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.there are several different versions of the haka, they picked one for our sports teams to perform. their are alot of variations in maori culture but that doesnt stop them from teaching school children maori language and culture.
all my white school teachers used basic maori words for food, sit down, stand up etc.. its just a matter of effort
lachstoc, I don't think it's just a matter of effort. In this country there has been a history of extermination, negation and racism that goes all he way back to Bennelong and Governer Phillip. Unlike what appears to have happened there, which is that you have managed to negotiate and accept your maori culture, as well as celebrate it. In other words you have rightly made it part of the fabric of your nation instead of trying to wipe it as we have.
We're still trying to right the wrongs before we can move on to making the effort to be more inclusive. And we seem to be still in a tit for tat mentality, which I can understand. I don't agree with it but I understand it.
when i was in primary we had a aussie teacher who was there for a year and she taught us alot of aussie songs, and she taught us aboriginal art...and she was white...so i guess there are some who are learning from the mistakes of the past and doing something about it.
i think the ignorance around aborigines has been going on for so long now that its gonna take a hell of a lot to pull them out of this horrible situation their in. i think the hardest part is changing their view of the world. if u were them wouldnt u hate 'white people' too?
when i was in primary we had a aussie teacher who was there for a year and she taught us alot of aussie songs, and she taught us aboriginal art...and she was white...so i guess there are some who are learning from the mistakes of the past and doing something about it.
i think the ignorance around aborigines has been going on for so long now that its gonna take a hell of a lot to pull them out of this horrible situation their in. i think the hardest part is changing their view of the world. if u were them wouldnt u hate 'white people' too?
Yeah, it's quite possible that's an age difference thing too because I was discussing this with some Aussie friends recently and they were surprised to discover that as a school kid I was of the generation that did no aboriginal studies whatsoever but they had quite extensive aboriginal history and culture classes. The other thing is that where I'm from we have the second lowest aboriginal population in the country I think, only just ahead of Tasmania. I've noted before that you are more likely to have aboriginal studies as part of the curriculum if you're in NSW or QLD where there is a higher population, but that is changing.
As to aboriginals "hating" white people, well that's not been my experience. I also think that what the government has said and done when it comes to the aboriginal population isn't always a true representation of what the Australian population in general thinks. Case in point, there were calls for many years for our previous Prime Minister to say "sorry" and to acknowledge past wrong doing by successive governments. He refused. He was voted out. The current Prime Minister's recent efforts have been long overdue and applauded by many who voted him in because they wanted to see this day.
The one thing that all humans are good at is lying.
Let's all just face the fact. To be human is to be an evil maggot. That's why, in the year 2008, with all our fancy technology and mand made systems and processes, in a country of only 20 million (that's right, only 20 million, not 100 million, not 200 million, not 1 billion, only 20 million) people, there are children facing poverty, ill-health, abuse (sexual and physical), discrimination, segregation, assimilation, hypocrisy, brutality, elitism etc,etc,etc.
No one is innocent. We will all be judged. Have no doubt.
One question in my mind that seems to have gone pretty much unaddressed in all this: What do the Aborigines want? Would they like to have a vast homeland to live according to their traditional culture, or would they prefer to be assimilaed into modern Australia? Or something else? Or are they too fragmented to have a cohesive ambition? Or, as in the USA, is each individual torn between the old ways and the new, unwilling to let go of either of them?
One question in my mind that seems to have gone pretty much unaddressed in all this: What do the Aborigines want? Would they like to have a vast homeland to live according to their traditional culture, or would they prefer to be assimilaed into modern Australia? Or something else? Or are they too fragmented to have a cohesive ambition? Or, as in the USA, is each individual torn between the old ways and the new, unwilling to let go of either of them?
What often holds attempts at reconcilliation back, Is indeed a lack of a cohesive Aboriginal viewpoint. The subject of what Aboriginal people are actually aiming for, Is not really clear? As between each tribal group and Within each tribal group, Lies a wide number of differing view points and as such, No-one can (Or Will?) come to an agreement, As to what their future and life should be?
Last edited by Kangaroofarmer; 10-23-2008 at 05:18 AM..
One question in my mind that seems to have gone pretty much unaddressed in all this: What do the Aborigines want? Would they like to have a vast homeland to live according to their traditional culture, or would they prefer to be assimilaed into modern Australia? Or something else? Or are they too fragmented to have a cohesive ambition? Or, as in the USA, is each individual torn between the old ways and the new, unwilling to let go of either of them?
What Kangaroofarmer said. A classic example is the recent government intervention into Aboriginal communities which has divided peoples opinions:
Quote:
The chairman of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Review Board says he is not disappointed a major recommendation has been rejected by the Government.
However, other Aboriginal leaders have criticised the Government's response to the intervention review.
Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin today announced that compulsory welfare quarantining would continue, contrary to a key recommendation.
.....
But the head of an Alice Springs-based Aboriginal medical service says the Federal Government should be immediately reinstating the Racial Discrimination Act.
Stephanie Bell from the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress - an organisation represented on the intervention review board - says the Government has turned its back on Aboriginal people.
"I think it's a misinformed, misguided policy that is racial in every aspect and I think the Minister needs to recognise that the policy doesn't contribute to Aboriginal people as a society being made to feel like they're equal like every other citizen," she said.
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A disgrace upon humanity
