Watch the video
We often hear talk about the primacy of Western culture that has brought freedom and democracy to the world, defeating over time bloody dictatorships, totalitarian ideologies and empires of evil.
As an example of the cultural superiority of the free West, here are some parts of an article taken from the Berliner Zeitung, February 29, 2008 on the so-called 'stolen generation'.
"Between 1910 and 1970 ten thousand Aboriginal children were taken away by force from their homes to be adopted by 'white' families, in a programme endorsed by the state. This was for the sake of the children themselves, as a minority of Australians still believe.
In 1997 a research paper entitled 'Bringing them home' made public these striking violations of human rights. Historians speak of attempted genocide. The removal of children was solely intended to prevent the transmission of the culture and language of the Aborigines. (abridged)
Ten years have passed during which the then Prime Minister John Howard refused to apologise to the Aborigines before Parliament. Only his successor Kevin Rudd broke the silence by creating recently the 'National Sorry Day', to be celebrated on February 13, and apologising several times both personally and on behalf of the institutions. For the approximately 450,000 Aboriginal Australians finally being recognized this has immense significance.
Not all, however, are euphoric over the apologies of the Prime Minister. The government allegedly still did not mention even a word about the stolen lands and massacres which occurred. An increasingly large number of Aboriginal claim also economic compensation."
Bruno Picozzi (in translation)
BIPPIblog in italiano
BIPPIblog in napulitano
2 comments:
On a slightly different form of injustice, artists are now concerned about the treatment of aboriginal artists by agents and galleries.
Aboriginal art is at an all-time high in demand, but not all aborginal artists are being treated fairly.
Unfortunately it is over to the buyer to check that the artist will receive a fair portion of the money paid for art works. That is usually around 50 to 60% or the sale price. Rumours in the art scene are that while some aboriginal artists are being treated well, others are definitely not.
The "second class citizen" treatment is applied by greedy entrepreneurs who pay a pittance and reap the rewards for what is little more than slave labour, albeit that the art-making is a labour of love.
The original article was a long one. Most of it was an interview to Vincent Serico, Aborigenal painter, one of the 'stolen children'.
When he was 4 he was brought far away from his faminly, in an institute. There he lived under hard control, he was sexually abused by white adults (1 on 5 of the stolen children were sexually abused) which resulted in self-destructive behaviour like alcohol abuse and drugs.
Nowadays he is fighting for his life in a hospital
Post a Comment