From: "Greg Ratcliffe" <gratclif-AT-ozemail.com.au>
Subject: Re: how racism operates
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 10:41:09 +1100


One 'political' group - with an agenda - which is being 'fanatically' villified
as a consequence of the fires is the Greens: the 'tree-hugging', 'frog-kissing
weirdos' who have successfully lobbied the government and prevented off-season
burn-offs. While bushfires are a regular feature of life in Australia, the
unprecedented intensity of this outbreak is being attributed to the
environmentalists misguided theories.

greg


----- Original Message -----
From: "Margaret Trawick" <trawick-AT-clear.net.nz>
To: <postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: how racism operates


| I can understand Saeed's point, and share his feelings.  We are considering
| a potential stereotype of white Australians, and how this might compare with
| the stereotypes of Arabs.  The stereotypes of Arabs have long pre-existed
| the events of 9-11.  Edward Said reminded us of some of this in his book
| Orientalism.
|
| There are in fact some negative stereotypical representations of white
| Australians, but I don't know how widespread they are, and they are nowhere
| near as pernicious as the negative stereotypes of Arabs.  The latter
| were/are based on real or imagined "customs" of Arab people in their places
| of birth.  We might imagine that arson is a "custom" of white Australians.
| We might blame this custom on poverty, desperation, and ignorance, in the
| same way that acts of terrorism are attributed to desperate circumstances.
| We might blame it on a fanatical hatred of the people who live around
| Sydney, or a fanatical hatred of nature-lovers.  And we might well consider
| that an organized group planned the conflagration around Sydney.
|
| But instead, we see no attempt to connect this event, or the general custom
| of arson, with Australian "culture".  Instead it is all individualized, and
| attributed to misguided children, who will be disciplined by having to do
| community service.  The fact that organized crime often employs children to
| do some of its work for them, precisely because if caught, these children
| will get off with lighter sentences, is not mentioned in the articles Saeed
| has forwarded.  Maybe it is mentioned somewhere else.  It could very well be
| that someone somewhere profits from all this destruction.
|
| Is there organized crime in Australia?  You betcha.  Is there an Australian
| mafia with international connections?  Probably.  Maybe someone should
| investigate the fires from this angle.
|
|
|
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