IA editor pulls pin on Pelican Pauline
The “monoculture” comments of prejudice’s poster woman, Pauline Hanson, inspired Greek-Australian managing editor Michelle Pini to recall a time when Australia was still grappling with rapid multicultural change.
Although Pauline Hanson does not elaborate on its meaning, Pauline Hanson’s recent assertions that we should maintain Australia’s so-called “monoculture” probably date back to a period when multiculturalism was still developing.
When my family came here from Greece in the 1960s, they were mostly of British descent, albeit a nation of immigrants.
Although he was fluent in English, my father’s talent for languages (he spoke several) was apparently not genetic, and for the rest of us (especially my mother) the language barrier was one of the biggest hurdles.
There were many more. It was a different country, but it might as well have been another world entirely; Our habits were so foreign: our food, our clothing, our view of the world. We had no extended family or friends in Melbourne, and my father, a big believer in assimilation, chose a (largely) immigrant-free suburb to settle in.
Of course, we were strangers to our Australian neighbors, and when we met them we were seen as “foreigners” to most immigrants at the time, because my father, a white-collar worker, was not a typical immigrant.
Although it was difficult for my sister and I, my brother was 18 and his journey was perhaps the most challenging. Although he enrolled in primary school in Athens with excellent results, he could only find a job as a warehouseman while studying engineering.
The day he was finally promoted from his forklift job to an office position at Kodak (then one of the nation’s largest employers with nearly 2,000 employees), his new boss called him into the office for an introductory meeting.
As he examined my brother’s secondary school achievements and his engineering studies at RMIT, he said sarcastically:
“That means nothing here. I don’t like you. And just so you know, that’s as far as you’ll go in this company.”
There were many immigrant employees at Kodak in those days, but it turned out that only “true blue” Australians were promoted in that racist bully’s department.
Racism was not new in Melbourne in the 60s. It’s not new in Australia today either. But I believe the majority of Australians, then and now, are hospitable and caring people. This is not surprising given the situation in Australia. foreign born population 8.8 million, or 32 percent of the population.
There are still racists in Melbourne today. But the suburb of Elwood, where we live, and the suburb of Coburg, where my brother works, are not recognized. Melbourne is unrecognized. It is truly a multicultural city and its breadth of tastes in terms of food, fashion, style and culture are unparalleled; It’s a beautiful melting pot of many New Australian influences.
My siblings and I are proud Greek-Australians. Although not a prerequisite, the majority of our partners or their ancestors and the majority of our children and now their children were born here, but they come from many nationalities.
My father’s reasons for moving to Australia, which he convinced my mother to do, were primarily related to the educational and professional opportunities he believed it offered our family, but they were also largely political.
A staunch defender of democracy and a pacifist, he was interested in the events unfolding in Athens at the time, which led, shortly after we left, to the country being held against its will by a brutal military organization known as the “Junta” or “Regime of the Colonels”. This Far Right dictatorship, characterized by censorship, repression and abuse of civil liberties, widely believed It is said that it was founded by the American CIA. (AUKUSany?)
All of the letters we received from our friends and family living in Greece at the time were crudely censored. Family friends and even some relatives disappeared; This is a common occurrence for political opponents of a violent, fascist dictatorship.
Although my father died when I was just 11 years old, his progressive view of the world, which he often conveyed at the dinner table and at his knee, has stayed with me. He believed in equality, freedom of expression and information, and education as the solution to most problems. He was passionate about democracy and extremely proud of the start of democracy in Greece. Although Greek culture was important to him, he was also honored that we became Australian citizens.
I know that you will be proud that I am now the editor of this independent democracy magazine.
New Australians have made major contributions in almost every field, including medicine, science and the arts. They are passionate ambassadors of our country around the world, who excel in almost every field from sports to music, from cinema to literature, from inventions to technology.
After the recent success of the Socceroos (a third of whom were born abroad) Pauline Hanson walk back Previous comments advocating “monoculture” (along with many other words) have difficulty pronouncing, let alone explaining. However, when he talked about immigrants having to speak English (while his use of English could best be described as embarrassing), it was clear what he meant. There are very few of us who do not understand racism when we see it.
Pauline wants to return to the days when racist bullies like my brother’s boss held all the power and were commonplace.
Most Australians are not racist and younger generations are thankfully just “White AustraliaIt’s from the history books, but we cannot underestimate the politics of fear, we only have to look at America to see the destruction it has created.
It is ironic that, thanks to this poster child for prejudice, the old xenophobia has returned to the national debate after having come this far.
My father would be turning in his grave.
Follow managing editor Michelle Pini on Twitter @vmp9 and Bluesky @michellepini.bsky.socialAnd Independent Australia on Twitter @independentausFacebook HERE and Instagram HERE.
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