On Father’s Day I enjoyed the most authentic Italian food I’ve had in Australia and I wanted to share something about the experience. But this post is not really about food.
This is about the value of immigration at a moment in history when immigration is being criticised, including – incredibly – by immigrants and their descendents, themselves.
You see after enjoying this meal I was on a natural (and slightIy wine-induced) high and was speaking with the restaurant owner, a recent immigrant to Australia from Milan, Italy. I told him we have a second home in Abruzzo and visit when we can. Fairly soon he said that Italy has a big problem – migration.
Now, knowing how difficult it is (and has been for very many years) in Italy for young people to make a good start in life, and since he had emigrated also like many young Italians do, I jumped to the wrong conclusion thinking he was talking about loss of young people through emigration.
But in the car my family quickly righted my error. Of course he was talking about immigration into Italy.
An emigrant is also an immigrant, so it seems strange they would complain about immigration, right?
But it’s the thing to do right now, isn’t it, as our societies become more polarised as (far) right politicians increasingly seek to divide us for their political gain.
I’ve heard the opposite, too, an immigrant to Italy complaining about immigrants ruining the country from which they emigrated.
It seems oddly – nonsensically – hypocritical until you focus on the real issue.
It’s not really about people entering a country, is it – it’s about the type of people, and especially the colour of their skin.
The real underlying force at work here is xenophobia and specifically ‘white supremacy’.
Immigration is something the ‘white’ people who have immigrated to these lands now known as Australia have a long history of being concerned about. In fact, the ‘White Australia Policy’ was in force for longer than the 50 odd years that have passed since it was abolished in the 70s.
Besides the enormous hypocrisy that the only true non-immigrants on these lands have had their complexions blackened from living 65,000+ years on these tough lands where anybody with light skin gets skin cancer …
The problem is who are ‘acceptable’, and more specifically, who is ‘white’.
So if you are somebody living in Australia right now who is not entirely of British descent, it might be a good time for you to put the following prompt into your favourite AI assistant:
“How was it that the White Australia Policy excluded some Europeans from migrating?”
If you do you will learn the extent that migration system went to exclude all bar the ‘British ideal’ immigrant. (Below the Gemini result that I was given.)
I would suggest those in Australia inclined to criticise immigration and for whom blinding hypocrisy is not enough to make them rethink regurgitating the far right anti-immigration propaganda, I suggest they do a little thinking forward to where all of this is heading.
Dividing people has no end since there is always someone more righteous or deserving – more supremely ‘white’ – than others. Pulling that thread of division leads to a total (social) unravelling unless enough smart, caring and courageous people stand up against it.
These movements born of hate snowball and get out of control – eg although hate towards Jewish people grew amongst Germans (and elsewhere) through the the 1930s, the Nazis first answer to the so-called “Jewish problem” was forced emigration, and the decision to carry out genocide through extermination (important to keep in mind we are talking about human life when we write and read these words) did not crystallise until 1941.
There are people now in Australia who subconsciously made themselves feel more included and safe by voting ‘No’ in the Voice referendum who now are feeling decidedly unwelcome and unsafe.
We all know which communities I am referring to.
Who will be next?
People of Italian, Greek, Spanish descent?
And what about women in the work force?
Many of these far right nutters – including many of the super wealthy American businessmen bankrolling the strategy, including some famous ones you may know of – believe in ‘traditional’ gender roles.
If you think you can personally take and leave the parts of this so-called ‘anti-woke’ agenda you agree with, think again.
When you support extreme division based on aggression – lacking compassion and empathy – you are highly likely to end up the target of that derision before too long, and you will then need to accept that you are partly responsible for the pain you suffer along with those you love …
Anyhow, what really is so wrong about caring about all people equally?
I though that was what religions were supposed to preach and I know it is what most people teach their children, even if they often undo that teaching in their own actions they role model.
I haven’t been back to the restaurant yet – I haven’t been able to bring myself to support this guy given his divisive views. This post would have been all about the food and I would have told lots of people to go there and I would have written a google review raving about it. But I won’t.
I will, however, go occasionally when I miss authentic Italian food in the long gaps between being able to visit my second home. And the reason I’ll do that is because of the wisdom of my sons who basically said that we can’t just discount everyone who has such ignorant (ie naive and harsh) views because that just leaves us more isolated, and anyhow, by engaging with people you may have opportunities to challenge their views to help them grow as people.
I am so proud of those two ❤…
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© Copyright Brett Edgerton 2025
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