Addicted to racism

Ethnocentrism

In the 1990s Europe tightened its borders. Ethnocentric and racist right-wing politics rose to the fore once more in this region and also in other parts of the world. Ethnic minorities became scapegoats for national social and economic problems and potential migrants were stopped in their tracks.

In the now infamous letter, typifying ethnocentric attitudes, to the editor of the Queensland Times, January 6, 1996, Pauline Hanson said: 
 
I don’t feel responsible for the treatment of Aboriginal people in the past because I had no say, but my concern is for now and the future. How can we expect this race to help themselves when government shower them with money, facilities and opportunities that only these people can obtain no matter how minute the indigenous blood is that flow through their veins, and this is what is causing racism.

The right wing views expressed by Pauline Hanson, fish and chips café proprietor - as wretched and unsubstantiated as they were - were comments enthusiastically embraced by the populace. Consequently she was voted into federal politics. Her rise to fame coincided with the rise in racial vilification. Name-calling and blame proportioning for the high unemployment rate and poor economic climate was part of the high-energy right wing policy rhetoric coming from Hanson and her supporters.

Race politics had publicly surfaced - after a stunted slumber - in the 21 century, although John Howard had been playing that unsavoury card in more subtle forms for decades in his push to rid Australia of any threat to the “Australian way of life”. Hanson’s popular views were the catalyst for Canberra’s big boys in justifying their legislative reforms.

But what ideas permeate the white man’s psyche in such a dogmatic racist fashion?

Darwinism

Back in 1788 at the time when the Eora traditional owners were witnessing strange ghost-like people trespassing their shores at Botany Bay, England’s first professional economist, Thomas Malthus, wrote in his essay on the Principles of Population a dramatic warning that the human species would breed itself into starvation. Malthus said the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man.

Charles Darwin expanded on Malthus’ theory with his two key phrases: struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. According to Darwin’s hypothesis, the organism best endowed in its variations to get food and shelter will live to procreate young that will inherit these favourable variations.

The doctrine of the survival of fittest is evident in all facets of life today:

• Because they can, and against the wishes of the UN, the US invades a sovereign state, Iraq. 
• Because they can, and against the recommendation of the ATSIC parliamentary review team, the Howard Government abolishes the elected Indigenous political voice, ATSIC, and appoints an unelected body to determine our future.

The latter action of the government is an affront to the Indigenous community, premised with unambiguous parameters, and initiated with colonial zeal. I hope this enterprising new Indigenous assembly gains swift results for our people through their collective business and academic skills, which I respectfully acknowledge. They can then purge themselves of the “King Billy tin plate gang” label many in our community have silently proffered.

1000ism

As the most marginalised group of people in Australian society, with appalling statistics to irrefutably confirm that unenviable status, we appear to be making no noticeable advances in our overall well-being. I accept that a small minority of our people have no complaints to make and are progressing well in mainstream society. This growing band of successful (measured according to a western barometer) brothers and sisters will continue to scale dizzier heights previously unimagined by their forebears.

But until we set ourselves practical goals to achieve both locally and nationally we will continue to be leaderless and directionless and remain at the bottom rung of the social ladder. We need to set bench marks. For example, 1000 PhD graduates, 1000 medical doctors, 1000 lawyers, 1000 carpenters, 1000 plumbers, 1000 nurses, 1000 teachers, 1000 mechanics, 1000 architects, 1000 scientists and so on and including a 1000 other essential service categories desperately needed in our communities - to be met within a 10-year time frame. For instance there are around 80 medical doctors working in the broader community today with 100 trainees currently studying in medical schools. If 100 Indigenous students enrol in a medical degree at universities annually and complete their studies we will achieve the 10-year target for that profession.