Support the Indian students - no more racist attacks
Threats, racist abuse, robbings and bashings have become part of daily life for Indian students living in Melbourne. On an average day, four Indian students in Melbourne will report being robbed or assaulted to police. Simple things like getting to class, getting home from work, or holding a party are now accompanied by a constant fear.
Victims of these attacks commonly report a very slow and totally unsympathetic response from Victoria Police. Despite constant assurances from Victoria Police and the Government that they are "working through the issues", the attacks seem to be intensifying.
Where does the racism come from?
Many Australian politicians have spent years promoting racism against Aboriginal people, against refugees, and against Muslims. They are keen for ordinary people to blame each other, not politicians and businesses, for the hard times that many of us face. Indian students are among those who are now paying the price of this racism.
Howard's government deliberately used racism as a way of giving an outlet for people's anger while they stripped union rights and social welfare. Rudd has not been as blatant in his use of racism, but he has done nothing to undo the damage of the Howard years, which culminated in the Cronulla riot of December 2005. And Rudd's continuation of mandatory detention for refugees, land theft from Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, and the "war on terror" all reinforces the racism endemic in Australian society.
The Government's whole response has been one of wanting to deny the problem exists, or to do PR spin. They want to keep the billions of dollars that flow in to the economy from international students. But they don't want to challenge racism. They rely on racism themselves, and don't want to fundamentally challenge something which is so useful for our ruling class.
As for the police. During the protest a week ago, at the McDonald's near the corner of Flinders and Swanston, half a dozen Indian students were being hassled by a couple of young racist idiots. Another Indian intervened, calmed things down, then the police arrived... and immediately asked the Indian students to leave! Many, many protestors told me stories like this.
Even if the cops wanted to tackle the problem (and they don't, due to their role as capitalism's hired thugs), they are incapable of it. Study after study shows that the police as a group are the most racist people in any society. They concentrate all the racism needed for the operation of Australian capitalism in their own mentality. Of course we support demands that recognise that police racism is a problem. But this can never the basis of a serious solution.
Even at the best of times, police statistics show that cops are next to useless in solving crime where the perpetrator is unknown to the victim - let alone in preventing it. This should not surprise us. Police arose and continue as a force in capitalist society in order to keep the rich rich, the powerful in power, and the rest of us in our place. The whole spin about "fighting crime" has always been a façade.
