Racism Anxiety in Sydney’s Heartland?
May 11th 2008 00:10
In his 2003 book ‘Western Horizon Sydney’s Heartland and the Future of Australian Politics, David Burchell suggests the term 'racist' is used in the Australian public arena like a general panacea for political disagreement on the issue. Is there any evidence to support this view?
Burchell suggests the term racist is used in Australian public discourse as an ‘all purpose description of every strand in popular opinion of which liberals and radicals disapprove’. (p.45) He goes on to qualify that those who do disagree of multiculturalism are imagined as only venting ‘repressed’ racist views, threads of the nation’s dark soul.
In his assessment of Western Sydney, Burchell uses a combination of historical evidence from the post-WWII urban-spread, population demographics, crime statistics, and survey data from the Australian Election Study (2003, p46), to support his claim that the area has racism anxiety. An anxiety, when taken in a global-climate context however, not that ‘out-of-kilter’ (2003, p53) with the country as a whole. The conclusion is yes, that in the literal sense of the term, Western Sydney’s responses to survey questions and views expressed on talkback radio could be branded racist, but first take into account the underlying reasons and catalysts: simmering racial tension/911/Tampa [ Click here to read more ]
Burchell suggests the term racist is used in Australian public discourse as an ‘all purpose description of every strand in popular opinion of which liberals and radicals disapprove’. (p.45) He goes on to qualify that those who do disagree of multiculturalism are imagined as only venting ‘repressed’ racist views, threads of the nation’s dark soul.
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