Fuck it. We're back at this stage again. Sigh... I'm becoming *really* worried about this country. Big Day Out organisers have requested that Australians not brandish the Australian flag at the upcoming event in Sydney. Despite what the media is reporting, they have not "banned" the flag. They've requested that it not be used in a way that would inflame racial tensions. "Yes", I hear you say, "but it's our flag and our country, we should be allowed to wave it anytime we like, especially on the eve of Australia Day". This argument I can accept and agree with... to a point. The flag is our national symbol, but over the past couple of years it has been used as a shroud for racist and criminal behaviour. There are no angels in this. And certainly some of those labelled "Un-Australian" are equally at fault in situations such as those.
Despite Johhny's contention that it is "unacceptable" and "offensive" the organisers of the BDO are not without reason for their warning. Following the Cronulla riots in December 2005, there were allegedly incidents at BDO's in January 2006 in which the Australian flag was used aggressively (make of that what you will). After recent violence on the opening day of the Australian Open between Serbian and Croatian supporters, it would appear that the BDO organisers are trying not to take any chances. Given that they are very likely liable should anyone actually be hurt (all those lawyer friends of mine should be able to chime in with the scoop on that), this seems to make some sense to me.
This is all being denounced publicly as "Un-Australian". Pauline gets some more airtime - she personally offered to drive people that support the organisers' decision to the airport. What mystifies me the most about the way people rave about "Un-Australian" behaviour is that they are the exact same people that I regard to be acting and speaking in an "Un-Australian" way, i.e. racist, uninformed and intolerant.
So who's right? Them or me? That's not really for me to decide, suffice it to say that my concern is the betterment of all Australians, whether they arrived a hundred years ago or a hundred days.
The irony being that now that the media has beat this up to sell adverts, it is almost inevitable that there will be violence. Sadly, all we can do is sit back and wait for it. The "real Australians" are going to come out loud and proud because they feel their right to bear the flag has been taken from them, add a hot hot sun and copious amounts of alcohol... and well, you can see a mile away where this will lead.
The weird part in all of this? I attended probably four BDO's in the mid nineties and I don't recall ever once seeing an Australian flag there. In the nineties it was a music festival and one of the nicest places you could ever hope to go to because everyone there was a fan of alternative music. Johnny has suggested that the organisers are pushing a political agenda. In the festival's 15 year history I don't recall ever hearing of the organisers pushing a political agenda, so I fail to see how this argument suddenly makes sense when there is no precedent. Ultimately I think the organisers just want an incident free day out.
4 comments:
Dammit man... you keep using my best ideas for your own blog posts! I gotta be quicker. You're totally right though - and I loved how some politicians' immediate responses were to shout for the banning of BDO.
The "real Australians" will be out there with the war paint and tattoos. There is always a loop hole. Whatever happened to the idea of changing the flag so that it doesn't appear to be so colonial and white Australian? Oh crap! I forgot, we have a monarchist leading the country.
Years ago, in my town, we had an issue with the local Hells Angels wearing their "colors" to the County Fair. (This was right after their now-infamous shootout with the Mongols in Laughlin, NV) The Fair officials decided to ban the Angels and other MC clubs from wearing their ensignias at the fair. Of course, this started a huge debate regarding freedom of expression, association and speech. The local Hells Angels president showed up at the gate with his grandkids and was turned away. It was all in the news, but the ban is still in force today.
My initial thought was that I would much prefer the bikers be in full gear. Hell, it would be even better if they carried FLAGS--that way I can avoid them! It's not like they aren't there anyway!
BTW, how DO you use a flag aggressively? I'm imaging a high school color guard--trained to kill. ;-)
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