Multiculturalism is not working

and it is time to stop believing it does. 

Downunder is supposed to be "the most successful multicultural country in the world". We supposedly live in a "diverse and harmonious" country too.

I think yesterday showed otherwise and there is likely more to come. What happened outside the Opera House was unacceptable. What some others had to say about it was unacceptable. Yes, there is a right to protest in this country but that right does not include the right to do harm.  Harm was done yesterday. What was said was unacceptable.

While I was worrying about friends in Israel, about people who tell me things like they are "safe but not okay"  there were people "celebrating" the harm being done. They were celebrating death and destruction. They were celebrating mass murder. Why? They want to see an end to Israel.

Our smallest state is about 68,000km square. Israel is about 22,000km square. The Gaza strip, at around 360km square, is about half the size of our nation's capital. They are not big places. 

The Gaza strip is one of the most densely populated places on earth - deliberately so. It has been described to me as "one of the most valuable pieces of land terrorists could hope for. They hold their own hostage."  The person telling me that was an aid worker. 

Of course there are problems in those places, problems which deeply concern many people.They concern me. Those problems do not give me the right to go out into the streets of this country shouting vile words against others. They do not give me the right to threaten violence or revenge. I find it appalling that some "Greens" politicians actively support these protests and have actually condemned the government and opposition for raising their voices in concern at what is going on. It is alarming to find that police are not intervening when threats are made. The idea that this is in any way something to do with being a "multicultural" society is something I do not understand at all. 

I have no problem with families continuing some cultural traditions in their own homes. Middle Cat married into the Greek-Cypriot community. They have their own traditions, although less so now than before. The women now dress differently, Greek is not spoken as widely as it once was and the children do not attend religious services on a weekly basis, if at all. There is less animosity towards the Turks than there was in my childhood. Greek-Cypriots here would like to see Cyprus united again but they would oppose violence in order to achieve it.  

The difference between all this and the tensions between Muslims and Jews is stark. I have friends on both sides. None of them support violence. They go to mosque and synagogue. They are teaching their children to do the same but what is sometimes said in those places concerns them.  In the library recently one of the mothers told me, "We no longer go to Friday prayers. My husband is afraid our sons might become radicalised."  It made me wonder what was being said there.  

In our supposedly "multicultural" country the imam has the freedom to "guide" his congregation to support the present violence. That can take precedence over peaceful co-existence here but not all imams condone violence. In the synagogue, a place I have been to more than once, I have heard the rabbi trying not to condemn violence while still trying to support his own flock. For both groups what is going on half a world away is as important, if not more so, than what is going on here. There will be exhortations to condemn inside both groups by those who live here but love elsewhere.  If this is how "multiculturalism" works then it is not working at all.