Media Release
September 25, 2001
A Gungalidda grassroots perspective on Refugees and the recent events in the US
Not all Aboriginal people agree with the views on asylum-seekers expressed
by ATSIC bureaucrat Marion Hansen (C/T, 22/9/01). I wonder if working for
the Government has affected her views. People working for the Government
have a job to do, but maybe she is just saying what the government wants to
hear. Maybe she is talking about the views of those Aboriginal people who
have believed the myths the government has put out about the asylum
seekers. But we know that what the Government says about Aboriginal Peoples
is wrong, so we are not going to believe similar statements like "the
asylum seekers will take Australian's jobs." These are just myths to turn
the public against refugees in the same way that public sentiment has been
whipped up against Aboriginal people and their rights.
If we as Aboriginal people are true to our culture and spiritual beliefs,
we should be telling the government that what they are doing to refugees is
wrong! Our Aboriginal cultures do not allow us to treat people this way. I
am a grassroots Gungalidda Elder and I happened to be up in the Gulf of
Carpentaria attending a funeral when it came over the radio that the Tampa
people had arrived at Christmas Island. It was very disturbing to hear
what was happening to those refugees. All of us old people were so sad
about the refugees on the Tampa. We have our own issues to deal with but
the refugees are fleeing hunger, deprivation, persecution and war. And now
they are caught up in a situation with the Australian Government in which
they are powerless.
The refugees were coming here, to OUR country, which we as Aboriginal
people have a spiritual connection to. Our culture teaches us that we are
all connected, to the land and to everybody else. Our Spirit Creator and
our ancient law and culture would not stand for how these refugees are
being treated. But no-one will listen to us. (Except the Greens. They
realise what's happening to this land.)
So it saddens me when I hear any Aboriginal person stand up and talk about
money before human need. Ms Hansen is talking about the "money side" of the
asylum seekers arriving, but my Gungalidda people were talking about the
human side. We should be talking about human need first and realise we have
a roof over our heads, we know where food's coming from. Those people were
out on the water. The old women where I come from said "Look at this big
river, where we're fishing, look at this big land."
There's room for all of us, if we learn to live simply, within our
country's means. This land is crying out for us to stop being so
materialistic. We should be learning our lesson. Cutting down on the way
we live, saving the land and embracing others in need. Giving them
refuge. This is a spiritual country and we are a spiritual people, we are
ready to embrace other people in their need. We should only be using the
things we need to survive, and not keeping everything for ourselves, and
living well at other people's expense.
Before Europeans came here, (illegally), in the Aboriginal world, we were
all different, speaking different languages, but we all had the same
kinship system for all human beings, in a spiritual way. Our religion and
cultural beliefs teaches us that everyone is a part of us and we should
care about them. We can't separate ourselves from other human beings -
it's a duty. The first thing we have to stand by is our belief of caring
for each other. People can come here, if they respect our land, and treat
our land as it should be treated. And if they don't interfere with us, and
if they respect our differences, because we've been interfered with enough!
I am appalled that even as I write this, laws are being made in the
Parliament, to keep refugees away from this land. I always wanted to
believe that the majority of people in Australia weren't racist, but the
polls supporting John Howard's actions against the refugees have showed me
that I was sadly mistaken. John Howard's popularity jumped, but I can see
that he is doing to the refugees the same things that have been done to
Aboriginal Peoples. I can identify with what is happening to the refugees,
especially to the Moslems.
As a black woman I recognise the racism and arrogance that is projected
against the refugees - because that same racism and arrogance has been
directed against us for over 200 years. We know what it's like to suffer
religious persecution, because we have not had freedom since we were invaded.
I believe we are all from the human race and we should take heed of the
great evil that happened in New York and Washington and let it be a global
warning to all of us. I see the hungry children of the Middle East and
Africa, (and the people dying of preventable and treatable diseases), on
television; they are starving, living in 3rd and 4th world conditions, sick
and dying slowly. There is little difference between sudden death (even
though I don't condone what happened at the WTC for a minute) and the slow
deaths of the children of Afghanistan, Iraq and other poor countries. In
fact, if anything, a sudden death is a kinder death than living a life of
hell on earth, and wondering when the powerful of the world will recognise
the humanity of those suffering people.
Many nations live on this planet, some have enormous might and others feel
powerless in the face of that might. But the wealthy countries like the
US, the UK and Australia, they became rich in the first place from either
taking someone else's country, or from what they took from the poor
countries, and now they have to take stock. Instead of being just all out
for themselves, and causing so much suffering in the world, they need to be
honest and admit what they are doing to other human beings. Then we can
turn this great evil into something good.
I see this as an Elder from the Gungalidda Nation. The wealthy countries
have to start respecting everybody, even if they are different and start
treating everybody as a human being. This journey, from the cradle to the
grave is too short not to embrace other people in need. We shouldn't be
turning people away, on the high seas, putting their lives in danger and
the lives of their children. We should feel ashamed at what has happened
to those refugees. They came from war-torn countries, and had to flee
through no fault of their own. They are different to us, with different
languages, different religions and different cultures. But they should be
accepted as equally important to us because they are human beings.
And Bush, he is a loose cannon. Australia is a little country mindlessly
playing "follow the leader." If we follow the US we will destroy ourselves
as surely as the US is destroying itself. Bush thinks he can reach to the
sky with his missiles but he can't even see hungry children right in front
of his eyes. He is disconnected to other people's suffering.
Remember, Bush is the world "leader" who had the arrogance to refuse to
sign the Kyoto protocol. He said he was going to put the US economy before
the global environment. But his words are the words of a fool, because if
he destroys the planet, where is he going to get jobs for the people of the
US? What will happen to the economy of the US then? And remember, the US
recently walked out of the UN World Conference Against Racism and refused
to listen to any criticism of US foreign policies.
In regards to the people who did the bombing in the US, we have to think
about what could have made them so angry and desperate. Desperate people
can be driven to desperate acts when they are not treated equally and their
needs are not taken into consideration by the wealthy countries of the world.
I can understand their feelings because Aboriginal Peoples have never been
accepted in this land, even though it is OUR land. We have never been
treated as equals. I will finish by reminding everyone that this is not
John Howard's country, it has been stolen. It was taken over by the first
fleet of illegal boat people. We need to remind the world that the
Aboriginal people who have stayed true to themselves, to their land and to
their spiritual beliefs do not have the same views about refugees, about
the US or about a war of retribution that John Howard does.
Wadjularbinna,
Gungalidda Elder
--
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