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The unravelling of Australian society

6 0
27.01.2025

Australian society has never really been a cohesive entity. In the past its various socio-economic, religious, ethnic, cultural, and political factions have simply hung together largely through a sense of xenophobia about the outside world (read Asia) rather than a commitment to national unity based on shared values and mutually beneficial interests. But today xenophobia is compounding into fear and loathing on the campaign trail and in the interstices of a society that is in danger of unravelling. 

Without question, the recent spate of attacks on Jewish synagogues and property in Australia is utterly reprehensible. Opinion polls show that the attacks are driven by a rise in antisemitic prejudices, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. There is a similar rise in anti-Muslim sentiments across the country. But these things are not coming out of the blue. They are just the latest evidence that Australia’s social cohesiveness, which has always been fragile, is on the verge of unravelling.

Some unconscionable politicians are enthusiastically exploiting the divisions now opening across Australian society, resorting to the basest kinds of populism. A particularly serious aspect to this perverse turn in Australian politics is the deliberate fuelling of a belief that the Netanyahu government’s genocidal actions in Gaza and the West Bank are somehow justifiable, when by any moral measure they clearly are not. Netanyahu’s egregious supporters in Australia must be very satisfied with this development.

This points to the fact that Australia today is facing a twofold crisis.

The first aspect of the crisis relates to how political leaders, right-wing figures in the Jewish community, and the usual media suspects, are confecting what........

© Pearls and Irritations


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