etching by G O
Just when I started to feel that my parents made a choice whereby the good of their migration to Australia outweighed all the hardships, here comes another example of an outrageous ‘wrong’. It has been going on ever since Australia took this land from the original owners and used it for their own purposes.
Of course a similar attitude and treatment is meted out to refugees that happen to have a different colour. Many Australians do wish our government was more humane, did fight for fairness to all, irrespective of background or colour but it seems that this for Australia is almost an impossible task. Sometimes, and as was pointed out in the J.Pilger ‘Utopia’ movie, an answer might well be to get others to sort out the suffering of aboriginals. Perhaps an organisation such as Médecins Sans Frontières or intervention by the UN. Who knows. The UN and UNHCR have often sternly rebuked Australia for its treatment of the indigenous and asylum seekers.
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoBackToWhereYouCame
But, the average stance of the voter seems to actually support the treatment or are just suffering from total empathy bypass.
Sorry about this Sunday gloom. But I am still seething after having watched the Pilger program.
Did my parents make a mistake?
Of course: our hardships really were insignificant compared with the people from Utopia or those from the war torn regions of the world.
Oosterman Treats Blog 
June 1, 2014 at 1:25 am |
… total empathy bypass, methinks. No, your parents didn’t make a mistake, but it probably wont be obvious for another generation, unless the current govt suceeds in brainwashing and browbeating our young into submission.
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June 2, 2014 at 8:23 am |
Feel better now, we visited a friend who is aboriginal and had watched the program. He nearly kicked in the TV! HE WAS SO ANGRY.
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June 1, 2014 at 2:03 am |
Pilger is always a hard slog. But it is the truth and the truth is uncomfortable. First we stole their country and then their dignity. Our generation has the responsibility to at least right the wrongs of history. It is a long process of educating the ignorant white trash.
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June 2, 2014 at 8:26 am |
Those police dragging the man across the floor and wiping the blood off with their feet. They could not even go to the bother to bend down.
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June 1, 2014 at 3:38 am |
The pollies have worked hard on us to get us to this degree of utter selfishness, Gerard. It’s a hot button for us, and they press it whenever things aren’t going good for them.
Pilger can be relied on to push us in the other direction – at least, those of us who actually think, ever – and has stirred up many because of it.
Don’t be ridiculous, man ! – there was no mistake. The press reflects the lowest common denominator, and that’s all there is to that.
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June 1, 2014 at 8:42 am |
and it’s not just Australia, take a look at what is going on in the UK right now – first there was the BNP and now we have UKIP who recently gained a good percentage of the European parliament vote. Lordy lord, what the hell is going on? – there is so much ignorance, at times I feel ashamed to have a UK passport.
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June 2, 2014 at 8:32 am |
That is true. There is a turn to the right in many countries especially England. In Holland the extreme anti migration Geert Wilder’s Party is getting less traction now and Italy is also getting a bit weary of the Right. So, there are glimmers of hope as well as desperation.
Pilger and many others are showing the way. Let’s hope the conscience gets pricked enough for others to follow and protest.
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June 2, 2014 at 4:02 am |
Have to stop and think about how native Americans were treated in the US, not to mentions slaves. It always seems like an uphill battle, Gerard. –Curt
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June 2, 2014 at 5:27 am |
We came here in 1968, I was 14. Ever since then I have asked that same question on and off. We were here at least a year before I found out that the Aborigine Australians only got the vote in 1967.(immigration officers forgot to mention there were indigenous people prior to our immigration)
I went to school here and history was only about the English settlement, so I did my own reading and research. 45 years later that feeling of shock and revulsion remains.
Soon after we arrived there were all the street marches, Vietnam, women’s rights and and protests against injustices.
I am so relieved to see the current street Marches, Again,people who protest not for their own gain, but for the overall community. It gives me hope.
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June 2, 2014 at 8:35 am |
Yes, I am heartened by the protests and hope they will grow into a mass outbreak of indignation on what this government is trying to fester. A total freedom for the ‘market’ to decide what we ought to strife for. A self absorbed society.
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June 2, 2014 at 9:17 pm |
I am baffled by my fellow-countrymen (UK) complaining about foreigners coming and living here. We have spent centuries going and living in and changing other people’s countries. Today we have significant populations in Spain and France changing local lifestyles, to name only the most obvious.
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June 3, 2014 at 6:23 am |
The complainants are too ignorant to know better. The world has changed, in this regard, and people using the opportunities to cross their borders to see how other people live. They will learn, if they are capable to learn, that people of other nations are really like themselves. I have learnt this by migrating to Australia. I met people who were previously enemies and I found they felt no animosity towards me and I did not feel any animosity towards them. They looked the same, we worked together, we conversed in all sort of languages until we leant English. We enriched our lives by living side by side.
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June 3, 2014 at 8:49 am |
Excellent work Gez
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