Paul1405, 'what OTB said.., quote; "It is not polite to say that pre-contact Aboriginal society was abusive to women and generally violent."'

I didn't say that.

Hi Paul,

This is probably neither here nor there, but pretty much every anthropologist, including the most captive, admits that their particular group-of-choice is amazingly violent towards women. Where do you want to start ?

And today, in the twentieth century, not a lot seems to have changed. The ABS data would tell you that: just look it up for yourself.

Joe

"It is not polite to say that pre-contact Aboriginal society was abusive to women and generally violent."

Posted by onthebeach, Friday, 5 August 2016 7:28:33 AM

Of course you didn't say it OTB, It was one of those socialists, watermelon greens trots who said it!

Joe, said "Violence against women is common (no, I didn't say universal) in tribal societies, whether they were/are Scottish, Arab, Yanomamo or Aboriginal Australian.
My partner wants to dispute that, she claims Maori tribalism was rather accommodating of women. She believes the European has a history of violence towards women and violence in general second to none. I agree, were your "ancestors" non tribal violent people as well?

Paul1405,

I used quotation marks and gave the source.

More from the same article,

"..(F)eminist author Stephanie Jarrett, in her introduction to “Liberating Aboriginal People from Violence, says, “It is important to acknowledge [the] link between today’s Aboriginal violence and violent, pre-contact tradition, because until policymakers are honest in their assessment of the causes, Aboriginal people can never be liberated from violence…Deep cultural change is necessary, away from traditional norms and practices of violence.”

Bess Nungarrayi Price, in her foreword to Jarrett’s book, says, “My own body is scarred by domestic violence…We Aboriginal people have to acknowledge the truth. We can’t blame all of our problems on the white man…This is our problem that we can fix ourselves…”

“The Racial Discrimination Act was there to protect us from white racism and we needed that protection. But it has not protected our people from ourselves. We need an act, we need laws that recognize that the problem now is blackfellas killing blackfellas and killing themselves.”

Jarrett says that misogynist violence and child abuse in Aboriginal communities are at “catastrophic” levels. At the same time, Aboriginal culture must not be criticized, as though the violence sits outside the culture. Liberal democracies should welcome diversity, but not customs that violate human rights, she says."

http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/bennelong-papers/2013/05/the-long-bloody-history-of-aboriginal-violence/

I do not dispute that people, including Aboriginal people, have an unacceptably high instances of violence, including violence against women. What I do not accept is that this violent trait is in some way related to their Aboriginality. The "message" from some is you cannot expect anything less from backward tribal people who have been given everything. That view is raciest as it does not take into account the socio-economic conditions of people, and assumes people with a tribal link are animalistic and backward in nature. Given the same conditions, all people, act very much the same, including white people. This is evident by the behavior of some people in public housing estates, both white and black.
Negative attitudes achieve nothing, and that has been clearly demonstrated by the failure of the hard line, negative attitude to juvenile justice in the NT.

Hi Paul,

Are you suggesting that domestic violence is not much higher in Otara and Panmure than in Remuera and St Heliers ?

So, any more straw men ? Is 'race' all you can come up with ? Another of your own projections ?

No, I did NOT suggest that extreme violence is related to Aboriginality, and you know it. I suggested that ALL tribal societies, no matter who and where or on what continent tended to be male-dominated and to 'solve' problems using violence. Yes, that would include my ancestors from different parts of Britain. Although, strangely, none of my convict ancestors were ever up for violent crimes, only for theft. But I suspect that, like other male-dominated societies, the men amongst them resorted to violence against their partners.

Violence is one of the few ways that non-literate societies can maintain order and control. That's simply how it had to be. Look at Galarrwuy Yunupingu's suggestion of a 'makarrata', a notion floated in the late seventies which pretty much died in the arse even then: 'coming together after a fight'. Yes, and a few blokes (and women)getting speared and bashed, often dying. Where does Galarrwuy want to start, I wonder ? With his neighbours ? Do you want to volunteer, Paul ?

Joe