The Global Citizen: Addressing racism in a globalized world

As a non-white Australian living in the United States the term ‘global citizen’ is something I think about often. But what does it actually mean? We have access to information moving faster than our lived experience of it, putting identity in flux. Context and history are important to community and identity, so how as global citizens do we agree on an international standard in judging, say, what is racist and what is not?

This question is reflected in the current international discussion about a skit broadcast on an Australian variety show depicting five men in blackface calling themselves The Jackson Jive. The typical Australian response has been ‘what’s all the fuss about?’ and ‘it was not meant to offend’ and even ‘this is not America’. An Australian news site claims through their online polling that 69% percent of Australians think the skit “was not racist”.

This was the subject of discussion on today’s BBC’s international radio talk show ‘World Have Your Say’, the overarching question in relation to the skit being “should we have more of a sense of humour about race?” What is interesting to me in this sentence is the “we”. Who are “we” and how do “we” begin to address issues like racism and humour in a global context?

It was well understood on the radio program that this skit would not have aired in the United States or Britain in 2009, and the Australian guests constantly reminded listeners that it was “just a joke”, “not meant to offend”, and happening in a country that did not have the same history, and that “context is important”.

So, “we” do not share the same history, but “we” certainly know of the history. One of the Australian guests accused an American caller of “living in a bubble” like other Americans when it comes to Australian history and that Australians are very aware of the history of black people in the United States. So that begs the questions to me that with this awareness shouldn’t we then maintain compassion and thoughtfulness when we are broadcasting in a global world?

And here is some important Australian history. We did not have a federal government until 1901 (quite a few years after the end of the American Civil War), with one of the policies of the time being a ‘White Australia Policy’, that intentionally restricted non-white immigration into the country. This policy was not completely dismantled until the mid-1970’s, and it was only in the 1960’s that the indigenous Australian Aborigines were giving the right to vote.

This too has its context (yes I am conveniently overlooking the slaughter of the indigenous population by the way). The oppressed underclass in Australian history was white. The slaves were at one time white. Australia was a penal colony with the majority of its first (white) people brought over as prisoners. I think this is an important context in which to view Australian culture, and the ‘white-pride’ that has sometimes been depicted in snippets of news from down under (such as the 2006 ‘race riots’).

This by no means is to excuse a blackface skit, or the terrible race based riots, it is merely a lens to view another’s experience of oppression. Class was a big factor in the segregation of Australian society in which race played a role but not necessarily the most prominent. A lot Australian humour stems from a complete lack of understanding ‘the other’ because we view ourselves as ‘the other’ – the underclass of England and more recently different from the aggressive free-market capitalism of the United States which reinforces class separations. The main opponents of the White Australia policy were those who wanted to bring over slave labour from nearby Pacific Islands so the main proponents to the policy were to keep a fair (no pun intended) workplace for the people already working within it.

Because of this white working class identity, race issues unfortunately blur in Australia. This is important in addressing a global view of overcoming racism, as the response of bewildered Australians asking why are we being called racist is, admittedly, embarrassing to me. Come on Australia, we know we are being inappropriate, in fact I think our humour prides itself on it; a kind of middle finger salute to the niceties of British society. While I love Australian culture and humour, I shamefully admit it often degenerates into the completely offensive. And yes, racist, whether intentional or not. I think the first effort needed in being a global citizen is being globally aware and doing things with intention.

International finger-wagging at the stupid humour of Australians should not overshadow acts and beliefs still held in other countries that are not so blatantly racist. Perhaps a blackface skit could not be gotten away with in American society but that is a victory that had to be fought for and the United States is far from being a racism-free nation. As the international conversation continues and we all understand each and every person’s history of oppression perhaps soon the global citizen will be one whose “jokes” do not reinforce painful parts of other people’s history.

On Writing

So I realized it has been about a year since my last post. Right on. Obviously I have nothing great to say. I have been adjusting to life in Portland. It's been great although I am not as linked to what I know must be a great little indie writing scene here as much as I should be. I have just been working so much (not on writing) but I am happy to say I have a few reviews to be published in the next few months and have actually finished some fiction that I hope a journal (or ten) will pick up! Stay tuned...

What five books made you a feminist?

Or, what five books changed your life?

I got to thinking, after reading this article, what five books really influenced me and changed the way I viewed the world.

1. Blood and Guts in High School, by Kathy Acker.
It was cut up writing, it was non-linear, it was sexually gratuitous, yet it totally and completely made sense. It felt like my mind had been decoded -- all the insanity of living as a punk rock woman in a patriarchal society was mapped out on the page for me in all of its nonsensical jibberish. It was anger, baby talk, fuck you, fuck me, death, re-birth, horror and moments of beauty.

2.Anti-Oedipus Capitalism and Schizophrenia, by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
The theoretical side to Kathy Acker's art. Basically, mapped out for me how oppressive systems (Capitalism is the the title, but also refers to other modes, like patriarchy) make this totally insane experience of life - through linearity, conformity, control - and that those moments of revolution, clarity and creativity come from breaking out of those systems, finding 'lines of flight', through almost chaotic means.

3. Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson
Possibly the most intense descriptions of how love devours you. Jeanette Winterson is a more accessible fiction writer than Kathy Acker, devoted to beauty and love, yet is no less revolutionary.

4. Perfume, by Patrick Suskind
Written by a totally old-school canonised male patriarchal author (don't read his other stuff!) Perfume is the story of a man born without any body scent, which means he is perhaps not really human. Yet, his sense of smell is beyond anything we can imagine, meaning he can smell the scent of sweet young virgins and in order to capture it, murders them. A pretty gross concept, yet so beautifully told, and really captures the extremities of the human condition. It reminds me of the Terry Gilliam movie Tideland for some reason. The books is so amazingly written that the movie Perfume (avoid it if you can) was basically narrated start to finish, becaus ethere is no way you can only capture this book visually.

5. So many books can fill this spot!!!!! I think though, I will go with Bone Black by bell hooks.
This is the first time I connected my struggles with being a writer and being non-white. bell hooks' memoir of growing up a black girl with a deep deep love of writing and poetry resonated very deep within me, to dark places I didn't even know I had. bell hooks is the ultimate feminist warrior writer woman and the big sister I never had!!

inspiring reads

If you studied writing at University like I did perhaps your classes were also filled with misogynistic guys who wore berets and thought they were going to change the world writing about drugs and whores and worshipping the stereotypical lone wolf male writer whom women were mere props to.

I wish I could stick a copy of 'Girls Who Wore Black: Women Writing the Beat Generation' in their hands...

It is definitely a inspiring, a little rage building (why were these women forgotten??) and a nice kick in the butt to anyone who thinks writing is not revolutionary.

Submit to Bitch!

Bitch Magazine is looking for some extra contributions for their 'Noir' issue (Winter 2009)

*** The Prompt***

In this issue, we’ll be exploring the dark side of popular culture: the dames and broads of cherchez la femme noir films, paperbacks, and TV procedurals. The occult. Women in cults. Addiction. Suicide. Secret confessions. You know—fun stuff like that. But we’re also seeking much less literal interpretations of the Noir theme; as ever, the theme is meant to be a jumping-off point and not a prescription.

We also have a couple ideas in search of a writer. Like these:

• A front-of-book column on the fashion world’s recent embrace of nontraditional sexualities. Beyond Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson, we’ve got men clad in women’s dresses in Marc Jacobs ads, MTF transsexuals in Kenneth Cole ads and on the new season of America’s Next Top Model, and a glut of bisexual chic, from Tila Tequila to Katy Perry and beyond. Is it acceptance? Co-optation? Discuss!

• An interview with writer and illustrator Cristy C. Road, whose new book, Bad Habits: A Love Story, comes out this October.

• A survey of black female superheroes throughout comics history.

• For our art feature, profiles of contemporary female artists who use themes of death in their work.

We’re hoping to get drafts in as soon as possible, so get pitching! Send your brilliant ideas by e-mail to andi@b-word.org

Cheers to Greer

Not my defining feminist icon, but a strong influence nonetheless, Germaine Greer has been popping up in (English) media because of a play currently showing in London called the Female of the Species, which is, reportedly, loosely based on Greer's real life experience of being held hostage in her own home by an obsessed fan in 2000. Written by Australian playwright Joanne Murray-Smith, the play first premiered in Australia in 2006.

The English media is now quoting with a frenzy Greer's outrage at the play, especially her view of Murray-Smith as an "insane reactionary". Greer has always been known for her brashness, strong opinions and general upstartness (hell yeah!). More famous in England and Australia where she lived than in the U.S, this Salon article from 1999 talks about her strange diatribes and loud-mouth and pays homage to Greer's 'brilliant career'. (Artsy anarchist who practiced non-monogamy and posed nude for underground publications?? Sounds like a precursor to Riot Grrrl to me!!)

These new articles seem to have a kind of school-boy fascination with Greer's objections and Murray-Smith's retorts, viewing it as a kind of intellectual pillow-fight. Others allow them to inject their articles with tired phrases like "man-hating feminism" and "old hairy feminists". Oh, and that the play would offend you depending on your "sense of humour" (because obviously to be a feminist, especially from an earlier generation, means you are just a stuffy old spinster... thank god for the Spice Girls and their injection of fun and sexy girl power for us younger feminists. That was a joke by the way).

None of these articles, of course, focus on the generational differences between feminisms, and the underlying tensions sometimes felt between these generations. Or the way feminism is being turned into a more easily digestible form (no "old" hairy feminists or man-haters anymore!), or that some women use the word feminist to describe something very different than what a lot of the old-school (and contemporary) feminists were fighting for.

The media has liked to focus on hot feminists like saucy Burlesque dancers and shit-talk on the old school radical feminists who are being viewed as archaic fuddy-duddy's with nothing to offer anymore except senseless ranting. But I would like to take a moment to recognize that when Greer's The Female Eunuch was published in 1970 it helped change the fates of subjected women everywhere.

I admit, I have not read The Female Eunuch in, oh about ten years, and when I did I was very very new to feminism and I don't think I could place it in the context of contemporary feminist texts I was reading, or have since read. But I am going to the library tomorrow to change that!! Stay tuned for a review!

Reposted from the WOW! Women on Writing Blog:

Reposted from the WOW! Women on Writing Blog:

Call for Submissions: Women and Horses Anthology

We received this call from editor, Cornelia Durrant, for her upcoming anthology about Women and Horses:

Description: We are looking for original, real-life stories by women about a deep connection, or extraordinary experience, with a horse. They can be stories from the barn, the trail, the racetrack, or the outback, but they will all in some way explore the nature of the relationship between women and horses, and its challenges, gifts, and surprises.

The anthology will be published in 2009 by Seal Press.

Pay: $200 will be paid for the essays included.

Length: Submissions should be between 2,000 - 4,000 words.

Deadline: October 15, 2008

How to Submit: Please send submissions or questions to the editor, Cornelia Durrant, at womanandhorses@horizoncable.com