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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/26/thomas-mayo-always-was-always-will-be-book>
"Politics is an eternal tug-o-war. Left and right. Right and wrong. Us and
them. Positive and negative. Negative, negative, negative. This is one of the
reasons that Australians tend to be disengaged from it.
Bad Actors want us to disengage, to not care enough, to give up and focus on
ourselves without pursuing the truth. They want us to be so polarised that we
cannot discuss politics at the kitchen table.
We need to build a resilience to the discomfort we feel when we discuss
political matters. Then we can talk with our friends and family about matters
that we believe are important for our whole country.
During the referendum campaign, I was a national scapegoat.
The no campaign took their first swipe at me through the Murdoch media, with a
full page of mashed together quotes – things I had said throughout almost a
decade of activism. The quotes were indeed ideas I had talked about, even
supported during the shaping of my personal political beliefs and as Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people negotiated our way forward.
“Pay the rent”, “reparations”, “tearing down the institutions that harm us” –
shocking, isn’t it, that a people so wronged would discuss such ideas?
There were many instances when I made speeches at rallies for justice. Was I
supposed to politely sing “Advance Australia Fair” among aggrieved families
after another death in custody, or when another young Indigenous person was put
in jail?
Snip a clip from an impassioned speech here, extract a quote from a debate
there, present it all together, and there you have it – the scary Black man
trope.
Going back over my years of passionate advocacy, they found all they needed to
present the angry Black man who is here to take your back yard. They made me
the stereotype: a militant union thug, a communist who hates Australia. The
only truth in that is that I am a member and leader of a union and I’m proud of
that."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
