My ideas for a propaganda sort of "message" have been building and changing as I do research into the cultures and economies of both India and China. I've been brainstorming visual interpretations of possible issues to choose, and at the moment I've been looking at a particular question/issue (see below).
Will Australia be advantaged or disadvantaged by the economic growth of both China and India?
The answer to this issue is very murky ("YES" might say prices will plummet from Chinese and Indian products that are made more cheaply and Aussie products will be driven from the markets, causing job losses; "NO" might push that the Australian economy benefits as we sell minerals and products to these economically expanding states) - so pushing a point either way would be really interesting because there is no clear cut answer.
At the moment I kind of think it's both, and I can visualise a whole range of angsty pictures and posters and messages for both that I can "push" on people: so in my developmental work I think I'll explore both sides of the argument/issue further.
I'm not completely settled on this "Australia disadvantaged YES/NO?" issue, but at the moment it's one of my primary avenues of research!
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Here's my little slant on this issue. The question is not about disadvantaging Australia/Australians, but to what extent media plays into this fear of disadvantage. When Australia sells iron ore and commodities to India and China, it's great. When back-office jobs go to India and China, which are being staffed by middle-class Indians and Chinese who then fuel the demand for products requiring the sorts of commodities Australia digs out of the ground and then sells to India and China, it's seen as a bad. There are a multitude of other issues here, too, such as seeing India and China as only potential competitors as their economy rises, but not seeing, e.g., the UK as a competitor when it's the number one draw of brains from Australia. See the delicious irony in the way Australia sees India and China?
Here's the terribly ironic twist to this issue. Eventually, even Indian jobs can get outsourced to an even lower price producer: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/support_services/article1896086.ece. And one might even ask the question: who is India aligning itself to? Who do superpowers align themselves to? Who do they build around them to ensure their status? China has been courting the Pacific Islands and Africa.
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