Becuase Everything Else Sucks

Australia’s late apology

By peacelf
Published Tuesday, February 12th, 2008, 8:26 pm
Filed under: US Politics

The indigenous people of Australia, aka the “Aborigines,” were given a formal apology by the prime minister of Australia in front of their Parliament today. About 450,000 Aborigines live in Australia today.

The reason for the apology, according to an AP article, is that: “From 1910 until the 1970s, about 100,000 children were taken from their parents under state and federal laws based on a premise that Aborigines were dying out, and saving the children was a humane alternative.” Like Native Americans, the Aborigines were taken from their homes and sent to religious schools to be “civilized” or assimilated.

What’s left is a culture-less people lost in the in-between world of before white supremacy and after white supremacy. They suffer the worst poverty - the poverty of losing their history and culture.

The timing of the apology, though, serves the interests of the white power structure in Australia, since the generational knowledge that survived in Aborigines for thousands of years before white settlers encroached on their lands has been lost thanks to the civilizing affects of an education that stripped a people of their cultural knowledge and their ability to survive without technology. It’s no wonder that alcoholism, drug abuse, and other self destructive and violent behaviors are so much a part of the original people now.

The lesson from Australia can easily be applied to Native Americans who suffered the same fate thanks to Manifest Destiny policies, Palestinians who continually suffer under the mighty hand of the US-backed Israel government, and poor blacks and Latinos who attend schools that tell them that their history, literature, and personal experiences are invalid in a white male dominated society. Apologies come too late, as the damage is already done.

peacelf

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3 Responses to “Australia’s late apology”

  1. The Australian government has made a formal apology for the past wrongs caused by successive governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, apologised to all Aborigines for laws and policies that “inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss”. But the Aborigines want more. They want money and are calling the apology a ‘cut-price sorry’.

    Back in 1998, in a meeting with Tony Blair, the Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto offered “an expression of deep remorse and heartfelt apology to the people who suffered in the Second World War”. But Britain’s war veterans wanted more. They had been hoping for an apology from the entire government as well as further compensation on top of that received in 50 years ago.

    Two years ago Tony Blair expressed his “deep sorrow” for Britain’s role in the slave trade. But representitives of those with ancestors victimised by the slavery wanted a formal apology (which Blair ruled out) and, of course, financial compensation.

    So what’s the point? Most country’s governments have been violent and oppressive at some time in their history. Where does the guilt stop?

    In fact, all of these apologies are meaningless. The groups are obviously resigned to their martyrdom, and nothing short of a financial pay-out will really satisfy them. And no modern day leader has the right to apologise for wrongs committed by previous generations anyway, however horrific.

    My suggestion is that these powerful governments concentrate on dealing with the poverty and oppression happening around the world this very minute, rather than worrying about past misdemeanours that are cemented into history, and impossible to correct.

    www.charlesletterman.com

    Charles Letterman
    02/13/08 at 6:38 am

  2. While I agree in general, I wonder aloud - there must be some forum for apology, no matter how late? No? I think that there must be.

    Yes we can look at this and at the examples in the comment above as self serving, ill timed or whatever.

    But if no acknowledgement or apology is ever made - is that better?

    This is all rhetorical - I wish I could say something of more substance today, but that is where I am at.

    FranIam
    02/13/08 at 9:09 am

  3. Charles and Franlam,

    Yes, an apology is a good start, but to what end? Moreover, the problem does lie in the present and future of neo-colonial/imperialism. To criticize today is not necessarily to impose reparations or restitution on the Aussies or any other imperial power, but to ask honestly, ‘Is this still going on today?’ ‘Where?’ and ‘how?’ or ‘In what form?’

    So, let’s honestly assess the situation. Like most colonial powers, the Aussies are using the stick and carrot approach to assimilation. First imperialists beat the savages into submission, then once powerless and neutered socially, culturally, politically, economically, etc., then the imperialists offer economic incentives for education, housing, food, and such, for what? further assimilation into the dominate culture? It was that attitude that the Aborigines demanded an apology for in the first place.

    I find it deeply troubling, though, that accusing Aborigines of resorting to “martyr” tactics to gain attention is not only an elitist position, but another example of blaming the victims of a horrendous historical wrong. Again, it is difficult to undo the past, yes, but I would agree that neocolonialist assimilationism is going on today throughout the world, and it needs to be uncovered and exposed for what it is, nefariously antidemocratic.

    These antidemocratic assimilationist policies imposed by imperial powers (namely the US) or Oprah and her American-style education for South African children, seek to domesticate and indoctrinate young people making them subjects of the new colonial powers.

    So, in answer to your question, yes, we should concentrate on current affairs, but also historically oppressed peoples should receive reparations that allow democratic self-determination, even if it disagrees with the dominate ideology.

    peacelf

    peacelf
    02/13/08 at 10:00 am

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