yes you are spot on about the overcrowded lodgings.
They take on a lease of a small flat and without the estate agency knowing they break the lease agreement which might say that only four people are allowed, but they have 15. They might have up to 15 people living in one tiny flat. They come and go and work different shifts and so they might only be 4 or 5 people in the flat at any one time.This is dishonest if it says on the lease agreement only four names and not 15 names. Impression and show off is true too - they do that in India as well. I have seen it for myself. Very materialistic compared to Aussies. They seem to have lost the spiritual life completely which is a shame.

Cmon Anthia thats a bit harsh isnt it, overcrowded lodgings can be attributed to lots of students other than just Indians

And the foreign students shouldnt be stereotyped as though they are getting an education because they are materialistic and lost their spirituality, they are working hard to acheive their education, and making a lot of sacrifice to better themselves as proffesional people in society.

The students dont have to worry about Roaming around in underwear and urinating in open, ...... the Indian students have picked up on some of the australian culture.....this is just typical australian behaviour after a big night out!

But seriously yes it is an important issue the pressure these students are under, they take a big decision to study abroad, and its hard to be in a foreign country, and to understand the complexities of neighborhoods they find to live in and finding work on top of study.

I dont agree at all about the articles critisism of the students living style or their manners, Indian people who ive met are always well mannered and nobody cares that students occupy overcrowded residences.

Also australian people are very materialistic they arnt so spiritual usually, the violence is perpetrated by inter ethnic rivalries of sydneys multicultural suburbs. Harris park - the neighborhood where the problems began is traditional Lebanese and Arab immigrant neighborhood but now it is becoming an Indian neighborhood as more Indians come to live and the young naturalised Lebanese and Arab men are targeting the Indians. ill post some articles

http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-suburb-that-simmers-20090612-c64s.html?page=-1

http://www.smh.com.au/national/indians-rally-as-suburb-seethes-20090610-c2ei.html

A few years ago there was gang violence between Lebanese Arab australians and young white hoodlums there has been some tensions in australias multicultural relations with the Lebanese and Arab minority,im not so sure why but i think since the war on terror or anti-Osama bin Laden sentiments were culturally inflammatory and has created some ostracism and resentment in the Lebanese community but its strange now that the Lebanese men and Indians are now fighting -

maybe it is quasi religous as well or something, i dont really know - but the australian government is trying to maintain the propaganda that it isnt race relations turf disputes when it is! The government cant admit to racial disputes or else it would be seen as incompetant and portraying australia as a backward country.

Oh well I just hope they can be clever enough to sort this sort of thing out so that it doesnt keep occuring. Theres no need for this disgraceful hoodlum behaviour.

Gary dishonesty is why the world is screwed up. Noone would rent out a one bedroom flat to me and my Indian husband and our 3 children when we couldn’t afford Sydney prices anymore. We had to move out of Sydney and now the place I moved to is hard to find work. I do not think working for cash in hand is an honest practice either. I will not work for cash in hand even if I am starving. Once again - australians are not allowed to own property or land in India or business. Look around you and see what Indians own here in Australia. I think you need to know India first to be able to comment to me.

Hi Anthia, yeah i take your point, I dont know India much....I know what you mean about house/rental prices here! its just terrible isnt it, doesnt make sense in this country with low populous big land area.....Im thinking of a move to the country for same reason.

Phagwara
Dishonesty breeds anger and probably anger provides a good environment for violence. If students come here to study that is their choice and have to take the good with the bad. Most students I hear come here to study to try and get residential status and stay in Australia. It is worked out by a point system. Studying gives them more points. Some are not even interested in the study and just the points. I know how badly Indians want to leave India and so do you. Lets keep it real.

Hi blogger

I think it would be complicating the issue more than the evidence suggests, for these attacks to be of a conspiratorial government or mafia backed agenda, although i think the governments agenda is to mask the true nature of these attacks for theyre own damage control of diplomacy

The way i interpret the evidence is that young men of Arab and Lebanese descent who consider this area of sydney as ”their neighborhood” and who affiliate with theyre own gangs, are targeting Indians who they see as overunning their neighborhood, and the Indians are extremely angry at the australian authorities for not doing enough to protect them.

But you will never hear the proper version of events from the official government sources becuase they will not racially profile offenders or incidents by race, - for example the ”Lebanese” or ”Arabs” or any other racial grouping in the suburbs such as the ”Vietnamese” are never officially referred to by their ethnic origins, because it is considered unethical to do so and that they are australians we all are australians irrespective of race, and its not politically correct to racially profile criminality to ethnic minorities.

But apart from the government spin and difficult racial ethical standard modes of grammar, the fact is that the violence is between Arab/Lebanese men attacking Indian men, in Suburbs of sydney that are highly specificly populated by ethnic groupings.

But this violence done to Indians has been the trigger, as an end of their patience, and the limit of what they are willing to tolerate, and they are sick of the police not doing anything, they are sick of other types of racism as well like the opportunities to be unbiased against in their work etc.

The australian government does have vested interests in Indian students and the finances of their enrollment, but this role is unconnected to the student violence, and definately not a conspiracy, in fact the government is trying to fix the situation as quickly as possible because it needs to protect its image as a welcome country to students especially Indians, who are considered important for our countries long term relations with India in spheres such as trade, diplomacy, and education etc.

So i doubt that these disputes would be conspiritorial with a mafia financial intention either as the incidents are random with no clear objective - it is motivated by racism in the sense of ethnic groupings of gang behaviour in sydney, rival groupings taking a dislike to Indians, its very complex issues - i think the violence has triggered a response by the Indians to speak out now and express their anger about these issues, of police inaction/ineptitude, living conditions and generally feeling as though they have to take action into their own hands if authorities are not competant to sort this out. Which they have begun to do by protesting and meting out some violence against their enemies.

The Indian students also feel as though police inaction and authorities inaction for quick solutions has a racist dimension of not doing enough for the Indians concerns.

That is definately an avenue for some immigration Anthia but would this be the reason people really commit the violence like setting someone on fire and kidnap a hostage over.

Thats not even unlawful immigration but skillfuly attaining residency, we dont see people attacking illegal immigrants.....some of the Indian students may have some cynical motives but to me it doesnt explain/warrant the kind of violence we see.

You and maybe some people may have some critisisms of cynical practices of unscrupulous methods, but these are commonalities with everyone who dislikes unfairness, i really do think what we see with this behaviour is the kind of tribalism young men engage in when they get into groups/gangs.

Sometimes these gangs affiliate by race (White surfies) sometimes by creed (like the bikies).....There are lots of gangs operational in sydney that affiliate on a loosely racial basis from white to Asian and Lebanese and even Aboriginal gangs from redfern and such, its what some young men like to do.

I think its a tribal neighborhood dispute that has degenerated into a bigger event and now snowballed into divisions along racial (targetting Indians) by some hoodlum elements in the suburbs in question, and not a broader issue of immigration thats to blame for this violence

I hardly catch how urinating in open to mates at an overcrowded rent space is linked to being assaulted in the outer streets, but both deception by “from own community” mentors and financial rip-off just multiply a feeling of resistance faced from “welcome stranger” surrounding different from expectations the tourists/migration agents still advertise back home probably.