Cowboys and Indians

The past two years have witnessed rising tensions between Australia's Indian population (particularly in Melbourne) and, well, everyone else, due to what appears to be a trend toward a growing number of violent attacks on Indians. Personally, it's hard to conceive of how one would choose Indians as a population that merits being the target of aggression, but such is life. And of course, the more the media makes of the violence, the more others are tempted to single out Indians. At the moment, it appears that Indians have replaced Muslims as a subpopulation that some feel it is acceptable to discriminate against. I myself have witnessed some of Australia's less progressive youths practicing their Hindi on public transport - but only as a means to insult any Indians they might stumble upon. When bogans are going to the trouble of learning foreign languages just to be assholes, you know you've got a problem.

The backlash has been quick and substantial. Australia has rapidly developed a reputation for being less than welcoming to Indian students, with applications for Australia's educational institutions (which depend upon fees from foreign students) down substantially. There has been almost a 50% decline in applications for Australian higher education from Indian overseas students, and an approximate 25% drop in education visa applications in general. However, there is obviously uncertainty regarding how much of these changes in statistics can be attributed to recent violence vs. policy changes in visa allocations (including a crack down on fraudulent visa applications) not to mention the global financial crisis.

Nevertheless, the situation appears likely to grow worse before it gets better, particularly if the media circus continues to remain in town.

For some of the media stories, go here.