Hindus are upset! They demand Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to publicly apologize over the underlying racist attitudes in Australia against ‘others’ as exhibited in the recent ‘no Indians’ offensive job advertisement from Coles.
Australia / NationalTurk – The ad, reportedly appearing on Gumtree website, declared about ‘Positions available for experienced cleaners in supermarket’ at a Coles supermarket store in Hobart, but added ‘Store requires no indians’.
Established in 1914, Coles is said to be Australia’s second-biggest chain with over 13 million weekly customers and over 750 stores. It was one of the official sponsors for Australian Olympics Team.
Australia racism against indians rise
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed said in a statement that it was highly disturbing to note that such racist attitudes still existed in 21st century Australia, a culturally diverse society now. The ‘others’ had contributed greatly to the Australian economy, academia and business despite such apparent ‘barriers’, Zed expressed.
Rajan Zed, President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted that anti-racism initiatives were immediately required in Australia and it needed to do deep introspection of its heart and be kind to immigrants, minorities, indigenous people, and other vulnerable groups. Gillard’s public apology would send a strong message against xenophobia.
Rajan Zed argued that Australia seemed to be lacking in human rights culture and it needed to do a lot to become a fully civilized society and to stay competitive globally. It still reportedly did not have a charter of rights and its human rights framework needed an urgent reform.
Zed noted that there had been various incidents of racist violence against Indians in the recent past. In 2011, a popular radio host reportedly termed Hindus’ holy river Ganga as ‘junkyard’ and India a ‘shit hole’, thus belittling the global Indian community entirely.
Australia Racism against Indians and Hinduism
In 2011, inappropriate displaying of an image of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi on swimwear at a Sydney fashion show and depiction of highly revered Hindu deities Lord Ganesh, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu in “Ganesh Versus the Third Reich” play in Melbourne caused heavy protests.
Hindus and Jews had asked Queensland to treat all major religions evenly in the past, according to whose Education Act, “Instruction…may be given in State primary and special schools during school hours in selected Bible lessons.”
Rajan Zed’s requests to read opening prayers in Australia House of Representatives, Tasmania House of Assembly and Victoria Legislative Assembly in the past were denied, where Lord’s Prayer, a well-known prayer in Christianity, was read regularly.
A report by Australia Human Rights Commission, a statutory organization that reports to the federal Australian Parliament, in the past highlighted “a lack of constitutional protection against racial discrimination in Australia” and talked about “absence of any entrenched guarantee against racial discrimination that would override the law of the Commonwealth”. Battle against racism would need effective solutions, amends, compensation, rights recognition, public education programs, etc., at various levels besides developing a “bill of rights” as a high-priority, Zed added.
A highly developed country and with the second-highest human development index, Commonwealth of Australia ranks as one of the best places in the world to live. Sixth-largest in the world, this country of kangaroo and koala is known for its natural beauty and drunken sobs and has the longest continuous cultural history. Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Governor-General Quentin Bryce, is head of state. Ian McLeod is Managing Director of Coles.
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Rajan Zed should be informed that though we may have the odd problem in Australia, just like everybody else, we don’t need to censor the internet to stop our people killing minorities.
If he really is concerned about human rights, he should try looking at the Amnesty International Report for his country, looking at the Amnesty Report for Australia, then comparing the two. He could also try googling for a Human Rights Watch report entitled “Hidden Apartheid”.