Chileans in Australia: The Other 9/11 and the Legacy of the Pinochet Regime

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

By Zuleyka Zevallos, PhD

Today is the “Other September 11.” On this day in Chile, 1973, President Salvador Allende was killed in a coup by Augusto Pinochet. My blog post explores the ongoing impact of this event on Chileans living in Australia.

In his historic speech, Allende’s final address to the nation, he talks of his sacrifice against imperial forces and his vision for the future. SBS News has a great website commemorating this event, including the role that the Australian Government played in feeding intelligence to the USA, which eventually led to the rise of the Pinochet regime. When the Australian Labor government came to power in 1972, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam is said to have been appalled about Australia’s involvement in the coup and removed his Government’s political support.

Australia began accepting Chilean refugees in the mid-1970s. The Chilean-Australian community grew from 6,000 in 1971 to over 24,000 by 1991. Continue reading Chileans in Australia: The Other 9/11 and the Legacy of the Pinochet Regime

Dangerous Ignorance: Madonna Calls Obama a “Black Muslim”

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

By Zuleyka Zevallos

During a recent concert, Madonna lent her support to the re-election of USA President Obama and praised his support for gay rights. All highly commendable. The problem is that she reproduces the myth that Obama is a “Black Muslim.” Madonna’s heart seems in the right place; she is encouraging voting and, on the surface, “tolerance.” Unfortunately, her lack of awareness about the politics of race in America has led Madonna to inadvertently buy into the “birther” movement. Birther conspiracy theorists argue that Obama is hiding his true birthplace from the American public. Obama’s “foreign sounding” name (read: non-Anglo sounding) and the fact that his father was born in Nigeria helped fuel the the idea that Obama was born overseas and that he is Muslim. Birthers demanded the President show his birth certificate, despite the fact that he was born in the American state of Hawaii. By claiming him to be a foreigner and a Muslim, birthers hoped to remove Obama from office. By inadvertently perpetuating an element of this discourse, Madonna displays an alarming disconnect with American politics. My argument is about the deep seated power of racism – which creeps into every day consciousness as taken-for-granted “facts.”

Continue reading Dangerous Ignorance: Madonna Calls Obama a “Black Muslim”

After Years in Limbo, the New Australian Asylum Seeker Program Promises to be More Humane

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos
Painting by Syed Ruhollah Musavi. Photographed by Newtown Grafitti.

By Zuleyka Zevallos

Australia’s refugee policies have been increasingly problematic since the 2001 lead up to the Federal election, which was focused on “the problem of boat people” and the so-called “Tampa Boat Crisis”. A new program that links asylum seekers with Australian families is causing some controversy, but it promises to be a more humane alternative to off shore detention of refugees.

In August 2011, the media beamed images of refugees being rescued off an overcrowded, sinking fishing vessel that was stranded six hours away from one of Australia’s offshore territories, Christmas Island. The Tampa was the ship that answered their distress call for rescue.

Refugee Rights Protest at Broadmeadows, Melbourne
Photo: Tavker, via Flickr CC 2.0

Continue reading After Years in Limbo, the New Australian Asylum Seeker Program Promises to be More Humane

Sociology of Altrusim

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos
The Bad Chemicals, Sharing is Caring

In a vexing new twist on the established theories of altruism, a neurologist, an engineer and a veterinarian argue that ‘selflessness’ can be ‘pathological’. They’re talking about human behaviour, even though they are not social scientists who are trained to study the social consequences of human behaviour. Natalie Angier’s New York Times article interviews the researchers about their upcoming book, ‘Pathological Altruism’, which will explore the hazardous and self-destructive extremes of ‘helpful behaviour’. The research used to exemplify ‘pathological altruism’ includes:

  • highly empathetic nurses who ‘burn out’ because they care too much for their patients
  • anorexic patients in hospitals,
  • victims of abuse,
  • so-called ‘animal hoarders’ (people who take care of too many animals they cannot afford to keep).

There are several individual and institutional causes for stress, mental illness and abuse that are not easily explained by altruism-gone-wrong. It seems especially problematic to suggest that a victim of abuse is being altruistic through their experiences of violence. Provocative, yes. Helpful? Probably not. The sociological study of altruism reveals why this is the case.

Continue reading Sociology of Altrusim

Satire of Media Reporting

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Rules of Crime Reporting - The Other SociologistThe first episode of The Hamster Wheel by The Chaser team aired on ABC1 last Wednesday. It offered a thoroughly amusing and scathing analysis of media reporting. There were so many golden moments of media and political satire. The show got me thinking about the reality of crime versus the way crime victims are represented by the media, as well as political journalism and ‘non-news’ (tabloid gossip dressed up as news).

My favourite segment on the Hamster Wheel was their send-up of journalism practices during tv reports on crimes. This included a pithy summary of the horrible ways in which some journalists harass victims and their families – a.k.a. the ‘four rules of crime reporting’:

  1. Stand outside grieving victim’s houses;
  2. Talk to a reluctant neighbour;
  3. Film the Victim’s Roof; and
  4. Keep People Calm (by drumming up misleading crime statistics). (See the video 24m:21s.)

I particularly enjoyed this segment on the Hamster Wheel because these familiar journalism clichés are morally dubious and they have always annoyed me. Mass media representations of crime are studied by sociologists and cultural criminologists.  The quality and content of media reporting on crimes varies across different media sources. Nevertheless, studies consistently find that television networks play a negative role in misinforming the public about the factual rate of crime. This is the case in the USA, Britain, Australia, Trinidad and in many other mainstream television news services around the world.

Continue reading Satire of Media Reporting

The Wrap Up: Media Coverage of the 10th Anniversary of the September 11 Attacks

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos
Image Credit: 9/11Memorial.org

This is the third and final post in a series covering the lead up to the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. This one focuses on news coverage; technology and social media issues; and media discourses about the so-called ‘Decade 9/11’ and ‘Gen 9/11’.

Continue reading The Wrap Up: Media Coverage of the 10th Anniversary of the September 11 Attacks

Impact of the September 11 Attacks on Australian-Muslims

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos
Image credit: Sailor Coruscant 2010 Im not even sure Flickr

This is the second post in a three-part series reviewing the media and research released in commemoration of the 10-year September 11 Anniversary. Without doubt, the ongoing trauma and health issues faced by the survivors of the September 11 attacks have high ongoing social costs for American society. This article focuses on the impact that the September 11 attacks had on the lives of Australian-Muslims. I was inspired by a SBS Radio vox pop with Muslim and Sikh Australians, which I will go on to analyse.[i] The people interviewed talked about how they managed the increased racism and stigma they have faced since 2001. Ten years after the attacks, studies show that a high proportion of Australians perceive Muslims as ‘outsiders’ who do not fit in with Australian society.[ii] My analysis shows that living with racism requires a lot of ‘emotion work’, particularly because Muslims mostly deal with racist encounters on a one-on-one basis.

Continue reading Impact of the September 11 Attacks on Australian-Muslims

Public Health Impact of the September 11 Attacks

Posted on by Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

Public Health Impact of the September 11 AttacksThis is Part One of a three-part series summarising some of the public discussions about the September 11 Anniversary. This one focuses on renowned scientific journal, The Lancet, which recently published a special edition on the ongoing health problems arising from the suicide attack in the USA and from the consequent ongoing War in Iraq.

The Lancet reports that in addition to the 3,000 people who died in the September 11 attacks in 2001, there has been a reverberating impact on the physical, mental and public health of over 200,000 Americans.1  I review papers on the health outcomes on the victims and the rescue crews who worked on the World Trade Centre site. I also discuss findings on the 43,000 suicide attack civilian casualties resulting from the Iraq war and a further 200 coalition soldiers. Finally, I include a brief review of the public health preparedness in the USA. Though this has drastically improved since the September 11 attacks, the ongoing economic crisis remains a challenge.

Continue reading Public Health Impact of the September 11 Attacks