Tuesday, December 13, 2005

We shall fight them on the beaches..

I was astounded. The main photo on yesterday's SMH was of a crowd of ockers pummeling some Lebanese beachgoers with beer cans and fists. I thought we were safe from this sort of mob violence and I was wrong.

Naturally it's been big enough to catch world attention as there is a post on the Straight Dope message boards about it. Though I couldn't join in the conversation as they now charge. But I did have a say on the Triple J forum.

My take. Lebanese gangs started this - not 'youths of middle eastern appearance'; a useless euphemism that is more trouble than it's worth. It may or not be connected to the pack rapes of a couple of years back but it is a consequence of gangs menacing this area, shouting obscenities, and generally being obnoxious; it is definitely as a direct result of the jerks who bashed lifeguards that stopped them playing football on the beach. That kind of behaviour just won't fly in Australia.

Is it fair that the actions of a few should result in innocent Lebanese - and other races; the mob not being the brightest - being bashed? Decidedly not. It is appalling that they should indiscriminately tear the veil off a thirteen-year-old girl. What could she possibly have had to do with the actions that lead to this?
But I hope that those in authority within the Lebanese community take this opportunity to bawl the gangs out for bringing this down on their heads. It would be disingenuous for them to react to the reactionaries; that would only escalate the violence and the mistrust. Action has to come from within.
You see, there is no point in being namby-pamby and pretending that this is not race-based on both sides. The authorities are constrained in the actions they can take and that is why the 'Anglo'hooligans felt they needed to take things into their own hands.

I understand the liberal sentiments of those who say punish on a case-by-case basis. But the plain fact is that the Lebanese pack rapists specifically identified themselves by their race so why wouldn't their detractors?

2 Comments:

At 7:21 am , Blogger Iain said...

My take (based on a little history courtesy of the SMH) is that the good citizens of the Shire has systematically driven the not-us off "our" beaches (the expression "Fuck off to Brighton" seems to be an indicator) so that only the bad not-us travel to Cronulla specifically to raise trouble, for they know it is trouble they will find.

If Cronulla Beach was more inclusive, and more of the Lebanese community felt at ease there, they would be more in a position to police their own (as our police seem to be terrible at it.)

That said, Miranda Devine (quite rightly, for once) has pointed out the constant unwillingness of the NSW Police to prosecute a particular family (who happen to be Lebanese) who might be at the centre of the problems.

 
At 1:10 pm , Blogger Berko Wills said...

Cheers Iain, good to see you back here.

You've added much to the discussion (all the Cronulla debates have been wiped from Triple J forum; just too hot to handle apparently).

It occurs to me that if only the 'bad not-us' were there to get a thrashing that it would have been a good thing all round. I like the idea of guys who lean down their windows and yell 'skippy trash' and 'rape bait' at women on the beach, getting ambushed.

But it's chicken and egg - maybe the bra boys and their Cronulla equivalent have heard all the trouble out west and preemptively wanted to nip it in the bud. I can't think of one major incident or history that would have set the rape gangs on their terror rampage, other than their own gutless bastardry.

 

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