The (E)Merging Bodies of Defence Nationalism: Flesh, Land, Law
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1 The (E)merging Bodies of Defence Nationalism: Flesh, Land, Law Liam Fraser Gillespie ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4785-1334 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. School of Social and Political Sciences. July 2018 2 Abstract This thesis examines emerging (and possibly subsiding) far-right ethnic nationalist groups in Australia and the UK, including the English Defence League and the Australian Defence League. For reasons outlined in the thesis, I refer to these groups as defence nationalists: as nationalists who imagine themselves as defenders of the nation and as national subjects par excellence. Throughout the thesis, I explore the narratives, imaginaries and subjectivities that sustain these groups, as well as the narratives, imaginaries and subjectivities these groups sustain. I argue that defence nationalism subsists in intersecting fantasies of flesh, land and law, which work to construct the nation and nationality as a 'fact' of the body for nationalists. I hold that through these fantasies, defence nationalists imagine a symbiotic relationship with the nation, whereby the nation is a part of the nationalist only insofar as the nationalist is a part of the nation. I argue that for defence nationalists, both the body and body politic penetrate and are penetrated by one another; contain and are contained by one another; possess and are possessed by one another; inhabit and are inhabited by one another; and, care for and are cared for by one another. Throughout, I explore how and why defence nationalists attempt find the self with/in the nation and the nation with/in the self. The task of this thesis is to explore entanglements of flesh, land and law that do not constitute a mere linking, but an elision such that it is impossible to distinguish where one body ends and another begins. I consider how these entanglements of flesh, land and law provide nationalists with the defence league as a body that functions as a prosthetic that both authors and authorises practices of embodiment, speech, violence and identification. Drawing on a range of critical and psychoanalytic theorists, most notably the work of Jacques Lacan, I ultimately argue that unlike other nationalist groups, defence nationalists are not primarily concerned with realising their avowed political projects. Instead, I show they are primarily concerned with constructing and then enjoying themselves as the self-ordained defenders of the nation—that is, as privileged national subjects who get to do the nation's defending. As I demonstrate, this means that that which threatens the nation can paradoxically have a fortifying effect upon defence nationalists, legitimising and securing both the way they see themselves and the position they see themselves occupying with/in the nation. 3 Table of Contents Abstract...............................................................................................................................................2 Acknowledgement............................................................................................................................4 Chapter 1: Scenes of Violence........................................................................................................5 Chapter 2: Ironic Indigeneity........................................................................................................40 Chapter 3: The Laws of Inclusion and Exclusion.....................................................................74 Chapter 4: “In hoc signo vinces”...................................................................................................99 Chapter 5: The Body as Real – Nostalgia Without Memory.................................................134 Chapter 6: Violent (Con)fusions of the Body..........................................................................162 Chapter 7: Imagined Immunity..................................................................................................183 Chapter 8: Sovereign Bodies Unto Themselves......................................................................212 Bibliography..................................................................................................................................222 4 Acknowledgements This thesis was funded with the support of an Australian Postgraduate Award, which assisted greatly in its production and for which I am grateful. The writing of this thesis was only possible with the generous support of my academic supervisors, Dr Juliet Rogers and Professor Adrian Little. It is often said that writing a thesis is an inherently selfish endeavour (and perhaps, sometimes, this is true). But on the other hand, it appears that supervising a thesis is the opposite: an inherently selfless endeavour requiring kindness, generosity, understanding and a great deal of patience. Each of these are qualities that both Juliet and Adrian have in spades. I thank you both for the significant time and effort you have put towards reading and critiquing the thesis. Without your advice, feedback and, most importantly, kindness, it simply would not have been possible. Thank you to Tom Newman-Morris, for our many discussions on all things Lacan (and beyond). I feel I benefited from these discussions much more than you...sorry about that! To my family – Gillespies, Andersens and extended – and to all of my friends and colleagues, I thank you for your support, encouragement and well-wishes over the last few years. Finally, thank you Lizzie and Max. I love you both more than you can imagine and wouldn't have been able to do this without you. I am looking forward to spending so much more time together, and that is the most important thing of all. 5 Chapter 1: Scenes of Violence Certainly there is a bone here... Jacques Lacan (2006, p.80). Scene One: “When the Sands Ran Red” On 11 December 2005, approximately 5000 people turned up to Cronulla Beach, a 'community' beach south-west of Sydney. The gathering, which culminated in the infamous Cronulla Riots, followed reports from the previous weekend of an assault against the patrolling life-savers by “persons of Middle-Eastern appearance” (NSW Police 2006, p.7). Both events were preceded by rumours of the “threatening” behaviour of “Middle-Eastern youths” towards everyday beach goers (NSW Police 2006, p.7). In response to the alleged assault on the life-savers, a call to arms was circulated by mass text-message: Aussies: This Sunday every fucking Aussie in the shire, get down to North Cronulla to help support Leb and Wog bashing day. Bring your mates down and let's show them that this is our beach and their [sic] never welcome back (Wilson 2005, my italics). Anthropologists and sociologists have observed that the beach is heavily implicated in narratives about what it means to be an 'Australian', and that as such, the beach holds a privileged status in the Australian cultural landscape (Fiske 1983; Fiske et al. 1987; Bonner et al. 2001; Evers 2008; Ellison & Hawkes 2016). National pastimes such as surfing, swimming and tanning are heavily associated with the beach and the Australian 'way of life' (Fiske 1983); moreover, in Australian culture, life-savers are imagined as emblematic figures of these practices (Fiske 1983). “We all dream of the sand and the sea, in Australia”, write Frances Bonner, Susan McKay and Alan McKee (2001, p.269), who conclude that the beach holds a “secure place in the national identity” (2001, p.270). In light of this, it seems that for those who rioted in Cronulla, the alleged assault against the patrolling life-savers had occurred deep within the symbolic national heartland of Australia—on the beach (Fiske 1983; Fiske et al. 1987; Bonner et al. 2001; Evers 2008). 6 In Australia, the beach is tied to more than just practices that reflect the so-called Australian 'way of life'. So too, the beach is associated with one of the most culturally revered and celebrated aspects of Australian (military) history: the Battle of Gallipoli. Fought by the Anzacs1 on the shores of the Gallipoli peninsula, in Turkey, the Battle of Gallipoli is often mythologised in Australia as the 'birth' of the 'Anzac spirit': a term that functions as a metonym for the so-called Australian spirit itself. During this battle, the Anzacs are said to have first embodied what would supposedly become quintessential 'Australian' values: courage, mateship, and resistance. Accordingly, the Battle of Gallipoli is often referred to as “the birth of the nation”, and the beach, “the place where it all began” (Holbrook 2017). The Australian War Memorial website, for example, reads: The legend of Anzac was born on 25 April 1915, and was reaffirmed in eight months' fighting on Gallipoli. Although there was no military victory, the Australians displayed great courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mateship. Such qualities came to be seen as the Anzac spirit. Many saw the Anzac spirit as having been born of egalitarianism and mutual support. According to the stereotype, the Anzac rejected unnecessary restrictions, possessed a sardonic sense of humour, was contemptuous of danger, and proved himself the equal of anyone on the battlefield. Australians still invoke the Anzac spirit in times of conflict, danger and hardship (Australian War Memorial n.d.). In the week leading up to the Cronulla Riots, a second racially charged text-message was widely circulated that directly referenced the above national mythology and iconography. It read: “Who said Gallipoli wouldn't happen