Am Not Swearing But I Doubt I would Ever Travel to Australia

[Omollo]

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I sometimes come home early or stay home on weekends and find myself watching TV. I am usually allergic to TV only using my other devices to watch movies and read news. So what I saw on some channel about Australia Border Police and Immigration did not help my negative attitude towards TV and my dislike of Australia.

I loved Australia after the people got rid of the racist government that used to support Apartheid South Africa. Then Howard came to power and I just found myself detesting that country again. It is the country that refused to impose sanctions on South Africa, maintained sporting links with the Boers and openly showed the middle finger to Africa.

I think they have their hands full as they desperately try to keep that country they robbed from the Aborigines "White". There source of fear is any immigrants that are no white. They are particularly fearful of Asians, especially the Chinese and vietnamese.

I see how anybody travelling to Australia has no rights. They not only search them as if it is a sexual act, they go further to strip them naked and x-ray them. Most of the time it is on the flimsiest of the excuses. One person was searched because he was nervous. They knew he was nervous because the man was "too quiet". Another was searched because he was "not quiet".

Woo unto the traveller who tries to exert his or her rights. Almost invariably the Australian Border Police and Customs (didn't get the proper title other than something about it being some Frontline of some War they are fighting) come out blazing with their show of power and force. One woman who was clearly innocent but for her loudness (remember quiet and not quiet indicators) was strip searched, then taken for ex-rays. Derogatory remarks were made in between.

On the face of it, there is no racism or discrimination as they seem to treat both black and white equally. But on closer look you find it is simply not true. Obviously the cases they bring to TV are selected and therefore cannot be representative. However I saw more whites let in than the others.

Then there is this obsession with germs or is it plants. They spray polo bats, radiate food and do all manner of shocking things on the belief that they would bring disaster to Australia. If you ask me or the Aborigines, the worst disaster entered Australia Aborigines met Willem Janszoon and allowed him to go back to The Netherlands.

[veritas]

If you're an Australian citizen they don't tend to check. Everyday life is racist. Especially with the education system. I recall many racist encounters. A Sydney University professor once wrote on my paper- since English is a second language to you I can't understand what you've written and gave me a mark of 49. That's all he wrote on my paper. I submitted the exact same paper for another similar subject run by a guest lecturer from the University of Edinburgh and he gave me a mark of 92. I took this up with the faculty and they did nothing to him but I got a refund for that subject and was allowed to drop out without penalty. I have too many stories.

Don't raise your children in Australia. This country is a dead end.

[GeeMail]

Meanwhile the lines at the embassy in Westlands used to be long and winding. Somalis outnumbered others usually. Kenya must be worse.

[Omollo]

These countries are benefitting from the brain drain while denigrating the contribution of the immigrants. The fact that Obama is leading the US and not Kenya should indict every Kenyan. Who would vote for him if he were in Kenya?

We should end corruption, tribalism and build decent societies.

Meanwhile the lines at the embassy in Westlands used to be long and winding. Somalis outnumbered others usually. Kenya must be worse.

[Omollo]

I just find Australian racism over the top.

The saddest part is when I see earlier immigrants mistreating new ones. Asian, African and Latino officers are hardest on visitors.

If you're an Australian citizen they don't tend to check. Everyday life is racist. Especially with the education system. I recall many racist encounters. A Sydney University professor once wrote on my paper- since English is a second language to you I can't understand what you've written and gave me a mark of 49. That's all he wrote on my paper. I submitted the exact same paper for another similar subject run by a guest lecturer from the University of Edinburgh and he gave me a mark of 92. I took this up with the faculty and they did nothing to him but I got a refund for that subject and was allowed to drop out without penalty. I have too many stories.

Don't raise your children in Australia. This country is a dead end.

[mya88]

If you're an Australian citizen they don't tend to check. Everyday life is racist. Especially with the education system. I recall many racist encounters. A Sydney University professor once wrote on my paper- since English is a second language to you I can't understand what you've written and gave me a mark of 49. That's all he wrote on my paper. I submitted the exact same paper for another similar subject run by a guest lecturer from the University of Edinburgh and he gave me a mark of 92. I took this up with the faculty and they did nothing to him but I got a refund for that subject and was allowed to drop out without penalty. I have too many stories.

Don't raise your children in Australia. This country is a dead end.

Te heheh....ati English is your second language, very I thought you are Australian....or do you have a 'Kenyan accent'.

[mya88]

Omollo...most western countries are racist, no matter where you go...some are just more overt than others......it is the reason Africans are drowning enmasses around the Italian coasts, while we continue to claim how friendly they are to foreigners. It is also the reasons Monkeys like Donald trump can call Mexicans and Hispanics all sorts of names and still find massive support.

[MOON Ki]

Omollo...most western countries are racist, no matter where you go...

I would replace that with "all"; I do not know of any exceptions.

Australia: it is hard to think of a country where a more racist mzungu can be found ... perhaps Russia is a "tough competitor".

[Bella]

Omollo...most western countries are racist, no matter where you go...some are just more overt than others......it is the reason Africans are drowning enmasses around the Italian coasts, while we continue to claim how friendly they are to foreigners. It is also the reasons Monkeys like Donald trump can call Mexicans and Hispanics all sorts of names and still find massive support.

Well,  I was not strip searched so guess Im lucky but while transiting through Amsterdam I had to go through security check... Apparently they randomly pick out "suspicious" looking characters and make you go in your own line,  through the booth,  afterwards put your hands up and spread your legs like a thug while some officer feels you up and makes sure you're ok,  some such process.   

I was totally shocked that I was picked out,  wondering what the he'll about me looked remotely thuggish or even suspicious?  I was soon answered when I turned back to look at the other guys getting picked.  So blatantly simple.  If your skin was even mulatto looking,  wacha even chocolate or darker,  you got pulled out and felt up. Not a single white person got pulled aside and not a single non-white made it through,  not a one!  You just needed to be obviously not Caucasian to qualify. 

I felt relieved about the fact that it was nothing about my behaviour or dressing but so pissed at the same time that this was happening so clearly in a supposedly liberal country.... my foot! 

[Bella]

You also have to work three times as hard just to prove you are not there by some fluke,  that you're a colleague.  Sometimes,  even that may not cut it,  some folks put you in a certain box and you just have to learn to let them keep their firm opinions about you,  which they won't voice but that will nonetheless 've very obvious to you.  Like Mya88 says,  bazungu have tonnes of racists among them,  don't be fooled by their high-sounding political ideas,  especially when it comes to folks from Africa (as opposed to,  say,  African Americans) things are harder.   To many of them have weird ideas about the continent.  Utterly shocked when it turns out you have elec,  tv, etc and don't live like the folks in God's must be crazy.  I used to think people claiming bazungu ask them such questions were exaggerating but it's almost unbelievable how many of them,  even the highly educated academics,  have such ideas.

[Reticent Solipsist]

Folks, this is really simple: Aussies are the rednecks of the Southern Hemisphere.

[RV Pundit]

My two friends relocated to Australia recently. If you're a professional with solid CV, you get the papers. Just like Canada.

[Bella]

Never been to Aussie,  but I think the point is the treatment at airports,  not whether or not you get papers.  Like Omolo says,  these countries benefit quite a bit from brain drain,  yet they treat immigrants so badly.  My experience was Schipol in Amsterdam,  and they did not give a Damn what papers you had,  they didnt ask.  Just took one look at your skin and decided you had to have extra checks,  you were suspicious.  I can definitely imagine how that would feel if the extra checks based on my skim colour came with invasive things like making me strip naked and looking throughbthings like private parts!!!! Not cool at all and very degrading when you know you've done nothing to deserve the treatment.

[RV Pundit]

That should be a little hassle. As long as they let you in. You've to admit that blacks or african do generally have a bad reputation..and if you were hired as border control officer...you want to be dilligent and do you job..and that entails a fair deal of racial profiling.

Personally those are little things....that don't last..that long...the real issues are racial discrimination that really affect you in bigger way.

Never been to Aussie,  but I think the point is the treatment at airports,  not whether or not you get papers.  Like Omolo says,  these countries benefit quite a bit from brain drain,  yet they treat immigrants so badly.  My experience was Schipol in Amsterdam,  and they did not give a Damn what papers you had,  they didnt ask.  Just took one look at your skin and decided you had to have extra checks,  you were suspicious.  I can definitely imagine how that would feel if the extra checks based on my skim colour came with invasive things like making me strip naked and looking throughbthings like private parts!!!! Not cool at all and very degrading when you know you've done nothing to deserve the treatment.

[Omollo]

About education. Europe or should I say The West only reaps a tiny fraction of what the Brain Drain grants them. Speak of PhD holding Taxi Drivers in Europe! I know of PhD's with massive published research and experience still slaving under white Masters degree holders. I have no idea why Mzungu prefers an uneducated nigga to his opposite.

Try competing for jobs with their own boys in their own country and see how far that gets you. Your education means nothing. You have to be so good that they can find nothing to use to deny you employment. Cases of discrimination in remuneration abound. For some reason they seem to target black women.

I personally thank them for the discrimination because I was then "pushed" to fortify myself intellectually.

Harassment at Entry Points: I travel a lot and obviously I run in to hard weather from time to time. It has lessened as I grew "older" as opposed to when I was a very young student. When they find you are attending one of their elite schools, it seems to sting them like a hundred wasps. I could see the efforts they were making to find fault. I have to say nobody knows the shape and sounds of my ass like those bozos as they make me bend and allow their torches to shine you know where.

After exchanging with them on previous occasions I learned a few things such as one they stop you as they did Bella, condition yourself to accept that you have all the time on earth. Relax and let them enjoy their fetish.

In one country, they were concerned that I had no cash on me. That was a BIG issue until they rummaged through my papers and found a bank statement saying the opposite. Then it became an issue that I had " a lot of money". To which I asked how much money is legal for a man like me to own.

Apparently dressing in a suit "helps". There is the unwritten code that urges suits and so on, so that you are not mistaken for "an asylum seeker".

My two friends relocated to Australia recently. If you're a professional with solid CV, you get the papers. Just like Canada.

[jakoyo]

Until the black man sorts out the mess in his own back yard no one will ever respect him. Look at the mess in Africa countries half a decade post independence. Diseases , Hunger , Premature deaths, violence , disorder , corruption , primitive cultural practices. The list is endless.

Eastern Europeans countries like Bulgaria and Romania which were only recently liberated have since overtaken most african countries. Meanwhile african countries that were in fairly good shape have significantly declined.

There is something genetically wrong with a black man when it comes to leadership, accountability , delivery , performance , hard work , commitment , patience etc.

[MOON Ki]

Until the black man sorts out the mess in his own back yard no one will ever respect him. Look at the mess in Africa countries half a decade post independence. Diseases , Hunger , Premature deaths, violence , disorder , corruption , primitive cultural practices. The list is endless.

Eastern Europeans countries like Bulgaria and Romania which were only recently liberated have since overtaken most african countries. Meanwhile african countries that were in fairly good shape have significantly declined.

There is something genetically wrong with a black man when it comes to leadership, accountability , delivery , performance , hard work , commitment , patience etc.

Those are harsh words indeed, but I can't readily think of any way to "counter" them.   Sovereign, independent, and equal, but always begging.  Forever f**ing up and then insisting on "help" to clean up the mess.    Turning West, East, into the sky, everywhere ... but never into Africa, which actually has all that is required---land to grow food, riches and stuff in the ground, youthful and vigorous labour, ...

To my mind, leadership is the key.  Perhaps Mumias Sugar could serve as template for the short term: bring in a recycled mzungu to serve until an honest, serious, and hardworking native is available.   

In the meantime, here is your standard-issue African "leader":

Not too long ago, when things were "hot" for him, one Uhuru Kenyatta went all out on what he called the neo-colonial imperialists, their nasty nasty court", and their dirty plans to keep Africa down.  As he saw it, the rotten bastards were to blame for Africa's mess.  Africa, he said, could, and would, do without them.  They were going to turn East and create their own court, and for the latter he gave $1 million cash-money pap! Like that!   Motions were passed to withdraw Kenya from that colonial arrangement.  Apart from threatening to set up its own court, the AU had a long list on how the Rome Statute would have to be changed and by when.   

Skip forward to 2015.   The African Court of Justice and Human Rights has been put back into the dustbin where it normally resides.   And---believe it or not!----just a few weeks ago, said Mr. Kenyatta publicly stated that Kenya is committed to staying with and cooperating with the ICC.   His reasons?   That Kenya respects the rule of law and is committed to international justice! (And Brother Ruto?   Well, well, well, ...)

What should one make of such a fellow, such a "leader"?   To my mind, one can only laugh.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

Until the black man sorts out the mess in his own back yard no one will ever respect him. Look at the mess in Africa countries half a decade post independence. Diseases , Hunger , Premature deaths, violence , disorder , corruption , primitive cultural practices. The list is endless.

Eastern Europeans countries like Bulgaria and Romania which were only recently liberated have since overtaken most african countries. Meanwhile african countries that were in fairly good shape have significantly declined.

There is something genetically wrong with a black man when it comes to leadership, accountability , delivery , performance , hard work , commitment , patience etc.

It may not be fair, but that is the crux of the problem.  It's not unlike how Kenyans would view Southern Sudanese or Somalis.  The reputation of your origin rubs off on you.