Postcolonialism, A. B. Originals’ January 26, And Lakemba Muslim Colony In Sydney

Effects of imperialism and colonialism on religion and culture of natives

Discuss about the Theorising Media for Postcolonialism.

Postcolonialism is defined as the theory that mainly based on the effects and legacy of imperialism and colonialism on a particular region or country. This theory mainly explains the consequences on the religion and culture of the native people who were exploited by the colonial rulers during the imperial and colonial period. During the period of 13^th to 15^th century, many European nations started expeditions around the world for establishment of colonies in various regions (James 2013). These European nations included the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, Germans, Belgians and most notably the French and the English. The Portuguese people mainly colonized in South America, the Spanish in Africa and Central America, the Dutch in Southern Africa and Eastern Asia, the French in various parts of Africa and India and the British in different parts of the world including North America, Australia, India, South East Asia and others. While some of the colonies were short lived, many stayed for two or more centuries. Throughout this period, the imperialist forces tortured and exploited the natives and aboriginals for extracting money, resources and other riches from the colonies to fill the treasuries of their own countries (Frew 2014). This period also brought about massive changes in culture, religion and other practices of the natives. Although the colonial rules have been withdrawn most parts of the world a long time ago, the exploitations of natives in different countries still continues to exist even today.

This essay has been prepared for analyzing A. B. Original’s song January 26 and a newspaper story from The Daily Telegraph and finding the hidden messages regarding postcolonialism.

January 26 by A. B. Originals – January 26 is a song by Australian Hip Hop duo A. B. Originals and the name of the song refers to the 26^th January that is mainly known as Australia Day. Australia Day is celebrated on the day the first British fleet reached Port Jackson of Australia in 1788. This day also marks the beginning of the colonial rule in Australia. Since this day celebrates the start of colonial rule in Australia, most of the natives and aboriginals of the country have time and again conduct protests against the celebration of this particular day. Since the start of the colonial rule in Australia, more and more British people came and settled in Australia uprooting the natives from their homes and exploiting them as slaves (Lousley 2013). Throughout the colonial period, the colonial people gradually settled and spread their bloodlines in Australia. Nowadays, these people are mistaken as native Australians although their ancestors came from England and other imperialist countries whereas the native indigenous people of Australia are mainly the Torres Strait Islands and other tribes that existed in Australia from much longer before the first colonial invasion in 1788. The hip hop duo A. B. Originals have brought up this issue and expressed the aboriginals’ frustration on the celebration of Australia Day on January 26 in this particular song (Young 2016). In this first part of the song, the lyrics are – “You can call it what you want; But it just don’t mean a thing; No, it just don’t mean a thing; Fuck that, homie; You can come and wave your flag; But it don’t mean a thing to me; No, it just don’t mean a thing; Fuck that, homie”. In the first line, the singers speak for the natives that the colonial people can celebrate the day as Australia Day but it does not mean anything to them. Here, ‘you’ refers to the colonial natives who have settled in Australia through several generations since 1788 and ‘it’ refers to Australia Day i.e. January 26. While it is celebrated by the colonial settlers as their first arrival date in Australia, the aboriginal natives consider the date as their loss of independence as they had to lose their original homes as work as slaves for the colonial nation. Furthermore, the colonial rule also implemented their own laws, rules, religious practices, cultures and others that did not acknowledge the existing laws and practices of the native originals. This also implies that the natives also have to follow the rules and practices set by the colonists rather than follow their own. Use of explicit language in the song signifies the frustration of the aboriginals regarding the celebration of Australia Day that marked the end of their natural independence in the country (Loomba 2015). The song also expresses frustration against orientalism spread by the colonial settlers regarding the massive differences of cultural and other practices between their “superior” culture and the aboriginals’ “inferior” culture. The use of explicit language and words like “And we can do it on your Nan’s grave (got that, bitch?); We can piss up, piss on her face” signifies the frustration of aboriginals through their “inferior” language as branded by the colonial settlers. The song also speaks about the resistance created by the aboriginals against the celebration of the Australia Day on January 26. In the video of the song, it can be seen that a man comes out of his apartment with an Australian flag on his shoulder as he goes out on the streets to attend certain appointments (Sutton 2016). In the midway, two local men take away the flag and the barbeques from him. The man with the Australian flag represents a colonial native while two men who took away the flag represent the local natives. The carrying of the flag on the shoulder signifies that the colonial native needs to carry around a flag to show that he is Australian whereas the natives took away the flag as they believe do not need a piece of cloth (flag) to prove their identity. This situation is further powered by the fact that it is placed on January 26 i.e. Australia Day. Through the lyrics, the singers also suggest celebration of Australia on a different day, e.g. March 8 when they could be able to talk about other significances instead of January 26. In the later part of the video, it is seen that the colonial native is arrested by three moral policemen (representing the native aboriginal people) as a sign of protest against celebration of the particular day. In the final verses of the song, the singers emphasize on the demand to celebrate Australia Day on any date except January 26 as this marks the beginning of land-taking and flag-waving of the invaders resulting in the compromise of the survival of the aboriginals (Lydon and Rizvi 2016). Throughout the entire length of the song, the singers express in explicit language how aboriginals have been suffering in their own homeland since the arrival of the British imperialist forces in 1788.

Frustration of aboriginals regarding the celebration of Australia Day

‘Last drinks in Lakemba: Tim Blair takes a look inside Sydney’s Muslim Land’ – This is mainly based on a newspaper story that was published in The Daily Telegraph on August 18, 2014. The story is based on the experiences of a journalist of The Daily Telegraph, Tim Blair in the Lakemba Hotel, Haldon St., New South Wales, Australia. Haldon Street is known for the Muslim colony and the monoculturism practised throughout the area. For a long time, Australia has been inhabited by various Asian and Europeans like Indians, Pakistanis, Greek, Serbian, English and others (Strakosch 2014). As a result, several mixed cultures have grown and Australia is commonly referred to as the mixed cultural nation. This is mainly due to hybridity of various cultures (which is also ambivalent to the basic definition of colonialism). The main essence of colonialism is to establish rule and control over a certain region by driving out the aboriginal natives from the same or exploit them for national gains. On the other hand, hybridity is about mixing with the native culture to produce new hybrid culture that will be acceptable to the hybrid generations (for instance, people with Serbian father and Greek mother, etc.). Since the withdrawal of the colonial rule in Australia, various cultures came together and interbred with each other producing mix cultures (Yuki and Masami 2016). However, Tim Blair states that this Haldon St. in Lakemba is a unique example of monoculture area in Australia and the most notable thing here is that the monoculture is not English or Native Australian. The entire colony has been built up by the Muslims, especially the Arabian people who came to Australia in search of higher education and jobs. However, the Muslim people generally like to set up colonies so that they can live together in communities rather than individual places (Hediger 2015). The journalist Tim Blair visited the Lakemba Hotel in Haldon Street, a solitary Anglo-hideout within the Muslim colony. He noted all the features of the area and the advantages and disadvantages of an Anglo-hotel in a Muslim colony like Lakemba. For the advantages, Tim mentioned that during Ramadan, the markets remain at late hours (even at 3 am) and there are numerous Muslim hotels that serve tasty dishes that are not native for the Australians. However, there are numerous other disadvantages of the same. The main disadvantage includes Muslim protests (called Jihads) often raise the community to start protests in the area especially in front of non-muslim population including the Lakemba hotel. A recent incident was described by one of the hotel residents as a protest by some young Muslim men holding black flags and uttering the word “Jihad” against the Israeli invasion of Palestine. Another incident was depicted by a non-muslim woman who was called as “sharmuta” by the local young muslim men several times. The word “sharmuta” translates as prostitute in english. The main problem with the muslim community in the area is that they will start protesting against certain movements in this colony even if the subject of protest is occurring thousands of miles away from Lakemba. Also, due to Australia’s allowance for non-natives to settle in the country, many wanted criminals from faraway lands like Iraq, Iran flee from their country and eventually hide in this Lakemba community (Habermann and Keller 2016). There have been several incidents of mass arrests in Lakemba when the associates of fundamentalist Islamic State extremists were taken and handed over to the Interpol. Several riots have taken place in Sydney by the Muslim community of Lakemba as a result of the arrests and jihad movements. On the light of postcolonialism theory, it can be said that the Muslim community in Australia is not a direct colony as they have not come to the country for ruling and controlling the natives. However, this is a passive colonialism as they have established their own community in Lakemba and they are also on the process of imposing their own culture and practices on the natives of the same region (Wu 2016). The Lakemba Hotel is a glowing example of the same as it is forced to close before 8.30 PM in the evening as the Muslim population disregard the sale of alcohol and late night services in hotels. Furthermore, the hotel is forced to remove the Gideon’s Bible but have a Ramadan eating schedule.

Hidden messages in A. B. Original’s song January 26

Conclusion

Finally, from the analysis of the entire essay, it can be concluded that Australia has been subjected to both active and passive colonialism by various imperialist and extremist forces both of which have massively impacted the lives and survival of native aboriginals of Australia. The singer duo of A. B. Originals and the journalist Tim Blair have aptly presented the existing situation of the native aboriginals of Australia. Both of the pieces present in a symbolic away the oppression on the native Australians by the colonial British and the extremist Muslims. The singers have presented the effects of the colonial British rule on the survival and basic rights of the aboriginals of Australia whereas Tim Blair shares his experience of the effects of Muslim colonization of Lakemba where even the natives are forced to abide by the Muslim rules and schedules in order to survive. From both the pieces, it can be concluded that although Australia is free from colonial rule, the natives have never been freed, they have been slowly pushed to the oblivion whereas the colonial settlers have established themselves as the neo-natives of Australia.

References

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