Australian Aboriginies?

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The Mouse II

Your questions reads "Why does Australia get such a bad wrap over our indigenous compared to the rest of the world"

My answer to that is... what makes you think we do - "in comparison" to the rest of the world?

It is all about the level of media coverage and the on going political activism that makes it looks as if it is MORE than the rest of the world. It's all about perspective and what YOU focus on. You don't think the problem doesn't exist in China, Myanmar, Zimbabwe etc? And have you forgotten the genocide in Sudan and Somalia? And please don't say that is NOT about "indigenous people". Those in Africa might not be American Indians or Aust aborigines but they ARE indigenous in their countries.

The LACK of media coverage from those places only makes it seems as if Australia has a big problem - because we are free to report it and talk about it.

That's my opinion.
Cheers

iansand9876

I think it is the inability of some governments to acknowledge the problems facing aborigines. In Canada the First Nations have similar problems, as do the Native Americans in the USA. But it seems to me that, in those countries (as examples), the argument has moved beyond the blame game to a point where there is an acknowledgment that something must be done.

In Australia, through fault on both sides, we got stuck in a silly semantic war about "Sorry" at the expense of acknowledging a problem and being determined to find a solution.

Another issue is that Australia is almost unique in that there are no treaties between the aboriginal inhabitants and the colonists. In North America and New Zealand (again as examples) the treaties, regardless of to what extent they were breached, provide a legal framework for the development of rights. In Australia the lack of treaties means that whatever concessions are extracted for the Aborigines must be extracted by political action, which necessarily involves publicising, highlighting and emphasising disadvantage.

storyofstuff.com

this is more toward your other question, the indians in america have been slaughtered, copletely killed off, the ones who survived and gave up were givin very small amounts of land in 2 places, northern minnesota were its to cold to do anything, and in the desert , were no one wants to live and nothing grows, , the rest of the survivors had religion forced on them and so on, and disobedience and you died, the indians here in america are nothing more than football symbols , no one in america cares about them, and they have been taught to not care about themselves... how ever, african americans, and i mean no offence, they were slaves, and they reproduced by the thousands, eventually they rose up.. the indians however were to proud to be slaves, and would choose death over it, thats why there are no more indians , and those who are left on the very small reservations, cant leave because then there coming into us jurisdiction, and they will be treated as if there still crazy vigilante indians.

america sucks, its the land of dictators and home of the brainwashed.

**** ameriKKKa
thank you. youll love this watchit its 3 minutes long, the history of the us, mainly the indians and black folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b37A7K1Tvg

Lee

In comparison to the rest of the world? Possibly because the idea of race rioting in a Western culture after the 1960s was thought impossible, but Australia's had a few in the last decade. In the grand scheme of things Australia is a very young country, and I hate to say it, but it watched what happened in America and such places and learned from them. Massacres were deliberately undocumented, no paper trail over what was done to Aboriginal people was left. It was all very clandistine.

If you want to talk about what's actually wrong with this country's attitude toward it's Indigenous people, I'd start with the fact that there's no pride in our ancient roots. We have the oldest surviving cultures in the world still living on these shores and where's the average Australian's pride in that? It's a part of all of us, our national identity, and other countries seem to get that, where Australia doesn't. It's sad.

Oh and the person who said it wasn't "as bad" as what happened to Native Americans doesn't know what they're talking about. The actual numbers will never be known (for reasons above), but there's some statistic that just ONE of the documented massacres of Indigenous Australians numbered higher than the entire massacre of the Native Americans (no offence to them - pain cannot be measured by the number of people who died, I'm just talking numbers).

Power Flower

Over our treatment of them? I don't know.... maybe all the young girls being raped in remote communities, the incredibly high incidence of kidney disease, deaths in custody, etc, etc, etc...

wotzthepoint?

- the last massacre recorded of Aboriginal Australians was circa 1926
- the Australian of the Year Mick Dodson who was a mover and shaker in the efforts to create the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, which the Australian government is still not a signatory to, nor the rights of children bill.
- The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee was instigated due to the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody, where bodies being returned had organs missing and atrocious injuries, but the authorities usually signed off on deaths as suicides.
- Australian government oversaw policies similar to apartheid, which were in full effect while the country protested at the Springboks.
- where indigenous people are denied social justice or natural justice, eg. Wik, Mabo (that took years)
- where registered Aboriginal sacred sites, that are protected by law, are taken off registries for the benefit of mining companies.
- where Aboriginal people are vilified for remembering the past that white folks try to forget, unless of course its Anzac Day.
- Australia doesn't like to remember its racist recent history and will do almost anything to deny it, even in the face of facts.

The rest of the world has matured enough to have an open discussion about the history of racist legislation, racist ideology and racist culture and hopes to rectify the problem and facilitate reconciliation. Unfortunately this country still has a long long way to go in that regard.

There's just not enough space here to expand on everything and cite sources.

But if you want info I am happy to supply it!

Kylie H

I do not think Australia is the only place who gets a bad rap. Do you live in Australia? It all comes down to media and what our teachers are like in school? I love history and have studied it in the States and have come to the conclusion that comparisons of bad treatment are strange to consider. A death is a death - whether it be by building railways and killing buffalo (America) or taking away Aboriginal children for adoption (the ole Stolen Generation). I dare not say who I think is worse, but America was on a much higher scale than in Australia if that is any consolation. I am not sure what "answer" you are really looking for.

westieforbobby

I think it may be something to do with the fact that most aussies are seen as the ancestors of ex- cons!

Hope that is not an air head comment.

Mrs M

Ok so what about America and the african americans ? They have treated them so badly as well.

Every country has its problems with different races. It is unfortunatley human nature.

From - Air Head

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