Australia's Dark Secret....

[Violet_Crumble]

On 8 July, BBC television showed an outstanding documentary called The Boy from the Block. It is about Australia and opens with a picture postcard view of the Australian beach and its board riders and bikinis, and progresses to the popping of corks at a smart Sydney art gallery.

Here is the Australian bourgeoisie at its most relaxed: drinking good wine, partaking of culture and making money. A young woman is asked what she likes most about Aboriginal art, which the gallery is featuring.

"Oh, it's a great investment," she says. "For me, it's like superannuation." The camera pulls back to show the Aboriginal artist, the guest of honour, surrounded by white art lovers. Everyone is smiling. If you are Aboriginal and like the artist, says the voiceover, everyone wants to be your friend. If you are not like her, almost no one wants to be your friend. The reporter is David Akinsanya. I heard about his film when I was in Sydney earlier this year. He is a black Briton with a way of reporting that is devoid of television's cliches and veiled insincerity. In his film, he achieves what his Australian equivalents rarely do - that is, the few who try. He tells the truth about the heartbreaking, shaming treatment and abandonment of Aboriginal Australia.

On a hot, steamy morning last February, only a few miles from the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, Thomas Hickey died. Seventeen-year-old Thomas, or "TJ" as he was known in the Aboriginal community of Redfern, was chased by police, lost control of his bike and was impaled on an iron fence. The police deny that version, and not a single Aborigine believes them. The Block is an Aboriginal ghetto where the police impose a siege; few Aboriginal youngsters walk down his street without being stopped; almost all of them have been arrested.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=30&ItemID=5841

[Sugarbleus]

1. I have forever wondered about the Aboriginal peoples of

Australia. I've seen a few documentarys..none of which showed anyone in that community in a situation one would call "successful". I wonder how they are treated down under, in general.

I'm interested and intrigued by the Aboriginal history/culture. I would hope that Australians have come farther than the South Africans in terms of integrating their populations. I wish I could go there and see for myself.

Thank you for posting this!

[the Kelly Gang]

2. there are under a million Aboriginal Australians which is why

you don't hear too much..overwhelmed by the Anglo/European Australians..a peaceful, spiritual people and the whites are only just now trying to repair the damage they have caused...held back of course by right wing politicians like John Howard ( Iraqi bomber) who thinks they should 'assimilate' and become white.

[Oggy]

4. If you ever get the chance to go it is worth it

I spent 4 months out there a few years ago, and there are many things worth seeing. However the sad thing is in so many places the Aussies are worse at integrating the indigenous population than in SA! In South Africa the black population was exploited, in Australia they are ignored ( but things are improving). New Zealand which I have also visited is probably the best integrated indigenous population in any Anglo-colonised country I have ever been to. Mind you that is probably because the Maori's kick arse.

In the Australian Western desert areas there are still no go areas for whites, although I didn't see this myself ( it is way way off the beaten track ).

[Sugarbleus]

5. I would soooooo love to make that trek....

I very much appreciate the original post on this issue. I have a deep interest in all the worlds indigenous people. I hope the Aboriginal people can hold on to their heritage even as the white encroachment continues.

It saddens me to see and learn of so many cultures being plowed under by "progress". Humanity loses more than it will ever know when this happens, IMO.

Indeed, I was thinking about New Zealand as well. So those good folks (Maoris) seem to be holding their own? Good job then!

Peace and good will to all~~~

[Lithos]

3. Thanks for sharing this

I was wondering what the state of affairs was for the urban area. Matches the crap going on out in the hinterland.


L-

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Here's a link to a good site on indigenous issues...

http://www.antar.org.au/

I'll know things are starting to improve a bit when attempts to get rid of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy stop. The most blatant and clumsy attempt (even though they must have thought it was subtle)by the Commonwealth Government was the construction of Reconciliation Place, a ridiculous and expensive eyesore (what the hell does a footpath linking the National Library to the National Gallery have to do with reconciliation?) that was carried out with no consultation with the indigenous people, and was meant to coax them away from the politically embarrassing Tent Embassy. It didn't work...

Violet...

[dudeness]

6. thanks violet

Pilger is a champion of Aboriginal justice..in fact a champion of any whom are oppressed and a thorn in the side of established media structures..IMHO this country is as racist or even more so than in my memory..

[Violet_Crumble]

7. We're a country of Pauline Hansons....

...which is why the Liberals, after initially distancing themselves from the racist tripe of One Nation, stole all their lines and peddled them, not that I think it took too much of a moral struggle for them to take that mantle on as their own. Amanda Vanstone being the Indigenous Affairs Minister and the scrapping of ATSIC with the bullshit excuse that it's what land councils wanted just shows that they want nothing more than to push indigenous Australians back deeper into the shadows of our society...

Violet...