australia- racism..really??

I woke up on a lazy Sunday morning and while I was flipping over the channels I happened to see breaking news over one of the known news channels, which read “Racist Australia”. I just watched on to see if Symonds was in any controversy again, but things proved to be quite different this time. A ghastly image of an Indian amidst medical facilities came up on TV. The reporter went on to say that this Indian was attacked by Australians. The reason was no theft, no rape. But ‘race difference’. The victim was identified to be Sravan Kumar Theerthala, a medical student who was studying in Australia and hailed from Andhra Pradesh. He was stabbed by a screw driver and was in a critical situation, fighting for his life in coma at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The news went on to flash another similar incidence, fourth of its kind in three weeks, in which another student Baljinder Singh was robbed and stabbed outside a railway station.
I followed the news, as the channels, news papers, discussions were flogged by this issue only. Everyone had a different perception, most of them quite sympathizing with the Indian students, and most of them jumping to conclusions such as Australia not being a safe country anymore and that number of students going to Australia would dip immediately. I listened to all, forming my own views, changing them, arguing with some and agreeing with some. We all know Indian TV media and Indians are quixotic enough to jump to quick conclusions.
But I pretty much do not form rigid opinions about such issues and hence would try and put forth a very diplomatic analysis of this situation.
In Australia, Indian student community includes about 90,000 students. Indians have always preferred Australia as an education destination over UK or USA for various reasons. Australia has a stronger and more stable Government, the teaching environment there has always been appreciated and the tuition fees and cost of living is Australia is cheaper than other countries. One explanation for these attacks could be related to this. In Australia, tuition fees level for domestic student is limited but not for an international student. Universities lose money on every local student they enroll while international student becomes a bonus. Due to large enrollment of foreign students a number of resources are bagged by foreigners which otherwise would be available to local students. High competition to get an entry in good course at prestigious university may be a killing factor evolving among nationals. Further more, With an economic slowdown stretching around the globe, job scenarios are also worsening. Job crunch and insecurity may be another factor too. While Australians are getting fired, foreign students are capping opportunities. These include not just Indian students studying in Australia but also many IITs and IIMs progeny who get placed in Australian companies, so the youth of first world has started feeling insecure. They view it as a seizure of their rightful employment by their Indian counterpart and hence becomes quite intolerable for an Australian national. This insecurity and threat is in a way seeking an outlet and metamorphosing into racist attacks that have been witnessed in the recent times. This is also prevalent amongst students who accept mediocre jobs at restaurants and food joints to support their tuition fees. Something that again gets in insecurity as these are means of earning pocket money for many of the Australian teenagers.
So are these attacks really racist or a conspiracy which isn’t smelled yet? These attacks will lower down the enrollment by foreign students initially by Indian students later on followed by other nationals too. These lowering enrollments will free up resources grabbed by international students easing up competition for the locals. Also if such incidents happens in corporate world too in Australia which is still to be reported, locals will become a choice at the time of hiring thus creating more opportunities for them.
Another point to ponder upon is that with Chinese students in majority why only Indian students are being targeted? It could be because of the increasing influence of Indians around the globe. Recently India has been challenging Australian supremacy in many fields whether it is cricket or nuclear fuel availability model which may trigger a feeling of hatred amongst the common man. May be Chinese students were also victims of such attacks and their voices got suppressed by the louder outcry of Indians. The recent rally by Indian students in Australia to protest against these attacks was hugely joined by other international students, which proved that they were also victims of such incidents and this time they got a platform to raise their voices too.
However, a matter that must be scrutinized more closely is that, why are the Indians only attacked worldwide? These attacks are not particular to Australia and are not happening or the first time. Similar attacks happened in December, 2001. Students have faced racial discrimination in UK, USA etc. so is it really racism that drives this hatred or something else? Many of the reasons I stated above can also be generalized to other countries. Another reason could be that maybe Indians themselves take their manners for granted and do not behave as they are expected to. For eg in Germany if you do not address a person with respect during your conversation, they will simply walk away from you. You cannot call that racism; just that it’s their culture of giving respect and taking it back. Similarly, Indians who are not fluent in use of ‘excuse me’, ‘thankyou’ and ‘sorry’ do not get much appreciation from the Australians. Inappropriate use might be the reason they end up in bad books. And it must be understood that this is not exactly what one can call racism! Care has to be taken to behave like a Roman when you’re in Rome. This is something which we pretty much must learn in our life. Indians continue to interfere in other’s personal works not realizing that though it might be appreciated in their home country, the same is not liked in these countries where much emphasis is laid upon independence.
It must not be forgotten that these condemnable acts do not necessarily reflect the perception of the first world society as a whole. Reason and rationality are slumbering but not non-existent. Every country has its share of cantankerous, fanatic masses. This, however, does not imply that every Australian is against every Indian or vice-versa. However, it cannot be argued that the Australian government needs to try and find out a solution to this problem. Though it has tightened security, and is trying to create awareness among student, much this alone wouldn’t suffice. Such feelings mostly stem from fear and inability to accept a foreigner in one’s own land, but with the world turning into a global village, something must be done to remove this menace from its roots. The Government must link all the incidents together in order to find out the root cause of the problem, whether it’s a conspiracy or mere discrete incidents. Also they should try to find out what is causing these incidents. Is there any outrage growing in local students or the feel of insecurity is causing this? Or is just an after affect of the meltdown that has rendered the native Australians jobless only to find that the suitable jobs have been occupied by Indians?