Comments on: Vestigial indigeniety in the coloniser’s eye: from useless to nuisance

By: Lauredhel

Lauredhel — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 03:37:22 +0000

Well, and now Howard and Brough are ousted! Who knows what will happen next? Rudd did make a point of acknowledging indigenous people (and migrants) in his victory speech, though he did not come out clearly against the invasion during the campaign; while Howard burbled incoherently about our proud and prosperous land in his concession.

If the Senate deadlocks, we will live in interesting times.

By: blue milk

blue milk — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:01:41 +0000

Tsk I missed this National Day of Action.

Good on your for doing something with it and writing such a thoughtful post.

By: David

David — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:43:26 +0000

Very nicely written and so accurate! I like the DRWGUF analogy! This must be a time for action, at the march in Darwin on Saturday we heard many good speakers but where was the crowd?
Although many Aboriginal communities are obviously doing the best they can to make sense of the intervention.They appear to be doing this autonomously and without much outside help. I have heard there is fear in many communities that they are under siege but they are trying to make the best of a bad situation.
Surely Australia can be sympathetic to their plight! This intervention is a wholesale attack on Australian values as expressed in the social advances we have made which affirm rights for Indigenous people! How can we stand back and watch as our country becomes an Apartheid state?

Where is the love?

By: tigtog

tigtog — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:06:31 +0000

What's even more irritating is this wasn't even done to actually achieve anything for indigenous Australians.

Yep. They have ignored any recommendations that actually might make a difference. As Helen points out over at Cast Iron Balcony and Road to Surfdom, quoting the National Sorry Day commission:

- there are the 339 Recommendations from the Deaths in Custody Report, released in 1990. - there are the 54 Recommendations from Bringing Them Home Report, released in 1997. - now there are another 97 Recommendations from the Little Children are Sacred Report, released in June 2007. This makes a grand a total of 490 recommendations.

490 recommendations from experts and exhaustive inquiries into the appalling health and mortality status of our indigenous people, and virtually none of them have been implemented, and the NT "intervention" doesn't address a single one of them either.

By: outfox

outfox — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:00:05 +0000

his crimes are just him doing what is necessary to maintain homeostasis for the whole

Spot on. When he did his speech half-admitting that his own values are an impediment to self-determination, it was telling that he still said: “We are not a federation of tribes. We are one great tribe; one Australia.”

So, is he mentions reconcilliation he can automatically claim a ‘tribe” and it’s still one where there’s only one, and he’s central? Classic example of disconnect/denial.

By: The Road to Surfdom » Blog Archive » National day of Action on the Northern Territory “Intervention”

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:54:46 +0000

[...] *Lauredhel: (L)isten up. Your worldview is broken beyond repair. Aboriginal peoples aren’t withered obsolete organs, to be seen only in terms of their utility or troublesomeness. You don’t get to do whatever you want with them. You don’t GET to decide whether to keep them, treat them, or excise them. They are human beings to be respected, not irritating vestiges or evolutionary curiosities. They have societies and a dynamic heritage of their own, as well as being part of a broader Australian society. They form sovereign nations. [...]

By: Blogger on the Cast Iron Balcony » Blog Archive » National day of Action on the Northern Territory “Intervention”

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:44:45 +0000

By: Meg Thornton

Meg Thornton — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:14:03 +0000

Speaking for the “average person” I’d like to ask how Paul makes his decisions and where he gets his information from. I think he’s being both condescending and insulting, and misrepresenting his purported constituency. Average Australians are perfectly capable of handling words like “colonialist” and “invader” – and they’re perfectly capable of handling them in the context of Australian Federal Government policy toward indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. Accuracy does make such a difference in word choice, you know.

The state of health and welfare of indigenous Australians throughout the country has been a matter of concern for international bodies ranging from the United Nations to Amnesty International for decades. The Howard Liberal government was responsible for dismantling a lot of the previously existing support structures for indigenous Australian culture and welfare. The actions of the Howard Liberal government (purportedly) in response to the “Children are Sacred” report were nothing more or less than a return to the missions and camps of the early part of the twentieth century. Mr Howard didn’t quite say that he’d be removing children forcibly, but by golly it was implied strongly to be on the agenda.

What’s even more irritating is this wasn’t even done to actually achieve anything for indigenous Australians. It’s just another one of the Howard Liberal government’s attempts at poisoning the political well before they leave.

By: Lauredhel

Lauredhel — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:42:56 +0000

su: you can bring your dander here anytime.

By: su

su — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 07:53:04 +0000

Ick – ‘refrain’ not ‘restrain’. My dander was up, my lexical circuits disengaged.