In a year that saw all of the Australian of the Year awards going to women there was more debate than I’ve ever seen surrounding unreconciled issues. Hashtags in support of change such as #invasionday and #jan26isinvasionday drew posts from citizens against the status quo. So such people had a place where their views could be heard – and amplified.
Amplification is what hashtags are about, as they allow people with low follower counts to reach a larger audience. Twitter adopted this method of communication way back in the mists of time and it has since become, like the retweet, a permanent part of the service, one that all people can avail themselves of if they are savvy enough. Not everyone is going to be pleased, just as not everyone will use such tools in a way that respects others. Some people will overstep the mark and post comments that are aggressive, abusive, or even criminal. As we’ve seen from the way this company dealt with Donald Trump, however, there are ways to combat egregious abuse of the medium.
While for some the existence of debate, itself, is a source of outrage, the structural heft of such mechanisms – a shared platform with tools to connect people and to enforce proper conduct – is a reminder, like the degree of engagement, of how far we’ve come since the days, before social media, when we could only look on impotently while politicians and dignitaries officiated at remote ceremonies, prize-givings, and spectacular events that were brought to us through the mainstream media. Hundreds of boats mixing on the Harbour in 1988 seems like a century ago. Change comes despite the overhang of dark clouds that threaten peace, though in a sense we have replicated the spectacle in the absence of satisfactory analogues.
But clouds bring rain, and rain brings life. Just contemplating the list of award winners – all women – tells us that change is possible. If all of the recipients could be female – under a conservative government that many lambaste routinely as being out-of-touch – how more likely, then, that some change would be made to better accommodate the feelings of Indigenous people of this nation? Even as we discuss – not always politely, it has to be admitted – the pros and cons of whether or not to enshrine the most recent effort at reconciliation (the Voice to Parliament) in the Constitution, we are able to make Senior Australian of the Year a prize for Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, a First Nations storyteller and elder from up north.
How far have we come? Let’s think about these awards for a moment. As though we were reflecting upon the Anzacs lost in some forgotten battle – forgotten but for an annual commemoration – the events of 2021 must demonstrate how everyone agrees that working together is better than struggling independently.
Covid has taught us this. We’ve been properly schooled.
While the struggle of First Nations people is real, they should know that they are not alone. The majority of the community supports their quest – though will a constitutionally enshrined VtP help an Aboriginal man living on Palm Island not to start drinking at 10am? – but I wonder how we are to work together if our very identity is based on identification with a particular ethnic group?
If we define who we are by visions seen in a dream for which there is no dawn – you cannot change your past – then we are walking on shifting sands. Many people on both sides are defining who they are by who they exclude – those different from themselves – and I feel that this approach to self-definition is misguided. Multiculturalism is a better model for setting the bounds of identity than racial pride because it embraces all, and is less strict about who is allowed to enter the longhouse, and who must be kept outside.
If Australian of the Year tells us anything, it must be that diversity is strength. Rather than identifying with one limited group of ethnic relevance or political stance, we should take a chance and seek to form part of a multiplicity of voices. As with a choir, many singing in harmony can deliver a stronger effect than mere battling soloists. Let us imagine a shared destiny so that we can say, with glad hearts, “I am, you are, we are Australia!” Our collective dream is one that includes the past as well as the present.
Let’s invite the future in.
No comments:
Post a Comment