Law and Magic Blog

Australian "Witches" Call On Immigration Minister To Step Down After He Calls Reporter "A Witch" [With Expletives]

MP Peter Dutton, who is Australian Minister for Immgration and Border Protection, needs some protection of his own from some "witches" in Melbourne. Dressed in pointy black hats and other traditional garb, they're demanding that he resign after he sent a text message to a female journalist in which he referred to her as a "mad f***g witch."  Mr. Dutton has since apologized, and says that the reporter, Samantha Maiden, has accepted his apology.  Ms. Maiden said in an interview that after she received the text, she responded, " 'Mate, you've sent the text to the mad witch'." Mr. Dutton acknowledged he had sent the text to the wrong person.

However, members of the government have criticized Mr. Dutton for his comment, saying that his language is inappropriate and calling on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to account for Mr. Dutton's behavior.

More here from The Age.

Gender, Ethnicity, Fortune Tellers, and Stereotyping

Of interest, a piece on discrimination against Romany people, particularly women, and particularly those who practice fortune telling. Here's the cite, with an abstract.

 Alexandra Oprea, Commentary: Psychic Charlatans, Roving Shoplifters, and Traveling Con Artists: Notes On a Fraudulent Identity, 22 Berkeley Journal of Gender of Law and Justice 31 (2007).

I aspire to become a lawyer one day. But as I check the boxes marked "other" on law school applications, I think back to when I first became aware of Romani marginality in the legal system. I was a sophomore in college and was interning at the nearby family court. As the judge adjourned another case, the court reporter, clerk, and attorneys began to engage in the usual banter. After a case involving a rambunctious teen, an older white woman serving as the clerk said something to the effect of, "If that were my kid, I'd give him to the Gypsies." After crying in the bathroom, I returned to the courtroom and told them that unfortunately for them, I was "a Gypsy."  I tried to explain the term "Roma," our origins, and the problematic nature of what was said. I calmly explained that her statement presenting Romani parentage as a form of punishment is based on deeply-seated stereotypes of Roma as baby-thieves and generally suspect people. They responded defensively, and I quit my internship. Reflecting on the incident, I wondered, what if there was a Romani fortuneteller fighting to regain custody of her children from the state? Or what if the judge were in criminal court, and the defendant was Romani? With such stereotypes so deeply ingrained within the collective psyche, what prospects for justice are there for Roma and Romani women in particular? I have recently confronted this question again in the context of fortunetelling.