Hanson, racism and the far right

May 14, 1997
Issue 

REIHANA MOHIDEEN, the convener of Asian Australians Against Further Intimidation and a member of the national executive of the Democratic Socialist Party, will soon begin a national speaking tour to campaign against the racist offensive spearheaded by MP Pauline Hanson. PETER BOYLE spoke to her for Green Left Weekly.

Question: A recent AGB-McNair poll found that Pauline Hanson's One Nation party might receive 15% support in Queensland and NSW, and 10% nationally. Does this represent a major advance for the forces of the far right?

Some of the most significant attempts in recent years by the far right to organise are occurring around Hanson. The large rally-style public meetings organised by Hanson's supporters are their attempt to build a mass following.

But they also face real problems. In all the urban centres, such as Perth, Hobart, Geelong, Hanson's public meetings have met strong protest actions. It's also noticeable that her meetings aren't attracting many youth. Those who go are demonstrating outside.

Neither is the far right totally united behind Hanson. Her book has caused some divisions. Ted Drane, leader of the Australian Reform Party, seems to think Hanson is too crude.

Apparently Hanson has decided that no more books will be printed. This has angered others, such as Denis McCormack [national spokesperson for Australians Against Further Immigration and vice-president of Graeme Campbell's Australia First party], who is arguing that the book is "much bigger than Hanson", and that more copies will be published anyway.

Question: What threat does the far right pose in Australia today? Are we likely to see more episodes of racist violence, like in Sydney in the 1980s and Perth in the 1990s?

There is already a marked increase in racist harassment of Asian migrants and Aboriginal people, but it hasn't yet reached the stage of systematic violence. In Germany, for instance, small but organised neo-fascist gangs burn down migrant hostels and attack and intimidate whole communities.

If the far right succeeds in uniting its forces, in building an active base, this will start to happen here. Our task is to make sure it doesn't get to this stage.

As far as we know, Hanson's supporters haven't started organising systematic attacks on Asians or Aborigines or anti-racist activists. But there are small right-wing groups such as National Action which have a history of violence and which could become more active if they think racism is becoming more acceptable.

Question: What is the basis for the support for Hanson?

After more than a decade of attacks on jobs, wages, welfare, health and education, first by Labor and now the Liberals, working people are hurting. We have been "right-sized", "down-sized" and done over badly.

Hanson is tapping into real anxiety, fear and discontent. All her speeches hammer away at jobs — jobs for white, preferably Anglo-Saxon, Australians, of course — and against Asian immigration. On the heels of BHP's decision to sack 2000 people from its steelworks in Newcastle, Hanson has now scheduled a public meeting there.

Regional towns and cities have the highest unemployment rates, and they are suffering badly from cutbacks to public services. This, combined with small farmers being driven off their land by the banks, large farmers and agribusiness, means that more people are suffering while Liberal and Labor politicians boast about a "growing" economy.

Question: What support is there for racism in the working class?

Without putting too much faith in the polls, they indicate that support for Hanson is not based just on farmers but also on workers. There is a base of support inside the white working class for Hanson's views. It would be dangerous to deny this.

This is partly conjunctural, related to the working class having borne the brunt of the attacks, but it is also historical. Racism, unfortunately, has deep historical roots in the white working class.

White workers have had a privileged status compared to the dispossessed indigenous people of Australia, migrant workers and the workers and poor of the Asia Pacific region. When this status is threatened, migrants and Aboriginal people become convenient scapegoats.

So people such as Hanson can win some support by appealing to the racist Labor political tradition. It's no accident that in her maiden speech Hanson quoted approvingly former Labor leader Arthur Calwell in defence of the white Australia policy.

In the larger cities, the increasingly cosmopolitan nature of the working class has begun to erode this racist tradition. But in rural Australia this is less the case, and racist far-right groups like the League of Rights and the Citizens' Electoral Council have had a free hand.

In contrast, city-based far-right groups like AAFI have enjoyed a larger base in more middle-class electorates.

Question: What can be done about this?

It's imperative that we organise to resist on several fronts. In the trade unions we need to unite workers and organise against the attacks on our jobs and conditions.

We need to harness the significant anti-racist sentiment in the community, and through education, protests and agitation build a strong anti-racist movement.

There is a real possibility of building such a movement which can win majority support. Racism undermines working-class solidarity and weakens the ability of the working class to fight the attacks on it. Building a strong anti-racist movement is a key aspect of building class solidarity and defending living standards.

Question: How do you see the relationship between the Howard government and the racist movement around Hanson?

We were told Howard was finally going to "take off the gloves" in his speech to the Asia Society on May 8. But all we got was more of the same. Hanson has no solutions, Howard said, but he refused to attack her racism or her supporters, who, he claimed, were reacting to "political correctness".

Meanwhile, Howard continues to attack Hanson's sharpest critics. Just recently, with the anti-racist actions starting to build up again, he has called on people not to demonstrate against Hanson.

Howard fears the development of a strong anti-racist movement more than the strengthening of the far right. The Coalition government and its big business backers want to use the race card for their own purposes. They need to have convenient scapegoats to divert attention as they drive down our living standards.

In this sense, Hanson is Howard's creation. His attempts to target sections of the community under the guise of attacking "political correctness" have created the climate in which racists can more confidently speak out.

Hanson provides Howard with a convenient cover. He can attack migrant rights, cut back immigration levels, virtually extinguish native title and slash tens of thousands of public sector jobs, and still look "moderate" in comparison to Hanson.

Despite leading Liberals attacking Hanson in the last few days, the government is considering cutting immigration, including the refugee intake, even further. So Howard is quite happy to play the Hanson card. But with the rift around the native title issue threatening the stability of the Coalition, the game could get out of control.

Howard's tack towards Hanson's racist movement is not original. In 1980, when the neo-fascist National Front was on the rise in Britain, Margaret Thatcher took the same "understanding" approach to its supporters. Howard has long been an admirer of Thatcher and tried several times to play the race card, like she did, while opposition leader. Now he's doing it again.

Question: What role has the ALP played in the Hanson debate?

The ALP has been spectacularly weak, even inside parliament. Last year Kim Beazley made a fuss about adopting a bipartisan statement against racism. What a blow to the far right! It really has been pathetic.

Labor is not fighting Howard's really racist policies, such as his attacks on native title and the rights of refugees. Furthermore, it was the Keating Labor government which began the attack on refugee rights, denied migrants the recognition of certain overseas qualifications and imposed a six-month waiting period for social security payments for new immigrants.

Labor laid the ground for Howard with its attempt to restrict the consequences of the Mabo ruling through the Native Title Act. So Labor must take some of the blame for the racist offensive today.

The ALP's pollsters seem to be advising it that part of Hanson's support is coming from "battlers" who defected from the ALP to the Coalition in last year's election. Labor is calculating that preferences from Hanson's party will be significant, so it has been very cautious about attacking her.

The drift from the ALP's base towards Hanson is not surprising. The ALP has historically been a racist party, spearheading a racist Australian nationalism and the white Australia immigration policy. It's the ALP that bred Australia First's Graeme Campbell, who was kicked out of the party only in 1995.

Question: Hanson claims her right to free speech is being "violently" denied by those protesting outside her public meetings. What tactics should be used in the fight against the racist offensive?

After getting tens of thousands of dollars worth of free media coverage, it's laughable for Hanson to claim that her right to free speech is being violated. She has even featured on gardening shows!

The views of genuine anti-racists have been getting very little publicity. It's only when we rally and demonstrate in large numbers that we get a hearing. So it's very important that these demonstrations against Hanson continue.

During the course of mobilising this anti-racist support, if there is strong enough community sentiment against her expressing her views, then so be it. This sentiment should prevail.

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