Forwarded from Christine Howes: 27 February 2000 First NAIDOC Celebrations in New Century All Australians should join with the nation's Indigenous people in the first NAIDOC celebrations of the new century, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander deputy chairman Commissioner Ray Robinson urged today. All Australians should take the time to learn, share and participate in these unique celebrations of Indigenous culture, he said. Commissioner Robinson announced the National NAIDOC theme for 2000 would be "Building Pride in our Communities." The National festivities would begin on Sunday July 2 and continue through to Sunday 9 July. He also announced Townsville would be the host city for this year's National focus. "ATSIC has reaffirmed its commitment to regional Australia by selecting Townsville as the NAIDOC host," Commissioner Robinson said. "NAIDOC Week is an event of national importance for all Australians. "It is a week to celebrate the heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people whose cultures extend as far back as 50,000 years. "That our cultures continue to exist is reason enough for celebration, but more than that, NAIDOC Week is an opportunity to recommit ourselves to an Australia respecting a common set of laws to which all are accountable and from which all are entitled to an equal dispensation of justice." Commissioner Robinson said this year's NAIDOC celebrations provided ameans for all Australians to celebrate Indigenous culture. "During NAIDOC week, people should put aside their differences and demonstrate to the rest of the world our capacity as a nation to offer a new sense of optimism. "Australians are open-hearted and fair-minded and essentially want to build a decent society. "there is a growing awareness within the general Australian community of what it means to be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australian. "It is important that all Australians have the opportunity to fully identify with the successes and the strengths of their Indigenous citizens and share in the future of the Australian nation. "I encourage all Australians to join in local NAIDOC activities and to share in celebrations which demonstrate the ideal of an inclusive but diverse nation," Commissioner Robinson said. -- ********************************* Make the Hunger Site your homepage! http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html ********************************* ------------------------------------------------------- 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/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
