Editorial: The uses of racism
The uses of racism
Just over two years ago, John Howard coasted into office promising to make us all feel "comfortable and relaxed". That was only one of countless broken promises — all of which were intended to conceal a savagely reactionary agenda.
Just how vicious this government really is was highlighted in the parliamentary manoeuvring about its racist amendments to the Native Title Act (the "Wik bill" or "10-point plan"). In December, the Senate passed about 80% of the government's bill, which would have represented a considerable further reduction in Aboriginal rights, already reduced by the Native Title Act.
But 80% of its racist agenda wasn't enough for the government. When the bill returned to the Senate in April, Labor members and Senator Brian Harradine attempted to negotiate further "compromise" — i.e., giving the government 90-95% of what it wanted to take from Aboriginal people.
Even these "bucket loads of extinguishment" weren't enough for the Coalition fanatics. As a result, Howard now has the legal trigger he wanted for a double dissolution election. Howard's pretence that this will not be a "race election" is another of those blatant lies that have characterised the Coalition's treatment of native title. The election cannot be anything other than a racist election: a racist government will be seeking a mandate to continue its racist plans.
Racism is only the thin end of the wedge for this government — its preferred method for shifting the entire political agenda to the right. This — even more than any concern about liability for financial compensation — explains the government's stubborn refusal to apologise to the stolen generations: an apology would undermine its deliberate encouragement of racist sentiment and hoped-for appeal to racist voters.
The government's racist campaign against Aboriginal Australians has made it easier to impose racist restrictions on social security benefits for migrants, saving the government millions of dollars.
But it does more. Racism teaches those infected with it to regard other human beings with contempt — as "bludgers" of one form or another — when they are in need or in conflict with "respectable" authority. It thus indirectly bolsters other aspects of the government's reactionary agenda: its bashing of the unemployed; its assaults on public education; its effort to drive women back into the home as unpaid carers for the young, the sick and the aged; and of course its campaign to destroy unionism, in which the assault on the MUA is only the beginning.
The government's efforts to drag society back decades also extend to its foreign policy. Not only does it back the Suharto government in its aggression against East Timor and its looting of Indonesia. On April 15, we had the disgusting spectacle of defence minister Ian McLachlan in Jakarta publicly endorsing the lie of his Indonesian counterpart, General Wiranto, that he "doesn't know" who is responsible for the growing number of disappearances of democracy activists.
McLachlan went on to assert that the Indonesian military's control of public protest "has been exercised pretty well" — an obscenity he could hope to get away with only because the people the Indonesian army tortures and murders have dark skins.
Racism, the Howard government is well aware, has its uses. That's why we can't defeat one without defeating the other.