Plain and White

Have you wondered what those posters of portraits with Aussie word written on them are?

I first realized that there were a number of similar posters that begun appearing in different wall across the Melbourne CBD, from the lane near my apartment, to the plaster walls in front of building 10. At first, I thought this was some kind of “graffiti” that has no meaning whatsoever. But I kept seeing the damn (I don’t know why, I got annoyed seeing these posters to be very distinguishable) posters everywhere, and I finally googled it. I was directed into Pozible, a project fundraising started by Peter Drew, much like Kickstarter/Indiegogo, and found it to be very profounding and ‘cool’.

The project asks us what it means to be the real Australians. It tells about Monga Khan, who bypassed the White Australian Policy by being a cameleer, proving essential to the Australian economy back in 1850’s.  The White Australian Policy was a conduct created to limit the number of migrations, mainly because of the gold rush, and to only allow immigrants from Britain or Europe to come in Australia. The Policy was abolished in 1966, and soon the 1975 Racial Discrimination arose. The legal side has been put to justice, but has the spirit of the nation justified?

“What is a real AUSSIE?” is not the first project by Peter Drew. Before this, “Real Australians Say Welcome” posters were stuck up all across Australia. The arrow Peter is trying to direct us here is that good citizens of Australia must accept every refugee in need. I solemnly agree on this matter, and if you ask why, it’s because almost all of us are immigrants ourselves. Excluding Aboriginals, All first generation Australians came from overseas. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2011 over a quarter of Australians are born overseas, and one fifth of Australians have parents that are born overseas. Australia is basically a nation filled with refugees, and closing our gates to the little boats is cruel and hauntingly ironic.

There are plenty counter-arguments to rebut my statement earlier, but I will not be discussing into that context. Rather, I want to discuss the borderline of racism, and fear perpetuated by the media, the all glory source of information and entertainment, given light by my recent reading by contextual studies. that I am currently taking. The media, let it be the internet, radio, television, posters, has created a specific image, specific value towards some people with a specific race and religious beliefs. An article by the Brisbane Sunday mail 28 March 2010 (source: Refugee Council), showed a picture of a woman wearing a hijab with her child in a supermarket, depicted by the newsletter as “suspected immigration detainees”. The word ‘suspected’ heavily implied a negative connotation towards the matter. Fear that the number of illegal boats were rising were abused by politicians to stir Australians left and right. You can see how easy people are swayed by the media, by looking at the 1938 War of the World radio drama, broadcasted over one hour and managing to create a mass panic, despite the fact that usually they had only a few listeners. Imagined what would you have done at the time of the broadcast. You would be calling your friends, telling them to switch channels because you are listening to the humankind’s extinction. Fear is a powerful tool, powerful enough to group ethnicities, to group beliefs, and to group our societies.

This post won’t be an essay. I’m just noticing the topic that I am currently discussing is somehow connected to the media i’ve been watching.  Do you guys have an opinion on this matter? Do you agree? that Media is a powerful tool, but sometimes used to toy with our perception?