The Diary of Fiona J McNally

Race Riots at Cronulla Beach

It seems appalling and bizarre to me that we have race riots in Sydney. It is the sort of thing one tends to equate with certain suburbs of Los Angeles and some parts of London. As a teenager I remember watching the LA race riots that were fuelled by the Rodney King beating and then the OJ Simpson trial. It seemed like something that would never be a part of Australian society.

I guess as more diverse religions and cultures gain stronger footholds in Australia, we can expect more acts of violence. South Africa is a modern day example of how radically different races don't seem to be able to get along with one another in a harmonious fashion.

The Lebanese people who beat the lifeguards are animals and should feel the full force of the law. The Australians who are out there dragging people off trains, including women and beating them, are also deplorable and ugly.

I do not feel however, that the recent remarks by a leading Muslim cleric, that women who dress in a certain way "ask to be raped" or the gangs of Muslim men who savagely raped young white Australian women and then blamed it on the fact that they weren't dressed in Islamic clothing, have done much for people's tolerance of Islam. Nor has the burning of the Australian flag on Cronulla Beach (an act which would probably be regarded as blasphemy under Islam and is I believe punishable by death In Iran), 9/11, Osama Bin Laden, Bali, Spain, the London bombings, Brixton race riots, the torching and murder of women in Islamic nations for adultery or other "disobedience" to male family members and the latest comments by Iran's leader that Israel is cancerous and that all Jews should be killed. If Islam is a religion of peace and harmony, then why are we seeing so much hatred and aggression and murder under its name? If it is just the "radical fundamentalist few", then why are there so many of them? And why aren't the non fundamentalists coming out on a larger scale and condemning such barbarous acts and showing their disgust that these atrocities are being committed under the name of their religion?

posted by Fiona McNally @ 12/13/2005 09:59:00 am