Australians wrestle with cultural differences

Not all young Muslims feel this way or have lashed out, of course.

"I don't think I've been pressured by Australians to be another way. By living in Australia, I haven't stopped being a Muslim," says Serag Mohamed, a twentysomething who lives in the suburb of Panania. He listens to hip-hop, wears Nikes, follows the Sydney Kings basketball team, and attends Friday prayers at the Lakemba mosque. [Editor's note: The original version misspelled Panania.]

But others mention a sense of not being considered "fully Australian" by Anglo peers. Fadi Rahman, a youth leader in Sydney, says this disconnect is felt by many young Muslims.

"I'm as much an Aussie as anyone can get," says Mr. Rahman, who was born in Australia and comes from an Lebanese background. "I eat meat pies like everybody - and with tomato sauce, I might add."

"[But] I don't feel that I'm allowed to still be attached to my parents' and grandparents' culture, and whatever I choose to take from it," he says.

Some young Muslims note that acceptance often does come over time - with interaction. This is the idea behind a number of outreach efforts to encourage socializing over sports, food, beach activities, or music, including a national Harmony Day, slated for March 21.

The surf lifesaving initiative, which is being rolled out in Sydney with a $440,000 grant, will offer training courses in the inner suburbs for kids who don't feel comfortable or welcome in the clubs. These clubs lie at the cultural center of many of Australia's 11,000 beaches. The goal is to raise minority representation in surf lifesaving above the 5-percent level.

By 2001, 43 percent of the Australian population was born overseas or had one parent born abroad. Some 16 percent of Australians don't speak English at home.

But coming together over cultural activities doesn't mean accepting identical values.

"We can integrate about 80 percent of the Australian values, but there are some things we can't because they are sort of unlawful - alcohol, scantily clad women. I can't go to the beach wearing a Speedo," says Mohamad El-Chami, a young Australian born in Lebanon.

While dress codes may become an issue for the surf life-saving initiative, the group does promote values that are Australian in the most inclusive sense. For instance, community service and volunteering are required of all participants. Healthy lifestyles are also encouraged.

Indeed, some argue that finding values that can be shared - rather than cold legal frameworks - could be the best way to build an inclusive Australian identity.

"Pluralist nations like Australia, with no shared ethnicity and no deep historical traditions, need a strong sense of national identity to bind the people together," write the authors of "Imagining Australia," a book published in 2004 by four young Australians. The authors suggest building that identity around a set of shared values including egalitarianism, mateship, and giving everyone a "fair go." They also argue for removing the British stamp from national symbols such as the flag.

This ambitious proposal goes far beyond the current multicultural drive, begun in the 1970s. The government has loosened non-European immigration and changed school curriculums to include indigenous history and Asian languages. Affirmative action is not required, but the government promotes diverse workforces.

Multiculturalism has raised some hackles in the Anglo suburban heartland as a politically correct imposition by urban elites. The suburbs have absorbed most of the new immigrants, largely peacefully.

In the wake of the riots, Cronulla beach has lost some of its former diversity, despite visits by people like Mr. Kilani.

"You need to get [young Muslims] to feel they belong, and get the wider society to embrace them and to stop painting a whole community with a broad brush," says Kilani, who volunteers with Muslim youths.

Goold, the Cronulla native, has joined a small group working to put together a gathering on May 3 that will involve food, music, and personal reflections. He says it's a good if partial step. "People have to isolate the bad guys from the rest, and the police have to deal with the bad guys," he says. "The rest have to get together and integrate more."

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