Word: cronulla
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...drizzly Tuesday night, and six armed police are manning a checkpoint on one of the main access roads into seaside Cronulla, in Sydney's south. It works like this: an officer waves approaching cars to the side of the road, where an expressionless colleague with a torch takes over: "Hi. How are you? Where are you going?" There's a brief exchange, a license checked, whereupon the driver's either waved on or turned back. Nearly everyone is good-humored?some are clearly pleased to see the police out in force. But the officers are on edge...
...scenes that few ever imagined would occur in their city. Though they're arguing about when the trouble started brewing and why, there can be no doubt when it erupted. On the morning of Sunday, Dec. 11, a crowd of some 5,000 people - overwhelmingly young men - gathered near Cronulla beach. Most had responded either to a mass-circulated text message that called on "Aussies" to reclaim their beaches from "wogs" and "Lebs," or to enthusiastic publicizing of the event by tabloid media. Among the less offensive slogans scrawled on bare chests or emblazoned on T shirts were wog-free...
...catalyst for the Dec. 11 gathering was an attack a week earlier on two Cronulla lifeguards by a group of men of Middle Eastern appearance. But local resentment about the behavior of men fitting this description goes back much further. Everyone from surfers to lawyers tells the same story. Lured by the beach from nearby suburbs, these youths are notorious for harassing the local girls. If they're not insulting them, they're hitting on them, sitting uninvited on the girls' towels, following them in the street and refusing to be deterred. "My daughters are always having trouble with them...
...immigration and…for the removal…of prohibited immigrants.” Blatantly retitled the “White Australia Policy,” immigration restrictions continued until 1973, when the Whitlam government finally overhauled the racist doctrine. Yet its supporters were out in number at Cronulla on Sunday, where leader of the Australia First Party, John Moffitt, handed out pamphlets declaring, “This is a great day. Australia is now seeing what the policies of the last 30 years are reaping.” Such attitudes are troublingly prevalent in Australia and added fuel...
...Australians begin to reflect on the racial bigotry exposed at Cronulla, it can only be hoped that nation will finally awake from its slumber of small-mindedness. Over the last 30 years Australia has begun to develop a vibrant multicultural society, diversifying politics and culture while paving the way for integration into Asia. As Australia increasingly globalizes it must shed the ignorant roots of intolerance and embrace the multiplicity of nationalities already within its borders. If the North Cronulla riots are not incentive enough for change, then Australia risks a future plagued by disunity and disgruntled reaction to the faux...