and those funds are then made available to assist them deal with emergencies. Now I understand that it is not a lot of money, but for poor students to raise even this amount of money speaks volumes of their character. I wish the rest of the community establish such programs as there are far too many people living on the edge that need our support and care.

Gautam Gupta - June 14, 2010, 12:41PM

 

 

Glad to see that Mr Gupta has disassociated himself from the Liberal Party. It makes them more attractive as a voting option in the coming election. Why you are giving this fraud space for his self-promotion is beyond me.

CM | Melbourne - June 14, 2010, 11:16AM

I have watched this donkey beating the racism drum to lift his profile.

If Australians are racist why have so many different people come here?

Your selfish motives are damaging Indian peoples reputation Mr Gupta.

olive - June 14, 2010, 11:16AM

Gupta couldn't pass his qualification test in the subject he received an education visa and subsequent permanent residency into Australia. Being unemployable and a poster child for the PR rort forced on the Aussie taxpayer through "skills shortages", he decided to beat the racism drum to divert the attention from his own failures. The focus should be on why these unemployable foreign students are allowed permanent residency.

Ya Ya Ya - June 14, 2010, 10:59AM

 

 

The last three questions/comments are more of a personal attack. You may not be aware, but many people do and say exactly what you guys have written. But have you actually done your research completely?

Are you aware that I was the Manager for a chain of clinics? I was the Chair of Knox Community Health Services and also was on Monashlink Board? Are you aware that I have assisted with research projects at two universities and have taught Project Management to postgraduates?

I have resigned from various positions and roles to fulfil my dream that of a dynamic society and country. This is my City and my Country. I will do whatever it takes to help it reach it full potential.

Your comments demonstrates the kind of bias you hold and I strongly encourage you to seek help. Please understand that attacking people personally may give your temporary satisfaction and feed your righteousness but overall it decreases the quality of life for everyone including yourself. Why don't you let go off your anger and really talk to me and other Indians directly and really connect. Ask them why did thousands of people gather 3 times in three years? Were they inspired by my leadership or their anger at the system?

 
 

I have found peace in helping others and trust me you will find your own game lifted once you connect with people. Be as passionate in critcising the errors in our society as you are in displaying your anger towards me.

Have you approached your local Parliamentarian to express anger when Timana Tahu surrendered his NSW Origin Jersey against racism? Did you join the rally against the death of aboriginals in custody? Did you go and support the African youth after the brutal racist killing of 17 year old young Leib Goni? Did you write a letter to Cricket Australia asking them to lift their game when Darren Lehmann was banned for five games for calling 'Black C..." to African players? Did you question The Police Commissioner when he asked Indians to look poor to be safe in Victoria? Did you write to Attorney General asking him why has no one from the Facebook groups such as 'F*** Off we are full' and others not charged for promoting violence against ethnic minorities? Have you written to Indian High Commission to apologise when a fellow Australian, a Griffith radio jockey, said 'the shit they put around their head must be doing something to their brains' - The Prime Minister of India wears a turban.

But you have taken time to challenge me for raising the issue of racism. Do you think it is easy for me when hundreds of people want to spend hours trying to prove how wrong I am but not spend 10 minutes to really find out of what I have to offer?

I welcome all of you to feel free to organise a forum and I will be happy to come and speak to all of you face to face and answer your questions. I am happy to discuss my evidence for anything I have said.

All I want is for you to consider asking yourself and your elected community leaders, be they in Church, Police, Media or Parliament on why have they not acted to stop racism? 

Gautam Gupta - June 14, 2010, 1:07PM