Spotlight on Migrants

Several years ago, I had to stay for some days at a hotel in Adelaide, Australia. At the hotel reception, during the day sat an elderly white Australian woman, and in the evening sat a young Indian man. That elderly woman simply could not tolerate the presence of the young Indian. After a few days, I realised the real reason behind her anger. The Indian youth had got the job for which her son-in-law had also been a candidate.

Her son-in-law had not been selected. The elderly woman told me, “Indians are coming to this country and taking away all our jobs.” Something very similar was conveyed just a few days ago through several protest rallies held in different Australian cities under the banner of “March for Australia.” Large gatherings were organised in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and other cities. In Sydney, between 5,000 and 8,000 people, many draped in the national flag, assembled near the city’s marathon route.

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The flyers for the rallies particularly highlighted Indian-origin residents, who now make up more than 3 per cent of the population. A pre-event Facebook post also singled out Indians. Census data shows that between 2013 and 2023, the number of Indians in Australia doubled, reaching about 845,800. As a counter-response, the Refugee Action Coalition organised rival rallies attended by hundreds. What are the core demands of the March for Australia organisers?

At the protest in Melbourne, a neo-Nazi figure, Thomas Sewell, said bluntly: “If we do not stop immigration, then our death is certain.” At the Sydney rally, a participant, Glenn Allchin, said: “It’s about our country bursting at the seams and our government bringing more and more people in. Our kids struggling to get homes, our hospitals ~ we have to wait seven hours ~ our roads, the lack of roads.”

Immigration has indeed now become a burning issue across the globe. In the big multinational states, many of the white citizens cannot at all tolerate immigrants arriving from different parts of the globe. Often politicians win elections and come to power by exploiting this anti-immigration sentiment. In Australia, however, what is exceptional is that neither the ruling party nor the opposition welcomed the rise of these neo-Nazis. All of them spoke in favour of a multicultural Australia.

For instance, Federal Labour minister Murray Watt told Sky News: “We absolutely condemn the March for Australia rally that’s going on today; it’s not about increasing social harmony. We don’t support rallies like this that are about spreading hate and that are about dividing our community.” Dr Anne Aly, minister for multicultural affairs, said: “We stand with all Australians, no matter where they were born, against those who seek to divide us and who seek to intimidate migrant communities.

We will not be intimidated. This brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism has no place in modern Australia.” Federal opposition leader Sussan Ley posted a video ahead of the rallies, saying: “There is no place for violence, racism or intimidation. Whether incited from afar or stirred up here, we cannot let hatred and fear tear at our social cohesion.” The true original inhabitants of Australia are, in fact, the Aboriginal people, who are now called the First Nations People.

From this perspective, even the neo-Nazis who today oppose immigration are not indigenous to this land. The Australia we see today is actually a new country, built through the labour, cooperation, and solidarity of people who came from outside. Hence, it is only natural that Australia’s political leaders would question the “love of country” professed by the neo-Nazis. At this point, one may certainly ask: how many immigrants can a country accommodate? The principal argument being advanced by the March for Australia organisers is related to this question as well.

They are saying that outsiders are laying claim to the nation’s resources. But they are not targeting the illegal immigrants only. They are protesting against Australia’s immigration policy as a whole. There is at least a certain rationale in identifying illegal entrants and removing them. But when people who have migrated lawfully are singled out and hatred is spread against them, that is highly unfortunate and divisive. At a time when the world is gradually moving towards becoming borderless, drawing tighter and tighter borders will never do any good to a state.

If a state cannot provide jobs or services equally to all its citizens, the solution cannot be to prevent lawful migrants from entering that country. That would be like trying to push the world back to the middle ages. This is just as unfortunate as the stance taken by some regarding climate change. They say that the best solution is to kill half the world’s population in order to take the Earth back to its former state. In fact, closing borders cannot solve the problem of immigration. The solution lies in the just and thoughtful use of a nation’s total resources.

Another thing that has become clear from the March for Australia rallies is that multiculturalism itself is being questioned worldwide today. Theorists often ask whether, despite its theoretical correctness, multiculturalism has failed in practical application. Even if we admit that multiculturalism has not been entirely successful across the globe, it must also be said that till date no alternative policy has been found that is as acceptable as multiculturalism. For all its flaws and incompleteness, multiculturalism remains the philosophy that promotes mutual respect and harmony among communities.

It teaches us to respect diversity without breeding separatism. The alternative to multiculturalism cannot, by any means, be rabid nationalism. Extreme nationalism, in the final analysis, is suicidal. Therefore, multicultural countries must strive to translate the ideals of multiculturalism ~ equality and mutual respect ~ into policy in such a way that no community feels it is being treated unfairly. Needless to say, at the same time political leaders must adopt a firm stance against every kind of neo-Nazism. The world cannot be allowed to walk backward again.

(The writer is Professor, Department of English and Culture Studies, and Director, Centre for Australian Studies, the University of Burdwan)