The Canberra Times Wednesday, 10 May, 2000 Howson's views so simple and heartless HOW VERY convenient for a former Minister for Aboriginal Affairs to pontificate from Toorak about violence in Aboriginal communities (Letters, May 5). How convenient, too, that this violence is supposedly caused by our "increasing focus on past maltreatment of Aborigines" and our "encouragement of [their] separate development". For Mr Howson, things are remarkably simple let Aborigines give up their aspirations to traditional lands (leaving it conveniently free for miners and pastoralists) and join either the unemployed in country towns (where many of the more dispossessed ones live already) or the underemployed in our major cities. Mr Howson's sanctimonious talk of "closer Aboriginal involvement in the wider community" is really just code for the restoration of forced assimilation and the deliberate abolition of any real cultural difference between Aborigines and the white urban majority. For the latter, whom Mr Howson so eloquently pretends to represent, this would mean that we could happily forget any past (or present) injustices and that Aborigines have only themselves to blame if they persist in trying to retain (or regain) their land against the dictates of "economic necessity". It would be silly to deny Mr Howson's point about violence in Aboriginal communities (it's a problem in underprivileged communities world-wide) but I find it hard to credit his sincerity when his arguments amount to no more than that Aborigines should forget their past experiences, their attachment to land and proceed forthwith to disappear as a cultural group. GEOFF PAGE Narrabundah -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
