individual,
if you must anglisise my pseudonym I prefer Grandma - its what my grandchildren call me. All of my children are gainfully employed, and raising terrific children of their own. I am proud to be a Grandmother.

The issue is not what the colonisers did to Indigenous Australians in the past, it is about getting history right and recognising these acts of barbarism in the name of colonisation, and being aware of how they continue to influence the present and future. The social structure of Australia, its laws and social norms of the settler and Indigenous society, are all influenced by past laws, actions and social norms. Cruelty and exploitation was certainly part of the coloniser's culture - they jailed kids, put little kids down mines, exploited workers unashamedly. Barbarians really.

It may well be that racists cling to ancient practices of the early 1900s, or that they just like to be able to have someone they can look down on. Maybe they failed to evolve into thinking beings who can see that a person's difference does not mean that they are less than them.

Racism still permeates Australian society, in overt and covert ways. Racism continues on from the racist foundations of modern Australia. Racism contributes to the ongoing gap in life expectancy and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians.

Anthony,
you might find the 'working together' book useful - it is downloadable.

Poirot

You show a rare depth of wisdom here!

"Idea (i-de´ah) a mental impression or conception."

"[Fixed Idea] -- a persistent morbid impression or belief that cannot be changed by reason."

Every abstract 'idea' that we [rationally] support is retained, not because of the rationalisations that we give for it, but because of the 'value' is has to us -- a value that we are often unaware of, and would take great pains to deny if pointed out! We 'see' what we wish to see and if we don't feel comfortable with the judgement we make of our own sense of self worth [which comes from how we view and treat others, not from how they view and treat us] we 'wish' to 'see' others as 'failing us' -- how else can we deal with the guilt that arises from our own damning 'self-judgement'.

Wisdom is 'seeing' what is at the root of all our difficulties -- and the intellect and reasoning will merely present the 'supporting evidence' for what we have already decided, at the unconscious level, we 'need' to see.

Freedom from guilt only really comes when we stop thinking that we can effectively judge people - ourselves included - on the basis of their manifest behaviour; without taking into account the 'pit' from which they have been 'dug' and the core motive [love or fear - all the great philosophers of life can 'see' this] that gives it all its meaning for them, and us. Freedom from guilt comes when you see mistaken ideas - but without the attribution of deliberate intent. The 'attribution of deliberate intent' is the fundamental flaw in all our thinking -- and the real core driver for ALL our negative conflict - at whatever level - and in any setting.

Hi Aka,

I think we are using the word 'culture' in very different ways. I'm referring to the general way that people live their lives, as either embedded in a hunter-gatherer society, technology, economy, cosmology and ethos, OR living in the modern world, broadly understanding its functioning and processes, its technology, working in its economy, having a modern world-view (more or less scientific-rational, in an open society), and understanding the imperiatives of a work ethic.

In that sense, we are all in the modern world - we all participate in modern cultural practices, including those of us who are aware of alternatives. That is what I am trying to get across by suggesting that nobody has to be bound by a particular set of cultural practices and beliefs - and that, in fact, nobody is. And quite possibly, given that the influences and forces of the modern world and its economy are so pervasive, I suspect that, ultimately, nobody can be EVER AGAIN, solely, utterly, embedded in anything other than a modern society/economy/ world view from now on. That's what rules today.

I guess my ancestry is Celtic (with a bit of Anglo thrown in) and I am aware of the history - and prehistory - of Celtic Britain, its reliance a couple of thousand years ago on slavery (at least of women), its late arrival on the modern stage, thanks to the Romans. I'm struck by how similar (but also how different) social life had been in say, Highland Scotland and in Ireland, up until very recent times, to traditional Aboriginal society, at least down this way in southern SA. Until a few hundred years ago, Scotland and Ireland were, I have to say, very backward societies, with clans forever at war with each other, and a history of pointless and interminable brutality. So I'm sure that nobody would think that Scots or Irish should consider going back to anything like that sort of 'culture'.

[TBC]

'Backward society' does NOT mean 'backward people'. Nobody is born Stone Age, or modern - these are rapidly learnt from a young age. 'Culture' is rapidly learnt from a young age. Nobody has any innate, or inherent, 'culture'. However one lives one's life, daily, embedded in a particular social, economic and cosmological context - this forms the long-term basis for one's 'culture', for the range of one's cultural practices. But that range of practices is protean, changeable, depending on circumstances, on the environment, on what is perceive and known and possible.

In this sense, culture is not a Thing, it's a set of processes, always fluid, depending on what is feasible at any particular time. People can easily adopt more than one suite of cultural practices, and easily move from one to the other, depending on the needs of the situation. In that sense, a person's 'culture' is not only NOT fixed, it is multiple, with alternatives, and yes, often with inconsistencies and even contradictions. That's how we are, all of us, you and me.

We live in this world, and in spite of allegiances to 'another world, this is the one we engage with, daily, in our social relations, our preoccupation with earning a living, finding sustenance, expressing ourselves in art and language, reproducing. This is what i perceive is meant by 'culture' - all those things that we DO, how we RELATE to others - not just what we might be able to refer to in a book, but how we actually LIVE. That's culture. Yours and mine. WE share a great deal of it, Aka, you and me. You have specificities, so do I. But basically, we're not that different, we are very, very similar - and we'll never be the 'same'. No two people are.

[TBC]

But it's not a cookie-cutter world - 'you do your thing there, I do my thing here and never the twain shall meet'. That might have been the rule in the past, when the world was fragmented into thousands of separate societies, but it will never happen again. The world is now, forever, one. One 'culture', with variations, specificities, choices.

I'm not religious in a Western sense, I worship the wonder of human beings and marvel at the indeterminacy and beauty of the world and grieve at its tragedies, like Syria and the Japanese tsunami. Why ? Because those people are human like me, and in my 'religion', they are my brothers and sisters, they are me. If you want to call that 'spiritual', go for it.

As for your suggestion that capitalism needed racism to get going, I don't think so for a moment. It certainly developed and exploited it, but racism wasn't some sort of necessary spark for invasions and colonisation: the profit motive was, racism came along much later.

Most societies in the world have been ethnocentric, most have believed themselves to be superior to all others: at least down this way, at times, individuals from different Aboriginal groups express that opinion about other Aboriginal groups, as I'm sure you would be aware where you are. Whether that ethnocentricism develops into racism is something else. But I have to say that over fifty years, I have privately despaired at elements of racism in SOME Aboriginal people's attitude to southern Europeans, Vietnamese, Africans, Samoans - they are not immune from the toxins of racism.

So as Anthony writes, what do we do now ? What do we do about something that can't be undone ? Wallow and whinge ? Or pick ourselves up, seize the opportunities that are around and get on with life ?

Love,

Joe

Namaste,

Thank you for that - something to ponder.

"'The attribution of deliberate intent' is the fundamental flaw in our thinking." Very insightful - and as intelligent, rational beings we ought to examine that motivation. (It might seem a trite comparison, but I find a similar example when I accidentally step on my cat's tail. I'm aghast at the look she gives me because she 'instinctively' assumes that I have deliberately set out to do her harm - and even more aghast that I have no means to communicate to her otherwise).

And yes, 'love and fear' - or the battle between 'attraction and fear'. For whichever emotion is the more powerful is the catalyst for our actions.