*********************Irati Wanti!*********************
[The Poison Leave It!!]
Campaign Office of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta Senior Aboriginal Women of
Kupa Piti, SA
PO Box
1043
Tel : 08 8672 3413
Kupa
Piti
Fax : 08 8672 5483
SA 5723
Email : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Senior Aboriginal desert women arrive at place of first landing.
Wed 13th Sept 2000
The senior Aboriginal women of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta, elders of the
Antikirinya-Yankuntjatjara people from desert country in central Australia,
have arrived to help heal the place of the first landing of foreign people
onto the beautiful country of Australia.
The women elders have travelled 3000km from their desert home to talk about
their country which is threatened by a nuclear waste dump and to bring
their strong culture, their knowledge of the stories and songs for the land
to the attention of the Australian people and the world.
"We're Anangu people. We're born in the manta [earth] - not in the
hospital. Born in the sand. Our Tjukur [lore] is lying across the
country we have a lot of big stories in the Land. The poison the
government is talking about will poison the land. We say No Radioactive
waste dump in our Ngura- in our Country."
The senior women have been exposed to atomic radiation from the British
nuclear testing with no apology and no compensation. They have been forced
to endure the world's largest Uranium mine on their country, and exclusion
from their sites by the Woomera Prohibited Area. Now the Australian
Federal government chooses to insult them further by proposing a national
nuclear waste dump on their traditional lands.
"We are concerned for the country and for our children's future. For the
grandchildren, great-grand children, and their children. The poison should
be under the ground all the time. We know the story- the Dreaming for
this. You gotta listen to us, because we've got the young ones still coming
and the country's got to be there for them to look after."
"We want the whitefellas to understand about Anangu culture. The culture
isn't dying, it's still alive. This land is our country for so long. We
are inviting all the whitefellas to come and sit down with us by the fire
and listen and learn the Aboriginal way."
The senior women of the Kupa Piti Kungka Tjuta have joined together with
Arabunna elder Uncle Kevin Buzzacott to offer the chance of peace to all
Australians and to begin the healing at the place of Captain Cook's arrival.
The Kungka Tjuta will be in Sydney until Sunday the 17th September
2000. To arrange an interview please call Lucy Brown on 0409 694 864.
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
