Aboriginal Australia is not fully aware of the psychological warfare perpetrated against us and it's very clear that the current dilemmas now facing Aboriginal people in Australia stem from the fact that we are under attack by a colonial regime determined to beat us into the submission of assimilation. We should never forget that the original assault by the British in 1788 was altered by Governor Phillip from one of conciliating the 'affections of the Natives' to that of infusing ‘an universal terror’ causing them to submit through fear, as opposed to reconciling cultural differences through negotiation.
Aboriginal Peoples have never been part of the western cultural mindset not for any other reason other than they have seen themselves and we continue to see ourselves as First Nations Peoples whose lands have been invaded by a foreign power, an attitude that has never faltered to this day.
Politicians and authorities within Australia continue to monitor this resistance and by doing so they have got to know key players and have established mechanisms to weaken and destroy this resistance by way of popularising through their mainstream media their selected leadership, a specialised and controlled Aboriginal leadership, which suits their specific intention to maintain their long term objective to assimilate and socially engineer Aboriginal people into a single white Australian society.
The ability of the current Australian governments to succeed at this objective has been achieved through persistent and determined government objectives to influence Aboriginal people into accepting that their alleged ‘life-style choices’ do not meet a standard that the government has unilaterally set for First Nations Peoples.
As Aboriginal people we must become much more alert to the dangers associated with resistance that our people have successfully maintained to this day. Aboriginal defiance reacts against the colonial abuse and the dangers of the long term government strategies that our people have been subjected to since the ‘Final Solution' was agreed to at the Aboriginal Welfare: Initial Conference of Commonwealth and State Aboriginal Authorities funded by the Commonwealth government of Australia.
Constitutionally, Australia finds itself between a rock and a hard place, because they now accept that Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies was indeed correct when he informed the Commonwealth Parliament in 1965 that Aboriginal people would be placed outside of the legal system of Australia, if the Referendum of 1967 were to be successful. This truth can now be demonstrated by the fact that, to this day, no government in Australia at the Commonwealth level has passed a law for Aboriginal people without that statute being very clear in terms of its intentions that that particular law was passed for the 'Aboriginal race' of Australia, and that that law only relates to members of that race. If scholars of Aboriginal studies seek to understand this, it is necessary to undergo a mini shock therapy, after they realise that to this day they have been duped by people of their own kind, who have been calling the shots for our oppressor for a long time.
We are undoubtedly resilient Peoples determined in our own way to overcome territorial occupation by warring colonialists, who seek only to take all that they can and see us as wasted space, who did nothing with the land. Their failure to 'clear' us from the land in the first instance continues to haunt their minds and souls to this very day. We are in their way and as a result of this attitude we are being beaten into submission by the authorities that continue assimilation as their set objective.
Removing the Aboriginal children from their families was an objective designed to continue the removal of Aboriginal people from their cultural norms and thereby bring an end to First Nations’ cultural affiliations to Country. Governments knew the imperatives of forcibly separating Aboriginal people from their cultural roots. This brand of governance by the colonial authorities marked a new way to try and force an end to any Aboriginal cultural renaissance that could possibly emerge from within the Aboriginal movement.
Any social scientist within Australia today understands the psychological affects of being forcibly removed from one's own cultural stronghold, yet Aboriginal people are not so aware of the psychological complexities associated with cultural disassociation. The hidden trauma associated with this is above and beyond most ordinary persons' understanding. It is absolutely necessary for our people to now gain an insight into what has been going on in this colonial state, since the time of the invaders' arrival and to become much more aware of the players in our circles who manipulate and dictate Aboriginal policy.
The authorisation by governments to mine homelands is a deliberate act to bring total destruction upon Aboriginal Peoples. The fact that the desecration is being done in their faces, against their wishes, is a clear demonstration of hatred for members of the Aboriginal race. Harsh as that may sound, the degree of bitterness and disdain by Australian government authorities is beyond any type of understanding people may dare to think they have. We are Peoples who are under extreme assault by a belligerent government regime. This is identified in a recent Tony Abbott speech to the Samuel Griffith society of constitutional lawyers:
“My first task tonight is to congratulate the Samuel Griffith Society for its unflinching commitment to upholding our constitution and to safeguarding our legal traditions. …
“Take an issue that’s quite rightly exercised many here: section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act that prohibits what might “offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate” on racial grounds.
"This is a troubling law. At its worst, it limits free speech merely to prevent hurt feelings.
“John Howard opposed it when Paul Keating introduced it but didn’t repeal it in government.
"After the successful prosecution of Andrew Bolt, I promised to “repeal it in its current form” but reneged after fierce criticism from Liberal premiers and a wall of opposition in the senate.
“As well, I was seeking ways to limit jihadi hate preachers and worried about the appearance of double standards.
"Perhaps the cause of free speech would have fared better if my government’s initial bid had been merely to drop “offend’ and “insult” while leaving prohibitions on the more serious harms.
“Still, as things stand, there’s no real prospect of change – even though several young Queenslanders are now facing official persecution merely for questioning reverse discrimination on social media and the Race Discrimination Commissioner is now itching to prosecute our best-known cartoonist.
“The decency and fair-mindedness of the Australian people will always be a better defence against hate speech than a law administered by ideological partisans – yet our parliament prefers to tolerate over-the-top prosecutions than to upset thin-skinned activists.”
My concern for us as a distinct sovereign race of First Peoples is our ability to continually withstand the raging war being perpetrated against us. I believe deep down our Peoples know that they are seriously under attack, but how to fight and stave off this destructive attack is our challenge. Yes, many of us in the Aboriginal liberation struggle despair at knowing of this relentless assault that has been, and continues to be, perpetrated against our Peoples since the coming of the invader society. We understand the challenges, but when we look deep into our own hearts we lose any sense of hope at beating off this continual assault, but we know in our hearts that, given a fair go, our people can rise and will rise to the occasion.
Our task, however, is made harder when we are forced to realise that our enemy is within and that our first challenge is to beat and overcome our own kind, who now serve as our oppressors, while pretending to be advocating for our liberation. If our people were to follow their path we must ask ourselves: What will be the cost? Our people are tired and frightened for the future of their own existence. To rise above the oppression is indeed an increasing challenge of enormous proportions, now that we have been confronted and have been forced to look at the attack upon our children by a determined and ruthless government machine adamant on getting the upper hand in controlling Aboriginal people and thereby ensure our total assimilation.
There was a song that was sung amongst our ranks during our Land Rights days with the words We Shall Overcome but we are now being confronted with the task of overcoming absolute brutality targeting our children.
I watched a TV program on the reign of Adolf Hitler and I saw people of high intellect being forced to admit that what was going on under their very noses during Hitler's regime was not known to them. If we are to accept this attitude with the like of our modern political commentators arguing in their journals of the mainstream media that Aboriginal people need to grow up and move on so as to overcome the horrors and traumas of the colonial period is an insult by people who don't give a damn. What is currently going on in Australia, and the crimes being committed against humanity, is a crime of significant proportion and to now say that they didn't know or that they are not aware can no longer be accepted.
A TV exposé of recent days demonstrates a loss of will and determination to fight by our people. If we were in any other country in the world where these atrocities were being perpetrated against children there would be an outrage of such proportion that the perpetrators would hear the fight ricochet all over the world. It would be earth shattering, but here in Australia our people are so exhausted and lost that they can’t get up onto the streets en masse to fight this evil that we are now confronted with. It is so sad to hear some of my people say to me: Why do you continue to fight when our people have already rolled over and submitted?
My response is and always will be: Our fight is worth fighting. I can never give up when there is hope. The toll that it takes on our body, mind and spirit is devastating to say the least, but somewhere out there, there is goodness. It is hard to find, but we can never give up the struggle for the wont of not finding goodness. The only people who can help us are ourselves. We have succeeded in our determination to fight the fight. Small in number though we may be, we do continue to raise eyebrows, not from what we say, but from our determination and our will to struggle.
Our first major step going forward from our current position is the need to be determined to find solutions on our terms. This truly is the challenge before us because the problems that beset us do create traitors who collaborate with a genocidal regime, and who now oppress their own while arguing that they do it in our interests. This is our true challenge to overcome.
I am being constantly told to look at the positives, but I keep looking.
This is our fight. No-one can win this fight but us. The first challenge that we have is to overcome our oppression, as we must be determined in our resolve if we are to succeed. Don't let the children bear the brunt of the cowardice to stand and fight. As the poem goes: Rise up Black children. Stand and fight. [Gerry Bostock ]
Ghillar Michael Anderson
Convenor of Sovereign Union of First Nations and Peoples in Australia and Head of State of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic, www.sovereignunion.mobi
Asserting Australia's First Nations Sovereignty into Governance
Mogila Station, Goodooga NSW 2838,
ghillar29@gmail.com, 0499 080 660
Ghillar, Michael Anderson is the last surviving member of the founding four of the Aboriginal Embassy protest site in Canberra.