The Uluru Statement From the Heart:
We Demand Action
Bronwyn and Lex demand¹ the Australian Government undertake a fair negotiated process to achieve a settlement with Australia's First Nations people² for the invasion and theft of your lands, and the active efforts to destroy your culture and fake your history, as far as such a history can be "settled". Such negotiations must include at least:
- the Uluru Statement From the Heart (see below);
- the matters to be part of a treaty and amendments to the Australian Constitution;
- compensation (with reference to that granted the Maori by the New Zealand government);
- an apology to all current First Nations Australians and their forebears and descendants; and
- an active process to educate all Australians about the realities of -
|
¹ Yes, we know this seems like that inestimable (and, we assure you, totally and unfortunately fictional) journal the Pakenham Upper Gutsache demanding Donald Trump (the all-too-effably-rat-cunning,-sociopathic,-unbelievably-toddler-brained,-poxhead-in-chief of the United States of America at the time of writing, 2018) undergo a thorough psychiatric examination. But, stuff it, we can demand whatever we damned well like, and if no-one takes notice then that's the world's loss!
² The terms "First Nations people of Australia" and "First Australians" includes all descendants of the people who lived in what is now called Australia, including, but recognising the differences of, the people who lived on what are now called the Torres Strait Islands, prior to 1788. Despite arguments to the contrary, this term is not intended to be utilised for whatever reason by people who have no descendance from people who lived in those places prior to 1788, apart from those of us needing such an all-inclusive term because of the outcomes of Britain's 1788 invasion of these lands. We know there are other words describing the First Nations people of Australia that are preferred by some of them, and we most certainly mean no offence and apologise if we're inadvertently doing so, but we believe these are the most acceptably inoffensive and generic terms currently available (2018). Any advice or information regarding these terms' use is welcome. However, prospective trolls should check here before contacting us.
The Liberal Govt's shameful rejection
Australia's current (Sept., 2018) government is dominated by a political party called the Liberal Party. This all-too-often "illiberal" party was established after World War 2 by Robert Menzies, and has no clear relationship to Alfred Deakin and his earlier Liberal Party except in the minds of those who want to persuade us that wishes are facts. Sadly, it only proves Shakespeare's point when he has Juliet in his play Romeo and Juliet pronounce, " What's in a name? that which we call a rose /By any other name would smell as sweet", or as Lex would write, "Burning shit as incense and calling it 'sandalwood' won't stop it stinking like shit". The party's most extreme turn has come after the party was taken over by John Howard and his ilk!
The Liberal Party's prime minister's immediate, ignorant, and inexcusably rapid and unnegotiated response to the wonderful Uluru Statement From the Heart came at a speed enabling significant doubt the government's leaders took any time to do its writers the respect of reading and considering the statement. It was complete rejection, without any ifs, buts, or maybes, or leaving any room for negotiation.
This response most assuredly does not reflect Bronwyn and Lex's views. We regard it as a shameful disgrace on the part of all Australians who have no line of descent from the people who lived on this continent prior to the arrival of the British in 1788.
This prime ministers ignorance was further exacerbated by his successor, shortly after the prior paras were written, when he made the ignorantly and fatuously false claim (Sept., 2018!) the Uluru Statement is demanding the establishment of a third house of parliament. Such logic predicates every already existing advisory or consultative body is a house of parliament.
We feel ashamed enough of the brutality shown to asylum seekers by every government since the early 1990s, but this continuation of 230 years, nearly a quarter of a millennia, of vicious racist murder, theft, rape, and repression is ... there's not a word to properly describe what has been, is being, and is intended to be done to the descendants of the people who lived in what we call Australia prior to 1788.
"Genocide" is as close as we can come to a suitable word to describe the ongoing repression of the First Australians, although understanding the weakness of that term as a precise description in this case because of its United Nations and dictionary definitions. This is far beyond shameful from the country that played a leading role both in the creation of the United Nations and its mighty Declaration of Human Rights, a role recognised by the nations of the world when our representative Bert Evatt was voted the first President of the United Nations.
Indeed, as with "genocide" there is no word that can properly describe the degree of shame all Australians without a line of familial descent from the pre-1788 inhabitants of this continent should feel. If we do not at least try to express that shame, we are no more than a fully sociopathic, if not psychopathic, nation.
The Liberal Party's prime minister's immediate, ignorant, and inexcusably rapid and unnegotiated response to the wonderful Uluru Statement From the Heart came at a speed enabling significant doubt the government's leaders took any time to do its writers the respect of reading and considering the statement. It was complete rejection, without any ifs, buts, or maybes, or leaving any room for negotiation.
This response most assuredly does not reflect Bronwyn and Lex's views. We regard it as a shameful disgrace on the part of all Australians who have no line of descent from the people who lived on this continent prior to the arrival of the British in 1788.
This prime ministers ignorance was further exacerbated by his successor, shortly after the prior paras were written, when he made the ignorantly and fatuously false claim (Sept., 2018!) the Uluru Statement is demanding the establishment of a third house of parliament. Such logic predicates every already existing advisory or consultative body is a house of parliament.
We feel ashamed enough of the brutality shown to asylum seekers by every government since the early 1990s, but this continuation of 230 years, nearly a quarter of a millennia, of vicious racist murder, theft, rape, and repression is ... there's not a word to properly describe what has been, is being, and is intended to be done to the descendants of the people who lived in what we call Australia prior to 1788.
"Genocide" is as close as we can come to a suitable word to describe the ongoing repression of the First Australians, although understanding the weakness of that term as a precise description in this case because of its United Nations and dictionary definitions. This is far beyond shameful from the country that played a leading role both in the creation of the United Nations and its mighty Declaration of Human Rights, a role recognised by the nations of the world when our representative Bert Evatt was voted the first President of the United Nations.
Indeed, as with "genocide" there is no word that can properly describe the degree of shame all Australians without a line of familial descent from the pre-1788 inhabitants of this continent should feel. If we do not at least try to express that shame, we are no more than a fully sociopathic, if not psychopathic, nation.
Information Booklet - Uni of Melbourne
On the far right is a link to a pdf booklet about the Uluru Statement From the Heart. Please take the tiny amount both of time and effort, to read it. Please don't take as some sort of gospel the insinuations, misrepresentations, and outright lies being negatively spruiked around about it.
|
Further, please remember this negative spruiking is being undertaken by the same bunch who attempted to scare us about the High Court of Australia's Mabo and Wik land rights cases, and the apology to the stolen generation - and none of their, at-heart, racist histrionics have come to pass.
|
|