Here
is the short answer: it’s bloody pointless, mate. However,
I’ll try a longer one as well. But let us ask at first: what
actually is multicultural publishing supposed to be? Is it simply
multilingual publishing or publishing in a language other than English
or just any communication of an ethnic minority?
I honestly don’t
know, as I don’t even believe that true multiculturalism per
se exists. When I arrived in Australia in the late eighties I already
was publishing contemporary literature for a decade or so in the German
language. Publishing literature as such is hard enough. Let alone
in a foreign language. Besides, it is absolutely pointless to do so
for there is no market. The few German language books asked for in
Australia are more easily ordered and shipped from Austria, Germany
or Switzerland. The books of Australian authors I published in the
German language or in bilingual editions where targeted for the European
market. The hundred or so copies sold in local foreign language bookshops
certainly do not justify a commercial publishing house.
So why do we
discuss multicultural publishing, if it does not exist? Stretching
the topic a little more I even doubt multiculturalism. If it describes
a melting pot of nations and cultures like in the American society,
it is not multiculturalism. If it describes the coexistence of cultures
next to each other without much interference, as it is the Australian
reality, it is not multiculturalism. What’s the point of living
in Bondi Junction as a Jewish Australian, in Leichhardt as an Italian
Australian, in Lakemba as an Arabic Australian, in Surry Hills as
a Greek Australian or in Cabramatta as an Asian Australian? The list
can easily be extended. What’s the point in sending the kids
to ethnic schools, effectively separating them from the Australian
culture? Do we want to become a conglomerate of little foreign colonies?
The people of
this great country come from many places in the world and arrive for
many reasons. And there lies some of the problematic issues. One can
live here forever without the feeling to belong. True multiculturalism
should be expressed in an oath that we all speak English, feel comfortable
in T-shirts and thongs and call our next door neighbour mate, regardless
of his or her colour of skin or whatever. This, as we have seen, does
not work. For example, I have friends of Lebanese background, for
they are Lebanese Australians. Not Lebanese who rather live in a Muslim
country anyway. I have gone out with Hungarian, French, Greek, Colombian,
and Portuguese Australians and our common tongue was always English;
however, I have also met an East Timorese Australian who managed to
live in Sydney for twenty-five years without learning a single word
of English. That’s not what I call multiculturalism. Her having
access to media in the Portuguese language and the support of the
refugee community was even contributing to this non-integration.
So, is multicultural
publishing the wrong instrument for a better multicultural society?
(Or a ‘cosmopolitan’, as Ivor Indyk prefers to call it,
and I agree.) Yes, we do not need an Austrian Club in Sydney for Austrians.
I have not been there in twelve years and I’m proud of it. If
there is one, it should be for Australians. We do not need Arabic
schools for Muslim kids. If there is one, it should be for Australians.
We do not need German language newspapers or community radio. If there
are any published or broadcasted by Germans, they should be in the
English language. We do need SBS TV and radios programs, foreign film
festivals and language bookshops — and we certainly appreciate
the international cuisine in the many restaurants; however, we do
not need multicultural publishing.
Oops, now I have
made some enemies, for it is not politically correct to condemn multiculturalism.
Thank God I’m not of Anglo Saxon background – being a wog
boy myself, I can openly take a stand in this sensible issue. But
now that this is established I might as well take it further: I would
stop funding multicultural projects, ethnic newspapers, and private
schools. Take all these saved millions and give it back to the people.
Spend it on Aboriginal reconciliation. On education for all these
wog boys like me so we all speak and write better English. On publishing
houses that do foreign literatures in translation. On bilingual websites.
On so much more, that fosters one Australian people shaped from a
great many culture, and one understanding.
This
paper was presented at the NSW Writers’ Centre
Rozelle, 20 October 2001