As mentioned in an earlier post, much of indigenous Australia fits too readily into the developing world category. It's a national disgrace in one of the world's wealthiest countries. Poor health, low participation rates in education, very crowded housing, unemployment, and substance abuse are among the major problems, especially in remote and regional communities.
A friend and former teaching colleague in Arnhem Land's Maningrida Community, Sinem Saban, has just directed a film addressing these issues head on. She is co-writer and producer of Our Generation with Damien Curtis. The preview gives background to the current struggles to 'close the gap', in the government's words.
Featuring the voices of youth, men, women and elders from remote communities in the Northern Territory, Aboriginal leaders and personalities from across the country, as well as academics, lawyers and international activists, the film opens the way for dialogue on how Australia can move forward with genuine respect and partnership with its First Peoples. Into a future where solutions come from working together, rather than being dictated from Parliament thousands of kilometres away.
Our Generation
The film is in post-production. It is an independent venture and the filmmakers are seeking donations to finish this hour-long documentary. Please click on the link for details.
More to come, both the good and bad news, about Indigenous Australia.
As I understand people of native origin in South-America share similar problems. The live in poor rural areas, are poorly educated and are not respected in society.
At least in Peru young girls of native descent suffer from low self esteem because of their origins and end up easily abused by their employers working as maids in middle class households.
Kevin, that is a powerful film and I am so glad there are people like you and your friend who will fight/expose governments/institutions who are so ignorant in how they deal with the minorities/original inhabitants.
On the contrary Bhutan has had immigrants (Nepalis) whom our government/ king reached out to for the longest time, put progressive policies to bring them into the fold only to have them connive to overthrow the government and take over the country. Now we are accused of ethnic cleansing and come under immense pressure from the international communities.
Given our naivete and lack of PR skills Bhutan did not go on a mission to have their story told which has only backfired, as many people do not know why there are so many refugees from Bhutan to begin with.
It looks like given what has happened in other countries like U.S, Canada and America those governments/people are unlikely to believe that the Bhutanese govt would NOT have done the same as they did, that there are people who do not do these things to other people. And it is very ironic, that those very governments that give Bhutan a hard time for the issue of how Nepalis are treated in Bhutan are the ones that ought to look into the souls of their own countries and people and see how they treat and continue to treat their minorities.
Check out my blog http://www.sonamongmo.com and http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/11/17/bhutan-shangri-la-or-ethnic-cleanser/
This is just a GREAT example of how immigrants (by the might of their populations) go to another country, overtake it completely and make the original inhabitants minorities in their own lands.
Liisa
I read your post about Peru. We have to expose and work against exploitation whereever it happens. Let’s hope that reforming governments such as Morales in Bolivia are tackling issues like this.
Sonam
I was unaware of the conflict in Bhutan until the Global Voices summit. The one-size fits all explanation of ethnic tensions is a common problem with mass media who do not have resources in places like Kyrgzstan or independent translators when a crisis erupts.
Hi Lisa,
Yes, you are very correct, even BBC made that mistake. For the longest time they had never sent a journalist to Bhutan but simply had one reporter from somewhere in Asia report about it and later from Nepal. In 2008 during the 5th King of Bhutan’s coronation the journalist who had been making negative reports about Bhutan applied to come to Bhutan for the event. When he came his whole report from Bhutan changed and he even corrected himself of what he had reported earlier.
I am not saying the Bhutanese government is perfect but much of what has been reported and the allegations of ethnic cleansing are SO untrue that it is amazing how the media spreads this. It is truly scary.
The situation in Kyrgystan is the perfect example of how power hungry people will do anything within their means- even stir up ethnic tensions where there were none - simply as a means to an end. Fortunately (perhaps because of citizen media, twitter etc) has come to light very quickly who was behind it. Unfortunately in Bhutan in the 80’s it was very different. The Nepalis who were responsible for stirring up the ethnic tensions are now the ones claiming to be victims. There are victims - they are the innocent farmers who were led out of the country under the ruse that the government was against ethnic Nepalis.
The sooner Bhutan resolves this the better it is for them but the last thing that countries like the U.S, Canada and Australia can do is resolve their own issues before they start harping on a small country like Bhutan’s.
I guess to a certain extent there has been that realization, because they have agreed to repatriate them.
Just as Liisa mentioned, this are common problems between Latin American indigenous situation. Partnerships between native people and mixed (or mestizos, which represent 90% of Mexico´s population) are not being developed properly. Sadly discrimination is a normal situation among native cultures.
Latest:
Indigenous leaders angry with major parties
Our Generation premiered at Darwin’s Outdoor Cinema last week.