Blogs
Fri, 12/06/2009 - 10:29
Community Ninja
Picture: Cold Melbourne Morning by LucaSsss is republished here through a Creative Commons license.
On Tuesday I read an interesting article in the MX entitled Namaste to fight racism. The word, a common greeting for Hindus, Jains and Buddhists in India and Nepal, means I bow to you, or I bow to that inherent in you, paying deference to the notion that the divine inhabits us all. A Melbourne Group, referring to themselves as the Community Ninja Group, is urging the citizens of Melbourne to take the process of healing the social wounds created by the recent attacks on Indian students into our own hands, starting with offering this simple greeting to those Indian international students whom we see everyday around town. Despite my best attempts I have been unable to find out any information about the so called Community Ninja Group that is behind this campaign but I am definitely in support of this kind of movement, agreeing that community, group and individual action is the best way to not only repair the trust between Indian international students and this city but also begin the more difficult task of building meaningful ways and forums for interaction between the thousands of international students living here and other communities resident within out city.
Student Separation
Whilst it is impossible to say that anything good can come from the sickening attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, these incidents have brought a good deal of attention to the problems faced by international students in the city and also to the research and initiatives starting to pave the way for a better future. For example, an article in the Age this week entitled Beyond Them and Us turned the focus on a recently published University of Melbourne report dealing with the mapping of international student experience in and around the so-called university quarter, referring to the upper reaches of Swanston Street which takes in both Melbourne University and RMIT campuses plus a good deal of student accommodation. After three years of study the report found that there was a great deal of separation between international and local students, and that the blame for this lies at the feet of the universities, government and accommodation developers. This separation is evident in a number of areas, including but not exclusive to issues such as housing. Student housing in this precinct is usually marketed directly at international students and not only fails to provide the communal space that might facilitate interaction amongst local and international cohorts but prices its apartments out of the reach of many local students who often look for cheaper options in the suburbs. The article also mentions the differing fee structures, orientation weeks and even administrative queues that serve to create what the report refers to as institutionalised separation between the communities. Also mentioned is a subject that I have talked about before in this blog, the disgraceful practise of charging international students full fares for their public transport tickets where their local counterparts receive a discount.
Bridge the gap
Despite the many negatives mentioned in the article, the very fact that the report got such good coverage in the newspaper is a positive step. These kinds of reports go along way to stimulating creative members of the community to step forth and propose interesting new ways to bridge the emerging gap between local and international students, a gap that is not only the tarnishing the experience of thousands of international students, but placing the entire Australian international education industry in jeopardy. So, to the Community Ninjas, whoever you are, well done for your creative campaign. I have a feeling that it will be only the first in a wave of inspired ideas targeted at fixing this most urgent of threats to the possibility of a truly peaceful and engaged multicultural Melbourne.
Kanga Market
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