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