From around the interwebs...

Links and all that.


Merkel jumps on xenophobe bandwagon
by Leo Kretzenbacher in The Age
"If a statement is completely wrong and illogical, Germans call it "so wrong that not even its opposite is correct". Seldom has this characterisation been more fitting than for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent announcement that multiculturalism in Germany had failed. For it to have succeeded or failed it would have had to have been tried in some serious way first. German governments have never been guilty of any serious effort to create a multicultural society."



Culture is more than just a national costume
by Pino Migliorino in the Sydney Morning Herald
"I think that the balance is not achieved by adjusting migration numbers. The balance is one of attitude. It is the balance that the existing nations all over the world, including Australia, have to find in creating equal dialogues between all its cultures and communities. It does not mean that any side has to passively accept what is proposed to them. At the very least, we have to be able to accept that we all have the capacity to learn new things and to change."



Striking a balance in Australia's immigration future
by Pallavi Jain in The Age
"Australia is one of the most developed countries in the world but to maintain that in an increasingly globalised world, it is imperative that it manages its immigration policy well. Very low immigration will deny Australia the benefits of the best minds in the world. Too much immigration may give rise to unforseen social unrest, apart from being a huge burden on the infrastructure and the environment. Striking this balance will be a key to Australia's future."



Western politicians prefer to ignore Israel's inherent racism
by Antony Lowenstein in The Age.
"Imagine a mainstream Australian politician saying that Aborigines should be banned from leading tourists around Uluru because they might "present anti-Australian positions" to visitors. The outcry would be furious.

But a bill is currently before the Israeli Knesset, led by a parliamentarian from the "moderate" Kadima party, that would bar Arab residents of East Jerusalem from working as tour guides in the city. Knesset member Gideon Ezra said it was essential tourist groups are "accompanied by a tour guide who is an Israeli citizen and has institutional loyalty to the [Jewish] state of Israel".
It is just the latest sign in an ever-tightening noose around Arabs from the Zionist mainstream in the self-described Jewish nation."


Feminism curbing Third World women
By Durkhanai Ayubi in The Age

"To me it boils down to this - cultural relativism or the PC brigade should not tie the tongue of Western feminists in speaking out for women who come from less fortunate regions of the world. However, if the argument is ignorant to the complexity of factors in play, then perhaps it would not be so unfortunate if the tongue-getting cat made an appearance."



Shoe throwing only served to harm the left
by Michael Koziol in the Sydney Morning Herald
"Indeed, John Howard's appearance in its totality has been met with widespread praise: he was eloquent, assertive, and handled Shoegate with grace – at least in the eyes of much of the Twitterverse. But many Twitterers – and I suspect many others watching on - afforded shoe thrower Peter Gray hero status for his action, and that is foolish even for those who sympathise with the left.

The concern now is that the shoe thrower will come to represent the left more broadly. It wouldn't be a sensible act of stereotyping but it will happen: those already sceptical of left-wing politics will watch the footage of this silliness and it will reinforce preconceptions about people on the left, what they look like and how they behave. It is the sort of irresponsible behaviour that provides a justification for dismissing intelligent progressive ideas as the musings of delusional hippies."