One Nation Voters – Nationalism, Patriotism and the ABCC
This is the first part in a series where I will discuss how the One Nation Party leaders promote their party compared to who they really are. I will pose the question that if you voted for them, is this who you really are? This article will discuss Patriotism versus Nationalism and the ABCC. The piece of legislation that sent us to a double dissolution election.
For those who voted for the Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party; I do not believe that all of you truly share the values of this Party. I would propose that if many Hanson voters really looked at what has occurred so far in only 100 days, and listened to the content of the various Senator’s maiden speeches; they would realise that ‘that does not sound like me at all’ and reconsider their vote next time.
I ask you, if you voted for One Nation, please consider the discussion below and answer these questions:
- Am I a Patriot or a Nationalist?
- Do One Nation really represent what I believe in?
Are you a Patriot or a Nationalist?
Patriotism
Did you vote for the One Nation Party because you believe in Patriotism? Did you vote for One Nation, because you strongly believe we need to be very respectful to our flag and our Nation? I expect many of you did. I also would believe that many people when they think about protecting our rights and our freedom get quite emotional about our fallen soldiers, returned heroes and our veterans.
Many of us have an uncle, a father, a brother a son or a grandfather who has fought in a war and some have family and friends who are still there. Many of us today have an aunt, a mother, a sister or a daughter who have served and in the armed forces today.
Without those who fought for our freedom, where would we be today? That is a rather scary thought, isn’t it?
As a Laborist, I also get quite emotional about the men and women who have fought for our work rights. I topped my Industrial Relations class at University with a very proud 99.5%, if I can take a self-serving moment to brag. This was not just because I was studious. It was because I was absolutely consumed with the fight for work rights and how important it is. How it goes to the very reason we get up in the morning. How important standing together and solidarity are to achieving justice and fairness.
We work to live, not live to work. Our industrial relations history is the blood, sweat and tears and the backbone of Australia. It is the backbone of the fair go.
These brave unionised workers were jailed, beaten and killed and many families, including children went without food; just so we could have decent work rights today.
This struggle is still not over. Our country’s fine men and women are out there every single day fighting for safety at work and for decent pay and conditions. The fight is endless. Yet Hanson, along with the LNP call these unionised workers thugs. You decide if the men and women in the videos posted below are thugs.
As at 7 October, 129 Australian workers have been killed at work in 2016. I refuse to accept that number ever. The only acceptable number is zero.
I know if you do describe yourself as a patriot; there is no way in the world you would stand for companies cutting costs on safety for their own greed if it means people die at work. If that means they never ever come home to their families, including their kids. I know even though you voted for Hanson, I believe most of you would stand on the side of safety of the worker. Unfortunately, your vote brought four politicians to the Senate who do not stand with the worker.
If Hanson is a Patriot, her party would NOT support the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
Why? Because good and decent Australians do not accept a secret star chamber. This is where there is an accident at work and your apprentice son or your brother or your worker husband, wife, friend or family member is hauled in for questioning and does not have the same legal rights as everyone else.
This could be you or even your children. Workers and apprentices are not allowed to have you as a parent in there as a support person or even have their lawyer by their side. In fact, if they even talk about what happened in the interview, a worker can be fined and jailed. They are intimidated and scared into saying what the others want them to say.
How the hell is that Australian and Patriotic? It is far from it.
Here are two clips about the ABCC. One is the real experience of a former apprentice and the other is a more lengthy video detailing the experiences of many others.
Video 1 – ABCC Interrogation full version
Video 2 – Constructing Fear – ABCC an attack on all workers
In the first video you can see the blatant unfairness of the secret star chamber that workers are exposed to. This is taking away the civil rights of workers. For those who stood against Newman’s Bikie Laws in QLD, this is the same thing. These people too lost their civil rights under this law. I stood with them and I also stand with the worker. Do you? As a Hanson voter you are voting to say you don’t.
In the second video, you can really see the emotional toll the ABCC has on workers, even on really strong men. Hanson cannot appeal to your emotions on male depression and suicide on one hand and then support a piece of legislation that sees men break down and families break up.
In short – Pauline Hanson has fed you utter bullshit and if you voted for her, you should call her out on it.
Yesterday Pauline Hanson and One Nation announced that they would support the ABCC.
Supporting a legislation that does these things to workers, is not Patriotism.
There is nothing more important to me than protecting the rights or the worker, the safety of the worker and protecting those who cannot work. It goes to the very heart of who we are as people.
Regardless of who you respect, armed servicemen or unionists and the workers who have built this great country. When we reflect and think of them and everything they have allowed us to have; it is quite an emotional experience. We feel a sense of pride. It is a collective pride, everyone standing together side by side, regardless of race, colour or creed. I share that with you. That is Patriotism. One Nation is not patriotism. One Nation are Nationalists. It is even right there in their name.
Nationalism
The One Nation Party are not Patriots. They are Nationalists. I know many of you do not trust politicians. Pauline Hanson is no different. Why do you automatically give her that trust? She should deliver what you the voter really believe in and what she sold you, not what she actually believes in. This is what you should challenge her and her party on. She only promotes her party as Patriots because she knows it connects with your emotions.
For minor parties who never will Govern and have the Prime Minister as leader of their party and never need to make the tough decisions, this is their main strategy. These parties will appeal to you on certain issues and they will target your emotions. Even if you think these types of parties are not ‘political’ like the major parties, that is not true.
They are in politics because they are political. That is why Pauline Hanson pretends they are Patriots, when they are indeed Nationalists. She does this because she needs your vote for her own power. As ugly as this fact is for ALL parties, they do need your vote. Other parties will stand broadly for what they stand for: Labor – The Worker, The Liberals: Conservatism, The Greens: Environmentalism. However, The One Nation party leads people to believe that other parties don’t really show what they stand for and One Nation is different. Well, yes they are; but not in the way they portray themselves as in a ‘different good’. They actually promote their party as the opposite to who they are. Although Nationalism and Patriotism share a love for country, they are polar opposites in all other respects.
In the section on Patriotism above; I spoke about being proud of your country for people doing great things, that makes the country what it is today. I spoke about the collective effort and burden shared amongst us and how important it is that we stand together. Patriotism is about togetherness and peace. Nationalism is not. Nationalism is about ‘us and them’ and resentment.
This is where I believe the problem lies for many people taking offence when other people call them racist because they supported Pauline Hanson. When these people do treat other people fairly and.are not inherently racist. It is the disconnect between feeling you are a patriot but following and promoting nationalism, is why others may confuse you as racist. It is because you are misrepresenting yourself. It is like being very pro-union but voting for the Liberal Party and speaking highly of them. It misrepresents who you are.
Patriotism is built on peace. Nationalism is built on rejecting those we don’t want to share our peace with. It is about choosing who belongs and who doesn’t. Why should Pauline Hanson decide who belongs and who doesn’t? She is asking you to stand with her and take away all the wonderful things that make up a person and just judge them by one thing – they race, colour or religion. That is not patriotism. But she told you it was. She lied.
The problem is because regardless of the emotional attachment people may have to their vote, it can be hard to accept, that a non-racist person did vote for a racist party. The One Nation party is racist. They are a racist party and they are an intolerant party. Every speech so far has separated out different groups of people by race or religion. They speak about different laws for people who are not Christian, when Australia is a secular nation. It is racist and intolerant because it is Nationalist. What happens when you, your loved ones or friends are the targets of this type of intolerance?
The difference between Nationalism and Patriotism is race and national identity are very important to Nationalism, but not Patriotism. Patriotism is about loving your country regardless of who makes up that country.
Nationalism is explained as this:
Nationalism means to give more importance to unity by way of a cultural background, including language and heritage. Patriotism pertains to the love for a nation, with more emphasis on values and beliefs.
In short, Nationalism does not believe that everyone is equal or deserves equality. Where as a Patriot does.
Patriots respect their country in a peaceful way, where as Nationalists are militant and aggressive and angry about protecting their country and have it remain as the ideal they believe that country should be. What happens when you, or a loved one does not fit that ideal? You become the ‘them’ in ‘us and them.’ That is not patriotism, but nationalism.
Nationalist believe that their ‘race’ is more superior than any other attribute and this is what defines the greatness of a country. Whereas Patriotism is about peace and togetherness; regardless of race. Pauline Hanson will state openly that she is not racist. However, her speech and the speeches of her Senators completely contradict this fact. This is now proven, every day of the 100 days since the election.
Patriotism is about believing your country is great and believing we can work together to improve it. Nationalists already believe their country is the best and nothing should change at all costs. Nationalists believe that foreigners are a danger to the ideal country, where as a patriot embraces the values of a peaceful co-existence and aims to prosper together. The One Nation Senator calling for a “Patriots” TV Channel – is another blatant misrepresentation of who they are.
One Nation will say anything to have you believe they are patriots, the same as the Liberals will try to make out they care about people.
With regards to the ABCC legislation discussed above; a Patriot would stand up for their workmate regardless of who they are or where they have come from or where their parents or grandparents have come from and regardless of what religion or sexual orientation or gender they are. To a patriot safety is everyone’s responsibility. Your safety is their safety.
A Nationalist, would seek to place blame on anyone who was not in the defined bubble of ‘what they see as Australian.’ They would believe only the worker who they considered an ‘Australian’ has a right to safety at work. A nationalist would see the harm of a worker who is defined as ‘non-Australian’ as justified.
A nationalist would push you to believe there was something about the foreigner that was a danger to your safety at work. We see this in many examples of the One National party member’s rhetoric. For example, calling for a ban on Muslims when we do have Muslims living peacefully in our communities and they cause no harm. In fact, they are business owners and workers, doctors and nurses, construction workers and cleaners. They are students and graduates. They share our dreams because they are not ‘they,’ they are us. They are our friends and our neighbours. There is absolutely no reason to separate out one group, and request a separate law for that group, other than racism, or bigotry
There is absolutely no evidence that Muslims break the law any more than any other sector of society. Yet, a law is not requested for any other group, because no other group incites fear simply due to the fact that radical Muslims are also terrorists. Hanson promotes the terrorism, but she never promotes the fact that the majority of victims of ISIS are Muslims.
The important thing for Nationalists is to prevent anyone who does not fit the ‘ideal’ to be excluded and treated differently. This is the evidence from One Nation so far.
This is not patriotism.
Nationalism places the superiority of national identity and race above all else, even if the consequences are harmful.
By One Nation Party promoting their party as Patriots and not Nationalists, if you are a patriot, what you believed you voted for; is not what you got in return.
George Orwell explained Nationalism very well:
By ‘nationalism’ I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
I do not believe that the majority of One Nation voters automatically segregate people into good or bad, through class, race or creed. However, this is the essential value, which drives the One Nation Party platform and it is evident every time Hanson or her Senators speak. All I ask is that you really listen and make your own judgements and challenge what they are really saying. Ask yourself, “would I be comfortable if this was said about me?”.
Conclusion
I will finish with a quote from Sudhanva D Shetty of the Huffington Post:
Love for one’s country is imperative and necessary, but if this love becomes more important than Constitutional values or democratic ideals, it is misplaced.
If you voted for Hanson, because you are a Patriot. Your vote has been misplaced.
Stand up, listen and speak up to the One Nation party and hold them to account for everything you believe you voted for, but didn’t get. Do not treat them with kid gloves. Place the same expectations on them as you do other parties. They are not victims. They are politicians.
If you truly believe in patriotism, challenge and re-think your own support for One Nation’s Nationalism, as this is the opposite of who you really are.
For One Nation Voters…..
- Are you a Patriot or a Nationalist?
- Does the One Nation Party really represent what you believe in?
Originally Published on Polyfeministix
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Return to home pageYes it is time we all looked at our own values.
Brian Burston is a strange one, as are all the One Nation Senators. He recently said “The fear of being swamped by Asians has abated. They contribute well to society … All my GPs have been Chinese, my daughter’s married to a Sri Lankan. We’re not racist, we’re pro Australian.”
It seems Asians are ok now that he knows some….perhaps the Muslim community needs to invite One Nation over for dinner so they can see they are real people leading ordinary lives too. Oh no…wait….they wouldn’t do that because eating anything not containing alcohol, blood or pig products is supporting terrorism.
Very interesting differentiation between patriotism and nationalism Trish.
I’ve felt that many One Nation supporters share a sense of self-loathing and seem dissatisfied with how their life has turned out.
Rather than address any real issues they need to blame somebody for everything they don’t like and put themselves in the role of eternal helpless victim.
Those white-skinned Christians supporters fortunate enough to be living in an overwhelmingly white Christian society see themselves under constant threat and siege by “the others”, even when they are typically the oppressors themselves – pessimistic whiners obsessed with divisiveness rather than unity.
Im neither of those values atm it seems.
I embrace our love of multi-cultralism, I endorse it……………..if it were not for our multi-cultralism, we would not be where we are today.
Workers and their rights to a union, I endorse those unions as well, but i also consider a fair hearing the right of all aussie workers.
If a bill that restricts us from a fair hearing and fair outcome, is established, thenwe can kiss a good days work deserves a good days pay
goodbye.
But the government is nothing to be proud of nor has it been for the last 3yrs or so since Abbott and LNP took over, we have only had shame,embarrassment, humiliation, guilt and stupidity shoved down our throats………..not to mention, being made to look cruel and inhimane.
I think the ABCC bill should be killed and left to rot as a policy and if it is is given any leway, then those responsible should be shown the door at the next earliest election. Including the current prime minister “Malcolm ( Blame It On Labor) Turnbull……….
wow, trish. so much food for thought. Sadly no voter would have seen so many words, much less read as many. However the nationalists who post on my page call themselves patriots so:
“That is why Pauline Hanson pretends they are Patriots, when they are indeed Nationalists.”
is spot on.
“There is nothing more important to me than protecting the rights or the worker, the safety of the worker and protecting those who cannot work. It goes to the very heart of who we are as people.”
I will work on my understanding of the meanings of your words and argue for others(those who post nationalist UK/USA propaganda under a patriot banner) to do the same.
Excellent commentary. Such a pity the One Nation supporters won’t read it.
An interesting article making an important differentiation between patriots and nationalists. Unfortunately, too often the two are lazily confused. It is an interesting leverage point to keep Hanson and her mob accountable.
Trish, when you mention, quote: We work to live, not live to work. Our industrial relations history is the blood, sweat and tears and the backbone of Australia. It is the backbone of the fair go.
These brave unionised workers were jailed, beaten and killed and many families, including children went without food; just so we could have decent work rights today. end of quote, my blood boils!
The workers that lost their life or their families that lost their live hood and went without food on the table have their legacy and efforts wiped out because the greed of the following generations, because the ideology of the two big parties where their political interest come first.
Nothing patriotic about what these generations are doing to destroy the work of the fathers of the union movement.
I just shake my head with disbelieve in how companies like James Hardie still in business after literary murdering some many workers. Where was the Union back then, where was the ALP?
Going the union delegates to court and the union be forced to pay costs? That it is a joke, in a country where the union and the socialist parties are strong that will never happens because the court will never function due that their employers will be also in strike in solidarity.
Do not talk about how the union movement or the ALP have behave in the last 50 years. It is a joke!
That have nothing to do with nationalism or patriotism, is to do with selfishness, political interest, greed and weakness by those that did not or are not defending the struggle of those that come before them.
I am out, I get far to upset about the current political situation
“A new “Patriotic Broadcasting Corporation” could better represent the identity of mainstream Australians and fight bias within the ABC, new One Nation senator Brian Burston said on Tuesday.
Using his first speech to attack Australia’s immigration policy and blame violent crime on “aggressive multiculturalism”, the former local councillor and newly elected NSW senator called for an overhaul of the ABC and SBS with a new channel created to present news and current affairs from the perspective of “the historic Australian nation”. He also praised aspects of the old White Australia policy and claimed that discrimination helped preserve domestic peace.”
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/one-nation-senator-brian-burston-calls-for-a-new-patriotic-broadcasting-corporation-20161011-grzi4c.html
As at 7 October, 129 Australian workers have been killed at work in 2016.
I was seething when Abbott called a Royal Commission into the pink batts deaths and conveniently forgot about the hundreds of other industrial deaths.
Silkworm, from your link.
Methinks, he hasn’t quite grasped this ethnocentric concept. Perhaps it sounds impressive and it’s a big word.
Pity he has it all arse about. Would someone ‘please explain’.
One nation.The keep Australia British party.mark
MN,
You’re wrong. This lot are really really clever, according to Senator Burston who said the new One Nation team was a world away from the rabble who won 11 seats in Queensland in 1998, imploded and took Hanson down with them.
“They ran dopes, unemployed, inexperienced, not all that intellectual … we’re more cohesive than the previous bunch,” Burston said. “We’re a more intelligent bunch for a start.”
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/meet-brian-burston-one-nations-power-behind-the-throne-20160805-gqm6cx.html
“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
― Charles Bukowski
Re the claim – ethnocentric Human Rights Commission, can I suggest that those who work there are anything but ethnocentric. From Wiki:
Tim Soutphommasane is well known for his ethnocentric views – NOT!
Hilarious.
Who will be the first to ask him: Please explain. Dunning Kruger and all that.
I did not vote for One Nation but, I did put them before Labor who, I voted dead last.
I searched out Penny Wong’s name and started numbering in descending order.
Labor politicians are unrepresentative crud and do not deserve to be in parliament.
One nation is nothing but a bad joke on us all , we found multiple sites offering foreign workers fast tracked visa’s with either federal or state government backing , well over 7000 jobs that it seems no one in Australia can fill , plumbers , electricians , mechanics , nurses , ambulance personal , teachers , health care workers and the list keeps going on an on . When a one nation representative was contacted with all the details , with full information on all the sites and all the jobs being offered they ignored it all . So much for being for Australians .
Thanks particularly for the two You Tube links on the way workers who are taking responsibility for their own safety at work are being treated by the ABCC. I note Bobrafto states that 129 workers have died on Australian work sites till September this year. When I see my children, spouse, friends go to work, I expect them to come home. That more than two a day do not shows that there is plenty of leeway for improvements to workplace safety, yet the Government through its Industrial relations policies are making it much more difficult for workers to point out and discuss safety issues. The sacking of Union delegates and safety officers is of particular concern.
As for the ABCC and its procedures – what a shame there was not a full-blown campaign on this star chamber / witch hunt system before the Double Dissolution. It was not a non-issue.
I’d like to see you expand on this article separately from the Nationalism vs Patriotism and One Nation issues. It’s worth exploring in depth on its own
It put me in mind of a Quiggin piece recently concerning “racism” against “tribalism”, here it seems to contrast nationalism to patriotism and I absolutely agree that one you must be daft not to love Australia if you are an Australian of any description, on physical beauty alone or the everyday courage we aussies can show, on a good day.
But not to be jingoistic and do white armband and ignore the ugly side; alcoholism and drugs and domestic violence, class gender and race warfare of a sometimes sadistic nature and so much of the other components of the darker side of human nature that manifest themselves here is not patriotic or even nationalist, but foolish and eventually reactionary and fascistic, for a lack of honesty means down fall is immanent. The goats, the budgie-brain nine who got busted in Malaysia for basically, cultural insensibility are a mild example of where it can head, as the nazis found out in 1945 at the other end of the process.
John Quiggan is a great man. I attended one of his talks when Newman was trying to sell our assets. I’ll have to look that up and have a read.
I think this could be the one: http://johnquiggin.com/2016/09/14/recognising-racism-crosspost-from-crooked-timber/
I keyworded “tribalism” at his archives and there a number of essays of his on the subject, but I think this the one that caught my eye.
Thanks Paul.
Our latest terrorist threats have been apprehended. Two 16 year old lads. The initial reports suggested they had knives. A later report suggested one of the knives may have been a bayonet. The most recent report suggests “Officers seized two army-style knives, which can be attached to rifles.”
FFS.
Apparently, one of the lads, two years ago, as a fourteen year old;
“… was questioned .. by New South Wales Police and the Australian Federal Police over an incident at his school.
It is understood that incident involved him refusing to stand for the national anthem at the morning assembly of his school.”
FFS.
As a fourteen year old, he didn’t stand for the anthem. Seems entirely appropriate to call in the state and federal police.
In fairness to the AFP and the NSW police force, that would have been around the time of a lunatic in Martin Place and they were still trying to deal with that Ashby/Brough/Roy/Pine thingy.
“When questioned why he would not stand for the national anthem, the boy said “he only stands for God”, “does not respect this country” and “this country sends troops to Afghanistan to kill our men and rape our women”.
So, a troubled lad, at the age of fourteen, is interviewed by state and federal police. There are no support services that offer anything to troubled teenagers. Two years later, he’s a terrorist threat.
FFS.
IMO, these were two troubled lads. Neither patriotic or nationalistic. Just two troubled lads.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-12/counter-terrorism-police-two-men-over-bayonet-incident-in-sydney/7926188
In our northern most (and western) regions, we now incarcerate children at the second highest rate on the planet.
FFS.
How about we worry about our youth’s?
Thank you, Ms Corry. Take care
Kyran, I read the same article re the sixteen year old youths, and the added shocker that one of them refused to stand for the national anthem two years ago.
How on earth could the police have that information, and what wally of a teacher would have recorded that incident and kept it on file? Of course, I forgot schools with high brown kid populations where told to observe students for signs of radicalisation……… another arm of big brother.
As a past chalkie, I often observed many breaches of protocol in school assembles. Kids talking through the national anthem, making up their own ‘naughty’ versions ( boundless babes to share, was just one), even one principled child who refused to stand on the grounds that singing about sharing boundless plains with those who came across the sea was a lie given the detention of refugees.
Is it a case of creative evidence collecting or creative reporting on the ‘journalists’ side, or are we really scrutinising the behaviour of our brown kids too closely, where normal kid misdemeanors and pisstaking are construed as terrorism?
Trish, I don’t have the concentration to read the whole document, but I read roughly the first half and watched both videos I had realized that this situation existed, but your letter and videos reminded me of how evil the LNP, the servants of the rich, can be and are. I note the claim that Labor politicians don’t deserve to be in parliament, but the inference is that these tory scum do belong in the parliament, which is ridiculous. Only a half-wit would make such a comment after reading and watching the content in this letter.
You have outdone yourself in this contribution Trish, I had always believed that I was the only one I knew that was 100% for the working people, but today I am no longer lonely. If only the everyday Aussie could be reached with this information…i’ll share it on every forum I belong to and hope that a few everyday Aussies take the time to read and view this excellent article, congratulations Trish, so very well done!
Very important distinction, and important for us to take note of. The ABCC issue is serious I agree, nut separate it from the rest. One point – the reason people leave the 3 parties is that none of them are any longer what they started out as. Labor is not for the worker any more than the Greens are for environment. Multinationals and overseas banks now direct policies, and a remake of society is the agenda. We used to bring in many races, and we used to all be able to work, but that economic foundation was removed in favor of globalization, and this always creates an us and them situation because now money becomes the goal and competition removes much of the fair go attitudes we enjoyed. Questions to anyone who feels that we have no moral right to vet who enters our country. Do you leave your home open so that any passers-by can come and be welcomed by your family, and be treated as equal members of your family who are entitled to your food, comfort, beds and love? Really? What if down the road their was a family that partied and swore and drugged most nights, had members who abused passerby or threw rocks at cars? Going to let your children make fast friends with the children and bring them in? If not, why not? Aren’t we all equal? Going to hope they are it discriminated against so they can attend your child’s school? And do you think you should have the right to go to Saudi Arabia, China or Italy, say, and expect or demand to be taken in and given all that you want as a citizen? Or do you respect their right to decide if you can enter and how long you can stay and what you are entitled to? People want common sense.
“we have no moral right to vet who enters our country.” I think you will find that everyone who comes in as a refugee has rigorous health and security checks.
” given all that you want as a citizen” What they want is a safe place to raise their families and a chance to work, just like anyone else.
There was no common sense in that rant Robyn. Why on earth would you equate people fleeing trauma, war and oppression with drunken drugged yobbos? Your racism is showing.
If you want to blame someone for the lack of jobs, blame the real culprits – the governments who sell off all our assets, privatise our services, outsource everything, and refuse to spend A few hundred million to keep the car industry alive, instead choosing to spend hundreds of billions buying a few votes in South Australia. The government could have full employment – they choose not to because it keeps wages lower and makes people accept the erosion of their entitlements. The union bashing isn’t for corruption – business and government are guilty of far worse corruption – it’s to silence the people’s representatives. Stop blaming the few thousand people who come to us looking for help, often fleeing our bombs.