move where?

Submitted by Abdul Rahman Reijerink (Australia), Jun 12, 2006 at 06:38

Dear Sidda,

Why are our customs "contrary" to those of Western ones? Different to majority Western customs but not contrary one would think. Further, how about the fact that many Greek Orthodox Christian women here in Sydney wear scarves, and even some Jewish Orthodox women (my wife has served them in her professional capacity, there are not many but we have them). Yes it is mainly the older ones but it is on the rise now too amongst the younger generations as assimilation is no longer being viewed as the only option as it was when my EUROPEAN father came to this land.

Which brings me to my second point. I am an eighth (yes I made a mistake in a previous post) generation white Australian, about as far back as you can go in local ancestry in Australia and still be white. Which gives the lie to your rather hasty assumption that I immigrated to Australia. Further to this point, untill recently (with an upsurge in immigration from Muslim lands), most younger Muslims were in fact BORN here, further, they are practising Islam more faithfully than their assimilationalist immigrant parents on the whole. Where are we supposed to go back to? Australia is our home. I could just as easily say to you "go back to where you come from you eat different food, have a funny name and maybe even speak a weird language." But that would be childish.

It is about time that people started getting over these minor hangups and just agree to get along, lets focus our attention on the real problems not this rubbish. We do not all have to look or think the same to live in the same society in harmony contributing equally, this is what democracy is all about I thought. Assimilation is just another word for genocide in my opinion (a strongly held view in Aboriginal Australia, where assimilationist policies aimed at wiping out their race and culture within living memory). Assimilation is therefor no longer viable as a means of social harmony we must look to social integration where we recognise and value our differences whilst having a common goal on what really counts, mutual participation and interaction. Long dead are the days (from my childhood and teen years) where it was acceptable to say "speak English or go home" to anyone who looked or spoke differently.

Yours in Peace,

Abdul Rahman REIJERINK

ps it is considered bad manners to address people solely as Abdul, always link it to the divine quality that folows it, please show me this respect in future if you are a person of goodwill. I am sure it was unintentional.

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