I seriously can't believe what I'm watching. The way white Australians treat the aboriginal community is disgusting. I actually feel like crying watching this.
Why turn it over? Is an important documentary to watch
it was a spell check error opps! This is chilling to watch, I knew the Aboriginals were treated badly but never knew it was STILL such a horrible place!
The Australian Government are in the same league as Mugabe !
it was a spell check error opps! This is chilling to watch, I knew the Aboriginals were treated badly but never knew it was STILL such a horrible place!
The Australian Government are in the same league as Mugabe !
I agree. Is sickening. This should be put on earlier and big discussions should be had. Hopefully there will be more pressure on the AUstralian government to do something.
I agree. Is sickening. This should be put on earlier and big discussions should be had. Hopefully there will be more pressure on the AUstralian government to do something.
I just tweeted ITV asking for it to be broadcast earlier! I hope they listen!
This is a difficult one; there's of course no doubt that the land belongs to the Aboriginies, but it was the white settlers who made it in to a modern place, it's highly unlikely that Aboriginies would ever have discovered how to utilise electricity & install running water etc. However, I find it very disturbing that the Aboriginies are suffering in a way that everyone else in Australia is not, & the Australian government should take measures to ensure the situation improves. A third dying before the age of 45 - good grief.
I don't know why that female politician started wittering on about cultural sensitivities - it doesn't matter what a person's culture is, nobody can survive in 56 degree heat!
I still would really like to visit Australia one day, if I ever have enough money.
Perhaps Arthur Murray should be elevated to Nelson Mandela status....
I don't know why that female politician started wittering on about cultural sensitivities - it doesn't matter what a person's culture is, nobody can survive in 56 degree heat!
Also the fact she kept mentioning the word "subjecting" her staff to cultural sensitivity classes exposes her ignorance.
This is a difficult one; there's of course no doubt that the land belongs to the Aboriginies, but it was the white settlers who made it in to a modern place, it's highly unlikely that Aboriginies would ever have discovered how to utilise electricity & install running water etc. However, I find it very disturbing that the Aboriginies are suffering in a way that everyone else in Australia is not, & the Australian government should take measures to ensure the situation improves. A third dying before the age of 45 - good grief.
I don't know why that female politician started wittering on about cultural sensitivities - it doesn't matter what a person's culture is, nobody can survive in 56 degree heat!
I still would really like to visit Australia one day, if I ever have enough money.
Perhaps Arthur Murray should be elevated to Nelson Mandela status....
What on earth is difficult about it?! Your ststement is ironic considering how many of them don't benefit from your modern conveniences. They weren't starving or living in squalour before they were driven off their land.
The fact that such blatant and extreme abuse and neglect continues with official approval (and doing nothing to change things is approval) is a disgrace.
Thank god for people like John Pilger who has stood up for the disenfranchised and 'non' peoples wherever he has found them since he was a young reporter on the Mirror in the 60's.
I've been reading Pilger's books since the early 1980's and saw him speak on the Southbank a few years back.
While living in Sydney for a year back in 91, none of this stuff was ever made apparent.
Life was all about sport, the beach, the Bar-B and work.
The fact that there is a new version of the lost generation going on is nothing short of a disgrace.
But the barriers to change are not just amongst the politicians, they are amongst the people themselves, indoctrinated and trained to regard the 'abbos' as drunken, lazy vagrants.
It's propoganda of the deepest and most perjorative kind.
They were talking in the film about the living conditions of Victorian England, but the longer the film went on, the story chimed more for me with what happened to the American Indians between 1840 and 1892.
The imagery was similar to that of Ric and Ken Burns film, The West and many visitor centres I have been in while going around the heritage sites of the old West in the US.
Also the fact she kept mentioning the word "subjecting" her staff to cultural sensitivity classes exposes her ignorance.
I really hope today that this documentary is discussed on same of the morning and dayrime programmes. But the sad fact is it probably won't be as they are so obsessed with reality shows.
The documentary last night was so powerful that I woke up this morning still thinking about it.
What on earth is difficult about it?! Your ststement is ironic considering how many of them don't benefit from your modern conveniences. They weren't starving or living in squalour before they were driven off their land.
The fact that such blatant and extreme abuse and neglect continues with official approval (and doing nothing to change things is approval) is a disgrace.
FYI it took me 50 minutes to run a bath the other night because there is a problem with water pressure in my flat which the landlord can't afford to fix. Before white people arrived in Australia, it was the 'old days' & everyone everywhere lived in the kind of conditions we would be disgusted by, except for the top 1% who were wealthy. The conditions now are not right because of the way most other peoples' lives have improved. I assume that before white people arrived the Aboriginies hunted, by trying to civilise them the white immigrants have left the Aboriginies in limbo as I guess they've lost contact with the ways of their fore-fathers. I don't know why you're taking that tone with me, as I believe the Australian government should do everything in its power to alleviate their suffering, but I'm a realist who states the truth that all 'mod cons' were invented by white people.
Aborigines were already civilised. 'Civilisation' doesn't only come in one form! The manner in which they have been treated by incomers who stole their land and their children in the past few centuries is a massive stain on white Australia that still needs to be atoned for.
The sexism, homophobia and racism in that country is unbelievable for many Europeans (and Australians, too, who are fighting to overcome it).
Aborigines were already civilised. 'Civilisation' doesn't only come in one form! The manner in which they have been treated by incomers who stole their land and their children in the past few centuries is a massive stain on white Australia that still needs to be atoned for.
The sexism, homophobia and racism in that country is unbelievable for many Europeans (and Australians, too, who are fighting to overcome it).
I thought the academic at the beginning talking about the need for people outside Australia to come in and tell them how to address the issue was very interesting.
It's as if the standard view of the 'abbos' has been ingrained so deeply in the people (politicians and citizens alike) that many / most of them just can't or won' see it.
Having lived and worked in Sydney for a year as well as knowing a few Aussies who have travelled, it's these people who often have a broader perspective as they have lived outside the Fosters / Bar-B / Beach / Mateship bubble.
Pilger lived in the UK for some time back in the 60's.
The parallels with how the 'drunk / lazy / work-shy' imagery has been used with the American Indians and the Black Americans was striking.
I've actually had dinner with people in the US recently where a group of white middle class people all nodded their heads sagely when one of their number came out with that positioning about the 'Blacks'.
My jaw nearly hit the table.
While an ignorance in history can be found in most places (we have it in the UK and I've experienced it a lot in the US), the type of knowledge and attitudes displayed by the people Pilger was interviewing on Australia day is one of the barriers to change.
There is also a high degree of sensitivity on any type of criticism of national identity (still a relatively young 'new' country?) as shown by the Minister for the Northern Territories who blew up quite quickly against Pilger's questioning.
The whole issue is a stain indeed but for the powers that be to really address it, they have to acknowledge the problem in much deeper ways that Rudd giving a short speech in Parliament. he used the phrase 'Gesture Politics', inferring that this wasn't apt but a few years on and it seems that this phrase when applied to what he did was perfectly apt.
I thought the academic at the beginning talking about the need for people outside Australia to come in and tell them how to address the issue was very interesting.
It's as if the standard view of the 'abbos' has been ingrained so deeply in the people (politicians and citizens alike) that many / most of them just can't or won' see it.
Having lived and worked in Sydney for a year as well as knowing a few Aussies who have travelled, it's these people who often have a broader perspective as they have lived outside the Fosters / Bar-B / Beach / Mateship bubble.
Pilger lived in the UK for some time back in the 60's.
The parallels with how the 'drunk / lazy / work-shy' imagery has been used with the American Indians and the Black Americans was striking.
I've actually had dinner with people in the US recently where a group of white middle class people all nodded their heads sagely when one of their number came out with that positioning about the 'Blacks'.
My jaw nearly hit the table.
While an ignorance in history can be found in most places (we have it in the UK and I've experienced it a lot in the US), the type of knowledge and attitudes displayed by the people Pilger was interviewing on Australia day is one of the barriers to change.
There is also a high degree of sensitivity on any type of criticism of national identity (still a relatively young 'new' country?) as shown by the Minister for the Northern Territories who blew up quite quickly against Pilger's questioning.
The whole issue is a stain indeed but for the powers that be to really address it, they have to acknowledge the problem in much deeper ways that Rudd giving a short speech in Parliament. he used the phrase 'Gesture Politics', inferring that this wasn't apt but a few years on and it seems that this phrase when applied to what he did was perfectly apt.
It is now being used against the white British working class & white British youth.
Comments
Disgusted in Australia
Is this the original airing?!
I've been meaning to watch this but missed the first half hour.
Absolutely appalling, non-indigenous Australians really need to take a long, hard look at themselves.
Why turn it over? Is an important documentary to watch
Seriously the attitude of the white Australians and white politicians in unbelievable.
it was a spell check error opps! This is chilling to watch, I knew the Aboriginals were treated badly but never knew it was STILL such a horrible place!
The Australian Government are in the same league as Mugabe !
I agree. Is sickening. This should be put on earlier and big discussions should be had. Hopefully there will be more pressure on the AUstralian government to do something.
I just tweeted ITV asking for it to be broadcast earlier! I hope they listen!
If you have twitter please tweet them
Agreed. That smear campaign against Aboriginal men is disgusting - saying that many of them are child molesters.
I don't know why that female politician started wittering on about cultural sensitivities - it doesn't matter what a person's culture is, nobody can survive in 56 degree heat!
I still would really like to visit Australia one day, if I ever have enough money.
Perhaps Arthur Murray should be elevated to Nelson Mandela status....
It's really exposing the ugly side of these privileged white non indigenous people, it's showing them up as uneducated, abhorrent morons.
Also the fact she kept mentioning the word "subjecting" her staff to cultural sensitivity classes exposes her ignorance.
I noticed that as well. It was as if it was an ordeal for them. She was so proud of it - as if it makes up for the poor bloke burnt alive in the van.
What on earth is difficult about it?! Your ststement is ironic considering how many of them don't benefit from your modern conveniences. They weren't starving or living in squalour before they were driven off their land.
The fact that such blatant and extreme abuse and neglect continues with official approval (and doing nothing to change things is approval) is a disgrace.
I've been reading Pilger's books since the early 1980's and saw him speak on the Southbank a few years back.
While living in Sydney for a year back in 91, none of this stuff was ever made apparent.
Life was all about sport, the beach, the Bar-B and work.
The fact that there is a new version of the lost generation going on is nothing short of a disgrace.
But the barriers to change are not just amongst the politicians, they are amongst the people themselves, indoctrinated and trained to regard the 'abbos' as drunken, lazy vagrants.
It's propoganda of the deepest and most perjorative kind.
They were talking in the film about the living conditions of Victorian England, but the longer the film went on, the story chimed more for me with what happened to the American Indians between 1840 and 1892.
The imagery was similar to that of Ric and Ken Burns film, The West and many visitor centres I have been in while going around the heritage sites of the old West in the US.
This should have been on earlier than 10:35pm.
I really hope today that this documentary is discussed on same of the morning and dayrime programmes. But the sad fact is it probably won't be as they are so obsessed with reality shows.
The documentary last night was so powerful that I woke up this morning still thinking about it.
I watched it at 730pm
its on the itv player
FYI it took me 50 minutes to run a bath the other night because there is a problem with water pressure in my flat which the landlord can't afford to fix. Before white people arrived in Australia, it was the 'old days' & everyone everywhere lived in the kind of conditions we would be disgusted by, except for the top 1% who were wealthy. The conditions now are not right because of the way most other peoples' lives have improved. I assume that before white people arrived the Aboriginies hunted, by trying to civilise them the white immigrants have left the Aboriginies in limbo as I guess they've lost contact with the ways of their fore-fathers. I don't know why you're taking that tone with me, as I believe the Australian government should do everything in its power to alleviate their suffering, but I'm a realist who states the truth that all 'mod cons' were invented by white people.
The sexism, homophobia and racism in that country is unbelievable for many Europeans (and Australians, too, who are fighting to overcome it).
I thought the academic at the beginning talking about the need for people outside Australia to come in and tell them how to address the issue was very interesting.
It's as if the standard view of the 'abbos' has been ingrained so deeply in the people (politicians and citizens alike) that many / most of them just can't or won' see it.
Having lived and worked in Sydney for a year as well as knowing a few Aussies who have travelled, it's these people who often have a broader perspective as they have lived outside the Fosters / Bar-B / Beach / Mateship bubble.
Pilger lived in the UK for some time back in the 60's.
The parallels with how the 'drunk / lazy / work-shy' imagery has been used with the American Indians and the Black Americans was striking.
I've actually had dinner with people in the US recently where a group of white middle class people all nodded their heads sagely when one of their number came out with that positioning about the 'Blacks'.
My jaw nearly hit the table.
While an ignorance in history can be found in most places (we have it in the UK and I've experienced it a lot in the US), the type of knowledge and attitudes displayed by the people Pilger was interviewing on Australia day is one of the barriers to change.
There is also a high degree of sensitivity on any type of criticism of national identity (still a relatively young 'new' country?) as shown by the Minister for the Northern Territories who blew up quite quickly against Pilger's questioning.
The whole issue is a stain indeed but for the powers that be to really address it, they have to acknowledge the problem in much deeper ways that Rudd giving a short speech in Parliament. he used the phrase 'Gesture Politics', inferring that this wasn't apt but a few years on and it seems that this phrase when applied to what he did was perfectly apt.
It is now being used against the white British working class & white British youth.