Backgrounder

Buying and Selling ... the Sky? 

When most Australians refer to 'Indigenous' people they are generally referring to one group of people only, that is, Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. What is not generally known is that there are 'aborigines' in more than seventy countries around the world and they are known by a range of names. There is the Inuit of Canada, the Biaks of Indonesia, the Indian nations of United States of America, the B'laan people of the Philippines and the Sami people of northern Europe, to name but a few.

There is an estimated 300 million Indigenous or aboriginal peoples in the world today. The terms 'Indigenous' or 'aboriginal' mean first people. Many people are now using this term to describe those people who lived in a country or region before it was taken over by foreign settlers. Most of these groups are now very small. They are no longer the leaders in their own country. Indeed, most Indigenous peoples are poor and marginalized.

Even though First Peoples live thousands and thousands of kilometres apart, they share much in common. Indigenous people have unique cultures from the other communities in their regions. While these individual cultures have differences, they do share one thing in common - their relationship to the land.

Indigenous people have a distinct and very special relationship with their environment, the rivers and mountains, the deserts and the seas, the rainforests and the sand dunes. The culture and spirituality of First Peoples all over the world are tied to the land. It is from the land that First Peoples find their life as a people.

In Australia we are familiar with the term 'land rights' and may have heard of the struggle that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders still have to this day in keeping or reclaiming land that was taken from their ancestors some two hundred years ago. This struggle is not just a struggle for property and ownership. The land or the sea is the place where Indigenous people find meaning and identity. The land is the source of their religious beliefs, their myths and their sacred stories. Often the land is the resting place of their ancestors and is holy. Often too, the land or the sea is the only way the people survive. It is from the land or the sea that many first peoples feed themselves.

First peoples are small in number and often very poor. They have been isolated or their needs ignored by the majority groups in their country. They are often powerless in the face of those who want their land. In some cases, Indigenous peoples are forced off their land because of war. In many countries, Indigenous people face forces larger than their small groups: mining and logging companies who want their land because of the mineral deposits which can be dug up, or the trees which can be felled multinational farmers who want more land for grazing cattle or growing coffee beans to provide meat and coffee for wealthy nations.

For most Indigenous people, the concept of selling land is very new. It has not been part of their ancestral culture. The land belonged to the people, not to individuals. Indeed, some said that the people belonged to the land.

A few years ago, a film writer paraphrased the words of the famous Indian Chief Seattle as he tried to describe his people's relationship with them land: "How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the earth is sacred to my people".

STUDENT ACTIVITIES

1. (a) Find out more about Chief Seattle's speech and how it was changed. Start by visiting: http://www.webcom.com/duane/seattle.html

(b) What do you think the title of this article, "Buying and Selling? the Sky" means?

2. Some First Peoples are calling for a Treaty to be made with the people who colonised their land.

(a) What is a Treaty? What does it have to do with the land and Indigenous people? (b) Find out about the Treaty of Waitangi. http://www.govt.nz/aboutnz/treaty.php3 Answer the following questions:

1. Who signed the treaty? 2. When and where was the treaty signed? 3. What are the main issues agreed upon in the treaty? 4. What did the treaty recognise?

(c) Listen to the song 'Treaty' by Yothu Yindi. What is the message of this song? (d) Debate: 'A Treaty will do nothing to promote Reconciliation in Australia.'

3. Go to CAFOD's website for information about the Indigenous peoples of Brazil http://www.cafod.org.uk/latinamerica/brazilourwork.shtml Answer the following questions: (a) What was the estimated population of Brazil's Indigenous at the arrival of Europeans? (b) What is the current population of Brazil's Indigenous? (c) How can you account for such a dramatic decrease in the population of Brazil's Indigenous peoples? (d) Why is securing land rights considered essential to the survival of Brazil's Indigenous? (e) What is problematic about Brazil's Indigenous living in reserves?

4. Type in the name of a First People into the Google Search Engine (try Inuit) and begin your research about Indigenous peoples around the world. Start with one mentioned in the article.

5. For a brief introduction to the First Nations of the United States of America: http://www.tolatsga.org/Compacts.html

6. There will be a National Treaty Conference held in Canberra from 27-29 August 2002. Visit http://www.antar.org.au for more information. What do you think is the purpose of this conference?

7. A Treaty Community Seminar kit has been produced by ATSIC and ANTaR. It has been designed as a do-it-yourself learning kit for use by reconciliation groups, schools and other community groups interested in exploring the issues involved in a treaty process between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.antar.org.au

8. Many Indigenous people are at the forefront of conservation movements. Why do you think this is so?

9. Get a copy of Sounds of the Rock Stories of the Heart, available from Caritas Australia. Great CD and free study guide full of teaching suggestions and ideas. Just ring Caritas Australia 02 9956 5799. (CD costs $15 plus $5 for postage and handling)

19. Watch this video- highly recommended Your Hand My Hand? Moving Beyond Words Produced by the Aboriginal and Islander Commission of the National Council of Churches in Australia, Your Hand My Hand invites viewers who are connected to the issues of reconciliation and native title, or those who want to be connected, to act to move beyond words. This is demonstrated through the stories of Camilla Cowley, Ethel Munn and the Lewisham Public School Community in New South Wales. These stories and the words of Bishop Arthur Malcolm and Patrick Dodson inspire hope for what is possible. A brief history of black/white relations since European settlement in Australia provides the context for the understanding of these issues. The video is available through Mail Order from the Aboriginal and Islander Commission. The price is $25 (includes packaging and handling and GST). To purchase the video, please send your cheque or money order to: Aboriginal Islander Commission, Locked Bag 199, Sydney NSW 1230