Luke
Person writing
at Indigenous
X
on 1 January 2021:
Last
night the Morrison government announced that they were changing
the national anthem,
to be more inclusive of Indigenous peoples and of migrants (the not
white ones anyways), by changing a single word, ‘young’. It’s
now ‘one’.
We
are one and free.
We
are One Nation.
Pauline
must be stoked.
This,
from the same political party who every Invasion Day assure us that
Indigenous peoples aren’t interested in meaningless symbolic
gestures like Australia no longer throwing a party on the anniversary
of invasion, are now confident that Indigenous peoples will be so
excited about this meaningless symbolic change that presumably we
will no longer refuse to sing it at national sporting events.
Changing
the anthem from ‘young’ to ‘one’ is not only problematic
because it’s symbolic tokenism aimed at silencing dissent that
completely misses the nature of the dissent in the first place, but
it’s also problematic because it’s the same wrongly labelled
‘one’ as the one made famous by ‘One Nation’.
The
original version of ‘we are one’ was a
view of multiculturalism which
tried to encourage white Australia away from its traditional view of
a fair go meaning ‘if your skin ain’t fair, you gots to go’ and
to accept instead the notion that we could be ‘one nation with many
cultures’.
This
was quickly co-opted by racist ideologues who replaced that sentiment
with the assimilationist idea that one nation meant ‘one culture
with many races’ and that was quickly cemented into the national
consciousness by Pauline Hanson who seized the moment and took the
name for her political party ‘One Nation’.
Despite
One Nation tainting the concept of ‘one nation,’ both meanings
have persisted in Australia without much national discourse or
reflection on which one we should have, but it’s been pretty clear
from a Liberal Party standpoint since the days of John Howard that
they aren’t huge fans of the multiculturalism actually meaning
multiple cultures.
They
are generally more on the side of white/western supremacy, which many
liberals have hinted at, and which Tony Abbott flat out stated on
multiple occasions when he was PM.
Their
views on Indigenous assimilation are much the same.
This
can be seen by their political insistence that reconciliation can
only be achieved by ‘closing the gap’ rather than by recognising
Indigenous Rights as defined by the United Nations Declaration on the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Having
an ambiguous working definition of multiculturalism began as a
contest between the two, which the nation should have chosen between
by now. Instead, both definitions have been left unchallenged to
ensure that politicians can conveniently dog whistle to both sides
whenever they talk about us being the ‘most successful
multicultural country on Earth’.
This
change plays right into that blurring of the lines between the two
definitions.
We
are one. And we are free. And from all the lands on earth we come.
You’d
have thought they would have just straight up changed the anthem to
‘I am Australian’ by the Seekers, but I guess it has too much
brand association with QANTAS these days, and because you don’t
want to be seen as caving in to the politically correct demands of
the slightly left of centrists who were presumably campaigning for
this change.
Yesterday,
on the last day of 2020, IndigenousX published a powerful piece from Gregory Phillips called ‘Can We Breathe?’
talking
staunchly about truth telling, and about Indigenous empowerment.
Today,
on the first day of 2021, we are talking about the anthem, or at
least we are meant to be.
Instead
of continuing to explain why the new anthem is just as shit as the
old one though, I’m going to remind people of what some of our
Indigenous Rights are:
Article
3: Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue
of that right they freely determine their political status and freely
pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Article
4: Indigenous peoples, in exercising their right to
self-determination, have the right to autonomy or self-government in
matters relating to their internal and local affairs, as well as ways
and means for financing their autonomous functions.
Article
5: Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their
distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural
institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if
they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life
of the State.
Article
8.1: Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be
subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.
That’s
only four of them, there are 46. Read
them.
There will be a test.
This
is the test, and Australia is failing at it.
These
are what needs to be informing our discussions around change.
Australia
has worked hard for decades now to poison the well of Indigenous
Rights discourse by reframing any such discussion as ‘Indigenous
people want special treatment and free handouts’.
We
need to move beyond the fear of being shown in this light and embrace
the reality that being the Indigenous peoples of these lands and
waters is special, and it brings with it special rights and
responsibilities.
This
is not us wanting something for nothing. This is us demanding our
rights, and we have already paid far more than we should ever have
had to for them.
Adjunct
associate professor at the School of Psychology, University of
Queensland, and
proud Wiradjuri
man, Joe
Williams,
writing in The
Guardian
on 1 January 2021:
I
was made aware on Thursday by a friend of the incoming changes to the
national anthem. My reply was an “eye roll” emoji with the words:
“But we aren’t all one, we certainly aren’t treated as one; and
many, sure as hell, aren’t free”.
I
put out a tweet on Friday with my thoughts:
For
we are one and free, is like a present from yr nerd uncle, who tries
to be cool, but fails hard. I mean, is that line trying to convince
us, or you? Cos’ we definitely aren’t treated as one, & many
sure as hell aren’t free”
Prime
minister Scott Morrison was quoted as saying the change “takes away
nothing … but adds much”.
'We
are one and free': Australia's national anthem to change in attempt
to recognise Indigenous history
Is
it supposed to hit the “warm and fuzzies”, taking away the notion
of “us and them” by pretending that all people who live on this
continent are one big happy family?
Let’s
be brutally honest, we aren’t.
You
all know the rates of incarceration when it comes to
First Nations v non-Indigenous Australians, deaths in custody, the
drastic health disparity and the difference in life expectancy
between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians. You know of the
negative profiling when it comes to mainstream media between the two
(if you don’t, it’s not hard to Google). Why on earth would
anyone think that the changing of just one word would encourage First
Nations people to feel as “ONE” with any Australian?
To
me, changing just one word with the view of inclusion does very
little for actual inclusion, and does next to nothing for the hope of
uniting a nation......
The song I believe is a beautiful representation of a united, multicultural Australia is the one written by Judith Durham, Uncle Kutcha Edwards, Lou Bennett, Camilla Chance and Bill Hauritz.
It’s time for a fresh start and to get a new song. And if we are genuine about this word “reconciliation”, we need to start a relationship before we try to heal one that never existed.
NOTE:
* Advance Australia Fair became the national anthem on 19 April 1984.
