SYDNEY, Australia — As everywhere, people are worried in Australia about coronavirus. The number of cases and deaths in Australia is much lower compared with the USA. Partly it is because of our geography, party because of measures implemented by the Government, in particular, border closure. Because of it Chinese officials call us racists. They cancelled several trade deals and told their youths to abandon Australian universities where large numbers of Chinese students studied prior to the pandemic.
Strict social distancing rules were implemented and it helped in containing virus, These rules were completely ignored when meetings supporting the BLM movement started. The local context was support for Aboriginals (native Australians), who, in the eyes of the BLM supporters, were colonized by “the whites. “The result was a significant spike in the new coronavirus cases.
Our protests were peaceful with no properties damaged or people killed. A number of Captain Cook statues were desecrated. Cook discovered Australia more than 230 years ago and spent here one week . A Green Party member of Parliament said (one of his staff allegedly participated in the desecration and now faces charges) – “.. you should be ashamed because Cook is a symbol of whites, who occupied Australia”.
My grandson is 8 and attends a Jewish school. Recently he told me that they studied how “whites took Aboriginal land.” I asked the teacher about the role of het Irish, Poles, Russians, Italians and other whites in Australia colonization. I also said that slavery and colonialism is wrong but 300 years ago it was a way of life. Mankind subsequently developed, slavery was abolished, former colonies are now independent. Many Whites were killed in WW2 when they fought against Hitler’s regime that considered Blacks (not to mention Jews) as sub-humans. She explained that they teach in accordance with the educational authorities’ direction.
More examples of our “progressive” initiatives include voices to rename state the State of Victoria because Queen Victoria should be seen as a symbol of colonialism. Radio channel ABC recently called the chess game “racist” because whites always go first. One of my friends is from Colombia, the country. She told me that people there are worried that “some idiots” (her expression) in the USA want to rename it because the country’s name derives from Columbus.
I spoke with many people and all agreed that portraying all Whites as racists, bigots and supporters of White supremacy is wrong. It is especially dangerous for the Jews because of traditional anti-Semitism and because in Australia (and in the USA) Jews are mainly Whites.
Equally dangerous is inaction of authorities towards stopping violence and destruction. Here is what former U.S. President Barack Obama said in response to the riot in Baltimore in 2015: “It’s not a protest, it’s not a statement. It’s people taking advantage of a situation for their own purposes and they need to be treated as criminals” This statement remains valid today.*
Alex Glikin, a retired information technology specialist, is a freelance writer based in Sydney, Australia.
2 thoughts on “Australia also feels the impact of coronavirus, BLM movement”
Tanya Ryvchin
Thank you, Alex, for a very calm and sensible view on what is going on in Australia. Unfortunately, the brainwashing starts even earlier, at a pre-school level. At that age, they believe everything they are told and don’t question their teachers. We’ve seen many examples in not so ancient history of what was happening in the countries with a powerful propaganda machine. I am not even mentioning how this affects Jews… Many people forget that history is cyclical and that defacing and demolishing monuments, banning books and films is not just vandalism but is an ideology, something much more sinister and destructive. Unfortunately, in Australia university professors are bullied and sacked if they dare to express the views different to the trendy leftist views. Even school students are punished with low marks if they dare to think differently.
Well, Alex, it’s a very touchy subject for me but what I really wanted to say was that it’s a good piece and please keep on writing! I hope this comment is published, unlike the previous one. I tried hard not to offend Mr B. Ticker or the SDJW Editor with my comments. Apparently even on this level views different to “mainstream” are not welcome.
Roman
Unfortunately, some people are mentally blind and don’t want to see basic things,
so, Alex, please keep trying to open their eyes and help them to see what’s happening
around them the right way.
Thank you, Alex, for a very calm and sensible view on what is going on in Australia. Unfortunately, the brainwashing starts even earlier, at a pre-school level. At that age, they believe everything they are told and don’t question their teachers. We’ve seen many examples in not so ancient history of what was happening in the countries with a powerful propaganda machine. I am not even mentioning how this affects Jews… Many people forget that history is cyclical and that defacing and demolishing monuments, banning books and films is not just vandalism but is an ideology, something much more sinister and destructive. Unfortunately, in Australia university professors are bullied and sacked if they dare to express the views different to the trendy leftist views. Even school students are punished with low marks if they dare to think differently.
Well, Alex, it’s a very touchy subject for me but what I really wanted to say was that it’s a good piece and please keep on writing! I hope this comment is published, unlike the previous one. I tried hard not to offend Mr B. Ticker or the SDJW Editor with my comments. Apparently even on this level views different to “mainstream” are not welcome.
Unfortunately, some people are mentally blind and don’t want to see basic things,
so, Alex, please keep trying to open their eyes and help them to see what’s happening
around them the right way.