Сочинение: The "new class"

Over this period Sydney has constantly evolved. There are real problems in Sydney, many of which stem from the successful economic development of Sydney and NSW. A very serious and worthwhile Sydney economist, Phil Raskell, has made his recent life work the careful documentation of, for instance, such things as the widening economic inequality in Sydney.

For this useful project, he has worked extensively on the public statistical records of who pays tax and at what level. But Phil Raskell never overloads his useful and thoroughly commendable work on income inequality, with the vehement anti-migration and anti-development rhetoric that the Monash group does. They tend to grab hold of Phil's economic work, whenever it is published, and then they put their own unpleasant anti-migration spin on it.

Sydney is a very significant city. It has been in the forefront of Australian economic development since the early years of the 20th century. It is now, in fact, Australia's economic and financial capital, and it is the city in Australasia that is most locked into global financial markets and to trade in the region.

It is Australia's global city, and has a similar role to New York, Shanghai, Bombay or London in the US, China, India or Britain. It is at the bottom end in Australia for unemployment and the top end for job creation. It has always had a distinct ethnic and cultural mix.

In the 19th century, Sydney and NSW were widely noted for having the highest proportion of Irish Catholics in the country. For the past 15 years Sydney has been the favoured point of entry for the spectacular wave of Asian migration, and about half the Asians who come to Australia have Sydney as their first preference.

Sydney and NSW have historically had by far the longest period of state Labor governments in Australia. The Labor Party started here in 1891. The defeat of the conscription referendum in 1916 was a product of the size of the Catholic population in NSW and the strength of the labour movement in this state.

NSW was also the site of the greatest ever popular mobilisation of the labour movement against the ruling class during the Lang period in the 1930s. At this moment we have a state Labor government almost as firmly entrenched as two earlier governments, the one led by McKell and the one led by Wran. The present electorally very successful Premier in this Labor government looks like Pinocchio, can't drive a car (like myself), is well known for his literary and historical interests, and is married to a confident Asian migrant, a businesswoman, Helena. He has just been re-elected as Premier in one of the biggest electoral swings in recent history.

Sydney is full of the bustle and activity that so pained one of the literary anti-migrationists. Sydneysiders rather like this bustle and activity, because it means jobs and incomes.

Sydney does have plenty of problems. There is increasing inequality. Housing prices are much higher than elsewhere, which is good for those who own a house, but bad for those who are starting out. Taken as a whole, however, the problems of Sydney are not insoluble and they are not made worse by migration.

Migration actually produces an economic prosperity that lays a basis for the solution of many of these problems. Even the poorest cohort in Sydney, people who live in the Western suburbs, have increased economic opportunities because of the nature of Sydney. The Victorian academics who use Sydney as a shock-horror example of the consequences of migration, are at a considerable loss for an explanation for this basic conundrum. If Sydney is so bad, why is it the favoured point of settlement for about half the people who wish to migrate to Australia?

Their Arthur Calwell and mine

Both Thompson and Birrell wax lyrical about different things said by Arthur Calwell in his autobiography. I find their colonisation of Calwell thoroughly offensive. Calwell is one of my heroes. I actually knew Calwell and had some political dealings with him. I revere him for the following things that he did in his life:

· His opposition to conscription and support for Irish independence during the First World War, which earned him a military intelligence file.

· His opposition, from within a Labor cabinet, to conscription during the Second World War.

· His decisive role in starting mass migration from non-British sources in 1946, which included helping Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and pushing aside the rabid Melbourne establishment anti-Semitism of the time.

· His solid support for the Labor side against the Groupers during the Split.

· His courageous and far-sighted opposition to the Vietnam War and conscription, which was the context in which I had dealings with him. He was quite willing to speak for our hard-nosed and militant Sydney Vietnam Action Committee, despite the fact that we were denounced by many of the "official Left" as splitting Trotskyists.

Calwellwasa complex, courageousandintelligentman, buthe wasa manofhisplace andtime, withsome ofthe religiousandculturalprejudicesthatcame fromhisbackground.

Predictably, ThompsonandBettscelebrate onlyhismostbackwardstatementsandattitudes, whichsuittheirreactionarypurposes. Inmyview, Calwell'sgreatcontributionto the AustralianlabourmovementandAustralianlife willendure afterthispettycolonisationofhislegacyhasbeenforgotten.

The area inwhichCalwell'sweaknesseswere strikingwere hisattitude to race andhismoralisticattitude to questionslike censorshipandsexuality. Inboththese areasthe absolutelyfundamentalculturalchangesofthe 1960sand 1970sare irreversible. The vastmajorityofthe people, whose originsare inthe robustIrishCatholiclayerofAustraliansociety, who hadtheireducationinthe 1960sand 1970s, have a totallydifferentattitude now, onquestionssuchassexuality, censorshipandrace.

Like me, quite a fewofthose people respectCalwell'scontributiononthe othermatters, buttheylaughina slightlyembarrassedandamusedwayaboutjustthose thingsthatThompsonandBettscelebrate inCalwell, because asa socialgroup, the IrishCatholic-identifiedsectionofthe Australianpopulationhave painfullyshedthose prejudices -- rathermore so, possibly, thanAnglo-Australians.

We respectCalwellforhisgreatcontribution, butwe understandhimasa manofhisplace andtime, andthere'snotthe slightestchance thathisbackwardprejudicesonsome matterswillstrike anychordatallamongthe majorityofthose who come fromthe culturalbackgroundthathe came from. ItisreallycynicallyeccentricforreactionaryAngloslike BettsandThompsonto be hangingtheirhatsonCalwell'sweaknesses. I revere Calwell, buthe belongsto us, notto them!

WhyBettsandcompanycan'twin

The Betts-Birrellbunchhave beenconductinganenergeticandresourcefulcampaignagainstmigrationandmulticulturalismforthe past 25 years, andthisnewoutbreakisonlythe latestepisode intheircampaign. Inmyviewtheyhave to be combatedandopposed, buthappilyI don'tthinktheyhave muchchance ofwinning. Australiansocietyhasevolvedwellandtrulypastthem.

Ifyoulookatthe booksthattheyhave publishedatintervalsduringthe course ofthiscampaign, the actualscale ofmigrationthathastakenplace subsequentlyhastendedto be atthe topendoftheirdirestpredictions, andatthe topendoftheirpredictionsforAsiancompositionetc.

Happily, none oftheirgloomypropheciesofsocialdisintegration, racialconflictandotherbalefulresultsfromthishighimmigration, have takenplace. Infact, throughoutthe period, there hasbeena steady, smalldecline inunemploymentduringperiodsoffairlyhighmigration -- a realconundrumforBettsandcompany -- anda steadyimprovementinprosperityandeconomicactivity, despite the obviouspersistence andevenwideningofinequality.

The decisive majorobstacle to theircampaignto stopmigrationstems, however, fromthe realclassformationsthatcurrentlyprevailinurbanAustralia thatI have describedabove. InmodernurbanAustralia, the populationisnowso diverse andmarriage andfamilyformationhasnowsuchanexogamouselement, thatthe objective basisfornativistoppositionto migrationandmulticulturalismofthe Betts-Birrell-Sheehansortisconstantlybeingerodedbythe newsocialcircumstances.

AllAustraliantertiaryinstitutionsoutside the smallestprovincialcentresare nowethnicallyandculturallydiverse andproduce many, manymultiracialcouplesinalllevelsofsociety, fromthe poorestto the veryrichest. Mosturbanschoolsare nowethnicallyandculturallydiverse, withthe same result. The civilisedattitude ofboththe Liberal-votingmanagerialgroup, andthe Labor-votingpublicservice andeducationgroup, amonguniversitygraduates, isnotgoingto change.

The nextlayer, the bankclerksetc, are also ethnicallyandculturallydiverse, andoppositionto migrationissteadilydecliningamongthese people because ofthe diversityofthe group. The bottomsegmentofurbansocietyisoverwhelminglymade upofrecentmigrants. Inone ofherasides, Katharine Bettsremarksthat, fromherpointofview, the groupthatshe foundinheroldopinionpollswho hadthe highestfigure ofsupportformigrationandmulticulturalism, were thatdogged, hard-core, pro-migrationgroup, NESBmigrantswithuniversitydegrees.

Well, ofcourse, thatgroupisgrowingconstantlyaswell. Inthe realtermsofactuallyevolvingAustraliansociety, manyofthe argumentsofthe anti-migrationlobbyare educatedatavismsandunpleasantshrieksfromthe primevalpast, butwe have to workhard, educate people andcampaignvigorouslyto keepitthatway.

RobertBirrellandthe Monashanti-immigrationistsare atitagain

Youhave to handitto the RobertBirrell, MonashUniversitybunch. Theydon'tgive upontheir 25-yearcampaignagainstimmigration, andtheirmore recentcampaignagainstAsianimmigration, whichtheytryto cloakina showofconcernforthe migrantstheyinvestigate. Theyhave justproduceda newstudyaimedathighlightingthe numberofrecentmigrantswho are inpoorsocialgroups. (Article inthe SydneyMorningHerald, September 19, 1998, page 3, byJohnMarsh)