Australia’s multicultural project is falling apart
It’s routinely stated that “our diversity is our greatest strength." But can it still meaningfully be said when large numbers of Australians – largely from poorly integrated migrant communities – are protesting about events in Gaza?
It has become a platform cliche, mouthed by politicians at innumerable civic events, that Australia is “the world’s most successful multicultural society”.
Likewise, it’s routinely stated that “our diversity is our greatest strength”. And even that “our unity is in our diversity”.
Indeed, these bromides are often in speeches by civic worthies immediately after an acknowledgment that the relevant land belongs to some local Aboriginal “nation”.
Perhaps this made some sense when it was Greeks and Italians who were the “diversity” component of our immigration intake; and even beyond, to more recent times, when people from China and India have predominated. But can it still meaningfully be said when large numbers of Australians – largely from poorly integrated migrant communities – are protesting about events in Gaza?
It’s true the vast majority of migrants come to Australia because they see our country as offering them and their children a chance at a better life. Not since convict days has anyone been forced to come to Australia, so it stands to reason that those coming from overseas, whether from Britain or Somalia, are arriving with the intention to join us rather than to change us.
It’s just that, in sufficient numbers, migrants do change us, often for the better when they improve our intercultural understanding, our work ethic and invariably our cuisine. But sometimes for the worse, when they can’t leave behind the prejudices and the hatreds of their homeland.
The National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia, first promulgated in Bob Hawke’s time and broadly subscribed to by every subsequent government, while acknowledging “the right of all Australians … to express and share their individual cultural heritage”, also declared – and this is what official practice tends to forget – that “multicultural policies are based upon the premise that all Australians should have an overriding and unifying commitment to Australia, to its interest and future first and foremost”.
The Howard government tried to reinforce the need for new migrants to have an overriding loyalty to Australia via a citizenship test with questions (albeit very basic ones) on values that prospective new citizens have to pass; plus a citizenship pledge that all new citizens must make and are supposed to mean.
But how many of the Australians currently accustomed to demonstrating against democratic Israel and in favour of a Hamas-run Palestine could sincerely say their allegiance really is to “Australia and its people whose democratic beliefs I share, whose values I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey” as the citizenship pledge stipulates?
The taboo over questioning the cultural make-up of our immigration intake, as opposed to its size, is that no one wants to slight those already here.
Douglas Murray speaks at the Alliance of Responsible Citizenship.
As distinguished British author and commentator Douglas Murray, said on my Sky News show in London last week, talking about the nature of immigrants is “painful because … many people think: are you talking about me? Are you talking about my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents?” Yet it’s a “lie”, he said, to pretend all migrants are equal. It comes down to whether immigrants want to integrate into society. “Do they want to be Australian? If the answer is yes then most Australians will be like ‘great, glad to have you with us’. But if the answer is no, what do you do? We still haven’t, in the developed world, worked out an answer to that,” said Murray.
Murray went on: especially in the Anglosphere, “we made a very odd decision when the era of mass migration began from what was then called the Third World … which was that we would try to integrate people into our societies by saying effectively our societies aren’t so great. It’s a very strange thing when one thinks about it.
“The world wants to move into your country but your country says ‘we’re bad’ … (But) if our societies were racist, misogynistic, terror societies defined by colonialism … people wouldn’t be trying to come.”
Murray has fingered the essence of the problem with multiculturalism. To make migrants from very different cultures feel welcome, we pretend that “we don’t really have a culture” even though, he says, “everybody in Australia who’s Australian knows what Australian culture is … (and) we don’t need teams of psychoanalysts to explain it to us. But people have tried to persuade us … that we should look down on everything that is ours and venerate everything that is the rest of the world’s.”
It’s what I’ve been calling the replacement, in our philosophy of immigration, of a stress on joining Team Australia with multiculturalism’s acceptance that people merely live in Hotel Australia that Murray says bluntly is simply “insane”.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
But it gets worse. With migrants from China, say, or from India (where most have had an introduction, via the English language, to Anglo patterns of thought and behaviour) there’s a readiness to slip into the mainstream, if not immediately, certainly eventually; or, to use the language of the official policy of the 1950s and 60s, to integrate and ultimately assimilate. But what about migrants from fundamentalist Muslim cultures – such as Gaza, where the Albanese government has handed out 3000 tourists visas recently – where people have been indoctrinated since birth into Jew hatred and a general mindset of “death to the infidels”?
Here’s Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was born in Somalia, escaped a forced Islamic marriage in Kenya, survived a fatwa in The Netherlands and is now an academic: “Immigrants who are settled in Australia,” she said, “were told that they could assimilate or integrate on their own terms, hold on to their identity and unfortunately the result … for some of these migrants was to form their own ghettos.”
“The philosophy of multiculturalism,” she said, “empowered the Islamists into isolating Muslim individuals, convincing them that the Islamist world view is their world view … and turning them against the local populations.”
Multiculturalism, she said, “was supposed to make the immigrants feel more at home”. But it hasn’t, she said: “In every way, shape and form it has failed.”
Hirsi Ali is clear, and as a Muslim-born black migrant woman she can hardly be accused of racism for saying this: “We have to go back to emphasising the nation-state and what unites us … It is time to deport the radical imams … and if you don’t want to be an Australian citizen … then we are happy to let you go back to … the country of origin.”
Yahya Sinwar
Robust common sense such as this has been largely absent from official policy for at least a generation. Indeed, multiculturalism is currently embodied in absurdities such as the recent $1.65m community harmony grant to United Muslims of Australia which employs Sheik Ibrahim Dadoun, who declared he was “elated” by the October 7 atrocity and called the slain Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar a “legendary” martyr.
It’s way past time that we banish multiculturalism as official policy and replace it with a civic patriotism based on a commitment to Australian values. That will mean abolishing the vast array of multicultural grants that fund ethnic separatism; deporting on character grounds radical activists before they become citizens; not giving visas to people from authoritarian places that won’t accept their citizens back; and insisting that would-be Australian citizens face a much more searching test of commitment to Australian values. Having watched up close last week what’s playing out in Britain, we have time to avoid its mistakes, but time is running out.
Speakers
- Edward Carr
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Edward Carr is the deputy editor responsible for editorial. He works alongside the editor-in-chief to oversee The Economist‘s journalism. He joined the newspaper as a science correspondent in 1987. After a series of jobs covering electronics, trade, energy and the environment, he moved to Paris to write about European business. In 2000, after a period as business editor, Mr Carr left for the Financial Times, where he worked latterly as news editor. He returned to The Economist 2005 as Britain editor, then became business affairs editor for a number of years. He was foreign editor (2009-15) before taking up his current role.- Josie Delap
Middle East editor
Josie Delap is The Economist‘s Middle East editor. Prior to this she was the international editor and deputy briefings editor. She has also edited the Christmas double issue. Her previous roles at The Economist have included senior editor at 1843, retail correspondent, covering e-commerce, traditional retail and consumer companies around the world and Britain home-affairs correspondent, writing about immigration, the criminal justice system, religion and social affairs. Before that she worked as The Economist’s Southern Africa correspondent, based in Johannesburg and the online Middle East and Africa editor. She holds a BA in Arabic and French from Cambridge University and an MPhil in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from Oxford University.- Gregg Carlstrom
Middle East correspondent
Gregg Carlstrom is a Middle East correspondent for The Economist, based in Dubai. He has covered the region for more than a decade, with stints in Cairo, Beirut and Tel Aviv. His reporting and analysis on the Middle East has been published in a number of other publications, including Foreign Affairs, The Atlantic and Politico. His first book, “How Long Will Israel Survive: The Threat From Within,” was published in 2017.- Anshel Pfeffer
Israel correspondent
Anshel Pfeffer is The Economist’s Israel correspondent, from where he has reported for the past 26 years. He is also a senior correspondent and commentator for Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz. Over the years he has covered a broad range of subjects including religion, education, the military, and foreign affairs. His most recent book is “Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu,” which was published in 2018. His latest book “God Fearers, on Jewish Fundamentalism” will be published by Penguin in 2024.
Gaza has seen major protests in recent weeks against Hamas — the first of their kind since the Islamist terror group seized control of the territory from Fatah, a nationalist party, in 2007.
Uday was allegedly kidnapped by Hamas fighters shortly after participating in such a protest last week.
At his funeral Saturday, attendees allegedly chanted anti-Hamas slogans, according to footage shared on X.
Hamas’ 18-year rule over the Gaza Strip is facing increasing opposition.AFP via Getty Images
Hamas won the last democratic elections held in the Gaza Strip in 2006 after many voters branded the long-ruling Fatah movement too weak to lead the push for an independent Palestinian state.
In the wake of Hamas’ sickening attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, support for the terror group soared in Gaza and the West Bank.
But as the war has dragged on — resulting in the deaths of more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to unverified figures from Hamas — opposition to the group’s leadership has grown.
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Anti-Hamas protesters in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip gather last week.AFP via Getty Images
The protests Uday attended followed the collapse of a two-month cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.
Since then, Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza, causing even more Palestinians to turn against Hamas rule, despite the terror group’s many cheerleaders on US campuses.
Public support for Hamas in Gaza has plummeted in recent months, according to a poll from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted in September.
“People have been under Israeli bombing since October 2023, they don’t want the war to continue by all means,” said Sam Habeeb, a London-based Gazan, to the Telegraph.
“Hamas must accept the fact that the majority of people in Gaza want an end to this war, and certainly, they have the right to express their views freely,” he said.
Protests have continued despite the fear of Hamas retribution.
“What is happening in the Gaza Strip is a catastrophe,” a protester reportedly said in a translated video shared on X by the Middle East Research Institute. “The citizens here demand that [Hamas] release the [Israeli] prisoners so that they can stay alive.”
Other protesters called for the removal of Hamas from power during the same demonstrations in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
“The people do not want the rule of Hamas. The rule of Hamas is over,” a protester said, according to the Akron Jewish News. “This Hamas rule has destroyed us, killed us and displaced all the people.”
This is what cold blooded murder of medics under the cover of a military operation looks like.
Israeli troops killed 15 Palestinian medics and buried them in a mass grave, UN says
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians held funerals Monday for 15 medics and emergency responders killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, after their bodies and mangled ambulances were found buried in an impromptu mass grave, apparently plowed over by Israeli military bulldozers.
The Palestinian Red Crescent says the slain workers and their vehicles were clearly marked as medical and humanitarian personnel and accused Israeli troops of killing them “in cold blood.” The Israeli military says its troops opened fire on vehicles that approached them “suspiciously” without identification.
.. “The available information indicates that the first team was killed by Israeli forces on 23 March,” the U.N. said in a statement Sunday night.
Further emergency teams that went to rescue the first team were “struck one after another over several hours,” it said. All the teams went out during daylight hours, according to the Civil Defense.
Israeli troops killed 15 Palestinian medics and buried them in a mass grave, UN says
Palestinians held funerals for 15 medics and emergency responders killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza.apnews.com
View attachment 196580
Hamas terrorists torture protester to death in Gaza — then leave his bludgeoned body on family’s doorstep as sick warning to others
Hamas thugs fatally tortured a young Palestinian man protesting their rule — and left his body on his family’s doorstep in a sick warning to other foes in the Gaza Strip, according to police.
Uday Al Rabay, 22, was beaten for four hours and died after he participated in an anti-Hamas protest in the Palestinian territories last week, said a senior officer affiliated with the opposition Fatah party.
“Uday was martyred by the criminals of Hamas. And what’s his crime? He told the truth, because he refused to be silent on injustice, because he did not kneel to Hamas,” said Mazen Shat, a police officer tied to Fatah, to the Telegraph.
The victim’s body was left swollen and bloody in the attack, according to pictures purportedly of Uday that were shared on the messaging app Telegram.
View attachment 196581
Anti-Hamas Palestinian protester Uday Al Rabay was allegedly beaten to death by the terror group’s thugs.
“Hamas is oppressing people in a brutal way. Like a puppy [with] a rope around his neck, they dragged [Uday’s body] to the door of his house and told his family that this is the punishment for those who complain about Hamas,” Shat said.
Evidence of ‘execution-style’ killings of Palestinian aid workers by Israeli forces, doctor says
Forensic consultant says multiple bullets were used from short range in attack that has caused global outrage
Malak A Tantesh in Gaza, Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem, and Julian Borger
Thu 3 Apr 2025 03.19 AEDT
A forensic doctor who examined the bodies of some of the 15 paramedics and Palestinian rescue workers shot dead by Israeli forces and buried in a mass grave in southern Gaza has said there is evidence of execution-style killing, based on the “specific and intentional” location of shots at close range.
Evidence of ‘execution-style’ killings of Palestinian aid workers by Israeli forces, doctor says
Forensic consultant says multiple bullets were used from short range in attack that has caused global outragewww.theguardian.com
Awful John Dee just awful.@basilio, what about the torture and execution of their own people?
Awful John Dee just awful.
Are you somehow suggesting that "balances" what the behaviour of the IDF ?
Frankly Joh Dee I haven't put much focus on posts in the Palestinian Israeli Hamas disaster. I have found it too challenging and distressing a subject.\I'm suggesting that the majority, if not all, of your posts show only one side of the Palestine, Israeli, Hamas problems. If I am wrong, I will apologise once you show the proof of balance.
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