View From The Uk

I understand what you're saying. I think that's often how people shift their positions, until they are the polar opposite of what they once believed in and stood for. Sad. How does he rationalise it out?



Mizz

I don't think so...I think you start letting one thing slide so that you can get support for something else. I think eventually you start trading little pieces of what you believe to save the "big picture," but then all those little pieces add up.



'Cause I really think he believes in what he does. He's just not doing it very well anymore.

I hope the languages are not dying out, I always feel a little sad generally when this happens, it's usually because a community has been lost, and it's terrible that languages are being banned from schools....it seems to me that this is a common problem, the naive american, as you say, have faced and continue to face, many of the same problems...



I don't know how Peter Garrett can feel comfortable with himself, now that he is 'Sleeping with the Enemy'...is it a case with him of power corrupting his mind?



Mizz

peter garrett made his millions protesting against mining and now he is approving them......



the languages are not dying out.... it has been revived in many nations....the desert people kept their language

but they are banning them from speaking it in their schools....it is their 1st language..



there are quite a few nations that have revived it....the

gumbayngirr nation is one eg....my sons father-in-law established a language centre and it has been successful

now for 10 years ...and there are many others...

most communities know their language but english is their 1st......

my grandaughters name are Ngayan (sun) -wurinda(honeysuckle)

you are right gsl about the souveniers.....but they classed them as 'australiana' so its legal....but people are aware that it is not authentic.....and of no value......

just manufactured crap.....the american indian has the same problem

peter garrett is useless. for such an outspoken person on native and environmental issues, he seems more like a 'yes' man to me. yup, kiwi girl, the money or the box? the native tongues are dying out, the history is white and the tourism dollar for such things as native culture is just crap. it annoys me no end (especially on the gold coast) that asian business people that can barely speak our language, can flog off boomerang and didgereedoo's, etc. at shameful prices with no money going back to the people it originated from. i hope our country doesn't lose the essence of it's cultural history for the sake of business and money.

I don't know either, but I don't know generally why people want to do evil things. I know money clouds people's minds, so they just cannot see anything else, this is what's happened everywhere just for the greed of the few, as you say, the environment and the world's cultural history, heritage, its future is gone, it's beyond comprehension.



Mizz

Ah, anti-capitalism makes a lot of sense in environmental issues. I had this economics professor who was incredibly leftist. More Marx than Smith, if you know what I mean. And then one day announces that he's changed his mind and Australia's desert should be used to dump nuclear waste.



I just don't know how you could sacrifice parts of the environment FOREVER, for a few minutes gain.

Sorry..lol



Again, I did wonder whether he had gone over to 'the other side'...I did hear something about disquiet about his stance, but unless you're really in the know, you only hear snippets at best, and you have to do a lot of searching to do that...



I despise capitalism and the general pursuit of money and wealth , and this just illustrates why...to me it's tragic,



Mizz

Lol oh no! Bringing up Peter Garrett...you're going to regret that. It's pretty widely believed that after getting into politics, he switched over to Satan's side. He's allowed mining to go on, and actually argued for it in a very controversial case. So no, he's not a hell of a lot of help. And I think people are quite bitter about that. (Well, at least I am).

Thank you all so much for your comments.



I rather suspected that things had not improved. jinda, I read your pieces 'our children will pay'and Kinchela boys home'. It's tragic. As you and kiwi say, it steals the future, the legacy, the mining issue and dumping, it's disgusting, and I am reminded of something I read recently about part of the arctic circle that are melting that companies and governments are itching to mine, in this case for oil...I noticed that Peter Garrett ex of Midnight Oil has become Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Given his past support for these issues, has he made any pronouncements since becoming a Minister?



Cheers



Mizz

I'm from a rural area, which has recently become the focus of the govt. in respects to oil drilling.It frightens me that my people really have only their heritage to prevent anything happening in the area.What's really scary are the ones who think it's a good idea, all in the name of getting money.What good money,and nowhere to stand?where will their grandchildren stand?

This is an issue that burns me to my soul.In essence,I come from the land,it is my mother,when she is dead,where are any of us?

my friends grandmother gets her native land mined by the government and they pay her healthily for it.

no things are going from bad to worse for the Northern Territory since the intervention....

they are doing this to the desert people cos they want the land for mining...these fellas have native title over the richest uranium resource in the world...and the govt wants it back

they also intend to turn it into the worlds largest nuclear waste dump.....

i do have a story on this 'our children will pay'

cheers and thanks for your interest and understanding