A law for you and a law for me
And never the ‘twain shall meet
Don’t care if you suffer, don’t want to know
As long as I’m alright Jack
That’s all I know!
by Watershedd.
BlakandBlack has been around a long time – fifteen years now. The site owes its origins to racism, specifically that encountered and endured by the Indigenous people in Australia, but has never shied away from calling out the racism and marginalisation of other ethnic or social groups. Discrimination, be it on the basis of race, colour, creed, ability or gender is unacceptable. It’s not always easy, it’s never palatable, but the need to speak up has never diminished … and sadly, it’s become more necessary in the past few years.
Indigenous people in Australia were here long before Europeans arrived. We can argue about whether it’s 10,000 years or 60,000 years, but there is no denying that the policy of terra nullius used to justify the dispossession and mistreatment of Indigenous Australians was and is a farce.
Indigenous people are too small in number to be considered by the broader society. Despite paid lip-service by politicians and corporations alike to “Close the Gap” they remain the single most disadvantaged group in Australia.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people account for 3.8% of the population. From state to state the numbers vary wildly, but the discrimination that those who identify as Indigenous suffer is consistent. From verbal derision to murder, no other single group ever faces such frequent corruption at the hands of police or such consistent denigration in mainstream media. Viewed through the lens of modern history, the Indigenous people of this country are the frogs in the pot, the first in Niemöller’s poem, the one overwhelmingly ignored because “I’m not indigenous.” Niemöller’s poem is an expression of the self-serving attitudes of Europeans as the world was propelled into and through World War II.
There is no denying that Australia has a racism problem – with Indigenous, other black people, Jews, Muslims, Asians. Australia also has a problem with religion – Islam and Judaism in particular. Whilst Protestantism and Catholicism are on the decline, the orthodox Christian faiths are on the up, as are non-Christian religions. We so pride ourselves upon other cultures bringing the best of themselves to Australia; we need to live it far more than just speak of it.
Last week an anti-semitism summit in Sydney organised by Sky News in conjunction with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and attended by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, set out fifteen recommendations for the Federal Government intended to protect Jewish citizens from anti-semitism. Mary Kostakidis’ post today enumerates those recommendations. Among the points are measures specific to increasing understanding and recognition of anti-semitism in law enforcement, schools and universities. Anti-semitism in all its forms is an expression of racial hatred and necessarily must be condemned. But the measures expected of the Summit go far beyond recognition and education, to banning protests in universities, legislation to silence academic critics, scrutiny and censure of university funding sources and restriction of funding for cultural festivals. Imagine if Australia had such measures for the protection of Indigenous Australians. The outcry would be deafening – and rightfully so.
The Australian Jewish Association stridently asserted its opposition to the Voice referendum in July 2023, in which they note an increase in online abuse when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke at a Jewish event following support from some Jewish leaders. Just under 100,000 people, or 0.4%, expressed a religious affiliation with Judaism in the 2021 Census.
One must wonder if the AJA’s distancing was more to do with avoiding abuse than standing up for the rights of the most abused, marginalised people in Australia. Rather than standing with Indigenous Australians in acknowledging their unique connection to this land, a right Israelis assert for themselves regarding their nation, they punched down on the blackfullas.
Now with the recommendations of the Summit, the ECAJ, its mouthpiece Sky News and the populist Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, seeks to make special provisions for Jews in Australia. Combining this with a looming election and a spineless Labor Government incapable of standing up to either the Zionists or America, Australians need to very seriously consider the implications of their vote. Neither the Australian Labor Party nor the Liberal Party have credibility to stand up to vested interests. Mary Kostakidis is right. The need for alternative parliamentary representatives from the smaller parties and independents has never been greater. If we walk blindly into a new government without checks upon them, we will be consigning ourselves to a future leveraged by specific minority interests. It will be a path to perdition.