Un segno risulta inequivocabile sul mutamento di atteggiamento della società australiana rispetto agli immigrati: il ministero per l'Immigrazione e gli Affari Multiculturali è diventato quello per l'Immigrazione e la Cittadinanza.
La ragione è semplice: società civile e uomini politici sembrano non accettare più (in vario grado) l'atteggiamento di numerose comunità allogene, spesso mostranti un forte disprezzo nei confronti della maggioranza australiana o, comunque, troppo legate a retaggi e situazioni pericolose per la realtà australiana. Dagli scontri di giovani serbi e croati, riproducenti una piccola guerra balcanica, a, soprattutto, il modo di porsi dei maomettani, col loro desiderio di islamizzare la società australiana il prima possibile, ma anche con l'esaltazione di noti personaggi da cronaca nera, come lo stupratore libanese Bilal Skaf, il fastidio è cresciuto diventando una nuova prassi nei rapporti con gli stranieri.
Niente più "società multiculturale" quindi, dove ognuno coltivi la propria cultura originaria, ma "integrazione", dove a dominare deve essere solo la cultura australiano-europea.
Tra gli altri segni visibili del mutamento, oltre alle parole di noti politici, a partire dal primo ministro John Howard, c'è anche la modifica sull'accesso alla cittadinanza: se prima ci volevano solo due anni per accedervi, ora ne servono quattro.
Forse tutto questo non sarà la fine dell'ideologia multietnicista in Australia, ma un segnale positivo sicuramente.
* Dall'articolo "Australia tells immigrants to integrate into" (Sid Astbury, Gulf Times, 26 gennaio 2007):
After 30 years of believing that multiculturalism had
the power to hold their settler society together Australians
are losing faith in what was always a tangled concept and are
returning to the simpler formula of integration.
"We have moved from scepticism to disenchantment," said ruling
Liberal Party luminary Peter Coleman. "It has now sunk in that
some immigrants and their children, many of whom know us well
enough, profoundly despise our way of life and even consider
themselves at war with it."
As if on cue, 150 Serb and Croat youths provided further
grounds for disenchantment by getting themselves thrown out of
the tennis Open in Melbourne for fighting each other in a
reprise of the 1990s Balkan Wars.
And then up popped a YouTube video made by Lebanese Muslim
youngsters in their suburban Sydney heartland glorifying
notorious gang rapist Bilal Skaf and predicting that Australia
would one day be a Muslim country.
Multiculturalism, the doctrine that immigrants be encouraged
to retain their culture, language and religion, is officially
an orphan. Prime Minister John Howard now has a Department of
Immigration and Citizenship, formerly the department of
immigration and multicultural affairs.
The opposition Labor Party has also shifted ground. What the
main rivals at a general election later this year have to say
on the integration is now virtually identical.
"People are understandably going to retain a place in their
heart for their home culture and we don’t discourage that in
any way," Howard said when announcing the ministry name
change. "But the premium must be upon ... the integration of
people into the Australian family."
That policy statement was echoed by Labor’s spokesman on
immigration, Tony Burke, who said that "Labor wants new
immigrants to be integrating into Australia from day one."
What’s caused the commitment to multiculturalism to fall away
is ethnic and religious tensions. Andrew Robb, Howard’s
point-man on integration, also notes the dramatic changes in
the source of new settlers from Europe to Asia and the greater
requirement for skills and proficiency in English in the job
market.
"In terms of effective integration, we have to do things which
anticipate problems like declining social cohesion," Robb
said.
The fall from grace of multiculturalism as a concept has been
mirrored by a raft of policy initiatives intended to promote
unity rather than diversity.
Immigrants now have to wait four years - double the previous
waiting period - to become citizens. By the end of the year a
tough new citizenship test will be in place to assess
proficiency in English, knowledge of Australian history and
the applicant’s grasp of civic responsibilities.
With Labor jumping on board the integration bandwagon, the
Greens are the only party in federal parliament warning of a
slide back to the White Australia policy that prevailed before
the 1970s and the introduction of a colour-blind immigration
policy.
"It’s going to be harder to come to Australia if you don’t
have an Anglo background," Greens leader Bob Brown argued.
The change in rhetoric is quite profound. This week Howard
laid out the new deal for intending settlers, telling them
that the path was "you come to this country, you embrace its
customs, its values, its language, you become a citizen."
The citizenship test will also be quite specific in its
demands. Robb said applicants must demonstrate that they
"support democratic rights, the rule of law and the freedom of
religion, and that it was illegal to discriminate on the
grounds of race, religion or sex."
Mark Lopez, who has written extensively on multiculturalism,
has argued that the shift away from diversity and towards
unity would not have any extreme manifestations.
"A recognition of the legitimacy of migrant and ethnic
organisations as participants in a pluralist democracy will
most likely continue in an integrationist regime," Lopez wrote
in The Australian. "Opposition to racism would also probably
remain a feature of mainstream culture and politics."
The most important change is the reaffirmation that Australia
has a mainstream culture and that newcomers must swim with it
rather than against it. As Howard has stated: "Cultural
diversity should never come at the expense of a clear strong
compelling national identity."




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