MON DROIT
February 2014
3
TOC - NEWS BRIEFLY
The Many Faces of the Right-Wing Grace O’Brien, BPES III
I
t’s early February, and just an hour outside of snow-drenched Boston I find myself listening to the nationally syndicated radio talk show, The Savage Nation, hosted by the infamous Dr Michael Savage.
HOLMELAND REPORT Holmeland
LOCATION: The University of Sydney Camperdown Campus TIME: 0900 hours SUBJECT The next USU president - Tara unlikely to end up ‘on top’... The race to become the next President of the USU is heating up, with Unity (Labor Right)’s man Robby Magyar the early front runner. Magyar has already begun lobbying for support. A source close to Magyar rated the ambitious board director’s chances at “better than 50%”, but added that “we are by no means overly confident”. Expected to provide the biggest challenge to a prospective Magyar presidency, is independent Tara Waniganayaka. The main obstacle to a prospective
Waniganayaka presidency, is fellow independent Tim Matthews - a director with wellknown presidential ambitions. Given that the independent faction doesn’t vote in a bloc, it is inevitable that one of the two would have to drop out if either were to pose a serious challenge to Magyar. One former board director opined that “it is likely neither can pose a credible threat to the common enemy because both want it so badly. Matthews will back himself, but realistically, he’ll have to pull out. Tara cannot win otherwise - it would split the vote”. Many see the current “swinging” - or crucial - voters, as being Kade Denton, Eve Radunz and Bebe D’Souza.
Vital to the presidential race, will be the composition of this year’s USU board. The USU election is in May, with the handful of successful candidates gaining a vote in the next presidential ballot. Mon Droit can report that several prospective candidates have been approached by Unity (Labor Right) with the promise of a strong preference deal. In exchange for votes, Unity are requesting a guaranteed vote for their candidate in the imminent election. However, a well known left-leaning Labor student remarked that “you can’t promise every candidate a preference deal. Unity have never been good with numbers though”. Mon Droit predicts an interesting pre-election fight between the vying factions.
Democracy in Asia Jennifer Zin BPES, II It was about three weeks ago that I found myself enjoying Capitalism in the centre of Bangkok’s busiest shopping districts. As an avid consumer with a keen interest in politics, it was difficult to choose whether I should fixate on the fervid cries for political stability that echoed from the ‘revolutionary’ masses on the piazza outside or continue shopping with a deep gratitude for the current exchange rate. Ultimately, and in a manner quite different to the current Thai Government, I failed to mute the cacophonic protests.
I expected to be doing on my trip abroad. However, it was difficult to ignore the multitude of defaced election posters that scattered the busy Asian streets. An unceremonious flashback to the election campaign of 2013, proved to be surprisingly inspiring. A number of my Young Liberal friends and myself devoted a lot of time last year campaigning for Hope, Opportunity and Reward. Whilst we were (happily) limited to the less militant, more conventional means of campaigning, in retrospect- we were involved in a sort of protest of our own.
Researching democracy and the footprints it has left in the South-East Asian political sphere was the last thing
Democracy accommodates these kinds of efforts. It’s hard to deny that Western forms of democracy have
pervaded certain niches in Eastern politics. But if we are considering a political landscape curved and characterized by an eclectic history of nepotism, monarchy and dictatorships, we should take note of why Post-colonial Democracy and its repercussions remain relevant today. Democracy remains relevant because Conservatism does. Values of collective identity, Nationalism and Tradition uphold pedigree in almost all of Asian history. Democracy has paralleled with the role of tradition in providing political legitimacy to Asian countries, amongst the growth of Modernity. Revisionist schools of thought will demonstrate how fundamental Conservative values are, in forging the nations we live amongst today.
To say that Savage is the most irate radio host I’ve ever listened to would be an understatement; one doesn’t have to be a supporter of ‘Destroy The Joint’ to have a visceral reaction to some of his outbursts. Though I will admit the man likely sounds zanier than he really his, the thought of him and myself being cast under the same political umbrella term – ‘right-wing’ – is a perplexing one. Umbrella terms are comprehensive and vague by nature, but it’s difficult to imagine what a ‘right-wing’ man like Savage might have in common with another right-wing man by the name of John Howard (see page 4). Likewise, it’s difficult to imagine Rick Santorum having anything in common with Malcolm Turnbull or David Cameron. It’s obvious that their political beliefs are as varied as their geography, yet I’d wager that no one would deny that these leaders are ‘right-wing’, themselves included. What does ‘right-wing’ mean then? Why do American conservatives seem at odds with their English and Australian counterparts? There are a number of answers to this question considering the fact that there are a number of ways to map the political spectrum. Straight-line continuums, quadrant models, and circular representations all demonstrate a different understanding of ‘right-wing’. Mapping politics falls victim to the same problems faced when mapping topography; the projection used to visualise the data will, in turn, distort it. So it isn’t surprising that gunsn-taxes Republicans are cast in the same net as straitlaced Tories. For the purpose of simplicity, Wikipedia has decided to describe right-wing politics as supporting forms of social hierarchy or inequality because of their supposed inevitability, naturalness or desirability. It goes on to point out that although the term originally and exclusively referred to traditional conservatives and reactionaries, ‘right-wing’ has also become the adjective of choice for neo-cons, nationalists, racial supremacists and religious fundamentalists. Ouch. Anything goes. Rather than asking what we precisely mean by right-wing, perhaps we should be asking how this meaning has diffused and how the term itself survives, having been spread so thin. Furthermore, should we accept this definitional expansion or should we strive to redefine and cleanse the term of its many…connotations? History, the advent of modern capitalism, classical liberalism, irrational Lockeanism, cult of constitution worship – all have something to do with the chasm between American and UK conservatives (a divide that exists modestly within the right-wing community in Australia, mind you). And yet, for all its quirks and inconsistencies, the right-wing umbrella remains in tact and unturned in the ideological thunderstorm. It unifies an otherwise extremely diverse group of people against a supposedly cohesive opposition; at the same time, of course, it gives said opposition an identifiable, delineated group to target. Should we be accepting of this? The expansion of the term right-wing is in many ways positive, specifically as it keeps us questioning our views and values. This, however, can breed factionalism - the canker sores of organised politics - which nobody is willing to acknowledge, let alone address. (It is worth noting that the ‘original’ right-wingers, the supporters of the Ancien Regime, were explicitly against the forming of factions). Whilst factionalism and diversity of opinion keeps us on our toes, it also puts people like myself - who (contrary to popular belief) doesn’t hate the poor, is mixed-race and follows a plant-based diet - in the same category as the Westboro Baptists. If we are to be successful and united in our opposition to ‘cultural Marxism’ and socialism, we need to rediscover what it means to be right-wing and either break ranks or put our differences aside. In any case, we need to be more sophisticated than ‘marriage, minorities & markets’, and we also need to accept that gathering at the pub to swoon over the British Royal family won’t do us any favours either. It’s time to get serious. Maybe someone should start a newspaper or something. Grace O’Brien is a creature of folklore known as the Conservative Political Economy student, and Publications Officer, Sydney University Liberal Club