White Australia Policy
As White Australia Policy or White Australia ( policy of the White Australia or White Australia ), an Australian policy is called, which was aimed at the immigration of non-whites to Australia to prevent. This policy was practiced on a legal basis from 1901 to 1973 to varying degrees across different ethnic groups for more than 70 years.
The White Australia Policy can be divided into three phases: The beginning of this policy is in the year 1851, when the Australian gold discoveries resulted in a considerable increase in the population with the involvement of the Chinese and the cotton and sugar cane industry there collapsed during the American Civil War flourished in Queensland with a significant labor demand. This need was met by recruiting 62,000 islanders from Melanesia . Both developments fueled tendencies towards racist politics, which became entrenched and finalized in the Pacific Island Laborers Act of 1901 and became federal white policy .
From 1901 until the end of World War II , the White Australia Policy continued and operated with different aims and scope.
After the end of the Second World War, a rethink set in, which was probably caused by the war experience and also partly the participation of non-Europeans and non-European Australians in the war. The White Australia Policy was gradually dissolved and legally terminated with the Racial Discrimination Act 1973 .
Immigration from 1851
The Australian Convict Colony has by no means been set up or prepared to integrate large numbers of people into civil society since it was founded. Numerous Aboriginal massacres and other injustices occurred after the arrival of the First Fleet . And when the population grew to over a million within a decade from 1851 onwards, integration problems of different population groups were programmed.
Chinese
With the discovery of the gold fields in Australia in 1851 and the associated gold rush , the population of Australia increased significantly within a decade, and around 40,000 men and 9,000 women from the Chinese canton came to the gold fields over a period of 20 years .
In 1861 there were about 13,000 Chinese in New South Wales, of which 12,200 were in the gold fields. There were conflicts and disputes between European and Chinese gold prospectors, particularly the violent Buckland Riot on the Buckland River in Victoria on July 4, 1857 and the Lambing Flat Riot at Lambing Flat (now Young) in New South Wales on June 14, 1861. In response, restrictions on Chinese immigration were imposed in Victoria in 1857 and New South Wales in 1861 on length of stay, families and work. There were further anti-Chinese disputes at the Turon River (1853), Meroo (1854), Rocky River (1856), in Tambaroora (1858), Kiandra and Nundle (1860 and 1861) and Tingha tin fields (1870).
Melanesians
From 1863 to 1903, over a period of 40 years, around 62,000 Melanesian islanders were transported to Queensland as so-called blackbirded workers and had to work on sugar cane and cotton plantations for three years. Liberal Australia and Great Britain, including Queen Victoria, described these recruiting measures as slavery , but this did nothing to change the fact that the islanders were blackbirded for about 15 years from 1863, mainly with deception and kidnapping from the Pacific islands. Recruitment continued until 1901. Queensland and New South Wales leaders stressed that there was no future for Asians and people of color in Australia.
Early labor movement
In the 1870s and 1880s, the first protests of the Australian labor movement against foreign workers, as they worked for much lower wages and created wage pressure on the local workers. At the beginning of the 1890s, the first Australian economic crisis developed. In the sheep shearers strike in 1891 , when Chinese and other non-Australian sheep shearers worked at the same sheep breeding station at lower wages, Australian shearers stopped working. The Australian economic crisis resulted in a loss of income for workers in various industries, which is why there were numerous strikes such as the Maritime Strike (1890), the Broken Hill Strike (1892) and the Second Sheep Shearers Strike (1894) Foreigners were used as strike breakers.
From 1901 until the end of the First World War
In 1901 the Commonwealth of Australia was founded and the new federal government enacted the Pacific Island Laborers Act on December 23, 1901 as one of its first laws , which resulted in approximately 7,500 blackbirded Islanders in their homeland from 1904 to December 31, 1906 were deported and could only remain in Queensland in 1600. After the founding of the state, the nationalist Protectionist Party was formed in 1901 , from which the Australian Labor Party promised a social policy and supported them in their formation of a government. Political support by the Labor Party is based on the labor movement's experience of strikes with foreign strikers during the economic crisis. On the other hand, there was first support for striking Chinese in 1901 by the “white labor movement” of Australia.
The latent racism of early Australian society was expressed in one of the speeches given by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin , who was one of the supporters of the White Australia Policy :
“It is not the bad qualities, but the good qualities of these alien races that make them so dangerous to us. It is their inexhaustible energy, their power of applying themselves to new tasks, their endurance and low standard of living that make them such competitors. "
“It's not the bad, but the good traits that make these alien races so dangerous for us. It is their extraordinary energy, the strength to new deeds and the low standard of living that make them serious competitors. "
In a parliamentary debate in 1901, Australian Senator Clemens said on the subject:
“Will he be able to enter the Commonwealth because some Custom house official, who can only put something before him in English, French and German, will make the test, and the highly educated colored man will be able to beat him? ... We know that the people of Australia object to the black man whether he is highly educated or not. Even if he is the best linguist in the world we do not want him. I know that I do not. His racial disadvantages exist even if he is highly educated. "
"Will he be able to join the Commonwealth because any official who can only present him with something in English, French or German can take the test and a highly educated man of color can defeat him? .. We know that the Australian people will prefer him to the black man, whether he is highly educated or not. Even if he's the best linguist in the world, we don't want him. I know I don't want him. His racial inferiority exists even if he is highly educated "
In 1919 National Conservative Prime Minister Billy Hughes argued that the White Policy was the best thing Australia had ever done.
In order to limit immigration, the federal government introduced a 50-word dictation for those willing to immigrate, first in a European and later in any language, and no person who made spelling mistakes could immigrate.
At the peace conference after the First World War in 1919, Japan wanted to see the immigration restrictions imposed by the United States and Canada against its citizens lifted because this went against their understanding of honor. Prime Minister Billy Hughes, on the other hand, came out resolutely as a representative of white Australian politics and threatened to leave the conference if Japan's idea prevailed.
The politician Stanley Bruce , a representative of White Australia politics of the Nationalist Party of Australia , was successful in his 1925 election campaign for Prime Minister of Australia because of his anti-communist and anti-union policies and his attempt to give preferential treatment to Australian exports in the British Commonwealth.
From the Great Depression in 1929 to the end of World War II, the White Australia Policy took a back seat due to other political and military concerns. Yet it has not been abandoned, and this is what the Australian Labor Party's Prime Minister John Curtin said:
"This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those people who came here in peace in order to establish in the South Seas an outpost of the British race."
"This land will forever be the home of those who came to the South Seas with peaceful intent to form an outpost of the British race."
In early 1945, Richard Dixon , who became chairman of the Communist Party of Australia in 1948 , described the White Australia Policy practiced in Australia as another version of Hitler's racial theory, which was directed against Indians, Chinese and Indonesians who were allies of Australia during World War II .
After the Second World War
Liberalization of immigration
After the Second World War, Australian politics gradually opened up to immigration.
During the war, Malays , Indonesians and Filipinos settled in Australia, some of whom married Australian people. The Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell wanted to deport this group of people and received violent protests for his considerations.
A first step towards opening up was that the Conservative Minister Harold Holt allowed 800 non-Europeans a further stay in 1949 and allowed the immigration of "war brides" with the children of Australian soldiers. Also, after the end of the Second World War, the Australians became aware of their vulnerability and their small population, which led to the slogan Populate or Perish (populate or perish).
The governments gradually allowed Asians to stay in Australia for business reasons, students from Asian countries could study at Australian universities, after a 15-year stay, non-European foreigners had the opportunity to become citizens of Australia since 1957, with migration Act of 1958 , the rigid writing test was made as a requirement for immigration and also made it easier for non-European public companies to register and set up in Australia.
Immigration Minister Hubert Opperman announced in March 1966 that qualified immigrants were welcome in Australia. Minister Harold Holt decided that a certain number of non-Europeans can receive a right of residence with the Europeans after five years according to the regulation.
The number of immigrant non-Europeans increased from 746 in 1966 to 2,696 in 1971. During the same period, the immigration quota of Europeans rose from 1,498 to 6,054.
End of the White Australia Policy
The White Australia Policy ended in 1973 when Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party passed a series of laws that, among other things, allowed citizenship after three years of residency in Australia, when Australia joined international agreements on immigration and against racial discrimination.
A number of Indians and Chinese came to Australia by 1978 , however England and New Zealand continued to form the two largest groups of immigrants. In 1981, Australia settled Iranians in a humanitarian program and in 1988 2500 Baha'i . Ethnic and racial discrimination had been banned since 1975 and Australian politics focused on cultural diversity that an open society accepts for a common future. ( English: "to build on our success as a culturally diverse, accepting and open society, united through a shared future")
Opposition leader John Howard , who was not elected, wanted to restrict Asian immigration in 1988 in order to win votes:
“I'm not in favor of going back to a White Australia policy. I do believe that if it is - in the eyes of some in the community - that it's too great, it would be in our immediate-term interest and supporting of social cohesion if it (Asian immigration) were slowed down a little, so the capacity of the community to absorb it was greater. "
“I don't want to go back to the White Australia Policy. I believe that there are - in the eyes of some in the community - too many, it would be a support of social equilibrium in our current interests if they (immigration of Asians) were a little less, the capacity of our community could absorb them better . "
Tendencies
The nationalist politician Pauline Hanson was able to unite 25 percent of the vote in the 1998 election with a new edition of the White Australia Policy with her party One Nation Party and won eleven seats in the state elections of Queensland. With this election success, racism , immigration and the White Australia Policy became topics in the mass media again. On May 24, 2007, Hanson founded the "One Nation" party . In the subsequent re-election, Hanson lost. As a result, this party became an insignificant fringe group due to internal quarrels and a lack of program. Recently, Hanson's policy has been popular again in elections. In the 2016 general election in Queensland, Hanson was elected to the Australian Senate along with three other members of her party .
The Howard government, who campaigned and a. again made the immigration test in English a campaign topic, was defeated in the 2007 federal election against the Australian Labor Party.
population
According to a 2001 census, 38.7% of the population were Australian, 36.5% English, 11.0% Irish, and 3.1% Scottish. 4.6% came from Italy, 4.3% from Germany, 2.2% from Greece and Cyprus and 0.9% from Poland. Non-Europeans were 3.2% Chinese, 0.9% Lebanese, 0.9% Indian, and 0.9% Vietnamese.
Australia is home to people from 250 different regions of origin with many different religions. In addition to the numerous Aboriginal languages , over 200 other languages are spoken. In addition to English, Italian, Greek and Cantonal Chinese, Arabic and Mandarin Chinese are spoken.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Raymond Markey: Race and organized labor in Australia, 1850-1901. ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2017) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ↑ a b Lambing Flat Roll Up Banner c.1860s at migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au , accessed April 11, 2010
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Abolition of the 'White Australia' Policy. Australian Department of Immigration. ( Memento of the original from September 1, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ↑ Archives In Brief 33 - Chinese migration and settlement in New South Wales on records.nsw.gov.au . Retrieved April 11, 2010
- ^ Phil Griffiths: Towards White Australia: The shadow of Mill and the specter of slavery in the 1880s debates on Chinese immigration, 11th Biennial National Conference of the Australian Historical Association. ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ↑ a b Emma Willoughby: Topic Nine - A 'White Australia' Our Federation Journey 1901-2001 Proudly Sponsored by Australian Unity. Information on museumvictoria.com.au. ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ↑ Kay Schaffer Manne's Generation: White Nation Responses to the Stolen Generation Report Australian Humanities Review. ( Memento of the original from April 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated January 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 100 Years. Australian Stories on abc.net.au. ( Memento of the original from April 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ^ Immigration and the "White Australia Policy" , accessed February 20, 2015
- ^ Immigration to Australia During the 20th Century. Australian Department of Immigration. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ^ Western Australia, "Populate or Perish"
- ^ 1989 Hassall Graham (Ed.): Religion and Ethnic Identity, An Australian Study, Victoria College & Spectrum, Melbourne 1989 , Retrieved April 9, 2010.
- ↑ Multicultural Australia. United in Diversity . The Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ↑ George Megalogenis. Howard hits out at 'jihad' Muslims. The Australian. Retrieved April 9, 2010
- ↑ a b Linda Tenenbaum. Rise and Fall of the One Nation Party by Pauline Hanson on wsws.org March 18, 1999. Retrieved April 10, 2010
- ↑ Hanson supports African refugee reduction on abc.net.au of October 7, 2007. Retrieved on April 9, 2010
- ↑ Adrian Beaumont: After messy night, Coalition more likely to form government - but Pauline Hanson is in the Senate. The Conversation, July 3, 2016, accessed September 15, 2016 .
- ^ Peter McCutcheon, Michael Atkin: Election 2016: How Pauline Hanson made her political comeback. July 4, 2016, accessed September 15, 2016 .
- ↑ Population characteristics: Ancestry of Australia's population . Retrieved April 10, 2010
literature
- Stefanie Affeldt: A Paroxysm of Whiteness. 'White' Labor, 'White' Nation and 'White' Sugar in Australia. In: Wages of Whiteness & Racist Symbolic Capital, ed. By Wulf D. Hund, Jeremy Krikler, David Roediger. Berlin: Lit 2010, pp. 99 - 131. ISBN 978-3-643-10949-1 .
- Stefanie Affeldt: Consuming Whiteness. Australian Racism and the 'White Sugar' Campaign. Berlin: Lit 2014. ISBN 978-3-643-90569-7 .
- Jane Carey, Claire McLisky: Creating White Australia. Sydney: Sydney University Press 2009.
- Wulf D. Hund: White Australia or the Historians' War. In: Blätter for German and international politics, 51, 2006, 3, pp. 345-353.
- Laksiri Jayasuriya, David Walker, Jan Gothard (eds.): Legacies of White Australia. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press 2003.
- James Jupp, Maria Kabala: The Politics of Australian Immigration. Australian Government Publishing Service 1993.
- Jürgen Matthäus : Nation building in Australia from the beginnings of white settlement to the First World War (1788–1914). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang 1993
- Gwenda Tavan: The Long, Slow Death of White Australia. Melbourne: Scribe 2005.
- Myra Willard: History of the White Australia Policy to 1920. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press 1923.