pachakuti

'In Lickanantay culture, the term “pachakuti” refers to a period of societal upheaval and transformation. The solar eclipse in 2017 welcomed us into the fifth pachakuti, Carlos told us. For centuries, the dominant social order had been that of the Western conqueror, to hide and shame the wisdom of Indigenous communities. This new pachakuti rids us of that energy, he said, and renews us with Indigenous knowledge to bring back into existence a harmony with Mother Earth and all her beings.'

Irjaliina Paavonpera

'I had arrived the day before in the tiny community of Coyo, in a dusty corner of the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, after having been accepted into a three-week artist-in-residency program with La Wayaka Current, an organization that focuses on the environment, community and contemporary art. I was there to learn from and participate in the Lickanantay culture and photograph my experience.' 

The New York Times, 2023

Trouble in Alice Springs

Since 2007 when government troops entered remote communities as part of the Emergency Response to child abuse and neglect, the 18 town camps in Alice Springs, like all majority-Aboriginal communities, came under restrictive laws regarding alcohol. While those laws didn't eliminate misuse of alcohol, domestic violence and other crime, the situation in Alice Springs escalated when those laws lapsed in July 2022.

 

In 2014 more than $500 million was taken from Indigenous Affairs. Neglect of remote communities caused an influx of people into Alice Springs where they camp in the river bed.  

If life seems hopeless and an Aboriginal walking down the main street of Alice Springs feels like an alien in their own country, a bottle of grog to block the pain can seem like the only option. 

The Prime Minister visited Alice Springs. The alcohol laws are back in place, but since they didn't fix the main problems which are displacement, alienation, neglect, racial stereotyping and lack of meaningful opportunities, that will bring limited relief, if any.

There were also some funding announcements, the Tangentyere Women's Council being one of the beneficiaries. 

A Voice to Parliament would help. Being heard, being understood, returning the dignity that was taken from them, waking up as a nation to the deep knowledge that is embedded in First Nations culture which we could all learn from, these actions would help. 

The Uluru Statement from the Heart

We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.

This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?

With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.

We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country . We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

To create a republic

To create a republic we have to become aware of and correct our broken ways.

Stubborn, ego-centred politicians cannot but stand in the way.

Scientists, quite some time ago, predicted these changes that we are now experiencing in our weather patterns. 

Prolonged drought periods, higher temperatures, stronger winds, could produce potentially calamitous conditions in a bushfire prone country, we were told.

But our government pressed on with outdated agendas and continued to advocate for domestic use of coal and the export of coal.

Now we have our first climate change refugees within our own country being ferried to safety by Navy ships. Defence personnel and equipment have been deployed to defend and protect communities from uncontrollable fires. 

Let this be an awakening in national consciousness.

It was the people who voted in this government which had an economic agenda that was not aligned with reality.

Let the people wake up to reality. That all the money in the world cannot insulate anyone from climate change devastation. It will reach out and touch you wherever you are.  
 

 

A small step towards the realisation of a republic of the people

Sometimes we have to wait for governments to correct past wrongs and current injustices.

Sometimes people can be participants in change and instigators of change through their own will and initiative. 

Revolution does not have to be dramatic. Revolution does not have to rise from an ideology. Revolution can be an evolution in thinking and the everyday realisation of fairness through our actions.

Tasmanian land owners Tom and Jane Teniswood have handed back 118 acres to Aboriginal communities.  

It is an acknowledgement that we can share this land together. 

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/how-a-tasmanian-couple-handed-back-118-hectares-to-local-aborig/11783702

The day we celebrate the birth of Jesus

In the mythical republic we have loved and cherished our friends and family all year, so this day is not about them.

This is the day we make a special effort to reach out to those not in our circle. This is the day when we love others as we love ourselves.

The supermarkets are crowded and food is being snatched up, not for our self indulgence, but because we are inviting the people we have ignored into our homes and hearts. 

We are not putting on community dinners as pious contrition. Such community dinners maintain their outsider status and treat them as if they are dependents. 

No, we have gathered together with them. We have understood the part we have played in their separateness, in their loneliness and destitution. 

The land of kind and friendly people

In the mythical land, progress towards realisation of the dream of a republic has stalled it would appear, or has it?

Police in the state of Victoria have asked for a pay rise. Considering the nature of their work this would seem a fair request. But the Premier wants to deliver a budget surplus and so a mere 2% raise has been offered; half the amount asked for by the union.

With negotiations stalled, police have decided to take industrial action. They will warn motorists to slow down ahead of speed cameras. 

If the purpose of speed cameras is to make motorists more conscious of their speed, specific warnings of their presence can increase safety in a more efficient way than sending a fine in the mail to the offending motorist.

Perhaps industrial action and getting community support can help bring about new ways to conduct policing. They say they will also be helping school children cross roads as a way of engaging with the community. 

So what if engaging with the community became the chief function of ordinary policing work?
What if the general concept of controlling, catching out and punishing was switched to helping out, keeping the peace and preventing crimes. 

What if everybody stopped being hostile and judgmental and reactive and we all started taking care of each other?

What if we began to wake up to what has made us like this and we mentally walked away to a better place in our hearts that is kinder and more serene?

Then our republic would start to take shape. 

 
  

 





 

Red Flag

Peter Hartcher, political and international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald has produced for Quarterly Essay, Issue 76 2019, a thorough and compelling examination of China and its intentions. He opens with a question about the rise of China: 'what does the supreme ruler of China want to do with all this power?'

There is an enormous difference between a desire to influence for mutual benefit and an intention to dominate. 

After 25,000 words of reportage and analysis that covers the ways in which China has changed in recent years and where those new directions might be taking us, because we are irrevocably closely linked with China, Hartcher states that more than ever we must choose Australia, the best interests of Australia, as a democracy, flawed as it may be. In the chapter titled A Watchdog With Teeth Hartcher warns that 'an ideology of authoritarianism animated by a psychology of totalitarianism' means that China will keep on pressing for total control, and it must be resisted.

It requires being clear-eyed, clear-headed. Australia needs to develop a consistently strong stance through legislation, policy and vigilance to resist unwanted intrusion and at the same time embracing the many admirable qualities of the Chinese people who have contributed so much to this country and continue to do so.