47. Terrorism Tourism

Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about “terrorism tourism”.

The government has announced changed to income support payment criteria because, according to our Prime Minister:

The last thing we want is terrorism tourism on the taxpayer and there will be no terrorism tourism on the taxpayer as a result of these measures

Now I am not sure about the grammar here, or whether self-funded terrorism is really preferable, or whether we should be aiming to keep terrorists here? But hey, “terrorism tourism” is a great slogan because it ties welfare payments to an attack on Australian security.

But really, any time someone talks about terrorism it should ring propaganda alarm bells because it is a slippery term which usually boils down to a strong disagreement with the politics or values of the supposed terrorists. It’s the old adage that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. Think Nelson Mandela.

But seriously, there is a real issue of Australian citizens going overseas to be trained, to fight and to kill – and potentially bringing those skills and ideologies back here.

I am not defending those actions, or the causes that give rise to them, but before we go putting more bricks on Fortress Australia and giving away more rights and freedoms in order to protect our rights and freedom, I just want to suggest that this is not new:

• in the 1930s when world communism was the scourge of the establishment, some 70 Australians went to Spain to fight alongside the anarchists and communists; 
• in the 1970s, the young radical pilgrimages were to Vietnam and China;
• in the 1980s it was to support the National Democratic Front in the Philippines, and 
• in the 1990s young Australians went to the Balkan bloodbath.

There were the same concerns and the same headlines then, but I suspect that some of the current outcry is that these alleged terrorists are Muslims – that is, they are not “us” and there is some sense that “we” never should have let them in. Even if they were born here, they don’t really belong here.

But instead of a meaningful conversation about multiculturalism, the complexity of middle eastern politics, or about gender and the attraction of war, and the huge questions of religion and the morality, we have trite slogans like terrorism tourism and the demand that everyone play for something called “Team Australia”.

Team Australia, spare me.

I am Greg and I am grumbling.




This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 19 August 2014

16. Australian Wars

Hi. I am Greg and I want to mourn more than grumble today. Last week we celebrated Armistice Day, the end of the war to end wars. And we unveiled a memorial to Aboriginal soldiers who have fought for our country. Lest we forget.

But did we forget or fail to memorialise the Aboriginal soldiers who first fought for their country – against the European invasion? And what about the Australian militia that went to New Zealand to quell the Maori uprising in the 1860s, or the ten South Australian contingents who fought the Boers in South Africa and the Boxers in China at the turn of the last century.

After the war to end all wars, there were Australians in the British forces that fought on behalf of the aristocracy in the Russian Civil War, and a few brave volunteers who were the first to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War before the second world war swapped one dictator for another in Poland and ended in nuclear holocaust in the Pacific.

And after that Australians saw service in the Korean War and the Malayan emergency in the 1950s, and the Indonesian confrontation beginning in 1963. And then came the disaster in Vietnam and a generation’s respite before we went to defend a feudal regime in Kuwait against a dictator in Iraq – I’m sure it had nothing to do with the oil. Then there was the second Gulf War searching for non-existent weapons of mass destruction, and the invasion of Afghanistan which ended up being our longest official war.

And to finish this list, we must remember the Australian peace keepers in Africa, the Middle East, Timor Leste, the Solomon Islands and elsewhere.

Overall, a pretty mixed list – from heroic and necessary fights in defence of highest principles to cruel adventures for imperial self-interest.

I have no experience or even real comprehension of what those who fought these wars endured and make no judgement on them. But when it takes my whole 2 minutes to list the wars of our nation’s short history, I wonder at what point should our remembrance question the militarism of our heritage?

It’s not just about history, it’s also about culture and current priorities. Not just our foreign policy, but more locally, do we really want the second largest research organisation in the country to be dedicated to warfare, or our manufacturing base to be built on warships in the Port River? And is it ok to take over my local school with Maritime Courses to provide the kids of western suburbs a job in those industries? Perhaps it was forever thus for workers, but can we imagine a less militaristic future?

I hope so, but until then I am Greg, I am grumbling.

This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast at https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles-16/

First Broadcast: 19 November 2013