The 49th Revolution

So, I was checking my Facebook on my phone in bed this morning, and someone had linked this article in the ABC News. In short, it was a piece on David Carment, an emeritus professor of history who had spoken out and said that Australia should consider changing the date of Australia day, due to the fact that it is held on the day that white settlers first landed in NSW and began colonising Australia.

Now, I don’t get my rant on as much as I used too, mostly because I have had my rants many a time before and I’m sick of repeating myself. However, today’s discussion is not on how insulting our choice of date is – it’s the response that this simple request to change the date has resulted in. It was, in short, the comments section that incurred my mental wrath today.

Quote:

Why can’t [Indigenous Australians] find anything to celebrate, I can think of plenty who don’t mind an excuse for a party and there’s nothing wrong with that! The Professor should take up a more productive hobby in his retirement. Sewing dissent and division is demeaning and he should at his age know better.

There’s a few things I question about this comment, such as the view that Australia Day is just “an excuse for a party” – has our national holiday come to mean so little?

But the reoccurring theme that appalled me most throughout the comments was the hate and anger at people who supported the change of date, engaged in the discussion, or questioned the day. Even those who supported Australia Day, yet recognised the cultural insensitivity of the day were targeted. In comments such as this:

When it happened it was perfectly legal and accepted international practice. We now believe otherwise, but just like the passing of retrospective laws we can’t change the contemporary attitudes that sanctioned actions over 200 years ago – it is pointless anyone pretending otherwise and striving to open old wounds. What an irresponsible, silly old man.

Or this:

We are outraged when we hear or read a story that is “un-Australian”. Australia is a wonderful country made up of many many different cultures and Australia Day should be celebrated as a day to be proud of being an Aussie no matter how you got here.

Why is it that so many Australians are offended by the very concept of questioning our practices or system? Why is it we consider an intelligent man, considering the effects and implications of our practices to be “an irresponsible, silly old man”? Why is it that we consider a story that dissents to the norm to be “un-Australian”?

One of the greatest strengths of our nation is that we have struggled through hard times and oppression to be where we are today. Our history and strength is in the prisoners that struggled for a new life in a new land, and in the indigenous people of the land who struggled, fought for and won the right to vote. Who won the right to take part in the nation built on their land, for the right to care for and keep custody of their children. Australians fought for an apology to the stolen generation, fought for equal rights for all Australians regardless of gender or sexuality, and fought for our right to have a say in our government and community. They won it all, and the changes that they fought for and achieved constructed and shaped Australia.

I refuse to believe that dissent is “un-Australian”, when it is integral to who we are as a nation. The greatest part of democracy, and to many one of the few areas left true to its intent, is our right as citizens to have the say, to dissent when we think something is wrong and to shape our nation by shaping our society. You cannot decide our policy on the whim of one man, because we will vote them out. You cannot change policy without changing the public mind – because in the end the government panders to the majority.

To achieve change in our system is very difficult, because we have built a system in which people have to tailor their image, policy and actions to the will of the majority in order to get elected and to have power. Unlike a monarchy and a dictatorship, in a democracy the government is responsible to the people. It means that we have a conservative government because we have a conservative majority, but it also means that to change the system, you have to change the people. It means we need to talk, to engage, to discuss and to think critically about our opinions and those of others. This will allow us to learn, to widen our perspectives, and to grow constructively as a nation.

Democracy is slow, but it has the power and the weight of people behind it. Its a simple theme of good management, and yet it is one that I have always held to be at the core of effective change. If you force change, people will rebel. However if you discuss change openly and constructively, either you will come to a new and more considered point of view, or people will come to agree with you, knowing all the facts. And then your change will be supported.

I’d like to finish this rant by saying that not all Australians are as hateful and fearful of change, dissent or discussion as some of those commenting on this article seem to be. In fact, despite my annoyance at those so offended by the article, it was comforting to know that these comments were the minority on this particular article. In comments such as this:

First of alll, I’d say dissent is very Australian. Secondly, if you look at it from the Indigenous perspective, they are saying this day represents the day their lands were invaded. I don’t think many people would be too keen to celebrate that day, no matter how much of ‘an excuse for a party’ it is.

And such as this:

No, his comments are not leading to a division. He illustrates and points out that the division already exists in some of our communities and is simply encouraging that the date and its relevance be openly discussed.

There is nothing more patriotic, more Australian, than to take part in our democracy, to discuss, debate and change for the better. We are better now than we were 50 years ago, with women subjugated, gays persecuted and our indigenous people treated as subhuman. And we can be better in the future, if we continue to struggle and dissent. In comments such as the latter, I see the true Australian spirit is still strong.