I think we've all written a bit, mainly at the "Gah, don't be stupid, white people" level.
There's lots of interesting issues, both in terms of the ways we are white and benefit from white privilege, and the ways in which, not so much we're not white, but we're not the same thing I think PoC are pointing at and complaining about in this debate, which I think is why there are no Aussies I know of who have spat the dummy. From my perspective, it is very definitely not "White" people who are acting stupid but White North American members of fandom/sff culture.
Australia officially aims for a policy more like Canada's, but we have plenty of internal examples of racism against people not of British/Irish or at least Northern European origin (and we did have the White Australia policy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Australia) before that, which is exactly what it sounds like).
Also I'm not proud of this, but Australia does have its own episode of something awfully close to institutionalised slavery, if not that actual thing: Blackbirding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding). I also don't quite know how to classify the Stolen Generations, other than "what a horrible, racist, othering thing to do".
I'll also note that since I am Danish by birth and Australian by choice: that I know Denmark had sugar plantations and slaves in the Caribbean; that Greenlanders experience the same kind of indigenous issues familiar in Canada and Australia; and that Danes are in my inexpert opinion worse at handling immigrants/refugees than Australians, in terms of everyday, next-door neighbour stuff. (On the official policy level, John Howard alack alas takes some beating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_detention_in_Australia), but most of us of a more left-wing persuasion did spend most of his prime ministership noting how fond he seemed to be of the 1950s, and the White Australia policy was not excluded.)
no subject
There's lots of interesting issues, both in terms of the ways we are white and benefit from white privilege, and the ways in which, not so much we're not white, but we're not the same thing I think PoC are pointing at and complaining about in this debate, which I think is why there are no Aussies I know of who have spat the dummy. From my perspective, it is very definitely not "White" people who are acting stupid but White North American members of fandom/sff culture.
Australia officially aims for a policy more like Canada's, but we have plenty of internal examples of racism against people not of British/Irish or at least Northern European origin (and we did have the White Australia policy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Australia) before that, which is exactly what it sounds like).
Also I'm not proud of this, but Australia does have its own episode of something awfully close to institutionalised slavery, if not that actual thing: Blackbirding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding). I also don't quite know how to classify the Stolen Generations, other than "what a horrible, racist, othering thing to do".
I'll also note that since I am Danish by birth and Australian by choice: that I know Denmark had sugar plantations and slaves in the Caribbean; that Greenlanders experience the same kind of indigenous issues familiar in Canada and Australia; and that Danes are in my inexpert opinion worse at handling immigrants/refugees than Australians, in terms of everyday, next-door neighbour stuff. (On the official policy level, John Howard alack alas takes some beating (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_detention_in_Australia), but most of us of a more left-wing persuasion did spend most of his prime ministership noting how fond he seemed to be of the 1950s, and the White Australia policy was not excluded.)