Hi!,
Sorry for sounding too intellectual earlier. It's not what's
really necessary. Here's a few of the statements he made people have
found objectionable, and the response to them.
Pearson: "Our motivation to welfare reform must be based on the
principle that dependency and passivity kills people and is the surest
road to social ruin. "Australians do not have an inalienable right to
dependency"...."They have an inalienable right to a fair place in the
real economy." (Herron-speak?)
On drugs, he called for: "the restoration of social order and the
enforcement of law" (Zero Tolerance?)
Reactions: Kim Bullimore, Indigenous Student Network: "Pearson
doesn't attack the federal government over mandatory sentencing or the
increasing number of Aboriginal deaths in custody or Howard's refusal to
recognise and compensate the stolen generations -- all instances of
current government policy discriminating against Aborigines"....
"Instead, he has given a speech that reinforces racist prejudices about
Aborigines and welfare payments."
"He argues that welfare payments should be cut to Aborigines, but
puts no responsibility on the government to provide employment".....
"And then he pretends that Aboriginal alienation and poverty can be
solved by more police and more punishment and imprisonment. Indigenous
Australians are already the most incarcerated people in the entire
world."
Michael Mansell, well-known aboriginal activist: ""You take away a
people's country, you dominate them on a day-to-day basis, you prevent
them from running their own land, their own communities, and you are
bound to get symptoms of alienation".
"We've heard [Pearson's arguments] all before"..... "The only
difference is it's coming from a black person who is part of the
oppressed group, rather than from the oppressor."
John Hewson, Former Liberal Party leader and architect of the GST:
"... all those in the [welfare] debate] to listen to Pearson".
Hewson said that Pearson's ideas closely matched the welfare reform
proposals he advocated in the early 1990s, adding, "This carries so much
more authority than when whites say it".
Hewson's statements are particularly revealing. They indicate how
far to the right Pearson's ideas actually are. And what is more to the
point is why he chose to use the Ben Chifley Memorial to attack what he
called "welfare dependency". He must of been aware of how the right-wing
media and politicians would abuse what he had to say. And why, to the
exclusion of land rights and self-determination, he chose to link crime
to welfare payments, and to turn the issue to one of individual morality
rather than community life, which is the "common sense" of conservatism
in this country, and has been since the days of the convict emancipation
movement in the nineteenth century.
Once again, I still think that Pearson's comments can be seen as
playing a progressive role by some people. In the 1950's and 60's for
instance, people made a lot of noise about more law and order for Gay
and Lesbian people, schizoprehenics, and indeed for aboriginal people;
these things were debated a lot during that period, in the newspapers
and the popular culture, and perhaps it is good that people like Pearson
raise these issues from time to time to remind us of the real
misunderstandings and mistrust that exists in society, and hence the
need for a reconciliation. This is a point made by Palestinian activist
and highly original scholar Edward Said about Imperialism in his book,
"Culture and Imperialism" as well, by the way, which I read and
thoroughly enjoyed. I think about that a lot, what role the right-wing
plays in public debates, and what wider purpose it might be serving.
Cheers,
Matthew Davis
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