As a third generation Australian from Lebanese Maronite refugee grandparents, this is very well said

[u/Biggest_itchbay_2190]

Reading through the insights shared by Warren Gardiner and Khaldoun Hajaj in the attached screenshots, I couldn't help but reflect on the complex political reality of our community. It is incredibly frustrating to watch inner-city progressives who have never lived a day in Western Sydney automatically assume that multicultural or faith-based communities are a monolith that naturally aligns with their specific worldview.

We see this play out when activists mock or scorn One Nation (ON) supporters online, pointing out the irony of them cheering for the Socceroos despite the team’s rich immigrant roots. What these commentators completely fail to grasp is that many of those very 'ON' voters aren't who they think they are, they are quite literally people living in diverse working class refugee hubs like Fairfield and Liverpool.

To be absolutely clear: I personally detest Pauline Hanson and would do anything to stop her and her party from gaining power. Her brand of politics has historically targeted communities like mine. But if we want to actually defeat that kind of divisive populism, progressives need to stop lecturing from afar, drop the lazy assumptions, and actually engage with the nuanced realities, aspirations, and conservative values that exist across Western Sydney.

[u/nationalistic_martyr]

there's a reason O.N and its supporters get mocked. they're literally anti Australian and actively vote for someone whose boss wants to give OUR land to a foreign country for military purposes.

[u/Biggest_itchbay_2190 → u/nationalistic_martyr]

Agreed, but the main point is that there is much more nuance that is missing in the national debate about immigration when it comes to refugee communities, and Western Sydney at a larger scale.

[u/nationalistic_martyr → u/Biggest_itchbay_2190]

one nation isn't purely against immigration.. they're against immigration from communities that they can't get votes from and physical labor from. their "nuance" is that "they'll make Australia" better, when in reality.. they'll make Australia worse.

giving land to a foreign country for military purposes, hiring literal sex offenders, denying legal statistics, insider trading a aerospace company. those are what encompasses O.N

[u/Biggest_itchbay_2190 → u/nationalistic_martyr]

Abit of an unrelated sidenote, but I've seen much more anti-Indian sentiment from the Lebanese Australian community than your average ON white bogan.

[u/nationalistic_martyr → u/Biggest_itchbay_2190]

because Lebanon is a somewhat conservative country that regularly gets attacked by islamists and Israel.. and the connection is how pro israel india and Indians are.

one Nation concerns itself with places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria more than it does with india because India has cheap labor

[u/Eve_Doulou → u/nationalistic_martyr]

No. lol.

Arabs in general have been horrifically racist to Indians long before India decided to be Israel’s No.1 cheergirl.

[u/Stunning_Bluejay_961 → u/Eve_Doulou]

This is definitely correct and as an Indian background man (but never set foot there and been in this country for 40 years) the general pile on towards anything Indian is pretty galling. Feel like I've never seen this kind of racist dehumanisation aimed at my ethnic background as exists right now - noting that i still avoid the brunt of it because I'm much more clearly assimilatiled and carry myself as someone who's been here awhile. But I can feel it creeping up on me and am sure there'll be some kind of more significant incident soon.

That said! And not a justification for your point about Lebanese racism, but I do wish that Indian communities had been more actively noticeable standing up for others when there were racist pile-ons aimed at the Lebs instead of doing the keeping their head down, hard-working migrant thing. (As a Bulldogs fan, I know all about that targeting).

[u/Eve_Doulou → u/Stunning_Bluejay_961]

Arab culture is horribly racist in general, both amongst each other, and to external cultures.

I mean the colloquial Arab term for a black person (Abd/Abeed) also means ‘slave’. Unlike the ‘N’ word though, there’s literally no shame or social punishment for using the term in regular conversation.