白澳政策
维基百科，自由的百科全书
白澳政策（英文：White Australia Policy）是澳大利亚联邦反亚洲移民的种族主义政策的通称。1901年，白澳政策正式确立为基本国策，只许白人移居。在此政策下，大部分华人忍受不了欺压、被迫离开澳大利亚。1972年澳大利亚工党政府取消了"白澳政策"。
目录 |
[编辑] 背景与起因
The origin of the policy can be traced back to the 1850s when large numbers of Chinese immigrated to Australia during the gold rushes. Many of the Anglo-Australian population resented Chinese who were undercutting white labour prices, and also disliked some Chinese cultural practices. There were several race riots (such as the Lambing Flat riots). In response, the newly self-governing colonies introduced restrictions on Chinese immigration. By 1888, Chinese were excluded from all the Australian colonies, although those Chinese who were already in Australia were not deported. Prime Minister Edmund Barton stated that "The doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to the equality of the Englishman and the Chinaman." Another source of the policy was opposition to labourers from Melanesia (known pejoratively as "Kanakas") in the sugar-cane fields of Queensland. A justification for the importation of Kanakas to Queensland was the theory, commonly held by medical specialists, that European men were physiologically unsuited to work in the tropics. Many of the Kanakas were indentured labour who were brought into Australia for a fixed period on low wages. It is probable that the availability of a low cost and relatively docile work force was a significant reason for the importation of the Kanakas. There is also evidence that some of the Kanakas had been forcibly removed from their homes in a practice known as "blackbirding." The desire to stamp out this human trafficking, and to prevent the importation of further non-European labour, was one of the principal motives of the Federation movement of the 1890s. Around 7,000 Islanders were subsequently deported. Afterward the government and the trade union made sure that only white labourers were allowed to work in the field. The main rationale of the policy was to keep Australia racially "pure". "I am prepared to do all that is necessary to ensure that Australia shall be free for all time from the contamination and the degrading influence of inferior races." (Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 12th Sept 1901 p.4845) The trade unions and their political party, the Labor Party, were the driving forces for White Australia. Chris Watson, the leader of the Labor Party stated that "The objection I have to the mixing of these coloured people with the white people of Australia - although I admit it is to a large extent tinged with considerations of an industrial nature - lies...in the possibility and probability of racial contamination."
It was widely believed that racial purity was essential for social and political stability. "The unity of Australia is nothing, if that does not imply a united race. A united race not only means that its members can intermix, intermarry and associate without degradation on either side, but implies one inspired by the same ideas..." (Alfred Deakin, Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 12 September 1901, p.4807). See Stolen Generation for other events related to the notion of racial purity in Australia. The fears about Chinese immigration were expressed in terms of the Yellow peril, and arguably were most intense in Australia. In 1901 the Australian continent had a population of 3.7 million, and was a short distance from Asia. There was a belief that Chinese immigrants might "swamp" European Australia. The unions feared that uncontrolled immigration might force wages down. This was not an unfounded belief - many employers openly stated that they wished to do just that. This sentiment is expressed in a 1906 poem written by Henry Lawson, one of the best known Australian poets. In "To Be Amused"
You ask me to be gay and glad While lurid clouds of danger loom, And vain and bad and gambling mad, Australia races to her doom. You bid me sing the light and fair, The dance, the glance on pleasure's wings - While you have wives who will not bear, And beer to drown the fear of things. A war with reason you would wage To be amused for your short span, Until your children's heritage Is claimed for China by Japan. The football match, the cricket score, The "scraps", the tote, the mad'ning Cup – You drunken fools that evermore "To-morrow morning" sober up! ....... Store guns and ammunition first, Build forts and warlike factories, Sink bores and tanks where drought is worst, Give over time to industries. The outpost of the white man's race, Where next his flag shall be unfurled, Make clean the place! Make strong the place! Call white men in from all the world!
[编辑] 政策的实行
In 1901, the new Federal Parliament, as its first piece of legislation, passed the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 to "place certain restrictions on immigration and... for the removal... of prohibited immigrants". The act drew on similar legislation in South Africa. Early drafts of the Act explicitly banned non-Europeans from migrating to Australia. But objections from the British government, which feared that such a measure would offend British subjects in India and Britain's allies in Japan, caused the Barton government to remove this wording. Instead, a "dictation test" was introduced as a device for excluding unwanted immigrants. Immigration officials were given the power to exclude any person who failed to pass a 50-word dictation test in any European language.
Australia was not the only British Dominion to have such immigration policies. At this time many people believed that there were deep and innate differences between races, and that their own race was superior to all other races. Such views were sometimes accompanied by such policies such as Jim Crow Laws. South Africa, Canada, and New Zealand also had racially restrictive immigration policies in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Similar restrictions also existed in the United States of America. In 1905 legislation was introduced to the United Kingdom, principally affecting Jews. (see also Komagata Maru, and the Red Summer of 1919). Australian soldiers were involved in the assaults on the Black British community in Cardiff, Wales in 1919.
[编辑] 政策的消亡
Under the 1950 Colombo Plan, students from Asian countries were admitted to study at Australian universities. This helped break down racial attitudes. This trend continued when in 1957 non-whites with 15 years' residence in Australia were allowed to become citizens. The Migration Act of 1958 abolished the dictation test and introduced a simpler system for entry.
After a review of the non-European policy in March 1966, Immigration Minister Hubert Opperman announced applications for migration would be accepted from well-qualified people on the basis of their suitability as settlers, their ability to integrate readily and their possession of qualifications positively useful to Australia.
At the same time, the Holt Liberal government decided a number of 'temporary resident' non-Europeans, who were not required to leave Australia, could become permanent residents and citizens after five years (the same as for Europeans).
The effective end of the White Australia policy is usually dated to 1973, when the Whitlam Labor government implemented a series of amendments preventing the enforcement of racial aspects of the immigration law. These amendments legislated that all migrants, of whatever origin, be eligible to obtain citizenship after three years of permanent residence and ratified all international agreements relating to immigration and race. The 1975 Racial Discrimination Act made the use of racial criteria for any official purpose illegal.
It was not until the Fraser government's review of immigration law in 1978 that all selection of prospective migrants based on country of origin was entirely removed from official policy. Currently, a large number of Australia's immigrants are from countries such as China and India, though the United Kingdom and New Zealand respectively remain the two largest single sources of immigrants.
[编辑] 影响
Today the majority of Australians maintain a European background. Some 85% of Australians are of European ancestry, the most frequently stated ancestries being English: 33.9%, Irish: 10.2%, Italian: 4.3%, German: 4.0%, Scottish: 2.9%, and Greek: 2.0%. Some 12% are Asian (which include Turkish, Arab, Persian, Indian Sub-continental, South East Asian and East Asian), 3% are Aboriginal and other.[citation needed]
The Australian Bureau of Statistics is predicting that by 2100 there may well be very few Anglo-Celtic Australians left due to falling birth-rates in comparison to a population explosion from newly-arrived immigrants (see graphs).
Current demographic projections still holding true as of May, 2006 Falling birth-rate of native AustraliansToday support for racial restriction in migration is openly expressed by a small number of political groups such as One Nation. In the 1980s and 1990s their primary focus was on people from East and South East Asian background. Many people view the success of One Nation to be symptoms of the White Australia policy reasserting itself. In recent year, the focus of this sentiment has shifted to people of Middle Eastern origin or culture. It has been argued that the 2005 Sydney race riots are a result of the policy of multiculturalism. Conversely, it has also been argued that the riots took place due to a lack of multiculturalism.[citation needed]
However, much more profound effect of White Australian Policy can be seen in the discussion of Australian identity within the general public. The view that the White Australian Policy was not racist is still openly expressed by both sides of the political spectrum. The argument is largely based on the argument that the principal force driving policies of racial exclusion in Australia was not a belief that non-Europeans were inferior, but fear of their economic competition and fear of the continent being swamped was well justified.[citation needed] Indeed during the height of the policy, many Australian politicians, just like their South African counterparts, deflected the criticism of the policy along this line. For example, Prime Minister Edmond Barton stated, "I do not think that the doctrine of the equality of man was really ever intended to include racial equality. There is no racial equality. There is that basic inequality. These races are, in comparison with white races… Unequal and inferior." (Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates, 26 September 1901, p.5233)
Like other British Dominions, Australia was established as a white colony, replacing the native population in the process. Moreover, Australia is neighboured to non European countries. During the 1980s and 1990s, there were a number of views that were widely promoted by the government and media. These are Australian republicanism, Reconciliation with Aborigines, Multiculturalism, and Asia (or Asia Pacific which Australia is arguably a part of). Some conservatives in Australa ridiculed this by pointing out that Australia is a Western country based on a European heritage. The present government under John Howard's conservative coalition is often seen as the backlash to these movements.[citation needed]
In overseas, and in Australia, any policies or events which have the slightest racial implication are often seen in the light of history. This is reflected in the media coverage of Pauline Hanson, Pacific Solution, trial of Schapelle Corby in Indonesia and recent race riots in Sydney in December 2005. Moreover, former opposition Labor party leader Mark Latham, in his book The Latham Diaries, has referred to the ANZUS alliance as a legacy of the White Australia policy insinuating that the military alliance between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States has race as one of its founding principles
