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I watched the discussion last nite on the Wikileak about right Wing Labor minister's close relationship with the American Embassy. the Americans described him as not 'overly deferential'. What was interesting about the discussion was the framing. The metaphor of 'outing' was used in reference to the disclosure about Arbib. the 'necrvousness' and 'trepidation' of politicians about future leaks was also broached. However in the official discussion that followed we were assured by most politicians that what Arbib did was simply business as usual and we should not worry unduly about it. Thus NICOLA ROXON, HEALTH MINISTER said 'It's part of the work that we do and I don't think people should read anything at all sinister into that' However there were hints of reservations about this business as usual. So HEATHER EWART the ABC's political editor said : What concerns some seasoned observers is that these latest leaks reveal a relationship that could be interpreted as being a little too close and one that fails to adequately address relations with China, for example. In a similar vein a defence expert, Hugh White ( LOWY INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY) said: I don't think there's anything inherently improper about it. I guess what's striking about it though is how hard people in the Labor Party, people in Australian politics in general, work at being liked by the Americans, and there's nothing wrong with being liked by the Americans, but what strikes me about what we've seen in the WikiLeaks saga so far is so little evidence of us asking for something back, so little evidence of us trying to really have a serious conversation with Americans about what's important to us. What is being broached here is the debate or hesitations in elite circles about the anomaly that we are economically dependent on China, but politically and militarily dependent on the USA a potential enemy of China. There is a tensions here that continues to surface from time to time. The final framing of the program was that the leaks were 'embrassing' and 'uncomofrtable' and the signing off from Ewart was 'There are more damaging headlines expected in Fairfax newspapers tomorrow. ' I am especially interested in understanding the references to embarrassing in the program's framing. If nothing untoward was going on, why the embarrassment? Well the answer lies in what it reveals about the nature of the relationships between Australia and the US of A. the metaphors which would normally be used to describe such a relationship are, as a good friend pointed out to me, unfortunately heterosexist. So I will be content with 'grovelling' to describe how Australian politicians approach American leaders. There is a sense of shame as well there might be and from time to time it surfaces. Along side the sense of shame there is a fear that the alliance with the US is not entirely in Australia's best interests, nor is it something that one can be morally proud of. comradely Gary ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
