But what on earth does that mean? I see the slogan being thrown around on social media, and in recent anti-violence marches and rallies, but this phrase leaves me baffled.
I don’t know what it means to be Australian anymore. Australia in 2024 is such an amalgamation of cultures and nationalities, there is no clear definition of what it really means to be Australian. I know this slogan is being used by well-meaning, non-Jewish Zionist movements to counter the university campus violence directed at Jewish students and staff. But is responding with this really addressing the Jew-hatred issue here? I don’t think so.
The growing hate and aggression towards Jews in Australia is not an attack on what it is to be Australian. It is plain and simple, Jew hatred. By calling this a ‘stop the hate’ campaign, it seriously dilutes the message that needs to be sent.
Society doesn’t even know what is it to be Australian anymore. What is it to be Australian? Is it following the hate spewing ideology of prominent feminists, academics or social media brats?
Since October 7th, I have seen very few ‘Australians’ speak up against Jew hatred in our country. Who are the prominent Australians and who is speaking up? Besides only a handful of individuals, the only ones speaking up are spewing vile, anti-Jew rhetoric.
The September 11th attack on the twin towers was a significant event. I recall societal condemnation of that attack and the shunning of those highschoolers in Melbourne who were cheering in support of that attack. As a country, Australia condemned that behaviour. The prominent Australians in the media spoke against that attack and shunned any such behaviour that glorified terrorism. But today, Hamas terrorists who brutally raped and murdered 1200 people on October 7th, are being glorified as freedom fighters. Today, the younger generation of children see the ‘prominent Australians’ to be those who are most vocal in society, i.e. certain so called feminists, child brainwashing academics or Green’s politicians….. explicit messages of Jew hatred, encouragement of fan-girling over freedom fighters….
So how can we combat this narrative with an umbrella campaign slogan “this is unAustalian?” at the forefront of our fight against Jew hatred in Australia? it makes no sense to me. I know and understand the good intentions of this campaign slogan, rightly standing against antisemitism as a form of racism, promoting the idea that racism is not welcome in this country, etc…..
BUT….
Some of those leading this “stop the hate, mate, it’s unAustralian’ campaigns were prolifically vocal against the Voice referendum, taking to leaning on the opinion of the small fraction of Aboriginal people who were against to voice to parliament, to justify their views and encourage others to also vote against giving First Nations people a voice in parliament. In many ways, it’s no different to the anti-Zionist movement using the tiny percentage of anti-Zionist Jews to justify their Jew hatred in Australia. In my opinion, one cannot stand on Australian land and say no to a voice for the Indigenous people of this land while virtue signalling for the self-determination rights of Indigenous people of the land of Judea. That’s just plain hypocritical and I don’t get it.
If we don’t believe in the rights of the Indigenous people to have a voice, then why on earth would we care about the rights of the tiny percentage of Jewish people who live here? i mean we can't even get it right here for Indigenous people here in our own country. Our big No vote to the voice was a clear cut sign of the existence of systematic racism in Australia. Is this Australian? Is this what it means to be Australian? Racism?!? If this is what it is to be Australian, then the anti Jewish, Jew- hating behaviour we are seeing across Australia, is just an exacerbation of the ugly no vote.
Where were the "stop the hate, mate" campaigns when we voted no to the voice? Where were the "it's unAustralian" campaigns after we denied the right of First Nations people a voice in parliament?!
But let’s circle back to this ‘unAustralian’ term. What is Australian and what is ‘unAustralian?’
The majority of Jews in NSW live in the seat of Wentworth, and they voted loud and clear Yes to giving the Indigenous people of Australia a voice in parliament. But Australia as a country, voted a big, loud NO.
Is this what it is to be Australian in 2024? Unbeknownst to many Caucasian Australians (and British migrants for that matter) who have not had to face the daily struggle of racism and implicit bias, this country has been on a titanic collision course of racism for a long time yet. And might I add, those who are leading the ‘stop the hate, mate” campaign are those who have not seen this racism, experienced it, felt it and had to fight it every day of their lives. The visual optics of these such campaigns speaks volumes to what I am writing about.
In these recent "stop the hate, mate. It's unAustralian" campaigns, I see people draped in the Australian flag but I have not seen a single Aboriginal flag amongst the crowd. The lack of the flag of the Indigenous people of this very country in these "Australian" marches and rallies are ridiculously telling.
In addition to First Nations people, there are many people of colour in Australia who stand against antisemitism. (Think of the Hindu population in Australia, who are also an Indigenous people.) But it is important to consider their level of comfort with participating in marches or rallies that are very “Aussie” driven in language and imagery.
Even the use of the word ‘mate’ in the slogan is an outdated Aussie word which many Australians today don’t use. Again – more than half our population are first- or second-generation migrants whose everyday language wouldn’t naturally contain the use of the word ‘mate.’
This is not a criticism of those who are trying their hardest to fight antisemitism. This is merely a brown migrant woman’s two cents worth of input into the conversation about how we can fight the rising Jew hatred here in Australia. I throw my opinion out there because I have skin in the game. Being married to an Israeli Jew, and raising his Israeli Jewish children with him, makes this rising issue of Jew hatred a very real concern for me.
As a brown migrant living in this country, the nationalistic imagery with the current campaign slogans being used to fight antisemitism, makes me, and many others uncomfortable. At the last Australian census, more than half of our population were first or second generation migrants. Many experience racism on a daily basis. I, and many others like myself who stand against racism and antisemitism, and all kinds of hate and bigotry, do not feel able to participate in these very “Aussie” focused campaigns and rallies against antisemitism, particularly when the messaging is at adds with the reality of racism in Australia.
If we are going to address the rising Jew hatred in Australia, then we need to address the problem, not skirt around it by using generic, umbrella slogans like ‘stop the hate, mate.”
Many of the young, indoctrinated pro Palestine supporters don’t actually think they are hating anyone. So unless we spell it out for them, clearly describing how their actions and words are hateful towards Jews, then they just simply will not get it. We need clear cut messaging and imagery that more people can feel comfortable participating in. If we are to overcome societal Jew hatred, we need to open up our campaign efforts to also cater for those who don’t fit into the “true blue Aussie” category of what it means to be Australian.
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