Indigenous rights struggles and victories 2014
January 4, 2015 6:06 PM Subscribe
Eleven worldwide victories for 2014 -
Ten Indigenous Stories of Note in Canada in 2014
Diverse perspectives on what to expect in Indian country 2015.
Native lives matter
"The West Australian state government may bulldoze 150 remote indigenous communities that it says are too expensive to keep open..."
"At the U.N.'s latest climate talks, indigenous tribes showed again that they're frontline allies in the climate fight. So why aren't we protecting them?"
The Unist'ot'en Camp Resistance
Diverse perspectives on what to expect in Indian country 2015.
Native lives matter
"The West Australian state government may bulldoze 150 remote indigenous communities that it says are too expensive to keep open..."
"At the U.N.'s latest climate talks, indigenous tribes showed again that they're frontline allies in the climate fight. So why aren't we protecting them?"
The Unist'ot'en Camp Resistance
The bulldozing of communities is— well, I wish I could say it's surprising. Cruel, yes. But sadly in line with an assimilationist approach to indigenous issues. Shortsighted, too, given the likelihood of making matters worse for the displaced people.
I'm curious about the legal context that allowed the state government to close Oombulgurri. A quick perusal of Wikipedia shows that Australia has Native Title, but no treaties. So it sounds like the state had no obligation to support the community, and could choose to make it an unviable place to live even if the people still had title to their land. (Effectively depriving them of their land.) Is there more to it than that?
posted by Banknote of the year at 6:44 PM on January 4, 2015
I'm curious about the legal context that allowed the state government to close Oombulgurri. A quick perusal of Wikipedia shows that Australia has Native Title, but no treaties. So it sounds like the state had no obligation to support the community, and could choose to make it an unviable place to live even if the people still had title to their land. (Effectively depriving them of their land.) Is there more to it than that?
posted by Banknote of the year at 6:44 PM on January 4, 2015
The legal state is they make and interpret the laws to be whatever they want and they have the military power to do so.
From an above link:
"I think of a lion... Ultimately, there’s no reason for the lion to fear you so it’s going to continue on its course of attack."
posted by xarnop at 7:01 PM on January 4, 2015
From an above link:
"I think of a lion... Ultimately, there’s no reason for the lion to fear you so it’s going to continue on its course of attack."
posted by xarnop at 7:01 PM on January 4, 2015
Banknote of the year: I'm curious about the legal context that allowed the state government to close Oombulgurri. ... Is there more to it than that?
It's all about the mining. They're trying to shut down the communities and consolidate people at the same time that they're attempting to gut the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act, in order to make it easier to mine. They didn't expect the fight they're getting, though.
posted by barnacles at 7:02 PM on January 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's all about the mining. They're trying to shut down the communities and consolidate people at the same time that they're attempting to gut the WA Aboriginal Heritage Act, in order to make it easier to mine. They didn't expect the fight they're getting, though.
posted by barnacles at 7:02 PM on January 4, 2015 [2 favorites]
I wrote earlier about being with a First Nations band when the Tsilhqot'in ruling was announced. You can't understate how monumental this is for aboriginal communities in Canada.
posted by arcticseal at 7:08 PM on January 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by arcticseal at 7:08 PM on January 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
The ex worked for the Public Interest Law Center in Manitoba which is sort of a government sponsored ACLU. She is the hardest working person I've ever seen. She would work the normal day and then came home, eat dinner, and then she worked till eleven PM or so - occasionally interrupted by watching a hockey game or Game of Thrones. She was personally reticient but an absolutely overwhelming attorney. Any case she took she won or forced the Crown, as the government in Canada is called there, to capitulate.
She would sometimes be flown north. There was one young man who lived in a house with his mother in the far north, like fifty degrees below zero north, who lived in a house with no indoor plumbing. He had multiple sclerosis and used to have to drag himself to the outhouse. A minor victory, she got him a wheelchair and we bought him some jigsaw puzzles because he liked those.
Canada is not a socialist paradise if you are First Nations. Far from it. I can't even talk about it because it makes me so angry.
posted by vapidave at 7:18 PM on January 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
She would sometimes be flown north. There was one young man who lived in a house with his mother in the far north, like fifty degrees below zero north, who lived in a house with no indoor plumbing. He had multiple sclerosis and used to have to drag himself to the outhouse. A minor victory, she got him a wheelchair and we bought him some jigsaw puzzles because he liked those.
Canada is not a socialist paradise if you are First Nations. Far from it. I can't even talk about it because it makes me so angry.
posted by vapidave at 7:18 PM on January 4, 2015 [14 favorites]
Thanks for clarifying, barnacles and xarnop.
posted by Banknote of the year at 7:26 PM on January 4, 2015
posted by Banknote of the year at 7:26 PM on January 4, 2015
The issue of isolated Australian Aboriginal communities is really difficult. We have universal schooling in Australia. How do we fulfil our obligation to educate kids living in places that can only be reached by a private airplane flight and a day in a 4WD? Some of those communities have big problems with domestic violence and sexual abuse. If their families were in a city there's no question that the kids would be taken into care. Is that appropriate here, though? Suppose we had infinite resources and could, e.g., send a busload of social workers and teachers and police officers plus their accommodation and support and supplies out to each of these communities. Would this actually be a good thing, or would the cure be as bad as the disease? I have no idea, myself.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:37 PM on January 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:37 PM on January 4, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wonder if I live in a bubble, because the indigenious culture, art, politics, social contexts--there are so many reasons to be angry, and despondent, but A Tribe Called Red, Tanya Tagaq, Sonny Assua, Nadia Myre, Thomas King...at least in Canada this year--the culture seems more alive, more complicated, more willingness to push forward and maybe maybe foster change
posted by PinkMoose at 7:51 PM on January 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by PinkMoose at 7:51 PM on January 4, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm curious about the legal context that allowed the state government to close Oombulgurri. A quick perusal of Wikipedia shows that Australia has Native Title, but no treaties. So it sounds like the state had no obligation to support the community, and could choose to make it an unviable place to live even if the people still had title to their land. (Effectively depriving them of their land.) Is there more to it than that?
Nope. That's about it. A lot of the towns and residents in country Western Australia are heavily subsidized. If you tried to Ayn Rand the place the state would literally die as the price of power (some of these places are still using diesel generators yet pay the same rate as people who live in the city using natural gas or coal generated power), water (transported in some cases hundred of km by pipes), healthcare (public hospitals serving towns of less than 50,000) and education (teaches get paid a lot extra to work in remote areas) would quickly overwhelm the residents of these areas.
posted by Talez at 8:06 PM on January 4, 2015
Nope. That's about it. A lot of the towns and residents in country Western Australia are heavily subsidized. If you tried to Ayn Rand the place the state would literally die as the price of power (some of these places are still using diesel generators yet pay the same rate as people who live in the city using natural gas or coal generated power), water (transported in some cases hundred of km by pipes), healthcare (public hospitals serving towns of less than 50,000) and education (teaches get paid a lot extra to work in remote areas) would quickly overwhelm the residents of these areas.
posted by Talez at 8:06 PM on January 4, 2015
“There's nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will ACT like lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now.” -Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
posted by ArticTusk at 8:08 PM on January 4, 2015
posted by ArticTusk at 8:08 PM on January 4, 2015
The Wikipedia article on Oombulgurri is worth reading for background.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:41 PM on January 4, 2015
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:41 PM on January 4, 2015
"the culture seems more alive, more complicated, more willingness to push forward and maybe maybe foster change"
Some time ago I remember a person here, fourcheesemac, I think it was who spoke eloquently about native culture in the Canadian territories and how it was difficult to be authentic to your culture in a modern world.
When I lived in Canada there were governmet sponsored First Nations television channels. I remember a show called RezRock which had blues based music played by indigenous people. The same tv channel had a First Nations news crew who spoke about First Nations issues but they nearly always spoke of First Nations in romanticized terms - literally, "we traded shells".
This may have been a viable currency at one point but it isn't now. What I recall worrying about is that First Nation culture, at least as identified on their tv channel, specifically identified with a time long past. I worry for First Nations people in that their identity, likely enforced, doesn't allow them to enjoy this century. I would like to see First Nations programmers or accountants or lawyers.
posted by vapidave at 8:53 PM on January 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Some time ago I remember a person here, fourcheesemac, I think it was who spoke eloquently about native culture in the Canadian territories and how it was difficult to be authentic to your culture in a modern world.
When I lived in Canada there were governmet sponsored First Nations television channels. I remember a show called RezRock which had blues based music played by indigenous people. The same tv channel had a First Nations news crew who spoke about First Nations issues but they nearly always spoke of First Nations in romanticized terms - literally, "we traded shells".
This may have been a viable currency at one point but it isn't now. What I recall worrying about is that First Nation culture, at least as identified on their tv channel, specifically identified with a time long past. I worry for First Nations people in that their identity, likely enforced, doesn't allow them to enjoy this century. I would like to see First Nations programmers or accountants or lawyers.
posted by vapidave at 8:53 PM on January 4, 2015 [3 favorites]
Is a peoples legal authority derived from the land they live on or the context of their existence? This is an old story. An exchange of resources that continues to this very day. The story isn't exclusive to Indian country (here) and but there are uncanny parallels (here) in the USA. We know only the dim ghastly outline of cultural misappropriation when we look through a glass darkly. My humble opinion is it's pretty clear why a people that hail from a nomadic heritage exercise authority over natural resources. I think it speaks to a deep knowledge of what a person needs to thrive in shared community, psychologically and physiologically. Another practical indicator of what to expect from world indigenous news in 2015 could be the price of tar sands oil, the cost of dam building, the price of mountain top removal , the cost of sugar imports, and the rise in demand for raw earth minerals.
posted by ArticTusk at 10:57 PM on January 4, 2015
posted by ArticTusk at 10:57 PM on January 4, 2015
Can Borneo's Tribes Survive 'Biggest Environmental Crime of Our Times'? Politically connected timber barons have destroyed most of Borneo's rain forest. The Penan are fighting to hold on to what's left.
posted by homunculus at 11:06 PM on January 12, 2015
posted by homunculus at 11:06 PM on January 12, 2015
What California Indians lost under Junipero Serra, soon to be saint
posted by homunculus at 9:58 AM on January 17, 2015
posted by homunculus at 9:58 AM on January 17, 2015
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posted by mrjohnmuller at 6:44 PM on January 4, 2015 [3 favorites]