19 June 2004

We can dream too

Whitefella Jump Up
cover
Interesting article about healing the aboriginal/white divide in Australia, promoting Germaine Greer's latest book on the subject.

It's interesting how the plight of whites in Oz seems to be the plight of the West writ large, somehow.

I loved this: "From first contact, the leaders of many Aboriginal peoples saw that sharing of the land would be possible only if the whitefellas could be drawn into the Aboriginal system. They pursued a deliberate policy of co-option, hoping to civilise the invaders into abandoning their inappropriate concepts of ownership and exclusivity."

Not sure her thoughts about development of Engliah language in Oz would stand scrutiny but it's an interesting line of thought.

THe suggestions for land-reform sound good, but I nowhere near an expert, they have the feel of justice being done though. All stemming from recognizing Australia as an Aboriginal nation; ie one which settlers and the Crown had no right to claim in the first place.

Intersting, and in view of the number of Aussies I now seem to know, parhaps something to read fully

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"Spend and tax" not "tax and spend"

 I got a response from my MP which got me kind of mad. You'll see why as I reproduce it here. Apologies for the strange changes in types...