Allegro Non Troppo

9 Mar 2010

Overseas Student and Racism – Academic Discussion

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The relationships between Australia and our Asian Neighbours have always been fairly feisty.
One of the recurring themes directed at Australia is that we are racist.
Currently this seems to be manifest in the experiences of Indian Students in Australia, and in particular in Melbourne.
Is it really violent racism, or is it more of a coincidence that these attacks seem to happen in the lower socio-economic areas of the city, where students are often forced to live for financial reasons, and where violence and racial discrimination are more likely to occur?
Australians on the whole are not racist, we have a vibrant multi-cultural society, we have a strict laws controlling racism, vilification and discrimination.
There are some people who are racist in Australia, and this is the same in every country in the world. Is there a problem or has it been an unfortunate coincidence that there have been attacks against Indian students? Do we have a problem?
To discuss this on allegro today we have Prof. Chris Nyland.