0		Rudd, India, BBQ, cultural misunderstandings

It's not Kevin Rudd's fault that some people in this country (just as in every other) are somewhat prejudiced against other races, and that there have in recent years been some stark instances of abuse of and violence towards Indian and other immigrant workers. Particularly in high-frustration situations like those that come with finding a taxi in an Australian capital city. As he's told anyone who'll listen, he strongly supports the prosecution of any who attack Indians, or anyone else, in Australia. That kind of behaviour is, in his words, "disgusting", and most Australians would agree.

Don't believe commenters on right-wing blogs; most Australians are sympathetic to Indian students' concerns - we don't want anyone being abused because of their race. Their AFL team, sure, but their race - no. We can still perhaps be a little insensitive as to what might constitute "abuse", though.

The Labor government's decision to refuse to export uranium to India until it signs the non-proliferation treaty is also kind of principled, although obviously that's "principled" in the "with the compromises and inconsistencies that are inevitable in real-world diplomacy" sort of way.

So it's amusing, and kind of sad, that what his trip will be remembered for is the BBQ cockup.

The release unveiled a new program - to be run by Rotary Australia - in which Indian students would be invited for barbecues with Australian families as a gesture of inclusion.

Mr Rudd claims the barbecues were a Rotary idea, while the organisation says the plan came from Mr Rudd's office. And like Indian students, Rotary says barbecues are not an ideal welcoming gesture as most Indians are vegetarian.

I'd put money on the idea having come from some junior bureaucrat in Rudd's office and the rest of his staff having been a bit too preoccupied with the major issues of the trip to notice until it was just about to be released, when - to their credit - they did notice, and withdrew it. While Indians might wonder how anyone could be so stupid as to fail to realise that a very large part of their country is vegetarian, it's almost understandable how an Australian might make that mistake. After all, the biggest exposure most of us have to Indian cuisine is probably suburban curry houses, and - because Australians eat a lot of meat (traditionally - its ubiquity is reducing) - their menus are usually predominantly meat-based. (Even though it's not particularly authentic, vindaloo works really well with chicken, for example.)

This is most Australians' main exposure to "Indian" culture or cuisine - but is most Indians' exposure to Australia any less stereotypical and inaccurate?

I suppose the way to avoid this in future, is for bureaucrats to remember that, when you're dealing with completely different cultural groups, there may be important things about their traditions that you don't realise. Not because you're a bad person, or particularly ignorant - it might seem absurd not to know something as basic about such a populous country as India or as major a world religion as Hinduism, but there are few people in the world who are not, if they're honest, fundamentally ignorant about the traditions of large parts of the rest of the world - but because assuming that you could have developed a decent understanding of a country through little more than having eaten food adapted for them and cooked by former citizens, is both stupid and arrogant. And likely to result in humiliation.

Every country does it, of course. I'm sure Indian public figures make inaccurate assumptions about Australia all the time (when they think about us at all, of course). Part of the reason America faces so much antagonism abroad is not how often it makes these embarrassing errors, but that its approach to dealing with them seems to be "well, why should we care about your quaint little traditions anyway? WE'RE AMERICA!" At least Rudd's office has the decency, if not to apologise, but to at least realise be ashamed enough to try to blame it on someone else...

This can't just be a Western vs Asian thing, though. It's a big region. What stuff-ups based on cultural misunderstandings have infuriated or amused you the most over the last few years? Let us know in the comments.