An asylum seeker calls out to journalists on Papua New Guinea's Manus island, August 2013. EOIN BLACKWELL/Press Association. All rights reserved. The international trend in first world countries towards right wing populist politics is symptomatic of rising insecurity and inequality. Each context has its own specific topography whilst there are underlying dynamics that seem common to all. It may surprise you to learn how far down this trajectory Australia has gone this century. Observers of international human rights know about this, as do figures like Donald Trump who looks on Australia’s inhumane treatment of “illegal” refugees with envy. Alas, the story needs to be told such that hopefully Australians will develop a conscience and the rest of the world might be warned.
The title I gave this piece – Nazi Australia – was deliberately provocative. This is a function of desperation, but, alas, also of reality. For there are hundreds of men on Manus Island (PNG) whom the Australian government has placed in interminable limbo, and psychological and physical danger, so as to maintain an absolute deterrence against “illegal” asylum seekers. The Australian government simply stonewalls all calls by outraged citizens for humane action. So, there is need to call out this stonewalling in very shrill terms. Even so, the claims I am making are very serious, and this will require me to set the argument up carefully.
Self-loathing
Tyson is an English name. My father’s family were craftsmen from York who received assisted travel to go to Van Diemen’s Land in 1852. My family were economic migrants looking for a better life. My mother’s family were Irish Kennedys whose origins in Australia are conveniently unknown by my family; likely ‘criminal’ offshore indefinite detainees tossed to the other side of the world as part of a no compromise ‘law and order’ push.
