Posted on 23 November 2011 by Will O' in Politics

Baillieu government succumbs to Nuremberg Rally Syndrome

As sure as the daily rising of the sun is the eventual urge by right wing conservative governments to turn citizens into patriotic morons. It’s in their DNA; deep down — and by deep down we’re talking about a millimetre deep … or less — their larval little souls get excited by glorious nationalism in the form of unfurled and vigorously waving flags accompanied by robustly sung national anthems.

The Baillieu government’s latest, and somewhat timid, regression into ethnocentrism was announced yesterday by the Minister for Multicultural Affairs Nick Kotsiras. In the name of multiculturalism, he claims the singing of Australia’s national anthem in schools will help in teaching children, and especially migrant children, “Australian values”. This sounds great until you realize that nine out of ten conservative politicians despise the idea of multiculturalism, opting instead for assimilation. And by assimilation they mean that all races should join the predominate white culture.

Whenever a right wing government intones “values,” be it national or family, they are almost certainly dogwhistling xenophobia and racism. Even if they’re not, the end result could lead to what the Americans suffer from: exceptionalism.

Making migrants feel at home here is more complicated than having them join in for a ritual intoning of “Advance Australia Fair.” When sung on appropriate occasions it gives a frisson of emotional appreciation for the fine nation that Australia mostly is. But sung ritually by rote you can just see the kids glazing over or giggling or pinching one another until it concludes.

At present the decision to sing or not to sing is up to individual schools. And that is as it should be. The government should stay out of it altogether.

Of course, Kotsira’s announcement may just be a diversion from the government’s attempt to screw the nurses out of a decent wage.