From:	Colin Smith <csmith@*****.CIT.GU.EDU.AU>
Subject:	Re: People Power
Date:	Thu, 24 Jun 1993 17:04:29 +1000

One Australian Aborigine, coming up ...

The Australian Aborigines are facing a crisis of land rights issues
at the moment in a nationwide conference called Mabo. It's not really going
all that well in the natives' favour, really. Speaking from an Aboriginal
point-of-view, some of the land claims made by alleged tribes over the years
have been fairly ludicrous. The tribe of the central Brisbane area (of which
my uncle is an elder) recently had a claim made upon them by outsiders,
who claimed to be members of the tribe. The claim was for the entirety of
the Brisbane CBD. Darn stoopid, if you ask me.

The culture of the Aboriginal still survives, but it's mostly
ceremonial to the point of novelty. "Oooo, kids, look at the black people
dance! Aren't they funny?" Sometimes I wish people would lay off. But,
anyhow, private ceremonies are far and few between, as far as I know. We're
generally treated with charity and even contempt in some areas, because we
are a minority race. The tribal elders are definitely serious, but nobody's
taking them that way. Yet. Things might just change, as they did for the
Amerinds.

But, don't bet on it ...

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-Colin Smith <csmith@*****.cit.gu.edu.au>, Griffith University, QLD., AUST.
"He said, 'Burn, baby, burn'
'Til the street samurai
Said to my face that
Any flag that's worth a shit
Was woven from fire in the first place."
--"Satanic Reverses", The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprosy
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