First Nations/Indigenous

No amount of education will ever make us white

The following is a letter I received from a reader of Blak and Black and the Fiji Sun, talking about his experiences as a Pakistani/Australian living in Australia’s Capital, Canberra: Dear…

25 Comments

July 31, 2011

Accountability / ACT Government / Asia-Pacific / Australian Federal Police / Corruption / First Nations/Indigenous / Government / Law Enforcement / Pacific Neighbours / Rule of Law / White Australia

The politicisation of the AFP and ALP corruption

Racism, and in particular anti-black racism, is a part of our community’s psyche. A significant segment of our community holds overtly racist views. A much larger segment subconsciously operates on…

3 Comments

July 27, 2011

Assimilation / Corporate profit / Corruption / Culture / Democracy / Environment / Equality / First Nations/Indigenous / Government / Human Rights / Hypocrisy / Mining / Respect / Rule of Law / WA government

Native Title: An Australian White Wash

He is wizened. Lines mark a face that has felt the sun’s warming rays and burning beams, eyes see the land that holds his people’s Dreams, ears hear the stories…

3 Comments

July 17, 2011

Asia-Pacific / Australian Federal Police / Corporate profit / Corruption / First Nations/Indigenous / Law Enforcement / Neo-Colonialism / RAMSI / Rule of Law / Solomon Islands

The name is Funk, Skunky Funk

What many people may not know is that Australia has its very own ‘007’, Federal Agent Peter Bond. Like all good ‘007s’ Federal Agent Bond needs an alias. After reading…

1 Comment

July 12, 2011

Accountability / ACT Government / Asia-Pacific / Australian Federal Police / Commonwealth Government / Commonwealth Ombudsman / Corruption / Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Government / Indonesia / Law Enforcement / Neo-Colonialism / Pacific Neighbours

Gratuitous acts of racism in Australia’s capital, Canberra!

In fact, the worst offender of institutionalised discrimination and marginalisation of Aboriginal people is the government.—Neil Gillespie, head of the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement Inc, South Australia ('Poor health, racism…

3 Comments

July 6, 2011

Assimilation / Corruption / Culture / Democracy / Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Human Rights / Hypocrisy / Neo-Colonialism / Propaganda / Rule of Law / White Australia

A rose by any other name: Invasion

Earlier this week Sydney City Council voted to include the term ‘invasion’ in the Preamble to the city’s vision for 2030. It’s even made news in India. It’s caused a…

0 Comments

July 2, 2011

Discrimination/Racism / First Nations/Indigenous / Law / Racism / Rule of Law

The racism within: when the law fails Indigenous Australians, should they claim asylum?

Blak and Black has been following the program "Go back where you came from" on SBS. Anyone in Australia watching the trending topics on Twitter tonight and eagerly last week…

0 Comments

June 28, 2011

ASIO / Australian Federal Police / First Nations/Indigenous / Government / Law Enforcement / RAMSI / Rule of Law / White Australia

Co-operate or else, AFP thuggery in the pursuit of a white Australia

97 Quite rightly, the accused regarded ASIO and the AFP as arms of the state. He quite rightly assumed that they were acting together. The notion that he would be…

0 Comments

June 21, 2011

Arc of instability / Australian Federal Police / Indonesia / Mining / Neo-Colonialism

Drew Grant and the Organisasi Papua Merdeka

Firstly I want to dispel any illusions that my heading might have created about Mr Grant being in any way connected to the Organisasi Papua Merdeka. The connection between the…

3 Comments

June 12, 2011

Neo-Colonialism / PNG / Torres Strait

Neo-Colonialism in the Torres Strait

An interesting advertorial appeared in last Friday's The National in Papua New Guinea. This advertorial appears to be a copy of a letter written by Mr Niwia Sawabarri, Chairman of…

1 Comment

June 10, 2011

Assimilation / Culture / Reconciliation / Refugee Policy / Refugees

Reconciliation week: a joke played by ‘white’ Australians on Indigenous Australians and the international community!

Racial discrimination against Indigenous Australians is as alive and well in Australia today as it ever was. In fact, under the lost years of opportunity known to history as the…

2 Comments

May 29, 2011

Australian Federal Police / Culture / Democracy / White Australia

Derision, lies and the death of OUR DEMOCRACY

I lived in Australia for a year and was astounded at the level of casual racism in all walks of Australian life. The term 'wog' is used by many people…

4 Comments

May 15, 2011

Assimilation / Culture / Discrimination/Racism

Who owns history, who owns the truth?

In an opinion piece published in the Age newspaper, Yorta Yorta man Paul Briggs (2006) angrily rejected a proposal by Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough that Aboriginal culture be…

1 Comment

April 27, 2011

Accountability / Corporate profit / Corporate responsibility / Corruption / Culture / Discrimination/Racism / Equality of opportunity / Human Rights / Propaganda / Respect / Rule of Law / Shared humanity / Yindjibarndi

Is Native Title worth the paper it’s written on?

At the request of one of the people mentioned in this post it has been taken down. We will review this situation and keep you informed of any progress as…

0 Comments

April 10, 2011

Assimilation / Culture / Discrimination/Racism / Hypocrisy / Respect

Superfluous People

For today’s post I’m borrowing a theme from Turgenev, specifically from The Diary of a Superfluous Man. As readers of Turgenev will know, much of his fiction is associated with…

0 Comments

April 1, 2011

Assimilation / Culture / Stolen Generation

The life of a culture depends on its transmission across generations

Following is the second installment of David Harrison’s story from member of the ‘new’ stolen generation to disaffected adult to fully fledged social activist. Over to David breaking the connection…

0 Comments

March 20, 2011

Assimilation / Culture / Discrimination/Racism

The `Stolen Generations’ and Cultural Genocide

Mr David Harrison is a member of the ‘new’ stolen generation and a former colleague from Canberra. I asked David a while ago if he would write a piece about…

3 Comments

March 16, 2011

Assimilation / Commonwealth Government / Culture / Hypocrisy

Shades of hypocrisy

Some observations on the realities of being and Aborigine in 21stcentury Australia by an observer who isn’t. One of my piano teachers was the sole child of Polish Holocaust survivors.…

0 Comments

January 22, 2011

Assimilation

William Westbrooke Burton

Introduction In an interview with Sydney radio personality John laws in October 1996, then Prime Minister John Howard observed that “… the emphasis should not be on past wrongs but…

2 Comments

November 13, 2010

Assimilation / Corporate profit / Government welfare / Hypocrisy

The times they are a-changin’ … or are they?

I’m going to start this post by quoting from an inspiring speech delivered by an Aboriginal woman, Christine Fejo-King, at the launch of the book “This is What We said”…

0 Comments

October 4, 2010

First Nations/Indigenous

No amount of education will ever make us white

The politicisation of the AFP and ALP corruption

Native Title: An Australian White Wash

The name is Funk, Skunky Funk

Gratuitous acts of racism in Australia’s capital, Canberra!

A rose by any other name: Invasion

The racism within: when the law fails Indigenous Australians, should they claim asylum?

Co-operate or else, AFP thuggery in the pursuit of a white Australia

Drew Grant and the Organisasi Papua Merdeka

Neo-Colonialism in the Torres Strait

Reconciliation week: a joke played by ‘white’ Australians on Indigenous Australians and the international community!

Derision, lies and the death of OUR DEMOCRACY

Who owns history, who owns the truth?

Is Native Title worth the paper it’s written on?

Superfluous People

The life of a culture depends on its transmission across generations

The `Stolen Generations’ and Cultural Genocide

Shades of hypocrisy

William Westbrooke Burton

The times they are a-changin’ … or are they?

RAMSI - the scion of the juggernaut of greed

AFP accused of fabricating evidence, yet again!

Moti affair

Moti affair

Moti appeal exposes mixed loyalties and judicial corruption

Moti end game

Letters to the editor: Article by Bakchos

Co-operate or else! AFP thuggery for a white Australia

The strange case of Bill Johnson, a study in neo-colonial hypocrisy

Neo-colonialism in the Torres Strait

Moti and other affairs

Comment: Excellent Read