Metics

commodorified points out it's Blog Against Racism week. You know, if I could do one thing in life on the personal level, I would wave my magic wand and cure my mother of her affliction in that respect.

Anyways, Che Tibby in Club Politique has been writing an on-and-off series of blogs on "metics" and in his latest one, he defines what that means:

In a nutshell 'metic' is a Classical Greek word for 'resident alien'. When applied as a label it indicates a person who is only a partial citizen. Perhaps they aren't allowed to vote, or aren't allowed the full spectrum of rights the average democracy extends to the average citizen.

It's an interesting concept, because it helps to highlight the precarious position of all kinds of individuals resident in a population. Recent migrants, refugees, some minorities, all kinds. Metic becomes a word that points directly at the stigma attached to not being an 'authentic' citizen. And not being authentic or real carries all kinds of problems.

He then goes on to discuss it in terms of some recent media gaybashing in NZ, but he's often discussed it in the wider sense:

What we have in multiculturalism is a method devised to accommodate the larger project of homogenising populations. The nation-state is a political system built around the idea of a single-identity group that has the sole right to govern. Another author called Wimmer calls nation-states a perpetual cultural compromise. When a group is introduced to a nation the majority makes subtle adjustments in the way it does things to make the other group welcome, and then absorbs it with minimal disruption to the larger nation-state. Wimmer provided a number of examples of this, and Australia could easily have been one of them.

Where multiculturalism falls over though is when placed next to minorities disinterested in assimilating into the majority. In other words, permanent metics.

It's an issue that Australia still has not solved. Although it really wants to make things better for Aboriginal people its default setting for minorities is, 'make them happy, and turn them into Australians'. But Aboriginal people keep insisting on remaining metics, while also being full Australian citizens.

This sends politicians into frenzies, and causes liberal philosophers no end of confusion. Because to be a citizen you have to be 'the same', but being a metic means you're not. And the answer to this has eluded thinkers for a fair old while.

Getting back to the blog entry I cited earlier:

You see, straight men are not metics. The world is made for straight white men. Straight white men are the unit standard when we do things like make laws and write rules. If you can't get a job, it's not 'the feminists' holding you back. If you can't get into a uni, it's not some 'maori quota'. If you can't get onto the local rugby team because you're too white and wee, it's not the fault of some big Islanders. Be a man and suck it up. Work a little harder. Try a different code. You get the picture.

I would add, if you're of a majority race in a country, the same applies. Get over yourself. If you're doing what you do well, there isn't any "affirmative action" scheme in the world that is going to deny you your just rewards.

And, get yourself into a position where you're the "metic" at least once. I can't vote here in Australia. That's working well for me at present in terms of feeling marginalised. It's interesting food for thought, even on that slight and subtle level.