You abused me on a previous thread because I used equity in my home to buy some bank shares – called me an ‘anti-social blot’. (how buying shares is anti-social I have no idea). Now however – you’re abusing me on a thread that deals with racism – I strongly object to that, and think you should apologise.

You know nothing about me apart from the fact that I buy shares. Do you object to the fact that by buying shares I must be well-off and therefore worthy of abuse? Do you not like people who have money?

I’ll tell you a story that links the two threads (being well off and African migrants). Last year on Xmas eve I jumped in a taxi that was being driven by one of the darkest skinned Africans I’d ever seen. We got into a conversation and he told me all about how he’d emigrated to Australia after spending 3 years in a refugee camp, got married to a women in a pre-arranged marriage by the families back home, had two young kids and was loving being in Melbourne. He told me all about how they celebrate Xmas – as I recall the festivities go on for about 10 days. It was a great yarn.

I arrived at my destination and the taxi-fare was about $30. I had $300 in my wallet and on impulse I gave it all to him saying ‘keep the change’. The look on his face was priceless – it made my day and his. He clearly needed it more than me.

Paul – if you look after your finances and take opportunities to invest well then perhaps you too will be able to have moments like these.

Making ridiculous and offensive comments on weblogs to people you don’t know says a lot about you. Perhaps you’re the one we’d better off without.

First, as Possum’s graphs show, there is a distinct crime problem amongst a particular cohort of Somalian refugees. As has been said, that is almost certainly related to the complex interaction of factors such as the violence they were exposed to in their homelands, poverty, family breakup and the difficulty of adjusting to life in a country that has little in common with Somalia, and were already stretched support services are struggling to cope with the scale of the adjustment problem they face.

The main dispute between Possum and Bolt is obviously not the actual figures, but the use of those figures. Bolt, in his reactionary way, uses the figures to stir anti-Somali sentiment amongst his readers. As far as I can tell, nowhere in his comments does Bolt remind his readers of the harrowing backrounds of Somalian refugees, or plead for extra support be given to help them adjust. Possum, and some of the commentators on this blog, add that needed nuance.

However, I have two concerns with Possum’s piece that I would like people to comment on. First, is the following statement:

“We’re only talking about a community of 2600 people, if we can’t fix this we probably couldn’t find our arse with a map.”

What concerns me is that statements like this play down the scale of the problem. How easy is it really to fix these sorts of problems? What proportion of volunteers or social services professionals in Australia have extensive experience dealing with the nature of the problems of young Somalis in Australia? Is there a record of succesful programs for other ethnic groups than can be replicated for Somalis? I’m not an expert in this area, but I would like to hear here from those that are.

Second, I worry that articles like Possum’s aren’t particularly constructive – at least in terms of improving politcal discourse in this country, or even helping the issue at hand. Sure, they make centre-lefties like most of us feel better – that Bolt and his followers is a racist git and all that. But surely what we are most worried about (apart from the welfare of Somalis themselves) is that Bolt’s views are likely to reflect sentiment of a lot of ordinary Australians. People that don’t read blogs, don’t read nuanced reports, but do worry about the safety of the communities they live in.

Aren’t we really in a battle for the hearts and minds of such people? Don’t we want to convice them that the problem can best be dealth with by more support, rather than cutting down on migrant intakes from Somalia? Do we think that Crikey polemics are the best way to do that?

I’m sorry Possum if you think I’m being unfair here. But now you have lifted the profile of your blog to a journalistic level, I think you have think to more carefully about what you want to achieve. If all you want to contribute is insightful psephology, combined with the occasional clever and funny rants against the conservative MSM, then fair enough. But I think you could contribute a lot more by not stooping to their level, toning down the polemics, and demonstrating the real value of a balanced, statisically assisted, perspective on complicated issues.

LP is a forum who’s contributers are way,way beyond my level of education… but I know what I like

I like what you do

Marlin – most of our new communities pretty quickly organise themselves into associations, work together to support new arrivals, and are encouraged to learn how to advocate to government (ier politicians in particular). The best thing I think they can do is learn to lobby well and work together. Older migrant communities working with new ones is also effective, but takes some give on both sides.

But remember we are talking refugees. They arrive with their clothes on their back and that’s it, quite literally, for the vast majority. Learning Australia as fast as they can and adapting as best they can is an enormous task that takes years. I also want it to be very clear that every refugee comes here desperate to work. They do not lack motivation in my experience, unless really struggling with PTSD or similar. Heck even if most of my wish-list went unanswered, a more supportive and tolerant Australian community that would put more job opportunities their way would make a hell of a difference.

Myriad, is there some special rule for humanitarian entrants and/or permanent residents? For Australian citizens, you can happily study part-time for years on end while claiming Newstart, at the full rate (not that that’s a king’s ransom).