Antinuclear

Tony Abbott insensitive to Aboriginals’ right to decide on future of their political protest

Why Abbott’s tent embassy comments were wrong, SMH, Russell Marks,February 2, 2012 “…….What was wrong with what Tony Abbott said? It was his assumption that he, as a non-indigenous man, could rightfully or usefully express an opinion on the way indigenous people conduct their politics of reform, protest and resistance. And it was that Abbott expressed such an opinion on a day many indigenous people mourn as commemorating a colonial invasion.

If non-indigenous Australians are to truly “work on our own racisms”, then we (my own ancestry is European) must not only acknowledge the problem, but we must also acknowledge indigenous people’s rights to determine their own
strategies in response to the problem…….

he remains blind to the racism that has informed nearly every policy in this area since European colonisation, from protectionism to assimilation to the Northern Territory intervention: the racism of paternalism, of “we know what’s best for you”.
Unfortunately, most of the media commentary since the incident has missed this core aspect of the protests.
The protesters’ rights to express their anger have been roundly dismissed. As the media chased the story down various rabbit holes,….. mainstream opinion is hostile to indigenous demands fortrue equality……

If non-indigenous Australians are to contribute towards improving those shameful epidemiological statistics and towards a true national reconciliation, then we must acknowledge the racism inherent in the kind of paternalism that allows Tony Abbott to express an opinion on the suitability of the tent embassy – and the racism inherent in our inability to see anything wrong with that.  http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/why-abbotts-tent-embassy-comments-were-wrong-20120201-1qssk.html#ixzz1lFoz8HD3

February 2, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News