Australia banning alcohol, porn for Aborigines

[lagatta]

It is no secret that marginalised Indigenous peoples throughout the world, from here to Australia, suffer horrible rates of substance abuse and social breakdown, including sexual and other abuse of children.

But this initiative by PM John Howard (him again...) really does strike me as paternalistic.

It would certainly be within every right of Indigenous communities to ban the use of alcohol and other drugs on their lands, but this does not seem to be an Aboriginal initiative...

And alas I don't think pornography is even needed for a screwed-up community to target its children for sexual and other abuse.

You may be aware that Australia also put its Aboriginal children through the "residential school" system...

Australia to ban alcohol, pornography for Aborigines

[suzette]

Oh man, this is a hairy one.  I don't really have the time to make a long reply to this, unfortunately.

The step comes in the wake of a shocking (and I don't use the term casually) report into the sexual abuse of children in remote indigenous communities.  The government's action is way too late and probably a poorly thought through knee-jerk. Probably a political stunt, too, given that there's an election due later this year and Howard has some very stiff competition this time around. As a Greens senator is quoted as asking in this report, Why wasn't the Prime Minister concerned then when he was delivering the Budget and we have an enormous surplus yet again, where was his concern then? And yet... how the hell do you tackle such an enormous problem quickly? Of course, both the causes and solutions are long-term, but to my mind there is the utmost urgency here. Things are just unbelievable in some of these communities. And, as mentioned in the article I'll link to, many indigenous women in remote areas have initiated alcohol bans in their own communities, and many others have asked for assistance to do the same.  

The whole situation for indigenous Australia is unspeakable.  But it's been that way for a very long time.  That it's being publicised of late does give me some glimmer of hope: it's been ignored by the general public and the government for so long, but it's finally coming to the front of the public consciousness.  Only with public pressure will governments be forced to act.

Article from ABC Online.
The 7.30 Report featured this story tonight, but the transcript isn't online yet.

If Aboriginal women want a ban, they can do it for themselves.  Or they can make a public campaign to ask for this.  For any settler leader to take it upon himself to "protect" the First Nations peoples, ... it does smack of paternalism.

We used to have such legislation here in Canada, banning alcohol on reserves, harrassing Aboriginals who drank off reserves.

Alcoholism (substance abuse in general) was and is a major problem with our First Nations peoples, ... but it is a symptom of hopelessness and alienation from the settler society, ... not some internal, inherent weakness of Aboriginals themselves.

Whites do the same thing under similar conditions.

[faith]

IIRC history of prohibition in North America was fully supported by women across the country but particularly in remote farming communities. It was thought that the 'demon rum' was responsible for violence against women and children within the family.

IMHO alcohol is responsible for a lot of violence- people who would not normally commit violent acts seem to lose all inhibition when heavily under the influence of alcohol. However, the good ladies of the temperance movement found out that it wasn't so simple, men full of sobriety were still capable of extreme violence and the black market frustrated any attempts at making Canada a dry country.

[lagatta]

The only good thing about Howard's heavy-handed action is that it seems to have projected the dire situation of Australia's Aboriginal population into the world spotlight - remains to see whether any action will be taken. From what I read the situation seems overall even worse than the situation of Aboriginal people  here; one 2000 report spoke of 50% of Aboriginal men and 41% of Aboriginal women dead by the age of 50 (Suzette will confirm whether such figures are accurate)...

Not that things are at all rosy for Aboriginal people here though. I've found an English version of a report I'd heard and read earlier on Radio-Canada about the dire situation of children and youth in Nunavik (Northern Québec - largely populated by Inuit people - this note is for our friend down under of course).
Abuse crisis facing Nunavik Inuit children and youth

Inuit children in Northern Quebec are living in constant crisis because they can't get the health and social services they need, the Quebec Human Rights Commission says in a new report published Wednesday.

More than half of Nunavik's children live in homes with an alcoholic or drug addict, and they are exposed to domestic violence at rates 10 times higher than the average Canadian population, conditions the report describes as disastrous.

But young people can't access help outside the home because services are overtaxed or don't exist, the report said.

Unless I have some kind of urgent work today, I'll be taking part in this march:

MARCH OF SOLIDARITY WITH FIRST NATIONS OF CANADA
For the NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
Montreal, June 29th. 2007, 12h00 Noon

This NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION is an opportunity for First Nations and Canadians to stand together in a spirit of unity to support a better life for all First Nations peoples. Let us march to put an end to First Nations poverty as a social injustice that concerns all in Canada. Together, we can demonstrate that the relationship between First Nations and Canadians is based on principles of respect, dignity, and fairness.

Action is required now to secure a better and just future for First Nations children and youth, and honour the wisdom of our Elders. The First Nations Plan is reasonable, achievable, and necessary for Canada. We will be marching up Parc ave to the Park Jeanne-Mance, close to the statue of George-Étienne Cartier, where we will have a Gathering for all who attend.

For general public:
The March will start at 12:00 Noon on Friday, June 29th
from the corner of Sherbrooke and Parc ave. Invite your friends and your family!

For Aboriginals:
Preparations begin at 11:00am near the Bleury Exit of Place Des Arts Metro station. This peaceful march will depart at 11:50 sharp. We encourage you all to bring your Friends and Family, your Drums and your Regalia.

[Croghan27]

MARCH OF SOLIDARITY WITH FIRST NATIONS OF CANADA
For the NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION

Should I get off work in time, there is a March from around Parliament down to Victoria Island (is that the FN name?). I hope to make that.  :D

[suzette]

The only good thing about Howard's heavy-handed action is that it seems to have projected the dire situation of Australia's Aboriginal population into the world spotlight - remains to see whether any action will be taken. From what I read the situation seems overall even worse than the situation of Aboriginal people  here; one 2000 report spoke of 50% of Aboriginal men and 41% of Aboriginal women dead by the age of 50 (Suzette will confirm whether such figures are accurate)...

I couldn't say for sure, but it sounds about right.  In other words, absolutely shameful for one of the most affluent nations on the planet.  

As you say, it's a very good thing that this is being brought to the world's attention, despite the means.  Howard is a very stubborn man, so I'd be surprised if he is swayed by the opinion of the world, but as I mentioned earlier, there's a federal election due this year, and it's looking very likely that his lot will be voted out.  If the current opposition are voted in I'm sure they'll be much more sympathetic to the situation... particularly since it's such a hot topic right now.  I can't tell you how badly I want this election to go Labor's way.  

It's not that easy for me to say this, but I think it's high time Australia became the pariah that South Africa once was.  The bad opinion of the world is one thing, but economic sanctions are a language that any politician can understand.

[skdadl]

CN/VIA traffic Toronto-Montreal has been effectively shut down for the day by blockades.

Also, in Toronto:

Toronto students from around the city are also set to march from King’s College Circle to Queen’s Park for a “peaceful demonstration” demanding a better quality of life for First Nations from noon to 5 p.m., the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty said in a news release.

[lagatta]

I'm back from the march up to the GE Cartier monument at the foot of Mont-Royal. It was smaller than I would have liked, but Mohawks were also blocking the bridge etc. There were speakers, poets, drummers and musicians afterwards, and above all a lovely sense of being together in the park at the foot of the trees.

Hope all of this has some impact.

[anne cameron]

A person would have to be a total git to deny conditions for native people are horrible, and not getting any better.  Still, I suspect a case could be made that the "statistics" paint a race-intolerant picture.  We're told, and often, that alcholism rates for FN people are X%...we're not told that they are as high or higher for non-FN people.

Poverty, unemployment, marginalization and constant erosion of self image can do terrible things to people.  I think we stumble into a huge mistake if we fail to realize the horrific conditions are not an accident, but part of a centuries-old planned extirpation of a race-specified population.

Lagatta can probably speak to this better than I can but I feel if we go back to Europe, and look at the lives of the chronically poor, the neglected and overlooked, we'd find the same misery.

I don't see any active child abuse, but I see a lot of benign neglect, kids left to their own devices, kids unsupervised, kids swarming around in peer groups with nothing much for them to "do".  And maybe there was a time in our mythic pastoral past when such swarms of kids could wind up at ye olde swimming hole practising and perfecting their swan dive but if that pretty picture ever existed it's gone now, swallowed by evidence of an effluent society.

What comes from the mouth of the Minister "in charge" of FN affairs is bullshit.  At the rate they're creeping forward on land claims it will take six hundred years to settle the last one, at which time the entire nation will be so logged, strip-mined and polluted nobody will want it anyway.  In B.C. the number of FN kids in foster care is heart breaking, and the liEbrals have cut foster benefits.  FN families can hardly foster FN kids because of housing shortages so the kids wind up miles from home in totally foreign surroundings, traumatized for life.

Is that an accident?  I think not.

It's so easy to say "get over it".  How can anyone get over "it" when none of us are allowed to clearly state what "it" is.  It is genocide, but if you say so you are deemed hysterical, unpatriotic, and seriously mentally disturbed.  "It" is what was embarked upon when smallpox blankets became politically incorrect.

[lagatta]

Yes, of course there is terrible dysfunction among "non-aboriginal" populations here and "native white" populations in Europe, but there is the specific impact of various attempts at ethnocide and of paternalistic, marginalising policies.

In Europe the particular plight of the Roma (Gypsy) people comes to mind.

[lagatta]

Germaine Greer weighs in.

Perhaps Anne might find Greer's exposé a bit essentialist? I do know many people from hunter-gatherer societies who have made a transition to "modern" society, while valuing their own culture.

[Toedancer]

Oh Lagatta that Geer article should have come with a warning, Long Read, but so worthwhile. This statement stands out for me, for all peoples, wherever they are being oppressed

and it is the fate of the toughest to suffer longest and hardest.

What a f waste of what they could bring to their own land.

The complexities are dire and no one on the guv payroll will understand. So deeply offensive is the statement that aboriginals anywhere are/were idle. Gawd I hate that so much.

Thank the gords there is an election coming and people should truly put their MP's (or whatever they are called in Oz) thru the wringer about it!

[anne cameron]

That's not really apt to happen.  When have WE put our MP's through any kind of wringer because of the foul treatment meted out to First Nations.  It isn't that long ago FN people weren't allowed in pubs, beer parlours, liquor stores or anywhere there was liquor available.  You couldn't give them a beer in your own home.  Then that law was changed but there was still "interdict" lists, and if you were on it you couldn't.... ALL insurance companies used to charge far more for insurance on a car for FN people than for white people.  One of my "extended" not-foster kids took a major bank to court because she was refused a loan to buy a truck, she was very well employed, made good money, did not live on a reserve but got turned down and they admitted it was because "indians" were considered poor risk for loans.  So she took them to court and won.

Five hundred FN women are missing and are we putting our MP's through the wringer about it?  FN kids are living in reserve villages were there isn't any clean water and are we... most FN kids live in grossly substandard housing and are...

Nope.  Why some of us got upset at the idea the Aboriginal Day of Protest slowed traffic in the urban centres.

tsk tsk how thoughtless of "them".