GAGGED: FISA protest at ‘Harmony Walk’ on July 12
By Melbourne News Bureau
Melbourne: Victorian Liberal Leader Ted Baillieu and his parliamentary team joined the Premier’s Harmony Day march on July 12 to celebrate multiculturalism. Ted who has been a big critic of the Brumby government over attacks on Indian students marched shoulder to shoulder with the Premier along with many others. The rally attended by a few thousand people from different communities had few Indian students for whom initially it was called. The Indian students’ apex body slammed the Victorian government’s decision not to allow them to speak during a ‘harmony walk’ and said it was gagged for not being allowed to speak at the rally.
In a statement, the Federation of Indian student Association (FISA) said on Saturday that it believed that by not allowing Indian students to speak at the harmony walk the organisers have largely undone the positive efforts the Government hastaken in the last couple of weeks.
“It is unfortunate that the Government is trying to exclude students from any meaningful discussion. We support multiculturalism, but we do not support politicians trying to divert attention and debate away from the victims, the unsafe streets, the rising crime rate and the failure of the justice system,” FISA president Amit Menghani said.
The Age reports that at the edge of the pack, stood Gautum Gupta and three friends, their mouths covered with masks in symbolic protest against what they said was an attempt to “dilute” the issue of racist attacks against Indian students.
“We have been left out,” he said. “The issues are still out there – we don’t want the Government to dilute the issue and take the focus away from Indian student crime and a failing judicial system.”
Mr Gupta said the Federation of Indian Students of Australia had supported the march and wanted to address the crowd to thank Victorians for their support. But when they discovered they would not be invited to speak, the group decided to boycott.Premier John Brumby said all groups were welcome to participate but that only key leaders from government, business, unions and ethnic organisations would address the crowd.
“We’ve got 230 communities – there’d be a lot of speeches if everybody had their go,” he said.
“We reject racism in whatever form it takes,” Premier John Brumby told the cheering crowd at Federation Square in the city’s central business district.
One Response
This so-called “harmony” march was not aimed at placating Indian students but at protecting the state government’s multicultural credentials. After all, both major parties rely on electoral branch stacking through various “ethnic” community voting blocks. Perhaps Victoria’s Indian community should be more active in this area? Then perhaps Mr Brumby and Mr Bailleau may listen to your concerns!
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