West European Studies

Australia, according to Harrison and Williamson, (2004), was colonized by the British. Aborigines were the first inhabitants of Australia they had lived in the country for a period of approximately over 60, 000 years before Britain declared the country as its colony (Harrison, and Williamson, 2004). The first British colonists, as Murphy (1993) asserts, set foot in Australia in 1788. The interests of the Europeans since entering Australia have had negative effects to the original inhabitants of the country. Immigrants from other parts of the world have also negatively affected the aborigines (Murphy, 1993).

The Australian society since then has been characterized by racism. Racism is a negative social aspect that denotes oppression of a minority group by a superior one. The ideology of racists is to try and associate social variations between people with their biological makeup. Biological characteristics, such as skin pigmentation in addition to origin are the main features used in discriminating a particular group (Jupp, 2001). This results in development of social inequality. The aborigines, as Harrison, and Williamson (2004) states, first experienced the effects of racism after their land was invaded by the British. The British treated the aborigines harshly a factor that resulted in development of aggression and hatred between these two groups. The effects of racism are so evident when the population of the aborigines is looked at. Before the Britain established Australia as its colony, the population of Australia was 100 Aborigines (Harrison, and Williamson, 2004). Currently, as Harrison, and Williamson (2004) states, the Aborigines are the minority group in Australia. The make up a total of less than 2 of the whole population. This is contrary to the number of people who have migrated from other parts of the world and settled in Australia. Murphy (1993) notes that Australia is one of those nations that have experienced the highest migration level in the contemporary world history.  People, who have migrated to Australia in addition to British colonists, come from different cultural backgrounds, religion, race, and class.

Existence of people from diverse cultural backgrounds is one of the major factors that have resulted in an increase in the level of racism in Australia (Bessant and Watts, 2007). Racial classification, as asserted by Bessant and Watts (2007), is one of the major aspects that characterize the Australian society. Capitalism has for long divided the people of Australia with intent of exploiting them economically. This has led to extensive exploitation of particular groups, whose authority cannot be felt in the large Australian society. The working class is in particular the most exploited group in Australia. The economic structure of capitalists is believed to have been a factor that resulted in an increase in racism (Murphy, 1993). Colonists, who ere capitalists, people started acquiring resources including land and equipments that were originally owned by the Aborigines. European nations, mainly France, British, and Holland, were the main pioneers of capitalism in Australia as well as other parts of the world (Jupp, 2001). They divided people according to race, class, and religion. In order to acquire land for establishing plantations, the colonists drove aborigines out of their lands which they believed were productive and economically viable and murdered them for no concrete reasons (Harrison, and Williamson, 2004).  Young (2000) argues that they killed them so as to establish an environment that could make farming and grazing secure as well as profitable. Cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco and flax plantations were then established on a land that was initially under the ownership of aborigines. Indigenous people were then used to provide cheap labor in these plantations (Paterson, 2008). Products from these plantations were not intended for sale in Australia, they were shipped to other overseas capitalist nations.

Just as they had done in other colonies, the Europeans brought with them an unwavering belief of superiority as well as civilization of their home countries (Bessant and Watts, 2007). Religion, capitalism, and technology were the main tools used to advance the European superiority to Australia. European nations used their military might to suppress the original inhabitants of Australia. The main intent of the European nations, according to Batson, Naifeh, and Pate (1978), was to eliminate the minority aboriginal culture and replace it with European cultures which they perceived as superior. They also wanted to replace the aboriginal production culture and replace it with capitalism which was the order in Europe.

Racism in Australia was also experienced at the workplace (Haggerty, 2008). Australian workforce was composed of skilled, semi-skilled and un-skilled laborers. The main goal of all these laborers was to earn a living. Indians, according to Miller (2000), migrated to Australia between the year 1837 and 1844 in search for jobs in the industries that had been established by the colonists. Discrimination became a widespread employment aspect in Australia. The Indians were put in the same category with the aborigines, Chinese, and the Melanesian workers who by 1870 had migrated to Australia in large numbers (Murphy, 1993). These groups of people were heavily exploited in the industries they were overworking and underpaid. On the other hand, the Europeans were employed to perform lesser tasks. They also received higher pay as compared to the minority groups. By 1870 the Europeans had acquired massive lands and, as a result they required more workers on their farms and plantations (Harrison, and Williamson, 2004). In order to solve the labor conflicts that existed at that time, they decided to divide these three groups, which would be the Chinese, the Aborigines and the Melanesians among themselves. This division resulted in about 60,000 Melanesian laborers being taken to provide cheap labor to sugar plantations in Queensland (Miller (2000). Those who resented this division were kidnapped in a practice that was termed as black birding. Black birding symbolized the color of the people and therefore it was a clear sign of racism (Haggerty 2008).

The laborers lived in devastating conditions. They lived in poorly constructed structures that were congested. They were also banned from joining any trade union that could help them fight for their rights (Miller, 2000). European settlers used racism to ward off demands as well as grievances through blaming Asian and Melanesian workers for anything that went wrong (Young, 2000). As a result a forged Australian nationalism was developed that divided whites and non-white workers, with the white workers acquiring recognition and support from the capitalists (Harrison, and Williamson, 2004). Development of the immigration act was the other factor that aggravated the effects of racism in Australia. This Act was referred as to the White Australian Policy. White workers in conjunction with labor organizations supported the implementation of this Act. This Act denied the Africans, Asians, as well as Pacific Islanders the right to vote, if their state of residence had not accepted the terms of the Act (Wittig, 1998). In 1905 Asians, Africans and the Pacific Islanders were denied the right to become Australian citizens while Europeans on the other hand were allowed free entry to Australia (Jupp, 2001). Legislations were also enacted to make sure that non-whites were not receiving welfare benefits (Wittig, 1998).

A lot of legislations were enacted in such a way that they favored the capitalists. These legislations severely affected the rights and liberties of Aborigines. They were banned from taking alcohol. They could also be transferred from one reserve to another without their consent. They had to seek permission from the whites in order to marry, dispose off property and look for employment. Aborigines as well as other non-white immigrants were required to abandon their original cultures and adopt the English culture (Batson, Naifeh and Pate, 1978).  They were also banned from forming organizations based on their ethnicity and culture. Disrespect to the aboriginal culture by the whites made them feel as if they were not part of the country. This marked the highest level of racism in Australia (Miller, 2000). The other groups of people in addition to the Aborigines, which face the devastating effects of racism, are the half-casts. These people are highly discriminated by politicians and leaders who deny them their right to freedom of speech, association and movement (Jupp, 2001). The Europeans also established the assimilation policy (Harrison, and Williamson, 2004). This policy was enacted with intent of making sure that the immigrants as well as the Aborigines abandoned their cultural ideals and took up those of the whites (Paterson, 2008). It is unfortunate that the Aborigines die 20 years younger as compared to other Australians (Bessant and Watts, 2007). The infant mortality rate of the Aborigines, as Bessant and Watts (2007) illustrates, is also three times higher than the national average. A very good indicator of discrimination against the aborigines is their imprisonment rate, which is 20 times higher than that of non-indigenous Australians (Young, 2000). Paterson (2008) argues that the employment as well as education level of the Aborigines is also very low as compared to that of other non-indigenous groups.