Green Left Weekly's CHRIS SPINDLER spoke to JACK BEETSON, director of studies at Tranby Aboriginal College in Sydney and a founder of the new anti-racism party Australians Against Racism (AAR), about the recent racist upsurge and plans for the party.
Question: Why do you think the recent upsurge in racism has occurred?
I've long held the view that Australia is a racist country. It's not a new thing, particularly against Aboriginal people and Asian migrants. Since the 1950s, Italian and other European migrants have suffered racism.
Since 1975 we've had anti-racial discrimination legislation on the books, but it's done nothing but put a lid on it. We saw how close to the surface racism really is when all it took was some comments from Pauline Hanson. She got some immediate, albeit questionable, support. She provided the excuse for racists to jump out from under the covers.
Prohibition doesn't work in many circumstances. For example, the minute you had governments talking about banning guns, the sale of guns went up. I don't want people not being racist to me because it's prohibited. I want them not to be racist because they don't think it's the right thing to do, because they have some respect for and feel enriched by my culture. My experience of multiculturalism is that it has a lot to offer — our strength is in our diversity.
Question: Why was the decision made to establish Australians Against Racism now?
We've had enough. We've suffered racism all our lives. I was 11 years old before I became a citizen in this country. My friends and I grew up suffering racist taunts and physical violence, and I don't want to see this resurrected. I'd hate to see the attitudes in Australia go backwards to the '50s or '60s. The culture in Australia has changed enormously, and we should work on the strengths of that.
A lot of people have come to this country under enormous duress. They've come from war-torn countries for safety reasons. I welcome that.
When you look at racism, you need to look beyond just the direct racism in the street or in the school where our kids are being abused. That's what I hope this party will do. We want it to influence policy and legislation across the board. If policies are not really reflecting multicultural Australia, then they are racist.
We need to do that to get attitudinal change, fundamental change. For example, we're making it almost prohibitive to speak any other language or practise any other religion in this country. What this party is doing is giving the people of Australia the chance to say we're not racist.
The platform of the party is to unite people against racism. Until now, people haven't had an opportunity to vote against racism and for multiculturalism. It will develop as a party that represents those with humanitarian values.
Question: Why launch another party rather than trying to change the policies of the major parties?
I had a federal Labor politician say to me recently, "Why don't you get preselection in one of the Labor seats rather than create a new party?" But Labor will never preselect a black fella into a safe seat in my time — not unless they're part of the extreme right of the party.
Lots of people are blaming Hanson for the racism, but we have a lot of other leaders in this country, John Howard for example, who have gone to extreme lengths not to mention "her" name. And sure the Labor Party has made its statements but it's not been strong enough. Our party is called Australians Against Racism because there is no use messing around; you can't dodge the issue. Pauline Hanson may be gone in two or three years, but racism won't.
Question: Who will AAR bring together and around what issues?
This is not a party for Aboriginal people or migrants alone. This is a party for all Australians. We are not saying we want a "racially tolerant" society. I don't want to be "tolerated" — people deserve to be respected as human beings.
We are developing a whole range of strategies, and we'll be out there raising the issues leading into the elections. AAR is not a one-issue party. Anti-racism may be the main platform of the party, but racism is linked to housing, education, health, even the ABC, SBS, rural Australia. Racism permeates every policy, and they're all things the party needs to address.
There are plans to launch the election campaign officially in February or March 1998. Over time we hope to stand in lower house seats as well as the upper house. We will also discuss with others the questions of preferences and joint policies.
In the meantime, we will be drafting policies, for which we're getting support from many fronts including communities such as the Italian and Vietnamese. We'll work with everyone who will work with us and hopefully put pressure on the major parties.