Anti-racism bandwagon

Editorial

The recent release of Helen Razer and Indira Naidoo’s ver sion of Ebony and

Ivory, at the carefully selected launch venue of the Fish Markets Auction Auditorium, is yet another addition to the bandwagon of anti-racism protests sparked off by Australia’s former fish and chip shop owner and independent member of Oxley, Pauline Hanson.

And as the public reacts with self-righ teous indignation to Hanson’s racist attack on Australia’s non-White immigrant com munity, the very vocal concerns over what Australia is coming to should indeed be taken with a rather large pinch of salt.

That is, of course, not to say that Hanson does not deserve public condem nation for her comments and her parochial outlook on the inevitability of the global village scenario. The danger, however, lies in the implication that racism was a foreign concept to Australians and has been felt only since Hanson, until which time Australia experienced true multicultural

harmony. Naidoo’s comment that, before the past three months, she had found Australia “the most harmonious, tolerant place to live” and Razer’s shock at what she sees as Australia adding “racism to the vast catalogue of global stinkiness” reek of ignorance.

And while Naidoo may see herself as a success story and proof of Australia’s mul ticulturalism in her capacity as an ABC television news reader, the question that must be asked is just how many of Australia’s non-White broadcast journal ists speak without an Australian or British based accent.

It was before Hanson took to the public arena that Australia made proficiency in the English language an eligibility factor for potential migrants; ironic in the face of multiculturalism.

It was also before Hanson that the video tape of Australian police officers

parodying an Aboriginal death in custody was made public.

It was before Hanson that the Australian vocabulary included the words “Vegemite”, “wog”, “Abo” and a host of other synonyms to refer to non-Whites.

And it was also before Hanson that atrocities were committed against

Australia’s Aboriginal population.

Racism has not only just become a seri ous issue, contrary to what Naidoo’s seems to think. Neither does racism only exist in Australia. It is universal and has always been around.

And this is precisely why any measures to genuinely combat racism cannot come in spurts and bursts and just be a passing fancy - a fad to identify with for only as long as it remains trendy.

The issue of race is not quite as black and white as ebony and ivory and cannot be allowed to go the way of most hit songs - into oblivion until the next remix. ■

• Story on page 53