Coincidental to the introduction of Asians into this discussion, I woke up this morning to a discussion on the radio on Australia's involvement in the construction of a global line of colour.

The person being interviewed on that link is one of two authors of a book that has apparently only recently been published (and I haven't yet read it) but the bit that sparked my attention from half asleep to slightly more awake was (what I thought to be) the assertion that the rise of democracy as a mode of government, in the second half of the 19th century, was follwed by a rise in paranoia on the part of a group of countries that "identified themselves as white", viz the US, Britain and its major "white" dominions (Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand), and the European colonial powers such as France, Germany, Holland and Belgium; the Iberians and the Russians were left out, apparently.

It was this group that saw the need to protect themselves and defined "colour" as a discriminating criterion, with themselves as being white and in control. According to (my recollection of) the interview, this was tested by the Japanese defeating Russia in the 1904-5 war and raising the question "Were the Japanese 'white'?" And, by inference, "us"? The answer was "No!" *

There was a lot more, some of it quite damning of Australian govt behaviour, some of which was apparently quite influential in the US but I'll have to take the time to both listen to the audio properly and go and read the book. This post is just a 'heads up' to a relevant item and I put the link in so that those of you who are interested can check it out independently.

* The Japanese treatment of the Ainu from Hokkaido as well as occidentals (quite "intitutionalised") adds another layer to our discussion but is best kept for a separate thread, I think.

Cheers, Rowan