Melbourne gang culture is nothing new - 8th January 2018
Melbourne gang culture is nothing new
Theo Theophanous, Herald Sun
January 8, 2018
·
YOUTH gangs are not new in Melbourne. They have
always been a feature of especially working-class areas. Before we rush to
condemn the so-called Sudanese or African gangs, it is worth reflecting on some
home-grown Aussie gangs of the past.
I grew up in Broadmeadows and in the late ’60s,
groups of youths called Sharpies roamed the streets.
They were characterised by a skinhead haircut at
the front and a kind of glam rocker style at the back, often with tattoos. They
were mainly British or Anglo-Aussie working-class boys who hung out together
and with girls called “brush” who wore tight miniskirts and high wedged heels.
In sociological terms, members of those gangs saw
themselves as part of an “in-group” that provided them with a source of meaning
and differentiation from “out-groups” which were essentially the rest of
society.
They targeted those of us who sported Beatle-style
haircuts and clothing that they referred to as pansies or Mods. If you were an
ethnic (at that time, referred to as wogs), you were doubly targeted.
I can remember the terrifying feeling of walking
down the street and seeing a group of Sharpies approaching. Having been bashed
up several times, once quite badly, I changed my behaviour. I avoided areas
where they frequented or being out alone at night.
The Sharpie gangs have been romanticised over the
years but the truth is that alongside the gang activity and their favourite
sport of bashing mods and wogs, they were often involved in other criminal
activity.
Sadly, the cops were nowhere to be found — the
level of policing in places like Broadmeadows was virtually non-existent then.
2016’s
Moomba riots. Picture: Jake Nowakowski
The Sharpies were subsequently replaced by an
emerging punk culture with its own characteristic brand of fringe norms and
behaviour.
Chane Chane, a remnant music stalwart and former Sharpie,
recently romanticised the Sharpies gangs with the words: “We were all between
14 and 18. The world was wide open. We’d been told to sit in the corner and
shut up for years, and this time we were out and no one was telling us to shut
up.”
These words could just as easily have been uttered
by some Sudanese youth today, reflecting on the repressive circumstances from
whence they came and the new circumstances they faced in a new land.
For Sharpies, the sense of belonging to an
“in-group” often manifested itself in viol
ence towards outsiders in order to prove your
allegiance and loyalty to the group.
For today’s gangs, Sudanese or otherwise, the
dynamics are similar.
The Sudanese gang issue, like the Sharpie gangs and
countless other gangs we have had over the years, should be seen first and
foremost as a sociological issue and not as a political or even predominantly a
policing issue.
Sociologists will tell you that driving the
“in-group” dynamic is a sense of belonging in the face of the feeling that you
are an outsider and unwanted by the mainstream.
It is counter-productive for our leaders to
reinforce the notion that these young African people are not wanted by
threatening to deport them to places of terror where their lives are at risk.
In the short-term, that may push some of their behaviour underground but it
will also drive them deeper into the arms of their gangs.
The threats will also reinforce the dynamic of
seeking to obtain meaning, differentiation and protection by adopting group
symbols, through rebelliousness and criminal activity as acts of defiance.
To integrate our new citizens into the Australian
ethos, we need programs that build trust and redirect the powerful feelings of
belonging that exist within the “in-group” away from being expressed in
destructive, anti-social behaviour.
This is a much harder and more complex process than
the knee-jerk reaction of “send them back to where they came from”. It involves
understanding, mentoring, sensitive policing and providing facilities where they
can hang out, play sport or engage with people from other communities. Mostly,
it involves accepting our own responsibility, having brought them to our
country, to help break the cycle of unemployment in which two out of three of
these young people are trapped.
The solution is not to be found in labelling or
branding the problem as an ethnic or Sudanese problem and pretending that we
never had or do not have Aussie gangs displaying similar behaviour. It is
morally unsustainable to treat them as an anti-social ethnic “out-group” and
ourselves as members of the morally superior legitimate “in-group”.
Scoring political points is not helping. Nor is the
“let’s get tough on crime” approach to which both political parties at the
state level will invariably be drawn in an election year.
Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton’s intervention is
the same kind of mentality that has left hundreds of legitimate asylum seekers
languishing in foreign jails that we set up to avoid our international and
moral responsibilities.
As Australians, as Victorians, I think we can do be
better than this for our young Sudanese and African youth.
Our politicians should stop thinking that we are
incapable of understanding such complex problems and that our vote is somehow a
public auction on how tough they are in supporting a paradigm that brands all
such young people as criminals to be deported or jailed.
Theo Theophanous is a former state government
minister and commentator
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