The modern Australian Diaspora is exceptionally different to the ghost of the diaspora past. It is one grounded in globalisation, economic rationalism/liberalism and the economic flows between nations. It isn't backpacker based or cultural flight; in fact you would be hard pressed to find any modern Australian Diasporan who considers Australia a cultural backwater. However, the modern diaspora is internationally focused in economics and politics, in these areas the cringe of geopolitical isolation still exists.
As
Gary Sauer-Thompson pointed out
:
My quick response to [Patrick] West is that Australia's diaspora is composed of professionals working in a global marketplace in jobs that are unavailable in their homeland, rather than elite intellectuals such as the old English standbys of Clive James and Germaine Greer.That style of cultural cringe is gone; long gone. There is still a cringe though but it is political and economic. In the political sphere Australian politicians still enjoy the appearance of geopolitical isolation and attempt to deny both our geography as well as the increasing claustrophobia of globalisation and telecommunications. Too often politics and economics is grounded in the big state-nationalist policies of the nation-state rather than the modern market-state. The modern Australian Diaspora, on the other hand, is part of the market-state view of the globe. Most modern diasporans are part of the international labor workforce which flows readily from location to location. Adam is a good example of this effect; in the time that SSR has been up and running he has worked in the UK, China, Australia and Singapore. The biggest inhibitor for diasporans is big-state nationalism which restricts global labor markets and makes it difficult for diasporans to move from economy to economy in order to gain the greatest remuneration for their skills - not to mention adventure along the way. The tyranny of distance is largely gone, and is only felt when the body is lugged across oceans; for instance I dread the cross-pacific flight - fourteen hours in the air is hard on the body. However I can stay in quick contact with my family and friends through telecommunications. I have what are effectively conference calls with a mate, his family and kids via google talk. The modern diaspora, globalisation and telecommunications combine to make the old mercartor projection of a map obsolete. Australia has lost its tyranny of distance and the good old standby excuse of geopolitical isolation. The market-state and its engaged political and economic citizens - no matter where they happen to be living and working - warp the map into a political and economic cartogram . What this does is relocate Australia - politically and economically. Our policies should reflect that cartogramic view of Australia. This means dumping the big-state nationalist policies of the GAPF and protecting QANTAS 's routes as well as making citizenship and enfranchisement more liberal and republican by changing the relationship between individual and government such that any individual with a political relationship to the state - ie under its jurisidiction - has full political and enfranchisement rights. A market-state is dominated by fluid labor and capital, it cannot afford the inefficiencies of the nation-state which is dominated by accidents of birth.
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