Tue, 7 February 2006
2.7 Mb. 6mins. 'Australia Day' - January 26 - has been offically declared "Aboriginal Sovereignty Day" by living legend, Aboriginal Elder, Auntie Isabel Coe. Hear her ringing declaration, and what it really means. Historic words delivered from the Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy. The embassy was established on the lawns in front of the old Parliament House, and has existed continually since 1972. (Hey ... No wonder 'they' want to close it down ... )
Direct download: IsabelCoe01_-_Artist_-_Track_01.mp3
Category:social comment -- posted at: 3:59pm AEST |
Tue, 7 February 2006
4.5Mb 9mins.30 2nd Speaker Aboriginal Tent Embassy January 26.
Alfie Neale, from a remote Aboriginal community in Northern Queensland follows up Isabel Coe's call for a declaration of Aboriginal Sovereignty Day, with charming recollections of the first tent embassy in 1972, and insights into tribal law. What does it mean, why do aborigines respect it, and how can it guide the movement today, in the context of tolerating the anglo-european legal system?
Direct download: AlfieNeil02_-_Artist_-_Track_02.mp3
Category:social comment -- posted at: 3:45pm AEST |
Tue, 7 February 2006
8.2Mb 17Mins.30seconds. Michael Anderson at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. 3rd Speaker. Michael, one of the original 4, who sat up under a Beach Umbrella in front of the old Parliament House of Australia in 1972. They triggered a political panic when they declared it the Australian Aboriginal Tent Embassy. This Embassy became the focus for the aboriginal land rights movement. Michael delivers an awesome history lesson. How did these four callow, and apparently shy, aboriginal people (among the first to gain University degrees)do it? By setting up the Tent Embassy, they started a movement that brought to Australia recognition that it was the only British Colonial nation that did not afford legal recognition to the original inhabitants. Until 1967, Australian aboriginals did not have the vote. As a non-people, they were 'wards of the state' who had no land rights. In the early 1970s these young activists claimed rights to a continent from which they had been dispossessed. Only in the 1990s was there a legal recognition that Australia had been inhabited before the Europeans arrived. According to Michael, it wasn't easy for these early activists to make the first move. They were, as young activists, negotiating a space between aboriginal law and respect for their elders, and the anglo-white legal and political system that is still a minefield for many. A fascinating, ego-free, history lesson for us all.
Direct download: MikeAnderson03_-_Artist_-_Track_03.mp3
Category:social comment -- posted at: 3:15pm AEST |
Tue, 7 February 2006
5.5Mb 10 minutes. Michael Mansell Tasmanian Aboriginal activist elder, and another living legend, lays it on the line during the 'Australia Day' "celebrations". Listen to the Australian Air Force (still called the 'Royal' Australian Air Force!) Jets buzz Canberra in the background; the Australian Howard government's idea of celebration - while Michael makes a ringing endorsement for Isabel Coe's call to name January 26 "Aboriginal Sovereignty Day". Michael outlines the risks and dangers, and the losses the movement has incurred by the tendency of some aboriginal representatives to negotiate and make political concessions to the present Howard government, at the expense of losing some of the hard won rights. Some hard talking, here.
Direct download: MikeMansell04_-_Artist_-_Track_04.mp3
Category:social comment -- posted at: 3:00pm AEST |
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