I have been called a racist before, and no doubt I will be called it again after this post, but I strongly disagree with Hone Harawira's claims that John Howard is a racist due to the scheme he is putting into place in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.
Howard is taking a much needed step to hinder the abuse and alcholism that takes place within these communities, by placing a ban on alcohol and pornography. He also placing stricter control on welfare payments and placing more police and troops into the area.
Unless you have ever seen an outback Aboriginal community, the drug and rehabilitation centres overflowing with Aborigianl families who have lived in there for generations without changing, had to clean the up the mess off your front lawn from bottles and human excremement, had to lock yourself away when in areas such as Lajamanu when they head out of the dry area to drink - get completely totalled and then head back into the village leaving a trail of destruction.
Or for tales of Aboriginal abuse of adults and children talk to the Flying Doctors and Nurses because the tales are pretty grim, or the Katherine Hospital staff who have babies left with brains hanging out - its not a pretty picture.
Howard is seen to be targeting Aborginals - well he is. It is they that need help to better educate the future generations about what is and is not acceptable and to assist them in helping improve their future. And whilst their are other races who have these problems they are by no means as concentrated as that within these societies.
These are some of the poorest people in Australia, and I would even the say world, but they are overlooked. By taking away alcohol this will at least mean that some sort of rationalisation between people can take place without the violence that alcohol seems to cause them to break out into, by placing measures on welfare payments this will see that parents are vigilant in getting their children educated and health checks and behaving better, and who knows it may even lead to some getting jobs.
I feel that the measures Howard is putting in place probably will not fix the problem as the extra police and troops are not going to stay in the communitites in the long run, which is what is needed to ensure that such policies are enforced, however it certainly has highlighted problems within Aboriginal communities to the world and maybe finally some true relief and assistance in helping Aboriginals protect their future may be found. It also means that white and black communities can work together to find solutions rather than the extremely noticable segregation that is currently in place, it is going to take the two cultures working together to help end the horrors taking place in Aborginal tent cities.
15 comments:
i don't want to think about this one...need to get more facts.
my thoughts - Taking away alcohol, drugs and what not isn't going to to fix the problem, so isn't putting more police or troops within those areas.
The aborigines are a displaced, dis empowered group of peoples who need to have their voice heard and while quite frankly in my eyes....never have. This is just a continuation of the structural violence that has and is prevalent within Australia because well lets be honest the Aborigine people are ignored and frowned upon by most of Australia and forgotten by the rest of the us.
I agree with you whole heartedly - but something needs to be done. The question is what?
You go Molly May!
:-)
So you beleive that all aborigine children should be genitally examined?
Yes they're in a bad state, but what of the structural barriers in place? It's not just a bunch of sifty scodies you take the glue away from, it's systematic.
See Helen Hughes' Issue Analysis papers at http://www.cis.org.au/SocialPolicy/IARP/iarp.htm for some very well researched and constructive suggestions on the problems in remote Aussie aboriginal communities. Particularly papers 54 and 63.
The thing is, doing something this radical is far far better than to sit on your hands and decide to create a committee to talk about it.
Howard is showing that he is serious about getting this fixed, not in 20 years but as soon as possible. Good on him. You don't see politicians in NZ risking their political livelihoods to make changes like this.
Harawera was being honest when he thought that Howard was a 'Racist bastard' and while I am not sure how racist he is I cannot disagree with the other description.
Why has it taken so long for Howard to do something on aboriginal poverty? They have been neglected and mistreated for many years and while the issues needing addressed are serious I do believe that he is doing this for electoral purposes and doubt his motivations.
It is too easy to blame Aboriginals for all their own ills but they did survive in Aus for 40,000 years before the first fleet.
There are many things that can be done but taking over Aboriginal land and sending in the army is the typical shock tactics of Howard. Investment and planning in jobs, health care infrastructure are needed but long term planning does not create the instant headlines that Howard desired.
Welly Gurl Said: I feel that the measures Howard is putting in place probably will not fix the problem as the extra police and troops are not going to stay in the communitites in the long run, which is what is needed to ensure that such policies are enforced.
Good god, so the only way this can be sorted out is with the Army playing the enforcer role? Do they put camera's in every room of every house for the aborigines own protection?
What is the link between John Howard, his attack on the aborigines, and Auckland Underwater's union movement? I suspect there is a connection
Ah Anonymous person who wrote the very long comment.... (whom i think i know who u are)....you wrote practically everything that i was going to say in another blog!....ha ha ha thanks for that!...expect for the whole SP calls for bit
long post removed as it was a party statement and whilst I am happy for you to voice your own opinion please do not post party issued things - unless of course you write for this blog :)
If you emailed it to me I would be happy to put up a link where people can go see the socialist party stance+
Australia is a stolen country. Native Australians have been thrown out of their land and forced into these communities (the ones that survived that is). They used to live all across Australia including the temperate areas - and did so quite happily for 40,000 years.
NZ isn't perfect, but at least *some* of our governments have faced up to their responsibilities to share our nation.
One of the key things that differentiate left from right in NZ is that the right actually *want* to make us into a settler state like Australia.
BTW, I think you should really take the "Red" off and call your site "Blue" or "Black" confectionery.
lol, oh come on Rich. She is making some very valid points!
It seems the only people against this in NZ are the fringe socialists and Maori radicals who screaming bloody murder. Most Kiwis know that it is a problem and appreciate a leader doing whatever he can to tackle it. It might be a little late, but you got to admire the fact that he's not ignoring it like other PMs (from both sides of the spectrum have) :)
because state sanctioned sexual assault is the way to go?
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