Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

PF Journey: "Aboriginal history has become part of the Australian story. But the histories that immigrants bring to this country remain largely excluded from that story."

Which is ironic, really, given the huge amounts of time, energy and money expended in promoting multi-culturalism at every level of society. And given that multi-culturalism is the closest thing Australia has to a state religion.

Could part of the problem be that the multi-culturalist liturgy seems so tightly under the control of the romantic bourgeois consumerist priesthood that is sooooooooooooo obviously the core demographic at SBS?

Or have the greater population on the sidelines merely failed to notice the overwhelming contributions to Australia's cultural fabric made by Danish homicide detectives, sultry peasant girls coming of age in Provence, virtuosic Viennese police dogs and nymphomaniac Russian pole dancers?

The Federal Government has moved to wind up the Howard government's so-called Pacific Solution by granting refugee status to seven Burmese men being held on Nauru.

The men have been held on the island since August last year.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans has told ABC radio's AM program that it is the first step in dismantling the previous government's practice of housing asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island.

He says the Labor Government is hoping to quickly resolve the claims of about 80 Sri Lankans who are also being held on Nauru.

"The task force of officials from the Immigration Department and ASIO left last night for Nauru," he said.

"They'll be seeking to process the remaining people on Nauru as quickly as possible, in accordance with the Migration Act."

Another promise kept by the new Rudd government. Isn't democracy great. Who you vote for really does make a difference.

Penny and I have something in common, we are the Hakka people, the guest people, the Gypsy of China.

Penny Wong speaks to the Bulletin.

Dear Dr. Woodforde, FW, DFC, VC, DSM, OAM, MM, LOL, WTF, AWB, AA, OBE: Over there, it was said. They don't give a sh*@#, give a F@*&^, in what context, to whom, meant to be funny haha, I'm sorry I said it. 

PFJ: Caldwell [sic] later claimed it was a “jocular expression"

 

As well he may have, probably in Cantonese. Had he ever become PM, he may have pipped Kevin R as Chinsese-speaking PM. Unless we count Holt, who probably conversed with the crew during his long undersea voyage.

And as well you know, PFJ, Calwell's remark was directed at Tommy White, Nationalist/UAP/Liberal WWI POW hero and a bit of a boy, who fancied himself as a low key saviour of two WWII internee sailors from Malaya - literally the Wongs in question.

The remark has been used since by an array of deeply dishonest racist half-men drongos, including grubby think tank nazis, to impugn Calwell's reputation. The Liberals, many of them very dirty racists, were (and remain) deeply irked by Calwell's warm relations with the Chinese community, as well as the Jewish community.

You can't thrust the Chows and Ikey Moes, you know, old chap. I mean, would you let your daughter marry one? And they'll certainly never set foot in my club!

But many of the Labor movement of the 1890s and federation were instigators of the White Australia Policy, alongside many other conservatives, especially in Queensland. The racists who drove the thieving blacks off the land rapidly converted it to slave-worked cane and cattle runs, with not only aboriginal slave stockmen but also Javanese and Kanaka slave cane workers, then Sicilian near-slave peons.

Slavery, PFJ, is merely WorkChoices in an earlier guise, owned and run by the same evil simpering goondahs. Working families (THAT expression again!) in Queensland provincial towns hated it - it undercut their shitty, pennyha'penny take home money.

They voted accordingly, right through to the DLP days when they could link arms with the Tories and fear not only the Reds Under the Bed, but the Yellow Peril chewing on the ticking down there with them. And (in a lesser key) the thieving blacks who wanted to steal OUR land. Not until Queenslander Tom Burns was ALP national president and Gough Whitlam was ALP leader did the ship begin to swing slowly around. Among other things, it sailed to China first. No sign of Harold E Holt in the group photographs, though. Must have been his day off.

In the end, many decent Australians of the left and right opposed the racist WAP, but the bloke who finally kicked the ball between the sticks was neither Holt not Calwell nor even Whitlam (and certainly not that thieving bludger Menzies). It was the much-maligned yellerfeller Charlie Perkins, straining a lot of his fibre for a youngster called Margaret Valajian. from Fiji. Read up, PFJ.

How the wheel rolls around, sport. But you won't find it in the Howard-Klaus Barbie Bishop compulsory flagpole history book for ultra-drongos. As you know. You're no drongo, are you mate?

Dr Woodforde, OAM, third hand again, all youse from Shanghai

Hi DD, yes, the genesis of the WAP was in the goldfields and sugar-canefields of the 1800s. The hordes of Chinese that came over for the gold and the Pacific Islanders that were imported to work on the sugar industry. At its height, there was some 50,000 Chinese, made up some 15% of the then population. The trade union movement argued that the Chinese and Islanders were taking jobs away from the white men, prepared to work harder, lower working conditions and wages. Bloody hell, Workchoices strikes again.

It must have been some sight. The Chinese with their pigtail and manchu style dress. BTW, the pigtail and dress were imposed on the Han Chinese by the then foreign Manchurian Rulers. The Chinese hated this imposition and often rebelled against it. The Manchurians were eventually assimilated by the Chinese. Two of its Emperors were regarded as some of the best Emperors that ever ruled China. More importantly, during the rule of the Manchu, China formally extended its sphere of influence over Taiwan and Tibet. The genesis of the current hot spot over these two territories. That is another story.

I think I exaggerated in that last comment.  My friend of Taiwanese origin in Switzerland would probably laugh hysterically if he knew I was describing him as a proud Swiss. He would never admit to that!

He always used to say to me, "you know David, Switzerland is like a five star hotel.  Everything is very nice, everything works and all your troubles are solved, but it will never be home".

We always used to laugh at that one and received raised eyebrows from Swiss.

Victor is one of these people who will never hesitate to point out a Swiss deficiency but on the other hand you know deep down he loves it and would never move any place else in the world.  He has raised his kids to be global and they are going to college in the United States. Swiss born, Swiss educated and higher education in the US.

My other good friend in Switzerland is Italian.  We make an interesting trio in the bars of Basel.  A Taiwanese, an Australian and an Italian, each aged ten years apart.

Then there is the Tibetan who emerged as a rival to Victor in the philosophy stakes.  That was the most amusing era of all.  Tscherring was  his name (not sure of spelling).  They would try to outdo each other on philosophy.  Some of it was incredibly deep but the one upmanship became intense and Tscherring drifted away. Victor was quite dismissive of the Tibetan who tried to steal his philosophy king crown!

So in essence we had a Taiwanese and a Tibetan trying to compete on philosophy with an Italian and an Australian constantly in tears of laughter at the scene.  They were some of the funniest, most ridiculous and joyful discussions I have ever had the privilege to be involved in.

Switzerland may not always be ideal for immigrants but then it would be unfair to say it is completely bad either. How could it be?  In Basel nearly half the population is foreign!   As an example of modern diversity, Switzerland have the largest Tibetan community in the world.   I always found the way the Swiss embrace Tibet quite magic.  The Dali Lama goes to Switzerland all the time. It seems one alpine people understand another alpine people.  The mountains call and both understand. ... and people wonder why I love to travel so much!

It is the priceless experiences and the inter-cultural fun that make every moment of it worthwhile.

It even makes me hungrier to find out more of the multicultural aspects of my own city, here in Sydney.

DD, it's the WAY. There is always the balance. Like my hero said, Mr. Einstein, it's all relative, it's all relative.

I agree with all you say, PF, and I am pleased you have been so even handed about this.  This is the first time in quite a while we have agreed on things.

During November I spent a couple of weeks in Asia and it had me thinking about it again, of course!  I think what I like about what you have said is the comment that in Australia we just tend to do it without saying it.

All my life, I have been involved in a multicultural community. That is the reality of someone of my age. We could joke that everyone my age can use chopsticks properly but it is a practical reality and I'm not that young.  I remember when I did my post graduate qualification way, way back in the mists of time, every person in my self selected study group was an Asian Australian.  I remember at the time others from elsewhere commented on it but I never thought twice about it.  I wasn't trying to be anything and nor did I make any statements about it.  It just happened that way and that seemed natural to me in Australia.

I like to think it is the Australian way not to pat ourselves on the back for what we have done well in this regard. We do just do it.

I do find it curious sometimes when Asians go on about Australia as if it is unique amongst Western nations in being naughty and bad toward them.  I always maintain it is about the easiest Western nation for someone to integrate into. The US is also quite easy.  Europe, for all its talk, is not that easy.

Then of course we have the Asian nations themselves and their various attitudes toward race.  Much of that is not particularly pretty either.  For this reason, while I may agree with gripes about Australia, I search to find better places in my mind and I don't come up with a huge list.  In fact it is a very small list.

As for the White Australia Policy, you have chosen, of course, to tell Labor's version.  It was actually the Liberal Party that started to dismantle that and of course throughout the 1950s and 1960s the biggest supporters of the policy were the trade unions and the Labor Party.

I think we are of the same mind PF on the issues that matter in all this stuff so I do not have a big bone to pick with you.  I just remind you that if you are going to highlight Australia's deficiencies in the past, be sure to include Labor.  They were in the thick of it from day one.

I am glad you are not so blinded though that you cannot see progress in recent years.

I suppose I can relay something by example.  Truly one of my best friends in Basel, Switzerland, where I lived for years, came from Taiwan.  He is now a proud Swiss as is his wife. I remember once at dinner his wife brought up White Australia Policy as if it was uniquely bad.  Naturally, I was not going to defend it but I did remind her that in 21st century Switzerland, some cantons allow citizens to vote on who can become Swiss and some miss out on the basis of race.

For all the preaching against Australia, sometimes a dose of reality does not hurt. Australia has been bad but let's not kid ourselves that Western Europe or even the United States have been good.

That's history though PF, and where we stand right now is pretty damn good.  The trajectory looks good too. Right here, right now, PF.  It's not a bad place to be, is it?

Thanks for sticking with us in '72.  It was Australia's gain and the Canada's loss.

DIVERSITY - Together, we can rewrite history - Australian Policy Online - Aboriginal history has become part of the Australian story. But the histories that immigrants bring to this country remain largely excluded from that story. The tenor seems to be: “Of the way of life of these people before their coming to Australia, little need be said.”

Gareth Eastwood says:

Eliot Ramsey, re “it's not like we are part of the Asian continental landmass” I don’t think continental geography is particularly relevant. Australia is a lot closer to Indonesia than any European nation; a continental shelf is not some sort of barrier, just another geographical feature.

Re “culturally, we have little in common with Asia.” Maybe not yet, but eventually Australia and the Australian population will be considered at least part Asian. Who knows, maybe racially we’ll end up being renown for our unique Asian-White blend, a nation of Michelle Leslie’s. My own extended family is certainly heading down this path.

Australian culture will evolve as our links with Asia grow; sporting links are one example (moving to the Asian Football Confederation and ties to the subcontinent via cricket). Economic links are another; already half our exports go to Asia.

Evan Hadkins: "I don't think we have a way of thinking about ourselves in relation to Asia yet."

I don't think we have a way of thinking about ourselves in relation to Asia yet.  Some of us (including me) are far more European culturally than Asian (though I have studied Japanese and Chinese movement arts - Shintaido and qi gong).

My guess is there are still racist/nationalist elements (who are entitled to parliamentary representation).  This is quite compatible with being Asian or European - both regions have been, are and probably will be capable of cultural imperialism and invading other countries.

It seems impossible to me that we could ignore geography.  Our neighbours are pacific islanders and asians.  Indonesia and China are likely to be especially important.

Which brings us to human rights.  I think this is the real issue in diplomacy.  Getting compliments from authoritarian regimes (Bob Hawke being called a hero by Singapore) or toadying to Indonesia instead of the US (Paul Keating) is hardly what I would like.  If we can stand up for ourselves and our values (which will mean looking after the situation of Aborigines in our own backyard) then I would like to see us playing a role in our region.  If it's simply the mercenary attitude - you give us lots of money (trade) so we are good friends - I can't see this bringing much of a future.

I think it is being able to advocate for human rights that is the real test for our relationship with Asia.