White-anting
White-anting is an Australian term for the process of internal erosion of a foundation. It is often used in reference to groups such as political parties or organisations where information from group insiders is 'leaked' or used to undermine the goals of the group. The Macquarie Dictionary says the verb "to white-ant" means "to subvert or undermine from within".
It has been used on the soap opera Neighbours several times including in 2006.
In 2012, the Illawarra Mercury newspaper also used the term, when it reported Greg Combet to stop white-anting of the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
In 1938, Gordon Childe used the term in a letter to Rajani Palme Dutt, explaining how in his books he used the method of 'white-anting' to get his Marxist message to the masses rather than labeling himself as a Marxist and using Marxist terms, thus eroding the institution of bourgeois scholarship.
The term is derived from the action of termites eating the inside of wooden building foundations, often leaving no outward evidence, until the structure crumbles.
