Well said, Alison.

The wartime connotations of 'Fifth Column' itself are enough to raise
concern. And I'm sure an account could be given of the Christian Right that
would be far scarier. I cannot deplore enough the irresponsibility of people
who peddle the kind of stuff perpetrated in the article Frederick Pollack,
that well-known expert on English provincial towns, presented us with.

If you live among the kind of people such articles depict, you know these
crude socio-political fantasies as rubbish. I'm sad to say, if there is a
well of cultural hatred in this country, it's among my own
we-believe-in-nothing English.

And the fear Alison speaks about is the most eloquent answer to those who
think that 'collateral damage' is something we should accept, that applies
in social terms as well as those of warfare. Some people here claim to be
poets yet are blind to the language they lie down with.

In 1941 there was a German bombing raid that found its way to Yardley, a
suburb of Birmingham. Where my mother then lived. The house to the side, the
house opposite, were destroyed with all their occupants (no air raid
shelters yet had)

From that day, till her death 57 years later, my mother's hands never
stopped shaking, even if sometimes ever so slightly. That's what things like
bombing civilians, targeting ethnic or religious groups as The Enemy, do to
people. Whatever glib easy words might come to some lips.

Again, well said, Al.

Best

Dave


David Bircumshaw

Leicester, England

Home Page

A Chide's Alphabet

Painting Without Numbers

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Alison Croggon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 1:51 AM
Subject: Re: Our Islamic Fifth Column by Farrukh Dhondy


> I know a couple of people who are activists for Palestine and more
> broadly for the acceptance of Arabic people within Australian
> society. They operate on secular, political lines, working in
> various ways to establish dialogue and dissolve misunderstanding
> between the various groups; and most especially against a kind
> traditional Western prejudice of Orientalism - the cliche of the
> untrustworthy, violent, oily Arab, etc etc etc.
>
> You can imagine how much more difficult their job is now, with all
> Middle Eastern-appearing people smeared as a potential "fifth column".
>
> The problem with this is not the fact - I have no trouble believing
> that some people are attracted to fundamentalist purities, nor that a
> minority within Western societies might be part of them. Just as
> there are others who are attracted to the Right Wing neo Nazi
> anti-Government extremists in the US and elsewhere. It's the extra
> frisson of racism, which creates black front pages of hysteria in the
> tabloid press here and generates an atmosphere of fear which
> sanctions firstly, the inhumane treatment of those people who want
> nothing more than a better life for themselves and their families,
> and secondly disgusting prejudicial treatment of people who look
> different, eg, are wearing hijabs or observing Ramadan, (Jewish
> people, ironically, are experiencing the same treatment because of
> their Semitic appearance) no matter who they are. The lie in that is
> that all Islams are the same, and that it is a religion predisposed
> towards this kind of violence, unlike Christianity. This is simply
> not accurate of either religion, both of which are complexly
> problematic.
>
> These things are going on in Australia and certainly in the US, where
> Muslim students are saying they daren't go out at night and are
> experiencing the kinds of prejudices which make everyday life
> difficult. It used to be called racism, and once was considered an
> undesirable thing.
>
> If we are really fighting for values and freedom (let's accept the
> cover story for a second) then surely justice matters. Justice is
> commonly supposed to be blind, and weighs the scales impartially. If
> so, then racism can't be countenanced, and neither can double
> standards nor deception. If they are, then of course these values
> mean nothing.
>
> My highly strung nine yo niece wakes up at 5am, when the jets from
> Point Cook airbase scream over our heads, screaming that "we're all
> going to die!". She has extreme reactions to the news stories she
> can't escape, because of her own insecurities. This is understood in
> her family, which does its best to dampen them, but I don't think
> she's alone. I live underneath a flight path, and every time a jet
> comes low, I duck. I've figured out the distances from the Coode
> Island chemical dump and the local petrol storage facilities (two km
> down the road and less than a km from the primary school my children
> attend) in case some madman drives a truck in there or decided to
> incinerate a light plane. It's not as if I speak from any immunity
> against irrational fear.
>
> I'd rather try to understand why I'm living with this fear. It
> strikes me that the reactions against to attempts to understand it
> are often not counter-argument, but abuse.
>
> Which is a shame.
>
> Best
>
> Alison
> --
>
>
> Alison Croggon
>
> Home page
> http://www.users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
> Masthead
> http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
>