Dear NvT,
I am somewhat disturbed by recent attacks on Pauline Hanson and her supporters. At the same time, I share the concerns of the critics of Pauline Hanson and worry that her agenda may damage the fragile fabric of trust that binds our society together. I don't wish to live in a country torn by civil hatreds. It is all too easy to destroy the harmony that our society currently enjoys and create an atmosphere of hate and fear.
Fear is at the centre of the Hanson agenda. It is fear that transforms ordinary peaceful citizens into people who accept the racist message of Pauline Hanson without question. I believe that many of her supporters are people who lost out during the economic changes brought in during the Hawke and Keating years, and who now realize that the Liberals hold no hope for them either. Their fear is that they will become "white trash", abandoned by our society and that they will end up at the bottom of the social ladder, along with the ethnic groups that they so vehemently vilify.
When Pauline Hanson came to Perth, I debated within myself whether to join the protest against her party. I wanted to be there and be counted among her opponents. But then I remembered the tales from pre-war Europe, about the pitched battles against the rising tide of Nazism that occurred at the time. In the end these battles proved futile.
If we are open to learning from history, then this is a lesson we most learn. The Hanson phenomenon is not the cause of tension in our society. For us to attack the people who support her, and to denigrate them and call them names is not helpful. It will not reduce their fear, or help them move to a more tolerant position. Such attacks will only force them further into their extreme positions. When we attack these people, it is our own fear that is expressing itself.
Our path out of this mess is to act in ways that do not force people further into their corner of fear. Let us recognize that fear is not a useful approach for solving problems. These people are pleading for the very thing they are denying Australia's indigenous peoples: an acknowledgement of the suffering they have experienced through years of uncaring government, and hope for a better future. Let us show our caring by consulting with them, asking them what they want from our society, and then working together for real and lasting solutions instead of the simplistic answers that Hanson is offering them now.
Daniel Boase-Jelinek