Monday, May 29, 2017

The Future for "Recognition" of First Peoples in Australia

"...in 2017 we seek to be heard"

   It was inspirational to catch 'most' of Q&A tonight on ABC TV here in Australia. The Panel were at Parliament House and held a discussion and answered audience questions following on from the gathering of community representatives that formed part of a two year long process within consultation with indigenous people about the future, about "recognition" and about genuine change.
   I have always been a supporter of the movement for 'Recognition' of Aboriginal people in the Australian Constitution. For me it's always been as another step on the path to further efforts towards reconciliation on indigenous terms. Tonight's discussion canvassed this and many other important aspects...
   For me the standout reminder was something I believe about any current issue you can name. Our politicians seem unwilling or are simply unable to imagine a vision for a better future of our country. This is what to takes to bring real change, to bring people along with you and to LEAD!!
   Indigenous issue and identity are/is bigger than the current conversation... It's also true that when you read the new Constitutions of countries who have renewed theirs in light of historical mistakes and issues, there are some outstanding ethos statements and visionary thinking. e.g Canada was mentioned tonight and it particularly describes who people see themselves as and how they hope to be seen by others in terms of their core values... not so much how territories will organise their commerce and law... 

It would be brilliant to see a new Constitution, not just an amended one...
The gathering at Uluru was always going to be a landmark and it didn't fail to deliver, it's only the vacuum of Politicians reactions since that prevent the work from being recognised for the visionary work it is, especially as a response is often that "aboriginal people themselves are not of one mind on these issues"... Here's hoping it creates a desire for people to suspend their opinions and take time to listen to indigenous voices, to hear the imagined future where incarceration, poor health and absence of opportunity are all addressed... Now is the time to know what the Statement says and to read it and sit with it for a while and to listen to Aboriginal people, their story, perspective and hopes...

ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART
We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from 'time immemorial', and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.

This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or 'mother nature', and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link Is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?

With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia's nationhood.

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.

Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.

We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.


In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

Friday, May 26, 2017

"Don't Look Back in Anger" OASIS


My Facebook post this morning:
"I was thinking yesterday about the bombings in Thailand and Bangladesh that sit alongside the equally senseless act in Manchester and how that instance might even be enough to reunite two brothers for a concert some time as part of a defiant or hopeful response!!
Alongside the selfless acts of caring and offering of refuge in the wake of the terrorist bomb in Manchester I see this morning that the crowd in the city for a time of silence then also spontaneously started singing Oasis "Don't Look Back in Anger"!! In the world of social media the immediacy was palpable in both news and mobile phone versions...
The song gave way to a football chant from some, there were flowers, balloons and a 'sea of people'...
I wonder about spirit and solidarity and current day crowds in the secular west finding ways to express the grief, yearning and hopes present somewhere in such horrific happenings."

"Don't Look Back in Anger" OASIS
Slip inside the eye of your mind
Don't you know you might find
A better place to play?
You said that you'd never been
But all the things that you've seen
They slowly fade away

So I'll start a revolution from my bed
Cause you said the brains I had went to my head
Step outside, summertime's in bloom
Stand up beside the fireplace
Take that look from off your face
You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out

And so, Sally can wait
She knows it's too late as we're walking on by
Her soul slides away
But don't look back in anger
I heard you say

Take me to the place where you go
Where nobody knows if it's night or day
But please don't put your life in the hands
Of a Rock 'n' Roll band
Who'll throw it all away

I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed
Cause you said the brains I had went to my head
Step outside, 'cause summertime's in bloom
Stand up beside the fireplace
Take that look from off your face
Cause you ain't ever gonna burn my heart out

And so, Sally can wait
She knows it's too late as she's walking on by
My soul slides away
But don't look back in anger
I heard you say

So, Sally can wait
She knows it's too late as we're walking on by
Her soul slides away
But don't look back in anger
I heard you say

So, Sally can wait
She knows it's too late as she's walking on by
My soul slides away
But don't look back in anger
Don't look back in anger
I heard you say

At least not today

Make of it what you will, it was one persons spontaneous action, then another to encourage people to sing up, with words of defiance and spirit that won't have captured everyone but did seem to reflect something important if awkward!!


Wednesday, May 03, 2017

"One Country" Midnight Oil Por Sorte Brasilia


“One Country” Midnight Oil
Who'd like to change the world
Who wants to shoot the curl
Who gets to work for bread
Who wants to get ahead

Who hands out equal rights
who starts and ends that fight
And not rant and rave
Or end up a slave

Who can make hard won gains
Fall like the summer rain
Now every man must be
What his life can be
So don't call me the tune, I will walk away

Who wants to please everyone
Who says it all can be done
Still sit up on that fence
No-one I've heard of yet

Don't call me baby
Don't talk in maybes
Don't talk like has-beens
Sing it like it should be

Who laughs at their nagging doubts
Lying on a neon shroud, running around
Just got to touch someone
I want to be

So don't call me the tune, I will walk away

One country one
Country one country

Who wants to sit around
Turn it up, turn it down
Only a man can be
What his life can be

One vision
One people
One landmass
We are defenceless
We have a lifeline

One ocean
One policy
Seabed lies
One passion
One movement
One instant
One difference
One lifetime
One understanding

One country
One understanding

Transgression
Redemption
One island
One placemat
One firmament
One element
One moment
One fusion

Yes, and one time