[continued]

Surely 'self-determination' and 'empowerment' require the agency of the people themselves if they ever to be genuine ? Where is the magic ingredient - EFFORT ?

Meanwhile, in the cities, there could be seventeen or eighteen thousand Indigenous people at universities this year, and another couple of thousand graduates - in the cities, one in every six Indigenous women is already a graduate. Two totally different populations, rapidly going off in totally different directions. That's a crisis. That's pretty much the definition of a crisis.

We can fluff around with symbolic trivia and feel-good pseudo-initiatives to our heart's content, but it won't make a scrap of difference out in remote areas, where everybody expects people to sit and receive forever, and put no effort into their lives, except maybe to knock each other around. But unless real issues are faced up to, not only with there be little change but - if it's possible - things will get worse and worse. The definition of insanity, as Einstein said, ......

Joe

Loudmouth,
"I would dearly love to see an ABC video shot of Aboriginal people in communities actually working, doing SOMETHING for themselves, instead of waiting for more and more to be done for them."

Does this one fit your requirements?
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/landline/video/201208/r987287_10864682.flv

Paul,

Terra Nullius did not require that there zero inhabitants. When the British arrived, the aboriginal population was sparse, had no form of writing, no permanent buildings, no nation, no government and as a result no one to negotiate treaties, pacts etc.

Terra Nullius was in those days an appropriate call.

Hi Aidan,

Fantastic ! Just wonderful ! The Colbungs have always been get-up-and-go. This combination of environmental rehabilitation, sheep, cattle, tree-planting, growing for the perfume industry, and building TAFE courses on those programs, shows what can be done, in locally-specific sways, right across Australia.

It also shows that low expectations are, indeed, racist, that people in communities don't have to just sit around and have things done for them. Clearly, there are no excuses for the racism of low expectations.

I urge everybody to watch this video: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/landline/video/201208/r987287_10864682.flv

Somebody should send it to Tom Calma and Mick Gooda. Thanks, Aidan.

Joe

Hi SM,

I think you're right up to a point: even if they perceived that hunter-gatherers didn't have a recognisable system of actual land ownership, as people did in Africa or India or New Zealand, the British still recognised the rights of Aboriginal people here to use the land as they traditionally had: to hunt and gather, camp, collect water, perform ceremonies, etc. That's still the law in SA.

Nor could the British discern any coherent system of government, and hence there has always been the problem of who to negotiate agreements or treaties with - and about what, if they couldn't also identify any system of land ownership.

The colonial authorities tried to sort of invent a system of government, kingships, chiefs, etc., giving out plaques for 'King Billy', 'King Charlie', 'Queen Louisa" and so on, but I don't think any other Aboriginal people took much notice of that.

And it's probably far, far more difficult nowadays to identify who might be the 'chiefs' or elders of groups: so much water has flowed under so many bridges since those early days.

Joe

Hi Paul,

I checked out that SMH item:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/closing-the-gap-five-numbers-that-should-shame-australia-20160210-gmqlbl.html

A few things leap out:

* infant mortality is now a tiny fraction of what is was fifty years ago. It's probably on a par with southern Europe's. All thanks to far better health services, not to better parenting.

* Completion of Year 12 has doubled in barely fifteen years. My bet is that that improvement is almost entirely in the cities, amongst working people. Amongst welfare-oriented people, I'd say it's barely shifted. In remote areas, maybe not at all. It takes effort, after all.

* Incarceration rates are probably in line with crime-commission rates. Don't do the crime, you don't do the time.

* Life expectancy: people often completely misunderstand this: they think that yes, they will all die at 67.2 or whatever while whites all die at 78.8 or whatever. No. Early mortality, accidents, murders, deaths from addictions which might bugger up people's kidneys, liver, etc., mean that many people die much earlier than they should. If people can negotiate around the obstacles of beatings, accidents, murders, addictions, poor diet, etc., and get some regular exercise, they will live as long as anyone else, into their eighties and nineties.

* Employment: funny, I was just talking to someone yesterday, and someone else today, and they both talked about Aboriginal friends who have never worked a day in their lives. You may know of a few like that. And of course, the welfare population expects that their kids will also be on welfare for life, so what's the point of education ? If they ever do realise its importance, it's usually far too late. So generation after generation, people avoid education, avoid getting skills, and happily stay unemployed. And bored sh!tless most of their lives. And leave this earth with absolutely nothing for anybody to remember them by. Maybe not even a photograph. That's their choice, pure and simple., no excuses.

[TBC]