Thanks for visiting and writing about the Kimberley, Rachel. A great book that explores this recent colonialist history was written by a whitefella, Don McLeod who spent much of his childhood with indiginous children on Country and who went on to help blackfellas conduct the first successful strike action by indiginous cattle station workers in northern Australia so they would get paid for their work, not just the subsistence flour, tobacco and clothing allowances they were being paid till then. It's call "How the West was Lost" and though Ive never seen it was the basis for a documentary film which is hard to get these ays due to the licensing it's under.
I had one copy and borrowed another of the book but both were borrowed from me and I can't find either any more… one was passed on to me by an amazing Doctor who pioneered an indigenous health unit at Broom hospital, where I'm told by one consulting specialist who visits that community, many of the medical/admin staff area still as racist as they were when my friend Dr Joan McIlraith fought for the rights of indiginous patients in that hospital, setting up an indiginous unit focusing on care of Traditional Owners who often faced cultural discrimination if not absolute racism (mostly patients who'd travelled many hundreds of kilometres on dirt roads were turned away with life threatening conditions only to die on the way home or shortly after the days long road journey home).
May I recommend Columbus and Other Cannibals, The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation by Jack Forbes.
Although many of us are aware of it already, Forbes’ fine-grained descriptions of the psychology and practice of exploitation from an indigenous perspective may enable many people to both see it and feel it. Wetiko is cannibalism in the sense of sucking/exploiting other people’s life energy in any of a myriad of forms, including slavery. This is the world the young Indigenous kids you described are the verge of being sucked into.
I’m committed to contributing to the evolution of a life-affirming culture. There are many positive trends, even as we are in the midst of ecological catastrophe and potentially nuclear war. I imagine that sensitizing people to the water we swim in, as Forbes does so well, can be useful as one’s aspect of catalyzing healthy cultural evolution.
There is an important distinction drawn here. As the Elders have said throughout the world, “There is no going back.” What makes a person guilty of the sins of their father? Not doing something in the present, with the knowledge of the past. It is difficult but to take the gifts and define a new place in the Infinity L♾️P which allows us to only alter the future past. Keep the good and learn from the bad to learn the path of intellect. It is a great distinction Nature has offered us, the awareness of thought. What is knowledge without wisdom and understanding of this awareness.
Not going back is an important distinction that has to be more widely and openly discussed.
The next enlightenment which is upon us now, is a real challenge for society. We will either reestablish our understanding and relationship with Nature and human history, over the next generation, and move forward, or we will likely not find the next key to the path of human existence.
It is likely that unless we unlock the next enlightenment in this generation, intellect may be stillborn in the Milky Way.
Dear Rachel. Thanks so much for connecting the European Enclosure experience with settler colonialism. Please interview Dine scholar, singer , public speaker, Lyla June Johnston for her research on the human as a keystone species.
Thankyou. How can we bridge thus divide if humanity is to have a future?
My own journey has been to remember and recover the sense of being a free man of the lands of Europe, before the Roman conquests. I realised that once free, we the people absorbed the trauma of cultural genocide ... to then repeat it by inflicting the same upon all other nations via colonialisation. Such history has encompassed the world. And yet at our core, can we recognise that, in the long evolutionary journey, we are both the victim and the perpetrator? If this is so, written into our cellular memories, how can one not forgive the self, and in an acceptance of a new sense of who one is, transform 'ownership' into 'stewardship', 'seperatism' into 'connectedness' and 'estrangement' into 'other'? The wisdom of the Indigenous who know this does not need to be theirs alone but as both native and modern embracing as family that includes all kingdoms of Nature. Our future and nature itself depends on this; we are the Bridge.
It’s truly a shame how some humans feel superior to others. The American indigenous can relate to the aborigines. I’m sure Julie Francella would be able to share with you some of her stories about how the indigenous peoples were affected by the colonial times. I listen to her on John Fugelsang’s podcast. Julie is also a great artist. Her paintings can be viewed on her website.
How timely this article was for me. Just today I'd been talking to a good friend of mine about all the old ways that we've let fade away in the face of the deadly 'business as usual' behemoth we're currently gripped by. Difficult to be hopeful isn't it?
Although I am American, it's easy to sympathize with this essay, living in a colonizing nation that committed horrible atrocities against Indians and continues to oppress and steal from them today. When I was a kid, Western movies were popular, and Native Americans were made out to be savages. Playing "Cowboys and Indians," nobody wanted to be an Indian, such was the brainwashing. Today I would choose the Indian every time for their recognition of our crucial relationship to the land, and other creatures. Their imbuing of humanness to rocks and rivers isn't primitive or ignorant, it's respect and wisdom wrapped in mystical beauty.
I've been writing here four years. A few weeks ago I republished an article contrasting the lives of Plymouth settlers to Wampanoag natives. Dishearteningly, with far more subscribers than when it was first published, I got far fewer likes and comments than I hoped for. It appears colonizers aren't ready, and never will be for simple truths.
Another powerful call to re-member the original wound of the first humans who imagined themselves separate from the body of earth and how that allowed them to colonize other beings that co-constituted the body of earth with them. To sever the self from the body is fatal. Horribly, it is always the indigenous people and land/ water beings who suffer first and foremost. Eventually though, the harm done to the indigenous beings who comprise the earth, poisons the ones who believe themselves more powerful—there really is no “them” because the body of earth is all of us.
I wonder how amish fair better. They have their issues. Cant confirm these facts are true, but seems some 10-20% of their young ones leave, rest return after young adult wänderung(phase where they can roam in external world and see what it is like, then decide if they want that lifestyle).
Are elders able to live without money, hunt all food and everything necessary there middle of australia? To me that is amazing, few places in world that is possible for decent quality of life(lot of places one can live like that but malnourished or danger of some simple but deadly disease).
Thanks for visiting and writing about the Kimberley, Rachel. A great book that explores this recent colonialist history was written by a whitefella, Don McLeod who spent much of his childhood with indiginous children on Country and who went on to help blackfellas conduct the first successful strike action by indiginous cattle station workers in northern Australia so they would get paid for their work, not just the subsistence flour, tobacco and clothing allowances they were being paid till then. It's call "How the West was Lost" and though Ive never seen it was the basis for a documentary film which is hard to get these ays due to the licensing it's under.
book:
https://www.elizabethsbookshop.com.au/shop/australiana/west-australiana/how-the-west-was-lost-the-native-question-in-the-development-of-western-australia/
film:
https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-screen-guide/t/how-the-west-was-lost-1988/300/
I had one copy and borrowed another of the book but both were borrowed from me and I can't find either any more… one was passed on to me by an amazing Doctor who pioneered an indigenous health unit at Broom hospital, where I'm told by one consulting specialist who visits that community, many of the medical/admin staff area still as racist as they were when my friend Dr Joan McIlraith fought for the rights of indiginous patients in that hospital, setting up an indiginous unit focusing on care of Traditional Owners who often faced cultural discrimination if not absolute racism (mostly patients who'd travelled many hundreds of kilometres on dirt roads were turned away with life threatening conditions only to die on the way home or shortly after the days long road journey home).
Hi Rachael,
May I recommend Columbus and Other Cannibals, The Wetiko Disease of Exploitation by Jack Forbes.
Although many of us are aware of it already, Forbes’ fine-grained descriptions of the psychology and practice of exploitation from an indigenous perspective may enable many people to both see it and feel it. Wetiko is cannibalism in the sense of sucking/exploiting other people’s life energy in any of a myriad of forms, including slavery. This is the world the young Indigenous kids you described are the verge of being sucked into.
I’m committed to contributing to the evolution of a life-affirming culture. There are many positive trends, even as we are in the midst of ecological catastrophe and potentially nuclear war. I imagine that sensitizing people to the water we swim in, as Forbes does so well, can be useful as one’s aspect of catalyzing healthy cultural evolution.
Andrew.Gaines@stableplanetalliance.org
There is an important distinction drawn here. As the Elders have said throughout the world, “There is no going back.” What makes a person guilty of the sins of their father? Not doing something in the present, with the knowledge of the past. It is difficult but to take the gifts and define a new place in the Infinity L♾️P which allows us to only alter the future past. Keep the good and learn from the bad to learn the path of intellect. It is a great distinction Nature has offered us, the awareness of thought. What is knowledge without wisdom and understanding of this awareness.
Not going back is an important distinction that has to be more widely and openly discussed.
The next enlightenment which is upon us now, is a real challenge for society. We will either reestablish our understanding and relationship with Nature and human history, over the next generation, and move forward, or we will likely not find the next key to the path of human existence.
It is likely that unless we unlock the next enlightenment in this generation, intellect may be stillborn in the Milky Way.
Dear Rachel. Thanks so much for connecting the European Enclosure experience with settler colonialism. Please interview Dine scholar, singer , public speaker, Lyla June Johnston for her research on the human as a keystone species.
I second the suggestion to invite Lyla June onto the podcast. She offers such a wise and wide perspective.
Thankyou. How can we bridge thus divide if humanity is to have a future?
My own journey has been to remember and recover the sense of being a free man of the lands of Europe, before the Roman conquests. I realised that once free, we the people absorbed the trauma of cultural genocide ... to then repeat it by inflicting the same upon all other nations via colonialisation. Such history has encompassed the world. And yet at our core, can we recognise that, in the long evolutionary journey, we are both the victim and the perpetrator? If this is so, written into our cellular memories, how can one not forgive the self, and in an acceptance of a new sense of who one is, transform 'ownership' into 'stewardship', 'seperatism' into 'connectedness' and 'estrangement' into 'other'? The wisdom of the Indigenous who know this does not need to be theirs alone but as both native and modern embracing as family that includes all kingdoms of Nature. Our future and nature itself depends on this; we are the Bridge.
Again, thank you Rachel. You write so vividly and speak to what's real.
I also wish I could thank the people around the world who bravely share their stories with you.
Thank you for sharing. This resonated with me at my core.
It’s truly a shame how some humans feel superior to others. The American indigenous can relate to the aborigines. I’m sure Julie Francella would be able to share with you some of her stories about how the indigenous peoples were affected by the colonial times. I listen to her on John Fugelsang’s podcast. Julie is also a great artist. Her paintings can be viewed on her website.
Wonderful piece. Thank you.
How timely this article was for me. Just today I'd been talking to a good friend of mine about all the old ways that we've let fade away in the face of the deadly 'business as usual' behemoth we're currently gripped by. Difficult to be hopeful isn't it?
Although I am American, it's easy to sympathize with this essay, living in a colonizing nation that committed horrible atrocities against Indians and continues to oppress and steal from them today. When I was a kid, Western movies were popular, and Native Americans were made out to be savages. Playing "Cowboys and Indians," nobody wanted to be an Indian, such was the brainwashing. Today I would choose the Indian every time for their recognition of our crucial relationship to the land, and other creatures. Their imbuing of humanness to rocks and rivers isn't primitive or ignorant, it's respect and wisdom wrapped in mystical beauty.
I've been writing here four years. A few weeks ago I republished an article contrasting the lives of Plymouth settlers to Wampanoag natives. Dishearteningly, with far more subscribers than when it was first published, I got far fewer likes and comments than I hoped for. It appears colonizers aren't ready, and never will be for simple truths.
https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/imagine-an-earth-first-policy
What a deeply moving and beautifully written piece!
Inspiring
I loved this article. Thank you 🙏
Another powerful call to re-member the original wound of the first humans who imagined themselves separate from the body of earth and how that allowed them to colonize other beings that co-constituted the body of earth with them. To sever the self from the body is fatal. Horribly, it is always the indigenous people and land/ water beings who suffer first and foremost. Eventually though, the harm done to the indigenous beings who comprise the earth, poisons the ones who believe themselves more powerful—there really is no “them” because the body of earth is all of us.
Elders said "war is coming"... what did they mean by that? Havent read whole article yet.
I wonder how amish fair better. They have their issues. Cant confirm these facts are true, but seems some 10-20% of their young ones leave, rest return after young adult wänderung(phase where they can roam in external world and see what it is like, then decide if they want that lifestyle).
Are elders able to live without money, hunt all food and everything necessary there middle of australia? To me that is amazing, few places in world that is possible for decent quality of life(lot of places one can live like that but malnourished or danger of some simple but deadly disease).