This dispatch was first published on 30 September 2010. Like so many of these dispatches it is even more true now, in this time of growing and indeed shrill cries for assimilation.
Bonjour mes amies,
From Crikey- Napoleon is alleged to have said this: “Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence”.
He would have said it in French: “Ne jamais attribuer à la malice de ce qui est bien expliqué par l’incompétence”. In a Corsican accent.
Je pense better still: “… explained by incompetence and/or ignorance.”
Jenny Macklin, Mal Brough, Warren Snowdon, Tony Abbott, the bureaucrats working for FaHCSIA and Centrelink and the Northern Territory Government, the Bennelong Society and assorted other assimilationists, that I have maligned in the past; I take it all back, je suis desolé. You’re not mean and nasty, just plain stupid. Warungka-patu.
A friend sent me a wonderful book by Isabel Allende: ‘La isla bajo el mar’ (The Island Beneath the Sea). The first half of the book deals with slavery in Saint-Domingue, which was to become the world’s first black independent nation of Haiti in 1804. We have to assume that the unsuccessful attempt of suppression by Napoleon of the slave rebellion was not motivated by malice. The second half of the book is set in New Orleans around the time of la vente de la Lousiane (‘the Louisiana purchase’). Napoleon’s sale of what now constitutes a quarter of the U.S.A. for $15 Million, also should not be ascribed to malice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTFYR01hzX4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbmSmg1IhZE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXId-5dYJjE
New Orleans became part of the United States of America in 1803, much to the dismay of the French and Creole population of New Orleans, which included large numbers of refugees from Saint-Domingue. It wasn’t until the 13th. Amendment of the Constitution was enacted in 1865, that slavery became illegal in the whole U.S.A.
Warlpiri people are not severely whipped for attempting to escape. They are not overworked and underfed to be replaced when they leave this earth for the Island Beneath the Sea after only several years in the cane fields. They are not chained and put on the auction block.
Slaves were regarded as property. They were owned. One aspect of slavery is that slaves have no power over their destiny. No say in their future. No say in how they should run their lives. They weren’t regarded as fully human:
From the book: Valmorain the plantation owner argued with his friend Dr. Parmentier. The doctor was of the opinion that negroes were as human as whites. Valmorain disagreed, “what do you think?” he asked Tété the slave girl, “the master is always right” she answered. “so in your opinion negroes aren’t fully human?”, “beings that aren’t human don’t have opinions, master” she replied.
Nobody these days claims Aborigines are not human. Aboriginal men are widely believed to be lazy, violent, depraved, uneducated, alcoholic and inferior, but human none the less. So often is this stereotype reinforced by political opportunists and others with vested interests in the failure of remote Aboriginal society, that it becomes a self-fulfilling reality.
Warlpiri people are not slaves, yet many in ‘mainstream’ society persist in claiming some sort of ‘ownership’ of Aborigines. They arrogantly have opinions as to what Aborigines should or shouldn’t do, and believe they have some sort of right in deciding what is best for them. Warlpiri have no power over their destiny. No say in their future. No say in how they should run their lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmOrWG2FTbg “…don’t tell me what to do, don’t tell me what to say…”
Not all is lost however. The ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) is advertising temporary jobs for community members in the next census to be held in less than a year from now (August/September 2011). An opportunity well worth waiting for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEWCLL5eR2s “…the sun is gonna shine….”
A bientot,
François