Ludwig, I appreciated and agreed with much of your post.

However, to all those who started prefaced the posts with an explanation of their ethnic origins,

You are racists, your utterances are racist. You have either uttered proclamations to your racial origins or expressed self-loathing about them and as such tainted the rest of your post.

Before Anglo-Saxon Englishmen colonised Australia, the Saxons colonised England and in so doing, annoyed the Angles, who had previously displaced the Celts. The Romans did not help either, despite constantly fighting the Picts.

I would suggest no group has ever been happy about their “colonial masters”.

However, those who suggest being a colony of the Britain was the worst thing should observe what happened in the French, German and Belgium colonies of Africa and consider, had the English not colonised Australia, how Kooris and others, who happened on Australia before the British, would have fared under Indonesia’s record of “colonial benevolence”.

Why Indonesia? Because that is the likely choice of alternate colonist for today.

Australia would suffer, just as East Timor suffered. The record is still being discovered of exactly how bad a job of genocide did Indonesia perpetrate on East Timor. 180,000 Timorese starved and brutalised to death and Gough Whitlam endorsed the Indonesian occupation, colonisation and presumably the genocide which followed to our collective shame.

I am English by Birth, Australian by choice. Ultimately I am happy (not proud) to be of English heritage but

I am not responsible for the actions of my forefathers.
I take no credit for the actions of my forefathers.

In the future my wish would be to be considered first an Australian.

England was a melting pot of different ethnic groups. Australia is a melting pot of different ethnic groups.

“Racists” are the frauds and shysters who hide behind the merits or deficiencies of one "ethnic group" versus another.
The Reality of human history is, it is "individual people" doing "individual things" which causes anything to happen, good and bad.

Ethnic origin is just an accident of conception.

BD & Ludwig, you seem to be condoning a position that colonialisation of any country naturally involves cultural genocide and forced separation, which leads me to believe you almost feel it is acceptable.

May I remind you of my EXACT words: "I think the Indigenous people of Australia would indeed appreciate if their weren't any colonialists left. They would not have had generations stolen from them; be forced into slavery".

I never condoned the activities of any other imperialist power. Nor did I say the British are necessarily worse. Your words do, however, highlight entirely the problem. Mainstream Australia is perfectly happy to 'dub-down' the disgracefulness and significance of these acts by saying it could have been worse or 'its not our fault'. Crap. Just because worse or comparable atrocities may have occurred in other 'conquered' countries does not mean these acts are in any way acceptable. Are you saying that they are? I trust not. The fact that it could have been done by another is not, in my opinion, "most important in the discussion of the Indigenous situation". Does the fact that the Nazi Holocaust occurred affect the significance of subsequent genocides? Plainly it doesn't.

And Ludwig, ("neither do I any longer dwell too much on the history of the spread of humanity") - I am relatively sure that humanity was already firmly established in the continents now known as Africa and Australia long before the Colonialists came. I do not believe that the term ‘humanity’ carries with it some inescapable attachment to capitalism and profiteering yet, despite your comfort with assuming that it does

While the West continues to pour free grain and money to feed poor Aricans that will still want the Wests grain and money. That is why they are travelling North to reach the sourse of all this charity.

Projects have been developed to assist the Indiginous peoples to survive in a selfcontained sustainable community. However they look at what is happening elsewhere and want what they see.

Don't imagine this conflict is somthing new it is the nature of the continent and has thousands of years of survival where the food remains.

Ask any South African if they prefer their 9-5 job or the ancient tribal Africa. They might like it for a holiday but as a way of life?

jkenno, you write; “you seem to be condoning a position that colonialisation of any country naturally involves cultural genocide and forced separation, which leads me to believe you almost feel it is acceptable.”

No. Colonisation does not automatically involve really ugly relations, but the tendency has certainly been in that direction. It is not a matter of believing whether it is acceptable or not, it is matter of understanding it in the bigger scheme of things.

“I am relatively sure that humanity was already firmly established in the continents now known as Africa and Australia long before the Colonialists came.”

Um, what? Are you implying that I thought Australia and Africa were empty of people before European colonisation?!

“I do not believe that the term ‘humanity’ carries with it some inescapable attachment to capitalism and profiteering yet, despite your comfort with assuming that it does”.

I think you need to be very careful about your assumptions gleaned from reading other peoples’ brief comments, and what you assume to be their assumptions. Invaders and colonisers nearly always did have capitalistic profiteering motives. But the invadees didn’t. You certainly can’t attach those tags to all of humanity

BOAZ_David

Please watch "A Current Affair" tonight - Chennel 9 Sydney. Would be very interested in your thoughts.

Cheers
Kay

Pericles, it was intended as a simplistic model. Of course India gains financially from making shoes and cricket bats for white people but only very minimally compared to what western nations are gaining through their labour. And yes, China has a huge GDP but look at the conditions in which it works. My scales metaphor did include but was not limited to money, but your assumption is interesting.

The bloke next door owns a house and rents to another - one loses, one gains. Of course the whole thing is simplistic but you surely see what I was aiming at.

I do agree with your comment about the USA. But just to clarify - do you mean the initial white colonisation of what is now the USA? Or did you mean the American cultural imperialism that is spreading all over the world right now through our TV screens, music, pop culture and war?