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More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of multicultural education in today's society
What is the importance of multicultural education
The importance of multicultural education in today's society
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Australian’s multicultural mentality is a disguise for the racism undermining our society, Kate Doherty investigates.
Does the 2008 ‘Sorry’ speech by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd surface when the words ‘racism’ and ‘Australia’ are mentioned in a singular sentence?
The historically momentous apology, which so proudly united both Aboriginal and White Australia, is one that is thought to have eradicated the flagrant ‘r’ word from Australian society for good. But once these buoyant headlines slipped from front-page, breaking news to brief updates on the occasional gossip column, so did our resolve to quell our prejudicial nature, so deeply ingrained in our history and mentality.
Australia’s reputation as a relaxed, easy-going culture in modern society is one that is well known worldwide. Boasting one of the largest and most popular tourism industries and attracting millions of tourists annually, our claims of
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This ignorance, promoted by many of Australia’s most prominent figures, is reflected throughout our society as a rooted and unquestioned attitude. Former Prime ministers John Howard (in 2005) and Kevin Rudd (in 2010) have both dismissed the existence that “there is underlying racism in this country”, believing that “racism is not at work in Australia”. Even following numerous attacks on Indian exchange students, the Australian Government was quick to dismiss the contingency of racism as a contributing factor towards why these young victims were targeted.
Our own Government has even previously endorsed racism. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party in the late 1990s enjoyed nationwide support for her racist policies, revealing Australia’s deeply-entrenched racial angst.
Resonating in political debates and policies for years onwards, Hanson’s populist rhetoric has noticeably impacted on our current racial tone, spawning a number of Clive Palmer-esque tirades from public figures and general members of
The 2014 Walkley Award winning documentary, "Cronulla Riots: the day that shocked the nation" reveals to us a whole new side of Aussie culture. No more she’ll be right, no more fair go and sadly no more fair dinkum. The doco proved to all of us (or is it just me?) that the Australian identity isn’t really what we believe it to be. After viewing this documentary
Both Keating’s and Rudd’s speeches are firmly based on the ideas of recognition and reconciliation for the wrongs that European settlers, and their decedents, have inflicted on Indigenous Australians. To explore this idea I believe that it is necessary to take a closer look at both the plight of Eddie Mabo and the stories of the Stolen Generation.
Summary of Text: ‘The Redfern Address’ is a speech that was given to a crowd made up of mainly indigenous Australians at the official opening of the United Nations International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Redfern Park, New South Wales. This text deals with many of the challenges that have been faced by Indigenous Australians over time, while prompting the audience to ask themselves, ‘How would I feel?’ Throughout the text, Keating challenges the views of history over time, outlines some of the outrageous crimes committed against the Indigenous community, and praises the indigenous people on their contribution to our nation, despite the way they have been treated.
...ndigenous recognition and the removal of racist remarks has been an on-going theme for a vast majority of time. The necessity of Constitutional reform to close the gap on cultural divide as well as support the on-going concept of reconciliation is essential in ensuring Australia continues to improve and nurture its relationship with Indigenous peoples. The process of amendment through referendum has proven to be problematic in the past, with the success rate exceptionally low. Though with key factors such as bi-partisan support, widespread public knowledge and correct management, the alteration to remove racial discrimination and provide recognition for Indigenous persons within the Constitution is highly achievable. If proposed and eventually passed, this will provide assistance in eliminating many of the cultural gaps Indigenous persons face throughout society.
In its broadest sense ‘Reconciliation’ is the Australian term that refers to the unity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. To support reconciliation means working to overcome the separation and inequality between all Australians (Australia, n.d.). In 1992, then Prime Minister Paul Keating, delivered the Redfern Park speech that publically acknowledged European soldiers were responsible for many crimes against Indigenous communities, "We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice (Government, 1992)." Since 1993, Reconciliation Week is a national event that celebrates a positive and respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It enables all Australians to close the gaps, and to achieve a shared sense of fairness and justice. The ultimate goal of the week is to build a strong and trusting relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and other Australians, as a foundation for success and to enhance national wellbeing (Australia, n.d.). However, this advocacy for Indigenous rights and recognition was advanced be civil right activists in the 1950’s and 1960’s. One significant activist from this period and until her death in 1993 was Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Oodgeroo Noonuccal has significantly contributed to the civil rights of the Indigenous people in Australia due to her tireless campaigning to educate non-Indigenous Australians and enact political change that would not only recognize Indigenous Australian and Torres Strait Islander people within the census but further understand their rich and diverse culture. Noonuccal’s contribution can be seen through her significa...
“Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human History. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians” (apology by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, 16th November 2009, Parliament House, Canberra.)
Within Australia, beginning from approximately the time of European settlement to late 1969, the Aboriginal population of Australia experienced the detrimental effects of the stolen generation. A majority of the abducted children were ’half-castes’, in which they had one white parent and the other of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent. Following the government policies, the European police and government continued the assimilation of Aboriginal children into ‘white’ society. Oblivious to the destruction and devastation they were causing, the British had believed that they were doing this for “their [Aborigines] own good”, that they were “protecting” them as their families and culture were deemed unfit to raise them. These beliefs caused ...
It is right to say that institutional racism has gradually manifested in Britain throughout the 20th to the 21st century in examples provided above. But the changes in society through laws and regulations have sought to challenge this theory.
Australia is known globally as a multicultural nation, however Australia’s government has gone through a lot of changes in its policies to be where it is today as a nation. World events and global catastrophes have shaped these policies that had been implemented in both positive and negative ways. 1945 was the year in Australia’s history that migration started to become a prominent part of politics and how Australia was as a nation. Some well-known policies that were introduced were The White Australia Policy and the ‘Populate or Perish’ Policy. From 1945 to present day Australia’s immigration policies have changed and shaped Australia as one nation and it is still changing today. These policies changed and are changing by the government assessing
Are Aboriginal people a marginalised group within Australian society? Is the lack of self-determination a direct result of colonisation and subsequent treatment of Aboriginal people? Is institutional racism rife amongst Australian society? According to Hollinsworth (2010, pp. 1-11) racism and marginalisation is present in all aspects of Aboriginal society, stating that examples exist from schooling, accommodation to life expectancy. Marginalisation is also explored by Reynolds (2005, pp 31-36) showing that self-determination and reclaiming of Aboriginal culture will assist in healing the cultural trauma. Involvement of Aboriginal communities with key decision making processes, particularly in relation to educational framework, has wide support
It is impossible to measure. On one hand the Cronulla riots and the racial attack on Aboriginal football player, Adam Goodes, plagues Australian headlines. On the other hand, there is Australia’s cohesive, multi-cultural society that has high rates of successful immigration. It is evident that there is genuine acceptance of multi-culturalism and according to the Australian Human Rights Commission, Australia has resettled more than 800,000 refugees and displaced persons since 1945. This causes Australia to consistently rank in the world’s top three resettlement countries. Therefore, the spectrum of racism in Australia is large and diverse, nevertheless, it does
Since I have arrived here at Lambing Flats, nothing has changed. I am still facing the same discrimination I have been for a while and I am still judged every day under their harsh eyes. It seems as if all of Australia is against us. They publish mean cartoons about us (See Appendix 1) that poke fun, no, not just poke - disrespect and make fun of us in every way. They make fun of the way we talk, walk, dress and look! Half of these things are out of my control, so what am I meant to do? I have heard that in places other than here, we are actually accepted. Well, at least not discriminated against. In Cooktown and Cairns, we are accepted, and there is still gold there too! Even in other places other than here, not everyone discriminates against
When I spoke to relatives from overseas, I was the “Australian” but when it came to life in Australia, very little of me did I see in the media, the government and on TV. Constantly bombarded with the phrase “go back to where you come from”, my sense of citizenship was often compromised. And I never had one of those name tag key rings. Ever. With this lack of representation, there came a lack of positive role models, further contributing to this sheltered and hindered sense of identity and citizenship. Contrarily from distributed surveys, I found that my Christian counterparts did not feel villianised within the media, government or TV, however, too identified a lack of Christian representation, particularly on TV. Despite this lack of representation - 80% of Christians surveyed responded that they belonged to the Australian identity. Alongside identity, Islam was further presented in national and international media in a significant time of conflict within Australia’s history; The Cronulla riots. My content analysis of a transcript of Alan Jones’s commentary on the riots identified that nearly every single statement made was on the negative regarding Islam, and over 5% of the words themselves were profanity or derogatory contrary to the ACMA radio regulation of no curse words or profanity. In correlation to the release of Sydney’s top radio charts, 2GB took the lead in 2005 - the year of the
As global surveys have come to reveal, Australia is among one of the most desired countries of migration (Peace, A 2015, p. 239). To this effect, it is without doubt that Australia’s international image is that of multicultural harmony and prosperity. Broadly speaking, these assessments are correct (Habibis, D & Walter, M 2015, p. 8). However, they only demonstrate a very superficial understanding of the social realities of Australia. Beneath the façade of social cohesion, xenophobia and structural disadvantage sometimes seem only just below the surface of everyday life. This paper will thus argue that multiculturalism, as defined in the Australian context, can underpin social inequality for particular ethnic groups. In this paper, the implications
Pauline Hanson, the leader of the One Nation political party is a clear example that racism exists and that politicians encourage racial discrimination. On the One Nation website itself, it state that “One Nation will abolish multiculturalism and the Racial Discrimination Act” and that “loyalty to Australia and Australian Nationalism must come first”. Hanson expressed that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Asians” in 1996. Hanson expressed that Australia was in danger of being “swamped by Muslims” in 2016. She had voiced that there should be an end to South African immigration to Australia because “they’ve got AIDS” and are “no benefit to this country whatsoever”. Hanson is an advocate for a Muslim ban and she had also stated that Islam is a “disease”, which Australia needs to “vaccinate” against. Yet, she has the audacity to say that she has never said anything racist ever. However, you shouldn’t expect anything less from a white Australian who clearly hasn’t experience much racial discrimination whatsoever. Imagine travelling to the other side of the world on a tiny speck of dust across the vicious, turbulent sea after escaping bloodshed and explosions. Imagine being ripped away from your parents as the only means to survive. Since 2013, the Australian government ban asylum seekers who come from boat to seek refuge in our country. In the Universal