December 15, 2003

Dross

This is utter drivel. Let's have a look shall we?

An article by an expat Australian in Hong Kong on Australia's place in the world. The first part talks about the swelling of pride and patriotism that accompanied the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Then this.

In the three years since the Sydney Olympics, the brand name ‘Australia’ seems to have lost some of its enviable cachet. If anecdotal conversations with the Chinese and International communities of Hong Kong are any indication of the global perceptions of our country, the reservoir of goodwill also seems sadly depleted.
Say what? Australia remains a dream destination for many of the people I speak to, both local and expat. And not just as a holiday destination. Most envy Australia's place in the world. It's democracy, it's rule of law, it's climate, it's way of life, it's prosperity and peace. But let's plough on.
Many of my friends and colleagues in Hong Kong delight in visiting Australia. They express a deep affection for our country, and many have strong personal or professional ties to Australia. However, in the last year or two, many of these people have also been asking me some shockingly pointed and challenging questions. Sadly too, the tone with which they ask these questions resembles the tone of an addled, disappointed teacher whose Straight A student has suddenly become the class bully.
Say what? What kind of patronising crowd does this guy hang with? "Addled, disappointed teacher"? This is clearly the set-up for the Australia as Asia's odd man out arguement. A spurious discussion at best, Australia's place in Asia is an old warhorse for those that want to use Asia's disapproval of Australia as a measure of everything wrong with it. Of course the criticism is coming mostly from countries that know nothing of democracy in any real sense, nor rule of law, free speech and press or human rights. But let's not get messy details interfering in the slagging, shall we?
Some of their questions are focused on specific domestic or foreign policy, while others are more general lobs at Australian ‘values’. Why does Australia imprison refugees in the desert? Are Australians frightened of Muslims? Is Australia really racist towards Asians? Why did Australia support the war in Iraq without the support of the UN? Why did Australia close its Parliament to the public during the visit of George W. Bush? Why does Australia admire its sportspeople more than its thinkers? Why aren’t teachers respected more in Australia? Why did Australia ban the movie ‘Ken Park’ (which ironically was screened here uncensored and without much comment the same week that half a million people took to the streets to defend civil society and free speech)?
The author clearly thinks many of these are rhetorical questions. Let's quickly look at each in turn. Most of Asia admires Australian " 'values' ". Unless you use Mahatir Mohammed as your benchmark. I've yet to hear a critical comment from anyone on Australia's refugee policy once they are told it is because they are queue jumpers who are trying to avoid the normal and proper channels of claiming refugee status. Indeed it tends to win more respect for following the rules. I've never been asked about Australians being frightened of Muslims. If I were I would point out the sizable population that harmoniously lives in Australia, side-by-side with Jews and numerous other nationalities and religions. Again this is something Australia is admired for, it's ability to have so many different people all co-existing in peace. It reflects how prickly Australians tend to get about accusations of racism. Of course I've documented numerous times where racism exists, both large and small, in Asia. Pro-Malay policies in Malaysia. Riots against ethnic Chinese in the Philippines. Snide comments about Caucasians in China. Not to mention intra-Asia racism. Australia supported the war in Iraq because it was the right thing to do. Sometimes politicians are elected to lead rather than to slavishly follow public opinion, because it reflects Australian values and it makes the world a better and safer place. Australians admire sportspeople because they like sport. It's a big wide open country and people love their footies, their cricket, their tennis. Amazingly we also admire thinkers. Doing two things at once...who would have thought it possible? Teachers get plenty of respect. In fact Australia's public education system is the envy of many I speak to here, both expat and local. Most state elections are decided, at least in part, by education and teachers. The banning of Ken Park, I agree, was stupid. That said by all reports the movie too was stupid so I'm not sure that's such a loss. It didn't do too well in HK, mostly because everyone was marching. Not so much because 500,000 people marched to "defend civil society and free speech" as to protest against an incompetent local Government and poor economic management.
Most of these questions have left me absolutely gob-smacked. Initially, I was affronted by these prickly political and cultural probings, believing that they were simply borne of cultural misunderstandings and of stereotypes based on the international press’ gloss of complex national issues. However, as I reflect more deeply on the salience of some these questions, I now view them as the legitimate enquiries of curious but emotionally removed cultural observers. Furthermore, I am now starting to ask myself many of the same questions.

To provide a coherent, let alone persuasive response to questions such as these requires much thinking on the spot, especially when they are casually asked over the photocopier or on a bus ride home. I have stammered lame replies such as “we’re really not racist” or “the Australian Government does not always speak for the Australian people”, but increasingly I find myself reluctant to defend our country with such platitudes. Instead, I prefer to look to the Australian press and to the international media for ammunition with which to counter my friends’ and colleagues’ good-natured but merciless interrogations. What I find in our press is generally not helpful.

The logic here being sometimes thinking for yourself is hard, so find a journo to tell you what to think.
In most Australian newspapers, I see little deep and thoughtful debate of the bi-partisan political support of the forced detention of people fleeing torture and trauma in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria or Kosovo. Nor do I see much consternation at many of the practices associated with this forced detention. Why, for example, wasn’t the use of water cannons to ‘control’ detained refugees in Woomera a national scandal?
Maybe because it was law enforcement's way of doing their job? Maybe there's little debate because most of the public agree with the policy? Oh my God, the plebian Australian public having an opinion about something other than sport. The shock. The horror. Especially when it goes against the Australian sense of "Fair go", which queue jumping is clearly a case of.
I also see no outrage at the Federal Government contracting out the running of its detention centers to companies such as Wackenhut Inc, a multinational private security corporation that also owns Third World utilities, banks and factories and whose Board of Directors has included a former special agent of the FBI, and a former Under-Secretary of the US Air Force. I have seen no irony expressed at the image of boatload full of Australian sheep (a ‘sheep of fools’?) not being able to find safe haven in Middle Eastern ports.
Yes, I too see no point here. What does the board of a corporation running the detention centres have anything to do with the policy itself? Oh of course, all privitisation is bad. The sheep ship problem was all over the papers for weeks. Does this guy read the Aussie papers?
I see no studied or serious cultural unpacking of what it says about Australia that its most popular television program in 2003 was about home renovation. Yet I do see almost daily references to ‘Our Nic’, to Kylie, and to our sports people.
Crickey, imagine if he followed the American press instead. Does anyone else sense a little cultural cringe here? People often watch TV for entertainment. Gossip mags are well read. That requires "serious cultural unpacking"? Only if you're a leftie snob who thinks such things are beneath them because the world needs saving (except if you're a Middle East dictator oppressing your population and starting needless wars).
As I read the Australian media, I ask myself whom most Australians might regard as the nation’s prized intellectuals. Who are our cultural heavyweights and our social visionaries? Who are our contemporary dissidents, our satirists, our polemicists?
Does he ever get to the opinion page of any newspaper? Does he watch any of the numerous current affairs shows? Has he ever seen a comedy show? Let alone turning on the radio.
The international media seems an equally barren source of ideas for supporting my defense of Australia’s international prestige and goodwill. Asian English language papers such as the South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, The Jakarta Post and The Nation have all pitched stories that paint Australia as suspicious of Islam, intolerant towards Asia and Asians, and subservient to the foreign policy aims of the United States.
Mostly because that's how Asian Governments view Australia and the press obeys it's master. It's a convenient stereotype.
Does this anecdotal evidence from the press of our closest neighbours (and some of our key trading partners), suggest that like America, Australia is becoming internationally resented?
No. It is resented by lefties who disagree with the current Government, much the same as American. It is resetned by many Asian Governments for being "Western" and not holding "Asian" values - you know, like repressing people, restricting rights, bribery, "democracy" in rigged elections.
Is Australia represented more favourably in the media of its ‘allies’? Not much, it seems. The BBC World Service’s reporting of Australia in 2003 has focused on cricket matches and the Rugby World Cup, Australia’s participation in the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ and the odd story or two about a crocodile hunter.

In the American press and in globally distributed publications such as the International Herald Tribune, little, if any reporting of Australia actually occurs, even though purportedly we are the United States’ ‘staunchest ally’. A search of ‘Australia’ in all the New York Times’ 2003 headlines yields just six news stories related to our domestic politics or foreign policy (compared to seven stories about Australian tennis). To supplement its one hard news story about Australia every two months, The Times also features several stories about traveling and dining in Australia: a ‘good value’ tourist destination where the Green Back still enjoys a favourable exchange rate.

Excluding references to our exported entertainers, our holiday spots, our low costs and good exchange rates, and our sporting achievements, we generally don’t seem to rate much of a mention in the rest of the English speaking world.

Cultural cringe again. Australia got plenty of favourable publicity from John Howard's visit to American and during George Bush's visit to Australia. But the reality is Australia is a small country and power in the world. A population of 20 million 10 hours flight from Asia and 20 hours flight from London or New York with a GDP smaller than Chicago's means you don't rate often on the world's radar. That's one of the beauties of life in Australia.
Australia, however, does seem to be increasingly talked about in non news media publications. A quick glance of the titles of some of Amnesty International’s recent reports on Australia reveals that the word ‘Australia’ has been collocated with phrases such as ‘Shirking responsibility’, ‘Picking and choosing human rights standards’ and ‘Offending human dignity’. Similarly, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights has urged the Australian government to ensure that detained asylum seekers ‘enjoy a secure legal status and humanitarian assistance in accordance with international law’ while Human Rights Watch has criticized Australia's ‘failure to tackle human rights issues’.
Interesting selection of publications. No co-incidence that Australia's had a conservative Government at the same time as these organisations have ramped up their criticism. Even though the refugee policy is bi-partisan. I find it hard to believe that Australia's human rights record is a reason for too much shame. Yes Australia's made its fair share of mistakes such as the White Australia policy and the treatment of Aborigines. I still would rather live in Australia than almost any other nation on Earth if human rights was the score-card.
Is this the press that we want to have, and is the image that we sought to project to the world on that September night in 2000? Rather than projecting an image of tolerance, openness and fair play, we suddenly seem to be a belligerent international pariah with a deteriorating human rights record.

From where I look, the view of Australia is not rosy. I believe that the international criticism and indifference that we are receiving is not only valid, but also necessary. To my eyes, we’re not living up to the image that we projected 3 years ago, nor are we living up to our promise as a dynamic, sophisticated, generous nation that is compassionate to the human dramas in other parts of the world.

In fact that is exactly the image Australia has with the poeple I speak to. Take off your rose-coloured glasses and you might see the real world.
There seems to be have been little rigorous domestic debates on issues such as our international good standing, our obligations as good global citizens, and the need to honour international covenants on issues such as greenhouse emissions, border controls and human rights. There also seems to be little domestic concern that our regional goodwill is withering. If international criticism or indifference does not arouse concern for how we look to others, what will? Are Australians aware that we’re not universally loved and respected and that people in other countries’ unemotionally associate us with words such as ‘racist’ and ‘repressive’?
Perhaps there's little debate because most of these issues mean little to Australians. The country has become more confident about its place in the world and doesn't need approval from others to make it feel secure. And perhaps there's little debate because these are all non-issues.
Obviously, my perspective of Australia is filtered by time and distance, and maybe my view is coloured by the emotions of flight and nostalgia: the baggage of immigrants and exiles. But I believe that my view, like those of the other million Australians who live overseas (that’s a diaspora the size of Adelaide), may contribute something worthwhile to our national introspection.

I see Australia in many of the same ways that I see my family and friends. Like the daily personal emails that keep me abreast of what is happening in the lives of loved ones, my daily visits to the Australian press give me a general sense of what’s happening ‘back home’. But obviously, since I’m no longer living in Australia, many of the nuances of the country’s changes pass me.

When I return every six months or so, I not only notice taller teenage nephews, hair on babies’ heads, or recently formed crow’s feet on relatives’ laughing faces. I also notice changed details on Australia’s beautiful, diverse and sun-damaged face.

Australia looks older (fatter around the hips and a bit overworked) but I’m not sure if it looks wiser. It looks more affluent but I’m not sure if its smile is as generous as the one I left. It’s more sophisticated and wears a cosmetic sheen, but I’m not sure if this sophistication includes a worldly sensibility that makes it aware of what’s happening in other chic (and not so chic) parts of the world.

Australia is definitely more of a homebody and despite a decade of unprecedented positive economic indicators, it seems more scared of its neighbours, reluctant to go outside and disinclined to invite the new bloke in for a drink.

The troops in East Timor might have a different view of that. Or in the Solomons. Or the navy sailors who spent time in the Gulf.
I like to think that that I’m not an expat ‘knocker’ -a breed of ‘er’ nouns that is on a par with ‘wankers’ and ‘dobbers’- but no doubt some people who read this will react by saying ‘if you don’t like Australia, why don’t you stay in Hong Kong’. Unlike the many people who are currently in Australia’s detention centres, I had the luxury of choosing the circumstances and timing of expatriation, and hopefully, I will likewise be able to choreograph the happy occasion of my repatriation. I can indeed stay away, or if I so choose, I can also come home.
This is how expats get a bad name.
The point is I do like Australia. It’s the place of my birth, and it’s my childhood, my education and the bulk of my adult life. Australia is more than a word on the front page of my passport. It’s where most of my family live and friends live and the sum of many things physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual that create my inner landscape. I love the sound of laughter in people’s voices; the easy mix of the urban and the natural and all the things that we so grandly celebrated on the day the 2000 Olympics began.

The view of Australia that I have as I write here in Hong Kong may be clouded by many personal feelings. However, it seems that my view is shared by many others. And sadly, this view seems to do neither Australia, nor its people, justice.

Just like this article doesn't do any justice to the issues it raises. Obviously we move in different circles.

And the main point is that articles like this can be published and lead to vigorous debate. Unlike most of our Asia friends. It's always a shame when cultural cringe get in the way of an honest view of the world. This is an example of it.

Posted by Simon at December 15, 2003 12:07 PM | TrackBack
Comments

It's in the Sydney Moaning Herald. What did you expect?

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 15, 2003 02:43 PM
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Jew Simon