For this piece, I was all geared up to write about issues of representation and who was allowed to be seen as Australian in the wake of the Australia Day billboard saga. The huge response to the #putthembackup campaign is still exceeding each amount they set and the initiative is now aiming to raise $200K.
Alongside the swell of support against the Islamophobia of the far-right in this instance was a backlash against the entire exercise because the action was read as forcing Muslim Australians to be complicit in the oppression and erasure of Indigenous peoples.
New groups sprang up (including Muslims against Australia Day on Facebook). Among others, Sarah Saleh questioned the politics of perpetuating the colonialist enterprise, Eugenia Flynn emphasised the necessity of working in solidarity, and Fatima Measham addressed fragmentation in activist endeavours.
I read various commentaries, followed social media conversations, and felt challenged and uneasy in turn.
The challenge is good. Complacency is never a constructive thing when you're wanting to participate in political and social change. So, feeling the push to view things differently and listen to alternative perspectives is confronting and valuable. That's not to say I like it, but I recognise how necessary it is.
The uneasiness I felt, however, is what I want to talk about here. The uneasiness did not stem from being challenged. It did not come from seeing debates among Indigenous groups and non-Indigenous communities of colour. These debates can be confronting and difficult, but are necessary and ongoing. There were many good conversations had around the billboard issue.
My unease came from a different direction. It came from seeing intra-community tension manifest as vehement dismissal and denigration of those who were considered not 'woke' enough to the politics and embedded racism surrounding Invasion Day and invocations of Australian identity.
Many took the opportunity to target their own cultural communities with aggressive and condescending commentary. Some lamented that members of their own community didn't know what was good for them; others attacked those who might participate in, or value any aspect of, Australia Day as malicious dupes; and one person even sneered at migrants' 'desperation' to belong to their new communities.
"There are many things I'd like to say to those who would attack their own communities in these ways. I will limit myself here to one: Consider your critical privilege before condemning others for not being as 'right on'."
In the face of this intra-community conflict and the