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Monday, January 19, 2015

White Australia wants them to disappear

“The indigenous people were at one with the harshness of the land; they knew where to find water and food; this was their physical and cultural home. For more than two centuries, white Australians have tried to expel them - they've driven them into fringe camps, corralled them in reserves, stolen their children, imposed cruel and petty rules. Denied basic services most Australians take for granted, the people…suffer the kind of deprivation and disease associated with Africa; for example, Aboriginal children go blind from trachoma, a preventable disease eradicated in many third world countries.… Many of the children in these communities suffer from otitis media, an ear infection that leads to deafness. It's a disease of extreme poverty….White Australia would like them to disappear; the First Australians not only refuse to disappear, they resist, often heroically. Australia remains a vivid expression of the way colonial power - from the 18th century to the present-day - regards and treats those whose land it steals.” John Pilger

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