Indira Naidoos excellent article for the Wheeler Centre. Our problem is not refugees. Our problem is the fear industry that has been allowed to grow and profit from exploiting refugees. Our fear of boat arrivals is nothing new. In fact, it can be argued that since the first boat people came here on the First Fleet, boat arrivals have occupied a paranoia in our national psyche that few other fears have. I’ve often wondered ‘why?’ when the perceived threat has never matched the reality – and when those who arrive by plane and overstay their visas far exceed boat arrivals in numbers. Recently a philosopher at Deakin University Patrick Stokes offered a theory that I do find compelling. He argues that boat arrivals remind us that we haven’t earned what we have. ‘Our prosperity rests on happy accident rather than cosmic justice. Just as we took this land illegally from the First Australians, we subconsciously fear that someone will come along and take it from us. But fate intervened and gave me courageous parents who decided to leave South Africa, their family and all they knew to find a new home for their growing family. In fact when we left, my parents had to actually smuggle me across the South African border into Zambia because at the time it was illegal for non-white children to leave South Africa. wheelercentre/dailies/post/4c0cc6afdda5/
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 23:03:30 +0000
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