World to see warts-and-all doco on Aboriginal athletes Source: AAP | Published: Friday August 27 9:10:42 AM LONDON, Aug 27 - Millions of television viewers in 33 countries will have their pre-Olympic ideas of Australia shattered by a new warts-and-all documentary on Aboriginal athletes and their people. Award winning journalist John Pilger hopes Welcome to Australia - which premieres in Britain next week and on the ABC next month - will dramatically alter the conceptions held by many about his home country in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics. The documentary starts by telling the stories of several world class Aboriginal athletes denied the opportunities of their white countrymen, including prominent activist, and former outstanding athlete and soccer player Charles Perkins. It then delves into the third world conditions in which many indigenous Australians still live, as well as the thorny subject of Aboriginal deaths in police custody, and Aboriginal suicides. The examples include the story of Kununurra, the West Australian town through which the Olympic torch will pass, but where many Aborigines will not see it due to the eye disease trachoma. It is a study set to make many white Australians cringe, one from which Prime Minister John Howard in particular emerges with his reputation shot down, and one which may trigger media organisations descending on Sydney next year to head west in search of the Aboriginal story. "This is Australia's glittering showcase when all the picture postcard images and delights of 'Oz' will be on show," Pilger says. "The Olympic organisers have co-opted Aboriginal art and artists, and others, to ensure the 'multicultural' face of the Games. "But behind that facade is the shocking reality of Aboriginal Australia - not only its betrayal over land rights, but its continuing third world status within a first world country." London-based Pilger describes world champion runner Cathy Freeman as a godsend for white Australia as a symbol of how Aboriginal athletes can rise to the top, but argues that, in reality, she is an 'aberration' in the wider picture of Aboriginal struggle. The program tells the story of Perkins, who 'sought refuge' in England, trialling for soccer giants Manchester United, before returning to Australia to campaign for indigenous rights. There is also Wally McArthur, a stolen generation child who set record sprinting times in winning at the national championships of 1951, only to be left out of the Australian team for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. McArthur, now living in Adelaide, also went to England and was a star rugby league player with the Rochdale club. Sydney's winning bid for the Olympics also comes under scrutiny. Pilger points to two $100,000 sporting scholarships given to African sportsmen as inducements for their countries to vote for Sydney, while '25 scholarships are given to Aborigines each year worth $5,000 each'. Howard, who Pilger said declined to be interviewed for the program, comes under attack for policies on land rights, cuts to Aboriginal funding, and the statement of regret issued yesterday for the suffering inflicted on indigenous Australians. "John Howard and Pauline Hanson have much in common, both deny the truth of the past," Pilger says, likening Hanson's One Nation policy to Howard's One Australia policy of the late 1980s. Welcome to Australia, which Pilger says will be syndicated to 33 countries, will screen on the ABC on September 28. ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/