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Xenophobic action man, Tony

By Clifton Evers - posted Wednesday, 2 June 2010


Tony Abbott has decided to bring back the Pacific Solution as a way to “turn back the boats”.

The Pacific Solution being the name given to the Australian government policy (2001-2007) of transporting asylum seekers to detention camps on small island nations in the Pacific Ocean for processing in regards to their refugee status.

The policy is consistent with Abbott’s Real Action campaign which casts him as the man to protect Australia from “illegal immigrants”. His campaign is reminiscent of the attitudes of some of the men from Cronulla who took part in the race riot in 2005. On that occasion young men wanting to “protect” Australia bashed other Australians.

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Those who rioted in Cronulla believed men of Middle Eastern descent were a “dangerous other” from whom Australia must be protected. This was particularly the case in light of September 11, Iraq, the London bombings, and the Bali Bombings. Many Lebanese-Australian are Christian. But this did not seem to matter. Within the current international political context “Muslim” is often conflated through metonymic slippages with “Middle-Eastern” and “terrorist” and “illegal immigrant”.

Abbott’s Real Action electoral campaign includes a TV advertisement with a map of Australia. Bold red arrows signal “illegal immigrant” arrivals from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The image wouldn’t look out of place as war propaganda warning us of invading terrorist hordes.

The advertisement again encourages us to conflate terrorists, illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.

Politically and culturally Abbott has chosen to use a very particular model of manhood to advance his cause.

Just like the men who took part in the race riots, Abbott appears to be acting out a troubling model of Australian manhood. It’s one that relies on xenophobia, masculine pride, nationalism, and an ugly model of mateship to work.

I have been doing research with a broad range of young Australian men for a decade now, in cities as well as rural and regional areas. I also grew up at the beach as a surfer and lifesaver. Unfortunately, I keep getting first-hand experience of this model of manhood working across too many of Australian society for my liking.

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After the Cronulla Riots I did research with some of the young men who took part. They believe they were letting everyone know that they were proud of “Australian values” and were “defending” their country - just like the Diggers did.

During World War I and II the Australian Diggers came to represent strength, mateship and sacrifice. As a young man all I heard were celebratory stories about the diggers. It wasn’t until much later that I heard whispers about the trauma, fear, and horror of some of these blokes who went to war.

A mythological Australian manhood emerged that came to emphasise strength where no vulnerability is allowed.

Mind you, this mythology was written about the Diggers, not by them. They knew war isn’t manly. The Diggers found this out the hard way. Many of them came home injured and traumatised.

The values associated with the Aussie Digger were later reinvested in, among other masculine role models, the Aussie lifesaver. Through the image of the lifesaver mateship, able-bodied, racial purity, heroic sacrifice, and public service duty continued from the rhetoric of war to public safety. As the historian Richard White observes, the lifesaver became a figure in whom “Australians could … identify nationhood with an ideal type of manhood”.

Abbott likes to think he fits into a slouch hat or sluggoes nicely. Action man Tony. White, patriotic, Christian, able-bodied and willing to defend Australia at all costs.

The frontline to prove his masculinity is not Gallipoli or Papua New Guinea but the Australian coastline and the incursion of a new threat in the form of refugees and asylum seekers, recast as illegal immigrants and terrorists.

The manhood Abbott performs is a move to shore up the privileges and authority that come with currently being at the top of the pecking order as a white male in Australia. The problem is it silences the stories of others, such as refugees.

Who are we being protected against? Refugees like my friend Arjun?

Arjun is an ex child soldier who managed to escape the war in Sri Lanka, walk for a week with no food to locate a ramshackle boat, get himself and his daughter to Indonesia, and then get into Australia. While here Arjun has got himself a job, works tirelessly in his new community, studies international politics at university, and supports members of his family who remain in his homeland.

For me, it is actually people like Arjun who exhibit the traits of the Diggers.

The ironic thing is, some men continue to believe that Australian manhood means being vigilant and able to protect “us” from such people.

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About the Author

Dr Clifton Evers is a cultural researcher at the Journalism and Media Research Centre, University of New South Wales. His new book is Notes For A Young Surfer (Melbourne University Press).

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Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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