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Our Constitution is premised on the outdated notions of terra nullius and assimilation. It is more than three years ago since the Gillard Government set up an Expert Panel, and the Abbott Government is waiting for consensus. Noel Pearson is right to insist that Aboriginal leaders need a place at the table.
In his native Japan, the name Haruki Murakami has immense currency. In the first week of its release his latest novel Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage sold more than one million copies. Coming from a traditional culture where assimilation and social order has been a historical imperative, perhaps the book's themes go beyond the intimate to acknowledge the soul-eating, conformist nature of society.
The back label of my taboo-smashing pre-10am cake was covered in an unintelligible language, which I could only presume was Dutch. What I had thought a tasty sounding Breakfast Cake was apparently also known less appetisingly as an 'Ontbijtkoek'. I can neither read nor speak Dutch despite my Dutch migrant heritage.
Because we lived so long with a policy of assimilation, our ingrained racism takes time to shake. We need public policy that reasserts the principles of multiculturalism. Instead our Prime Minister is caught out making an ethnic jibe. June 2009
The boys of Lebanon have found a niche in Aussie pop culture. Several recent films deal with Arab-Australians as the 'other', examining the extent of their assimilation, the codes they live by, and their functions within a 'tolerant' society.
The policy of assimilation made an inhumane idea more important than human beings. Redfern Pastor Bill Simon recovered from his own oppression under Government policies. It's shameful that a miracle was required.
Because we lived so long with a policy of assimilation, our ingrained racism takes time to shake. We need public policy that reasserts the principles of multiculturalism. Instead our Prime Minister is caught out making an ethnic jibe.
In grappling with a growing Muslim population, Europe must choose between assimilation, integration or accommodation.