Dear reader,
another one from Frank.
We are worried about this dispatch as we think it might be on the subversive side.
If you read this, you may acquire the conviction that Australian policies in regard to indigenous language is skewed and assimilationist. We know this to be a Furphy as we don’t like foreigners telling us that we’re wrong.
It’s a central pillar of the AUK WARD Pact and it keeps would be aggressors in bed, a trembling with fear.
And besides how would Brazilians know that much about language, most of them can’t even speak English.
This salute aint been banned yet. Except by the Olympic Movement which eschews political interference, corruption, corporate malfeasance etc, etc.
I arks ya.
Anyway, here it is from Frank
Bom Dia meus amigos,
As I was responding to emails, my son and his friend Japanangka were strumming their guitars on the back patio. I’m sure you’ve all experienced that exquisite feeling you get when you hear an evocative snippet of music. An echo from the past. I went outside to ask what it was. It was Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0W1v0kOELA
Brazilian kiddie at pains to find any equivalent to NAPLAN
Reminds me of when Yuendumu came close to having its own Lynyrd Skynyrd episode. A charter plane lost power on takeoff because the tanks had been topped up with the wrong fuel and had to make an emergency landing on the Tanami road. On board was the Lajamanu Teenage Band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpc1tlZlGg
One of the interstate guests at the Warlpiri Encyclopaedic Dictionary book launch was a linguist who works for AIATSIS. The Aboriginal Studies Press, an AIATSIS branch, published the dictionary. Echoes from the past. In 2014 this linguist led a group of Brazilian linguists on a tour of Australian bilingual schools. When shown Yuendumu school’s Bilingual Resources Development Unit (the BRDU aka The Printery) they remarked that whereas we were far better resourced than Brazilian bilingual schools, Australia was far behind when it came to positive supportive bilingual education policies.
We at pcbycp are a little worried about this salute
I received an email from Brazil, and I quote from it:
“We’re back in Brazil after our long and eye-opening trip around the land of oz……we saw very little activism during our time there. What we did see, not only in Yuendumu, but also in the Torres Strait Islands, for instance was a lot of outraging government attempts to sabotage all language maintenance efforts and the possibility of living life in a different way. No right to be different in oz, it seems to me.”
Regarding the dearth of activism, I’ve seen it in inaction. The power imbalance at cross-cultural interactions makes effective activism almost impossible. Resulting in what has been described as ‘polite inattention’.
Languages are constantly evolving. English now has a new verb.
Outrage- noun
Outrageous- adjective
Outraging- verb
The bane of Aboriginal Australia are those control freaks who are in charge. They are forever outraging!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj5Uu6GkTm0&t=2s
Google engineer enthuses about the potential of A1 robots to salute with both arms simultaneously.
Obrigado
Frank