Guest Post Ramio1983
Let me say briefly, I never voted for Tony Abbott. Yet I also do not blame people that did. When the Australian Labor Government fell on its knees and made an embarrassment of itself from its rise of Julia Gillard and fall of Kevin Rudd, we all were keen on a new leadership. Someone we could trust and a government that was solid with the interests of not only Australians in mind but society and the world as a whole.
An elected government could quickly change the demographic of the nation and i have noticed this with the current Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. I have been alive for just over 30 years in this country and there are many things I notice about the climate of the population. Sometimes people will mirror the sentiments of their leader, yet what is evident is the low lives of society that remained dormant for many years have suddenly risen with this new government and never have the bigots felt so confident to come out and offend our current social climate.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made some questionable decisions.
Let me give you an example. Years ago under many other Australian governments I had never heard of groups like Reclaim Australia or the Australian Defence League.
These are borderline Fascist neo-Nazis that hate all things immigrant. So far this year there have been “rallies” in many major Australian cities conducted by these nationalistic groups that were thankfully challenged by other groups in public squares. Yet these protests turned violent and another one is planned this month in July 2015.
These “protests” were attended by people with swastikas on their heads and clear affiliation with other groups that are high on the crazy scale. Even though these protests were violent and full of hate, we barely heard about them in the media. Yet when a bunch of Australian Muslims ran around spewing their disgust in a distasteful matter about Prophet Muhammad cartoons, we barely heard the end of it. The bottom line is the bigots feel protected by this government to come out of their dungeons and to cause civil unrest- like members of the Australian Defence League going to a mosque and taunting people whilst they mind their own business after prayer services.
Groups like the Australian Defence League feel protected by this current government.
Why are people surprised by former Olympian Dawn Fraser telling misbehaving tennis players to “Go back to where their parents came from”? This was the language many people were afraid to speak of with other governments that held stronger stances against stereotypes and xenophobia. Yet under Tony Abbott, people are not only taking aim but firing away with their derogatory comments about their fellow inhabitants in this nation.
Why are people so surprised when we have a government minister on public television telling Australian born and bred citizens that were accused of terrorism but acquitted of those claims “I’d be happy to look you straight in the eye and say that I‘d be pleased to be part of the Government that would say that you were out of the country. I would sleep very soundly at night with that point of view.”
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs openly tells an Australian Citizen to get out of Australia on public television.
This was before Zaky Mallah said that oh so shocking quote about ISIS yet nobody blinked an eye when we had a Parliamentary Secretary actively telling an Australian citizen who was NOT charged with terrorism that he would “like him [permanently] out of the country“. Again such brazen comments made with a daring confidence highlights something to me, due to the current political climate we are in and seeing how our current Government views its minorities, immigrants and Indigenous Australians, we find that never before have we seen such an influx of nationalistic, paranoid and power-obsessed political figures and citizens come out from the dark.
This attitude of mine does not come out of thin air. I did not suddenly wake up and say I hate this government and what it stands for, yet it is a series of progressive decisions made by our government and its reaction from the Australian public of which I see where the problem lies. Sometimes the people are a reflection of the government and sadly my fellow Australians are mirroring this Parliament’s shortsightedness and I think we need to make changes- fast!
Another nail in the coffin was the recent decision by the Australian Government to shut up Australian workers in foreign detention camps where “illegal” immigrants are currently being held, including children. The Tony Abbott government recently made a new rule claiming that all doctors, hospital workers, guards and other staff have no rights in reporting bad behaviours in these detention camps. That is right, if human rights abuses are being conducted (and there is evidence to suggest that they clearly are) the government has paralysed the right of these Australian citizens to report the cruelty with the lurking threat of two years gaol for such a “crime”.
Our government no longer allows workers in out detention centres to report misconduct or abuse- instead they face jail.
Not only that, our current government has also allowed meat-headed “guards” in these detention centres who have a clear hatred for immigrants and xenophobic attitudes. Recent evidence has shown that many of these guards carry anti-immigrant tattoos, make hateful social media posts and display open sentiments of intolerance including photos with the infamous political bigot Pauline Hanson. These guards that the Australian Government has entrusted with these vulnerable people LOATHE them. Yet the most horrific fact about this situation is that the guards’ alleged abuse of these people cannot be reported. It is illegal to report them! Obviously there is something to hide. Such laws are being passed and Australia is letting it happen.
These issues will now even filter down to our schools and education system here in Australia. The impending threat of 0.02% of the Australian Muslim population (100 from 500,000 who went to join ISIS) has now reared its ugly head into our schools. The Australian Government is trying to implement a new “Jihadi Watch” scheme in our schools where teachers and students are taught on how to “spot” a Jihadi among their midst. Apparently if a fellow student “gets in trouble” or “argues with people of different ideologies” or “drifts away from their friends” this constitutes suspicious behaviour that would leave that student singled out and watched by fellow students and teachers. That’s odd that they formulate general “naughty” behaviour in school to Jihadi links. They might need to actually reconsider what a Jihadi actually is.
Our government proposed “Jihadi Watch” schemes in our schools where kids can be reported as potential terrorists by fellow students and teachers.
Just think about that for a moment, if one day Sarah at school decides to wear a hijab and Abdul decides to grow his beard, then their friends distance themselves from them and their teachers and fellow students ostracise them as potential terrorists- how on Earth would that be productive to our current social condition? How do you expect to counter terrorism by making almost anyone a suspect? It’s absolute nonsense. Will our schools then introduce “Domestic Violence Watch” schemes or “Drug addict schemes” or “Alcohol fuelled Violence” schemes? ALL of these examples pose a much bigger threat to Australians, yet there is no government initiative against them on a federal level.
The voice of the reasonable like us is suddenly being muffled by these flag waving bigots holding up scary signs with words like “Halal” and “Sharia” whilst they start protests, vandalise mosques, send death threats and degrade fellow citizens. Which is why Sydney and Melbourne are holding COUNTER Rallies against these groups of hate. The No To Racism, No To Facism and No To Islamophobia counter rally will be held at Martin Place, Sydney on July 19th.
Our Detention Centre “Guards” posing with right wing politician Pauline Hanson at an Anti Islam rally
Remember this is a COUNTER rally against hate. It was never a rally that was meant to exist. Yet it is about time we respond to this rush of ignorance in our beautiful country and we cannot allow them to take the microphone and become the spokesmen and women of Australia. We cannot change the government right now, yet when that moment comes ladies and gentlemen we must make a change. Australia cannot afford such leadership, nor such a following.
Peace, Salam!:-)
Ramio1983
Originally posted here
you said it... 