The Unwelcome Welcome To Country In Australia
Down in the neo-Nazi capital of Australia, Melbourne, a few of the boys in black booed the ANZAC Day Welcome To Country. This was a coordinated effort to arouse a backlash against the short ceremony performed by an Indigenous elder. It did not work, as other participants at the ANZAC service angrily told them to shut up. A similar far right action occurred in Perth. The unwelcome Welcome To Country in Australia has become the target of Trumpian anti woke campaigning. This latest activism by neo-Nazis and far right campaigners has been widely condemned, especially as it took place at an ANZAC day ceremony.
Indigenous Welcome To Country An Opportunity To Learn Stuff
Personally, I enjoy the Welcome To Country ceremonies, as I find I learn something about our past each time I listen to what the elder has to say. Perhaps, if these folk opened their ears they too might enrich their lives as Australians. History did not begin with Captain Cook. However, it may well be a situation where ideology has blocked their hearing on this score. Too busy point scoring in the anti-woke debate to open their hearts to another’s perspective. Too inflamed by racism to see beyond the colour of their skin.
Conflation Of Indigenous Acknowledgement & Welcome To Country
There has been a conflation of two distinct things. That of acknowledgements of country and the more substantial Welcome To Country. Indeed, Peter Dutton, more recently, made this mistake in his leader’s debate performance. One would think that the bloke wishing to become Aussie Prime Minister would be all over this, but alas, no, Dutton falls well short again on this matter. Perhaps, to an ex-cop from Queensland they all look the same to him. This is despite nearly 10 years as a federal minister in a number of different portfolios. Lack of respect reeks off this bloke in spades. He aint fit for the top job! Acknowledging the past is an important part of defining who we are as Australians. If those on the Right want to truncate things it makes us less and you wonder why they want to keep folk in the dark. Aligning yourself with neo-Nazis is a worrying trend.
“Peter Dutton has confirmed he does not believe welcome to country ceremonies are necessary at Anzac Day dawn services and on commercial flights, continuing to stoke a culture war in the final week of the election campaign.
It comes days after a neo-Nazi booed and heckled a welcome to country ceremony at a dawn service in Melbourne.”
The Booing In Australia Has Racist Connotations
Booing is an unfortunate Australian practice, which occurs frequently at AFL games. Melbourne is the home of AFL. It has form in the racist space too. Adam Goodes, a champion AFL player was booed out of the game by racist spectators at matches. Adam Goodes was an Indigenous man. The AFL did next to nothing about this at the time. Booing is a demonstration of mob rule and the neo-Nazis at ANZAC Day wanted to incite a crowd reaction, they hoped the booing would grow and be shared by supporters in the crowd. They did not get their desired result and were escorted off the premises. Booing is bad form in my book. The unwelcome Welcome To Country in Australia has now received boos. Booing is in the racist kit bag to be pulled out at public gatherings. Next time you hear booing or are doing the booing yourself have a think about this.
“Adam Goodes famously called out this behaviour and was eventually booed out of the game. Australians, who had been told for years that they were model exponents of multiculturism, were surprised to learn that racism was very much alive and well among their ranks. Right wing media personalities bemoaned this divisive behaviour by blacks, who should really know their place. ‘
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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