Russians and Turks

I had a rather revelatory conversation the other night.

A group of us were discussing the parable of the good Samaritan: about how most people today forget that an important part of the story was the fact that Samaritans and Jews hated each other's guts. In fact, a Samaritan would probably prefer to help anyone in the world rather than a Jew (and a Jew would probably prefer to think of anyone in the world helping them rather than a Samaritan). The point of the story was that the people you would expect to help the Jewish business man (the priest and the 'pillar of the community') didn't, but the man you wouldn't expect to help did - thus leading to the conclusion that a "neighbour" isn't someone who lives next door or in your community, but rather someone who acts "neighbourly" towards his fellow man.

While talking about how you would re-cast the parable in modern times, the general consensus of the group was that it would be hard to pick a 'despised' race to take the place of Samaritans as, being middle class white Australians, we are so separate from the rest of the world and their cultural problems that we both love and are loved by all.

I had to point out that such thoughts were a bit of a WASP delusion. There are many middle class Australians who still harbour feelings of bitterness towards certain groups of people, and would be just as likely to expect help from that quarter as a Jew would have expected help from a Samaritan. I know of a number of Estonian Australians who get worked up at the very mention of anything Russian, and a number of Greek Australians who have to resist the urge to spit whenever they mention the Turks, for example. Also, there are Chinese and Korean Australians who can't stand the Japanese, and the Australians who have their origins in the Middle East... well there's not an awful lot of love in certain quarters.

In the course of discussing these examples, a rather obvious similarity struck me. The most bitter feelings towards the most "hated" races come from people who were on the receiving end of massacres and invasions. From what I can gather, the main reason the Russians and the Turks hate the Estonians and the Greeks is because the Estonians and Greeks hate them ("for no good reason"), while the main reason the Estonians and Greeks hate the Russians and the Turks is because the Russians and the Turks invaded their countries, killed their family members and treated them like scum, making it impossible for them to continue living in their own countries.

In my white-middle-class-Australian delusion, I was feeling rather detached from it all - after all, we (as in, white, middle-class Australians) have never been involved in any such invasions or massacres...

But, then, of course we have. We moved into an entire continent, told the original inhabitants that they were scum, forced them to leave their own countries, killed their family members (often in horrible massacres), made it clear that they didn't belong here as far as we were concerned and - when we finally admitted that maybe they did belong here after all - treated them like second class citizens and wondered why they didn't pull their socks up and get on with being just like us.

We are just like the Russians and the Turks. The only difference is, we were much more successful. We've managed to stay long enough and out number the original inhabitants so vastly that no one would ever expect us to leave. The Greeks looked with hope and longing for the days when the Turks would leave and they could have their own land and culture back, and the Turks eventually did leave (well, there's Cyprus, but we're going to ignore that for now). The Estonians held on to their land, language and culture looking forward to the day when the Russians would let them have their country back, and eventually it happened (albeit begrudgingly).

The Indigenous people of Australia (and New Zealand, and America) have no such hope. Their countries are irrevocably our countries, and we're not going anywhere. The most they can hope for is that we'll occasionally give them pack a small piece of land to call their own. Even then, there are white Australians who think we shouldn't have to do this, and will treat the entire concept of "native title" with fear and loathing.

It's weird that, for all my life, I've thought that the Aboriginal people of Australia were bitter and angry "for no good reason". I knew the history, but I figured it was just that - history - and there was no reason to let it continue to torment the future. It wasn't until I connected the Indigenous Australians with other invaded peoples that I realised exactly where they were coming from, and exactly what we must be to them. We are the Russians to their Estonians. The Turks to their Greeks. The Japanese to their Eastern Seaboard Chinese... And it's not like they can grin and bear it and wait for us to leave.

And, sure, there's the argument (that someone like me can make quite easily) that I wasn't personally involved in any of these acts of invasion and violence, and none of my ancestors were personally involved in any of the acts of invasion and violence, so I shouldn't be hated and despised for something I didn't do... But racial memory doesn't know individuals, it knows groups. For as long as I regard myself as a white Australian, I'm a member of the group that did these horrible things to those people, and I get tarred with the same brush as every other member of my group. It's my history, whether I like it or not, and I need to take responsibility for it as surely as we expect the Germans to take responsibility for the Nazis and the Russians to take responsibility for their oppression during the Soviet Era.

By the same token, I also feel a better appreciation for the "bad guys" of the past. Everyone likes to demonise the invaders... unless of course we happen to be the invaders.

I suddenly have a much better understanding of why the Russians think the Estonians are ungrateful little snots, and why they'll probably never apologise. Who wants to apologise for making the world a better place? That's what we invaders do, really. Sure, we make your lives miserable on a number of levels, but we also provide the opportunity to live a better quality miserable life. If you don't want to take advantage of that, it's your problem, not ours.