Well, the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia are over. The Channel Nine broadcast is over. It was an exercise in jingoism. You would hardly know that other countries were involved. It was if the broadcast was scripted by that maestro of right wing nationalism, John Howard. I so long for the day that when he and his ilk no longer influence the society and culture of this country. Australia is becoming such a self-centered and pompous hole.

Ian Semmel of Maleny in Queensland wrote so well… “A pack of neo-Nazis go on a rampage under the banner of the Australian flag and in protest someone burns it. The penalty? Three months’ jail. What sort of country has Australia become? I deeply resent people such as Pauline Hanson and John Howard draping themselves in the flag to peddle their jingoistic racist views, but nothing happens to them. The way Australia is at the moment, the flag deserves to be burnt.” Letters, Sydney Morning Herald, 14th January, 2006.

Ian’s thoughts reflect my own. Howard and Hansen… jingoistic, self-centred, ignorant and racist. Australia is going down the drain.

Prime Minister John Howard has condemned the race-based attacks in Sydney, but says they don’t mean Australia is a racist nation. “I do not accept there is underlying racism in this country,” Mr Howard said today following yesterday’s race riots at Cronulla Beach. “I have always taken a more optimistic view of the character of the Australian people.” SMH. Monday 12th December 2005.

How can John Howard be so blind? His can he make these utterances? His government has promoted a campaign based upon politics of fear. Howard’s government, like that of Bush and Blair, have over-emphasised the theat of terrorism across the world. The immigration and foreign policies of John Howard’s government smack of jingoism and nationalism. Howard says there is no underlying racism in this country! The policies of John Howard’s government breed jingoistic views that lead in turn to racism.

During John Howard’s watch we have had Pauline Hanson’s unbridled racist pronouncements, the Tampa incident, illegal deportations, appaling immigration detention centres, the Cronulla race riots and blind adherence to the insane foreign policies of the USA. Australia’s image abroad has deteriorated during this time. We are perceived as racist by people overseas.

How can Howard deny there is underlying racism in this country? His government is promoting the environment that nurtures jingoism and racism. One only has to look at the sickening increase in the number of Australian flags fluttering in the front yards of Australian homes… misplaced nationalism. Pauline Hanson is now an accepted televsion personality… how appalling is that!? She should be in prison. She did more to tarnish the image of our country abroad than any other single individual in our history.

John Howard has an optimistic view of the character of the Australian people. Does he not realise that many people overseas have a dim view of the character of the Australian people due to his arrogance, jingoistic foreign policies and retrograde immigration policies?

T-shirts that read “Ethnic Cleansing Unit” and SMS messages that read “bash wogs and lebs” not racist!? John Howard is an imbecile. The sooner he retires or is removed from public office the better.

It was probably the Liberal voters of the Sutherland shire that bred the rioters that shamed this country on Sunday afternoon.

20 years from now history text books will set out Pauline Hanson, Howard, Ruddock, Vanstone and Downer together with their US inspired politics of fear and a jingoistic approach to foreign policy as the background causes for the riots at Cronulla and Maroubra.

Teaching students about the rise of Nazi Germany is so much more easier now. There is a rich source of similarities in Australia’s recent history that a teacher can draw upon. Ten years of neo-conservative Liberal Party government, the shame that is Pauline Hanson, jingoistic foreign policies, inhumane immigration detention centres, the baby overboard debacle, illegal deportations, and the jewel in the crown… the Cronulla Race Riots.

Historical personalities like Howard, Downer, Vanstone and Ruddock espousing right-wing, nationalistic, pro-individual, selfish policies to the detriment of community and collaborative social values have their parallels in Nazi Germany as well.

Welcome to Australia… only if you are fair-skinned, sandy-haired and blue-eyed of course. You must promise to vote for the Liberal Party as well, just like the majority of Cronulla’s residents. Australians of a caucasian background no longer seem to make immigrants and visitors of other racial backgrounds welcome. I first started observing this in 1996 or thereabouts.

It is so shameful to be an Australian now. This episode and the malaise that seems to be infecting Australia and its people makes me feel angry, frsutrated and sad. It seems to be vote ’1′ for individualism and selfishness in this country.