”The whole racism issue has really coloured this debate in an unhealthy way, because when our media either seizes on that, or the Australian media in turn respond critically, we are essentially dealing with not black or brown or white, but red herrings,”
SHASHI THAROOR, MOS External Affairs, Government of India.
Quoted in THE AGE.
If Minister Tharoor believes that the whole racism issue is nothing but red herrings, then first lets understand what “Red Herrings” are…
The expression red herring is an idiom referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance. For example, in mystery fiction, an innocent party may be purposefully cast as highly suspect through emphasis or descriptive techniques; attention is drawn away from the true guilty party.
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The idiomatic sense of “red herring” has, until very recently, been thought to originate from a supposed technique of training young scent hounds.[2] There are variations of the story, but according to one version, the pungent red herring would be dragged along a trail until a puppy learned to follow the scent[4]. Later, when the dog was being trained to follow the faint odour of a fox or a badger, the trainer would drag a red herring (whose strong scent confuses the animal) perpendicular to the animal’s trail to confuse the dog.[5] The dog would eventually learn to follow the original scent rather than the stronger scent. An alternate etymology points to escaping convicts who would use the pungent fish to throw off hounds in pursuit.[6]
In reality, the technique was probably never used to train hounds or help desperate criminals. The idiom probably originates from an article published 14 February, 1807 by journalist William Cobbett in the polemical Weekly Political Register.[7] In a critique of the English press, which had mistakenly reported Napoleon’s defeat, Cobbett recounted that he had once used a red herring to deflect hounds in pursuit of a hare, adding “It was a mere transitory effect of the political red-herring; for, on the Saturday, the scent became as cold as a stone.”[7] As British etymologist Michael Quinion says, “This story, and [Cobbett’s] extended repetition of it in 1833, was enough to get the figurative sense of red herring into the minds of his readers, unfortunately also with the false idea that it came from some real practice of huntsmen.”[7]
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Now with reference to the Indian-OZ tussle-point, and using the above explanations from WIKIPAEDIA, we realise that there are not one RED HERRING but several…. Let me list them.
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The person who first called the Australians as Racist and who was quoted and projected by the Indian and Australian Media turned out to be neither an Indian, nor a Student and neither the formation had any validity as the voice of the Indian community. As exposed later, his comments were clearly without basis and even he tried to distance himself from them. However, the damage was done big time and everyone believed the media hype following the claim without waiting for facts to emerge. All instances of attacks by anyone including when the offender was a migrant of similar colour, fake claim of attacks for insurance or simple mugging and even deaths of Indians by Indians were seen as acts of Racism. Australia was branded as Racist and there were even suggestions that India should move for a sanction by the Commonwealth. The first and the original Red Herring…
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The Victorian Police Chief gave statistics on crime on Indians soon thereafter. Later it turned out that the crime stats are not kept on nationality but on the basis of appearance and what he described as Indians, actually included several nationalities. Further, since the crime data for other “appearances” was kept under clearly described categories such as Caucasians or Asians, Media assumed that attacks or crimes has only been against Indian nationals. This is second Red Herring…
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The Indian Government displayed significant patience and maturity. However, the External Affairs Minister, Mr Krishna, speaking at a function organised by an American body, made a statement that indicated, “Indians were being singled out in Australia”. This led to a number of serious commentators in Indian media to also believe that the killings of Indians in Australia over the last many years has been largely targeted and targeted by Australians. As data stood before us, this turned out to be totally unfounded. Of the last 15-16 deaths of Indians in Australia in last two years, only 1-2 is still under investigation. Of all the other deaths, it is now found that clearly in about 10 cases, it is people of Indian Origin themselves who have killed the other Indian. The remaining few cases of last two years has been deaths due to suicide or accident or by drowning. However, when the senior minister made the comment, many took it at face value. Indian students and Parents continue to believe that INDIANS ARE INDEED BEING SINGLED OUT. This was third Red Herring…
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Without waiting for investigations to complete in the Ranjodh killing, MOS Preneet Kaur, received the body as it arrived in India and then laid a wreath from the Government giving it a “martyr” status. She also made a comment at the occasion indicating that a second advisory had been issued asking students not to go to Australia. The reality was very different but only surfaced after the Media had blown up the issue. Indians killed Ranjodh and he was possibly someone who had entered Australia illegally using a contract wedding and his legal widow stays on even right now in Australia and did not participate in the funeral. The “second travel advisory” was also incorrect awareness of the MOS and the Ministry immediately posted a correction on its website indicating that there is no second advisory and Indian students have not been asked to avoid travelling to Australia. The fourth Red Herring…
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Australian Government remained fractured between the actions in the state of Victoria and the comments being made in Canberra. There appeared a push primarily to show to all that the acts were not racist and there was little that appeared to be done to act immediately to curtail the street violence in the city of Melbourne. Steps were taken but very late and very slow. The Press quotes provided by the functionaries in Victoria remained badly worded and focussed more on defensiveness and justifications. Clearly the focus of the Australian Government was now distracted and revolved around the sting of the word “racism”. Damage continued as crime continued. Indians continued to believe Australia to be in denial. Red Herring No. 5.
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Focus shifts to QUALITY of INDIAN STUDENTS. Hence scapegoats were found: Private Colleges and their agents. Rapid audits were announced and visas were immediately tightened. This led to closure after closure of colleges. These colleges should not have been in existence in the first place itself but that happened because of low compliance level of the State Government. However, now the tightening and the closures led to different problems for students who were in Australia legally and on valid visas. The Aussie Education brand was affected in the process. The reality is that the ones to be affected at the end were the Universities and the quality providers and their quality agents who for no fault of theirs were being termed as “bad quality”. Journalists who were not education journalists were quoting in parts totally out of context and even the fall in visa numbers due to the severe visa tightening was projected as a drop in interest of Indian students due to “racism in Australia”. This in turn had a spiralling effect and the market finally lost interest in Australia even in reality. This is the Red Herring No. 6.
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Australia’s USP to International students has been the pathway to work/settlement. There is nothing fishy about this at all and world over all education destinations do offer this pathway using one terminology or another. However, a direct result of noise was the new-belief of so-called experts that this umbilical cord needs severing. Many students who can actually be able to contribute so well in Australia will soon find it difficult to stay on. The intention of ensuring that only those who can get a job stay on or even simply continuing with the reforms that had taken place in the system over the last two years could, easily have enforced that those who are willing to apply their education to workplace in the same line of occupation are granted residency. There was no need to replace the system totally and only fine-tuning would have served the purpose. Australia needs Immigration and potential OZ educated migrants are indeed best fit. More will now be affected and OZ is the loser at the end. Red Herring No. 7.
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In the election year, Australian Opposition is trying to use this issue to attack the Labour Government. Labour Government blames the Liberals stating that it is the result of the policies of the Howard regime. The reality is that the problem was not with legislation then or now but only in compliance of the legislation, then and now. ESOS even in current format is a solid document but hardly enforced. There is no guarantee that it will be enforced after the changes Compliance did not get so much of attention and only the blame-game continued. Who wins, will be known later this year but who is definite to lose is already known. Indian students and OZ-Indian free trade. Australian quality education providers and Australia. POLITICS is the Red Herring No. 8.
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Last eight months has proven that audience has indeed been diverted from the truth due to the RED HERRINGS…
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