And on a group level, no individual ethnic group has that much power over another much in a social democratic state that repudiates racial discrimination as policy, rather the Government has power over all, in a manner formally restricted from distinguishing by ethnicity.
'Power over' isn't the real issue, especially now we legally attempt to restrict discrimination based on race. 'Power to' is the big issue — power to obtain education, wealth, and opportunity, power to enforce their legal rights. In this, Arabic Australians have as much power as any Australian ethnic group with a reasonably high percentage of recent immigrants, which is to say not as much as white Australians, but still vastly more than most Indigenous Australians, particularly those in remote communities.
And if there are different levels of the ability to pursue wealth and other forms of privilege, and in ability to enforce legal rights, soon enough that starts to grant power over, because the rich and powerful always have some level of power over the poor and disempowered.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-01-21 04:22 am (UTC)'Power over' isn't the real issue, especially now we legally attempt to restrict discrimination based on race. 'Power to' is the big issue — power to obtain education, wealth, and opportunity, power to enforce their legal rights. In this, Arabic Australians have as much power as any Australian ethnic group with a reasonably high percentage of recent immigrants, which is to say not as much as white Australians, but still vastly more than most Indigenous Australians, particularly those in remote communities.
And if there are different levels of the ability to pursue wealth and other forms of privilege, and in ability to enforce legal rights, soon enough that starts to grant power over, because the rich and powerful always have some level of power over the poor and disempowered.