The power of organising: communities of colour shifting the tide towards racial justice

ID: A rainbow wash over a street scene with protestors, and a sign reading 'stop racism now'

Communities of colour have campaigned and organised our way out of becoming an election wedge. Marcella Brassett from Democracy in Colour explains how.

So far, this year it seems like communities of colour have managed to avoid being featured in race-to-the-bottom electioneering for the first time in decades. 

Since John Howard’s Prime Ministership, the Liberal National Party have used migrants and refugees as a divide and conquer tactic and a wedge to pin Labor on ‘national security’ or’ public safety’ issues. These tactics shifted the public conversation dramatically, and produced costly human rights abusing asylum policies that took more than 13 lives and caused unspeakable long term harm to 1000s of people - including many children. 

They also produced an brutally unfair and backed up visa system which has resulted in 1000s of people being trafficked for exploitative labour on temporary visas. 

People of Colour and refugees have successfully raised our voices on social media,  in traditional media, and by organising our communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have led powerful mass national Blak Lives Matter protests and marches against police violence that took the life of a Warlpiri teenager in Yuendumu. Communities have shifted people’s perspectives and understanding of the issues we face and the policies we need. 

Just weeks before the election was announced, the Morrison Government quietly released the remainder of the Medevac refugees from detention centres and announced that they are accepting New Zealand’s long standing offer to resettle refugees from Offshore Processing. Meanwhile, Labor has announced it will end this country’s dependence on short-term visa holders and make it easier for foreign workers to become permanent residents.

These wins have come from both moments of uprising and long campaigns by movements against human rights abuse and racial vilification. 

In the past four years, racial justice movements have been able to shift the narrative on asylum, making it less popular for right wing people within Governments to abuse  and vilify people seeking asylum, especially at election time. From the Manus Island protests to protests outside the hotel prisons, people seeking asylum have stood alongside ordinary citizens against abusive policies and won.

Peter Dutton’s vilification of Victorian African Communities during Victoria’s state election provoked a backlash on social media and ultimately, some have argued, contributed to the Liberal Party losing. Democracy in Colour campaigned in Frankston during the Victorian state election, alongside Environment Victoria and Victorian Trades Hall , showing the power in coalitions and the impact of allies in these seats choosing not to listen to blatant racism

This is not to say that racism has disappeared. Egregious examples demonstrate there is a still a long way to go. Peter Dutton and right wing media blaming China for Covid19 saw a rise in racist attacks against Chinese Australians, and Morrison told international students to “go home” when criticised for not including temporary visa holders in pandemic support measures. 

ID: A group of about 15 people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, wearing black Democracy in Colour shirts smile and raise a first in solidarity.

The India travel ban also happened but was quickly abandoned once communities of colour began to organise. At Democracy in Colour we ran a campaign to ensure Indian Australians could come home, and to highlight the inherent racism of differential treatment of Indian-Australians specially.  This starkly contrasted with Italian or American Australians who did not face the same blanket ban even when cases were surging in their countries.

People from Chinese backgrounds are collateral damage in Peter Dutton’s beating of war drums against China.

Both major parties still support the Boat Turn Back policy.

And Labor unashamedly parachuted white candidates into safe seats, where local talent of colour were up for preselection.

But racist vilification is not at the centre of election campaigning as it has been in the past. 

Effective campaigns led by people seeking asylum, First Nations peoples, migrants, people of colour and allies have forced a shift towards dignity and respect. Afterall Morrison is cooking - well undercooking - curries to solicit South Asian votes rather than vilifying us as job stealing invaders. 

We haven’t even heard a peep out of One Nation on migrants.  After their attempt to start a culture war over the Acknowledgement of Country in Parliament, it didn't take off.

So why has there been a shift? Well, communities organising against racism and human rights abuses works. 

At Democracy in Colour, we are guided by community organising to achieve our goals. Community organising is building the power and network of people of colour in order to self determine our own issues and solutions. It is deep listening, building self-determination, unifying people and harnessing our collective political power to win campaigns. 

We will always seek to centre the voices and solutions of those with lived experiences in our communities. 

We will keep organising until racism plays no part in Government policy or the public conversation altogether. And is no longer strategic to anyone. 

Marcella Brassett is the Training and Campaigns Lead at Democracy in Colour.  Marcella tweets from @MarcellaBrasset, and her instagram handle is marcella_brassett