A meeting of reactionary minds
By Frank Noakes
"Vote against social engineering. Vote for democracy. Vote 1 for Australians Against Further Immigration", the ALP's Graeme Campbell urged electors in the Mackellar and Warringah by-elections. AAFI stood against the ALP in the March 19 Bonython by-election in Adelaide, polling fourth, ahead of the Democrats, with 6.8% of the vote. Labor did not contest either of the Sydney seats on March 25.
AAFI, who claim not to be racist, deceitfully claimed through their spokesperson Robyn Spencer, "It's really not the philosophy of multiculturalism that we have a problem with — it's the result on the streets". This is a reference to the recent attacks on Greek and Macedonian property, some of which many now suspect to be the work of the anti-immigration far right.
The AAFI candidate in Bonython, Denis McCormack, in a speech to the 1991 Sydney Ecopolitics conference, on behalf of AAFI, contradicted Spencer when he said: "The new Australian chameleon cultural and racial cringes encouraged from on high hint at gradualist capitulation towards inexorable dilution and absorption into the teeming masses of Asia ..."
Using the language of the far right and invoking a common theme, McCormack spoke of a conspiracy between, "big business, the ethnic multicultural/immigration industry, the churches, and other sundry combinations of internationalists, greenie pinkos and misguided humanitarian anthropocentric zealots, not knowing who they are in bed with". (All that's missing is a reference to domination by international Jewish bankers, but perhaps that's saved for private conversation.)
Of course, in such forums these ideas are clothed with references to "bio-geophysical limits to growth", "maintenance of biodiversity" and "conservation" — even Campbell says he opposes immigration on the basis that it is "economically, environmentally and socially" bad. But Campbell, unlike Spencer, isn't being mealy-mouthed. He, like AAFI in reality, is opposed to multiculturalism, full stop. The alliance between Campbell and AAFI is a meeting of reactionary minds and reactionary intents.
The ALP has always been a flag of convenience for Campbell, one of Australia's most far-right politicians; that in itself speaks loudly about the nature of the modern Labor Party. Campbell became the ALP member for the seat of Kalgoorlie, centred on the old gold mining town of the same name, in 1980. Here, he plays on and promotes the worst fears and prejudices of the bush working class, while championing the cause of the mining companies against all comers, especially Aboriginal people and environmentalists.
In times of high unemployment, anti-immigration and racist ideas often gain more of a hearing amongst the victims of the recession. The fact remains, however, that the immigration argument, both in terms of employment and the environment, is a distraction from the real issue — the economic system that puts the profits of the few above all else.
A spokesperson for the ALP left's Nick Bolkus, the minister for immigration, says that Campbell will be judged by his associations. But that judgment won't be made by the ALP: Campbell urged support for AAFI back in the 1991 by-election for the Victorian seat of Menzies.
The environmental movement, which granted an undeserved legitimacy to AAFI by again allowing McCormack to speak at the Melbourne Ecopolitics conference last year, needs to reassess its association with this far-right group.
[Frank Noakes is a national executive member of the Democratic Socialist Party.]