Is racism `un-Australian?'

By Pat Brewer

CANBERRA -- Around 200 people attended a two-day ``Is racism `un-Australian'?" conference here on February 21-22.

The conference, jointly organised by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University, discussed the false counterposition of free speech to political correctness made by the Howard government.

It also covered government policy on land rights, ATSIC and the Racial Discrimination Act; and multiculturalism, migrants' rights and immigration policy.

Central to the discussion was the sharp increase in racist attacks since the election of the Liberal government. Judith Brett argued that economic hardship and high unemployment, impacting sharply on rural Australia, created space for the racist card to be played with greater effect. She said that Howard is operating on a petty bourgeois grievance sentiment base that generates punitive social responses without hope that the social conditions could change.

Gerard Henderson argued that Australia has always been multicultural and the concept of ``one Australia'' is bunk. He noted that Howard is denying history -- that there were racist mistakes historically. He argued strongly for a pluralist society, noting the growth of the right wing internationally and its beginnings in Australia, and called for moderate conservatives to vigorously contest this.

Other panels took up whether there had been a cumulative impact of racist attacks over the last decade, Howard's anti-Asian immigration statements in 1988 and 1996-7 and the role of the media in fostering racist attacks, particularly talkback radio commentators.

Speakers including Ann Curthoys, Andrew Marcus, Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds described previous periods of intense racism and the lessons that could be drawn from them.

A final plenary discussion explored possible responses, with a major focus on countering the right-wing value shift that the government is spearheading.

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