Edward Russell
The Syrian refugee crisis – it’s the buzz phrase on the street. Everybody is talking about it, not least the media. Its thanks to the media we have an idea of the scale of the issue – the image of Alan Kurdi, many more images of refugees pouring through the borders of Hungary, Serbia and Croatia, Germany’s yo-yo refugee policy, The European Union’s resolve being tested, and our (now former) Australian Prime Minister announcing that he was prepared to dip his toes into this precarious issue.
It’s a crisis that looks like having now clear-cut answer. With Australia vowing to lend a helping hand, is the act of processing 12,000 people enough? One can view it as “it’s a start”, treating the Australian government’s response to the crisis as the behaviour of a petulant, uncooperative child finally showing some leeway with his parents. With the deal being preferential in nature towards those of Christian descent, this can also be cause for ridicule. It pales in comparison to the two million that Turkey has taken in, or Lebanon’s one million. Even Iraq has more than 250,000 taken in.
Of course, it may be somewhat difficult for Turkey or Lebanon to control the numbers of Syrian refugees that enter their country, as they are its immediate neighbours. If, however, people are fleeing to Iraq in search of a better future, one imagines that they cannot be having the best of lives in Syria.
This article will not attempt to add to an already widely publicised issue – I have only covered the fundamental facts to help set the scene. Rather, it aims to shine a light on how some Australians view the plight of these unfortunate people and whether the views of some ring true with the cultural principles of the majority of Australians.
An acquaintance had shared a post from social media that was quite disturbing. It was from the radically patriotic Facebook group called “Stand Up For Australia.” Their group is described as “like-minded patriots, who organise rallies and get togethers, in order to preserve Australia for future generations.”
This description begs an important question: what type of Australia are they preserving? The one that increasingly resembles the United States, with pushes to privatise higher education, tax breaks for the wealthy and the highest rates of obesity per capita in the world? Doesn’t seem like a great deal to preserve. More importantly, whom are we preserving it from?
If you take one look at their page, you will realise who exactly these individuals are targeting:
Every contribution to the page is aimed towards Islamic people that reside in, or are aiming to reside in, Australia. The group aim to enhance the fact that those who follow the Islamic religion are those who are the main cause of society’s problems in Australia. They weigh in on topics such as Halal Certification, hostile passages listed in the Quran and an opposition to left-wing political agenda.
At a time when there is a worldwide crisis occurring with refugees, these people are also offering their own opinion on the debate:
Reading this vitriol makes me sick. These are the type of people who probably get plastered while in the metropolitan pubs and, most likely, feel the need to soak up that excess alcohol with a famous Middle-Eastern delicacy, the kebab. You cannot flick your views on and off like a light switch, wanting to stigmatise Islamic people while enjoying a kebab after having a big night out on the town – that’s double standards. This woeful group of humans, and others like it, are un-Australian in nature.
As a nation that has a history of displacing the original owners of this land, it’s our chance to offer the same opportunities we have to those who are fighting to arrive on our shores in search of a better life. The majority of us pride ourselves on being a multicultural country. Being the son of a migrant mother, I am proud of my rich and quirky heritage. One hopes that this is the view shared by most Australians, not by those who possess perennially sunburnt necks.
