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Mr Hammer
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Frank was right dick stain.
ustralian Multiculturalism: the roots of its success
Dr Sev Ozdowski OAM
Director, Equity and Diversity, University of Western Sydney
Third International Conference on Human Rights Education: Promoting Change in Times of Transition and Crisis
The Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, 6-10 December 2012
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Introduction
Multiculturalism
Australian Multiculturalism
Conclusion
Abstract
Despite its racist past, high and diverse immigration and enormous cultural and religious diversity, contemporary Australia is a highly successful and well functioning multicultural society. The paper will analyse the reasons behind this success.
The paper starts with an examination of Australia’s history from early settlement, with special focus on Australia’s social justice ethos and egalitarianism, its initial reliance on mother England for migrants, economy, governance, culture, its self-imposed regional isolation and tight immigration controls.
The focus will then shift to the unique Australian culture that has emerged today, combining the elements of past and present. The paper will explore policies, institutions and laws that facilitated the development of modern Australia and its national character. Specific features of Australian multiculturalism are listed and discussed, including the open nature of Australian society, the significance of immigration controls and the evolution of the ‘fair go’ concept.
Finally, the paper will examine the key and sometimes unique factors that have made the success of Australian multiculturalism possible. Some of these factors may not be present in other societies, thus making advancement of social harmony difficult. Particular attention will be paid to Australian policy and legislative settings, as well as to the Australian education system, all of which focus on inclusion and equity, celebrating the values that bring all Australians together.
Introduction
Human rights are the basic norms that make a multicultural society possible. They are the secular standards that guide human interactions advancing dignity, mutual respect and equality.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp visited by the participants of the 3rd International Conference on Human Rights Education represents both a total denial of human rights and human diversity and a comprehensive failure of the multicultural ideal. People were murdered there because of their race, religion, politics, ethnic and national origins, sexual orientation, social status and other characteristics that are now typical of modern diversity.
The Auschwitz experience has underpinned the post World War II (WWII) resolve to build an international human rights system. The Auschwitz Museum has also an on-going educational value for all interested in the advancement of civil society.
This paper is about the success or otherwise of Australian multiculturalism.
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Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism - does it work?
Europe’s and Australia’s assessments of success of multiculturalism differ dramatically
Criticism of multiculturalism appears to be in fashion lately with some European leaders. In fact, in the recent past the heads of the three biggest European economies – Germany, France and the United Kingdom - have all come out against multiculturalism.
In October 2010 German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, started the ball rolling by making references to slow the integration of Turkish guest workers and declaring that multiculturalism in Germany had “failed utterly”. A few months later, the British Prime Minister David Cameron, using a speech to a security conference in Munich, drew a connection between Islamic extremism and British multiculturalism. The former French President Nicholas Sarkozy, however, delivered the harshest criticism, in February 2011. During a televised debate, he declared multiculturalism to be a failure and asserted that it is socially divisive and undermines the secular nature of French society and called for a renewed focus on France's “identity”.
To be fair, I need to acknowledge that these leaders’ assessments do not reflect the reality for all those in Europe who daily practice multiculturalism on the community level. Take, for example, European football, which is a good example of multiculturalism and racial integration in practice.
Australians see the workings of multiculturalism in rather different light from Europeans. To Australians, the European approach to multiculturalism all seems a matter of semantics or perhaps a victory of politics over policy. They view the European leaders’ attacks as being long on rhetoric and short on substance. They see their attacks as focussed more on the name ‘multiculturalism’ as descriptor of demographic change rather than as a policy of empowerment of different ethnic and cultural groupings. Australian critics of the European leaders’ statements would simply suggest that it is difficult to fail at something you never actually tried.
Although Australian multiculturalism has undergone some significant changes since it was adopted as government policy in 1970s, it is generally regarded as a successful undertaking clearly contributing the cohesion of Australian society.
Australian governments, both Labor and the Conservative, have supported it. Recently, for example, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said: “Multiculturalism is the word that we use
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