Sup dawgs? Things are just plodding along here. Pretty hectic actually; am looking after a friend’s dog for a month while she’s on holiday, and will be looking after Lauren’s wallabies while she’s out bush next week.
Tilly the dawg
Wobblies Isha and Willum
In other news, I have made my first MD recording: Now I'm a real live linguist and will be archived into the work library and everything!!! :)
So, that’s some of the good stuff that’s happening at the moment.
However, not all is as peachy as that. John Howard’s response to the inquiry into child abuse, Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle “Little Children are Sacred”, has left us quite devastated. He has proposed no solutions to the problem of child abuse, and is using this as an opportunity to take control of Aboriginal land. I hope none of you down south are buying into his bullshit. I wish I could be more eloquent about it, but at the moment, my brain is frozen up in horror from his unbelievable propositions. Please keep your ear to the ground about this issue.
And before I hear off, I'll leave you with some images of me under a pile of kids from next door:
4 comments:
Good to see you are having fun with cute animals and kids (and - um - cute data disks).
Thanks so much for making reference to the issue of the Howard response to child abuse in remote Indigenous communities. I would love to get more info from you once you are feeling more elloquent. It is difficult to keep your ear to the ground if the ground is very far away. You however are right on the ground.
At the moment it is difficult to be critical of the Federal Government because of a very effective dose of Political Correctness (yes conservatives can use PC too) that is producing such rationalisations as:
"If you care for children you must support action - any action - NOW and the only action forthcoming is from Howard therefore you must support it"
But if you are concerned for children then you will have a stake in how effective the solutions are and want to contribute to that debate. But that is summarily dismissed by many at the moment in both the media and the public so the debate is hamstrung. We are told "the fate of children is more important than politics" but how can anything be done well if it is spared the scrutiny of open discussion?
I would normally blog on this topic but I feel woefully ill-informed and in a delicate position because who I am (an Australian Democrat) makes me ripe for attacks of "your bleeding-heart do-gooder ways never worked and you are only criticising for self-serving political ends".
I know you are busy but if you get a chance an email would be welcome. Stay well.
Hooch, beware of little Travis - that ones a nutter on a good day but also great for cuddles unexpectedly when he's feeling generous. :)
I wrote my general opinion on my blog - Zebragirl's Ghanaway. Don't know if you read it yet.
It is a land grab and I am deeply concerned for the emotional well being of a whole people. No compassion - is just wrong! An action about a problem is useless if it is not providing in any way some form of sustainable solution - to which there is none. Even Rudd in his Bi-partisan support is concerned about his lack of response to 'will the land be returned when the 5 year lease is up?' He never said yes or no. He just said 'They are being duly compensated.' Oh so on one hand lets take their land, quarantine thier money (which I do somewhat agree with as a band aid solution for parents who are negligent - but not just indigenous) and then shove more millions of dollars at them when they now definitely have no control over spending that money on their own homes and community infrastructure - is that crazy or what.
He's a snake.
It is definitely crazy.
Points&Thoughts:
- Some people (whitefellas who are involved in this 'action') are scared that the so called action will lead to another stolen generation. Let's not forget that the government used the 'for the good of the children' argument to remove hundreds of children from their families. Daniel, there is no justification for sparing something so hugely life changing and disempowering from the scrutiny of open discussion. There is all the more need for discussion, transparency and detail. One of the cheif recommendations from the report is consultation with communities to find a solution together. Howard dismissed the call for transparency and a detailed long term plan to handle the problem as 'constitutional niceties'.
- With regard to the scrapping permit system: Howard raved in his inhospitable way about asylum seekers "we will decide who comes into this country and on what terms", and yet he will quite happily deny this right to Aboriginal Land Owners. Mal Brough is leading people to believe that the permit system makes people feel unwelcome, and denies people access to communities. On the contrary, as anyone who has applied for a permit will know, they are rarely if ever denied, and they don't cost anything. Permits are just a way for the community to know what you're doing there. People are now scared that any old hoodlum can come in without announcing themselves or thier business.
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