This Musical Dispatch from the Front was first published on 11 September 2010.
As ever use Google Translate where applicable
Goddag mine venner
Today’s quotable quote:
“If you are not part of the solution, you can make good money, helping to prolong the problem”
A friend sent me this, who doesn’t know whence it came.
I dedicate it to all those with their snout in the trough that is the NTER (Northern Territory Emergency Response).
A couple of years ago, I was given a book by Joe Bageant* called ‘Deer Hunting with Jesus: dispatches from America’s class war’. I thought it was brilliant.
I’ve just finished reading Joe’s second book ‘Rainbow Pie (A Redneck Memoir)’.
http://www.scribepublications.com.au/book/rainbowpie
Joe crawled from under the pile that is (North)American society to bring us a seldom heard Weltanschauung (I know, I’ve used this word many times before, I like it).
Myself, I have never lived in the bottom of the pile, but have spent more than half a lifetime living on its periphery, with my eyes and ears (and mouth!) wide open.
Whilst dealing with an entirely different paradigm, and only on a few rare occasions approaching Joe Bageant’s lucid erudite style, I am staggered by the similarities in our conclusions.
Redneck Virginian Hillbillies and Warlpiri Aboriginal Australians share this in common: they are the under-class. They’ve been systematically stripped of their right to run their own lives as they choose. What dignity and self respect they retain, under sustained attack, is testament to their resilience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0
I’ve just spent some time “down South” in Melbourne. Everyone there has heard about Liam Jurrah** of whom Yuendumu is justly proud.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF-_HszEC9s
Hardly a soul has heard of (or cares about) Income Management.
In answer to Jenny Macklin & Warren Snowdon (“Wazza” or Warrana)’s continuous Propaganda barrage (“Aboriginal Women are very happy with Income Management, more money is being spent on food, little Aboriginal Children are putting on weight”) I need only quote this from a press release by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert :
“There were unprecedented swings in polling booths in central Australia (including Kintore, Santa Teresa, Titjikala, Ampilatwatja, Utopia, Ti Tree, Rockhampton Downs, Yuendumu, Papunya, Mutitjulu and Yulara) against the sitting member and Minister for Aboriginal Health Warren Snowdon – with some booths showing swings of 60-70% against him and 30-40% to Greens candidate and NTER critic Barbara Shaw”
Chaos Theory’s butterfly: Remote Aboriginal Australia came very close to giving the Mad Monk the majority that would have made him the next Prime Minister of Australia.
Whilst away on R&R the following was emailed to me by the GBM (“Ngipiri”):
“Representatives >from Centrelink, FaHCSIA and DWEER will be attending Yuendumu on Tuesday the 7th of September to discuss the NTER changes which include the reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), Income Management, 5 year Leases, Liquor restrictions, Phonograph Restrictions, Publicly funded computers etc.”
About time! Too much phonography in Yuendumu. We must eradicate the Yuendumu phonographers. It’s been a serious problem in Yuendumu: phonography. You wouldn’t believe how many illicit phonographs are operating in Yuendumu. At last the authorities are introducing Phonograph Restrictions. Yuendumu will be a better place. Hallelujah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud-M6YqeOWg
Jeg vil slutte af med nogle fornøjelige musik
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgH6N669OhE
En venlig hilsen, indtil næste gang
Frank
Hvorfor ikke? En mere sang
- *Joe Bageant has since died. His work lives on, the two books mentioned are required reading for anyone wanting a better understanding of the way society and politics have changed in the last decade of the Twentieth Century and the early part of the Twenty-first Century.
- ** Liam Jurrah is no longer an AFL footballer. His fate is a direct result of what Chris Graham (Editor of “Tracker” Magazine) calls “the five most dangerous white words in Aboriginal affairs: ‘At least we’re doing something’.”, referring in this case to the Northern Territory Emergency Response. Read it here