Diet Simon has sent me an e-mail regarding my recent post Why I am not Sorry post. He has given me permission to post it so I have , in full. My reply is also included.
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Ralph,
you are able to live the good life because of what was done to Aborigines. You are living off the loot, not least of which is the plot of land you probably own from which Aborigines were driven and possibly murdered. The country's first wealth base came from farms that used Aboriginal slaves.
If your ancestors were here around the middle of the 18-hundreds, chances are you've probably got some Aboriginal blood through the consent or rape of an Aboriginal woman because there weren't enough white women here.
You probably don't even want to be reminded that anything bad was done to them at all.
Well, they won't go away and they'll be - and should be - in our face as our guilty conscience for ever unless we acknowledge what our forebears have done and make an honest and decent peace with them that lifts them from the misery we've locked them into and has them sharing this land and all its bounty equally with us.
Few Germans are left who had anything to do with the war and the holocaust. But collectively that nation has mourned and continues to acknowledge those horrors and where it was possible has made restitution. It commemorates them with dates and places. It teaches them in schools. In fact, is is a crime on the statute books to deny that the holocaust happened, as neo-Nazis keep doing. I wish we had the same law here.
That is the way to go, not your and this nation's denial which will keep this sore open forever.
Diet Simon
German-born Australian,
journalist,
friends with an Aboriginal leader
My Response:
Deit, Europeans may have done bad things to Aboriginals in the past but I and a majority of Australians haven’t. If you want to remind people of past abuse, that fine by me but I have no remorse for something I had no control off. If there are people abusing Aborigines now they shouldn’t be just made to fell sorry, they should be charged with a criminal offence. Sadly, as the case of the 10 year old pack rape victim has shown, Aboriginals themselves are often the problem and the law is letting then get away with it.
What you need to remember is that the girl was in proper foster care but was sent back into a dangerous environment because a couple of social workers didn’t want to be accused of of participating in another “stolen generation” . Its becoming increasingly obvious that the stolen generation should be more properly called the rescued generation. This whole “sorry” thing is a hindrance not a help to Aboriginal welfare, something that Noel Pearson has noted. The Howard government’s intervention policy is something the Liberals should take great pride in and Rudd is to be commended for supporting it and hopefully will expand the policy.
As to the German problem, I don’t believe the current generation of Germans should feel sorry for what their parents and grandparents did either. Also it says something about the German people if the only way to stop them descending into anti-Semitic hate is to ban books. As an Australian, I believe in the great Anglosphere tradition of free exchange of ideas and debate. Wrong, racist ideas need to be exposed for what they are not banned.
Ralph
PS. My parents migrated to Australia from Malta after the war, not that’s relevant.
Deit, Europeans may have done bad things to Aboriginals in the past but I and a majority of Australians haven’t. – Without owning its past, no nation has a future.
ReplyDeleteIf there are people abusing Aborigines now they shouldn’t be just made to feel sorry, they should be charged with a criminal offence. - I’d put Howard in the dock first, he’s thrown Aborigines back 50 years.
Sadly, as the case of the 10 year old pack rape victim has shown – Where there is poverty, need, desperation, dysfunctionality, hopelessness, children cannot flourish and young or mature adults will do ghastly things. It is nothing intrinsically Aboriginal, as you seem to imply. The same has happened and happens in white societies, notably in the former communist countries of eastern Europe.
Its becoming increasingly obvious that the stolen generation should be more properly called the rescued generation. – That is a gross thing to say and totally negates the pain the stolen ones still suffer, pain that has wrecked the lives of many of them.
Noel Pearson – is an “Uncle Tom” who lived in Howard’s pocket and got fattened on taxpayers’ money to fund his centre. Most Aborigines loathe him.
The Howard government’s intervention policy is something the Liberals should take great pride in and Rudd is to be commended for supporting it and hopefully will expand the policy. – The intervention is colonisation all over again. It has not found a sing;le case of child abuse nor has it implemented a single measure of those recommended by the sacred children report that triggered Howard’s action. If you think this is about children, you are naive. This is a land grab to ensure a nuclear dump can go there when the Liberals bring in nuclear power, which they will no doubt be re-empowered to do three years from now by an electorate that doesn’t think.
Also it says something about the German people if the only way to stop them descending into anti-Semitic hate is to ban books.- “The German people”, there you go generalising, the sub-line being the Germans are as bad as ever. I was talking about the lunatic fringe of neo-Nazis. No Books are banned in Germany, quite a few are in Australia – so much for “the great Anglosphere tradition of free exchange of ideas and debate”.
Wrong, racist ideas need to be exposed for what they are – That’s what I’m trying to do here.
Diet
Deit,
ReplyDeleteI suggest if you comment on Australian issues you at least learn Australian history. Firstly comparisons with Germany is so um.. very euro-centric. Australians were granted citizenship to their own country in 1946. Before this time Australians, although a federation of states, were British. Look to the British government for apologies, not modern day Australians. It insults us that we are not recognised for how many bad British decisions we have overturned, eg terra nullius. Before offering your european views, please at least grant us the decency of learning our history.
Diet,
ReplyDeleteThat’s right. Too many Aboriginal children are living in terrible conditions which is why many are better off away from their communities. It will be interesting to see what Rudd does with intervention.
As to the Germans, its their government that passed laws to stop discussion of their history. It may be aimed at a small group of neo-Nazis but the fact that they think they need a nation wide ban makes me wonder how small that group is.
And yes, I’m aware that there are books banned in Australia and I’m generally opposed to that. The government banned some Islamist texts a while ago and
Thought that was wrong. We didn’t need to ban Communist books to stop Communism.
Ralph