Oops, they did it again

I'm procrastinating, yet again. Assignments, this time. In spite of being a temp employee of various companies over the past few weeks, and actually getting home at a reasonable hour thanks to only needing to catch a train, rather than adding a half hour on a tram to the end of that and walking for 10 minutes. The upshot is that I'm WAAAAY behind on where I should be for the research on my next assignment. And the 3 that I've got to get done before I go away in oh, say, UNDER A MONTH?!?!? I was working it out. I've got 5,500 words to write (and research) between now and then, and somewhere in there I have to be a bridesmaid (not nearly as challenging as being a bride) and pack up everything I own and get myself together to LEAVE THE COUNTRY. Stress? What stress?

And yet, here I am. Sitting on the internet, having caught up on my emails (who knew that so many could accumulate in 3 days?) and feeling energetic enough to read the paper - online, at any rate. I have no right to be anywhere near a computer right now. It should be all books and notes and post-its, but yet...here I am.

Somehow it's a good thing to, because I'm feeling all righteous anger right now. Some nutter in the government has decided to dig into the realms of the history book once again, to the part under the heading of "Things we should forget we ever did, or only remember with shame and downcast eyes". The subheading? It's called the White Australia policy, our very own version of aparthied, but more like a particularly selective bouncer at an exclusive night club. Yes, we'll make you sit a dictation test. What's that? You're a university educated englishman? well, you can take your test in French. Sorry? You come from the slums in the Philipines? How would you like a dictation test in, oh, say, Swahili? No jokes here, it did happen. And oh, what do you know, it looks like it's about to kick off again. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/integration-the-key-howard/2006/09/15/1157827132026.html (and sorry, once again, still haven't re-learnt how to link. I should have known better than to do it once and then forget all about it for a while. Including forgeting where I found the directions last time) This time the test will be in English, granted, but fact about Australia? Have these people never watched one of the 6:30 current affairs shows? They're always showing high school kids who can't answer simple questions about Australia, like what's the capital city. (It is Sydney, right?!?) How on earth do they expect people who come from countries that probably have little enough idea about where Australia is, let alone what the hell fair dinkum means, to know the answers to their tests? Oh, I forgot. They give them 4 years to wait here and study for it. Reckon it'd take about that long too.

Does nobody realise that a pretty large percentage of the people already here come from backgrounds where they wouldn't be speaking english. And their cultures have all gone into the melting pot to make the culture that the terrified little weenies are trying to hold up as an example. Surely there should be room to include more ideas, not less, in the mix? Becuase if this type of draconian measure is needed to protect whatever it means to be Australian, perhaps the notion of Australian-ness is not as strong and as clearly defined as they'd have us believe, if it can't withstand a little challenge (which is arguable in its existence anyway) from other countries. Is it really worth propping up something that would be so ill-defined, something that clearly demands much more of its citizens than most already here would have a conception of? And who, exactly, has the right to try and define what the hell it is anyway? Ask anyone who lives here what it means to be Australian and you can almost guarantee that no two answers will be the same. It's not like we have a slogan (do we? do we have a slogan?) to rally us under the flag. There is no God Save the Queen (or the land of hope and glory - or it was once, anyway), Land of the free and Home of the brave, Liberte Egalite Fraternite, or any of that. Why? Because it hasn't evolved yet. And these things can't be forced. They have their own rhythm.

I'm as Australian as the next person. As far as I can tell, my newest non-Aussie ancestor was about 4 generations back - my grandfather's grandfather. (Given that the distinguished gentleman in question changed his name and appears to be untraceable, but by all accounts regularly recieved large amounts of money from Ireland, I doubt he would have been coming in through the legitimate channels that the government is so keen on these days. Although you never know. Who had large amounts of money in Ireland back in the 1850s when the famine was in full swing? hmm, English aristocracy, wasn't it?) As far as I can gather, that makes me pretty much true blue, fair dinks, dyed in the wool Aussie. I may be about to jet off overseas for a couple of years, but I'd like to be able to claim my nationality with some pride. I love being Australian, and I love the reputation we once had in the world at large. It might be a bit inaccurate (a few too many people think we have kangaroos as pets. Sorry to disappoint, but we don't, generally. Drop bears are for real though.) but it's generally likeable - a good thing when you're miles from home and all alone in the world. But right now? No. I don't want to endorse the actions of my government. Finally, I'm understanding what it must be like to have been an American who voted against George Bush. And I'm feeling sorry for them.

The moral of the story here? Never let a politician take a look at a history book. God knows, they might just think that some of the horrendous things that people have done to each other in the past were good enough to repeat again. For everybody's sake, don't let them uncover the books about the 1930s and 40s.