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Post by Chips on Jun 9, 2008 12:54:39 GMT 9.5
Racism a default position As an Afrikaner who has lived in Australia and who will be moving to Sydney in a few months, I fear Lisa Pryor is correct ("The African migrants who fear a lower standard of living in Australia", June 6-7). If you listen to white South Africans around barbecues and on forums devoted to the Great Trek to Australia, there is all too often a not-too-implicit undertone replete with racist invective.
I would like to think we have learnt our lesson about racism, but I suspect it becomes a ready default position, used to build a sense of community, to create an easy scapegoat for why we moved from there and a tacit hope that Australians will share this trait.
Not all of us are like this, of course, and I hope one day Saffers will stop feeling the need to recreate little enclaves wherever they move. My hope is the ones who move here will learn to be Australians first, then Afrikaners and then South Africans, rather than fetishising difference and continually "othering" anything that doesn't fit neatly into our parochial interests.
Pieter Fourie Auckland Park (South Africa)
Well said Pieter
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Post by Chips on Jun 10, 2008 12:50:04 GMT 9.5
Not all racists
As a South African who recently moved to Sydney I can't let Lisa Pryor's column ("The African migrants who fear a lower standard of living in Australia", June 7-8) pass without a response. Pryor concedes that all migrant groups "develop a reputation, justified or not", but still has popular opinion brand most of us "brash, rude and racist".
Many of the South Africans who left the country after 1994 did so because, for the first time, they had the opportunity to work overseas, as my husband and I did. Not every South African in Australia is a racist, just as not every Australian is anti-Muslim or drives a Holden ute.
And certainly many white South Africans - back home and here - believe in a future for the complex but vibrant land of our birth. My skin may be pale, but I am an African who knows that the vast majority of my compatriots are peace-loving people who simply want to get on with their lives.
Libby Peacock Bondi Junction
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Post by Chips on Jun 11, 2008 11:45:28 GMT 9.5
Go on, kick a South African
Lisa Pryor's article ("The African migrants who fear a lower standard of living in Australia", June 6-7) has some truth in it, but she ignores issues that are a little closer to home. First, why are South Africans in Australia such favourite scapegoats? Unlike our Chinese, Korean, Italian, Greek and other foreign counterparts, we are expected not to retain but to denounce our heritage, forget about our values and start supporting the Wallabies within a week of entering the country. Forming "enclaves" is taboo, although plenty of other cultures seem to have their names written all over the street directory.
South Africans may have developed a brusqueness that offends the more relaxed sensibilities of Australians, but that has developed after years of knowing that if we don't do things for ourselves, no one else will. We move here to work hard towards promising futures in a country that we love, but should not be expected to love more than where we come from.
If Australia wasn't such an idyllic place, what would you do?
Anne Colenbrander Killarney Heights
Generally people move from the land of their birth because they see a greater opportunity in another land, just like I did back in 1971.
If you're not prepared to give your heart to a land that embraces you and takes you into its heart... then don't come. There are millions of people on this planet that would thankfully step into your shoes.
So Bugger off and give someone else a chance.
Did this Australian make that quite clear?
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