Xenophobia is not the answer

As an aside, I have a number of German friends, many of whom I met during my graduate studies overseas. Many of them had grandfathers who fought in the Wehrmacht, the Luftwaffe or even the Waffen SS during the war. On occasion they have wondered whether there was anything unique about German society that made Hitler and Nazism possible.

Comments like Kruger’s, the support it drew, the rise of Trump and now the odious re-emergence of Hanson, suggests otherwise.

The type of far right politics that we are now seeing seems inevitable when previously egalitarian societies become very unequal.

The people who support Pauline Hanson are disenfranchised. They feel like they have lost out as the current era of globalisation has taken off and they are correct. It is nobody’s fault, not even their own for having failed to adapt as the society and the economy changed. Their expectations might be disappointed, but a host of imagined enemies, be they Muslims, migrants, asylum seekers or the so-called ‘elite’, are not actually to blame for their predicament. The harsh truth is that they are no more entitled to a privileged first world lifestyle than anybody else.

It does make me wonder, if they increasingly don’t like this country and the direction that it is headed in, then why don’t they just move and try their luck elsewhere? If Hanson and her supporters had their way, Australia would be an isolated and poorer country. They would, through their own naivety and resentment, cut us off from international trade and the prosperity that comes from being a free and open society. That is self-destructive. The path to a better life can only come through tolerance and a rational conversation about sharing opportunities and the benefits of economic growth. Choosing to live here should involve cooperation and respect. You don’t get a free pass on that just because your grandparents were born here.

A society is not free if a Muslim woman cannot walk down the street without being afraid that she will be harassed due to her religion.

These small acts of terror and intimidation, perpetrated by the far right and their unwashed supporters, should not be tolerated.

Waleed Aly is wrong. We do not have to forgive Sonia Kruger. Whether she is a ‘nice’ person or not is neither here nor there. Her comments did a lot of harm. As Matthew Johns pointed out that Sonia’s comments were, “saying to a young Sydney boy whose parents came here from Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion, it’s saying, 'you might be born here mate, but you’re not one of us'.”

Pointing out the unfairness of Sonia’s comments doesn’t impinge on her free speech. She still has a spot on national television, if not the intellect to warrant it.

Increasing levels of inequality may be driving the xenophobia. We do need to have an open dialogue about inequality, but we do not need to tolerate or accept brainless xenophobia.