Title: Oz Will Not Compensate Aboriginal Genocide Attempt
mynameis - January 7, 2008 03:06 PM (GMT)
No payout for 'stolen' Aborigines
An Aborigine teenager in Alice Springs (file image)
Aborigine communities have comparatively low life expectancies
Thousands of Aborigines who were removed from their families as children will receive no compensation, the Australian government has said.
Campaigners for the so-called Stolen Generations had asked for a reparation fund of almost A$1bn ($870m; £443m) as part of a promised official apology.
But indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin says money will instead be put into health and education schemes.
Many Aboriginal children were handed to white families from 1915 to 1969.
They were brought up by white people in an attempt by the government to assimilate the white and Aboriginal populations.
Even though they've changed the saddle blankets we're still dealing with the same horse
Sam Watson
Aborigine activist
The country's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has promised to apologise formally to the victims of the assimilation policy.
And campaigners felt that the Stolen Generations should have received damages as part of the apology.
"People get paid crimes compensation for victims of crime," Lyn Austin, head of Stolen Generations in the state of Victoria, told local radio.
"You are looking at the gross violation and the act of genocide and all the inhumane things that have happened to our people."
Protests promised
But Ms Macklin instead pledged to invest in initiatives which she said would improve life expectancy for today's Aborigines.
"What we will be doing is putting the funding in to health and education services, and providing additional support for services needed for counselling, to enable people to find their relatives," she said.
"We think the best way to give force to the apology is to provide funding to close the gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
"So we won't be creating a compensation fund."
Aboriginal campaigners have promised to protest against the decision.
Brisbane-based activist Sam Watson said the new Labor government was following the same policies of their predecessors.
"Even though they've changed the saddle blankets we're still dealing with the same horse," he told Australian broadcaster ABC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7175043.stm
An Aborigine teenager in Alice Springs (file image)
Aborigine communities have comparatively low life expectancies
Thousands of Aborigines who were removed from their families as children will receive no compensation, the Australian government has said.
Campaigners for the so-called Stolen Generations had asked for a reparation fund of almost A$1bn ($870m; £443m) as part of a promised official apology.
But indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin says money will instead be put into health and education schemes.
Many Aboriginal children were handed to white families from 1915 to 1969.
They were brought up by white people in an attempt by the government to assimilate the white and Aboriginal populations.
Even though they've changed the saddle blankets we're still dealing with the same horse
Sam Watson
Aborigine activist
The country's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has promised to apologise formally to the victims of the assimilation policy.
And campaigners felt that the Stolen Generations should have received damages as part of the apology.
"People get paid crimes compensation for victims of crime," Lyn Austin, head of Stolen Generations in the state of Victoria, told local radio.
"You are looking at the gross violation and the act of genocide and all the inhumane things that have happened to our people."
Protests promised
But Ms Macklin instead pledged to invest in initiatives which she said would improve life expectancy for today's Aborigines.
"What we will be doing is putting the funding in to health and education services, and providing additional support for services needed for counselling, to enable people to find their relatives," she said.
"We think the best way to give force to the apology is to provide funding to close the gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.
"So we won't be creating a compensation fund."
Aboriginal campaigners have promised to protest against the decision.
Brisbane-based activist Sam Watson said the new Labor government was following the same policies of their predecessors.
"Even though they've changed the saddle blankets we're still dealing with the same horse," he told Australian broadcaster ABC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7175043.stm
Lin Kuei - January 13, 2008 08:25 PM (GMT)
What the imperialists did to this great southern land is absolutely disgusting.
Until 1967 Aboriginal people were officially classed as "flora & fauna" (plants & animals)
- great for present self esteem huh?
Darwinism was utilized for the elite, believing that Aboriginal people were genetically inferior and thus it was made LAW that two 'full-bloods' (term now considered offensive) could NEVER breed together, only with either whites or 'half castes' (also offensive).
The objective was to literally 'breed out' the black. Also children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to Catholic Missions where they were objected to slave labor, religious indoctrination and all kinds of sadistic abuse. The effects of this are understandably still being felt strong within our society.
And we wonder why there are so many issues within the indigenous population....
Still, I don't think monetary compensation is ever going to be the answer, neither is murdoch-backed new prime minister Kevin Rudd's plan to officially say "sorry" in some kind of bullshit symbolic keeping up of appearances. In the end both are nothing but band-aid solutions.
To be honest the many different Aboriginal people of Australia were as a whole far more advanced spiritually than the imperialists who raped they and their land.
If you've ever seen firsthand a manifestation of their connection to the land and environment, you would understand. Trackers are an example of this. They are at one with the natural order.
Until 1967 Aboriginal people were officially classed as "flora & fauna" (plants & animals)
- great for present self esteem huh?
Darwinism was utilized for the elite, believing that Aboriginal people were genetically inferior and thus it was made LAW that two 'full-bloods' (term now considered offensive) could NEVER breed together, only with either whites or 'half castes' (also offensive).
The objective was to literally 'breed out' the black. Also children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to Catholic Missions where they were objected to slave labor, religious indoctrination and all kinds of sadistic abuse. The effects of this are understandably still being felt strong within our society.
And we wonder why there are so many issues within the indigenous population....
Still, I don't think monetary compensation is ever going to be the answer, neither is murdoch-backed new prime minister Kevin Rudd's plan to officially say "sorry" in some kind of bullshit symbolic keeping up of appearances. In the end both are nothing but band-aid solutions.
To be honest the many different Aboriginal people of Australia were as a whole far more advanced spiritually than the imperialists who raped they and their land.
If you've ever seen firsthand a manifestation of their connection to the land and environment, you would understand. Trackers are an example of this. They are at one with the natural order.