Your Cart
Nothing to say? Race, silence and progressive politics
Posted by Dr. Heather Marion D'Cruz on 2009/05/27
I wrote this piece sometime at the end of 2008 and did not post it then as it seemed pointless.
Anyway … here it is now.
I normally do not have much difficulty in finding topics and issues from the world around me, whether in my daily interactions, or in media or political issues of the day.
Instead, I have a strange sense of invisibility – that something has disappeared or is absent, that there is nothing of relevance to write here.
This is a very odd experience this sense of disengagement, a sudden passionless existence.
I do not know whether the issues ‘about diversity’ are less contentious in Australia at present than in the recent past, for example, the treatment of asylum seekers, or the military interventions in the name of protecting women and children in indigenous communities in the remote north of Australia.
Or whether the only ways that ‘race’ is played out in Australia is in big, contentious stories while the underlying inequalities and stereotypes fester away ‘underneath’, and therefore become less visible.
This was certainly the case before I left for the UK in November 2007, possibly because the Australian Government then led by Prime Minister John Howard was constantly in the news about issues related to policies that directly related to diversity in the Australian population.
For example, military interventions in remote indigenous communities ostensibly to address child sexual abuse, or the treatment of asylum seekers.
Is it that Labor (centre left) parties tend to play up their ‘progressive’ agendas and hide the more ‘controlling’ aspects that are usually associated with conservative (centre right) parties?
For example it has been recently reported that the Australian Government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Australian Labor Party, have made much of their softening of the draconian laws against asylum seekers that were the hallmark of the previous Howard-led national government.
However they did not reveal that they are not reversing the policy of excising islands off shore to prevent asylum seekers claiming asylum as if on Australian soil.
Since my return to Australia in July/August 2008 with the Australian Labor Party in government, I have been struck by the absence of substantial issues related to race apart from landmark moments, such as the long-awaited apology by the Rudd Government to the stolen generations of indigenous Australians, or the recent convictions of several Muslim men as supporting terrorism.
This latter event has been cause for contention and debate as the charges and convictions have been based on talking about terrorist activity, rather than any proven acts of terrorism in the community.
www.theage.com.au/national/benbrika-found-guilty-20080915-4gov.html (accessed 22 September 2008)
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/15/2364753.htm (accessed 22 September 2008)
www.hrlrc.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?article_id=308&nav_cat_id=152&nav_top_id=63 (accessed 22 September 2008)
newmatilda.com/tag/abdul-nacer-benbrika (accessed 22 September 2008
www.watoday.com.au/opinion/legalities-of-talk-set-dangerous-precedent-20080920-4kg2.html? (accessed 22 September 2008).
However, the general sense is that it is business as usual, where economic and environmental issues are centre-stage and the more fundamental questions of inequality underpinning questions of race and ethnicity have disappeared or are less polarising than they were during the Howard years.
Anyway … here it is now.
I normally do not have much difficulty in finding topics and issues from the world around me, whether in my daily interactions, or in media or political issues of the day.
Instead, I have a strange sense of invisibility – that something has disappeared or is absent, that there is nothing of relevance to write here.
This is a very odd experience this sense of disengagement, a sudden passionless existence.
I do not know whether the issues ‘about diversity’ are less contentious in Australia at present than in the recent past, for example, the treatment of asylum seekers, or the military interventions in the name of protecting women and children in indigenous communities in the remote north of Australia.
Or whether the only ways that ‘race’ is played out in Australia is in big, contentious stories while the underlying inequalities and stereotypes fester away ‘underneath’, and therefore become less visible.
This was certainly the case before I left for the UK in November 2007, possibly because the Australian Government then led by Prime Minister John Howard was constantly in the news about issues related to policies that directly related to diversity in the Australian population.
For example, military interventions in remote indigenous communities ostensibly to address child sexual abuse, or the treatment of asylum seekers.
Is it that Labor (centre left) parties tend to play up their ‘progressive’ agendas and hide the more ‘controlling’ aspects that are usually associated with conservative (centre right) parties?
For example it has been recently reported that the Australian Government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Australian Labor Party, have made much of their softening of the draconian laws against asylum seekers that were the hallmark of the previous Howard-led national government.
However they did not reveal that they are not reversing the policy of excising islands off shore to prevent asylum seekers claiming asylum as if on Australian soil.
Since my return to Australia in July/August 2008 with the Australian Labor Party in government, I have been struck by the absence of substantial issues related to race apart from landmark moments, such as the long-awaited apology by the Rudd Government to the stolen generations of indigenous Australians, or the recent convictions of several Muslim men as supporting terrorism.
This latter event has been cause for contention and debate as the charges and convictions have been based on talking about terrorist activity, rather than any proven acts of terrorism in the community.
www.theage.com.au/national/benbrika-found-guilty-20080915-4gov.html (accessed 22 September 2008)
www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/15/2364753.htm (accessed 22 September 2008)
www.hrlrc.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?article_id=308&nav_cat_id=152&nav_top_id=63 (accessed 22 September 2008)
newmatilda.com/tag/abdul-nacer-benbrika (accessed 22 September 2008
www.watoday.com.au/opinion/legalities-of-talk-set-dangerous-precedent-20080920-4kg2.html? (accessed 22 September 2008).
However, the general sense is that it is business as usual, where economic and environmental issues are centre-stage and the more fundamental questions of inequality underpinning questions of race and ethnicity have disappeared or are less polarising than they were during the Howard years.
Comments
Dr. Heather Marion D'Cruz
said:
Thanks for your comment, Harun. yes i saw this item on the news. as an outsider to the US, and away from the context, it can seem a bit presumptous to comment - but i guess we can all have a perspective based on what we know about it. I thought it was an interesting example of the power of whiteness that rescued the 'white police officer' as being a 'non racist' doing good things to counteract racism in the community. That may well be the case. i don;t know. however, such an example also fails to recognise institutionalised racism in how police officers are allowed to respond to perceived criminals. The dynamics of this incident suggested to me that Professor Gates's response (seen as an over-reaction) were located in previous experiences of racism - it is so difficult to live with such experiences over a lifetime, have people tell you that they really haven;t happened, deny your experience and your feelings, and have the same things repeated daily. it is the mundane acts of discrimination that eventually become too much to take. I also thought it was amazing that the President of the US was expected to apologise for his comments - it is easy to see how sensitive such issues are, when you are dealing with white privilege. White people can say things that profile people who are not white and be seen as perfectly reasonable - eg The War on Terror that has now cast all Muslims as dangerous people. It is impossible for a black person to do the same without white people claiming racism in reverse. It is the great silencer as far as i am concerned. other examples i have noticed of this in the US related to the selection of the new Supreme Court judge - i won't go on about it here or i will write a thesis! i have some news links to that issue which i want to construct into a blog at some stage. Heather
Thanks for your comment, Harun. yes i saw this item on the news. as an outsider to the US, and away from the context, it can seem a bit presumptous to comment - but i guess we can all have a perspective based on what we know about it. I thought it was an interesting example of the power of whiteness that rescued the 'white police officer' as being a 'non racist' doing good things to counteract racism in the community. That may well be the case. i don;t know. however, such an example also fails to recognise institutionalised racism in how police officers are allowed to respond to perceived criminals. The dynamics of this incident suggested to me that Professor Gates's response (seen as an over-reaction) were located in previous experiences of racism - it is so difficult to live with such experiences over a lifetime, have people tell you that they really haven;t happened, deny your experience and your feelings, and have the same things repeated daily. it is the mundane acts of discrimination that eventually become too much to take. I also thought it was amazing that the President of the US was expected to apologise for his comments - it is easy to see how sensitive such issues are, when you are dealing with white privilege. White people can say things that profile people who are not white and be seen as perfectly reasonable - eg The War on Terror that has now cast all Muslims as dangerous people. It is impossible for a black person to do the same without white people claiming racism in reverse. It is the great silencer as far as i am concerned. other examples i have noticed of this in the US related to the selection of the new Supreme Court judge - i won't go on about it here or i will write a thesis! i have some news links to that issue which i want to construct into a blog at some stage. Heather
Add a Comment
This weblog implements rel="nofollow" in comment links, thus links in comments will not be indexed by Google, MSN, Yahoo! etc.
Just wondering what your take may be on the recent controversy in America. A few months after our attorney general issued a statement regarding our "cowardice" with respect to discussing matters of race, Henry Louis Gates incites a maelstrom of discussion by going head to head (verbally) with a white police officer. Some individuals are losing their jobs over the controversy based on statements they've made in response.
Perma-link | Reply to this comment