Our traditional landowners have lived in Australia for more than 65,000 years. The longest living culture in our world they have survived many climate changes including an ice age.
Yet the invaders trashed their culture, poisoned and slaughtered, stole all their children. Traumatised them in many ways and still do. Crowds violently boo our top footy players … is it that the white fellas are so insecure they have to belittle successful indigenous people?
welcomed to country
dance, chant and know the dreamtime
respect their wisdom
dVerse, haibun about indigenous, Frank
aroused 
We as people are so judgmental on the basis of colour, race and religion (and in my country’s case, caste ) that we refuse to see the wealth of wisdom these people have! You always raise such pertinent issues, Kate.
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I strongly agree with every word said Punam .. your caste system and treatment of women is prehistorical, it really needs to change but it’s so deeply imbedded … like Ghandi never was 😦
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I’m with you here, we have more to learn from them.
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loads more Si, if only people would open their hearts and minds .. we would be in less binds 🙂
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Your poem, words, and photo are so powerful and so important!
We need to live lives with open minds, open hearts, open arms, and open hands. We can learn so much from each other! We learn much much more from those who are different from us than we do from those just like us. And all of us human-beans have much in common…we want to love and be loved, we want respect, appreciation, peace, a safe world for all, to be heard, ETC! 🙂 SO much in common! 🙂
HUGS!!! 🙂
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I read the book, “Tracks: A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback” by Robyn Davidson a few years ago and was struck by how she describes the Aboriginal population after the invasion of the white skins. It’s not a pretty picture.
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It is a mystery how the human race has been able to survive our own efforts to make ourselves extinct!! The divisions are not genetic – there is only one race (human race) despite efforts to divide and conquer ourselves! I hope we can get out of our own way so that everyone can thrive….
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I wonder why we have felt so threatened that we don’t even try to listen.
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Officially most countries do not distinguish between citizens of different ethnicity for constitutional rights but the society itself is still evolving to cope with this system. Citizenship yet is not a self-sufficient identity for most. It is rather amusing to see, often this is the case with the die-hard nationalists which is a glaring contradiction. With national flag in hand/armbands, chants of nationalistic slogans all they ever do is widen ethnic gaps. In every country this is the pattern of right wing nationalism. For example Nazis called themselves nationalists where as they were ethnic white supremacists. It may seem though only white people do it since they were the last ones to do it. But even 5000 before Egyptians too had slaves, every established ancient culture has exploited others. Let’s see how long does it take, humanity as a whole to get over this racial superiority bullshit.
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Agree 100 percent with your last line but our traditional landowners only got to vote in 1962 … there has never been a treaty or constitutional recognition that their land, wages and children were stolen … we are still stealing their children one by one now instead of all at once!
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Yes. Constitutional recognition or a symbolic reparation is needed. May be you guys need to push for it. In Australia and for every invasion & genocide in history, at least the major known ones. It will at least remind people that there was more shame than pride in empires and imperialism. And may be then coming generations will be less neurotic about “getting past glory”. The insecurity that you spoke about is from that entitlement to this glory
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Very nice post and photo! This is a North American issue too…
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The same has happened back home too…our indeginous people are slowly being driven away from their lands…so sad..
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slowly … the govt and church did it forcefully and rapidly here!
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The tragedy of our 10 minutes, destruction on so many levels, well said Kate.
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Very well done Cate! Seems like everywhere we go we tend to mess things us due to our greedy attitudes.
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It does seem like insecurity and envy to belittle those who are successful.
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Your haibun reflects the same, sad story of the Native American experience in the US. I like how you evoked pathos in this one!
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We could learn much if we listened to our Indigenous Peoples.
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We never know who we have the most to learn from.
Yeah, the white fellas are insecure. And now the whole planet is in peril.
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Hi Kate how are you ? Great share and agree with your words.
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Absolutely true and agree totally with your words, Kate. Our people at the top r so scared that these real people r shunted out and our old cultures die.
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we can’t just blame our leaders Kamal, these are the general public shamelessly booing an elite sportsman …
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The deeply rooted savage nature in DNA of few can devastate so much. Sad point is that those individuals keep on considering themselves as the righteous ones.
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I know nothing about DNA Hammad, sounds an unlikely excuse for bad behaviour … those immature people need to looks very closely at their misplaced righteousness!
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