Thread by @crazyjane13

I've listened to a lot of Spaces full of 'march for Australia' people in the last week, and they're all based on two racist lies:

that immigrants take an unfair share of government benefits, and;

that Australia is a 'European' country.
1/-

Immigrants are, for the most part, not eligible for most government benefits. You can't just decide to move to Australia and go on the dole and get social housing. And you certainly can't get unlimited free medical care.
2/-

Australia is not, and *has never been*, a 'European' country. The modern nation grew out of the forced colonisation of indigenous lands (with the accompanying attempt at obliterating indigenous peoples).
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And those colonists? Were not the British monolith these idiots think. From the moment of colonisation, people from all over the world have come here to live. Some of the earliest were Chinese, as any even casual student of history would know.
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Yet these lies persist in the anti-immigration movement. No amount of proof will persuade these people that they are wrong. Why?

Because, at its core, that movement is racist.
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All the justifications and rationalisations about a 'fair go' are all predicated on the notion that being white (or a fair approximation thereof, since apparently it's okay to be 'Mediterranean') somehow means you are being deprived of something that is yours by right.
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The corollary, of course, being that if something 'belongs' to white people, it cannot - by definition - belong to people of any other colour. Therefore, non-white people who have it must be stealing it.
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These days, no one wants to be called a racist. So they dress it up with fake statistics and wilful misinformation designed to 'prove' that their racist grievances have some foundation in reality.

Spoiler alert: they don't.
8/-

But here's the thing: no amount of evidence will convince such people that they are wrong. Because admitting they are wrong would compel them to examine the *real* reasons for their opposition to certain kinds of immigrants.
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Of course, this doesn't apply to the diehard white supremacists and Nazis who are the engines that drive anti-immigration. They *know* they are lying when they claim immigrants are taking away things that 'belong' to white people, and they don't care.
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But those lies are very comfortable for other racists, the ones who don't want to face the truth about themselves. "I don't hate brown people, I just want a fair go for 'real' Australians!" is their cry.
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White people enjoy incredible privilege in Australia - economic, political, legal, and social. Racism is a nasty thread of poison that runs through our society, and people of colour are the ones being hurt by it.
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And those white racists bemoan the 'unfairness' of it all, and wax lyrical about vanishing Australian (read: British) culture - all while they visit Thai restaurants and hire African uber drivers and see Indian doctors.
13/-

"It's about assimilation!" they cry, but that doesn't stop them from appropriating art and culture from all over the world without the slightest thought for the people who've provided them with this new and interesting thing.
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No doubt, right about now there's a racist reading this thinking, "How dare they?! I'm not a racist, I'm just sticking up for my country!"

Spoiler alert: you're not.
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You're living in a state of wilful delusion. You're not a 'patriot', or 'true blue', or any other comforting nickname you give yourself.

You're a racist.
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If you believe and spread lies about immigrants 'stealing' housing, you're a racist.

If you cling to the lie that Australia is a European/British country and we'd all be better off if we went back to that, you're a racist.
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And if you indiscriminately take advantage of people who don't look like you, while claiming that such people aren't 'real' Australians ...

you're a racist. And a hypocrite.
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It's almost certain that nothing I say will stop a racist from marching in the streets waving flags and screaming lies.

But these lies have to be called out. Again and again, loudly and publicly.
19/-

And maybe, just maybe, if these lies are called out often enough and publicly enough, one or two people out there might change their minds about taking part in a march that is nothing more than a racist whinge-fest about things that don't exist.
20/20

@threadreaderapp unroll please