In recent years there have been calls from community leaders across Australia to make amendments to Australia’s Racial Vilification Act, with some arguing certain aspects of it should be modified to promote freedom of speech, while others contend the Act does not do enough to protect certain groups from racism. In March 2014, Attorney-General George Brandis announced plans to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Vilification Act, which makes in unlawful to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin. Although these plans were later repealed by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, following a backlash from citizens and distinguished politicians a like, with Bill Shorten stating that the proposed changes were a “colossal mistake”, the debate has continued, not just in Australia but …show more content…
There are other exemptions to the act including it being subject to freedom of expression, whereby in certain instances where expressions that fall under the definition of racial hatred do not constitute racial hatred because the person who carried out the act did so reasonably and in good faith. Academic and scientific works, art and debates or comments on matters of public interest are generally exempt along with the media who are able to publish reports on racially offensive behaviour, because such information is published in good faith without the intent to
Racism exists at all levels of Australian society but Australians are in denial. It is entrenched in our institutions. The life expectancy of an Aboriginal is still more than a decade less than that of any other Australians. Many Australians believe that racism is no longer an issue in Australia. As Kevin Rudd famously stated in 2010, “I do not believe that racism is at work in Australia.” Is Australia still a racist nation, or is it hidden behind its friendly mask of a multicultural mentality? Sociologist Max Millis investigates.
When things have commenced are they able to come to a halt? Many people in this world wonder
Stan Grant’s speech ‘Racism and the Australian Dream’ (2015) effectively reminds the Australian population of the racism and harsh inequalities indigenous Australians have faced in the past and still face today. In reminding us of this reality, Grant engages us to discover issues of civic participation in Aboriginal people and in doing so perpetuates a need for social change. More?
Throughout history in America there has always been the idea of racism. When Americans think of racism, they usually think of slavery and that racism is no longer a problem in America. However, this is not the case. Racism is still very apparent in America. It is true that since the end of slavery, the U.S. has made great strides towards becoming a less racist country. In reality, racism will never be extinct. In today’s society, all American citizens of all races have the same rights as one another, yet there is still racism. Racism can be linked directly to stereotypical mindsets of certain groups of people. It is human nature to make conclusions about other people, this is what leads to racism. Today’s racism is not limited to whites
In a recent article authored by Alice Pung, a first generation Australian of Southeast Asian parents, titled ‘Living with Racism in Australia (Pung 2016), Alice details key points within her (and her families) life revolving around their migration from Cambodia to Australia. Within this she touches on, albeit briefly however still illustrating her point quite clearly, immigration, race/racism, assimilation, ethnic minorities, ethnic conflict and social cohesion.
We all know Australia is an amazing place where approximately everyone is laid back ( to some degree , it has a worthy parliamentary system as you do not need royal blood to be a leader, and you get paid considerably more compared to other countries. Although this continent is unfortunately not perfect as, in Australia there are two main types of racism. Aboriginal racism and multicultural racism. Racism is a terrible force as it has destroyed lives with verbal and physical abuse because they are of a different race. So we must change our ways. Examples of the soul crushing creature known formally as Racism are shown in the story "Tri" by Francs Echin and "Fifties Australia" by Phillip Knightley.
The inherent malleability of section 51(xxvi) of the Constitution, also known as the ‘race power’, suggests the continuing historical and institutional racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. To overcome discriminatory laws to be passed against Indigenous Australians and to allow the advancement of their situation, it is necessary to amend the race power. This article will propose the amendment of s 51(xxvi) to only allow beneficial laws to be passed with regards to Indigenous Australians, the replacement of s 51(xxvi) with an anti-discrimination power and the replacement of s 51(xxvi) with a new head of power with respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These proposals will be analysed considering the judgements in Kartinyeri v Commonwealth and the recommendations made by the Referendum Council.
Before 1975 there were innumerable instances of vilification, almost applauded. Singh is convinced that freedom of speech must be regulated, publicizing that “people have a right to have freedom from racial vilification” and that anything which dissimilar to this fundamental entitlement is an “unacceptable and wrong” substitute (Blacktown Sun, 2015). Ironically, the fact that Brandis and his supporters believes the law diminishes freedom of expression and speech, where people cannot “say what they like”, is dismissed by the provisions enlisted under Section18D of the Racial Discrimination Act. As newly appointed Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane argues, “often it is forgotten that the fundamental value of free speech is explicitly protected by
A few years ago in Smalltown, CA a burning cross was placed in the lawn of a visible minority family. Although the media seemed shocked at this explicit racial attack and portrayed the attackers as a group of abnormal, twisted deviants, I was not surprised. As an Asian student who is writing her Sociology honours thesis on visible minorities in Canada, I know on a personal and academic level that racism in Canada does exist. Although explicit racial incidents are not a common occurrence, they do happen. Here at school, a visible minority student left the school when a car sped past her, while the young men inside shouted racial slurs. Two weeks ago The school paper published an article about a group of
It’s been more than two years since Senator George Brandis announced that people had the right to be bigots, and Tony Abbott was forced to back down from abolishing section 18C following outrage from ethnic and minority groups.
Introduced in 2007, former Prime Minister John Howard argued the case that the intervention was to protect Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory from family violence and sexual abuse (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2016). It was and still is, an ideological program that took away basic human rights and the control and self-determination from a specific group of Australian citizens. It was so radical in its approach that it required the Australian Government to suspend the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. The government argued the need of economic dispossession and cultural assimilation, claiming that Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory were dysfunctional, uncivilised and depraved, with government ministers going as far to describe them as ‘living hell-holes’ and ‘failed societies’ (Slocum and Saldanha, 2013 p. 229). The intervention made significant changes to welfare provisions, land rights, and introduced restrictions to alcohol and pornography as well as a range of other measures.
As we enter the 21st century, complex issues such as terrorism, immigration, multiculturalism, and social cohesion have brought about a significant amount controversy and an abundance of emotive rhetoric within Australian society. The fact that these issues have been politicised around a number of elections has bought these matters to the forefront of public discussion, but rather than appealing to the publics sense of compassion, the issues have been approached
Feinberg posited that harm cannot shoulder all necessary work for free speech and suggested that an offense principle be introduced (van Mill, 2002). Offense implies lighter ‘harm’ than harm itself and so the penalties should be less severe than those for causing harm. He says that offense takes place if three of the criteria are present: “one is offended when a) one suffers a disliked state, b) one attributes that state to the wrongful conduct of another, and c) resents the other for his role in bringing one to that state.” (Feinberg, 1985). The problem with offense is, it is very difficult to ascertain which expressive acts is offensive to anyone. In a multi-racial, multi-cultural society like Australia, anything can be considered offensive to another group of
Throughout this course we have learned about many things, one in particular would be Racism. We have learned about many different types of racism along with examples of racism. Before I go into specific examples of racism that I have learn about in this class, I will first define and explain the differences between racism, prejudice or also known as bias, discrimination, race, and racist so there 's a clear understanding of why I picked the specific examples. The definition of racism that we learned in class would be an “Institutionalized system with disproportionate unjust outcomes for a particular race”. Prejudice or also known as bias was defined as “A negative feeling, opinion, or attitude toward a certain category or people” this would be an feeling with no action acted upon, where discrimination is defined as “Action or inaction toward a category of people” which would be acting on the negative feelings or opinions of a certain group. The definition for race is a “Social construct, but a lived reality” while a racist is “Discrimination based on the category of race”. (Disadvantage privilege notes, 2016)
For many years now the people in power or “whites” have passed laws so that other racial groups are kept at the bottom of the social hierarchy. These racial group that are kept at the bottom become racialized and oppressed therefore they become unequal to the people that are at the top of this hierarchy. The racial groups that are kept at the bottom vary from the Native-Americans to the Mexican-Americans and obviously the African-Americans. In this essay I will be comparing how the racialization process has been similar and different between these racial groups. I will also define race and racialization. Furthermore, I will explain how class, gender, sexuality, and citizenship has impacted the racialization process within these groups.