Racism alive and well
There are few issues that get my blood boiling, one of them is racism. Just over a year ago I wrote a blog piece here about the Macquarie University lecturer who went on ACA spouting his racist views. Little did I know that the Cronulla riots were just around the corner. In fact its almost a year to the day since the cronulla riots.
At the time of the riots I underestimated what a huge ordeal it was until I saw the news that night. A black day for Australia but a day of truth also where it was finally revealed to the world the racist underbelly of Australian culture. The fallout of the Cronulla riots was a sight to behold. It quickly became a hunt for the Muslim extremist who retaliated rather than the hunt for justice. Then came one of the most ridiculous election promises I have ever heard:
In the January 14 Sydney Morning Herald, Debnam accused the ALP of being “indebted” to certain ethnic groups and “Middle Eastern gangs”, and said that this was the reason the police had not arrested those involved in the revenge attacks. Three days later, Debnam was quoted in the Herald demanding that the NSW Labor government “lock up 200 Middle Eastern thugs” whom he alleged were involved. By January 18, Debnam had upped his hit-list to 1000.
Unfortunately, it hasn't ended there. The Prime Minister and his cronies have pandered to the racists in the electorate with regular outbursts against muslims.
A year on from the Cronulla riots and a political opportunist rears her head to take advantage of the racist underbelly. Pauline Hanson has threatened to run against the sitting Liberal member for Cook, Bruce Baird (who ironically worked with Petro Georgiou to help tone down the draconian and racist refugee policies of their party). If she runs, she will lose dreadfully, the racists are too spread out and not only concentrated in Cook. Nevertheless, this does not bode well for the tone of next years federal election. I sincerely I hope a repeat of either 1998 or 2001 will not happen in 2007. Australia has been embarrassed by this woeful woman more than enough.
posted by Joel MacRae @ 4:22 pm
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hey Joel, good info on your site. A comment is: I wonder if in Jungian terms Pauline is the archetype (or figurehead)of Australias rascism - or really, more generally, 'white-anglo', humanities rascism or generally violent dislike for the 'other'. Racism alive and well? Yes and I'd say it always has been and now it has a political 'head ' or manifestation for the 'white' community. (Lets balance the white thing, I'm a whitie BTW, rascism is strong in other communities ie Middle- Eastern and aboriginal that I'm personally aware of)
In suppressing the shadow do we feed it? In concentrating on Pauline do we miss rascism in all its forms and communities?
Maybe it was instructive for 'general' Australia to face these media images or 'mirror'? Or listen to Pauline and work out how they feel about it? And hopefully debate the issues?
To put it another way, to me, fascism runs very close to the surface in Australia, in a similar sort of wayto rascism. Some would argue (me included)whether it has presently manifested itself on the surface of society.
Are these disease like behaviours or is it like society or psychology and fluctutaes over different spectrums of neurosis, and across time across and with different events and influences
Do we treat/attack the symtoms or do we find the causes? I'm not sure despising Pauline, or fascists (even though I can feel that reaction in me) is the best way of looking at tackling this.
DaveyBartlett
You're probably right Davey, despising them is not the way to go. One thing is for sure, racism and fascism needs to be fought, at every turn. On occassion I get a bit carried away, caught up in the heat of the moment. Indeed, we need to tackle these problems rationally and strategically if we are to win the support of the wider community. I feel that one important strategy, you may disagree, is to bring out the racists into the public sphere and reveal to the world what these people are truly saying. This is where the media must play an important role, one I feel they are not living up to.
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